Portal Combat (6 page)

After Bolger transitioned to commercial, he became a completely different person.

"Kit, Kit, Kit. You are something else. It's like you're out of some ratings fever dream I had after too much lobster and scotch."

Kable chuckled. "After I get elected, you'll have to have me over for some of that lobster."

Bolger laughed as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "Oh, man. As long as you treat me to cheesesteaks in the Oval Office."

Kable suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "It's a deal. Good luck with the election coverage."

"Make up the five points. Give us something to get excited about."

"We're on it. Bye for now."

When Kable took off his earpiece and got the all-clear, Terry led the rest of the room in a round of applause. After his makeup was wiped off, the group gathered in the next room over. It was dull beige from top to bottom and the staff crammed in around a long cafeteria table.

"This was a turning point, ladies and gentlemen." Terry's eyes twinkled. "And you have your fearless leader to thank."

Kable watched his staff members as they grinned like idiots. Most of them were young, in their 20s and full of life. They laughed and held conversations underneath the noise of another round of applause. Many wanted to be right where he was sitting in a few decades. These people had devoted much of their time to him and his cause without really knowing what it was, and Kable didn't plan to reveal that until inauguration day.

"Please, Terry. I couldn't have done this without you. It's been one heck of a day." Kable let his shoulders relax to appear more down-to-earth. "What's say we take the rest of the night off and get ready for the next step tomorrow?"

This brought about a small cheer, which echoed against the walls of the room. After countless long days in a row, he hoped the full night's sleep would energize his staff for what lay ahead. Before long, Terry was the only other person left in the room.

"Senator, do you want me to send you updates for any polling numbers after the interview?"

Kable put his hand on Terry's shoulder. The man was willing and able to work 20 hours a day if he had to.

"Terry, you're incredible. You won't get much sleep for the next three months, so I would take a night now if I were you."

Terry took the hint, though he felt the need to offer his hand for a high five first. Kable slapped his hand and watched him exit the door. As soon as it closed behind him, a shimmering portal opened up on the other side of the room. Cal Fortbright stepped out of it before sitting down and crossing his legs.

"I thought they would never leave."

Kable walked over toward Cal and took the seat next to him.

"They're very excited. You can't blame them."

Cal laughed. "Do you think they'd still be as excited if they knew you caused the hospital to collapse?"

Kable pondered the question. "You know, half of them would probably stay on the campaign. Scruples don't win elections."

Cal sighed and leaned forward in his chair. "What does win elections?"

Kable imagined what he would have said had the question been posed on Bolger's show. That answer would've been the exact opposite of the truth.

"Fear. Delivered in just the right way to the right people."

Kable stood up and looked out the window. The storm was starting to lose its power as it moved further out to land. Though the meteorologists didn't realize it, another kind of storm was about to begin.

"And together, we're going to deliver a whole lot of fear."

Chapter 10

Dhiraj felt significantly more tongue-tied than usual as he looked at the woman who'd just come through the portal. He prided himself on being able to talk his way out of any situation, but this might be the biggest challenge of his life. After all, he didn't even know what species she was.

The woman reached back toward the portal and it closed behind her. "I imagine it's breathtaking to see a creature from another world in your presence, but there's really no time for delay. Hand over the sword and the books."

Dhiraj looked over at the sheriff. He seemed to be as speechless as Dhiraj was. The sword in the sheriff's hands continued to drip the green blood of the fallen creature. The sheriff didn't seem to mind the putrid smell; his eyes were focused on the mysterious woman.

"This is the property of the living soul." The sheriff took a step back. "Taking it could make him very angry."

"Yeah!" Dhiraj felt the pit in his stomach grow. "You wouldn't like him when he's angry."

The gatekeeper guffawed and held her belly as if it were about to burst. "Humans. Even before I saw the dark, I never understood why we valued you so much."

The woman took a long metal staff out of a holster on her back. The weapon made a ringing sound as it emerged. Dhiraj noticed ancient writing from top to bottom of the staff. The sight of it didn't help to settle his stomach.

