by Jaime Mera
Quatris grinned a little and looked out into space in thought.
“Helmsman, take us out four thousand miles and maintain orbit over Australia.” Eduardo commanded as the fleet adapted to the situation, with the battle destroyer moving swiftly into position.
AT&T Stadium, Dallas, Texas
Sixty-thousand plus people crowded the stadium as the green glow covered the sky. But their attention was focused on the prayer vigil or safety in the hope that the gathering numbers was somehow a protective measure against world destruction.
Joshua Marks sat in the mid range level center row; his short trimmed dark brown hair and beard seemed to glow white as he looked out to the center of the crowded field. His shabby caterpillar heavy blue parka had not seen a washing machine for a week with several coffee and dirt stains marking his elbows and mid waist. The teenage girl, Jenny Florence, next to him also looked out into the field. She wore a blue enzyme twill cap firmly positioned at a slant. Her long sandy brown hair and hazel teal eyes glowed similar to Joshua’s eyes, but no one was aware of the auroras as everyone in the stadium to include most of the Earth saw what they saw.
The visions of everything Estabon and Eduardo had gone through in their lives up to the present flashed before their eyes. Jenny turned her pretty face looking at Joshua. “Now that everyone knows why they’re taking over the world, won’t they help them?”
“If people were so understanding, they would not need to be forced to do what’s right or take responsibility for their actions. So the answer is no Jenny. And, not everyone knows what you saw. The Soldiers and people around Apex, the superheroes and everyone in space have not seen these visions.”
Jenny narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t you let everyone know?”
“Destiny is a weird thing. If you know the future, then aren’t you in a position to change it just by knowing?”
“What are you talking about? I might know a meteor is going to obliterate the Earth, but me knowing is not going to change it.”
“Yes, for you it probably won’t matter, but there are those that can change it by flying up into space and blasting it into pieces or creating a force field to deflect it away.”
Jenny grumbled under her breath. “This stuff is so complicated.”
Joshua chuckled. “I have absorbed a small portion of life force from the people in this stadium to keep the Earth from burning into oblivion. All people will know what happens in the next hours to come, and witness the heroes who are fighting for all life on Earth. That is all you need to understand for the moment.”
Jenny exhaled in thought. “So what happens to Brenda and Estabon?”
Joshua smiled with amusement. “Like I said, sit back, relax and see.” The vision of Creator inside a large pocket along with ten other superhumans came into everyone’s minds on many continents as if a movie was playing without censoring or commercials.
The plastic case they stood on was large to them, but in actuality measured three inches wide and one inch thick. All ten of them had elbow room as an LED on the top edge of the case lit the area. Creator looked around seeing through the case, and the internal aspects of Lee’s body, who was flying the group towards Apex.
“I see you guys have done this a lot.” Creator turned his head towards Mathew.
Mathew was in costume with all black, a utility belt, flash goggles and a futuristic looking brutally destructive pistol. “Yes, we’ve been doing this for decades.”
Rat Bastard in rat form spoke the most, greeting the new people asking annoying questions as Creator, Mathew and Ghost huddled. “I take it you two know each other?” Ghost asked the men over Rat Bastard’s greetings and storytelling.
Creator looked at him. “We met decades ago after a bank robbery, I followed him, but I lost him and couldn’t find out who he or his team were. But now I know I was close to the same people responsible to the Fort Knox and Area 51 thief.”
“So you remember that night. Wow, I wish we would have known each other earlier, maybe you wouldn’t have had to steal the F35 back from North Korea.” Mathew remarked.
“You know, what’s funny is Mirage has been with us for many years and she never mentioned her brother was in your group.” Creator said, knowing Lee was working as a law enforcement officer the last time he checked, even though he knew it was a cover for his superhuman life.
“When he joined us, we changed our ways and believe it or not, we were working on getting the stealth fighter back before you beat us to the punch.”
“I see, so Ghost.” Creator turned to face him. “I suppose we have a lot to talk about concerning these androids and the big picture.”
