by Wall, Nathan
A chariot swung around the north corner of the building. His suit alerted him of a charge. Wings expanded at his back. Automatic evasive operations kicked in. The armor turned rigid, forcing his arms and legs to the midnight and six positions. Boosters at his feet and the small of his back propelled him just as an energy blast from the chariot pulverized a crater into the concrete.
Aero-mode initiated.
Within seconds, he shot through cirrus clouds. The blue of the sky slowly darkened. “Adjust course.” Outside noise came to a halt. The suit compensated for a lack of air pressure. “Locate offending aircraft. Draw it out of the city.”
Affirmative.
The jets cut off. Top heavy, Horus swung around and fell headfirst back toward the city. Tiny propellers along his abdomen straightened his course. The main thrusters reengaged. The HUD expanded to the entire city. A small cluster of blue, yellow and red dots appeared. One was black. The majority clustered near the Louvre. The black one was furthest out. The red one—Set—had separated from the others and was drawing nearer to the black speck.
Horus soared past the museum. Windows and glass within earshot of his suit shattered as he passed. Both chariots chased after him.
He zigzagged less than a meter from the road. The HALOGUARD navigated turns with pinpoint accuracy. The chariots couldn’t execute the same moves. They lifted above the buildings. Horus aimed north, passing the city’s highest elevated point. He flew by a golf course and hovered over a nearby park and grasslands.
Horus landed, digging into the dirt. He jumped back to level ground just as the chariots honed in. Two turrets on his shoulders materialized and unleashed a swarm of crystallized arrows, shredding the chariots in several places. His arms morphed into cannons, this time drawing in cold from the air. Two charges released, setting the grass around him ablaze. The chariots froze and crashed, breaking apart. The angels inside were incapacitated.
Threat neutralized.
Recommendation: Final Blow
“No,” Horus refused, not wishing to kill the angels for just following orders. They were unconscious, and he planned on being long gone before they woke up. “Head back. Eliminate Alpha and Beta level targets with extreme prejudice.”
Affirmative.
At the HALOGUARD’s recommendation, Horus made a bee-line for Sif as she was the lesser target. She was west of the Louvre commanding a few angels. The armor listed their names. One of them was Gabriel’s right hand man, Uriel.
Horus crashed into the middle of the group. The stone ground rippled and finally exploded. An energy wave released on impact, disrupting some of their aurascales. None of them would be able to fly for a short time.
Sif stood. A shield formed over her left arm, a sword in her right hand. They engaged.
Small propellers forced air through the HALOGUARD, sliding Horus left. Sif struck the ground. Horus swiped his plasma blade across her shield. A glowing cut seared through her metal. The top half of her shield fell and reabsorbed into her aurascales.
Sif lunged. Horus’ long reach kept her at bay. His left claw snatched her, pinning her arms down. Horus aimed at two angels on his right flank. The shoulder cannons unleashed a flurry at them. Multi-dozens of green, hard-light projectiles cut through them. The HALOGUARD rotated, lifting Sif over top, and slammed her into the ground.
“Stop,” an angel in red urged. HUD indicated it was Uriel. “You know not what you do.”
“That right?” Magnetic pulses forced Horus forward. He kicked Uriel, sending him barreling through the pyramid.
Beta-Level Threat engaging.
Sif sliced through Horus’ wings. She ran up his back, flipped over his front, and dragged him into the group by the shoulders. Horus toppled over. Sif spun her sword in hand and drove it into Horus. The magnetic shields diffused her blade.
“Sif,” Uriel called out. “Move back.”
The HALOGUARD’s boosters initiated. Horus flew into Sif and Uriel, plowing them through the Louvre’s roof. Horus halted midair, and the angels tumbled helplessly to the ground. He lowered slowly to their position. HUD warned of the proximity threat of the Omega-Level target. Sif was out cold. Somehow, Uriel remained conscious.
“You’ve left me no choice.” Uriel scooted away from Horus as his energy blade formed. The glow of Horus’ blade illuminated Uriel’s unmasked and scared face. “I must call him. I must have the faith that Gabriel displayed.”
