Arena 4

by Logan Jacobs

  “Artie, pull up the train schematics,” I said as an idea formed in my head. “See if the train cars have maintenance hatches on the underside.”

  “They do,” Artie replied without having the check anything.

  “Okay, so,” I said and took a deep breath, “change of plans. PoLarr, you still take the gunship and fly around that train like you want to mate with it, right?”

  “Odd imagery, but yeah, I got it,” she said, “I’ll fly casual.”

  “Noice,” I nodded at her. “You have no idea how much I missed you the other night when the terrorists tried to kill the President. I made a sweet Back to the Future reference and nothing… crickets.”

  “We don’t need roads,” she smiled.

  “Exactly,” I exclaimed.

  “Um, Marc, can we get back to the task at hand,” Nova said purposefully. “The clock is literally ticking.”

  “Shit,” I scoffed. “Nova, Aurora, and I are going to race down the mountain on these sleds, slide under the train, and get on via the access hatches. Pretty cool, huh?”

  I looked back at my teammates who just stared at me in shocked silence.

  “What?” I asked innocently.

  “You want us to chase a hover-train traveling five-hundred miles an hour on those things?” Aurora asked with a cocked eyebrow.

  “Even for you, Havak,” Nova echoed, “that is insane.”

  “Guys, we don’t have time to argue,” Artemis reminded us. “You’ve burned three full minutes. While incredibly dangerous, Marc’s plan is actually tactically sound. If you don’t crash on the way down the mountain, that is.”

  “Thanks, Artemis,” I said and held up my hands. “See, easy.”

  “Oh, fuck it, why not?” Nova shrugged, walked over to one of the sleds, picked it up and moved to the large garage door opening in the hanger that lead to the mag-lev track.

  “Here, we’ll need these,” I said and tossed both Aurora and Nova sleek, form fitting helmets with jet black visors. They caught them easily.

  “You hate helmets, sugar,” Aurora noted.

  “Not as much as I hate having my face scraped off,” I replied. “I’d hate to ruin my best feature.”

  “Sugar, we all know that ain’t your best feature,” Aurora drawled wickedly.

  The ladies all looked at each other and smiled.

  “Word,” PoLarr said.

  “Noun,” Artemis replied through the comm-link.

  “Indeed,” Nova grinned.

  “Okay, let’s do this,” I said and slid the helmet over my head. A bright green HUD display blazed to life on the visor. I saw land speed, elevation, and wind direction readouts as well as a proximity alarm. “PoLarr, make as much noise as you can to distract them from our approach.”

  “Copy that,” she answered and put her mirrored aviator shades on as she climbed into the cockpit of the gunship. She tried to fit herself into the cramped pilot seat but her long legs and the bulk of the jetpack made it almost impossible. She quickly undid her harness and tossed the pack into the cargo hold of the gunship. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

  “Team Havak,” I said. I couldn’t keep the giddy grin from spreading out across my face. Sure, we were facing the dire fact that if we lost our alliance, hell, our family, was going to get split up, but goddamn if this wasn’t cool as fuck. “Let’s go steal some shit.”

  I grabbed a rocket sled and placed it on the mag-lev track. It bobbed up and down and then settled about four inches off the ground. My butt plopped down into the seat unceremoniously. I thought there was no graceful way to get into one, kind of like sitting down on the toilet, and then Nova and Aurora very gracefully got into theirs without any hint of awkwardness.

  We were laid out in a line. I was in the lead, Aurora in the middle, with Nova bringing up the rear. Her sled had to compensate more for her added mass but my HUD showed that she was well within the specs of the sled. In addition to my readouts, I could also see theirs and I assumed they could see mine.

  There was a full throated jet engine roar from behind us and a second later the gunship hovered above us. PoLarr shot us a quick thumbs up, a Top Gun grin, and then she hit the throttle and shot out of the hanger hell bent on catching a runaway train. She even did a fancy barrel roll spin just to show off before she disappeared around the side of the mountain.

