Polemos

99 AE
Lucerana
Prevailia
Alexander Bloodworth

Polemos

 

                “Hello Generals and generic military folk” I announce stepping into the war room, “I’m sorry to bother what I’m sure is a fruitful military discussion, but we need to talk with our uncle for a few minutes.  Is General Maxwell Stone here by any chance?  The room full of military leaders looks my direction, confused as hell to why Alicia and I stand before them. 

                “Alex? Alicia? What are you doing here,” comes Max’s voice from behind a couple of people.  He stands up and walks over to us, “How did you get in here anyway, why are you soaking wet?” he asks.

                “Ah, Max, can’t you just be happy to see us?” asks Alicia, “Anyway, Max, we need to have story time, like now.”

                “What? No,” Max says, “can’t you see I’m busy here with war stuff?”

                “Alright Max, I’m sorry it had to come to this, but if you don’t have time for your favorite niece and nephew, then you leave me no choice,” I ramble off pulling out my shiny new badge, “With the power invested in me by the power of the Prevailian constitution as Arkhe of the Prevailian people, I do humbly request a moment of your time to discuss a matter of national security.”

                “That thing’s real,” Max comments, “When did you become the Arkhe?”

                “Oh Max, when did you become so detached from our lives?” asks Alicia sarcastically, “We became Arkhes so five minutes ago.”

                “We? I thought there’s only suppo-“ begins Max.

                “Hush!” orders Alicia, “There’s no time for questions.  Story time, Now.”

                Max turns to his military co-workers, “I’ll be right back,” he announces and steps out into the hallway with Alicia and I.  “Alright, I don’t know what this is about, but you have to make it quick.  The Decorian army is marching up and down our border making a whole lot of noise about this Tamara chick.  I thought you two would be out with the LPD and have her tracked down by now.”

                “Ha-ha, funny story,” begins Alicia.

                “Ha-ha, no story,” I bark, “Except Max’s story.  Now Max, I take it you can deduce that Makaroy Taylor is no longer the Prevailian Arkhe, and that’s because he’s gone rogue.  He’s the one responsible for the facility that burned down yesterday.  Not Tamara.  She was just a scapegoat set up by Christian Rexrode so that war doesn’t happen.  The situation wouldn’t get any better if we handed her over.”

                “Any better?” asks Max, “It would stop General fancy-pants Vinogradoff from breathing down our necks.”

                “The point is,” I continue, “Makaroy Taylor is out there, and he’s not done with his agenda.  If he pulls any more stupid acts we will be at war.  So if you don’t calm down, then you’re going to have to do your freaking job.”

                “I’m sorry,” Max apologizes, “But I don’t see where I fit into all this.”

                “Well when we ran into Makaroy and his little thug earlier, they had one of these things,” I explain holding the pendant up that houses my tiny orb, “It was quite spectacular.  Started glowing red and blasted a s**t ton of fire in my face.  But the point is, we have a bunch of these that came in a package yesterday from a father we didn’t know about, and we just want to know what you know.”

                “So that’s what this is about,” says Max, “I’ve been trying to put this off since that package came in.”

                “You’ve made that much clear,” interjects Alicia.

                “But in the time since then, you seem to have managed to find a decent reason to hear it,” begins Max, “Alright.  The story about how I came to raise you two goofs.  Twenty-five years ago, your mother showed up at my doorstep holding the two of you in her arms.  Told me it was over between her and your dad.  Said she never could forgive him for what he’d done, and never wanted to see him again.”

                “What did he do?” Alicia asks, leaning forward as if that somehow helps her hear better. 

                “I never found out,” Max answers, “But I have my suspicions.”

                “And those are?” I ask.                 

