“He's dead!” Jessica screamed. She looked up to meet the hooded man’s eyes and found herself startled by what she saw. Noah and the rest of the members stared at Jason's lifeless body in disbelief. From the command center, live video was zooming in on Jason Shaw. Mr. Connors and Stephanie looked on with fright.
“Stephanie?” Mr. Connors asked. A tear fell from her eye.
“I can't detect any life signature radiating from Jason sir.”
Even Commander Sullivan had a solemn look on his face. Jessica stared into the dark eyes of the hooded man. She was up close enough to him to notice his facial features did not resemble that of a human. She found herself unable to move. The shock had set in and she could do nothing but stare.
“Not what you expected?” the individual in the hooded robe asked. He flashed his pearly white teeth and laughed hysterically.
“Mr. Connors, are you seeing this?” Commander Sullivan asked in disbelief.
“The readings on this man are off the chart. I’ve never encountered any Post Human with marks like his,” Stephanie exclaimed.
The exhausting and tedious responsibilities of sensing every Post Human on the field had finally taken its toll on Stephanie. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she lost control of her body. Commander Sullivan caught her just before she hit the ground. He lifted Stephanie into his giant arms and gently sat her down on a chair.
“Stephanie!” Mr. Connors concern for the young woman was like that of a man's concern for his daughter.
“I'm okay.” She said faintly as she took a moment to regain her composure.
“That man...” Commander Sullivan shook his head and corrected himself. “That individual down there isn't human, and it's not a Post Human either.” Mr. Connors and Stephanie looked at the Commander with a confused look on their faces.
“What are you talking about?” Mr. Connors asked.
“That thing down there leading that just killed Jason Shaw, isn't human or Post Human, he's an alien. An alien whose name is Azir.” Commander Sullivan said.
Mr. Connors shook his head, not out of disbelief but in the fact that he wasn't surprised by the Commander's news at all. “How long has he been living here?” Mr. Connors asked.
Commander Sullivan sighed. “It's not just one, it's three. Three aliens have been blending in and living on this planet we suspect for years.”
Mr. Connors was livid. “Why wasn't I made aware of this?”
Commander Sullivan had an amused look on his face. The audacity of this man to think he had a right to know about the aliens living on the planet. “Their existence here is on a need to know basis and quite frankly... You didn't need to know.”
“I guess it was reasonable to assume the United States would make enemies no matter where they go. Tell me, how many enemies out in the galaxy has our space program made? How much danger is this planet in?” Mr. Connors asked.
Commander Sullivan did not answer Mr. Connors' question. The truth was Commander Sullivan knew very little about the alien race that was living on the planet. Now wasn't the time to worry about what enemies Earth had in outer space, that wouldn't matter at all if they couldn't stop the alien threat here on Earth. A threat that without Jason Shaw around, Commander Sullivan did not know how they would neutralize.
Mr. Connors turned his attention back to the battle and pointed to the two individuals on the rooftop protected by some sort of force field.
“The female's name is Aza and the short one is called Axendal. The only intel I have on them is that they belong to a race that possess superior technology and they are known as conquerors of planets.” Commander Sullivan said.
Mr. Connors looked at the Commander with absolute shock,“You don't think that's something we outta know?!”
Noah ran up to Jessica and placed himself in front of her. Without hesitation or warning, Noah picked up a gun that belonged to one of the national guardsmen. All that remained of that guard was a pile of ash. Noah aimed the weapon at the one called Azir, but the alien was easily able to sidestep the bullets. Noah continued firing at the alien until the clip was emptied but not a single shot came close to hitting Azir.
“You would fire human made weapons upon me? You insult me with your ignorance,” Azir flicked his hand forward and without touching Noah, sent him flying. Jessica grabbed Jason and lifted him over her shoulders. She tried to fly away with him but Azir used some sort of gravitational pull to wheel them in.
