Novels2Search
Spires
10.32

10.32

Manila, Philippines, Summer 2055

Ryan woke up.

Drool oozed down the wall.

He wiped it with his fuzzy sleeve.

Rubbing his eyes, he stuck the glass to his ate’s door and listened.

Silence.

She had been crying a lot earlier and was very mean when he had tried to open her door and give her a hug like one was supposed to do when someone was crying.

At least that’s what Mommy and Daddy always said.

The lights in their condo were all on… of course… it was scary otherwise and they weren’t around to make him stay in bed with only the tiny night light that wasn’t nearly enough despite what they said.

Jennie or Jenevieve as she demanded to be called recently was supposed to keep him safe, but she got in trouble or something.

Lolo and Lola had been really mad at her.

He had never seen or heard them like that before.

It was kinda scary.

They were all smiley with him like usual, but it was kinda hard to forget how they were spitting fire.

He got it now, what people meant when they said that.

The clock said it was really late.

He wandered into the living room, then the kitchen.

The food Lola had left for Jennie… er… Jenevieve was still there along with an empty plate.

That was bad.

Mommy and Daddy always said it was important to eat when you had the chance because you never knew.

Never knew what?

They had never explained when he had asked.

“I’m bored…”

Stupid Jennie was supposed to read him a bed time story.

He sighed as he considered going next door to second mommy.

She was always nice, but his stupid baby brother would probably be annoying so he scratched that thought.

A thought occurred to him.

“Computer, this is Ryan. I have, um, a question?”

“Acknowledged.”

“Is Tita Madalena home?”

“Yes.”

“Um, okay, thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Ryan.”

He yawned and rubbed his eyes to get rid of some of the gunk.

He wasn’t supposed to leave the condo, but he was bored and he was worried about Jennie cause she hadn’t eaten dinner, which was bad because Mommy and Daddy said they were always supposed to eat when they could, so… he couldn’t get in trouble if he was only going to his tita to get her to help?

Then she could tuck him into bed and tell him a story, while giving him ice cream, which she did… sometimes.

He tugged the bunny-eared hood of his onesie over his head and headed out.

The door handle wasn’t quite as high anymore.

The chime rang, which made him jump, then freeze.

Eyes darted down the lit hallways, but no one came running.

Phew!

That had been close.

He darted to the elevator.

His tita’s condo was a few floors down.

She lived alone, so she didn’t need a bigger one.

He was surprised that she was home.

She was always out somewhere beating up monsters and bad guys, just like his daddy.

The door to her condo opened with a pull on the handle.

He liked the handles better than the round knobs.

Those were harder to turn cause he had to use both hands and sometimes he lost his balance then people laughed at him when he fell.

So mean sometimes.

“What the f—” Tita Madalena was sitting at her table wearing a towel for some reason, while eating from a tub of ice cream. “What’s a little bunny doing wandering into my home? Is that you, Ry-guy?”

“Um, Ate Jennie was mean. Can you read me a story. She didn’t eat dinner. Can I try that?” He pointed.

“Sugar? This late? I’m not making that mistake again.” She laughed.

He pouted.

That was fine.

The ice cream had been a long shot anyways.

Old people rarely let him eat ice cream when it was really dark.

“Let me put on some clothes.”

She picked him up and plopped him on her couch before heading to her bedroom.

It didn’t take long for her to return in a shirt and shorts.

“So, if I remember correctly, your parents are on their monthly date night?”

“Uh huh.”

“What’s this about Jennie— oh, sorry, Jenevieve— don’t tell her I said that.” She winked.

He giggled.

“Dunno. Lolo and Lola yelled at her and she cried in her room. Then I fell asleep by her door.”

“I think we’re missing chunks of time, little bunny. Lolo and Lola yelled? That’s weird.”

“They were scary.” He nodded, eyes wide.

“They are,” she agreed. “You’ll find out like Jenevieve did when you’re older and dumber.” She sighed. “I wonder what she did?”

“Dunno.” He eyed the tub of ice cream.

“Did you brush your teeth yet?”

“Noooo?”

“One spoonful.”

She dug a heaping spoonful in the ice cream.

He chomped down eagerly.

Cold cream and regret filled him a horrifying second later.

“Don’t waste it,” she warned.

Down it went.

One didn’t burn bridges.

That was another lesson.

He didn’t really get it.

Why would one burn a bridge?

They needed it to cross to other places.

“It tastes like fish!” he shouted.

A grievance was filed in the back of his thoughts.

“Fish balls with spicy fish ball sauce flavored,” she agreed.

Why would anyone make that?

At least he didn’t get too much of the spicy sauce.