                “Well, the two of you weren’t born naturally,” he begins, “There was a complication.  Your mother couldn’t carry a pregnancy.  Back then though one of the projects Polemos was conducting involved a way to birth new babies outside a womb.  It was supposedly a precaution in case our species ever became endangered.  After a whole lot of convincing on your father’s part, your mother agreed to participate.  You are each one part your mother, one part your father, just grown in a tube.  And that all sounds fine and dandy, but I can’t help but wonder if something she found out about the program made her lose faith in your father.  She only cited papers in your father’s desk.  Not what they were about, just that she decided they couldn’t be together any longer.  But I always had a feeling it had something to do with that.”

                “What makes you say that?” Alicia asks.

                “You kids are just so damn smart,” Max answers, “Three times teachers met with me telling me that you two were better off moving up a grade.  You both finished a four year college degree in two.  On top of that, you manage to become the best damn detectives Lucerana has ever seen.  Now you’re Arkhes?  You’re both half my age and yet you have so much further to go.  You don’t just have intelligence you have the ability to succeed.  It’s like you were meant to be perfect.”

                “You think we were genetically altered or something?” I ask.

                “I’m saying it’s possible,” replies Max, “But I never had the chance to know for sure.  The next day after your mother brought you two to me, she went to the store to pick up some groceries.  She left the two of you home with me, and thankfully she did, because some whack job showed up at the store that day.  Killed eight people before taking his own life.  Your mother was one of the casualties.”  I’ve heard the story about my mother’s death before.  It doesn’t faze me as I think it should.  The issue is I never knew my mother.  That doesn’t mean I don’t wish she were still around.

                “Why haven’t you bothered telling us any of this until today?” I ask.  This, all Max’s opinions and thoughts, they had to wait till now to surface?

                “I didn’t want the two of you to feel entitled to anything,” says Max, “I felt that if you two had even the slightest idea that an all-powerful and mysterious father might have created you to be perfect, you’d walk around expecting the world to bend to your whims.  I wanted to keep you two humble.  And now it looks like the world is calling on you.  I’d say if the two of you were created to rise above the pack, then now is the time to do it.”

                “We will,” says Alicia, “But none of that helps us with the issue at hand.  Do you know anything else about Polemos?”  That’s why I have Alicia around.  I was to enthralled in Max’s story to realize, knowing all that doesn’t help us any bit. 

                “I know is I can’t trust them,” says Max, “All they’re concerned with is selling us more weaponry.  Hell this Rabideau guy that’s in here, he’s a Polemos rep.  He keeps trying to sell us a bunch of these CAT gauntlet things.  Doesn’t help that we’re hairs away from war.”

                “They would use cats as armor?” Alicia asks, “That’s so inhumane.”

                “No, CAT stands for cognitively activated technology,” I explain, “It’s probably some sort of arm mounted weapons system controlled by the users thoughts, am I right?”

                “Yeah, you are,” answers Max, “But that’s classified information.  How do you know about that?”

                “Um… someone involved in the fire at the lab told me about it yesterday,” I reply, trying not to incriminate myself to Max with the fact that I know Tamara’s ware bouts. 

                “But that was a Decorian facility,” Alicia points out.  I can see in her eye that she knows I mean Tamara told me.  “How would a Decorian facility be doing with Prevailian top secret security knowledge?”

                Everything just clicked in my head.  “The pieces just lined up,” I state in disbelief, “That Dr. Devivo guy, the guy who was in charge of that facility, he was a founding member of Polemos.  But not Polemos here, Polemos in the PRD.  They’re also a branch of the Decorian Bureaucracy.  Could just be a coincidence, but they both deal in experimental weapons technology.  On top of that, the Devivo guy says he knew my father.  Why do all the pieces line up?  The Devivo guy is not with Polemos anymore and he’s also the one responsible for leaking this CAT system stuff out of Polemos.  Coincidently, it’s him and his research data that seems to be Makaroy’s targets.  I think Polemos hired Makaroy and this thug to burn down that facility and kill Devivo, cover their information breach, and do it in the most spectacular way possible, cause war.  If Polemos is on both sides of the fight then that equates to pure profit.  They’re taking out a liability and scoring a profit both in the same action.”

                A brief moment of silence from both Max and Alicia after my deduction.  “We have to share notes more often,” says Alicia.