Mathew and several others turned their attention to the discussion. “What big picture?”
Ghost glanced at Io at the far end of the container. Ghost’s medium stature semi-curly black hair extended down to his collar bone. Waving slightly as he motioned Io to join them. “Io, says that there are approximately twenty-five hundred Tantalized androids that he knows of, will be defending Apex. Australia is intending to take over the world by destroying everything on it with the activated force field above us. And, Apex is surrounded by another force field which protects them from the deadly effects.”
Io, in the form of his original factory worker appearance, with a dark brown coat and faded jeans stepped next to the men. “This container defies the laws of physics. We should have been thrown to and fro and one of the weaker ones should have been squashed by now.”
Ghost smiled as Cynthia, a tall, long blonde haired, beauty replied while sitting on the wall of container. “Valerie’s powers made us small, but Lee’s energy suit is keeping us stationary and adjusting by millimeters every hundredth of a second to offset the sudden momentum, and the pocket is actually a container standing upright in relation to the center of the Earth, controlled by the energy field around Lee’s body.”
Mathew was impressed by the explanation she was given by Lee a long time ago, but he still doubted if it made any sense. Mathew widely grinned as Io responded. “But that’s impossible?”
Ghost chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t think Lee read that book.”
“Excuse me, but what you guys are saying is we have to fight against thousands of androids, a million possible superhumans, give or take a thousand, and any other weapons Apex has for city defenses, plus turn off the force generator at the same time?” Lee’s voice sounded loud and clear through Cindy’s comlink.
“No one said it would be easy.” Creator smirked.
“Yeah, easy and impossible are relative words now a day.” Lee smiled but only Kyle could see it being next to him as they flew at hypersonic speeds northwestwardly towards Apex.
Chapter 20
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Approaching Apex
Outskirts of Apex, Center of Australia
Master Sergeant Voles leveled his spectrum binoculars on the man-made obstacles a hundred meters from the closest structures of the city limits. His motorcycle rested in the low ground a hundred meters back, as he laid in the thick brush. His helmet visor allowed him to see out to a mile, but the binoculars could detect ambient sound waves, temperature signatures and ultraviolet fluctuations, producing a three dimensional map identifying people, weapons, obstacles and materials for that mile distance. He looked across the massive city only being able to penetrate several blocks inward.
The tall ten story buildings took advantage of every piece of geometric zoning on every block, and obscured line of sight, but the density of the concrete reinforced structures just made the city a massive maze of tall obstacles and not a true place for family dwellings. “This is going to be insane.” Voles spoke to himself, as he transmitted the footage back to the mobile command post.
The 17th Armor Legion was marshalling ten miles back across the rolling desert hills as MSG Voles and his scouts were surveying the city for updated entry routes. “Master Sergeant, we have incoming.” The urgency of the Soldier’s voice caused Voles to scurry backw
ards and rapidly put his binos on his arm harness.
He looked up to see artillery shells high in the air, in his visor they were dots and arching lines in purple, telling him one of the rounds would land sixty meters from him. He sprinted towards the targeted impact site and slid into the rocky dirt before the warhead exploded. The flattening of the air sounded eerily intense as a shockwave of rock and metallic fragments reverberated towards him. He was lifted off the ground and flung back a few feet as a cloud of dirt and dust blacked out the sky from normal sight. Large objects hit his armored suit; the helmet’s sound filters blocked all decibels passing any harmful thresholds. “Damn, that was a large munition.” Voles faced the city and dug into the ground as the dust settled on top of him. “All report.”
Voles looked up for more incoming rounds, but they had shot two dozen shells in their direction and were now shooting out behind them. “Master Sergeant, we’re all still here.”
“Thank you, Luis. Okay, if you are hidden and not close to your cycle, stay put.”
“Master Sergeant, I’m next to my cycle. I can go back as a red herring.” Corporal Jimenez breathed heavily on his internal mic.
“Go for it, we’ll wait here and continue to report updates.”
