Arena 4

by Logan Jacobs

  “You get a look?” I asked and brushed glass shards out of my hair.

  “Yeah,” she yelled over the roar of the wind. “Muerdock is a hell of a pilot by the way, to hold that thing steady, and they are jamming our comms. You notice that old school TV antennae looking thing just behind the cockpit?”

  “Um,” I had to think about it for a second. I hadn’t gotten a super good look at the scary looking Apache helicopter on steroids craft, but I thought I saw the thing PoLarr was talking about right behind the clear glass dome of the cockpit. “Yeah, I just thought he wanted to watch the local six o’clock news.”

  “Ha, funny,” PoLarr smiled. “That antenna emits an ultra-low frequency signal that scrambles our nanochip based comm signals.”

  “Anything we can do about that?” I asked. The more we just sat here and talked the closer Hann-Abel and his crew were to getting the power cores. We needed communications reestablished pronto.

  “Sure,” PoLarr winked, “I can fly over there, rip it off and shove it up Kermit’s ass.”

  “Kermit’s a boy,” I pointed out. “But I like it. Okay, you do that. I’m going to make my way to Aurora. See if she’s doing okay. I’m also worried about Nova.”

  “Okay, let’s rock’n’roll,” PoLarr said in a Cockney accent, activated her jetpack, and shot over the edge of the train car where she then disappeared. I heard the thump-thump of the stun-cannon and said a little prayer for her.

  I took a deep breath and went back into the passenger car. The refugees were still huddled and terrified. I tried to look as non-menacing as I could as I carefully walked through them on my way back to the car I’d mat-trans’d into.

  Once I was through the refugees, I started to haul ass. The rest of the train cars were full of various types of cargo. Everything from crates of electronic components to a car stacked floor to ceiling with toilet paper.

  Four cars laterm I burst through the door into the one that had the Vexar Power Cores. I saw the fridge that Aurora had mentioned before our comms went dead. The car was also full of twenty Tempest Dirks.

  One was trying to pick the lock on the fridge, while two others were using small, hand-held torches to try to cut through the thick metal joints where the fridge was welded to the side of the train car.

  The rest of them just kind of stood around looking sexy, and they all turned in unison and looked at me when I walked through the door.

  I didn’t see Aurora anywhere.

  “Hey Tempest,” I said with way more confidence than I felt. “You know, this is just like a dream I had in high school once, only it was Rebecca DeMarco, not you. Weird right?”

  The Tempest who was picking the lock chuckled after a beat and then a second later the rest of the Tempests did the same. The effect was very surreal.

  “You’re funny,” one of the Tempests said.

  “Part of my charm,” I quipped back and drew my H-9 on the nearest Tempest. “I’m gonna need you guys to move away from the Vexar Power Cores… you know what, batteries, I’m just gonna call them batteries.”

  “Right?” the Tempest picking the lock said. “Such a mouthful. And, we’re not going anywhere. Sorry to disappoint you, Havak.”

  The seventeen Tempests in front of me all pulled their own H-9s and leveled them at me.

  “Ha,” I muttered and stared down the business ends of seventeen pistols. It was a humbling experience to say the least. “Come on, Tempest, I’d hate to have to stun all of you.”

  “You can count, right, Havak,” lock picking Tempest said.

  “We’ve got you dead to rights,” another Tempest added.

  “Okay, who the fuck do I talk to?” I said a bit exasperated. “This is confusing.”

  “Oh, just shoot him,” one of the Tempests who was trying to cut through the metal at the back of the fridge said. “We don’t have time for this. The metal is too thick for these torches, and you suck at picking locks. Tell Hann-Abel it’s time for plan B.”

  The Tempest who’d been picking the lock made a face at the one who’d just spoken then held a finger to her temple and closed her eyes like Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies. Which was something I never understood. Why did he have to touch his temple every time he used his telepathy? Was there like a button there or something? But, I digress. There were more important matters at hand.

  “What you doing there Professor X?” I asked. I was trying to buy some time. Annoying my opponents with pointless banter was usually a good tactic.

