Chapter 24: Rahab.

  The minute I heard Amy’s challenge, I was gobsmacked. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely intended to kill that old catfish bastard, and put an end to all that suffering once and for all, but A), we were fighting on his home turf, and B), we had no backup. Still, despite The Major’s earlier warnings, Amy had a point. If we fled, Port Moonstone had no defenders. Killing Rahab wasn’t just a goal now: it was our only option. Still, overconfidence will kill you if you’re not careful.

  I’d turned a lot of lights et al off, doing my best to run silently and conserve power. Sure, Silverback was never going to be a stealth operator, but I recalled what The Major said about the psychological effect. Rahab could mess with minds, but maybe the roar of engines could drown him out. As Rahab drew himself to his full height, the skies drew darker around us all. The lights coming from the buildings on the beach didn’t seem as bright anymore. But I couldn’t let myself be distracted by the light show.

  I grit my teeth and started turning things on again, embracing Silverback’s power. Rahab turned his face to me, just as Amy struck him with a bolt from her umbrella. I followed up with some chain-gun fire. Things seemed to be going well, and I’d made Rahab bleed, but he was far too still. Then he looked at us. We held our fire. That’s when Rahab stopped bleeding. The gunshot wounds were mending themselves in front of our eyes. I couldn’t believe it. Sure, the scar tissue was there, but to actually see him healing himself was horrifying.

  “Uh, guys? Do we have a plan?”, came Emma’s voice, shaking through the comms. Rahab smiled, revealing a big, toothy grin, almost like the shark before it bites. He said nothing before stepping forward, ground shaking beneath his feet. His cold wet rasping voice began echoing through my head. “Truly pathetic. Is this all you bring to oppose me? ‘Tis a shame: I recall there being more of you. I remembered you as stronger.”

  He began lumbering closer, flexing the arm I’d broken in our last battle. The movements were fluid, as if I’d never injured him to begin with. Fuck. I bit my tongue, tried not to think. If Rahab could communicate via telepathy, I couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that he could simply read my mind somehow. Amy fired another energy blast, this one aimed at Iron Mask, who was escaping in a dinghy, but the blast missed. I pounded the earth, daring Rahab to look at me instead of the girls. I was stalling, but I needed a better plan.

  The lights of the buildings continued to dim. Shit. In my haste, I’d completely forgotten about the possibility of civilians. As Sebastian cheered Rahab on from the beach, I charged, saving my ammunition, sticking with simply slugging Rahab, ducking and weaving where possible. My punches were landing, but Rahab was just tanking all the hits, every wound healing in front of my eyes. Sea spray was beginning to hit Silverback’s visor, and too late: I realized that Rahab had a plan.

  As I threw another punch, Rahab slipped behind me and caught Silverback in a bear hug, pinning Silverback’s arms to its side as he began dragging me into the water, towards the ocean, forcing me to look at dry land even as I was dragged to the sea. I struggled against him, but he was strong, stronger than anything I’d faced off against back in the old Staaldier days. Images of Jumper Two being dragged into the depths began to fill my brain again. I couldn’t tell if it was me panicking, or something Rahab was doing. Silverback’s legs were comparatively short and stubby, so kicking my way out wasn’t an option either. Suddenly, Rahab stopped, as another energy beam struck him, narrowly missing my head.

  I could see Emma on the beach, sword raised dramatically, crackling with green energy, visible even from where I was. I checked the targeting computer’s visuals. There was a figure under her, and since Iron Mask was puttering past in a speedboat, that only left Giallo.

  I would have loved to see both Rahab and Giallo’s faces as they realized that Giallo was the hostage now. I had maybe half a second to appreciate the irony, before Rahab shoved me to the side, into the ocean and began barrelling down towards the beach. I had maybe just enough space to actually keep the missile launchers and chain guns above water, but it still slowed me down. As we both got closer to Emma and Giallo, a warning started blaring of an incoming rocket from the rear. I just managed to get out of the way, just in time for the RPG to strike Rahab in the back. I figured that Iron Mask must have tried to fire a parting shot at us, but whether meant for me or Rahab, I couldn’t say.

