The Hade War

by Luke Carlisle

  Greyfall thought for a moment.

  “Fine. I will go with you.”

  “It’s literally one block away. Also he’ll ask who you are,” Jessen protested.

  “I will go with you,” Greyfall repeated. “It’s been a long day Hade. You should get some sleep.”

  “Yeah…. uh thing is this is where I sleep.”

  “I will sleep on the floor again. I am conditioned for much worse.”

  “I supposed this is quite luxurious for you then actually.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  The next morning Jessen woke before Greyfall and silently got dressed. He saw no need for Greyfall to escort him one block down the street from his apartment. He also didn’t want Greg to ask any questions as to whom this giant Chinese man was that Jessen was all of a sudden friends with. As stealthily as he could Jessen opened the door to the apartment and left. Out in the open air Jessen was starting to feel true relief to be away from Greyfall for the moment. He stopped at the diner next to his apartment building to get a cup of coffee and walked down the street towards Greg’s apartment. Jessen stepped off a curb only for a slowly moving taxi to bump into him. Jessen fell onto the hood of the car and spilt his coffee all over it.

  “Sonofa!” Jessen exclaimed.

  The taxi driver got out of the car.

  “Well done jackass! The sign says don’t walk! Are you blind?!”

  Jessen immediately realised what was going on and raised his hands outward.

  “I apologise sir. My bad, totally my bad ok?” Jessen said with honest intentions.

  “Yeah, just watch where you’re going moron. Next time might not be so gentle.”

  The cab driver got back into the drivers seat and took off down the road.

  “Asshole,” Jessen muttered. He took a moment to look around him. He looked at his hands, inspecting them. Satisfied that he was not about to create the apocalypse he started walking again.

  “That was too easy,” Jessen said out loud to himself and continued across the street to Greg’s apartment.

  Several minutes later he exited out of Greg’s building with the NCW Showdown tickets in his pocket and his phone to his ear.

  “Yeah dude! Ringside! I’ve never sat ringside before. Greg’s one of these guys that knows a guy that knows a guy sort of guys…guy.”

  Jessen started back towards his own apartment building but had only taken a few steps away from the door of Greg’s building when three men approached him from behind. One grabbed his phone away from him.

  “Hey! What the hell!?” Jessen exclaimed. Another man punched him in the stomach. Jessen hunched over but the man helped him up and walked him down the alley beside the building. The alley went round a corner and was completely secluded from passing eyes on the street. Jessen immediately knew this was trouble and began to struggle. Another of the men grabbed hold of him too while the third punched him in the face.

  “Nothing personal man. Needs must,” Said the thug who punched him while going through Jessen’s pockets. Jessen kicked out and caught the man in the groin. The thug dropped to his knees in agony. The other two men started pounding on Jessen, punching and kicking him in the face and stomach. Jessen tried to lash out and hit back at them but it was hopeless. The man he kicked in the groin was now back on his feet and stomping on Jessen who was beginning to seriously panic.

  “Hold him!” the first thug ordered and the other two pulled Jessen flat onto the ground. Jessen was trying his best to remain calm but the main thug pulled out a knife from his inside pocket and held it over Jessen’s heart.

  “Was your wallet worth dying for?” the thug said.

  “No please! Just take what you want!”

  Jessen could feel himself getting hot, sweat pouring out of him.

  “Oh, we’re all passed that. An eye for an eye, I’m afraid.”

  Jessen began to shake violently. The thug raised his knife hand upwards. Jessen closed his eyes and heard a soft thud then the clinking of metal bouncing off the ground.

  “Gyaagh!” Jessen heard the thug cry out in pain. He opened his eyes to see he had another knife impaled in his hand.

  “What the?!” The other two assailants turned to see Greyfall standing about twenty yards away from them at the corner of the alley.

  “Go,” he calmly ordered.

  The two thugs picked up their friend who was lying on the ground grasping his impaled hand. Hauling him to his feet they scurried off out of the alleyway and down the street. Greyfall walked over to where Jessen lay on the ground.

