by Lola St. Vil
Redd doesn’t see it coming because she is distracted by Rio’s pleas. The Powerball hits her on the shoulder. Rio cries out as his sister goes flying through the air. The Omari gather to attack again only to have Rio block them with his shield.
They attack Rio without the slightest hesitation. He uses his shield to block them but for the first time ever, Rio may have encountered Powerballs that can’t be stopped.
Marcus goes to help him. He tells the Omari that they are on the same side. The Omari tell him they don’t have a side. They are on a mission and they will not allow anyone to get in the way.
Redd reappears looking pissed off; she removes the Sage from the Holder. She unties him and grabs him by his neck. We shout out for her to put him down. She pays us no attention and continues to wave The Sage around like a rag doll.
Just then I spot Benny a few yards away. I take off after him. I can almost hear Marcus in my head telling me not to go after Benny. But I have to. There is no telling what he is planning, and sure enough, Benny releases a series of Soul Chasers into the crowd.
I run after Benny. He sees me and takes off. I finally catch up to him in a dead-end alley off of 34th St. He turns to face me with an amused-looking grin.
“Now what little girl?” he says.
“I don’t know,” I say breathlessly.
“You are as reckless as I heard.”
“I try.”
“You walk around helping those damn angels and for what? To die in an alley?”
“Who said I’m going to die?”
“My knife and I discussed it and yeah, it’s happening.”
“Here’s the thing about death Benny, it doesn’t always get the person it comes for.”
“You get near death often?”
“Once or twice a day.”
“Must be rough,” he says with counterfeit concern.
“You get used to it.”
“Look, when I kill you, I will try not to let you suffer too much. Ya know, from one human to another.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Here to serve,” and with that he leaps toward me with his knife. I stumble backwards and hit the ground.
I look around for something to attack him with. He leaps at me again, knife in hand. I snatch a trashcan lid and block his attack.
“Why are you going along with this? Redd wants to destroy everything,” I shout.
“Good. Everything should be destroyed. This is a crap world with crap people.”
He comes after me again. I manage to dodge his attack and stand up. I still can’t find anything to arm myself with. As many times as I have been attacked you’d think I’d be smart enough to at least carry mace.
Okay, next time I go shopping, I’m gonna remember: strawberry shampoo, cat food and mace. There the list is done. If I survive Benny, I’ll be sure to get those things…
Benny tackles me and sends me right back to the ground. The knife falls out of his hand. He reaches to get it and I kick it away. He smiles and says he doesn’t need the knife to kill me. He grabs my neck and chokes me. I knee him in the groin. He moans in pain.
I use his momentary distraction to throw him off of me. I make a run for the knife. He takes off after me but I reach the knife first.
“So, what? You gonna stab me?” he says amused.
“Maybe.”
“You can’t. You know why? You aren’t broken. You still believe in weak-ass things like love and hope. You can only really stick a knife into someone when you are damaged and don’t give a damn. Like me. Like Redd.”
“Redd is not like you. She’s a good person inside.”
“She is broken. I like that about her. I won’t let you and your bastard Angels mess with her head.”
“We aren’t playing with her. Rio is alive”
“Bull, I read all about it in the Splash. That dude is dead.”
“No, we got him back. Her brother is alive.”
“Really?”
“Yes”
He thinks to himself and then looks at me with renewed hatred.
“No, he’s dead. He’s dead and she doesn’t have anyone. She only has me. I’m her family,” he shouts the last words and launches towards me. He is right. I don’t have it in me to stab him.
But the angle he attacks me from causes the knife to enter his side. He falls to the ground. I bend down and look him over. He is bleeding out quickly. The scene instantly reminds me of Sara’s death. I don’t care if he’s a Pawn, I can’t let someone else die on me.
“Hang on, Benny, I’ll get help.”
“Wait, it’s not true, right?” he says barely audible.
“What’s not true?”
“Redd. Her brother is gone. I’m all she has. I’m the only one who gets her.”
“Okay, fine, but I need to get help.”
“She liked me,” he confides.
“Yeah, I’m sure she did but Benny—”
“—it was nice for a while—being part of a family…”
His breathing gets more and more shallow. His already pale face turns ghostly white. I look around for something to stop the bleeding.
“What do you think Difi is like?” he asks.
I find a discarded blanket in a pile of old clothes someone tossed in the trash. I take it and run over to him. I press it against the wound. The white blanket quickly turns a blood-soaked maroon color.
He asks me the question again.
“Benny, you’re not going to Difi. You’re gonna be fine. You’ll get punished but you are not going to die.”
“Rumor has it you went there with Marcus yesterday. It’s not that bad is it?”
I look into his hopeful eyes. For some reason, the sadness in his voice gets to me.
“Yeah, we went,” I confess.
“And it’s not as bad as they say, right?”
“No, it’s not,” I lie.
Benny Stone turns his eyes toward the sky, and dies mid-smile.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: FAMILY
I wipe off my blood-soaked hands and run back to the battle. I’m so sick of all of this death and blood. I want it all to be over. I want things to be the way they were. I know it can’t happen. I try to console myself and focus on the fact that we have Rio back and soon maybe Miku, too.
