by Ammar Habib
“It’s somewhere in the business district,” Villanueva spoke into the receiver.
“Where?”
“One second.”
Villanueva’s heart was racing. He was drenched in his own sweat. The box could not move fast enough for him. It slowed down even more, and then more, and then more until it was barely moving. Villanueva’s grip on the table grew stronger until he was sure that he would crush it. Then the box stopped.
“It’s at the Minch Building!”
“Which floor?”
The map of the building went from an overhead view to a 3-D side view. The box swiftly went up and down a few floors until it stopped on 18th floor before going back down and finally settling down on the 17th floor of the building. It began to rapidly blink.
“Seventeenth floor! East side!”
The line went dead as Villanueva prayed that the city would last the night.
Chapter 23
Long Night’s End
Ten minutes until this city’s end came. They would all die. No one in Crown City would see the morning sun.
Inside of the Minch Building, Vixen and Danior stood only a few yards away on either side of the bomb. Two guards also stood nearby. They had kept watch on the bomb the entire night. A few red and orange lights were repeatedly blinking. There was no timer, but they knew it would happen soon…
In a flash and without warning, the window exploded into countless pieces. And through it, The Guardian flew into the building wearing his full uniform: mask, cloak, and all. Doing a frontal role as he landed, he sprang up to his feet right next to the first guard before the sound of the exploding window had died out.
Frantically, the guard tried to take aim at point-blank-range. But before he had a chance, The Guardian sliced open his throat and kicked him away. The dying man roughly crashed to the ground a few feet away.
The second guard charged at him next and sent down a blow with his rifle, but his attack was easily sidestepped. In the next instant, The Guardian masterfully disarmed him, shattering the man’s collarbone through a succession of quick moves. The guard’s body dropped to the floor as he went into shock.
With his bloody dagger in hand, The Guardian turned his attention to Danior and Vixen.
Unfathomed by the entrance, Danior unsheathed his daggers as Vixen spoke. “Now the exciting part finally begins. I suppose that you’re here to jam the bomb’s signal. You’re too late. In a matter of minutes, this city will be in ashes.”
“Not while I’m living!” The Guardian roared, charging at his foes.
Wearing a smile, Vixen raised her hand. “Well, let’s fix that then.”
The Guardian’s body suddenly froze.
Vixen constricted him for a few minutes, obviously enjoying the moment. With a subtle wave of her hand, she sent The Guardian flying out of the broken window.
Launched out of the building and into the nighttime sky, The Guardian found himself cutting through the frigid air at an incredible speed. He was above the adjacent rooftop within a matter of moments. He skillfully twisted his body in midair and fired his loaded wrist cable at a long pole that was at the center of the rooftop. Its hook latched on perfectly. The Guardian swung around the pole before disconnecting his cable and letting his momentum safely carry him onto the rooftop.
Just as The Guardian landed, Danior leapt out of the same broken window with confident aggression. He soared gracefully through the air before landing perfectly on the rooftop in a crouched position. He rose to his feet with his weapons in hand and eyes fixated on his foe. His eyes were red. “Thisss is the end for you…brother.”
The Guardian charged his foe at full speed. Danior sent down a series of strikes with his dagger, but The Guardian masterfully sidestepped each one of them. They came down faster than any naked eye could see, but they could not touch him. With the last strike, The Guardian stepped up and loudly blocked Danior’s dagger with his own before grabbing Danior’s other wrist. Without hesitating, he powerfully head butted Danior. A loud thud sounded off at the collision. It drowned Danior’s groan as he took a few steps back.
The Guardian lunged at his opponent again and sent a few rapid blows of his own. Four times he brought his dagger down, but each time Danior blocked it with his own.
As their blades loudly clanged against one another for the fourth time, The Guardian struck Danior across the face with his elbow, then with his fist, and then with his elbow once more. Danior spat out blood and backed up some more.
Taking advantage of Danior’s vulnerability, The Guardian advanced and powerfully kicked Danior in the chest. The force of the blow took Danior off of his feet. He flew through the air before landing crouched down several yards away. All of Danior’s cockiness was now replaced with rage. The grips around his daggers tightened.
“You think you can protect this cccity? I will ssshow you jussst how weak you are,” Danior boasted.
“Then come on.” There was no fear in The Guardian’s voice. “Show me.”
With a mighty roar, Danior attacked with such fury that even The Guardian had never witnessed. He sent blow after blow, attacking with his knives and limbs. His strikes came at an unearthly speed, completely impossible for the untrained eye to keep up with. The first few missed their mark. The Guardian was able to sidestep and masterfully block the attacks, until a misstep allowed the tip of one of Danior’s daggers to reach his chest—cutting it—and Danior’s forearm to strike The Guardian’s skull.
Ignoring the pain and the blood that seeped out of the wound, The Guardian grabbed Danior’s wrist before he could hit him again. With a quick move, The Guardian disarmed him of the dagger before blocking Danior’s second dagger with his own. But right as he blocked it, Danior brought up his foot and mightily struck The Guardian on his face, forcing him to back up a few paces before Danior came upon him again. Taking advantage of The Guardian’s disarray, he easily disarmed The Guardian of his dagger before using his elbow to cross-face The Guardian. Again, The Guardian backed up.
