Swan Song (Book Three of the Icarus Trilogy) (46 page)

"Good to know," Ryan said as he looked at his father figure.  He bit his lip as he remembered the vision he had seen as he was flying through the air.  It was horrifying at the time, but the fight was over.  It was just a dream.  He shook his head and worried the surface of the desk with his index finger.  "John... I'm nervous."

"What for?" Carver asked as he turned back to the young man on the desk.

"It's over.  We won, but I don't know.... I guess I never considered that we'd really come out on top.  I was just so obsessed with revenge for all of them, and for Charlotte," he said, not shying away from the woman's name anymore.  "Can this be it for me?"  The question caused the veteran to shift in his seat, his face full of confusion.

"Be it?" he asked, not quite understanding what the boy meant.  Ryan broke eye contact and then let his legs swing beneath him.

"I was never one for logistics and corporate trials, John.  I was only supposed to be a symbol, anyway.  I know they're looking for a leader, but I think I've made enough decisions for one lifetime," he said before looking back up into Carver's blue eyes.  They were filled with understanding.

"Kid, I don't think anybody is allowed to judge you if you want to step down.  You carried humanity for three months.  Someone else can take it from here," he said, smiling at his surrogate son.  "Just not me.  I'm out, too," he continued, which caused Ryan to laugh.

"Wouldn't dream of it, John," he said before looking down at his feet above the ground.  "God, Carver, what am I going to say out there?"

"Whatever," John said, waiting for the boy to look at him before touching his chest, "is in there.  Just like always.  Don't worry about fucking it up or saying the wrong thing.  You're allowed to start making mistakes," he concluded before nodding.  Jenkins gave him a forced smile before looking at his feet again, which caused him to remember the dreams or whatever they were.  He looked back at his new father and knew that it was time to share.

"Carver, there's something you should know," he started, waiting for the old man to say something.  When he didn't, Ryan took it as permission to continue.  "Pretty much since I was resurrected I've been having these ... dreams."

"Kid,"

"Let me finish," Ryan said before breathing in deeply.  "They've worried me for a while; I didn't know where they came from.  Then they started to get to me while I was awake.  When I went to grab Templeton from that window I slipped into the dream," he stated, waiting for Carver to scold him for such a reckless action, but silence greeted him.  Ryan couldn't look at him until the story was finished, so he cleared his throat and continued.

"At first I just tried to ignore them, they were just dreams, but then you told me about that myth.  And that's what made your code name so crazy, considering what happened in the, well, I guess I should call them hallucinations."

"What happened in the dreams?" Carver asked, finally speaking.  The young Crow looked his father figure in the eye, knowing that there wasn't another option.

"I was flying.  And I had these fake wings and.... they were falling apart.  I was Icarus," he said, sniffing, but he was shocked to see the old man was angry.

"Stop."

"But it was the story-"

"Stop it, Ryan!" Carver shouted, jumping up from his seat and grabbing the young man by the shoulders.  "They're just dreams!"

"But there's way too much in common," Jenkins pleaded, but he saw the tears starting to run down into the old man's beard.

"It's just your fucking subconscious, kid, and I don't want to hear anymore about it."

"But-"

"Icarus dies, Ryan!  He doesn't make it to the shore; he doesn't get to see the end of the story."

"I know," he started, but the old Crow shook him from his words.

"You got to the end of the story, kid.  I don't want to hear anymore of this nonsense.  After we get out of this tower you get to quit and you don't have to give a damn about myths or Goldstein's little clever jokes!  Don't. .... don't fuck with me like this.  Let me hope," Carver said, the tears flowing freely.  He didn't even want to consider what would have happened if Ryan hadn't made it.  When the messiah figure had jumped out that window, Carver's heart had broken.  He couldn't take something like that in his old age.

The old Crow was torn from his misery as Ryan stood up in front of him, kindness in his eyes.  Carver could tell that the boy understood; he always understood what the old man was thinking.

"I'll stop, John.  You're right.  It's over.  And I'm...." he started before smiling and laughing, shaking his head at the thought.  He was far too young for it to be appropriate.

"I'm going to retire as soon as we're out of here."

-

Darren burst out of the doors and was absolutely floored by what he saw.  All around the tower were thousands of people; the usually-empty center of the city was packed with citizens clamoring for justice, blood and violence. 

Darren thought that he might not get a chance to get out of there after all.

The former executive looked to his right and saw the woman in battle armor looking him over.  Jenkins had assigned a personal guard for the killer of Jasper Montgomery and Darren had seen that he was flanked by soldiers from the Eagles.  Neither soldier was happy escorting the executive and had said as much, but they followed orders just the same.  They hadn't bothered to give Christiansen their names, though.  When Darren looked at the unknown guard, she shrugged and nodded towards Lavender Street across that sea of people.

"Ready when you are, sir."

"No time like the present," Darren said as he turned and the three of them waded into the crowd.  Suddenly the angry faces were just centimeters away from him and he could feel spit flying out with some of their shouts.

"Why does he get to go free?!"

"Why isn't he dead?!"

"Back the fuck off!" the soldier at his left shouted.  He was a bigger man, but even then the crowd surged against them.  After just a few moments of strenuous pushing and desperate struggles, Darren was knocked to the floor and a wave of people washed over him.

The traitor panicked for a terrifying few seconds before a shot rang out and the crowd backed away.

"I said back the fuck off!" the soldier shouted as he turned to wave his gun at the civilians who had pushed the man to the ground.  Darren breathed hard as the woman soldier walked over and picked him up roughly and nodded towards Lavender Street, which had appeared as the crowd had parted.

