The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
Chapter 1
The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
David looked up at Bart after moving his knight to a new position before taking another bite of his lunch. Playing chess with Bart was a daily routine that the two did every day during lunch, Bart said David was the best competition he had in our school although David always lost. But then no one had ever won a match against Bart. Bart's gaze didn't waver from the board as he made his move and took a bite from his lunch tray.
Seeing the opening that Bart had left, David moved his queens side rook into position to prepare for a back ranking checkmate that he knew would never occur, all the while worrying that Bart had done this to draw his attention away from what Bart was planning.
Bart was the number one player on the school's chess team for a reason, allowing David to even believe he had the opportunity to back rank him was something that David felt should have never occurred, so David knew it had to be some maneuver to distract him from another part of the board. In the time they had both been on the chess team Bart had never lost a match in competition or otherwise, so David knew this had to be some ploy Bart was using to get him to move his rook into some compromising position, but it was a move he could not overlook.
"Checkmate in one," David casually said, knowing it was too good to be true.
"WHAT!" Bart yelled, almost spitting his lunch across the board, acting as if he did not see that coming.
David knew Bart had something up his sleeve to overlook such a novice mistake, It had to be a trick. Then Bart's assault began, spending the next fifteen minutes either moving his own king or moving another piece to block Bart's check on David's king, David's pieces were whittled down off the board one by one. Then David finally saw a move that Bart was unable to place his king is check. Bart maneuvered another piece so that he could regain the initiative, then David found himself able to move without exposing his king.
Looking over the board breathing a sigh of relief, no matter how short the relief may be, David suddenly spotted the all but forgotten rook still placed so that he could move it across the board and call checkmate without any other game pieces in the way and smiled. Placing his hand on the rook to make the move, holding his breath, David moved the rook across the board, placing it gently on the appropriate square before calling "Checkmate!"
"NO!" Bart screamed as he grabbed the board and threw it off the lunch room table.
"You were back ranked!" Matt grinned at Bart from where he sat watching the game.
"NO!" Bart screamed again covering his face with his hands as he put his elbows on the table, "I can't lose to you!"
"I saw it too!" John gloated as if he had been the one playing against Bart. "You got back ranked like an amateur!"
"Come on Bart," David said, "Look how many games you and I have played, eventually I was bound to win one."
"My record, its, its ruined!" Bart managed to take his eyes off the board and look at David, "Please keep this quite."
"Hell Bart," John shouted from where he had gotten up to start picking up the scattered chess pieces, "You already told everyone in the cafeteria that you lost. How's Davey keeping his mouth shut about being the very first person ever to beat you going to change anything?"
"Yea it's not like we are the popular kids or anything like that," Matt added, "So your super geek status got taken down one notch, You are still a geek like the rest of us."
"The only reason you won is because you're a--"
"BART!" Matt and John both yelled so loud that no one could hear what he tried to say. While most of the cafeteria had been ignoring us, we now had everyone's full attention.
"I thought we were friends," David said just loud enough for him to hear, pushed his chair back then got up and began to walk away.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that," David heard Bart call from behind him as he continued to walk toward the cafeteria doors. David was torn between the anger of him actually outing him in public and the fear of what others might try to do.
Unlike a lot of mutants, David didn't get any of those cool powers like super strength or invulnerability. All he got was better at fixing and making things. Of course the increase in what he could do was amazing, but it was mental, not a new or cool power like being able to fly or throw a car half way across a football field or even turn invisible.
David's ID, The one issued by the Department of Exo-Human Affairs, the federal agency that dealt with mutants in the country except for California, labeled him as a prodigy level 7.2. Prodigy was the government’s polite way of saying he was a brainiac, although like all the prodigies David only excelled in a couple of areas, mainly electronics and mechanical engineering.
Of course he didn't get any of the problems that some mutants get too, the foremost being the deformities some get with their mutation, like the superhero everyone knew as Granite, who’s skin looked and felt like his namesake. Looking like you were made out of rock wasn’t bad compared to some of the mutations David had heard about, such as one girl that he had heard had the body of a snake from the waist down. Hearing tales such as that made David quite happy that all that happened in that respect was his eyes changed from blue to brown.
While David knew he would never be a superhero, at least he would be rich, or that is what his parents kept telling him. Already holding close to two dozen patents, actually his dad's company held them, as mom and dad formed the company when it became obvious that some of his inventions could be worth a lot. Mom, having been a corporate attorney before they moved, was able to do all the legal paperwork and obscure the fact of who the actual inventor was. Thus Wiley Enterprises was created and David got the workshop of his dreams to play in. David's Mom and dad both agreed that it was better if the patents were held in the name of the company rather than in David's name, thus keeping him from becoming a target for the competition.
But none of this mattered to David right now, Matt and John had covered up what Bart had said so that everyone there had not heard him, but those that had been sitting close would have heard him call him a mutant, by tomorrow everyone in school would know. David had no idea how the other students would react, but he new he did not want to be there once the word got around.
David hadn't been paying attention to where he was going and found himself near one of the side exits of the school building. Although David had not originally intended to leave school, seeing the doors made up my mind and pushing open one of the double doors he walked out.
"Going somewhere Mister Wiley?" David heard from his left. Looking in that direction, Mrs. Miller the principal was sitting on one of the two park benches that were placed there.
"I, I was..."
"You were leaving school." Mrs. Miller finished his sentence. "Being upset is not a very good reason to leave the school grounds. So some other students found out you are a meta-human, you are not the first meta-human to go to this school and I highly doubt that you will be the last."
"You, You know?"
"Yes David, I have known for a long time," she motioned for me to come to her then patted the bench beside her, "Now come sit and let's talk. If you don't like what I have to say, I'll drive you home myself."
David walked over and sat down as she asked, thinking that at least no one would try anything with her there. Principal Miller had an uncanny ability to always be exactly where she needed to be to stop something from happening in the school. It finally dawned on David how she was able to do this. "You're a mutant too, aren't you?"
"I prefer the term meta-human," smiling over at me, "mutant sounds like something out of a bad horror film.
"So how did you know?"
"I had my suspicions with how good you are at your science classes, but when I read about NASA's new waste recycling system and saw the accompanying photos, well lets just say that I found it resembled a certain student's science project a bit too much to be coincidence." Patting my leg gently she continued, "You have a gift David, one that you have been using to help others. While other prodigies are building death rays, you are building high end recycling systems, lightweight body armor and smart prosthetics for the disabled."
David shrugged his shoulders, "Sometimes when I look at something, I just, just see a better way of making it do what it does."
Principal Miller used many of the same arguments that his parents had and David had to admit she was right, maybe three or four people heard what Bart had said and it could easily be taken as just a nasty insult with no real truth to it since David showed no outward signs of being a mutant, or meta-human as principal Miller like to call their kind. Eventually they walked back into the building and to her office where she gave David a permission slip to join the class that he was now late for.
There were no other incidents, thank god, other than one girl, Melanie Bell kept staring at him all through English class. Melanie was nice enough the few times he had talked to her, but she was a cheerleader and to David that meant she was out of his league. David found it unnerving the way she kept watching him during class, so when the bell rang he rushed out the door.
"The boss wants a progress report." The large man stated after entering the room. None of the six men looked up from the laptops they were all furiously typing on. Even the crisp suit the large man wore failed to disguise the fact that this man was definitely syndicate muscle.
Without looking away from the laptop he was typing away on, one of the younger men wearing a tee shirt that had a picture of a cat with the caption, *Wanted Dead & Alive Schrodinger's Cat*. "We are the best there is at this."
"Yea, boss said you came highly recommended." The suited man deadpanned, "But he still wants a progress report."
"We've gotten through three firewalls so far and working on a fourth," The younger man answered, "Can't say how long this will take since we haven't reached any active security yet."
Walking over to a table behind the six hackers the suit leaned against the table where he could keep an eye on the younger men as they worked at their laptops. Close to twenty minutes later another of the men, one dressed in blue jeans with a blue and red plaid short sleeved shirt and thin black tie exclaimed, "We're through!"
"So you can get the formula now?" The suit asked from where he sat.
The first hacker continued to type away, "Those firewalls were not some off the shelf equipment you can go down to your local S-mart and buy. Better than military grade, the best we have ever seen. Whoever made those knew what they were doing. We are sure there are more tricks this guy left us."
The next day of school had begun without any problems, no one was acting funny around David with the exception of Melanie yesterday during his English class. The only class David shared with her was English and they didn't share any friends so David doubted he would see her until English, therefore David was not prepared when she pulled him aside as he came out of the lunch line with his tray of food, "I need to talk with you, Meet me at the west door after school."
David couldn't help but worry through his next two classes. Then the final class of the day, English, the one class he shared with Melanie. David spent half the class trying his best not to look anywhere in her direction, and the other half staring at her while trying to figure out what she had planned. The few times she caught him looking at her she would give him this warm and friendly smile. The smile scared him more than anything else. What could a girl as pretty as Melanie want with him? Whatever it was it David knew could not be good.
When the bell rang, David sat there for a few minutes contemplating what he should do. He could get on the bus and go home and tell Melanie that he had forgotten about meeting her, but if she did know he was a mutant it could make her angry enough to start telling everyone that she knew he was.
David didn't know her very well, but he thought that she was not that type of person, she always seemed very nice. With a heavy sigh David rose from his desk, grabbed his book bag and headed for the door, having decided for better or worse he would meet her and find out what it was she wanted to talk about. Walking out the door to the classroom it was a good thing that he had not decided to skip out on Melanie as she was leaning against the wall with her books cradled against her chest waiting on me.
"I thought since our last class is together I would wait on you and we could walk together." She must have seen the fear in my face because the next thing she said really surprised me, "Don't worry it's nothing bad, you might find out it's a really good thing I need to talk to you about."
Arriving at his locker David stuffed his whole book bag inside and closed it, "Don't you need any books to study tonight?" Melanie looked confused.
"Naw, I studied for English and social studies during study hall. The math and science stuff I am so far ahead that I'm reading college books on already."
"Wow it must be nice!" Melanie smiled.
"Not really, those classes are so boring to me and Mr. Owen always finds some way to lower my grade for sleeping in class or not participating in class or not following direction, even though I ace all his tests."
"You poor thing!" Melanie giggled.
"I can't help that I know more about the subject he teaches than he does."
They stopped at Melanie's locker where she changed some books out of her backpack into the locker and grabbed a few out of her locker to put in her backpack. Her locker was close to the door we were going to meet at and within a few minutes we were staking outside near the curb.
"If I stay her too long I'm going to miss my bus." David told her as they stood there.
"I was thinking that my mom could drop us off at your place if that's ok?"
"Uh yea, I guess so."
"Do your parents know?" She asked.
"Know what?"
"That you are um special?" Melanie tried saying that she knew what he was without saying it.
"Uh, yea, you won't tell anyone will you?"
"My parents don't know."
"Good, please don’t tell them, I don’t want everyone knowing about this."
"No, they don't know I am," Melanie lowered her eyes looking down at her feet. Then looked up into my eyes, "Please don't tell anyone. I don't want to get sent away like my sister did."
David was dumbstruck by what she had confessed to him. Until yesterday David had thought he was the only mutant in their school, and since then he had learned that not only their principal was a mutant, so was the hottest girl in school.
"David are you ok?"
"Uh, yea, I just wasn't expecting you to say that." After finally discovering his voice again, "So that is what you wanted to talk about?"
"Yes, but we'll tell my mother that you are helping me with my science project."
"Ok."
Melanie's mothers waited until she saw both of them enter the house before backing out of the driveway and leaving. "Mom, I'm home," David yelled after closing the front door, "I brought a friend with me."
"Johnny are you going to stay for dinner?" I heard my mom's voice in the kitchen.
"It's not John mom, it's Melanie."
Seconds later a nice looking woman with a very flattering figure and long black hair, walked into view wiping her hand on a kitchen towel, "Melanie?"
"Hi Mrs. Wiley, I'm Melanie Bell. It's nice to meet you."
"Oh, you're Mary's daughter," David's mother smiled.
"Yes ma'am," Melanie answered.
Their introductions were interrupted by the high pitched squeal that only a small girl can produce, "DAVEY!" A small dark blond girl about 5 or 6 years old came running into the living room carrying what appeared to be a winged unicorn around 12 inches tall. It was a purple color with darker purple mane and tail, "Princess Twilight Sparkle is broken!"
Behind the small girl five other small brightly colored horse-like toys followed her, one pink with dark pink mane and tail, then a white unicorn with purple mane and tail. Behind those two Pegasus one yellow with pink hair the other blue with hair that's colored like a rainbow and last an orange horse with pink hair that was wearing a straw hat.
"Oh my god, they are so cute!" Melanie squealed. Kneeling down to get a better look at them, "I've never seen these ones."
"They're my little ponies." The small girl stated.
"I know, I've collected them since I was little," Melanie smiled and began pointing each one out "There's Pinky Pie, and AppleJack, and there is Rarity, Fluttershy, and my favorite, Rainbow Dash." Looking toward Mrs. Wiley, "Where did you get these?"
"Davey made them for me, He's my big brother," The girl said proudly. Mrs. Wiley nodded.
Taking the pony from his sister, "I'll have to take it out to my shop to see what's wrong.
"You are a very lucky girl to have a brother that can make you things like this," Melanie smiled at Cindy as she stood back up.
"It is ok if Melanie goes out to the shop with me mom?" David asked, "That way we can talk while I fix Cindy's pony."
"Ok as long as that is all you work on out there."
