Sentry stepped towards Aubrey, the sole fighter who hadn't been pulled towards him. "So, this is all you've got? A common shooter and jumped up fighter who isn't even as good as half of my body guards?"
"It got me this far." Aubrey said between gritted teeth.
Sentry gestured at 'Kurt' and the zombie fell over, clutching his stomach, which started to smolder, a moment later he screamed in agony as his abdomen burned white, then burst into flame. In seconds he was a torch, with flames shooting out of his body as he curled into a ball on the ground. The concrete beneath him blackened and cracked from the heat and nearby bodies began to start smoking.
"And her? She isn't even half as powerful as he was." Sentry gestured again towards Katie. Randy stepped in front of her and absorbed the wave of energy that was released. Katie wanted to cry out, but she was held steady and unable to do so. "Well, isn't that interesting." Sentry said. He seemed almost as surprised as Aubrey, who looked at Katie with wide eyes.
Randy was undaunted by the attack and turned to give Katie a quick thumbs up, though she noticed he was sweating profusely. She had not seen him sweat since he came back from the dead to haunt her. "Shrug it off, babe. I can't do this all day."
While Sentry continued to stare at Katie with a puzzled look in his eye, Aubrey launched an attack. Her left hand knocked into his jaw at an inhuman speed, followed by an overhand knife thrust towards his ear. Sentry barely seemed to move as he caught Aubrey's wrist in his hand with the knife point pressing into his cheek.
"You have to realize I am beyond such physical concerns now. Even if your knife had thrust into my head, it would have been just as ineffective as your sniper's bullet." He threw Aubrey backwards into the hanger door, bringing it down in a crumpled heap out in the parking lot with the woman wrapped in the middle of it. Sentry stalked forward towards the door, which now resembled a crumpled piece of paper. As he walked Sentry cast a sideways glance at Katie, who continued to stand and stare blankly ahead, trying to regain control.
The crumpled ball of light metal crackled above even the sound of the pouring rain as Aubrey struggled free. Sentry picked the edge of the door up and spun around to toss it across the parking lot towards some distant houses. He watched in satisfaction as the whole mess hit the ground over three football fields. Aubrey still stood where she had been before he threw the door, she shook a piece of the door from one of her legs and smiled at Sentry's surprised look.
"I guess I have a few surprises too."
"I doubt you have anything more to amaze me with. You were a bit player when I sent you to Chicago and we know how poorly you did there. I should have sent Heather, she'd have that Iowa problem resolved by now and would have been back here to help oversee the next stage."
"The next stage?" Aubrey asked circling around until she was inside the building once more, leaving Sentry to stand in the pouring rain.
"Of human evolution. I suppose your incompetence will give me more subjects to work with." Sentry again stepped towards Aubrey, this time focusing on her, attempting to overwhelm her defenses and seize control of her mind.
Aubrey stepped further back into the building under the assault, using everything she had learned to keep him out. She almost failed under his initial attack, but slowly she adapted to his mental pressure, deflecting and rebuffing his attempts on her mind. Just when she thought he was about to give up, she counter attacked and launched a probe at Sentry. This caught him by surprise, but he deflected her blow as an adult might swat down a child's fist.
Sentry turned his head back and laughed, "You've been studying. I have to tell you I am impressed, but I am not worried. You might hold me off for a moment, but only just. You lack the skill, your attempts are childish and it's obvious you haven't been at this very long. I'll give you her." Sentry nodded at the still rigid Katie, "She is a piece of art that I look forward to examining. But you are simply not much at all." Again he assaulted her mind and again Aubrey stepped back physically from him.
Slowly Sentry walked towards Aubrey, she stopped moving backwards when she reached the center of the building. When he was close enough Sentry's hands shot out and he grabbed both of Aubrey's wrists, she continued to stare at him, trying to keep him from pouring into her. He bent her backward, until she eventually went down on her knees, and finally onto her back with her legs folded under her.
Sentry felt her defenses begin to crumple, just in his moment of victory, when he was going to find out all that she had been up to after he thought she had died, he heard the voices. Lifting his head he saw Max and Stewart step into the warehouse.
Chapter 43 — Max
"What do you think he did with the bomb? I mean, I doubt he left it in the car." Max asked Stewart as they advanced.
"Shh, Max. You talk too much." Stewart said.
"I was just wondering."
Sentry seemed glad to see them. From his position on top of Aubrey he looked like a rapist caught in the act, a happy rapist. He stood up and put his hand out in front of him, Aubrey grasped it and he pulled her to her feet.
Max found using his zombie vision was much more precise than it was before, he could discern subtleties he hadn't noticed before and he was having almost no difficulties using it while still maintaining his normal vision. Aubrey wasn't on Sentry's side, nor was she under his heel yet, what Sentry did was designed to convey a message that all was well, but it was merely a front. Max steeled himself for what was to come next and Sentry didn't disappoint. A wave of mental power slammed into them and sent Stewart to her knees. Stewart reached her hand up to Max and he grasped it tightly as her mind was buffeted like a flag in the wind. Max shaped his mind like a knife and started to counter Sentry's efforts immediately, but not directly.
Instead of putting up a wall for Sentry to wear down, Max envisioned a ship, riding out the storm as wave after wave crashed into him. While he was keeping his mind afloat he started to grab the packets of orders Sentry was sending out to Aubrey, Katie, the other zombies, and towards Stewart. Slowly he started changing them, subverting the attacks to make them ineffective. At first Sentry didn't notice what was happening, then Aubrey snatched her hand from his and stumbled away from him.
Sentry glanced at her and forced his mind into a lance to penetrate Aubrey's defenses for the last time and bring her into compliance with his will. That moment was all Stewart needed, from her knees she launched herself at Sentry and pushed the man backwards away from Aubrey. With Sentry's attention broken, Max started to try and handle more and more of the messages that the man was sending. The effort to handle the traffic took all of Max's attention, but he finally had Sentry isolated, unable to send out anything that Max couldn't twist. For the moment Max just converted all of the outgoing orders to "You are free! Do what you want!" and it was working the zombies in the room started to recover and slowly began to move again.
Katie dropped the duffel bag onto the ground and it looked to Max like she was talking, but he couldn't hear her over the sound of the rain and thunder outside. Aubrey put her hands to her head and slowly sank to her knees rocking back and forth. On the ground Sentry started to glow.
"Stewart! Get back!" Max shouted, knowing what was coming.
Stewart didn't let go of the man, she grabbed him more tightly and as Max watched she started to share the glow with Sentry, her skin became translucent first, then her clothing, until she was a bright light attached to Sentry on the ground. Pulling back her hand Stewart punched the doctor in the head. Her blow had little effect, so she hit him again, then started to beat him repetitively, sitting up on his torso and raining blows down on him with both hands.