Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Five: Back to School Again (Patreon)

Paul raced the Gladiator through the streets of Tanisport.

In the back, I fitted the Boar Armour with a working HEPAR and the Nanothorn Kukri. Enough to face down any alien.

“You sure you don’t want the Greyhound?”

“It’s too tall. I won’t fit through half the doors in school.”

“Got it. We’re here.” The Gladiator screeched to a sudden halt, nearly toppling me over. “Be careful, please.”

“I will be. Agni’s already in there, she’ll hold them while I go in.” With those words, I stepped out of the vehicle.

There were a dozen police cars outside the school, several officers standing with guns drawn. They tensed up as I approached.

“Belessar,” one of the cops said. “This is a school shooting. We can handle it.”

“The shooters are aliens with plasma rifles, officer.”

The policeman blanched. “Resnick, call back the SWAT team now!”

“I’m going in, officer.”

“Lieutenant Blanchard. There are more than two hundred kids in that school…”

“I know.” The Nanothorn Kukri started up. “I’ll do what I can. Now step aside.”

In seconds, I was marching through the school doors I’d left more than a year ago.

Students lay on the ground, lifeless, burnt by plasma. They hadn’t had the time to run.…

Fire blossomed through the halls. Clean, orange flame, not the sickly green of plasma fire.

I activated my radio. “Agni. I’m in.”

“They’re spread across the hallways. Three are on fire, the others are slippery bastards…”

“Give me a heading.”

A green arrow formed above me. I smiled. As always, Anne was watching out for us.

Crossing the corridor, I spotted the first enemy. On any other day, the shapeshifter could have passed for a harried businessman on his way to a meeting.

Except for the plasma rifle in his hands, of course.

I snapped off a quick Observe.

TEST OF PERCEPTION: PASSED.

NEW SPECIES IDENTIFIED: GELLATOID. ADDED TO BESTIARY.

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR

LEVEL 15

HP 400/400

SKILLS:

SPONGIFORM - THE SEMI-SOLID GELATINOUS TISSUES OF THIS SPECIES MEAN THAT PROJECTILE WEAPONS WILL NOT DO SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE. 100% RESISTANCE TO SLASHING, IMPACT OR PROJECTILE WEAPONS. 85% RESISTANCE TO SHRAPNEL.

SHAPESHIFT: CAN ALTER ITS EXTERNAL PHYSICAL APPEARANCE TO MATCH THAT OF A PRE-STORED TEMPLATE.

METHOD ACTOR - CAN IMPERSONATE A VARIETY OF OTHER SPECIES IN THE MANNER, BEHAVIOUR AND DEMEANOUR, WELL ENOUGH TO FOOL OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SPECIES.

So they were bulletproof and hammer-resistant?

Fire it was, then.

The HEPAR spat blasts of plasma, knocking the Gellatoid back against the walls. Spongiform or not, the heat was enough to vapourise most of its anatomy.

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR DEFEATED! +250 XP.

<Nanocloud>: Another two in the next corridor.

<Belessar>: On it.

The two Gellatoids there were professionals, and focused their fire on me as I charged.

With Dodge Bullets active, their shots went wide. Mine weren’t so unlucky.

2x GELLATOID INFILTRATOR DEFEATED! +500 XP.

“I’ve dealt with the two in the north corridor,” Agni’s voice crackled in my ear. “That leaves one.”

“I want to take him alive,” I blurted.

Agni went quiet for a second. “You realise that’s going to be hard.”

“A live Gellatoid could help convince people the threat is real.”

“Oh, I’m in favour. I’ll herd him with my flames, you charge in and do the knockout punch.”

<Nanocloud>: Lady Lumina and Viking just showed up outside.

<Belessar>: Blast it. Now?

<Nanocloud>: They’re coming through the main door…

<Belessar>: Ask them to stay back, we’ve got this.

<Nanocloud>: Viking’s in full-on rage mode. He’s looking to kill something, and words won’t stop him.

“Agni, I need a flame wall holding back Lumina and Viking.”

“You got it, loverboy.”

The last Gellatoid was huddled in a corner, trying to get his gun to work - with little luck. I saw him and charged.

