CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.FIVE

June 2nd, 2012 @ 3:35 P.M.: Amanda and Brigid sat in their idling car outside Café de Paris, waiting for Lugh to emerge. The only people coming out were a mix of intellectuals and working people who normally populate a café in an afternoon. Amanda rested her head on the seat’s cushion and took a nap. Brigid looked toward the clock on the dashboard of the car.

“Word from Ghede should be coming soon,” Brigid said to Amanda, looking out the windshield.

Suddenly, someone emerged from the café entrance, holding a metal suitcase. The person went down the concrete steps, catching sight of the car a few seconds later. The man wore a nice suit which became more visible as it moved toward the car. As the man made their way closer to them, she could see the glint of his emerald eyes. Her hands clenched the steering wheel. It was him.

Brigid nudged Amanda. “Amanda.” There was no response. She nudged the sleeping human woman a little harder. “Amanda! Get your arse up!”

Amanda shook her head to wake. “What?” she said, rubbing his eyes.

“Lugh’s here.”

“Lugh,” She leaned toward the windshield, trying to get a bead on who the gaelic goddess was referring to. “How would he even know we are here?”

A few seconds later, the figure stopped. Ms. Duncan then saw an object in the sky coming toward them. The object grew larger till it revealed itself as a large light pole.

“Oh crap,” Amanda shrieked, clutching the bottom of the seat as the object descended.

Brigid put the car in reverse and slammed the gas pedal down. A moment later, the large ball of metal crashed on the blacktop, missing the hood by a few feet. Amanda panted, trying to catch her breath, slowly loosening her grip on the seat. She looked to the left and noticed people running away from the carnage.

“Super strong evil genius,” Amanda said. “Probably should’ve known something like that was gonna happen!”

“I know you and your powerful little minion are in there, Brigid,” Lugh taunted from a dozen feet away. “Come on out and settle this like true gods.”

Amanda and Brigid looked at each other for a moment. She pulled out her Molltach. “You only step out of this car when I call for you,” the goddess said, readying to open her car door. “Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Amanda nodded. “Kick some demi-god ass.”

“I plan to!” Brigid smiled, stepping out of the car.

She turned around and stepped out of the car, leaving her purse with Amanda. “I will give you one last chance,” she bellowed at Lugh, approaching him as the Molltach glowed. “Leave this planet and return to the Neamchinneacht right now.”

“And what will happen if I do not?” Lugh fired back, taking another step toward her.

Her Molltach morphed a second later into her sword which gleamed in the afternoon sun. Then her clothing morphed into a sturdy set of golden armor with the seal of Avalon on her sternum.

“Very impressive parlor trick, Ollathair,” said Lugh, straightening his collar with his free hand and stepping into the street. “Mine, though, is far superior!”

He shook and twitched violently, his bones breaking and realigning to their prior position. The pedestrians and shop owners on both sides of the street quickly took shelter in fear of what’s to come. Lugh’s facial features and physical dimensions shifted instantaneously to normal. His clothes were the last to change into the elegant gold and black armor that he wore when he first ascended to Avalon.

Lugh smiled. He lifted the suitcase toward his waist. The object shrunk in a blink of an eye. He slipped the miniature case inside his armor. “Now,” he said, unsheathing his mighty sword from its scabbard. “Let’s begin!”

He let out a warrior cry and flew like a bullet directly at Brigid. When the demi-god was about to strike, she calmly raised her sword above her head and absorbed the full brunt of his blast with every ounce of strength she could muster. Lugh’s forward blow continued nearly a mile down the road, sending large mounds of gravel and pavement shooting out in all directions. Finally, Brigid tossed Lugh high in the air as she levitated off the ground.

“This one’s for Jar’Ed,” she said, flying with great speed toward the demi-god.

***

The press still at ground level in the Gerry Arthur mine ran for the hovercrafts outside as Ghede and Lugh One fought above the Tuning Fork. Other reporters and cameramen ran out of the lift a short time later to join their comrades in seeking escape. Two of the cameramen stayed to try to film the fight, ducking the droplets of blood and sweat that fell intermittently from the combatants. Inside, Charon typed the last few digits of the security code in to the computer.

