Late

The wind was screeching across the young man’s ears. It was like the howling of some ancient creature in stories no longer told, and barely even known. The clouds above were pitch black, as they always were. Day and night could only be discerned through the viewing of a watch. This boy’s particular watch read out across a flip open display board. The black numbers reflected in his eyes, 0052. He flipped the display back down, letting it set into place in his forearm before adjusting his collar. He knew he was late, but at the same time he didn’t care. He knew that things would work out, as they always seemed to, and besides…he was preoccupied. He needed to clear his head in preparation to the meeting he was meant to attend.

He pulled an object out of an inside pocket of his dark green jacket. Pushing a button on the small oval shaped object, made a soft hook flick out. He looped the hook about his right ear, then produced a small bud, and brought it around the back of his head, placing it into his left ear. Pressing another button on the object, now caused what looked like a single frameless spectacle eclipse his eye. A soft glow began emanating as he scrolled through the choices allowed him on this particular device. He went through a list of items, until finally settling on the one he was looking for on this morning.

The boy tilted his head back and stared up at the starless heavens, with but a single faint light hiding somewhere beyond the black. What was left of the moon illuminated very little, but then, he didn’t need much. Not with the endless lights of The City all about and below him. He closed his eyes now, as the faint popping sound in his ears began to evolve into something more.

He let the music fill his ears and mind before finally opening his eyes, and taking off across the rooftop. Half the way to the ledge, he was running, but then as he got closer to it, a neon phosphorescent glow began to emanate from the bottoms of his boots. As he leapt from the ledge of the skyscraper where he was the lights from his boots erupted, forming a thin line down the middle of each, from toe to heel. A trail of green light flowed from behind his feet as he threw them forward slightly, landing on one of many of the information cables that were linked up to every building in The City like an enormous spider web.

Oh I can't believe what I've done.
Unlocked the door, to my secret place.
Thrust onto me,
With arrows in my heart;
The Inevitable,
My soul's ripped apart.

He skated along, just an inch above physically touching the cables he rode from one building to another on his deviated route to the meeting. The volume to the music began to fade, though not by any doing of his, and a face appeared in a small box on the visual display. The other man looking at him, had a look of pure fury, though this was something that he was quite used to seeing, especially as of late.

“Gaia!”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“What do you mean what’s up? Where the fuck are you?”

“I’m…”

“I’ll tell you where you’re not, you’re not here. Dammit Gaia! You knew we were taking on the Jackals today.”

“They’re not a whole lot to worry about Pyre. I didn’t figure it would matter…”

“Dammit, even if that was the only concern now, that’s hardly the point. They’ve grown, and you know that, that’s part of why we were meeting now!”

“So what’s one or two more of that rabble to you?”

“It’s not just them Gaia, it’s the Carnies, they’ve allied.”

“What?”

“The Carnies are here too, we’re barely holding ground! Get your ass out here now! Shit…”

The link faded, sending the red haired man into static before finally disappearing all together.

“Shit…”

Gaia pulled most of his dark green hair back and tied it off in a knot at the rear of his skull. The only hair left was two long grouped strands running down the sides of his face. The music volume automatically adjusted back to its original blare as he set himself on a more direct course for the designated meeting spot. He looked up at the sky again a moment, and noticed that something flew across the faint glow of the half moon, and smiled to himself.

I can't stand the thought of life
Spent without your wicked eyes,
Spent without our precious fights,
Spent without your tainted lies,
Spent without a restless night...

“Good to know you’re with me angel.” He said.

He came close to the meeting now and took one final leap, straight up into the air, with outstretched arms. Two hands closed about his own and he was now flying, instead of merely gliding above a surface. He looked up into a pair of green eyes, and a smile he had grown to love. He pulled himself up and embraced the angel that was carrying him to the battle field.

“Slept in again Gaia?”

Her voice was always had the strange mixed effect of both calming him, and making him nervous at the same time. But he loved it all the same.

“I had another dream love.”

