by Joshua King
Aurora gave a soft moan of satisfaction and was lifting her mouth to mine when a crash somewhere in the building brought our attention to the door. Exchanging concerned glances, we hurried to get dressed as more of the loud sounds crashed around us. Voices broke through the sounds and I recognized them as Jaxxim and Bex. I’d just finished adjusting my clothes when the door to the office opened and the two men rushed in.
“Hayden, you need to get out here,” Bex said.
Jaxxim, still looking shaken and pale, met my eyes. There wasn’t a hint of hesitation or fear in his eyes. Whatever was coming, he was ready for it. I nodded and he backed out of the room. Aurora fell into step behind me as we streamed out of the office and headed back down the hall toward the office where the rest of the group still stood around the computer. Brielle was sitting up, one hand pressed to the side of her head as if she was had just awoken.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Bugs’ fingers were clicking furiously across the keys of the keyboard. His jaw was set so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if his teeth were at risk of breaking.
“There’s more,” he said. “It’s not just that one program.”
“What do you mean?”
“Darian designed it so there are several pieces of the same program hidden throughout the computer. They are masked as different aspects of the computer and other programs. It makes it so that if someone happens on the program,” one of his hands shot up like he was volunteering, “and figures out how to disarm it, it doesn’t actually destroy the entire control.”
“But Jaxxim. He feels the control of the tracker chip lessening.”
“Lessening, yes, but not going away. Look.”
He clicked a button and the screen changed. I looked at the indicator bars he had shown me earlier. What had demonstrated the control of the tracker chip dissipating now showed it getting stronger again.
“How is it doing that?”
“The backup pieces of the program have kicked in.”
“What do we do?”
“Find all the pieces and deprogram them. I’m on the fucking Easter egg hunt from hell here, Hayden, but I’m doing the best I can.”
There was another crash and I whipped around to face the door, my muscles tightening to brace myself for whatever was coming.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
Without waiting for anyone to answer, I ran out of the office and toward the sound. I’d only gotten halfway down the hall when the door at the end burst open and a wall of dark red shirts and red-lensed glasses formed between me and the stairwell. The Shades had arrived.
6
"I see you've gone back to your usual look," I said. "The hooded cloaks weren't working out for you? I guess they did make it easier for us to wipe you out on the train."
"What are you doing here?" the man in front, a Shade I didn't recognize, said in a low, grumbling voice.
"Just hanging out," I said. "Thought I'd get a cup of coffee. Maybe order in some pizza. Throw a sheet up on the wall and use a projector to have a movie night. We're thinking about doing a progression of all the wizard movies and pointing out the magical inconsistencies. Kick off your shoes and join us."
His expression didn't change.
"This is Darian's private floor," he said. "No one is permitted onto this floor."
"Then I guess you're breaking the rules, too, aren't you?"
"The Prime would be very angry if he knew you were on this floor of the Tower."
"He should have thought about that before he decided to send us an invitation we couldn't refuse. He brought us here to the Tower, so he's going to have to deal with what we do while we're here."
I turned around sharply and rushed back to the office. Slamming the door would only buy me a few seconds, but I needed to touch base with the rest of the group before the battle.
“They’re here,” Jaxxim said.
It was an acknowledgement, not a question, and I nodded at him.
“There’s not many of them, but you know as well as I do that doesn’t mean anything.” I looked over at Brielle. Her eyes were closed, but I could see the flickering of her eyes beneath her thin lids. “Bugs needs to keep working and Brielle isn’t strong enough to fight right now. We have to keep them safe.”
I met Ashe’s eyes and she gave a small nod. I flung open the door to see one of the Shades reaching out for the door handle. There was a rumble in his chest as he began to call out to the others, but I didn’t let him form words with his lips before blasting him directly in the chest with a magic-infused punch. His body sailed backwards several feet with the force, and he crashed into another Shade, knocking him over. I stepped forward and scanned left and right. There were at least twenty of them. More seemed to be piling in.
“Let’s fucking go,” I shouted.
Behind me I felt Ashe, Jaxxim, Stephana, and Bex rushing out the door, scattering to both sides of the large office and drawing themselves into the fight, catching Shades off guard. I turned to see Aurora standing by Bugs who was typing furiously into the three keyboards and muttering to himself. Our eyes met and I could hear her voice in my head.
“Careful.”
I smiled at her and winked before closing the door behind me. Aurora could be useful in this fight, but she was better protecting Bugs. Without Bugs getting the job done, we were toast, so we needed to know he would be kept safe. As long as I stayed near the door and Aurora was inside, I felt safe that Bugs would get as much time as possible. I just hoped he didn’t need a whole lot of it.
A Shade ran toward me, shoulder first, and I took the opportunity to side-step him. He crashed into the wall and I ran a few punches across his middle before jumping up and planting my knee in his face. My adrenaline was spiking so much my head hit the ceiling with the jump and I came back down hard on his fallen body. I had knocked him out cold with one knee. I spun around to examine the room and was amazed by what I saw.
