Chapter 3

Damon's cock pistoned repeatedly into Svetlana's ass as he rewarded her for a job well done. The portable heart-monitor he wore registered his accelerated pulse as his orgasm approached, and then he was spraying the inside of her colon with his seed. He wiped himself off on her white lab coat and put his boxers back on. He grinned up at the device, which looked a lot like giant ball bearing with Cylon eyes. A jumping, red line synched with his heart-monitor. Phillips wouldn't find him as easy to defeat as he had the government's operatives. If he flat lined, the device would detonate. If he didn't like the way things were going, he could yank the cords out with hand or mind. A complex program changed frequency on a pre-determined timing and rotation so the enemy couldn't simply copy the signal to keep the shit from hitting the fan.

He would catch his primary target on his way home from work. The Orpheus was within walking distance of the local television station, and Victor enjoyed what passed for fresh air and the companionship of his Great Dane. Damon took a taxi, sending a hit-squad to the hotel to take care of the others.

Curiously, the dog was absent when Damon spotted Victor approaching. The man stopped behind a brick portion of the fence, behind which Damon couldn't see even from his tree-branch perch.

I know you're there. Victor thought at him.

Likewise. Damon replied.

We both know the gun isn't going to do you a bit of good. I can stop bullets.

Let's see you stop this! Damon dropped the gun and launched himself skyward. Victor stayed put until Damon was committed, then launched himself backward at an angle. The force of Damon's attempted strike shattered the sidewalk. Pedestrians evacuated, needing little mental prodding from Victor, who put out his hand and launched Damon backward. He hit a blue metal mailbox, which bent and pinched him. Damon ripped it to shrapnel and launched the pieces at his foe, who merely put up a force-field. Where's your puppy? Did he get run over or something? Damon taunted.

My wife and daughter are precogs. Figure it out. Victor responded. Damon launched a powerful attack of pure telekinetic power to shatter his opponent's shield. The shield changed shape, and Damon's attack was at the wrong angle, sliding harmlessly off the new configuration. Damon picked up a manhole cover and launched that, but Victor reshaped his shield again, once again neutralizing Damon's attack.

STOP THAT! Damon exclaimed mentally, the angry transmission so powerful that anyone with the slightest bit of sensitivity could hear it for miles in every direction.

I'll stop doing it when it stops working. Victor responded. Damon sent dust flying in an attempt to blind his foe, then launched himself into the air, forming a hammer of telekinetic force with which he slammed at the place he'd last seen Victor. Over here, genius. Damon homed in on the taunt and found his opponent across the street. He pushed off from the world, his hammer at the ready. Victor formed a bullet-shaped force field around himself. A cylinder of telekinetic force formed behind him, expanding to create a vacuum. As Damon approached his target, Victor let air pressure send him flying, his aerodynamic force field allowing him to pierce the air like a giant rifle round.

You won't escape that easily! Damon's mind roared, propelling himself forward while surrounded by a wing-shaped field that allowed him to slice easily through the air in pursuit of his quarry. He fired a beam of pure psychic energy, which his enemy easily dodged. Enraged, Damon increased his speed. Abruptly, Victor flattened his field into an upright disc with a fist-shaped projection in the back. The abrupt loss of speed was too quick for Damon, who hit it head on. He felt several bones in his face break, but he merely healed himself, and stopped his fall before he could splat on the pavement below.

"I can see the monster they put in your mind." Victor said. The words brought a brief mental image of his alien benefactors, accompanied by the sense of fear and doom that had been plaguing his sleep. Damon shook his head.

"You mean my powers?" Damon asked.

"I mean the controls they put in your head so you can never turn against them." Victor responded. "You don't even know how your powers work. It's all subconscious; you decide you want something, the program does it for you. If you found out what the aliens were really like and tried to turn against them, your powers wouldn't work. If you succeed in your mission, or if you take too long for their liking, the program will stop your heart. Just like that." Victor snapped his fingers.

"Shut up! You have no fucking clue what you're talking about!" Damon roared.

"And you have no clue what you're doing." Victor countered. Damon lashed out. Victor parried easily. Attack, parry, attack, parry, attack, parry. On and on it went, up and down the shores of the Brazos River. Damon was getting mad. He felt alarm, followed by dismay, coming from his base. A silvery object carried away the hospital roof, with something large and round stuck to the bottom.

"No!" he exclaimed as the object zoomed away to the vanishing point and beyond.

"And it's a drone, so nobody's going to get hurt now if you yank those cords out of your heart monitor." Victor said. "In fact, let me help you." The monitor flew off Damon's person and shattered into a million pieces. An explosion sounded across town. Damon laughed as he watched the Orpheus implode.

"Well, looks like something's gone right for me today." Damon laughed.

"My wife and daughter are precogs, remember?" Victor responded. "They saw this coming. The Orpheus was closed for a 'health inspection' and the staff evacuated. I'm a little upset with the government anyway since they redirected all my tax dollars from when I married Inet to their G.O.L.E.M. project, so I'll take any deduction I can get at this point."

"Well at least you're homeless!" Damon snarled.

"Nah, we were going to move into the Pan-Galactic anyway. It's got five extra floors and it kinda looks like a rocket ship." Victor responded. "We'll just hang around in the Mexia Orpheus until everything's finished. No biggie. There's just a few more things to make the failure of your masters complete."

"Yeah?" Damon asked.

"Yeah. First thing is to bring back the real you."