“Let’s get out of here,” Jessen finally said.
Manning nodded. Jessen closed his eyes and dropped his head for a moment then raised it back up to look at the roof. His eyes opened and were ablaze with light again. Clenching his fists they too began to glow with beautiful light. The room began to shake.
On Austin Avenue the tanks drove closer and closer to the Skyborn building. Inmates of PATMOS ran to meet them head on. Standing in the way they waved them down and tried their best to reason with the impatient army men.
The fighting outside the building was now a fraction the size that it had been before. Both sides had suffered devastating loses. Greyfall now walked quite casually around the battle field. The enemy were now few and far between. Large sections of their forces were surrendering while others took to the sky or ran at full speed in retreat. The sounds of fighting and dying were still to be heard all around but it was obvious that it was coming to an end. They had won.
Metalcore appeared beside him from out of the sky.
“Metalcore. Is it over?” the time traveler asked.
Metalcore simply nodded. The two men surveyed the battlefield and the devastation it had left. Only a few thousand now stood alive and many more were wounded.
“This feels a lot more like the world I came from,” Greyfall said sadly. “You win the battle, but you are never truly victorious when it costs this much.”
Elaine appeared close by, carrying Silvercord who had one arm draped around Elaine’s back and was desperately trying to walk as much as she could on her own strength. Metalcore immediately flew to them and Greyfall came jogging up behind. Elaine and Silvercord stopped and both fell to their knees. Metalcore took Silvercord's weight, resting her upper body against his while she sprawled her legs out on the ground. Greyfall inspected the blackened wound on her face then glanced at Elaine. No words needed to be said.
Silvercord coughed and spat out a mouth full of blood.
“Don’t… don’t have to be… a telepath to read… you… you guys,” she told them, coughing up another mouthful of blood. “I know… I know it’s… poison.”
Greyfall put a hand on her knee while Elaine gripped her hand tightly. Silvercord turned her head to face Metalcore.
“Can… can… we… fly?” she managed to finally say.
Metalcore looked to Greyfall and Elaine, as if to be given permission. They both nodded without saying a word. Metalcore reached his left arm under Silvercord’s legs and supported her neck and head with his right. Slowly he hovered off the ground and into the air. Greyfall and Elaine watched as the two rose far into the sky over the wreckage of New Belfast.
“I’m going in. Kennedy and Hade are probably still in there,” Greyfall told Elaine.
“I’ll come with you,” she responded with no protest from the time traveler.
The two turned and set off towards the skyscraper but stopped immediately in their tracks. The ground beneath their feet began to slowly vibrate. The vibrations grew into a low rumble. Dust and ash rose off the earth as the tremor grew stronger and stronger.
“Earthquake?!” Elaine yelled.
Greyfall said nothing but turned and looked up at the Skyborn. Windows began to crack and smash outwards from the vibrations. Pieces of wall that were damaged in the fighting began to fall off chunk by chunk.
The arguing PATMOS inmates and army officials stopped and turned to watch what was happening. Any of Kennedy’s people still intent on fighting till the end stopped and looked to see the building begin to fall apart. High above Metalcore looked down to see the building slowly beginning to collapse piece by piece. Silvercord seemed unaware of anything that was going on below. She simply gazed upwards as they flew, tears flowing down her cheeks. Dustin, The Reader, approached Greyfall and Elaine.
“There are four people in there,” he informed them.
Greyfall simply nodded and defiantly began walking towards the building, sword in hand. Elaine wanted to follow but couldn’t command her feet to move. The building was coming down.
Suddenly out of the destruction came beauty. A shaft of purple and white light shot up through the roof of the Skyborn and into the sky sending chunks of concrete and metal through the air in all directions. The beam of light was much like the initial one Kennedy had revealed from the rooftop before, but now it was bigger and much more beautiful. It rose higher and higher into the sky until the furthest end of it could not be seen by the human eye any more. A deep roaring like a multitude of trumpets sounded and was heard for miles around.
No one moved. No one except for Greyfall who still marched towards the Skyborn, determined to rescue his friend, if he was even still alive. Greyfall did not even look up at the beam of light but instead kept his eyes fixed on the front door of the building. Clumps of brick and concrete fell to the earth all around him but he did not even flinch as he continued ever onwards.
As suddenly as the noise sounded it was silenced again. The entire city of New Belfast was in utter silence for several moments. Anyone in view of the Skyborn held their breath, afraid to even move a muscle. High in the air, Metalcore was the first to see that the light had split into several strands, almost like fingers. The strands danced in silence for a moment then formed in on themselves, almost like a fist Metalcore thought, just for a moment and then solidified again into a solid beam of light. The rumble sounded again but his time twice as loud forcing some people to cover their ears from the terror. The beam began to fall downwards at alarming speed towards the roof of the Skyborn. It only took several seconds for it to come crashing down on the roof which shattered into millions of pieces and began to fall to the earth. Floor by floor the building was annihilated as thousands of tonnes rubble shot outwards towards the battlefield.
