Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) (32 page)

Being in position to strike again, Chase grabbed
Argos’ head with both hands in mid-air, and landed four successive knee kicks
to his face, one more powerful than the other, spilling his brother’s blood all
over the place.

Chase then promptly grabbed his brother by the
throat and he stood there, levitating while Argos limbs dangled and blood
dripped downwards to the floor of Damocles-3 command center.

He tightened his embrace and little by little
crushed Argos’ windpipes as he prepared to throw a power punch, but not before
making sure an ice-blue fireball engulfed his entire fist. He punched him again
and again on the face, each hit bruising Argos’ face more and more, facial
bones cracking under the power of each new blow. Chase then releases his grasp
on Argos and let the artificial gravity get a hold back on his brother once
more. Argos crashed to the ground with a satisfying thud.

Not willing to let go of his current advantage,
Chase, who still hadn’t moved, levitating high in the air, unleashed a flurry
of powerful fireballs towards Argos at an incredible rate. The successive
impacts and resulting explosions propelled Argos in the air once more and his
body crashed, face first, against the floor a few yards away. Smoke rose from
his motionless body.

Chase never knew he could unleash so much violence.
Never knew he could hit someone so many times and still pull back for more. In
the end, Argos’ face was unrecognizable. Almost every bone was dented in and
every square inch of skin had been savaged and torn.

Chase lowered to the ground and took a step back,
panting. His power levels were down by more than half, but he used a little
more still, putting his hand on his side to heal his broken ribs.

Argos was slowly regaining consciousness, pulling
himself weakly across the floor, but despite the fact that one more fireball
could probably finish him off, Chase paused.

Could he really take the life of his own brother?
Argos was evil, mad and needed to be stopped—no question. But in Chase’s
moments of unbridled rage, were they really so different, he wondered.

Argos finally pulled himself up to his feet and
straightened up to face his brother. Little torrents of blood rained down from
almost every inch of him, but despite all that, the corners of his lips pulled
up and he started laughing.

“I’m glad you think this is funny.” Chase shook his
head. “Look at you; I’ve beaten you.”

But Argos suddenly didn’t look like a defeated man.
In fact, the way he was staring back at Chase now made a shiver run up and down
his brother’s spine. His face glowed manically for a moment, before he parted
his bloody lips.

“Watch and learn… brother.”

He closed his eyes as a red light appeared on the
ground beneath him, quickly engulfing him completely in its crimson glow. When
it vanished a moment later, Argos looked exactly the same except for one, major
difference.

He was completely healed.

Chase’s eyes grew wide and he took a step back.

“See, I told you your overconfidence would be your
downfall. You think you won the fight, but in fact you’ve just lost it. I
observed your technique and attacked you just enough to make sure you gave it
all you had. And while you’re managing your inner energy quite well now, I bet
you’ve spent more than half your reserve.”

Chase swore in his head.
Son of a…

“I’ve barely tapped into ten percent of mine. Now I
can crush you with ease.”

“I have more than enough energy left,” Chase said
defiantly.

Argos grinned. “You should know by now that my
telepathic and empathic abilities allow me to know when you’re lying.”

Chase remembered Ares’ warning about how formidable
an enemy his brother was, and that he wasn’t ready yet to win in a direct
confrontation. He also remembered the warning about being careful to use his
pool of energy wisely. Chase thought he did all that and in the rush of
fighting, felt like it gave him wings for a while. But seeing his brother reset
to max power with such ease brought doubt and fear, deep within Chase’s psyche,
as to the outcome of this fight.

Still, Argos had tortured Sarah, and now that he
knew he had manipulated her all this time, he was going to make sure Argos
could no longer hurt her. Not ever. Rage engulfed Chase’s very soul, sending
him to the threshold of losing control, and the station started trembling
heavily. Blue lightning bolts crackled all around him, casting ethereal lights
on the station’s floor. His eyes glowed brightly, purple light radiating all
over Chase’s face. Logic went out the window as Chase launched himself towards
Argos, fully determined to rip his brother from the galaxy…

Chase launched himself towards Argos with all his
might, thinking not about revenge, but about pure destruction, plain and
simple. He was now at the very edge of sanity, still under control, but only
just.

Chase threw three successive blows at Argos’ face,
but the brother who met him was a different man than the one before. He dodged
Chase’s attacks with disconcerting ease, repelling Chase back with a single,
fierce blow to the sternum, delivered with the edge of his right hand.

It took the wind out of Chase for a moment. Argos
smiled as he launched a series of straight kicks followed by arching ones.
Chase parried and dodged them all until Argos’ knee, coming out of nowhere, hit
Chase squarely in the jaw, sending him flying through the air at tremendous
speed. As he collided with the ceiling, the paneling bent under the impact and
sparks flew. Chase was falling down towards the ground when he felt incoming
attacks from behind. He spun in the air and saw flashing red fireballs. Five of
them. He managed to deflect the first three but the last two changed trajectory
at the last moment and impacted with his body both front and behind at the same
time, sending an intense wave of pain radiating throughout his body. Things
only got worse when he finally hit the ground, face first.