"Time to go, sir," the woman said before walking past him and guarding the executive's back.  Darren gathered himself before walking forward, but after just a moment he realized that he didn't feel the weight of his handgun.  He checked his pockets and the street below him but he couldn't find the weapon.

"Shit," he muttered as he frantically searched, but soon he was poked from behind with the barrel of a gun.

"Move, Christiansen," the Eagle said, which caused Darren to give up any efforts to look further.  He hurried forward to join the other EFI member and looked at the angry faces around him.  The only reason he hadn't been ripped apart was that these two righteous soldiers were holding the frenzied crowd at bay.

As they made their way away from where Darren had fallen, he spotted the gleam of his pistol a few meters away, having been kicked from his position.  Darren was confused by the slippers on either side of the weapon and he looked up to see a woman in her early twenties dressed in her pajamas.  It was a strange sight, but he realized quickly that he would have to abandon the handgun, as the crowd would not take kindly to him having a weapon.

Darren Christiansen and his two guards exited from the area and Elizabeth didn't necessarily know how to react.  She had been taken out of her stupor in that moment and her mind was blank; she had felt too much emotion that day.  The broken woman looked down at her feet and saw the pistol, not entirely understanding what it was doing there.  In any case it was dangerous just lying there on the street, so Liz bent over and picked it up, holding it in her right hand.

Elizabeth Kane looked over the weapon before sighing and then looking towards the Tower of Babylon.  She didn't know why, but for some reason it looked like it was about to topple over.  She walked forward through the empty space left by Darren's exit and soon the crowd followed her, pushing against her back like a wave.

The young woman was adrift in that sea of people once more.

-

Templeton looked to his side as the other two Crows walked out of the tower.  He smiled and walked over to the messiah figure, who was shocked by all of the people only a few meters away.

"Jesus," Ryan said, but Templeton only chuckled as he handed over the microphone to the leader of the revolution.  Darius could see James smiling near the door, but he quickly turned his gaze back to his fellow Crow.

"Again, Ryan.  Not yet," Darius said as the young man grabbed the microphone and shook his head.  Templeton moved over to the man's left side, Carver standing by his right, and held his rifle in front of him.  This is how history would remember them, the three Crows standing in front of Jasper's tower.

"Don't worry about it, kid.  Just say what you want," Carver said as he took his place on Ryan's other side.  Jenkins breathed out deeply before he brought up the microphone to his mouth and stared out on his people.  They were not the angry crowd they were just a few minutes ago; every one of those faces was smiling and shouting in joy.  Ryan couldn't make out their words, but he knew that it didn't matter.

They had won and it was time to celebrate.

"Everyone, please, I'd like to say a few words," Ryan said, his voice booming out over the people.  The noise shocked him at first, but he didn't let it show in his face.  The Crow cleared his throat and breathed in deeply.

"Six months ago I was given a choice.  A sympathetic judge had offered me a way out of working in the slave yards of Demeter for fourteen years.  All I had to do was play in the games; all I had to do was fight and die for six months and then I could get back to being a delinquent and a thief."

"I didn't realize it, but that was the start of my journey.  Just a few days after that judge offered me my ticket out of the slave yards, I found myself in a worse place.  Eris was Hell, my friends.  Anyone who has been there knows that to be the truth; the EFI was founded to save all of those people.  The games were institutionalized slavery where men and women died for entertainment.  We all know this now, but back then I was completely ignorant," Ryan said as he looked to his right, seeing Carver looking at him in approval.  The messiah figure mustered his nerve and looked back out at everyone who had gathered to see the Trade Union fall.

"It didn't take long, my friends.  After just a month of training I was sent into those battlefields and in my second game I was killed for the first time.  I cannot express how painful it was, or how bad any of the other deaths were.  I cannot tell you the pain of resurrection.  All I can tell you was that it drove me to suicide," he said, his thoughts returning to Carver by his side.  If nothing else, he regretted letting down the old Crow.

"I was a coward, my friends.  Up here it seems like I'm a victorious hero, but I'm telling you that I did not start out like this.  I had no conviction.  I merely thought that death was a better option than continually dying for the public's amusement."

"When I committed suicide, another man was created in my place.  He is never mentioned, but that man was so strong in character that he never had to commit suicide to become a hero.  That Ryan Jenkins was created in a lab, his mind completely artificial, but he overcame those limitations.  He was my inspiration, ladies and gentlemen.  He was the potential that I had not fulfilled."

"He.... he died there, my friends," he said as tears started to threaten his composure.  "When I met him I knew him for myself, but he was different.  He had overcome his very nature to become the man he wanted to be.  I looked up to him, ladies and gentlemen, as the brother I had never had.  And when he died, I lost my family."

"But I gained a new one.  All of you, everyone who has struggled with me until today and will continue after the Trade Union is a thing of the past; all of you are my family.  Jonathon Carver and Darius Templeton, these are my brothers in arms, but we all belong to each other.  This is our day and our victory, for today we have beaten the odds.  We have stood up and shown that evil has no place in
OUR
world," Ryan shouted as he looked out over the people gathered in front of the tower, all of them cheering.

"There have been far too many casualties," Ryan spoke over the crowd in a somber tone, bringing the cheers back down.  "I have lost.... I have lost so many people dear to my heart.  I have buried far too many friends.  Gregory Feldman, Christopher Roberts, Hector Cortes, Zachary Goldstein; these names haunt me every day.  They are the men who fought and died beside me from the beginning, but I'm telling you now that as special as they are to me, they are just a few of many.  A whole planet died during this struggle, and I'm sure some of them were your family."