Arena 4

by Logan Jacobs

  “No!” I shouted, and she reluctantly stood down.

  “Wise choice,” Hann-Abel said as he grabbed a strap on Vex’s back.

  Vex pushed Aurora to the floor and before any of us could react he and Hann-Abel flew up and out of the hole in the roof.

  “I love it when a plan comes together...” I heard Hann-Abel’s voice trail off.

  A moment later there was the horrendous sound of metal screaming and the whole train rocked on the track. Then I saw the gunship fly by with part of the cargo car trailing behind it held by a giant metal claw.

  I didn’t have time to cry over spilled Vexar Power Cores.

  “Marc!” Artemis cried in my ear. “The train is going over the gorge.”

  I knew we’d teleport out before we died, but I doubt the refugees would be given the same reprieve.

  “Nova,” I barked, “use your concussive blast to blow the car coupling. Aurora, make some dark matter brakes and slow us the fuck down. PoLarr, can you use the jetpacks chute?”

  “Yeah, it should still be functional,” she responded and ducked out the back door onto the platform. I saw her start to unbuckle the straps, shrug out of the pack, and fix them to the metal railing.

  I jumped and ran to the front of the car to meet Nova. The wind whipped at us relentlessly. Nova put her hands on the coupling.

  I climbed the little ladder on the side and poked my head over the top of the roof. Through bleary, squinted eyes I saw the train disappear into the abyss ahead of us.

  “Blow it now!” I shouted, turned and jumped back toward the door.

  Nova let loose with the last of her energy. The blast obliterated the metal coupling and slammed me into the train car next to her. I saw black-purple energy wrap around the train car’s electromagnets to redirect them and try to slow our acceleration. At the same time, two rectangular parachutes with Death Angel symbols on them deployed from the caboose.

  For a moment it seemed like my plan wasn’t going to work, and the refugees screamed in fear.

  Sweat popped out on Aurora’s face as she strained with the effort.

  Then we began to slow and the train pulled away in front of us. Inch by inch at first and then faster and faster as our acceleration drained away. We finally came to a stop inches from the end of the track as the rest of the train sailed over the edge of the gorge into nothingness.

  There was a moment of silence as everyone took a deep breath. Then the refugees cheered. A little girl, her face dirty and dressed in rags hugged me tightly around the neck.

  “Thank you,” she said in a tiny voice.

  “Welcome, kiddo,” I smiled back at her as I felt my molecules tear apart and I was beamed back across the galaxy.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Twenty-five minutes and forty-eight seconds,” Grizz said softly as he read the number from the display screen on our wall. It was emblazoned there in bright red letters. “Well, we have our work cut out for us. When is our turn for assaulting the train?”

  “Day after tomorrow,” Artemis answered.

  We were all huddled around the Command Center as per usual. Nova sat at the desk and sipped on a sports bottle full of Blue Betty. Aurora had a small bandage on her neck where the vibra-blade had actually nicked her. PoLarr had her jetpack laid out and was wrist deep in its guts.

  “That… could be better,” Grizz grumbled. “What happened at the end, Havak? Why did you not stop Hann-Abel? You had a clear opportunity.”

  “Sorry, everyone,” I said. I was unhappy that I had seemingly let the team down.

  “Grizz, Havak made the correct choice,” Nova spoke up. “None of us expected there to be a train car full of actual refugees.”

  “Yeah, it was not their fault that they got dragged into someone else’s fight,” Aurora echoed.

  “If he didn’t do it, I was going to shoot him,” PoLarr said without looking up from her jetpack.

  “Yeah, Grizz,” Artemis said softly. “There really was no choice.”

  “Artemis,” Grizz began, “there is always a choice… and, I must admit, Marc made the correct choice. I would not have been able to do any differently. Hann-Abel was shrewd in using them. Tactically brilliant. Morally bankrupt.”

  “Well, that about sums up that son of a bitch,” I grumbled.

  “Alright, well, we cannot change what has already been,” Grizz said, his face a mask of determination. “We can learn from their mistakes and make them our advantages.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Nova said as she sipped her drink. She looked much better than she had when we first mat-trans’d back to the gym after the match.