  “She’s telepathically communicating with the Tempest that is with Hann-Abel since comms are being jammed,” a Tempest at the back said innocently.

  “God, shut up, Tempest!” another Tempest yelled back. “Tell him the whole plan, why don’t you?”

  “You shut up, Tempest,” the one at the back said and made a face. “You’re not the boss of me.”

  “Tempest!” Yet another one piped up. “Come on you guys, don’t fight.”

  “Stay out of it, Tempest,” still another one said. “If they want to fight, let them fight.”

  “Why do you have to be so mean, Tempest?” One in the middle of the pack said and looked like she was about to cry.

  “Enough,” lock picking Tempest finally said as she rubbed her face with her hands in frustration. “I knew I’d made too many of you.”

  “Trouble in paradise?” I asked and slowly moved back toward the door. I thought maybe I could get close enough and try to jump out before they stunned me into the middle of next week.

  “We kind of get dumber the more she makes of us,” a Tempest said.

  “Yeah, like a copy of a copy of a copy, you know?” The one in the back smiled at me.

  “We tend to start getting on each other’s nerves,” one of the Tempests who’d been trying to cut the metal of the fridge said as she turned off her torch.

  I was going to ask another question to keep them talking but there was an explosion, and the train car shook.

  “...I’m trying, Grizz!” I heard Artemis’ voice blare in my ear. “They’ve been jamming the signal… Oh, shit, we’re back up. Can you guys hear me?”

  “Uh-huh,” I murmured and hoped that the Tempests didn’t realize I wasn't talking to them.

  “Whew, okay, oh shit,” Artie said with fear in her voice. “Oh boy, this is bad. Um, okay, PoLarr, you need to get back in the train now! There is a tunnel coming up in about five seconds. Hurry!”

  “Your communications are back up, aren’t they?” Lock picking Tempest asked.

  “Nope,” I lied and shook my head. “Not at all. I can’t hear a thing. Hello? Hello?” I tapped my ear like it was a phone. “See, nothing.”

  “You are a shitty liar,” lock picking Tempest said and pulled her own H-9 and leveled it at my chest. She was about to pull the trigger when it looked like she got a horrible headache all of a sudden. All of them did. “Jesus, stop yelling! Oh, fuck…”

  And then everything went black as we rushed into the tunnel.

  My plan to stall until then had worked pretty well. I dropped immediately to a crouch and stunned the Tempest who’d been closest to me.

  The thick darkness lit up like a strobe from the blast of my gun. I used the light to shoot out my arm and catch the H-9 that fell from the stunned Tempest’s grip.

  “Party time,” I whispered and with a gun in each hand I dove to the left and loosed blasts from both pistols.

  Everything moved stop-motion movie fast as the blasts from the stun guns disco strobed the inside of the train car like a rave.

  Bright flashes of blue energy flew all around. I barely dodged several of the blasts as I dive-rolled into the middle of the Tempests. My hands acted as if they had minds of their own as the Ar’Gwyn took control.

  This is what it lived for, double-fisted firearm fury.

  With every pull of the trigger, another Tempest fell to the floor. They tried to shoot back, but I dodged and rolled out of the way.

  My pistols had become extensions of my bo
dy as my arms whipped out and sent blasts of energy flying all around.

  Through the whip-cut chaos, I thought I saw the tell-tale shimmer of Aurora’s veil behind lock picking Tempest who’d taken cover behind the fridge that held the batteries. I had to duck as a stun bolt flew over my head so close I could smell the burnt ozone of the blast as it sizzled the air around me.

  I pushed off and flew onto my back with my pistols held out in front of me and was about to start firing as fast as I could pull the trigger when the train came out of the tunnel and light flooded into the car.

  Aurora held lock picking Tempest in front of her in a lover’s embrace. Her mouth so close to Tempest’s that their lips almost touched. Light blue life-force floated out of Tempest’s mouth like breath on a cold day and into Aurora’s. A second later all the other Tempests in the room began to absorb into each other. One after the other after the other until the final one morphed back into the Tempest Aurora held in her arms.