“You’ve lost, Fille Noire,” Charon called boastfully to Ghede. “The world as you know it is gone!” He entered the city code for London and pressed Enter.

The ground beneath those still inside the complex shook as the Tuning Fork roared to life. Back in Colchester, the citizens ran for shelter to survive what they believed was a violent earthquake. A large blue orb formed above Gerry Arthur after the first tremor. The nebulous orb hovered ominously above the complex. Ghede flew outside and watched as it floated away to the east.

“Merde,” she sighed, shaking her head shortly before Lugh One resumed their gladiatorial battle.

***

Central London shook a few minutes after four o’clock just as news of the earthquake in Colchester came. “Do you hear that, Brigid,” Lugh said to Brigid as they exchanged clanging swords in mid-air. “That is the sound of change!”

The demi-god soon gained the upper hand, plunging his sword into her side. He then speared her into an abandoned building, letting go seconds before impact as he flew unscathed upward. The blast sent a stream of concrete and mortar raining down on the street, destroying cars and mailboxes below. Brigid emerged from the hole and looked up at Lugh as he floated above her.

“This is not change, Lugh,” she cried, standing on top of a chunk of mortar. “You are perpetrating genocide in its most vile form!”

When her shoulder was fully healed, Brigid picked up her Molltach and launched herself at Lugh. She plunged her blade into his stomach, driving him to the side of an apartment building nearby. They exchanged body blows and jabs, blasting through the complex as denizens dove for cover. They burst out the other side, sending a stream of concrete down on a park. Where the hell is Amanda, she thought shortly before being driven back twenty feet by a kick away.

Below, on the city streets, Amanda sped along trying to keep up with the two fighters. She swerved past panicked people screaming of a “blue glow” along with overturned or crashed cars. She finally caught up twenty minutes later on a street near Piccadilly. She stepped out of the Fiat, holding Brigid’s purse in one hand and the car door in the other. The Molltach returned a few moments later to its reset position.

“Amanda,” Brigid smiled with relief upon seeing Ms. Duncan. “Just the woman I was hoping to see.”

She pocketed his cell phone while considering the sky above, which had become bathed almost entirely in blue. Fear struck him immediately. Not again, she thought. “What do you need, Cap’n?” Amanda called out to Brigid.

“Reach into my purse and take the Chélie spell out.” Brigid replied shortly before Lugh punched her in the face. He followed with a set of hard jabs to her face and stomach. He placed the edge of the sword’s blade underneath her throat and slammed her into a nearby department store.

Amanda searched the small bag for the scroll. It took a few long moments before she was able to find it and pull it out. “What now?”

Brigid groaned in frustration, emerging from the divot in the side of the building. “Fly up and hand it to me, damn it,” she fired back, charging after Lugh with blade in hand.

“Are you sure?” Amanda chuckled nervously as the two deities exchanged cuts. “There’s a big difference between floating in an alleyway and flying six hundred feet in the air above London as it’s—.

“Just shut up and do it!” Brigid shouted, driving her sword into Lugh’s stomach and thrusting him into an electronic billboard.

Amanda fixed his feet on the ground, trying to relax. Just relax, she thought. The young woman took a deep breath, made sure the scroll was secure, and [FWOOSH!]

Ms. Duncan quickly felt a rush of excitement as she flew toward Brigid. Even the possibility of coming death could not diminish her excitement as she joined her boss in the air above London. Just as Amanda was about to hand her the scroll, she was blindsided by a hard charging Lugh. All she could say was “Shit!” as her body was driven straight through a department store to the other side.

***

The doppelganger’s head whipped violently back, courtesy of a kick and a hard cut from Ghede’s sword, into the side of a hospital in downtown Colchester. The loud, earth shaking blast sent pedestrians outside scurrying away in order to avoid being hit by one of the blocks of concrete. Ghede flew closer to the crater, checking for his body. Suddenly, Lugh One rushed like a bullet out, spearing her into the side of a nearby market.

“You know you are fighting a losing battle,” the doppelganger boasted, barraging her with a spurt of uppercuts and jabs. The final punch sent her crashing into a small gift shop. “It will take a miracle to halt this world’s descent into ash.”

