The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon (15 page)

“He’s allowed too,” Ryan shrugged. “It’s not interfering with his training and he does it on his own free time, I don’t see the harm in that.”

“Aadesh tells me that he's very knowledgeable on the subject and has presented them with numerous new and creative ideas.”

“Not surprised,” Ryan shrugged again. “I told you that there was more to him that what was on the outside.”

“And you both think that he is holding up well?” Jonathan asked.

Of course they had done a thorough psychological profile of Gabriel shortly after he started training but even on that front he appeared to be holding up well. Everyone on the team had started to get to know Gabriel but even after three months he still kept pretty much to himself. Ryan and Tony had tried to get him to open up a little more but had only met with limited success.

“He’s not freaking out about stuff if that’s what you are asking,” Ryan shrugged. “But he’s still having a hard time trusting his teammates.”

“Do you trust him in battle?” Jonathan asked.

Ryan and Tony looked at each other first.

“I do,” Ryan nodded.

“Me too,” Tony said.

“That’s all that I need to know for now,” Jonathan said. “I’ll let you two get back to work.”

Ryan and Tony headed out of Jonathan’s office, happy that the meeting with him had been shorter than usual. Jonathan was good at many things but being short and to the point was not among his finer talents. Briefings usually always ran long, his emails tended to be pages worth of unnecessary information, and if he ever left you a voicemail he talked until it cut him off.  Thankfully, he had stopped texting people once he realized that all his texts were usually truncated and no one ever bothered to respond to them.

“So, why do think that he’s been keeping such a close eye on him?” Tony asked, as they walked down the hall.

“His circumstances were pretty unique,” Ryan shrugged. “And I know that Owl and Lion are probably keeping the pressure on him. They still aren’t thrilled about him being here and there's no doubt they are looking for a reason to get him mind wiped and tossed out.”

“They aren’t going to find one.”

“Not if we do our job right,” Ryan responded. “Hey, how was your date with Katie the other night?”

“Katie?” Tony asked arching his brows.

“The cute red head that you met at the mall a few weeks ago,” Ryan said. “Wait a second, you don’t remember her do you?”

“Of course I do!” Tony snapped. “It’s just that…err…ok…well…”

“Do not let Marissa or Elise here you talk like that,” Ryan warned. “So, what was her name then?”

“Whose name?” Tony inquired.

“The girl that you went out with last night,” Ryan sighed in exasperation.

“How did you…”

“You showed up this morning looking entirely too happy,” Ryan explained. “Well, that and your shirt is on inside out.”

Tony stopped mid-stride and felt around the back of his neck. He looked more than a little mortified to find that he did indeed have his shirt on inside out. Luckily, it was a solid color so it didn’t really make that much of a difference. Tony hoped that Jonathan didn’t notice, of course knowing Jonathan he had noticed and just didn’t say anything about it. That was the more likely outcome.

“You should have said something!" Tony grumbled. “I could have walked around the whole day like that!”

Ryan just smiled. “That’s payback for the hot tub incident.”

“Touché,” Tony nodded. “You really think that Jonathan will try and block his operational status?”

“He can try all he wants,” Ryan shrugged, as they entered the atrium. “But realistically he doesn’t make the call for who gets operational status, the clans do. They take his recommendations into considerations but he’s not the final word.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“You’ve seen him in training,” Ryan sighed. “You know that in a few months he’ll be more than ready for it, he’s one of the best that either of us have ever seen.”

“I’ll give you that,” Tony agreed. “Speaking of girl trouble, did you tell her yet?” Tony asked.

“Tell who yet?” Ryan asked, as he keyed in the code for the armory.

“Oh good lord, are we really gonna do this?”

“Do what?”

“Stop it!” Tony snapped. The way that he said it made it clear that it wasn’t one of those times when continuing to ignore what he was trying get at would end well. “You know damn well who I am talking about.”

Ryan sighed heavily. He wasn’t surprised that Tony picked up on it; they had been training together since they were five. Of all the Guardians on the team, Tony was the only one that could really read his emotions and what he was thinking without even saying anything. It was both a blessing and a curse when it came to personal matters. He knew that Tony wasn’t going to let it drop until he at least acknowledged that he was right about it.

“That obvious?” Ryan asked.

“Not to everyone,” Tony shrugged sitting down. “But I’ve known you a long time; I haven’t seen you look at very many girls like that before. How long have you liked her?”

Ryan shrugged. He wasn’t sure when his feelings for Elise switched from friendly to something more.

“I guess I’m not really sure what I am feeling for her,” Ryan sighed. “She’s attractive, smart, and very good at what she does…”

“The ex-girlfriend of a friend,” Tony tossed in.

Ryan winced. “Yeah, there is that.”