  Before the Shriike that lived inside Aurora could consume all of Tempest’s life force, the blue-green skinned alien’s body flickered and then teleported out.

  Aurora’s blue geometric tattoos pulsed brightly with every beat of her heart. Her eyes blazed like purple stars, and I thought for a second she wanted to eat me. Then she blinked and grinned.

  “Quit laying around, sugar,” she drawled as if we’d just finished the first course of a lazy meal. “We have work to do.”

  “Give me a sit-rep, everyone,” Artemis commanded in my ear. She’d regained her composure since the comms had come back online.

  “PoLarr here,” PoLarr panted in my ear.

  “Status?” Artie barked.

  “I’m one car ahead of the refugees,” PoLarr grunted. “I’m okay, but my jetpack is burnt out. I had to push it past the limits to beat that tunnel. Almost bought the farm. Which I don’t understand as a saying at all.”

  I smiled. While she may have been banged up, if she was able to joke, then she was okay.

  “Marc and I have secured the Power Cores,” Aurora said and offered a hand to help me up. “Tempest is out of the equation for a while. She was delicious.”

  “Copy that,” Artemis replied. “Interesting mental image, by the way. Nova? Do you copy?”

  “I am a bit busy, ugh, at, rah, the moment,” Nova growled and grunted into my ear. “Could… you yellow brute… back up…”

  “I’ve got it,” I said as I changed power cells on my pistols. “Hold on, Nova.”

  “Aurora, you stay put and guard the Power Cores,” Artemis commanded. She’d really taken to this whole “girl in the chair” thing, and Green Arrow’s Felicity Smoak could eat her heart out.

  “Go, sugar, I’ve got this,” Aurora said as her hands blazed with dark purple energy. “I’m all full and ready for dessert.”

  I nodded at her and then took off toward the front of the train. It was an exercise in fast slow fast slow as I would sprint through the train cars and then have to move from car to car carefully.

  After what felt like an eternity, I finally reached the engine car. I burst through the door with both pistols up and ready for action.

  Nova was in a slugfest with the six and a half foot Barrakus. It was like watching Rocky fight Ivan Drago.

  Barrakus, while clearly stronger and bigger, was barely able to hold his own as Nova peppered him with blow after blow, but she was by far the better fighter and had him backed against the wall of the car like it was the ropes of a boxing ring.

  The inside of the engine car was a smashed mess. They must have been at this a while.

  I took careful aim and pulled the triggers on my H-9s. The energy blasts struck Barrakus on the shoulder and side and just washed over him like I’d shot him with a water pistol.

  Both he and Nova stopped fighting for a second and looked over at me. I smiled and shrugged.

  Nova shook her head and let loose with a mean right hook that connected with Barrakus’ jaw. His head snapped to the side, and I expected him to go down, but they turned their head slowly back toward Nova and grinned.

  “That tickled,” Barrakus growled and hit her with a surprise uppercut that rocked her back. I saw blood spurt from her lip and splash across the control panel of the train. She wiped it away with the back of her hand but before she could counter, Barrakus unleashed his own barrage of punches faster than I thought possible for someone of their size.

  My guns blazed as I tried to slow the onslaught but the blasts just bounced off Barrakus’ mustard yellow hide.

  “Nova, blast him,” I shouted as a particularly nasty punch to her stomach sent her to her knees.

  She nodded and brought her hands up to her head. I ducked into the corner of the room and covered my ears.

  Nova glowed briefly as she summoned the energy from her cells and then there was a loud boom. The concussive blast took Barrakus by surprise and flung him into the train's controls and then out the side of the train car in a spray of metal and electronics.

  The wind rushed into the engine car like a cyclone, and I felt the whole train lurch forward with a burst of speed which threw me back into the wall.

  I stumbled over to Nova. She tried to get to her feet but the last few punches from the big brute, and the force blast had left her drained and dazed.

  “Nova!” I had to yell over the roaring of the furious wind.

