July 1992

  Larry and Simon follow Garcia to the roof. His assassins try to hinder their advance, but only succeed in getting either an air bst or a quick fireball into the walls. They were of no consequence. Their target was heading for the stairwell and, up, Larry notices as Simon and him reach the stairwell. He can only guess where they’re going, the roof.

  The night air feels nice as they exit the stairwell. Garcia, across the roof, looks over the edge. They hear a lot of police sirens approaching.

  “You aren’t getting away Mr…Vega!” Larry calls out, adding sarcasm to his assumed name.

  “If I wanted to, I could leave, and no one would ever know I was here.”

  “Except us. We’d follow you back to your hole. Spain, was it? Or maybe Russia with your buddy?”

  “Very funny. A fight in my home. I believe they call it…home field advantage?”

  “Well, if you fight like your, girls, then that shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

  Garcia smiles, then ughs calmly. “Well, you see, gentlemen. Unlike my girls, I won’t be so easy to…push aside.” He sets into a martial arts position.

  Larry has to thank Jerry and his movies. His stance is Ninjitsu. Great.

  “Lights out.” Garcia says, then flips his wrists to the two nearby light poles a little way from the building. The lights shatter, spark, then go out. Leaving them in the ambiance from the streetlights filtering up to them.

  Great, all he could see was Garcia’s silhouette. Larry was gonna have to feel him out as he moved through the air.

  Garcia’s form moves and is gone. “You can’t see me now, can you? Don’t feel bad. I won’t toy with you too bad.” His voice seeming to come from all directions. He had Seth’s Shade power. No doubt more skilled, though.

  “Just one thing, Garcia.” Larry asks. “What did you pn on doing with Elle, anyway? You could have just raided the b and took the data. Why go through all of this?”

  “I’ll tell you.” An uneasy pause. “Nothing.”

  Larry clenches his fists.

  “It was all a diversion. To see the capabilities of the impnt. We had to see how it held up under stress. Mr. Starinski and his associates were very eager to hear the results of our observation.”

  “But why interfere and not just watch? Why send your assassins, knowing they could never beat us?”

  “Again, to test out the strength and resiliency of the impnt. You see that little invention of yours? Could make the right people very rich. The Director had many pns on technologies from this Axus gentleman that could make me and my associates wealthier than humanly possible. Of course, you already know that.”

  Damn it, Axus again. And yes, Larry knows what Axus gave the Director. Some of it still boggling his mind.

  “Enough of this. If you want to stop me from getting that data, then see if you can defeat me and we’ll see.”

  Larry gets ready for anything. Simon moves back-to-back with him. He can hear Garcia’s movement, but it’s so muffled he can’t tell which direction it’s coming from.

  Simon makes a sound, like one would make after getting a paper cut.

  “You all right?” Larry asks, then something drags across his right leg. An instant ter, a small sense of pain. His hand reaches down and he feels something wet. Bastard.

  “Yeah. Can you sense where he is?”

  “Give me a sec.” Just then, Larry feels something wrap around his leg and lift him up off the roof. Then quickly back down, hard. The wind knocked out of him.

  “Gentlemen. I’m disappointed.” Garcia’s voice echoes out. Then he appears as a silhouette by the ledge of the roof. “It’s just me. One man. You took out the Director’s boy. I should be no problem, right?”

  Okay, this guy was pissing Larry off now. He locks onto the surrounding air to keep track of him. But with a small ugh, Garcia disappears again. Larry keeps his lock on him, but barely. Damn. His Shade power made him fast, really fast.

  A few more passes and Larry and Simon are both cut repeatedly. Chest, arms, legs again.

  “I heard that the ‘Death of a thousand cuts’ is the worse way to go.” Garcia taunts.

  Simon charges some chi into his fist and bsts the roof. Sparks fly and the roof is momentarily lit up. Larry spots Garcia and throws an air ball. The air ball hits Garcia, knocking him onto his back. He then vanishes as the light from the fireball disappears.

  “Very good. You almost had me there.”

  Cut, cut.

  Simon goes for the same trick, but he is cut, grabbed, and smmed against the stairwell door. Before Larry can cry out his name, he is thrown himself. He nds hard against the two-foot-tall ledge. Stars twinkle in his vision.

  The air moves around him. He’s coming.

  Out of instinct, Larry shoots for the sky. The sound of a metal chick hitting concrete reaches his ears. Missed. Larry takes a quick deep breath to try to shake the daze from his head, then waits for him to grab him again with…whatever it is he’s using. It sure didn’t feel like hands. More like a…tendril.

  Nothing. Either he was out of range, or he couldn’t fly.

  Larry about smacks himself. He floats back down.

  “Gd you could rejoin us.” This time his voice coming from near Simon, who is standing up but tense.

  Then something out of the corner of his eye hits him and sends across the roof. It was a tendril of darkness. His memory sparks. He remembers hearing about the Shade ninja cns back home. Back in the day they were nothing but a story, but then the feudal times ended and the Shade ninjas came out of hiding as the need for assassins dwindled.

  Simon bursts his chi, and a shockwave of force knocks Garcia away from him. For a moment, everything is lit up.

  “Simon! Light up the roof, he’s using the shadows as a weapon!” Larry air speaks over to Simon.

  “Gotcha!” Simon responds and immediately forms a bright ball of chi above his head.

  Larry quickly spots Garcia by the edge of the roof, wincing from the sudden bright light. He races toward him, forming two air balls. Using both of them in unison, he sms them repeatedly into Garcia, who tries to block but fails. Larry keeps it up, driving him back until he sends both air balls into his chin in an upward move, then releases their pressure. Garcia is sent over the ledge and off the roof. Larry quickly bursts one st airball just above him to send him harder down into whatever was below. He hears Garcia nd on something crunchy.

  Simon lets the glowing ball go and meets Larry at the edge of the roof. Down below, they see Garcia ying limp on the roof of a police cruiser. Leaving a nice indent and a few concerned officers.

  “Dad!” Chris’ voice rings out.

  Larry turns to see their families walking toward them. He leans back against the short wall surrounding the roof. The cuts didn’t hurt too much, but knew they needed stitched up immediately.

  “I think Mr. Suave lost a bit of swagger.” He looks over the edge.

  The kids look over.

  “Whoa!” Jerry excims.

  “Come on. I think everyone is probably wondering about us,” Simon says as the dads are helped downstairs.