He jumped off the roof, his feet landing on one of the thick cables for which he’d been aiming. He immediately started sliding down the cable on his feet. He held the power cell in one hand with both his outstretched arms maintaining his balance as he gained speed. He started to feel the heat of friction in his foot, and he glanced down. The metal on his feet were stripping the cables down to the wire, causing sparks from the metal sliding on metal. He knew it would really start to hurt if he didn’t do something. He jumped from the cable, allowing his foot a few seconds of cooling down before he landed on another nearby cable and started sliding down it on his other foot. He did this several more times, although it took a maybe a minute for him to reach the end of the cable and the top of the lower building that surrounded the plant.
Right before the cable reached the building wall, he jumped off. He landed in a run on the rooftop, although his first foot that hit the rooftop caused a large crack in the concrete. He kept running right on to the edge of that building, jumping forward from the ledge as he reached it. He spun through the air as his jacket morphed into his wings. With his outstretched wings carrying him, he glanced down to see the Civic Protection forces gathering in the streets below him. There were more soldiers here than he’d ever seen before, and he knew they were still only a fraction of the Civic Protection army.
He scanned his surroundings with his mind’s eye as he flew downward. I need to keep from being an easy target, he thought as he navigated the air. Soldiers were already shooting at him, although he hadn’t been hit so far. The shots felt similar to the high impact rounds Lucien spoke of, the ones Dante had obviously used against him. Since he’d cleared the inner building, they must not have been too worried about the damage that the fusion cell would cause. Or they don’t know, he thought. He also heard the two gunships behind him, and a third one joining them from somewhere behind.
He lowered his altitude, still holding his balance in the air. He was aiming himself towards the ground, the walls of the buildings around him a blur as the street approached. He absorbed himself in his mind’s eye, focusing on the environment and the soldiers around him. He clutched the large power cell tighter under his arm.
Traffic had been blocked to a certain point, but was backed up beyond that. Civic Protection had come in a hurry, and the city around them was in chaos from the surprise rush. He closed his eyes, and felt the world around him more strongly than he ever had before. He focused on the xeno, and the control he had over his mind’s eye.
The world moved slower for him, the stronger he concentrated. He was now only a few floors above ground level. He could sense several soldiers sighting their weapons on him. They were weapons he did not recognize, larger than the assault rifles Civic Protection soldiers carried. They’d been firing when he was higher up, but had ceased until he was closer. They were waiting for an easier target, waiting for him to be close enough that they wouldn’t miss.
He waited until he was sure that he was in all their sights, and the moment before one of them squeezed the trigger he suddenly flapped his left wing upward; tilting sharply to the right. He was headed straight for one of the brick walls of a building. Seconds before he reached it, he folded his wings into his back, morphing them into a jacket again. He’d turned his body so that his feet landed sideways onto the brick wall, absorbing the impact. The bricks cracked under the strain, then cracked even more as he leapt off the wall.
The wall behind him was decimated with high velocity rounds as he rocketed through the air towards the other side of the street. He saw with his mind’s eye the damage those weapons had done to the side of the building behind him. They really can level a tank, he thought, or tear me in half. He understood what Lucien had meant. This was some sort of new weapon that had the power of tank rounds. He hadn’t anticipated this, but it meant he just had to avoid getting shot.
He aimed his fall for the top of the nearest car. It was a Civic Protection patrol car with the soldiers outside the vehicle aiming their rifles at him. He didn’t worry, since he could see they were normal assault rifle rounds. In half a second he landed on the roof of the car with a loud metallic crunch. The top half of the car was flattened. Without pausing he jumped onto the pavement. He sensed the weapons being trained on him again, and he began to run.
They were shooting at him once again, and he dropped to the ground and rolled onto the street to avoid the shots. One of the high impact rounds had torn through his jacket, but it was already knitting back together as he rolled on the concrete. He felt the air around it impact him, though. It would have cracked the bones of a normal man.
Almost on cue, he felt the pulse from the back of his mind. It beckoned him to be released again. He could suddenly hear the creature speaking to him. In his mind he faced the xeno version of himself, his image covered in the pulsating, living metal. It pushed against his own consciousness, beckoning him.
“Let me out,” he said, “you need me.”
“I can’t,” James said to him in his mind, “we both know what happened last time.”
“These are just soldiers,” he said, “they knew what they were getting into when they attacked you.” It was constantly pushing against him, against his walls he’d built up.
“I can’t trust you.”
“Yes, but you still need me. I am your real potential, your real power. Those others are nothing compared to you, what you can be with me.” James almost relented in the fight against the xeno, but suddenly Christina’s face flashed into his mind.
“You obviously don’t know me,” James said. He fought and pushed the creature back; back to where he could no longer hear it. He was once again alone. Christina’s face flashed in his mind again. No, not alone, he thought with a smile.
He pulled himself up from the cold pavement. Only seconds ago had he rolled onto the ground dodging the rounds from the high velocity weapons of Civic Protection.
