Disclaimer: See the Prologue
Chapter 16 – God Hand
Lao and Rose looked up at the tower from the sidewalk and saw the bright light flashed out from the top floor, where the both of them instantly became alarmed. The SWAT personnel standing outside as well noticed this as well, where they covered their eyes to avoid the glare.
"What the hell was that?" the SWAT leader cried, before turning to his walkie-talkie, "Have you advanced up the tower yet?"
We can't, sir, the other line replied, The security system's active and have lock down all floors except one to fifteen. And…dear God…it's a slaughterhouse in here.
The leader narrowed his eyes, "What's the count?"
Counting the heads we've recovered, the other line explained, A hundred dead, sir. Each one blown to pieces. What a goddamn mess.
Rose heard that and instantly her mind sunk. She holding the staff in her hands, she turned to Lao, where she allowed him to see the desperation in her eyes. Lao own two eyes softened upon seeing her sorrow.
"There's got to be something we can do," Rose said, "Is there anything at all?"
Lao frowned and shook his head, "I'm afraid we will have to let fate decide Jake and Smith's course."
Rose started to become frustrated, "That's all you have to say? Jake's up there and who knows what's happening to him right now."
Lao sighed, "I know that, Rose. But when it comes to the God Hand, we except Smith are powerless to stop him. I should know, he defeated me and would have killed me if it was not for Harman stepping in to deliver the final blow which finally killed me."
Rose rubbed her head in confusion, "What?"
"We killed the God Hand once," Lao replied, "But now for some reason he has returned. And somehow, we must make sure to vanquish him for good. And I believe Jake is the one to do it."
"Is he?" Rose asked, "Can he really do it?"
"We will have to see," Lao finally finished.
Rose nodded, where she finally understood the dragon master. She looked back up the tower, where the bright light coming from the top floor begun to slowly fade away. A look of sadnesss, yet hope, crossed her face.
"Jake," she said softly.
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Jake felt the light prick his face, where it gradually begun to fade away. He removed his hands from his face, where his vision begun to clear up. When it did, he found the man whom Harman had just blasted sitting behind the desk, his legs crossed. He saw that his skin was a sickeningly grey and his hair like black sludge. His eyes still shone pink.
Kun LanHe smiled, "Oops, I…guess my tricks didn't work on the both of you?"
Harman returned the smiled as he and Jake stood side by side, "Tricks are for kids, Kun. I'm an old man."
"Ah, yes," Kun replied calmly, "I could have sworn I almost fooled Mr. Long here. Did I not?"
Jake wanted badly to just fly up to this maniac and rip his head off, seeing how he is one responsible for killing all those dragons back at the Celtic Hotel, and the disappearance of all those people…which consequently, almost certainly becoming Heaven Smiles. He stepped forward from Harman towards the centre of the room.
"So you're the guy behind the Heaven Smile freaks?" Jake begun, glaring and clinching his fists, "I figure you'd be as ugly as your own science projects…and I believe I'm right."
"Harsh, Jake," Kun replied, "Very harsh. I expected better from the so-called protector of the magical community."
"Say wha…?" Jake cried comically.
"Jake, Jake, please," Harman said, interrupting him, "Let me handle this. Kun and I have some unresolved business to attend to."
Jake nodded, still glaring, "Make it quick. The sooner you stop talking the sooner I can set this smiley king on fire!"
And with that, Jake stepped back towards Harman and to his side, where Harman looked at Kun straight in the eye.
"Nothing has changed for thirty years," Harman explained, "No matter how many times you try, the results will be the same. The Magical Community knows of your existence and are quite ready for you now."
"Ahhhh, yes," Kun said, "Like our chess games. You always seem to win."
Jake's eyes widened, "Huh?"
"You know why?" Harman asked.
Jake turned to face Harman, completely way in other his head once again.
"You tell me," Kun said, leaning forward on the chair.
Jake scratched his forehead, "What are you…?"
Harman silenced Jake with a wave of his hand, where instantly Jake shut his mouth. He then smiled and leaned forward, "Because you're a bad player."
Kun leaned back and chuckled, before he threw his head back and begun to laugh maniacally, just like his smiles. This really assaulted Jake's ears, where he had sworn that after killing the Angel he wouldn't have to fight another smile ever again. He spun around to face Harman when he too begun to gently laugh.
'What the heck is up with these pair of geezers?' he thought bewildered, 'They friends or something?'
