Will nodded, morphed into his Guardian uniform, and then took off flying towards the hangar doors at the far end of the cavernous room. As he got close, he used a shot of his laser vision to melt a man-size hole in the door so he could make his exit to try and stop the ionized photon torpedoes before they reached London, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
Five of the torpedoes had been dispatched to each city. If only one of the torpedoes hit its target, it would be devastating. If all five struck, they would obliterate each of the cities and kill millions of people.
As Hauser and his men saw Will morph into his suit and fly towards the exit, they looked on in dismay.
“Holy shit, Captain! The Colonel just changed into some kinda black costume and flew outta here like a fuckin’ bird!” said Hess.
“What the hell is that guy?” asked Becker.
Before anyone else could ask any questions, Tah’soon stepped up to the group and said, “I can see the confusion and dismay on your faces. The man you know as the Colonel is known to us as the Shadow Warrior. He is a Guardian and is responsible for protecting my planet and many other planets. There is no need to be afraid of him or his abilities. He uses them only to help others.”
“We’re not afraid of him, ma’am,” said Hauser. “Maybe where you’re from it may be normal to see bullets bounce off a man like they were nothing, lift things that weigh several tons like they were a feather, fly like a damn jet, and burn holes in things with his eyes, but on this planet it just ain’t normal!”
Tah’soon smiled. “It is not normal on my planet either, Captain. Your Colonel is a very unique person, and he is well known in our part of the universe.”
“So let me ask a stupid question: Is the Colonel, or Guardian, an alien too?” asked Hauser.
“No one actually knew where he was from originally, but from what he told us earlier in Tal’pun’s cell, he is a human like you - but in other ways he is obviously more than human.”
“Any idea how he came to be like he is?” asked Hauser.
“No. I have no idea, but…”
Before Tah’soon could continue, Tal’pun walked up to and told her to keep the humans company but to refrain from telling them anymore about the Guardian. He also informed her that they were about to begin repairing the ship with the help of the Guardian’s nanobots, that his starship cruiser would provide protection for them while he was gone, and that there were replacement parts and repair material for their use on his ship.
Hauser asked what he had said, and she told him, except for what he said about the Guardian. Hauser looked somewhat perplexed and as soon as he asked her “What ship?” Will’s starship cruiser materialized in front of them in its current form of the SS staff car and the transport truck. As soon as it materialized, it reassembled itself to its original shape and landed near the Krelian ship, much to the surprise of Hauser and his men.
“Holy shit!” exclaimed Hauser.
Once it returned to its shape, one of its doors opened and a small glowing orb came out of it and floated towards the Krelian ship. As it approached the ship, the billions of nanobots contained inside were released and went to work repairing the ship. Tal’pun then ordered his crew to enter their vessel and start assisting with the repairs.
Most of Tal’pun’s crew filed quickly past him to help with the repairs. Tal’pun ordered two of his men to get the piece of tyrilium that would be used to repair the hole in the ship. As Valtor started to walk past him to enter the ship, Tal’pun put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“I have a question for you, Valtor,” said Tal’pun with an ominous tone in his voice.
“Ye...yes, Captain?” he answered nervously.
“How did the Nazi scientists manage to get the photon torpedoes online and fire them?” he asked as he squeezed Valtor’s shoulder harder, which caused him to wince in pain.
“I…I’m not sure,” he said unconvincingly.
“LIAR!” Tal’pun screamed, causing Hauser and his men to turn and see what the commotion was. Tal’pun then shoved Valtor against the ship, picked him up by his neck, and started choking him.
“I…I…can’t…breathe!” he said between gasps, but Tal’pun did not let up. Hauser started to intervene, but was stopped by Tah’soon, who shook her head to indicate he shouldn‘t interfere.
“You helped them get those cannons online and showed them how to set the targeting coordinates! Didn’t you?” he yelled.
“YES! Yes, it’s…true. Please…let…go of…me!” Valtor pleaded through ragged wheezes.
Tal’pun let go of him, and he fell to the ground gasping for his breath.
“What the hell were you thinking? Do you realize what you have done? If the Guardian can’t stop those torpedoes, millions of people will die,” he said with an eerie calmness in his voice, as if all of his anger had drained from his body.
“They threatened to kill me if I didn’t,” he said, his voice fading halfway through his proclamation as he hung his head to his chest.
Kaltor and Dal’tun had watched and heard the whole altercation between Tal’pun and Valtor. When Tal’pun looked up and saw them he said, “Take this traitor to his room and lock him in there. I’ll let the Council deal with him when we return to Krelios.”
“Yes, Captain,” said Kaltor. Without another word, they lifted Valtor under his arms and escorted him inside of the ship and locked him in his room as ordered.
Tal’pun then walked onboard the ship and said, “Let’s get this damn ship repaired so we can leave this miserable planet.”
Tal’pun then sat in his chair and hung his head for a minute as he collected himself and then went about checking the status of the repairs being done by Will’s nanobots.
25,000 Feet Above and 150 Miles West of the Eyrie
The pilot looked at his watch. They would reach their target in about forty-five minutes. He said a silent prayer that the bomb’s timer was functioning properly and wouldn’t explode prematurely.