Greyfall finally stopped in his tracks as he noticed the building had started to glow brightly from the inside. He didn’t have long to look as the light became blindingly bright after only a moment of initially appearing. The light spread from the building and enveloped everything in its path for a mile around the Skyborn. The terrible deep sound rumbled on as the earth shook. Greyfall knew his death was at hand. Blinded and disorientated he simply stood tall with his feet wide apart. He held the sword Manning had given him in both hands and held it close to his heart, resting his forehead on the blade.
Josiah stood alongside the PATMOS inmates and silently said a prayer.
Elaine thought only of her brother, somewhere in the sky.
Metalcore had no idea what direction he should head in or what altitude it was safest at. He simply cradled Silvercord tightly and hovered in one spot.
Warstone found himself doing something completely unexpected. He was laughing to himself. “We were going to attempt all this with about a hundred guys,” he thought to himself. “And I was worried about the state of my apartment.”
Greyfall struggled against the terrible and beautiful light and sound as it paralysed him a mere hundred feet from the Skyborn. Even with his eyes closed he could still feel the intensity of the light. Mercifully it slowly began to fade. Greyfall didn’t know whether or not to risk opening his eyes for a moment but as the light faded he made his decision. Slowly opening his eyes he forced himself to look up at the building. A moment of confusion took hold of him as it took a second to understand what he was looking at. Just three feet away from him stood an energy wall much like the previous one. Greyfall looked left and right and could determine that the radius was no more than one hundred meters out from the building. Through the dome he could see the chaos that was happening inside and realised that it was protecting everyone on the outside from destruction. After several seconds the outline of the Skyborn became more and more visible just in time to see it fully collapse in on itself. Entire stories of the building fell straight down. The lowest stories seemed to disappear entirely into clouds of dust as thousands upon thousands of tonnes of rubble crashed to the earth every second that went by. For a moment Greyfall felt like the building would
never reach total destruction as it was so massive, but after several more seconds the outline of the Skyborn had now crashed entirely to the ground leaving a giant dust ball which was impossible to see through.
The time traveller was so transfixed on what was inside the dome that he hadn’t noticed Warstone and Elaine who had joined him at his side.
“Greyfall what the hell was that?” Warstone asked.
Greyfall said nothing, still straining to see any form of movement behind the wall. A dim light began to slowly become visible in the distance behind the dust. The light grew slightly brighter and brighter as the dust in the air began to slowly settle and fall to the ground. Suddenly the energy wall quickly retracted in on itself in a matter of moments towards the inner light, taking all of the dust and floating debris with it until it vanished completely. Then there was silence. Stillness.
Greyfall’s heart skipped a beat when his brain made sense of what his eyes were looking at.
Standing in what was the centre of the destruction stood Manning who was carrying Israel, a guard without a head and his friend and former assassination target Jessen Hade. Jessen had one clenched fist in the air which was glowing in his signature purple and white light. After a moment it faded and he dropped his arm to his side. With his other hand he was holding the scruff of the unconscious Vincent Kennedy’s Jacket collar while his legs were draped on the ground, his hands limp by his sides.
“Hade!” he yelled.
Warstone and Elaine were startled at the outburst then they too saw what Greyfall had spotted. No one spoke. New Belfast was in utter silence. Greyfall stared at Jessen. He could tell something was different about him. He then looked to Manning who had a deeply forlorn expression on his face. Greyfall could see that Israel was covered in blood and wasn’t moving.
Finally Jessen stepped forward towards his friends. Greyfall, Ronan and Elaine stood statue still while the party approached them. As they got closer Greyfall noticed that Jessen was no longer holding onto Kennedy’s jacket but had his clenched fist behind his back and was somehow dragging him along the ground ten feet behind him as if with his mind. Greyfall watched in shock as Jessen grew closer. His body was now toned with muscle. The trio were joined from behind by some of Silvercord’s warriors, members of the Stirling Forty, Josiah, Battle Giraffe and a small section of their force. Metalcore descended to the ground with Silvercord. Several of her warriors rushed to him to take her body which he held in his arms. Greyfall and Elaine looked to him as his arms were freed of the body. He looked back to them and shook his head.
Jessen, Manning and Invisible Stan were now only twenty feet away. Suddenly Jessen flicked his arm forward and Kennedy’s body slid violently across the ground, stopping at the feet of Josiah who could not believe who he was looking down at. Kennedy now had his eyes open and was looking around him desperately trying to figure out what was happening. The crowd all looked to the police officer who was now looking back at them, finding it hard to believe that he had the authority here. Josiah reached to a pouch attached to his belt and pulled out a set of handcuffs.
“Vincent Kennedy. You are under arrest.”
Kneeling down he cuffed Kennedy’s hands behind his back.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning.”
