Alien vs. Alien

just went for it naturally now.
    Flipped my jacket out as I shoved in between two of the Poofs. I watched Bruno, who was going incredibly fast. But I could see him. Couldn’t see what he was following, but Bruno was a really clear bird-blur.
    I needed the hyperjuice, and it wasn’t hard to rev up to rage—rage was easy to get to once I’d already hit high anxiety and stressed confusion. All it really took was to look at the expression on the face of the Ambassadress—she was terrified—and to see the three guys getting punched repeatedly. This really pissed me off, because I was damned sure she hadn’t done anything to deserve terror today, and protectors being beaten up in an unfair fight was far too close to what my guys went through every time some lunatic decided to try to go global and take over the world.
    Based on the hits the dudes were taking, however, I judged that they were being attacked by something taller than me. I timed it, and the next time Bruno went past me I flung my jacket out and up, high, keeping a tight hold on both of the sleeves.
    I caught something and pulled. “Toro!” If only I had a spear to shove into this particular invisible bull.
    As I pulled, Bruno dived, screaming nasty things in Peregrine, and landed on whatever it was I had my jacket around, dug his impressively large, sharp claws in, and held on. Something, or rather someone, shouted in pain. Couldn’t tell if it was a person or a thing shouting, though.
    We were all moving now, at the really fast hyperspeed Jeff and Christopher used these days. I should have been sick, but I was too revved, which was good. Then I realized my Lifehouse jacket was getting stretched out of shape. And that seriously pissed me off.
    Whoever I had “captured” tried to pull away some more. I let his strength pull me into him and body-slammed him. It was definitely a him—my jacket was over and around his head, but he felt human-shaped. However, no human could be doing this, so I was fighting either an enhanced A-C or an android.
    My body-slam staggered him. Bruno used that to press down and I did my best to help him. We ended up on the ground. “Oof!”
    Human-sounding voice. Could still be one of Marling’s superandroids. One easy way to find out. I was in a good position for it, too.
    I rammed my knee into his groin. He bellowed. Trees didn’t shۀd oake and leaves didn’t plummet to the ground, so this wasn’t Jeff. No one bellowed like my man. Which meant, happily, this wasn’t my man gone insane.
    White, Jeremy, and Buchanan arrived, just as whoever it was flipped us over. He wasn’t trying to fight me, though. He was trying to get away. White caught one arm, and Jeremy was able to grab the other, as Buchanan tackled our mystery dude around the waist and managed to bring him back to his knees while I rolled out of the way and scrambled to my feet. This was an improvement, but three of them were barely able to hold this guy. I’d lost my hold on my jacket, but it was still over his head.
    Wanted to call Tito for help, but I figured he was doing medical on the people who’d been attacked. Besides, we didn’t know if this guy was working alone, so Tito and Jennifer were better off staying with the others.
    Bruno was still attached to this guy’s shoulders, and he did the bird scream thing again, but it wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at Bellie.
    She cawed and got into it, as she grabbed my jacket in her beak and slashed the guy’s chest with her claws at the same time. Then she flew to me, dropped the jacket, and alighted on my shoulder. “Bellie wants a treat!”
    I was too busy being shocked about who I was looking at to be shocked by the fact that Bellie was suddenly my Best Birdie Friend.
    I’d been wrong. No, I didn’t know the people being attacked. But I sure knew their attacker.
    “Clarence Valentino, what an unexpected displeasure.”

    Yi

CHAPTER 53

    “T INO! TINO! TINO!” Bellie cawed. It dawned on me that she didn’t have any mispronunciation issues—she was calling him Tino instead of Valentino.
    “Right you are, Bellie. Treats coming soon. Hold him, guys.”
    “Trying,” Buchanan said through gritted teeth.
    “So you’ve shot up with Surcenthumain, haven’t you, Clarence?”
    He glared at me but appeared to be using all his effort to get away from the guys holding him.
    I dug around for my phone. “Where’s Jeff and Chuckie?” I took a picture of him. It wasn’t a great shot, but