  Rahab’s howls echoed throughout my brain as I tried to close the distance. I radioed for Emma to break off and run before Rahab could close the distance. I cursed the water resistance I was getting as I did my best to close the distance between myself and Rahab. Emma was frozen, whether in fear or defiance, I couldn’t tell. At the last possible moment, she broke off, doing her best to run. I knew I couldn’t close the distance in time, but seeing as I was too close for missile range, I gave Rahab another burst as I finally cleared the water. Finally, as I cleared the waters, I could speed up, just as Emma finally began to run. As Emma broke off, Rahab grabbed Giallo, hiding him in his fist and began running toward Emma. That’s when I realized that Emma was running in towards Port Moonstone, turning her sword back into a skateboard and riding as fast as she could, before she radioed through.

  “We need a new plan! Contact The Major! We need backup, now!”

  I bit my tongue. So much for a stealth operation. Still, we needed a plan, something, anything other than running or dying. That was when Amy radioed through. “I hear you. I have an idea, but you all need to trust me!”

  I radioed through to The Major, letting her know that Rahab had made landfall, before I began my pursuit, praying that he wouldn’t reach downtown as Amy and I pursued him. But Rahab was fast, way faster than I remembered him ever being. When I’d fought him in the simulations, he’d been this slow, lumbering beast, and he had been kind of like that when I fought him when I was a teenager. Had he been concealing this power the whole time, or had he changed, in some way? Had he been training, or God help us, had he somehow evolved? I couldn’t waste time. I probably should have launched a missile, but the need to catch him and protect everyone was overriding my common sense. Emma kept on skating, but Rahab was catching up, slowly. Was he toying with her?

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  Emma’s voice crackled through. “Guys, What’s the plan!? He’s gaining on me!”

  Rahab came screeching to a halt, stopping in front of a skyscraper, some government building if I recall, as I did my best to avoid stomping on cars or people. Rahab’s voice echoed throughout my head. “Now where should I start? It all looks so very tempting.”

  He found his target. A single light on in the skyscraper. He grinned his rictus grin. “This will do nicely.” My eyes widened. I couldn’t allow him to do it, but we were in a populated area. I would have to be judicious. I locked on with my targeting laser, then fired a single missile, aiming for centre of mass. I struck home, and Rahab cried out, but he turned to me. If I’d actually harmed him, I couldn’t see. He turned, grabbed a street light and pulled it out of the ground, before swinging it through the skyscraper, shattering the glass.

  I radioed through to The Major. “Major, this is Silverback! He’s started attacking buildings, and he’s prioritizing civilian targets. Call Canberra-“

  The Major’s reply came cracklong through. “Silverback, I’m trying, but Canberra is slow to respond. Something’s happening with their comms-“

  “What about our neighbours? Call the fucking Kiwis and Indonesia if you have to!”

  A pause. I began locking on with missiles again. Again, far too populated to simply barrage the bastard, but we were running out of options.

  The Major’s response shocked me. “I can’t contact-“

  “Did you try, Major? Or is this some sort of secrecy bullshit that Canberra's using? Keep trying! They can’t all have pulled out! Someone out there has to know about this place!”

  More silence on the other end. Amy had caught up to me, and was floating through the air, looking like she was trying to find a spot to land. Emma was skating, up towards the local police station. I hoped that she, at least, would make it out, even if we never really got on. I swore. And in my head, Rahab spoke again, in a cruel and mocking tone. “The chances are grim, and you’re heading into the dark. And you’re going to find out exactly why your kind fears the dark and the depths.”

  Amy’s voice was a welcome relief. “Don’t listen to that bastard. We have him exactly where he needs to be”.

  “The fuck!?”

  “I found something in his house! Okay, he had another name he might have used: Deagon or Dagon or something-“

  “Yeah, we know about Dagon-“

  “When he was interrogating me, he said that the ocean sustains him! When you shot him in the ocean, he healed himself. Think about it: he’s a giant fish monster, right? If we let him back in the ocean, he’ll just heal himself!”

  I understood, immediately. Sure, it was a long shot, but A). we didn’t know anything about Rahab’s species or how their powers and abilities actually work, and B). we were desperate, and running out of options, so this made about as much sense as anything else we’d tried. “You want to dry him out?”

