My eyes widened with fear as he suddenly wrapped his massive right hand around my neck and shoulders then lifted me into the air against my will. The echoing pulse throbbing inside my head quickened as The Godhand dangled my entire body in the air in front of him and threatened to choke the life out of me. I was already seeing stars as I gripped his fingers with both hands and pulled with all my might. I was strong enough to bench press a Hummer by that point but unfortunately for me The Godhand was still considerably stronger.
“This is the end for you, half-breed,” The Godhand said as he stared into my bloodshot eyes and prepared to finish me.
“Not if I have anything to say about it, Hoss!” Charlie’s voice suddenly rang out from near the entrance to the main hall.
My already racing heartbeat pounded even faster as The Godhand and I both looked to the entrance and saw Tango and Charlie walking towards us from across the room. Charlie was carrying my coat in his hands and his RPG launcher was strapped across his back. I was nervous to see that Ace was not among them but a sliver of hope fluttered in my gut as I realized that Tango was carrying Ace’s sword.
“If you have come to aid The Reaper in his challenge, know that you will suffer the same fate as he. I will give you but one chance to flee this place with your lives intact,” The Godhand warned as Tango and Charlie drew near.
“Hoss, I’m gittin’ ready to put a lump on your head big enough to need a separate ticket to the movies! Now how’s about we cut the yappin’ and git to it?” Charlie said as he threw my coat into the air and revealed that he was holding one of the silvery epinephrine injectors in his right hand.
Time seemed to slow down around me as Charlie hurled the injector in my direction. The Godhand tried to swat the device from the air with his left hand, but to my surprise the injector sailed just between his outstretched fingers and landed safely into my waiting hands. I quickly jammed the injector into my thigh before he could stop me and the world around me suddenly grew blindingly bright as my pupils dilated while the exhilarating effects of the adrenaline rush took hold. I still wasn’t anywhere near as strong as The Godhand but the extra boost of energy allowed me to yank myself out of his hands and zoom over to Tango and Charlie before he had a chance to finish me.
My heart pounded with anticipation as I waited for him to charge at us but instead The Godhand threw open his flowing white cloak then turned and sauntered toward his eight-foot sword, which was still lodged in the floor near the bomb in the center of the room.
“What happened to your face?” Tango joked as he and Charlie moved to my left and right respectively.
“I ran into a cabinet,” I grinned as I wiped a trail of blood from my mouth then grabbed my coat from the floor and quickly put it back on.
“Must’ve been some cabinet,” Tango replied as The Godhand pulled his gigantic sword from the floor then peered at us over his shoulder.
“You don’t know the half of it,” I answered as Tango, Charlie and I stared at the gargantuan assailant who had now set his sights on us.
“What’s up with Audrey and Ace?” I asked Tango while keeping my eyes glued on The Godhand. “I thought the Anokians had broken through the force field?”
“The courtyard’s secure for now. The Anokians broke through the force field for a second but luckily the Director was finally able to convince the Russians to join the fight. They won’t hold them off forever but they’ve managed to buy us a little time,” Tango explained.
“But where’s Audrey and Ace?” I asked.
“Audrey’s still in the ship and Ace is taking care of The Redeemer. We gassed the rest of his squad but that little sucker was too fast for us to pin down.”
“You left him by himself?!” I gasped.
“We didn’t leave him, he told us to go on without him,” Tango said firmly.
“He could die without his sword. You do know that, right?” I asked angrily as The Godhand slowly made his way towards us with the blade of his massive sword resting on his right shoulder.
“No disrespect, Hoss, but we’ve got much bigger fish to fry right now,” Charlie interjected as The Godhand’s shadow suddenly loomed over us.
“He’s right, Reap. Ace can take care of himself. You of all people should know that,” Howie added in our ear pieces as Tango, Charlie and I stared up at The Godhand and prepared ourselves for battle.
I hope you’re right, I thought as The Godhand raised his shimmering sword above his head.
