Luminosity

While Ayres and Jeremiah were having Palaver, Radcliffe was struggling and really starting to worry. The machine he’d dragged halfway across the country, their only hope to retrieve victory from that scoundrel Ayres was not responding at all. It was blinking softly in the gloom, but there was no response at all when he depressed the activation switch. He cursed and turned it over so he could see the small access hatch.
There was a tiny inset screw on the back that would allow access to the inner workings. Taking out his pocket tool set, he made short work of the screw and opened the hatch. What he found there made him curse again. In the device that Godfrey had called the Restore Button, was the tracking device that Ayres had told him about. There was a mess of wires connected to it that led into the power source and off to the deceptive lights lining the handle. Other than the wires and tracking device there was an assortment of small lead weights inside the device.
Radcliffe tried to calm himself. There was no use in panic. It never helps. He shook the weights free of the Restore Button and tried to assess the situation. The weights fell in a scatter across the tiles making soft clacking noises as they landed.  Other than the weights, there were several tubes lined up on a small circuit board. Nothing useful there. He turned his attention back to the tracking device. It was a small grey device that thrummed softly in his hand.he turned it over and found a small access hatch like the one on the Restore Button. He used the screwdriver once more and was faced with a small battery and more circuitry. Nothing useful there, at least not seemingly so.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the phaser he’d thrown. He reached for it and heard Jeremiah’s voice. The boy sounded strained. He’d had no childhood to speak of. He’d never known his father. Radcliffe vowed to make these things up to the young man. That would have to wait until after he’d pulled their skins from the fire.
He pulled the gun towards himself and examined it closely. Another hatch faced him. Hatches upon hatches upon hatches. Radcliffe sighed and was thankful that this was just a sliding door that opened to the battery and internals. The battery matched the one he had just pulled from the tracking unit. Radcliffe thanked his luck and detached it from the weapon. Then he picked up the Restore Button and placed the depleted battery under it. Then he took the battery from the homing device. Hopefully its trip across the world from Monmouth had not been too taxing.
Radcliffe jammed the battery into the energy weapon and waited for it to acknowledge the power it now had. It hummed a happy little boot up tune and went through the safety checks to make sure it was ready for use. Within thirty seconds the weapon was ready and the green power light blinked steadily. Things were now looking up for them both. Radcliffe stole a peek over his cover and saw Jeremiah sitting palaver with Ayres.
Curious, he crawled over to listen to them. He tried to make sure to stay out of Hardigan’s line of vision. Did Jeremiah just call Ayres ‘father’? What had they been talking about while he’d been occupied? Radcliffe couldn’t see Jeremiah’s face, but the young man tensed considerably when Ayres casually mentioned hunting down the boy’s father and killing him.
Radcliffe remembered that there had been a lot of bad blood passed between Ayres and the elder Rickets. All of it had to do with the war, more specifically the things that the Grokols had made them do. People everywhere wished that the Grokols had never discovered this planet. The superior advancement of technology was a consolation prize at best. What good was a time machine if the people who used it were possibly broken? What good was a phaser if you had no hope?
Radcliffe shrugged off this bit of reverie. Where would that line of thinking get him right now? He tried to regain focus. This was not about the war or fathers. It was the fate of the world. The game would never be over while Radcliffe still lived and had the strength to fight evil.
Palaver ended, Ayres looked down at Jeremiah and laughed. He turned toward the mirror. It was time to spring into action. He looked down to make sure the safety was not engaged. It was, so he slid the switch over to live fire and leveled his aim at the henchman. He was ready to make his big move.  All he had to do was fire a warning shot to get their attention. It was then that Radcliffe heard a scream, but it was unlike anything he’d ever heard before. It was primal and guttural, a terrible ululation that echoed through the cavern and left Radcliffe frozen.
Jeremiah felt as if his heart was going to explode. His throat was raw. He did not recognize that he had just screamed. He only saw the man who had pretended to be his father stand up and dust himself off as casually as someone who had just been sitting cross legged possibly could.
His heart was thumping hard against his rib cage. His blood was rushing through his ears. He felt hot. Somehow he was standing. He felt the rage return to him now. It started small in the pit of his belly then spread up into his torso and out through his limbs. It felt like he was an overly ripe melon left to rot in the sun and at any moment, he would explode if he did not use this energy inside of him. Somewhere he heard a gasp. It did not matter. Jeremiah moved. He had of course moved before in his young life, but now he felt as if he had become motion.
He willed himself at Ayres, and there he was, faster than he’d ever imagined. Ayres had a split second to register Jeremiah was now standing so close to him that he could smell his breath. It was rife with beef jerky.
Jeremiah’s fist met Ayres’ cheek with power and speed. Pain flared throughout his face. Consciousness flitted out like a rolling brown out. Somehow he was able to stay awake, but he was not counting it in his favor at that moment.
Hardigan saw Jeremiah stand and it frightened him. With the skills he had learned in his soldiering days the gun was in his hand and he’d squeezed the trigger, aiming for the young man’s leg. Within the space of that time, Jeremiah had gone. The bullet struck home into the ground. Hardigan looked around wildly trying to find his target again. All he saw was a red blur almost hovering in front of the boss. Hardigan turned the gun to the blur and worried he might hit the wrong person.
Jeremiah heard a faint popping sound coming from his left. He turned his head and saw that Hardigan had pulled his gun and had aimed it where Jeremiah had been standing a second and a half ago. He’d already released one shot. It travelled in a tight spiral into the empty space. Jeremiah marveled at how slow it seemed to him. He held Ayres still and smacked his face twice. He wanted him to feel every second of this. The bullet crashed into the ground, cracking the stone down there. Jeremiah punched him in the gut.
Ayres heard throaty roars each time the open hand struck his face. It was like a whip smacking him. The next thing he knew there was a force pushing into his stomach and all of the air in his lungs exploded from him at once. He felt his legs go out from under him. Gravity claimed him, and seconds later, as his head struck the ground, he lost consciousness.
Jeremiah turned to Hardigan. He became motion again. In the instant it took to cross the distance between them, Hardigan’s finger tightened on the trigger.  The bullet exploded out of the gun barrel. Jeremiah watched it come towards him and then gently sidestepped it. He was on Hardigan a second later, grabbing the still how barrel and plucking it from the henchman. The flesh of his fingers was so hot that it barely registered the change in temperature. He threw it across the room. It landed with a clatter in  between Hades’ feet.
Before Hardigan had a chance to gulp, Jeremiah was on him. The blow to the stomach had worked so well with Ayres, that he decided to let Hardigan have one. Punching was something new to Jeremiah. Radcliffe had usually handled the fisticuffs unless there was more than he could handle himself. Jeremiah was accustomed to watching from the sidelines. This was more work than he had thought it would be.
 Jeremiah grabbed the henchman by the collar and shook him. Hardigan’s breath was whooshing out. Jeremiah felt disgust at the sight of this man and decided to fling him across the room. He didn’t know if it was possible for him, but he was going to try. He  got the man swinging and, within seconds, Hardigan was flying across the room.
Radcliffe ducked as Hardigan flew past him. The phaser dropped from his fingers and discharged into the doorway. His mouth hung open in shock. His sidekick had just subdued his most dangerous villain.
Hardigan landed with a wet smack against the carved rock doorjamb. When he hit he could feel several bones snap against the stone surface. He was sure that he would die. There was no medical help for miles. His world was now a bleary jarred jumble of lights. He prayed for a miracle and tried to move his foot. It remained motionless. Hardigan wailed and hoped for a quick death.