“Call who?” Horus asked.
“If you will not see that I am an ally, then you must be stopped by any means,” Uriel replied, moving to his knees. A shrieking vibration rattled through Horus’ skull. Uriel was glowing. After a few seconds, it subsided. “It’s done. Michael comes.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Lian VIII
It was nerve-wracking having no control over the day’s outcome. Being cooped up with a rotting asshole, a blunt, non-metaphor understanding blonde, and a ticking time bomb wasn’t exactly Lian’s idea of the best way to spend the day. Thoughts of Austin and his well-being—how far along in the mission was he, did he remember to blend in—kept her brain alert. There wasn’t any downtime, which was downright tiring. To cap it off, no one felt like talking, as if self-regulated to their own corners.
Athena kept staring at Jarrod. Enough already. The guy’s heart was clearly elsewhere. Talk about pining for what you can’t have.
Harold smacked kisses in Lian’s direction. “Care for a stiffy?” he crudely joked.
“I prefer my men soft after they’ve been hard, not perpetually stiff.”
“Touché,” he conceded. “But you can end me. Admit it. It’d feel good, no? You’re not like the other blokes, are ya? I’ve seen you work. Heard from the demons ’bout what ya did to that little girlie you lot was tryin-a save.” He faked a chill. “Cold.”
“That’s enough.” She shuffled a deck of cards. Was he right? No. In her head, she kicked the wall. Paula was doomed either way. It was mercy.
“Bet ya tryin to convince yourself it was merciful, no?” Harold hunched over and grunted. His skin was an almost-translucent baby blue. His eyes were stained green and black veins littered his flesh. “It’s no use fightin’ what ya are.”
She fumbled with the cards and they spilled across the floor. “What are you?” She glared at him. “A walking corpse of doucheness? You know what your problem is?”
“I’m sure your ’bout to tell me,” he laughed. Lian grabbed a butcher’s knife and sprang toward Harold. Jarrod grabbed her wrist before she could slit Harold’s throat, pulling her back. Harold mocked, “Can’t get no satisfaction, can ya…”
Jarrod punched him and knocked out several teeth. Harold rolled over, unconscious.
“What the hell were you going to do?” Jarrod chastised.
Lian hung her head. “Just going to scare him.”
“I’m sure.” He folded his arms.
“What do you expect, huh?” She threw the knife onto the table. “He’s right about me. I was tired of hearing it.”
“I know prophecies, and I’m pretty sure that one is self-fulfilling.” He laid a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. It wasn’t time to be sentimental. “Talk to me.”
“Just… mind your own business.” Lian scooped up the cards and shuffled through them again. He sat across from her. “Seriously.”
“I am.” He nodded, tapping the table for some cards. Lian stacked them in the middle. “You know how to play bridge? My Aunt Liv… I mean, mom taught me.”
“Sanderson taught me.” Lian took the first card and discarded the second. They took turns selecting a hand. “He said he used to play it all the time when he was younger. Never knew it was with his wife. Couldn’t quite picture him married.”
“You never peeked?” Jarrod sounded surprised.
“That’s what you think of me?” She took offense. Everyone assumed she was just a snoop. “Believe it or not, there was a time when I rarely liked to use my powers. I was obsessed with being norma
l…”
“I know that.”
“Yeah, and I respect people’s privacy. I respected Sanderson’s… most of the time.”
“What changed?” he asked.
Lian slapped the cards onto the table. Athena jumped from her seat.
Lian growled under her breath. “Results, Jarrod. That’s what really matters. Isn’t it? Isn’t that why you leap without looking? Isn’t that why you’re content to run off, or drive away the people closest to you? Results?”
“I could be mistaken…”
“Oh, so you’re the only one who gets to act that way. Right? That’s good to know.” She drew the next card and continued with the game. “I know what matters to me. I know where I want my head to lay at night. You said yourself, only the individual can justify the means. That couldn’t be truer, because the ends are different for everyone. Means create the ends. That’s the point. I see it now. Sanderson’s end was a peaceful life with him and his wife. But you, a young and untamed you, stood in his way. He thought getting rid of you would be the correct means, but that wouldn’t have delivered the end he wanted.”
