Airith- the Kentilan War Read online

  “Urgh!” Rapha groaned, picking himself back up.

  Airith knew better than to interfere; this was Toddboy’s house and they were surrounded by cyborgs and two female elite guards. Besides, if Toddboy wanted to kill them, they wouldn’t have made it here.

  “Okay. Yeah. My bad. I ran a hot waver last time and it cost you a lot of money. But you know I wouldn’t come back here unless I had a plan to even it out with you.” Rapha retched and spat blood.

  “Spill it.”

  “I want back in, on the races. There’s—”

  Toddboy burst into a short fit of laughter. He swayed from side to side as he clutched himself. “Boy are you nuts? How do you think you’ll get in? Plastic surgery?”

  “I was hoping you could call in that small favor Mox owes you.” Rapha grinned. The blood drained from Toddboy’s face. “Calm down. It would be worth it. You can bet on me.” He saw Toddboy’s face scrunch into a deathly scowl and continued. “Or against me, you know. But I’ll do anything to win. I need Mox to make me a hack for the Skyfire.”

  Mox. The name belonged to a gambling lord, racketeer, haxxor, pimp, and lechering narcissistic sex monger who happened to have a soft side for Rapha. Rapha, on the other hand, was as straight as they came. Just saying the name made Rapha turn blue and green.

  “What’s wrong with it now?” Toddboy leaned in, walking circles around Rapha and marveling at the lustrous black beauty of his skin.

  “It has a brief operational time. Fifteen minutes tops if you don’t go balls out. It was the best the Creator would do, but I’m positive Mox can do better. It’s powerful tech but it’s useless if it can’t last longer.”

  “Why is the Creator okay with this?” Toddboy scratched his chin. “And what makes you think Mox would do it?”

  Rapha chose the question he would answer. “Mox will agree to it. I’ll gamble myself. If I lose, I become his.” He gulped.

  “Ho, boy!” Toddboy chuckled, taken in. “He’s going to jelly up that ass of yours.”

  “You didn’t have to paint a vivid picture.” Airith rolled her eyes.

  A sharp gasp next to her caught her attention, then, and Isabel Rae dropped to the floor. Life drain from Airith’s limbs. She dropped to Isabel Rae’s side immediately.

  “She needs that rejuvenation pod. Now!” Phara glared at the both of them. She and Airith were on either side of Isabel Rae, with the child’s head cupped in Airith’s arms.

  “Isabel Rae!” Airith gasped. Her cry was drawn and wounded, but she resisted the urge to yank off the mask to inspect her condition.

  Toddboy nodded at Luna, and on cue she moved to the far side of the room, where a row of pods lined the walls. She punched in a pass code and one of the glass doors opened. Airith gathered the child in her arms and rushed her into the pod. Phara secured the child in the straps and latched her in place while Airith placed the gas mask over Isabel Rae’s head and then shut her in. They both watched the pod slowly began to fill with vitreous fluid filled with repair nanobots.

  “She’ll be fine,” Phara assured her, but Airith shot her a dirty look.

  “Okay. I’ll take you to Mox and I’ll vouch for you for just one reason.” Toddboy folded his arms and his signature smirk taunted them. “Knowing Mox, there’s no way he’ll let you win. He’s not going to pass up that sweet ass.”

  “I’ll die before that happens,” Rapha scoffed.

  “And I’ll be there to tear the Skyfire right off your corpse. We have a deal!” Toddboy grabbed Rapha in a sturdy handshake.

  *

  The waver hit another dune and the force rocked Rapha hard. He snapped a glare at the driver.

  “Watch it, Airith! It took a shit ton of savings to get Penelope back in shape!”

  She grumbled something under her breath but didn’t even glance at him, and he smiled to himself. Everything about this girl irritated and fascinated him at the same time. From the very first time he had set eyes on her, he had felt something below his belt stir. She was hot, of course, and she turned his knees to water.

  “Stop staring at me,” she seethed as she steered a hard right. The ship lurched and Rapha was shoved up against the window.

