by Adam Cairney
Chapter 8.
There was a brief moment where nothing happened. A kind of uneasy, awkward silence where the two parties didn't quite know how to react to this new, unexpected situation. From the moment he appeared the group of three knew that something wasn't quite right with their old scholarly friend from the Cloud. Percy seemed to be equally caught off guard. To Elijah's eyes it looked like he was waging some kind of internal battle with himself. Percy's face looked like it was trying to display too many different emotions at once. And why was he wearing that armour, and wielding that enormous, menacing looking trident? Elijah glanced back at his face, and noticed; that awful pallid purple colour he was already far too familiar with. The calm lasted but a moment. And then all hell broke loose.
"Percy, are you-" was as far as Molly got before Percy swung the trident round in a huge arc towards her, frighteningly fast. Noah was just as quick though, and no stranger to fights and brawls from his years of living in the Shade. He brought his battle-axe up to intercept Percy's swing, gritting his teeth as the jarring clang of metal on metal reverberated through his arms. The trident stopped inches from where Molly's head had been. She had ducked out of the way as soon as she had realized what was happening. Noah knew who Percy was, and he was sure that despite his considerable size the Dean shouldn't be as incredibly strong as he was at this moment. He managed to voice as much to the other two as he and the man that had once been Percy were locked into a stalemate, the muscles in both of their arms bulging with the strain of keeping the other at bay. Noah's arms began to shake though, and a wicked smile appeared on his opponents face.
Elijah saw what was going to happen. As fast as he possibly could, conducted the ether, as much and as fast as possible, turning his hands into living flamethrowers, twin jets of white hot flame shooting towards his old friend. Whatever was happening, he had succumbed to it, and after what both Molly and he had witnessed before, they could take no chances. The fire hit Percy, splashing across the resplendent breastplate he wore, wrapping itself around him and then...nothing. The flames dissipated, leaving Percy completely unscathed. It gave Noah the reprieve he desperately needed though, as Percy relented and turned his gaze to Elijah. He threw his head back and roared laughter.
"Pathetic! Utterly pathetic! You think to strike me down with ether? I was BORN OF ETHER. YOU FOOL!" He roared at Elijah, and lowered his trident, readying to attack. It was at that moment that it became clear that Percy was a puppet of Azrael, just like the other scholars had been. Percy’s voice now sounded exactly like his. Just as he went to lunge forwards two vials flew through the air and struck him, one to the body, and one to the legs. They shattered, spilling a clear liquid all over him. He stopped, momentarily thrown off guard by the unexpected. He turned on his heel slightly, and his gaze now moved across to Molly.
"And now you insult me with your cheap tricks? I think I will save the conductor for last, and kill you first little girl!" bellowed Percy, and with that moved in to attack. Or rather he tried to. The liquid from the vials had almost completely solidified. Practically frothing at the mouth, he struggled desperately against the invisible bonds that now held him. Molly smirked.
"Yeah sure, well I'll tell you what big guy, why don't you let us speak to the real Percy and we'll go from there, hmm?" She turned to Elijah, murmuring as an afterthought, “Those are one of the only type of vials I use that don’t use ether as a base. It’s lucky I had those!”
Elijah said nothing. He was still shaken by the fact that, even with all his effort and strength, he had been able to do nothing. He felt useless, and scared. This was a new occurrence, and he did not like it. He had never come across a material like the one on the armour Percy was wearing. He was completely impervious. Noah stepped in front of him and Molly, axe held in front of him.
"I'm stayin’ here with our friend. You two know the plan. Go and do it. Now. No arguments, just grab the pack and run. I'll catch you up later." Elijah was about to argue, but Noah, as if sensing the coming objection, half turned towards him. With a silencing glare it was settled. Elijah grabbed Molly by the wrist, grabbed the bag of supplies in the other hand, and made to walk past Percy as fast as possible.
It was the last straw for Percy, as he realized his prey was escaping, and that he was in danger of disappointing his master. With an inhuman roar that stopped Elijah and Molly in their tracks, he struggled harder than ever. With a hollow shattering sound, the compound that had formed around him collapsed to the floor, freeing him. In one swift movement, he brought the trident down lightning quick, embedding it deep into Noah's thigh, the tip of the middle point jutting out of the back of his leg. Noah screamed in pain, and then instinctually lashed out, swinging the lethal axe blade as hard as he could into Percy's chest. It connected, sending him flying backwards, causing him to rip the trident out of Noah's leg as he went. Noah yelled out in pain again and dropped to one knee. Elijah and Molly rushed over, but he instantly waved them off.
"GO! RUN! Go to the back, the place we used to escape the gangs that time. I'll hold him off as long as I can." He looked directly into each of their eyes. "I'm sorry. I’ll meet you soon." He pushed both of them away to stifle any protests and screamed at them to run again. Percy was on his feet already, slowly, confidently striding forwards, not a single dent or scratch on his glorious breastplate, which kept catching and reflecting the light from the lanterns. Noah forced himself to his feet as Molly and Elijah disappeared out back.
Noah squared up to Percy, hefting the axe in both hands as blood oozed and trickled out of his leg. It didn’t matter. The adrenaline was racing through his veins, he was ready. Percy allowed himself a little smile and took up a fighting stance.
"If you’re comin’ for me, come get me you bastard." Noah growled.
They charged at each other