"Only thing I plan on doing is fixing Cindy's pony." Motioning for Melanie to follow, David began walking toward the kitchen, "It's out back."
Through the kitchen to the back door, David heard his mother behind them, "And where do you think you are going young lady?" Both he and Melanie turned to find Cindy on their heels.
"I want to watch too." Cindy begged.
"You know you are not allowed in David's workshop." Mrs. Wiley told her daughter.
"But mom!"
"No buts, you stay here." Then almost as an afterthought, "You can help me make some cookies."
"Your workshop is an old barn?" Melanie asked as they walked across the large backyard toward a rustic looking very large red barn.
"Yea, kind of." David shrugged his shoulders, trying not to grin.
"So the ponies, robots right?"
"Oh, yea their robots, crude but enough AI to make Cindy happy."
"AI as in artificial intelligence?" Melanie gasped, "I though all AI systems were illegal."
"Those that can or eventually can replicate human intelligence are. Cindy's ponies have the intelligence of a very well behaved puppy and unable to develop any further."
"Oh?"
"Yea the law on artificial intelligence is hundreds pages of legal mumbo-jumbo. Cindy's ponies are totally legal as well as most of the AI's I have made." Stopping in front of the large double doors David directed his attention to those doors, "Sara would you open the hangar doors please."
The doors began to slide sideways revealing the interior of what could probably be the most well equipped machine shop in the state, "This is your workshop?"
"Yea," David grinned.
"It looks like a mad scientist lab."
"Yea, its cool huh?"
"So, are you’re a prodigy?"
David nodded, “Electro-mechanical.”
Pointing over to a workbench where she saw some furry creature that appeared to be working on something, "What is that?"
"Oh that's Wiley," David began walking toward the small creature, "Come on I'll introduce you to him."
As they approached the small creature it noticed them, stood and turned to face the two. Melanie stumbled when she noticed it was an exact replica, standing around two feet tall, of the coyote from the road runner cartoons.
"Melanie, this is Wiley, my head minion."
"I'll have you know sir I am no minion." The small coyote glared at David, then turned toward Melanie, "I apologize for my associate's crude introduction madam," The coyote spoke in a distinct British accent, "I am Wile E. Coyote, genius. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Melanie."
Turning his attention to Melanie, "So what do you do? I mean your mutation that is?"
"I, I can manifest things."
"What kind of things?"
"Like this," Melanie pointed at the work bench beside the coyote and got a look of concentration over her face. Suddenly the coyote's arch nemesis appeared right beside it on the workbench. The coyote's jaw dropped and eyes went wide as the road runner stuck its tongue out at the coyote and began to run toward the open doors, the coyote took off after it only seconds behind. Both David and Melanie roared with laughter at the sight.
Chapter 2
the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
"This is not going to work," The lead hacker turned away from his laptop to the suit, "The program is adapting faster that we can compensate."
"I thought you said you were in the system?" the suit glared at the hacker.
"We are! But this system, it's unbelievable." The hacker tried to explain, "I think it maybe sentient."
"It's what?" the suit seemed confused.
"Sentient, self-aware, artificial intelligence," The hacker gulped, "I think it let us in a honey pot and it's been playing with us the whole time."
While the man in the suit was no hacker he understood many of their terms and knew a honey pot was some type of computerized trap. Dropping off the edge of the table he had been half sitting on the suit yelled, "EVERYONE OUT NOW!" Seeing a couple of the hackers begin picking up their laptops, "Leave those!" the suit ordered, "Cell phones and anything else that has computer chips, drop ’em and run!”
Suddenly the lights went out, leaving only the soft glow of the multiple laptop monitors to illuminate the large room, each monitor displaying the same image, a bright blue background with the words "GAME OVER," written across the screen.
"What the fuck is that!" the suit yelled.
"I think it’s done playing," another of the hackers mumbled as the computer screens flickered off, leaving the room in pitch darkness, a moment later a single emergency exit sign flickered to life above one door.
The silence was broken by the sound of a megaphone, "This is the FBI come out with your hands in the air!"
"Whatever do you see in that Dweeb Mel?" The blond busty girl sitting across the cafeteria table from Melanie asked.
"Yeah Mel, it's like you and David have hung out so much over the past couple months that people are starting gossip about you two being an item," another girl that was sitting with them said.
"David is not a dweeb!" Melanie said after swallowing the food she had been chewing. "And who cares what other people think. David is my friend."
"What's he got that Jason Kefirs doesn't have? Or anyone else on the football team that you keep turning down?" The first girl asked.
"A brain?" Melanie giggled, "and he's a lot nicer than most of those apes you guys date."
"Hey!" several of the girls shouted in unison.
"We all agreed never to dis each other’s boyfriends." A red head at the table chimed in.
"So why are all of you giving me crap about David then?"
Several of the girls gasped and there was an audible, "ewww!" from several others.
"So you are saying that you two are an item?" The redhead asked.
"If that's what it take for you all to leave me alone about him, then yes we are." Taking her tray Melanie stood up and left the table.
From behind her she heard one of the girls, "I bet it's because his family is rich."
"No way," another said, "both her mom and dad are doctors. They have plenty of money."
"Yea but he is a Wiley!" A brunette at the table replied.
"You mean he is related to those Wiley's?" The redhead asked, "I babysit his little sister on occasion and they don't act rich."
"Not just related," The brunette answered, "they own Wiley Enterprises."
A dark blond who had been sitting quietly, "I've never heard of it."
The redhead looked at her, "They make all kinds of medical stuff for handicapped people. My Uncle has one of their prosthetic legs, it's hard to tell that it isn't real."
The first girl added, "I heard they do a lot more than that. Some guy on TV was screaming about how they refused to sell the body armor they make to the DEHA."
"It was the Paladins they refused to sell to, not the DEHA," the redhead interrupted, "And what the person from Wiley said was that the Paladins and the Church of Untainted was not a recognized law enforcement organization and therefore could not buy the military grade equipment.
After placing her tray and utensils in the appropriate places so they could be washed by the cafeteria staff, Melanie walked up to where David and his friends always sat. Everyone was at their usual seats, with Bart and David at the end of the table sitting across from each other with a chessboard between them. Both of the two were concentrating on the game to the point the building could have been on fire and neither would notice. "Mind if I join you?" Melanie asked.
Both Matt and John's eyes grew wide, Matt's mouth opened but said nothing, John nodded, his mouth agape also. John regained his composure first, began to get up from his spot beside David, "You want my seat Melanie?"
"No, I'll just borrow one from this table," She smiled at the two students sitting at the table beside them who had both forgotten the game of chess they were playing together as they stared at Melanie, their minds finding it inconceivable that one of the hottest girls in school had decided to come and sit in the same area they were in.
Pulling the chair around, Melanie sat at the end of the table between Bart and David.
"David, I need to talk to you." David grunted. "David? Are you listening?" Melanie asked.
"They both get like this during a game Mel, Melanie," John spoke, "They get into that zone of theirs and nothing short of the bell ringing will bring either out of it."
"That's why we sit here where it's the loudest." Matt pointed over their heads to the large school bell above their heads. "Unless you got a way to get that bell to ring they won't hear anything any of us say."
"Oh really?" Melanie grinned at the table full of boys, "I think I can get his attention."
"I'd love to see that!" John chuckled.
Reaching over, Melanie took David's chin in her hand, while gently turning his face toward her. Leaning forward she kissed him on the lips.
"Melanie," David whispered just before she leaned into another kiss with him. Without looking away from Melanie, David fumbled until he found his king on the board then laid it on its side.
"What! You can't surrender now. I haven't even begun to defeat you," Bart looked up to find David and Melanie locked in a kiss. "Melanie Bell, what are you doing at our table? You don't play chess!"
"I don't know Bart," John grinned, "I'd have to call the move she used checkmate in one!"
"Checkmate in one move is impossible! Everyone that plays knows that!" Bart argued.
"She did it!" John laughed.
Noticing the audience what she had drew, "I, I need to go," Melanie whispered from where she and David continued to stare into each other's eyes before she stood and almost ran out of the cafeteria.
"I'm home." David yelled as he entered the house.
"How was school today honey?" He heard his mom's voice coming from the kitchen.
Walking into the kitchen, "Uh it was kinda weird."
"How was it weird dear?"
"Melanie kissed me," David blushed.
"Your first kiss?" David's mother smiled, "You two aren't slipping around and smooching are you?"
"We, um, I wasn't. Melanie came up and sat with us during lunch. She kissed me in the middle of the cafeteria!"
"Oh I see now."
"You do?"
"Of course," his mother smiled, "Did you kiss her back?"
"I did the second time."
"She kissed you twice? This is serious," His mother held back a chuckle while trying to act concerned.
"It is?"
"Did it make you feel like you had butterflies in your stomach? Did your heart race? Did you want it to never stop?"
"Yea, all of that, How'd you know?"
"Can't stop thinking about her either, can you?" Reaching over and putting the back of her hand against his forehead, "Yes, I think you have come down with a bad case of it."
"Mom, tell me what's wrong with me!"
"I'm sorry," David's mother stepped over to her son giving him a warm hug, "I couldn't help myself, I had to tease you about your very first girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" David looked at his mother shocked at what she said.
"Why else would she kiss you in front of everyone," His mother laughed, "If not to show all the other girls in school that you were hers?"
"But why did she run off after that?"
"Maybe you should call her and ask?"
Running off to his room, David went to do exactly that.
Once his mother was sure David would not be able to hear her, she spoke, "Sara?"
"Yes, Mrs. Wiley," an unbodied female voice answered.
"I got an idea, can you make sure David is not able to reach Melanie or anyone at her home?"
"I can do that Mrs. Wiley," The incorporeal voice answered, "But since David does not seem to be in trouble, may I ask why?"
"I want this to be a surprise," reaching for the phone that hung on the wall.
"Hello?" Mrs. Wiley heard after the third ring.
"Hi Mary, its Teri," Mrs. Wiley said into the hand set.
"Oh Hi Teri, we were just talking about you."
"Really?" Mrs. Wiley chuckled.
"Yes, we had to pick Melanie up form school today. She was pretty upset and the only thing we can get out of her is something about David. Is David ok?"
"Yes, he's fine, a bit confused but fine. He's upstairs trying to reach Melanie now."
"Phone hasn't ringed here until you called?"
"Oh I had Sara block him so he couldn't get through, that way I had time to call and talk to you."
"Sara?" Mary quizzed, "Oh! Melanie told me about that supercomputer you guys have."
"Yes Sara will eventually be the next evolution in smart houses."
"So can you shed any light on what is going on?"
Chuckling again, "Apparently Melanie kissed him today at lunch."
"You're kidding!" Mary chucked, "So I guess his reaction wasn't what she expected."
"Probably not, we know how dense boys can be."
Mary laughed, "You're telling me! I practically had to hit Dan over the head, when we were in medical school."
"So do you guys have anything planned tonight?" Mrs. Wiley asked.
"Not a thing," Mary replied, "Are you thinking what I am thing?"
"I thought I would call Steve and have him pick up some steaks on his way home. He and Dan can sit out back and play with the grill, while you and I can contemplate what our grandchildren would look like."
"I'll make up some twice baked potatoes and green bean casserole that we can throw in the oven when we arrive."
After a great meal, David and Melanie had wandered hand in hand over to a short stone wall that bordered their back yard where they could sit and talk without being overheard by the adults or David's kid sister. Very few words were spoken between them, although several short kisses were shared when they thought their parents were not looking.
"That is so cute," Mary smiled as she tried to keep the two teens from noticing that she was watching them so closely.
"Isn't young love so amazing?" David's mother turned her gaze from the two teens toward Mary.
Both men stared at the two women with a confused look on both their faces, "David and Melanie?" Melanie's father, Dan asked.
"Men!" both women said in unison, while Mary rolled her eyes, Teri laughed.
The fun was shattered by an ear piercing scream coming from the direction of where the two teens sat on the wall.
"Melanie!" Her mother screamed as she stood up.
"DAVID!" His mother screamed.
The father's turned to see three men dressed in black clothing had pulled the two teens off the wall and were holding the two teens as they struggled in their grip. All four adult began to run towards the struggling teens when the wall the teens had been sitting on began to shudder and a section of it magically reformed into what resembled a roughly human form that towered several feet over the men holding the teens.
The newly formed behemoth clenched one of its rocky fists and swung at the man holding Melanie. It's fist connected with the man's head with a bone shattering crunch, sending the man sailing through the air, where his lifeless body fell to the ground ten yards away. Seeing this, the two men holding David turned and fled, half dragging the boy with them across the remainder of the yard into the cover of the trees.
"Save David!" Melanie screamed at the giant rock monster, which immediately took off at a lumbering run after the men and David.
"What the hell was that?" Melanie's father looked at the other three adults.
Mary was holding her daughter, who was crying. "It was Mel's"
"Our Melanie is a mu--"
"NOT NOW DAN!" Mary shouted.
"You, you knew?" Melanie looked up at her mother.
"Of course I knew sweetheart, I'm your mother."
"But, but you sent Diane away?" Melanie sobbed.
"Diane wanted to go so she could learn to control her power sweetie," wiping a tear from her daughter's cheek.
None of them noticed the small coyote robot fly off in the same direction using some strange backpack device with a helicopter blade mounted above it, strapped to its back.
Chapter 3
The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of David’s worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
The two men dragged David out of the woods onto a black top road where two back SUVs were parked and several other armed men waited. "We got a tail!" one of the men dragging the boy shouted.
