The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) (20 page)

              Gabriel moved to the door, pulling it open slightly. There were large tubes along the walls, lining the entire room. Looking into one Gabriel's face lit up. Inside, floating in the blue liquid of the tube was Madison. Gabriel looked around the tube for a way to open it, trying to find a release button. But there was nothing. Climbing on top of the tube, he continued his search for a way to open it. Hearing a fan whirring from somewhere near the top, Gabriel gave up and pushed his fire engulfed hand into the vent. A loud alarm began emitting from the tube as he ripped apart any wiring or circuitry he could find. A large splash could be heard as the tube opened, splitting in half. Gabriel jumped down, his shoes becoming cold from the fluid that puddled on the floor. 

              Madison was unresponsive as he reached in and pulled out the IV lines connected to her arm. 

"Come on Madison, wake up." He said as he released the harness holding her to the tube. As he lowered her she began to cough, spitting more blue fluid onto the floor. 

              He lowered her to the ground, "There you go, get all that crap out of your lungs." Gabriel began rubbing her back, unsure of how to help. 

              Her eyes flew open and she scrambled to her knees, looking around franticly. "Where the hell am I?"

Gabriel’s arms were up, trying to come her down. "It's ok. You got captured. I'm here to save you guys."

              He could see her eyes look around the room at the numerous tubes. She was just about to speak when the intercom overhead came to life. 

"Hello Gabriel, this is Agent Williams. I'm waiting for you in the supply area. Please be so kind as to come here, or I will be calling in some friends of mine, who will make sure no one leaves this facility."

"Shit" Gabriel said, standing up. "Looks like I have to go meet someone. Here, see if you can't get the rest of these tubes opened. I broke the stuff at the top to let you out." Gabriel pulled her to her feet. He started to walk away before stopping. "Here," he said, pulling the rifle from his back, "this might come in handy." He gave it to her, then turned and walked out the door. 

FORTY SEVEN

              Gabriel wandered around the facility, following signs that led him to the supply section. When he finally reached the door, he stopped, and just stared at it. Madison was hopefully freeing everyone from the tubes, so Gabriel had to delay Williams long enough for them to get out. 

He opened the door and stepped inside. 

              Williams must have been waiting for him. The room had all of its furniture stacked to one side. This left the entire room open, and standing on the far side was Williams. 

"I'm so glad you joined me Gabriel. See you and I have some things to work out. "

              Gabriel walked further into the room, stopping when he was twenty feet from where Williams stood.

"I don’t think there is anything to work out. You killed friends of mine. You chase people like me. All for what? Because you’re afraid?" Gabriel raised the sleeves of his hoodie. 

"It's not because we are afraid of people like you, it’s because people like you think you're above the law. How many people have you killed since you developed your power? You have a lot of blood on your hands and I can’t let you spill anymore."

“You’re not innocent in all this either.” Gabriel said, pointing a finger at Williams. He accentuated his point as his hand can to life, the fire dancing across his hand. “This isn’t right, you can’t just take people and do what you want with them. These people had lives! Who are you to judge them?"

Gabriel blinked, and Williams was gone. 

              In the second it took for Gabriel to process that he was missing, a sharp pain hit him in the back of the knees, dropping down on all fours. Gabriel looked behind him, but nothing was there. Then he was turning, his jaw in incredible pain, and he landed on his left side, his ribs sending immense waves of pain through his body. He let out a scream before curling up into himself. When he opened his eyes, Williams was standing over him. 

"What a pity, I had hoped you would have put up a better fight than that." Williams reached into his jacket, trying to pull something out, but his hand moved to quickly coming out, and the gun he had pulled flew onto the floor. It came to a stop a few feet from them. Gabriel stretched, reaching out a hand, but coming up just short. Williams was there in a flash, bending to pick up the revolver. Thinking quickly Gabriel sent a stream of fire onto the weapon, which stopped Williams. 

              Gabriel lifted himself off the ground. He smiled as Williams just stood there, unsure of what to do. Gabriel snapped a fireball, and threw it where Williams had been standing. He was gone before it even came close to hitting him. 

              Gabriel made it to the gun and picked it up. He could see Williams on the far side of the room. Gabriel squeezed the barrel with his fiery fist, then dropped the worthless weapon onto the ground. Before the thud came from the gun hitting the ground, Gabriel was assaulted again from different points, dropping him to his knees. 

"Now I have to do this by hand. All you've done is extended your own torture."

Gabriel blindly shot fire to his right, then his left. But Williams was already a safe distance away. 

"I don't know how you got Stephen's power, but you're not going to keep it." Gabriel picked himself back up. When he saw that Williams was gone, he spun on his good ankle, throwing fire all around him. He caught the gust of wind off his right side when Williams changed direction to avoid the flames. 

"What’s wrong Agent Williams, the fire too hot for you?" Gabriel continued to spin the fire around him, walking slowly back to the center of the room. 

Williams tried again to get close enough to strike Gabriel, to bring him to the ground, but the fire around him was just too hot. Gabriel was advancing toward Williams, the fire heating the temperature of the entire room. Then Williams had an idea. 

              Gabriel watched as the Agent zipped to the far corner of the room and pulled a red lever. Lights on the walls began to flash, a deafening alarm began to sound, and then water began to fall from the ceiling. Williams had pulled the fire alarm. The water came rushing down, putting out the flames that Gabriel had been making. The only fire that remained was dancing on his hands. 