“You and your team have defeated my experimental soldiers. I must admit, I thought they would pose a tougher challenge than they did. Your group have improved greatly since our last encounter. These lesser beings are of no concern to me though. I will simply rebuild my army and I will allow your team to serve as my top lieutenants,” Azir said.
Azir looked out at the frightened crowd. They were staring at him with complete disbelief. As if knowing people with extraordinary abilities existed wasn't enough to worry about, now the revelation came that there was life beyond this planet. “Surrender yourselves to me and I will be merciful on you.” The crowd looked among one another. No one knew exactly what to do.
“Commander Sullivan what are our orders?” Agent Hardine asked.
“Fire everything you got on that alien. I want that thing taken out!”
Agent Hardine gave the “green light” to all those that remained to execute the Commander's orders. The groups readied themselves and proceeded forward towards Azir.
The alien looked on amusingly as they approached him, “You humans amuse me. Even in the face of defeat you still find it necessary to push forward with a pointless agenda!”
Azir stretched his hands forward and with the simplest of ease knocked the guns out of the approaching units' hands. “I am Azir, Supreme Intelligence Officer of the Ashatarian Empire! I was sent here to learn about your race and report back to my commanders. Soon my people will take this planet as their own and there is nothing you can do about it. There is no one left to oppose me. Surrender before me and I will be merciful. Defy me and I will unleash my wrath.”
“I was thinking about unleashing my wrath instead!” a voice from behind Azir shouted. The alien quickly turned his head and was met with a powerful uppercut to his jaw. Azir ascended straight into the air from the impact. He quickly caught his balance and levitated a few feet in the air.
“You live?” The alien said sounding genuinely surprise to see Jason Shaw back on his feet. His tone sounded as if he was happy to see Jason Shaw still alive.
“It'll take more than what you can do to keep me down,” Jason said defiantly. Azir chuckled. Jason charged forward and threw a slew of punches at Azir. Before Jason could land a punch, Azir activated a personal force field that prevented Jason from connecting. Aza and Axendal watched the confrontation with delight. The snipers that previously concentrated on them were given new orders to aim their weapons at Azir.
Azir used his telekinesis power and flicked Jason as if he was a flea. Jason went flying but impressively landed on his feet.
“Now Shayne do it now!” Jackson shouted. Shayne and Jackson each unleashed a heavily concentrated blast of their respected projectile ability. Azir laughed profusely as the fire and ice bounced off his force field.
“Well that sucked,” Jackson stated pointing out the obvious.
Azir introduced another devastating attack of his unleashing a ball of shock that was so wide in radius that it was able to connect with each member of the League. The League of Protectors fell to the ground clutching themselves in excruciating pain. Aza and Axendal cheered with glee. Azir calmly walked towards Jason and lifted him up off the ground with one hand. He placed his free hand on Jason’s head and attempted to control his mind. The mind control he was attempting wasn't a natural ability. On his left hand was some sort of device that made it possible to control others minds. The process appeared to be going smoothly until Noah returned to the fight and pushed Azir off of Jason.
“Fool!” Azir hissed. Azi
r stood tall and calmly walked back towards Jason. With the mind control process incomplete, Jason was able to maintain control of his actions.
“Protectors, let’s take him out!” Jason shouted.
“Would be my pleasure!” Jackson replied smiling. Shayne seconded that. Jason, Shayne and Jackson unloaded their projectile abilities on the alien but their attacks had no effects on Azir’s force field.
All six of the League's field members closed in on the alien and circled around him. Azir stood still he wasn't the least bit intimidated by their presence.
“You cannot defeat me. None of you can. I am superior in every conceivable way. Fighting me is futile.”
Jackson wasn't trying to hear that nonsense. He shot off a ice ball directed at Azir, but the alien easily caught the ice ball with the use of his telekinesis. He proceeded to send the ice ball back spiraling towards Jackson.
