Icarus Read online

  Several more volleys of wind launched themselves at him and Dante ran behind their precious building for cover. Correction: the bitches were good.

  Dante pressed himself against the cool stone wall, gasping for breath. Up until now, this place had been a total sausage fest, but now suddenly he was being hunted down by five chicks, and not in a good way. If he had to guess, he thought they probably used women as some kind of special battle unit here, which meant that he shouldn’t take them lightly.

  “They ain’t giving me any time to stop and figure things out though,” Dante mumbled as he ran around the building. The ground where he had been standing exploded with a loud howl of wind as the leader launched her attack. She was in the air, floating like some kind of god. It pissed Dante right off, and he extended his palms out and unleashed a flurry of energy attacks at the girl, which lit the sky up with flashes of light.

  The girl, still floating, waved her arms in different directions and destroyed the whole volley like it was nothing, leaving a cloud of drifting smoke. Dante thought it was a great distraction, and dropped his arm down and began gathering more energy, but the woman rushed out of the cloud and to the side, much to Dante’s amazement. He slumped his shoulders in disappointment and let the potent energy drop to the ground where it exploded and tore at the earth. That shit usually works, he told himself.

  The leader floated just over Dante and was clearly up to something, but he couldn’t worry about her as her posse was about to be on him any second. Since they were tactical, they’d probably try to surround him, coming from either side of the building. With that in mind, Dante gathered energy in both palms while walking forward. When he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye he shot his palms outward, launching a steady stream of energy out of each hand that would be sure to keep the lesser bitches away. As that energy rushed out he looked up, seeing the leader with her hand raised high into the air. Her clothes would have been flapping from the rushing energy her stored attack made had they not been so tight fitting.

  As far as Dante was concerned, there were enemies to his left, right, and above him. With that in mind, there was only one way around, but he’d have to be super quick to move before the attackers filled in. Dante quickly cut the energy streaming from his palms and made a quick blast toward the ground, which sent him high into the air. The leader didn’t attack him as soon as he launched like he thought she would, and they were no more than a few feet from each other in the air, staring at one another. Dante clicked his tongue then blasted energy at her, not to hurt her but to get him the hell away. It did little to deter the girl, and as Dante was approaching the top of the stone structure, she dispersed the smoke from his attack and let out her own, which barreled toward him. Dante summersaulted in midair, and his foot caught the roof of the building, where he quickly sprawled. The wind rushed over his head and into the darkness below.

  As he lay there he heard a light click as the girl’s feet gently touched the roof of the stone building, her arms outstretched like she was some sort of deity basking in her own divinity. He scoffed, then began to rise, taking a knee and getting to his feet. She allowed him to do all this, he didn’t know why and so he stared at her with an eyebrow raised. Her head was titled away and she stared at the stars. It creeped him out, but he had too many fucking enemies to worry about. While she was doing whatever spooky shit that she was doing, he looked around, noting that her allies had stopped advancing. They’d surrounded the building, but stood firm with their arms at their sides. They weren’t planning on attacking, probably because of collateral damage that may happen to this ancient monument.

  The girl finally dropped her head from the sky and focused on Dante, her eyes soft yet mischievous. It sent a shiver down his spine, but there was little he could do about it. The girl made loud, confident strides as she crossed the roof toward him. He took a single step back and considered running, but realized that his position on top of this thing was the only reason he was safe. If he jumped off without any cover, the bitches at the bottom would cut him down. He didn’t like it, but he needed to see what this woman’s next move was going to be before he acted. She continued forward and stopped just in front of him. Her eyes ran down his feet and back to his head in a quick flick.

  “You’re not bad.”

  “Yeah, you too,” he conceded. She was quick, he had to give her that, and he thought he knew why. That movement, there was no doubt she was enhancing her speed with Sol, just like that demon did. It pissed him off that they both figured it out but he couldn’t and he really wanted to knock her out, but he had to be careful. One wrong move and the rest of them would jump in.

  The leader girl looked to the side and stared at something far away, but Dante was too concerned about any shift in her posture that might indicate an attack to figure out what she was looking at. After a few seconds, she turned back to him.

  “You’re outmatched. Please come willingly.”

  He clenched his fists in preparation to do the exact opposite, but he heard a few loud stomps from behind him. He turned his head and his eyes narrowed even further. Frantically hopping across the floating platforms and calling his name was Sara, and she definitely drew the attention of the four-squad members who turned from Dante to her. Taking in the ninjas, Sara looked shocked as she reached the mainland. She took a few hesitant steps forward, then stopped when she realized they were dead set on attacking her. She looked up at Dante, that same damn lost puppy look. He jerked his head away from it, facing the leader.

  “You and me. Keep them out of this.”

  “You aren’t in a position to make demands,” the leader said, then nodded toward her comrades, who had turned their heads to look at her. They braced their footing and locked their hands on Sara. A hostage.

  Dante punched forward and caught the leader straight in the stomach. Her eyes widened as his fist dug into her and then continued forward. The attack sent her flying into the air until she slowed her momentum and began floating. Air rushed up from behind Dante and sent his jacket lashing out, but he wasn’t concerned, clenching his fist and savoring the feeling of the bitch’s gut.