Both Harman and Kun soon stopped laughing, where the both of them then exchanged glares.
"A new breed of children will bring order to this age," Kun said, "The world will soon be rid of the foul touch of the magical creature and, if you wished, the terrorist Huntsclan."
"Not on my shift!" Jake exclaimed.
Harman smiled, "You're a good friend, Kun. But unfortunately, our interests towards the Magical Community are not mutual. We have both become burdened with so much…"
He narrowed his eyes.
"…we just don't have time for fun any more."
"Well," Kun giggled, "There's always time for fun. The American Dragon's here."
Shock crossed Jake's eyes, before a look of determination was evident on him…
"Dragon UP!"
…and he morphed, where he pounding his fists and faced the dark wizard, who then stood up from his seat and raised his right hand, where it begun to shine with pure energy. It was right there and then that Jake finally understood why he was called the God Hand.
"Let's dance!" Harman said, whose voiced surprisingly echoed.
Jake charged up a fireball and hurled it at Kun, where the wizard simply smiled as the fireball simply dissipated before it could even singe his clothes. Jake's eyes widened, before he hurled a dozen more fireballs, where each one would fade away.
"Amusing, Jake," Kun said, "Why don't you save your fire for THIS!"
Kun clapped his hands and instantly six smiles became to appear from the ground. These ones were different, however, as they were dressed in Huntsclan uniform complete with huntstaffs. Their smiles as well as theur crimson coloured eyes could be seen.
"Allow to introduce the Hunter Smiles," Kun said, "A perfected mix of Huntsclan and my children, proving that the Huntsclan has their uses after all."
"Whatever you say," Jake cried.
The hunters lunged at Jake, where one fired a sphinx hair net from his staff. Jake quickly dodged it and hurled a fireball at the hunter, downing him but not killing him. Jake then begun to parry with the five other hunters all at once, dodging each of their swings and countering with his own punches and tail swings. All before Harman and Kun as they watched with glee.
"Little…help…here," Jake cried in between ducking and swerving the hunters' strikes.
"You're doing fine, Jake," Harman simply said, smiling.
Jake roared and tackled the smiles, pinning them all to the ground. He brought his fist down towards one's chest and killed it, causing it to fade away in blood particles. The dragon was then kicked off, but managed to stay on his feet.
"Whoa!" Jake cried, "These guys are tougher than regular Huntspunks."
Kun replied, "Oh don't worry. It gets better."
The hunter previously fallen got up, where it then tore off his uniform, revealing the burly mutant that it was. It laughed maniacally, before wings sprouted out from behind it's back. Jake's eyes widened in shock.
"Aw, no way," he cried, "Definitely no way!"
Harman looked at Jake sternly, "Utilise the full extent of your dragon powers, Jake. Compared to you, that creature is nothing."
"You always talk too much," Kun said smugly, "Sit back, relax and enjoy the show."
The smile laughed intensely and beat it wings, where it charged at Jake. He ducked to avoid the charge and deliver a punch to it's gut from underneath. The smile simply laughed again and spun around, slapping Jake across the face with it's hand sending him flying
"AHHHHH!"
The smile then grabbed Jake by the wing before he could fall back onto the ground, and then threw him against the wall at the other side of the room, causing Jake to crack the wall. Before Jake could fall to the ground, semi-conscious, the smile grabbed him by the throat his face up to it's own smiling face. Jake coughed blood in it's face.
"That…the best you…can do?" Jake mumbled, before smiling weakly.
The smile reared up it's free hand in order to finish Jake off, when Jake moved his tail and gripped the smile's leg with it. The smile's eye widened and it laughed before it founded itself falling onto the ground, letting go of Jake's neck. Rage was now building up within the American Dragon as he flew up into the air.
"TAKE THIS, WILL YOU!" Jake exclaimed.
He then brought his foot down towards the smile, where it went through the smiles thick head. Blood spurted up at Jake, where he wiped it from his eyes and proceeded to bring his other foot through the smile's chest. Despite having no head, he smile laughed in pain, before it exploded in particles. The atomised blood engulfed Jake, where he was quickly startled when he expectantly absorbed it into body.
"AH!" Jake cried, "What…what just happened…I?"
He suddenly felt his strength return to him, where his eyes suddenly turned crimson red for a split second. Jake spun around to face the five remaining Hunter Smiles, where they each fired their huntstaffs at him. He dove out of harms way and fired back, reducing each and every one of them to ash, before they too exploded into particles.