My group was working together like a well-oiled machine. It had been just such a short time, but our connection had brought us together in a way that simple body language was enough for most of them to communicate. They didn’t need to shout instructions or beg for help. Each one of them seemed to know exactly what to do and had a second sense about when another needed help.
Stephana had run to the door the Shades were piling in from and when there was a lull, had wrapped a wire a few inches from the ground on the doorframe. I watched as she pulled a large hunting knife from her pocket and waited, crouched, behind the door. A moment later, a Shade came flying into the room, tripping on the wire and crashing into the wall opposite him. Stephana leapt into action, burying the knife in his eye and then diving back into position. As the Shade tried to stand, one eye completely missing, Bex charged forward with what looked to be a broken table leg. He impaled the Shade on one end and ran him into the wall, effectively sticking him like a thumbtack. Stephana ducked back into position without even acknowledging it and Bex turned to go find another Shade to fight.
On the other side of the room, Ashe ducked a punch from a rather large Shade, letting his fist punch into the wall and getting him stuck momentarily. She used the chance to kick him in the groin, hard, and as he ducked Jaxxim took over, kicking his head so hard an audible snap came from his neck and reverberated around the room. The Shade fell limp against the wall, his arm still stuck inside.
As I marveled at what our group had become, a swelling of pride and determination filled me. I felt stronger than I had ever felt before. I looked down at my hands and saw them glowing with white fire, and my legs vibrated with an urgency to move. I felt the iron taste of blood in my mouth, and my skin radiated heat. Sweat slicked my clothes to my body and my muscles rippled. This was the feeling of true power, true control, and true purpose.
I exploded forward, moving so fast the room became a blur, and I crashed into three other Shades. Suddenly, their movements slowed, and I felt like I had frozen time altogether. I moved
at what felt like my normal speed, crunching blows into their chests, smashing a kneecap with a well-placed kick, palm striking one’s jaw. Time suddenly reverted back to its normal speed and I could hear the crack of the kneecap, the snap of the jaw breaking and the neck bending in ways it was never intended at a speed that guaranteed the break of bones. I looked around me as the three dropped in unison, one dead, his neck snapped, another holding his chest like he was trying to hold his ribs together with his hands, and the third screaming in pain as he held a leg that now went in two different directions.
I planted my foot directly into the screaming one’s face and he went silent. I began to turn to look for more and what felt like an anvil hit me in the back of the head. I stumbled forward and felt it again, knocking me to the ground and blurring my vision. I turned on my back and saw a large mallet in the air. It was so big it reminded me of Thor’s hammer, and it was splitting the air, on a direct path for my face. I dodged in enough time that it crashed into the floorboards below me and the hulking Shade that flung it had to grip it with both hands to pull it back out. I rolled out of the way and looked to the side, seeing Jaxxim running toward me. I reached out toward him and pulled him with my magic. He flew through the air, increasing in speed, until he crashed feet first into the Shade’s head, dropkicking him to his back.
Standing up, Jaxxim looked at me quizzically. I had never used my magic on him before, and frankly wasn’t sure it would work, but there it was. He smiled and jumped in the air, pulling his fist back and I felt myself catch him in the air with my power and throw him hard into the fallen Shade. The Shade’s face caved inward as Jaxxim punched so hard I thought it would go right through the skull. The Shade fell unconscious and Jaxxim stood, shaking his hand off. A laugh escaped his lips and he tore off toward another Shade that was stalking Ashe.
There was a sound behind me, and I realized it was a door. I turned and saw the door to Bugs and Aurora open, several Shades barreling in. I scrambled to my feet, my head still ringing from the mallet that I was sure had split my skull, which was now working to repair itself, and ran after them.
“You!”
It was one of the Shades, his hand on Bugs’ shoulder while the other two were in the process of having their faces rearranged by Aurora. There was a moment of recognition on the Shade’s face before Bugs shrugged his hand off of him and returned his attention to the computer, seemingly unconcerned that the massive Shade was now pulling a short sword from his hip. I ran forward and grabbed at the blade while it was still in the air. I wrestled him down to the ground, our hands frantically pulling at the hilt of the sword. I slipped on a rug that the computer chair sat on and found myself on the ground, the Shade now on top of me, as the blade began burying itself longways into my neck.
“I got it! The entire program was deactivated.”
Bugs flung his hands in the air triumphantly, pumping one fist, and standing suddenly, sending the chair backwards. It tipped over, landing on the Shade on top of me, distracting him just enough that I was able to focus a blast of magic from my hands that shot like a bullet through him. His breath became labored and I tore the sword from his hands, tossing it under the desk where Bugs stood. It just missed his shoeless foot.
Grabbing the lapels of the Shade’s jacket, I rolled him over so that I was on top of him. His eyes were glazing over now, and I knew he was no longer a threat, so I looked up at Aurora. She was kneeling by one Shade while another was coming up behind her. I ran forward and tackled him into the wall. Laying in with punches, I felt him slowly lose the will to fight and collapse in a heap below. Standing, I reached out for Aurora, who took my hand and stood beside me. There was part of me that wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off right now, here in the middle of the fight, but I knew that would have to wait. I pulled her in and looked over to the group.