              Then he was down again, Gabriel was on his back, and Williams was on him, pulling his head up with one hand as he smashed Gabriel's face with the other. The hits were coming so fast Gabriel couldn't tell how many there were. Thankfully Williams was off him, shaking his hand as if he had hit it on something hard. 

"You like that you little piece of shit?" Williams said as he shifted his feet like a boxer. 

              Gabriel's right eye had started to swell, limiting his vision. He snapped a fireball and flung it in Williams’s direction. It missed to the right, and Williams didn't even have to move. But then he was gone again, Gabriel rolled over to his stomach, trying to get himself back up. 

              As he got to his knees a cloud hit him in the face. He could hardly breathe, and was forced to drop back to the ground to find air. When he lifted his head back up, he found the source of the cloud. Williams had a fire extinguisher, and hit him again with a blast to the face. Gabriel rolled to get out of it, which caused extreme pain from his ribs. Then his back was screaming in pain, as Williams brought the extinguisher repeatedly down on his back. Gabriel reached out blindly for anything that could help him. His arm brushed something and he grabbed hold, pulling it to him. 

              There was a loud bang as the extinguisher hit the ground. Williams had fallen back, as it was his leg that Gabriel had grabbed hold of. Gabriel pulled him closer to him, crawling on top of him. He maintained his grip, keeping a hold of a body part so Williams couldn't get away. When he got to Williams chest he sat down on him, and grabbed his shirt collar. 

              Wham. "How do you like this shit now?"

Wham. "Not so fucking cool when you're stuck."

Wham. "How about we turn up the heat." Gabriel’s fist danced with fire as he pulled back, delivering another series of punches. 

"You thought you could beat me?" Wham.

"You’re not special like I am." Wham. "All I wanted was to live a normal life." Wham. "But you took that from me."

              Gabriel let go of Williams’s shirt, and eased himself to a standing position. Williams face was burned and showing signs of swelling. He moved a little, rolling to one side and covering his face. 

"And now, I get to end this. And then I can be happy." Gabriel put out both hands, sending two streams of fire down onto Williams body. 

              But the fire danced around him, as if he was inside a protective bubble. 

"Gabriel, that’s enough."

              Gabriel turned, and there was Caleb, with around twenty other people. Madison was standing next to him. Gabriel could tell from the look on her face that she was the one protecting Williams. 

"No Caleb, it’s enough when he is gone, and then we can be closer to freedom."

              Caleb walked closer to Gabriel, "Don't you see what’s happening? You're becoming the threat that they need. If you go around killing people, they need people like him to hunt us."                Gabriel thought for a second. Caleb was right, this was a never ending cycle. There was no end to it. No, there was an end, and Gabriel was going to see to it. 

"You're wrong Caleb, even if we do nothing, they will hunt us down, because they fear us. I, for one, will not be running and hiding. I plan to take the fight to them, and end this stupid game. I talked with Ma'at, I know people like you. You just want to keep the status quo. Hope that everything works out. Things only work if you work to get them, and right now, I'm doing the work." Gabriel turned back to Williams, his anger fueling his fire, the flames completely covering the invisible bubble protecting Williams. 

              A pain ripped through Gabriel's body, breaking his concentration and stopping the stream of fire. He turned, and there was Caleb, electricity dancing over his fingers.

"I said that’s enough."

              Gabriel squared off with Caleb, his attention drawn away from Williams. "You think you’re in charge? Your nothing but a puppet, doing what Ma'at tells you. I have surpassed you, I am the voice for the Aesir, and it’s time for us to stop hiding. Together we can stop every one of these Agents, but we have to work together Caleb. All of us…" Gabriel pointed his finger at the others who just stood watching, "can be whatever we want, and live a normal life, without fear. But in order to do that, we have to remove people like him!" Gabriel pointed back to where Williams was, but instead, there was no one, just a spot on the floor surrounded by scorch marks. 

              Gabriel whipped back around to face Caleb. "Look what you allowed to happen. You put us all back at risk!" The fire on his hands changed to a bright blue, the heat of the room increased with them. 

              Caleb didn't move, and Gabriel saw why. Madison was holding the rifle he had given her, but it was pointed right at him. "Gabriel," Caleb drew his attention back to him, "You are falling from grace, right now. Take a day or two, let’s work through this. We can go back to the farm and talk about everything. I'm sure you've been through a lot. Let’s talk about it. Come on, let’s go home."

              The fire died from his hands, and for the first time in a while, Gabriel felt cold. He looked up at the water that still fell from the ceiling. He pulled his hood onto his head, and brought his arms across his chest. "I have been through a lot. To get here, to save you guys. And now that I've done all that, you say I'm falling from grace?" He looked over to Madison, who still had the rifle pointed at him, but had raised her head from the sights. "Then I guess I've Fallen." Gabriel began walking toward the group. As he got closer, the group split in half, making a path for him to walk through. 

              A few minutes later, Gabriel was walking out of the warehouse. He was alone again, but at least now he didn't have to try and rescue anyone. 

He had given everything to save them, and they said he was wrong. No, they were wrong. He was the only one who could see the real path. The way to end all this. He just needed time. He needed time to heal. He had been a one man army to get here, and he was all he needed. Maybe, he was the bad guy. 

But he was also very alone.