That must’ve been the dark brown syrup he mistook for chocolate.

“You have your bracelet?”

He pulled his fuzzy sleeze up to show her proudly.

Another lesson.

Always have his bracelet and necklace on him at all times.

Even in the bath.

“Good little bunny. No one should freak out too much when they find out that you left your condo like you aren’t supposed to.”

He shrank down into the soft couch.

A sudden yawn accompanied his eyes suddenly feeling heavier all of a sudden.

“Alright, it’s way past your bed time. Come on.”

Tita Madalena scooped him up and padded to the front door.

“We’ll brush your teeth and get you that story. I’ll check on your sister. One missed dinner won’t hurt her too badly, so don’t worry about it too much.”

She tugged on a pair of combat-looking boots all while carrying him in one arm as if he weighed nothing, which was true because she was like his daddy, really, really strong.

He hoped to be as strong or even stronger when he grew up one day.

They crossed paths with a guard on the way to the elevator.

“It’s all good, Toni. This brave little bunny was just exploring.”

“Thought so, Madalena, just wanted to make sure. Have a fun adventure, little bunny!”

Ryan nodded shyly.

He wanted armor like that too one day.

Dark gray with a flag of yellow, white, red and blue on one shoulder.

So cool!

The elevator took them back up to his floor.

“Why did Lolo and Lola get mad at Ate Jennie?”

“She’s in the rebellion phase. I don’t know what she did, but I can guess. Now that she has her powers she’s been chafing at all the rules. I bet she went out to fight monsters.”

“Coo—”

“Not cool, Ry-guy!” She wagged a finger. “Very dangerous. Just because we’re harder to hurt doesn’t mean we can’t get hurt. Especially, when she’s just starting.” She flexed an impressive bicep. “See this.”

A long scar wrapped down the inside of her entire arm.

“Super crocodile.”

He shivered.

Those were like crocodiles, but a lot bigger and a lot smarter.

“And I’m old.”

He nodded.

“So, when you get your powers listen to us old people. We know cause we’ve been there and done that.”

The elevator stopped.

The door to his condo opened at his tita’s touch.

“Alright, how old are you again?”

“Four?”

“You don’t know how old you are?”

His 4th birthday was about six months ago, so that meant he was just as close to 5 as he was to 4.

“Four and a half?”

She snorted and poked his fuzzy belly.

“That means old enough to brush your teeth on your own. Remember, 30 seconds per quadrant. Top and sides. I’ll see what’s up with your sister.”

She put him down.

He scampered into the bathroom.

30 seconds, he reminded himself.

The electric toothbrush stopped on its own, but he counted anyways and was surprised to realize that he counted faster.

Still, he followed orders and emerged from the bathroom pleased with himself for doing so.

Tita Madalena was waiting for him outside his sister’s door.

“She’s asleep. Why don’t you pick out the book you want me to read and get in bed. I’ll put the food away.”

Ryan was crouching in front of his tiny bookshelf when the entire room began to rock violently.

Alarms blared in the same instant.

He jolted, tumbling backward like a startled little bunny.

“Ryan, please step into your emergency suit,” the computer said as the wall by his closet slid open and pushed out a Ryan-sized version of the power armor the guards wore.

Minus the best weapons, of course.

He struggled with his onesie, but Tita Madalena burst into the room yelling.

“Wake up, Jennie!”

She tore the fuzzy bunny pajamas like it was made out of the paper and pushed him into the back of the open emergency suit.

The lights in the HUD turned on as it initialized and he smiled, momentarily forgetting how scared he was.

His tita didn’t wait.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She scooped him up and ran into Jennie’s room.

His older sister was just climbing out of bed, bleary-eyed, her thick black hair a twisted bird’s nest pointing in every direction.

“Emergency suit. Now.” Tita Madalena snapped.

The shaking had continued the whole time.

It surged.

His aunt cursed, reaching for his sister.

The window exploded inward, showering them with jagged glass.

Clothes ripped.

Red splattered on his faceplate.

Jennie screamed as the strong winds from outside whipped up a veritable tornado in her room.

A lesser human would’ve been knocked back or even pulled out to fall to their deaths.

His aunt stood as easily as if she was in a gentle hilltop breeze, like the one’s in Baguio.

“Putan—” Tita Madalena snapped. “Jennie! Stop! Let me see!”

It was a bit awkward for Ryan being carried by his aunt like a forgotten sack of rice, except very, very light.

His eyes widened when he was brought face to face with his sister.

Jennie’s face was a mask of red.

She was screaming.