  “Damn it, damn it, damn it, Airith!” he growled.

  It was almost midnight in Homecity and the only lights as far as the eyes could see came from the twinkling stars and bright neon lights from the silk route, where millions of vehicles were en route to the Springs. Just miles from this route, sickly orange-yellow beams from the Penelope and the Katalina lit the desert sand as they travelled in the opposite direction. Toward Mox.

  The waver swerved again. Rapha bit back a swear.

  “What? Do you see the way Toddboy is driving the Katalina? You should be proud of me!” she retorted.

  She had a point. Across from them, his Katalina was ploughing through dunes recklessly. Toddboy’s excited shriek made him cringe, but he could only sit here and fume. They were on their way to the outskirts of Sector Three, traveling the thin stretch of desert sandwiched by the desolate lands (lands littered with discarded mechanical debris). Mox’s headquarters were in one of the Creator’s old factories on the outskirts of town—a massive fang that sat atop a boulder.

  “Why does this plan of yours not sit well with me?”

  He heard the worry in her tone. It was subtle, gone before he could turn to see it. Her pink and purple hair haloed her face and her expression was resolute and calm, her fingers flexing expertly on the wheel. The many LED lights from the dashboard cast her in the shades of the rainbow. The light accented the fluorescent print on her bra top. RAD AS MOFONGO stood out in blue colors, bulging at AD and FON, where her breasts arched.

  Rapha grinned to himself.

  “Mox will kill you as soon as he sets eyes on you.”

  “It’ll be all right, babe.” He fostered the widest grin he could afford, ignoring the premonitions playing out in his head. Somewhere in his thoughts, those lecherous eyes stared, with a knowing smile that made his skin crawl. Rapha shook it off. Nope, not his ass. He slid his hand across her thigh and fondled it, loving the feel of her satin, leopard-print leggings and the squeeze of meat between his fingers. He felt the electricity of the sensation. He missed this; being alone with Airith. Luna and Sage rode solo on one of Todd’s wavers, while Phara rode with Toddboy. Poor Phara. Toddboy was talkative—a painful contrast to Phara.

  He returned his attention to his woman.

  “Get your hand off my thigh,” she grumbled lowly, and he almost laughed out loud. She always took a bit long to reject his gestures of affection; she would let him linger a bit, indulging him, then would stiffen like dry concrete.

  He obliged, retrieving his hand and turning his attention back to the task ahead. On the dusty horizon, Mox’s fang pierced the horizon. It was growing in size as they approached. It had once been a tower, block-like and plain, made of metal and concrete. But when Mox took over, he had made some modifications.

  Soon the compound’s high, barbed walls loomed in view, along with the gridlock gate that sealed off the grounds. Airith and Toddboy simultaneously brought the wavers to a jerking halt as the strobe lights atop the walls converged on them, blinding them.

  “Argh, what the fuck!” Rapha yelled, reaching across to shield Airith’s eyes.

  The lights dispersed suddenly, and Rapha had to blink to regain his vision. One of the guards stationed at the gates poked his head out the window of what looked like a small room embedded in the walls. He was bald and fat-lipped, and Rapha wondered if Airith would have looked his way if he was that ugly.

  “What you want?” His bark was gruff.

  “Eh, Lee, it’s me. Tell Mox, I’m here. Let us through!” Toddboy hollered, and the guard’s fat head disappeared back through that small window.

  Next, the grating sound of rusty cogs ground through the air. Rapha winced as the gates came apart, revealing the base of the towering complex that was collectively called the Fang.

  The
fat guard from before was standing in front of them, and Rapha’s eyes bulged. The man was almost nude, in tight suspenders that drew taut lines into his layers of fat, from his shoulders down over his nipples to his waist, where he wore a thong large enough to catapult a rock. His only other attire was a pair of work boots.

  Rapha stared around for a moment. As far as he could see, all the guards were dressed the same!