He focused on his surroundings. If I’m going to escape this, he thought, I’ll do it in my right mind; as myself. He calmed his mind and emotions. All the noise around him turned to a quiet hum, and he could see the glowing images of the world around him through his mind’s eye. He was still crouched behind a vehicle, now empty of any pedestrians. They’d all gotten out of there as soon as they could before the shooting had begun. He looked at the fusion cell in his hands, wondering for a moment how much energy it contained.
He heard a voice in his head. It was Wolfgang projecting his voice through telepathy.
“You shouldn’t take what doesn’t belong to you, Vanguard. Civic Protection has been ordered to do whatever it takes to return that fusion cell. We’ll level the city before you escape from us. Not even the Hunter can survive a shot with one of our high impact rounds. It’ll tear you to pieces, if I don’t first.”
“We’ll see,” James whispered to himself. He remained calm, not wanting to give the xeno another chance to overtake him. He saw several soldiers heading down both sides of the street on the sidewalk motorcycles, the quiet hum of the cell-powered vehicles concealing the power and speed they were capable of reaching. Well, it’s not too often you see Civic Protection on those, he thought as he watched them. The soldiers were more vulnerable on the bikes, but they could navigate crowded traffic more easily. The streets were filled with abandoned cars, and the motorcycles were the only vehicles able to navigate through them, other than the gunships from above. He then realized with a grimace that he’d almost forgotten about the gunships.
He looked up and saw them bearing down on him. They were preparing their weapons. He focused on the nearest motorcycle moving his direction, and stood up straight as the soldier passed him on the vehicle. He grabbed the man by his upper torso, stopping him in the air. The bike continued forward without the owner as James slammed the soldier into the ground. The man was instantly unconscious. Several other soldiers on bikes spotted him and headed towards him. James let sever
al metal spikes sprout from his left arm, and he plucked each of them, throwing them at the men.
One spike hit a soldier in the knee; the other spikes hit the front tires of the other two bikes. All three of them crashed, the ones with the broken tires flipping forward. The man who got hit in the knee fell off his bike, but started to get up as James approached him. As the man reached for his rifle, James grabbed his arm and squeezed it. The man groaned as the sound of bones cracking could be heard. James let the soldier deal with his now broken arm as he pulled up the motorcycle and turned it around. He was on it in a moment, and sped away from the soldiers.
74
The soldier winced as he finally pulled his radio up with his good hand, speaking into it with a strained voice.
“The Hunter is on a motorbike headed down 93rd Street, going east.”
The gunships above were staying behind James, tailing him. One of the men spoke into the radio from the ship.
“This is Eagle four. Eagles four, seven, and eight are in pursuit of the Hunter, following down 93rd Street, moving east also. Requesting a block.”
“Eagles in pursuit,” Dante’s voice could be heard on the radio, “this is base. We’re working on a block, but you are under orders to take him down as quickly as possible. Show no hesitation in your engagement, eliminate him.”
“Roger,” the pilot said over the radio. He turned to the pilot next to him. "Fire a homing missile.” The other pilot nodded and tapped at the datascreen in front of him. Within seconds, a missile shot from one of the side barrels of the gunship pod.
75
James was pushing the motorcycle as much as he could while trying to dodge cars through the streets. He’d gone several blocks, but there seemed to be no other civilians around. The next four or five blocks were clear. He could also sense more Civic Protection ahead, waiting for him.
He wasn’t surprised when the gunship launched the small missile at him. He could see it clearly with his mind’s eye. It was no wider than his wrist, no longer than his forearm. He turned sharply at the street corner, making a right turn. He kept going on the sidewalk, although the cars in the street were thinning out some.
The missile arched at the corner, making a wide turn to follow him. It managed to stay behind him. It must have locked onto my heat signature or something, he thought as he watched it. The missile was getting closer, and in a few seconds it would reach him.
Using his mind’s eye, he focused on his body, his physical reactions. He wondered how far he could push himself using both the xeno and his mind’s eye. When he’d focused before, be time seemed to slow down for him, although he knew he was just speeding up. He jumped backward off the bike, into the air. He immersed himself in the mind’s eye, feeling it pull him further. He stopped it at a certain level, maintaining his depth of power consumption. As the missile approached him, he arched his back to a spin, dodging it mid-air. A split second later he caught it with his armored hand just at the tail end. He squeezed the propulsion tail, causing it to instantly sputter out. While still in the air he threw it backwards, towards the top of the building that stood over the street corner.
The missile spun out of control, hitting the top floor of the building. The explosion was moderately sized, but smaller than what James had expected, although the walls of that building were now falling towards the street.
This time James used his mind’s eye and focused on his legs and feet. He started running as fast as he could. Both his arms were slanted behind him, and he still managed to keep a grip on the power cell as the rest of his body slanted forward, gaining momentum. His legs felt unstoppable; he’d never gone so fast before.
