Shadow Fall (The Shadow Saga) (54 page)

“And what a valuable tool you have been,” Alexander laughed again. “I needed some way to flush out my enemies, and what better way than to let slip that Elijah Charity is alive and well, a soldier of the evil World System? And now look.” He motioned to the Square, filled with gunfire and flashing white blades, a cesspool of blood and death. Then, as 301 looked beyond it, he saw tanks that blocked off the exits.

“You have brought me the rebellion,” Alexander said. “Silent Thunder will die tonight, and it is all thanks to you, Elijah. You know on that night, you swore never to serve me…but you turned out to be one of the most valuable servants I have ever had. What a great game we played, you and I! When you first walked into my office I thought only to make a sport of killing you, since Sawyer had revealed himself. But you still had so much more to give. It was even worth suffering through seeing Jonathan in you…even worth enduring those eyes—
her
eyes—it was like seeing her staring at me all over again, just like old times.”

“You took her from me,” 301 said, attempting to summon back his anger. “I was only a child and you stole her away because you couldn’t have her for your own! Just as you were about to steal Grace from me! How many other mothers and lovers have you taken? How many fathers and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters? How many friends and family members have you separated with your insatiable hunger for power? You deserve to
die
for all you have done!” Thunder rumbled long and loud at his last cry, and his anger burned so hot he thought it a wonder that Alexander didn’t burst into flame.

But Alexander just gave him a shrewd smile, “What is it you
really
hate, Shadow Soldier? Is it what I have done to the world? What I have taken from you? Or is the truth that you hate what I have put back in? Perhaps you see the same qualities in me that you see in yourself, and hate the monster that
I
have made you.”

301 raised
Pax Aeterna
high above his head, “Then let this be the night that both monsters perish together.” He brought the blade down with crushing force upon the MWR, and for a moment dared to think that it was all over. The oppressor of the world would fall, and his parents’ deaths would be avenged.

But something moved between him and the MWR at the last second and blocked the killing stroke of his Spectral Gladius with the edge of another. No, not something…some
one
. White sparks flew in all directions, and the lost momentum of the blow sent a shock up 301’s arm.

The world seemed suspended in a fixed state as his gaze traveled down his assailant’s blade and up the arm that wielded it, where he met the cold stare of Derek Blaine.

“But now, Elijah,” Alexander said. “I believe you have outlived your usefulness. Consider our game at an end.”

-X-

Grace and Crenshaw fought back to back,
Novus Vita
and
Renovatio
cutting a wide path through the soldiers that had formed up around the blazing execution stand. She ducked and cut down a soldier coming at her with a long dagger, and then turned to look back up to the royal platform the moment they had a reprieve. Eli stood at the top with Derek Blaine and Napoleon Alexander, mere shadows through the flames. She looked at Crenshaw, “This isn’t right. We can’t leave him!”

“I made a promise to your father, Grace,” Crenshaw said.

“Did you make the same promise to Jonathan Charity?” she demanded. “Did you make it to your sister?”

“Yes,” Crenshaw said grimly. “But if it is a choice between losing one of you or both, I choose one. It’s too late now Grace. We have to retreat or there will be nothing left of us.”

“Am I still the commander?” she asked.

Crenshaw shook his head in exasperation, “You are compromised by your feelings—”

“
Am
I still the commander?” she demanded more forcefully.

“Yes,” Crenshaw admitted. “You are still the commander.”

“Then I’m going back. I won’t ask you to come with me.”

“That’s because you don’t have to,” Crenshaw said. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”

-X-

Derek and 301 faced one another down, the light of their blades gleaming serenely by their sides. 301 still felt the sting of being denied his vengeance when a millisecond more would have been enough, but the sight of his partner standing ready to defend Napoleon Alexander made him sick to his stomach. Just how far was Derek willing to go to preserve the World System?

“Get out of my way, Derek,” he challenged.

“You know I can’t do that.”

“You protect a man responsible for the slaughter of millions of innocent people!”

“I won’t betray the System and all I have become, as you have done.”

