“My friends? Are you talking about Ev and Arcturus?”
As if on cue, Arcturus emerged from the hole. Priscilia studied him curiously. “You must be Arcturus Reich. You’ll be coming with us—you and Maya. Now that she’s involved in this, Zero Grade will undoubtedly put a bounty on her head as well.”
“Who are you?” he said.
She held her head high. “Priscilia Elepsen of the Awesome Three. We’re the top students at Divine Protector Academy.”
“Ah,” he said. “Then consider me your predecessor.”
“Please. Don’t think you’re in the same class as us. You may have been hot stuff once upon a time, but you went rotten and had to be thrown out. We’re the future.”
He laughed at that. “Everything new eventually becomes old. You’d do well to keep that in mind. Now, what is it you want with us?”
“Zero Grade’s put a bounty on your head and we’re here to collect.”
He folded his arms nonchalantly. “Yes, I anticipated that. It was part of the plan, actually.”
Maya stared at him, mouth agape. “Plan? What plan? What are you talking about?”
“I’d love to stay and enlighten you, but I don’t have time. I need to take this,” he said, holding the cane, “and get it to the Ark. Farewell, Maya Brünhart.”
He took off flying to the northeast. “Wait!” Maya yelled.
“What did you expect?” Priscilia said. “Traitors don’t know loyalty. Don’t worry about him; you didn’t come alone, and neither did I. We’re the Awesome Three, after all.”
Maya was hit by realization. “Ev!”
Priscilia swung her arm back, getting ready to throw her shield. “You’d better worry about yourself!”
* * *
Whatever was wrapped around Ev’s neck dug into his flesh a hundred feet above the ground. It had to be a wire or some sort of garrote. He clawed furiously at it, but it had sunk in too far, and the blood made it impossible to get a grip.
“Ever since you hooked up with Maya Brünhart, I’ve wanted to put you both in your place. That bitch betrayed us, and you stick by her side like a loyal puppy. You’re pathetic, Bannen.”
It took Ev a few moments to place the voice. It was Jorg. The bastard wanted to kill him. “W-Why?” he rasped.
“Zero Grade wants your head, and we’re here to collect. It’s ‘dead or alive’, by the way. As you can probably tell, I’m leaning more toward ‘dead’.”
Ev wanted to try and reason with him, but he could no longer talk. Worse, he couldn’t breathe. He fought the rising urge to panic, knowing it would only make things worse. He needed to get Jorg off of him. Flying was out of the question; he couldn’t concentrate because of the mortal danger Jorg had put him in.
He tried to wriggle free, but Jorg held him tight, and the wire only dug deeper into his windpipe. He shoved his head back in an attempt to hit Jorg with it, but he couldn’t do it with enough force to get him to let go.
With his vision fading fast, Ev fumbled about his body, looking for something, anything, he could use to get free. He was surprised when his hand landed on a round metal object clipped to his waist. He pulled it free and realized with ecstasy it was a grenade. He didn’t even remember grabbing it out of the duffel bag, but that mattered little. It couldn’t hurt Jorg, but it might surprise him enough to make him let go.
Ev pulled the pin and tossed grenade it into Jorg’s line of sight. He heard “What the…?” before the incendiary device detonated. Flame, shrapnel and smoke filled the air.
Ev couldn’t see anything, and the smoke burned his eyes and made it difficult to breathe, but the gambit worked; Jorg released him to deal with the situation. Ev quickly healed his throat before turning around and tackling him. They sailed through the air before crashing into an office building, tumbling across the floor and landing amidst rows of cubicles. Frightened temps went running.
They got to their feet at about the same time. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Ev roared.
Jorg shook glass out of his hair. “Me?” He pointed at Ev. “You’re the one who sided with that turncoat bitch. You’re the one who abandoned the Academy. And you’re the one who attacked Zero Grade and now has a bounty on his head. You only have yourself to blame for this.”
Ev rubbed his sore throat. “So you’d kill me for your own selfish reasons?”
“You’re in no position to judge me, Bannen. We’re both doing what we’re doing for personal gain. I’m just honest enough to admit it. I may not know your reasons, but I know a selfish person when I see one. When was the last time you took a good look at yourself?”
Clinching his fist, Ev replied, “I don’t have time to argue with you. I’m taking you down and then getting out of here.”
He took a step forward.
Jorg was no longer there.
From behind him, Jorg laughed. “You’re going to take me down? Please. You’re just an average student.” Ev whirled around. Jorg was gone again, but the voice continued. “Let me show you what the best of the best at the Academy can do.”
Something hard slammed into Ev’s back. Ev swung his fist around but there was still no one there. Is he invisible? He didn’t have time to ponder this, however. A blur pounded his jaw before disappearing. Ev staggered. No, he’s not invisible. He’s just insanely fast.
From behind him: “Are you starting to get it, Bannen? Each member of the Awesome Three has a special talent. Me, I developed my god-speed to unheard-of levels. In fact, I no longer call it speed. I call it God Blink. In the blink of an eye, I can attack you. Even on your best day, you could never hope to compete with me.”
