Forged

by G S Michaelson

She had been circling towards where her staff still jutted out, but he had noticed that, stepping between her and the wall. Wagging his finger at her, he threw the knife — hitting Rachel in her right leg and then just as quickly threw another one, stabbing her once more in the arm.

  “I’ll give you one more chance,” He smirked. Confident in his ability to take all that she could give. “Join me, and you’ll walk away from this.”

  He had no intention of letting her go. Julian had recognised her voice from the recording, she was the one who had ultimately taken down Georgina. He was going to torture her over and over until she barely resembled a human being, and then he would kill her. Justice demanded it.

  “I think I’ll pass.” As she knelt on the rooftop, Rachel stared at him, a grim smile on her face, Julian began to realize that something was wrong.

  The roof began to shake, then cracks snaked up around them it was then he realised what was wrong. Their fight had damaged the roof a bit, Rachel’s blows to the rooftop had no doubt played a part, but the buildings in the town centre were sturdy, and built for metaphorical beatings. But this building, it had begun to give way.

  Floors below them, glass began to shatter as the building began to collapse in on itself. Both Rachel and Julian leapt off the roof as it gave way; Rachel darting towards her dropped staff as it began to fall, Julian heading towards the ground.

  It was then Julian saw his mistake. He had assumed that Rachel’s Godspark allowed her to swing around a staff that must have weighed a ton, earning her epithet. But that was obviously not true. He should have noticed when the staff had clattered in front of him like a normal staff.

  Rachel was strong, yes, but her true ability was shifting the weight and density of objects. The building had suddenly become too heavy to stand and had begun to collapse under its own weight. Matthias had made that same mistake earlier, Rachel thought to herself when she had shifted the weight of his strings enough so that they snapped. Without that little bit of information, Julian’s prediction ability wasn’t complet — and he was caught off guard for once.

  Using the rubble as a stepping stone, Julian began to jump nimbly from one piece to the other. He was hoping to hit the ground before he was caught in the collapse.

  He saw movement from the corner of his eye and swore under his breath.

  Celestial Javelin!

  Rachel had her arm thrown back. She was preparing to throw her staff, but this time, it was Julian who was cornered. If he moved to dodge it, he would certainly lose his foothold and fall towards the ground, perhaps he could block it. At least, that’s what Julian thought. She released the staff, throwing it with such force that it appeared to distort the air. Julian raised his sole remaining baton, but it was too late, the staff tore right through him, leaving a hole through his raised arm and torso where he had attempted to defend.

  Chapter 27 - Like a Butterfly

  Rachel moved to retrieve her rod from where it had struck Julian. He lay on the ground, still barely conscious as blood leaked from him.

  “Good one ‘Tonner’,” He coughed, “I didn’t see that coming.”

  “Thank you.” Rachel pulled her staff out of him, a spurt of blood followed. He was now bleeding out faster. Within minutes, he’d be dead and he probably knew it from his expression.

  “You killed my sister. I should hate you for that. But I don’t feel anything, even when I’m dying like this. Is this how she felt? Would you even know?”

  “She died consumed by hate. I don’t know how that feels like.” Rachel looked down at Julian, as he lay choking on his own blood.

  “I take it your friends don’t know who you are?” Julian was still trying to push her buttons. But he was dying, if she just left, he’d be powerless.

  “They will find out, you know? Then, where will you be?”

  “I don’t know, and neither will you.” Rachel picked up her staff. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the type to leave things unfinished. “I’d like it if you could shut your mouth — and never open it again.”

  “Wait — please.” Julian’s eyes met the ice in Rachel’s. “Ah, I see. No mercy from you?”

  “This is mercy.”

  She swung her staff down one more time.

  * * *

  Battle in the Sky.

  Simon and Annabelle.

  Annabelle hovered in the air. Her wings fully extended. They glittered and glistened in the sun, sunlight reflecting off them in different colours. Ever so often the scales would fall off her wings. And they would explode. Destroying whatever they landed on like some form of divine judgement.

  She was Annabelle, she was beautiful, she was terrible.

  Simon could do little but run. He had said he would fight her, but he was bitterly regretting that bluff. His armour could barely protect him in regular situations, but as he was tossed about by shockwaves, his failure to fully activate Hephaestus stung.

  “Are you having trouble dodging?”Annabelle asked, sending another wave of exploding scales as her wings flapped leisurely in the air, “Why don’t you just stand still, and all your problems would no doubt evaporate?”

  “I really disagree with your assessment,” Simon rolled, ducking yet another explosion. He needed to close the gap between them, but he doubted Hephaestus’ propulsion jets would be up to the task.

  Fine then.

  The centre of the new Karn County was a maze of buildings, he would use those to his advantage.

  Running to the edge of the building as explosions rained down behind him, he leapt off it, Hephaestus reforming around his body as he did so. His jets activated, and he flew where the buildings now grew closer together and the skyline was denser. This way, he reasoned that even if she tried to attack from the skies, her attacks would be deflected by the building walls.

  One good shot would do it. He just needed the chance to get that shot.

  Annabelle flapped her wings again, sending another rain of scales towards him.

