Chapter 39: Chainsaws
Luke swings one of the chainsaws over his head, crashing down towards Jace. He swipes his left arm towards the chainsaw, countering it and causing Luke to raise it back above his head. While the one chainsaw is above, he forces the other one towards Jace’s stomach. He catches it with his left arm and tries to push it back. With a smile, Luke brings the first chainsaw back down from above. Jace inhales through his teeth and lets go of the other chainsaw before dashing backwards to avoid both of them.
Luke: “You’re so willing to protect yourself. Do you not want to admit that you’re human to me?”
Jace: “I am human, dammit! Humans have instincts! Humans have the desire to survive! Our bodies do everything in their power to keep our heart beating and our brain thinking! Why the hell would I want to give that up so easily?!”
Luke: “Because the android part of you can do the work now.”
Henry: “He did say he had infinite stamina.”
Luke: I heard that!”
Jace: “Henry!”
Henry: “Shit…”
Luke: “So it’s true! I was right! You are an android! There’s no humanity left in you, Jace!”
Jace: “YES THERE IS!”
Luke: “You know what that means?”
Luke revs the chainsaws and laughs to himself.
Luke: “It’s time to die, Jace. You would do the same for me if I became an android, right?”
Jace: “No, I wouldn’t! I’d accept you for who you are at the core, not the shell! I don’t give a damn what you look like or what you become, you are still Luke! My best friend!”
Luke begins to walk towards Jace. It seems his words have done nothing to postpone the inevitable. He swears under his breath and charges his left arm with electricity. This needs to be the final hit, or else things are about to get a lot worse. They charge at each other until Luke raises a chainsaw up and goes for a horizontal slice towards Jace’s head. He leans back to avoid it.
Luke: “Gotcha!”
Without warning, the other chainsaw is thrusted through Jace’s stomach. He gags and immediately spits up blood as the blades carve their way through him. Luke continues to lightly rev the chainsaws, scattering the intervals in which Jace feels the most pain. Finally, Luke removes the chainsaw from Jace’s body, leaving him to fall limp.
Luke: “Heal up. I know this won’t be enough to kill you.”
Henry: “How dare you!”
Henry rushes out towards Luke and manifests an Aura tail. He spins to whip the tail at Luke, but Luke swiftly shreds the tail into two. Henry stands there with a horrified look. He grabs his side where the tail came from and feels the blood from inside of him stick to his glove.
Mythril: “I’ll take as much damage as I have to if it means stopping this meaningless bullshit!”
Mythril is the second to charge towards Luke. He sprouts both of his Aura arms and goes to strike. Luke revs and swings one of the chainsaws towards Mythril’s neck, but he slides under it on his knees. After closing the distance, Mythril strikes the right side of Luke’s body before striking the left. The impact leaves Luke staggered for a second to allow Mythril to stand back up. He winds his arms back and prepares for the same move that knocked out Ben Jr, but Luke is able to recover and swings his chainsaws up from below. Mythril steps back, but his Aura arms don’t as they are also torn to shreds. Mid-step, Mythril falls backwards into the dirt and grabs his shoulders in pain. In addition to the damage he suffered earlier from the battle with Ana, he’s now overwhelmed with a new pain.
Mythril: “That…should’ve been enough time.”
Luke: “What?!”
From behind, Luke can hear the sound of the air crackling. He tries to turn around, but before he truly can, he hears a voice.
Jace: “I’m sorry, Luke. Please live from this.”
His Bolt punch connects with the back of Luke’s neck as he falls motionless to the ground. The chainsaws surrounding his hands dissipate into lime-green dust. The two make their way towards Jace.
Henry: “Did you get him?”
Jace: “I think so. I’ll check his pulse this time, you two take the time to heal your wounds.”
Mythril: “We need to keep moving. I can worry about this pain later.”
Mythril grits his teeth after speaking as the pain, while manageable, still hurts like hell.
Henry: “Yeah, I’m not stopping either. We’ve found everyone we could and did our best to help them. Hopefully we’re 4-for-5.”
Jace crouches down and places two of his fingers on Luke’s neck. After a minute, he exhales through his nose and stands back up.
Jace: “He has a pulse, but it’s weaker than Ana’s. This fight really must’ve taken a lot out of him.”
Henry: “Are we taking him home too?”
Mythril: “Might as well, right?”
Jace: “Yeah, we should. We’ll be arriving at Titan a bit later than I expected, but I’m happy to delay our arrival if it means saving another friend.”
They all work together to get Luke up and around their shoulders as they make their way back to the apartment for hopefully the last time. They rest Luke on the other couch before turning their attention towards Ana. She’s still passed out from the battle a few hours ago.
Henry: “Do you know when she’ll wake up?”
Mythril: “I think it took me half a day?”
Jace: “Sounds right. It was early into the evening when I fought Kien and early in the morning when I grabbed you to bring you back.”
Henry: “So, she ain’t waking up until tonight?”
Jace: “That’s my assumption.”
Henry: “Do we not want the extra hands? Shouldn’t we postpone going to Titan until tomorrow?”
Suddenly, the phone rings behind them. This is the first time it’s ever done so as it freaks out the trio. Jace walks over to it and picks it up. Before answering, he’s greeted by a familiar voice.
Jack: “You roach. I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. I won’t make that same mistake twice. Arrive at Titan by sunset, or else I’ll tell the W.R.S.S. to aim that orbital laser towards your precious Bluestone. Do we have a deal?”
Jace stays silent for a second in both disbelief and anger.
Jace: “I’ll be there to kick your ass before the sun can set.”
Jack: “Hmph. Good luck.”
Jace slams the phone back into its holder and looks towards the other two.
Jace: “That bastard dies tonight.”