“I’m a sitting duck out here, Echo! And I need to put this thing down before it craps out!” Tango complained as he desperately whipped our nearly invisible ship through the chaotic aerial battlefield that had consumed the skies.
“You’ll be fine. As long as you stay in cloaking mode they won’t be able to see you,” Howie instructed as more and more of the Chinese and Stranger aircrafts went up in flames around us. Our allies outnumbered the Anokian aircrafts by quite a bit but the Anokian ships still clearly had the upper hand due to their superior maneuverability and firepower.
“Sir, the Chinese and the Strangers are getting hammered,” Ace said as he shook his head and watched a nearby monitor that displayed the devastation that was unfolding around us. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to pull this off without help from the Russians. Do you think we can take another crack at convincing them to help out?” Ace asked as Tango weaved our ship through the treacherous skies as we continued toward the Taj Mahal.
“I’ve already tried,” Director Wells answered over the radio. “They’re blaming us for this entire conflict and my Russian counterpart keeps saying we should clean up our own mess. I’ll keep trying but for now let’s just focus on what we have.”
“10-4,” Ace said, with almost no confidence in his voice.
As our ship continued to zip throughout the chaos my eyes remained glued to a large monitor in front of me that showed our allied ground forces pushing towards the Taj Mahal from all sides. Even without the help of the Russian military the UK, China and the Strangers had managed to produce an astoundingly large contingent of ground troops, but despite their vast numbers our allies were immensely outgunned by the much more powerful ground vehicles deployed by the Knights of Eden.
“They’re dropping like flies,” I grumbled as the high-tech Anokian vehicles pushing out from the Taj Mahal decimated scores of our allied infantry and ground vehicles below.
“We knew this wouldn’t be easy and so did they. We just have to make sure we make their sacrifices count,” Ace said firmly as he stood beside me and looked down at the same monitor that I was looking at.
“You got that right,” I grumbled as I clenched my gloved fists and continued to watch the devastation below.
“Alright, Tango, the force field around the Taj is down! Get in there as soon as you can!” Howie suddenly ordered over the radio.
“Got it!” Tango confirmed as he fired our ship’s thrusters and sent our ship rocketing forward.
“Despite our losses the op is going fairly well so far guys,” Howie said over the radio as Ace and I quickly clung to two nearby hand rails in order to keep our balance. “Our ground troops are drawing most of the Anokian forces away from the Taj Mahal, so once we slip in and activate our ship’s force field around the building we should be able to temporarily keep most of the Knights out.”
“This piece of junk is in pretty bad shape, pal. Are you sure we’re gonna have enough juice?” Tango asked.
“The condition of your ship won’t be a problem, Tango. I’ll be using your force field generator in conjunction with the Anokian generator that I just disabled. It won’t keep the Knights of Eden out forever but by my calculation it should hold long enough for us to complete the mission.”
“How much time do we have, Echo?” I asked as Tango abruptly brought our ship to a complete stop then hovered over an inner courtyard of the Taj Mahal.
“Approximately thirty minutes, but you also have company! The Anokians are deploying an anti-aircraft cannon in the courtyard right now! Charlie, I hope you still have that RPG launcher!” Howie exclaimed.
“I’m on it, Hoss!” Charlie confirmed as he withdrew an RPG out of his duffle bag and popped it into his launcher.
“Audrey, you take control of the ship and land it in the center of the courtyard,” Howie continued. “The landing process is mostly automated but I’ll have to walk you through the process of deploying the ship’s force field once it’s on the ground.”
“10-4,” Audrey said as she stood and glided over to Tango’s chair. I watched her in silence as she and Tango switched places, then I quickly turned and looked away just as she turned and glanced at me.
“Good luck, Reaper,” she said as I pretended to adjust my black gloves.
“Thanks,” I mumbled without looking at her. “Make sure you stay inside the ship once we’re on the ground, okay?” I continued as I finally glanced over to her.
“Reaper, I’m—”
“Audrey, I need you to promise me that you’ll stay inside the ship— No matter what happens!” I insisted.