Ev spit a gob of blood onto the floor. “Swell.” Curious or brave office workers stood by on the other side of the room, watching nervously and remarking to themselves. Ev wondered if they would take bets on this fight, and if so, would anyone bet on him?
A phantom knee collided with him stomach. An elbow crushed his nose. Twin fists bashed the back of his head. Jorg repeatedly blinked in an out, dishing out ruthless punishment. This only went on for about a minute, but it was an agonizing minute. Ev couldn’t even count the number of attacks he had to suffer through. It was all one long pain party.
Pretty soon, Jorg took a moment to admire his handiwork. Ev knew he must look like hell by this point, because Jorg was quite pleased with himself. “You see now, Bannen? You can’t beat me. You should just let me kill you and save us both some trouble.”
Ev wiped the blood out of his eyes. “Piss off.”
Shrugging, Jorg said, “Have it your way.”
But Ev held up a hand. “Wait. How long have we been fighting?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a fight,” he laughed. “But I think it’s been about five minutes. Why?”
Ev gripped the wall of the nearest cubicle. “No reason.”
“Quit stalling, Bannen. Accept your—”
His words were cut off as the building began shaking. Jorg fought to maintain his balance as the facility’s self-destruct mechanism did its work below.
This was his chance. Ev shoved off from the cubicle and delivered a savage uppercut to Jorg’s jaw. The stitch-faced bastard went flying through the ceiling. Correction—every ceiling. The last Ev saw of him, he had vanished into the sky.
That takes care of him. But what about Relm and Priscilia? They’ve got to be around somewhere. Crap—Maya!
Ev dove out of the building in search of his quasi girlfriend.
* * *
Priscilia’s shield easily blocked Maya’s arrows while they fought on the street. Maya couldn’t get a good shot at her with that big thing in the way as Priscilia was adept at using it for both offense and defense.
She hurled the shield at Maya who came within an inch of being sliced by its blades. Fortunately, she managed to duck in time.
However, she was so focused on the shield that she didn’t see Priscilia swooping in to attack. Priscilia kicked her in the head, and Maya went crashin
g down the street like a stone skipping across the water.
Maya quickly recovered and pointed her bow at the haughty bitch, but the shield returned to Priscilia before she could launch her arrows. Maya thought she saw something—something about Priscilia’s eyes—that seemed important. However, she didn’t have time to contemplate it, because her enemy again threw that damned shield. This time, she didn’t throw it directly at Maya, but instead ricocheted it between buildings. Maya’s eyes darted left and right as she tried to follow the path of the insane projectile. When she became certain it was about to hit her, she leapt into the air.
Again Priscilia rushed in to take advantage of Maya’s divided attention. This time, though, Maya was ready for her. She shot her arrows directly at her. But to Maya’s surprise, Priscilia contorted her body in midair, dodging the attack.
Both women landed on the ground. Priscilia’s shield came back to her, and again Maya could’ve sworn there was something there to take advantage of. Something about her eyes…
Priscilia patted her spiked shield. “It looks like one of these isn’t enough to take you down. So…” Gripping the thing with both hands, she ripped it in half. No, that wasn’t right. Maya realized it was designed to separate. Even worse, fresh blades snapped into place on both pieces. The woman now had two smaller shields to work with. “Let’s see you dodge both of these.”
Priscilia tossed one of the shields directly at Maya. The other one she threw at the building to Maya’s right. Maya jumped over the first one, only to see Priscilia rush in to attack hand-to-hand. Maya was belted in the stomach and fell backwards. She landed safely, but too late noticed the second shield coming right at her. She tried jumping back, but it sliced her right shoulder and collarbone, causing a searing flash of pain. Fresh blood spilled forth and she dropped her bow.
“Looks like you’ve got a bit of a scratch there,” Priscilia teased.
Maya knew she needed to heal her injuries, but the silver-haired woman didn’t give her a chance. She combined her shields back into one and launched it at her. Time seemed to slow down as Maya saw her imminent death. Her life didn’t flash before her eyes; that would have been too cruel. No, she only saw her time with Ev. She wished more than anything she could have been with him just a little longer. She had no god to curse for this injustice; this was what it was.
But the instant before the shield was the skewer her, a figure dropped from the sky and smashed it to the ground.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Ev!
He turned around and smiled. “I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to say, ‘sorry I’m late’.”
Rolling her eyes, she replied, “I’d call you out on your crappy sense of humor, but seeing as how you just saved me, I’ll let it slide.”
His smile faded as he saw her wounds. “Your shoulder! Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine.” To prove this, she placed her hand on the deep gash. It healed within moments. She was, after all, particularly skilled in this area.
“Whew. I was worried for a minute there. I’m glad you’re not in any real danger. Now I can focus on this bitch here.”
He turned to face Priscilia who was positively seething. “Damn Bannen! But how? Don’t tell me Jorg failed? That’s impossible.”
