by Lee, Tristan
Centurion
September 4th
Ronin and Defender have tracked Kaiju’s cerebral signals back to the Kronos base near Soloksev. They lie on their bellies, looking down on the bleak, grey fortress below them. Strategically, the fortress lies in both the best and worst positions possible; it lies in the center of a valley, completely surrounded by snow-capped mountains. The fortress would be difficult to assault, since it involves scaling the mountain range, and since it would be very difficult to even find. On the other hand, the fortress is just as isolated to allied forces, making it as difficult to resupply as it is to assault. The fortress’s defenses are quite formidable, Ronin detects four anti-aircraft batteries, one on each of the spires that protrude from each of the four corners of the fortress. In addition, pillboxes are scattered erratically on the grounds surrounding the facility and an army of Kronos men in arctic camouflage patrol the valley.
“There are too many of them for a direct attack,” Defender says. “We’d get torn apart.”
“We won’t have to attack directly,” Ronin says. “They’ll be too busy fighting each other to notice us.”
He touches two fingers to his temple, making his eyes glow blue, as do the eyes of every Kronos soldier in the valley. A few seconds later, after they look around dazedly, they begin to fire on each other. The pillbox operators do the same, firing at their own infantry and other pillboxes.
“The field is clear, I believe,” Ronin says, drawing his sword. “Shall we?”
He teleports down into the valley, walking through the firefight with complete immunity; not a single man in the entire Kronos army even thinks to fire on the Invincible. Defender takes a deep breath and is about to follow his teammate into the valley when his shield activates to reflect a bullet. Defender keeps his shield up and uses the camera to look around for a shooter. No sniper is made visible, so Defender assumes that it was simply a stray bullet from the firefight below. Cautiously, he deactivates his shield when Ronin’s voice becomes audible in his head.
“Are you going to come down here or shall I find Kaiju by myself?” Ronin asks mildly.
“Well, it’s a little bit harder when you have to climb a damned mountain instead of just teleporting,” Defender says indignantly.
“I’m dreadfully sorry, I forgot that you had no powers other than enhanced physical capability. One moment.”
Defender has a sudden wave a nausea and keels over, about to puke. When the sensation passes and he looks up, he is at the bottom of the valley with Ronin. All of the Kronos soldiers are lying dead or dying in the scorched and scarlet snow.
“What the hell did you just do to me?” Defender asks once he becomes certain that he won’t puke.
“I teleported you,” Ronin says, telekinetically removing all the blood from his sword.
“Is that what teleportation always feels like?” he asks.
“No, actually. When I do it I never feel anything.”
“Then why is the world still spinning?”
“Your abilities are a result of genetic enhancement during an era when superhumans were to be terminated with utmost prejudice. It is very possible that the enhancement makes your body reject superhuman cells or materials.”
“Any superhuman materials?”
“Hypothetically, yes.”
Defender ponders this for a while, “So . . . are you saying that if I was . . . intimate with a superhuman, I might feel nauseous?”
“Are we going to find Kaiju or wonder about the possibilities of your sexual relations?”
“Will I?”
Ronin sighs, “If my theory about your DNA rejecting superhuman cells, then yes, you might. Now can we please get a move on?”
Defender nods, “Yeah, sorry. Let’s go.”
The inside of the fortress is aesthetically similar to the outside; bleak, grey halls wind their way around the poorly-lit interior of the fortress. There are heavy steel doors running alongside some of the hallways, making the whole thing reminiscent of a prison. The two Invincibles encounter no resistance from the Kronos forces.
“Where’s the army of guards?” Defender asks.
Ronin touches two fingers to his temple again, “I cannot detect anyone.”
“I would have thought that there would be at least a hundred or so guys in here.”
“No, I cannot detect anyone. Not even Kaiju.”
“Have they moved him?”
“I doubt it. My senses feel . . . dulled. I think they have some sort of telepathic dampener in the fortress. Until it is destroyed, I won’t be able to detect anyone or anything.”