“But you would betray the rest of the world just to stand by a lie?” 301 asked. “The System is
evil
, Derek! It destroys lives and turns people into machines to be used at Alexander’s bidding! This is the only way to stop the cycle. Once the MWR is dead, the world can be free.”

“Free to descend back into the chaos that preceded the System?” Derek asked. “I will gladly fight against the permission of such a travesty!”

“Even if it is me you must fight?”

“I swore to preserve the System against the threat of any foe,” Derek took a deep breath. “Even if that foe is you.”

“I don’t have time for this, Derek!” 301 moved forward. “Step aside!”

He recoiled as Derek’s fist connected with his mouth and forced him back, temporarily stunned. He put his fingers to his throbbing lower lip, pulling them back to see they were glazed with blood. He looked accusingly at his old partner as rain began to fall around them, slowly increasing in intensity. Thunder roared loudly as the moment stretched and both men contemplated what must happen next.

301 raised
Pax Aeterna
into an offensive position, “I had hoped it wouldn’t be this way.”

Derek frowned with genuine regret, “I’m sorry.”

They moved as one, blades colliding with a high-pitched clash so fierce it could be heard above the thunder. Rain fell in a downpour, soaking through their clothes. Water flew off their bodies with every motion of the battle. Their weapons crashed together again and again in the most intense fight either had ever waged. 301 felt as though he faced a mirror-image of himself. Derek seemed able to anticipate his every move, and why not? They had learned together, sparred together, and trusted one another above all others. Now they were one well-timed blow away from killing one another.

Their movements were an indiscernible blur of white light, their speed and precision enough to shame even the greatest warriors that had preceded them. But in the end, it was a dance of death. One would die, and the other would stand.

-X-

As the duel moved back down the stairs, Napoleon Alexander reemerged from behind his throne. He pulled a silver handgun from his side and slid out the empty magazine. In times past he had been armed with this weapon and a Gladius no matter the occasion, but since the fall of the rebellion he had found it tedious to be armed while surrounded by countless guards. Still, he always kept this gun with him, along with two bullets he had promised long ago to his remaining rivals: Jacob Sawyer and Ellis Crenshaw. But given the occasion, he felt a Charity more than deserving of both.

He carefully placed the bullets in the empty magazine and slid it back into the weapon. Chambering the first round, he stepped down onto the next stair of the platform to watch the duel and wait for the opportune moment.

-X-

The momentum of the fight built up like a storm, but 301 seemed to be gaining the upper hand. His rage-fueled adrenaline gave him superior strength and speed, making it difficult for Derek to keep up. After a few close calls Derek started to pull away, and that’s when it came. In his hesitation Derek had left himself wide open for attack, but there was only a split second for 301 to take it. Before he could even pause to ask himself whether or not he could kill his friend, his rage drove him forward of its own accord.

And by the time 301 recognized the opening as a feint, it was too late to take back his stroke.

Derek spun out of the way just in time and used his own momentum to drive his blade toward 301’s unguarded left side.
Exusia
stabbed straight through his shoulder, and pain ripped through 301’s body with such force that he lost his grip on
Pax Aeterna
, leaving the weapon to fall on the wet concrete of the Central Square. His shoulder burned, crawling with the feel of the diamond armor pulsing against his skin. In mere seconds he became too dizzy to stand and fell to his knees.

Filled with shock and agony, 301 looked up at his partner; it was all over. His identity was exposed, his vengeance unattained, and his life at an end. But what about Grace? Had she gotten away?

Derek gazed down upon him, his expression betraying utter horror at what he had done…evidently he hadn’t gotten the chance to consider just how far he was willing to go, either.

The blade had been driven straight through him, but the wound was not life-threatening. The threat came in what Derek would do next, now that 301 was helpless and completely at his mercy.

-X-

Grace saw from afar as Derek Blaine’s Spectral Gladius stabbed through Eli’s body. She screamed out in fear and despair and tried to run to him. But what she saw next froze her in her tracks. Napoleon Alexander descended the steps of the royal platform, his silver sidearm aimed straight at Eli’s back.