  “Show off,” I muttered as I wrapped my fingers around the molded joysticks. The sled hummed to life. “Okay, O’Conner, time to live your life one quarter mile at a time.”

  I shoved the sticks forward and rocketed down the track.

  “Hoooooooollllllyyyyyy shhhhhiiiiiiitttttttt!” I yelled out in spite of myself.

  The mountain vistas blurred around my view as the sled accelerated to over five hundred miles an hour. A wire mesh vector frame appeared across my vision in the visor that showed me exactly the angle I took down the mountain. The sled hugged the track, and I realized that the joysticks weren't meant to steer whatever guidance systems was built into the overgrown Flying Arrow, they were for speed and height on the magnetic tracks.

  “This is just like Hamill Canyon back home,” Aurora squeed.

  “You did not just… Oh my god!” I grunted as the sled took a steep banked turn that had the sled tilt almost vertical. “I. Am. Going. To. Die.”

  “Oh show some backbone will you, Havak,” Nova teased.

  As we came around the bend into a long straightaway, I saw the speck of the gunship far up ahead. Blue blasts of stun-cannon fire lit up the area around the back of the train. It wasn’t doing much, but it made for a good show.

  “Okay, show time,” I said into my comm-link as I shoved both joysticks as far forward as they would go. “Wait for my signal once I’m inside.”

  My sled sank closer to the ground and jumped forward with a burst of new speed. The speedometer in my HUD display crossed the six hundred mile an hour mark.

  “PoLarr,” I said as I felt my stomach clench from the acceleration, “I’m coming in hot.”

  “Title of our sex tape,” she replied in the comm.

  “Do not make me laugh or I’ll be a freaking stain on the side of this mountain,” I warned her, even though it was a good burn.

  The sled closed the distance almost like the train was standing still. PoLarr kept up the barrage of cannon fire that lit the air around the train up like a fireworks show. I took an involuntary breath and held it as my sled shot under the train.

  The silence was sudden and eerie. The roar of the wind was gone, replaced by a soothing hum. If it weren’t for the ground rushing by in a brown green blur inches below me, I would have sworn I was standing still.

  I let the sled slide under three of the train cars until I got to the one we had agreed was the best point of entry. My thumb flicked a switch on the right joystick and the sleds autopilot came online which kept my speed and height steady. Above me was a rectangular hatch. A keypad near the top blinked red.

  “Artie,” I panted as my heart hammered in my chest, “what’s the code.”

  “Three two six three eight two seven,” she rattled off.

  Almost like I was in a dream, I watched my hand float up and punch the numbers in the keypad. The display went from red to green and the hatch slid open silently. Now came the tricky part.

  “Mind the gap,” I murmured, reached my hands through the hatch and with one fast strong yank, pulled myself up off the sled and into the belly of the train car.

  I was in a small crawl space, maybe a foot and a half high that was in between the underbelly of the train and the floor of the car. It was cramped but there was more than enough room to move around. I crawled to the edge of the hatch.

  “I’m in, Aurora, go,” I said and said a little prayer.

  Ten seconds later Aurora’s hands appeared through the hatch. I reached out and took hold of them and helped her into the crawl space.

  “That was a rush,” she said between deep breaths. “I think my Shriike was even nervous on that one.�
��

  “Okay, Nova, your turn,” I whispered into the comm-link.

  Aurora and I waited in silence. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.

  “Hellfire and sword hilts!” Nova cursed in my ear.

  “What?” I asked as fear shot into my belly.

  “I overshot,” she replied.

  “Her added mass,” Artemis explained. “She’s under the cargo car with the batteries.”

  “Okay, okay,” I nodded even though neither of them could see me. “We can work with that. Artie can you get her the code?”

  “Already on it,” Artemis answered.

  “Nova,” I continued, “get to the crawl space and chill until we get there. They will no doubt have it heavily guarded. Just be ready to pounce when you get the signal.”

  “Copy that,” she grunted. “Okay, I’m in the crawl space. Whew, that was exhilarating.”

  “Something like that,” I uttered and began to crawl toward the end of the train car.

