Klee! Klee!
Kestrel dove like a lighting bolt, slamming into Staslek and carrying him out of sight.
Dusk flew deep into the pack of bugs. As his eagle slashed at the insects, Dusk extended his arms out in both directions.
Sharp tendrils of shadow shot out from his hands and fixed in place. He flew straight through the crowd, slicing entire sections of Erebi in half.
Bastion flew past him at a diagonal angle. He extended his fists and then opened them. Vivid red bursts shot from his hands, sailing into the midst of the insects and exploding, sending Erebi and chunks of Erebi flying in all directions.
Kestrel and Staslek flew through the air. Staslek hissed and spat unfamiliar words at Kestrel as he fought to free himself from Kestrel’s grip.
He slashed at Kestrel’s face with elongated fingers as sharp as knives. Kestrel ducked his head to the left and then the right to avoid the stabbing fingers, and slammed his head into Staslek’s face.
The strange creature gasped and spat out a black, curdled substance.
He wrenched a hand free and drove it into Kestrel’s right side, where Skewer’s spike still stuck out.
Kestrel gasped and rapidly lost altitude. They flew low over a hurricane fence and crashed into a large pile of corrugated metal.
He groaned and slowly pulled himself to his feet.
A black shape flew through the air; Kestrel ducked just in time as the blade missed his head by a fraction of an inch.
Kestrel thrust his right-hand palm up at Staslek. A powerful gust of air struck Staslek in the chest, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into a metal railing on the other side of the lot.
He closed the distance in a dead run and leaped at Staslek before he had time to react. Kestrel drove his fist into Staslek’s face, spraying black blood as he hit him again and again.
He drove his knee into Staslek’s stomach, which doubled him over before a vicious uppercut sent him sprawling onto the ground. The black sword fell beside him.
Kestrel raised his leg to smash down on Staslek’s face. Suddenly, his leg refused to move.
Tendrils of dark purple energy wrapped around Kestrel’s leg like a vice, lifting him into the air.
Staslek coughed, spat black blood, and rose to his feet.
He looked up at Kestrel floating just above the ground and trying in vain to free his leg from the grip of the dark energy.
“You’re going to pay for that, insect,” Staslek said. He thrust his arm to one side, sending Kestrel face-first into a thick steel pole.
Kestrel came away from the impact with blood streaming down his face. Staslek threw him through the air like a rag doll, slamming him into girders, buildings, and other structures indiscriminately.
Kestrel’s face was a maze of blood, wounds, and bruises when Staslek finally stopped.
To Staslek’s surprise and fury, Kestrel was laughing.
“Is that the best you can do?” He said in a husky voice. He spat blood at Staslek as he hung in the air. “I didn’t come here for a tickle fight. I thought I was an insect.”
He coughed and spat more blood and grit onto the ground below. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it already. I’m bored.”
“Very amusing child, but I don’t have time for these games.”
Staslek lifted Kestrel higher into the air. As he did so, he grabbed his sword and, using dark energy, he moved it through the air until it was right underneath Kestrel’s chest facing point up.
“You’ve accomplished nothing, You haven’t stopped me, and you haven’t saved anyone,” Staslek said with utter contempt. “Now, die as a failure, you pathetic child.”
Staslek thrust his hand down, sending Kestrel hurtling toward the serrated blade.
VIP
Without warning, a small, glowing object cut through the air, striking Staslek’s right leg and exploding out the other side.
Staslek screeched in agony and fell on his back, releasing his grip on Kestrel. Thick, curdled blood seeped out of the wound onto the ground.
Kestrel lowered himself slowly to the ground at a safe distance from the sword, which fell to the ground again.
He looked all around him, trying to find the source of the attack.
A slight figure with a dark hoodie pulled down over its face disappeared around a corner just behind Kestrel.
Kestrel yanked the remaining spike from Skewer out of his arm and walked slowly toward Staslek’s prone form.
The twisted creature spat blood and filth, cursing and writhing on the ground. He tried in vain to stand on his remaining leg, failed, and fell to the ground again with a sickening crack.
Kestrel stood over Staslek, regarding him impassively.
Staslek looked up at him and growled, “Do you think you’ve won? I am but one voice among countless others.” His voice suddenly deepened and reverberated, echoing off the walls around them and back upon itself, until it sounded like a million voices at once.
“The Scythe are legion; We will not stop until we have sucked this planet dry and cast aside its bones."
“And you,” Staslek’s black eyes looked sightlessly from right to left before fixing on Kestrel’s face again. “We will not forget you, son of Aldric.
