Star Rebellion

by Alicia Howell

  “What makes you believe that I am open to negotiation?” Now he really had that devious smile. Darkstar, if you’re going to use your power, it better be now.

  “Well, you have graciously accepted an audience with my companion and me, so I had hoped that you would be considerate enough to hear us out. I also understand that Calsh fuels a lot of your nuclear power trade.” I blinked at Darkstar. What the hell did that last part have to do with anything!?

  “Ah yes, it does. You are well informed, but of course, Arctic wouldn’t send a mere idiot to conduct this business with me. Maybe by the end, both of us shall be a bit… ah, profitable with the outcome?” He smiled again before standing. “I will call my advisers, please, step into my conference room.” He motioned to a door that was on the other side of the room and I followed Darkstar into it.

  While we were still alone, I turned on him. “What the hell is up with the random nuclear interjection?” I asked, still befuddled.

  “A bargaining chip to make him at least listen to us. If he was still not going to listen, I would threaten to cut off the trade supply, and if he did listen, as he has, then I will put it as an incentive to get him to Rome in time.”

  “I hate politics,” I muttered and Dark smiled. “What should I do? I doubt Arctic sent the both of us for no reason, there must be something I can do besides stand here like a fool.”

  Dark glanced out the door. “How quickly can you see into the future and pull out of the trance?”

  “Fast enough, I’ve gotten better at it.”

  “Do it then, and tell me if what I’m planning works.”

  I nodded my head and focused my power, clearing out all thoughts and focusing on Moscow and Rome. I could see him standing in front of some fountain and it was night. A shorter man with salt and pepper hair along with Arctic were also standing outside with him.

  I pulled myself back to the present and gasped slightly. Darkstar grabbed my arm as I started to teeter forward. “He’s there, in front of some fountain with Arctic and another man.”

  Dark nodded his head. “Good-” but before he could say anything else, Moscow and a few other men walked in. A man in what looked like a servant uniform came in and placed water in front of everyone’s seat; Dark and I were at the far end while Moscow’s two advisers took the seats on his right and left while he sat at the head. It was obvious he was doing it to make him seem more in power, though I’ve got to admit, it worked.

  I took short sips from the water and felt my head clear a bit. I focused in and out of the conversation, briefly touching the void where I saw the future while the men went on, seeing the outcome of some of the mentioned points. My water was filled up twice through the course of the meeting, and when I started sipping my third glass I noticed one of Moscow’s advisers warily looking at me.

  After two hours or so, I decided it was probably time for me to stop touching the void; I had a massive pain where my skull and neck connected, and who knows how much longer this meeting was going to go on. I finished downing the third glass of water but waved off the servant as he went to refill it.

  My eyes darted back and forth as I watched Moscow and Darkstar debate, but it was almost obvious how much of an upper hand Dark had at this point. When I really focused and paid attention though, I could hear the persuasive ring to Dark’s voice as he drew on his power.

  Finally, my companion said, “So, Mister Moscow, I take it that we have an agreement?”

  Moscow blinked a few times before opening his mouth. “Yes, it appears so. I’m glad that we got it sorted out. I will meet you at the St. Petersburg airport.”

  The adviser on his left stood, hands pressing against the table. “Sir! Shouldn’t we confer about this first?”

  “Sit down!” Moscow commanded. “I can make my own decisions.”

  The adviser opened and closed his mouth a few times before following the order. The other guy looked just as astounded about what had happened; apparently Moscow didn’t do many things without consulting these people first. I wondered if that applied to his personal life as well.

  Darkstar smiled politely again. “How can we make it to the airport, and where should we meet you once there?”

  Moscow looked down at the table and blinked a few more times. “Uhm, right. I’ll have a driver waiting at the front doors, Alexei will guide you there, and I will meet you at the twelfth terminal; it houses my personal jet. I shall be along in a couple of hours.”

  “We must be to Rome by ten p.m. tonight.” Dark left a friendly smile at the end to show he meant it politely.

  “Yes, yes, of course. I will be there no later than two. There is a mall within the airport that you can spend your time at, and I will leave descriptions of you two with the security; I’m sure they will be able to pick you out even in a crowd with your, ah, distinguishing features.” Moscow’s eyes flicker quickly at my hair. I guess there weren’t many men with long hair. In the dim lighting of the conference room, you couldn’t quite see the difference shades of black in Dark’s hair. I wondered what Moscow had thought of Forest’s hair.

  Dark dipped his head once then briefly touched my arm. We stood at the same time and I followed him out of the room.

  “Well, that didn’t go as well as I had hoped.”

  I looked over at him like he was mad. “Are you kidding?! No violence was needed and he will be going to Rome along with not launching any freaking nukes! How much better could that have been?” I was careful to keep my voice to a whisper; Alexei was already standing by the door leading to the elevator.

  “I was hoping that I wouldn’t need to use any of my power, but as you must’ve notice, I did.” Dark glanced sharply at me as we got nearer to Alexei, signaling that we could continue this conversation later.

  The Russian man led us back down through the building, taking us through multiple offices that looked quite boring to work at. Everything had the same, pristine look and organized clarity without a single mar of difference among any of the cubicles except for the people inside them.