“You do know that asking her out is a clear violation of the bro code, right?”

“I’m aware,” Ryan nodded.

“Just wanted to make sure,” Tony grunted. “And you know what they say about work place romances.”

“It worked with Ethan,” Ryan protested.

“At least until they broke up,” Tony reminded him.

Elise entered the command center, swiping her finger across her tablet. She had been keeping up on Gabriel’s progress and she would have to say that she was impressed. Not only with Gabriel’s ability to learn but also with the instruction that she had seen from both Ryan and Tony.

“Did you see the latest intelligence reports?” Marissa asked, turning her chair toward Elise. She handed Elise a cup of coffee, both Guardians had long learned to forgo sleep when needed. In fact about five hours was all that Elise needed anymore to feel rested.

Elise looked up. “Haven’t gotten to them yet, still reading through Jonathan’s latest update...he does realize that he can condense these things, right?”

“I think that is the condensed version,” Marissa said.

“Wow,” Elise sighed. “Anything interesting happening in the world today?”

“Eh,” Marissa said. “Several new hell portals popped up overnight, mostly in the north eastern US, Colorado reported an outbreak of wendigos but the situation appears to be under control and we still haven’t found any evidence of Sainte-Pierre.”

“Wendigos in Colorado?” Elise asked. “They haven’t ever been seen there before at least not in these numbers. The last time that we encountered some of those I do remember it ended badly for them.”

“You blew one up with an RPG and then charbroiled another one with a flamethrower,” Marissa said. “It’s a wonder that you and Tony survived.”

“Please,” Elise said, with a wave of her hand. “We didn’t start that mess; if they hadn’t started attacking those farms then we could have left them well enough alone.”

“Maybe Sainte-Pierre turned them loose there.”

“Wouldn’t match his motive,” Elise said, shaking her head. “Sainte-Pierre only wants money; he doesn’t care about world domination or causing chaos for the sake of causing chaos.”

“Still, seems odd.”

“Might have something to do with all the activity we are seeing with new portals forming,” Elise added. “Either way it’s probably safe not to read too much into it, at least not when it comes to Sainte-Pierre being the cause.”

“I just wish we could nail down where he is,” Marissa sighed. “We have all this technology and we can’t track down one demon.”

“A demon that happens to have been around for hundreds of years,” Elise responded. “And one that supremely skilled in the art of going unseen, he’s good at what he does but eventually we’ll catch up with him, we always do.”

“Again, you’re right about that,” Marissa admitted. “But it’s still damn frustrating.”

“No one ever said our job was easy.”

“True,” Marissa said, with a nod of her head.“Ryan and Tony are about to jump back into the ring with Gabriel, want to go see what happens?”

“Sounds like it might be a good time.”

“Come on.”

CHAPTER 7

“And don’t say you got lucky,” Ryan said as Gabriel walked back into the training room. “All of that was skill, pure and simple.”

“What about another challenge?” Tony asked.

“See, I hate it when you do that!”

“You’re going to fight me and Ryan.”

“Oh hell no,” Gabriel snapped. “You guys would wipe the floor with me.”

“Confidence dude,” Tony frowned.

Gabriel shook his head. “I’m not sure that putting me against you and Ryan at the same time is going to be good for anyone.”

“We both promise that we will go easy on you.”

“So, you aren’t going to completely humiliate me?” Gabriel asked.

“I never said that,” Tony smiled.

Gabriel walked over and retrieved Aequitas. He swung it through the air a few times. He had grown very fond of the blade since he first acquired it and Ryan and Tony had worked tirelessly to ensure that he made the weapon an extension of his body. The training had worked, as soon as he placed Aequitas in his hand he felt whole again.  

“You ready for this?” Ryan asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Gabriel grunted.

“Confidence man, remember.”

Gabriel took a deep breath and then dropped back into a defensive stance, attempting to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand.  Most of what he did now was almost pure reaction, born out of endless drills.  Still, he had to keep his focus and a level head.  One of the first things that Tony had taught him was to only attack with a cool head.  He could still remember Tony’s words from one of his first lessons, where he easily got his rear handed to him.

“Never attack angry, it only blinds you.
 For you to be successful, you must remain calm, act with a clear head, don’t be impulsive and remember your training.”

All and all it sounded like a very Jedi thing to say, although he would never compare either Ryan or Tony to Yoda.
 They were taller and had better grammar.

Well, most of the time they had better grammar.

And then they both charged him.

Gabriel spun to the side, hammering away a blow from one of Ryan’s daggers.
 He dropped the blade behind his back, catching a horizontal slash from Tony that was meant to cleave him in two, mere seconds after that he lashed out with a snap kick that caught Ryan in the abdomen, sending him tumbling backwards.  

He whirled around again, weaving a defensive shell of flashing silver/blue light.