“Jorg’s gone,” Ev said flatly. “And you tried to kill someone I care about. I’ll have to teach you some manners. Arcturus, look after Maya for me.”
“He’s gone,” Maya said, mimicking Ev’s tone towards Priscilia.
Ev whirled around, scouring the city block. “Gone? Where’d he go?”
“To take the cane back to the Ark, I think. He just left me here.”
Ev turned his attention back to Priscilia. “Well, we’ll have to have a talk about that. For now, though, I’ll deal with what’s left of the Asshole Three.”
“Awesome Three!” she corrected him. “And I don’t know what trick you used on Jorg, but it won’t work on me.” She extended her hand. The shield promptly returned to her. She again split it in half.
Maya needed to warn Ev. “Watch out. She’ll ricochet those things off the buildings or the ground. She’ll move in to attack while you’re distracted. But now she has to deal with the both of us, so we should have the advantage.”
She moved to join Ev’s side. However, he put up a hand to stop her. “No, Maya. You’ve been hurt enough already. Let me handle this.”
“Don’t be stupid, Ev! She’s an elite student at the Academy. You can’t take her on by yourself.”
“And yet, I’m going to. I know you think this is crazy, but I actually do have a plan here. Jorg may be gone, but Relm’s got to still be lurking around somewhere; I need you to keep a lookout for him while I fight Priscilia.”
She had to admit, he’d thought this out. “Fine. But you have to promise me you’ll be careful. We still don’t know what other tricks she has.”
“I promise.”
“Finally!” Priscilia said. “I thought you were going to talk all day.”
“Hmph. I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to say I don’t want to fight a girl,” he replied. “Well, when that girl’s trying to kill me, I think I’ll make an exception.”
“Enough with your pathetic attempts at humor!” She hurled one shield at him, followed by the other. Maya’s jaw clenched as she agonized over Ev’s ability to defend against this. She thought he would try to dodge them, leaving him open to a hand-to-hand attack by Priscilia. But to her surprise, he stood his ground. When the first shield got in close, he punched its underside, deflecting it to the right. He did the same thing to the second one. Both immediately returned to their master.
Visibly agitated, Priscilia recombined the halves and hurled the complete shield at him. Maya thought he would surely try to dodge this one. To her astonishment, he reached out and caught with his bare hands. Maya was stunned; she hadn’t thought to do such a thing.
The force of the shield forced Ev back about twenty feet up the street, but he managed to avoid getting skewered. He slammed it down on the ground in triumph. “Is that it?” Priscilia looked like she was about to explode.
Suddenly, Maya saw something bad. “Ev! Behind you!”
Chapter X
A familiar wire wrapped around his throat. “You got cocky, Bannen. You should’ve known that wouldn’t be enough to beat me.”
“Jorg! You—!”
The wire tightened, cutting off his ability to speak. “That’s enough out of you, Bannen. You have an unbelievable capacity for pissing me off. But now we end this.”
Maya took a step towards them. However, Priscilia’s shield exploded off the ground at her. She barely managed to jump out of the way.
Priscilia laughed as the shield returned to her. “You two were so confident a minute ago. What happened? Oh, right—reality happened. You know you can’t beat the Awesome Three.
As before, the wire dug into his flesh, sending fresh blood oozing down his neck. This time, he realized, he might not get a second chance. This might be the end for all of them.
* * *
Arcturus arrived back at Stonecroft, the agreed-upon meeting place. He felt bad leaving Ev behind, but the sooner he set things in motion, the better off they’d all be. Besides, he had complete faith in Ev’s ability to handle himself.
Ignoring the tourists, he strode with definite purpose to the center of the stone monument. There he knelt before the main stone which was called Kilgore. Easily ten tons, it dwarfed all others in the vicinity. He placed the Rod of Aaron on the soft grass. He infused it with his energy, and it began to glow faintly before sinking into the earth. At last, the pieces of the puzzle were now sliding into place.
“Oy!” a man yelled as he marched over to Arcturus. He wore some sort of unimpressive uniform, so Arcturus guessed he was some constable. “Can’t ya see the sign? It says no entry beyond that rope.” As a matter of fact, he had seen both the sign and the rope cordoning off the inner circle of stones. He had j
ust chosen to ignore them.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said sheepishly. “I was just curious, that’s all.”
“Take yer curiosity someplace else. I’ll let it slide this time, but don’t you be doing this again.”
Arcturus bowed graciously. “Right. Of course. Thank you.” It didn’t matter that he had been caught. Everything was going according to plan. Now he just needed Ev and Maya to do their part.
As he returned to the outer edge of Stonecroft, a strange voice called out to him. “The split man, he pledges allegiance to both sides, but can stay true to neither.”
Arcturus looked up. A young man floated down from the sky, his arms crossed over his shoulders. He wore glasses, along with some sort of school uniform—though none Arcturus had ever seen. He stopped about ten feet off the ground and quite literally looked down on Arcturus.
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