The low roar of the cycle could be heard with his enhanced sound microphone in his helmet, telling Voles the corporal was on his way back to the leading unit in their sector.
The green light above baked everything with a green channel hue, but his helmet compensated for the color scheme giving the sky a mild blue tint which he set as a default. He waited motionless with his head canted up towards the city buildings. Movement inside the shuttered windows caused him to hug the ground as hundreds of muzzle flashes brought the quiet landscape out of its passivity.
Buzzing impacts around and on him pushed through the rock and dirt puffing up sand and dust. The sudden tap on his shoulder was painful on his collar bone, as it annoyed him into action. A normal person lying on the ground would have been cut in half by the 30mm armor piercing round had he not been wearing the armored suit. He jumped up, twirled and sprinted towards his cycle. “Can you guys cover me!” He grunted as several rounds hit his back pushing him forward adding to his sprint. However, the release of his sling meant his sniper rifle on his back broke in two from one or two impacts.
Loud gun shots cracked air barriers almost in unison as thirteen sniper rifles countered the open building windows from a mile out. Voles finally made it to his cycle as he dove into the low ground; a trench area the cycle was hiding from view. Voles pulled the sling strap up to his front, the sniper rifle’s scope was gone and stock separated from the lower receiver. He quickly tossed it to the side as his men continued to shoot at the gun fire coming out of the buildings.
“There’re too many gun ports.” One of the scouts said as impact rounds could be heard extremely close to him.
“Start regressing; keep falling back past their effective direct weapon range.” Voles said as he opened up a rear compartment behind the seat; pulling out a slightly modified sniper rifle. It was much heavier, as he slung it on his back and hopped on the cycle. The twenty-four inch thick rugged tire gripped the rocky ground and took Voles a hundred meters away from the hive site.
He turned away from the city, racing towards higher elevation. “Master Sergeant, Carlos is knocked out and severely injured.” Luis said over the air, but Voles knew Luis was reporting having used his telepathic ability to know Carlos was unconscious.
Voles swung around towards Sergeant Carlos Mize’s last location. The 3D map in his visor off to the top of his eyes, showed a mostly concealed route to his cycle, but he knew that exposing himself would only attract attention to his activity and Carlo’s now ignored location. He sped off as far as he could go before dismounting. Without hesitation, he low crawled past the most exposed area. “I’m moving to Carlos, anyone have eyes on him?”
Traffic was silent for a moment. “Sorry Master Sergeant, I don’t think anyone does.” Sergeant First Class Penz replied. Penz and a few others continued to fire back at the shutters that exposed themselves. The loud 20mm sniper signature Penz was emitting reassured Voles that his heavy gunners were being effective; shooting from short of two miles out.
Flaking pops and booms littered the outskirts of the buildings as South American artillery rounds and missiles carpeted a half mile strip several blocks deep. Voles jumped up and ran towards Carlos as the impacts gave him an opportunity to get to Carlos without worrying about being spotted. Voles stood above Carlos’ body; blood spilling out of his helmet. A small entry hole on the helmet and no exit hole indicated the projectile was still inside his head or helmet. “I need help, Carlos took a head shot.”
“On our way, Master Sergeant.” Several of the scouts replied, as Voles assessed the injury trying to figure out how to move Carlos, or how to remove the helmet. He was a veteran of several wars, and all of the Soldiers were expertly trained in medical surgery, but this was a unique situation. He touched Carlos’ wristband linked to his body. It showed a pulse and very low blood pressure.
Voles looked around for his men, but they were still far from him having to return back to their original positions. He felt around the neck area for the pressure latches and slides, but they were stuck in place. He used his armored finger tips to force the latches to open trying not to create sudden head movement. To his relief the latches released and the helmet eased off with blood covering Carlos’ head. He quickly placed a sterile pad on the head and cleaned the mouth and nose area, as he heard two Soldiers approaching.
