Part Eighteen

Malak looked Hanuman sternly in the eye, letting the tension build before speaking again. Obviously hoping that by increasing the anxiety then offering a way out the members of the Emergent would be more likely to accept it.

"As far as I am concerned, this can end here and now," said Malak. "Gilgamesh, Twilight, Gizma, Ekimmu, DarkForce, The Academic, Storm Warning, Strike! and Ninurta were the primary villains in this. To my knowledge, they were the only ones who harmed or endangered others directly. They made their own choices; all the rest of you did was decline to stop them. You may go. Though I have no say over what law enforcement authorities may do."

"As far as you are concerned?!" screamed Strike!, starting forward, fists clenched. "You killed my friend!"

"No!" said Hanuman, raising his right palm towards Strike! but not taking his eyes off the winged figure. He stepped further away from the statue of Jefferson, moving towards Malak. "I will handle this."

He shrugged, and was suddenly in armor, with sword in scabbard on his belt. He drew the sword, which burst into flame. He pointed the weapon at Malak in a dramatic gesture. A stream of flame seemed to consume his target. The others there shied back from the sudden heat. The few remaining onlookers fled, most of them screaming.

When the flames faded, though, those still in the building saw that huge shield in the way. Malak calmly moved it aside. He was not only unharmed, but was now wearing his golden robes. A parting gift from a friend, one of the empowered geniuses who had left Earth decades ago. As well as a certain sign he was serious.

"If this is how you want it," said Malak.

Hanuman's reply was to leap upwards, obviously intending to attack from above. Only to find Malak intercepting him, using that shield to ram him higher than Hanuman intended. They slipped desolid through the stone roof of the memorial, and hurtled into the stormy skies above.

"Outside!" yelled Blackpool, straightening from where he had placed shackles on Gilgamesh and following his own advice, running towards the entrance.

Empowered and ordinary human alike hurried out of the building and looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. To find themselves watching a clash of titans. Only, these titans were so far above those watching - both literally and in terms of their powers - that what was there to be seen was both sparse and difficult to understand.

Malak and Hanuman were engaged in the air above the nation's capitol. Waxing and waning aurorae and bizarre flashes of light were accompanied by thunderous explosions and trailing screams of tortured air, like some sinister fireworks show. Pierced clouds let the night sky show through. The stars beyond the fighting pair first shimmered with distortion, then smeared and vanished as the effect became even more extreme.

The combatants soared and dove, moving repeatedly from just above the tallest buildings to the edge of space and back again. They whirled around each other, trailing sonic booms and coronae. Several military aircraft and airborne empowered tried to get close to the pair. Some were forced to retreat. Some were forced down, with multiple lives lost. Some were never found. Most were simply left behind.

"They're heading downtown!" shouted Blackpool. "Come on!"

Thanks to him - and the deep shadows resulting from the setting of the Sun - the trio of Melody, Mannequin and Blackpool made it to an area of federal government buildings in time to witness the denouement. They were quickly joined by multiple others. Some of these were federal law enforcement, which included several men and women from the Secret Service. A few of them knew Mannequin, Blackpool, Melody or some combination.

Finally, with a wrench of spacetime which those on the ground actually felt, it was over. There was a long, still moment. Then a grey-winged figure came gliding towards Melody, Blackpool, Mannequin and those with them. There was no sign of Hanuman.

Malak swooped in to land, wings held out rather than beating to cushion his descent. He touched down, ran several steps, stumbled, and went to his knees.

Melody ran to him.

"Are you all right?"

He nodded, but mutely, while biting his lower lip. He was obviously injured, and Melody wondered why he didn't heal himself... then decided he just didn't have the energy to spare. She put an arm around him and helped him stand. Blackpool and Mannequin quickly joined in the effort. Getting Malak upright was not an easy task given the added weight and size of his wings, especially as they were wet from flying through rain clouds, but together they managed.

Others were arriving, now, moving to help the three of them support Malak. Melody noted that there was no sign of the remaining members of Emergent. Presumably, they had faded into the night with the defeat of their leader. At least, Melody hoped he had been defeated...

"What happened to Hanuman?" said one of the Secret Service agents, as the rain finally came. In a sudden downpour, as if making up for its previous indecisiveness.

"He fell," said Malak, his voice sounding oddly normal, as if to spite his exhausted appearance. "I didn't see him hit, but we were over the Potomac."

"And that, my friends," said Mannequin, smirking, "is why you do not want to piss off an angel."

"We've got people scouring the river for him," said another agent, lowering his hand from his ear. "Come on; let's get out of the rain."

"Do you think he survived?" said Melody.

"Probably. Even so, if I may be excused for bragging, he won't be healthy. I gave him several opportunities to surrender or even flee, but he insisted on battling to the finish. I just hope it wasn't a final bow."

"We forced their hand, didn't we?" said Melody, feeling a bit guilty. The scouting mission had been her idea, after all.

"I think we forced Gilgamesh's hand," said Malak. "The others definitely weren't ready for us. For which I am very grateful. If they had been able to wear me down further before I fought Hanuman, things could very well have gone differently."

By the time they reached the portico of the nearest large building Malak was already looking stronger, moving more steadily. As they climbed the short flight of steps he was able to make the last part of the trip on his own. At the top, under the protection of the porch's roof, Malak stopped, turned carefully to avoid sweeping his helpers off their feet with his wings, and looked out over the drenched street. Melody saw his wounds vanish, and realized he had finally healed himself.

"What happened with the other Emergent?"

"Those who aren't in custody have fled," said the senior Secret Service agent present. "We were actually able to arrest several of them. I think mostly due to them being so demoralized."

"Then maybe this is over," said Malak, nodding. "For now, anyway."