“Good,” Tony smiled, stabbing toward him with Stormbringer.  

Gabriel knocked the blow aside and spun his right arm around, catching Ryan in the side of the face with a backhanded fist that connected with a loud crack.
 He hoped that he didn’t hurt Ryan too badly, although given the way that Ryan smiled as he took the blow he had a feeling that Ryan let him get that shot in. In hindsight he realized that he had left his life side completely exposed.

“What’s the matter?” Ryan asked, as he slowly started to circle Gabriel. “Not sure of your abilities, doubting what you could do in a fight?
 You know what happens when you do that, right?”

Gabriel let out a slow breath, shifting his weight slightly.
 That tactic had worked before, causing him to rush in and attack Ryan which resulted in one hell of a blow to the head.  He flicked his eyes back and forth between Ryan and Tony, trying to gage when the next attack would come.

“You just going to stand around and be defensive all day long?” Ryan asked.

Gabriel didn’t make a move; he knew that they were baiting him, trying to get him to do something impulsive and stupid.  He had fallen for that tactic before as well, launching into an attack before he even had a plan.  That had resulted in a black eye and almost a broken arm.  A harsh lesson that he had taken to heart ever since.  He continued to hold his ground, balancing on the balls of his feet…

And then Tony struck out, coming toward him with powerful board strokes.
 But that didn’t seem right to Gabriel, it was almost too overt of an attack.  Seconds later, he went flying sideways as Ryan’s foot connected with his side.  The blow wasn’t hard enough to break bone but it did hurt like hell.

Gabriel rolled back to his feet just in time to block several blows by
Stormbringer, sparks flew as the weapons hammered into each other.  Together, with Ryan, they settled into pattern that had them dancing from one end of the training area to the other.  Blades clashed and whirled, creating intense flashes when they came together.

Gabriel was constantly moving; slashing and blocking while trying to keep his two attackers at bay.
 They were pressing their attack now, trying to get him to make a mistake.  He side stepped a thrust by Tony and threw his elbow back, catching Ryan in the face.  Ryan let out a muffled grunt and countered with a vicious slash where his head had been.  But Gabriel had already ducked down and used the pommel of his handle to strike at Ryan’s ribs, knocking him away.

“He really is getting better isn’t he,” Cody said, watching from the side of the training area.
 Gabriel executed a back flip and landed just in time to block several more attacks by both Ryan and Tony.

“He’s an extremely fast learner,” Elise said. “And Tony and Ryan are extremely good teachers, they are right that he'll be ready for field operations soon.”

“Not as fast as me,” Ethan smiled, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. “Wow, did he really just pull off a roundhouse kick?  Last time I saw him try and do that he ended up on his rear.”

“You clearly haven’t been paying attention to his training session lately, have you,” Elise said. “Who knows, he might even be able to beat you some day.”

“Not likely,” Ethan said. “I am entirely too good.”

“You aren’t
that good at everything,” Elise huffed, before walking off.

“Why do you do that?” Cody asked.

“Why do I do what?”

“Annoy her like that.”

“Call it his special gift,” Marissa shrugged.

“Really?” Ethan asked. “Because I could have sworn my special gift was killing bad guys and looking outrageously sexy in the process.”

Cody turned his attention back to the training area, watching as the three of them dueled back and forth.  Gabriel used his knowledge of dance to keep the fight moving, he was extremely agile and graceful on the battlefield, something that they all took to noticing almost right away.  

But there was something else about him, like he was always barely containing a storm brewing inside.
 It wasn’t something that they could put their finger on, despite how much they got to know him.

“His foot work is getting better too,” Marissa commented.
 She was idly toying with her own weapon, a whip named Unchained.

“Not fast enough,” Ethan commented.

They all looked up to see Ryan take Gabriel down with a sweep move that left him in his rear and completely unable to defend himself.  He held up his hands, indicating that he wasn’t going to try and fight anymore.  Ryan and Tony helped him to his feet.  Cody tossed him a towel as he was walking over to where everyone was gathered.

“Enjoy the show?” he asked, wiping off his face.

“Could have used more swearing,” Ethan shrugged. “And a slightly better looking set of main characters….maybe a few explosions.”

“Oh shut up,” Tony snapped.

“You need to do a better job training him,” Ethan commented. “He’s pretty slow and some of his attacks were pretty sloppy.  I don’t know why you two look so tired; I wouldn’t break a sweat sparring with him.”

Gabriel had no idea what part of that comment annoyed him.
 As a general rule, he tried to ignore a lot of what Ethan said but for some reason this comment sparked a level of annoyance with his teammate that he hadn’t yet encountered.  Maybe it was because he was insulting Ryan and Tony, who had gone out of their way to train him and as far as he was concerned, were doing a damn fine job.  He didn’t even hesitate when he opened his mouth to talk again.

