The Phoenix Fallacy_Book III_Magnus

by Jon Sourbeer,

  Chapter 52: Father and Son

  Even with his hands covering his face, Janus could feel the roaring flames as he raced by the engulfed S.T. Picking up his Ghostblade and pistol in one smooth motion, he leapt away from the unfortunate Trooper.

  The newly arriving Phoenix Troopers had a significant positional advantage, and the Titan Troopers mostly ignored Janus in their desperate attempts to find cover and return fire. The arriving troops had height and heavy supplies to provide cover, and they drove the Titan forces back as more troops followed them from above.

  Janus ducked and weaved, keeping low to avoid the many lines of fire, all while searching for Delacroix amidst the chaos. He spotted the massive command suit heading for the southern cargo elevators, signaling Titan Inferni into the air to break the positional advantage of the arriving Phoenix troops.

  “He’s heading up to stop the other divisions from falling into line with Norm!” Celes voice rang from somewhere behind Janus. He fought the urge to look for her and leapt over a group of crouching S.T.s. Delacroix paused, pointing at him before jumping onto one of the rising lifts.

  “Go on, you coward. Run like you always do! Leave your men to die so you can run another day!” Janus called after him. “Another failure for the great Delacroix!”

  Delacroix froze, whirling to stare at Janus. “You are too bold, boy.” He took a powerful step and leapt off the lift, the massive legs of the command suit launching him forward. He hit the ground running and sped full tilt across the platform. “Now, I’m going to teach you a lesson!” Delacroix growled. The jump jets of his suit whined as they powered up.

  Janus smiled, readying his Ghostblade, its glow illuminating his face. The sounds of everything else faded. That’s right. Come on. Show me what a fool...

  Suddenly, Delacroix yanked an unfortunate S.T. into his path, and hurled the trooper at Janus. Janus reacted instantly, cutting the Trooper in two, and just avoiding the heavy armor as it flew neatly around him.

  The Ghostblade swung high above his head, and Janus twisted, off-balance. He heard the sound of the firing jump jets and Delacroix’s command armor filled his vision.

  A sniper round glanced off the heavy visor, a spidery crack forming, and stumbling Delacroix. Janus had time for one last thought as Delacroix slammed into him, sending Janus and his weapons hurtling into space.

  …I am.

  Janus snapped conduits and crashed through machinery as he fell, landing heavily amidst the buzzing equipment, his breath whooshing out of him with such force he thought he might not breathe in again. Janus groaned and rolled onto his stomach. As he pushed himself up, he ignored the sharp pain in his side and tried not to imagine what he had broken in the fall. The heavy Zeus of the sliced S.T. clattered to the ground beside him and he shook his head to clear the daze.

  A massive shadow loomed over him, and with a surge of adrenaline he flipped forward as Delacroix’s fist smashed the ground where he had been a moment ago. Delacroix stood up confidently, his helmet open to expose his face, “It’s time for us to settle a few things.”

  Janus glanced around; his weapons were nowhere to be seen.

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Delacroix smiled. “I only run when the odds are against me.” He kicked the Zeus up to his waiting arms and Janus immediately leapt aside as Delacroix fired. The rapidly moving weapon filled his vision, but Janus kept his arm planted to the ground and he flipped to his left. Delacroix kept firing, laughing as Janus danced to keep out of his sights.

  Janus lunged for cover, ducking as the rounds plowed through the cables and pipes surrounding him. He snuck a brief peek through a newly created hole in his cover. Delacroix advanced slowly towards him, talking all the while.

  “I’m out of practice. Too much time spent out of a suit,” Delacroix lamented. “So Norm thinks he can fool me into believing you are my son – idiotic. Did he convince you that I would throw my arms open for you? I am no fool. My son died many years ago – his traitorous mother, as well.” Delacroix lunged forward, leaping over a cooling fan, firing as he went. But only emptiness greeted him.

  Peering around a support pillar, Janus watched as the massive suit prowled through his hiding spot. Sweat dripped along his forehead. The heat was sweltering. He needed a weapon.

  “You claim I’m the coward?” Delacroix taunted.