As the gunships had rounded the corner to pursue him, some late-falling debris from the building began to rain down on them. Two of them were able to get out of the path of the falling concrete; Eagle four did not make it. Large pieces of concrete debris struck it above one of the blade rotors, on the engine. There was the loud sound of grinding machinery as another piece of debris had struck the gunship's tail. James kept running but watched with his mind’s eye.
The damaged tail caused the gunship to spin as it began to lose altitude. It tilted off-course and the blade moved close to Eagle seven, which had been able to dodge the debris. They couldn’t dodge Eagle four, however, and the two gunships collided sideways. One of them exploded, causing the other to ignite. The Eagle eight pilot was relieved that he was able to dodge the collision and explosion. His relief was short lasted; one of the twin blades that sat on top of Eagle seven was now flying towards him from the blast. The blade hit Eagle eight in the cockpit of the pod, causing it to veer downward into the ground.
The combined explosion of the three ships was spectacular. James didn’t have time to marvel at it, or even think about the fact that he’d just killed six men. He just kept running. I have to create as much chaos as possible in the city to get away, he thought. He scanned the area with his mind’s eye. The fusion cell felt heavy under his arm as he ran, but he wasn’t tired. He would never be tired. His body would collapse before he would feel fatigue, an effect due to the xeno. He was aware of this, as he was also aware that it would take a long time before his body would give out. His healing factor and the xeno saw to that.
76
“What?” Dante paced with his phone in one hand. He now stood in front of the elevator, at the bottom floor of the power plant facility in Capitol District that was now missing its fusion cell. Auxiliary power gave the building minimal lighting and kept the elevator functioning. “He took out three gunships? How did he do that? You don’t know?” He lowered the phone for a moment, trying to think.
He moved towards the door that led to the green courtyard. The sound of Civic Protection sirens could be heard all around. He raised the phone back to his ear, “Wolfgang, stop him with whatever means you have to. We have to get that cell back. I don’t even want to imagine what will happen if we don’t. Father needs it. If the power’s out much longer he’ll wake up. I don’t want to be there if that happens. Neither do you.” After another moment, he deactivated the phone. He shook his head as he stood in the green courtyard. He turned and stared at a bush, at the green leaves.
He jumped as the phone rang again. Surprised, he looked at the name on the phone and raised an eyebrow.
“Yes lieutenant,” Dante said as he held the phone close to his ear, “what other news is so important that you’re calling me on this line during an emergency like this?" He listened to the man’s voice and his eyes grew wide with surprise.
“How many depots were attacked? That’s not acceptable. How could they have done this?” He waited until he heard the answer, which he was sure he’d already known. Civic Protection had been preoccupied with capturing the Hunter, and now more was lost. Dante rubbed his temples for a second.
“Get me detective Garrett,” Dante said. "I want to find out if he’s made any progress on who the Hunter is, and if can find someone close to him to use as leverage.”
77
James scanned the city around him with all his senses. He’d stopped to get his bearings. Civic Protection had surrounded the area in a circle, blocking off all the streets that were near him. He was nearly twenty blocks away from the power plant, but he was still deep in Capitol District. He needed to get away from all of them, and figure out what was really going on. The heavy fusion cell he carried under his arm not only kept Father alive, but powered their operations outside of Dirge. What operations? He was trying to wrap his mind around the idea that there really was something outside the city, but he had no idea what it could be that needed that much power.
He looked over the cell again. The green glow pulsed just as brightly as before, making it easy for anyone to see or identify him from a reasonable distance. Especially in this city, where it was eternally dim.
He glanced up at the sky for a moment, viewing the dim afternoon light. It was already
getting darker. He could sense through his mind’s eye the forces growing around him; Civic Protection and the fallen. They were no longer trying to conceal their presence, instead wanting him to know they were coming for him. He could see Wolfgang and Damaine clearly through his mind’s eye.
There were tanks moving, approaching with troops all around. He realized that he wouldn’t be able to get away with the fusion cell. They’ll level the city before letting me escape, he thought as he stared at the cell again. He looked down for a moment at the street, considering fleeing into the sewers. He scanned below ground with his mind’s eye, hoping to see a path to refuge. He could see...nothing. They were combining his power to block his vision of any escape route, blocking his mind’s eye with their own.
The tanks were several blocks away, but he could see them clearly heading towards him now. Wolfgang and Damaine of the fallen were leading them side by side. Wolfgang carried a sword in his hand that resembled Lucien’s blades, only it was longer and straight. Damaine carried one identical to Wolfgang’s. The soldiers with the high velocity rifles marched around them, followed by dozens of tanks. He could hear more gunships coming in the distance from all directions.
“You’re surrounded,” Wolfgang said, speaking into James’ mind, “you can’t escape with the cell. Even if you did manage to get away from us, you couldn’t hide. Its power signature is so unique we’d be able to track it down from miles away.”
City of Twilight Part II: The Fallen (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 2) Page 14