The hope I have of Miku returning to us is lessened drastically by the sight of Redd throwing The Sage off of the Empire State Building. I’m frozen in terror as his body is hurled into the air. The Guardians race down to catch him but Redd blocks them with fire.
Just when the Sage is about to hit the ground, Ameana calls for a nearby awning to soften his fall. The Sage lands on it and bounces off. He falls a few feet to the ground below. The fall may have broken something but he’s still alive.
The Omari gather together in a circle. There is a beaming ball of white light forming between them. Wolf, who was helping The Sage, turns and sees what’s going on.
“Oh no,” he says to himself.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“They are gathering to form a Push. That’s when they combine their powers and form one Powerball surge. It serves as both a weapon and a force field. They will use it to block her attacks and contain her. It is impossible to get out from a Push.”
Wolf is about to head to the rooftop. I ask him to bring me along. He scoops me up and we take off into the air. After I am safely on the roof, he takes off to help the Guardians.
Apparently the Guardians know what the Omari are planning to do because they try to stop them. The Omari pay no attention to the pleas from the Guardians. The surge Powerball in the center continues to grow.
Meanwhile Miku, unconcerned with what happens to her, attacks Marcus again for what she believes is a “Fake” Rio. Ameana calls out to her and tries to get her to listen to reason but Redd’s only answer is fire.
The ball in the center of Omari has grown to nearly half the size of the city. The Omari stand behind it and push the ball forward towards Redd. She tri
es to fire back but the power surge is too strong.
For the first time ever, Redd is forced to use both hands to defend herself. Her powers are starting to wane in the face of the Omari. Redd sends a sea of flames to counter the Powerball. Both the white surge and the fire collide causing massive amounts of sparks.
Wherever the sparks land, an explosion happens. Agonizing over the possible loss of his sister, Rio calls out to her one last time. This time he doesn’t try to reason with her. He just says one word.
“Kuuki!”
I remember the word from hearing the Twin’s Core. It means “air”. Rio is betting that a “Fake” Rio wouldn’t know that. His gamble pays off. Miku turns around and for the first time she realizes she is laying eyes on Rio for real.
“RIO!” Miku calls out desperately.
It’s as if a much needed light had suddenly been shined inside her head and heart. Rio flies over to her. But he doesn’t get there in time.
The shock and awe of the situation causes her to lose focus. The Omari use her distraction to their advantage. They break contact causing the Push to separate and become many Powerballs.
They send one Powerball towards Redd’s head. It latches on and becomes a noose of light around her neck. The remaining Powerballs latch on to her wrists and ankles.
Miku is now being pulled apart from either side with various Powerballs. The screams coming from her are unbearable. They are tearing my friend apart. The rest of the team tries to intervene but they, like Rio, don’t get there in time. The Powerballs glow white hot and explode.
“NO!” Rio shouts.
We stand in shock and utter disbelief as Miku’s body goes flying into the antenna of the Empire State Building. The metal rips right through her. She looks like a lifeless rag doll on the end of a pitchfork.
Rio rushes over to his sister. A silver liquid seeps down from the center of Miku’s body. I have never seen an Angel bleed so much. Rio puts her on the roof and examines her. We all rush over to them.
“Can you see a wave?” Marcus asks anxiously.
“I …I don’t know...I…” Rio stammers. It’s clear that Rio is too emotional to pick up anything beyond what he’s feeling.
The Omari appear and tell us they want to make sure she is dead. Rio tackles them with the wrath of a thousand Chasers. The Omari hold him off and go for Miku’s body. Rio attacks them again refusing to be separated from his her.
Rio tries again and again to get to Miku’s body but the Omari stand in his way. Then using nothing but sheer determination he pushes his way past the Omari and manages to take hold of Miku’s hand.
The instant their hands connect, the Twins begin to glow from within. In a matter of seconds, both twins become translucent. The Omari, unsure of what is happening, step back. Finally the Twins stop glowing and return to their normal tone.
“Yo, that’s CRAZY!” Jay says.
We turn to see what he’s looking at. Miku is not only alive but she doesn’t have a scratch on her. She is not only in one piece; she’s down right restful looking. Rio rushes over to her, and the two embrace tightly as if never wanting to let go.
“What happened?” Ameana asks.
“It’s their Heed; they can heal each other.”
“Man, they get the best powers…” Jay says wistfully
We breathe a sigh of much needed relief. It doesn’t last long. The Omari approach us and tell us they have to kill Miku. We all go and stand between the Twins and the Omari.
“That will never happen,” the First Guardian says in a deadly serious tone.
“We have a ‘seek and destroy’ order from the Council. Marcus, move aside,” the Omari say in unison.
“I don’t give a damn what you have,” Marcus counters.
“We will take her,” the Omari assures him.
“Then you better get ready to take us all,” Ameana says, standing protectively by the Twins.
“We will destroy the rest of you if we have to.”