"Get him in the car, we'll take care of it," One of the armed men pointed to the SUV in the lead.
Shoving David into the backseat, the two men climbed in as the SUV sped off with them. All three watched out the rear window as the remaining men began firing their machine guns when the rock creature charged out of the woods at them. The bullets didn't seem to have any effect on the creature as it scattered the men, then grabbed the SUV and began using it like a flyswatter on the armed men. Within seconds the behemoth had taken care of the attackers then hefted the remains of the SUV over its head and threw it toward the escaping SUV.
"Ewww, gross, "David grimaced watching the carnage through the back window, "Looks like you're going to need some new bad guys."
"Shut that kid up!" the driver yelled.
David felt a stabbing pain in the side of his neck, and then everything went black.
A few miles down the deserted road the driver saw the strange little cartoon coyote standing in the middle of the road holding a stop sign, "What the fuck?"
Looking from the back seat, one of the men said, "It's one of the kid's toys, run it over!" The SUV accelerated headlong into the lone cartoonish coyote.
Seeing the SUV speed up, the coyote cringed while turning the stop sign around, the reverse side of it was white with large black letters displaying the word, ‘YIKES!’
Once the SUV had passed the stop sign lay bent and twisted in the road, the only trace that the coyote had been there.
The scene below reminded the DEHA agent of an ant hill that had been disturbed, both uniformed and plain clothed police scurried around under the flashing strobe effects from the rotating lights of the numerous police and emergency vehicles that had been parked haphazardly in the front of the house. Near a broken stone wall at the edge of the back, a cluster of men with a gurney were working on what appeared to be a body as the helicopter descended.
The tall well muscled man, dressed in a crisp black suit, white shirt and thin matching tie, stepped out of the helicopter once it had landed in the backyard of the Wiley's residence. The name badge clipped to the left breast pocket of his jacket flapped around and the lower part of his tie came loose out of the jacket flipping around due to the wash off the helicopters blades above him.
A uniformed police officer stepped forward, ducking under the helicopter's rotating blades as he approached, "DEHA?" he yelled over the noise of the helicopter.
"Agent Scythe." The well dressed man answered over the noise, "Witnesses?"
"In the house sir."
Not bothering to duck down as the police officer had, Agent Scythe walked out from under the noise and wind of the helicopter, straightening his tie and badge as he approached the house. Another uniformed officer standing guard beside the door nodded and opened the door for the DEHA agent as he approached.
Stopping two steps inside the house agent Scythe took in the large kitchen and its occupants. The kitchen set up with counters creating a large L shape took up less than half the room, the remaining part of the room held a large wooden dining room table surrounded by 8 matching chairs. Five of the chairs, all near one end of the table, were occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Wiley, Mr. & Mrs. Bell and Melanie. Two uniformed officers were standing guard to the side of the two families.
"You two," Agent Scythe motioned to the two uniformed officers then pointed at the door, "out!"
"Yes sir." The both chorused as they crisply turned and walked toward the door. Once outside with the door closed the younger of the two officers looked to his partner, "Who the fuck does that guy think he is?"
"Shit man," his older partner answered, "that's agent Scythe!"
"NO shit? What's he doing here?" The younger officer almost seemed terrified.
The older officer looked around to make sure no one else could hear him, "I'm pretty sure the kid's mom is his sister."
"Someone snatched the Reaper’s nephew!" The younger officer almost yelled.
"Shhhh, you don't want him to hear you call him that!"
Agent Scythe was not a mutant nor did he ever think of himself as some kind of superhero and he also hated the nickname that so many called him. Someone a long time ago had made a comparison to getting away from him, as the same from getting away from death and taxes. At least with taxes you had a chance, with Agent Scythe and death, you had no chance, thus the nickname Grim Reaper was coined.
Over his career he had taken down more super villains than many of the cape groups that protected the various cities across the continent. While his military career was mostly classified, the fact was he had lead an elite group that went after rogue mutants and even some super villains. Hollywood had even made a movie about him and his team, Scythe had never wanted publicity knowing it actually made his job harder so he had lawyers fight against the movies release. Although since the writers and producer was clever enough not to use anyone's real name in the movie the injunction was overturned in court and the movie released a few weeks later than scheduled but only after tons of free publicity courtesy of the court system and the media. Of course the movie, while it stated that it was based off real life events, was still a Hollywood action flick. This fact did little to discourage people from believing what they saw on the big screen.
Rumor has it that the Department of Exo-Human Affairs gave him his choice of positions with their organization when he left the military. That the Iowa office was so centrally located could have been the reason he took the position in their Des Moines office. Although a very few knew it was so he could be closer to his family, namely his baby sister. David's mother was not Agent Scythe's biological sister, his parents had adopted her at the age of four, although Agent Wesley Scythe and his older brother Ryan thought the world of their little sister Teri.
Tom and Mary Scythe had been neighbors of Teri's parents, Mary had actually been watching little Teri when her parents had been caught up in a battle between the Paladins and some supposedly dangerous mutant they were trying to capture. As usual the media spun how dangerous the mutant had been and how all the destruction was the mutants fault, oddly enough all the destruction was caused by Paladin’s weaponry, not the mutant's terrible super power that was never caught on camera during the battle. The Paladins had eventually taken the mutant down, but only after they dropped hundreds of tons of a concrete and steel bridge on top of it. Unfortunately Teri's parent's car was among the vehicles that were on that bridge when it happened.
"Wes!" Teri looked up, her eyes red from all the crying, "They took David!" Only to bury her face in both her hands and begin crying again.
"Where's Cindy?" Agent Scythe looked toward Steve.
"She's at a friend house." Steve replied.
"How you holding up?"
"Not good Wes," Steve answered, "I want these bastards that did this to go down...hard!"
"They will," Agent Scythe's replied in a monotone voice, "I'll make sure they do."
"Get my David back for me Wes," Teri looked up with tear filled eyes, "Then kill them, Kill those son of a bitches that took my baby Wes, promise me you'll kill them all!"
Looking at Steve once again, Wesley motioned toward their guests, "Do they know about you know who?"
"Sara?" Steve asked, "Yes somewhat."
"Sara!" Agent Scythe commanded, "I know you are listening."
"Good evening Wesley," a female voice spoke.
"I want all audio and video uploaded to my phone."
"Yes Wesely."
"Do you have any idea where they are taking David?"
"I was able to plant a tracking device on their vehicle as they were leaving."
"Where are they now?"
"Heading south on interstate 35," the disembodied female voice spoke, "It appears they are traveling toward Kansas City."
"Alright Sara, I need to know if and when they stop."
"Yes Wesley."
"Ok so who are you three?" Agent Scythe looked at the Bell family.
Melanie, who had her arms cross on the table with her head buried in them sobbing, looked up "David is my boyfriend!" immediately putting her head back down to continue sobbing even harder.
"We are her parents." Mr. Bell, Dan groaned.
"OK, Sir, can you tell me what you saw?" Agent Scythe looked at Dan.
Looking from Agent Scythe then to Steve and Teri, then back to the DEHA agent Dan spoke, "May I ask who you are sir?"
"I am agent Scythe, DEHA, Des Moines office."
Melanie looked up at Agent Scythe eyes wide with pure terror, "You, your the," Melanie gulped, "the Reaper!" Bolting out of the chair she had been in Melanie ran from the kitchen.
"I'll go get her," Mary started to get up.
Wiping back the tears, "No let me," Teri stood.
Teri found the girl in David's room, sitting on the bed sobbing into one of David's pillows she had clutched to her chest. "Can I sit with you?" Teri sat down beside the frightened girl before she could respond.
"He's, he's going to take me away isn't he?" Melanie sobbed.
"Why would you think he would do that?"
"Be, because he's the Grim Reaper. That's what he does."
Placing an arm around Melanie, Teri pulled her into a hug, "he only does that to bad people."
"But I, my rock creature killed someone."
"You were defending yourself, and David," Teri consoled the girl. "Wes would not take anyone away for that."
"Yes he will," Melanie pleaded, "In the movie..."
"He isn't anything like that movie."
"How do you know so much about him?" Melanie started to calm down.
"Because he is my brother."
Melanie's eyes widened and jaw dropped after hearing this. "The Reaper? David's uncle?"
"Yes but lets not keep calling him that, he really hates being called that since the movie came out. His name is Wesley."
"Will he get David back for us?"
"If anyone can, he will." Teri stood up motioning for Melanie to take her hand., "Now let's go back to the kitchen so we can help him get David back."
"Ah perfect timing," Agent Scythe said when he saw Teri and Melanie walk back into the room, "Teri can you tell me what you saw?"
"Sure Wes," As she began to retell everything she could remember up until the wall manifested into a humanoid shaped creature, striking the one assailant that was holding Melanie and then chasing after the two that carried David off.
Turning his attention to Melanie, "So you can animate things?"
"Yes, yes sir," Melanie hesitantly said while looking down at the table.
"Do you have your DEHA ID with you?"
"I..." Melanie began.
"She doesn't have one yet," Mary interrupted.
"OK," reaching into the breast pocket of his suit jacket, agent Scythe produced a card and handed it to Melanie, "Keep this on you at all times. You can show it to anyone that asks for your ID." Turning to her parents, "Now you must make an appointment with our office to have her tested. The sooner the better. The only good thing to come from that movie is that my name has a lot of clout, but that doesn't mean that is a get out of jail free card."
"Yessir," Melanie answered.
"We'll call and make an appointment first thing in the morning." Dan stated.
"Good," Agent Scythe sighed, "The faster you get that done, the less chance any morons have of causing your family trouble." Standing up from the table and looking at Teri, "OK I need to see what they have found outside. I'll give you a call once we know more." cocking his head to the side, "You haven't called Ryan yet have you?"
"No," Teri answered.
"He'll probably blow a gasket, so let me call him. You don't need to hear one of his rants right now."
As the helicopter lifted off Wesley pulled his cell phone from his suit pocket and dialed a number.
"Hi bro, how's it hanging?" The voice on the other end spoke.
"Hi Ryan," Wes was very somber, "I thought you should know, someone kidnapped David."
"David?" the voice quizzed, "Teri's David?"
"Yes."
"What the fucking hell! Who the god damn hell was it! I'll twist their fucking balls off! God mother fucking dammit!"
"Damn Ryan, calm down!"
"FUCK YOU!" Ryan spat into the phone, "Who in the fucking hell has my fucking nephew!"
"We're looking into it, but it appears to be a syndicate job."
"What!" Ryan continued to scream into the phone, "I'll teach those god damn mother fuckers to screw with my god damn family!"
"Ryan!"
"Screw you Wesley!" Ryan spat, "Keep your goddamn people and those fucking retard supers out of my god damned way. I am coming to get Davey!" Although he continued to yell and cuss, Wesley could tell that his brother no longer had the phone near his ear to hear him. "SARA! GOD DAMMIT SARA I KNOW YOU ARE LISTENING!" and the phone went silent.
Ryan continued screaming and cursing after he had thrown his cell phone against the wall, destroying it in a shower of plastic, glass and metal. "SARA!" he screamed, "Why wasn't I informed of this?"
"Because Ryan," Sara's voice came from the speakers of a desktop computer that sat on a table on the other side of the room, "I knew how you would react if you thought the syndicate was involved."
"Now that I know about this are you going to help?"
"Yes Ryan," Sara replied, "I had intended on enlisting your help once I had discovered where they were taking David."
"Are you tracking the vehicle?"
"Yes Ryan."
"How?" Ryan asked, "You didn't borrow any satellites again did you?"
"No, I was able to get a tracking device on the vehicle."
"What if they switch vehicles?"
"That will not be a problem. As soon as the vehicle reaches it destination I will relay the coordinates to you."
"I'll need the shifts calculated too."
"Yes Ryan."
"I'm going to the workshop, Transfer everything there once you have the information I need."
"Yes Ryan."
"But first I need to pick up a fucking new phone." Ryan muttered under his breath.
Somewhere along Interstate 35 the black SUV pulled up beside a nondescript four door sedan. Looking around to make sure there were not a lot of cars on the road, both passenger side doors of the SUV opened and two men climbed out who immediately pulled the limp form of David out of the back seat and loaded him into the back seat of the sedan.
No one noticed the small cartoonish coyote peeking around the rear bumper of the SUV until the coast was clear, then tip toeing over behind the sedan where the coyote disappeared under the rear of the vehicle before the sedan peeled away.
the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
The kidnappers switched vehicles twice more before arriving in Kansas City, the final switch done inside an empty warehouse where several other vehicles waited. Once they transferred the unconscious David to one of the vehicles, all left in different directions to further confuse any possible tail they may have. For the diminutive coyote the fact that they had used SUVs once again was a relief since there was much more room under one of those than there had been under a sedan.
Eventually the SUV came to a stop, Poking his head down from the undercarriage the coyote saw a vehicle stopped in front of them with some men walking around it. One of the men had a large mirror on the end of a metal rod the he was using to inspect the underside of the vehicle in front of them. Looking around for a better place to hide under the SUV, the coyote's small AI processor calculated the chances of being spotted by the man being very high.
Carefully watching the men inspecting the vehicle in front of the one he was hiding under, the coyote dropped to the ground. Crawling out from under the SUV and off the side of the road where the small coyote stayed low as possible, crawling on his belly until he made his way into taller grasses and bushes that were unkempt.