“Why don’t you give it a try then?” Gabriel asked, gesturing to the training area.

"Oh now that's an amusing idea," Ethan smiled. "Me and you in the ring?  Look, I won't deny that you have gotten better but do you really think that you could take me?”

"Guess there is only one way to find out," Gabriel said, gesturing to the ring. "Unless of course you are afraid?"

"You really think that you can goad me into it?" Ethan asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Gabriel still wasn't sure why he had challenged Ethan to such a fight.
 He had seen Ethan practicing countless times and knew full well what he was capable of.  Of course most of the time he spent watching Ethan practice was spent not admiring his moves but more his form; his body in motion.

It was probably not something that was an entirely healthy habit, Gabriel knew that. He also knew that it was something that he really needed to stop doing before Ethan caught on. But still, even if he could even get a hit in on Ethan that might shut him up for a day or two. And on the off chance that he did manage to get a hit in or two, well that might get Ethan to rethink all the grief that he had been giving him.

Of course, it was Ethan so it was just as likely that he would totally get his butt kicked and this would only serve to give Ethan even more ammo to use against him.

"No," Gabriel shrugged. "I wouldn't dare to try a simple psychological trick on someone who is so strong willed as you."

"Fine," Ethan smiled. "But I'm not going to go easy on you."

"I didn't ask you too," Gabriel responded, handing
Aequitas over to Ryan.

"Are you sure about this?" Tony asked. "I mean Ethan is good; really, really, good."

"And you guys have done a great job teaching me," Gabriel snapped. "Even if I can actually hit him that might get him to keep his trap shut for a while."

"He's not as fast on his feet as you are," Ryan whispered to him. "Use that to you advantage, he's probably stronger than you but not as agile."

“Noted,” Gabriel nodded.

“And try and not get your ass completely kicked,” Tony tossed in.

Gabriel nodded.

“This is going to be over in about three minutes,” Ethan smiled. “You’re getting better Gabriel but I think that we both know this is only going to end one way.”

“Shut up already,” Gabriel smiled.

That prompted a smile from Ethan as well.

“Alright but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

And then Ethan struck out, moving so fast that Gabriel barely had time to register the incoming attack.
 He twisted away, taking only a glancing blow on his chin.  Ethan let loose with a kick aimed toward Gabriel’s ribs.  The blow connected and Gabriel went down hard on his back, a burning pain shooting up his side.

“Told you,” Ethan smiled, offering his hand to help Gabriel up.

Gabriel grabbed Ethan’s arm and yanked him down, rolling onto his back as he did so.  He planted a foot on Ethan’s stomach and then launched Ethan over his head, rolling back to a standing position.  Ethan had already gotten back to his feet as well.

“Tony must have taught you that one,” Ethan smiled.

“You didn’t think that I was going to make it that easy for you, did you?”

“Did you teach him that?” Marissa asked, watching as Ethan and Gabriel started circling each other again.

“Oh I taught him a lot of things,” Tony smiled.

Ethan came at him again; unleashing a combo of jabs and kicks that had Gabriel working furiously to block each one.
 He knew that Ethan was holding back, although probably not as much as he did before.   Clearly, his little display earlier did something to jolt Ethan out of his thinking that this was going to be an easy kill.

Now, it was Gabriel’s turn to go on the offensive.
 He took a step forward and then tried to hit Ethan with a snap kick, Ethan deflected it easily enough.  Next, Gabriel tried a series jabs and crosses that Ethan all parried without even looking like he was trying.

Alright, you want a challenge, let’s see how you do against moves that you haven’t seen before
, Gabriel thought.  He knew that the fighting style he was currently using was one that all Guardians were taught. No doubt Ethan had been defending himself against such moves for the better part of his time as a Guardian.  It was time to switch things up a little bit and see if he could shake the unshakable Ethan Blackburn.

Ethan didn’t appear all that concerned and came at him again, this time with a series of roundhouse kicks, Gabriel didn’t try and deflect them, he knew that Ethan was putting a lot of power behind them and could probably knock him flat on his butt if he even tried.
 Instead he fell back to a lesson that Ryan had taught him.

Be like water in a fight, Gabriel could remember Ryan saying. You have to not only be able to deflect attacks but flow around them as well…like water flowing down a stream.

Now, Gabriel wasn't holding back. If Ethan wanted a challenge, well that was exactly what he was going to give him. Gabriel exploded into motion, launching a series of sweeping kicks and strikes that actually had Ethan backing up, deflecting or nearly avoiding each blow. He caught Ethan with a snap kick to the stomach and then dropped down and hooked his foot behind Ethan's ankle, sweeping him off his feet.