Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  “And you believe that?”

  “The truth’s normally a little more complicated than what you hear.”

  “I’m glad you think so.” He pauses for a second before he starts up again. “Would you be willing to come out with me? To see Fort Silence. To talk.”

  “Is there a specific reason you’re asking?”

  “Because I believe that you’re carrying something. A burden. It’s something that few people around you understand, but I might be able to, because I have to lead people just like you. I’m not blind to what the Creep has done and can do, and just like you, I’m the one who carries the burden when people die. I think I can help you shoulder that responsibility.”

  “Oh, great, because for a minute there, I thought you wanted hang out with me because of my sparkling personality.”

  He smiles. “I wouldn’t mind company after a long day, either.”

  “Fair enough.” I shrug as I step outside and close the door behind me. “I’m assuming I don’t have to worry about locking my door.”

  “Not unless you’re keeping your armored suit in there.”

  “No, it’s in a limbo between realities at the moment.”

  “Is that what you’ve decided Pocket Space is?”

  “I’ll let you know when I update my definition of what it is.”

  That gets a laugh out of him as he leads the way out of the diplomatic wing of the fort. “I thought we could get a drink.”

  “You do a lot of that here.”

  “It tends to be a habit when life is punishingly short. I wouldn’t deny the men their access to it. As for me, I only drink this much on special occasions.”

  “Which is obviously a reference to me being here.”

  “I was thinking more about the potential alliance between Central Freedom and Fort Silence.”

  I snap my fingers. “Darn. I knew there was something else to it.”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Now, that drink? We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

  “No, I want to. First time in my life I’ve ever had that stuff.”

  “Too much of it can be unhealthy for you.”

  “You’re telling that to someone who just had a piece of steel ripped out of her stomach a week ago after surviving a few hundred bullet rounds through the back.”

  “Touché. I have to remember that your Creep enhanced biology means you don’t have to worry about injuries the way the rest of us do.”

  “It sounds great and all, but it does have an . . .” I heave out, like I’m trying to force something out of my chest. “It can be hard feeling normal, I guess.”

  “I’m not just like you, but I understand a little about what you’re talking about. To feel different from everyone around you,” he tells me as he raises his gloved right hand. “The golden fist. When I first had it put in place, I felt like a . . . like a freak, as you put it. An outsider. I could tell people were staring at me, thinking I was different. That I was somehow not quite human.”

  “How did you get over that?”

  “I don’t know that I ever did. Not completely. The loss of my arm was tied to my sister.”

  “Ishara.”

  “Yes. My beloved.”

  “Did you . . . “ I hate asking. “Did you want to talk about it? About her?”

  He takes a deep breath as he continues leading the way. “Once I’ve had that first drink.”

  It doesn’t take us long to get where we’re going. I actually have no idea where he’s taking me until we get there. He wasn’t kidding about being fine with letting his people drink. Once we get past the officers’ quarters, we end up stepping into this long room that’s packed full of people. There’re men and women there, most of them stripped down to tank tops and loose pants, and all of them are standing around with glasses in their hands. In the center of it all’s a rectangular bar that runs down half of the room, with a couple of guys inside who’re taking orders and pushing glasses out to their guests. All around us, I can hear music pumping out of speakers, with some people moving to the beat. Then, through all of it, Yousef leads the way to a corner of the bar. Nobody seems to pay too much attention to him as he walks inside, although they do clear a path for him as he takes me to a chair. A second later, he’s got drinks in his hands.

  He extends one to me with a smile. “To good times.”

  “To good times,” I agree. “Even if they’re rare.”

  “Especially since they’re rare,” he says as he takes a seat next to me. “What do you think?”

  “Of this place? It’s pretty dingy.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “It’s great,” I tell him while I’m taking a drink. “It just feels . . . alive, I guess.”

  “Yes. This place has always been that way. It’s always been a place where, no matter your rank, you can come and enjoy yourself. Talk to people. No saluting, no paying attention to stature. Everyone here is an equal.”

  “I guess that’s why they parted a road for you to get to the bar once we got here.”

  He chuckles. “Obviously, we can’t leave everything behind at the door. They still know who I am. They still respect me. At least here, they know I’m not going to come down on them about their behavior and how they talk. Everyone needs a place to let it all go.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Where is that place for you? Where do you go when you need to put away the Angel? When you just need to be Jackie Coleman and stop carrying all your duties on your shoulders.”

  When he asks, I kind of just . . . Well, I take a big drink first and try to think of something. “I have this place where I go. It’s not like this. It’s more of an armory, I guess. I can sleep or restock on weapons and fuel.”

  “So, it’s another military location for you. What I’m asking is, where do you go to stop training? To stop worrying?”

  I take another long drink. “I guess I really don’t have that.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “Why?”

  “Because, when you take your helmet off, you have the look of a person who’s carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. You might not get tired the same way the rest of us do, but your eyes still look exhausted.”

  “Thanks for the flattery.”