  “Oh, I know that you let others do the dirty work, and then betray them,” Janus responded, creeping backward as he did so, “Just like Rassan, just like Norm, just like Natalie.”

  “You do know a great deal – Norm’s been busy,” Delacroix replied.

  “But don’t worry, I don’t think of you as a father,” Janus said.

  “Giving up this stupid ploy already?” Delacroix stopped and listened, tracking his prey.

  Janus moved closer to a water cooling station, its pump echoing through the muffled halo, “You misunderstood – I don’t consider you a father because I would hate to think that you had any impact on my life besides giving me your inflated ego.”

  Delacroix laughed, “Your words sound a little desperate, boy,” He moved silently, approaching the water station, “Only fools…” he leapt to the back of the station, “…taunt and hide instead of escaping!” Janus was gone.

  Janus’ voice took on a hint of smugness. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Whoever said I was trying to escape?”

  Delacroix chuckled, “You are obnoxious; I’ll give you that. Too bad you’re weaponless and alone.”

  “Are you sure?” Janus took a quick glance around him for another hiding place and his scattered weapons. A puddle of hydraulic fluid behind him and a piston struggling to work caught his attention for a moment, but the sound of heavy boots stole his focus.

  Delacroix had vanished from sight.

  Janus retreated a step.

  Delacroix spoke up, his voice echoing all around Janus. “For one who claims legitimacy, I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument.”

  Janus turned and walked slowly between two rows of power transformers. Up ahead, the passages through the huge power station forked in three directions.

  “If you don’t believe me now, I don’t see how I can convince you – you’ve seen the locket. But consider this: there are two people telling you different stories, Norm and Middleton. Which one do you think is more capable of lying?”

  “Norm has learned quite a few tricks over the years. Perhaps he has learned that one, as well.”

  Janus smirked, “That wasn’t my questi—” He leapt back as Delacroix lunged at him from a gap between the transformers. Delacroix’s fist smashed the power station, the electricity arcing along the outside of the suit. Delacroix stood, looking at Janus.

  “Better watch it… your mouth will get you into trouble,” he taunted, hefting the Zeus again. Janus ducked around the corner as the ceramic plates of another transformers exploded behind him. Delacroix yanked his arm free of the shattered transformer, a smile upon his face, “It really is a tragedy that I don’t have flamethrowers to deal with you little pests. They work so well… rain or shine… inside or out… outpost or beach.”

  Flashes of his first command, of lost faces, flashed through Janus’ mind. He forced the bile back, “You’re pathetic, Delacroix. She really, truly loved you and you betrayed her. Left her to die alone,” Janus yelled from around a corner.

  Delacroix crept between stacks of regulators, maneuvering the massive suit with ease, his face smug, “Sounds like baby boy is getting angry.”

  Janus swallowed hard but kept moving, catching glimpses of the suit between coils of wire, “Oh? Do you believe me now? Of course I’m angry – but not as angry as you.”

  Delacroix’s voice took on a hint of curiosity. “Is that so?”

  “Yes, father. Because neither of us can stand to be made into fools. But only one of us has been duped by a fat, ugly, conniving woman into betraying the only person we could ever truly trust.” Janus felt the venom roll right off his tongue.

&nbs
p; Delacroix’s voice took on great annoyance, “I grow weary of you, boy. You have no hope. Did you think your little taunt stopped me from reaching the Troopers above? I had already sent word. So Norm reached one of the divisions first? No matter. Already, more of those loyal to me are rushing here, and I can assure you, they will not fall for his trick again. It’s only a matter of time.” He leapt forward around a steel support, landing directly in front of Janus.

  A crash sounded, and an S.T. plummeted from above, smashing into the ground between the pair with a crack. A giant of rock and earth was etched into the shoulder.

  “For us – or you?” Janus asked. Delacroix howled in anger, raising his rifle. Janus dove out of the way, rolled, and ran.

  Delacroix came crashing after him. Janus cut and weaved his way through the dense machinery, leaping through gaps too small for the massive suit, and staying just one step ahead of the enraged Delacroix. It was a game of cat and mouse, and Janus was the mouse. Janus was pure reaction – his mind barely registering the damage Delacroix was doing behind him. Leap. Sprint. Slide. Twist. Roll. Dodge.

