Warriors at the Gates- Trojan Wars

by Rick Royster

The cooling system kicked on inside her suit, and lucky for her it was heat resistant. But her hair and face were not, and the trickle of fire that danced across her shoulder convinced her to peel back and head toward the exit.

  She bolted down the hallway and arrived back at the stairwell, gagging, lungs on fire, eyes watering and throat burning.

  Kwan's eyes were wide with grief. "My brother? Sister?"

  "The fire, it's too strong," Tressa said. "We must go now."

  The sweat began to sting her eyes, the heat starting to scorch her skin.

  Kwan tried to push past her. She held him at bay.

  "No. They're the only family I have. I will not desert them. I'm not like you."

  Another zinger that cut deep; for a moment, Tressa thought to leave him to his fate. But she saw the regret and embarrassment in his eyes instantly.

  A tremendous weight above them shifted, a loud bang, like the start of an earthquake. The floor above them fractured, and a large couch fell through along with an office desk, both swallowed by fire.

  "Kwan, we must go now."

  Tressa dodged through the burning furniture, leading them to the stairs, and the rest of the ceiling gave way a moment after, caving in with shrieking screams.

  At almost the same exact time, she heard a peculiar sound similar to that of a hammer hitting a soft melon. She felt the spray splatter of warm liquid on her neck. Tressa turned and Kwan collapsed in her arms, his eyes still wide open in fear and shock. He had the look of an outraged husband finding his wife in bed with another man.

  The back of his head was missing.

  Tressa looked beyond the blown-out wall; outside in the rain, floating beyond the flames and the hole in the building was Sateria.

  Even in a life and death situation, Tressa was taken by Sateria's beauty. She even looked good killing things. She'd be prettier dead.

  A second laser singed Tressa's hair. She let go of Kwan's corpse, stood, and drew her firearm. In a flash, Sateria was on her, her jet rocket boots propelling her through the fire and into the corridor. Tressa met her advance and leaped into the air, grabbing Sateria around the neck. With an amazing show of strength, Sateria slammed Tressa to the ground, then picked her up, spun around and slammed her against the wall in the stairwell. The bounty hunter looked her up and down, no doubt searching for the Cube.

  "Where is it?" Sateria then turned her attention toward Kwan. She walked and stood over him, then fired twice into the chest of his dead corpse. She then bent down and began to search his body. Then Tressa took her advantage and attacked. Charging Sateria from behind, her opponent pivoted just in time to intercept Tressa's tackle. While Tressa was able to secure the pistol while in Sateria's hand, pressing her fingers against her opponent's which made pulling the trigger impossible. But Sateria was already planting her feet for grounding and positioning her spare hand for position. The two began to grapple as the building crumbled in chaos about them. The concrete and steel beams had all the fight of stationery paper after having been touched by weaponized photons.

  The building’s destruction was imminent, but Tressa kept her full attention on Sateria. She worked to keep the bounty hunters’ various weapons at bay. Grabbing Sateria's left forearm, she slammed the bottom of it with her knee. A vicious strike to the kidneys loosened her grip but she swallowed the pain, then let it flow out of her as she was taught to do in her martial training.

  She cleared her mind, let her training take over, relying purely on instinct. She grabbed Sateria's wrist and brought her hand down onto the metal stairwell three times. On the third, Sateria's blaster slipped through nerveless fingers, clattering off the concrete as it dropped to the bottom of the stairs.

  With a grunt, a half-pace backward, and a fluid flit of her fingers, Sateria escaped Tressa's grab and followed with a swift strike to her chest. Knocked back into a spin, Tressa struggled to her feet and tried to maintain her breath despite the choking smoke. When Tressa spun around, a knee drove toward her mid-section which would have knocked the wind out of Tressa. Fortunately, Tressa moved enough that the blow glanced her ribs. She chopped at Sateria's shoulder blade, but she dropped into a twirl and let the force of the blow spin her around. An instant later, Tressa saw her exposed back. For a quarter second, Tressa thought maybe she was running away until her chest exploded from the impact of being kicked.

