Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  Before he can do anything else, I flip my rifle off my back and pour rounds at him, sweeping the air. Somehow, he avoids every spike, and then he’s standing in front of me with his fist cocked back. That’s when one of my guys goes barreling into him, shoulder tucked down and just almost hitting him. Again though, Yousef leaps at the last second and comes down behind him, and now it’s clear that somehow the general’s gotten bigger by at least a foot. The material of his uniform has stretched to the point that it’s tearing apart, and he’s moving with more power than I’ve ever seen him with. His leg comes sweeping underneath the trooper and sends him tripping to the ground before Yousef’s golden fist locks around a cable in the trooper’s armor, ripping it clear out and disabling the suit.

  I’m at Yousef in a second, the blades under my gauntlets swinging at him as he waves me on, like a boxer taunting his opponent. I miss easily, and he takes that golden hand of his and punches me in the stomach with enough force that I feel the plating collapse inward. My legs, suspended in the torso of my armor, suddenly scream as the armor crushes down around them. But I don’t give myself the chance to feel the pain as I swing again, only to have my blade caught between Yousef’s hands. Before I get what’s happening, he snaps the blade off my gauntlet and kicks me to the stomach, sending me rolling head over heels as he throws the blade away.

  I get my head up in time to see Torres lock her gigantic arms around him, and for one second, I think that if I can get to him, we can finish this. But I’ve barely planted a hand to the ground when that golden energy surges and he throws his arms out, breaking her lock on him. Yousef spins to her as she swings wildly, but he grabs the power armor at her elbow. He doesn’t bother tossing her. He doesn’t waste the opportunity. Instead, I hear him scream this awful, earth rocking scream as he drives his hand upward, breaking tons of metal in half and snapping her armor’s forearm off at the elbow. Fire and electricity explode out of her arm as she staggers forward, but Yousef doesn’t stop. He leaps into her chest, driving her back into the pavement as his fist comes down on her breastplate with enough power that I see it dent inward. I take off sprinting at him, screaming in anger as Torres is screaming in pain, when he swings his arm in my direction. For just one, God awful second, I’m staring into the face of a golden light that’s focused like the sun in his hand. The next second, I’m leaping out of the way as a beam of energy explodes from his palm, erupting across the field with so much power that I see people in its way evaporating into the light. They just disintegrate into nothing.

  When I look back up, I see Yousef pound down on Torres’ breastplate two more times before his golden hand locks onto a groove in the metal. Then he reels back, and I hear the awful groaning of the armor’s chest piece as it rips from her body. Just like that, there’s Yousef, towering over her in golden light, his hand grabbing her by the collar and ripping her from the torso of her power armor. Her faces is covered in blood and she looks like she’s having trouble breathing. Maybe broken ribs. But Yousef’s face looks like a demon’s, and when his fist cocks back, I know he’s about to hit with the kind of force power that would blast a wall apart.

  And then fire. Red fire, falling from the sky, as Jackie slams into him. The two of them go rolling along the ground as I sprint over to protect Torres, cradling her and looking back to see what’s happening. The second I’ve got Torres in my arms, I see Jackie and Yousef both climbing to their feet, with her standing there and screaming at him. “Stop this, Yousef!”

  “Stop? These are my people, Jackie. Humanity. You want me to stop? And what? Give them to you?” His face contorts and even if he’s not yelling, his voice resonates across the battlefield. “They all turn in the end, Dark Angel. Your friend, Mike. My sister, Ishara. You think you’re any different? We both know that’s not true. And you want to give my people over to you? So, one day, you can slaughter them like pigs when you can no longer control the Creep that’s eating its way through your mind.”

  “I’m done with that. Do you understand? I know what I did, what I’ve done. But what I am today is what matters. What I am today is someone who stands up to monsters like you.”

