A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  When the light died down, Kevin opened his eyes. Ethan stood before him, unharmed, undamaged. To either side of the commander was a massive trench, and behind him, the entire wall of the West Wing had been obliterated. In front of the man was a large red shield.

  That’s a youki barrier?!

  “Did you really think that I wouldn’t have found a way to protect myself from those projectiles?” Ethan asked. “That weapon is derived from one of my own designs, boy. I’m not going to be beaten by something so simple.”

  “Lilian,” Kevin said softly. “Please get everyone out of here quickly.”

  It was a testament to her trust in him that she didn’t argue. “I’ll come back soon.”

  Kevin smiled. “I know you will.”

  Turning back to Ethan, who remained stationary, Kevin’s thoughts turned grim.

  I just hope it’s not too late by the time you get back.

  Justin’s first thought upon waking was: what the fuck hit me?

  His second thought was: how am I still alive?

  Slowly opening his eyes, he needed to blink several times as the glare from the sun threatened to blind him.

  “Ara? You’re finally awake, I see,” a voice said.

  He blinked some more. Turning his head, he saw Kotohime kneeling several feet away. He shuddered as she caressed the hilt of her katana. It was such a loving, tender gesture that he couldn’t help but feel creeped out by it.

  “Where…?”

  “You are currently outside of the White House. Lilian-sama brought you here.” Kotohime looked away, staring at something that he couldn’t see. “The fighting has stopped—for the most part. I believe it is thanks to the president arriving with you and the others. Everyone else is currently helping the civilians who were injured during the battle.”

  “Kevin…?”

  “Kevin-sama is inside of the White House, still fighting against his father.”

  “Why…?”

  “Why am I not going to his aid?” Kotohime finished the question that he wanted to ask. “Because I believe in Kevin-sama. I am confident that he and Lilian-sama will come out victorious.”

  That was good enough for Justin. He closed his eyes and let himself rest for now.

  Kevin grimaced as he fired off several more lightning rounds at Ethan. A shield sprang up to meet each projectile. His shots splashed harmlessly against the barrier, dispersing across its surface like a dying electric current. The shield disappeared soon after, and the commander, moving faster than a regular human would have been capable of, suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

  It was only thanks to his fighting style that Kevin avoided an unfortunate fate. He twisted away from the commander, whose thrust hand nearly slammed into his chest. The attack was powerful enough that he could feel the air being displaced.

  Holstering Ebony, Kevin grabbed Ethan’s forearm and tried to judo toss the man. This might have worked on someone else, but on a person whose body was part machine, it didn’t work so well.

  Kevin felt a moment of weightlessness as Ethan lifted him off the ground. His stomach did flip flops for all of one second. Then his back slammed into something hard.

  Stars exploded in his vision as all of the air was expelled from his lungs in a single breath. He blinked. Then his eyes widened when he saw the sole of a boot traveling for his face. Rolling across the floor, Kevin avoided having his face stomped in. The floor wasn’t so lucky. Kevin warily eyed the abrasions that spread along the floor.

  If that had been my face…

  Unwilling to let himself be caught like that again, Kevin unholstered his guns and created a hailstorm of gunfire. The barrier appeared again, but this time, Kevin had a plan for dealing with it. He’d already noticed that Ethan needed to remain stationary when the barrier was up. He didn’t know why that was, but he didn’t think it mattered either. This was an opening that he could work with.

  Keeping up a constant barrage of gunfire with Ivory, Kevin rushed forward and, cocking back his right hand, punched the barrier. Just like what always happened when dealing with youki barriers, this one peeled apart like the petals of a blooming flower. Kevin didn’t hesitate. He rushed into the opening, pointed his charging gun at Ethan’s chest, and unleashed another massive beam of lightning.

  It never hit its target. Ethan grabbed the gun by the barrel and jerked it away from his body. Because the commander was so much stronger than him, there was nothing that Kevin could do to stop this. The beam of lightning burst from his gun, blasting a hole through the ceiling.

