On the surface of the meteor, the winds are strong. It has weak gravity, but Maxx, the Guardians, and Zacchaeus, are able to control themselves in space and use the little gravity available to avoid flying from the large rock at breakneck speed. It is rare that Maxx sees Daemon that aren’t connected to Minyak, oozing, oily extensions of his form that corrupts their own. But this meteor is home to a colony of Daemon who are all distinct from Minyak, Maxx is staggered by the countless eyes on him like he is at the center of an arena. Some of them are monstrous, large stout bodies with clawed hands, serpentine bodies with horrendous fangs, boney spikes jutting from elbow, knees, chins. Some have forms that are hard to describe, a ball of tentacles that are perpetually wet and seemingly sentient staring with no eyes, or the jagged thing that is like glass shards but somehow holding together, or the random thing cobbled into something, maybe, it could just be the remains of another’s meal, but it just moved.
“Maxx!” he hears the Queen Rowen yell firmly in his mind, like she has been trying to get his attention for some time. “Maxx, the momentum of this meteor is tremendous. I don’t know if I have time to stop it.” She and the Guardian Flex are flying near the meteor while the Queen uses her telepathy to try to redirect the path of the thing.
“Please keep trying,” Maxx whispers. He and his Guardians are standing back to back in a circle, waiting for the Daemon to make their move. “We will do what we can here, we will give everything to save Bludon, but you may be the planet’s only hope, Rowen. This colony…”
“I see it,” Rowen says softly. “We will do what we can. I will keep trying. We only have to change its course away from Bludon, and when I do, I will be there to help you. More Guardians are on the way as well. We will prevail, Maxx.”
Maxx doesn’t respond.
A large body steps from the crowd in front of Maxx. It is like a bull, but standing on two hooved feet and it is twice Maxx’s size. It has red skin and large teeth that grow out of its mouth, hanging down to its chest. There is a mane of blood red hair that starts between its horns and consumes its neck. It stands before Maxx and crosses its muscly arms at its chest.
“I am aware of the Superguardian,” it says in a masculine voice. “I am Shoun. I heard your conversation with the Queen Rowen. There is no stopping this. She does not struggle against the momentum of this rock, she struggles against our strongest telepath. I wonder who will prevail? And you all, will you survive this encounter to ever see the beaches of Bludon again? The answers to both questions will disappoint, Superguardian. Unlike the Skin, I am not fond of violence and death. We do not have to rip you all to pieces. I am sure that there are compromises to be made, and I am the best to hear you. If you insist on battle, there are many here who will put you all down.”
Shoun lifts both of his hands that are hooves as well, and he seems to present them to Maxx.
“It is on you to choose what happens next.”
“Zacchaeus,” Maxx says quietly to Zacchaeus who stands next to him, “can the Needy handle them all?”
“The Needy can swallow this entire rock and spit it out clean,” Zacchaeus says confidently. “Just say the word Superguardian.”
“The word,” Maxx says and he steps behind Zacchaeus as the blackness begins to cover his body.
“That won’t do,” Shoun says and he lifts a hand, making a signal with his hoof in the air.
There is a loud screech, like a large bird screaming in answer and then a whoosh, then a blur pushes Maxx and the other Guardians to the ground. Maxx notices that Zacchaeus is gone and he has to use the lean to feel the large wings flapping away from the meteor.
“He’s taking him to Minyak,” Shoun explains. “At his speed, they’re probably already there. Now can we talk?”
Maxx looks to the other Guardians. Some are already glowing yellow with the Superconsciousness, their heads ringed in halo. Confident that they are on the same page, Maxx powers up, the Superconsciousness coursing through him and he leans, goes amûk, all in an instant. As he charges Shoun, the other Guardians go to work. Some manipulate the Superconsciousness into forms that batter the crowd of Daemon, some create shields and shoot yellow blasts, a few fly like Maxx into the crowd. It appears to be a one sided war, but a Guardian is meant to be a one man army, and they are effective at clearing away weak opponents quickly. They use surprise to overwhelm the numbers that they face, and soon they clear a larger perimeter between themselves and their enemy.
Before Maxx can hit Shoun, he feels himself hit in the side by what feels like a boulder. It carries him away from Shoun and slams him into the stone of the meteor. There is a body standing over him, strong shoulders and arms, but no head, and then Maxx realizes that the arms are like thick pythons, each with heads on the ends. The Daemon has large feet that it uses to kick and stomp Maxx, but he creates a shield construct with the Superconsciousness, then blasts a large hole through its chest. The body falls limp to the ground and Maxx smashes both of the heads under his feet before turning his attention to another behemoth that attacks him.
They fight for what feels like hours, never letting up. They are all in a rage, in a fit that blurs the world in the colors of their enemies’ viscera. They will fight until someone is dead, it does not matter who. If there is anyone left, they will fight some more.
Saadiq noticed the suspicious vehicle that rammed into the entrance of the Tower Records building from blocks away, and he thought that he had radioed for someone to get eyes on it from the ground, but as he finds out in the frantic meeting after the gala, no one on the ground received his message. By the time Saadiq flew down to check on it himself, he had lost sight of it until it was zooming down the street and on course to crash the entrance. He landed just as it crashed and cursed the other Guardians who had seemingly ignored his call.
