Blackjack Villain

by Ben Bequer

  It was curious, because my demolished leg was now pristine, every scrape, slash or bruise from the arduous fight with the Mist Army gone with not a mark left to mar my skin. Standing before her, I felt refreshed and revitalized. I was stronger, far stronger than I had ever been. It wasn’t a physical transformation but I could feel the effect growing exponentially with every second that passed. She seemed to realize this as well and moved back, but despite the distance between us, the effect continued.

  This was what had caused the Original Seven to get their powers, proximity to this creature, and for a moment, I could sense her concern.

  “How do you do it?” I asked. “I mean, how do you rip the planets apart?”

  The Angel watched me with the same curiosity an elephant must have with a worm.

  “You realize that when you take a shard of one planet, you leave it to implode upon itself. Billions would die if you were to do that to my planet.”

  “I don’t see why you pretend to care, Dale McKeown. You clearly don’t.”

  “Of course I care.”

  “You are selfish, aimless, ignorant and uninspired; unaware of the consequences of your actions. Much like a child,” it said moving closer, cowing me.

  I looked for Apogee, hoping that she would not hear, but my conversation with the Angel was known to all. Madelyne stood beside Varshantas, watching me.

  The Angel followed my gaze, and seemed to smile, knowing that there was at least one thing I cared for.

  “I may be all those things, and worse,” I admitted, “but I’m not going to stop fighting. And my people will resist you every step of the way.”

  It enlarged in size, and its blinding luminescence returned. “That is our hope,” it said, and for the first time I sensed emotion in her vacuous voice. Was it excitement? She rose up in the air, metamorphosing back into its lustrous form.

  “Destroy it,” was her last whisper as she left the arena, and disappeared from sight.

  The horde of warriors needed no more spurring, hurling themselves from the rafters like the waves of a tsunami crashing forth to overwhelm me.

  But in this fight, I was not alone.

  Apogee moved so fast Varshantas didn’t even have time to flinch before she tore the two-handed axe from his grasp and swung it, decapitating the last lord of the Mist Army. She then charged her fist and struck downwards, unleashing her full power. Apogee pounded the floor of the gallery, and the discharge radiated outward in purple concussive flames. The blow was too much for most of the aliens gathered around her, blasting their flesh, tearing through the thin glass of the tank, sending its contents billowing outwards, and exploding the bubble being. Any that survived her power blast, were too dazed or injured to be of any threat. The energy discharge also had the effect of lifting her in a high sailing arc that brought her to land beside me.

  We smiled at each other, turning to fight back to back, ready for anything.

  Chapter 22

  She was stunning, like something out of a fairy tale, or a dream, wearing skimpy almost see-through robes that accentuated her every curve. Apogee noticed my eyes riveted on her and flashed me a smile.

  “I thought you were dead,” she said.

  “Me too, I said. “What now?”

  “Let’s take the fight to them,” Apogee shouted, rushing forward with her super speed, and crashing into the throng of aliens surrounding us. I followed, hurling myself into the nearest alien.

  Together we were the bowling ball to their pins.

  I felt the crashing of bones and agonized howling as I came down on two warriors, my feet finding targets on one’s chest, another’s head. The two warriors and I crumpled to the ground. We were separated for a moment, but Apogee powered through, pounding aside the few warriors between us as I came to my feet.

  Pressing the advantage forward, Apogee and I worked with terrible efficiency. She was a skilled martial artist, and with her strength, one or two punches or kicks brought down any of the soldiers that came close to her. I found it more fun to grab one and throw him into others, using my raw strength against their overwhelming numbers. We pushed toward the arena wall, intent on finding a way out.