The voodoo specter stumbled out of the building, wiping blood from her mouth. She looked out from bloodied eyes to see a figure come into view behind Lugh One. “I believe that miracle has come,” she said softly.

Chabe tackled the doppelganger in mid-air and slammed him down into the blacktop. The ground shook with the vibrations of the impact which created a crater. All that was heard inside were punches and groans. She cautiously flew to the edge of the crater and looked down as the bear god stepped out, groaning in pain. “Good to be back again,” he said, stretching his back.

“By the gods, it’s good to see you!” Ghede said.

“Same to you, you crafty Creole.” Chabe grinned, giving his friend a big bear hug.

“What happened to you, mon vieil ami?” she asked upon seeing the scars and bruises all over Chabe’s body.

“Long story...I’ll tell you later,” Chabe replied, wiping the dust off his torn shirt. “Where are the Cap’n and the páistí?”

***

Amanda stumbled out of a crater in the middle of Trafalgar Square as the sun fell. She rubbed her head, feeling the small trickle of blood. A humming sound came from above. She looked up and saw Lugh charging like a missile down at him.

“Oh crap!” Amanda immediately leapt into the opposite direction just as the demi-god could strike. The crater grew another foot wider as a result and the windows within a mile radius were blown out.

“You’ve been taught well, Páistí,” said Lugh, floating out of the crater. He saw Brigid in the sky a few miles away. “Sad it shall be for naught!”

He rocketed toward the goddess at lightning speed. Brigid absorbed the attack with her sword as she opened the scroll. She was able to keep him at bay while also keeping a firm grip of the Chélie in her opposite hand.

“I could use a distraction right about now,” she screamed in the middle of her defensive retreat.

“I’m working on it!” Amanda racked her brain for a few moments. Then, it came to her: the night outside Gerry Arthur with Chabe. She smiled and closed her eyes, raising her hands to the sky palms up. Her body hovering calmly off the ground. The clouds above her rattled and roared. Then suddenly, a bolt of lightning cracked the air and came down upon the demi-god.

Lugh maneuvered from three more lightning bolts as they rained upon him in a thirty second time span. Each one creating six foot wide scorched marks on the sidewalk of the Square. He found shelter in an alleyway a mile and a half away. He reached into his armor and pulled out the miniaturized suitcase. Before he could open it, an errant bolt hit him, sending him crashing into an office building.

“You have lost, Lugh,” said Amanda, now hovering above the demi-god. “I know it’s hard for you to accept, given your big ego and all. But the sooner you do, the sooner all of us can move on.”

Lugh chuckled, emerging from the hole with a stream of blood trickling down his chin. He grabbed the case, which suddenly grew back to normal size, and levitated towards Amanda. “Stupid mortal,” he said, unfastening the golden lock and pulling out a spell writ on a parchment roll, dropping the rest of the suitcase. “You should know by now I do not give up easily.” He waved the parchment.

A large Jeep rose thirty feet up from the street a few blocks away. The SUV flew directly at Amanda, driving her head on into a Virgin Megastore. The entrance exploded upon impact, sending flames shooting out in all directions. The demi-god grinned and flew back toward Trafalgar and began the spell.

“Philéar na réaltachta/Tar chugam/Éist le mo focail/Faoi thalamh agus a farraige.”

As his words continued, a white glow emerged in the sky that was brighter than the swirling blue energy ball a few miles away. A series of tremors followed which were so great that the streets of London begun to split open. Brigid looked up from her recitation as cracks formed in the side of some skyscrapers.

“Our time is running out,” she said, turning her attention back to the scroll. “I saol na chaos/Agus pian agus achrann/Lorg mé an tuairisceán/Na síochána a ghabhgann leis an saol.”

The tremors ratcheted up in intensity as Lugh and Brigid spoke, causing two skyscrapers to collapse. Amanda pulled himself out of the wreckage of the superstore. He flew back toward Brigid, watching the city being ripped apart as the blue energy moved downtown.

“It would be nice if this spell started to work.” Amanda yelled to Brigid.

Brigid groaned, stopping her recitation. “I am in agreement, Amanda,” she said with consternation. “Be quiet and try not to get me killed!”