  “It’s our only option.”

  Rahab’s grin froze as he turned away, placing Giallo somewhere in the building, before turning back to us. “You won’t get the chance.”

  I grit my teeth. Of course the son of a bitch could hear me think. Amy fired off another bolt, striking him, before leaping away to somewhere where she could get a better angle. I tried to work out the next play. The Major came crackling through on the radio, promising that she was still trying to get through to Canberra, but they were still trying to get everything mobilized, and I would need to hold on, try and delay Rahab as much as I could.

  I radioed through to Emma, asking her where she was, but she wasn’t responding. My veins were turning to ice. “Crystal Guardian Emerald, please respond!”

  Rahab charged me again. I would have to save any grieving for when the fight was over. I met him head on, aiming to overwhelm him with bullets, my targeting laser and Silverback’s own natural strength. Still, he kept hitting me with the street light. I was making him bleed now, but even if he was bleeding, Rahab was still even more dangerous than those simulations had ever made him out to be. He was ducking and weaving like a champion boxer, and when he hit back, every impact jolted my mech. Soon, those familiar warning sirens and klaxons started wailing again. Amy was firing off bolts as well, but she was hitting way off the mark. Still, Rahab was persisting. Even as his technique seemed to improve, I was faltering. And all the while, Rahab kept on taunting me. “Look at you: already swallowed whole, but you don’t even know that you’re dead yet. Watch this.”

  I swung, but he hit a clean Dempsey roll, then slipped past me, still clutching that street light. I turned, just in time to see Emma whizzing past me on the skate-sword, before jumping, transforming her board to a sword, and then slicing at Rahab’s Achilles tendon. Rahab roared in pain, hopping and smacking anything he could reach with the streetlight until it was bent out of shape. I followed him, but even injured, he was still fast. He found a fire hydrant, kicked it, spraying his leg with the water and healing himself again. I swore with frustration, but at least we knew that Amy was right. I charged him, tackling him at the hip before he could heal himself any more. I had to be careful. Civilians were fleeing the scene. I began striking at him again, looking for an angle, but again, trying to strike him was like trying to fight a ghost. Emma was on the ground, trying to herd civilians away from the fight. That’s when the bullet struck my visor, breaking the glass. I swore. As if things weren’t bad enough, now I had to deal with a fucking sniper, probably Giallo. I radioed the others to warn them of the danger. Amy was the first to respond. “I see him, Silverback. Let me handle him.”

  After missing another strike, another bullet hit, barely missing my body. Rahab followed up with a flurry of punches. I did my best to block, counter and punish, but he was simply too fast. One of the punches went through, shattering Silverback’s visor and sending Silverback itself sprawling. I could feel the cold winds whipping around my body. My senses were assaulted by the city: the smell of wet fish coming from Rahab, the cold of the night around me, the sounds of screaming civilians, the howling of wind and the wailing of alarms and sirens all over the city. My body was covered in tiny shards of glass. I shook my arms as best I could. Rahab’s knuckles were bleeding, at least. I screamed as I let off another burst of chain gun fire to Rahab’s gut. The chattering of gunfire was deafening, but to hear Rahab screaming in pain was satisfying. I turned Silverback away from the building. All of a sudden, he looked up, with an expression I hoped was fear. I shoved him away from the building, doing my best to distract him as he tried to run towards the building. I grappled him, dragging him to the earth, slamming his face with Silverback’s iron fists, doing my best to prevent him from going over to that building, but with a burst of strength, Rahab soon had me in a death roll, rolling Silverback and slamming him on the dirt, jolting me and spinning me like the world’s most violent roller coaster. I could barely hear what anybody on the radio was saying before Rahab stared me down.

  “No... no... NO!"

  He screamed. It wasn’t a scream of pain, not the physical kind anyway. It was a scream of a different sort: grief maybe, if his species could grieve somehow. I don’t know how he got behind me. All I know is that he started raking Silverback’s back from behind, and hurled the street light at the building. As I tried to struggle though, I could feel the world grow hazy, grow less than real. I tried to fight it as best I could, but Rahab was plunging me into yet another vision.