Chapter FifteenColonel Serena Savage looked up angrily at her office door as the chime rang again. Damned agents never got the point when they were not wanted. She reluctantly flipped the switch on her desk and the automated door cycled to the unlocked setting. The door immediately opened. A scrawny man she recognized as one of the media division analysts shuffled his feet as he stood in the door way. She cocked a wry grin as she looked up at him from her paperwork. It was by no means a friendly smile, more of a wolf’s grin. The analyst took a deep gulp of air before he stepped in to the office. After the ten percent cut in staff she made after taking over the Agency for Counter-Terrorism: Infiltration, Observation, and Negation, they all feared her. She found cultivating that fear kept everyone on staff well motivated. “What do you want, Agent…Sommers, isn’t it? “Yes, ma’am… er, sir.” “Fine, Agent Sommers. What in the hell do you want?” “We’ve had a breach at the Egypt mission, sir.” “The cyberions don’t commit breaches, Sommers. They destroy breaches completely and utterly. It’s in their programming.” “They were caught on camera, sir.” Savage’s air of quiet detachment vanished as she violently rose from her seat. “What?” The word came out in a snarl as she reached out and grabbed Sommers by his tie. “What happened, agent? And talk fast if you want to keep your job!” “During the Qaeda raid there were BBC reporters in the camp. Somehow they survived the culling and broadcast the footage back to their studios.” “Why wasn’t this suppressed?” “It was too late. We tried, but the BBC already had the footage on air before we could move in on the place.” She let Sommers go with a shove. The sniveling little man stumbled back, but kept his footing. He straightened his tie as Savage calmly sat back down in her seat. “It’s not the end of the world, I suppose. This was destined to occur, after all.” She turned to the computer and opened a web browser. In seconds, she pulled up the BBC website and found a link to the footage on the main page. She clicked on the link and a grainy image of three of her cyborg soldiers in action filled the screen. “We just need to put the proper spin on things. Get the PR teams on this immediately. We can spin the cyberions as true American heroes who sacrificed everything for their country. Hell, push it hard enough and we can get those pansies in the media to look over the whole Egypt situation. Then we—” She looked away from the screen and back at the analyst. “Why are you still here, Agent Sommers? Get to work. We’re in crisis management mode here!” Sommers scurried from the room towards his unit. Serena closed down the BBC page, and then pulled up the secure email server on her computer. She went to the drafts folder and pulled up the email she had ready. She sent it off to all department heads with a top priority marker. Her plan to expose her own cyberions had come together perfectly. Now she would be able to act openly, and the United States could once again take its place as the mightiest nation in the world. Now the war could begin, even though the other players didn’t even know it was coming. ***** Sid Lieber, better known to all as Cyberpath, looked around frantically for Bobbi and Psalm. One second the two ladies were right there next to him, with Bobbi suddenly on her knees. The next, he found himself alone by the grill. He looked over to the younger kids at the picnic tables. What am I going to do? he thought. I can’t handle all these kids alone. The first scream preceded the arrival of the three Brethren by only seconds. The students scattered from the tables as the figures floated down from the sky. He recognized all of them immediately. Jamboree looked like the elephant man crossed with Bozo the Clown. Red and blue splotches fell all over his chalk white skin. Jamboree could produce fireworks-like explosions big enough to kill a grown man, and he could do so fast and in large number. The tall, skinny African American with foot-pointed ears was Dark Elf. He could produce an inky black substance that he could then shape and control like some kind of psychic silly putty. The Brethren floated through the air on a platform made from his own dark-force. Behind them stood the massive Warbeast. He stood nearly twelve feet, and that was in a crouch. He looked like a cross between a bear and a buffalo, but with bristling spikes covering his arms and back. Cyberpath doubted he could handle any one of them on his own, let alone all three. “Everybody inside!” The younger students panicked at his command. With the kids on the lawn, he couldn’t activate the campus’s automatic defense systems. He needed them inside now. “Hurry, move it! Everyone get inside!” Dark Elf landed his platform. Jamboree and Warbeast sprang off of it and headed towards the students. Cyberpath ran forward and threw himself between the Brethren and the children. “You’re not going any further,” he said. “You want this school, you have to go through me!” Warbeast took a step back, his eyes wide. Jamboree paused, arms raised, his fireworks sitting harmlessly in his hands. “Not him,” Dark Elf said. “It can’t be.” What the hell? Cyberpath thought. Do they know something about me that I don’t? Two concentrated geysers of water shot over Cyberpath’s head. They struck Jamboree and Warbeast like wrecking balls. Jamboree was struck in the forehead. He flew back and crashed to the ground. He did not rise again. The other blast caught Warbeast in the right shoulder. The massive degen staggered, stumbled back, and lost his footing. His legs fell out from under him, and he fell face first to the ground. Cyberpath turned around. Words failed him as he watched Wave shoot up and over him with