by Huth, Jacob
“I don’t know about this. The element of surprise would benefit us greatly but I am afraid we will sustain heavy casualties,” Pan said.
“Worse than if we wait for days? Innocent citizens will be cruelly killed by Kraken in an effort to draw us out,” I said.
“Even so. You and I can’t make this decision by ourselves. We have to talk to everyone else,” Pan said.
“I’ll go gather everyone up,” I said. I exited the room angrily. I knew that it was unfair to be aggressive towards Pan. He had nothing to do with this but I was just so enraged. I found the nearest intercom box and pressed the call button. “Can everyone come to the war room again please?” I said trying to calm down.
I reentered the war room and sat across from Pan. One by one the others took their seats. “Weren’t we just in here?” Vine asked as he sat down.
“Yes but we have something important to discuss. I think we should storm Poseidon Tower tonight,” I said. I saw Flint look up at me. The look on his face suggested he knew exactly why I wanted to act so quickly.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Synapse said, “I thought we had agreed on a plan.”
“Zero,” Flint said, “Maybe you should tell everyone what this is about.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. It turns out that I am a birther,” I said.
“So what? So am I,” Vine said.
“This is a strange case though,” Flint said standing up. He pulled out a data drive and inserted it into the table’s terminal. A wire frame model of my body appeared in the holograph generator. “We thought that Zero’s spike was limited to gravitational energies. It turns out we were wrong,” he said activating the model. A replay began of the scan that Flint took of me using my power began. It showed an unnatural creation of energy coming from all over my body. “Zero somehow can create energy despite what science says. Subsequently, he probably can also destroy energy. This goes beyond all scientific reason.”
“My parents told me that I was implanted with my gene spike to try to mimic the gravity machine that caused the downfall of the world. I know now that they told me that only to keep me from asking a question they didn’t have an answer to.” I paused, “but Hades will have the answer. He has hoarded all of the information he could get his hands on about gene spikes and their origins.”
“So you want to march into the tower unprepared and undermanned?” Frost asked.
“No. I want to clear a path by myself and then I want you and our troops to follow in behind me after I have opened the way. They will not be expecting us in the middle of the night,” I said.
Everyone murmured to each other for a minute discussing whether or not we should act. “You know what? We need to end this. I’m in,” Vine said standing up.
“I guess we are too,” Frost said pointing his thumb at Flare.
“Kid, you saved my people from being wiped out and you saved my life. You’ve got my help on whatever you need,” Pan said reluctantly.
I looked to Synapse and she shrugged and said, “Sure I guess.”
“Good. Everyone get your gear. Pan, you radio out to our troops and tell them to prepare. We will have Flare lead one battalion and Vine lead the other,” I said.
Everyone audibly confirmed my order and left the room, except for Jet who remained in her seat.
“What’s wrong Jet?” I asked.
“It’s just…” she stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“This is going to end tonight. Our city will be free to live as they please. It seems surreal,” she replied.
“I am going to make sure this ends tonight. One way or another I am taking that tower down,” I said.
“I know you will,” she said.
“I need you to stay here, though,” I said.
“Why on earth would I do that?” she asked in an irritated tone.
“I need to know that you are going to be clear of the tower in case something goes wrong and I have to destroy it. I’m going to tell everyone else to clear out if things get too bad up there,” I replied.
“I know you don’t mean that you’ll take yourself out with the tower do you?” she asked already knowing the answer.
“If I don’t take Hades down tonight, we will not get another chance. This is our best shot and if I have to, I am destroying everything,” I said. She remained silent. She knew that nothing she said would change my mind. She knew that deep down, I was right.
“You better come back to me. Alive,” she said.
“I will,” I said, not knowing if I could deliver on that promise.
We both exited the room and met everyone in the main hub. They were all geared up and ready to go. “How are we doing this?” Vine asked.
“Pan and Synapse will sit on nearby rooftops with thermal goggles and keep a visual on me until I have opened the way. They will then radio to the rest of you to send the troops in. Jet, Sky and Flint will monitor radio activity from the war room,” I looked around the room at the faces of all of my friends, “I just want to say, that I couldn’t have done any of this without your help. Whatever happens tonight, you all need to carry on and make what we and our troops fought for count.”
Everyone was silent as we exited the greenhouse. I was about to take flight when Jet came up behind me and spun me around to kiss me. After a moment, she pulled away and said, “I love you. Now go give him hell.”