The artillery bombardment continued as if the Legion commander had ordered that section of the city be leveled to the ground. The tremors along the surface told Voles they wouldn’t be interrupted while his men prepared Carlos to be evacuated. Voles was finally able to focus on his surroundings as he looked for an aerial evac, but instead the sound of heavy armor made him look out towards the southeast. The bombardment ended with a very large cloud of smoke and dust covering the area with the wind blowing into them. “Master Sergeant we have ground movement coming from the city.”
Voles looked down at his three men, and then at the city. He walked to the side of the three and laid with his rifle ready. “Get ready to move if they shoot at us.” Voles calmly instructed; even though they didn’t have a firm stretcher, knowing the thermo blanket acting as a makeshift stretcher might do more damage to Carlos if they had to move quickly.
Voles saw what his lookouts were witnessing. Human figures in armor suits came out of the rubble, some moving large sections of walls weighing several tons as if they were but a nuisance preventing them from walking on leveled ground. “Damn androids.” Voles announced with displeasure. “There’s a lot more than several thousand in the city.”
“I count forty-three.” Penz replied as a head shot decapitated one of the androids. “Now, forty-two.” A trailing pop sound adding to his report.
The androids stopped their forward movement and ran back into the rubble and still standing forward buildings. “You must have scared them.” A scout joked.
Voles half frowned, “If only it were that easy.”
Eight South American tanks drove past the four Soldiers creating a semi-circular defensive line around them. “Where’s the APC?” Voles was relieved they were now protected, but they needed a personnel carrier to place Carlos in for the evac.
“Don’t be afraid. We’re here to help.” Cindy’s voice came from next to him.
“And who are we?” Voles said as he looked in the direction of nothing but air.
Creator, Night, Mathew’s team and Ghost’s team appeared around the four Soldiers. Voles didn’t know anyone except Creator and Night, but it didn’t matter since they were obviously on his side. “Mirage, can you help him?” Creator asked.
Cindy’s shadowy figure appeared above Carlos, scooping him into her arms, his body was lifted out of the armored suit. Voles saw her hand over Carlos’ temple covering the en
try wound. Several metallic fragments fell on top of the empty desert camouflaged suit. With amazement Voles looked at the superheroes with reinforced belief in their existence. “Thank you.”
“Take him to the surgeons. We’ll take it from here.” Creator turned to the city, looking up.
Lee’s black energy suit made no attempt to blend in with his surroundings as he flew hundreds of meters from the outskirt and started lasing everything in sight.
Missiles from within the city launched at supersonic speeds but detonated a mile inside as Lee targeted and lased them before they cleared a hundred meters, as well as the buildings.
Everyone witnessing the onslaught of destruction had to take a moment to compose themselves. “Hey, Spot why don’t you do that?” Rat Bastard said over the tank engines.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Spot flew off towards the city and added to the destruction with his own laser beams coming out of his hands.
“Cynthia, help them out.” Mathew said as he jumped towards the rubble, marked by demolished blocks.
Cynthia flew up and unleashed a mixture of radiated beams and blasts a mile deep into the city.
The rest of the superhumans split up by flying or disappearing from sight. The eight tanks moved forward as Voles ran back to his cycle.
The opaque green energy field covering the ozone layer lit the area as if it were daylight, but the black and grayish smoke coming out of the southeastern portion of the city started to blacken the overcast. Hawk fighters penetrated the sky receiving many lock on tracks by air defense systems. Thousands of missiles and projectiles came from all corners of the city. The three superhumans in the air watched with angst, even Lee couldn’t track all of the streaking objects.
Bangs and buzzing came from behind the superheroes as hundreds of thousands of missiles and artillery projectiles from ground and air assets covered the southern skies. Lee’s radar picked up ninety percent of the moving objects. In his combat visor display, very small particles of colored lights represented groups of moving objects coming on their way to crisscross over him. Everyone else saw two swarms of black dots or streams of exhaust on a collision course above them. “Get out of the air.” Lee yelled with his helmet magnifying his voice for Spot and Cynthia to clearly hear over the already exploding first intercepts.