From his new vantage point in the weeds and bushes the coyote watched as the men performed a thorough inspection of the SUV he had stowed away on. The area appeared to be surrounded by two fences, the shorter outer fence at least ten feet tall was topped by barbed wire, while another fence lay inside the first by about 30 feet was twice that height and topped by even more deadly razor wire. This inside fence also had danger signs spaced evenly every fifty feet stating it was electrified. The entrance the SUV had pulled up to had a small windowed building just large enough for two people to stand in located to the left of the gap made in the outer fence for the road.
A man in that building seemed to control the operation of a large red and white arm that swung down to block the road. Another larger building full of windows lay inside the tall electrified fence but on the opposite side of the opening. The opening to this fence was a motorized chain link gate that from what the coyote could see was operated by someone in the second building. Beyond this a very large building stood, no less than 3 stories in most places but maybe five stories in one section that was covered with windows nearest the gated entrance. The rest of the structure, which encompassed several acres, held a flat roof broken by a couple of smoke stacks and other things the coyote was not familiar with.
The coyote contemplated various means of getting past the guards and fences as he watched patiently. If the first SUV had not ruined his portable flying device he could have used it to easily fly over the fences and get in, and scavenging the parts to make another one would take too long, if even possible. Visions of a large slingshot came to the forefront of the coyote's thoughts, but where to get the giant rubber band he would need, it wasn't like he could order one from ACME and have it rush delivered within the next ten minutes like his cartoon counterpart always did. With a large sigh, the coyote drew back further into the brush, "I imagine a reconnoiter of this place is in order," the coyote spoke in his distinct British accent as he began to walk around the compound looking for a weak spot he could possible pass through.
David woke to the worst headache he had ever experienced. Slowly opening his eyes, he found everything very blurry and impossible to focus on. He could see what appeared to be a couple of figures standing near him. "Mom?"
"He's awake," David heard an unfamiliar male voice and tried to sit up only to fall back in pain to the bed he woke up in.
"The effects have not worn off yet," another man spoke, "we need to let him rest." David heard footsteps walking away and no other voices. Curling up on his side trying to ignore the pain David eventually fell back asleep.
When David woke again his vision had cleared and the headache had reduced to a dull ache. Sitting up in the bed he took in the strange room he found himself in. It was about ten feet square, with the single bed he found himself in, located in the corner. Bare concrete floor, walls and ceiling only broken by a heavy metal door gave the room a prison cell like quality with its only adornments, the bed David woke up in and a small table with a lamp that gave the room its only light.
In the upper corner of the wall to the right of the door a single security camera was mounted and along the wall to the left of the door a ventilation grill was the only other thing in the room. David slowly went around the room inspecting it for any clue to where he was or anything that may help him escape. Once under the security camera David jumped several times trying to reach it, but never managed to quite touch the camera. On David's second circuit around the room he noticed that they had used an extension cord to power the lamp since its cord was too short to reach the table it was placed on. David also noticed the heavy pressure that was building up in his bladder.
With what only could be called an evil grin on his face, David quickly stripped the pillow case off the pillow from the bed, went over under the security camera and began jumping, trying to hook the camera with the pillow case. If anyone was paying attention to the camera feed they would see what he was doing, but David hoped he had time to do what he planned.
Finally on the fourth try David managed to cover the camera with the pillow. Quickly he ran over and unplugged the lamp, then using the cord to guide him, followed in the darkness to the outlet, where he plugged the lamp back in without the extension cord. Taking the now unused extension cord, David used his teeth to separate and strip the ends of the wire of each lead. One lead he wrapped around the hinge of the heavy metal door, the other he laid under to door in the gap between the door and the floor.
Standing at the door David pounded his hand against it, "I need to go to the bathroom!" he yelled. Hearing no one answer, he beat on the door again and screamed. "I need to go really bad!"
"Tie a frigging knot in it kid," David heard someone outside the door.
"Please, If you don't take me to the bathroom, I'm gonna piss my pants!" David yelled through the heavy metal door.
"My heart bleeds for ya!" The man laughed.
David immediately pulled it out and began relieving himself along the crack under the door, covering as much area as he could along with the exposed end of the extension cord he had placed on the floor. David then jumped and half slid over to the wall outlet and picked up the male end of the extension cord.
"GOD DAMMIT!" the voice yelled from the other side of the door, "I'll teach you to piss on my fucking shoes!"
As soon as David heard the door begin to open he plugged in the extension cord.
"Arrgh!" the man screamed as all the lights went out. In the darkness David heard the thud as the man's body hit the floor.
Stumbling past the guard David kept one hand on the wall and slowly crept out of the room in the darkness. 'God what I'd give for a flashlight right now', David thought, but he knew this was nothing more than negotiating a simple maze. Keep your hand on the wall and eventually you will find your way out and that is what David did, his left hand never leaving the wall eventually finding a flight of stairs that lead up.
Going up the long flight of stairs, David could see traces of light above him. Carefully going up the steps the light revealed itself to be the light escaping from under another door. Holding his breath, fear all but paralyzing him, David watched the light that spilled in under the door for signs of movement while listening for any signs that someone may be on the other side of the door.
David knew that he should assume they were already looking for him, and sitting here in one place would only get him caught. There was that camera in the corner of his room, someone somewhere in this building would have been monitoring that and would know that something was wrong. Knowing the logic of the situation did not help David overcome the fear that he felt, the fear that was causing his hand to shake violently as he reached for the door knob.
Ever so slowly David cracked the door open, trying to see what lay beyond, trying to see if anyone would spot what he was doing. Slowly he pushed the door open further, enough so he could push his head beyond and look around. The place looked like some kind of large warehouse. Giant metal shelving units formed neat rows that held cardboard boxes of various sizes, the smaller boxes seemed to be stacked on wooden pallets and wrapped in some kind of clear plastic which was possibly meant to hold the stacks together. Not seeing anyone, David went through the door and started to gently close it trying to keep as quietly as he could.
"Hey you!" David heard a man shout from below him, looking around he saw the beam of a flashlight pointing up at him. No longer hesitating, David let go of the door and ran down the aisle way between the nearest shelves full of the palletized cardboard boxes.
The door flew open that David had come through and two men ran out, quickly looking around determining which way David had run before pursuing, "Hey kid, get back here!" One shouted as David reached a gap in the boxes and ducked under a shelf to his right and into the next isle emerging right in front of a forklift carrying a load. The forklift driver slammed on its brakes causing the cartons loaded on the pallet it carried to spill forward. David barely managed to jump out of the way, then around the forklift sprinting down the new isle he was in.
"What the hell is a kid doing in here?" The driver yelled seeing the mess in front of his fork lift that he would have to clean up. The driver had only begun to climb out of the fork lift when the two men chasing David scrambled through the gap David had come through. Stumbling and shoving boxes out of their way, the two continued the chase, although the mishap with the forklift had given David a considerable lead.
Seeing an open garage style door, possibly that of a loading dock, David veered in that direction while still doing is best to stay as far away from any of the workers he saw. Exiting out from in between the racks of boxes David made a beeline toward the open bay doors. To his left her heard a strange whooshing sound, like some type of air cannon firing, then out of the corner of his eye he saw movement in that direction. David skidded to the ground wrapped in a net that had somehow been fired at him. Looking back David saw a man standing where he had heard the weird sound, holding some weird rifle, grinning. "Welcome to my trap, said the spider to the fly," the man chuckled.
David struggled against the netting that had wrapped around him, but found himself trapped with no means of escape from the netting. The two that had been chasing him ran up catching their breath, "Got ya," One said.
It had taken many hours for the small coyote to circle the compound twice, once during the day then again after dark. Finally deciding on a place along the eastern part of the fence line. That area had the least amount of activity and he has spotted a small gap in their camera coverage. While that gap in coverage was too small for a human to take advantage of, something the size of the coyote could slip through. Climbing over the first fence and slowly easing through the tangle of barbed wire along its top the coyote wished he had a means of contacting Sara. While that system proved to be a thorn in the coyote's side most of the time, so much so that the coyote considered the Sara system to be in cohorts with the Road Runner at times. Although this is one time the coyote knew she would use her ternary logic to aid the coyote.
Climbing down into the no-man's land between the fences, the coyote held both his three fingered hands out in front of him and grinned as small claws extended out of the end of his three fingers and thumb of each hand. His claws, while only a half inch in length were made of the same Aegisium alloy that David had used to construct his skeletal frame. While not as strong as adamantine it held properties that adamantine did not possess making it less desirable where strength and indestructibility is concerned but a much better choice for other reasons, including armor.
The coyote was not sure why David had chosen the Aegisium alloy instead of adamantine for his structure, Sara had once explained it because that was the material David had been experimenting with when he chose to upgrade the coyotes internal structure from its what Sara had said was originally created from an old erector set. The coyote had no memories of that or anything prior to the operating system upgrade which the coyote was told, was done at the same time along with several other upgrades to his system. The only upgrade the coyote had any memory of, was his exterior. Prior to that upgrade the coyote had several fake fur coverings that he would have to change so they could be cleaned and often disposed of when damaged to heavily to be repaired. The exterior he now wore had no zipper like the old ones did, it was designed to never be removed, waterproof, and even could 'regrow' the synthetic fur he tended to lose on occasion.
Concentrating on the task at hand the coyote dropped down on his hands and knees and used those claws to begin digging under the high voltage fence. The thought came to mind that if he could be the one that rescued David, maybe David would find a way of upgrading his operating system from binary to ternary without wiping the coyote's memory. David had once told him it was impossible to convert the coyote's binary files into ternary, It had to do with the way ternary systems had that third bit, that could best be described as uncertainty. If the two bits of a binary system could be counted as yes or no, the three bits of a ternary system would be yes, no and maybe, which is much closer to how an organic mind functions.
Crawling out from under the fence though the ditch the coyote had dug under it, the coyote straightened up slightly too early, the coyote jumped with a yelp as his short tail brushed against the high voltage fence. Quickly looking around to make sure he wasn't heard, the coyote realized his covert entry had not been detected. It was then his nose picked up an unusual smell that the coyote was unfortunately familiar with. Twisting around so he could view his tail, the coyote's shoulders fell in defeat. Reaching around coyote pinched out the small flame he saw at the tip of his tail.
The small coyote watched from his vantage point high above the scene as he clung to the metal latticework of the roof supports while several goons extracted David from the capture net. Then David's hands and feet were placed in shackles that were chained together, making it impossible to stand straight up or take a full step. After the goons had determined that David was immobilized sufficiently they led him back downstairs through the same door he had used during his failed escape and into a room small room he had not seen. The furnishings being only a table and two chairs, both made of metal, David thought it reminded him of one of those police interrogation rooms he had seen on TV, except this room did not have the one way mirror you always saw on TV that others could watch what was going on from behind without being seen.
"So far you been one hell of a pain in the ass kid!" The man who had been sitting quietly watching David finally spoke. Looking at the way the man was dressed in a suit and tie, David figured this was no ordinary goon, no this man was higher up on the food chain, but since the suit didn't look real expensive he was not the boss. "You took out seven of our guys when we picked you up and another today when you tried to escape."
"I hear you can get a discount at Minions R us if you buy in bulk?" David deadpanned.
"So you wanna be a smart-ass?" The man's voice raised in pitch.
"I been told it's better than being a dumbass."
"Well I gotta admire your balls kid," the man chuckled, "You got a pair of brass ones on ya. But this ain't some stupid game. The boss wants that formula for that damn special armor and he ain't good at taking no for an answer."
"All this is over aegisium?" David seemed stunned, "You got to be kidding!"
"This is serious kid, and yes the egis stuff formula is what the boss wants."
"Crap, I would have emailed that to you if you would have asked!" David almost shrieked.
"What?" The man's composure seemed less confident now as he straightened in the chair, his eyebrows furled and his lip curled.
"The formula is no secret!" David exclaimed, "Get me some paper and a pen and I'll write it down for you."
"Whadda you mean it isn't secret?"
"Just like I said, it is not a secret. I'll give it to you and your goon, minions, whatever you call them can play with it to their heart's content."
"What's the catch?"
"I wanna go home."
"I think that can be arranged," The man lied, "But of course we will want to make sure the formula works."
"Of course you do," David rolled his eyes.
"I think we can arrange for a better room while you wait, one that has an attached bathroom this time?" David cringed realizing the man knew exactly what David had done to escape.
"I want full battle load out this time Doug," The heavily muscled dark haired man said as he paced back and forth across the stone floor.
"OK Ryan," the other man didn't look away from the small device held in a vice on the workbench he sat at., "I get it, it's David, you want to be loaded for bear. You do realize that it takes time to set the shift points on these since the shift is unnatural."
"Your point is?"
"Yes, They will open with the same imprint, although the gate will be unstable and only last around five seconds at best." Doug explained, "One other thing you should consider before using one of these, that unstable singularity has been growing for years. Depending on how much matter it has consumed in that time, the shift may open inside it?"
"There is no way that can hold the shift open?"
"Correct, These work off our technology, gravity has no influence on our tech, but it will affect everything around the shift while it is open."
"That is exactly what I want them to do," Ryan's smile sent a chill through Doug.
Doug worried that the name the media had given Ryan's alter-ego had gone to his head. When they arrived here so many years ago, Ryan had been the most dedicated one among them. Since his father had died he had changed, although he still went at everything with the same single-minded dedication, he seemed so callous and uncaring at times.
Doug knew the turning point for Ryan was when his father had stopped that mad scientist in Georgia eighteen years ago. The lunatic had built a singularity reactor, while such a reactor would have been ground breaking, that reactor was a highly unstable devise. When Ryan had arrived the containment was breaking down and the singularity would have began expanding quickly destroying not only the earth, but eventually the entire solar system. And now Ryan had him build devices that would open a portal to the same time-space Ryan’s father had thrown the unstable singularity reactor into as it had lost containment.