  There was another hatch that slid easily without the need for a code. One after the other Aurora and I pulled ourselves up and into the car. As I had hoped, it was once again full of refugees.

  Unlike the last train car full of the bedraggled mass of alien desperation, these refugees were not surprised when Aurora and I stood up in their midst. Sure, they all still looked tired, worn, and scared shitless, but they weren’t terrified of us.

  “Um, hi,” I said with as friendly a wave as I could muster.

  “Hello,” a tall, skinny alien refugee said and walked over to me. “Word of what you and your friends did to help a train full of our brothers and sisters has spread. How can we aid you Team Havak?”

  “Oh, sweet,” I uttered. The idea had been to talk to them and see if they would go along with our crazy plan. I was expecting to have to turn the old Havak charm up to eleven, but this, well this made it that much easier. “Okay, first, I need to borrow some of your clothes and then we’re going to take a walk. All of us.”

  A nervous murmur spread through the refugees like a wave at a professional sporting event. The tall alien held up his hand and the rest of the refugees fell silent.

  “Whatever you need, we shall gladly offer,” he said and removed his threadbared overcoat. I shrugged into it and flipped its hood over my head.

  Behind me a woman gave Aurora a large shawl. She threw it over her shoulders so that it draped all around her. Another woman handed her a scarf with Aurora wrapped around her face and head. Other than her blazing purple eyes, she looked just like one of the refugees.

  “Okay, I think this is as good as it’s going to get, come on,” I said and motioned for them to follow me as I opened the train car door and moved out onto the small walkway between cars.

  The refugees hesitated. The tall one moved to the front and turned to his people.

  “We have faced the fear of death for as long as we can remember,” he said softly but with great power. “Our fates were not our own. Now they are. Do not let fear stop you from doing what is right.”

  He turned and walked through the door behind me. A moment later several other refugees followed. I nodded a small thank you to him. He nodded back with determined eyes.

  We all filed into the cargo car. It was full of medical supplies. The next car was the one with the Vexar Power Cores.

  Once again I moved out onto the platform and waited until most of the refugees were crowded around me.

  “Nova,” I said into my comm, “be ready. We’re coming in. Wait for my signal.”

  “Copy that, Marc,” she whispered.

  “Here we go,” I said to myself, twisted the handle, opened the door and stumbled into the train car with my head down.

  The rest of the refugees followed suit until the car was stuffed with us.

  Barrakus, who had obviously been stationed to guard the batteries, looked around like he didn’t know what the hell was going on.

  “What are you all doing in here?” he grumbled. “You are not supposed to be in here. Get out!”

  “Oh, oh, we are so sorry,” I said with my head down and shoulders slumped. I wasn’t sure exactly what accent I was trying to do because it came out as a mix between bad Russian and Irish but I didn’t want the big ugly yellow brute to know it was me. “We’re hungry and are just looking for food.”

  “There is no food here,” Barrakus growled as I moved behind them. The refugees crowded around and made it hard for Barrakus to maneuver. My hands snuck under the coat and slowly pulled the cool, familiar handles of my neutered SVAs from their magnetic sheaths. I may not have been able to use the axe blades, but they still packed a good wallop of stun energy.

  “Okay, that’s it, out!” Barrakus yelled and started pushing refugees back toward the door.

  “Nova, Aurora, now!” I shout whispered into the comm.

  The ends of my SVAs crackled with electricity as I pulled them from under the coat and shoved them into either side of Barakus' huge neck.

  Grizz had told us that they were susceptible to high voltage shocks and he had not been wrong.

  Barrakus’ whole body shuddered, went rigid as a board, and then fell over as if feld by some alien lumberjack. The second he hit the floor Aurora removed the scarf from around her neck and got close enough to the big brute’s face to kiss him. Blue life-force began to flow from Barracks' open mouth into Aurora.

  “Just a little, Aurora,” I reminded her.

  With an effort she closed her mouth and stood back up. Her eyes blazed from behind the scarf that she rewrapped around her face.