  “To quote a supposedly holy book, ’How terrible it will be for those who call evil good, and call good evil. Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness.’ You’ve condemned yourself by losing sight of what this fight is all about. It’s about preserving humanity. That includes saving it from itself, when it’s lost its way. When it’s started calling people like you ‘good,’ when all you’ll do is destroy them in the end.”

  “If things ever come close to that, then I’ll leave before that happens, Yousef, but right now? I’m putting a stop to you first,” she shouts as the two of them launch at each other, golden light pouring out of Yousef and red energy burning the skies around Jackie. Jackie’s punch goes flying by Yousef’s face, but Yousef’s punch misses her, too. Then, faster than I can blink, the two of them connect, their fists crashing into the other’s and raw heat and energy exploding from them when their fists bash into each other. There’s just one second where it looks like Yousef doesn’t understand how Jackie was able to match his speed, but then the two of them vanish, Jackie suddenly appearing not far from me and Yousef appearing a split second later, his fist crashing into the ground as Jackie leaps out of the way.

  Torres’ voice reminds me to breath when she weakly says, “They’re fast.”

  “Yeah, no shit,” I say as I collect her in my arms and sprint to the entrance of the fort’s administration building, laying her against the wall as we watch the two of them fighting. It’s like nobody wants to get in their way, and that circle around them stays cleared out as Jackie summersaults backward, leaping through the air and dodging everything that Yousef throws her way. When they come rocketing back to the ground, the two of them start throwing jabs so fast that it’s hard to keep up, their hands rising to block before launching into punches. There’s a second between the two of them when Jackie explodes with speed, screaming as she launches herself at him. Yousef’s head swings left and right, leaning away from punches and ducking under others as he struggles backward.

  Torres laughs as much as her lungs will let her. “She’s doing it. She’s got him beat.”

  The thing is, I see the strain around Jackie’s mouth, and I hear the screaming. And then I look at Yousef as he’s calmly swinging out of the way of one punch after another. That’s when I realize he’s not struggling. He’s dancing. I think I even see him smirk as another one of Jackie’s punches misses him by inches.

  “No,” I mumble as I’m looking at them. “She’s faster than I’ve ever seen her, but she’s no match for him.”

  Yousef slides away from another punch and goes leaping, his hand planting on the ground and launching him back onto his feet. “Is that really your best, then? I was under the impression that the Creep made unstoppable monsters.”

  I see her eyes flare red as she shouts back at him. “I don’t know anything about what the Creep’s supposed to do. This isn’t about the Creep. This is about me stopping you from hurting anyone else.”

  “All this bragging, all this heroic talk, when you still haven’t shown you can keep up with me. I haven’t even reached full speed yet. Did you know that?” There’s just a second when I see Jackie’s back stiffen, like she wasn’t ready to hear that. Yousef must notice it, because he starts laughing at her from across the field. “Oh. You didn’t? You spent all that time, a month away training, and this is the best you could manage? A little faster, at best. The mighty Dark Angel. I shouldn’t have been worried about you returning after all.”

  Jackie explodes across the ground at him, her thrusters launching her forward as she screams and her fist sailing past Yousef before her jetpack kicks out. Then she spins, pivoting on one leg and kicking out with the other, missing as Yousef moves so fast, he’s behind her in an instant. Jackie swings her clubbed fist backward, Yousef leaning back and underneath the punch, only to straighten
out as she starts punching at him against. But, no matter how much faster she strikes, it feels like Yousef is just getting quicker. No matter how much Jackie keeps up, she never looks able to actually land one of her own punches.

  And then Yousef connects with her so hard that I see blood shoot from her mouth and onto the pavement. She goes barreling over before he grabs her from behind the head and sends her tumbling in circles along the ground, the pavement tearing apart as I see bent pieces of her armor flying off of her. Yousef’s bowed over for a second with his palms on the ground, like an animal ready to pounce, and he goes flying across the soil as his legs push him forward. He’s right on her and flying through the air, his clubbed fists coming down and a second away from smashing into her when I swing my rifle off my back and fire it his way. His eyes flash at me for just a second before his body contorts, angling underneath my rifle rounds and tumbling onto the ground.