  Delacroix’s fist crushed a support, bending it. Splinters of metal and snapped bolts peppered Janus’s face. Delacroix was tireless in his suit. Janus was not. His heart pounded. Delacroix was one step behind. Janus needed something. Anything.

  He could feel Delacroix inches behind him. He could not escape. A massive fist closed around his leg. Janus twisted painfully and fell to the ground, face to face with Delacroix and struggling to free himself.

  “Got you—” Delacroix broke off, releasing Janus and raising his arms as Norm crashed into him. The pair slammed into a wall of cooling pipes, which burst and sprayed freezing water everywhere.

  “Run, Janus!” Norm cried out as he grappled with Delacroix.

  Janus scrambled upright; dodging the thrashing command suits as their battle raged. He needed to help Norm. He needed a weapon.

  And then he saw it. The familiar puddle of hydraulic fluid, only steps away. Janus eyes traced the path of the leak, watching it drip from above. And deep in the top of the broken piston, buried to the hilt, was his Ghostblade.

  Impossible to see before, but from this direction – Janus suddenly had a chance. Janus leapt up, grabbing the hydraulic line, and pulled the blade from the broken piston. Fluid gushed from the gash in the machine.

  Janus swung around.

  “Norm, I’m—” he froze in shock as Delacroix smashed a fist into Norm’s helmet, and fired the Zeus into his suit. Norm crumpled to the ground in a heap.

  “Norm!”

  Janus charged. Delacroix moved in slow motion. Everything moved in slow motion. The Zeus rifle was slowly raising to fire and Janus leapt to his left. Delacroix fired repeatedly, spraying the area, but unable to strike Janus as he rushed ahead. Zeus bolts struck everywhere, cracking supports, breaking circuits, and piercing pipes.

  Steam issued angrily from one, flooding the area in a hot fog. Janus’ face burned and he struggled to cover it. In an instant, the world was back to full speed. Delacroix’s fire increased and Janus leapt sideways, driven back by the fire and the steam. He ran back, as the growing fog enveloped him. He could see nothing; he could only listen as Zeus bolts peppered everything around him.

  The fog lifted; he was clear.

  The stopped piston was there, and Janus leapt for it, climbing up and out of sight. The clanking of heavy boots warned him of the command suit just before it emerged from the steam, helmet closed and clutching the Zeus rifle.

  “Come out, come out,” Delacroix taunted.

  Janus’s voice echoed from several directions, “I don’t frighten that easily.”

  “You certainly run fast enough,” Delacroix shot back.

  “I only run when the odds are against me,” Janus taunted as he leapt from his hiding spot. Janus raised his Ghostblade high above his head as he flew forward. With an enraged cry, Janus sliced into the helmet of the command suit.

  Chapter 53: Revenant

  The command suit and Zeus split neatly into two halves, but Janus had only a moment to realize the suit was empty. He reacted instinctively, jumping right. Delacroix waited with a smile, Natalie’s pistol in his hand. Janus flung his Ghostblade in front of him.

  Pure reaction, and luck, saved him, the tip of the blade deflecting the round aimed at Janus’s head. The bullet hit him in the left arm and Janus cried in pain as his weakened grip let the blade go, and it spun to the ground. He disappeared around the wall of pistons, his arm flopping, as Delacroix fired relentlessly.

  “Did you really think I was that stupid?” Delacroix taunted.

  Striding forward, he stopped over the Ghostblade. Janus peered through the machinery, moving silently, and gripping his weakened left arm strongly with his right. Delacroix reloaded his pistol and then stooped to pick up the weapon. Janus saw his chance.

  As Delacroix’s hand wrapped around the handle, Janus barreled around the corner, coming around behind Delacroix. Delacroix turned his head with an expectant smile on his lips, his pistol turning with his body as he scooped up the Immutium blade with his free hand.

  Magnus’ expression turned to surprise as he stopped – halted as if yanked back by some invisible force.