"We're really good at talking things out." Dhiraj felt a buzz in his pocket. "In fact, why don't we just have a nice conversation over some delicious apple fritters?"

The woman's smile turned sour. "You're stalling. I think I'll take the sword. And the pastries." With a swift motion, the woman swung the end of the staff into the ground. With that, a portal began to form underneath Dhiraj and the sheriff. Dhiraj looked down and watched as a blue dot the size of a pin swelled to the dimensions of a manhole and continued to expand. The portal was mesmerizing and terrifying all at the same time. It seemed to compel Dhiraj to keep his feet planted and let himself be sucked inside.

The sheriff grabbed him by the waist and pulled him away from the opening. As they leaned up against the wall, the blue hole grew continued to expand, sucking in a wastebasket and a few papers that had fallen to the ground in the attack.

Dhiraj turned his attention from the hole back to the woman with the staff. "That's quite a trick. I guess you make holes for a living. I'm going to college soon, so what classes should I take to get into this enterprising new field?"

The woman gestured to the portal, making it expand at double its rate.

"You know, I've always had this power." The woman moved like water with each fluid step. "I can see between worlds. I can travel to any of the realms at any time. Before, I couldn't use that power for myself."

Dhiraj and the sheriff continued to move along the wall, as the portal sucked in a small desk and the deceased creature's body. They reached a dead end next to a large metal storage cabinet.

The woman's eyes looked as wide as the portal growing beside them. "Now that I'm free, there's nothing I can't do."

Dhiraj looked down into the portal. Through the glowing blue, he could see down for what seemed like miles. There was no telling what was at the end of that tunnel, or if he and the sheriff would survive the trip.

Just then, something caught Dhiraj's eye on the other side of the room.

He tossed a smile in the woman's direction. "I can think of one thing you don't have."

The woman wrinkled her forehead. "What's that, mortal?"

"Eyes in the back of your head."

With a gurgling battle cry, another eight-foot-tall lizard creature came dashing into the office. It was on a collision course with the woman in the center of the room. Dhiraj watched as Natalie and Erica dove off the beast and rolled to the side. The creature lowered its head and rammed right into the woman's midsection. As she flew through the air, the staff bounced out of her hands and the portal beside Dhiraj closed in an instant.

He smirked at the sheriff. "Remind me never to go cliff diving."

The sheriff shook his head before pulling Dhiraj toward Erica and Natalie.

"You guys okay?" Erica trained her eyes on the woman across the room.

"Sure." Dhiraj felt his heart rate come down slightly. "Every day I don't fall into a blue death hole is a miracle." Dhiraj noticed that Natalie's hand was tinted green. "You teach that lizard to play nice?"

Natalie gave Dhiraj the stink-eye. "You know I have a way with animals. Who's the chick?"

The woman stood up. She looked as if she'd almost enjoyed being slammed into by a giant lizard. She then looked Erica square in the eyes.

"Protector. You shouldn't have come."

Erica put her hands on her hips. "What? And miss this inter-dimensional party?"

The lizard had been catching its breath in the corner, but after a full recovery, it made another charge at the woman. All in one sweeping motion, she accelerated rapidly across the room, rolled over to her fallen metal staff and slammed the end on the ground. Another portal opened up in mid-air, and the lizard ran right into it. With another tap of the staff, the portal and the creature were gone.

Dhiraj's shoulders slumped. "Never send a lizard to do a man's–"

Before he could finish, Erica had rushed over to the woman and kicked her in the back. When the woman turned and swung her staff, Erica roundhouse kicked it out of her hands. It clanged against the ground.

"Protector. You have no idea what's coming."

Erica tossed her hair. "Gatekeeper. Shut up and fight."

The woman grinned at the barb and started to swing her fists at Erica. Erica blocked the first two blows easily, but a third one surprised her with a whap to the side of the head. Erica shook it off and went on the offensive with three punches of her own, one of which landed in the gatekeeper's gut. As the gatekeeper started another volley of blows, Dhiraj watched as the fight moved away from the metal staff.