Thinking quickly, Jackson created a wall of ice to shield him from his own ice ball. The ice ball hit the wall of ice and dropped harmlessly to the ground. Noah charged in on Azir but was caught by the force field. Jessica attempted her missile dive but she too couldn’t penetrate the force field. Bianca ran over to check on Jessica. The young woman seemed a bit shaken up but she assured Bianca she’d be fine. Jackson and Shayne continued using their projectile abilities in hope of breaking through. Jason took a page from Joe’s book and began heaving cars, debris and whatever else he could find at the impenetrable force field. Nothing they did seemed to work.
“You are embarrassing yourselves League of Protectors. Surrender now and I will still allow you to serve as my lieutenants! “My force field is impenetrable!” Azir boasted proudly.
Suddenly a smile appeared on Jason’s face. He knew how to bypass the force field. “Fall back!” Jason ordered. “Fall back now!” With surprised looks on their faces, each member did as ordered and met up with Jason away from Azir.
“What are they doing?” Commander Sullivan asked Mr. Connors, fearing the group were abandoning the battle. Mr. Connors knew that wasn't the case. He knew that Jason somehow knew how to defeat Azir.
“Bianca, use your phasing ability to penetrate his shield,” Jason said.
“You want me to do what?” she asked with a surprised tone.
Jason elaborated on his orders. He was certain it would work. He gave out orders to the rest of the group as well. Their job was to distract the alien long enough for Bianca to phase in.
“With me,” Noah said to Bianca. “Stay behind me, I’ll get you close enough to do your job.”
Bianca swallowed spit and moved closely behind Noah. He wasn't thrilled about her being so close to harm's way. The League members pressed forward to confront the alien once more. Azir battled the League from different directions. Jackson and Shayne were in front of Azir. Jason was behind, Jessica approached from Azir’s left and Noah and Bianca approached from his right.
Azir laughed profusely as he blocked all their attempts. The League kept coming as Azir countered their attacks. They’d get hit and then get right back up. Azir couldn’t help but admire their perseverance no matter how ineffective he found their attacks to be.
“Now!” Noah shouted. Noah dropped to the ground. Bianca ran up and jumped over Noah's back, phasing right through Azir’s force field. Her hands fumbled about trying to find the switch to shut off the force field. Finally she located it on his left arm and disabled it.
“No!” Azir shouted realizing his advantage was now gone. Shayne quickly sped to her location and scooped her out of harm’s way before Azir could retaliate. Axendal and Aza looked on with worried expressions. Azir levitated above The League still fully confident in his ability to defeat them without his force field. Azir ignored the electric malfunction resonating off of him as a result of Bianca’s tampering.
“Surrender now!” Jason demanded. Azir laughed profusely at Jason’s demand. He found Jason's words to be ridiculous.
“Why should I surrender? I am in control here.”
“We’ll see about that,” Noah said chiming in.
Noah reached to his side and grabbed the gun he took from the deceased guardsman. He fired a single shot aimed at Azir’s head. Azir smiled as the bullet approached him. He redirected the bullet with one finger and sent it hurling towards Noah. The bullet caught Noah in the chest.
Blood rushed from Noah’s body as the wounded man hit the ground. Jessica and Bianca rushed towards him.
“You take my force field away, I take yours away. Seems fair to me!” Azir said smiling. Azir pushed his hands forward and let loose one of his deadly energy blasts.
From his back and barely conscious, Noah stretched his hand forward providing cover for the humans.
“Everyone get back, clear the area!” Agent Hardine ordered. The agents and remaining units retreated back to base camp leaving The League to fend for themselves.
“Pathetic. You are the best that this planet has to offer? Our takeover will be accomplished with ease!” Azir said smugly.
Jason lounged forward tackling the alien. He mounted on top of the alien and unloaded with heavy fists. Azir laughed with each punch Jason threw. It was as if Jason’s attacks had no effect at all on him. Azir pushed his feet up to his chest and kicked Jason off of him. A flame of fire approached Azir, but the alien sidestepped the attack. Azir countered by diving directly into Shayne. His left uppercut sent Shayne backwards.