Chase’s previous sense of dread grew stronger. Had
he bitten off more than he could chew? He now felt ridiculous thinking he had
won that fight moments ago. With his head still ringing and pain throbbing
throughout every one of his muscles, he struggled to get back up on his feet.

He collapsed against the ground, panting and
coughing up blood. What had he been thinking? He couldn’t defeat Argos by will
power alone, could he?

A strange vibration hummed through the air and Chase
looked up to see Argos making his biggest fireball yet. It wasn’t even a
fireball so much as a huge, impenetrable sphere of energy—as big as Chase himself.

Without hesitation Argos launched his attack. The
fireball extended into a powerful stream of red energy coming towards Chase at
tremendous speed. Chase reacted instinctively. He drew a circle in the air with
both his hands in front of him, creating a translucent blue shield before the
whole thing came crashing down on him.

His arms quavered as he slid back against the floor,
buckling under the strain. Red lightning started to crackle around the shield
as Argos intensified the beam with a smile.

Chase didn’t know how much longer he could keep this
up—it would either crush or drain him—but he had a sickening feeling that Argos
knew exactly how long. That he was just biding his time.

That’s precisely the moment that everything took a
turn for the worse.

Behind Argos’ back, Daniel began regaining
consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly and they focused in terror on his
friend. With Chase’s demise clearly imminent, Daniel knew what he had to do. He
silently picked up a shard of glass and limped towards Argos—too focused on
Chase to notice anything else. Then, with a farewell smile, he thrust it into
the Fury’s back, impaling him from behind.

Argos released a shriek of pain that made the entire
station tremble. He turned around and launched a similar, thinner stream of
energy towards Daniel. It hit him right in the chest and tore through like he
was made of paper. Blood and bone flew backwards into the air, as Chase’s best
friend in the world dropped, lifeless, to the floor.

It was like something in Chase’s head just snapped.
The rage he had kept at bay the entire fight overtook him.

His eyes flashed blinding amethyst as images of
Daniel filled his mind. Flying together, drinking and laughing together, their
first day together at the academy.

His hair was thrown up in the air, hovering and
waving madly above his head. He clenched his teeth as a thousand tears shot
towards the heavens. Chase let out a haunting growl, coming from the deepest
and darkest corners of hell.

“
NOOOOOOOO!
”

The shout blew out every light source around them;
sparks flew madly and consoles in Chase’s vicinity bent and collapsed on
themselves.

Without stopping to think, he closed his eyes and
released the shield, grabbing the stream of energy from Argos’ attack with his
bare hands. He plunged his hands deep into the center, letting its destructive
power flow through him, replenishing his energy as well as his rage. A
powerful, flaming aura enveloped him as flashes of orange lightning danced
through the air.

When Chase opened his eyes, they were the same
flaming color, as a powerful shockwave almost knocked Argos off balance.

With flames of sun-fire power dancing behind him and
revenge now his sole reason to be, he launched towards Argos so fast he might
as well be teleporting. He unleashed a series of attacks while flying all
around Argos in a random, star-like pattern, leaving a bright orange trail
behind him as he moved near the speed of light. With each and every pass, he
unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks of impossible power and speed, sending
Argos’ body all over the place. But his brother was moving so fast that with
each pass, Argos always ended thrown back where he stood, never able to fully
lose his balance, or fall, no matter how much he felt like it. Argos felt
trapped within an invisible force field, relentless punches and kicks seemingly
coming from all around him at once. Blood and teeth flew, bones cracked and
shattered and there was absolutely nothing Argos could do to dodge or parry any
of the blows. With each successive hit, Chase saw terror and helplessness grow
in the eyes of his brother, as the glowing red in them faded a little more with
each new blow. When it finally stopped, Argos fell to his knees and collapsed
motionless to the ground.

Chase knelt down near Argos. When he grabbed him by
the blood-soaked and torn clothes, his head tilted backwards on its own. He was
still unconscious. Chase raised his other hand, palm open, and filled it with
sun-orange energy, readying himself to deliver the final blow, about to decapitate
his brother, when he heard something.

“Chase…”

He dropped Argos to the floor at once and whirled
around in shock. He couldn’t believe his eyes…

Daniel blinked back at him, struggling to speak but
fading fast.

In a flash, Chase was at his side, enveloping him in
the same sort of healing cloud that Argos had used a moment before. But instead
of dark red fire, he used flaming orange.

He saw Daniel smiling back at him, looking as though
nothing had ever touched him.

“That... never gets old.”

Chase let out a bark of laughter. “I—I thought—”

“Behind you,” Daniel warned.

Chase glanced back and saw Argos trying to crawl
away. With a look of total hate, he got up and dragged his brother by the hair
to the window, giving him a perfect view of the battle raging on below. The
Earth Alliance was clearly winning. What Zarlack ships were still operational
were already falling into retreat.

“Look,
brother
, you have lost. Your fleet is
defeated, and now you will die.”

