“If Behemoth is in there… do we have a plan for dealing with her?” Kate asks. I do, but I don’t want to. She seemed somewhat reasonable the other day. Though, I don’t buy her story about being mind-controlled for a second. She’s the one who told me she wasn’t being controlled. What if I’m wrong? I growl in my helmet. Pythia. You can only win by not being you… now I can’t help but wonder what is me? Is stopping Behemoth me? Or letting her work with me, me? Do I even know?
I sigh. Part of the problem is, I don’t. Not really.
“Worse case, I can use my SDF-1 on her.”
“The gun you used in Seattle?”
“Yes.”
“You think it will work?”
Amelia, god you’re an idiot sometimes. “I… yes?”
“I only ask because your sword is supposed to cut through anything…”
I shake my head in wonder. I need people. Especially Kate. She has a way of looking at things I don’t. Can’t.
“Well, worse case maybe you can try your whammy on her and we can calm her down.” She doesn’t respond but I do see her pop from one building to another. Everyone is wearing a thick coat and snow pants up here. Winter in Canada is frigging cold. If it weren’t for the fact that my armor can keep me alive in outer space, I’d be a meat popsicle right now.
We are cleared to go. The Canadian superteam, Maple Leaf, is on the way. The government would like to remind us we have no law enforcement authority here and our jurisdiction is the one building.
“Okay, people. We’re a go. Be ready.”
I bank and roll, flying right toward the center of the roof. Stealth is good and all, but sometimes a point needs to be made. “Max shields.” The power level on the shields lights up a second before I slam into the roof at a hundred miles an hour.
The wooden structure caves in an explosion of beams and splinters. My momentum carries me through all the top floors to slam against the concrete slab of the ground floor. Shields hold steady as I rise and ready my weapon systems.
Now that we’re in the building ECM is going crazy. The dark interior lights up with the staccato roar of machine gun fire. Flashes of light paint the room in brilliant strobes of motion. Bullets freeze inches from impact, their kinetic energy stolen by my shields. The clink of brass hitting the concrete floor is echoed by the bullets themselves.
Nine-millimeter rounds fired at twelve hundred feet per second.
“Lowlight,” I order. The darkness recedes so I can see the room with just the light from the guns and the hole above me. Some kind of entryway with a reception desk and couches. Totally normal, except for the machine gun fire raining down from the hidden gun ports. Turrets?
Four quick zaps with the kinetic lance leave the guns in shambles, their parts strewn about the room. “They have to know that won’t work on me?”
No, but anyone else on the team could have succumbed.
“True that. Everyone, hold back for a moment. They’re playing for keeps. Kate?”
“Here.”
“Make sure no one escapes the building.”
She confirms while I search for the secret entrance. “Let’s use echolocation, I bet they’ve lived the walls for infra-red, but the materials they use will have a different vibration.”
Sound pulse in three… two…
The external speakers I use reconfigure to emit a ping, not unlike a submarine. Epic’s advanced algorithms trace the sound in three-dimensions. The sound echoes off of stone, wood, fabric, and metal in completely different ways.
Enter the room to your left, and hold.
I follow his instructions and as soon as I’m in the room another ping emits from the suit.
There. Right wall, behind the painting of Admiral John Paul Jones.
The caption says, ‘I have not yet begun to fight’. How fitting. “Is it an original?”
No.
“Good.” I reach for my sword, pulling the long black bade out of its kinetic sheath. I love this thing. “Tally ho,” I yell, bringing the blade down. It slices through the painting and the wall behind it. Three more strokes and the wall crumbles behind it, revealing an elevator shaft.
“That’s a long way down.” Range-finding laser shoots down the hole as I look and end up leveling off at one-thousand feet.
Do you want to bring in the rest of the team?
I’d like to, but worry gnaws at me. Who knows what’s down there? Gas? More bullets?
“Domino, the building is empty. I’ve found an elevator shaft that goes way down. Let the Canadians have the building when they get here and then you all retreat to the Emjet. Be ready. If I call, start teleporting everyone to me.”
“Fantastic. Call the moment you need us, Amelia. You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I know and I will. As soon as it’s safe.” Here goes nothing. I step out into the darkness. It’s funny how much falling isn’t like flying. Not really funny. “Let’s see how far this rabbit hole goes.”
86
Turns out, pretty darn far. The floor rushes up at a hundred and seventy-seven feet per second. Epic hits the Emdrive in time to slow us down enough. I only flex my knees a little when we hit. I feel the thud on my back. The sword makes short work of the elevator door, slashing apart in a shower of sparks. I slide it back into its sheath, freeing my hands to wrench the doors open.
The base down here reminds me a lot of the one in Portland. Bright lights, bland paint on the walls and, of course, a half-dozen warbots pointing plasma cannons at me!
I dodge back behind the shaft wall a half second before green balls of superheated gas vaporize the doors. The resulting explosion pelts me in fire and debris.
“Epic, HE grenades, auto fire.” I know from experience they have a cycle rate to their plasma guns and if I time it right, I can take advantage of that.
When the last ball explodes I leap across the much wider hole in an Emdrive assisted move. The puff-puff of my launcher signals a second before I slam into the far wall, still shielded by the shaft. Two far more conventional explosions rip through the hallway.