Josiah pulled Kennedy to his feet. The billionaire stood and looked around him at the devastation. He looked into the eyes of each of his enemies, falling lastly on Manning’s. The two held each others gaze for several moments then Kennedy turned to walk away with Josiah, defeated.
Manning slowly dropped to one knee and placed Israel’s body on the ground. Elaine stepped forward towards him, joining him on one knee on the ground. Manning was suffering. Israel was like a son to him. Tears were streaming down the checks of the older man, soaking into his grey stubble. Elaine put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Invisible Stan walked to his friend and joined in comforting Manning.
“He did it,” Manning finally said, sniffing. “It was him who ended it.”
Elaine gave a slight smile and nodded.
“I always believed he would be the one to throw the final punch,” he sniffed. “I just never thought it would be this way. He gave his life for ours.” Manning began to cry hard. He took a few moments to compose himself.
Elaine said nothing and took Manning’s hand.
Jessen looked at no one but Greyfall who was staring right back at him. The giant took several steps forward slowly but Jessen put out his hand to stop him. Greyfall didn’t know what to do or if he should say anything.
Jessen finally broke eye contact and looked around the battleground to survey the destruction. Many city blocks lay in total ruin.
Jessen dropped his chin to his chest and closed his eyes, not making a move for several moments. Slowly he opened his eyes and lifted his head up. Greyfall watched in awe as Jessen’s eyes radiated a beautiful light. Jessen slowly lifted his hand from his side, the open palm facing upwards. The ground began to shake again just as it had done before. A loud and deep rumble sounded again as stones began to shake across the surface of the ground from the vibrations. The survivors looked around themselves panicking. No one said any thing but everyone was thinking about the possibility of having to take Hade down if he put anyone in danger.
He continued to slowly lift his open hand which was now at waist height. Suddenly without warning the ground at the far end of the battlefield where the dome once reached exploded and tonnes of dust and debris were sent flying high in the air at great speed. Endlessly the rock and metal flew upwards like an upside down waterfall, flowing with seemingly no end.
Greyfall looked all around and could see the same thing was happening all along the diameter of the now destroyed bulwark. He sighed in relief as he could see the wounded survivors, army and police officials and PATMOS inmates were all safe beyond this new violent spectacle.
Another huge explosion ripped through the ground closer in towards them and again tonnes of rubble was sent flying into the air. Another explosion, closer again.
Jessen’s hand was still slowly rising upwards, now at stomach height. The remaining band of heroes began to slowly huddle in towards one another. Ronan took several steps toward Jessen and looked to Greyfall for support. Greyfall glanced all around him at the earth that was being thrown into the air. Turning back to the wrestler he held out his hand and shook his head.
Another huge explosion sounded and a much larger portion of the earth flew into the air. Greyfall squinted through the chaos. A brief gap in the rubble made his eyes widen in realisation. He looked back at Jessen, struggling to believe what he was seeing. On the outskirts of the battlefield stood fully formed buildings. Working inwards more and more buildings were forming the way they once were before Kennedy’s bulwark ever spread across the city. Block after block of buildings and streets were being reformed right in front of them. The rate at which they were being rebuilt grew faster and faster. Many of the heroes braced themselves as skyscrapers rose from dust out of the ground only yards in front of them and were sent back to their former positions, towering over the city. Only the ground where the Skyborn had stood remained rubble.
When it was done Jessen’s hand was high above his head. He now had his fist clenched and again it was glowing with light. His eyes still shone a bright purple and blue colour until he closed them for several moments. He dropped his hand to his side and opened his eyes. He was Jessen again.
“Greyfall,” he finally said.
The time traveler was beside himself and ran towards Jessen. He stopped just a few feet in front of him and looked up and down at his newly formed body.
“What did they do to you?” Greyfall asked.
Jessen sighed and looked down at his hands and arms.
“I am the Masterpiece,” he answered.
Greyfall simply star
ed into Jessen’s eyes. It was really him, but different. Jessen took a step towards Greyfall and spoke something closely into his ear. Greyfall held his breath and listened. After a moment Jessen stepped back and Greyfall nodded.
The heroes surrounding the scene waited with bated breath for what was to happen next. Jessen stepped back and looked around him into the eyes of his friends. For several moments he stood while they watched him. Then in the blink of an eye he shot into the air and flew at a speed many times faster than Metalcore could ever fly, disappearing into the sky.
Jessen was gone.
The Hade War was over.
Epilogue
The elevator rose up the building floor after floor. The young man anxiously watched as the lights went out one by one until he had reached his destination on the thirty-third floor. His hands were sweaty. His heart rate had sped up. Slowly the doors opened and the grey haired, older man stood waiting for him with.
“Welcome Ryan,” Manning said as the younger man stepped off the elevator into the hallway. “You found the place ok?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ryan answered. “Just followed your instructions. Your weird ass instructions.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. For obvious reasons they have to be weird ass instructions,” Manning told him as the two men began to walk down the long corridor lined on either side with apartment doors.
The Hade War Page 31