  “What is this ‘learning from mistakes’ of which you speak?” I asked as if the words didn’t fit right in my mouth.

  “It would be the thing you seem to never, ever, do, Havak,” Grizz shot back, but I saw the smallest tinge of a smile on his big, ram horn framed face.

  “Right,” I joked. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it I always say.”

  “One, you never say that,” Grizz said, confused, “and two, it is broken. That is what I am saying. You are broken, human. Horribly, horribly broken on the inside.”

  “Gah, I wouldn’t go that far, Grizz,” I disputed. “I mean, yes, horribly broken I will give you. But not, horribly, horribly broken.”

  “I… you… By Great Magnar the Moldy, I am getting too old for this shit,” Grizz sputtered out and put his holographic head in his plate-sized holographic hands.

  “Ha!” PoLarr and I exclaimed loudly and laughed.

  We didn’t get to enjoy the moment for too long because the door of our gym opened, and a small round sphere floated in and over to the Command Center. A second later Tyche appeared before us.

  “Good afternoon, Team Havak,” the elegant hologram greeted us. His standard British accent was as crisp as freshly dried linen.

  “Hey,” I threw over my shoulder without really giving him the time of day. Nova, Aurora, and PoLarr followed my lead and half-heartedly greeted him, but Artemis and Grizz snapped to attention. Grizz actually bowed slightly in reverence.

  “Tyche,” Grizz said formally, “to what do we owe the honor of your illustrious visit.”

  “Ah, glorious Grizz,” Tyche said with a smile that rang two-shades false. “Your team performed adequately today. May the fates be in their favor the day after tomorrow when it shall be their turn to try to steal those pesky power cores.”

  I watched Grizz’s face fall ever so slightly. The big oaf wore his heart on his sleeve, even though he hardly ever had sleeves on, and, while Tyche hadn’t really said anything bad, his tone conveyed one of disappointment. Oh, and he completely ignored Grizz’s question.

  “Tyche, it is an unexpected pleasure to see you,” Artemis added. The way she emphasized “pleasure” let me know that it was anything but.

  “I imagine it is,” Tyche nodded to her. “However, I am not here to join you in your banal chit-chat--”

  “Ouch,” I muttered. This guy was a master at the insult disguised as normal conversation.

  “The passive aggressive is strong with this one,” PoLarr whispered softly as she moved over to where I leaned on the table. Nova and Aurora had also unconsciously gathered around me so that we were all together. Almost like we were circling the wagons against a foe.

  “I’m sorry, what was that, Ms. Inarra?” Tyche asked as he turned his head toward us.

  “Oh, nothing, just commending Marc on his aggressiveness today during the match,” PoLarr covered nicely.

  “Ah, yes,” Tyche smiled. His perfect holographic teeth gleamed. “At least one of you was. You performed well, today, but I had imagined that one with your lineage would have wanted to make those who trained you proud.”

  PoLarr flinched as if she had been struck.

  “Wow, okay, so I’m sure we could banter like this all day long,” I said and stood up to my full height as I took a few steps toward Tyche, “and that would be great fun, but, why are you here, T
yche?”

  “Yes, the nature of my visit today,” he smirked as if trying to remember. “Ah, Champion Havak, you and a guest have been invited to the Gala this evening in honor of the President’s visit.”

  “I thought we were all already invited to that?” I asked and felt my face screw up in confusion.

  “You were,” Tyche replied smugly. “But after today’s… performance, I thought it would be impolite not to invite Hann-Abel and his team. They did such a commendable job. Alas, attendance is limited, so it shall be you and a guest of your choosing.”

  While he talked, he had walked leisurely back to the door.

  “Thank you, Tyche,” Artemis said and followed him. “For the visit and your invitation.”

  “Do not mention it, Artemis V-Five,” Tyche brushed her off. “You have your work cut out for you, although, I am sure you will assist Team Havak in rising to the challenge in forty-eight hours. Good day to you all.”

  Artemis opened her mouth to say something more but Tyche turned and strode out of the room without another glance.