  “So yeah…” began Jessen, rising to his feet. “Like I said, only one block away.”

  Greyfall glared at Jessen who sighed and looked down.

  “Thanks. And I’m sorry. You were right,” he admitted.

  “You could have killed us all! You would have started the war!” bellowed the giant.

  Jessen said nothing but nodded in understanding. He felt different, like he had a strength that he never before held. He looked down at his hands. They felt different. Like they weren’t his, but he knew them better than his own hands somehow. He breathed in deeply.

  “Hade…” began Greyfall, picking up the knife the thug had dropped.

  Jessen slowly walked over to a large dumpster in the alley and raised his hand to it.

  “Hade…” repeated Greyfall cautiously.

  In a flash the dumpster half disintegrated in a ball of light and the other half shot across the alley with a force that drove it through a wall and into a ground floor apartment. Jessen stared at his hands. An old man in his dressing gown came running out of the apartment angrily shouting something in Vietnamese and pointing at the hole in the wall.

  Ignoring the old man Greyfall looked to Jessen. After a few seconds of not saying anything. Jessen looked Greyfall in the eyes.

  “Help me with this.”

  “My guess is they talk about nothing overly specific, lock down half the city for a week causing traffic mayhem, spend millions of taxpayers dollars on security, then everyone goes home with nothing achieved except a weeks worth of pleasantries.”

  “Hmm. Hope not. What I would expect to see is that this just sets up other talks to take place in other countries and we make progress, but on a much slower basis.” Israel said to Manning who sipped his beer. Israel continued to scratch at his bandage.

  “Well whatever happens… hold on, what’s this?” Manning gestured to the TV and turned the volume up.

  “…can’t say for certain, but it looks like a man is potentially threatening to jump. If you are just joining us, we are live outside the Fordway hotel where the peace talks are taking place and police have just spotted a man on the roof of the building diagonally across the street from the hotel. It looks like he is threatening to jump. Could this be a form of protest? We have no cameras inside the Fordway that are able to get a shot across the street, but from here all I can see is that he is a white male, possibly in his thirties, he has long dark hair and seems to be in a trance or some sort of meditation. His arms are raised out from his sides in what seems to be a prayer like stance or-“

  BANG! A gunshot suddenly rang out into the street.

  “…was that gunfire?! The man… the man isn’t there any more. He has not jumped, I can confirm that, he has not jumped. I think I saw him fall backwards but it’s hard to see. A flock of birds appears to be circling where the man was standing. They are clearing away now. The hotel is heavily guarded by armed security forces, it is likely they hit him with a rubber bullet driving him back…”

  “Those birds,” said Manning. “They look familiar…”

  Israel ignored Manning and continued paying attention to the live news report.

  “That was Abigail Adams live at the Fordway Hotel where a man seemingly was about to jump from the rooftop of the building across the street. We are getting reports that the security team hit him with a rubber bullet and knocked him back onto the roof top. Security teams are on their way to
the man now.”

  On the other end of the phone Ronan’s mother was getting worried.

  “Son!” she yelled down the phone.

  “Sorry, mom! I’m watching this thing on the news. Are you seeing this? Some guy tried to jump off a roof across the street from where those peace talks are taking place. The police got him though.”

  “Oh dear. I hope he’s ok. But you haven’t answered me Ronan, have you thought about asking Elaine out?”

  “No mom, we’re not like that. She’s nice and she’s a friend but I don’t see anything more in her than that. Besides I’m fairly certain she has some musician boyfriend.”

  “Pity. Oh there’s Janeen. Son, I have to go. Sorry again about the title belt, but just hold on.”

  “Thanks, I will, mom. Love you.”

  “I love you too, son.”

  Marcus lay on his back on the roof of South City Hospital, wrenching and writhing in pain and discomfort. His face poured with sweat as he clawed at the roof with his fingers. After several moments the pain left him and he lay there catching his breath.

  “Ungh… welcome to the world little buddy.”