“They jammed our communicators,” Coxx explains. “This was very sophisticated, too sophisticated for the Ortue sisters. I was expecting a drive by shooting, a large casualty event. But a hit on Beku? I stopped the gunman, but that wasn’t even the threat. They distracted me and someone in plain clothes stabs her. This was very professionally done, not like the Ortue at all.”
“Have we been underestimating the Sisters?” a Guardian asks. There is a crowd of Guardians in a circle with Coxx in the lobby of the Tower Records building.
“Apparently. They went to great lengths to show that even the Guardians can’t protect their targets from the Ortue. I am just relieved that Beku survived. Her injuries were gruesome.”
“Are we sure that this was Ortue?” Saadiq asks. “How do we know? Are we just assuming because they are as big as the Ur Gang? They’re the only ones who would have the audacity?”
“Who else could pull something like this off?” another Guardian asks.
“The Ministers have substantial resources,” Saadiq says. “They’re the obvious suspects to me.”
“This was a gangland hit,” another Guardian says, “the Ministers don’t get mixed up in stuff like this.”
“I have to agree,” Coxx says, “they are only ever indirect players. Why would they order a hit on Beku?”
“Permission to ask them so I can find out?” Saadiq says to Coxx.
“You can’t stroll up to the Ministers’ hall and ask them if they did this,” another Guardian says. “They already hate us, they wouldn’t even let you through the doors. They’ll attack with weapons if they don’t sic an R model on you first.”
“When have I ever been afraid of weapons or R models?” Saadiq asks and looks to Coxx. “I will contact Minister Quy. She is the unofficial liaison between the Ministers and the rogue Guardians.”
“Take Axx with you,” Coxx says and nods to Axx in the circle. She hasn’t said a word and only nods back at Coxx. “Be careful, we don’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble. I will be with Beku. The hospital where she is being cared for is secure. The team chosen to investigate the Ortue should already be in place working on that. The rest of you return to the dormitory and maintain communication with all teams. I want an assassin’s head before the sunsets tomorrow.”
Saadiq nods and goes to stand next to Axx as the Guardians leave the Tower Records building. Coxx leaves the fastest, he has been working hard to restore the Ur Gang’s confidence in the Guardians ability to protect their organization.
“Do you think I’m crazy?” Saadiq asks.
“It never hurts to be thorough,” Axx says. “We should go find Quy before she leaves the Ministry Islands.”
Saadiq nods as his shell splits down the middle and his opaque wings begin to flap so fast that they are a blur at his back. When he lifts off the ground, he hooks his arms underneath Axx’s shoulders and they fly the distance from the Chain Islands to the Ministry Islands, making very good time. As they approach, they receive communication from Coxx.
“Quy will meet you on the small island at the southernmost tip of the Ministry Islands.”
Saadiq landed on the island that was so small, the two Guardians looked crowded standing on it shoulder to shoulder. When Quy arrived, she was being escorted by a T model with jet boosters in its hands and feet, but when it hovered next to the small island before Saadiq and Axx with Quy on its back, they realized that it was not a Guardian at all.
“I told Coxx about these things,” Quy says as she dismounts and wades in the water. “T Drones, fully mechanical. The Ministry is mass producing them to replace the Guardians as the Bludonian military.”
“How did you take one?” Saadiq asks with concern. “Have you exposed yourself as loyal to Maxx?”
“I am a Minister now, and my fellow Ministers trust that I am loyal to my duties. I will always be a Guardian, though, and the Ministers are being used, whether knowingly or not, by something that is hostile to the Guardians. I understand that you all have close associations with the Ur Gang and they boast Guardian protection to intimidate others, but their association with the Guardians is putting a target on their backs. No one in Ur, no one in Tower Records is safe as long as the Guardians are associated with them.”
“Then it was the Ministers who targeted Beku?” Saadiq asks.
“They were not directly involved, the attempt on Beku was a surprise in the hall. But why are some Ministers sympathetic to the desires of high ranking members of the Ortue Organization, approving canals and other infrastructure projects on their islands and the like? The Ortue have installed plants in the Ministry, and they are most likely ordered the hit on Beku, no? The Ministers are implicated by association.”
“These T models,” Saadiq starts.
“Commissioned to replace the Guardians,” Quy says, “but really to challenge them, ordered by the Ministers with ties to Ortue. These gangs are ruining Bludon. Beku and her Flow Cartel, the Ortue, Vaelar, Swee Chin, On King Ee, Hantu, all of them undermining the authority of the leaders chosen by the people to represent them. We don’t anoint Monarchs and exalt family lines on Bludon, that has never been our way, but these gangs are upending the will of the people. I honestly feel that Beku deserved what happened to her. And the Guardians will get what they deserve if they continue to become entwined with the activities of those organizations. I am only here because I care about Maxx and all of the Guardians, I am not taking sides in the bitter blood feuds of the gangs. Take care of yourselves. Saadiq, tell Maxx that he should order Coxx and the other Guardians back to Fumarole. This is not your fight and you are not working in the best interest of the average blues that Maxx loves so much.”
Quy leaves and Axx says, “She is very right. I understand why Maxx has dedicated so many of us to Beku, in many ways she is his mother. Beku and Tower Records, Two Rivers, Ur, they have all been good to us Guardians. But what are they doing to the blues that we were made to protect?”
Saadiq is thoughtful as they fly back to meet Coxx.
PRL Serials 