                “But if that’s all true,” Max asks, “Why did your father send us those orbs?”

                That’s something I hadn’t thought of.  “I think he may have known this was going to happen,” I begin, “And couldn’t do anything about it to save face.  Maybe he wanted us to stop it from happening.  I don’t know, but I think we have to go straight to Polemos to figure this out.”

                “Well lucky for you two, their Lucerana headquarters are across the street,” Max mentions, “I always hate that skyscraper looming across the street.”  We happen to be at the Francis M. Foster Memorial headquarters.  It’s the military center for all of Prevailia, located on the outer edge of Lucerana right on the water.

                That might be good to mention too.  Lucerana is on an island located in the Emerald Sea.  It overlooks the delta of the Klamath River.  We would currently be on the North-East side of the island.  The city aspects of the island tend to be on the eastern half of the island overlooking the sea.  The western half of the island is more residential and industrial, dealing with a good shipping industry.  The island of Lucerana isn’t that far off shore.  We’re the furthest point from the mainland.  It’s at the most a mile between neighboring shorelines, but never less than half a mile. 

                The building Max is referring to is the Polemos-Lucerana headquarters.  A thirty story tall skyscraper built right on the edge of the sea.  It’s not built on sand, but it is on the edge of a hundred foot cliff bordering the water.  I always thought it was stupid, considering erosion looked ready to sweep in and topple the tower at any time.  But I’m no engineer, nor am I geologist, so I’m not going to pretend to know the best place to put a skyscraper of that caliber. 

                “We better get going,” says Alicia.

                “Before you go,” Max adds, stopping us, “I want you to know, I’m going out of the city.”

                “Why, what for?” I ask.

                “We’re sending a battalion to the border,” he answers, “I know we don’t want war here, but we can’t get caught with our pants down if it does happen.  Especially with Yaroslav leading the charge.  It’s just a precaution, but I’m going to be in charge of them.  Most of the troops are remaining here in Lucerana for now.  An island is defensible.  If war is to happen, they will never take Lucerana.  It would be suicide to even try.  But hopefully you two can stop war from happening.”

                “Then before you get shipped out take this,” I say, pulling the necklace with the pendant containing the orb and handing it to Max, “We don’t know what this one does yet, but mine saved my life already today.  These are handy little tools.”

                “Who did it up and made it all fancy?” Max asks, taking the necklace and examining it.

                “Oh, a friend,” I answer.

                “You two don’t have friends,” Max replies, putting the pendant around his neck.

                “Ouch, did you hear that?” Alicia asks, “Let’s get out of here before he insults us more.”

                “JK,” says Max, the ancient abbreviation stands for just kidding.  It came from a time where phones digressed to instant messaging machines.  Some of the lingo and abbreviations leaked into conversational language.  “If anything, I can’t be more proud of the two of you.  Good luck.”

                “You too,” I assure him.  Then he turns to go back into the war room, and we turn to exit the building. 

                “You hear that?” Alicia asks, “Max thinks we’re perfect.”

                “Don’t let it go to your head,” I tell her, “It’s just an assumption, but I’m sure our own hard work has just as much to do with where we are.”  I open the doors into the mid-day daylight.  It’s still pretty early as far as the day is concerned.

                “I know,” says Alicia, “But I think it has more to do with the fact that we had each other.  As you said earlier, you are nothing without me.  Well I feel the same way about you.”

                “Thank you,” I reply.  We cross the street over to the Polemos building.

                “Here’s a question,” begins Alicia, “If you were growing babies in a tube, why would you do two at once?”

                “That’s a good question,” I begin, “Maybe our parents wanted two kids.  I’d assume our method of conception offered a wider range of options and choices than the typical ‘spray and pray’ method.”

                “Really?” asks Alicia, “Spray and pray?”

                We open the doors to the towering Polemos headquarters.  I choose to ignore Alicia’s open ended criticism for the moment.  The ground floor lobby is almost completely bare.  White tile floor wall to wall.  No chairs, waiting area, nothing.  There is a reception desk in front of us about twenty feet away.  Behind the desk on the back wall is an elevator.  This is minimalist. 

