Star Rebellion (42 page)

              The two men had fallen in line, one behind the other. The lead charger looked to be in his late twenties and pretty short. I thought the people in the north were supposed to be really tall, but he came up to my shoulder, if that. From what I could see, he didn’t have a weapon. Just his two hands.

              That’s how I liked to fight.

              He raised his arms to grab my shoulders and I matched his movement. Our hands locked together, each trying to get the advantage. His partner came around on my left and I ducked, pulling the guy in front of me with me.

              God I can see how my commentary will get annoying this way. We’ll call the guy I just threw to the floor Doofus, and the other can be Idiot, even though he looked like he might possess a brain.

              Doofus at least had let go of my hands once his back hit the floor. Sounded like it hurt, that it did. I shook my hands out and stepped back a few paces, bouncing around on the balls of my feet like we did in Calsh before starting a mock fight. Kept you warmed up.

              Idiot waited until Doofus was standing before they attacked again. Tag teaming it, I see. I could deal with that.

              I ducked under Idiot’s arms and stood while kneeing Doofus in the groin. He backed up a step right before the hit connected, so sadly he didn’t end up on the ground rocking back and forth.

              I jumped back a few steps as Idiot tried to make a grab for me again. Apparently that was all he could do, grab and hit. Idiot made a run for me and I dropped to the ground and flicked out a leg, pulling his knees out from under him. I rolled across the ground as he almost came toppling over me.

              Okay, my earlier estimate about this being a roomful of Dmitris was wrong. They didn’t fight as well, nor did these guys seemed to be as clever. I stood up and looked for Doofus, slowly pivoting in a circle. Idiot would be off the ground soon, too.

              Doofus was backing up toward the wall where I had come from. It looked like he was getting ready to do something specific, like a maneuver that had been planned out for a situation like this. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was going to run for his mommy.

              I was about to start following him when someone latched onto one of my legs. Idiot was laying on the ground still, both hands wrapped around my left ankle. I shook my leg for a second, and he didn’t budge. You have got to be kidding.

              He smiled up and I me and through a bloody grin I could see that somehow I had managed to knock a few teeth out. I guess he had hit the ground harder than I had thought.

              I rolled my eyes and started walking with a Russian man clinging to my leg. Let me tell you something, pulling around two-hundred pounds with you is not fun.

              I wasn’t able to get to Doofus in time, though. Remember how I said he was backing up to the wall where I had come into the room from? Well I could see some rigging on it now, which connected up to the ceiling. He must be planning an air attack, I figured, except he had miscalculated something within that plan of his.              

              Do you remember what had come with me into this room?

              A huge ass wolf.

              Doofus was laughing at this point. He must have thought everything was going dandy. Idiot was holding me up pretty well so that Doofus would have enough time to get on the rigging.

              Behind me I could hear other terrorists guys yelling at Doofus. I’m sure somewhere within their yelling was his name, but I hadn’t been able to catch it. Too much Russian in its midst.

              Doofus turned around just in time to see the snapping jaws of the wolf engulfing his head. I looked away as the wolf easily pulled the head off the body, using his paws to keep the body from lifting off the ground. I felt Idiot’s grip on my ankle slacken. I more so heard him run away than saw anything.

              I looked back down on the ground where he was. There was a small puddle of yellow liquid just casually sitting there. Looks like he peed himself in fright.

              I turned back to the nameless guy. Erik was now lying unconscious next to Darkstar and nameless dude had his mouth wide open. There were two other men with him besides the captives.

              “Who’s next?” I asked casually. The other two men ran toward the cars.

              I approached nameless. “Well? Guess it’s just us. Can you give me your name now?”

              “M-Mikael.”

              I nodded my head. “Nice to meet you, Mikael. Want to go follow your men?” He slowly nodded his head before chasing after them. One of them was kind enough to open a door as they drove away, and Mikael jumped through it, landing in the safety of the car.

              I heard the clicking of claws as the wolf came up next to me. He was close enough that his fur brushed against my shoulder.

              A thought once again occurred to me. Where the hell had this wolf come from? I doubted that they bred them here in Russian. From my understanding, the wolves in Calsh were rare, and Earthen wolves were the size of large dogs. Pretty much dwarfed by this one here. I still couldn’t help but feel the nagging thought that I had seen this wolf before. This wolf exactly, not just a look alike.

              I shrugged. “Thanks,” I said, smiling at the wolf. He still looked at me like I was retarded and I rolled my eyes. Nice to see I was appreciated.

              I walked over to my friends and checked their pulses. Both going pretty steady, though I wasn’t sure how I was going to get two unconscious men out of here. All the cars had been taken, and even if they hadn’t, I wasn’t the best at hot wiring cars. That was Ice’s job.

              Erik’s car was still down the road quite a ways too.

              I checked my watch. Seven p.m., so I still made it to my goal of eight. I had three hours to get them wherever the hell we were going. I think I would even have to be a chauffeur and get Mr. Moscow from his office. Pleasant.

              I started nudging Darkstar with my foot. Waterstar had woke him up last by kicking him in the ribs. I was a bit nicer than her at times, but still, this was sort of a dire situation.

              The wolf walked past me and started licking at Dark’s face. That got him up. He rubbed at his face, muttering what the hell when he saw the beast looming over him.

              “Uh, Firestar? Where did you get this little beastie?” he asked casually as he stood.

              “I think you need your vision checked. He isn’t that little,” I laughed before explaining what had happened three floors above us. Darkstar in turn shared what had happened here, once again mentioning the cavern he had been trapped in.