“Stop it! Let me see!” Tita Madalena grabbed his sister chin and forced her still. “It’s just a cut on your forehead. Remember? Those bleed a lot, but look worse than they are. C’mon, let’s get that cleaned up and you into your emergency suit.”

“Don’t, Tita! I can walk!”

His aunt picked his sister up with her free arm despite the struggling.

Jennie was tall for her age at 11, so it looked funny.

It was weird he wanted to laugh at the sight, but also cry.

There was a lot of red on Jennie’s face and shirt.

“There’s glass all over,” Tita Madalena said. “Just listen for once. We ne—” she froze then practically threw Jennie at the emergency suit by the closet.

Ryan hadn’t noticed in all the commotion, but golden light shined from outside the window.

The entire wall vanished with a loud crash.

A giant of a man hovered wreathed in a nimbus of golden light.

Skin as black as night with bulging muscles that made Ryan’s dad’s look small.

It was weird that the man wasn’t wearing armor. Just a skirt and sleeveless shirt that looked weird because only girls wore skirts, right?

Oh?

That wasn’t exactly right.

Ryan noticed it late, but the man had a black helmet on his head that was weird cause it was long and bulbous.

“Does he have a weird head, Tita?” he whispered before he realized he should probably be quiet.

The man laughed. “I don’t, smol one… is that correct? I’ve been immersing myself in the culture of this world, well, specifically American culture.”

“Demigod outside Jennie’s room,” Tita Madalena said in a tone Ryan didn’t recognize. She turned her body so that he was blocked from the demigod’s view.

“Ah! A young maiden on the cusp. Like a flower soon to bloom.”

Jennie finished getting into her emergency suit and scrambled back behind Tita Madalena.

“Gross! Perv!”

His sister shot the demigod a finger that she would get in trouble for.

“Yes… I see that came out in a way that I didn’t intend.”

Jennie took him from their tita and inched her way back to the door.

“Madalena. You’re on my list. Come peacefully. All you have to do is answer questions truthfully and your stay will be like a vacation, to use a term you’re familiar with. On my honor, you will not be harmed in any way.”

Golden eyes fell on Jennie and him.

It felt like they saw right through the armor and into him.

He would be ashamed to say that he wet himself for the first time in a long time since he had learned to use the potty like a big kid.

“Apologies, smol one, but when one comes across griffin chicks, one can’t only take one, he must take the whole nest, for he knows not when such an opportunity may arise again.” The demigod’s gaze lasered into Madelena. “An addendum. Come peacefully. If not for your sake, then do it for the little ones. For they will be right there with you the whole way. Thus—”

“Target locked.”

Ryan jolted at the words in his helmet, but they weren’t meant for him.

For some reason he was being looped into the main channel.

“Firing!”

The demigod’s eyes narrowed a fraction before he vanished from their view in a cloud of fire.

Tita Madalena pushed them into the hallway, fire licking at her back.

“Go! Go! Go!”

They made it out of the condo and into the hallway when the upper part of the high-rise began to slide.

----------------------------------------

He perched on the edge of a moderately tall building like a brooding gargoyle invisible to mortal eyes.

The protective sigils on every wall in sight were just as impossible to see for him, but he knew they were there.

Mages could see them with effort, which, apparently was a sign of great magical power and equally skilled technique since sigils, wards and what not could be made invisible to all eyes.

The caster had to put extra effort to conceal them from mundane sight, let alone magic or Skill-enhanced sight.

The people of the city were lax with their security.

Anyone human could just walk into any restaurant, store or building.

Hell, he even saw tiny groups of those weird cow-centaur people mingling outside the bars where the sidewalk and part of the street had been converted to host their massive size.

Everyone seemed so happy.

Not a single fight had broken out under his gaze.

But, the night was young.

The crazy shit didn’t really start until after midnight.

A wide-ish street demarcated an interesting contrast.

One side was lit bright with garish colors as music blared and people conversed.

The other was quiet. Street lights and the occasional light in the windows of the apartments above the first level.

The blocks in this part of Manila tended to that layout.

Commercial and entertainment at ground level.

Homes above.

Although, why anyone would want to live above a noisy bar when they had an abundance of choice in other parts of the metropolitan area escaped him.

“In position.” The voice whispered in his magic ear piece.

He still wasn’t used to the warm feeling radiating into his ear canal from the weird organ.

Slick and slimy, it felt as disgusting as it looked.

Sadly, comms would’ve been impossible without them due to the interference the large, floating pustules they had seeded in the clouds a few moments before the demigod had opened the portals to transit them from halfway across the planet in an instant.

It had been a closely run thing.

Powerful anti-portal magic had drained the demigod and drastically cut down the number of portals he had been able to create, which meant the list of names they were after had been shortened.

