Chapter 11: Rage Vs Control.

Dave lunged at Mike, his fist brushing his face as Mike pressed the spear upwards and into Dave’s stomach. The impaled human gave a small cough of blood before receiving another blow from the side.

Mike snapped his fingers to summon two spiked knuckle dusters onto his fingers and began to apply precise blows to Dave’s head and side. When Dave attempted to lunge at him again he deftly swerved to the right and struck the base of Dave’s skull with one powerful blow.

Dave groaned as he fell over and pulled the spear from his body, “You are nimble I will give you that.”

“I don’t want to fight you,” Mike snapped his fingers again and a pair of yo-yos appeared in his hands and he began to play with them. “There are forces stronger than you.”

The calm human caught the yo-yos in his hands as he saw Dave pounce forwards. Mike threw the toys forwards and snapped his fingers, the toys turning into large steel anchors that crashed into Dave and damaged the perfect marble floor.

The metal grinded to a halt before a hand burst forth to push one of the anchors aside, Dave sat up and groaned as he looked at his hand that was crushed beneath the heavy anchor. “You know that I regenerate right?”

“I’m counting on that fact,” Mike summoned a crossbow, his left wrist kept the front of the wooden weapon as he crossed his fingers. As he released the arrow at Dave he snapped his fingers and the crossbow flashed with light as was magically reloaded. Mike began to get into the cycle of firing and reloading, making the crossbow deadly due to the limiting factor of reloading being vacant.

Dave sacrificed his free arm to protect his face from the sudden volley of arrows that would have struck his head. An arrow made it past Dave’s arm and lodged itself into his shoulder before his defending arm went limp.

“So do all humans have a magical power now or just the crazy ones?” Dave grunted as he felt his arms begin to push the arrows out of his body. “And how are you so accurate you are severing the nerves and tendons in my arm?”

Mike sighed as he clicked his fingers and replaced the arrows in Dave’s body with one long piece of solid rope that Mike held the end of. Dave didn’t want to give Mike the chance to use his new grip and pushed his feet into the ground, lifting the anchor off the ground long enough for the bones in his hand to slide into their original places.

Dave pushed his strength into his healed arm and launched the anchor at Mike, his roar fell short as Mike yanked the rope and pulled Dave off balance and his fingers clicked again. The anchor shifted into an axe that Mike caught and threw at Dave.

While he stumbled forwards, Dave had no choice but to turn and let the axe hit his back. The pain caused Dave to fall to the floor and he slowly reached over to pry the weapon from his back. “So you can make stuff appear and disappear?”

“I also gain the knowledge to go along with my summons,” Mike made the rope and axe disappear before bringing a silver broadsword into existence. “This means if I summon any weapon I know how to fight in the most efficient manner.”

Dave forced himself to his feet as the wounds over his body healed, “Well that is a shame you had to get these uh… gifts you have.”

“Why is it a shame?” Mike noticed Dave had a smile on his face, and his eyes were locked onto Mike. “You should be more concerned for your child’s life.”

It was as Mike stepped back from Dave that she noticed Nox had been quiet and still for a few minutes now. Sarah looked down to see Nox was staring at his father, an uneasy face hiding his relief that his dad had come to save him.

“What is your father up to?” Sarah whispered angrily to the colt. “Why is he so happy?”

Sasha giggled as she raised her claw and snapped her fingers, the flash of light made the blade in Mike’s hands come to life and begin to float out of his grip. The blade spun in the air before flying at Dave at speed.

Dave dodged the blade but instead of retreating he grabbed the blade and forced his knee through the middle, snapping the weapon in half. It was as the broken pieces of metal bounced off the floor that Sarah noticed Dave’s hungry eyes.

Sasha had similar eyes as the man that lunged at Mike. The same fire burned deep that forced them to fight for what they want or risk being swallowed by the same fire that drove them on. In Sasha’s case she fought for her own selfishness and greed.

But Dave had an anger that Sarah couldn’t figure out. Like his rage was a chained beast waiting to be released at the perfect moment. Even as Mike summoned a pair of swords and danced around Dave, slashing and stabbing his body and leaving him as a mess on the floor.

Nox closed his eyes as his father stood up, Dave’s wounds healing as he turned and smiled at Mike. “You shouldn’t be with these people.”

Mike flinched at Dave’s comment, “Why shouldn’t I be?”

“Because you aren’t a killer,” Dave’s shoulders slumped as he rubbed his neck. “You fight better than anyone I have met but you haven’t tried to actually kill me once during our fight.”

Mike tightened the grip on his swords as he noticed Dave give him a sympathetic look. “I wasn’t asked to kill you but only to delay you.”

Dave looked at Sarah and even Sasha had stood up and turned around to face them, her eyes filled with anger. Sarah looked amongst her allies before deciding to take matters into her own hands and threw Nox to the floor.

“Mike keep him busy! Sasha you can hold onto the brat,” She ordered before leaping off the balcony and flying away. Sasha looked down at Nox and a snarl grew across her face, her lust for power being hindered by some a small being.

“If you weren’t around then I could do whatever I wanted,” Sasha looked at Nox before growling at Mike. “Summon an axe!”

Mike hesitantly spawned a large battle-axe which Sasha then took control of, levitating the axe over to her. Mike pointed one of his swords at Dave as the father grew more concerned for his son’s safety.