“So how do you go about choosing the correct means?”
“Sometimes nature delivers only one option. The only way to keep your end possible.”
“Is that what happened with Paula? You had only one option?” He folded his cards into his lap and stared at her until she looked back. “You absolutely couldn’t let her go?”
“I’m on a learning curve.” She poked her head. “I’m enlightened now. Maybe I should’ve done things differently, but I know what it’s like to be someone’s lab rat. I was one for ten years. TEN, Jarrod. Prodded and scanned and showered with a hose. My developing, naked body was inspected routinely by men who I could hear in their thoughts would’ve loved to have shoved themselves inside parts of me that shouldn’t be invaded. I had my first period on an examination table with nothing on but a paper gown.” Lian rested her head in her hands. Her chest seized with memories. No one would ever get it. “I did Paula a favor and I’d do it again. Don’t argue ends and means with me.”
“Now you know why I push y’all away.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? She snarled at him.
He smirked and stared into nothingness. “Your end to all this is close. The reason it continues is because of me. If I were removed from the equation, then you wouldn’t have to keep going. Austin wouldn’t be out there right now, away from you. Who knows, if I was never created, maybe your father wouldn’t have gotten involved with Sanderson and Elliot and you never would’ve been the subject of creepy men’s rape fantasies.”
“Then I’d never have met Austin,” she said softly.
“Exactly.” Jarrod leaned back, as if showcasing his point. “The means do matter in that they determine the ends you’re allowed. So the individual can justify them if they get the conclusion they want, but that means it’s at the expense of someone else’s end.” Jarrod moved around the table and offered a hand. “Terrorists despise America for supporting an ideal that’s counter to their means and disrupts their ends. They set out to tell the world this and they choose to fly airplanes into skyscrapers. Their message was delivered, their ends achieved, and their means justified.”
She could see where he was going with it, but he kept pushing.
“But so many fathers were silenced that day, and the ends they’d planned with their wives and kids were destroyed along with it. To those who remained, the terrorists’ means weren’t justified. So we strike back and the cycle continues. That’s what I am, Lian.” He rubbed her face and kissed her forehead. “I’m the motor of this cycle. Set has to kill me. I see it.”
“If that’s what you want, then go.” She took his hand and rubbed her face against it. Fighting was getting old. Would the fighting ever stop? Or would Jarrod’s end just bring a new war? “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
“Did you see that?” Athena asked. Her face was glued to the window. “That giant angel-buster just threw Sif and another angel to the ground.”
Austin’s whimpering thoughts dashed through Lian’s brain. He’s got Claire here. You can’t tell Jarrod.
“Back away from the window,” she implored, pulling Athena to her back. A car door sliced through the apartment and stuck in the wall.
“How’d you know?” Jarrod crawled to Lian, gently brushing the glass off her face. Several abrasions and cuts stuck her. “You’ll be fine.”
“It’s Austin,” she panted. “Set has him.” Athena and Jarrod writhed in pain, covering their ears as if a loud noise was pumping right next to them. “Are you OK?”
The moment passed. Athena sat up on her knees. “It was a call,” she said, breathing heavily. Her purple aurascales spread across her body. The metallic faceguard covered her head. Her voiced became robotic. “Get Jarrod out of here. I’ll hold off Set.”
“A call?” Lian asked. What did that mean? “A call for who?”
Athena stepped toward the hole in the apartment. Her wings expanded. She looked back at Lian. “Michael comes.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Set VI
The changeling would lead Set to where he needed to go. He was counting on Sif not having the fortitude to kill him as instructed. Since Hermes’ death, Sif had been on edge. Set knew her real motivations for joining the Assassins had nothing to do with atoning for sins against Father and everything to do with protecting her child. Set traded in secrets. They were the most valuable commodities in creation; not souls, starstones, or the key to the Light of Souls.