  Kevin didn’t have time to lament what happened. His mind became overridden with agony when, like a tidal wave crashing into a city, Ethan thrust a fist into his chest.

  He could’ve sworn he felt his chest cave in from the attack, which launched him off his feet and sent him flying backwards. The world tumbled around him. It spun in a dizzying display as his body screamed in pain. Even after he’d come to a stop, his body resting against a wall, the jolts of agony caused his body to jerk and twitch, as if he was suffering from the aftershock of having his finger plugged into an electric socket.

  Footsteps came to him. They were slow, measured. Blinking the blurriness from his vision, Kevin looked up to see Ethan staring down at him with an almost disappointed look.

  “Look at you, boy. You look pathetic. To think that my own flesh and blood is this weak. It’s inexcusable.”

  “S-shut up,” Kevin groaned, feeling blood welling up in his mouth. “You think I care what a prick like you has to say? You abandoned my mom.”

  “Abandoned? Boy, you know so very little about your mother or me. I never abandoned anyone. Your mother is the one who ran away from her responsibilities.”

  Kevin hesitated. “W-what do you… mean by that?”

  “You really don’t know anything, do you? Before your mother had you, she was one of our top agents, a woman so skilled in assassination that she’d earned the nickname Death God by yokai.” Ethan’s eyes gained a distant quality, like he was seeing something far into the past. “She was the best, which is why I selected her to be the subject in our project. If I could combine the DNA of our best agent with my own and enhance the attributes that made us such feared figures, then I’d be able to create the ultimate killing machine—a perfect human who would be capable of fighting yokai on even ground.”

  Kevin didn’t know what to say. His mother had been a test subject? He was an experiment like Justin? That couldn’t be true, could it? Was this the reason that he could negate barriers?

  “But then she ran away after becoming pregnant, taking a slew of secrets with her, and sought asylum with Davin Monstrang.” Ethan shook his head. “It doesn’t matter now. I’ve realized that humans can only get so far while remaining human. To overcome the threat of yokai, we need more than simple genetic manipulation.”

  “And that’s why… you made yourself into a machine?”

  “That’s right. To destroy the threat of yokai once and for all, I turned myself into a cyborg. Of course, being a cyborg alone isn’t enough to destroy a yokai of great power, which is why I created my plan to eradicate the yokai by attacking their very genetic structure with a powerful toxin.”

  Kevin gritted his teeth. “You… disgust me.”

  “Then it’s a good thing that I don’t care about your opinion.”

  Then why did you bother telling me all that?

  His thoughts were interrupted when a light click echoed in the mostly empty room. Ethan held a gun, which he aimed at Kevin, who could do nothing but stare down the barrel as he realized that he was going to die.

  “Celestial Art: Flare!”

  “GGRRAAA!” Ethan screamed as a brilliant orb of light burst in front of his vision. His photoreceptors must have been more sensitive to light than human eyes. He stumbled backward—right into Lilian’s waiting tail.

  “Lilian Tail Drop!”

  Wrapping her tail around Ethan’s neck, Lilian lifted the man up, then slammed
him head first into the ground. Kevin winced as the commander’s head became embedded into the floor.

  “Beloved!”

  Lilian rushed to his side. Before he knew what was happening, a pair of soft, fluffy tails had wrapped around his torso and a pair of lips on his mouth. Energy suffused him. It flowed into him through Lilian’s lips and tails. The pain in his chest vanished. Bones snapped back together, ruptured organs regained their functionality, and the blood welling up in his lungs disappeared. When they broke apart for air, Kevin gasped and sucked in a deep breath.

  “Lilian…”

  “Yes, Beloved?”

  “Behind you.”

  “Eh?”

  Kevin grabbed Lilian’s shoulders and rolled them across the floor. A loud bang like the crackling of thunder echoed all around them. A glance at where they’d been previously revealed that the ground was cracked and dented.