  He’s rolling onto his feet when Jackie’s fist comes across his face, slamming him with enough power that his body twists sideways, giving her just enough time to bring her other fist crashing up into his stomach. Yousef doubles over and growls, but his fingers lock around her wrist and jerk her arm straight out, his free hand flying up into her elbow. The second it connects, I hear this disgusting snap as Jackie’s arm cracks in a direction it shouldn’t and goes limp. Bits of armor fall to the ground as she grabs at her broken arm, but she’s barely had time to scream before Yousef’s fists go collapsing against both sides of her temples. The hit makes her legs go weak, but before she hits the ground, Yousef grabs her by the throat. He pushes her to her knees and drives his golden fists into her face over and over, Jackie just trying to block with her one good arm as he continues to crack her helmet apart.

  I take a look at Torres, who just nods at me to go, before I start sprinting at the two of them, my body charging like a tank at Yousef. “Yousef!” I scream as I’m about to crash down on him. He turns to me at the lack second and drops Jackie, leaning out of my way and slipping under my punch. His palm comes slamming down on the knee of my armor, a golden blast exploding through that tears into the steel tendons and mechanical servos keeping my armor running. It forces me to a knee, and the second I’m at eye level, Yousef grabs at my helmet. The view in my visor starts to spark and turn to static as I hear the wrenching of metal as he strips the helmet from my armor, the world around me exploding in electrical sparks and fire. Before I have a chance to look, I feel the force of his fist as he hits me with so much power, I almost black out the second it connects. The world goes black just long enough that I go toppling over, collapsing onto my side as the world swims around me.

  That’s when I see the fire from Jackie’s jetpack erupting, her body streaming into the air as her thrusters send her screaming into the sky. Yousef notices it, his eyebrows tightening and a scream leaping out of him as his golden eye starts circling. In a second, he’s flipped around, his palm full of more light than I’ve seen him use to that point. That’s when he throws his arm skyward, that golden energy swirling around him as it channels into his finger, his arm tracking Jackie as she’s circling away. And no matter how much I want to get up or help, I’m trapped in my armor. It’s become a coffin, and all I can do is scream as that beam of energy explodes from his hand. The sound of it erupting fills my head as I see Jackie’s body burst into a bright ball of fire that immediately starts to turn to the ground, detonating like a meteor when her body hits the earth. My vision’s going blurry as Yousef starts to walk to the entrance to the administrative building, his voice screaming into his earpiece. “Focus all artillery fire on the spot where the Dark Angel impacted. She won’t come back from the dead a third time.”

  He doesn’t even bother looking at me or Torres as he walks back inside, the massive blast doors covering the entrance groaning as they shudder to a close behind him. He’s done what he came to do. All that’s left to do is watch and listen to the booms of artillery cannons and rocket launches firing off in the dark, sending explosions flying sky high at the same spot where Jackie crash landed. A thundering plume of fire erupts into the air, burning its way across the dark skies as rockets continue to rain down on the courtyard. I force myself to look as I try to understand what comes next. If Jackie’s down . . . what comes next?

  Tommy’s Recording 39

  When I see what Yousef does to Jackie . . . blowing her out of the sky . . . I lose my breath. She explodes in midair and crashes to the ground, only to get hammered by so much artillery fire that there are surrounding troops and hardware that get blown up in the explosion. I’m still finding it hard to breathe when Yousef steps back into the room, somehow looming a full foot taller and looking like he’s in some mad blood rage, his uniform shirt literally ripped apart at the chest.

  His eyes go to me as his voice detonates from the other side of the room. “Are you still depending on her to save you?” Then his eyes go to the doc. “Do you still want to tell me not to gamble against Jackie Coleman?” But the doc doesn’t say anything. He just sits there with his eyes closed, taking deep breaths. Yousef turns to the team sitting in the middle of the room and growls. “Are we getting any signs of the Dark Angel out there?”