Lt. Death’s Dancer wasn’t happy about the mission despite the Quests and rewards he had pending for a successful execution.

Kidnapping civilians for interrogation wasn’t—

He ground his teeth.

His dentist had been on his back about that.

He had chewed through dozens of night mouth guards in as many weeks even with only sleeping the bare minimum amount of hours.

The ops they were doing or planned to do had been slipping down that ethical slope ever since the demigod had arrived and taken over things.

Now?

He felt like he was on the leading wave of an avalanche.

And the foot of the mountain was still too far for even him to see.

“Front door warded. Deploying countermeasures.”

“Hold it! Sleeping gas spell isn’t working!”

Light flashed to the north.

A cluster of skyscrapers.

The booming blastwave shattered the night’s joy a second later.

The planned distraction was on schedule.

His team was not.

The people below scattered like their hive had just been kicked open.

They moved with purpose more than panic.

He nodded appreciatively as he broke comms silence.

“Break it down.”

He met the team on the roof of the apartment to take the hand-off.

They had literally bagged the old man on account of him being ancient and frail.

Being manhandled without the partial stasis effect enchanted into the literal body bag might’ve caused the old man’s heart to burst, let alone breaking a hip or shoulder if Death’s Dancer wasn’t perfectly gentle.

“Boosting.” Lt. Allen said. The mage wiggled her fingers over the special forces squad. “Haste. Aspect of the Cougar.”

Snickers.

“Shut it, corporal! That stopped being funny months ago.” Death’s Dancer felt the magic wash over him. Due to his superior physicals the spells only had a minor effect on him. Not that he needed them anyways. In fact, he’d have still have to slow down to let the rest of the team keep up.

They ran and leapt across the rooftops as fast as cars.

The added aspect gave his fellow soldiers just enough on top of their own Skills to handle the stress on their bones and muscles.

The evac point was a few clicks to the east in a sparsely populated area of the metropolis.

A winged Eidolon of Ekra rose from a crouch on the church rooftop like some nightmarish gargoyle.

This one was a lot scarier than the ones he had gotten used to.

Less bird-like and more like said gargoyles.

The eidolon landed with a thud that cracked the asphalt.

“You have the target.”

True to form the towering man spoke like he gargled rocks.

“Yeah.”

Death’s Dancer handed the bagged old man over.

“Then take the next on your list. I shall deliver this one.”

Huge gray wings unfurled only to be ripped to shreds the next instant.

“Contact!”

The eidolon rose regardless, propelled by magic that thrust him skyward.

A bright, burning comet met him in the dark.

Shit!

The explosion rocked the sky.

Superhuman eyes tracked the black bag as it plummeted.

Stasis enchantment or not, a fall from that height wasn’t survivable even for a healthy man in the prime of his life.

Death’s Dancer leapt—

Right into a boot to the skull-masked face.

A blur of fists and feet pummeled him all the way to the ground.

His team—

“They are dead.”

A husky voice in the shadows.

His team stood just outside the circle of light provided by a street lamp.

They fell suddenly, crumpling to the ground like puppets deprived of their strings.

A flash of movement.

The most beautiful woman in the world he had ever laid eyes on stepped into the light, into the midst of his dead team.

Dark brown skin glistened like that fancy expensive wood.

Mane of lustrous silver hair waved in the non-existent breeze.

She licked wet red from her fingers, then her lips in a way that had his loins stirring in a most unprofessional way.

Mouth gone dry, he forced himself to aim his custom gun toward her heaving breasts.

The thin nightgown left little to the imagination.

No bra… yet—

He shook his head.

People could get all sorts of enhancements that made them look perfectly natural and perfectly perky… at any size.

Then there was magic bullshit, which the woman stank of.

Yeah…

The only reason he wasn’t groveling at her perfect little red-painted toes was because as a superhuman he was more resistant to charm effects than normal humans.

“I’ve got him.”

The one that knocked the eidolon out of the sky to land somewhere several clicks away and hit him over a dozen times in a second landed next to the super hot woman.

She lay the black bag gently on the ground.

“Hurry, little comet. I sense magic, but I don’t know what exactly it’s supposed to do to him,” the super hot woman said.

“It’s a minor stasis enchantment. Supposed to keep him mostly safe.” The words were out of his mouth before he could consider the wisdom of their utterance.

“Quiet, soldier!” she hissed, baring distinctly fang-like canine teeth.

It clicked then.

The list.

Many names.

The old man.

“Dr. Rufo? Shit—” the young woman in the familiar armor had unzipped the bag to reveal the old man.