a burst of water. Wave’s form contracted and struck Dark Elf square in the face. Wave resumed a human shape as he landed. Dark Elf sailed through the air but kept himself from a painful crash with a burst of dark-force. Wave’s arms grew large as he lunged forward, grabbed Dark Elf, and hefted the member of the Brethren back up in to the air. He drove Dark Elf down with all his strength. Dark Elf struck head first with a sickening crack. Wave turned back just as Warbeast’s massive form hurled at him. Wave’s body lost all cohesiveness and he dropped to the ground in an oversized puddle. Warbeast ran past. Wave reached up with two suddenly solid arms and snagged Warbeast’s right leg. The massive degen fell face first in to the ground. Wave rose back in to his full human-shaped form, splashed up and over Warbeast’s body, and smashed down on the degen’s head. With his final foe unconscious, he turned back to Cyberpath. “My name is Wave, and I’m here to apply as a student in the Academy.” “Is it really you?” Wave looked around, confused. “Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure. Who else would I be?” Cyberpath shook his head in confusion. Why was Wave acting this way? “I mean, we thought you were dead. The team saw you die. How are you—” “I think you got the wrong guy, buckaroo. I’m new to the hero biz and all, but I hear this is the place to be for us less than handsome sorts.” The students still in the year swarmed around Wave, or whoever he was. The rest of this conversation would have to wait until the celebration was over and the Brethren secured in lockdown. After that he still had to figure out what happened to Psalm and Bobbi. He silently prayed that the team would return soon. ***** The Spanish villa overlooked the Ebro River. He knew it had to cost its owner millions of euros. Chump change in the hands of someone like Blaine Dresden. He had spent days waiting in the master bedroom of the house. He knew it was only a matter of time before Dresden and his cohorts returned. It was just a matter a time. Always a matter of time. Time that was quickly running out. He reached down to what looked like an oversized watch on his left wrist. His fingers flicked across the buttons at high speed. He entered a seven digit code and the watch began to vibrate on his arm. A moment later, dark green liquid metal oozed out and over his black skin. In less than a breath’s length, the metal had covered his entire body and hardened in to a polymer stronger than titanium. With a flip of his other wrist, he activated the nano-particles under the skin of his right hand. The nanites instantly flowed out of his skin and through the armor. They flowed out in the form of his death-staff. It felt good to once again hold it in his hands after such a long time. The life sign scanners in his face-plate activated. They indicated the sudden presence of two metahumans on the level below. It was about time. He unleashed a blast from the base of his staff and the floor disintegrated beneath him instantly He stepped forward and dropped down to the floor below. He stood across from a wizened old woman and a much younger man. Wilhemina Faust raised a hand, but a burst from the death-staff sent her tumbling backwards before she could bring her flames to bear. He turned his attention to Blaine Dresden. The famously handsome metahuman multi-millionaire was in a bad way. His face was battered and bruised, his clothes were in tatters, and he could barely stand. This was too easy. The intruder brought his death-staff up as he flew across the room at the injured man. He caught Dresden in the gut with the staff. Dresden bent over double, and the intruder turned and drove the staff in to his back. Dresden collapsed to his hands and knees. The intruder bent down and pulled Dresden’s head up. He stared at Dresden, but the millionaire could only see the two dimly glowing red eyes of the intruder’s helmet. “Mister Dresden, I am here to have a conversation with you. It can be a polite one, or it can be a quite unpleasant one. The choice is yours.” “Fuck yourself. You can’t get away with this. My security will be here in a matter of seconds.” “I took the time to deactivate any and all equipment with external communication potential in this house days ago, Mister Dresden. It’s just you and me here. You will tell me what I want to know.” The intruder brought a hand up and around Dresden’s throat. “Now tell me, where is Nephthys’ crypt located?” “Kill me if you want. I’ll never tell you.” “Wrong answer, Mister Dresden. I have to admit that I need the information urgently. But I will take as long as I need to get the information from you. And when I’m done, you will wish for death.” “Fuck yourself.” The intruder rose to his feet. “I’m sorry to hear that, Mister Dresden. Know you’ve brought this on yourself and you will continue to do so until you give me the location.” He brought the death-staff down in to Dresden’s back. He activated a light charge as it struck. Dresden screamed in pain. “Tell me.” “Never.” He activated the death-staff again. This was going to take awhile, but Dresden would talk. They always did. It was just a matter of time. ***** Dark clouds suddenly filled the skies above them. Only moments later, mist rolled in over the school grounds to join it. Rubicon grabbed Bobbi by the waist and pulled her close. He floated upwards and held her by his side. He looked down at Psalm. “I trust you will be able to keep up?” Psalm glared at him, but she followed him skyward anyway. The mist was heavy as they exited the base. Psalm and Bobbi could barely make out more than a few flashing lights through the fog. A strangled cry, Wave’s voice, pierced through the fog, and they all silently dealt with the