“Roger that. The firing came from there,” Daniel answered, pointing to the right.
“I’ll cover you.”
Chase stuck his right arm through the opening and started blindly shooting in the direction where they thought the sentries were. At the same moment, Daniel slid on the ground and shot multiple times. There were three sentries that he dispatched in no time, and the next second, the firing stopped.
Daniel got up and Chase followed him. There were at least ten convicts lying dead in pools of their own blood in the corridor, and a few more sentries besides those Daniel had destroyed lay in spiked piles of sparking metal on the ground.
“I thought Hellstar was inescapable?” Daniel said incredulously.
“Getting out is the challenge. Our enemy must have blasted his way in and let the general population escape. That way, he wouldn’t be the main center of attention. That’s what I would have done, anyway.”
Daniel gave him a look. “Let’s get to general population as fast as we can then.”
They ran down the corridors, encountering more sentries, but thanks to their body armor and laser rifles, they dispatched them without too much trouble. A few moments later, they stood in front of a reinforced gate that had a huge hole in the center of it, large enough for people to pass through.
“I guess we know how they entered the prison,” Daniel said conversationally.
“Yeah, not very subtle.”
“Look at the bright side: I’m not sure any of our grenades would have even made a dent in this gate.”
“Yeah, they probably wouldn’t have,” Chase conceded.
They went through the hole just in time before another set of convicts came from the other side, getting shot at by multiple sentries. They quickly jumped out of the way and found cover. They engaged the sentries, but there were too many of them and soon the two were pinned down. Fortunately, the convicts running all over the place in a frenzy gave the sentries many targets to shoot at, buying them a little time.
“What do we do now, Chase?” Daniel shouted over the noise.
“Keep firing. I’ll think of something.”
* * *
As Ryonna, Ronan, and Tar’Lock progressed back the way they came, they heard the wailing of the sirens.
“That can’t be good,” Tar’Lock muttered.
“Agreed,” said Ryonna. “Let’s pick up the pace.”
They started sprinting as fast as they could, but they could hear laser fire and people screaming all over the place. They didn’t know what was happening but it sure sounded like trouble. Soon, they reached an intersection and took a left. They were still sprinting when suddenly two figures appeared in the distance. A man and a woman running towards them. Ryonna swore she recognized Sarah and stopped short. She couldn’t tell if the man was Chase; he looked like him somehow, but something was off.
“What is it, Mom?”
“I know that woman… but something’s not right.”
The pair stopped running and started to walk in their direction.
“Ronan, Tar’Lock, be ready to fight!”
“Understood,” said Tar’Lock. Ronan nodded.
Ryonna swayed herself into a fighting stance as Sarah and the man that looked like Chase stopped a few feet away. The man stepped forward even further with a hard smile.
“I presume you are Ryonna?”
“Who the hell are you?”
“My name’s Argos. I am Chase’s brother.”
She frowned warily. She didn’t like the look of this man. “Why isn’t he with you?”
“He had other business to attend to. Droxia is under attack from the Obsidian Empire and he sent me in his stead.”
Inside her mind Sarah tried screaming all she could, but nothing happened. She could scream at Argos, however. He could hear her.
“You son of a bitch, why are you doing this?!”
“What did you expect? Would you rather I shoot them on sight?” he answered her mentally, keeping a fixed smile on Ryonna. “No, I need them as bait for your boyfriend.”
Ryonna didn’t look convinced at Argos’ statement. Instead, she looked at Sarah. “Are you alright, Sarah? What are you doing here?”
“We came looking for you, of course,” Sarah’s voice answered beyond her control. “We told you we’d help you as soon as we could.”
“I had a plan to get out of here,” Ryonna fumed. “You might have jeopardized it now.”
“It’s alright, Ryonna, we have a way out. And I see you found your son,” the possessed Sarah offered sweetly.
“Yes, but we need to go. Soon this place will be crawling with deadly sentries.”
“Right, follow us, we have a ship waiting.”
Ryonna felt a weird sensation in her gut. Was it her instinct trying to tell her something was off, or was it just the nanite factory acting up? She decided that under the circumstances, she had very little choice anyway.
“Lead the way.”
C H A P T E R
X
“Chase! How’s that plan coming? We’re pinned down here.”
Laser fire grazed Chase’s cheek and he took cover again. “Thanks for reminding me. I hadn’t noticed!”
“We need to make a hole, or we’ll get stuck here,” Daniel shouted over the noise.
“Alright, prepare to cover me in three, two...”
Chase took the grenade from his belt.
“One... Now!”
Daniel started laying cover fire while Chase sent a grenade flying in the air. He then jumped on his side, aligned his shot, and fired at the grenade once it reached the multiple sentries. It exploded and took out three of them as well as pushing the others out of the way. Chase and Daniel took advantage of this opportunity and picked off the rest of them with precisely laid laser shots. With most of the sentries now destroyed or disabled, they continued firing until every sentry in the area was annihilated.
“About time! How long did we get stuck here, do you think?” Daniel panted.
“I don’t know, but way too long. I’m not even sure if the ship is still cloaked.”