                We walk up to the desk.  “Can I help you?” asks the receptionist. 

                “Yes,” begins Alicia, “You wouldn’t happen to have a Makaroy Taylor here would you?”  Her approach is direct. 

                “No I don’t believe we do,” says the receptionist, “But if you are looking for him, you might want to try around the State building.  That’s where the Prevailian Arkhe hangs out.  You might even be lucky enough to get an autograph.”  I’ll let Alicia do the talking.  This is the kind of conversation that annoys me.

                “No you don’t understand,” begins Alicia, “We’re the new Arkhes.  We’re tracking down Makaroy Taylor and believe he’s here.  Can you help us?”

                “You don’t look like Arkhes,” says the Receptionist, “And isn’t there only supposed to be one?”

                Alicia flips out her badge, “Here, is this enough for you?” she asks, “Now, is Makaroy here or not.”

                “I’ve never seen Makaroy Taylor here.  Sorry ma’am.”

                “Well maybe you can get us in contact with our dad,” suggests Alicia, “Jerry D. Bloodworth is his name.”

                “I’ve never heard the name before,” replies the receptionist, “Does he work here?”

                “Work here? He’s the freaking CEO!” blasts back Alicia, “How do you not know the name?”

                “Calm down ma’am,” says the receptionist, “You must understand that here at Polemos Corporation, we go by code names.  Those are the only names in the system.  My code name is Teacup.”

                “Alright then Teacup,” says Alicia, “Shouldn’t you be able to look up who the CEO is and what their code name is because that’s our dad.”

                “I’m sorry,” says Teacup, “But there is no one in the system under that position.”

                “You didn’t even look!” shouts Alicia getting aggravated.

                “I assure you that I don’t have to,” says Teacup.

                “Well then you’ll at least let us look around right?” asks Alicia.

                “You’ll need the proper clearance to do that,” answers Teacup.

                “Proper clearance?” Alicia blasts, “We’re the freaking Arkhes of Prevailia!  How much higher clearance can we get?”

                I drown out the argument for a second.  The elevator ringing to signal someone reaching the ground floor shifts my attention.  The doors open and reveal none other than the thug that was with Makaroy earlier this morning, still sporting the same hoodie, hood up.  No freaking way.  He spots us with an expression of ‘oh s**t!’ and reaches down to press a button, but not before I vault over the counter and sprint towards the elevator.  The doors begin to close, but not before I slip through.  They manage to close behind me.  I should have stuck a foot so Alicia could-

                Whoa!  Dodging a fist.  Fight or flight syndrome right?  He can’t run so now he fights.  I can do this.  He throws another punch,  I block it with my forearm and grab his now extended arm.  Using leverage I bend him forward into an arm lock.  He responds by swinging a leg out of nowhere and WHAM!  Right in the face.

                How on Salvation did he manage that?  The hit makes me lose hold of him.  I stagger back holding my face.  Meanwhile, he loads up for another punch.  I recover enough to move my face out of the way.  His punch misses me and collides with the Elevator door behind me.  He flinches from the impact.  I move behind him and slam him into the elevator doors.  I got him pinned. 

                “What Do I call you?” I ask him, both of us panting from the adrenaline rush. 

                “Call me Tiger” he mutters, as I have his face pressed up against the door.

                “Is that your Polemos codename?” I ask.  I don’t get an answer.  The elevator dings and the doors open, causing the two of us to topple out of the elevator.  Startled by the sudden drop, Tiger, I guess that’s what I should call him, pushes me off him.  I fly off and thud against a door labeled project Zeta-Iota.  Wonder what that could be. 

                Tiger runs down the hall.  I get on my feet and pull out my gun.  “Stop or I’ll shoot!” I order, aiming at him. 

