by Shannon West
“Enough questions,” it said. “Will you fight for me?”
“Hold on a goddamn minute. Let me think about it. Can we negotiate a little here? If I do this…if I win, what will you give me?”
It narrowed its eyes. “Winning is not necessary.”
“It is to me. What will you give me? If I give you what you want? Will you give me what I need in return?”
Animus was silent. Those terrible eyes still unmoving in Dread’s face. “You seek to deceive me?” came the sibilant hiss.
“No. Those are my terms. If I fight for you, if I kill—then you give me whatever I want.” Animus stared at him as if trying to figure out the deception. Finally, Dread’s chin jerked down in a nod.
“Done. Prepare yourself.”
He turned to go and then stopped, looking back at Logan.
“I want you to fight the one you call Luke. And your friends too. Will you do that?” He hated the thought of hitting Luke, and the others too, though they’d often sparred while in training at the Institute. And if it was a way to get him free of this thing…to save him, then… “Yes,” he said cautiously. “If that’s what it takes.”
Logan nodded, feeling numb, and the thing inclined its head. “Then you shall receive your reward.” It turned away, melting into the crowd.
****
Logan turned blindly away and ran right into Jackson. He reached out a hand to steady Logan, gazing at him in concern.
“I saw you talking to Dread. Did he upset you?”
“That wasn’t Dread.”
Jackson gasped. “Animus?”
Logan gave a quick jerk of his head. “I think so, yes. Hell, what am I saying? I sound as crazy as you are.”
“Logan, what did you see?”
“His eyes…they were…”
“I know what you mean. I’ve seen it. Solid black and empty.”
Logan shook his head. “What’s happening here, Jackson? You have to talk to me. I feel like I’m losing it. It wants me to fight. All of us, I think. It wants us in the ring, to fight.” Logan could feel his breathing getting more rapid and his chest ached with it. “It wants us to kill each other, damn it. At least I think that’s what it wants. If we keep fighting each other, then eventually we will.”
“Calm down a minute and come back outside,” he said and led Logan out to the exit door and the alley. They walked a few yards away from the noise inside, and Jackson leaned against the wall and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, offering one to Logan. Logan, who hadn’t had a cigarette in over two years, took one and inhaled deeply after Jackson lit it for him.
“The doctors told me to quit these before they killed me. Guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Jackson smiled sadly at him and blew out a thin column of smoke. “I’m surprised Animus actually spoke out loud to you.”
Logan nodded. “I feel like I’m in some kind of nightmare.”
“He talks to me in my head. Not words exactly, but images. Feelings. He must be getting stronger.”
“He—it—said it wanted me to kill people. That it enjoyed what I did to Kowalski. I think it admitted it was responsible for us being blown up in the explosion and for what happened to us afterward.”
“I think that’s true, yes.”
“It took over the body of the man who owns the Institute, Ben King.”
“And Halloran and Krueger too.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“I believe a lot is possible for Animus. I think Animus did it to activate us and start us on this journey.”
“Activate us? What? Are we fucking Power Rangers now?”
“It’s not funny,”
“Believe me I’m not laughing! Activate us for what? What the fuck is that thing?”
“Who knows? But its powerful.”
Logan scrubbed a hand over his face. “Am I caught up in your crazy or are you in mine? ‘Cause either way, we’re screwed. Tell me what you know”
“That’s just it. I don’t know much of anything.” Jackson sighed. “It’s all feelings and premonitions for me. I think we’re like some kind of battery power for Animus.”
“What?”
“To give it what it needs. Blood and violence. Hatred. We feed it.”
“Bullshit.”
“No, listen. It causes us to betray each other, anger each other and eventually fight to the death. Only if we can’t die, it sits back and watches us forever. We’re the fuel.”
“So, you’re saying it recruited us out of those jails and prisons we got into…for what, exactly?”