  “Okay, what the fu--” I started to ask but was cut off.

  “That is all for today, Team Havak,” Grizz practically growled. Whatever good feeling we’d been able to eke out after the match was all but gone. Tyche’s five minute long visit had put a blanket of doubt over us like we were an unmade bed. “Tomorrow we redouble our training.”

  Grizz turned and walked off. He disappeared right as his hologram would have strode into the wall of our gym.

  I looked at my alliance mates. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. And they didn’t look like good ones.

  “Ladies, ladies,” I said jokingly with my hands held out in front of me as if to shush a rowdy audience, “don’t everyone jump at once to see who will accompany me tonight.”

  “I am exhausted,” Nova sighed and killed her sports bottle of Blue Betty. “I wish to wear sweatpants, eat a gallon of frozen cream and sugar, and go to bed tonight.”

  “Me too, sugar,” Aurora added. “I shall have a long bath with a large glass of wine in blissful solitude.”

  “Okay, well--” I started to say. I had a joke primed and ready to go but didn’t get the chance to say it.

  “Fuck, I want to go, but I need to fix my jetpack,” PoLarr grunted.

  “What about the second one I used the other night?” I asked. “Couldn’t you use that, or the old model?”

  “I need to understand why this one malfunctioned,” she sighed as she set her blue eyes on me. “The issue might be in the other one too. The old model worked great, and I’ll use it if I can’t figure out what happened to this one, but this one has much better technology, and I feel like we are going to need it. Sorry.” Then she picked the wings up off the table and walked out of the gym without another word.

  “Marc,” Artemis said as she walked over to me and put her head on my arm, “I’ll go with you tonight.”

  “Thanks, Artemis,” I said and then brought my lips down to her ear and whispered, “I was going to take you anyway.”

  “We should go get ready,” Artemis smiled weakly at me as she checked the time on her wrist-computer. “The Gala starts in a little over an hour.”

  “You two sugars have a fun night,” Aurora yawned. “Be careful.”

  “Speaking of careful,” I mentioned as I walked over to our weapons locker, “After the other night of surprises, I am not going out tonight without some protection.”

  I punched some information into the keypad next to the dumb-waiter looking cubicle set in the wall. It hummed and buzzed for a few minutes and then the door slid open and a tray full of goodies extended.

  “Who says they screw you at the drive-through,” I quipped as I glanced over the items I’d ordered up.

  There was a customized Glock 34 Combat Master pistol with three twenty-three round magazines, a sleek black polymer multi-fit concealment holster, a two-pouch clip holder, an exact copy of a Microtech Ultratech Out the Front spring bladed knife, and two boxes of 9mm Hydra-Shok ammo. The weapons locker was even kind enough to put everything in a fancy foam-core briefcase for me. I shut the case and locked it.

  “Okay, let’s go get dressed to kill,” I smirked at Artemis who looked at me like I was crazy.

  She and I made our way quickly to my apartment since we were under a time crunch.

  After a visit to the Spiff-O-Matic 2000 I was just about ready to go. The Gala was apparently fancy dress, so I’d had Woodhouse prepare a suitable suit for me to wear with a few special modifications added.

  Twenty minutes later, I was decked out in a charcoal gray single-breasted two-button suit with a matching five-button vest, dark gray shirt, and tie. My party favors were in place, with the Glock snuggly at my right hip in the carry holster, and the extra-magazines on my left hip. The suit jacket had double vents on either side so that I could get the gun and mags quickly. The knife was clipped to the inside of my left pocket and was so slim and sleek that you couldn’t even see it.

  “Keanu may have worn this first,” I said to my reflection as I took one last look in the mirror, “but I make it look good. Havak, you are a dork.” I laughed at myself and then walked into the living room to wait for Artemis.

  A moment later she walked in, and I felt my breath catch in my chest and my heart skip a few beats.