Ryan’s father had almost failed when the super team out of Atlanta became involved. To them it appeared that Ryan was trying to destroy a national landmark, what they did not realize was that the mad scientist’s lab was located under their beloved Stone Mountain. When Ryan’s father had screamed, "I am trying to stop an apocalypse," the media either did not get everything or they edited the tape, in the end Ryan’s father was heard on national television saying, "I am Apocalypse!" Of course the super hero's fell right in line with the media, they received great publicity at stopping the new super villain, "Apocalypse," from destroying the world. The complete destruction of Stone Mountain and much of the park only helped to fuel the public’s hatred toward Apocalypse.
What most did not know was that it wasn’t Ryan but Ryan’s father that had been there and he had sacrificed his life to get rid of the singularity. It was years later when Ryan’s mother had passed on the armband and responsibility she and his father carried. Only three people on Earth knew that the man now known as Apocalypse, was not the same man that appeared in Georgia so many years ago, Ryan’s younger siblings Wesley and Teri.
The dark bluish arm bands were the ultimate in technology from their home. The technology in the armbands second only to those made for the royal family, and only worn by their most elite guard, who Ryan’s parents had been part of. Doug’s mother was one of the many scientists that had developed and maintained those devices. It was pure luck, a matter of being in the right place at the right time, that Doug and his mother had been able to escape with Ryan and his parents when their home was invaded.
Doug was pulled out of his thoughts when the overhead speaker in his lab came to life, "Ryan it seems they have reached their destination," Sara's voice was heard on the speaker, "I am computing all the shift regions now. I am filtering all those that would force any interaction with an inverse, expanded or constricted realms."
"Just get the damn data uploaded!" Ryan sounded very annoyed.
"As soon as I complete all shift region data," Sara answered, "I am also plotting fastest egress routes since there is a very active Super team in the area."
"Good thinking Sara," Ryan sounded almost apologetic, "If anything were to happen to David, well the only thing that would stop me from tearing this fucking planet apart is the fact that she is stuck on this damn rock with us."
"Speaking of her," Doug cocked his head looking at Ryan, "You ever going to tell Wes? I am pretty sure he knows he isn't your real brother."
Quickly changing the subject, "Have you finished modifying that damn armband yet?"
Taking the silvery blue bracelet out of the device that was holding it while Doug worked, he laid it on the workbench to the right of a similar armband. "Yes it's done, but that was meant for her, not someone else."
"The upload to your shift generator is complete Ryan," Sara interrupted.
Quickly walking to the work bench and picking up the armband before turning and walking away, "If David get injured, one of these will prove invaluable." As Ryan walked away he body began to shimmer in an eerie green glow and a strange silvery blue armor encompassed his body. The blue much darker than the blue in the bracelet held in his hand seemed to swirl along his body giving the armor the appearance of liquid metal. Holding the arm band to his thigh, his armor seemed to almost absorb the item. Ahead of Ryan, now in his armor, the air seemed to distort with a small circle of electricity forming ahead of him, the circle grew as he walked toward it, reaching close to seven feet across. The outer edge of the circle seemed to be made of lightning, while the inner part of the circle seemed to hold a cyclone of utter darkness. The super villain known as Apocalypse stepped into the vortex and disappeared.
Looking over at the workbench, Doug cursed as he realized that Ryan had picked up the unmodified armband by mistake. "Sara are you still here?"
"Yes Douglas,"
"What are the chances of the kid getting hurt badly enough that Ryan has to use that armband?" Doug held his breath as he waited for the answer.
"David has a nine point three four seven percent chance of sustaining a life threatening injury that would require some form of immediate medical attention."
Doug let out a huge sigh of relief at hearing this.
Agent Scythe quickly picked up the phone on his desk when it rang, "Agent Scythe."
"Hello Wesley," Wesley heard the voice of Sara.
"Sara, do you have any news?"
"Yes Wesley, I have located where the kidnappers are holding David and have taken the necessary steps to rescue him unharmed."
"What!" Wesley tried to stifle the shout.
"I have calculated that DEHA involvement would increase the chance of David sustaining life threatening injuries to forty three point six two percent, while allowing Apocalypse to execute David's rescue only has a nine point three four seven percent of injuring David. Also Apocalypse has a known grievance with the syndicate, which will provide cover for his true reason for being there."
"But he could destroy half the damn city!"
"He has given me his word that all destruction will be limited to within the kidnappers compound."
"At least give me the location so I can warn the Kansas city office."
"No Wesley, I have calculated that would mobilize both the DEHA and the super team and increase the likelihood of David sustaining life threatening injuries to twenty eight point three one percent. My main concern is David's safety. Due this I will intercept any calls made from this area to the Kansas City police, fire, DEHA or headquarters of their super team."
"Sara he's my nephew!"
"He's my creator and my friend," Sara said then the line went dead.
the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
Releasing the button on the phone’s receiver, Wes punched in the number to their Kansas City office only to receive a busy signal, after several more tries he gave up and hung up the phone knowing that Sara had not been bluffing. Looking up the numbers on his computer, Wes then tried several numbers to the Kansas City police, both the Kansas and the Missouri sides with no luck.
Elbows on his desk, Wes cupped his forehead in his palms and sighed. Wes knew that Sara would do anything she had to for David and would have calculated every single scenario to the Nth degree until she found the best possible solution. But no matter how great her intelligence, she was still a machine. A cold calculating machine, that would never understand love or any other emotion for that matter. This was exactly the type of operation the DEHA was designed to handle, they had the training and the equipment, not to mention that such an action could help to restore public faith In the DEHA.
After the media coverage of that incident in Chicago years ago, many media outlets seemed all too willing to throw the DEHA under the bus to make their stories more sensational. While the Chicago office probably had it coming to them, not all their agents were like that, Wes firmly believed that the DEHA was a good organization that held the safety of the people, both baseline and mutant, at heart.
While Wes hated the one sided, sensationalized stories the media so often reported, he really couldn’t blame them. The news stations, papers and magazines were first and foremost businesses. The bottom line was that they were out to sell their papers and magazines or gain more viewers and those big sensational stories brought in more viewers and sold more magazines and papers even when those stories held so little truth they should be labeled fiction.
“Dammit Sara!” Wes mumbled, “Why would you tell me about this if you wanted to make sure I didn’t get involved?” What did she expect him to do? Sit and worry until she called back telling him that it was over and David was safe? Sara knew him better than that! Wes stood up suddenly, shoving his chair out of the way, “That conniving mechanical bitch!” Wes shouted as he grabbed the phone punching a few buttons, “This is agent Scythe. We have a go, get the drop ship powered up and team five loaded, be ready to launch as soon as I arrive.”
“Yes sir!” He heard from the receiver.
Ending the call We quickly punched in another number, “Al? We have a go.”
“You get that call you were expecting?”
“Yes but no exact location. It’s somewhere in close vicinity of Kansas City, so we’ll set geosynchronous orbit over the city until the fireworks start.”
“Take a HALO squad with you then.”
“Good idea, that will give us two insertion points if necessary.”
“Have you informed the Kansas City office?”
“Unreachable, seemed communications are cut off with them and the local police,” Wes hoped he didn’t have to explain further. While Al may have been his friend for more years than he dared to remember, he was still his boss.
“Do I want to know more?”
“Not if you wish to keep those two words you enjoy so much.”
“What words are that?”
“Plausible deniability,” Wes chuckled.
“Okaaay, Good hunting then,” and the line went dead. Wes made one more call to have whatever HALO team was on standby prepared then left his office.
“First and foremost, I want to make this perfectly clear,” Agent Scythe said as he walked down the center of the transport area in the rear of the dropship. “This is a search and rescue mission! We are not worried about possible arrests, that action will be covered by our reinforcements when they arrive. Your job is to locate the boy and extract him uninjured. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?” Yelling the last part for emphasis.
“YES SIR!” the twelve men standing and sitting around various types of powered armor shouted in unison.
“We believe this to be a syndicate base of operations for the area, so treat it accordingly. Halo deployment will be immediate once we have confirmation of the LZ . At plus three mikes the drop ship will perform a full power military drop to the LZ. This LZ should be considered hostile. Hammer’s team will secure the LZ, then leave Slice and Gun-ho to defend the drop ship. Whoever locates the boy first call it in, all teams are to converge and provide cover for the extraction once located.”
“What if we spot any high profile targets sir?” One of the men asked.
“This S.A.R. has highest priority,” Agent Scythe glared, “Also you may sight a small furred creature with long ears,” He held his hand down about knee level to signify the height, “This is not a hostile and it may be able to provide support.”
“We have someone on the inside?” Someone asked.
One man sitting beside one of the older large military powered armor units gronned, “So who is this inside man, Bugs Bunny,” several laughed.
“Get the jokes out now,” Agent Scythe paused hoping that the men took the information seriously even as outlandish as it sounded, “It’s actually a fairly sophisticated robot. It only looks like a cartoon character. It alone is the reason we have as much information as we do.”
“No shit a frickin cartoon boss?” one of the Halo team questioned, “So it really is Bugs Bunny?”
“No, it's the coyote,” Scythe stated.
“The one that chases the Road Runner?” Another chuckled as the man sitting beside him thrust his elbow into his side hard. “What the fuck was that for?” he whispered to the one who had elbowed him as Agent Scythe began walking back toward the front of the craft and its cockpit.
“Scythe’s sister’s kid,” The one said low enough that he hoped Agent Scythe did not hear.
“What?” still rubbing his ribs
“I’ve seen that robot before, it belongs to his sister’s kid. And yes it is Wile E. Coyote.”
“They kidnapped Scythe’s nephew?” another who had overheard the two joined in.
“Worse than that,” The large muscular man who had been sitting beside his large power suit that had the name “MONGO” written across the left shoulder, “I know Scythe don’t want us to spread it around, but I think you should know, he’s the Reaper.”
“Holy shit!” another of the Halo armor slid in close, as he pointed toward the door Scythe went out, “Are you telling us that Chimera was real?”
“Hey I saw that movie,” The youngest member of the HALO team looked around at everyone then began to realize what they were saying, “Oh crap! I always wondered why you three had that old military powered armor, and not the newer stuff. I always thought you three just loved the movie…” The young agents eyes grew with his astonishment, “but, but where is Breach?”
The one sitting, one leg up on the bench, beside the heavy armor that had the name Anvil written on the shoulder spat on the floor, “Fucking bastard probably sitting on a beach somewhere sipping Mai Tais still collecting royalties off that damn movie.”
“Jesus Christ, you guys are friggn legends!” the younger man spouted off very excited, “My old man would shit if he knew I met Chimera!”
“Chimera don’t exist anymore kid,” Mongo sighed.
“But you still have the armor?”
“Back then they were forced to build the power armor around the man using it,” The man who piloted the powered armor known as Hammer said, “And they use the old style military neural interface, once one has a pilot, no one else can pilot it.”
“Yea,” Mongo explained, “Once the system learns your brain patterns, it won’t respond to anyone else’s.”
“So why leave the military and join the DEHA?”
Anvil answered this time hooking a thumb at his powered armor, “Our unit was disbanded, joining the DEHA was the only way I could keep Sally Ann.” The other ex-members of the military team all nodded.
Suddenly their discussion was cut by a speaker mounted to the wall of the compartment they waited in, “We have activity, every one suit up!” a voice came over the speaker.
Sixty thousand feet below the stationary drop ship David heard a sound of something dropping lightly against the floor in his cell. Looking over in the direction, David spotted two small screws lying near the sink that was mounted to the far wall of his cell. Looking up in the direction it would have fallen from he saw a ventilation grate.
Getting up from where he sat on the bed, David walked over and looked at the grate closely. It was held in place by four screws, only two were still holding it in place and one of those was slowly turning counter clockwise until it also fell to the floor. Four small claws held the grate in place as the last screw fell out, then the claws turned and maneuvered the grate so that it was pulled inside the ventilation shaft.
“Wiley is that you?” David asked softly.
Sticking its head out of the hole the coyote smiled at David, “Good afternoon master David!”
“How did you get here?”
“Unimportant, what is important is getting you out,” the coyote spoke as his head disappeared back into the ventilation shaft and a began shoving a small duffel bag through the opening. David helped by pulling the duffel from his side until it had cleared the small opening. The coyote followed the duffel out and jumped down to the floor.
“What’s this?” David asked holding the duffel.
“Tools,” The coyote’s grin broadened.
Motioning toward a single camera mounted behind a clear globe, “What about their camera?”
“It appears a small furred creature has chewed through the wiring rendering it useless,” snapping its jaws open and shut quickly several times in demonstration. Looking sternly as the coyote could at David, “I believe I saw what could have been your formula for aegisium on one of their computers, did you give them that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” the concern in the coyote’s voice evident, “We can’t let them make Aegisium.”
David grinned, “They won’t.”
“And may I ask how you can be so sure?”
“They asked for the formula,” David's grin grew into a toothy smile, “They never asked about how to make it.”
“Some of my genius has rubbed off on you after all Young David.” The coyote chuckled, “Now sire, take those tools I brought you and get that door open so we may make haste with our escape.”
The security guard closed the door behind him then walked over to a small table that held a coffee pot. Reaching for the stack of Styrofoam cups he began pouring himself a cup, “Everything good here?” The man asked as he walked up behind another man who was kicked back in a chair with his feet up on a counter that held several monitors all of which appeared to have various images each of several hallways and rooms.