  Instincts and pure adrenaline drove Tressa back to her feet. She was almost knocked through the railings. For a moment, she was able to re-establish herself until another blow from Sateria's leg sent her cartwheeling end over end down the stairwell landing.

  After collapsing on hard concrete, Tressa tried to stand as a mix of stars and darkness consumed her vision.

  Sateria stared at her from atop the steps with a triumphant blaze even brighter than the flames behind her. The bounty hunter then disappeared back into the corridor which became consumed in smoke and flames.

  Tressa briefly considered giving chase, but the intensity of the heat changed her mind. Another laser blast dissolved the floor adjacent to her, causing the rest of the landing to crumble. Tressa leaped to the bottom stairs beneath her and burst into a run faster than the consuming flames behind her, though she was not sure she could maintain her sprint.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.

  ― Homer

  In the cockpit of the Cobra, whipping rain and winds caused the jet to shake with a stab of turbulence.

  Cayden looked through the ship’s glass canopy and saw off in the great distance the red and yellow glow of fire and dark gray clouds of smoke.

  Rhys tapped him on the shoulder, pulling his eyes away from the chaos.

  Matrix, piloting, was in his ear. "Air defense didn't bother to ask for visual confirmation; most of the city must be headed in the direction of the madness?"

  What looked like a bomb just went off, and Cayden was sure both Sateria and Tressa were involved.

  "Well, I guess we don't need to track them," Rhys said.

  The aircraft banked and dipped sharply, then accelerated in a wide arching loop, and headed toward the downtown high-rises and rooftops.

  Cayden and Rhys exited the cockpit and ventured into the main hull.

  Winter, who was positioned in the rear, stumbled when she tried to stand. Rhys smiled as he checked the trio's weapons for the third time, making sure the laser rifles were charged, and they had enough flash-bombs and small explosives to wipe out a small city.

  Cayden knew Rhys was smiling because they saw Winter, who served as the communications and electronics expert, displaying her game-face for the last half hour. She was locked in now.

  It wasn't that he didn't believe her a capable warrior, but he'd been on several missions with her before and when she got like this, totally quiet and zoned in, she seemed to take her skills to another level.

  "Thirty seconds," Matrix said, no need to add until drop because they'd already gone over the plan.

  In the main hall, Cayden crouched in front of Winter and Rhys and tapped his wrist comm. A map of the city and downtown district lit up in blue and red holographic lights. It even had a simulation of the air traffic flow and the building in flames.

  "There." Winter pointed to the adjacent building across the street. "It has a parking garage, flight deck and the city’s sewer systems underneath. Perfect choke point to hold hostiles at bay while you devised an escape plan or waited for help via air."

  Cayden closed the holograph. "Ok, if they made it out of the building, that's where they'll be. Rhys, cover my six at the building's edge, and Winter, get to the super train depot in case we need a quick exit and are bringing in hostile company."

  Rhys pressed a button atop the Cobra's side door and the stinging wind crawled inside.

  "The drop is dead below. Hurry, boys and girls, get off my ship!" Matrix shouted over his shoulder.

  Winter looked at them both and did a Ha
il Mary across her chest.

  "Make this quick; meet at the rendezvous point in twenty minutes," Matrix screamed.

  Out the open doorway, into the wet, cold and swirling air one after the other, a shot of adrenaline coursed through their bodies, an emptiness in the bowels of their stomachs as they spiraled toward the rooftop of a little-used sky-port landing pad.

  Rhys landed first, and before the others hit the ground, he already had their weapons in hand, giving Winter two laser rifles and handing Cayden two mag-9s, powerful laser pistols.

  Cayden placed the weapons inside his thigh holsters and bolted out into the darkness, and he assumed Rhys and Winter would be doing the same.

  The rain beat down relentlessly. Cayden glanced up at the rolling clouds and hoped the inclement weather would continue. The poor visibility and wet streets would slow the search and rescue teams.

  He would take whatever small advantages he could get.