  “Took you long enough,” she muttered. “I’ll be okay. Just… drained. That was stronger than I had intended.”

  “Worked,” I said and helped her to her feet.

  “Marc,” Artemis came across the comm-link, “did Nova just blast Barrakus?”

  “With extreme prejudice,” I replied.

  “Did they happen to crash into the train’s controls?” She asked.

  I moved over to where the control panel had been. It was a sparking smoking mess.

  “Maybe…” I said tentatively.

  “Can you throttle back?” She asked with mounting fear.

  “Yeah,” I said as I looked at the pasta bowl full of smoldering wires and circuits, “that’s a no.”

  “Shit,” Artie cursed. “That’s bad. You guys just passed six hundred miles an hour.”

  “How far to the station?” I asked and hoped that we were close.

  “At your current speed?” Artie replied as she did calculations in her head. “Seven minutes.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said. “We can hold out for that long.”

  At that point, I heard the rush of a jet engine as the gunship flew overhead. Out of the front windshield of the train, I watched as it zoomed past us until it was a speck on the horizon. A tiny little black dot fell from its belly and then there was a huge purple flame explosion. The gunship then flew back like a blur.

  “That couldn’t have been good,” I muttered.

  “No, that was very, very bad,” Artemis anxiously replied. “They just took out the bridge over a gorge.”

  “Marc, you better get back here,” PoLarr urged in the comm-link.

  “Yeah, Havak,” Hann-Abel’s voice came across the comm. “We’re having a little party, and you’re invited.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I said to no one in particular.

  “Go, I’m right behind you,” Nova grunted and steadied herself.

  I nodded and then ran as fast as I could toward the back of the train.

  When I got to the car with the batteries, I noticed that Aurora was nowhere to be seen.

  “Aurora?” I called out without breaking my stride. There was no answer. There was, however, a loud clank and tearing of metal as six large claw-hooks pierced the sides of the car near the roof. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that’s where Muerdock had brought the gunship.

  “Shit!” I fumed and continued my trek to the tail end of the train.

  A few precious seconds later, I flung the door of the passenger car open and stopped dead in my tracks.

  Vex, the shadow like Necrowraith stood behind Aurora with one of his glow
ing vibra-blade swords held a hair’s breadth from her throat. Her eyes blazed with energy and were full of contained anger. Hann-Abel stood with his pistol pressed point blank into PoLarr’s temple at the other end of the car. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, and his pipe poked smugly from the corner of his mouth.

  “Hail, hail, the gangs all here,” he gloated. “Come on in, make yourself comfortable. Have a seat. Oh, and drop the guns.”

  I didn’t move. I had one gun aimed at Vex's helmeted head, and the other held steady on Hann-Abel’s face.

  “Now, now,” Hann-Abel taunted. “My sneaky friend Vex here managed to smuggle his actual vibra-blades into this match. He’s tricky that way. And while the attractive alabaster Aurora may get mat-trans’d out in time, it would be a shame if his sword nicked her carotid before she did. And I have no idea what will happen if I pulled the trigger on this here stun gun at such close range to PoLarr’s pretty face.”

  “Just shoot the fucker, Marc,” PoLarr spat. Hann-Abel pressed the barrel of the gun into her head so hard her skin puckered around the circular edge.

  “Tick tock, Havak,” Hann-Abel teased.

  I dropped my guns and sat next to several refugees who were frozen with terror. I could smell it coming off them like desperate perfume. Once again these people were caught in a conflict that had nothing to do with them.

  “Good boy,” he said as he drug PoLarr with him until he stood next to Vex.

  The roof of the train car tore away in a blur as a red laser torch burned it to slag. Vex used his other hand to unleash an arrow into the air. It had a long filament cable attached to the back end.

  “Decisions, decisions, Havak,” Hann-Abel grinned. “We’re going to go take those power cores now. You can either try to stop us, or figure out how to uncouple this car before all these fine folks plummet to their death.”

  Just then Nova burst in. She was exhausted but still ready to fight. I saw her gather what little energy she had left to unleash another concussion blast.