Jessica momentarily left Noah’s side. She flew towards Shayne and dove after him, catching him before he hit the ground. “Thanks!” Shayne replied respectfully before speeding back off after Azir.
Bianca was exerting a large amount of energy healing Noah’s wound. Azir knew enough about the human body to know exactly where to aim the bullet for maximum result.
Azir used his telekinesis to bring Jason to him. He viciously placed his hands around Jason’s neck and demanded the surrender of the League immediately. Jason’s eyes grew big due to the tight grip Azir had on him. Jackson and Shayne fired upon Azir, but Azir used Jason as a personal shield to deflect their projectile shots.
“Stop!” Shayne shouted to Jackson realizing their attack was doing more harm than good.
Azir dropped Jason to the ground and stepped right over him like he was nothing more than a doormat. Stretching his hands forward, Azir delivered a concussive energy blast that sent anyone in range to the ground. “You protectors amuse me. The Ashtarian Empire will find you humans quite entertaining.”
Jason slowly stood to his feet. He cracked his neck and back and then turned his attention on Azir. “You know, having the power I have has been difficult. See, with plenty of training I’ve tapped into a good amount of my potential. The problem is, the things I can do would kill just about anyone I tried them on. Thus I’ve never used my full potential. Not even Joe Dorgan has seen what I’m truly capable of. You however, I think can take it. I think you’re the perfect opponent to test my full strength on.”
Jason conjured up all the energy around him. His eyes turned red as he exerted more energy than he had ever used before. The ball of energy he was conjuring up was massive. The rest of the League looked on in awe as Jason ushered up all the energy he could.
“I need an empty building,” Jason said to Commander Sullivan over the shared com link. Commander Sullivan signaled to one of his agents to find him an empty building. The agent quickly scanned through the local buildings until he found one that was completely empty.
“Thanks,” Jason replied and then ended communications. Jason pushed his hands backwards to his side and then forward releasing the ball of energy.
Azir seemed surprise as the massive amount of energy rapidly approached him. There was a loud explosion as the blast hit Azir straight into the chest. The blast sent Azir through one of the nearby buildings. Debris fell everywhere as the building started to collapse.
“Woah!” Jackson said loudly clearly impressed by what he saw. Jason flew straight through the door and headed inside the collapsing buildi
ng. He searched for the alien but saw no signs of him. Suddenly, Azir levitated up from the debris that covered him. He lounged forward and grabbed Jason by the neck. He lifted Jason over his head and slammed him back down to the ground aggressively.
“No matter what you do, no matter how much strength you use, you will never be able to stop me!” Azir shouted.
On the alien's left arm was a device, the alien pressed the device and his slightly inhuman appearance started to change drastically. Jason stood watching as the pale skinned alien suddenly transformed into a red skin alien with tribal tattoos across his face.
“There is no need to hide my true appearance anymore.” the red skin alien said with a sinister smile.
“The Ashtarian Empire will rule this planet just like we have done with so many others. This is a dawn of a new era for this world. An Ashtarian era, and my superiors will reward me greatly for my service!”
“Red faced alien bent on planetary domination. Definitely didn't see that one coming!” Jackson said.
“Should we go in there?” Bianca asked. The League of Protectors couldn’t see what was happening and Jason wasn’t responding to any of their calls.
Jason used all his strength to grab the left wrist of Azir. He bent Azir’s wrist backwards, at the same time, he freed his right leg and used it to kick Azir off of him. He quickly kip flipped himself off the ground and delivered another high concentrated energy blast. Jason climbed on top of Azir and relentlessly unloaded on him with all he had. The debris was continuing to fall and pretty soon the entire building was going to collapse.
That didn't matter to Jason though. He continued attacking the alien, disregarding his own safety completely. Viciously he hammered Azir until the alien was no longer able to fight back. Battered and bruised, Jason walked out of the building, leaving just seconds before the entire building collapsed.
“He's hurt,” Jackson stated seeing a noticeable limp in Jason's movement.
New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age Page 26