Wearing a sinister smile, Danior came at him once more.
Still backing up, The Guardian rapidly pulled out two throwing knives. They were launched in quick succession with the flick of his wrists. They flew through the air faster than bullets, but Danior easily swatted them away with little effort using his dagger.
Not wasting any time, Danior once again attacked his foe.
Ducking, The Guardian avoided Danior’s dagger. He sent a series of successive blows to Danior’s stomach and body before taking a small leap backwards to again dodge Danior’s dagger. His foot struck Danior in his cheek—a strike strong enough to completely shatter the skull of any normal man. But not Danior.
Spitting out blood, Danior staggered backwards. He was stunned, but not beaten. The Guardian did not hesitate. Before Danior could fully recover, he was upon him again, sending his fist into Danior’s face with a mighty roar.
And the battle continued. The two masterful warriors fought like wounded lions. Lions who were backed into a corner and only had two choices: kill or die.
At first, The Guardian thought that he might have a chance to overpower Danior, even without his dagger. But that thought did not last. Danior quickly gained the upper hand. As they fought, Danior’s elbows and fists powerfully collided against The Guardian’s torso and body, leaving their painful marks. The tip of his dagger sliced The Guardian shoulder. Then his thigh. Then his ribcage. Blood slowly seeped out of the wounds. His injuries were not lethal, but were serious enough to slow him down. The Guardian tried to ignore the pain, blocking it out of his mind as he fought.
He knew he was losing.
The Guardian’s body was now covered in numerous cuts. Countless streams of blood ran down his body and soaked his clothing, but he continued to ignore the pain. He could not let Danior know just how bad he was hurting.
A few bruises and small cuts were all over Danior’s own body, but they did nothing to slow him down. Compared to The Guardian’s woun
ds, these were nothing. All Danior could think of doing was what Anthony Griffin and hundreds of other had failed to do.
With a quick move, The Guardian dodged Danior’s strike before sending a succession of swift attacks of his own. His elbows crashed against Danior’s face and his fists crashed against Danior’s body. With each blow, The Guardian let out a roar, determined that one of them would end this monster’s life.
Before The Guardian could hit him again, Danior’s forearm swiped The Guardian’s head, knocking him back a few steps. Lunging at The Guardian, Danior’s dagger cut his shoulder before he grabbed The Guardian by the throat and crushed down on his trachea. Holding The Guardian by his neck, Danior lifted him into the air as he cocked back his dagger, readying it to rip into The Guardian’s torso. “The Great Guardian hasss met hisss match, no?”
“No,” The Guardian defiantly replied.
Without another wasted moment, Danior thrusted his blade at The Guardian’s torso, but The Guardian’s quick reflexes grabbed the dagger’s hilt and stopped the tip of the dagger before it reached him. Danior pushed harder, but it came to no avail. The Guardian blocked his mighty force.
With an earsplitting, angry roar, Danior forcefully slammed The Guardian onto the ground, sounding off another loud thud. Putting his knee on The Guardian’s chest, he kept his opponent immobilized. With his free hand, Danior pinned down one of The Guardian’s hands against the rooftop as he hissed, “You mussst die!”
He sent the dagger down once more, but The Guardian’s free hand grabbed the blade’s hilt. However, this time the dagger slowly inched towards The Guardian’s throat.
“I am ssstronger! I am better! I am invincible!”
“Maybe…” The Guardian’s eyes went from the tip of the dagger to Danior’s face. “But I have friends…and all they needed me to do was keep you focused on me.”
Before Danior had a chance to digest Ethan’s words, a bullet mercilessly ripped through his skull. His head suddenly jerked back. The bloodied and tainted bullet tore open the other side of Danior’s head and flew out. The Guardian caught the corpse before it fell onto him and roughly threw it aside without a second thought.
The fight was not over yet.
The Guardian had felt a pair of eyes looking at him throughout the entire fight, but had ignored them. But now it was time for him to come face-to-face with this second monster. He slowly looked up at his spectator.
Vixen hovered almost twenty feet in the air. She was completely still, levitating in silence. The palms of her hands faced the rooftop as she kept her eyes on the bloodied and battered Guardian. A smile was still visible her face with no sign of emotion toward her fallen comrade.
“An inspiring, but pointless fight, darling. You’re too late. This city only has seconds to live. Our father will only bring us back to life when we die here, just like he always does. Then he will reward us for our loyalty.”
“There won’t be any reward for you. I doubt that Daken will resurrect failures.”
Ignoring him, her eyes turned towards the horizon. “The first lights of the day are almost here. And with it comes the city’s end. You have failed your people.”
Vixen’s words were met with the signs of daybreak peering over the horizon, a signal that the city’s end was at hand.
With a smile, she looked away from the thin beam of light and back down at him. “This is the end, darling.”
“Don’t count on it.”
Vixen took a deep breath and closed her eyes, waiting to be engulfed in the bomb’s explosion, waiting for the beginning of the end to swallow her up.