"We've got to keep that from the crazy woman."

Natalie nodded. "I'm on it."

As the athlete ran toward the staff, the gatekeeper sent Erica smashing into the wall with a powerful kick. Before Natalie could reach the weapon, the gatekeeper moved so fast that Dhiraj lost track of her for a split second.

The woman grabbed one end of the staff while Natalie gripped the other. She yanked hard, but Natalie wouldn't give up her position.

Sela scowled. "Kids shouldn't play with toys that don't belong to them."

Natalie returned the look. "You should learn how to share."

The tug of war ended when the gatekeeper lowered her shoulder and slammed into Natalie's chest. Natalie flew backward and landed hard on the ground.

The gatekeeper took the staff back in two hands and held it above her head.

"You made a valiant effort. For your troubles, I'll try to send you somewhere nice."

The gatekeeper slammed the staff back into the ground and opened up a wide portal on the wall nearest Natalie. Dhiraj held his breath, and the power in the building went out. As the room became dim, the blue portal continued to cast a pale blue light in the area around it. Dhiraj could see the woman's blue-tinted face smiling.

"Too bad I'm not afraid of the dark. Show yourself!" 

Something sent the gatekeeper to the ground with a "thwap." She grunted with pain, but before she could get up, the figure behind her sent a series of kicks into her body. The attacker was silent and continued to pepper the gatekeeper with punches and kicks on the ground. Dhiraj took the opportunity to run over to Natalie's side.

"Are you alright?"

Dhiraj could barely detect Natalie's nod in the dark. "Is that Ted?"

He couldn't tell, but whatever it was, it now had the gatekeeper above its head. The woman let out a primal yell as the figure tossed the gatekeeper, staff and all, into the blue portal on the wall. As the echo of screams stopped, the portal closed up completely.

Dhiraj fumbled for his cell phone to turn on the flashlight feature. He expected to see a big smile from his superhero best friend Ted Finley. Instead, he saw a person he didn't recognize in the slightest. A Japanese man in his early 40s walked over to help Erica to her feet. While the man looked straight out of an old samurai movie, he spoke perfect English.

"Hello, my old friend."

Her pained expression turned into one of recognition. "Yoshi?!"

PART TWO

Chapter 11

A wave of emotions hit Ted as he grew tired in the last half hour of flying. Between moving two-dozen people through the sky in a protective bubble and trying to get to Treasure in record time, his lack of endurance was beginning to get to him. Through his pounding heart, he wondered if he'd made a mistake choosing the government over a summer of training with Erica. He'd saved people's lives throughout the U.S., but that would mean nothing to him if his friends were lost in the process.

They attacked because I wasn't there. I let her down.

Ted knew that Erica had kept things from him and that she might never be completely honest, but he still wanted her approval. He hoped the summer away hadn't caused irreparable damage to their relationship.

From takeoff to landing, it took Ted exactly 32 minutes to plant his feet on the front steps of the Sheriff's Department. As his body readjusted to being on the ground, he could feel just how fast his heart was going. Part of him wondered if it would burst. Ted shook off the worry, clenched his fists and walked into the building.

The doors were marred, battered and lying on the ground. There were multiple cracks in the walls from bodily impact. Ted also spied a puddle of green blood before Dhiraj came running up to greet him.

"Ted! You just missed the party."

The others in the room – Sherriff Norris, Natalie, Erica and someone he didn't recognize – all perked up at the mention of his name. Ted felt the room begin to spin. He steadied himself on Dhiraj's shoulder.

"Thanks, I–"

The spinning grew faster and faster until Ted felt himself slip away from consciousness. A wave of darkness came over him. Images flashed before him from his last year as a hero. He saw himself in the Treasure High gym while the dark soul version of Sandra threatened him and Dhiraj. He watched as he and Natalie ran from the terror of former substitute teacher and brainwasher Mr. Redican. He saw the night of the prom and his slow dance with Erica LaPlante. Ted felt a mix of peace and anxiety as the images left him, replaced by what he saw when his eyelids fluttered open.