CHAPTER 5
M
alcolm stood on his front lawn as aming chunks of
steel rained down. He closed his eyes to savor the
fact that everyone had survived.
He and Asha had stepped outside to greet John as he arrived
when the universe had screamed and a ery portal had burned
its way through Time. If that wasn’t shock enough, the giant
battle robot and its two human-sized robot sidekicks made up
the di¤erence.
John appeared through the dissipating smoke, all his gad-
getry powering down. The bow he had taken from Charlotte
Corday’s minion came in handy. He stopped at Malcolm’s side
and removed his glowing goggles.
“Something tells me this wasn’t an isolated incident.”
“It wasn’t. I felt two more portals,” Malcolm said. “The ring
of re, the black cracks. I’ve never seen one like that.”
“Nor have I,” Asha said.
She approached from what remained of the street, the red
glow fading from her
qamas
and armor. As she passed a hu-
man-sized robot, it suddenly lurched. Without looking down,
she icked her blade and its head ew away in pieces.
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