Radioactive
Chapter Five
~Hanging On~
Row sighed as
he looked at the scene in front of him behind the police line. Some glowy Other
had destroyed a major highway and sent a good chunk of it tumbling down toward
earth. They were on the same section of the highway where the blue Other stood.
Across the gap were more police cars and men in case the Other went that way.
Now he, or she, was simply standing there, eyes closed in some kind of
meditation.
“Where are
they?” Row muttered to himself.
“Hey, Row!
Row Harper!”
Row turned to
see a police man run up to him, “What?”
“Some guy
over there wants to see you,” the man shouted, “Said something about—”
“Hello,
Harper,” Kaiba walked forward, ignoring the other officer’s protests. Kiri and
Jekyll followed close behind him.
Row looked
over his shoulder at the shining Other then back at the group of three coming
at him, “About time you all got here!”
After the
events of The Turn, Row got involved with the Tower unbeknownst to his
superiors or anyone else for that matter. Whenever they needed him, they seemed
to get him to where he needed to be without it being suspicious. Like now, was
it really a coincidence that all the other detectives were on vacation, sick or
had an unfortunate asthma attack forcing him to be called out to this scene?
Kaiba looked
around, “I think we can handle this.”
“Really?” Row
almost laughed, “You can handle this? Just the three of you? I’ve seen your
kind work but really, you have to be rational. That thing took out a mile worth
of concrete if you count the highways below.”
“Well, I
don’t see you helping out,” Jekyll decided to join the conversation, “So I
guess it has to be just the three of us.”
Row looked at
Jekyll, “Oh, I thought I recognized you, Armitage Shanks.”
Jekyll tipped
his hat, “Doctor Eon Jekyll, at your service.”
“Eon? Dr.
Jekyll?!” Row shot a glance at Kaiba, “Have you been harboring a serial
killer?!”
Kaiba smiled,
“Now, now, Mr. Harper, surely there are more than one Dr. Jekyll in the world.”
“Not many,”
Row muttered, “and this one gives me the creeps.”
“Just don’t
get on his bad side,” Kaiba walked passed Row, “Come on! We have work to do.
Have your officer’s step back. Wouldn’t want any of them to know you’re working
with the Tower, would you?”
“Or for any
of them to get hurt,” Kiri followed him.
Row laughed,
“Really though, how do you plan to take that thing down?”
“Same way we
deal with everything else,” Jekyll flexed his wrist. Three surgical scalpels
shot into place between his fingers.
Rows eyes
narrowed, “Don’t think that just because you’re an Other, doesn’t mean I won’t
shoot you.”
A dark smile
creped across Jekyll’s face, “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Jekyll walked
passed Row casually. Row sighed and ordered the other officers to fall back. On
both sides, the officers retreated until they couldn’t see the Other anymore.
Kaiba continued forward.
He could see
the Other clearly now. Her skin was blue and it glowed blue similar to her skin
color. She looked transparent, almost as if she were made of glass or crystal. In
her meditative state, her wings were folded around her. She hovered over the
gap in the highway.
“Subject’s
vital signs are normal,” Kiri reported, “Subject emanating strange powers;
cross referencing power waves with listed powers in personal database. Unable
to find a match. Logging into Tower database: Log-in successful. Start search.
Unable to find a match. Next course of action?”
Jekyll looked
at Kiri, “Well, now that’s fancy. How come you get all the good toys, Kaiba?”
Kaiba ignored
him, “Log suspicious power waves in new file accessible only by you, me and my
Father. Store any other similar waves in this file in the future.”
“Understood,”
Kiri’s vision was full of folders and files. She sorted and filed things where
they were supposed to go, “Task complete.”
Jekyll looked
at the floating Other, “Is anyone else starting to feel a little ignored?”
“How do you
suppose we fix that?” Kaiba crossed his arms.
Jekyll
brought up a hand, scalpels is hand and an almost childlike smile on his face.
Before Kaiba could stop him, Jekyll threw the small daggers at the winged
Other. The Others eyes opened and she opened her wings with an enormous gust of
wind repelling the attack as if it were nothing. Kaiba took a step back at the
sudden impact. He took a glance at Jekyll. The man had the wildest smile on his
face as he braced against the wind, one hand keeping his hat from flying away.
The Other
sang a series of notes before charging at the three Fixers. Kaiba jumped out of
the way with Kiri at his side while Jekyll dove in the other direction. Jekyll
rolled to his feet and attacked again. Kiri pivoted on one foot and switched
herself into combat. She brought out two guns and fired at the Other. Both
attacks somehow had no effect on the Other.