Taking a sip from his cup the man noticed that one of the images appeared snowy and out of focus, reminding him of a television set to a nonexistent channel. “What’s up with that one?” He motioned with his cup.
“That one started going out a couple hours ago. I called it in, but it's gotten steadily worse since,” Looking over his shoulder at his visitor from where he sat.
Taking another sip of coffee, “That's the kid’s room isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll check it out just to be safe. Damn brat already got out once, don’t need to give the boss a reason to come down on us,” After finishing his coffee the man left.
With the coyote’s help and the tools he had liberated, David had been working on the heavy steel door for over an hour when he heard the distinctive buzz followed by a heavy metallic click of someone unlocking the door. Quickly shuffling the tools and himself to the side out of the way, David watched the door as it began to open. The door stopped when it was slightly over 90 degrees in relation to the wall. “Kid?” David heard a man’s voice.
Stepping out so that most of his body was out from behind the door, “I’m right here.”
“What the hell ya doing back there?”
“I, I was trying to get the door open,” David lowered his eyes to the floor.
Chuckling as the man grinned at David, “These electronic locks can’t be opened from the inside.” The man got a strange look on his face when he noticed that it looked like something was pulling at the kid’s shirt from behind.
“That is why we removed the pins from the hinges,” The coyote showed a toothy grin as it appeared on David’s shoulder.
“What the fuc…” The man started to say as the coyote put its shoulder against the heavy steel door, which began to tip toward the guard. David and the coyote had been working on the last hinge pin when the guard had interrupted them, although the only one that they had yet to remove the pin from had been the lowest hinge which made an excellent pivot point for the heavy door as it began to swing down toward the guard.
The remaining hinge could not support the immense weight by itself and tore easily as the door began to fall toward the man. Instead of jumping out of the way, the man tried to push the door back into position. This was a mistake as the six hundred pound steel door drove the man to the floor, pinning him under its weight.
Reaching down, David picked up the small duffel then stepped over the door out of the room. The coyote on the other hand proudly walked up onto the door stopping in the middle of the large door to look over his shoulder at the pinned man, stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry in the man’s direction, turned with his nose In the air, then wiped his feet against the door before joining David in the deserted hallway.
It was late afternoon and the sun a reddish orb to the right of the blue clad figure that stood in the middle of the road facing the complex. The reflection off the figure made it appear as if the dark blue armor was a liquid instead of solid. One guard, standing outside the long red and white striped arm that blocked the road saw him and only paused for a moment before dropping his weapon and running away from both the complex and the apparition of destruction. The guard inside the small booth was not so smart, stepping outside the small booth, while raising his rifle he began firing at Apocalypse. At least a dozen other men came pouring out of the larger building inside the fences and began firing through the fences at him.
Acting as if he had all the time in the world, Apocalypse raised his hand to the opposite side of his chest where the strange armor he wore formed a lump that quickly extended into his hand, the lump began to change color and form into a shiny black ball the size of a baseball in his hand. When the ball had finished forming he threw in an arc at the gate. Landing between the crossing arm of the first fence and the large electrified gate, the ball rolled a few feet until it stopped several yards in front of the large electrified gate.
“Grenade!” several men shouted that witnessed the strange black orb hit the ground, while they and several of their allies ran for cover.
Seconds after coming to a stop on the ground, the small black orb began throwing sparks and electrical arcs. The electrical discharge quickly grew until the small ball could not be seen within what now had become a ball of lightning that began to grown quickly to over nine feet in diameter destroying the roadway underneath as it expanded. The wind kicked up sucking everything not anchored down into the strange globe of lightning.
The weapon the first guard had dropped began skidding across the ground toward the strange anomaly until it shot up off the ground and into it. The large gate began shaking and with a violent sound of twisting metal tore free of its mountings and crumpled up as it was sucked into the weird lightning effect. One man who had stopped a few yards behind the gate, gawking at the unusual light show was sucked into it.
The wind howled with the force of tornado, a car two men had sought refuge behind was picked up and tossed into the anomaly right before it took the two men hiding behind it. The wooden structure of the small guard shack groaned as it was torn from its foundation and flew into the disturbance. Windows broke in the other building and items flew through the openings into the swirling vortex of lightning.
The crossing arm began to bend toward the anomaly until it was also ripped from its mountings to disappear into the swirling effects. Then even faster than it began, the strange anomaly winked out of existence. Everything that was in the air being sucked toward it fell to the ground, including one guard that if under others circumstance may have considered himself very lucky had he not known who the dark blue figure that was coming toward him was.
The aftermath resembled what it would look like if a high explosive artillery round had hit the ground with a large crater nearly twenty feet across at ground zero, except that everything was twisted in the direction of the explosion instead of away from it. Apocalypse quickly walked up to the edge of the crater, then easily jumped across the gaping hole in the road, landing several yards past on the other side.
Walking over to the man that lay on the ground Apocalypse grabbed the man by his shirt collar and lifted him off the ground. “Pl, please don’t kill me!” The man begged.
“Where’s the boy!”
“Some, somewhere in the sub levels,” the guard swallowed hard, “I, I’m not cleared for that area so I don’t know more.”
Seeing this was all the information this man had, Apocalypse tossed the man back in the direction of the gate, where he hit hard against the opposite crater wall and slid to the bottom. Taking long strides but continuing to walk, Apocalypse started toward the large building, knowing that somewhere inside he would locate stairs, an elevator, something that would take him to this sub-level the guard had mentioned.
Nearly half the distance transversed to the large main structure, the asphalt around Apocalypse began erupting in tiny explosions and he felt the impacts of several heavy caliber rounds. To his left he saw two Humvees had come around the far corner of the main building speeding toward him. Both vehicles having a large machine gun mounted on their roofs operated by a man behind it. The lead vehicle also had another man leaning out of the passenger side window with a machine gun. Apocalypse did not need to see the bright orange muzzle flashes to know where the round that hit him had come from.
Turning to face the approaching hostile vehicles, Apocalypse stopped, his right hand reaching over his shoulder to touch his back. Immediately a patch of the strange metallic armor that covered his body formed into a pistol grip in his hand. Swinging his arm forward, the now silver pistol grip in his hand quickly grew and formed into an unusual looking rifle. Aiming the strange weapon at the vehicle furthest away from him, Apocalypse pulled the trigger. No sound, no apparent recoil, the only sign that he used the weapon was the vehicle exploding in a large fireball, quickly targeting the closer vehicle, it too erupted in a large fireball.
With his attention back on the building, Apocalypse aimed at the taller glassed in structure that stood above the rest of the main building and fired again. The tower disintegrated in a fiery explosion showing the surrounding area in tiny glass and other debris.
Apocalypse staggered forward and dropped the strange rifle as something impacted his shoulder hard. Turning toward the new threat he paid no attention to the dropped weapon which even before it had hit the ground began reforming into a small silver ball not much larger than a golf ball, that rolled up to his foot and was absorbed into his armor. Reaching up to his chest as he stood to face the vehicle, this one having a much larger weapon mounted to its roof that two men were operating. Basketball sized holes exploded around him and every impact his armor took forced him to take a step back to keep his balance. Another of the black baseball sized grenades formed in his hand. Judging the time between the impacts to his armor Apocalypse threw the device at the vehicle, smashing thought the passenger side of its windshield.
Tire’s squealed in defiance as the driver slammed on the brakes and desperately fought to bring the vehicle to a stop before the grenade went off. The two men who had been operating the roof mounted weapon, climbed out and jumped before the vehicle had come to a stop. The passenger door was flung open and a man started to jump out, although before he could clear the vehicle it was engulfed in an expanding ball of swirling lightning. Continuing his steady walk toward the building while reaching down touching his hips with both hands. Strange silvery pistols formed out of the sides of his armor, one into each hand. Bringing up both pistols level with the large front entrance, Apocalypse began firing both pistols alternating between the two destroying the glass panels and riddling much of what lay behind with holes before walking into through the damage.
“Southern area clear… West side clear, some activity inside loading docks… North area clear, but looks like some heavy shit just rolled through here sir, do not, I repeat do not recommend for LZ…” The remaining agents heard each of the HALO team report in over their radios as the drop ship they were on plummeted towards the ground.
The radio crackled again, “Point team in position, sounds of small arms fire inside of target area.”
“Using west LZ, Down in one mike, advanced team GO!” Scythe shouted from inside his own power armor.
On top the flat roof, two of the HALO agents stood by an access hatch, after hearing the GO order one threw open the hatch while his partner covered him then rifle at ready looked down the open hatch, “Clear!” he spoke before pushing the rifle behind him on its sling and climbing down onto the ladder, then slid down quickly to the catwalk below.
“Firefight in north east section of warehouse. Single attacker, multiple defenders.” The first agent down on the catwalk said over the radio. “Attacker is Apocalypse, I repeat attacker is Apocalypse, over!”
“Stay on primary mission,” Scythe radioed back, “Overwatch split, one remain in position. The other shadow Apocalypse and keep the rest of the team informed of his position. His attention is on the syndicate, not us. Let's try to keep it that way for now.”
“This is Ayers sir, switching to shadow,” The other agent in the catwalk radioed as he took off running toward the end of the catwalk and a ladder down.
“This is striker, located stairs leading down, South east warehouse area, investigating.” The radio cracked, “Looked like they go a ways down may lose radio.”
“Affirmative Striker, Proceed,” Scythe replied as they exited the drop ship in their heavy armor, “All non-engaged Halo’s provide back up to Striker. Friendly heavies inbound West side. Mongo with me!”
“Mongo like Scythe,” Mongo did his best imitation of the voice of the character from the old Mel Brooks film, “Scythe nice to Mongo.”
“Knock it off Mongo!” Scythe scolded.
“Aye sir, got your six,” Mongo replied.
“Sir Overwatch here, my position is compromised. Apocalypse made me.”
“What happened?” Scythe asked.
“He looked right at me, it was like he could see right through the adaptive camo sir,” the agent stated, “Then he saluted me and went back to shooting up the place, and completely ignored me from there.”
“If he wanted to take you out he would have already tried, hold position,” Scythe responded.
At first David and his coyote had moved slowly through the underground halls and rooms to avoid detection, but soon they stopped this practice and were walking casually down yet another corridor in the maze-like underground facility. While David was grateful the place was so deserted, he also though it strange that he could wander around so freely without anyone noticing. David knew there was only two possible explanations, either this place was run by the bare minimum of people or something had them extremely busy somewhere else. David hoped it was the skeleton crew explanation, since the other could mean they had tried to make Aegisium.
David shuddered remembering what had happened to his work bench when he first discovered the unique material. David had been working on a science project that everyone in class had to participate in, everyone had to try to build a device that would protect an egg when dropped from the seconds floor of the school onto the parking lot. If the egg survived you got an “A”.
Partial successes and inventiveness would be graded accordingly with no one that actually tried receiving an “F”. Looking at the problem from different perspective, David had been trying for weeks to create a substance what would absorb kinetic energy when he stumbled on the formula. The compounds he had mixed started generating a chemical reaction and became very hot, it then began expanding at an alarming rate. The mere five ounces he had mixed expanded, covering his work bench quickly. Attempting to stop or slow the expansion David had grabbed one of the CO2 fire extinguishers. The CO2 had limited results and luckily the material finally stopped expanding and began too cool on its own, but not before coating the work bench and part of the floor in the substance.
Later when David went about cleaning up the mess it had made, he found the material brittle and easy to break apart with a hammer, that is until he tried breaking up the part he used the fire extinguisher on. Hitting this part with his hammer felt weird, no matter how hard he hit it, the hammer didn’t even bounce back from the blow. David then tried with a sledge hammer, and then finally brought his dad out to see it. David’s father and Uncle Wes experimented with it including shooting it with several different high powered rounds. Uncle Wes finally caused it to begin cracking after firing over a dozen of what he called “anti-brick” rounds at it.
Ahead of them David heard the first sounds other than his own footsteps since he had escaped from the room they held him in, over the yelling David heard was the distinct sound of gunfire.
“Where are you going?” The coyote said trying to keep his voice down when David began walking in the direction the noise was coming from.
“I just want to have a quick look.”
Grabbing hold of David’s pants the coyote tried to pull but found his large furry feet skidding along the floor as David walked quickly in that direction. “No! Not that way!”
Dragging the coyote behind him, David raced down the hall to a large open door. Peeking his head around he saw a large laboratory or what used to be one before the bullets began flying. Inside there was broken glass everywhere, overturned drums of who knows what spilled all over, a couple men lying on the floor not moving. On one side several men with machine guns were shooting, also a few men and one woman wearing lab coats hid behind various large objects. On the others side David saw the distinctive blue the DEHA wore. “Hey that’s one of the new HALO suits,” David whispered at the coyote, who was now peeking around to get a look himself, “That means that Uncle Wes is here!” David raced past the door to the end of the hall where a flight of stair led upward.
Halfway up the stairs David heard and felt a loud boom, had he not been holding onto the handrail the blast would have send him falling down the stairs. The coyote was not so lucky and had tumbled down. David waited on the coyote then they both reached the floor above. The hall doubled back in the same direction they had come from. Turning the corner David saw the unmistakable figure of Apocalypse halfway down this new passageway, kicking open a door.
“Crap!” David yelled.
“There you are!” Apocalypse turned his attention from the door he just kicked in toward David.
“Run David!” The coyote yelled as it stepped out in front of David and raised its fists while taking a boxing stance, “I’ll try to buy you some time.”