Defender swallows, “So there could be the full-on wrath of Zeus around that corner and you wouldn’t be able to see it?”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
The supersoldier activates his shield and proceeds more cautiously. The corner, luckily, is not hiding the wrath of Zeus or any other deity, just an automated sentry turret that does not even have a chance for its barrel to spin and begin to fire before Ronin teleports behind it and slices the turret in half with his sword.
Defender is about to press on down the hall when Ronin raises his fist, signaling for them to halt. He places a finger to his lips and gestures to the doorways, indicating the need to take cover. The Invincibles press themselves against the doors so that they are inside the small alcove, leaving them invisible to an enemy coming down the hall. And an enemy does come down the hall. Six Kronos soldiers in two neat rows of three jog down the hall in full gear. They do not notice the Invincibles since they are probably trying to get to the carnage outside. Following them at a slow, lumbering pace is a robotic being that is tall enough and broad enough to take up most of the hallway. It is white in color and has the word “Centurion: Prototype” stamped on its chest. The robot carries a huge Gatling gun and has an equally large rifle slung over its back. It lumbers along without noticing the Invincibles as well, letting them let out a sigh of relief and step out from behind cover.
“What was that?” Defender asks.
“A Centurion,” Ronin says.
“I can read,” Defender asks. “What’s a Centurion?”
“Centurions are experimental Kronos weapons,” Ronin explains. “They are mechanized combat units that are remotely controlled by the pilot linking their brain to the Centurion’s operating system. I didn’t know that they had produced one yet, though.”
“How do we kill it?”
“We can’t. The Centurion will be able to repair itself for far longer than we can fight it. The only way to stop a Centurion permanently is to kill the pilot.”
“So we should just stay out of its way.”
“That is preferable to being shredded to pieces by fifty-caliber rounds.”
Defender nods and starts down the hall again. Ronin touches the tip of his sword to every door that they pass, identifying the occupants, if any, of the rooms. They continue around the facility, Ronin checking the doors and Defender keeping watch until the Blind Swordsman stops at a door.
“Kaiju’s in here,” Ronin says. He slides his sword through the steel door like a hot knife through butter and cuts a hole in it large enough for the two of them to step through. Inside, Kaiju is strapped to a table with various, sadistic-looking machines poised to strike surrounding him.
The Invincibles go to work on freeing the grey giant as the alien wakes up slowly.
“Ronin? Defender? What are you doing here?” Kaiju asks groggily.
“We’re here to get you out,” Defender says. “No man left behind.”
“You fools,” Kaiju says. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“We’re Invincibles, Kaiju,” Ronin assures him. “We can take the Kronos armies.”
“Behind you,” Kaiju warns.
The Invincibles whip around to see the Centurion blocking the doorway.
“Fuck,” Defender says.
The Centurion then begins to fire its massive weapon, spraying bullets around the room as Defender and Roni
n dive for cover. Kaiju is unstrapped enough to roll off of the examination table and onto the floor. Defender crawls rapidly to where Ronin and Kaiju are taking cover behind a concrete table that is cemented into the floor.
“This isn’t going to hold for long,” Kaiju says as a chunk of the table falls into his lap.
“Ronin, can you get inside that thing’s head?” Defender asks.
Ronin touches two fingers to his temple, but his eyes do not glow, “No, I can’t,” he says. “Something is shielding the Centurion’s pilot from me.”
“I cannot fight the Centurion,” Kaiju says. “I am still too weak.”
“Then it looks like we’re going to have to run,” Ronin says. He grabs Kaiju’s with one hand and uses his foot to make contact with Defender, since he cannot relinquish his sword.
“Just to warn you, Defender!” Ronin shouts. “I’m only touching you with my foot, so you might lose an arm or so!”
“What?” Defender asks, unable to hear over the roar of the gunfire.
“Nothing!” Ronin yells back. “Brace yourselves!”