There was nothing she could do but watch.

-X-

301 heard the shots ring out: first one, and then a second. The first sent a sharp pain up his back and through the rest of his body, but the second produced an entirely different sensation. It wasn’t so much pain as his body communicating a clear message of mortal danger—and this was far more terrifying than anything he had ever experienced. As blood began to seep from his wounds he felt a strange combination of warmth and cold, as well as a sense of being emptied of life. He had been in too many battles and seen it too many times to deny what was happening to him: he was dying.

Derek withdrew his blade from 301’s shoulder and tossed it aside, catching 301 in his arms before he fell backward onto the concrete. 301 grew weaker by the second, and cast his gaze upward at the starless sky in a moment of thoughtless confusion.
No light
, he thought sadly.
Only darkness everywhere
. Then he found his partner’s face and saw tears forming in Derek’s eyes, visible despite the raindrops that streamed like rivers down his face.

“I’m sorry, 301,” Derek said, struggling against his emotions. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from the deceptions of the Elect. I…I tried my best.”

He shook his head weakly, “No one deceived me…but Alexander. Watch him, Derek. Watch him, and you’ll see for yourself.” His eyes fluttered shut, and in that moment it was as though all the anger and hatred he had been carrying transferred into his partner. With tears of rage, Derek Blaine poured that emotion into the very last promise he would give his friend.

“I will avenge you.”

301’s body went limp.

-X-

Grace stood rooted in place, her mouth open in astonishment. Eli’s hand fell from Derek Blaine’s shoulder, and his head rolled to the side like a dead man’s. She saw the look of finality on Blaine’s face and knew: Elijah Charity was dead. She let out a loud wail of grief, a mixture of denial and his name, and started to close the distance between them. She would be taken back into custody and killed, she knew it, but she didn’t care. The man she loved was dead. Hope was dead.

Derek Blaine must have heard her scream, for he looked up from over his partner’s body and stared at her with contempt. He let Eli come to rest on the wet concrete, and then reached over for his Spectral Gladius and stood.

Crenshaw took hold of Grace’s arm, stopping her progress. She turned to face him and saw the same hurt and confusion she felt within, but that still could not comfort her or make her see reason. She had to get to him! Maybe if she could be by his side he might not really be dead. If anyone could call him back, it was her.

She struggled against Crenshaw, but he did not let her go, “No, Grace. There’s nothing more we can do. He’s gone!”

“No!” she wailed again, trying to twist from his grip like a madwoman. “He can’t be gone! He can’t be!” But Crenshaw was too strong for her, and he pulled her body into a firm grip so she could go no further.

Davian caught sight of them from several yards away and yelled, “General! We must retreat!”

The general nodded and dragged Grace away from the place where Eli lay unmoving, fighting off soldiers one-handed and holding onto her with the other. In the chaos many of the Great Army soldiers had abandoned their blockade to participate in the battle, so they met little resistance as they passed the parked tanks and withdrew from the Square.

But Grace could not feel relief. She felt nothing but the icy hands of loss clutched cruelly around her heart.

-X-

Derek sat down on the bottom step of the royal platform, clothes still soaked from the pouring rain. As he stared off into the distance, Napoleon Alexander walked down from the platform and placed a hand on Derek’s shoulder, “I am greatly indebted to you, Specter Blaine. If not for your actions, the Shadow Soldier may have won a great victory tonight.”

Derek shook his head, “It wasn’t him, sir. The Elect poisoned his mind and stole away his reason.
They
are the ones to blame for his death.”

Alexander smiled, though Derek did not see. His voice conveyed a false compassion, “The Elect have taken much from you.”

“Every last one of them deserves to die,” Derek said. “
Every
last one.”

“And they will,” Alexander reached down and offered Derek his hand. “I can give you the power to make that dream a reality.” Derek took the MWR’s hand without question. “Soon all the world will fear you.”

Alexander moved to ascend the platform, and as the MWR released him, Derek felt something fall from Alexander’s hand into his own. He looked down.