Seconds passed and Vixen knew that at any moment the city would be turned into ashes. The thought brought an insurmountable amount of joy to her deranged heart. The only thing standing between the peace and calm of the beautiful horizon and complete destruction was Tony pulling the trigger.
…but nothing happened.
Realizing something was amiss, Vixen suddenly opened her eyes. She blankly stared at the stream of light coming over the horizon. Her blank expression slowly began to resemble confusion.
“Did you really think that I had the jammer?” The Guardian pulled out one of his throwing knives. “I may not be as strong or fast as you, but what I have is experience. And experience will teach you that deception is often the best tactic.”
Vixen’s hand curled into a fist.
“You think I’m dumb enough to try and take the bomb out head-on? That I would risk this city’s fate in a fistfight?” The Guardian slightly smiled under his mask. “No. All I needed was get you and Danior out of the building. You made that easy enough. Then while I kept the two of you idiots distracted, my man put the jammer on the bomb.”
Digesting his words, the sinister delight in Vixen’s voice was gone now. “It seems that there is more to you than meets to eye.”
“I’m blushing.” Without hesitating, The Guardian launched his knife. It cut through the air and went straight for Vixen.
With blinding speed, Vixen lifted her palm to face the dagger as it came at her. The blade stopped only inches from her chest and stayed there, but she kept her eyes on him. Her eyes turned red for a split-second.
“You think you’ve won? All you have done is delay this city’s doom. After I kill you, I’ll set the bomb off.”
“Don’t think you’ll get the chance.”
Vixen’s smile slowly returned as she menacingly raised her other hand to pummel The Guardian to death. As she did so, her wicked gaze looked down at the knife that still hovered near her.
“A poor last attempt to avenge William?” Vixen asked, laughing.
“Is it? Look again.” The Guardian remained unfazed.
Vixen quickly glanced down at the knife. At the bottom of the hilt was a small flashing red light.
The Guardian pushed a hidden button on his belt. “Enjoy hell…darling!”
Vixen looked up in terror. The blade exploded with a ball of fire engulfing every inch of her. Its roar was heard for miles, its light momentarily lighting up the sky in bright flashes of red and orange.
The Guardian turned away from the blinding light. As quickly as it began, it ended. Where Vixen had been levitating was now an empty space of smoldering air. Her burning corpse dropped down next to her partner’s.
The battle for Crown City was over.
With a deep breath of relief, The Guardian stared at the two corpses for a few, long seconds until the pain from his wounds diverted his attention. He let out a short groan as the sting slowly intensified. He then pulled out a small black device from his belt and spoke, his teeth clinched. “Adam, what’s your status?”
Through the small radio, Adam’s voice was heard. “The bomb is secure. The jammers working and it’ll be hours before any trigger will be able to activate the bomb. Police have been notified and a bomb squad will be here soon to disarm the device.”
“Police will be at the scene in ten minutes so you need to be out of there in five.”
“Got it.”
“You did good, Adam.”
“I should be saying that to you. It was your plan.”
“Can’t take all the credit, now can I?”
“Are you hurt?”
“Nothing that I haven’t lived through before.” Ethan paused for a moment. “Jonathan, you there?”
“I’m here, Ethan.”
“Good shot.”
“It was all for you.”
“You know it wouldn’t have hurt if you had taken it earlier though,” Ethan sarcastically said.
“I would have, if you would have gotten that tattooed creep to stand still,” Jonathan laughed
“Doing that was much easier said than done.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it.” There was a momentary silence. “Now that everything’s settled, mind telling me what exactly was going on, Ethan? Who were those people? How was that tattooed man moving like that? How did that woman stop my bullets? And how the hell was she flying?”
&nbs
p; Ethan slightly smiled. “That’s a story for another time.”
“Why not now?”
He looked towards the horizon. The slim ray of light had suddenly grown into a beam of radiance. Other streams of daylight were now coming over the horizon and joining it. The morning sunrise was just on the other side of the horizon and soon the bright sun would show itself. Its endless light would be shed on Crown City, bringing it out of darkness. This long and dark night would finally be over and everything would be at peace.
“Because right now, I want to enjoy the beautiful sunrise.”
Chapter 24
Leaving
One week later:
Ethan looked down at headstone he had only seen from afar.
William Thomas Jones
Loving Husband, Father, and Friend
“Hey, buddy.” Ethan whispered, then taking a deep breath. Ethan had never wept over William’s death. There had been too much revenge in his heart, but it was all different now. The hunger for revenge was gone, now replaced with a feeling he had not felt in a long time: peace.
At William’s funeral, the sky had been dark. But now, that was not the case. Now, the morning skies were clear for what seemed like the first time in an eternity.
Things were better than anybody could have hoped. The elections were near. The corrupt were on the run. Officials who had escaped justice for so long were facing charges or were already serving their time. Crime was all but gone at the moment. All that was left were petty thieves, and even they were almost too scared to do anything. The people were standing up for one another. Fighting for one another. Sacrificing for one another.
Villanueva was all but guaranteed to win the election, and Ethan knew that Villanueva wanted nothing more than to turn the nation of Tripton into a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. He wanted to use Tripton as an example of what the rest of the world should become.