“Chow time, boys!” Charlie yelled as the three of us rushed toward The Godhand just as he lashed out at us.
26. TIEBREAKER
ACE:
- 18 MINUTES TO DETONATION
“YOU’RE NOT AFRAID OF ME, ARE YOU?” THE REDEEMER asked as we slowly circled each other in the center of the devastated courtyard.
“No,” I answered flatly as my long headband and his flowing black cloak fluttered in the wind around us.
“You should be!” The Redeemer boasted as he glared at me through the menacing visor of his gleaming silver and black helmet.
“I’ve beaten you before,” I reminded him as I kept my fists held before me.
“Ah yes… you did, didn’t you? Then I suppose this is Round Three, as you Earthlings would say,” he mocked.
“I prefer to think of it as the last round. At least for you, that is,” I quipped.
“We shall see about that!” The Redeemer yelled as he zoomed towards me at over two-hundred miles per hour.
Luckily I anticipated his charge and I rolled to safety a few feet to the left, but by the time I sprang to my feet The Redeemer was already upon me once again. I managed to block his ensuing attack but the force of his Anokian strength still sent me stumbling backward where I nearly toppled to the ground.
“Looks like you’re not so tough without that accursed sword!” The Redeemer sneered as he zoomed towards me again. He zipped across the space that separated us in less than the blink of an eye but my quickness and uncanny ability to anticipate movements still allowed me to drop to the ground and sweep him from his feet before he could strike me.
“By now I would’ve thought you’d know not to underestimate me, Commander,” I mocked as I leapt to my feet and struck a defensive stance.
“And after that last beating you took at my hand I would have thought you’d know your place, boy!” The Redeemer growled as he leapt to his feet and glared at me. “Perhaps another lesson in humility is in order,” he continued just as he rocketed towards me with his right fist pulled far behind his head.
I pulled my head back just in time to dodge his speeding haymaker but The Redeemer used his lightning speed to follow up with a vicious elbow strike that I barely managed to block with my mechanical right arm. The sheer force of the devastating elbow strike still flattened me to the ground despite the fact that I had blocked it, but I used my cybernetic right arm once again to catch his foot just as he tried to stomp me. The Redeemer stumbled backward as I shoved his foot away and I leapt to my feet before he could catch his balance. I used my quickness to evade his next charge but he pummeled me to the floor once again as I struggled to block an emphatic left hook that left me seeing stars.
My heartbeat pounded vigorously as he raised his boot into the air, but in a flash I whipped my legs upward and executed a swift single leg take down before he had a chance to stomp me to death. I leapt to my feet just before he did, then I quickly turned the tables as I connected with a five strike combination of punches and kicks that sent him stumbling backward. My attacks weren’t strong enough to cause any lasting damage due to his Anokian armor but my objective for the moment was simply to keep him off balance long enough to make my move.
I ducked beneath his ensuing right hook then snapped his head back with a vicious uppercut from my mechanical right arm.
“I bet you felt that one, didn’t you?!” I boasted as I leapt into the air and prepared to strike him once again, but to my surprise The Redeemer regained his balance much quicker
than I had anticipated. I cringed and shielded myself with my cybernetic right arm as he crashed his super powered fist into me and sent me flying.
Thanks Howie, I thought as the mechanical arm that he had designed did surprisingly well to absorb the emphatic blow. That’s right, just keep getting closer, I continued as I leapt to my feet and evaded a flurry of The Redeemer’s punches. My heart skipped a beat as he swung and missed a right hook that left him wide open for a counter attack. I fired my cybernetic right hand for his neck as soon as I noticed the opening but my eyes widened with surprise as The Redeemer used his super speed to grab my fist just inches before it hit its mark.
Oh crap! I thought as he clasped his right hand around my neck and effortlessly lifted me into the air.
“I suppose this is the last round after all,” The Redeemer taunted as he dangled me in midair before him. I tried to reply but his grip on my neck was so strong that I couldn’t get a single word out. “I’m sorry, what was that?” he mocked as he loosened his grip a bit.