Planning Stages
September 4th
Defender feels nauseous again and finds himself vomiting on Lester Hancock’s shoes. The Invincibles are now standing in the billionaire’s hundred-acre backyard, within view of his colossal white chateau. Similar in size and design to Buckingham palace, the Hancock estate is the largest in Virginia, if not the entire east coast.
“You’re back,” Dr. Invictus says.
“Didn’t notice,” Defender says, coughing up the last dregs of his puke. “Sorry about your shoes, mate.”
“I’m going to go get a fresh pair,” Lester says, stepping out of his shoes. “You can burn those, if you’d like.”
“Are we the last ones back?” Ronin asks.
“Yes,” Dr. Invictus says, “Belle and Christopher arrived just an hour before you did.”
“Where are they?” Kaiju asks.
“Inside, on the phone with Belle’s parents,” Sandor says. “We’ve got everything we need to go after the Aotiuer.”
“And we think that we have a plan,” Dr. Invictus says. “We’d better discuss it inside.”
The Invincibles gather around the front half of Lester’s twelve-foot-long mahogany dining table with several holographic displays, courtesy of Dr. Invictus, projected into the air.
“Before we begin,” Sandor says. “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”
“Bad,” Dick says.
“Simon’s off the operation,” Sandor says. “I’ve dispatched him to take care of the Centurion that you and Frank found.”
“That thing might kill him,” Kaiju says.
“I have faith in him,” Sandor says. “Now for the good news. Peter is back in commission.”
“Since when?” Belle asks.
“Since now,” Peter says, zooming into the dining room in full uniform.
“Good to have you back, Pete,” Chris says.
“Thanks, man,” Peter says. “Is this the part where we all load into the Falcon and kick the shit out of the Aotiuer?”
“Not yet,” Sandor says. “I haven’t even explained the plan yet.”
“Well then get to it!” Peter orders, mocking Sandor’s gruff voice.
“There are, as Chris reported, six capital ships,” Sandor says, displaying the six capital ships on the holograms. “In addition to an uncountable number of fighters. There are approximately two billion of their ships and one of ours. Making things harder, the generator spits us out as close as it can to the capital ships, meaning that we could appear smack in the middle of the fleet just as easily as appearing inside the capital ship.”
“That sounds bad,” Lester notes.
“It could be disastrous if we appear surrounded by two billion fighters,” Sandor says. “That would be a one-way ticket to hell. Assuming we actually survive long enough to get onboard one of the capital ships, we need Frank to scan for where Gi-Chul is. There’s no way we can take down all six capital ships, so all we need to do is find and eliminate Gi-Chul. The Aotiuer have a hive mind, and since Gi-Chul is their supreme commander, taking him out should deal with the fleet.”
“I’m willing to bet everything I’ve got that it isn’t going to be that simple,” Belle says.
Sandor smiles grimly, “You’d be right. The Aotiuer aren’t stupid, they’ll figure out pretty fast that we’re going after Gi-Chul. I can guarantee that resistance will get a lot tougher after that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Aotiuer start to head towards Earth in retaliation. If they do decide to head for Earth, we’re going to have around three hours to kill Gi-Chul before the first fighter reaches Earth. If they get to Earth before we get to Gi-Chul, game over. All of us will be up there and there won’t be a whole lot of options to defend Earth.”
“Unless some of us can get down there,” Chris points out.
“A good idea, but it won’t help. The Aotiuer will swarm all over the globe, too fast for even Peter to keep track of them. If they reach Earth, then there’s going to be a crap load of carnage until we kill Gi-Chul,” Sandor says. “He’s the key to all of this; no Gi-Chul, no Aotiuer. I cannot stress that enough. The success of this mission and possibly the survival of the human race relies on the fact that we can take down this ugly shit.”
“What happens once we kill Gi-Chul?” Dick asks.
“Then we need to get the hell off of that capital ship because the Aotiuer sure as hell won’t be operating it,” Sandor says. “If someone is willing to, they could go for the bridge and try to pilot it.”