  When we finally reached the outside doors, Alexei didn’t continue with us. He nodded to a man in a black suit, the one who had talked with Alexei when we had first arrived here. “My brother, Erik, will drive you to the airport.” He had held the door open only long enough for us to walk outside. I was glad that Foreststar had made us put on the black, turtleneck sweaters that he claimed were professional enough for the meeting and would be warm enough for a Russian summer. At first I had thought that he was mental for trying to tell us that the Russian summers were still cold. The chill air bit any skin that was exposed and I believed that my nose would probably turn red within time from standing out there.

  Erik opened the door for us and Darkstar slid in first. The inside of the black SUV was nice; the dark leather smelled new and was comfortable while the tinted windows let no one see in but gave us a perfect view of St. Petersburg as we drove to the airport.

  My face was practically plastered to the window for the durance of the ride. I had never seen the domed roofs of buildings, and according to Erik, that was a signature architectural design that Russia was known for. I think the driver had deliberately taken us through different parts of the city to amaze us even more, especially since we were in the car for at least an hour.

  Chapter 18: Freefall

  WATERSTAR

  “Do you have any extra-weight that you can do without?” I asked Ice while already swinging my backpack off. I’d have to leave behind some of my knives, and the book.

  “No, all I had and needed was the oil.” Ice’s face was paler than usual and I felt a bit bad for him, but I couldn’t figure out another way for this to work out.

  Outside, I could hear the wiff wiff of the helicopter blades rotating in the air twenty floors about us. Hopefully he had pretty sturdy ropes, even though we hadn’t planned for anything as insane as this.

  I made Ice stand by the window to grab the first rope that came down while I remained positi
oned by the door. We still hadn’t heard any demons since a few floors back, but I wasn’t going to take any chances by being unprepared. That’s how people get killed in the field.

  “Rope’s coming.”

  I glanced back at Ice. He seemed to recover some of his composure and was ready to risk the climb. “Let me see the headset.”

  He handed it over and I placed the headphones over my hair. “Huang, it is Water. I’ll have the headset for now.”

  “Alright, the rope is ready for someone to ascend.” His voice also sounded a bit better and more prepared.

  “Is there anyone up there that can pull us up or will we need to be climbing?”

  “Climbing, it’s only me and the co-pilot up here. At the bottom of the rope is a safety pack; it has clips that you can latch onto the rope as you go up, but without a parachute. We couldn’t find any actual ascending gear, so it is just harnesses and a rope. From what I have heard of Calshians, you should be able to manage, no?”

  The parachute part made my throat clench. There was always the chance of falling, but then again, I didn’t want to see what would happen if we let loose one of the tarps in between the packed buildings of Beijing. Maybe no parachute was a good thing. Maybe. Plus the bit about all Calshians being able to manage this was false. Most people on Earth assumed we were all mutantly stronger, but mostly that was fighters who trained. A.K.A Icestar. “Alright, I’ll inform Icestar.”

  I uncovered one of my ears and looked at Ice, who was hesitantly staring at the rope. As Huang had said, there were two packs tied to the bottom of it, and I could faintly see the latches he had been telling me about.

  I quickly briefed Icestar on how to use the latches; it was something that the field agents were trained in on Calsh because of some of the craters that riddled the Barrens. Those craters had been tested for bungee-jumping. Darkstar tried it once, but he didn’t do so well.

  After triple checking the security straps on Ice’s pack, he stood on the window ledge and stuck the first latch onto the rope. “See you at the top…” he said before stepping into thin air.

  My breath caught as I saw the rope jerk around before steadying out. I think I could even see Ice’s chest deflate as he released a withheld breath. He smiled at me before pinning in the second latch and pulling on a few times to make sure it was sturdy, then releasing the first one. He would be rising about a foot a minute, and had twenty floors to go. At least this method didn’t take much body strength to perform.

  I settled down in a defendable nook and pulled the book that I had left on the ground closer to me, while propping a few throwing knives around me and checking the ammo cartridge in the revolver. Wasn’t much else to do besides guard myself and read until Huang said Ice was in the copter. Demon claws on the floor would probably get my attention from the book. Hopefully, I think. I couldn’t risk going up any more flights of stairs for two reasons. One, the building may interfere with the headset connection, and two I could encounter demons in a large open space where they could attack from behind, while when I’m in the room, I can see when they enter.

  Static came through the headphones and I reflexively grabbed for a few knives. Once I realized that it actually hadn’t been the demons and was Ice’s headset, I sat down one of the knives and messed with the tuner to clear up the voices. It may seem like ancient technology, but Ice likes old school stuff at times, and he was unsure of what connection could be received on Earth.

  “What’s happened?”

  “Ice is up here. The rope is ready for you now.”

  I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “I’ll get ready.”

  I pulled myself up while remaining armed. It was starting to freak me out that I still hadn’t heard anything from the demons. They should’ve broken through the locks by now, and for some reason I doubted that they would be able to track us by smell. Vlad had probably mentioned it to me at some point. But I mean, they were predators after all, weren’t they?