Tá an domhan i mbaol/Druidim chun deiridh,” Lugh chanted as Amanda and Brigid argued. “Le do thoil shábháil ar gach Feicim.”

As the demi-god was about to finish the spell, he was stopped by a double-decker bus lunged at him by Amanda. The car fell with a thud miles away from the scene, exploding in a ball of fire.

“How do you like that for a distraction?” Amanda smiled.

Brigid chuckled. “Do gach damáiste a/Brabús a dhéanamh as misery,” she said, returning to the text of the spell. “Larraim ar do deireadh/Leis an luaithreach na eternity!”

A beam of yellow energy suddenly shot out of the Chélie scroll in the direction of the blue orb as it hovered above Coventry Street. A large pool of white light engulfed every inch of London as if a nuclear bomb had gone off. The blast subsequently knocked out all three of them. This was it, Amanda thought as she fell aimlessly to the ground alongside Brigid. No regrets...no regrets.

Amanda opened her eyes a short time later to see the light blue sky. She looked to both sides and saw layered mounds of concrete. She realized that he was in a fairly sizable crater. Ms. Duncan scrambled up the side of it and emerged to see Brigid emerging nearby from her own crater.

“Shouldn’t the Chélie have flushed us out too?” asked Amanda, wearily walking over to her boss. “For that matter, what the hell happened to Lugh?”

“Good questions for another time, my friend,” Brigid replied, holstering her Molltach. She looked up cautiously. “Right now, just be thankful that you are still standing.”

They walked down the street for a handful of blocks, observing the sea of destruction that had blanketed the city. Unbeknownst to them, Lugh emerged from his crater. He spotted Brigid and Amanda walking away and charged after them with revenge in his eyes. “You—shall DIE!”

Brigid heard and turned to defend against the demi-god coming. She pushed Amanda down to the ground and absorbed the full force of Lugh’s attack with her sword. The scared citizens looked out from broken shop windows nearby as the deities engaged in a sword fight. They traded punishing blows, advancing toward each other when they held the advantage.

“Enough of this foolishness, Ollathair,” Lugh stabbed Brigid in the shoulder, causing her to drop her Molltach. He pushed her away and moved to Amanda, pinning her down with his foot. “Do you have any last words, Halfling?”

“Yes,” Amanda replied as the tip of Lugh’s blade moved closer to her throat. “Aim for the back of the head.”

“What?”

Brigid appeared from behind Lugh and stabbed Lugh in the back of his head with a piece of shrapnel. The demi-god stumbled forward in a woozy haze, groaning in pain. He reached back and pulled the weapon out.

“How—” he said in amazement watching the blood trickle down its glass base. “How did you know my weakness?”

“I have my sources,” Brigid grinned.

Lugh fell to his knees, dropping the piece of shrapnel. His brain began to swell and his lungs burned as hot as the surface of the sun. He looked up at the blue and black sky with tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry...I failed you!”

The demi-god closed his eyes and exploded in a great flourish. Brigid grabbed Amanda’s arm and pulled him back to his feet. “I believe that makes us even,” she said to Amanda.

She walked a couple of steps to the ash where Lugh had stood and bent down. “I didn’t know gods could explode,” said Amanda, touching the pile briefly. She straightened and turned toward Brigid with sudden concern. “This isn’t something that could happen to me, right?”

Brigid grinned and shook her head. “That was all Jar’Ed’s doing,” she said picking up her sword.

Amanda was visibly confused. “I thought Jar’Ed was dead.”

“Only his physical form is dead,” she explained, joining her as her Molltach turned back into a cell phone. “His spirit is still very much alive, looking out for us whenever we are in need of him.”

Amanda smiled and wiped off some of the dust and blood from her shirt. "Man, Gary's gonna flip when I tell him about this!" As they stepped on to the sidewalk, a crowd of people gathered and began to applaud.

“What are we going to do about the people who saw us fight Lugh?” She asked the gaelic goddess.

“That is a question for another day,” Brigid replied. “Right now, we have a friend to pick up, and Charon to take down.”

“Sounds like fun.”

She nodded and looked skyward. They rose in unison and up they went, becoming specks in the distance as Londoners cheered and waved.

THE END