"Stabbing someone from behind wasn't very angelic," said Mannequin, smirking.

"I'm not complaining," said Blackpool. "You might have saved my life doing that."

"A sneak attack for a sneak attack," said Malak, flatly. "Besides, that son of a bitch destroyed the Lincoln Memorial."

He sighed and looked into the distance.

"I saw them building that."

"You should see if any of your group can repair it," said Melody, relieved things had gone their way.

"I believe Mannequin and I can do that," said Malak, glancing at the other empowered. "If you agree."

"Oh, count me in!" said the jokester. "I am a great admirer of Adams."

"Lincoln," said Blackpool, firmly.

"Maybe we should get AmberMite," said Melody, laughing.

* * *

Some harshly criticized Aaron, of course. They claimed he had provoked the battle. Since every witness who saw the beginning of the fight testified that he was rammed from behind while playing tour guide, that didn't carry much weight with most people.

With the damage repaired - most of it by empowered with the talents best suited to the work - criticism was greatly reduced. The attack by Gilgamesh had been so quick and one-sided that only a few bystanders had been hurt, by flying debris. None of their injuries proved serious. The fight with Hanuman had been entirely well above the ground. Unfortunately, several deaths and some probables were caused by that, though those were all among people trying to join the fight. Still, those involved were held responsible by some for those losses.

The more objective decided the capital had gotten off lightly, in terms both of property damage and injuries.

Some people were dissatisfied with the fight for other reasons.

"That's all you can tell me," said Gadding, obviously irritated.

"I'm sorry, but most of the fight was up in the clouds," said Melody. She sighed. "Actually, from what the few who saw the fight more closely say I probably wouldn't have understood what was going on even with a good view."

"I suspect you'd need be in an advanced state of enlightenment to understand in any detail what those two did," said Sam, wryly.

"The police and security folk are giving Aaron and some others a hard time because they can't actually describe what happened in anything close to regular English," said Melody, with a shrug. "There are already accusations of a coverup. Of course, after hearing Aaron say things like 'Hanuman executed a causal loop in the mutable plenum. I captured it, mirrored the orientation and sent it back at him' they weren't certain they wanted to hear more."

"Ants watching elk clash their horns together," said Sam. Melody remembered that he was from somewhere in the northeast. Presumably a place which still had forests.

"Well, for now that will have to do," said the Editor. "Keep trying, though."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Hanuman sat on the peak of the mountain above his cave in the Pyrenees, staring into a distance which extended far beyond the physical view. The snow and ice and thin air meant nothing to him, of course. Despite his apparent distraction, he detected the visitor on approach, but did nothing. The winged figure circled lazily, enjoying the mountain view. Finally, though, Malak landed near Hanuman. As unconcerned with the hostile environment as the other, he crunched through the snow unhurriedly in his sandals.

"You should have told me Ninurta was alive," said the latter, finally turning to look at his visitor. "I suspected as much, but was not certain, and had to proceed as if he were dead. We could have avoided several actions which are now rebounding against us."

"Perhaps. We didn't have a method then for concealing him from you."

"The one you have now will not blind us for long."

"Of course not. However, people are already working on other methods." Malak smiled. "Not me. I'm too busy with other projects. So I can't tell you how to get around them. Not even by accident."

They were silent for several minutes, both recalling their fight over Washington. While witnesses saw the physical battle, and some of them the metaphysical, they could not hear what the two empowered men were saying to each other. That exchange was as passionate - and as significant - as their overt combat. Both made salient points, each trying to sway the other to his position. However, it was Malak who won there, too. All those decades of reading and writing about philosophy had paid off. However, while he had won that discussion, he hadn't converted Hanuman completely to his way of looking at the world. Or even significantly altered his viewpoint. This meeting, here, was a follow-up. Neither expected to convince the other they were completely right, but both hoped to at least shift the other a bit.

They spoke for hours, arguing points of fact and bringing up philosophical statements, both from history and invented in the heat of that discussion. In the end they were both left unmoved. However, they both agreed to take no action against the other unless there was action against them first. For now, Malak and his friends, allies and projects were off-limits to the Emergent. As they were to him and his. Malak rose from his seat to leave.

"I still believe that those of superior ability should rule," said Hanuman, firmly.

"Whereas I believe that those of superior ability should lead," said Malak, just as seriously.

He smiled, and offered his hand. After a moment, Hanuman rose, smiled a bit in return, and shook hands.

* * *

For a third time, Aaron LeBell was in the office of Melody Gunderson. This visit turned out to be the shortest so far, and was made with little warning. Aaron - actually, Malak; she could easily hear the difference in his voice - had given her less than fifteen minutes warning that he wanted to tell her something in person. She barely had time to notify security. Fortunately, as she assumed, he entered the building as Aaron.

The greetings were brief, but warm. Melody could tell he was in a hurry.

"So, what's the occasion?"

"I just wanted to assure you that you, personally, and the US and a few other areas are now off-limits to the Emergent," he said. "Much of the world still is at risk from their actions, and this doesn't mean that someone in the group won't act on their own, but that is being strongly discouraged."

"That's good news. I take it you and their leader reached at least a partial agreement?"

"Yes. Hopefully, that will be expanded, but for now this is all I could manage."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, before the empowered man sighed.

"I can't stay," said Aaron, with a tired smile. "There's been an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia."

"I know," said Melody, with a nod and smile of her own. "Good luck."

"Thank you."

Perhaps it was a measure of how rushed he felt. Perhaps it was simply an indication that he had that much confidence in her reaction. Instead of going through the charade of walking away before turning invisible and transforming, he simply vanished. His security VISITOR tag dropped onto Melody's desk.

Melody wished him well. For all their sakes.