“Particle beam. Safeties off!” I roll out, arm up, wrist down, firing as fast as I can trigger the beam. Blue silicate rips through the remaining warbots, cascading them in their own secondary explosions. When the dust clears, the hall is a scorched pile of parts.
“Bring the active sensors to full, but don’t fry anyone with it.”
Roger.
We need a panel to access, some way to infiltrate their internal network. I mentally kick myself for not thinking of all this sooner. Matahal is an alien; he infiltrated Cat-7 and the Cabal. Of course, he would have a base off the books. The only question is when I find Behemoth, is she going to be with us? Or against us?
“Do you think the new improvements to the superconductor will hold if we have to use the SDF-1 again?”
I thought they would hold last time.
“Good point. The whole ‘theoretical versus practical’ we keep running into.”
Ideally, we would test it before implementing such a drastic change in the field.
“Yeah yeah, I’m too impatient for that. Don’t you know my generation only has an eight-second attention span?”
Says the woman who has lost eight hours playing Halo.
“Touche. I should program you to lose our arguments every once in a while.”
Then you would have an ego problem. Which you obviously do not right now.
I growl at him and let it go. Confidence is one of my merits. It just isn’t always justified. We come around the corner and find ourselves face to face with a security checkpoint, several uniformed guards and a half-dozen more warbots.
Great.
They open fire the second they see me. Epic blasts us backward, using the Emdrive. I stumble, trying to keep my footing while the hall in front of me explodes in green fire. The wall to our right leads to bedrock. They’re just carving a new hole and I’ve no-where to go.
“I don’t want to k
ill them, Epic.”
Calculating probabilities.
“Anything that takes out the warbots will set off secondaries. I need to draw them out and tag the humans with the IP cannons.”
Unless they are wearing the vests that make them immune.
“Then AG pods, but I don’t want to kill anyone unless I have to, understood?”
Understood.
“Ooh, I just had a really good idea.” I glance at the wall next to me, placing my palm flat against it. “Sonic pulse, what’s on the other side?”
A large open room with crates in the middle.
“Epic, time to go full electronic warfare. Jam everything.” Panels on my shoulder slide open, ejecting two canisters of potassium chlorate and aluminum-coated fiberglass shrouded in purple paint. The hallway fills with thermal and visual blocking smoke. Epic switches on the electronic warfare suite, filling the area with so much electronic noise it would take a nuclear reactor to sort it out.
“Sorry about the cancer folks,” I mutter. The particle beam makes short work of the wall and I crash through it. Smoke pours through the hole I make, concealing me.
“HE behind me.” I dodge out of the way as he sends a grenade back the way I came. The explosion should deafen and stun anyone in the vicinity. The door leading back out to the hall should put me behind them. With a deep breath, I force it open and leap out. IP cannons roar, filling the hallway with pulsing blue light. Wide angle energy fills the hall in a cone as the emitters go to rapid cycle. Momentum takes me into the far wall and I’m already moving back as I bathe them in energy.
The guards go down in spasms as their nervous systems are overridden. The warbots had already advanced down the hall into the smoke and they take a second to reacquire me as a target.
“Full burn, let’s roll.” I hit the Emdrive and fly down the hall and as soon as we’re far enough, I roll on my back and bring the particle beam across the ceiling. A half-ton of rock and dust crashes through the roof, filling the hall behind me. We land with a thump in front of, what I hope, is the last security door. This one has a panel. I hold my hand out to it and stop just before touching.
“Epic, they had an AI in the space station…”
Yes. However, we used overrides on local control. Engaging the locking mechanism manually and not using the security protocols.
“I know… it’s just… the drones they send down learn. I swear that one in Denver was purposefully keeping me from using the mass driver. If that’s the case, then—”
It stands to reason they would know the trick we used in the space station and be ready for it.
Which leaves us how to get through the door? I put my hand against the cool metal. Metals, minerals, and materials used to create it flash up on the screen showing me exactly what it is made of. All except fifteen percent Epic can’t identify.
It stands to reason the aliens would have to use terrestrial resources to manufacture any tech they wanted to have here. Beyond the limited amount an advanced scout could bring with them.
“Like my armor, they’ve found new ways to put things together. Not really an alien material, just an incredibly advanced Earth one.”
Correct.
I could burn through it with the particle beam but it would take a while. I glance at the controls, I could Luke Skywalker it and blast them… I like that plan. The particle beam whines, burning through the controls. Sparks explode outward showering the suit in white-hot embers that fall uselessly to the floor.
The door doesn’t open. Fine. Sword out, I set the kinetic field to maximum and I bring the blade down on the thick door. Metal sheers like paper when the one molecule thick diamond edge hits. A few more swings and I’ve cut a v shaped hole through it. Squeezing through, I feel the armor slide against metal as jagged pieces screech from contact. I’m out of breath when I’m finally on the other side.
I think this is what we have been looking for.
I’ll say. “Wow. Is this… is this the alien ship?”