  The tremendous weight of the Ghostblade had thrown him off balance, as he was unable to turn and lift the weapon as easily as he thought. He fired wildly as Janus crashed into him with his right shoulder. The pair rolled, the pistol flying through the air. Janus tumbled over Delacroix and sprang to his feet. The pistol landed neatly between the two of them.

  Magnus looked up from the floor, his face a mask of anger as Janus dove for the weapon. Without hesitation, Delacroix sprang up and ran in the opposite direction, swiping up the Immutium blade with both of his hands. In a flash, Janus was back on his feet and chasing after the fleeing Executor.

  Magnus was surprisingly fleet of foot. He flitted in and out of view as Janus pursued him to the edge of the power platform. Janus cradled his bad arm to prevent it from flying around and ran all out, skidding to a halt as Delacroix stopped at a small console on the very edge of the platform. The maw of the cavern encompassed everything around Delacroix. Janus, with his one good arm, raised Natalie’s weapon, “End of the line, Delacroix.”

  Magnus did not turn, “It’s never the end of the line.” His hand was above a small panel attached to one of the platform’s supports.

  “You never learn do you? You’ve lost.” Janus said.

  “We shall see.” He turned to look Janus in the eye, “Are you going to kill me?” He cocked his head slightly. Janus did not breathe; now that Delacroix was powerless, he wasn’t sure what to do – something in the back of his mind was whispering at him, but he couldn’t hear what it was trying to say.

  Delacroix did not move, “Of course, killing an S.T. in armor at a distance and killing a man face-to-face are very different. It’s almost easy to imagine S.T.s aren’t human when they have their visors down and their guns raised. People make that mistake all the time. I’ve heard it’s even part of Adept training.”

  Janus kept Natalie’s pistol aimed right at the Executor’s head. The whispering voice was stronger: Is this what she would have wanted? He taunted Delacroix, “Perhaps I wanted to make sure you knew who had beaten you.”

  Delacroix laughed, “I can believe that – now you sound like my son. What’s the point if people don’t know you’re the best?”

  Janus frowned.

  “Having trouble? It really isn’t that hard. I can’t possibly fight back.”

  “Maybe I want to give you time to reflect on everyone you’ve hurt and killed.”

  Delacroix laughed even harder, “Did the proud Adept not realize how difficult it is to shoot a man who is looking you right in the eye? Especially if that man is his father?”

  “Drop the blade,” Janus said angrily, his good hand wrapping tighter around the grip.

  “No.”

  “I’ll kill you.”

 
; Delacroix smiled, “Go ahead. Then you can claim you were responsible for the deaths of both your father and your mother.”

  Janus faltered, Natalie’s pistol wavering in his hand.

  Delacroix made his move, smashing his fist into the console. The hidden lift shot upward.

  Janus raised the pistol again and fired, but Delacroix was a half-meter to the left, his right leg planted firmly on the lift. And he was smiling.

  Janus mouth was open, “He moved like—”

  “Next time we meet, Janus, the outcome will be far different,” Delacroix called out, “You are weak – just like Norm.”

  Janus snapped out of his shock. He felt as if some part of him was suddenly, unexpectedly illuminated, and disgust filled him. Delacroix’s eyes went wide like he was seeing a ghost.

  Janus finger closed around the trigger, squeezing firmly. This moment really is the end, Delacroi—

  The whole platform shook with a deafening roar, knocking Janus to his knees. He fired as he fell, but the round ricochet harmlessly off of the elevator.

  Janus slammed his fist into the ground as Delacroix disappeared.

  Chapter 54: The Bond

  A loud cry went up from all around him. S.T.s. S.T.s crying out in terror.

  The sound of fighting had fallen away after the massive jolt, but the noise had increased. Black smoke rose behind him. His arm throbbed suddenly, and a red splotch was slowly spreading across his armor. He tried not to look at the exposed flesh directly.

  Norm!

  The platform shook again as Janus rushed through the mess of machinery. Pistons, wires, and pipes rattled and shook. Pools of water and hydraulic fluid formed from new leaks as bolts and seals came apart. The sound was deafening, but as it subsided, panicked voices sounded all around, and here and there new sounds of fighting erupted. He found Norm in the same puddle he had left him, the cold liquid having taken on a reddish tinge.