  “Boo, I hate having to stop a meal at just the appetizer,” she said, her voice slightly muffled.

  On the other side of the train car I watched the access panel in the floor slide away as Nova crawled through. I met her at the small refrigerator looking cabinet that held the fountain pen sized batteries. She began to feel around the back edge where it was connected to the wall of the train car. There was about a finger width of space around the edge before the welding melded the core of the cabinet to the wall. After watching Tempest try to cut through the thick, reinforced metal we’d decided it wasn’t even worth trying to do it that way.

  “Are you sure this is going to work, Havak?” Nova asked me.

  “No clue, but worth a shot, right?” I shrugged.

  “It could end up blowing us all sky high,” she added as she stuck both her hands into the small space between the wall and the back of the fridge. “You might want to back up. And cover your ears.”

  I backed away until I was up against the other side of the train and I motioned for the refugees to do the same.

  “Aurora,” I nodded to the sexy space Vampire. She threw up a dark matter shield over us. “Okay, as soon as Nova does her thing, continue with the plan. I’m going to run interference. As soon as you get everything set, take the refugees and meet me in the engine car.”

  “Got it,” both Nova and Aurora nodded.

  “Make things go boom, baby,” I said to Nova and covered my ears.

  The orange skinned knight errant closed her brilliant green eyes and concentrated. She took two long, slow, steadying breaths and I could feel the potential energy in her body hum as she converted it to kinetic power.

  The air around her hands rippled and there was a loud boom. Then the refrigerator looking cabinet popped off the wall, flew across the train car, banged into the shield of dark matter, and then clanked to the floor.

  “Ha! It worked!” I yelled. “You owe me twenty bucks, Artemis.”

  “I’m more than happy to pay you, Marc,” Artemis said through the comms. “The noise has drawn the rest of Hann-Abel’s crew's attention. You better move.”

  “You guys know what to do, right?” I asked Nova and Aurora.

  “We are on it, sugar, go,” Aurora nodded as she righted the fridge and opened its doors. She pulled out one of the gleaming, fountain pen sized power cores. It glimmered and glowed with power like a super charged glow stick. “All of this
trouble for these little things.”

  “They better be able to kick the Energizer Bunny’s ass,” I said as I took it from her fingers to get a better look. It didn’t seem like much. I put it in my pocket and ran through the door and into the next train car. It was empty except for several racks of baked goods. This was the strangest cargo train ever. I sprinted down the center, through the door, and into the next car.

  My combat senses screamed at me the second I set foot in the car, and I fell to my knees while I flung my upper body into a hyper extended back bend just as the blade of a vibra-sword cut through the air where my head had just been. My momentum kept me moving forward while I slid across the floor on my kees. My right hand reached out and touched the floor which spun me back around while I popped up onto my feet. The SVAs filled my hands almost as if by magic and I held one over my head ready to block and the other in front of my face ready to strike. The ends snapped and sizzled with forks of electricity.

  Vex stood before me, a vibra-sword in each hand.

  “You got lucky, human,” he said. His voice like a whisper from the Grim Reaper.

  “Some would say it’s my super power,” I quipped as I slowly inched backward down the length of the car. This one was an actual passenger car. Rows of seats lined the walls which were huge plas-glass picture frame windows. The gorgeous, far-away, snow capped mountains slowly moved from one window to the next just as the train sped down the track, the distance creating an optical illusion that we weren’t moving at all.

  “Consider me your Kryptonite,” Vex’s voice slithered into my ears as he began to twirl his swords in front of him in a complex and deadly pattern. I could almost sense the wicked smile on his face behind the dark helmet. He began to advance on me slowly, relishing the moment.

  “Ha…Wait, how the hell do you know who Superman is?” I asked, suddenly very curious.

  “I research all my opponents as well as their cultures so that I may better understand how to release them from the land of the living,” he answered from behind the blur of his sword blades.

  “Oh, makes sense,” I said and continued to back up until my back hit the train car door. Vex was maybe twenty-five feet in front of me near the center of the car, his blades a blur as they whirled around him. He was taking his sweet time.