  The problem was numbers, which had to be in the hundreds. They wrapped around us, attacking from all sides, threatening to overwhelm us. Apogee dropped one with a powerful kick from her long legs, and I took advantage, grabbing the guy and throwing him at a bunch that was sneaking up on us. Another came from our flank, ready to blindside her. I lowered my shoulder into him, catching him straight in the solar plexus with enough force to propel him like a missile into group of enemies. A split second later I was rewarded with a thwapping of pain and death that rang like music to my ears and I moved on to the next target. At the same time, I felt someone grab me from behind, but as I turned, the fellow caught a right cross from Apogee that send teeth and blood spraying from his fractured face.

  And so it went on. It was almost a circle dance, Apogee covering my back and I covering hers. We took our blows, I won’t lie, but we did the most damage and soon we were surrounded by the bodies of the injured and dead, and ringing us was the entire crowd of alien warriors.

  “What now?” I asked, during a brief lull, punching an alien who charged at Apogee’s rear, cracking his spine and dropping his twitching body to the floor. Though surrounded, between us and the nearest enemies were a few dozen broken bodies, like a dead-man’s land, making our opponents scramble over their dead or injured companions in order to reach us.

  “I can keep this up all day,” she roared, punching a soldier so hard, her blow sheared the head off his shoulders. Apogee whirled and kicked another, then spun and punched a third. Two soldiers grabbed each of my arms, as I watched her amazing moves. I roared and slammed them into each other, stunning them. I then grabbed each by the head, and reared them back to slam them into each other again, this time head first, but they grabbed each other, stopping my plans. So I head butted one, then the other. The first dropped to the ground, unconscious. The second was ready for it, so after the unsuccessful head butt, I ducked under him, picking him up with both arms and I hurled him into the surrounding host, bowling over several others When he flew from my arms, his speed was amazing, and impact with the other soldiers, even braced and ready, was like a car slamming into a crowd. The soldier I threw, and the four or five he bowled into were dead, and a few others nearby were badly injured.

  “Wow,” Apogee said.

  I picked up the one I had head butted and did the same in another direction, where a few soldiers were threatening. Tossing the unconscious one was easier, and I was able to lay into the throw. The effect was even more devastating.

  “Something’s happening to me,” I said. “I think being so close to the Lightbringer affected me like the Original Seven.”

  “Chat less, kick ass more,” Apogee said, kicking one in the stomach, stopping it from jumping on my back, and I turned, punching the guy with all my strength. He flew through the air, slamming into and through the domed cupola of the arena, leaving only a hole where he had passed.

  “That’s an idea,” she said, kicking one, and punching another. Apogee engaged her super speed, and her attack turning into more hundred pummeling blows, dropping the soldier senseless.

  “It’s really high,” I replied. One solder came charging at me with a terrible battle cry, but when I roared back, he paused a second, enough time for me punch him in a high arc where he landed fifty feet away.

  I knelt and picked up one of the dead ones at my feet by its hand and foot. I spun the corpse as if to send him hurling into the others. The throng surrounding us cowered back, taking cover. But I didn’t bother with them, I sent the soldier flying into the air, slamming through the cupola again, this hole much lower and closer to us. The momentum of the dead soldier was more than the one I had punched through, and he caused a similar hole in the arched roof.

  “Better?”

  “Much,” she said, cupping her hands at her cr
otch. “Come on.”

  “I put my foot into her hands and jumped up, as she hurled me through the hole. It was a clumsy throw, made even worse by the ungainly missile, un-aerodynamic and flailing. I almost made it through, my upper body slamming into the hole, face planting into the spongy material. But the momentum of my lower body spun me after the impact, and Apogee’s throw carried me through, though my momentum was sapped, and I crashed downwards, landing atop another domed structure. I slid across the surface, unable to stop my fall, and flew off the lip, crumpling on the bridge that led to the tall spire.

  At each end of the hundred-foot span was a trio of guards, one in each set was mounted on some sort of floating armored cephalopod. Below was a chasm of inky-black nothingness. Hearing and seeing my fall from the heavens, the guards snapped to attention and rushed forwards to me.

