by Derek Slaton
“Hey look man, I’m really sorry about your brother,” he said.
“Shhhhhhhhh,” the man replied, holding his finger up to his lips. “You can apologize and beg all you want, but it’s not going to do one damn thing to change what’s about to happen to you.”
“So what, you going to shoot me in the head? Get it over with quickly so you can get to mourning your brother out in Vegas?”
The henchman paused. “You know, I like that idea. Gonna get me some hoes, some top shelf liquor, and celebrate the life of my brother in style. But it can wait until after I’m done torturing your ass like you at Gitmo.”
A tiny ding came from the gun, alerting him to the gun being recharged. He grinned. “Sorry, but I’m not really into anal play. But that’s not a judgement on you. By all means, live your life.”
“Man, fuck you!” the henchman yelled and darted forward. As he got into range, Hodge kicked him squarely in the knee, sending him tumbling down. The Agent caught him by the hair and pressed his body weight into his back, arching his head back.
“Open wide,” he said, and rammed the water gun into the guy’s mouth and pulled the trigger.
The henchman convulsed as the particles built up inside, eventually leading to the detonation of his head. The force of the blast covered Hodge in brain matter, and shattered the gun in the process.
“Fuck,” he spat as he stood up and tossed the now-useless weapon aside.
“You look like you’re ready for me!” Duke yelled from his position about twenty yards away.
Hodge dusted himself off and joined in the standoff. He stretched his arms out and motioned for his opponent to come on. Duke smiled before running full steam towards him. The Agent remained paralyzed at the freight train of a human being barreled towards him. Just as his opponent got into striking distance, Hodge fell straight to the ground, ducking the wrap-up attempt and tripping him up. Duke used his face to break the fall to the ground, snapping his nose in the process.
Hodge used the opportunity to make a break for the truck, in the hopes there would be a weapon he could use. Even though Duke was face down in the dirt he knew he was no match for him hand to hand, so he needed something to give him a leg up.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” the now bloody-faced criminal said with a laugh as he pulled himself up from the ground. He wiped his face and looked at the crimson coating his palm. “Wow, you even drew blood. I’m impressed.”
Hodge ignored him and continued to dig through the bed of the truck. He shoved away computer parts and hard drives, nothing that would allow him to fight effectively. At the sound of boots approaching, he grabbed the only thing that he could use. A broom.
“Bring it!” Hodge yelled as he held the cleaning tool out in front of him.
Duke stopped just short of him, goofy grin on his face. “What are you going to do, sweep me away?”
Hodge smiled before smacking the broom on the side of the truck, snapping the bristles away and turning it into a makeshift spear. His opponent seemed unimpressed and took a step forward, forcing the Agent to respond with a thrust.
He managed to catch Duke’s left shoulder, who looked at the wound before glaring up at his attacker. Without saying a word, he lifted his giant right hand and brought it down across the center of the broom, snapping it in two.
Hodge took a step back and looked at his weapon that was now half its original size.
“That’s not good,” he muttered.
“No, no it isn’t.” Duke sneered as he pulled the broom remnant from his shoulder and tossed it aside. He cracked his neck to the side before leaping forward, leading with his fist aimed squarely at the Agent’s head.
Instinctively, Hodge reacted to the incoming punch by thrusting the remaining portion of his weapon upwards, catching his attacker in the forearm. The impact wasn’t enough to cause much damage, but it was enough of a shock to force his fist back. He tried to punch again, but met the same fate, a small prick to the forearm.
Duke yelled in frustration before lunging forward in an attempt to get Hodge in a bearhug. The Agent countered this move by ducking to the left and jabbing him in the side, sliding across the ground and popping up behind him and the driver side door. This only enraged him further.
Duke spun around and made another attempt to apprehend him by leading the charge with his massive fist. Hodge deftly opened up the door, so the fist made direct contact with the window, creating a spiderweb of cracks.
Before he had a chance to recover, the Agent jammed the small hunk of wood right into Duke’s throat.
“Got you, you son of a bitch,” he hissed as his opponent dropped to the ground, gasping for air.
Blood spurted out from the wound, coating the inside of the door as he fell to his knee. He attempted to put pressure on it in a vain attempt to prolong his life. He propped himself up by leaning on the seat, looking up with fearful eyes at the Agent standing tall above him.
“Well, I hate to cut this short but I need to go check on my friend and help her take down your boss,” Hodge said as he took hold of the door with both hands. “Enjoy hell, you child killing prick,” he said as he slammed the door onto Duke, driving the wood the rest of the way through his throat.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Artemis pried open the door to the compound, revealing a long hallway filled with broken glass and discarded furniture. Before Rudo and his crew showed up, it appeared as though this building hadn’t seen human life since the Nixon administration, and judging by the destruction it wasn’t a high quality form of human life.
She walked cautiously through the corridor, pausing in front of a set of double doors. She placed her ear close to them and could hear movement on the other side. She took a deep breath before she flung open the door and burst into the room.