fact that he would never speak again. A flash of solid black wings and a fiery visage passed just inches below Bobbi’s feet. She gulped for breath as she fought the urge to scream. She knew it was no demon, only another degen. That did little to assuage her fears of coming face to face with the creature. She closed her eyes and silently prayed to God, Allah, Yahweh, Shiva, Buddha, Zeus, Thor, and any other deity she could think might be listening. A figure buzzed towards them. Solid gold skin covered a beetle-like face and the rest of his body, all of him except for the two bug wings on his back. He swooped down towards Bobbi. She clutched Rubicon more tightly as the bug-man reached out for her. A blast of eldritch energy struck the bug-man in the chest and he fell away. Bobbi turned and gave Psalm a weak smile. Psalm only gave a slight nod in return. Moments later they were clear of the main battlefield. Rubicon carried her low over several groups of patchy trees. They continued in this way for several minutes as they headed towards Seaside City. Or what used to be Seaside City. The skyline looked utterly different than the city they had left in the past. Several of the largest buildings were gone, while others were little more than blasted out remains. Smokestacks rose up everywhere and all billowed noxious black chemicals in to the air. Rubicon put Bobbi down and then landed himself with several miles still to go to the city. “We’ll have to make the rest of the trip on foot. Going in by air will just get us killed by the metas on duty.” He looked the two girls up and down. “It will be good to get the two of you a little dirtier too. If you’re going to blend in with this world, you need to look the part. Come on now. I’m an old man. If I can make it you too should have no problem with this journey.” He started to walk towards the city. Psalm reached out and held Bobbi back. “Are you sure this is a good idea? This is Rubicon we’re talking to here.” “We’ve came this far. We can’t back out now, not when we’re this close to going home.” “All right, I’ll do it, but be careful, Bobbi. I…I have a history with Rubicon. The Brethren can’t be trusted.” Bobbi rested a hand on the older girl’s shoulder. “Look, I’m freaking out here. Probably way more than you are. But like you said when we got here, we got to keep it together. And if we’re going to get out here, we need him whether we like it or not.” “All right, girl. We’re go with him, but the first sign of trouble—” “At the first sign of trouble I’ll mind-blast him myself. Now let’s get moving before he gets too far away.” ***** Athena found her return to Eastman Academy quite unceremonious. No celebration, just more problems. Injured team members, damaged grounds, three Brethren members locked in the training room, and a young epsilon that looked exactly like her former mentor and had his name as well. And now this. Flint came in to her office hours ago with a recording from MSNBC, but the news blanketed the airwaves. The United States government possessed their own super-soldiers, and these cyberions just happened to be the same cyborg soldiers that attacked the school a month previous. Somehow she felt she should have known. Forty-eight hours home from New York and already they sat around the conference table for another team meeting. She looked around the table at the other active members of the primary team. Flint, Bagheera, Air Raid, and Beauty all had their eyes forward, waiting for her to speak. “Well it sure seems like we solve one problem and a dozen more crop up, doesn’t it?” “This is bad, it can’t go away quietly,” Bagheera said. “Those things attacked the school, and we need to find out why.” Flint shook his head. “It won’t be easy. Certain forces in the Department of Metahuman Affairs have always turned their eyes to super-powered operatives. They’ve tried time and time again to set up some kind of super-soldier project. Every time they failed. The Challenge Squad, the Agents of ACTION, the Mega-Marines, all fell apart within a few years, at least as far as the government was concerned. But these things seem little more than mindless automatons despite their human core. That could make them a huge problem for anyone that ACTION even thinks might become a threat. Bodies inside the agency have already used them against us once. Who knows if a larger scale strike could be imminent?” “We need to nip this in the bud,” Bagheera said. “We can’t let ACTION or anyone else gets away with an attack on this school.” “Agreed. That’s why I’m going to Washington to talk this out.” Athena turned to Flint. “With your unceremonious exit from public office, I think it’s best for you to stay and watch the students. I’ll leave it up to you to deal with this new Wave situation, whoever he might be.” She turned to Air Raid and Beauty. “You two are in charge of escorting the captured Brethren to the Confine. Considering the issues with these cyberions, I think it best not to contact ACTION this time.” She turned to the furry epsilon on her right. “Bagheera, I want you to handle the training—” “Not happening, lady. I’m going with you whether you like it or not. Last time we let you out on your own, it didn’t end well. I’m not letting that happen again.” “But I—” “He has a point,” Flint said. “With the tension of this situation, I must say it’s best if none of us enter a potentially dangerous situation alone.” Athena shook her head. “Fine then. Bagheera, you’re with me. Flint, I trust you can handle the continued training as well.” “Indubitably.”
She looked to Bagheera. He bared his fangs in what amounted to a smile for the feral epsilon. Get your suitcase out. We’re heading to D.C.”
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