“Another one, already?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

“You aren’t angry?”

“You know me.”

“If only Pyre were as understanding.”

“He may be if you give him a chance to be. And if you stop being such a smart ass to him all the time.”

“I can’t really help that.”

“Well, you can do better than you do.”

“Maybe.”

“We can talk about it later though dear.”

“You’re right. The Carnies, and the Jackals together?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either, but there they were.”

“How are we fairing?”

She smiled at him again.

“Much better now.”

This time she pulled him up to meet her lips.

“For now though love, this is where you get off.” She said looking down into the upcoming alleyway.

“Well I think we can talk about that later too.” Gaia said with a wink.

“I suppose we can. I’ll see you down there in a second.”

“Don’t be long.”

With that, the two simultaneously released their grips and Gaia began to plummet toward the alley. He blew one final kiss to the Blue haired girl as she flew on and then turned to face the oncoming steel and concrete below.

And I can't stand the thought of life
Spent without your wicked eyes,
Spent without our precious fights,
Spent without your tainted lies,
Spent without a restless night,

Spent without your love in mine...

His boots flashed to life once again after disengaging when in his love’s grasp. Green and blue electricity flowed and crawled along two tracks imbedded in his boots, and light streamed out the back like his feet had tails.

He straightened out after just passing the tip of the building pass by his feet, and the blades made contact, keeping him grounded to the side of the apartment while never actually touching on it. Gaia got into a crouched position to help speed him up, then readjusted his course slightly, as figures came into focus from the ground level.

Just outside this alley, he could see Pyre, fighting off a wave of Jackals, his red leather bomber jacket, looking even darker, no doubt covered with blood by now. Not too far from him was Violet taking on one of the Carnies. Shade and Blitz were further even beyond them, fighting back to back. But directly below was Oak, on his knees and Sol, the only thing between him and three Carnies. The entire area was littered with Jackals. They really had increased their number.

Gaia curved first toward the outside of the alleyway, and then turned tightly cutting along back toward the dead end, and the five people gathered in it. Sol saw Gaia coming and smiled just before ducking to the opposite building wall, carrying Oak with him. Two of the Carnies turned in time to see Gaia just a second before he plowed into them, picking them up in the air and then depositing them into an open dumpster toward the end of the alleyway. He continued on a course back up the building until gravity slowed his ascent, then he disengaged his boots and fell downward once again. The Carnies were beginning to reorient themselves in the trash bin when Gaia adjusted himself midair to do a front spin, straightening out one leg, his heel connected with the partially open lid, slamming it fully shut on the tall one as he was coming to his feet.

Gaia was firmly planted on the ground now, but was not quite done with the two in the trashcan. He spun once, then swept his leg upward kicking the dumpster sending it rolling into the wall. He swung around with a smile. Sol smiled back, and even Oak who was bleeding from the head managed a small smirk. The third Carnie looked scared and desperate, and began for the distracted Sol and his injured friend. A whistling sound entered the alley, and a shadow fell on the Carnie, before lifting him up off his feet, high into the air. He looked up into the fierce green eyes of a young woman, just before she tossed him up and ahead of her a little bit, before grabbing his legs and throwing him through a top story window. She descended to the alley below to the sounds of screaming and more crashing objects.

“Sure is good to see you Gaia.” Sol said, lifting Oak to his feet. “And it’s good to have you back Sky. Helped fetch our forgetful comrade did you?”

Sol’s usually yellow and orange hair had specks of red dotting it all over. He was bruised and cut, but as usual his golden eyes glowed with the happiness of an infant. Oak on the other hand was looking pale, making his brown hair and eyes stand out even more than usual. Gaia picked up his dark cowboy hat and placed it on his tilted head. He seemed to revive a little and smirked more. Sky circled over to his other side and helped keep him propped up as they lead the way out of the alleyway. Gaia moved behind them, as usual for little other reason than to see the perfect way her wings, when folded down, framed her ass just right as she walked. He was already looking very forward to the night.