“I thought only Chris could fly an Aotiuer command ship,” Belle says.
“We don’t need them to fly it,” Sandor says solemnly. “The DNA of the potential pilot will be rejected and the ship will self-destruct. The force of the explosion should set off a chain reaction that takes out the other capital ships since they’re in such close proximity to each other.”
“Whoever is the pilot isn’t going to walk away,” Lester says.
“I can pilot it,” Chris volunteers. “I’ve got the best chance of surviving.”
“If you pilot it then it won’t blow up, dummy,” Belle says. “The whole point is to make it blow up.”
Chris’s brow furrows, “Well then that means you can’t do it either,” he tells her.
“Why not?” she asks.
“Because you’re my other half, Belle,” Chris says sincerely. “And I mean . . . what would I do without you?”
The Living Star’s eyes begin to water as she wraps her arms around her husband, “Okay,” she says, “I won’t do it.”
“Nose goes,” Peter says, quickly touching his index finger to his nose. “It’s one of you four. Sorry, guys.”
“I will activate it, if possible,” Dr. Invictus says with an air of finality. “If this body is destroyed, there won’t be any life-changing repercussions.”
“What about Earth’s defenses?” Lester asks. “We need some kind of fallback in case this goes sour.”
Sandor shrugs, “The armies of the globe, for sure,” he says. “Not sure how much use they’ll be, though. I have S.W.O.R.D. on standby if it comes to that.”
“I’ll give Michael Gideon a call,” Chris says. “We could use Airstrike on the ground.”
“And I’ll ask after Eva,” Belle says, wiping away her tears.
“Not a bad idea, but don’t pressure them too much if they don’t want to get involved,” Sandor says.
“Get a good’s night rest, Invincibles,” Dr. Invictus says. “Tomorrow we’re running the training course.”
The Simulation
September 5th
Lester leads his fellow Invincibles into a cavernous underground tunnel. The tunnel is covered in white panels and surprisingly well-lit for being underground. Overlooking the room is a viewing box with a complicated control panel on it. Dr. Invictus had asked for all the Invincibles to be in full uniform for this
exercise.
“What is this?” Dick asks as he looks around.
“It’s a simulation,” Lester explains. “I use it to hone my combat skills and practice taking down various enemies. This room has every single superhuman, augmented, bionic, or alien known to the world on record and can recreate them in virtually any environment.”
“How does it work?” Frank asks.
“The panels alter themselves to look like the environment and the air flow can be modified accordingly,” Lester says. “As a subject progresses through the simulation, the simulation changes with it. It could seem and feel like you’ve just run two miles, but in truth, the floor was just moving with you and you haven’t moved at all.”
“Like the King Kong ride in Universal Studios,” Peter says.
“The concept is similar, but our version is a lot more dangerous,” Lester says. “In addition to built-in hazards, drones are deployed and take the form of whatever enemies are assigned. I’ve even got specialized drones to represent supervillains.”
“We’re going to run the simulation one at a time,” Dr. Invictus says. “After everyone has gone through successfully, then we’ll take it up a notch. I’ll explain what that means later.”
“Peter, you’re up first,” Sandor says.
The other Invincibles enter the viewing box; the box is heavily armored and has no windows, as to prevent injury. The same display system used to view prisoners inside the cells underneath Invincibles Tower are used so those inside the box can observe the person inside the simulation. Lester and Sandor sit in front of the control panel, making adjustments to fine-tune the simulation to Peter’s needs.
“Peter, can you hear me?” Dr. Invictus asks through the two-way radio.
“Loud and clear, doc,” Peter says. “It’s really dark in here.”
“All the simulations will take place inside the Aotiuer capital ship,” Lester says. “We’ve never seen the inside of a capital ship before, but I’ve recreated the inside of the cruiser you hijacked. I’ve also taken the liberty of adding a few extra threats as well.”