“Okay… I promise,” she confrmed as we continued to stare into each other’s eyes.
“Gone and give her a lil’ suga so we can get this show on the road, Hoss,” Charlie chimed from across the room as the rest of the group watched us in silence.
“I have to go, Audrey,” I said as my face grew warm with embarrassment.
“I know. I’ll see you when you get back,” she said as her crystal blue eyes sparkled back at me. The conflicting feelings that I felt for both her and Monica weighed heavily on my mind as I finally turned away from her and moved to retrieve my skull-faced gasmask. I pulled the mask over my face as quickly as possible then raced to join Ace, Tango and Charlie as they made their way to the rear of our hovering spaceship. As we dashed down the hallway and stormed into the loading bay I ultimately forced myself to forget about Audrey and Monica for the moment because I knew that if I continued to allow myself to be distracted there was a chance that I would never get to see either of them again.
“Alright boys! Let’s get busy!” Ace said as he tightened his long headband around his tactical combat mask while our ship’s rear door opened and revealed a team of armored Anokian Knights setting up a huge anti-aircraft cannon in the courtyard below us. Tango’s cybernetic eye glowed brightly as he, Ace and Charlie leapt from the ship and repelled down into the courtyard, and the tail of my trench coat fluttered behind me like a long black cape as I too leapt through the gaping doors and sailed down to join them.
“Reaper! Charlie! Go!” Ace ordered as soon as I landed beside them.
“I’m on it, Hoss!” Charlie confirmed as a deep whirring noise rang out just as the Anokians aimed their high-tech cannon up at our hovering spaceship. Charlie quickly dropped to one knee and aimed his RPG launcher as I sprang forward at over three-hundred miles per hour. Bright blue light ignited within the rapidly spinning barrel of the Anokian cannon, but as I dashed towards them the only thing moving faster than me was the RPG that Charlie had fired from somewhere behind me. A massive fireball erupted from their cannon and threw the Anokian Knights into the air as Charlie’s RPG whizzed over my shoulder and zoomed into the cannon’s barrel.
“Not so fast!” I growled as I zoomed forward and pummeled one of the massive Knights back to the ground before he could climb back to his feet. I was just about to do the same to his two comrades but before I could move a muscle Ace zipped past me and decapitated them both with two quick sweeps of his sword.
“We need to keep moving,” Ace said as he turned and plunged his sword into the helmet of the Anokian Knight that I had knocked to the ground in front of me.
“Okay, guys, our force field is up but we have to make this quick!” Howie confirmed over the radio. “As soon as the Anokians realize you’re inside the Taj they’ll send their entire battalion back your way. The force field should hold for now but there’s only so much damage it can take.”
“I’m pretty sure they already know we’re here, Echo,” I said as I clenched my fists and swallowed a lump in my throat.
“What makes you say that?” Howie asked.
“Because I’m looking at about twenty of them right now,” I confirmed as a large group of Anokian Knights wearing bulky black and red armor and carrying high-tech rifles poured out of the mausoleum and formed a massive line between us and the entrance.
24. RED VELVET
REAPER:
>
- 32 MINUTES TO DETONATION
A SURGE OF ADRENLINE RIPPLED THROUGHOUT MY BODY as I withdrew the Anokian-Steel bats from the holster on my back and glared at the squad of Anokian Knights that stood before us. The super-dense bats that I gripped with each hand easily weighed over one-thousand pound a piece, but due to my adrenaline increasing my already superhuman strength, they were both as light as feathers to me.
“This is your only chance to stand down. I suggest you take it,” the smallest of the Anokians said as he moved to the front of the pack. He was wearing a flowing black cloak and a sleek helmet with a full-faced visor that hid his face from view. The long black hair that extended from beneath his helmet fluttered around his shoulders and his gleaming silver and black armor seemed to be much more sophisticated than the rest of his group.
“That’s Jonas, The Redeemer. He’s just as fast as you are, Reaper,” Howie warned over the radio as our standoff continued.
“We’ll never surrender to you!” I growled as Ace, Tango, Charlie and I stood our ground despite being woefully outnumbered.