  Rain and nightfall descended on Region Twelve and flames and smoke licked at the sky. Leaving the husk of Kwan's former headquarters, it was like a picture of the soul leaving the body.

  Tressa dashed out of the building, running right in the waiting laser rifles of four Region Twelve law officers.

  "Hands up," the one nearest to her screamed.

  Tressa took a few steps back, felt the intense heat growing behind her. The officers formed a U-shape, cornering her off. Behind her was only wall and a building engulfed in flames and no matter how highly skilled she was, she wouldn't be able to draw her gun and take them out. There was a row of sky-cars behind the law officers, and the one closest to them began to smoke.

  "What the hell?" one said, peeking back at the smoking vehicle.

  Tressa crouched down in a ball and covered her head with her arms, as a child might retreat to a corner against incoming violence.

  "Get up," another officer screamed at her.

  Two of the officers began to move away from the car, faces twisted with confusion.

  "It's nothing, probably just caught on fire from the building," the officer said. "Stand your ground, we caught one."

  The blare of sirens was louder now, emergency vehicles, fire trucks, and more law officers approaching the scene in a hurry.

  "I said get up," the officer repeated.

  The car exploded, sending the two officers nearest the sky-car flying into the wall of the building.

  Rabbit dove through the smoke and landed in a crouch. From one knee, he quickly shot the guards, one by one. With a two-handed barrel grip, he shot the first one in the chest, then shot another in the face. The guard who tried to turn and run was shot in the temple and the last, fumbling to aim and return fire, was shot in the knee, then groin, stomach and head.

  Tressa stood up and gave a once-over to the dead guards. "It sure took you long enough."

  Rabbit's smile was short lived by the amount of hostile traffic coming their way. He held up his wrist and his comm lit up. "Goliath, we're headed your way, now," Rabbit said.

  They ran around the burning cars and debris; the air traffic above them was still moving in a steady stream. The rain made the pavement slippery. They then approached an office building on the other side of the street. Tressa peeked back at Kwan's lair; rescue patrols were there but no one seemed to notice them, so they slipped inside, rushed through the lobby and headed straight for the elevator.

  "That was close. Let's burn rubber," Rabbit said.

  Tressa pressed the button to the top floor, glancing behind her to make sure they weren't followed. When the doors slid open, Nero stood, hands triumphantly on his hips, face of menace looking down on them like a Roman executioner given the signal to carry out corporal punishment.

  “Capitulate,” Nero said.

  Tressa and Rabbit simultaneously backed away and drew their weapons, but before either could get off a blast, Nero, as quick as a tarantula snatches a fly, grabbed Rabbit by the neck and tossed him into the wall behind them. Rabbit was flung one way and his rifle and laser pistol bounced across the floor in the opposite direction.

  Nero then turned his attention to Tressa and charged, throwing a punch that she dodged. He then swept at her feet and caught a part of her foot, enough to put her on her back. When she looked up, he'd already launched himself in the air, arms out like large wings waiting to capture and crush her. She rolled out of the way just in time, his knee landing where her head had been a mere second ago. The marble tile was cracked where her mushed brains would have been.

  Nero, face splitting with anger, bolted after Tressa who was desperately scrambling away from him.

  She backed into a column in the building’s lobby, while Nero threw a haymaker, crushing a hole in the concrete as Tressa evaded the blow; he then reached out, but as soon as Nero grabbed her shoulders, Rabbit somersaulted onto his shoulders and scissor leg-locked around his neck. Then he twirled as an acrobat would and took the clone down, flipping him into a roll away from Tressa.

  Rabbit bounced to his feet and smiled at the now raging mad Nero, who was getting back to his feet. "Hands off, Robot."

  Tressa moved quickly and grabbed Rabbit's hand and made a low dash for the elevator.

  Rabbit threw down a flash grenade and shot it with his laser gun. It exploded and a white cloud mushroomed from it, filling the lobby with a thick fog. Nero fired wildly at them through the smoke as they slid low into the elevator.

  Rabbit returned fire to keep a charging Nero off-balanced.