  “Are we playing hide and seek now?” Her voice sounded warped through the explosions. “I don’t think you’ll win at that one either.”

  This time, the scales flew off her wings and into her hands. Coalescing in the air and nor scattering randomly as they had been previously.

  “I have complete control over my scales, they detonate when I want them to,” Annabelle had seen his surprise. “I really was just toying with you the whole time. I sometimes play with my food before I eat it, though I’m surprised that you’ve survived this long.”

  “I’m a pretty tenacious bastard,” Simon said as he fired back.

  Plasma Cutter!

  The air exploded with noise and fire and colour as his beam collided with Annabelle.

  As the smoke cleared. He quickly realized what happened. As he had attacked, she used her exploding scales to deflect his beam. Even If he could aim and fire, he clearly had no chance of actually hitting her. His chances of victory were looking lower by the minute.

  Annabelle spread her hands out like she was praying. Scales hung in the air for a second, adjusted, then pointed towards him.

  “I call this one scale shower,” She smiled at him, “Please, try your best to survive.”

  The scales shimmered in the air, then they launched themselves at Simon.

  The explosions were tracking him, unlike the last one. Simon moved, and moved fast, flying for dear life. The first few scales hit the ground he had just left. The next few hit the stairs of a fire escape as he flew past. Grabbing onto a lamp post, he swung himself around in mid-air and doubled back. More scales floated around him, exploding with just enough force to stun him momentarily.

  He was being pushed further and further away from Annabelle, and she was no less capable of killing him from a distance.

  At this rate, I’ll be killed before I get that shot off. Simon realized. He needed to come up with a strategy fast.

  “Annabelle! I knew you, we knew each other! When we were kids…. we used to play together rememb
er?” He yelled out over the explosions, “Don’t you see this is wrong!?”

  “You must have mistaken me for someone else,” She replied coldly. “When I was a child, this place was hell. I had nothing to do but be constantly undermined by everyone, to be shown the good ways of the small town. Timothy offered me a path forward, and I took it!”

  Another volley of explosions.

  Simon ducked, weaved and bobbed once more. He had cracked her armour just slightly.

  “But you realise you could have changed things if you stuck around and you made your voice heard,” He yelled back. “You didn’t have to do all this, participate in this madness.”

  “Madness?” Annabelle countered, “Don’t you realise we’re the ones offering them hope? They would have all been enslaved, or worse. We’re keeping this place together!”

  “Is that what you think this is?” He waved an arm at the screaming citizens below him. “Hope? You’ve been attacking me recklessly, not caring who you hit, and now you’re crowing that you did all of this just to keep people together? Are you lying to yourself or to me?”

  A painful memory flashed through his mind, and he spoke without thinking, “Better still, did you tell that lie to your mother when you killed her?”

  “You don’t know anything. Your opinion is worthless to me. So that’s enough, no more conversation, no more discussion. This isn’t a debate, this isn’t an argument, you are an intruder and this is your execution.”

  Annabelle’s voice had dropped. He had struck a nerve.

  “You’re just another person who thinks they can shape my mind and tell me what to do. So don’t worry any more about Karn County. I am going to kill you now, then I will kill your friends. Then the Festival of Life will go on — like it always has.”

  “I don’t remember much about your mother, Anna,” Simon yelled. “Do you think she’d be proud of you? After all, she did die for this right? You had to kill her to earn Timothy’s trust, just like Tyler killed his parents, and mine.”

  “And yet — you’re still alive.”

  Shattering Scales!

  Her wings arced out, the scales exploding and destroying whatever they touched.

  “I’ll fix that.”

  Annabelle was arrogant, she knew that herself. But she would not imagine someone flying right into an explosion and flying right through it. Simon hadn’t either, but he had been willing to try anything.

  Hephaestus flew right through the scales just before they exploded.

  Coming face to face with a surprised Annabelle, he only had one word.

  “Gotcha.”

  An armoured arm lashed out as Simon punched her in the face, sending her spiralling backwards.

  She recovered quickly, her wings picking her up and dragging her out of her spiral.

  She rubbed her cheek where she had been punched and glared at Simon who hovered just out of reach.

  “That is an interesting tactic,” Annabelle spread her wings again, “Let’s see if you can pull it off again.”

  Scales flew off once more, swirling in the air, surrounding Simon. This time, he would have no choice but to retreat or be blown asunder. With a thought, she detonated them.

  From the smoke, a solitary figure pushed out at full speed. Annabelle only had time to gasp before he had caught up with her in the air.

  This time, it was two words.

  “Gotcha again,” Simon clotheslined her, nearly taking her head off in the process. She fell back, but she recovered yet again, just in time to dodge Simon as he flew past her. He circled her, then he dashed in, punching and kicking at her from all directions. Annabelle could barely evade one attack before he’d start the second.

  Simon was abandoning what should be common sense and fighting her at close range. Annabelle could not detonate explosions close to herself without serious repercussions to herself, and the armoured man was exploiting that ruthlessly.

  As Simon swung at her again, she detonated a small number of scales, enough to send Simon away without hurting her. She coughed, partially deaf after such a close explosion.