“What are you doing Sasha?” Mike called over to the insane girl. “Hank wants us to take the colt.”

Sasha raised her arms up and the axe turned in the air so the blade was pointed down. “I hate you! I hate Hank! I hate Sarah and all of you who keep telling me what to do!”

Mike opened his eyes in fear as he saw the girl totally snap and all her self-control went out of the window. “SASHA STOP!”

In the blink of an eye Dave rushed to Mike, kneeing his chest and snatching the blades from his hands. He spun in the air and threw the blades at Sasha, the long swords meeting their targets.

Mike heard the hammer hit the ground and looked up to see Sasha’s eyes full of horror, the axe a few inches from Nox. Dave moved at a speed that Mike hadn’t seen as Dave grabbed the swords that were imbedded in Sasha’s shoulders and kicked her and ripped the blades away.

Sasha’s pained scream lasted as her claw and paw landed at Dave’s feet and her body splattered over the courtyard below. Dave spun, dropping the swords and picking up the axe as he launched it at Mike.

Mike snapped his fingers and readied a shield to block the axe, but the force of the throw dented the shield and Mike felt his arm break. He rolled across the floor as the shield flew off his broken arm, the axe bouncing aside.

“Nothing is allowed to harm my family,” Dave growled. “If anyone thinks that they have the right to hurt my son then they have the right to nothing but my fury.”

Mike sat up, shivering as Dave began to walk towards him, “Y-you killed Sasha? W-why would you do that?”

“She was going to hurt my son,” Dave looked down at Mike. “I told you that you didn’t belong in their group, you have nothing to kill for and that makes you ineffective.”

The humans stared at each other before Dave heard a pair of footsteps behind him. He turned to see Sarah stood behind a tall man, his stern face made him instantly feel disgust. The man looked at Mike before shaking his head.

“You have failed me again Mike,” Hank growled as he looked down at the broken arm Mike was cradling. “I assumed you had learnt your lesson… it appears I was wrong.”

Hank pointed his arm at Mike and a beam of light raced from Mike’s chest and was absorbed into Hank’s hand. “Now do something worthwhile for once and just die.”

Dave looked at Mike’s horrified face, his mouth opening and closing silently as he slowly fell over and began to clutch his chest. “What did you do?”

“Sarah, grab the brat,” Hank turned away as Sarah flew over to Nox and snatched him up.

“DAD!” Nox screamed as Sarah wrestled him under control and flew away into the city. Hank floated into the air but was stopped as Dave grabbed his ankle.

Hank snapped his fingers at Dave and the human began to scream in pain but continued to pull Hank down to the floor. “You must have some resistance to pain if you can even stand after what I have done for you.”

“Give me back my son,” Dave snarled as his grip weakened. His hand slipped from Hank’s ankle and the human began to float away. Hank turned and flew out of the hall as Odio’s black fog burst through the door and began to fire red lightning bolts at the escaping human.

Dave rolled onto his back as he groaned, “Odio! See what has happened to the other guy Mike.”

Odio floated over to Mike and his fog slipped into his body, “Uh I don’t know how to say this but our little guest has a problem.”

“What is it,” Dave groaned as he sat up. “And can you fix it?”

“Fix it?” Odio glared at Dave. “This guy was responsible for Nox being taken and you wanna help this scum?”

Dave glared at Odio, “He is the only one with information on where they might have taken Nox so I am ordering you to save him.”

“Fine,” Odio said with his voice dripping in hate and disgust. “Well this… Mike guy has only one lung at it isn’t in good shape.”

“That explains the way it looked like he was choking,” Dave sighed as he looked down at his body. “If you can keep him stable and give me a hand I would appreciate it.”

Odio looked over at Dave, “Oh master are you in pain?” He said sarcastically before turning away. “Bugger off, nobody speaks to me that way.”

Dave rolled his eyes, “Fine I’m sorry for yelling at you so at least compromise by sliding one of those swords over.”

A few minutes later…

Celestia burst into the large hall and noticed the damage that had been caused. Blood was scattered about the cracked floor and red stained the walls. Odio’s black fog was circling an unconscious human that Celestia had never seen.

Dave stood with his back to them, a claw and paw was resting on the floor beside him and a pile of barbed wire sat his other side. Celestia walked over but Odio quickly placed a line of fog in her way and shook his eyes at her.

“W-what happened here?” Celestia shivered as Dave clenched his fists. “The guards and Strong Shield reported that they had been attacked by Sasha and her magic… what happened to you.”

“A guy came along… replaced my bone marrow with barbed wire,” Dave growled as he stared at the floor. “But the worst of it is… they took him.”

“Him?” Celestia looked at Odio who looked away. “Don’t tell me they got…”

As the realization that her son had been stolen from right under her nose Celestia had to sit for fear of falling onto the damaged floor, her eyes focused on Dave. The princess growled as she noticed the other human that Odio was covering.

“I want him interrogated for information immediately,” Celestia snarled to cover her sadness. “I want guards to go and search immediately! Close off the city if you have to!”

Dave turned around to face Celestia, his eyes red from tears that had dried before Celestia arrived. Odio could see Dave was heartbroken, the human blaming himself for not being able to protect his son.

“I swear I am going to get our son back,” Dave walked over to Celestia and wrapped his arms around her as he buried his face into her flowing mane. “I promise you that I will make them pay for what they did and I won’t let anything stop me.”