  “Daniel I’ve had some ideas for the album artwork.” Ryan the drummer of Embers Of Earth said to his lead singer, handing him a notepad full of sketches. Daniel who was daydreaming while looking out the airplane window studied the artwork.

  “That one’s cool,” said Daniel pointing to a sketch of a mountain drawn in rough pencil. Sitting in their fourth row seats they discussed the artwork while their plane took them to Los Angeles to record their new album.

  Deadvolt continued on the subway towards the city centre unnoticed.

  Chapter 6

  “Fascinating. Utterly fascinating. What a world we are living in, eh Frank?”

  Vincent Kennedy looked out the window of his fiftieth floor office on top of the Skyborn building across the vast expanse that is New Belfast. His right hand man, Frank, stood attentively, leaning on a walking stick, black eye covering the right side of his face.

  “Indeed it is Vince,” Frank agreed.

  “Monsters and miracles.”

  The television in the corner was covering the situation at the Fordway building.

  “…seemed to be some form of massive electrical disturbance for several seconds which all of a sudden went out like a light. Some eye witnesses say the saw a man running through the light and then it was gone. Reports are coming in of sightings of the villain known as Deadvolt on the subway today and speculation is…”

  “Mr Kennedy,” came a voice from the doorway.

  Vincent and Frank turned around to see their obese employee standing in the doorway holding an unconscious Deadvolt by the belt with one hand.

  “Yunno, Mastadon, one of these days you’re going to have to buzz through security like everybody else. I don’t appreciate interruptions,” Vince said condescendingly.

  Mastadon exploded across the room in blinding speed over to Vincent’s broad desk and threw Deadvolt onto it.

  “I figured you wouldn’t mind so much this time, seeing as I was carrying one of the city’s worst criminals in hand. I figured stealth was a good idea.”

  Vincent smiled and walked over to look down at Deadvolt.

  “You sure you haven’t killed him? He looks a little too out of it.”

  “He’s as alive as you need him to be.”

  “Perfect. Well no time like the present to get started. Mastadon, do one more thing for me will you? See Deadvolt down to the lab and make sure he is restrained like we talked about. Oh, and on your way out could you tell my secretary to send in Alicia?”

  “Yes Sir.” Mastadon picked up Deadvolt and walked out of the room with him over one shoulder.

  Vince turned to look back outside.

  “An apocalypse prevented and they will never know. Billions of people go on about their lives thanks to Vincent Kennedy and his team of super powered freaks.”

  “You are a true hero, sir,” said Frank.

  “What’s left to conquer if there is no world, Frank? There is no profit to be made in ashes. Instead of destroying everything, Deadvolt will fuel the growth of the future.”

  The intercom suddenly interrupted.

  “Alicia is here, Mr Kennedy,” Vince’s secretary informed.

  “Send her in,” he replied into the speaker.

  The office door opened. A young woman walked in and approached Kennedy, giving him a hug. A security guard followed her in.

  “Leave us be, thank you,” said Vincent as the guard turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

  “Well, my dear, what have you seen now?” asked Vincent happily.

  “No war,” she shrugged and said.

  “Of course!” said Vincent triumphantly. “All thanks to you my dear! Mastadon picked up Deadvolt moments ago, before he could do any real damage.”

  Alicia looked away, obviously shaken up by something.

  “Alicia, you seem….off. What is it?” Vincent asked.

  Alicia looked at the floor for several moments.

  “Alicia?” queried Vince.

  “It wasn’t Deadvolt!” Alicia finally said.

  Vince looked confused. He turned to Frank who simply shrugged his shoulders.

  “That isn’t Deadvolt? I have an impostor in my lab?”

  “No…no. Deadvolt was not the start of the war. War was already prevented…” Alicia said, obviously confused herself.

  Vince stared at her in silence for several moments. He turned and walked back over to his window, looking out.

  “I don’t understand. You saw the war. You saw the explosion. You saw the death. It all started with the peace talks. It all started here, today. We just stopped Deadvolt from doing what Deadvolt does right in front of the Fordway building! And you’re telling me that it was all prevented anyway? How?!” Vincent asked, obviously annoyed.