  He laughs. “I’m just trying to say that you need to stop worrying about saving everyone all the time.”

  “It’s just, it’s a little easier to say that than do that, you know? It’s not exactly like there are a lot of people like me running around the world. I have responsibilities.”

  “And I don’t? I may not have your powers, but I have command of a military force I’ve committed to destroying the Creep. I feel the same urge to right the world, but I still realize there comes a time when I need to put my responsibilities aside. There are times when I need to rest.”

  There’s a long moment after he stops talking when I just sit on his words. It takes me a second before I say anything. “We’ve kind of danced around talking about the people we’ve lost. I’m not going to confess my life story here or anything, but part of the reason I’m always so worked up about doing something is because . . .” I can feel my chest tightening up as I’m talking about it. “The minute I take a break, someone else is going to be at risk. I just can’t let anyone else die.”

  “That’s an impossible standard in war.”

  “Yeah, I know. Ergo the nights spent in angsty contemplation.”

  “I’m sure you’ve lost someone you truly did care for.” He takes a sip from his glass. “I did say I would tell you about Ishara.”

  “You loved her.”

  His eyes glaze over, like he’s staring into the past. “I did. And then she died.”

  “You don’t have to talk about it . . .”

  “One thing I hope you take away from tonight is that talking about these things can be healthy, even if it’s difficult. Besides, for me, her death was years ago. It sounds like your loss was more recent.”


  “It was.”

  “For me, Ishara has been gone several years now, ever since a mission into the Deadlands went wrong. Like I told you, my father raised Ishara and I to both be leaders. We were both destined to take his place if necessary. When he died, she stepped aside to ensure the fort continued to run smoothly. The truth is, she was as great a fighter as any of us. When we were younger, before biology ran its course and I became stronger, in terms of pure strength, I always remember her outwrestling me. Even after I became bigger and stronger than her, she was still faster and more agile. Perhaps she couldn’t beat me in a battle of pure strength, but she was always able to find ways to win. She was smart, a quick thinker, and that made her a vicious opponent in a fight. There were more than a few times I remember her choking me out during a wrestling match. I suppose there’s no feeling like having your own sister forcing you to go unconscious.”

  “Geez. I’ve known brothers and sisters who fight, but . . .”

  “Yes,” he says with a smile. “Our fights were on the extreme end.”

  “That’s kind of an understatement.”

  “I gave up my arm for her,” he continues. “We were ambushed out there, in the wild, during a trip through the Deadlands. There was nothing that could have predicted the Creep that attacked us that day. During it, she saved me, but I also saved her. I needed to sacrifice my arm to do it, however.”

  “I know what it’s like to have the Creep just come out of nowhere. And, I get what you mean about making sacrifices. I knew a lot of people who got hurt or injured in the Creep.”

  “Yes, well, this assault killed almost everyone on that trip besides my sister and I. We got trapped in the worst of it, surrounded by the infestation and fighting desperately to survive.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t die.”

  “She might have, if I hadn’t jumped in to help her. You know, in that moment, I had no hesitation. I leaped after her without a second thought.”

  “You really did love her.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “So, how’d they get your arm?”

  “When you’re faced with a creature whose teeth are as long as a man’s arm, it’s not too hard to imagine how that might have happened.”

  “Holy hell. Are you telling me they bit right through it?”

  He chuckles. “One came at me from the side, and I raised my hand to defend myself. Its teeth actually scraped down from my wrist to just below the elbow before it bit down.”

  I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my time, but still, hearing that description makes my stomach roll, and I actually cover my mouth for a second. “That’s pretty gross, Yousef. Not that saving your sister wasn’t noble, but that’s a pretty vicious way to lose an arm.”

  “I guarantee it felt far worse than it sounds.”

  “I bet. But you guys had the technology to give you a new arm?”

  “Since the day Fort Silence separated from Central Freedom, my father had been experimenting in ways to enhance our soldiers. He was quite the genius, something few people from Central realize or remember. They remember the warlord, but I remember the scientist. He’d been researching robotic limbs for some time. That’s how my father saved our lives. We both had enhancements made to our bodies to give us a fighting chance in the future. My robotic legs, for instance.”

  I stare down at his thighs for a second. “So, you’re telling me if you rolled up your pants . . .?”

  “No. My legs look like they would if I’d never had the surgery. We’ve made significant advancements in cybernetic enhancements here in Fort Silence.”

  “Then why do you have a golden arm?”

  He grins at me. “It’s a symbol. Symbols mean something. They’re powerful.” Yousef flexis his fingers, light reflecting off the metal surface as he closes his hand. “The sign of the golden fist. Everyone who sees it knows what it represents, what sort of might that Fort Silence can bring down. I suppose, in that way, it’s a bit of vanity. It’s also me trying to own what happened to me, to say that, even if I did lose my arm, the Creep has not defeated me. It has only made me stronger.”

  “Funny. I can pretty much say the same thing about what I went through and the changes that happened.”

  “The files sent over by Central Freedom were light on those details.”