“I said, you’re damn right it is!” I growled as I quickly jabbed my left hand against his neck and activated a pressure point that paralyzed his right arm.
The Redeemer cried out in pain as I landed to my feet while the crippling pain of my nerve attack spread throughout his arm.
“Alright tough guy… let’s dance,” I said as I withdrew an Anokian-Steel dagger from the secret compartment that Howie had installed into my prosthetic arm.
Just as I suspected, he used his speed in an attempt to overwhelm me, but what he still hadn’t figured out yet was that timing always beats speed. Despite the fact that he was moving at over three-hundred miles an hour, my brain processed information so quickly that I was still able to track his movements as easily as I could if he had chosen to walk towards me.
In a flash I parried his punch then whipped into a spinning counter attack just as he threw another super powered right jab at me. I gritted my teeth and winced in pain as his armored fist knocked me from my feet.
“It’s over, human,” The Redeemer murmured as I fell to the ground before him.
“You’ve got that right,” I shot back as I pulled myself to my feet and glared at him. “But not for me,” I continued as The Redeemer fell to his knees before me with half the blade of my Anokian-Steel dagger lodged into the side of his helmet.
“Will you… Will you tell… The Reaper that…” The Redeemer started but his sentence was instantly cut off when I leapt into the air and tornado kicked the handle of my dagger and drove it deeper into his head.
“Not interested,” I said flatly as he fell dead to the ground just as I landed to my feet. My long head-band fluttered in the wind behind me as I kneeled and withdrew the priceless Anokian-Steel dagger from his corpse then turned and hurried towards the entrance to the Taj Mahal without a word. A puddle of crimson blood spread from beneath The Redeemer’s motionless body as I opened the door to the mausoleum and prepared to enter a fight that I knew would likely change our lives forever.
27. PLAN B
REAPER:
- 13 MINUTES TO DETONATION
DAMMIT! I THOUGHT AS THE GODHAND YANKED ME FROM his back and hurled me into Tango, knocking us both to the floor while Charlie flanked around to his left.
“No, Charlie!” I shouted as he tried to ambush The Godhand from his blindside, but the Lord Commander used his unusual quickness to whip around in the blink of an eye and launch Charlie into the air with a huge right back hand. Charlie toppled to the ground thirty feet away and he was so dazed from the force of The Godhand’s attack that he collapsed back to the floor as soon as he tried to climb to his feet. I leapt from the floor and stormed towards Charlie as The Godhand raised his eight-foot sword and moved to chop him in half.
“For the love of God, Charlie, move!” I yelled as I realized that even with my speed I wouldn’t make it in time to save him. Several knots twisted in the pit of my stomach as The Godhand’s glimmering sword descended upon Charlie, but just as he was about to be cut in half Ace suddenly flew in out of nowhere and dropkicked The Godhand’s blade, throwing him off balance just enough to cause him to miss Charlie. My heart thumped with excitement as I leapt into the air and delivered a crushing superman punch to The Godhand’s face and knocked him to the floor below.
“Now we’re talking!” Tango yelled excitedly as he rushed over to join us while The Godhand pounded his fists to the floor and pulled himself back to his feet.
“How’s Audrey?” I asked Ace as he and Tango helped Charlie stand.
“She’s fine and the courtyard is still secure for now. How are things going in here?” Ace asked.
“Not good. We can’t seem to do any damage to him, and despite his size he’s just as quick as you and Tango,” I admitted as The Godhand grabbed his massive sword from the floor then turned to face us.
“Yeah, well I still don’t believe that one guy can take on all four of us,” Ace said firmly as he nodded to Tango.
“My thoughts exactly,” Tango replied as he returned Ace’s sword to him.
“Are you good to go, Charlie?” Ace asked as he handed a large Anokian-Steel dagger to Tango then glanced over his shoulder at The Godhand who was dragging his large sword behind him as he slowly moved towards us.
“Just a scratch, Hoss. Just a scratch,” Charlie lied as he clenched his jaw to mask his pain.