Argos tried to speak but Chase knocked his head against
the glass repeatedly. He then threw Argos in the air and made him levitate in
front of him, his limbs dangling in the air.

Orange fire flashed in his eyes as he stepped
forward and grabbed him by the throat, a triumphant smile dancing on his face.
“And now you die!”

Argos panted and tried to speak, but the grip on his
throat was crushing his vocal chords. In the end, however, he summoned up just
enough energy to say one telepathic word.

“Sarah!”

The name sent a spark and a shiver down Chase’s
back. He released his grip slightly.

“Speak!”

“If you kill me, she dies,” Argos panted.

Chase shook his head. “I don’t believe you. If I
kill you, your grip on her mind will be released and she’ll bring back the data
crystal.”

“If you
truly
believe that… then finish me
off.”

A wave of rage coursed through Chase and he
tightened his grip, cutting off all the oxygen to Argos’ brain. He would kill
him now. And then everything would be fine.

“Chase!” Daniel shouted.

“What?!” Chase called back, staring into Argos’ eyes
as all the life faded away.

“Don’t do this! If it does kill Sarah, you will
never be able to forgive yourself!”

Chase wanted to let go but somehow couldn’t.

“CHASE! Let him go before it’s too late!”

He tried again, but couldn’t. That’s when an image
of Sarah flashed through his mind.

All at once, he released Argos, dropping him to the
floor as he turned back to his friend and helped him get to his feet.

“We need to get Sarah back. We’ll take your
StarFury.”

Daniel nodded. “What about him?”

Chase looked at Argos, but before he could decide,
his brother clicked a device in his pocket, and in a cloud of orange light, he
was gone.

“Dammit!” Chase lashed out.

“You didn’t have any other choice,” Daniel said,
putting his arm on his friend’s shoulder.

“Tell that to the members of the million families he
killed,” said Chase with an intense expression of sadness across his face.

“That wasn’t your fault,” Daniel insisted. “If
anything, you helped make sure he didn’t kill everyone on Earth. Stop feeling
so responsible for god’s sake!”

Chase glanced at his friend with a small smile.
“Thanks.” He suddenly pulled him into a warm embrace. “Now hold on tight!”

Daniel looked around. “What? Wh—”

They flew off the command deck at tremendous speed.

Daniel screamed aloud but tilted back his head as
walls streaked past. “You can fly?!”

“I know.” Chase started grinning uncontrollably.

“Holy shit on a hyperspace engine! This is
unbelievable!”

It only took a few seconds for them to arrive at the
remaining StarFury—just in time to see Argos’ ship take off, blow a hole
through the station’s shields and immediately disappear into hyperspace.

For a moment Chase was incredibly tempted to go
after it, but one look at Daniel’s determined face clarified his priorities.
They rushed to the ship but were stopped at the last moment by a voice echoing
through the bay’s speakers.

“Hey! What about me? Take me with you!” Spiros
called.

“We’ll send someone to pick you up. Hang tight,”
Chase called back. “Just drop the shields as we leave the station, okay?”

“What would you have done if I hadn’t woken up,
boy?”

Chase grinned. “Believe me, I would have found a
way.”

They entered the StarFury and shot out through
space. The second they were away, Chase opened a channel to Yanis.

“Hey, pal, did you get the schematics containing Dr.
Malayianis’ awesome new tech?”

“Sarah got them,” Chase replied, “that’s why I
needed you to track her.”

“She jumped to hyperspace not long ago, but I’m
sending you her exit vector now.”

“Thanks, buddy. All good onboard my ship?”

“Yeah, we’re about done with the enemy fleet.”

Chase and Daniel gave each other a look of relief.
“Excellent. Have someone pick up Spiros Malayianis from the station. Any news
from Commodore Saroudis?”

Yanis sounded tense. “They’ve just finished
operating and placed him in a regen tank, but his injuries were severe. I hope
he makes a full recovery.”

“So do I. Thanks, Yanis.”

“Sure, see you soon.”

“Yeah, we’ll pick up Sarah and come back ASAP.”

“Good luck.”

Chase killed the comm, fed the coordinates, diverted
all power to the jump engines, and then jumped into hyperspace.

*   *   *

Onboard the
Dark Star
, Argos just finished
healing himself. He had been too close to death for comfort and was still
trying to understand how his brother Laiyos, who had always been inferior to
him in every way, had managed to put him in such a state.

“Note to self, don’t kill his friends in front of
him,” he said with a chuckle.

Argos’ ego had been hurt deeply. He was not happy
about losing this fight, but only the end result mattered now. And with his
next move, he would seal Chase’s fate for good.

He opened a channel to one of his ships on standby
in the area.

“Yes, Master,” answered one of his Zarlack lackeys.

“Drop the jamming fields.”

“Jamming fields dropped.”

Argos sped off into space with a dark smile.

“So long, brother.”

*   *   *

The StarFury dropped out of hyperspace and Chase
scanned for Sarah’s ship. It was only a minute away. With a gasp of relief, he
vectored towards her at maximum afterburners.