I nodded and shot into the night sky. As I flew toward the tower, I noticed that there was an aura of energy showing around me. It was like a shadow that had taken on the form of smoke. Now that I knew of my true power, I felt it growing and I felt myself connecting more and more to it. I landed about one hundred yards from the cargo bay at Poseidon. I saw four large men in thick armor standing guard with heavy machine guns. I tapped my earpiece and said, “Everybody in place?”
One by one, everyone answered with an, “Affirmative.”
I broke into a full speed run towards the guards. I was moving at a speed I never thought possible. They must not have seen me coming because they reacted once I was ten feet away from them. I slid and shot energy up under two of the guards’ helmets. I was expecting my normal force blasts to come from my palms but instead a concentrated heat beam emerged. The laser-like blast made contact and the two men fell to the ground. The other two stood in shock as I leapt to my feet and crushed their guns with a gravity blast. They both threw their hands up and surrendered immediately. I hit them with just enough energy to knock them unconscious. I stepped back a few feet and fired a large energy blast into the thick, steel door. It crumpled like tin foil under my power. I heard Synapse and Pan both yell “Engage!” in my earpiece, signaling the rebels. I hovered above the ground and flew into the cargo hold of Poseidon Tower. I began destroying machinery and power stations when moments later, the rebels came storming in through the doorway I had opened. A blaring alarm set off and Kraken troops came from the elevator. I yelled, “Fire!” and the troops began unloading their rifles toward the Kraken troops. They fell like ragdolls as the rebels’ energy rifles eliminated them one by one. Once they had destroyed the Kraken battalion, they began storming the stairways and elevators to move up in the tower. I blew a hole in the ceiling and ascended to the next floor. I found rebels and Kraken troops engaged in heated battle as I continued to shoot holes in the ceilings and ascended higher and higher in the tower.
“Zero,” I heard Flint say in my radio.
“Go ahead,” I responded.
“Synapse got a thermal reading of the top floor after you destroyed some power source in the basement. We show only one heat signature up there. Be careful when facing Hades,” he said.
“Will do. Zero out,” I said continuing my ascent. Floor after floor I passed by carnage and heated conflict. I never had realized how tall the tower actually was. I finally broke through into the lavish penthouse that Hades occupied. There he stood looking out the large window over the city.
“Zero my boy,”
he said without turning around.
“It’s over Hades,” I said angrily.
“I’m sure you think so. However, you won’t be able to get any answers if I’m dead will you?” he asked still facing out the window.
I stood speechless. How did he know?
“I must admit, you destroying Tartarus and defeating Armageddon was surprising to me. I didn’t think you would succeed so soon. Your power must be growing at an unprecedented rate,” he said turning to me.
I stared into his evil eyes and wanted nothing more than to tear him apart. “How do you know all of this?” I asked.
“I know quite a bit more than you think,” he said lighting a cigar, “For instance I know that you are a birther and you want to know where this scientifically impossible power comes from. I also know that your parents lied to shield you from the truth of this harsh world. Let me tell you a story. A long time ago, a group of insane scientists used a gravity machine on the Earth causing pandemonium and destruction. Little did they know that they had just set into motion a series of events that would most certainly alter the world as we knew it.” He pressed a button on the wall lowering an electronic map of the world. I had never seen a map of the entire world. We had little access to resources that would inform us on the layout and geography of the Earth. There was a large red dot in the middle of the map. “This is where the machine was set off,” he said pointing toward the blip. “People thought that it only affected the Earth in a topographical way but something much more dangerous was set off. Armageddon was just a distraction so I could continue my work.”
“What work?” I asked.
“You’ll be dead soon so I suppose it doesn’t hurt to tell you. A strange force started emanating from this site. I have sent aerial drones to this place every couple of weeks for the last thirty years to take energy readings. Drone after drone returned with nothing but a stagnant reading until about a year ago when the camera picked up an image of a large coliseum that had sprouted up nearly overnight. I traveled there myself and came to find strange armored creatures standing guard at every entrance. They were not of this world. I waited until nightfall and crept past the guard beasts and into the lower levels of the coliseum. What I saw was unlike anything I could’ve imagined. There were three beings that each resembled a different mixture of human and beast. One was tiger-like, one was dragon-like and the last was hawk-like. They were standing around a large crystal orb that was glowing green. A voice was coming from within. It said that the three “Titan Beasts”, which I assume the three beasts were, were to hold a tournament in that coliseum two years from that date. The winner would be granted the gift of absorbing the power of the being with which they were communicating. It all made sense to me after that. When the machine was set off, it destroyed dimensional barriers. Forces from other worlds were able to cross into ours. People started being born with gene spikes after the incident. The energy from other dimensions began seeping into ours and altered our world’s destiny,” he said.