  The mounts were similar to the earth native nautilus but large enough for a man to saddle and ride, with a coiled shell, two big eyes and tentacles spilling from the shell hole. I had never seen them alive on earth, even in videos, to realize that they actually travelled tentacles forward, as if sucking on water to move.

  These things floated a few feet off the bridge, and much like their earth cousins, changed colors as they charged closer, thrumming through green, black and orange in violent fashion.

  “Apogee!” I yelled, looking around, and saw her floating through the air towards me, propelled by her fist’s emanations.

  She landed with the grace of a gymnast on the bridge beside me, and dare I say, she looked to be showing off. And not with the perfect landing, but also how she straightened up and strolled ever so casually to me, using her hips as weapons.

  I was about to make a snide comment about how graceful she was when the nearer nautilus rider came closer and opened up with a repeating blaster rifle. We dove to the ground, as plasma bolts ripped the ground around us. The second opened up, though he was a bit farther and his aim less accurate.

  “I got an idea,” she said, coming to her feet and waving me up.

  She grabbed my arm and pulled back, meaning for me to hurl her like a missile. I reared back and tossed her at the nearest rider, catching a plasma bolt in my left arm for good measure. I flinched in pain, doubling over and not seeing how accurate I had been. When I looked up, I could only see the nautilus flying off at high speed, its colors denoting anger or frustration. She was a flash, rushing towards me, so fast I could barely discern her form.

  “Get ready for another one!” she shouted, jumping in the air at me feet first.

  I caught her legs, reaching down to grab her feet as her momentum brought her over me. Apogee straightened her body, and when I hurled her by her feet, she flew like a javelin through the air, straight at the second rider.

  He fired at Apogee, but her fist caught his face and he flew off the bridge to the nothingness below. She skidded to a stop, mere inches from the edge, and looked back at me with a smile.

  “Not so hard next time.”

  The second nautilus floated away slowly, also pulsing with angry colors.

  “Damn it,” I cursed. “There goes our ride.”

  She jogged back, breathing heavily, but looked so good and I got caught staring at her. She made it look so effortless, like fighting a bunch of blaster-firing aliens on some alien planet was just par for the course. To watch her was to see a pro in action, amazing and at the same time casual and cool. Apogee smiled, as if she knew what was going through my mind, and slapped my shoulder to snap me out of it.

  “What about that?” she asked, pointing to the distance at a circular structure, where a few alien creatures tended to floating manta rays in what was obviously their pen. The way there was through the main spire of the citadel, probably through the heart of the guard.

  I looked ahead at the bridge guards approaching gingerly, wary of us, but determined in their duty.

  “Be a hell of a fight to get down there,” I said.

  “I’ve got nothing else planned this afternoon,” she coaxed, and we faced off with the bridge guards. “What about you boys?” Apogee taunted them, and we went to work.

  * * *

  After beating on the bridge guards, we ran into the citadel and tried to find a way down to the manta ray pen.

  There was no alarm to signal our escape, nor warn others, but I did have a distinct feeling that we were being monitored. We passed a herd of the enormous creatures that made the walls of the place, and while they stopped from their tasks to watch us run by, the beasties didn’t do anything to stop us.

  Several small aliens with the appearance of miniature purple glowing cornstalks with eyes scattered from us screeching in fear.

  Ahead was a large open courtyard, with a large entrance to each of the four cardinal points, but nothing that obviously lead downwards.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  Apogee shrugged, as much at a loss as I was.

  A pair of armored guards, the tall stilt-walkers types I had fought in the arena, came around a corner, and walked towards us, for the moment oblivious.

  “Just a sec,” she said, speeding at them and bringing them down before each could unsling their lances from their shoulders to do battle. Apogee rushed back to me.

  “So?”

  I shook my head in frustration, looking down, and watched where she had stepped at high speed. Each of her steps had left a pronounced smoking footprint, the speed and heat of her movement having melted a few inches into the floor.