The main room was cavernous and sparsely occupied by objects. More discarded furniture lined the walls, and the only source of recent activity was a pile of goods in the center of the room that was flanked by Rudo and tall lanky gentleman sporting a long blonde ponytail.
“Rudo!” Artemis yelled.
He and his blonde friend turned, and he chuckled as his eyes fixed on her. “I swear Artemis, once you get something in your head, not even god himself can stop you.”
“Hey boss, you want me to take this bitch out?” the lanky man asked.
“It would be in your best interest to show her some respect,” Rudo snapped. “She is far more capable than you are.”
“Let me show you what I can do, huh?” the henchman huffed. “And when I beat her down, you give me a couple more college football scores for next week.”
Rudo shook his head and shot Artemis an exasperated look. She nodded back at him, giving him the okay to set his henchman loose on her.
The blonde cracked his knuckles. “So we got a deal, or what?”
“By all means, show me what you can do,” his boss replied before leaning back on the pile of goods, crossing his arms casually.
The man grinned widely before rushing towards the woman. She stood her ground, completely relaxed as he got close enough to strike. His first punch was met head on with a punch from her, and the force of the blow from the future weapon fist shattered his hand. He stumbled back with a yelp, staring in shock at his now useless hand.
“You can run along now little man,” she taunted. “I’m through with you.”
Undeterred, the blonde pulled a knife with his good hand. Artemis, unimpressed, smacked it out of his hand before punching him in the chest. He landed with a thud on his back, dazed.
“You really should have listened to your boss over there.” She sneered, standing over him like a lion over its prey. “You could have lived to see another day.”
“No no no, please… please don’t kill me,” the man pleaded.
“Sorry, you had your chance,” she said with a shrug. “I gotta save the world, and I can’t risk you getting another thought in your head that you can take me out when I’m not looki
ng.” She slammed the side of her hands together, triggering the laser knuckles. “If you come back in your next life as a bigger piece of shit, here’s hoping you remember this lesson,” she said before punching him directly in the throat. The laser cut through his flesh like it was nothing, completely detaching his head from the rest of his body.
Artemis stood up, powered off the laser, and kicked the head over to the side before turning her attention back to Rudo. “Come on, is that the best you got? He wasn’t much of a challenge.”
“An entire Nazi platoon wasn’t much of a challenge for you, so what chance did this asshole have?” Rudo rolled his eyes. “I swear, it’s good to see you in action again. Even after what—seventy, eighty years?—you are still at the top of your game.”
She shrugged. “Well to be fair, I haven’t taken much time off since the war.”
“Which is precisely the reason why I left you alive,” he said. “You do amazing work saving innocent lives while punishing the guilty. You’re like an R-rated superhero that rights wrongs before they can even take place. I want—no I need—people like you in my America.”
“That’s exactly why I’m here, to save innocent lives,” she said, eyes sad.
“Why don’t you trust me?” he asked with a sigh. “You know more than anyone that making this country great is more important to me than anything. I even sacrificed my family to protect it! I… I killed them all to protect this secret, this power, and I’m not going to let them die in vain. I’m going to use this technology to its fullest potential and make this country the most powerful nation today, tomorrow, and for all time!”
“I’m sorry that your family is gone,” she said sincerely. “I’m sorry that you had to do what you did, but perverting our mission isn’t the way to honor them. Our mission was to prevent America from being destroyed, and we succeeded far beyond our wildest dreams. When we were back at the bunker, waiting for the machine to power up again we would sit and talk about what we thought we could accomplish, do you remember that?”
He nodded with a small smile. “I seem to remember our pie in the sky, best case scenario was to sabotage Germany to the point where Russia could overrun them and the rest of Europe. It would have doomed tens of millions to authoritarian rule, but our nation would have been a little better off and there wouldn’t have been a nuclear war that decimated the planet. Little did we know, huh?”
“Yep, we went from marginally better to a world superpower in the blink of an eye. But instead of being happy with that, you want to play god and destroy not just us, but the entire world,” she said.
His brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Have you not looked into your own future?” She threw her hands up. “Six years from now, you run a successful Presidential campaign, then about two months in you decide it’s time to let the world in on your little secret. Rather than make the country untouchable, it unites the rest of the world against us, and try as you might, you aren’t able to prevent a global nuclear war. Every country, not just America, gets wiped from existence.”
“Artemis, Artemis, Artemis.” He put up a hand. “You are just seeing the first draft of things to come. Don’t you remember during the war? There were several times when total annihilation was predicted, and we prevented it from happening every single time.”
“This is different and you know it,” she hissed. “We played our cards close to our chest back in those days, so nobody knew what we were capable of. The moment you reveal to the world you can see into the future it all comes crashing down. No leader, no nation is going to let you have that kind of power.”
He raised his chin.“We shall see.”
“No, we won’t,” she replied softly. “You are a dear friend, a brother in arms. I have risked life and limb to save you, and we have killed untold numbers of men together in pursuit of a better world. But as you always say, the mission comes first. Right now you are the biggest threat to the country and the world.”