“Then you have chosen death,” The Redeemer said as his Knights aimed their high-tech rifles at us.
“Wait just a second! You can’t lay a finger on him!” Ace interjected as he glared at the Redeemer while pointing in my direction. “He survived his Challenge for the Right Hand and is therefore still allowed to seek the Crown. By Anokian law he can only be put to death at the hands of the Right Hand himself, so unless Darius, The Greater is behind one of those helmets I suggest you step aside!”
“If you’re so well versed in Anokian law, human, you should also know that his rights to challenge the Right Hand expire once the current Right Hand ascends to the throne. The protection that your Challenge had once afforded you is now void, Reaper, for The Greater is now our High King,” The Redeemer revealed.
“You’re lying,” Ace scoffed.
“I wish that was true, human, but The Elder’s assassination attempt on The Righteous was more successful than we initially anticipated. We were able to momentarily stabilize him but the wound that he sustained from The Elder’s accursed blade is more than our medical facilities could handle.”
“Then my father is dead?” I asked.
“No, but he will soon be, and he has therefore stepped down as High King and allowed The Greater to take his place,” The Redeemer answered. “You should know that he did not want this for you, Reaper. There is still time for you to join us— before it is too late.”
“I’ll never join you,” I said defiantly as my team readied their weapons beside me.
“Fine… Then you will die like the rest of them!” The Redeemer growled as he rocketed towards me at over one-hundred miles per hour.
“Now, Charlie!” Ace ordered as I sidestepped The Redeemer’s charge and rocketed towards his subordinates. Streaking blue projectiles filled the air as the Anokian Knights opened fire while I galloped towards them at over three-hundred miles per hour. Charlie fired an RPG at the crowd of Knights while Ace and Tango dove for cover.
Several of the Knights were thrown into the air as Charlie’s RPG and I slammed into their group at the same time, and in a blur I used my bats to hammer the rest of them to the ground before the smoke from the explosion had even cleared. The tables quickly turned back in their favor as The Redeemer suddenly sped in and tackled me to the ground from behind.
Ace, Tango and Charlie quickly scrambled for cover behind several nearby marble structures as the Anokian Knights pulled themselves to their feet and opened fire once again. My heart thumped wildly in my chest as the Redeemer and I wrestled for control of my bats while the Anokians’ high-powered rifles slowly reduced my teams cover to rubble. I finally snatched my bats away as The Redeemer’s head suddenly rocked back after a bullet from Charlie’s gun ricocheted off of his Anokian-Steel helmet.
“Thanks, Charlie!” I yelled as I crashed my bats into The Redeemer’s chest and sent him flying into the air.
“Go to work, Reaper!” Ace shouted as he, Tango and Charlie scrambled away from the relentless onslaught of Anokian gunfire.
“Gladly,” I growled as I gripped my bats and zoomed forward so fast that the Anokians’ bullets almost seemed to hang motionless in midair. The crowd of Knights were all much larger than me and equipped with much more sophisticated gear but even they couldn’t withstand the force of my extremely dense bats, which each weighed as much as a grand piano. I became a blur of righteous fury as I tore through the crowd of armored giants with reckless abandon.
The Redeemer zoomed in and tried to tackle me from behind once again but I quickly leapt to my right and dodged his charge before he could slam into me. My heartbeat tripled as I dashed back into action and once again hammered the group of Anokian Knights to the ground, but no matter how hard I knocked them down they continued to get back up.
“You’re wasting time, Reaper! You can’t defeat them with brute force!” Howie scolded in my earpiece. “You guys need to use the gas and let Ace finish them off with his sword.”
“We can’t use the gas with Reaper present,” Ace warned as I zipped across the courtyard and took cover with him behind a large marble pillar.
“You guys will have to split up. It’s the only way. Reaper, you head into the building and engage The Godhand while the rest of the team takes care of the Knights within the courtyard,” Howie ordered.
“Absolutely not! There’s no way I’m letting him go in there by himself! You said yourself that he can’t take The Godhand on alone!” Ace objected.
“We don’t have a choice, Ace! We have to keep the Knights in the courtyard from taking out the ship and disabling the force field but we also need to get moving on the bomb!” Howie insisted.