“Maybe because fighting is what we do, because we like it so much. It’s why we were in there in the first place, wasn’t it? We were soldiers, and not just any soldiers, but special forces. Some of us even killed civilians—I was in for manslaughter; did you ever know that? I’ve been a screw-up all my life. I’ve been in trouble half my life for one thing or another. My parents were good people, but they washed their hands of me years ago. I can’t keep any friends or have any relationships without eventually pushing them away, or losing them because they can’t deal with me. Usually I end things in some violent way. I’ve never felt like a good person, and I’m not looking for sympathy, Logan. I’m just being honest here.”
“I don’t know what to say, Jackson.”
“Haven’t you always felt it? The rage inside?”
Logan stirred uneasily. “Not really. Some, I guess. But something else too. People used to say I had a two-sided nature. Good and bad.”
“Oh yeah, you told me that once when we all got drunk together back when we were at the Institute. That fortune teller that said you had two auras or whatever.”
One of your auras is pure white, like the snow—a healing aura, the old woman at the fairgrounds had told him. But around the edges of that one is another one, a darker one. Like old blood…
The memory made him shiver and Jackson noticed it, giving him a sad smile. “I never had that kind of goodness in me. Jake does, I think. He’s more like you. And Luke too. But you have it more than any of us. Maybe that’s why Animus wants you so bad. Because you’ve got that good in you and if he can corrupt it, maybe it gives him even more juice. It got strength and power from you when you killed Kowalski, and now it’s greedy for more. It’s going after the rest of us too. And like I said, I’m pretty sure it has big plans for Luke.”
“What kind of plans?” Logan said through gritted teeth.
“I’m not sure, but your feelings for Luke are pretty strong. Just think if he could turn all that around and make it hatred instead of love. What might he gain from all that?”
A chill stole down Logan’s spine. “Is it even aware of my feelings for Luke?”
Jackson shrugged. “Of course, it is. I don’t think it necessarily understands feeling like those, but it’s aware you have them.”
Logan blew out an angry breath. “You’re saying it wants me to kill Luke. And the rest of you?”
“Maybe eventually. Are you going to try?”
Logan glared at him and grabbed his throat. “Are you crazy? Has this thing affected your brain? Of course, I’m not.”
“It wants you to, though. And you may not be strong enough to resist. It takes every ounce of strength I have to resist killing in the ring. One night I won’t be able to anymore, I think.”
“We have to get out of here—away from this thing.”
“It will only find us again.”
“Then we kill it. Here and now.”
Jackson shook his head. “And how do you propose to do that? Don’t you see? The hatred you feel for it makes it stronger. Much stronger than all of us put together.”
“Nothing’s indestructible. It goes against the laws of nature. Things change, yes. Into energy or into something else, but everything dies, one way or another. We just have to figure out its weakness and exploit that weakness.”
Jackson smiled sadly. “Oh, is that all? Yeah, good luck with that.”
He straightened up, threw down his cigarette and headed back toward the door. Logan grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”
“Back inside. The others are waiting for me. We’re going to fight for Animus. He’ll want you in there too.”
“We can’t keep feeding it, Jackson. Maybe if we just stop now and refuse...”
“Animus can kill me if I refuse. Besides, I want to fight, remember? I can feel the pull of it in my blood, and I don’t understand how you’re resisting it. Besides, right now I serve a purpose for Animus—we all do, though now that you and the others are here, it doesn’t need me as much anymore. I’m not the only game in town now, or even the strongest, so I’m more expendable. If he wants to, he can strip these powers of ours away in the blink of an eye. You go be a hero, if you like, Logan. I never was one and it’s too late to start now.”
After another second or two, Logan crushed his cigarette under his foot, spat out a vicious curse and followed Jackson inside.
Chapter Ten
Logan hung back in the crowd and watched as Jackson climbed over the barricades. He saw Luke, standing in the middle of the ring, glance up at Jackson as he climbed inside, but didn’t hold eye contact with him, dropping his gaze immediately. His eyes looked more their normal shade of green, though still dark and stormy. As before, he wasn’t moving much, just standing still, looking almost bored with the action around him and ignoring the yells of the people crowded around the sides of the barricades. A woman leaned way in, trying to touch him, her face a little manic, but he merely gave her a disinterested glance and then looked away.