“Yeah, that’s also my concern. What if it isn’t?”
“I’ve programmed the onboard computer to lock the canopy and raise shields if anyone besides us approaches it.”
“Good thinking. But if the black fighter fires on it, surely shields won’t last too long.”
“They’re a better design than our Manticores and F-140s, but I agree, they probably wouldn’t last very long.”
Daniel shook his head dismissively. “Later,” he instructed. “Where to now?”
“I’d say this way.” Chase pointed to a corridor nearby.
They started walking towards it when they heard footsteps and five shadows appeared.
For the second time that day, Chase stopped dead in his tracks.
Was he dreaming?
The first person he saw was Sarah, next to Ryonna and what probably was her son standing behind her. On their left was also an insectoid.
But it was the last member of their party that made his blood run cold. There was no mistaking it. It was the man from his nightmarish vision.
Argos took a step forward and looked straight into Chase’s eyes, not saying a word. Chase’s heart pounded so strongly against his ribcage he thought it might break through.
Daniel looked at Argos, then back at Chase.
“Who the fuck is this guy? Why does he look like you?”
Ryonna stepped forward. “I thought Chase was supposed—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Argos flipped his left hand. Ryonna flew through the air and crashed against the nearest wall.
“Mom!” Ronan ran towards her and kneeled by her side. She was unconscious and bleeding from the left temple where she hit the wall. The young Droxian got back up and started running towards Argos, who flicked a finger and sent him crashing into the same wall as his mother. With a dull moan, he landed unconscious on top of her.
&n
bsp; Daniel and Chase didn’t wait to react. They both took aim at Argos and fired multiple shots with their rifles. But Argos put his hand in front of him and stopped every one of the shots with an invisible shield. He then made a fist and both rifles exploded in their hands.
“What the hell?!” exclaimed Daniel, looking at his singed hands.
The insectoid teleported to their side. Chase cast him a look.
“Friend or foe?”
“I’m Ryonna’s friend. My name is Tar’Lock.”
“Alright then.” Chase gathered his thoughts quickly. “Sarah isn’t to be hurt, no matter what she does.”
“Understood, but she seems in cahoots with him.”
Argos lowered his hand and spoke. “Hello, brother.”
“You are no brother of mine.” The anger in Chase’s voice was thick.
“All evidence to the contrary.”
“What do you want? Is Sarah your prisoner?”
“More like a partner.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“Everyone has a breaking point, Chase, even Furies like us.”
A thick rage started to engulf Chase’s body. He could feel a tremendous amount of power run through his blood, every part of his body under so much pressure it was about to explode.
“Daniel, Tar’Lock, this asshole is mine.”
Argos just laughed in response. “Do you think you can take me? Come on, bro, show me what you’ve got.”
A second later, two blue fireballs blazed in Chase’s hands.
“Kick his ass, Chase!” Daniel called.
“With pleasure.”
Chase’s eyes shined bright purple. He launched the first fireball, then immediately launched the second towards Argos’s head. But quick as they were, Argos blocked both of them with each of his palms, crushing them in quick succession.
“Thanks for the power up, Chase. Not that I needed it but…”
A second later Argos disappeared then re-appeared behind Chase, smashing his elbow against his younger brother’s face. Chase smashed into the ground, coughing up blood.
“That’s all you've got? I’m disappointed,” Argos said with a smirk.
Chase thought that his blood was in danger of literally boiling over, but he remembered what Aphroditis had told him. He had to control his rage or it could have catastrophic results.
“Or maybe you’re afraid of hurting your friends?” Argos guessed.
Chase’s eyes flashed to his brother’s face in fear. Could he read minds?
“Let me help you here then. I don’t want you distracted.”
“Wait—”
Bur Argos got into a stance and pushed both his hands to the side. A powerful shockwave sent everyone but himself and Chase flying in every direction. Daniel crashed against the floor, Sarah was propelled backwards, and Tar’Lock’s body hit a rock formation nearby with a crushing sound followed by an agonized moan.
Then Chase lost control.
He screamed so loudly that the rock formations around him started to crack. The amount of energy being emanated from his body unhinged small rocks and floated the destroyed sentries and sent them flying around him. Argos looked up at the destruction, but before he could react, Chase was flying in the air, crashing down on him with hands joined atop his head and smashing him into the ground.
Chase didn’t wait for him to get up. He kicked him in the face, and Argos flew in the air. Chase caught him in mid-air and squeezed his hand around his throat, using an enormous amount of pressure. Argos was clearly suffering, but he kept smiling. He kept smiling right until the moment that Chase sent him crashing into a nearby wall with a well-placed and powerful kick to the thorax. Parts of the wall cracked under the impact with Argos’ body.
“Very good, brother!” he shouted, spitting blood onto the ground. “You have potential, I’ll grant you that. But look at you. You have no control whatsoever. You simply let your rage dictate your every move.”
“I will kill you,” Chase swore.
“You’re welcome to try, but you’ll need to channel way more hate and energy to do so.”