David flew back down the stairs and back down the hallway on the floor below. Running as fast as his youthful legs could take him, past the lab where he had seen the fighting earlier which in his panicked haste did not notice the fighting had stopped, or the substance that had already expanded to fill over half the large laboratory.
Bouncing on the balls of his oversized cartoonish feet while waving his fists in the imitation of a boxer the coyote watched as Apocalypse ran toward him closing the distance. Side stepping the small coyote at the last moment, Apocalypse grabbed it by the nape of the neck jerking the coyote off the ground as he skidded around the landing and down the stairs in pursuit of David. Apocalypse easily jumped the steaming hot material that was flowing quickly out of the open doorway and continued his pursuit.
David’s hopes were to circle around the other side of the lab he had seen the DEHA agents and get their attention, but his hopes were ruined when he rounded the last corner and saw it partially filled with the expanding substance. Sliding to a stop David quickly began backpedaling away from the substance.
“Is that what I think it is?” David heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Aegisium,” David gulped as he turned to find Apocalypse standing there holding the coyote by the scruff of the neck in one hand.
“Hold it there Apocalypse!” David saw a man seem to materialize behind Apocalypse as the man’s blue DEHA armor began to appear as the adaptive camouflage was switched off on his suit. “The boy is coming with me!”
“It appears no one is going anywhere without my help,” Apocalypse didn’t bother to turn toward the DEHA agent, “If you haven’t noticed num-nuts we are trapped by that shit.” pointing at the fast approaching Aegisium while reaching around the back of his waist where a greenish disk formed out of his armor into his hand.
“Hold it right there!” The DEHA agent raised his gun at Apocalypse.
“This is our way out, now quit waving that damn gun around before it goes off and hurts Davey, if that happens…” Apocalypse lowered his voice, “I’ll kill you.” Holding the green disk up it hovered in place for a moment before shooting off down the hallway the way they had come. “We have to follow that!” Apocalypse ordered as he grabbed David by the arm and forced him to run with him down the hall, the DEHA agent followed close behind.
“What does that thing do?” The Agent shouted as he ran.
“It will mark the location of the closet, safe crossing,” Apocalypse replied.
They followed the disk down a short side hall to a dead end where it hovered in place in front of a door. Opening the door, Apocalypse follow the green disk into the room where it stopped slightly off the center of the room. Holding out his hand, the disk landed and was reabsorbed into the strange armor once he placed it against his back. After standing there motionless for several minutes Apocalypse spoke, “This is not the most desirable crossing, but it beats staying here.”
“Whatever you gonna do, you best hurry!” The agent said while looking out the door down the hallway, “That stuff is already in the hall and coming pretty fast.”
“Any port in a storm, I say!” The coyote chuckled.
In front of Apocalypse a tiny ball of electricity appeared that quickly grew into a circular ring of lightning almost seven feet across inside it contained a swirling vortex of darkness. “OK, everyone in!” Apocalypse ordered.
“What the hell is that?” The DEHA agent stared at the portal.
“Think of it like a doorway to another place.” Apocalypse said as he grabbed the DEHA agent and threw him head first into the vortex. Looking at David, “You coming or do I have to throw you too!”
“I’m coming,” David said taking a step toward the vortex.
The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
The strange portal shrank and closed faster than it had opened once Apocalypse stepped through and dropped the coyote. The first thing David noticed was the air, it felt like David had stepped through the strange portal into a heavy fog, the moisture in the air so thick even breathing was difficult. It was also warmer than where they had been a lot warmer. Then there were the trees, David had seen trees like this once when they visited the Ringling museum while they were in Florida on vacation. He seemed to remember they were called Banyan trees, although the trees here were so much larger and the branches were covered in a heavy green moss that hung down giving the place an overall eerie look.
“Where are we?” The DEHA agent was getting up from where he had landed.
“I don’t know,” Apocalypse spat.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” The agent began to sound angry, “You brought us here, how can you not know?”
“I wasn’t planning on using this crossing. The only information I have on this realm is the location of another place we may cross that will take us closer to our realm.” Apocalypse reached around to his rear and retrieved the strange green disc, which went straight up through the foliage once released.
“What do you mean realm?” David asked while still gawking at their surroundings.
“This is not Earth, or at least the earth you know.”
Clenching his fists at his sides, the agent sounded like he was getting even angrier, “Are you saying you teleported us to another planet?”
“I’ll explain while we walk,” Apocalypse stated, “We need to get to our next crossing, while it is still there.”
“What do you mean, while it's still there?” The DEHA agent spat.
“It’s difficult to put this in English, but I will do my best,” Apocalypse tried explaining, “What you think of as the universe is only a very small part of the whole universe. Or you could say that your universe is only one of a plethora of universes that exist.”
“Some scientist have theorized that there are multiple universes,” David smiled to himself for being able to join in the conversation.
“Well they’re right,” Apocalypse continued, “Where I’m originally from we called them realms. Long ago we learned how to detect where realms touched, places where they were only separated by the boundaries of their own existence. At these locations my people were able to develop a way that allowed us to open a hole in those boundaries allowing us to cross between the realms.”
“OK,” The agent interrupted, “So why not open another back home?”
“As I am trying to explain, I can only open a crossing where the two realms are touching. Crossing back would take us back to the same place we just left, which does us no good. We have to go to a place where we may open another crossing to another location. Attempting to open a crossing where the two realms do not touch would at best not work. It can be done, but the crossing is unstable and leads only to the void and death.”
“How far is this crossing we need?” The agent asked.
“We should be able to reach it by midday tomorrow.” They continued walking in silence across the soft spongy ground for several hours before Apocalypse spoke again, “We can rest here for a bit. I believe we are about half way out of this swamp and there are no other life forms around to bother us at this time.”
Agent Ayers took a few steps and sat down on the root of a nearby large tree, while David dropped straight down on the spongy moist ground. “So Agent, what should I call you?” Apocalypse looked at the DEHA agent.
“What?”
“You have a name, or do I continue to call you agent?”
“Ayers, my name is Greg Ayers.”
“You been working under Scythe long?”
“If this is some attempt to interrogate me…”
“No, no interrogation,” Apocalypse laughed, “I know more about Agent Scythe than he knows about himself. Only trying to make polite conversation, get to know you a bit since we are stuck together for the time being.”
“I know who you are and what you have done!” Ayers stood to face Apocalypse, “You destroyed Stone Mountain and would have destroyed the earth if not for those supers who stopped you!”
“You know NOTHING!” Apocalypse glared at the armored man, “You do not know that the syndicate had built an underground base below that mountain, or of that insane devisor that built an unstable singularity reactor in that base.”
“A what?”
“A singularity reactor, the moron was trying to harness the power of a black hole, using a devise. My fa, I reached it right before the devise lost containment.”
“But the whole mountain and half the park, gone!”
“As would have the whole planet had it not been shoved through a crossing. An entire solar system was sacrificed to save yours.”
“You did what?”
“The core of his singularity reactor was sent into another realm to save your planet,” Apocalypse lowered his head.
“Why?”
“Because the continuance of your world is necessary.”
“Does it have to do with the boy?” Gesturing toward David who was now lying on the ground asleep.
“Rescuing David was personal,” Apocalypse stated, “Before our journey is over you may learn why. You can also ask Scythe after we return, He can tell you if I am telling you the truth or not.”
“How well does Scythe know you?”
“You are the enemy of my enemy,” Apocalypse changed the subject, “Do you understand what that means to you and me?”
“That’s Sun Tzu,” Ayers thought out loud, “according to that, we are allies.”
“We both have the same goals at this time,” Apocalypse stated, “Protect the boy and get back home.”
“So we work together,” Agent Ayers looked toward Apocalypse.”
“Yes, a truce. Work together, attain our goals, then we allow each other to go our separate ways.”
“Agreed.”
“I will do my best to return you to your home, I ask only one thing in return. Whatever you may learn of my identity while we are in these realms, remain a secret.”
“David wake up, DAVID! DAVID WAKE UP!” The coyote shouted.
Turning their attention to the noise both men saw the coyote shaking David while pulling at small thin plant tendrils that had begun to cover the boy. Apocalypse reached David first and tried to pick the boy up, but the tiny plant tendrils were strongly attached to his body. Ayers pulled a knife and began cutting the tendrils away from David while Apocalypse pulled the boy as far as he could.
“What the hell?” Ayers burst, “Blood!”
Looking down Apocalypse saw what the agent was talking about, the cut plant fibers were bleeding. Reaching around with one hand to the small of his back, Apocalypse reached back around and gave Ayers the small device that he had manifested from his armor. “Plasma torch, heat the knife blade with it, cauterize the fibers as you cut.”
Looking at the small device, Ayers saw the design was simple and quickly heated the blade to a glowing cherry red color and went back to work cutting the boy free. In the hour it took to completely free David, he never woke. Once free Ayers began checking the boy as best he could. “I think those damn tendrils were sucking his blood out!” Ayers stated, “Look at how pale his is, and his pulse is weak.”
“Take him,” Apocalypse handed the unconscious boy to Ayers, “I have something that will help, reaching down to his thigh as his armor pushed out against his hand forming the silvery blue arm band he had taken from the workbench. Spreading the band open with his hands, Apocalypse put it around David’s wrist.
Ayers stood there holding David for a few moments with nothing happening before asking, “What’s it supposed to do?”
“God dammit!” Apocalypse cursed while removing the arm band and allowing his armor to absorb it, “It isn’t working! We have to get him out of this swamp now!”
“Roger!” Ayers replied.
“Try to keep up!” Apocalypse grabbed the boy from Ayers and took off running in the direction they had been traveling before taking the break. Ayers was able to keep up, but just barely, after twenty minutes of the ground eating speed Ayers began to fall slightly behind. Another ten minutes and Ayers had fallen back much further, only catching glimpses of the shiny blue clad figure racing away through the trees. Focusing on running as hard as he could Ayers almost ran over Apocalypse before he knew the man had stopped.
Just ahead of Apocalypse stood a man, Ayers would have mistaken him for a native American boy if not for the age lines in his face. Not more than five feet tall and dressed in tanned leather pants the stranger was speaking to Apocalypse in a language Ayers had never heard.
Quickly the man raised the spear he had been leaning on when he saw Ayers come running up behind Apocalypse. ‘Stop Hull Brute!’ The man shouted.
‘Wait!’ Apocalypse gestured with his hands for the man to calm down while speaking in the same language, ‘He is with me.’
Bowing at Apocalypse the man lowered his spear, ‘Apologies D’pakja, I see it is colored similar to that of the D’pakja, not that of the Brutes.’ Taking a step forward, the man carefully touched the plant tendrils clinging to the boy in Apocalypse’s arms, ‘He has been bitten by the Moras, We must take him to our healers.’ Waving for the men to follow, the short man turned and began walking.
“You can understand him?” Ayers asked as he followed behind Apocalypse.
“Yes, their language is similar to that of my realm.”
After several minutes of the fast walking pace the stranger had set, the vines and tendrils that made up the spongy swamp floor started thinning, Also large grayish black rocks of various sizes between two feet to over six feet across were scattered around the clearer area among the giant trees. Ayers could not help but notice that although the rocks were various sizes, they all seemed to have the same uniform oblong shape. He then noticed one of the large rocks was moving on four thick stumpy legs, “Holy Shit!”
The stranger stopped and turned. ‘Kinsharha,’ the stranger waved his hand in a wide arc at the tortoise like creatures he saw Ayers looking around at.
“He said they are tame,” Apocalypse translated enough of the word to settle Ayers down.
Ahead of them the swamp ended in a reddish rock wall of a cliff that had to tower over them at least three hundred feet into the sky. A wide earthen ramp lead upward into the cliff face where they could see multiple levels of what reminded Ayers of the Manitou cliff dwellings he once visited in Colorado. Following the stranger up the wide ramp that ended at a level of the cliff structures roughly one hundred feet above the valley below, only to proceed up another ramp near the one they had come up. Close to halfway up the cliff side this ramp ended in another area that had been carved out of the cliff face, not more than 30 yards deep but close to 200 yards wide.
Near the ramp they had come up on a large fire pit with several men sitting around it dressed similar to the one that led them up into the cliff dwellings. Across the fire they had something roasting on a spit. Ayers could hear several of the men talking excitedly when they saw Apocalypse and he walk up with the stranger. Not able to understand them Ayers did notice one word they kept repeating, the same word the stranger seemed to have called Apocalypse, D’pakja, and the way they were saying it was almost in reverence.
Looking to Apocalypse, “What is a D’pakja?”
“Me,” Apocalypse replied, “But I have no idea how they know this as I have never been to this world.”
“You?”
“I am the only one left,” Apocalypse explained, “There were three of us left, but one died and the other has retired.”
“Could it have been one of them that came here?”
“No, he had not left your realm in over one hundred years and if he had come here, he would have logged the realm and its position.”
“He? You said there were two others?”
“D’pakja is male, females are known as D’pakna. They were my parents.”
“So what does the D’pak part mean?” Ayers asked.
“It is a type of warrior, a protector,” Apocalypse apparently did not wish to explain further, although Ayer’s continued trying to get some answers.
While Apocalypse and Ayers talked, the stranger hurried to the fire and was talking to the other strange short men around it. One got up and jogged away and into one of the many archways carved into the cliff, while another trotted up to Apocalypse and began examining the unconscious David. The rest seemed to be discussing the small coyote that stood behind Apocalypse and Ayers from the way they were pointing and gesturing.