More like ancient.

Death’s Dancer had been surprised to see someone at that age.

In his experience, people didn’t grow that old.

The young woman felt around the old man’s neck and placed a palm on his chest.

“It’s weak.”

“Zip him back up.”

“What?”

“Did you shut your helmet’s audio off, cometling?”

“That’s not even a word.”

“Then listen and obey.” The super hot woman turned a sultry gaze on him. “Young people these days. No respect for their elders.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be Cherry? No known last name?”

The list had a lot of names.

Only a few marked as very important.

The rest had an ancillary value, but the few were what the demigod wanted.

Naturally, the explanation had ended there.

The ancient doctor was actually the easiest target on account of where he lived and his physical condition.

The rest lived in better protected places and were dangerous on their own.

“If I was?”

Well?

That was the question.

Orders were orders.

But…

He glanced at the doctor.

He had a sense about such things.

Despite the precautions they had taken with his health, time was running out.

An interrogation, no matter how gentle, wasn’t something a man in his condition could endure more than once.

Frankly, Death’s Dancer would’ve put a year’s salary on the old man’s heart giving out within minutes.

He realized his own heart wasn’t in it.

Despite his dead team at their killer’s dainty little feet, he couldn’t hear the fight’s call.

Orders?

There wasn’t anything about fulfilling the mission at all costs.

He could try, but a fight between the three of them would’ve likely turned the old man into collateral damage.

Thus, logically speaking he couldn’t complete the mission by fighting.

This Cherry was marked as a high tier danger.

More than even him.

Add in the other woman…

“Parlay?” he shrugged.

“Mmmm…” she drew it out tantalitzingly, once again licking her ruby red lips with that alluring tongue—

Jesus Christ! Don’t look at any single part of her! Don’t focus! See the whole! he thought.

For obvious reasons he couldn’t exactly take his eyes off her.

He felt like a split-second inattention would be all she needed.

It was rare that he felt himself on the wrong side of what he usually delivered to others.

“Very well. What do you have to say for yourself, young soldier?”

Young?

He wasn’t young.

Too distracting.

Focus!

“You leave with your doctor. I leave with my team.”

“Agreed.”

That was too quick.

The young woman looked like she was about to argue, but was silenced with a side-eyed glance.

“If I see you again in our home there will be no bargain,” the super hot woman said.

“I—”

He blinked.

They vanished without a trace.

Like it had all been a vague, hazy dream that he had just been jolted from.

His dead team, however, was very real.

“Damn it.”

Letters. Visits to families. Funerals.

He felt—

What did he feel?

Tired?

Yeah.

Bone-deep fatigue.

The kind that seemed to have no end.

A dark tunnel with a light at the other end that only ever grew dimmer.

He pulled out the artifact and activated the emergency portal.

One by one he pushed his teammates through before following.

Command could complain all they wanted about him coming back with a single name on the list.

He truly no longer cared.

They watched the big soldier depart through the golden gateway from several blocks away on a silent rooftop.

Elsewhere, closer to the center of their power the dark sky was lit up by bright flashes and explosions that reached them even where they were.

Bei regarded Cherry with narrowed eyes before handing over Dr. Rufo in the body bag.

It felt wrong to keep a living man in a container for the dead.

Like she was tempting fate.

An ominous one.

“He will be okay,” Cherry said. “Go and help. I know you want to.”

“You can help too.”

“I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Bei’s gaze narrowed to a blade-like edge.

As if the gabunan hadn’t just killed an entire team of elite special forces with one hand of fingers lengthened and sharpened to a razor’s edge until they could cut better than any mundane blade and many enchanted ones.

Cherry rolled her predator eyes.

“The doctor’s time was already short before those puta— he needs me more.”

“He said something about a list. You and the doctor are on it. Who else? Why? You should—”

“I can hide us better than anyone else and if that was true, which it was, then we shouldn’t be with others on the list.” Cherry regarded the distant battle. “If me and Dr. Rufo are on the list, then I can take a good guess at the other names.”

“Well?”

“If you want to help, then go there as fast as you can. Phillip, Madalena and Lilah will be high on that list… if I had to guess.” She gave Bei a fanged smile. “Hurry along, little comet. But be careful. If they sent Death’s Dancer after Dr. Rufo, well, you seem smart enough. At least when you aren’t in your battle crazy phase… young ladies today, in my day we were crazy about boys—”

Bei cut her off with a chop across air.

Strong and sudden enough to send a gust of wind across the rooftop.

“That’s not any better.” She regarded the blood-drinker. “Be careful. Like you said, if they sent Death’s Dancer after the doctor. Who’d they send after you?”