                He stops and pivots, the orb on the pendant around his neck is glowing red.  He winds up as if he’s about to throw a baseball, except out of his hand comes a ball of fire, pure fire.  I raise my arms to cover my face, but the flames don’t make it that far.  Something wedges the middle of the ball of fire headed straight to my face.  The flames make somewhat of a dome around me, passing on either side, but not close enough to let me feel any heat.  The fire dissipates.  The orb on my pendant is now glowing green. 

                “Oh, you thought you were the only one with one of these fancy orbs?” I ask stepping forward.  Tiger appears stunned, unable to comprehend me walking straight through the inferno he created.  “Let’s see what else mine can do,” I announce, thrusting my arm into the air and- nothing happens.

                Well I wouldn’t say nothing.  Stupid me forgets there’s a gun in my hand.  I accidentally shot putted my fire arm forward.  It flies forward gracefully, about as gracefully as I look at the moment.  It lands on the floor and fires off a round.  Both Tiger and I jump at the bang.  And then all is still for a moment. 

                I see him eyeing the gun.  It’s the only thing here that looks like it will do anything in this fight except our fists. 

                He jumps for the gun, then I jump for the gun.  We both manage to reach it at the same time.  Convenient.  He manages to get his hands on the handle, I manage to get mine on the barrel.  A struggle ensues over control of the gun.  He manages to fire off a round or two while I’m holding the barrel.  This is wonderful as I have never held the barrel of a gun when it’s fired before.  Quite the different experience.  Recoil feels a lot different.

                The barrel of a gun gets hot when you fire it too.  This fact on top of the above average amount of adrenaline pumping through my veins manages to pry the gun from Tiger’s fingers.  I lose control as well, and the gun flies straight up into the air. 

                I get to my feet and catch the gun as it falls.  He counters by pulling another fireball out of his sleeve and shooting it at the gun this time.  It hits the gun and knocks it far out of my hand. 

                “I was going to use that,” I quip.  This whole fight has been about lost opportunities so far. 

                He doesn’t care.  He readies up another fireball and flings it at my face.  I cover my face again, but the effect is the same.  Unseen force field blocks the flames from harming me.  I rise form the flames untouched.  He tries again, different fireball.  No flinch this time.  I just stare the fire in the face, like a defiant little badass taking fireballs to the face.  He tries three to four more times to no avail.

                “Is that all you got?” I ask.  He perks up and thrusts both his arms forward, releasing an endless stream of fire towards me.  I am encased in a ball of flames.  Fire blocks my vision, I can’t see anything but the inferno that surrounds me. 

                But the fire doesn’t touch me.  The air swirls around as if it’s pushing the flames back.  The air is protecting me.  Perhaps that’s what I have.  My orb controls the air, and it will protect me if I need it.  The question now is how do I-

                A wall of water from behind me sweeps me off my feet.  It pushes through the towering inferno and knocks Tiger down as well.  We seem to be two feet deep in water now.  Where did all this come from.  Then, as soon as it rose, the water level drops as it expands down the hall. 

                “That was cool!” shouts Alicia from behind me.  I turn around to see her, fresh off the elevator, arms extended.  The orb on her pendant is glowing blue, deep blue.  “It looks like I got water,” she states walking over to me. 

                “You know, I was perfectly content with chilling in the middle of that fire,” I say, “I had the situation under control.”  How’d she do that?  It’s a good thing she didn’t see me earlier.  I don’t need her bragging about who can do what.

                “Sure you did,” she answers. 

                Tiger stands up.  He’s out of breath.  What made him so tired?  He tries to rev up another fire ball, but the flame dies with a little puff in his hand.  He’s soaking wet.  Guess he can’t make fire at the moment. 

                Alright let’s see if I can do this.  I got to think.  I control air right.  Little orb, help me out.  Got to concentrate the air in my hand.  Yes, that’s it, I can feel it swirling around.  Now wind it up and here comes the pitch.  The invisible ball of air leaves my hand and collides with Tiger in the face.  It blows the hood off his head as well as his feet off the ground.  He lands flat on his back, but not before I see his hair whip out, a distinct shade of red.  So memorable. 