  If he got inside the elevator with them, they'd be done for. The doors were taking what felt like an eternity to close, the Centurion in Tressa's mind moving with the speed of a lion. Then suddenly, the doors sealed shut just before he could reach them, slamming in his face. The booming thump lingered as Nero slammed his shoulder into the now closed door, rattling the elevator.

  Tressa sighed and Rabbit let out a deep breath. She slid to the ground and sat on her butt. They just needed to get to a super train and they'd be able to escape. She still had the Cube in her possession, and she wouldn't give it up unless it was in exchange for her still breathing daughter.

  Then an implausible sound.

  They had yet to move.

  The metal to the doors bent, and she saw the crimson gloves jam their way through, prying the elevator open. It crept at first an inch... Then it screeched and behold, another six inches. It would take inhuman strength to move those doors.

  Tressa dropped her head, knowing this was it, this was to be her end. Her blasters weren't strong enough to stop the Centurion and she and Rabbit didn't stand much of a chance physically against one.

  Rabbit turned to her, took off his left glove and put his hand on her cheek. He wanted to feel her flesh. She smiled, knowing he realized the same thing she did. They were going to die. She kissed him, felt the sweet taste of his tongue in her mouth. Their brief moment felt like an hour.

  The elevator doors were spread a foot apart now, the clone displaying massive Herculean muscles. Nero had a diabolical grin on his face, his expression suggesting he was savoring the terror in their eyes, the large jungle cat invited into the playpen with the sheep.

  Rabbit kissed her lips again, gave her a wink and brushed his hand against her forehead. As soon as the Iteration shoved the doors apart and turned his wicked smile toward her, Rabbit let out a war cry and charged, tackling him, launching them both out of the elevator and onto the ground.

  The doors began to slide shut. Tressa’s hand reached out. "Gael, what are you doing? No."

  Rabbit had clearly taken Nero by surprise; he was pinned atop him with his hands around his throat. "We've come too far. Save your daughter. Make our sacrifice count. Now go. Please." He looked back at her and forced a smile as the elevator closed shut.

  Tressa was paralyzed by the shock of what had just happened, then by fear. She couldn't leave him. But she couldn't save him either. She watched the doors close on Rabbit- it might as well have been the coffin slamming shut over his body.

 
The elevator shifted and moved down and Tressa looked up as if she could see through the walls. She heard the unmistakably gruesome sound of bone snapping, heard Rabbit's wails and screams. Then the elevator shot down and the walls were too thick for her to hear anything.

  She dropped to her knees and held onto the elevator’s door. A tear streamed down her face.

  Rabbit. No. He couldn't be gone. She thought her insides would drain away. But she had to be strong. For her daughter.

  The doors opened behind her and she rose to her feet. She stepped off the elevator and looked up.

  Goliath was standing there.

  "Rabbit?" Goliath asked.

  Tressa dropped her head. Goliath strapped his large rifle to his back and gave her a hug, and she buried her face into his chest.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

  ― Isaiah 54:16 (KJV)

  Rabbit was afraid of the darkness.

  In his nightmares, the darkness brought the angel of death with it.

  When he betrayed the Coalition on that shuttle, he set his karma in motion, knowing one day that he'd have to face the darkness. He had an unpaid debt and now the darkness was here to collect.

  He gritted his teeth and raised his gun and took aim; today, he would defeat the darkness. He vowed that he would not fall tonight.

  Rabbit looked around; he'd lost sight of his opponent, his head still cloudy from the vicious beating he'd been taking.

  He'd faced worse odds before and survived, so tonight would be no different.

  He was close to the life he wanted, no more war, just he and Tressa and her daughter. He wanted his own kids one day.

  He could barely see, but he picked up Nero's massive frame charging out of his peripheral vision and spun toward him, but the Iteration’s sledgehammer-like fist caught him in the sternum and cracked his breastplate. The air went out of him in an audible gasp. He was driven back three feet and collapsed to his knees. He spat a glob of blood on the ground.