The changeling, who he knew to be Austin, stopped and looked over his shoulder at Set who followed in the air. His shirt was soaked with crimson. He stumbled and fell over, splashing into a fountain. The water turned red.
Set pulled Austin out of the water, Austin coughing up the liquid. Set’s facial armor retracted and he laid the bleeding changeling down. He knelt, examining the wounds.
“Why didn’t you just let me drown?” Austin asked, weakly trying to push Set away.
“I need you to die with him watching.” Set hovered his fist over a few gushing wounds. A laser shot out from over his wrists, sealing the gashes shut. He held his hand over Austin’s mouth, muting the screams. “That will prevent the major cuts from bleeding you dry. Your advanced healing should catch up soon.”
“You found us when Horus was scanned, didn’t you?” Austin eyes grew too heavy to keep open. Set slapped him awake.
“Indeed.” Set yanked Austin to his knees by the hair. “You’ll take me to the one known as Death; Jarrod.”
“You keep calling him death. I don’t get it.”
“Death is a moniker, not a figurative call-sign for a state of being.” Set stood and looked at the Fountain of Saint-Michel. He smirked with contempt. “This is not at all how that happened. It’s funny how the memories of war are skewed when written by the victors. As if the line that separates good from evil is so easily defined. Just look at how legend and myth remember me. Pretending I’m chaos, a betrayer, a murderer, a jealous sycophant with my own ends in mind. History was written prematurely.”
“Why would I take you to him?”
“Because I’ll kill your female friend.” Set dragged Austin through the streets. The Parisian police force formed a perimeter, blocking his path towards the Latin Quarter. They opened fire. His wings surrounded them both. “We both know Jarrod would trade his life for hers. The question you must ask is: would you?”
Set flapped his wings open. A shockwave of air shoved the police back. Following the gale-force wind was a flurry of soaring daggers with deadly precision. Those not behind cover were sliced to pieces.
“Allow me to carry you.” Set tossed Austin over the shoulder. With a single flap of the wings, they were soaring over the maze of streets. Set shook Austin awake. “I know we’re close. What’ll it be?”
Austin pointed at a third floor apartment opposite a bakery. “There.” He grimaced.
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Set landed forcefully. Several cars in close proximity jumped. He discarded Austin and ripped a door from a nearby vehicle. He looked to Austin for affirmation. “It’s that one, right? If it isn’t, I’ll kill her slowly.”
“It is.” Austin nodded.
Set reared back, seeing Athena’s platinum hair, her focus turned elsewhere. “Let’s see if I can bowl a strike.” He threw the door and it smashed through the window, puncturing a large hole into the wall. He’d missed. “You warned your psychic friend, didn’t you?” Set stomped on Austin’s chest. His wrist blades elongated. “Big mistake.”
A screeching vibration caught his head. He fell to his knees, squeezing his skull. Uriel had called for Michael. A little sooner than anticipated, but no matter. That just meant the timetable was moved up.
The call subsided. Austin attempted to crawl away. Set picked him up by the back of the neck and flew to the top of the building. He dropped Austin from a distance he knew would break a few bones. Austin bounced on the roof top. Set landed hard, driving a fist into Austin’s diaphragm.
“Finding it hard to breathe?” His wrist blades slid out. “Just wait.”
Athena smashed into Set, driving him through the building and into the road, creating a ditch in the pavement across the city block. Her wings flapped, lifting them off the ground. She spun like a tornado, launching him. Set crashed through one end of a building and out the opposite side, scattering brick, steel, beds, and more across the road like an erupting volcano. He bounced off the street and rolled to a stop.
His aurascales worked to repair. “Didn’t see that coming.” Set looked around, dizzy, but couldn’t find her. “Where are you, little girl?”
“How about this?” Athena yelled at the top of her lungs. “This is for Hermes.”
She landed on top of him like a missile. The force shoved them both through the ground and into the subway. Athena’s attacks were berserk. Spikes grew from her knuckles, tearing away at his armor. She shoved his helmet into the wall and repeated the process several times, eventually puncturing a water pipe. Athena threw Set into the opposite wall and conjured a sword.