  “I saw someone else; someone that wasn’t here before.”

  “Who? Where?! Will he start the war?!”

  “No… no. His arrival was the prevention.”

  “Arrival? Alicia I do not understand. Who is this man? Why couldn’t you see him before? What was the point of all of this? You saw the war, you saw the future and now it’s all just ‘Oh well, I guess I was wrong. Let’s just all go about our day like nothing happened!’”

  “He wasn’t here before…”

  Vince turned to Frank and gave him a look to say ‘Is she for real?’

  “What in the blue hell is that supposed to mean?!” shouted Vince.

  “I don’t know… I don’t understand. I saw a giant man protecting a man of light.”

  Vincent immediately looked struck by interest.

  “A man of light? What sort of light?” he asked her softly.

  “He was glowing… emitting energy.”

  Vince stood still for a moment in silence.

  “Alicia, can you tell me anything else about these men? A name or a place?”

  “I saw nothing else.” she said timidly, looking at the floor.

  The three stood in the room in silence for several moments then Vince pressed his intercom button.

  “Please see Alicia back to her room,” he instructed.

  The guard came back into the room and signalled to Alicia to follow him. She turned and left the room.

  “Fascinating,” Vincent said.

  “What does any of it mean, Vince?” asked Frank.

  “It means we may have wasted our time with Deadvolt. Nonetheless, begin the experiment. He may prove sufficient. Frank walked across the large office and out the door leaving Vincent Kennedy alone looking out the window at the city.

  “Where are you, man of light?”

  “This is idiotic,” complained Greyfall

  “It’s supposed to be. It’s funny!” Jessen laughed.

  The two men were squashed on to the couch in Jessen’s apartment watching a comedy stunt TV show.

  “They hurt themselves for amuse
ment?” asked Greyfall.

  “For our amusement yeah!”

  “Idiots,” muttered Greyfall.

  “If you’re gonna live in this time you’re gonna have to learn our ways. Now smash this bottle over your head.” Jessen handed Greyfall and empty beer bottle. Greyfall stared at him.

  “I’m just kidding man, lighten up! Although after spending the last couple of days concentrating on blowing these up with my super awesome laser bomb powers, I’d welcome a straight up head smash right now.”

  Greyfall reached down and picked up another bottle.

  “Woah, woah! Just an expression man! Just saying, all week we’ve been blowing up bottles, cans, bricks… let’s get to something big. Let’s see if I can control it enough to blow up a car or something!” Jessen said.

  “In time,” Greyfall answered.

  Blip. The power in Jessen’s apartment suddenly went out.

  “What is this?” asked Greyfall

  “Happens all the time. Time to head out.”

  Jessen and Greyfall stood squashed into a large hallway filled with hundreds of wrestling fans.

  “So the main event is Santos versus Ronan. It’s a first blood match. First guy to bleed loses,” explained Jessen

  “Interesting. I might like this wrestling.”

  “I think you just might. Beer?”

  “Smash his ugly face again!” bellowed Greyfall from his ringside seat.

  Ronan and Santos brawled on the apron outside of the ring in front of Jessen and Greyfall whose seats were surrounded in empty beer bottles.

  “Yeah, use his own ass to smash his face!” added Jessen enthusiastically.

  “I do not see that being possible,” Greyfall responded bluntly to Jessen’s request.

  “Just enjoy yourself ‘Fall. Hey Ronan! Your face looks like my face’s ass!” yelled Jessen.

  Ronan couldn’t help but turn his attention from Santos to Jessen.

  “What the hell does that mean?!” Ronan yelled.

  “Uh, shut up and hit his ass with your face’s ass!” yelled Jessen.

  Santos drop kicked Ronan who went head first into the barrier in front of Jessen.

  “That’s gotta be blood now!” Jessen yelled excitedly.

  The crowd was going crazy. The two combatants had fought for nearly thirty minutes in a devastatingly dangerous and brutal match, but neither had shed first blood. Ronan rolled over on the ground and the referee inspected him.