Monsters and Men

Kick It Up A Notch

You gotta kick it up a notch / If you ever wanna be free

~~~

James and Squid sprint down the stairs in tow, leaving Justin behind to read. They run out to see the area where the door was blown up, leaving a massive hole in its place. The floor remains intact, somehow. James manages to slip beside Squid to see it.

Dan, or well, the vexed version of him, is standing by the door. He's bent over with his axe gripped in both hands. James can see him breathing heavily, chest rising up and down. Somehow, he doesn't seem messed up from his previous injuries. An aura of frustration emanates off of him.

Oh god, he's really that angry, is he?

James pulls out his bow and points it at Dan's head, and Squid's got his axe in front of him in a defensive position.

Dan looks up at them, and James can see the sparks of pure unadulterated rage coming from his eyes. His expression is twisted into a snarl, and James can see the specks of blue that come out from under Dan's eyes. Were they always there?

"So, you've finally made it out of that place." He growls, making eye contact with James. It unnerves him slightly. "Took you long enough."

"What, upset we outsmarted you?" Squid teases. James immediately elbows him, warning him to be cautious.

"You may have outsmarted us once, but you aren't going to get past us again. Punk." The vex using Dan's usual insults stings slightly, but James tries to use it against them.

"Don't use Dan's voice to get your points across. We know what you are."

"Yes, we're the vex, what about it?"

"And we'll be the next in the books to defeat you!" Squid yells out, triumphant already.

"Of course, you found the library. There's a reason we hid that from you."

Did they know of the contents there? James doesn't get much time to ponder. A force grabs onto his wrist as he's flung forward to behind where Dan stands. Squid lands beside him. Trying to ignore the feeling of scraping against the floor, James pushes himself up, grabs his bow and arrow and equips the arrow chamber. He points it towards Dan's back, but Dan's already turned to face them, axe in tow.

"Might as well give up now, buds. We're not playing soft on you. We've found our perfect host." He threatens, looking down onto the duo. Right 'perfect host.' - and their friend.

"We're not playing soft either!" Squid yells, jumping up and ramming his axe towards Dan. Dan only swings back, allowing the weapons to scrape together a bit before reversing the swing and allowing Squid to fly back from the shot. He rushes towards him and raises his axe to get a blow, but James has already loaded his bow and has fired a set of arrows at him. They fly through the air with a sound that might as well be gunshots. Ducking and letting the arrows fly out over his head, Dan screams out in anger before dashing towards James. He side-steps out of the way, loading his bow and pointing it at Dan, who skids on the floor and whips around to face him.

Just as James releases the string, the translucent wings appear on his back again (so that's what they are - vex wings) and he launches up into the air. He spins his axe while dodging the constant flurry of arrows James shoots, but he might run out soon, so he takes a second.

Dan uses that second to fly towards him, kicking him to the ground. James winces at the kick to his stomach, before pointing his bow up. It's not much use though - maybe he should've taken a spare short distance weapon, a bow doesn't much help. Dan holds the axe between his eyes, intending to slice him in two. Instead, James switches to just holding an arrow and stabbing by Dan's boot. He dodges in time, but it gives James enough space to roll out and dash back, and Squid enough time to use his tentacles to grab at Dan's free hand.

James runs over to the other side of the room and pulls the arrows he can reach out of the wall. Pulling hard, James manages to rescue enough of them to turn around and confidently load again. Downing a healing potion, he turns to look at where Dan and Squid are. He can see Squid using his tentacles to throw Dan away from him, Dan ending up having to fly in the air to avoid smashing through the window. James shoots an arrow at him for good measure.

It really feels like they're the next heroes of that book. The cowboy and bald scientist. The werewolf and the lookalike.

Dan lets it pass by him and looks at James with contempt. He throws his axe right towards him, and it takes James a second to register it. By the time he's moved out the way, it's already left a small gash in his sleeve, and he grabs the wound. Next thing he knows, he's pinned against the wall with such force that it blows his breath out. He switches to his arrow again and attempts to slash his attacker over the neck, but it doesn't work. Dan pulls the axe out of the wall, leaving a dent beside James' head.

"Finally, we've got you here. Guess your little psychic hearing couldn't save you, could it?"

Psychic hearing? He hadn't known anything of that. Is that the explanation for him hearing the vex constantly? Now's not the time to ask about it.

Tauntingly, Dan slides the axe over James' forehead, leaving the type of thin cut that constantly stings. James bites his lip and attempts to slice through Dan's arm, but he gets saved by Squid slamming the blunt end of his axe into Dan's hip, pulling him away. James gets his breath back as Dan and Squid slash at each other. In, out, in out. Eventually, Dan pulls Squid's tentacle, causing Squid to squeal slightly. Taking the chance, the vexed Dan throws Squid into the remaining part of the wall behind them. The force causes him to land back first, and Squid shouts out in his sudden pain.

"Squid!" James yells, shooting an arrow at Dan's back. Dan whips around and blows it, before grabbing James by the neck and throwing him to the wall. James uses the arrow in his hand and stabs it into the surface behind him, taking out most of the force. It also serves as a lever so he doesn't fall to the ground. Dangling off of the arrow which feels as if it could snap at any moment, James looks down and gulps.

Dan dashes up to Squid. who squirts ink at him to defend himself. Dan backs up, making a disgusted face.

"God, you damn fish."

"I'm not a fish.." Squid mutters.

Dan wipes the black liquid off of his face before looking up at James, making eye contact and smirking.

James can feel the flow of wings behind him as Dan grabs the arrow he's grabbing onto, before crackling through it with one fell swoop as James gasps in fear.

Falling isn't fun, even if it's only a few metres. James' stomach fills up with fear as he falls onto Squid, being caught in his friend's arms. The two look at each other for a split second but they can't help noticing the amount of small cuts the two of them share. They focus on the threat at hand, which flutters down beside them, deadly weapon in hand. His wings seem to disintegrate behind him again.

"Now we've got you!" Dan laughs, and suddenly it doesn't just sound like Dan but a million mocking voices, all high pitched enough that they hurt James' ears.

The axe raises high above the two before they can move, and they hold their hands up as one last defence.

They didn't need it though, for a familiar voice rang through the hall.

"Don't you dare hurt them."

~~~

A/N

Three chapters left. We're almost done!