  “Well, because I’m not technically a member of Central Freedom, even if I’m giving them some help right now. They don’t really know about what happened to me. I guess the short story about it’s that I had my body beaten, had my ribs broken, suffered traumatic organ failure, and had a couple of Creep tendrils drilled through my torso right before I ended up biting the big one.”

  Yousef starts to laugh for a second before he sees I’m not joining in with him. “Wait. You’re serious?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “You’re telling me you died?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then how are you sitting here?”

  “Same way anything with the Creep in them stays alive. My body tolerates the infestation in a way that almost nobody else does. You could call me a special case, I guess.”

  “I see.”

  He’s staring at me like I’m weird, and it starts to make me feel self-conscious. I brush some hair out of my face before taking another drink from my glass. “Look, I don’t exactly go around telling everyone that I’m . . . you know. Infected. Please don’t make me feel weird about this.”

  “No, of course not,” he says as he takes his own drink. “My apologies. It’s just such an incredible story.”

  “Again, not one I just go around telling. I prefer for people to just think I’m normal Jackie without them worrying I’m some sort of monster.”

  “If you don’t normally tell people, then why tell me?”

  It’s a good question, probably one I should think about more before I answer. “I don’t know? Maybe because it sounds like you kind of understand what it’s like to lose someone to the Creep. To be a little different from everyone around you. You even get what it’s like to have to lead, which most people I meet just don’t understand. Even Tommy and the rest . . . they get what it’s like to lead their small groups, when in my head, I’m thinking about how to save an entire city. Branagh’s the only other person who really gets it.”

  “It’s a very unique burden to have to carry that much weight on your shoulders.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  He nods. “Thank you for sharing, Jackie. I promise, I won’t betray that trust.”

  “Good, because . . . because I think I’ve had enough betrayal in my life to this point. From the time I left home to my time in the Deadlands, it’s just really hard to find anyone I can believe in anymore.”

  “So, you believe in me now?”

  I shake my head, but I do smile. “I wouldn’t say we’re there yet.”

  “I’ll try to give you even further reason to trust me.”

  It’s right about then that I see something going on at the back of the bar. Suddenly, there’s a big crowd gathering together, and I stretch my neck trying to find out what’s going on. “Are we missing something?”

  “Just the troops getting out their frustrations in a . . . recreational way, shall we say.”

  “Recreational? You mean they’re fighting.”

  “Yes. They like to get together in some friendly competition. Sometimes people place bets.”

  “What do they bet?”

  “Just like Central, we do have a money system here at Fort Silence. The troops use them mostly to buy books or entertainment, the kind of things that are hard to find in the world. The kind of things we can’t make here too easily. For all of our military innovations, we’re not exactly producing movies and entertainment for the troops When we do stumble on movies from the Old World, they get a lot of demand. The troops love to buy them.”

  “So your guys fight and whoever wins get credits, too?”

  “Exactly.” He grins, and it looks like he wants trouble. “Did
you want to try your hand in the ring? No suit, just you and your fighting training.”

  “I promise you, I won’t need the suit to defend myself.”

  “I believe it. Maybe that’s why I want to see you in action.”

  “Oh, you just want me to show off.”

  “That could be it.”

  I look at the glass in front of me before rolling my head toward him. “But I’ve been drinking. I can definitely feel it.”

  “That just might make it more entertaining.”

  “I really doubt it.”

  “Alright then. Another suggestion, one to really make things interesting. Wear the suit.”

  “I can’t. I’ll kill anyone I fight while wearing that thing.”

  “Not if you fight me.”

  That gets a rise out of me. I can actually feel my eyebrow cock hard as I look at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I told you, my sister and I had certain . . . experiments, done.”

  “You think you can handle a punch from a girl who can lift a tank above her head?”

  “Do you think you can handle a punch from a hand with the power to break through the side of a tank?”

  “You really want this?” I smirk his way as I wipe my mouth and set my glass on the counter. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

  He’s laughing as he guides me through the crowd and toward the back, where there’s just a big, vacant space and people watching fights from along the walls. Yousef gestures around the room. “This is a free for all. Any martial art form you can bring. The only rules are not to hit below the belt and don’t grab for the eyes. If a man taps out, you win.” The second he finishes, he practically pushes me along with him into the center of the room. We’re barely a second inside when the crowd dies down a little, maybe because they recognize him. Yousef waves to everyone before motioning over to me. “I’ve brought a new fighter for the ring! Jackie Coleman!”

  When he says it, everyone starts cheering and clapping. At first, they don’t really recognize me, not until my suit materializes around me and leaves me standing seven feet tall in battle armor. The second the armor’s on, the room bursts into cheers. Now that they know who I am, they’re excited. I don’t wave or anything. I hate that sort of attention. Still, it’s kind of nice to see so many people excited about who I am. Yousef keeps talking, pointing to himself. “Today, you get to see your own general in action,” he says to a thundering round of applause. “The Dark Angel versus the Golden Jackal. Start placing your bets.”