Kun's smile faded, where he then crossed his arms in annoyance and rolled his eyes.
"Now, how the hell did you do that?" Kun asked.
Jake's eyes were still wide in shock as he stepped back towards Harman's side, himself not knowing how he could have absorbed the smile's blood. He quickly shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the dark wizard. He then smiled devilishly.
"Up for Round 2, Kunie?" Jake asked.
Kun shook his head, "You leave me no option, Mr. Long."
He raised his right hand, where it became to shimmer once again. Harman frowned and reached behind for his sniper rifle, where Jake felt mesmerised towards Kun's shining hand. He quickly pulled himself out of that brief bit of hypnosis, just in time to see Harman pull the trigger.
The bullet sailed towards Kun's hand, where the dark wizard caught it and he suddenly flew out through the office window and away from Pandarus Tower in the direction of the bullet. He sailed over the city all the way towards the Statue of Liberty and the rising sun. He gained control of his flight and landed on the top of the statue's head, where he dropped the bullet.
He then triumphantly raised his right hand, which still shimmered like the stars. He could sense Harman and Jake stepping towards the shattered window, where the dragon returned to his human form and look at him from the distance.
Harman wheeled before the desk and asked, "Are you awake from your dream?"
Kun smiled, having heard that.
"Harman, Jake," he responded, which they heard, "The size of the world has changed. It's changed to the size where you can control it with you hand just like a PDA. The world, and indeed the Magical Community…"
He paused for a second.
"…will keep getting smaller."
And with that Kun begun to laugh maniacally from the top of the Statue of Liberty, where it echoed around the entire city of New York. Jake's eye narrowed in determination as he could sense the evil that was Kun Lan and the Heaven Smile begin to increase tenfold.
"I'm ready for you, Kun Lan," Jake frowned, "There's no way I'm lettin' you take over my town. You, or your smiling freaks."
Harman smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, "Brave words young dragon. When he decides to make his next move, will you help us once again foil his plans to destroy all you care for?"
Jake looked over at Harman and nodded, "You'll see me around. When will he 'make his next move?'"
Harman shook his head, "I don't know. But when he does, we'll be waiting for him."
And with that, the both of them turned around and head back towards the way they came in. They took the elevator all the way to the lobby, where once again SWAT greeted with guns. The both of them kept a straight face as Jake pushed Harman through the front entrance and onto the street…where not only they found a crowd greeting them, but also Lao and Rose.
"JAKE!" Rose exclaimed, pushing through the crowd.
Jake's eyes widened and he smiled as he saw her, where he cried, "ROSE!"
She got under the police tape, where she ran towards Jake and nearly tackled him with a hug. Jake was a first startled by her, but he wrapped her arms around her back when he noticed her head buried in his chest, happy tears streaking down her face.
"It's ok, Rose," he whispered, "I'm ok. You're ok. We're all ok."
Harman smiled, obviously touched at the sight of their exchange. He then turned to the crowd and saw Lao, where he wheeled up to him.
"Hello again, my old friend," the crippled assassin greeted, "How long as it been?"
Lao smiled, "Too long, Harman. Has it been accomplished?"
Harman shook his head, "Unfortunately not. He has grown stronger than the last time he dared to strike at us."
Lao's smile faltered as doubt begun to settle in.
"But don't worry," he said, "This is nothing my servants nor your grandson can handle. But I must ask…"
He and Lao looked over at Jake and Rose as they still hugged, before they looked at each other and blushed, where Jake was approached by a couple of paramedics, where he agreed for them to check him over.
"…can the American Dragon handle the stress and realities for what is to come?"
Lao nodded, "I am sure of it."
It was then and there that the sun fully rose over the city, signalling yet another day…and the dawn of a great evil that would soon engulf the entire city and, indeed, the entire world. But as long as the American Dragon and the assassins of the group known as Killer7 still drew breath, maybe there would be hope for the future.
But, as always, fate must take it's course…
THE END…FOR NOW
And that's a wrap. I hope this has all made for a very mind-bending, open-ended read for all of you. But rest assure, this isn't the end...not by a long shot.
Team Dragon and the Smith Syndicate (AKA Killer7) will return...and by the end of the next volume, the Blood Dragon himself would have returned to bring death to the Magical Community. Can Jake stop him? And find out what is really going on?
- GamerJay.