The Other
sored up into the sky and flapped her wings. Kiri pulled Kaiba to one side.
Shards of glass or crystal rained down on their stretch of road. The doctor,
who was more nimble on his feet, dodged the raining tears of death easily.
Kaiba shot a look at Kiri.
“We need to
cut at least one of her wings off,” he stated.
Kiri nodded
and looked up. She ran until she was just underneath the winged Other and
jumped into the air. The Others blue eyes spotted her and she moved out of the
way. Kiri soared above her. She twirled, a long sword appearing in her hand. The
Other looked over her shoulder to get a better look at her but it was too late.
Kiri put all of her strength into the attack. The sword lodged into one of the
crystal like wings. The other screamed in pain and started to plunge back down
to earth.
Kaiba looked
up, “What the—?”
Both Kiri and
the creature fell down through the damaged highway. Because the highways below
were damaged as well, they would continue to fall to the ground.
“Come on,”
Jekyll said as he ran toward the edge.
Kaiba ran and
followed him. He jumped into empty space and fell. Kiri was struck by momentary
confusion. She tried to remove the sword but it was set in its place. An alert
appeared in her field of vision. Long story short; if she didn’t do something
now, she was going to plummet to her death. She looked over her shoulder for a
brief moment. Kaiba and Jekyll were coming after her. Jekyll drew three more scalpels
and threw them down. Kiri caught one in-between her fingers. She determined
that her current mission was to get out of this alive.
Kiri released
her grip on the sword and started to free fall. But the Other turned and
grabbed her leg. The Other screamed her defiance, she was determined to bring
Kiri down with her. Kiri took the scalpel and threw it in the Other’s eye.
Again, the Other screamed in pain but she didn’t let go.
Jekyll threw
down six daggers, losing his hat in the process. All six landed in vulnerable
spots on the Other’s damaged wing causing it to crack and break along the cut
where the blade and partially entered. With the blade free, Kiri grabbed the
hilt and drove it into a fracture that had started to form across the Others
chest from her damaged wing. Kaiba straightened his arm and a long blade
appeared. With a jerk of his wrist, there was a loud crack as the piece of
steel came free. He threw it down into the Others clavicle bone, or where it
would be. In so much pain, the Other let Kiri go.
With limited
time, Kiri threw her right hand over her head. A compartment opened in her arm
and sent out three cables that sored into the air above their heads. On the
ends of the cables were sharp three pronged points that dug into the concrete
above. With the points in place, the cables jerked to a halt stopping Kiri’s
decent. The Other, however, continued the perilous decent and shattered into
pieced upon impact, cutting short an earsplitting scream. Kaiba grabbed onto
her free hand saving himself from a similar fate while Jekyll grabbed one of
the cables and slowed his decent before colliding with Kiri.
He rested one
foot on her shoulder and the other against the taut cable. One gloved hand
gripped onto the wire. He looked down at Kaiba and Kiri.
“That was
fun, now wasn’t it,” he mused.
Kaiba was understandably
in a bad mood, “Oh, yes,” he said sarcastically, “it’s always fun plummeting to
your death. Right up there with using pliers to pull off your fingernails.
Great fun!”
“Oh, is that
you down there Kaiba?” Jekyll looked unamused, “I couldn’t see you down there
from all the way up here.”
Kaiba glared
at Jekyll, “Why I ought to—!”
“Please!”
Kiri stepped in before things got out of hand. When she thought she had their
attention she sighed, “Not here. If you can’t tell, we’re in a bit of a bind.
It would be much appreciated if you would all just shut up while I figure it
out.”
For a moment,
there was glorious silence. Slowly, Jekyll’s hat floated down from some unknown
height. Casually, he grabbed it brushed it against his leg and placed it back
where it belonged; on his head. A few more moments of silence blessed Kiri’s
circuits as she sent a help signal toward home.
Kaiba looked
up, “Have you ever lost that hat?”
“Never,”
Jekyll stated, “Almost eight years now.”
“What would
you do if you ever lost it?” Kaiba asked.
Jekyll looked
down at Kaiba with a seriousness that could suck the air out of the world, “I
won’t ever lose it, Kaiba. What would you do if that coat of yours were to meet
an untimely end?”
Kiri was at
her wits end, “Don’t make me let go. I will do it!”
There was an
edge to her voice that signaled the end of the conversation…and any others that
would have transpired. They waited, and waited, enjoying the uncomfortable
silence; the kind of silence that can be enjoyed while dangling above ground
when your life is in the hands of an annoyed android, that is.