                “See, I can do tricks too,” I turn and say to Alicia.

                “Still wasn’t as impressive as what I did,” Alicia replies.

                I walk over to Tiger, who lies dazed on the ground.  Yes I have seen that red hair before, the face doesn’t look quite as familiar though.  “Tell me,” I begin, “Tiger is your Polemos code name, but what is your real name?  Does it end with, Patterson?”

                “You know who I am?” he asks, panting.  Did the inferno he created leave him tired?  Do these orbs sap your energy or something?

                “Murphy’s my boss now,” I answer, “But what does that make you to him?”

                “I’m his younger brother, Seamus,” he replies.

                “Seamus Patterson huh,” I begin, “How do you think your brother, the Chairman of Prevailia, will react to you burning down buildings and inciting war?”

                “War?” he asks, “We’re not trying to start a war.”

                “But that’s what we’re close to because of you,” I say, “Lucky for you, the situation is stable, so if we stop you now, there won’t be a war.”

                “Alex?” calls Alicia, a sense concern in her voice.  I turn to find Makaroy Taylor with his signature double barrel shotgun pointed in her back.

                “Put the gun down,” I order.  There’s no fun in my voice right now.  You don’t threaten my sister.

                “War is just an unfortunate consequence of what we’re trying to do here,” states Makaroy ignoring my orders, “What we seek to prevent is much greater than a lousy war.”

                “Makaroy, when did you fall so far?” I ask, “You used to stand for everything this country could be proud of.  Now you’re playing gun monkey to a war for profit organization.”

                “It was never about just Prevailia,” begins Makaroy, “There’s more to it now-“

                I cut him off, “No, it’s about the money now isn’t it?” I question, “How much are they paying you Makaroy?  Does betraying your country pay well?  Don’t you have enough money already?”

                “Just who are you anyway?” asks Makaroy, “What kind of cop decides to lay down his twisted sense of justice at this level?  You’re interfering with things you shouldn’t.”

                “Oh, Makaroy, we’re not cops anymore,” I explain, “We’re your replacements.”  With that, I extend my hand, blasting a wave of air out of my fingertips.  It swings low and rises up underneath Makaroy’s shotgun.  It knocks it up and backwards away from Alicia.  She ducks and the gun goes off, firing a spray of pellets into the ceiling.  I lunge forward meeting Makaroy in the gut with my elbow. He drops his gun and falls backwards. 

                I follow up, with a punch towards Makaroy’s face.  He catches it with the palm of his hand, and pulls me over him.  I fly through the air and land on the ground behind him.  I roll over and get back on my feet. 

                “Look, we’re not finished,” Makaroy begins, facing me, “But we need to accomplish our goal.  We need to kill Devivo.  We know where he is.”

                “What? So Polemos can tie up a loose end?” asks Alicia, Pulling her gun on Makaroy, “So you can start a war?”

                Makaroy spins and grabs the gun out of Alicia’s hand before she can react and then slaps her across the face, knocking her to the floor. 

                 “Nobody hits my sister!” I yell thrusting my arms forward.  A lot of air blasts out of my fingers.  I mean a LOT.  The wave hits Makaroy and sends him flying backwards, hitting the wall at the end of the hall- wait, correction, through the wall at the end of the hall.  That was awesome!

                “Are you okay?” I ask Alicia, running up to her.

                She wipes some blood from her nose, “Yeah, I’m fine,” she answers.

                “Good,” I reply, and run off to follow up on Makaroy.  I step through the hole in the wall caused by Makaroy’s flying body.  On the other side is a dark room.  It’s big though.  It seems to expand a story or two upwards, but there’s not enough light to see. 

                “You’re not the only one who has an ECD” says Makaroy from somewhere in the darkness, “Though I will admit that you demonstrated some superb control over it.”

                “I wouldn’t exactly say control,” I answer, “It’s more like I ask it for help than controlling it.”