Chapter 77
Belgian Airspace
As soon as Will exited the Eyrie, he started using his telescopic vision to locate the photon torpedoes, which were practically invisible to the naked eye. He found them quickly, made his way to about 70,000 feet, and headed northwest to try and intercept them.
As fast as he was, it would be no problem to intercept them it there were only one or two of them. However, with fifteen of them on their way to three different targets, he was afraid that even he couldn’t stop all of them before they reached their intended targets. It would have been much easier if he hadn’t had to leave his starship cruiser behind to protect his men and the Krelian ship. Plus, he could not fly at his top speed inside of Earth’s atmosphere as he feared it might cause harm to its inhabitants due to the incredible backwash created by his speed.
He would head to London, England for the five that were headed there. Fortunately, the remaining torpedoes had to cross the Atlantic Ocean before they made their way to New York City and Washington, D.C., which would buy him a little time.
The Eyrie, Tenth Level
The ceiling above the spacecraft suddenly started to open. As a small gash appeared, so did several German “potato masher” hand grenades that had been dropped by Hoffman’s men.
Will’s starship cruiser immediately went into action and projected a force field around the Krelian ship. The grenades exploded as they hit the force field, and did not do any damage.
“Quickly, get on the ship!” Hauser ordered.
As Hauser’s men, Erika and the Krelians began running up the gangplank, the opening in the ceiling got bigger. Hoffman’s men began rappelling down on ropes from the ceiling, firing their machine guns as they dropped.
“Engage the shields!” ordered Tal’pun. However, Tal’pun was informed by his engineers that they were not online yet. Tal’pun knew that it could take anywhere from several seconds to several minutes to get the shields operational, so he just had to trust that the starshi
p cruiser’s shields would protect the ship until they could get their shields repaired.
Hauser then looked out of the viewport and observed the ten Nazis approaching the shield, firing their Mauser machine guns as they moved. The force field easily protected them and a couple of the soldiers were killed when the bullets ricocheted off of the shield and hit them.
“Captain, what are we going to do?” asked Hess. “The Colonel told us to get those scientists from the ninth level and get them on the ship.”
Hauser thought for a second, and then said, “Alright men, listen up. Hess is right, some of us need to make our way to the ninth floor and retrieve those scientists. But first we need to take out the Nazis outside of the ship. Let’s move!”
Hauser and his men then proceeded down the gangplank and moved into firing positions. As they were about to fire, Hauser said, “Wait a minute! With that shield in place, I don’t know what will happen if we shoot at it from this side of it. Take cover and let’s see what happens when I shoot at it.”
Hauser then fired one shot, which easily went through the force field and struck an approaching Nazi in the head.
“Okay, well that answers that. Open fire!” he ordered.
Hauser and his men then wiped out the remaining seven soldiers quickly.
“Hess, Hammond, you guys stay here and finish placing those bombs like the Colonel told you. The rest of you guys come with me.”
Just as they were about to leave, Tah’soon came down the gangplank and asked Hauser what was happening.
“The Colonel told us to retrieve the scientists on the ninth floor, so we’re heading to do that. Between the two men I’m leaving, and the Colonel’s ship, you folks should be okay until we get back.”
“Do not worry, our security officers have four of our weapons back. We will be fine. Just please be careful,” she said to Hauser, and then looked at Serrano, who smiled and winked at her. Tah’soon blushed.
Hauser nodded, and then he and his men headed to the ropes that Hoffman’s men had rappelled down and they climbed up them to the next level.
London, England
It was still early morning, and the usual London fog was still hanging around over most of the city. It would not be burned off by the sun until mid-morning. People were heading to work and school as usual. There were still remnants of the Blitz that had occurred in this historic city in September 1940, which lasted for fifty-seven days. But most of the rubble had been removed, and the rebuilding process had begun in earnest.
Tons of cars lined both sides of London Bridge heading into and out of the city for work, school, and play. Pedestrian traffic ambled across the bridge as well. A group of businessmen on foot were the first to hear the odd whining sound. They looked around to see where it was coming from, but they could not determine its source, when suddenly the first of the torpedoes hit one of the pylons that supported the bridge.
Fortunately, it was only a glancing blow right at water level and did not completely destroy the bridge or the pylon immediately. Fearing they were under attack by the Nazis again, people got out of their cars and joined the throng of people who were now running for their lives.
A second torpedo was moments away from striking the center of the bridge, when Will flew right in front of it and blocked it with his body. As soon as he had deflected the strike he flew towards the next incoming projectile, which was headed towards Buckingham Palace. Will barely managed to block this torpedo before it scored a direct hit on the palace.
The fourth torpedo was heading towards the British Parliament building when Will destroyed it with a blast of laser vision just seconds before impact. Fortunately, the light that came off of the exploding torpedo shielded anyone from seeing Will in action. The fifth torpedo was headed towards 10 Downing Street, where Churchill’s office was located. Will managed to stop it only fifty feet from impact.
Will then went back to check on the bridge that had been struck. People were still trying to get off of the bridge as he arrived on scene, when suddenly the bridge support that was struck buckled, and a one hundred foot section of the bridge began falling at one end into the Thames River. Several people slid off the end of the bridge into the waiting water below.