“Let’s do this then,” Jay says, going toe-to-toe with the Omari.
“STAND DOWN. NOW.”
The command comes with a tone so deadly, chills run up my spine. I look to Marcus but the order didn’t come from him. They came from Wolf.
“We have a ‘seek and destroy’ order,” they counter.
“The Twins will not be touched,” he says, unfazed by the harshness of the Omari’s tone.
“Only a Kon can override a ‘seek and destroy’ order,” one of them says filled with disdain.
“I know the rules,” Wolf says firmly.
“You are not a Kon. You are the son of a Kon. That doesn’t mean anything unless your father transferred power over to you. If he did, your mark would be glowing. That is if you had a mark,” he says snidely.
“You mean like this one?” Wolf says.
He turns around and lifts up his massive golden dreadlocks to reveal a glowing symbol on the back of his neck. It’s the sign of the Council with the number “8” sideways. The Omari are dumbfounded. Wolf turns around and faces them.
“You have killed then?” they ask.
“Yes.”
“Will you return to the light to serve as leader?”
“I am not here to be questioned. Understand?”
“Yes, Kon.”
The Omari bow respectfully and fly away.
We all look at Wolf as if he’s been taken over by aliens. He avoids eye contact and address Miku.
“You should be okay. They won’t come after you anymore. That is unless the Council insists. And even then, they’ll have to hold a hearing.”
“You killed before, why didn’t you become a Kon then?” Ameana asks.
“My father knew I had killed. But he also knew I hated it and thought fighting for any reason was unforgivable. He said one day I would find something worth killing for. He arranged it so that the symbol would appear when that day happened.”
“The symbol appeared just now?” Jay asks.
“No…earlier,” Wolf says briefly. It’s clear from his tone he doesn’t plan to say more. Jay is about to ask the question we’d all like to ask but then I see Miku’s wings.
“Marcus, look!” Everyone turns to see that Miku’s wings are now white. Well, all except the tips which remain crimson.
“What happened?” Rio asks her.
A little boy pops up on a Port with a cast on his right leg.
“I suggest since Miku is no longer taking human lives, her wings have gone back to white. However, the red that remains in the tips of your wings Miku, does so because you have yet to forgive yourself. It will disappear when you are ready.”
“We’re so glad you are okay,” I say him.
“All of you are very kind to rescue an old Sage like me.”
“I’m so sorry I tried to kill you,” Miku says desperately.
“There will be time for apologies later. It has been a long day for you all. Go and recharge.”
“Wait, I’ve killed innocent people. I’ve …” Miku can’t bring herself to finish.
“Young one, you could have used your voice to destroy the earth completely. Why did you not?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because you are inherently good and even in your evil state as Redd, you didn’t do nearly as much damage as you could have done.”
“But still, I have committed horrible actss”
“Yes and you will pay for them with you conscience. Good people always do.”
“That’s it? I’m not gonna get sent to Difi?”
“You and Rio are too valuable to be destroyed.”
“All I’ll have to deal with as punishment is my conscience, that’s not a lot.”
“For good people, it’s enough. It will be many cycles before you can forgive yourself. The Council knows that. They also now know what Lucy was planning. And while they can’t punish her because it’s up to her what she does once they send a body to Difi, they certainly weren’t happy about it. So, they deci
ded to send her a message.”
“How?”
“By not punishing you.”
“What about Benny?” she asks.
“He will go to the bridge and make his choice,” The Sage replies.
“Thank you for helping us Sage,” Rio says gratefully.
“Enough gratitude; there is a mission on the line. It is imperative your team finds the Triplex.”
“We’re on it,” Marcus says.
“But first, you may want to go home and freshen up for the party tonight.”
“Whose party?” Jay asks.
“Yours. Arden is a big fan of the Guardians. She’s throwing a little party in your honor for saving the Angel world.”
“Saving it from me,” Miku says embarrassed.
“Saving it from Redd. Always remember: You are not Redd. You have powers that could render you evil but you also have a heart that prevents it.”
“How did she throw a party together so fast?” Marcus asks.
“Twitter.”
“I love that girl,” Jay says, filled with mischief and admiration.
The Sage then tells us that many Angels felt that although the Triplex has yet to be found, the Angel world wanted to thank them for doing a good job fighting evil.
“Your team has its naysayers but you also have your supporters. And later tonight, they are throwing you a party.”
“How will they explain everything that’s happened here to the humans?” Jay asks.
“It’s New York City; they’ll just tell them the new Spiderman movie is being shot and all of this was just a stunt.”
We laugh at the thought and say goodbye to The Sage.
“Let’s get out of here,” Marcus says. As we get ready to go, Jay approaches the Twins.
“So, this new self-healing you guys do, I’m say’n, can I get in on that…?”
***********************
Marcus takes me home while the rest of the team goes back to the house to recharge. I can feel the happiness vibrating in the air. It’s like someone put the sun back in the sky. And we although we don’t have the Triplex yet, we will get it and maybe, just maybe, save the day.