“Alright then. Tango, let’s get busy!” Ace ordered as The Godhand struck out at us.
Charlie broke into a hobbled dash towards his RPG launcher across the room as Tango and Ace darted to either side of The Godhand. They attacked him from opposite sides with a furious barrage of kicks and punches, but despite their two to one odds The Godhand’s cat-like quickness allowed him to successfully ward off most of their attacks.
They were both forced to leap away as The Godhand slammed his massive sword to the floor and shook the entire room. I tried to speed in and tackle him from behind but The Godhand launched me into the air with a vicious uppercut that clicked my teeth together and sent me flying across the room. He galloped after me much faster than Ace and Tango could keep up with and he was just about to attack me with his giant sword when an RPG suddenly zipped in and exploded against his golden helmet.
“His armor’s too strong!” Ace yelled as The Godhand stumbled backward with smoke rising from his otherwise unblemished helmet.
“His armor is reinforced so you’ll have to find a way to remove a piece of it if you want to get through,” Howie replied over the radio.
“Reaper, get the bats!” Ace ordered as The Godhand charged towards us once again.
I zipped across the room in an instant and scooped up my Anokian-Steel bats without bothering to slow down.
“Keep him busy!” I yelled as Ace and Tango leapt over The Godhand’s swinging sword then countered with another onslaught of kicks and punches as they attacked him from both sides. I zoomed in as they continued to push him but as I leapt into the air and swung my bats for his head The Godhand quickly turned and blocked my attacks with his armored forearm.
I tasted blood as the towering Lord Commander floored me with an overhand right. Ace and Tango both rushed to my defense but my heart skipped a beat as The Godhand suddenly turned and swatted Tango to the floor just as he yanked Ace into the air with his other hand.
“No!” I shouted as a rush of adrenaline flooded my veins and sent the world around me into slow motion.
I threw myself into the air and wrapped my arms and legs around The Godhand’s massive arm as he prepared to crush the life out of Ace. With my legs still wrapped tightly around his arm I grabbed his gigantic thumb with both hands and yanked it backward as hard as I could, causing him to cry out in pain as a sickening crack filled the room. Ace fell to the floor and tucked and rolled to safety as The Godhand slammed me to the ground in rage. Blood spurted from my mouth as he drove his boot into my back before I could scamper away. He was just about to follow up with another stomp when Charlie launched
another RPG into his face and sent him staggering backward from the ensuing explosion.
“I need you on your feet, Reaper!” Ace yelled as he and Tango moved to the left and right respectively while The Godhand snapped his injured thumb back into place.
“Charlie, you need to be careful with the explosives! The last thing we need is for you to mistakenly shoot the bomb!” Howie warned over the radio as Charlie loaded another RPG into his launcher.
“Hoss, I can shoot the stones off a hummingbird from a thousand yards out. Ain’t no way I’m hittin’ a bomb the size of a dadgum Mack Truck unless that’s what I’m shootin’ at!” Charlie shot back as he unleashed another rocket at The Godhand. Ace and Tango dove away as the RPG slammed into The Godhand’s armored chest and sent him stumbling backward once again, but when the smoke cleared, somehow the gigantic Lord Commander was still on his feet. I dashed in at over five-hundred miles per hour and tried to ram him with my shoulder but The Godhand quickly side stepped my charge and hurled me across the room in one swift motion. Ace and Tango both leapt towards him from behind but The Godhand suddenly devastated them both with a vicious spinning heel kick that sent them crashing to the floor unconscious.
“There’s not enough time to diffuse the bomb, Reap. We’re going to have to go with Plan B!” Howie barked over the radio as Charlie hit The Godhand with another RPG just before he could crush Ace and Tango beneath his feet.
“How many of these things can I inject at once, Howie?” I asked, ignoring his remarks about Plan B as Charlie fired another RPG at towering Lord Commander.
Savior Part 3: Legion of The Godhand (The Savior Series) Page 24