                “If that’s what you want to call it, then fine,” replies Makaroy.  A teal light comes from my left.  It’s the light of one of those orbs glowing.  I ready myself to dodge whatever comes my way.  Blue sparks pulsate around what I believe to be his hands.  He raises them up and a bolt of lightning gets shot my way.  I jump and the spark misses me.  It hits the wall behind me and dissipates. 

                The room lights up though, as if the spark powered the room or triggered something.  The darkness evaporates to reveal a vast grid of black lines that create white squares.  It’s like a coliseum in here.  But that room doesn’t last for long.  The room fades and reveals what looks like a war torn battlefield, complete with half demolished structures and rubble. 

                “What’s this?” I ask, as if the room was going to answer me.

                Makaroy doesn’t wait for the room to answer though.  He follows up with another spark.  I dodge and roll out of the way, behind a wall that just appeared out of the ground.  It is solid.  I thought this would be some kind of hologram. 

                Speaking of holograms, this conglomerate of polygons turns the corner.  It looks roughly like a person.  I think this is a simulation, and it’s half finished.  The polygon raises what looks to be its arm and makes a movement as if it were firing a gun.  Something grazes my shoulder.  That thing’s firing bullets!  What kind of a hologram is this?  The shots cut though my shirt but my skin is untouched.  I shoot a blast of air at it.  It flies back, but in its place, three more turn the corner.

                I need to get out of here.  Looking up, I see I could easily take cover on top of this convenient structure.  I can’t jump that high, or can I?  This will have to work.  I aim both my hands down and shoot two streams of air out of them like jets.  I launch upwards just high enough to pull myself onto the roof of the building.  Those polygons can’t get me up here.  I stand up to scan the room.  I see Makaroy.  He grabs a polygon by the arm and rips it off.  The polygon falls to the floor- lifeless?  Is that the word to use?  It’s a bunch of shapes.  It can’t really be alive in the first place, can it?

                Makaroy takes the now severed arm and aims it at another polygon.  The polygon falls over.  I take it he fired the arm…  This is freaking surreal.  If the programming was all done, this would be less… Freaky?  There’s no sound coming from the polygons, so how can I tell they’re firing at me?  This is weird.  Makaroy now takes the arm and uses it like a club to bat another polygon out of his way.  He looks around.  He seems to have lost track of me. 

                I duck down.  He’s got that polygon arm-er, gun.  I don’t know if that thing can do anything else or not, and I’d rather not find out the hard way.  I have to look for a control room of some sort.  Get there and turn off the simulation.  Either that or I figure a way to lure Makaroy out of the room. 

                I think I see it.  An exit on the far wall of the room, or rather, a door with an exit sign above it.  I need to get over there.  The problem is, Makaroy is walking now right below the building I’m on.  I could jump to the next building over, Makaroy would notice me flying overhead, and on top of that, it looks like one hell of a jump.  But if I make it, then it’s a straight dash to the exit.  Here goes nothing.

                I run and jump off the side of the roof blasting air at my feet as I do so.  Makaroy takes note of this.  He looks up.  I can see him predicting my trajectory.  He aims where I’m going to land.  He will shoot that polygon arm cannon- thing at me when I land.  To solve this issue, I need to not land there.  I shoot a blast of air to my left, sending me to the right.  Luckily Makaroy does not anticipate this, and I land on the new roof without getting hit.  I roll to transfer the downward energy from my leap, then slide off the other side of the structure.  I hit the flat surface a run like hell towards that exit.  I don’t like this place. 

                I turn around for a second to see Makaroy aim the whatever-you-want-to-call-it gun at me.  I chuck an air ball at him.  It knocks the polygon right out of his hands.  It disarms him, well- sort of.  He still has that orb, and I know it to shoot lightning.  Still, I’d rather deal with that outside this room.  I’ve had enough of half- finished video games.  I slam the bar on the door, the second I do so, the room reverts back to the white grid.  I don’t care if it turned off.  I’m not sticking around for it to turn on again. 