  She was decked out in a long, flowing, split front, V-neck black dress that hugged each and every one of her curves like a Formula One car. Her dark brown hair was done in a loose updo with several long curls that framed her face. Her makeup was all neutral tones with subtle yet noticeable gold and tan glitter eyeshadow, and mauve lipstick. A matching black clutch bag and perfect imitation Jimmy Choo Crystal Bootie pump three-and-a-half inch heels.

  “Do I look okay?” She asked with a small smile. “I kinda just threw this together.”

  “Shut up,” I said and kissed her gently on the cheek. “Artemis, you look stunning, as always.”

  “Thank you.” She blushed.

  “We should get a cab,” I said and checked my watch. It was another exact replica, down to the serial numbers, of a Rolex Submariner watch. I’d always wanted one since seeing Sean Connery wear one as James Bond and Woodhouse and the anti-matter printer had performed magnificently.

  “Actually, sir,” Woodhouse, speak of the devil, said from the kitchen, “there is a limo waiting downstairs for you.”

  “Oh, freaking sweet,” I said. “Let us go forth… to a stuffy Gala where important people will be patting themselves so hard on the back, they may throw out their shoulders.”

  “Um, Marc,” Artemis grinned, “I think you mean fondle their spine. That other saying makes no sense whatsoever.”

  “Actually… Nope, you are one hundred percent correct, Artie,” I almost corrected her. After seeing her reactions to Tyche do the same, I let her have the small victory.

  We left my apartment and took the elevator down to the lobby.

  “Oh, well don’t you folks look fancy tonight,” Hank, the kindly gold-skinned head concierge commented as we walked through the lobby.

  “These old rags?” I said with mock-humility.

  “You kids enjoy your night out,” he smiled at us.

  “Thanks, Hank,” Artemis said and winked at him.

  We continued through the lobby and out to the stretch hover-limo idling at the curb. The door opened automatically, and we got in.

  “Marc, Artemis, you look tremendous, absolute tens, both of you,” The President of the United States said as we sat in the butter soft leather seats.

  “Gah!” I exclaimed despite myself. “Mr. President, I didn’t know we were accompanying you.”

  The POTUS and his Daughter sat across from us in the back of the limo. He had on his typical blue suit and red tie. His Daughter wore an iridescent purple, draped, evening gown with bead embellished straps and cascading ruffles.

  “Of course you are,” he responded as if I had said the dumbest thing in the world.
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br />   “Right,” I uttered, at a loss for words, which was rare. “How was your day? You find what you were looking for?”

  “Fantastic day, Marc,” he answered, cutting his Daughter off as she opened her mouth to speak. “Tremendous. Top notch. Amazingly top notch.”

  “We found a perfect building to renovate,” the DOTUS continued. “In fact, it’s where the Gala is being held tonight. I believe it is called the Galaxy Spire.”

  “Oh, really,” Artemis chirped. “That is one of the oldest structures in Valience City. A wormhole experiment gone horribly, horribly awry demolished the top ten floors a few years ago.”

  “We got it for a great price,” the POTUS bragged. “I cut a deal. I’m a fantastic negotiator.”

  “The best day,” his Daughter said and patted him on the arm. “We traded Earth’s prize when you win the next match for it.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I sputtered.

  “When you win the next match,” the President confirmed, “which I know you will do great on. Few stumbles today, obviously, but I know you will do fantastic on the next one. All the confidence in you.”

  “Uh, thanks?” I uttered, very surprised. “Didn’t know you could do that.”

  “First time it's ever been done,” he boasted. “I’m a trendsetter. I have tremendous things planned for that, okay. The marquee is going to be the size of a football field. Literally.”

  “Wow,” Artemis marveled. “That is something else.”

  I was going to ask more questions, but the door of the limo opened and a slender-necked, lime-green female alien poked her head into the car.

  “Hmm, Mr. President and entourage, welcome, welcome,” she said in an odd, but pleasant humming voice.

  “Holy shit, we’re here?” I said surprised. “That was quick.”

  “We’re only five blocks from the apartment,” Artie explained.

  With much fanfare, we got out of the limo and followed the POTUS and DOTUS inside the building. There were camera-bots all over the place and tons of press surrounding a long, red carpet. It was like an Earth movie premiere.