              I nodded my head in agreement when he said that it was an unusual place. That was for damn sure. We tried to rouse Erik, but the Russian wasn’t budging, and the wolf didn’t seem to feel like licking him. I think out of the three of us, Darkstar was the only person he liked. As long as the wolf didn’t eat me, I was fine with that.

              I hoisted the Russian onto my shoulder and grunted at the weight. He definitely wasn’t light, probably had more muscle than fat. Don’t know how useful it was if he couldn’t fight too well when he needed to.

              Dark, the wolf, and I walked back down the street to the car. I could see the sun approaching the horizon now, getting closer and closer as expected when time moves. I guess I should just be glad that I wasn’t going to have to try and make my way back to Moscow’s building in the dark.

              After a single attempt, we decided the wolf and Erik wouldn’t both fit in the backseat. The wolf didn’t seem to mind as Darkstar told it this, stroking its furry face. He seemed to already be getting attached to the beast, and I was worried I would have to tell him he wasn’t going to keep it in our room back on Calsh.

              Darkstar joined me in the car. “He said he’ll keep pace by running next to us.”

              I looked at Dark like he was mental. “He can speak?”

              Darkstar shrugged and avoided my glance. “To me, at least. We’ll just have to deal with people seeing him. Oh, he says his name is Alvair, though Fang works just fine.”

              It didn’t escape my notice that those names were completely different. I mean, it was pretty obvious. Not even Waterstar would be able to miss it.

              Speaking of Water, I wonder how she is doing. By now, her, Icestar, and Mr. Beijing should be on a plane to Rome, if everything went well. Down in China though, there were demons. We had miraculously avoided them here because of the weather and all.

              Oh well, we would be seeing her soon enough.

              I actually ended up following Fang. He knew the way to Moscow’s building better than I did, and we left destruction in our wake. People didn’t seem too thrilled to see a huge wolf running down the street, and a few people screamed out “Demon” which was apparently one word out languages had in common.

              Darkstar assured me that Fang wasn’t a demon, but there wasn’t really a way to tell everyone else. We had more important birds to kill. I thought about asking him to ask the wolf about my feeling of familiarity, but decided I was just being silly about it. I mean, where the hell would I have seen Fang, especially since he wasn’t a demon, and therefore wasn’t in the Underworld.

              Fang got us back to the office building by eight. Evening traffic was terrible in Saint Petersburg, though having a wolf chase off a few cars here and there certainly helped. Fang even abided by traffic lights. It’s kind of funny seeing a huge wolf patiently wait for a light to turn green.

              Moscow rushed out of the building with his advisers streaming after him. One of the advisers said, “You’re alive!” and I automatically had a knife to his throat.

              Moscow shouted, “What is the meaning of this!?”

              Darkstar explained for me. “He gave the Russian terrorists information about us, trying to get us killed. We just spent the last couple of hours held prisoner, Erik and I that is, while Firestar tried to break us out. With Fang’s help.” He motioned at the looming wolf who was sitting a bit away from all the people.

              Moscow rubbed at his eyes. “Wherever Calsh is involved, mayhem follows. That is what I have learned from you people. Will you let my adviser go, please? I’ll put him in the care of Erik and Alexei for now.”

              I rolled my eyes and stepped back. “Alexei, more so. Erik took quite a beating while at the terrorists.” Darkstar and I pulled him out of the car and his brother came running out of the building. He helped us put the unconscious Russian man on a couch in the waiting area by the front desk.

              “I’m sorry that we weren’t able to protect him that well,” I said to Alexei as we walked back outside.

              “No, no. Not your fault. Erik should learn to be a better fighter.” Alexei smiled at me and opened the passenger door to the car. Mr. Moscow was already sitting in the backseat and Darkstar was driving. It seemed like Fang would still be our escort.

              I could hear Mr. Moscow muttering about the lunacy of this as we drove toward the airport. I wondered for a second how Fang knew where all of these places were, but then again, Fang was pretty unknown regarding everything about him.

              Just your average atypical day in Star Rebellion.

              Chapter 24: A Word from Firestar

              FIRESTAR

              Planes are an entirely different entity to me, it would seem. I clenched onto the armrests of my seat as Moscow's personal jet rumbled and took off, gaining altitude astonishingly quickly. Darkstar was sitting in the back of jet, while I took the front. We would guard it as thus, in case there were any terrorists who were still incognito.

              The last few hours were catching up to me, and I was rethinking some of the things that were going on. Why did all of this chaos surround Star Rebellion, and more specifically Water, Dark, and I. We got ourselves into trouble, and never had a second thought about it, but look at where that had now gotten us? Demons were plaguing humanity, and really, there wasn't anyone to blame but ourselves. We never thought of anyone besides ourselves and the Rebellion. We had known the possibility of demons emerging from the mission, but we had brushed it off as unimportant. We were young, and naive, and selfish.

              Why the sudden epiphany, you may ask. It was just... the things that had happened while fighting the Russian terrorists were starting to get to me. They were considered extremists, and so was Star Rebellion. We openly acknowledge that, but what I had seen there. It sent a shiver down my spine just thinking of it again. To be lumped in with such cruel people was not a confidence booster.

              I stared out the plane window and saw a white abyss, ending and starting nowhere. The demons were our fault. We had condemned humanity, and no matter what we tried to do to save it, all the deaths would be on our shoulders. Who knows if it could have been prevented, but we were the catalyst. Here and now, I am making a resolution. You are my witness. I will right what has been wronged, and in the future I will make a difference for the better. I refuse to be associated with those inhumane people I had fought today. I refuse.