  “Take a good look, Rapha. That will be you in a bit,” Toddboy scoffed as he zoomed in. Airith followed closely behind him.

  They parked the wavers at designated spots and proceeded to follow the skimpily dressed guard into the Fang. The front door led to a dimly lit hallway that later descended into a dense atmosphere clogged with body odor, Faded and Spade (two drugs being peddled in the desolate lands), sex, and deafening electronic music. Toddboy kept that shit out of his institution.

  The guard pushed his way into the raving crowd and gestured for the visitors to follow. Rapha took in the scene, his scanners sweeping the room in intermittent waves and he searched for things that might be a threat: adrenaline rush, or a heartbeat too normal in a crowd like this. Rapha could feel a weird aura; he could feel invisible eyes watching, paying close attention… but thankfully not leering. If it was Mox, he would know immediately.

  Toddboy took the lead with his female guards. Their eyes searched the scene as well, sifting the crowd like predators as they stayed close to their master. Rapha followed them with Airith and Phara. When they were halfway across the party, the music ceased.

  Rapha instinctively grabbed Airith’s arm and backed into Phara. She was a brick wall, her eyes narrowed to slits as she sensed danger as well. Toddboy and his companions had stopped. Toddboy was looking back with that “Here we go” grimace. Luna and Sage encircled him, backs facing him, shoulders high and weapons drawn. Luna had her canon levelled and aimed and the crowd around her gasped, scrambling away. Sage had a set of retro mechanical Sais drawn, with that subtle expression still plastered on her face.

  “Toddboy, you set me up?” Rapha fumed.

  Toddboy shrugged. “You aren’t worth that sort of trouble.”

  Suddenly a blinding burst of light struck them from above. Rapha flinched, shielding his eyes and tightening his grip on Airith. To the left of his disoriented vision, he could see the sickly glow of Phara’s indigo just as he heard the unmistakable rush of metal boots. It was his cue; he reached within to stir the rage that activated his Skyfire. The electricity rippled through him, but only for a moment. Then something ploughed into him, hitting him square in the chest and knocking his lungs clean of air before the hard slap of the metal floor against his back. He struggled to understand what had just happened.

  It was Toddboy. “Don’t move! Trust me, you don’t want to use Skyfire here. You’ll barely last five minutes against Mox’s horde, not to mention you’ll be alerting every warlord as far as Sector One!” Toddboy yelled into his ear. He was a dense weight over Rapha, pinning every atom in his body down.

  It surprised Rapha. It had to be some sort of tech.

  “My! What’s happening here?” A sing-song voice cried out.

  Rapha cringed, but not as much as Toddboy, who got off him, dusting himself off. Rapha picked himself up as well, becoming aware of at least a hundred muzzles pointed at them from all angles, including one inches from Airith and Phara’s faces. His limbs went weak, especially when he saw that fire in Airith’s eyes and the glint of the light bouncing off her slowly unfolding blade.

  “Airith!” His sudden outburst was the cue she needed, and her sword slid through the air. Rapha dashed for the goon nearest to him but lost his footing as a stunning force jerked him up away from the ground. His eyes rolled in their sockets; his mind unable to orient itself as he became weightless.

  “What the fu—” His voice came out raspy and small as his throat tightened, and he was suddenly unable to breathe. All around him, he saw the others. They were floating as well; human balloons being watched by Mox’s minions. They laughed and cheered, all apparently understanding what was happening except him and the others.

  “Toddbuoy!” A man’s sing-song voice flew through the air. It was Mox’s way of pronouncing his name, although it irritated Toddboy to his limits. “Don’t tell me you’ve taken interest in my little buoy!” Mox sang, spreading his arms on the platform that floated down to them.

  Always so grand and stupid, Rapha thought.

  “Put us down!” he screamed, though he couldn’t hear his own voice. The blood roared in his ears and scattered electric impulses from his own hardware rippled through him. It had to be some sort of magnetic field; it was scrambling him.