Perry and Jake came from their corner, and Logan was shocked at how they looked. Jake seemed to be in a daze, like Luke had been earlier. He was standing in his corner as activity buzzed around him, but he wasn’t displaying the least bit of interest in any of it. Perry, on the other hand, was pale and drawn, but also angry looking, with the focus of that anger, it seemed, mainly on Luke. He was scowling at Luke with what looked like pure hatred. It was true Perry had never warmed up to Luke; Logan had always known that, but he’d never displayed this kind of animosity before. Never anything like this. The look he gave him now was savage.
Before the ring girl even had a chance to get back out of the ring with the hand-written sign, Perry snarled and lunged at Luke, knocking him to the floor and falling on top of him. The crowd screamed their approval and Logan tensed, waiting to see if he needed to step in.
Luke twisted up off the floor and sprang back up to his feet. For the next two minutes, the two battered each other with ferocious punches and kicks. Blood spilled from Perry’s nose onto the floor but he refused to go down. The already raucous crowd began a spontaneous show of gratitude for their efforts, stomping their feet and screaming themselves hoarse. About three and a half minutes in, Luke doubled Perry over in agony with a perfectly placed liver punch. Perry fell back against the barricades and seemed to be in dire straits, but as Luke moved in to finish the job, Perry threw a desperate overhand right that found its mark. Luke fell to the floor and didn’t move.
Logan surged forward to the edge of the barricade, intending to climb in and intervene, but just as he hooked a leg over it, Luke jumped back up to his feet. He charged Perry, who had already turned to the crowd with his arms in the air and then Luke swung his fist up with a crushing right hand punch that caught Perry right in his mouth, knocking him down on his ass. Perry had an almost comical expression of surprise smeared across his face as he spit out a mouthful of blood from a split lip.
Logan was able to settle down a little and just watch the two combatants, ready to go in if he had to. A sudden movement from the corner of the ring attracted Logan’s attention. For the first time since he’d come back in the basement, he saw Dread. He had stood up from the stool in the right corner, focused only on Luke. He was smiling widely and his eyes were unrelieved black again.
Meanwhile in the ring, Luke had turned his back on Perry, showing contempt for his opponent and walking away, his expression still blank and unmoved. Perry struggled to his feet looking dazed but came up behind Luke, pulling him around by his shoulder, throwing a lazy hook. Less than two minutes since the fight began, Luke threw a right hand over the top that landed on Perry’s chin and sent him crashing to the floor. Luke followed up with a few shots on the ground to Perry’s head and a final huge kick that sent Perry skidding across the floor to crash into the barricades.
The crowd screamed its approval as Luke turned and waved a hand at Jake and Jackson both, inviting them to come at him. Jackson sneered at him and got to his feet, but Jake hung back, shaking his head. Dread roared in anger, crossing over to the corner where the men stood and yelling at him. Logan couldn’t hear what he was saying over the noise of the crowd, but he drew back his foot and kicked Jake viciously, then pushed his face into the floor, still kicking and punching him. The corner men looked almost frightened as Dread finally straightened, wiped blood spatters from his face and signaled them to ring the bell.
When it rang, all hell broke loose. Jackson surged forward and began to thrash his arms wildly at Luke, who backed up a few steps and held up his arms in front of his face. Less than a minute into the fight, Jackson kneed Luke in the groin. Luke recoiled in pain, and Jackson took advantage of the opening. For the next two minutes, he tried desperately to finish Luke. Luke had straightened up and the two men stood toe-to-toe and fired heat-seeking strikes with bad intentions at each other to the delight of both the crowd and Dread, who literally clapped his hands in delight at the carnage. By this time, Luke’s face was battered and pouring blood, the same as Jackson’s. Then Luke threw a punch that literally lifted Jackson off his feet and sent him flying backward across the ring.