  He and Lilian scrambled to their feet. They were just in time to see Ethan pull the trigger on the weapon he was holding, which Kevin belatedly realized was actually his gun. As lances of lightning exploded from the barrel, he and Lilian leapt away from each other. The hairs on his arms prickled as the lances of crackling yellow lightning moved between them.

  “Celestial Art: Heaven’s Prison.”

  Chains shot from swirling eddies of youki, entangling Ethan, who grunted as he fought against his bindings. Kevin darted forward and kicked Ivory out of the commander’s hand. He then caught the gun in the air and leapt back, raising his gun and firing off several shots. A shield appeared before Ethan. Kevin leapt back in and broke the barrier with his fist.

  “Celestian Art: Divine Cannon!”

  Lilian coiled her tails together in front of her body. The tip glowed brightly before golden energy detonated from the tip, lancing out as a cylindrical beam of energy that crashed into Ethan, who, unable to bring his shield back up after it was destroyed, took the attack head on.

  Kevin raised his arm up to his face and closed his eyes. The powerful crackle of repressed celestial energy burned his cornea like fire, several explosions rocked his body, and the intense wind, created by bursting air and shockwaves, nearly knocked him off his feet. As the light eventually died down, and the howling of Lilian’s technique became less intense, Kevin opened his eyes.

  “Woah…”

  There was a gaping hole in the wall, through which Kevin could see the path that had been left by Lilian’s technique. A shallow but long trench was carved into the ground. He didn’t know how long it extended to, for it disappeared into a copse of large trees.

  “That’s impressive.”

  “T-thank… you…”

  Kevin looked at Lilian. His mate was sitting on the ground, her legs sprawled out in front of her as she used her hands to keep herself upright. Sweat poured from her skin, and her breathing was heavy, as if she’d just run sixty miles without rest.

  “Are you okay?” Kevin knelt beside her and placed a hand on her back. His palms and fingers became soaked with her sweat.

  “I… I’m fine.” Lilian smiled at him. “G-go on ahead… this is your chance to really confront… your father.”

  “You mean my sperm donor,” Kevin rebutted. Leaning in, Kevin placed a kiss onto Lilian’s lips, ignoring the saltiness as her sweat got into his mouth. “I’ll be back soon.”

  “R-right…”

  Kevin found Ethan several dozen yards away. He’d climbed to his feet, seemingly undamaged except for his left arm, which was missing. Kevin eyed the sparks coming from the stump, then looked back at the man who’d helped give him birth.

  “I’ve always hated you,” Kevin told him. “Even though I’ve never met you until now, even though I never knew a single thing about you, I’ve despised you from the moment I was old enough to understand why you weren’t a part of my life.”

  Ethan snorted. “If I cared about your feelings, I’m sure that speech would’ve left me heart broken.”

  “You’re a pathetic excuse for a man.”

  “And you’re nothing but a brat.”

  Kevin and Ethan stared at each other. A swift breeze blew through the clearing. Then a tumbleweed rolled between them. Randomly. Out of nowhere. For no reason.

  “Virginia doesn’t have tumbleweeds, does it?” Kevin asked.

  “Not that I know of,” Ethan admitted.

  “I didn’t think so,” Kevin said, and then he fired off six rounds. Ethan rolled along the ground to avoid the attack. Kevin’s eyes narrowed.

  Why isn’t he bringing up his barrier?

  Charging Ivory, Kevin let loose with a massive bolt of lightning. Ethan moved to avoid it, but Kevin predicted his path and fired several water rounds at him. The attacks splashed against the commander’s arm. Water dripped onto the ground.

  Circling around Ethan, Kevin continued to unleash a constant barrage. He pulled the trigger as quickly as his finger allowed, unloading water bullets from Ebony like a gardener watering a plant. It didn’t take long before his opponent was splashing around in a large puddle as Ethan did everything possible to defend himself—never once noticing the bright yellow glow from Ivory.

  Now!

  Without warning, Kevin raised Ivory and fired off a round. A bolt of yellow lightning was launched forward. Ethan moved to dodge the giant lance-like attack. He wasn’t the target.