I was speechless. I stared at the blip on the map and said, “What sort of tournament?”
“I am unsure. I can only imagine that the strongest spikers, creatures and beings from any dimension that they can escape from to absorb this creature’s power. It doesn’t matter for you, though. You will be dead and I will capture the power of this creature, destroy the other Titans, and rule this world. I will shape this world into whatever I want it to be,” he said with an evil grin creeping across his face.
I felt a rage growing inside me. My eyes became hot with the same feeling that the laser energy gave me. My vision became red and I felt electricity beginning to crackle from my hands. I let out a scream and my power exploded from a place deep inside. I shot a lightning bolt at Hades and he knocked it to the left with his index finger. It shattered the window and broken glass rained down onto the street below.
“You think you are the only one born with immense power?” he asked. His body began to glow and his skin chipped away as old paint would from a wall. Cracks formed all over his skin and a blue energy shone from within. “You and I are a cut from the same cloth child. One in a million birthers are given the gift of energy creation. I guess we beat the odds,” he said with his voice becoming warped from the energy.
Somehow he had grown his power to a point where his entire being was comprised of energy. He tore his black shirt off and cracked his neck. He moved towards me at a blazing speed. He threw a punch at me and his fist met my face with the force of a cannon shot. My body was flung against his desk and it crumpled like paper. I pushed myself to my feet and curled my fingers forming bowl shapes with my hands. Energy started pooling in each hand. I jumped high toward the vaulted ceiling of the penthouse. I spread my fingers out and energy beams fired like bullets from all of my fingers. Some made contact with Hades’ body and turned him in different directions. He threw his arms up and a sphere of energy surrounded his body reflecting the remaining bullets in different directions. We flew at each other and began punching the other person’s body with incredible force. The pain was becoming too much so I pushed myself back with a force blast. I fell to one knee and tried to catch my breath. Hades was staggered as well but not nearly as much as I was. “Getting tired?” Hades asked.
“Not even close,” I said. I hurled myself at Hades charging an energy blast in my palm. He opened his mouth and a similar energy beam began to form inside it. He fired the laser at the same time as me causing the red and blue energies to clash and cause an explosion. They were both stopped in the middle with each of us feeding our own energy from each end. When one of us would gain some ground, the other would push right back. I heard the elevator whir open behind me and Frost emerge from it. He let out a gasp of surprise.
“You have to get out of here!” I yelled.
“Not a chance! We are ending this like we started it, recklessly and together!” he yelled back firing ice blasts at Hades’ feet. His feet froze causing him to stop his energy to let out a cry of pain. I stopped my beam and began charging all of the energy I could muster into one final blast. Hades’ body melted the ice right away and as he opened his mouth to fire again; I released a large red mixture of different energies into his mouth. It blew right through his head creating a gaping hole in the back of his skull. His eyes rolled back in his head and the blue energy under his skin faded. The once blue glowing lines became black and dead. Hades’ body lay on the red carpet lifelessly with a smoking hole in his head. I fell to my knees and collapsed to the ground. I breathed as deeply as I could. It was over. Hades was gone. I looked over at Frost and he was smiling as he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Zero! Zero!” I heard Pan yell through the radio.
“I’m here,” I said weakly.
“We saw a huge thermal spike up there. What happened?” he asked.
“Hades is dead,” I replied. The radio was silent for a moment. Through the broken window I could hear a monstrous roar of cheering and celebrations rise up from the city.
“I can’t believe you did it,” Frost said.
“I wouldn’t have been able to without your help,” I replied.
“Did you get your answers before you took him down?” he asked.
I instantly remembered the map on the wall and pushed myself to my feet. I walked over and extracted the memory disc that contained the map file. We had finally beaten Hades, but we had a new problem.
“What was that map for?” Frost asked.
“We thought Hades’ death would be the end. It’s not,” I said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
I stared at the memory disc in my hand, “We better go find everyone. I’ll explain everything at the greenhouse. Just know that we have a long road ahead of us.”