  One of the young men turns back to look at him. “No, sir. As far as we can tell, her armor was completely destroyed. She took nearly a dozen salvos of artillery before we stopped firing on her position.”

  “Good,” he growls as he looks at the monitors in front of him. At the point where Jackie went down, there’s a massive crater that’s burning, like a hole out of hell. “With her out of the way, we can focus all of our ground fire on the Panzer. I want that behemoth blown out of the streets.”

  “All of our guns, sir? We’re currently holding back significant raider forces using the wall emplacements. If we stop . . .”

  “The Panzer has enough firepower mounted to its chest to wipe out the Dynamis and our wall defenses if we let up firing on it for even a second. Once it’s out of the way, we can turn back our defenses on these raiders. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I look from him to the screens, and all I can see is how many gun emplacements are still lining the fort walls. I see the Panzer starting to erupt under the return fire. And as the seconds tick away, turning to minutes . . . I really start to wonder if the only thing I can do is charge Yousef and take him out. Crush the head of the snake, even if it means dying in the process. He’s got a sidearm strapped to his hip he never uses, and for a minute, I wonder if I could grab it while he’s walking around and put a shot to the back of his head. Because if that’s the only way to take out Yousef Suliman . . . I’ll do it.

  Dodger’s Recording 25

  By the time I’m hauling myself out of the side of a hill in the middle of the Green Zone, I can tell everything is going to hell. I come out of a door that’s almost completely hidden from the public, and I’m immediately hitting the pavement, watching as people are being hurried underground and into the gardens where all the food is kept. Men are holding their wives’ hands and children are screaming as their parents carry them in a rush. Everything’s chaotic, with people rushing over hills and pushing at each other while some of the militia try to keep everything orderly.

  I don’t have much time to waste, and I immediately start sprinting the half mile east, to the old Arsenal, where stories say they once stored weapons and ammunition. It’s the agreed upon place for the defense of the Green Zone to be coordinated, and I’m in full sprint just to get there before more time burns away. I’m sprinting through the front doors and shooting inside, where I’m immediately greeted by a half dozen officers all hovering over monitors. It’s Martin’s face I’m happiest to see, and he immediately reaches out to grab my hand. He gives me firm shake and a pat on the shoulder before waving to the computer monitors. One monitor is specifically showing a map that’s lit up in red all around the Green Zone. “Welcome to the fight.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “As ex
pected, the north side of the Zone is only being lightly hit. Most of Dravic’s men left that area when they deployed out to Colonial and Freedom Bridge.” He points to the south side of the zone. “When Dravic’s men started readjusting northward, they didn’t direct themselves west. We anticipated that’s what they would do when they started hitting Colonial Bridge, but instead they split off in two directions, east and west. The west side of the Zone’s where we concentrated a good deal of our forces, but it looks like Dravic thought of that. It looks like he’s trying to break through our more lightly defended eastern perimeter.”

  “And our defenses?”

  “Holding so far, but once more of Dravic’s forces reach us from the south, they’re going to reinforce their people on the east and west perimeter. At least, that’s my best guess. Once that happens, they’ll squeeze us from both sides, and it’s our eastern perimeter that’s likely to go first.”

  “Alright. Then I’ll head there and rally up everyone.”

  “Lieutenant?”

  “You’re in charge here with the larger picture. Got it?”

  He leans back and a deep frown just carves its way across his lips. “That’s not what we discussed.”

  “What we discussed was that I’ve been the one going back and forth, getting everyone organized. That means it’ll help to have me out there. Yazzie was supposed to be one of the block leaders and help organize people from that direction, so I’ll join up wither her.” I take a deep breath. “And my old team. I think . . . I think this is the way it was always going to have to go.”