                I make it outside into the hallway.  This seems to be the edge of the building.  A window overlooks the sea outside.  We’re pretty high up.  I wouldn’t say the top floor, but pretty damn close.  This hallway seems to cover the perimeter of the building.  I can see it corner off at the edges where the hallway turns.  Looks like a nice-

                Wham!  Stupid me being distracted gets hit by the door I just came out of because I take it, Makaroy kicked it open.  I fall forward on my face.  I feel Makaroy grab the back of my neck.  He lifts me and starts running at the corner of the hallway.  I do believe he intends to push me through and out the window.  I don’t know how high up we are, but that wouldn’t be a fall I’d like to make.  I blast some air to my right.  It’s enough to throw Makaroy off balance.  He drops me and staggers further into the corner, hitting the floor to ceiling glass window.  It cracks but manages to stop his momentum.

                My head feels heavy.  Almost like I’m tired.  I think it has to do with the rate I’m using this orb.  It’s like its sapping my energy to use it.  

                Makaroy manages to get to his feet before I do.  I’m about twenty feet away from him.  I’m on my knees, using my arm to try and prop myself up.  I just don’t seem to have the strength to do so.  Makaroy’s hands begin to spark up.  I’m not going to be able to dodge this.  The bolt of lightning comes straight at me, but then changes course drastically and hits the ceiling. 

                “I thought something was up,” begins Makaroy, talking over me.  I think he’s figured out that I’m sapped.  “Usually that electricity just homes in on the closest thing that moves.  I was confused at how you were managing to dodge it.  But now it’s clear.  You’re using that ECD, I believe number four, code named AIR, to alter the chemistry of the air around you.  You’re altering the course of the electricity by concentrating enough particles in front of you to shield you from harm.  To be honest, I’ve never seen anyone manage that.  And here you are, fatigued out of your mind.  I bet you can’t do that again though.”

                “Ha,” I laugh panting, “I didn’t even think about any of that.  The orb’s doing it by itself.  To be honest, I thought I was a goner just now.”

                “We’ll have to see if that-“ begins Makaroy, but a jet of water from the other hallway hits him and slams him into the glass.  No, Alicia, that’s a bad Idea he has electricity.  Water doesn’t mix well with electricity.  Makaroy’s orb begins glowing teal again.  I can see what he’s going to do.  I have to act now or else Alicia’s toast, and I mean, drop the toaster in the bathtub kind of toast.  Oh come on little orb, you got one more air blast in you, I know it. Rising up to one knee I thrust my arm forward releasing a blast of air so powerful it knocks me backwards, lucky for me, there’s room behind me.  Unfortunate though for Makaroy, all that’s behind him is a glass window, one that was already damaged from his charge.  The blast pushes him through the window and out of the building. 

                “Wait, no!” shouts Alicia.  She runs over to the broken window and looks out.  Water drips off the edge, “Why did you do that?” she asks walking over to me sprawled out on the floor, “I had it under control and you go and push him off the twenty-seventh floor?  Alex, you killed him.”

                “He didn’t leave me any choice,” I explain, choosing to stay on the comfortable floor, “It was either him or you.”

                “But I had him pinned,” she argues, “I can handle myself you know.”

                “He had one of the orbs,” I begin, “It let him shoot electricity places.  Now I know we’re not the sciencey types, but I’m sure you understand electricity and water don’t mix.”

                “I guess you have a point,” she says, “Are you going to stay there all day?  I left the Murphy’s criminal of a brother passed out back there.  We need to go make sure he’s still asleep.”

                “It’s these orbs,” I explain, “They sap your energy when you use them excessively.  I guess what I was doing with them could be called excessive.  The floor is just so comfortable right now.”

                She holds an arm out for me.  I grab it and she helps me up.  “Stop complaining, it can’t be that bad,” she says, “Anyway, I think the way you came was shorter.”

                “No we are not going back that way,” I state.

                “Why not,” she asks.

                “Long story,” I reply, “Maybe I’ll tell you when we have time.”