With another wild shout, Chase unleashed half a dozen fireballs at his brother at an impressive rate. Argos deflected them all, scattering them around a wide arch and scorching huge holes in the ground, walls and high ceiling. But Chase kept firing more attacks until the resulting debris and smoke blocked his vision of Argos.
But when the dust settled and the smoke had cleared, Argos was still standing.
“You’re a pathetic Fury, Chase,” he said with a smile. “Let me show you real power.”
He pointed a single finger at Chase and a thin red laser pierced through his brother’s shoulder. Chase cried out in pain and clapped his hand automatically over the wound.
Chase was trembling now. Not so much with fear of Argos, but fear of himself. Fear of what he might do if he wasn’t careful. If he lost control.
He had to find a way out of this situation. He had to find a way to protect the people he loved. But he was running out of energy. The last attack had drained him more than he knew.
“Oh, poor brother, running out of juice already. Just when I started to have fun.”
Chase opened his mouth to say something cutting, but stumbled back a step with a quiet gasp, still clutching his shoulder.
“Do I have to kill one of your precious friends for you to show me what you’re made of?”
“Don’t!” Chase shouted earnestly. “If you do, we will all die here!”
“I don’t think so, Chase. You don’t have that kind of power. And even if you did, you are in neither the shape nor state to make good on that threat. Who should I kill first?”
Then Chase heard Aphroditis’ voice in his mind. “Chase, you cannot defeat your brother Argos today. You need to outsmart him. This is your strength; use it. It is the only way.”
Argos looked left and right, then shouted, “Stay out of this, bitch! I’m coming for you next!”
He could hear her too! How was that even possible?
Chase didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter. He had to think of something and fast. He looked at Tar’Lock, the only body still moving, barely. He focused on him and concentrated on speaking only with his mind.
“I might need your help. You seem fast.”
Tar’Lock nodded slightly and Chase sure hoped Argos couldn’t hear every thought. But Argos was very distracted with what had just transpired.
“Fucking Olympians! You think you can meddle in the affairs of other races? You will pay for this. You and I both know you are not allowed to interfere!”
Taking advantage of Argos’ distraction, Chase turned to Daniel. He was still breathing but his face was bloody—he would need medical attention very quickly. Then he noticed the cluster of three grenades on Daniel’s belt and his eyes widened. Tar’Lock saw what he was looking at and nodded, understanding.
“I don’t care if you’re my brother, this ends here and now, Argos.”
Argos whirled around. “I don’t remember telling you my name.”
So he hadn’t heard what Aphroditis had said. He’d just sensed her presence.
“It doesn’t matter. Today is the last day it will be spoken.”
“You’re funny, I’ll give you that.”
His focus was entirely on Chase now. Perfect window of opportunity. Chase maintained eye contact, but mentally shouted with every last bit of strength he had.
“Now!”
He launched himself at Argos, who saw him coming and entered into a defensive stance. But at the same time, Tar’Lock teleported and took the cluster of grenades. He also quickly recovered the quadrinium bomb from Ryonna, spat on it, and stuck it to the grenades before teleporting behind Argos, who was still distracted by Chase’s charge towards him. Without a second thought, the insectoid shoved the explosives into Argos’ clothes.
Argos whirled around and send Tar’Lock flying with a power blow, but the second his back was turned, Chase ru
shed forward. He threw back his head and released a scream that sounded like it had come from the depths of hell.
A powerful beam of blue light erupted from both of his palms, melting the grenades deep into Argos’ back and sending him flying in the nearest corridor before they suddenly exploded. Everyone in the area was blasted back out of range as what was left of the corridor collapsed in a smoking heap.
The dust settled and Chase ran towards Tar’Lock, who looked to be in really bad shape.
“Thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said in a rush.
“It’s not like I had any choice. This mad man would have killed us all,” Tar’Lock groaned in reply. “And it was a good plan.”
“Will you be okay?”
Tar’Lock tried to smile. “No, I don’t think I’m gonna survive this. My back is broken in three places; I can feel internal bleeding.”
A sudden thought occurred to Chase and he leaned down. “Hang on.” He closed his eyes and put both his hands on Tar’Lock’s body.
“What are you doing?” the insectoid asked.
“Trust me.”
White light glowed from Chase’s hands and started radiating all around Tar’Lock’s body. The result was almost instantaneous. Bones began to repair. Cuts began to close. After just a few seconds, Tar’Lock started to feel better than he had in years.
“Thank you,” he gasped. “I bet that sure comes in handy!”
Chase smiled weakly, just thrilled by the fact that it had worked.
“Especially when considering I had no idea I could do that.”
Tar’Lock’s eyes widened. “I find that both fascinating and terrifying.”
“So do I,” said Chase, getting back up.
One by one, he ran around and did the same thing to each of his friends. As Sarah had received the least damage, she was his last stop. But the second he got to her, his eyes filled with tears.
He covered her in strands of light, and watched silently as the power took effect. When it was done, he leaned back on his heels, exhausted and anxious, and waited for Sarah to open her eyes…
C H A P T E R
XI
Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) Page 7