“He’s right, Ace,” I urged as the Anokians opened fire at us once again.
“He could kill you, Reaper,” Ace warned.
“Maybe… but I’m the only one durable enough to take him on alone, and Tango and Charlie can’t hold these guys off without you,” I replied.
“Alright, but you hang in there, okay? I’ll be there the second we finish these punks off,” Ace conceded as he extended his right hand to me.
“Absolutely,” I said as I gripped his right hand and nodded.
“Make sure you keep moving, Reap. Use your speed to keep him off balance and whatever you do, don’t let him get his arms around you,” Howie warned.
“Piece of cake… right, Howie?” I grinned.
“Yeah… Red Velvet,” Howie replied as the Anokian Knights spread out and continued to fire at us as they methodically made their way towards the pillars that we were hiding behind.
“Alright, Ace, I’m taking off but I think I’ll take care of their guns before I leave,” I said firmly as I zoomed into action before Ace could respond.
Time seemingly slowed down around me as I rocketed toward the encroaching Anokians, who were moving so slowly compared to me that they almost seemed to be standing motionless. In a flash I ripped their guns from their hands and hurled them hundreds of feet into the air, where they were all completely incinerated as they crashed into the force field that was surrounding the Taj Mahal.
Ace, Tango and Charlie leapt into action as the Anokians realized that they were now unarmed. My heartbeat pounded with anticipation as I looked to the entrance of the mausoleum and prepared to storm into it, but before entering I couldn’t help but pause for a moment to look back at our ship as I thought of Audrey. I had wanted to remain focused on the task at hand rather than allowing myself to become distracted, but the realization that I could very well be headed into a battle that I might not walk away from forced me to momentarily contemplate the idea of never seeing Audrey or Monica again.
Despite my best efforts I still loved Audrey just as much as I loved Monica, but in that moment I couldn’t help but feel as though I was choosing Monica over her. Once I left that courtyard, Ace, Tango and Charlie would be the only things standing between her and that hoard of
powerful Anokian Knights who could rip her to pieces with their bare hands if they had the chance— but at the same time I knew that Monica was also somewhere out there, moments away from having her very existence stolen away by an extra-dimensional being that could possibly destroy our entire planet if She was allowed to return to our universe. A huge part of me wanted to stay to make sure that nothing happened to Audrey but in my heart of hearts I knew that I had to leave. I was still confident in my ability to get the job done as I finally zoomed past the Anokians in the blink of an eye and stormed into the Taj Mahal— but as I rocketed down the long marble hallway and hurried towards the center of the building I couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter what I did I was still moments away from losing someone that I couldn’t live without.
25. THE BIG FISH
REAPER:
- 27 MINUTES TO DETONATION
“THERE’S NOT A LOT OF TIME LEFT, REAPER,” HOWIE SAID over the radio as my footsteps echoed throughout the empty hallway while I cautiously made my way toward the center of the Taj Mahal.
“Do we still have enough time to disarm the bomb?” I asked as I proceeded down the long hall with my head on a swivel, looking for any surprises.
“We’re cutting it close and the Knights of Eden have already started to attack the force field. Our allies are still doing their best to keep them occupied but their numbers are growing thin. I’m thinking we might have to go with Plan B,” Howie said.
“What’s Plan B?” I asked curiously as I paused in the middle of the hall.
“Let’s proceed with the original plan for now but just know that there’s a wormhole beacon in your inner jacket pocket, behind the epinephrine injectors. If it comes to it… I’ll let you know what you have to do,” Howie instructed.
“Alright,” I said as I stuck my hand in my inner coat pocket and felt the small, battery-sized device behind the adrenaline injectors. I wasn’t sure what Howie wanted me to do with it, but to be honest I was somewhat relieved to find out that we actually had a backup plan. Of course I found it odd that he had chosen not to go over the details of the backup plan with the rest of the team but I knew Howie well enough to know that he probably had his reasons for the omission.
Savior Part 3: Legion of The Godhand (The Savior Series) Page 22