A glass bottle streaked across his face, inches from his nose, and crashed against the wall as he exited the alley behind his friends, jerking him from fantasy.

“Sorry about that. I guess I’m so unaccustomed to seeing you, that I must’ve mistaken you for the enemy.”

Pyre stood with Violet, Shade, and Blitz to his sides. His red eyes burning a hole into Gaia. Pyre had that ability. He was the strongest of their gang, and was also the leader. What made him more dangerous though, was his fury. It was like nothing ever seen before. It was almost a weapon in itself, the way he wielded it. Gaia almost never felt fear, not even from Pyre, but it didn’t effect how powerfully he felt his leader’s anger at this moment.

“Sorry I’m late, but I’m here now right? That’s gotta count for something.”

“It doesn’t count for much when the fight is all but over Gaia.”

“Over for you maybe, but in case you didn’t notice, Oak was in a bad spot.”

“You son of a bitch. You think you swooping in here just in time to help out, with a fight you should have been here for in the beginning somehow makes up for it?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying…”

“Guys, can we drop this for now?” Blitz interrupted.

The other two men turned to him as he paced away to inspect some of the bodies. Blitz was without a doubt, the best fighter amongst them, and the most physically capable. The only reason Pyre was stronger, was the strange ability he seemed to have over people. Blitz moved from one body to another, stopping only for a few seconds studying each body. His long silver hair with small electric blue dye marks in the shapes of lightning reflected the light around it. His white hakama was spotless still, even after this large scale brawl. The lightning bolt on his back was without a single blemish.

“What’re you looking at?” Gaia asked.

“Their faces.”

“Lord why?”

“They’re identical.”

“Ok, so they’re all ugly, it’s not news.”

“No Gaia. They are all identical, they are the same person.”

The rest of the group began to kick over fallen bodies of the Jackals and noticed the same pattern.

“What the fuck is going on?” Pyre asked.

“This would explain how they amassed so many so effortlessly.” Blitz answered.

“What?”

“They’re clones. Notice how some of them are already decaying? Clones are never as resilient as the originals. You can’t get a clone to come out without flaws.”

“So where are the originals?” Sky asked.

“If we see any Jackals who aren’t decaying right now, I think those may be it, otherwise they’re the earliest generations of clones. Copies directly made of the original.”

“Never noticed before, but they did suddenly jump in members from the last time we fought them remember? They started out at five members, and Oak and I handled their asses ourselves. Next time they were ten, and Pyre took them all.” Sol added.

“And?” Pyre asked.

“Well, I’ll bet anything that there’s still only five real members of the Jackals. If we look hard enough we’ll probably just find identical guys of the same five originals.”

“He’s right.” Blitz concurred.

“How many you figure are here Blitz?” Sol asked.

He did a quick survey of the area, excluding the Carnies.

“I’d say fifty.”

“Man. If they did the majority of that themselves, then I’d bet you the originals aren’t even here. Cloning takes it out of you, so that amount, they’re probably back home sleeping it off.”

“I don’t give a shit where they are.” Pyre stepped in. “I want to know who the hell is helping them. They were all too stupid to pull off cloning alone.”

“Does it really matter?” Gaia asked, standing behind Sky, tickling her wings.

“It does when they send a small army after us. And to have allied themselves with the fucking Carnies?”

“Well, the founder Jackal, was a Carnie member. It’s not like they aren’t necessarily connected.”

Sky’s wings twitched, partially from Gaia’s constant play, but also from a sudden breeze.

“Sirens. The police are coming.”

She was always the first one to hear something.

“Shit. It must’ve been the one through the window. Alright, let’s break this up and meet back at Eden.”

“Nice going Sky.” Violet said before turning away.

As the authorities arrived on the scene, they found the decaying body of dozens of clones, broken concrete, and glass and assorted other objects littering the streets. The only other signs of anything occurring were scorch marks, skid marks, and what looked like residue from glider blades. There was nobody to take into custody, even if they were every really interested in street gangs to begin with.