As with Perry, Luke turned back to face the crowd, who were trying desperately to climb over the barricades, completely out of control, and being hurled back by some of Dread’s men who were using their fists to keep some kind of order. Jackson clambered back to his feet and rushed toward Luke, trying to get him in a rear choke hold. Luke twisted out of it and turned on him, raining down unanswered and devastating punches that took Jackson to his knees for a moment before his face went crashing to the floor.
Luke stood over his body for a few moments, then slowly turned, spotting Logan hovering near the barricade. He grinned at him with bloody teeth and waved his hand at him, motioning for him to come into the ring. Logan had refused to change into any kind of boxing clothes, or to tape up his hands, but as he climbed in the ring, he did take off his shirt and throw it to one of the corner men before turning back to face Luke.
So far the type of fighting they’d been doing was a kind of mixed martial arts, and that was the kind of fight Logan knew best. Only problem with that was that Luke knew it too, and even better than Logan. Logan figured his best hope was to get Luke, who had always been technically much better at this than he had ever been, into a choke hold. Maybe something like a blood choke, which stopped the blood flow to the brain through the carotid arteries. When executed correctly it could cause unconsciousness in a few seconds. It might give him the only way he stood any chance of winning this.
Logan went closer to him, glancing first over at Dread, still in the corner, watching absently as Jackson, who had been dragged off by his cut man, was getting patched up. The cut man was working hard to close a gash across his nose, though the blood continued to leak down his face. When Dread saw Logan coming toward Luke, however, he gave him a feral grin and called out to him.
“He won’t go easy on you,” Dread—or should he say Animus—taunted him. His eyes gleamed at Logan and he laughed. “You’ll have to kill him, I think.”
Logan sneered at him. “Fuck you, Animus!”
Dread’s face blurred and reformed, blurred and reformed again, like some giant fist was smashing and then reforming it out of modeling clay. Had he angered the thing? Logan hoped so. He shifted his attention back to Luke. The last time he faced Luke in a ring, back when he’d been
training at the Institute, Luke had rushed him in a series of feints, jabs and kicks that sent Logan back up against the ropes with a rueful laugh. He’d held his hands up in front of him and said, “Damn, Warren, give me a chance to climb in before you go all Bruce Lee on me.”
This time, Luke wasn’t acting nearly so rashly, and there wasn’t time to make jokes. Luke began moving from side to side, swaying on his feet a little. His face was twitchy and Logan knew he was dying to attack. He decided to taunt him just to see how he reacted, and maybe because he hated to see that blank look on his face. Even anger would be preferable to that.
“Afraid of a real fighter, Navy? An opponent who knows what he’s doing?” Heat rushed over Luke’s face and he ducked his head to try to hide it. Just as the last time he’d fought Luke, Logan suddenly rolled into a crouch and went after him, punching him in the nuts with his fist and rolling back out of the way as Luke fell forward on his knees, looking surprised and outraged.
“You fall for that every time, sweetheart! Looks like you’d know that trick by now.”
“You asshole,” Luke wheezed, as soon as he could speak.
“Seems to me like you said the exact same thing last time too. Getting predictable in your old age, huh, Navy?”
He circled around the back of Luke as he tried to get to his feet, but Logan moved in quickly, his right arm encircling Luke’s neck, making sure his trachea was caught in the crook of his elbow. Even as he held him, Logan felt the love he had for Luke flowing out of him and the thought of how much Luke meant to him drove out any ill feelings he’d ever had. He was aware of Luke’s struggle subsiding and saw the calm sweep over him and engulf him too. Luke sagged in Logan’s arms then and Logan loosened his hold, unwilling to hurt him any further. He turned his head to look up at Logan and for the first time there was recognition in his eyes.
“Logan?” he whispered. “W-what are we doing?”
Before Logan could answer, he heard the boom of Dread’s voice from the corner of the ring screaming at Luke to get up and fight back. “Get up, damn you! Kill him!”