  A silent screamed issued from the commander as the lightning lance struck the ground around him. The water that had been accumulating into a large puddle on the ground acted as the perfect conductor, and since Ethan’s body was composed of mostly metal, he absorbed lightning like a sponge.

  Smoke wafted from his metallic body. Skin sloughed off him in thick gobs that splattered against the ground. Perhaps it was metal joints going haywire or maybe whatever was left of his organic parts were suffering spasms, but the commander twitched and jerked around like a glitching video game character. When the lightning finally lost power, Ethan remained standing for all of one second. Then, with a loud clang, he fell onto his back.

  Kevin walked up to the man, guns warily trained on his enemy, who might still have some tricks up his sleeve. However, no surprise attack came.

  “Ha… ha…. hahahaha… hahahahaha!”

  Ethan’s chuckling made the hairs on Kevin’s neck stand on end. It just felt so… out of character. Still, he stopped before the man who’d definitely earned the “Worst Parent of the Century” award, stopping well out of the commander’s attack range, just in case the man still had a trump card to play.

  “You’ve lost, Old Man.”

  “Do you really think that?” An uncharacteristic grin crossed the commander’s face. “If so, then you’re even more naive than you look.”

  Kevin narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

  Blood stained Ethan’s teeth, making Kevin realize that while his exoskeleton was made from metal, his internal organs must have been human. His lightning attack had likely fried a good portion of Ethan’s insides.

  “I’ve already sent the activation command for the missiles.” At Kevin’s horrified look, the ruined commander chuckled. “That’s right. You’re already too late.”

  Kevin didn’t bother talking to Ethan anymore. He turned around and sprinted back into the White House. Lilian was on her feet again, having seemingly recovered youki enough to be standing. Kevin grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.

  “Beloved, what are you—”

  “There’s no time to explain! Just follow me!”

  He didn’t think he’d ever run faster in his life—not even when he was running for a track meet. He ran out of the gate to the White House like a man on fire. The fighting seemed to have stopped. Soldiers stood off to the side, appearing unsure of what to do. Kevin ignored them and, upon finding the president speaking with, oddly enough, Kotohime, he ran toward them.

  “… a ceasefire should be possible,” the president was saying when Kevin interrupted them.

  “Mr. President! I’ve got ba
d news! Ethan has sent the activation code for the missiles! They’ll be launched soon!”

  “W-what?!” The words came from more than just the president. Kotohime, Iris, Justin, and Christine all shouted at the same time.

  “The missiles are being launched soon!” Kevin said again. “Mr. President, get in contact with everyone you can, the military, the police, the fire department! Contact everybody in every state, city, and town! Have the military mobilize and intercept those missiles! Tell the police and fire departments to evacuate their civilians into any underground bunkers that they have!”

  The president proved himself to be a practical man when, rather than argue, he nodded and rushed over to the men wearing military suits and began barking out orders. Kevin turned to Kotohime.

  “I need you to contact Mack and tell him what’s happening. If possible, have him completely seal off Neo Seiryuu.”

  Kotohime nodded and rushed off to the helicopters that they’d arrived in. Before she could get too far, one of the helicopters suddenly took to the skies. Kevin looked around. All of the people who’d come with them on this mission were on the ground—even their pilots.

  All except one.

  Justin heard the crackling in his helmet as the ground passed underneath him in a blur. He was flying a helicopter, which he’d actually never done before. It was kind of interesting. If circumstances were different, he’d have loved to learn how to fly one for real.

  “Hello?” Justin said after pressing a button. “You’ve reached the Mile High. This is your host, Justin speaking, may I ask who’s—”

  “What are you doing, Justin?” Kevin cut him off.

  “I thought that was obvious. I heard about the missiles being launched, and I’ve decided to stop them before the launch can initiate. To cover the whole United States, there must be at least a couple hundred thousand missiles. It’ll take a while for the computer to calculate their trajectory and target points.”

  “So you plan to stop the missiles alone? What can a single person do?”

  “In a military chopper like this? A lot.”