Anthology of Ichor III: Gears of Damnation (49 page)

Two Helpful Handz formed behind the running men and each man was grabbed by the scruff of his neck then thrown back deeper into the apartment. Those handz began to stretch and grow larger until they resembled Kombat Handz. With a surge of energy the handz closed their fists. When they reopened there were two large black lips in the middle of each palm. The two men were back on their feet and seemed frozen to the spot they were standing. He didn't need to see them shaking to know they were afraid. More disgust filled The Beast With A Thousand Hands.
Did they not know who they were facing?
The two large handz moved closer to the scared stiff soldiers. The lips began to part and reveal a mouth with rows and rows of triangle shaped teeth. The mouths started to open and close snapping as they approached the men. The Greedy Handz were hungry and it was feeding time.

One of the men reached for a grenade and a summoned Deadly Hand darted in to severe the arm. Blood sprayed everywhere as the man ran for the apartment door. A Greedy Hand cut him off and in one fluid motion it bit off his head. Before the body could hit the floor, the Greedy Hand started snapping and biting at the rest of the body. At the stump of the Greedy Hand an anus appeared. Flesh and blood with bits of black cloth began oozing out from it. Suddenly the hand expanded and burst in a silver spray with bits of blood and flesh. It seemed it had bitten into a grenade. No matter. He only needed one to finish the job.

Upon seeing what happened to his comrade, the other soldier took off sprinting toward a window. Jumping through it he had decided a fall from eight stories would be better than being eaten. The last Greedy Hand flew over to the window as the man began to fall. The hand snapped its mouth and bit the man in two. Waist and legs fell eight stories to land on the pavement below. The Greedy Hand finished its meal and released the remains onto the floor. It dissolved into a silver mist a few moments after.

With the first threat on his level finished he launched attacks on all floors. Using Helpful Handz to open elevator doors, Ghost Handz slipped into hallways filled with soldiers. Using Greedy and Deadly Handz he attacked them without mercy. Abruptly the Ghost Hand watching his staircase door saw it open. In one quick motion, a soldier garbed like the first unit, used a pistol to shoot the Ghost Hand. Mr. Handz froze up in shock. That soldier knew about his Ghost Hand and took it out before the Deadly Handz. The Deadly Handz dissolved and vanished before Handz could get the other Ghost Hand out of the apartment with the two soldiers. Did that soldier know his weakness? Without a Watchful or Ghost Hand watching and sustaining the materialized handz, all other handz would vanish. He summoned another Ghost Hand as he returned to the hallway.

Five men in the same garb as the first eight were squatting and ransacking the dead bodies. They took pistols and clips. Grenades were added to their empty waists. The Ghost Handz floated closer and saw that these men carried no M16's. One of the men released a pin on a grenade and squatted there holding it. Mr. Handz moved the Ghost Handz back thinking these soldiers suicidal. A cloud of smoke covered the hallway and Handz cursed himself. It was just a diversion to keep the Ghost Handz from seeing them. He sent one hand into the cloud and it was immediately shot. Ghost Handz were fragile compared to the other handz, but these men were shooting into the weak spot of the eyes. These men made a cloud of smoke to hide their movements. These men were good.

Out of the smoke they came with pistols blazing shooting into the air. They were trying to hit the last Ghost Hand. Summoning four Deadly Handz he tried to stab the man in front. The man ducked and the others took up positions behind him. Their pistols fired turning the handz into silver mists. Mr. Handz watched as the men darted into the door of the apartment next to his. The door burst open from the impact. Disgust filled Jesus's Monster thinking these men cowards as well. He sent more Deadly Handz after them only to have them shot in the doorway. They weren't retreating! They were strategizing. By using the only entrance they could watch it and shoot anything coming into the apartment. Although he didn't see the point. They had trapped themselves.

Moving the Ghost Hand to the wall next to the door frame, he made it walk along the wall on fingertips. It crawled like a spider to the frame. He slowly started to peek in and summoned a Helpful Hand to distract them. As they fired on the Helpful Hand, he peeked in. Two men were lying on the ground facing the doorway with pistols pointed at it. The others were across the room taking up positions in front of a wall. He saw them load up clips and point their guns at the wall. They began to fire at the wall. The wall gave way to their bullets and punched through. The wall Mr. Handz shared with the apartment next door.

Bullets came flying into his apartment and he threw himself onto the floor in front of the couch. Feathers from his couch filled the air as they tried to shoot him. He had underestimated these guys. He concentrated and the attacks on the other floors ceased. He saw dead bodies laying everywhere on some floors. It was then he noticed men concealing themselves on different floors. He would have to deal with them after these five. Ghost Handz on every floor balled into half fists and stopped moving. Lots of attention would be needed here. A pair of Ghost Handz formed inches above his head. At the same time four Helpful Handz appeared in the air above the firing galley wall. They reformed into Kombat Handz taking up most of the air above the wall. Using the peeking hand he watched and waited for them to reload.

Thinking them the same as the first eight had been a mistake. George always told him battle was like chess. You always sent your pawns in first. These men were definitely knights and bishops, not pawns. They had made a good plan to defeat him. Unluckily for them Mr. Handz was ever evolving. He could adapt to any situation. He was co-leader of the AWC once and his pride and honor were always ever present. His pride wouldn't let him be defeated like this and his honor demanded justice for Jenny's death. He gathered himself and readied his handz for the counter attack. Time to show them what he was made of.

The bullets stopped firing and he saw them reloading. The two guardsmen still hadn't noticed the hand peeking form the doorway. It was very hard to notice a Ghost Hand when it wasn't moving. He brought the Four Kombat Handz down from the ceiling. They began to punching the wall over and over again. The peeking hand saw the wall collapse into the room and the men retreated to the center of the apartment.