  “Next time you take a hostage, make sure they aren’t more than you can handle!”

  “Dammit Dante! What the hell did you do?” Sara yelled from underneath him. She was pissed off, but he’d allow it, since she gave him the opportunity he needed to fight this woman one on one. He punched out a few bursts of energy at her, and she deftly floated around to dodge them. Perfect flight as far as he could tell. But how much can she dodge? he wondered.

  Dante pulled both of his arms far behind his back and gathered as much energy as he could into each hand as the leader raised her arm high into the sky. A swirl of wind took on the whole battlefield. It was enough to send Dante’s hair flailing around and his jeans knocking against his ankles, but he liked the feeling. The air was almost kinetic, and he was happy to test this woman’s strength.

  He shot his left hand forward and a massive laser of energy tore out of it, rushing toward his floating foe who unleashed an attack to defend herself. The two forces launched into each other with a loud crash, and Dante felt resistance as her energy struggled against his. He put more effort into his output, then felt her push back. It was a big tug of war, and the girl’s energy slowly threatened to overpower his own.

  Just as he planned.

  Dante placed his right hand out and a second beam of energy launched out of it, swirling and matching the first one. The sudden burst of energy would be more than enough to stop her attack, but Dante doubted taking her out would be as simple as that. He emptied his hands of energy and ran to the side where he anticipated the girl would appear. As expected, she flew down toward him, and Dante wasted no time and launched a volley of attacks at her. This girl was insane though, she moved from side to side and avoided the many energy bolts with ease. In no time at all she had landed on the building and rushed toward him, her feet tearing across the top of the building
with a speed that wasn’t quite human. You wanna go hand-to-hand, eh?

  She made two quick punches at Dante and he was able to catch both of them in his palms, although they hit with a certain amount of force that caused even his calloused hands to sting. He was already jumping back when she let her right foot out in a roundhouse kick, and he was inside and clinching up before she could follow up with a spinning attack.

  She was fast, sure, faster than him by a long way, but she wasn’t reaching the superhuman blitzing speed of that demon. And speed didn’t mean she was a better fighter either, at least not in hand-to-hand combat. She was good, Dante would give her that, but he was better and he was able to predict her movements and get in close. She struggled and grunted as she tried to free herself from him, but he held her in a firm death grip. She placed her hand on his face and tried to push him away, and that’s when he let out a roar, tore her head down, and laid a knee right into her stomach.

  He blasted them one after another, and the fight left the girl after about the third one, but Dante wasn’t done. He continued to pile them on, making sure to really dig into her with each attack until she went from standing to hunched over to really hunched over, and when she was on the ground, Dante firmly on top of her and ready to continue the beating, he stopped. She placed her hands over her injured belly and coughed, although no sound came out. Dante stood up and looked down at her, jamming his hands into his pockets. He felt bad for the girl, he knew better than anybody how fucking bad knees hurt, but it wasn’t like he could take it easy on her. He mumbled an apology as he left the shaking girl and walked clear off the top of the building, where Sara awaited behind a curved wall of ice, the minions blasting steadily into it.

  They didn’t notice Dante land on the ground behind them, he doubted they could hear him over the sound of cracking ice and rushing wind, so it was no problem for him to let out four heavy punches, sending out balls of energy that dug into the back of each woman’s head, knocking them unconscious without much trouble. It was a sneak attack and cheap, sure, but so was five on fucking one. He walked forward and past the unmoving bodies of the women, and stepped around the ice wall where Sara waited, her arms folded and her glare as icy as ever.

  “Now wait just a goddam minute,” Dante began, placing his hands up before his chest, but Sara didn’t wait a minute and thrust her arm out. Dante rolled to avoid being skewered.

  “I leave you alone for five minutes and you manage to find some kind of secret society to get into a fight with and get me dragged into it!?” Sara shouted.

  “Yeah, and I just got done taking out their boss so cut me a fucking break!”

  Sara looked on at him, fuming, and Dante knew that she was going keep it up, but he didn’t have time for the comedy routine. His brow was wet with sweat, and his back tingled with danger. Something was coming, something big. As if to confirm this, Dante heard a few soft steps, and when he turned he took in Lennon, whose fists were clenched at his sides. He was looking right through Dante, not the guy he wanted to piss off. Lennon’s feet left the ground and began to slowly hover toward him. He didn’t have much time.

  He knew bedhead would figure out the hierarchy shit, he was such a history nerd that if Dante could he definitely would, so he had to give her hint. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lennon getting closer. “The fruit!” he yelled as Lennon plowed into him. He flew forward, slamming his back into something hard, Lennon gripping his collar tightly. Something fell to his side – that damned fruit. He looked on at Lennon, who was staring him dead in the eye, his expression twisted with rage. He looked to either side where his comrades lay, then back to Dante. He pressed him further into the tree.

  “What have you done?”