  She saw what I was looking at and followed my train of thought, taking a few steps back. Once there was a nice area for her to run, she started running in a circle, then popped her super speed. Almost immediately, she melted the ground, falling under in a circular tube, which eventually led to the lower levels.

  Apogee fell the last few feet to the ground, looked for enemies, and motioned me down to follow. I’m not the most graceful guy in the world, so my drop down was more of an uncontrolled fall into a crumpled heap.

  When I got to my feet, I found myself alone, in a dark circular tunnel, about thirty feet in diameter. This place was barely lit by faint radiating bioluminescence, and some glowing insects, much like fireflies. The walls and roof were all covered and dripping with a gelatinous goop.

  I saw Apogee fighting a large creature in the distance. It had the upper body of a weightlifter, but was four-armed, with a deadly looking pistol in each hand. Its head was like that of a hooded cobra, and below its abdomen it had the long, thick body of a snake.

  It rapid-fired at Apogee with all four weapons and it was closing in on her, despite her speed advantage.

  I ran towards the monster at full speed, but there was no chance I would reach in time, as it leading her with its barrage, lining up for a kill shot. Instead, I roared, the sound amplified by the enclosed space, trying to draw its attention to me. The creature noticed me, even in the dimly lit distance, and fired a few shots in my direction. But that was enough for Apogee. She jumped on its upper body, and accelerated her arms, firing off a hundred punches into its head, dropping the snake-man to the ground unconscious.

  “Nice,” I said as I finally came closer.

  “I make friends wherever I go,” she quipped.

  I looked around the hall wondering what we’d run into next.

  “I think it’s this way,” she said, leading with a charged first that helped light the way. We continued through the tunnel, which curved to the right slightly so we couldn’t see too far ahead.

  “I know what we’re gonna find down here,” I said, trying to break the tension. “There’s going to be this chamber, more beautiful than anything the Greeks could have built, with all the alien Lightbringer dudes in these sleeping pods. We’ll catch them sleeping and kill them all, and save Earth and the whole universe.”

  She looked at me like I was insane.

  “You watch,” I affirmed.

  “If you had to guess,” she said, ignoring my comment altogether. “Which way would you say that pla
tform is?”

  I tried to judge it by feel, based on our brief glimpse of the manta ray pen was. We had crossed the bridge and travelled a few hundred feet further. Then we bore down through the floor and now travelled another few hundred feet in near-darkness. We had to be really close to it, if not right there.

  “There,” I pointed, laterally from where we were.

  She nodded, “Yeah. Just about, right?”

  “The only problem is that these walls self-heal. I can’t break through them with my bare hands.”

  Apogee looked back and smiled. “One sec,” she said, and was gone in one second and back again the next, holding the two huge guns from the lizard creature we’d just fought.

  “Here,” she tossed one of the guns at me, and when we opened fire, tearing a huge hole in the wall.

  Outside was a sheer drop to the abyss, as it was clear we were in a network of tunnels that wound around the bottom base of the citadel. Several bridges led away from the main superstructure, jutting in every which way, even up and down, to enclosed platforms of various functions. It took me a second to discern which one housed the mantas. It was below us, farther down than I had figured, maybe two hundred feet down, and about fifty feet behind.

  “There,” she said.

  “That’s a long way down,” I said, wondering how we were going to make it to the platform. The bridge to it came from below, its actual location too far beneath for us to discern its origin.

  “I could throw you again,” she joked, knowing her last toss was far from accurate.

  “Wish we had Mr. Haha here about now,” I shouted, sticking my head out to get a better vantage point. Winding beneath the citadel wound a hundred tubes, much like the one we were in, were all twisted amongst each other, like a bowl of upside-down spaghetti.

  I grabbed at the walls and noticed sticky and goopy like on the inside. The outer shell was harder, as if the substance had formally set. Yet it was fibrous and had some give. Perhaps it was my strength, but I could grab into the wall, and squeeze my fingers to get a good handhold.