  “You don’t call the shots, bae, but don’t worry, this time you can have your way!” Mox clapped excitedly and the invisible line snapped, and his face smashed into the cold metal floor.

  Slowly, he felt cognition return to his body. He sucked in air, swallowing and filling his lungs.

  “Airith,” Rapha coughed, forcing himself back onto his knees and sweeping a wild gaze about him. Airith and Phara still floated a few feet above his head, trapped in the magnetic haze that he had just fallen from. Toddboy and his companions stood to the side, untouched, with that stupid smirk on Toddboy’s face.

  “You sure you didn’t set me up, Toddboy?” Rapha drew a tired laugh.

  Toddboy chuckled. “Trust me, you’d know. Enough now, Mox. We need to talk.”

  Rapha cast a desperate gaze up at a paralyzed and wide-eyed Airith; she looked like a ragdoll that had been run over by a truck. Her hair was a tangled mess and trails of blood trickled from the right side of face. He could see the dark liquid vibrating from the electric frenzy.

  “Argh!” Rapha sounded like a wounded elf, shooting a glare at Mox. “You did this!” He wheezed and coughed as he struggled to stand straight up. Mox had to be the tallest man in the room, with long lithe limbs clad in a tailored leather jacket, worn over black singlet and red satin trousers—or maybe leggings, because they looked too tight, leaving a strained, uncomfortable bulge where his man parts had to be. Rapha tore his gaze away from that.

  “What the fuck is this pretty little duck doing back at my house?” Mox’s beady eyes strobed Rapha’s full length, absorbing every inch. It made Rapha’s skin crawl. “Such art, carved in ripped but delicate lines.” He pictured Rapha with both hands, his fingers fluttered and his eyes narrow. “My crotch is ensnared by your vines.”

  His smile crept across his face in an uncomfortable sight. Everything about the man was uncomfortable, from his melodramatic expressions to the clothes, to the ridiculous hairstyle. His hair was slicked to into a mohawk in the center, which he dyed gold, a contrast to his otherwise black hair. The only cool thing about Mox was the weapon he carried around, disguised as a staff, though everyone knew better. The electromagnetic field was just one of its perks.

  “Unless you’re here to unharden my dill, I will allow your blood to spill, so either you better suck it or let me fuck it!” He grinned, showing his serrated metal teeth. It was a grin that was etched in Rapha’s memories. A shudder rattled him, and his butt cheeks squeezed shut.

  “How did that sound? Did you record that? I want to listen to it later!” Mox clapped at a stout guard next to him—one of his nude soldiers, armed to the teeth with ammo straps and a machine gun.

  “No, this would sound better. You are not allowed here, my friend.” He snapped a finger at Rapha seriously. “Unless it is to give up that rear end.” He winked.

  “Fucking perv,” Rapha hissed. “It’s never going to happen.”

  “Crush? Hush! It’s more of an obsession. Your face comes in handy during a masturbation session!” He chuckled, his other hand demonstrating what he meant as his voice built from a soft lilting tone. “Now, since you’re back here causing a fight, I’ll send eight friends to beat you down right. I would come down there and join the fun, but that’s petty; and just look at my jawline.” His free hand swept under his chin. “I’m too g
oddamn pretty!”

  Rapha saw the men who were coming for him before they arrived. One was closer, and he swung wide, giving Rapha enough room to dodge and place a knee to his crotch. He toppled like a sandbag. Another rushed him, his swing sharp. It caught Rapha in the shoulder and the shock almost paralyzed him, but for only a second. He shielded with his arm and absorbed another powerful blow, the gizmos in his body rattled. He grabbed the asshole with a rage and smashed his metal forehead into his face. The man crashed hard. Another blow struck Rapha in the knee, and his own scream shocked him. He went down hard. Another beat down volleys into his back. Grasping to stop the ambush, Rapha grabbed the closest leg with both arms, summoning all the energy left in his mechanical arms, and flicked his wrists. The crack of bone was a sickening sound that almost drowned out the man’s piercing scream.