  Annabelle descended, landing on the top of a building.

  “Very well.” She complimented him, “You’re a good fighter, I’ll give you that much at least.”

  “And you’re not so bad yourself, Tinkerbell.” Simon said.

  Annabelle raised her hands in the air. Her wings began to flap frantically. Yet, she remained in the same spot.

  Scales once more dropped off, fluttering around in the breeze. The sky began to turn pink and purple as a large mass of scales appeared above her. Simon’s eyes widened. That was more than she had used, in the entire fight.

  “This Scale Storm is my anti-platoon attack. You’ve evaded me well enough by dodging and ducking all this while, but no more. All my scales cluster together into one big bomb, I imagine dodging it, will kill just about everyone on this street and even more. You have no choice but to take it head-on. The curse of the hero. That is what you fancy yourself to be right?”

  Simon gaped in disbelief. He hadn’t thought he’d be forced into a scenario like this.

  “I’ve lost contact with Julian and Richard. I will uphold my responsibilities as one of Timothy’s executives, and protect the government from any rebels and terrorists.”

  Screams tore through the air as the crowd below realised what she was doing. Some began to run, others still broke down and cried as they realised there was no way they could escape.

  Simon had a plan, but it was a gamble. If he failed, he would die along with everyone else.

  He wouldn’t fail.

  Directing all energy to his propulsion systems, he shot upwards, towards the sky.

  Annabelle shook her head. The scale storm began to move, falling towards him. Simon flew right into it as it began to detonate.

  Once more, there was a flash of colour as the scales began to explode, then the energy appeared to freeze for a second and then dissipated harmlessly, colours wafting through the air like confetti but with the smell of fireworks.

  Simon hovered in the air and took aim with his wrist-mounted cannon.

  Annabelle was stunned for a second.

  “That explosion should have killed you…why are you not dead…where’s the explosion?”

  Simon’s cannon charged up. “I was able to synchronise with and absorb the energy from the scales before they exploded. I wasn’t too sure that would work, but it gave me a hell of a power boost.”

  He set his gaze on Annabelle.

  “Now, let’s see if I can do it one more time.”

  Realising she had let him come too close, the executive frantically flapped her wings, dropping scales on and around him. But it was too late, he was too close, and she was too flustered to mount an effective defence.

  Simon locked eyes with her for the last time, then fired.

  Plasma Cutter!

  Simon’s plasma beam cut right through Annabelle, slicing through her body and burning off her wings.

  At the same time, the last scales around them exploded. The explosion was weak, it was muted, but Simon’s body had taken a beating already, despite the partial protection his armour provided.

  Annabelle fell from the sky, charred, streaming and very clearly dead.

  Simon fell just after her, trying to summon his armour. It was forming far too slowly. He was too exhausted and injured to save himself before he hit the ground. At the same time, his eyelids became too heavy to keep open.

  I got her, but I guess this is it for me. I’m sorry, Zeke. Sorry, Derek. I couldn’t help you any more than this after all.

  A pair of solid arms wrapped around him, grabbing his neck and lower spine as he fell. A small bump as his saviour impacted something and they now were heading upwards. The smell of sweat and feel of the jacket felt familiar. Simon’s eyes popped open.

  “Douglas?”

  “I followed the sound of explosions to give you some backup.” Douglas landed on top of a building
, laying Simon down gingerly. “Looks like you managed to blow up the Bomber. Good work.”

  “Serves her right. Told her I was a tenacious little bastard.” Simon smiled weakly.

  “Saw you falling with a blank ‘I guess this is my last view’ expression ad I thought ‘hell no’.” Douglas continued. “It would be bad manners for me to push you all into helping me and then allow you to die.”

  “It’s my town, not yours,” Simon said.

  “The way I see it — we’re both strangers here,” Douglas replied. “We didn’t have any obligation to meddle.”

  “Whatever you say.” He smiled, “But I guess I do consider us even now.”

  “Are we?”

  Douglas didn’t let Simon see the small smile on his face. Somehow, he knew it was there anyway.

  * * *

  Derek turned instinctively towards the explosion, taking his eyes off Timothy.

  That was his first mistake.

  Chapter 28 - Thicker Than Water

  Battle of Blood.

  Zeke and Tyler.

  Zeke stood in front of Tyler, at the top of the Shining Towers. It was their first meeting since they had separated years ago. Zeke wanted it to be their last.

  Tyler looked much like him, except his body was bigger. His gaze was crueller. His scars, deeper. Zeke’s ones may have laced his skin, but Tyler’s were embedded into his soul itself.

  “I should have killed you back then Zeke,” Tyler said. “Why’re you getting in my way now?”

  “Why’re you asking that? Isn’t it obvious?” Zeke said, “I’m here to kill you.“

  “But why? I’ve already taken over Karn County. Mum and Dad are dead and buried. You’re alive and well. There really is no point in this. Why survive over a decade to come die this pointless death?”

  His execution had already been a foregone conclusion. Rage spilled out on Zeke’s face, distorting his features until he resembled a beast.

  * * *

  Years Ago.

  “How could you?”