  I reluctantly left the book on the ground where I had been waiting; didn’t need to weigh myself down while trying to climb twenty or more stories. I checked the straps on both of my packs and made sure both latches were securely tied to the rigging on the backpack Huang had sent on the rope.

  I walked over to the window and looked down. Bad idea. I know you probably could have already guessed this, but thirty-two floors is a hell of a long way down.

  I pulled back from the window and caught my breath a few times and swallowed. Come on! I was freaking Waterstar, scared of nothing. I love danger. I raced a car toward a cliff at near seventy miles per hour. I’ve driven Cerberus 99 over a tower of demon bodies. I’ve fought Lucifer and countless demons. Fine, maybe five demons. Whatever. I can climb a freaking rope suspended thirty stories in the air.

  I took another breath and steeled myself before gripping the sides of the window, not caring that broken glass pierced my skin from where I had shot the window. I carefully pulled myself to a crouching position on the sill and reached for the rope. I could see the punctures from where Ice had put the latches previously, and I tried to place mine in the same spots. No need to wear out the threading anymore than possible.

  When the starter latch clicked, I pulled a few times just to make sure that it was secure. Alright Waterstar… just step into the air. Come on… There!

  My heart plummeted as I felt the rope swing around, but the rigging and latch held my weight. Half the battle was done, now just for the way up.

  You know that catchy Earth song “One Step in Front of the Other”? Well, I currently had that playing through my head in a very cheerful comparison to what I was actually doing. Instead of falling onto my face if I had a misplaced “step”, I would be plummeting to a certain death. Damn did I need to make sure the latches were secured. A little over exaggeration never hurts anyone.

  But, of course, life really sucks for me. I estimated that I was probably halfway to the helicopter when it happened. It wasn’t even the freaking latches that gave out. I knew that there was something up with the demons when they hadn’t come barging into the room earlier.

  I was focused only on the rope in front of my face, refusing to look up at the helicopter or down at the pavement only Angles knows how far below me. The rope had started swinging, which wasn’t completely unusual by this point. I had already gone through a nasty gust of wind earlier which had me clinging to the rope for its duration. This was different though. I couldn’t feel the wind blowing around me, just the rope moving.

  It wasn’t until I heard the frantic static over the headset. I stopped my progress with the rope and tuned the receiver to pick up what Huang was saying.

  “-THERE NOW! WATERSTAR CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” Ice’s shouts came through the headphones.

  “What?!” I shouted back, the paranoia was starting to set in.

  “Demons! THEY’RE PULLING THE GODDAMN ROPE! Huang won’t move until you give an all clear that you’re secured on the rope!”

  “Damn it, MOVE THEN!”

  But it had been too late by that point.

  I finally looked up. I first registered the helicopter since it took up such a large part of the sky. I was close to the top, probably only a couple of stories left to go. I could even see some details in Ice’s panic-stricken face barely visible around the huge oil tub underneath the copter.

  My eyes traveled down the rope and my heart stopped. The demon I had seen earlier leading the charge was there, braving the sunlight that had peeked through the clouds. With one massive arm gripping the building with enough force to crush a few of the bricks, it was reaching for the rope with the other.

  It was maybe a story ahead of me.

  I could hear the engine of the helicopter whine as it tried to pull so much weight higher into the air. This wasn’t going to go well. The demon managed to grab the rope at the last second, but instead of climbing onto it, the demon positioned the threads between his claws.

  It was cutting the rope....

 
It… was cutting the rope….

  What was happening only registered in my mind when I felt the jerk as the last of the rope was cut. My hair rushed past my face as I felt my body falling, falling. My mind scattered and I remembered looking from the thirty-second floor to the ground below. That had been almost twenty floors previously though. Imagine how much further it must be now.

  I stopped breathing. I was going into shock. This… this couldn’t be happening.

  I could hear Ice shouting my name. I wasn’t sure if it was through the headset or if his voice was actually loud enough for me to hear over the roaring air and the whine of the helicopter.

  This wasn’t happening.

  I should be able to stop this.

  Memories started flowing through my mind, and at first I thought I was having one of those corny seeing my life flash through my eyes right before death moments, but actually, it was only one memory, involving dog snot.

  Right, I had done something like this before. The falling from a high place thing.

  Except that had only been twenty feet. I think the point of the memory, however, was that my ability to manipulate energy had proved before that I could fly. It escaped me how I couldn’t remember this earlier, instead of climbing a huge-ass rope.

  I started gathering energy beneath me like I had way back then, but it just wasn’t working. I felt my decent slow a tad bit, but not much. I tried even harder, focusing my mind and trying to draw the energy underneath me, even if it wasn’t to fly, just to slow my momentum enough not to be deadly.

  It still wasn’t working though.

  Something about Earth must dull the Rebellion’s powers. What the freaking hell!

  I started panicking again, this just could not be my day, could it? First I have to try and reason with an angry Chinese man, then lure a ton of demons into an abandoned apartment, get chased by said demons, then fall fifty stories to my death. Next time you think you’re having a bad day, remember this instant.