Will flew directly under the section of the bridge that was falling and caught it just before it hit the water. He then pushed it back up until it was in approximately the same place it was before. He then used a blast of his laser vision to weld the broken sections as best as he could so the rest of the people could get off of the bridge.
Faster than the eye could follow, he then plucked the half dozen people that had fallen off the bridge as it collapsed out of the water, put them on top of the bridge, and flew off before he could be seen. He would let the engineers try to figure out the mystery of how the broken sections miraculously welded themselves back together.
Will then flew off towards his next destination: New York City.
Chapter 78
25,000 Feet and One Hundred Miles West of the Eyrie
The atomic bomb laden B-29 was approximately 100 miles from its target. The pilot estimated that he and his crew would be there in half an hour. He gave the order to arm the bomb.
Poor bastards,” he thought, at least they‘ll never know what hit ‘em.
Two Miles West of the Eyrie
Schultz was starting to get worried. He had not heard from the rest of his team since they entered the Eyrie. He hoped everything had gone okay; if not, it was going to be a long walk back home.
A couple of minutes earlier, he had been looking towards the mountain where he knew his team was and saw a hangar-sized opening appear and disappear in the side of it. Immediately afterwards, he heard an odd whining sound and could just barely make out several…somethings coming out of the hole in the mountain. If it was a weapon, it was none he’d ever seen or heard before. And just as soon as it appeared, the opening closed.
A couple of minutes later Schultz looked up and saw that a smaller hole had appeared in the side of the mountain and a man-sized object came rapidly flying out of the hole in the same direction as the unidentified somethings a couple of minutes earlier.
“What the fuck was that?” Schultz heard a familiar voice say behind him.
Schultz wheeled around to see Brunner, Wakefield, and Becker standing there observing the black clad, man-sized object flying out of the mountain opening.
“Jesus Christ, Brunner! You scared the shit out of me!” shouted Schultz.
“Sorry, we were trying to call you on the radio, but you weren’t answering. We thought something had happened to you, so we low crawled to your location and saw you standing here looking at something.”
“The radio’s inside the cave I was hiding in. I heard a whining noise and came out to see what was making it. Then I saw, hell, I don’t know what it was - some kind of weapon or weapons being fired maybe - coming out of a hole in the side of the mountain, and then that black, whatever it was, came flying out after ‘em a couple minutes later,” answered Schultz.
“A weapon being fired? What kind of weapon?” ask Wakefield.
“I have no idea,” Schultz admitted. “But it was nothing I’ve ever seen or heard before.”
“Now what do we do?” said Becker.
“We sit tight for a few minutes and see if we can contact anyone by radio. If not, we’ll start making our way towards the extraction point,” said Brunner.
The Eyrie, Ninth Level
Hauser and his men had climbed up the ropes and made their way to the ninth level where the scientists were supposed to be. They slowly and quietly made their way to where they believed the lab was until they came upon a steel door that said in German, “Laboratory: Authorized Personnel Only.”
“This is it, boys,” said Hauser.
“How we gettin’ in, Skipper?” asked Schechter.
Hauser walked up and tried opening the door. It was locked.
“Shit. I was hoping it wouldn’t be locked.” Hauser th
en thought for a minute and said, “Hess, Hammond, do you guys have enough of that C-2 to blow this damn door?”
Hess and Hammond came up to look at the door and then rendered their opinion after a few seconds. “Negative, Skipper. We don’t,” said Hess. Hammond nodded in agreement.
Serrano then said, “What about one of those alien weapons? Hell, if they can destroy bombers and freighters, they shouldn’t have a hard time taking out this fuckin’ door.”
Hauser smiled. “Good thinking. Go talk to that female translator and tell her what we need to do.”
“Yes, sir,” said Serrano, smiling to himself.
Serrano then quickly climbed back down the rope and returned to the Krelian ship and told Tah’soon what was needed. She then conferred with Kaltor and Dal’tun, and they told her it could be done. Dal’tun then went with Serrano, along with Tah’soon to translate.
They all climbed up the rope and rendezvoused with Hauser and the rest of the men.
New York City
After leaving London, Will flew out across the Atlantic headed towards New York City where the next wave of Krelian photon torpedoes was to strike next.
Halfway across the Atlantic, Will spotted a group of five American destroyers caught in a severe storm, which was throwing them about like a pair of dice on a craps table. Will didn’t have time to stop, but knew he needed to help the ships and their crew before they were all killed.
Suddenly, one of the ships capsized and several of its crew members were tossed into the churning, icy cold water. Will quickly righted the boated, used his thermal vision to spot the crew members in the frigid black water, plucked them out of it faster than the eye could see, and put them safely on the deck of their boat.
Will then used a few well-placed blasts of super breath to push the storm away from the ships’ travel lane, and he then continued on his way. Needless to say, the ships’ crews were stunned as to how fast the storm abated and moved away from their position. They were equally as shocked that their boat had righted itself. The crew members who knew they had been thrown overboard were unable to satisfactorily explain how they had miraculously ended back up on the boat without divine intervention.
Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant Page 31