Machine Man (serial)

In my head, I stomped. I created a shock wave that rippled through the concrete and tossed Jason into the air. It knocked Cassandra Cautery to the ground. People shouted. Jason scrambled on hands and knees toward the device, but I was faster, and crushed it under one hoof. I didn’t even have to kick over the van: the guards scattered, knowing what I could do. In the moment before they rallied, I ran to Lola and swept her up in my arms. We leapt from the parking garage and landed in the alley. There were police cruisers, ambulances, cops with guns, but I powered past them. I ran until they were all far behind me, until I was beyond Better Future’s digital reach. Before dawn, in another city, we broke into an electronics store and used their equipment to locate the part of me that transmitted. I taught Lola how to use a magnetic drill and she straddled my chest and made sure we could never be found again.

This was a good plan, in my head.

I raised a hoof. That was as far as I got. It hung there, suspended. It did not feel any different. It did not deaden, as the gun-arm had earlier. But it did not listen to me. I was a statue. I looked at Lola, because I wanted her to be the last thing I saw before oxygen starvation hit my brain, and began to choke up, because now I was going to die and miss everything. But I did not die, either. I just stood there.

“Get him in the vehicle,” said Cassandra Cautery. “Hurry.” Jason poked at his device. My hoof came down. My other leg jerked forward. I was not a statue. I was a puppet.

178.