“You will never find peace or safety. We will dog your steps, haunt your dreams and when the time has come, we will have our revenge on you and everyone you love."
“Before we finally grant you death,” Staslek leered and coughed. “We will peel the flesh from your father and the bloated sow who gave birth to you. We will make them bleed and beg, suffer and cry right in front of you. They will die badly, and we will feast on-”
While Staslek was still speaking, Kestrel grabbed the black blade and swung it in a fierce arc, severing Staslek’s head from his body.
He stared for a moment at the headless corpse before dropping the sword to the ground with a hollow clang.
“Like hell, you will,” He said, turning his back on the creature.
He rose unsteadily into the air, flying back towards the lake and the battle.
The moment Staslek’s head left his body, the scene at Lake Archer changed dramatically.
In an instant, every Erebus not burned or destroyed disappeared, as if someone drew a curtain to cover their escape.
Dusk and Bastion wheeled about higher and higher in concentric circles, trying to get a better view of what just happened. They could see no bugs anywhere.
Infierno and Cross took a breath and braced for the next wave of Erebi to attack, but the bugs vanished instead, leaving the boys tense and confused.
Meanwhile, Dusk and Bastion landed a few feet away from them without making a sound and stepped down off of their enormous warbirds.
Then something remarkable happened.
Both birds looked down at the boys with huge, intelligent eyes. Then they began to shift and shimmer, progressively fading into two shining blue and red waves of light.
The waves of light rushed at Dusk and Bastion, striking them both in the chest.
Both boys began to glow. The lights shone from their eyes and radiated in blinding auras all around them. The lights slowly started to slowly fade from sight until all that remained were two luminous circles of light that wrapped around each boy’s ring fingers.
The light from each circle finally faded completely, leaving a thick gold ring on each boy’s ring finger. Each ring had strange symbols and runes that ended in unique emblems.
Dusk’s ring had a burnished symbol of a falcon in flight, and Bastion’s ring had a symbol of an eagle flying with its talons raised to strike.
The boys looked at the rings in wonder and delight. They smiled like children on Christmas morning.
“Dare, how crazy was that?” Morris asked, lifting his mask to reveal the rest of his smiling face.
“M, we’re superheroes!” Darryl shouted. “Holy freaking crap!”
Two figures approached the boys.
A tall, heavyset Hispanic boy in a domino mask walked toward them. Beside him, a smaller Hispanic boy about their size walked. He wore a matching mask and one of his arms hung in a sling.
The two boys stopped a few feet away from Dusk and Bastion so they would not appear threatening.
Gus pulled his mask up and spoke first.
“Hi, y’all. My name is Gus, and this little guy is Luke. Are y’all here because of Kestrel?”
The question caught Darryl and Morris off guard; they gulped and nodded.
“Cool,” Gus said. “Y’all did awesome out there! I don’t think we could have stopped those Godzilla roaches without you.”
Darryl and Morris took a couple of tentative steps toward Gus and Luke.
“Thanks,” Darryl said in a quiet, nervous voice.
“I’m Darryl, and this is my best friend Morris.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you,” Gus said. “So how did-”
“HO - LEE CRAP!” Luke whooped, cutting him off as words poured out of him like a leaky faucet.
“How cool was that?! Where did those cool birds come from? Can y’all do that whenever you want? Y’all powers are SO cool! My powers are nearly as cool as what y’all can do. Gus can turn into fire, did you see that? Are we a superhero team now, this is nuts! Wow wow wow.”
Gus laughed out loud and gently put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Take a breath, little brother!” he said, laughing and smiling at Luke and the other boys.
“I’m sure we all have lots of questions to ask, let’s take this one step at a time.”
With a rush of air, Kestrel landed right in the middle of the group.
He looked dreadful. One-half of his mask hung in tatters, and his face was a grotesque menagerie of blood, cuts, and bruises.
“Outstanding work, y’all!” Kestrel said through swollen lips. “I’m so proud of all of you!”
The boys looked at him in shock and gasped involuntarily.
Kestrel touched his lip gingerly and laughed wryly.
“I know, aren’t I beautiful?” He said with a laugh to turned into a cough. “I’m going to be okay, I promise. I know it’s a cliché, but y’all should see the other guy.”
Kestrel laughed at his joke, winced and became more serious.
“We need to go somewhere and talk before any police arrive,” he said. “Cross, can you find us a place to talk?”
“Sure thing, Kestrel,” Luke said with a smile. “I need everybody to hold hands.”
Everyone but Kestrel looked uncertain, but they did what Luke said.
The second they all held hands, they all vanished.