Summoning two dozen Deadly Handz above the destroyed wall, he sent them into the midst of the soldiers. Shots fired as he summoned five Greedy Handz above the two guardsmen. One noticed in time to roll out of the way of a biting mouth. The other wasn't so lucky as his legs and arms began getting chewed while he still laid on the floor. The other guard grabbed a grenade from his waist and tossed it at the Greedy Handz. He had to know he was too close, but mission above life was a soldier’s motto. The explosion destroyed not only the Greedy Handz and the soldiers, but the peeking hand got caught in the blast as well. The invisible handz above his head moved through the broken wall to survey the damage.

In the middle of the room the three soldiers left were getting to their feet. No Deadly Handz were left so they must have been shot before the explosion. He summoned more and the soldiers emptied clips into the murderous handz. It seemed that at least one soldier was out of ammo because he threw his pistol to the floor and drew a long combat knife from the waist of his back. Mr. Handz sent two Deadly Handz to make quick work of him. The soldier’s knife flashed in the air deflecting the long sharp fingernails.

He decided then that the knife wielder was unit leader as he saw the last two men take up position behind him firing over his shoulder. After a few seconds only the two handz being deflected were still flying about. He made a diving motion with them and the knife wielder did as expected. Trying to deflect them this time was a mistake as Mr. Handz made the handz dart to either side of the knife wielder and stab the other two men in their necks. Now it was just Mr. Handz and the unit leader. He would end this himself.

Standing in his apartment, he made his way to the broken wall. Using the Kombat Handz that broke the wall, he cleared a path so he could walk a few feet into the next room. He lined those Kombat Handz up side by side and created a wall with them between him and the windows. The knife wielder took one look at him and reached down to the body of a companion to draw another knife. Obviously he knew why he was coming in person. A duel was about to be fought and he knew it as he moved a little into a more clear spot and took a stance.

With each knife in his hands Mr. Handz knew this guy was a veteran of combat. His stance had no openings and he gave off a dangerous presence. A Ghost Hand floated closer to the man and he didn't move.
Handz realized that he knew it was there but the man ignored it because it was inevitable.
Not a single patch. Where the patches were supposed to be was torn cloth. The man had removed all identifying marks from his uniform.

"Who are you?" He shouted to the man across the room. "You fight well. I would know your name."

Silence greeted him as the knife wielder stayed in his stance. Two shapes formed in the air a few feet from the man. They formed two Deadly Handz but the color scheme was different. The handz were the color of pitch black, even the palms. While the fingernails were blood red and half a foot longer than normal. Mr. Handz raised his arms and felt his mind connect to these two new handz. Like Deadly Handz, these Remote Handz could cut objects but had to be controlled manually to work best. They were much stronger
and could cut through objects the normal Deadly Handz couldn't.
He wiggled his own fingers and saw the Remote Handz do the same. Now the duel could begin.

"Very well nameless ronin. You have the honor of dying by the handz of Mr. Handz. Prepare yourself." He told the man.

The handz darted in and were deflected as soon as they were close. The knife wielder tried stabbing the handz, but he pulled them back every time. He would try stabbing himself and get deflected. He would try slashing and get parried over and over again as the fingernails flashed against steel. Mr. Handz was swinging his arms faster and faster. His gloves and trench coat becoming grey blurs as he tried to get the upper hand. The soldier put up a very good fight. So good that Mr. Handz smiled with excitement. He hadn't had a fight this good in over twenty years. Not since time with the AWC. His warrior instincts were returning to him. He was so rusty. He felt a little ashamed of weak skills these days. This fight would help him get back on his game.

Eventually the knife wielder's movements slowed and Mr. Handz started to get a few cuts in. Blood dripped off the fingernails as they darted in and
out, rending his flesh.
Being a psychic with super human endurance mean that the soldier would tire before him. And as he did, Mr. Handz cut both of the man's wrists in quick succession. Pulling his arms back he thrust forward driving the nails into the shoulders of the soldier. Soldier and handz flew through the air to a nearby wall pinning the man against it.

He walked over to the pinned man while the Kombat Handz shifted and moved creating a continuous wall for him to hide from snipers. He saw the man breathing deeply as he got a little closer and realized he was a little out of breath himself. He was so rusty. The man had been good! As he approached, the man struggled and two more Deadly Handz darted in stabbing his thighs pinning him even more. A Helpful Hand appeared in front of the masked face and the soldier began shaking his head violently. The hand dissolved and he stopped walking to the man.

"So you wish to die as a nameless and faceless warrior?" He said to him respectfully. If the man hadn't helped kill his Jenny he would have loved to fight beside him. The pinned man nodded. "So be it" He stretched an arm behind him like a baseball pitcher. He threw his arm and a Deadly Hand appeared flying toward the man. As it flew the pinned man impressed him even further by raising his arm and saluting while still pinned. The Deadly Hand flew with one fingernail outstretched and landed in the man's throat.

No blame for Jenny's death could be laid on this man. He had just been following orders. In his last moments he had showed himself to be a man of much honor. Even with the pain of Jenny's death he was saddened at the loss of such a fighter. He began concentrating on the other floors much more vigorously. He had noticed a few things while he fought these brave men. Like that on the fifth, third, and garage level there were soldiers with skills as great as these five. He also noticed a lone soldier trying to make his way down each level. He smiled. If today was the day he died it would be at the hands honorable men
. If he had to die at least he would show them what it meant to pick a fight with Mr. Handz.

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Anthology of Ichor I: A Devil in the Details