“Get our bags. Jaxxim, carry Brielle.”
“I’ll be fine,” Brielle said.
“You still look exhausted. I think all this is catching up with you.”
“No,” she said forcefully. “No one is going to be more vulnerable because of me. We need Jaxxim to fight. I will be fine.”
I nodded and we gathered our bags, pulling out weapons we hadn’t been able to grab before the fight.
“Follow us and stay behind Aurora,” I shouted to Bugs and Brielle, and they stepped into place behind us.
Opening the door again, I could see the fight was still rampaging. Stephana was now holding the door to the stairwell open and no one was coming through. She was waving her arms to us to get us to come to her and I knew this was our chance to escape, but I had something I needed to do first. Aurora and Bugs rushed past and into the open stairwell, Stephana closing in behind them. Ashe and Jaxxim were running toward me, a trail of broken bodies strewn across the room. I found one still moving and knelt down to him. Grabbing his shirt and pulling him up to me, I could sense he was nearly out.
“Where is he?” I yelled at him, but he was slipping away in my hands, eyes beginning to glaze over. I shook him until they focused on me again. “Why isn’t he here?”
“Who?” he asked, and I shook him again.
“Darian. Where is he? He forced us to come here. He sent you after us. Where is he?” I asked again.
The Shade’s face slacked and there was a spark of defiance before it faded away into defeat again.
“I don’t know,” he said, and with that, his eyes glazed again.
I shook him and yelled again, but it was no use. He was out. From the other side of the room, I could hear crashing, and Jaxxim’s hand landed on my shoulder.
“We need to go, Hayden,” he said, and I nodded.
I bolted upright and took off behind them, into the stairwell. The group was waiting for me when I got in, and I soon realized why. The sounds of footsteps pounding up toward us reverberated on the walls. I looked over at Jaxxim and he grinned. Together, we barreled down the steps toward the sound, the rest of the group behind us at a safe distance. Two floors down, we found them and crashed headlong into them without slowing. Jaxxim smashed one’s head into the wall and used his elbow to smash another’s face into a fine powder of broken bones. There were only five here, and I tossed one down the stairwell quickly, evening out the numbers to two left, one for each of us. Before they could attack, a burst of magic shot out of me almost without bothering to pass through my brain for a check-in first. It tore through them and they hit the ground in a slump.
There was no space to walk around the mound of Shade guards, so I climbed over them, my boots crushing down into their throats and chests. I turned to help Aurora and Ashe over, then Stephana and Brielle. Bex, Jaxxim, and Bugs scrambled over and we pushed ahead. Tension built as we moved further down the Tower. I waited for another wave of the guards to attack, but they didn’t come. Each landing we reached without more of the red-shirted men swarming us felt like a trick. It seemed like they were trying to make us feel like we won, like there were no other fights to fight, so we wouldn’t be prepared when we hit the lobby. It twisted my belly and made my fingertips tingle, but I wasn’t afraid. I wanted them to come. I craved more of the battle, to destroy as many of them as I could as we made our way out of the building.
We finally reached the final landing and I stared down the handle on the door. Taking a deep breath, I turned to look back at the seven people behind me.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
Bugs’ face popped around the side of Jaxxim’s arm.
“That might have been a good question to ask before we reached this point. I don’t think I was ready.”
I laughed.
“Well, you did just fine for not being ready.”
He smiled and slipped back behind Jaxxim.
“What do we do?” Ashe asked.
“Whatever we need to. Get through the lobby and out of the building. The tracker has been completely deactivated,” Bugs’ hand shot up above Jaxxim’s shoulder, presenting a thumbs-up, “so Darian i
sn’t going to be able to find us. But there could be more Shades around the building. As soon as we get out of the Tower, we need to get as far away as possible.”
“Where do we go?”
“The Shades are here,” Jaxxim pointed out. “That means cars.”
“Solomon’s Fang,” Ashe said.
I nodded and reached for the door handle.
7
We streamed out of the stairwell and had run halfway across the room before it sank in that no one else was there. The lobby was completely quiet and still around us and I hesitated.
“Are we in the Underworld?” I asked.
“What?” Aurora asked.
“The Underworld. Are we in the Underworld?”
“Yes,” Ashe said without hesitation.
“There’s no one here.”
“Don’t stop to think about it,” Jaxxim said. “You can’t hesitate. There’s always a reason and we don’t want to be hanging out here long enough to find out why. Just keep going.”
We ran out of the building and into the night. As soon as my feet touched the sidewalk beyond the glass doors, I was sure Ashe was right and we were still in the Underworld. I couldn’t really explain it. Just like it was intended to be, Solan City was an exact replication of New York. But there was something different about it, an intangible quality that settled into my bones when I was there. A row of black cars along the front of the building was the calling card of the Shades. I’d learned to look for the cars wherever the army of guards appeared. They traveled together in the endless fleet of gleaming black vehicles, and more often than not simply left them behind rather than worrying about them when they needed to retreat. Or when they died. That always made driving away from the battle more challenging.