The impact caused me to bounce back.

BODYCHARGE UNSUCCESSFUL! GELLATOID INFILTRATOR RESISTANT TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE!

Dammit, now I had to wear him down the hard way…. I punched the Gellatoid.

It felt like hitting jelly.

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR RESISTANT TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE!

The alien squirmed off my fists, backpedaling as it looked for an escape.

Couldn’t knock it out, huh?

There were options.

The purple lines of Mindstrike lanced forward, and the creature squealed.

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR -20 HP!

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR’S WILL ERODED!

I struck again, and again.

The creature fell back, screaming in a high-pitched tone. I could sense its will eroding.

A single blast from the HEPAR sent it reeling back, the fire shaving another 100 HP off, and a Lightning Strike followed. The Gellatoid didn’t seem particularly resistant to either of them, collapsing on the ground in agony.

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR

80/400 HP

STATUS EFFECTS: DAZED, STUNNED, ELECTROCUTED, PLASMA BURN (-6 INT, -4 WIS).

KNOCKOUT CHANCE: 0% (ENTITY IS RESISTANT TO PHYSICAL DAMAGE)

… and of course they would be.

What else could I do? Convince them to surrender?

Actually, that wasn’t a terrible idea…

I tried to open a Mindspeech channel to the creature.

Horribly distorted fractals burst into my view.

THE ALIENNESS OF THE GELLATOID’S MIND DISRUPTS YOUR ATTEMPT AT FORCED MINDSPEECH. 50% REDUCED EFFECTIVENESS OF PERSUASION.

OPEN A CHANNEL? COST: 200 CP.

What options did I have?

<Belessar>: Surrender. You have nowhere to go.

<Gellatoid Infiltrator>: How are you in my mind?

<Belessar>: Surrender or die.

<Gellatoid Infiltrator>: I would rather die, manling!

Tough audience. I willed all of my Persuasion into the next sentence.

ACTIVATED: APPEAL TO THE MIND.

<Belessar>: You have nowhere to go. Submit and you will be treated fairly.

<Gellatoid Infiltrator>: No! Get out of my brain!

APPEAL TO THE MIND FAILED.

YOUR ENEMY IS HIGHLY RESISTANT TO PERSUASION. IT IS RECOMMENDED TO USE CONTROL INSTEAD.

BRAINWASH SUCCESS PROBABILITY: 98.4%.

YOU CAN COMPEL A WOUNDED, SUFFERING ENEMY TO SUBMIT TO YOUR WILL. GO FOR IT.

COST: 1,000 CP / SENTIENT. TIME LIMIT: 1 HOUR.

“I can’t knock him out,” I said over the radio, as the Gellatoid began to crawl away. “I can … brainwash him, though…”

“What are you waiting for?”

“It’s mind-control…”

“Belessar, that thing’s a child killer. This is not what you get ethical about. Take him down.”

The one thing I’d sworn never to do… and the one person who’d threatened to kill me for it.

Damn all aliens.

Crackling purple lightning exploded from the Boar’s tusks, lancing out to seize the Gellatoid. The creature screamed.

Surrender.

It felt like my head was touching something delicate and fragile, thin as spun glass, a beautiful crystal of hope and joy.

And then squeezing it to a pulp.

The ‘crystal’ cracked, and the alien howled in agony. The purple lines of force between us thickened, now the size of ropes.

The Gellatoid infiltrator clutched its head, sobbing uncontrollably, as the last splinters of its free will shattered.

Stand.

With dull, lifeless eyes, the creature stood.

GELLATOID INFILTRATOR DEFEATED. +250 XP.
FOR FINALLY WAKING UP TO YOUR FULL POTENTIAL AND MIND-CONTROLLING AN ENEMY, YOU GAIN +1 WISDOM, +1070 XP.

FOR VIOLATING YOUR PERSONAL CODE OF HONOUR AND USING MIND CONTROL, YOU LOSE 25 ETHICS POINTS. AH WELL, THEY’RE NOT THAT IMPORTANT ANYWAY.

ETHICS METER: +89.

Flames parted before us, and I marched my mind-controlled prisoner out of the school.