“I’m sorry you see it that way.” He clenched his jaw. “I’m going to give my family a country they would have been proud to live in, even if it means ending you.” He straightened his shoulders and flipped open the lid to one of the boxes. He pulled out a large metal baton, about four feet in length and the diameter of a baseball. “Before we begin, I just want you to know this isn’t personal. I just have to do right by my family.”
“I understand.” She nodded. “The feeling is mutual.”
They stared at each other for one more moment, before loosening into fighting stances with a nod.
Rudo strode over and swung the bar like a slugger going for a home run. Artemis jumped back to avoid the blow before leaping forward to take advantage of his backswing momentum. She was able to land a punch on the back of his arm, forcing him to release the bar. As it clanged to the ground, he spun around and shoved her forward a few feet. She turned back to a defensive stance and waited for him to pick up the bar again.
“You always did prefer speed over power, didn’t you?” he asked as he readied himself for the next salvo.
She shrugged. “Well in my view it’s better to take three guys out quickly rather than one guy out via overkill.”
“That is a sound strategy, when you aren’t in one on one battles like this.” He sneered.
“We’ll see, old friend,” she said before banging the side of her right hand on her head, triggering the laser knuckles on that hand only.
Artemis made the first move, lunging towards him as he swung the pole. She made direct contact with the bludgeon about 8 inches from the top, severing it with her laser fist. Rudo spun completely around and came back with another swing which met the same fate, another 8 or so inches shaved off.
He took a quick hop back to inspect the damage done to his weapon, which was now not much longer than baseball bat. He raised the club above his head and struck downwards, which she deftly avoided by sidestepping and thrusting down with her enhanced arm. She hit the bar at an angle, shearing the pipe in half but also into a pointed shiv.
Rudo pulled back and prepared another strike. He lunged forward with the tip of the weapon aimed right at head level. Artemis leaned back to avoid being hit, and punched upwards with the laser knuckles, striking him on the wrist. His hand continued forward and to the ground as he pulled back his nub in pain. He gaped at his missing appendage for a moment before snarling and attempting a fighting stance again. But soon the shock set in as blood poured down his arm and he fell to one knee.
“It’s over Rudo,” she said as she deactivated her fists.
“Artemis!” Hodge yelled as he entered the room. He quickly ran over to her side and let his guard down once he saw the situation was well in hand. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, unlatching the gloves to remove them. “Grab that dead guy’s shirt and bandage Rudo up.”
“What? Why?” The Agent asked, brow furrowed in frustration.
She raised her chin. “Because I’m not killing him yet. I’m going to give him a choice.”
Hodge shook his head in disbelief before he complied with the request. “One of these days you are going to have to tell me the full story of what you two did in Germany. Maybe then this will make sense.”
Rudo collapsed to the ground, the reality of his failed plan sinking in, and tears began to well up. “I’ve… I’ve failed. I let down my family, they… they died for nothing.”
“It’s okay big guy,” Hodge said in an attempt to calm him down so he could begin to dress the wound. “Here, let me take care of this.”
Artemis sat beside then and put her hand on her ex-companion’s back. “I know it’s difficult. It’s never easy losing someone you care about. I’m not going to pretend to know what it’s like to be the cause of that loss, and while I’m sympathetic to your pain I also can’t pretend you didn’t do horrible things in order to avenge them. So, I’m going to give you a choice. It’s not going to be a pleasant one mind you, but i
t’s better than killing you outright.”
He nodded jerkily. “Okay, let’s hear it. My fate is in your hands.”
“There is a town about 50 miles from here,” she explained. “Incredibly small, backwoods, but large enough to have a decent grocery store and a few other luxuries. I purchased some property there a while back and converted it into a safe house of sorts. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a lot better than death or a prison cell.
“But don’t let those comforts fool you, this will be your prison. You will be cut off from all future tech, outside of the new hand I’m going to make for you and a carefully curated selection of movies and TV shows that I bring you. You will be injected with both a tracker, and a detonator to make sure you don’t leave the designated area I set for you. This may or may not be permanent, but it will be a safe bet to plan on being there for a long, long while.”
He reluctantly lifted his nub into the air, holding it for a second before realizing his hand wasn’t there. “Sorry, I was attempting to give you a thumbs up.”
“Okay Hodge, let’s get loaded up and get out of here,” Artemis said. “If memory serves, you owe me a drink.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Artemis and Hodge walked into the office and tossed their gear to the ground. Artemis collapsed in her computer chair while Hodge perches on the edge of the desk.
“Well, that was quite the little adventure there,” he said with a tired smile. “I don’t even know how I’m going to explain why I’m not going to keep working on the Duke case to my boss.”
“Just give me a few weeks so I can stage the compound,” she replied. “Gonna make it look like he went on a rampage and was taken out by his own men. I’ll call it in anonymously but make sure the tip sounds crazy enough that nobody except for you will go looking for it. You get the credit, clear your case and are off to bigger and better things.”
“Yeah,” he said thoughtfully. “I think that would work just fine. Thank you.”