The cocoon-shaped object is a few hundred feet long with a hull like carved rock. I don’t see any engine ports or gun holes, but a thin band of colored metal around the middle separates the top and bottom. As if they put two clamshells made of rock together and glued them to each other with an artificial hull. The only reason I know it’s a ship is the fact that it hovers five feet off the ground. The only thing touching the floor is a boarding ramp.
Doors on the far right open, freeing me from shock. Matahal walks through wearing a lab coat, while several people in doctor’s suits push a hovering gurney with a strapped-down Behemoth laid out, prostrate and unconscious.
That does not bode well.
My brain explodes with the possibilities of having Behemoth in alien custody against her will. Their tech is far more advanced than ours, it stands to reason they could figure out a way to replicate powers and an army of Behemoths… would be unbeatable.
“Safeties off, we can’t let them get her onboard.”
No kill?
I hate to do it, but this is future of mankind stuff. “Rescinded.”
“Dammit woman, you don’t know what you’re interfering with,” Matahal screams. “Get the subject on board, I’ll handle her.”
“You’ll handle me? You’re a creep in a lab coat. One who’s not going anywhere.” An Emdrive assisted jump puts me between them and the ship. The grenade launcher barks to life, spitting out AG pods at the people pushing Behemoth.
Matahal slaps his hands together, his entire visage shifts. Whatever tech disguised his appearance vanishes, leaving his true form.
I believe the word you’re looking for is, ‘crap’.
Right, that’s the word I want. Matahal is gone, replaced by an eight-foot, gorilla-looking alien with no fur, a flat face, and power armor. And he’s fast. His fist hits me hard enough to knock the suit back against the wall. The kinetic shields keep me from hurting, but he can still wallop us. I dodge the second punch. The wall spiderwebs where he hits.
I blast away at him with the IP cannons, I figure they won’t have an effect but better to start small. The ion pulses wash off of him dissipating in the ground. Annoying.
“I’ve had almost a year to study your tech, Amelia.” His voice is somewhere between a barking dog and a dolphin. Weird. “You’re smart, for a human.” I fire off an HE grenade, he slaps it out of the air before it can arm, sending it to explode harmlessly against the wall. He’s not Fleet fast, but he’s fast.
I take off but he grabs my boot and slams me face first into the ground, jarring my teeth. “Kinetic lance!” I roll over. The lance fires off, smashing his cheek and sending him spinning. At least he can’t defend against that.
Ten seconds to recharge.
“Particle beams.” I have him bracketed as he crawls back up, green ichor flowing from his… well, nose, I guess. I fire. The beam hits his armor dead center and refracts off in a brilliant, but useless light show.
“Like I said, I’ve studied you.” He whips out two pistols in lightning fast fashion and opens fire. Epic kicks in the Emdrive, shooting me into the air. At least this landing bay has room to maneuver. I take a second to get the lay of the land. The gurney is still gliding toward the ship, either on autopilot or because of momentum.
Clearly, I can’t take this guy alone. “Epic, open a channel to Kate.” I dodge another bolt from his plasma cannon while returning fire with the lance. Invisible force strikes the ground in front of him, exploding the concrete floor.
I can’t connect to the team. Try your empathic link with her.
Right. If I can jam them, they can jam me. I bank hard putting the ship between us. “Try and see if we can disable the ship.”
Kate? Nothing. Usually, I can feel her if she’s looking for me. I try again, screaming as loud in my head as I can. Kate!
“Epic, they’re jamming her somehow.”
Probably the same way you do.
“Are you trying to reach your little friend, Amelia? Yo
u have only yourself to blame for that. Imagine my surprise when your ECM gadget worked on Ericsson. You are clever, but only human. I am Th’un, and we live to conquer.”
The lance works good against him but it won’t stop him and it takes too long to recharge. But… I draw the sword and hit the ground in a slide that carries me out from behind the ship. Brackets pass over him and Epic fires the lance. The beam catches him in the legs. He hits the ground face-first and I’m over him as fast as I can move. The blade arcs through the air… I’m not fast enough. Sparks and concrete fly from where it hits the ground.
He backhands me across the room. I slide on the ground for thirty feet before I come to a stop. He’s already in the air flying toward me.
“Grenades, rapid fire!” The puff-puff of the launcher fires followed by three explosions and the last of my AG pods.
He’s blown backward through the air. The AG pods catch him and momentum carries him across the room to slam to a stop against the wall. I shake off the effects of his punch and shakily stand.
You have re-injured your ribs and have several contusions on your legs.
“Thanks.” I don’t have long. He’s already shorting out the pods with some kind of power surge. If Behemoth makes it on to the ship… I lift my arm to point at her. I could flip over to the mass driver and incinerate her… maybe… but… I told her they were going to kill millions on the hope of saving humanity. I won’t do the same. The ship though… I smile.
“We need to get on board the ship.” I launch into the air, flying right at Matahal. He falls from the wall, landing in a crouch and bracing himself for impact. I veer hard enough to make my stomach double flip and fly right up the landing ramp into the inside of the ship. I crash in a heap at the end of the hall.
“Epic, charge the EMP.” Powers may follow their own laws of physics, but this is a spaceship. Rules are rules. It may be shielded from the outside, it would have to be, but from the inside?
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 47