  Dante tried to pull the guy’s grip off of him, but as soon as he made contact Lennon slammed him back into the tree, pain shooting up his spine. There was a constant humming: that was Lennon’s wind keeping him in the air. He looked like some deity, and Dante wasn’t sure how he’d get out of this one.

  “Listen, they started this— OOF!”

  “They are specifically ordered to attack only when provoked. I’ve been very understanding, but that ends here.” He wore a rage, but Dante saw something deeper shimmering just below the surface. It was an act, one even Lennon himself believed, no doubt, but Dante still couldn’t help but bring it up.

  “This isn’t going to make them accept you.” Lennon’s mouth dropped at the words, and for a moment Dante wondered if he’d get it and let him go. Nope. His face once again hardened and he drew his lips inward.

  As Dante flipped all the way over, his skull dead set on ramming straight into the ground, the last thought that went through is mind was, denial, got it.

  Chapter 7

  A scene was the only way to describe what was taking place before Jake. As he rushed to the floating island, Elizabeth at his side, he took everything in.

  Spread across the area were the elite guards in long robes, as well as several women in tight fitting combat uniforms. The whole scene reeked of Dante, and as Jake leapt onto the mainland he caught the attention of Floff, who broke from the women whom he was talking to and walked over to Jake. His face was contorted with anger, and Jake knew that if he didn’t say something he was going to get caught up in this nonsense.

  “What did Dante do?” he said, just as the man reached him. Floff’s mouth fell open in surprise, then hardened as he thought. He must have recalled memories that indicated Dante was a troublemaker and Jake tried to stop him, and he relaxed.

  “We’re not sure yet, but he’s been detained.”

  “Thank God,” Elizabeth said. Floff shot her a raised eyebrow, but then quickly jerked his thumb backward.

  “He’s been detained, but I’d prefer not to drag the other lady into it. Apparently she showed up after everything started, and only tried to prevent what she perceived as an attack on her teammate. I’m sympathetic to her position and would like to let her go, but I can’t if she keeps acting the way she is.”

  Jake nodded and followed Floff, where a few of the robed people parted to show Sara, kneeling, her hair splayed out. She glared up at Lennon, who was looking down at her with equal displeasure. There were handcuffs around her wrists. Lennon turned from her to meet Jake, his happy demeanor now completely gone. Jake really wanted to know what Dante had done to make such a happy guy so angry.

  “You have my sincerest apologies for the actions of my comrade,” Jake began, but Lennon looked down and shook his head. Whatever Dante did, it looked like he injured the man’s heart more than anything else. “What specifically did he say or do?”

  “I’m still gathering that myself. What I do know is that he attacked the Sisters—”

  “They attacked him!” Sara shouted.

  “You couldn’t possibly know that. You showed up not much before I did.”

  “He sent me away so he could—”

  “So he could attack them. Listen, I don’t have a problem with any of you individually, you all seem like nice people. Hell, I’m not sure I dislike Dante, even after all this, but the fact of the matter is that there are strict rules here that you all have to abide by, him included. Attacking the Sisters is a sacred taboo and I simply can’t help him.”

  He turned specifically to Sara, addressing this next bit at her. “The Sisters are taught to keep to the shadows and watch. They would not have done anything without being provoked.” Again, he turned to Jake and Elizabeth. “I think we can all agree that it’s quite in character for him to pick a fight. I understand that you are all new here and may be unfamiliar with our customs, but attacking the Sisters is far too grave an offense for me to forgive. He’ll have to accept his punishment. You lot are welcome to stay as long as you want, we will not hold the hostility of your brazen comrade against you.” He knelt down before Sara, who kept her eyes on the ground. “All of you,” he said, then touched each ring of her handcuffs. They clicked and popped, and Sara’s hands were free. She rubbed her wri
sts, and slowly rose to a stand.

  “Dante’s currently in lock up. You can visit him tomorrow, as long as he’s been well behaved. I’d ask that you please leave this place, however, as we are a bit busy.”

  Jake thanked him and walked away, making sure that Sara followed. She was hesitant at first, taking only a few small steps, but soon realized that sticking around there wouldn’t do much good and she hopped between the platforms with Jake and Elizabeth. As they walked back to their hotel, silent and digesting the situation, something about the scene in Jake’s mind was off – very off.

  The entity known as the Sisters drove him insane. He could piece together that they were a special force, intended for spying, but the name bugged him, as did the behavior around them. This society celebrated women so much that they had a special elite squadron composed entirely of them, yet despite them being elite warriors they were like a protected class as well. Dante got away with fighting Floff scot-free, but one attack on them and it’s off to the slammer, coupled with the unbridled rage of Lennon. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense. He’d have to ask Sara for specifics.

  “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “We went to look at those monuments, he said that something about them was bothering him, but before we actually reached them he started acting really rude and sent me away. I think that’s because he noticed those Sisters following us. I did like he wanted and was heading back when I noticed a commotion, I’d imagine the same one you guys did, and came to help. By that time he was already fighting them, and he managed to defeat the whole group once I was a decoy,” she scoffed and crossed her arms, but there was a twinge of a smile on her face. “Almost as soon as they were unconscious, Lennon showed up and arrested him.”