‘Our healer has already begun the journey to our dark home. I am Zek, She has been teaching me the way of healing for five homes now,’ The new man said in the strange language, ‘Bring him this way so that we may begin removing the Moras.’ He led them through a nearby archway in a room that had a very large shell from one of the tortoise creatures turned upside down. ‘Place the young one in this, others have been sent to bring the Shell water.’
Laying David down inside the overturned Tortoise creature shell, Apocalypse stood to the side as the healer mulled over David’s unconscious form, using a bone knife to cut away what portions of David’s clothing that could be separated from the boy and tendrils. Soon the man that had run off came in carrying a large leather bladder that appeared to contain around ten gallons of some liquid. As the two men began pouring the liquid from the bladder, the smell reached Ayers and Apocalypse. Ayers began coughing and gagging when the rancid odor reached his nose. Racing out of the room, Ayers managed to get his helmet off before he began emptying the contents of his stomach on the stone floor.
Agent Ayers had moved back closer to the room they had taken David into after regaining control of his stomach, but far enough away so he could not smell that foul liquid they were bathing David in. Sitting against the wall with his Helmet on ground between his legs, his arms crossed on his knees, Ayers dared not get near that room to find out how things were going.
Over an hour had passed when Apocalypse walked over and sat beside Ayers, “You alright now?”
“Yeah,” Ayers replied, “What was that damn stuff?”
“Apparently those turtle creatures have adapted so that the Moras, as these people call that swamp, finds them indigestible. The urine of those creatures from what I gathered from the local healer is something of a natural defoliant.”
“That was turtle piss they were pouring over the kid!”
“Without putting you through the lengthy explanation of how and why that I was given, yes.” Apocalypse looked at Ayers, “I hope you will abide by our agreement?”
“Agreement?”
“Yes that what you learn about me here, is not told to others?”
“I believe that won’t be a problem,” Ayers frowned, “But if they use a psychic during my debrief…”
“That I cannot hold you accountable for, and Agent Scythe will not bring one in.”
“How can you be sure of that?” Ayers asked, then saw the shiny liquid metal armor on Apocalypse begin to fade away in a way that looked like a puddle of water drying up rather quickly. “I’ve seen you somewhere before,” Ayers spoke as he searched his memories trying to place a name to the face he now saw.
“So do you go by Apocalypse all the time?”
“No.”
Ayers frowned, “So what should I call you when you don’t have that suit on?”
“Guess you would hear it soon as David wakes up from this anyway,” Apocalypse said, “It’s Ryan Scythe.”
“Holy shit!” Ayer’s eyes went wide, “You’re the Reaper’s brother?”
“Don’t ever call him that to his face, that movie really pissed him off.”
“But I though his brother was older?” Ryan puzzled over his thoughts, “If you are brothers, why isn’t he staying young?”
“My parents adopted him and our sister Teri,” Ryan explained, “Wesley wasn’t even a year old when his real parents died. So my parents are the only ones he knew.”
“If he didn’t, he would have figured it out after the genetic screening your guys gave him. Wesley is the poster child for norms, no trace of the exo gene complex in his system at all.”
“I thought everyone had some trace of that?”
“No only a minority have the exo gene complex.” While Ryan explained one of the men tending the fire brought two small bowls made out of tortoise shells filled with meat from the spit that rested over the fire to Ryan and Ayers. “In our realm we went through a period where the exo gene began appearing and slowly transforming our entire population. Although our scientists quickly found out what was causing it and learned how to manage it to improve ourselves in certain aspects.”
“So what causes the exo gene complex?”
“Our star, or rather how the unique radiation it produced interacted with our atmosphere,” Ryan answered as he ate.
“So our sun is causing the mutations on earth?”
“No, out of all the planets my people have visited, ours had been the only one to have this occur.”
“So how is it happening on earth?”
“Long before we discovered how to journey between realms, we were space travelers and sent many ships in exploration and colonization. The genetic mutation, the exo gene, would have been brought to your world through them.”
“You’re saying earth was colonized?”
“I could be wrong,” Ryan continued, “But it makes perfect sense, some explorers come and for whatever their reasons stay and breed with the local population. The exo gene is passed on to the children, and since the conditions do not occur in your world to cause further mutation it lays dormant, unable to further mutate until just the right conditions were met.”
“There is not any mention of mutants until a couple hundred years ago,” Ayers stated, “How could aliens breeding with humans thousands of years ago not show up until now?”
“Have you ever read the Prudhomme Report?”
“No?”
“While the media made him out to be a fool, he was actually a brilliant man. His facts were correct as were his theories,” Ryan began, “Had these explorers that I believe are the cause, left our world before the exo gene complex had undergone its full mutation it would have been passed down through generations lying dormant. Generations later two people with different aspects of that trait pass both traits to their children and those pieces of that genetic sequence combine in the children. This continues until the genetic trait has combined itself into what you now call the exo gene complex. Everyone on earth probably has some undetectable trace of the gene, but in a small percentage of the population it has combined into what you call the exo gene complex. This would also explain other things your science has yet to explain.”
“Such as?”
“Some of the gods in some cultures, legends of monsters. What about legends of super strong heroes like Hercules, and why have they never found that missing link in your evolutionary ladder?”
“Are you saying your people are the missing link?” Ayer’s jaw dropped at the realization of what he was hearing.
“I’m only saying it’s a possible explanation.” Ryan closed his eyes for a moment, “My mother was convinced that it was the case.”
It wasn’t long after they ate, both fell asleep sitting there against the wall while the small coyote perched along the edge of the giant tortoise shell kept vigil over the boy while everyone slept.
the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
Sorry for the delay in posting this part. As I mentioned in a blog real life (aka work) has gotten a bit hectic once again not leaving me much time to write and or edit during the evenings after work. There is only a few chapters left in this story and I am going to do my best to post them on a weekly basis.
“Wait!” Melanie almost screamed at her father, who was flipping through the TV channels with the remote, “Go back! Go back!”
Looking quickly over where his daughter sat on the couch then back to the TV, Dan fumbled with the remote until he hit the back button. Spying what was on that channel he looked back at his daughter, “It’s only a news report.”
Melanie sat up and leaned forward, not taking her eyes off the Television, “I think I saw David’s uncle!”
“…still at the scene of what we believe to be a large scale sting operation against organized crime.” A female voice spoke while the screen showed an Aerial view of a large fenced in compound with a single large building. Two dropships sat in part of the parking lot near several trucking containers. The TV screen cut to another shot, this time a ground view of the entrance of the place. The double fencing was mangled and warped, a large crater sat in what should have been the entrance road and the single small building nearby looked like it had gone through a tornado.
“Three days ago the local and federal law enforcement agencies stormed the Verita’s Shipping company just outside of St. Louis Missouri, seizing the company’s assets and arresting its employees.” The screen switched back to the aerial camera, “From what our correspondent on the scene has been told, the local St Louis office of the Department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in charge of this operation, but this man,” the camera zoomed in to several men near the side larger of the two dropships, one of whom was obviously giving the orders, “Who we have been told is Agent Wesley Scythe of the Department of Exo-Human Affairs appears to be the one truly in control.”
The screen switched to the news studio where the woman who had been speaking sat along with a man in a suit, “And we all know the significance of who this is, don’t we Beverly?” The man spoke.
“Yes we do Stan,” The woman continued, “The DEHA’s presence would signify that there was one or more exo-humans involved during the operation.”
“And let's not forget Agent Scythe is also one of the first men to successfully pilot the Dominator battle armor system,” her co-host added.
“Correct Stan, Those powered armor suits that Scythe and his men used are the predecessors of the various powered armor used today by both the military and the DEHA to protect us.”
“See!” Melanie pointed at the television, “David’s uncle. If he is there that means they found David!”
“Not necessarily honey,” Melanie’s mother had walked up behind the couch Melanie was sitting on, “They haven’t said anything about finding any hostages.”
The female reporter continued on the television, “Also the early reports that Apocalypse may have been sighted at the scene just before the raid were false. We have the St. Louis DEHA’s liaison officer here with us at the studio to explain the mistake.”
“Apocalypse?” Melanie gulped. Everyone stopped talking and stared at the television as the camera cut to a different scene where a gray haired man sat with another reporter.
Two of his fingers touching the ear piece as if to hold it in place, the man nodded then looked at the camera, “That is correct Beverly, after careful examination of the witness’s story we have determined that what he saw was one of our agents in the new HALO Aegisium armor. There is no cause for alarm as Apocalypse was not spotted, as you can see from these photos.” The camera cut to a split screen showing two pictures side by side. One picture of the day Apocalypse was seen fighting the supers in Georgia, the day he destroyed a national landmark. The second picture a blurred shot of a man wearing dark blue armor. The man continued, “As you can see in the pictures, the color of the armor is a very close match and from a distance could easily be mistaken.”
“They don’t look anything alike!” Melanie swore at the TV.
“Shhhh,” Her father hushed her as he had now became interested in the story.
Melanie’s mother slipped back into the kitchen, picked up the phone and punched in Teri’s number, “Hi Teri, its Mary.”
“Hi Mary.”
“Have you heard anything new about David?” Mary asked.
“Nothing since I spoke with Wes last night,” Teri’s voice cracked slightly as she fought to hold back the tears, “I’m really worried about David.”
“Melanie saw something on TV about it and I was hoping.” Mary said, “You know she really cares a lot about him.”
“I know,” Teri barely managed to get out as Mary heard her friend begin to softly cry.
“I’m going to come over, ok?”
“Kay,”
“I’ll bring Melanie with me, she can keep an eye on Cindy for us.” Mary heard the click as Teri hung up.
“Ryan, any of your new friends tell you why the sun never sets here?” Ayers questioned as Apocalypse, who was no longer wearing the strange blue armor, walked out of the room they had David in.
“The planet’s rotation is much slower than we are used to. One revolution of this world takes several months to occur. This is the reason there are so few of the natives here right now. Their people have already begun moving to a new location before this area goes dark.”
“I thought this was Like our Earth but another universe?”
“Not likely,” Ryan answered, “Their sun is a bit different, either its smaller than Sol, or this world orbits further out from the star. With the temperature here, that would also mean that this sun is hotter than ours.”
“When you made that portal, shouldn’t we have crossed into the same location in this realm?”
“It doesn’t work that way. The realms are not like flat sheets of paper that you can punch a hole through one into the next and be at the same location on the seconds sheet as you were on the first.” Ryan explained, “The realms are more like a pot of spaghetti noodles moving around in a pot boiling water, there is no order in the way they touch, but when and where they touch a crossing can be opened. It’s even possible that we are still in the same realm as our earth, but have crossed into another part of that realm hundreds, maybe even millions of light years away from earth.”
“So you’re saying that one of these realms can bend back on itself and let you cross great distances?” Ayers whistled, “Wow talk about travel!”
“Yes, that is one of the reasons my people all but gave up space travel, “Ryan agreed, “It was much faster, economical and safer to travel through the realms.”
“Do you always have to hunt these places, couldn’t they make some more permanent?”
“Yes, our scientist came up with a technology that would hold the two realms in place so that the crossing could be made permanent,” Ryan’s voice grew quiet, “Those were destroyed.”
“Destroyed, why?”
“Long story, but we destroyed them when our world was invaded.”
“You were invaded?”
“In our travels through out the realms we aided and taught the other races we met, shared technology that they could use to better their world.” Ryan activated his armor as he walked up to Ayers, pulling the silvery blue armband from it before deactivating the armor and sitting down beside Ayers. Staring at the armband Ryan continued, “One world become jealous, they wanted the one technology our laws forbade us from giving to others.”
“Let me guess,” Ayers said, “it’s the one that lets you open the crossings.”
“Yes and no. The crossings we created were free for any race to use. The technology that powers it…” Ryan sighed heavily, “It’s very dangerous.”
“How dangerous?”
“We were not the only race to discover this, nor were we the first. Back when my people were taking their first baby steps into the expanse, there were other races that had mastered the expanse, ones that could open crossings anywhere at anytime to anywhere of their choosing,” Ryan paused. “There was a great war between several of those races. A war that spanned across several realms, eventually shattering those realms. The effects of their war began to cascade into other realms fragmenting those realms in the wake of the destruction those races caused. It was explained to me like an ever expanding hole ripped into the fabric of time and space that would have eventually swallowed everything.”
“If that is true, how are we here now?” Ayers questioned.
“My people, our scientists and scholars, found a way to repair this tear in reality, somehow reversing much of the damage caused by the war.”
“Are you, I mean your people, the only ones left that can make these crossings?”
“No, but we may be the only ones that use technology to do so,” Ryan stated, “We learned how to open crossings by studying those that could do it through their own innate ability.”
“You mean your people built a technology that mimics magic?”
“Would you agree that magic is the ability to use or manipulate an unknown force or power?”
“Yeah, I guess it could be described that way.”
Suddenly Ryan’s armor appeared, covering him, “So what or how would you describe my ability to create this armor?” His armor quickly faded away.
“It’s not metal, it looks like, almost like some type of magical or maybe even a PK shield?”
“And how would you say I ‘manifest’ my armor?” Ryan asked as the armor disappeared.
“It has to be magic or some mental ability.”
Rolling up his sleeve Ryan showed Ayers a dark blue metallic armband that covered much of his left forearm, “This is what allows me to bring forth my armor, it is neither magic, mental or a mutant ability.”
“You have a magical bracer?”
“No it’s a technology that my people developed.” Holding up the smaller lighter blue almost silver armband he held in his hand, “This is also. I just don’t understand why it did not work.”
They were interrupted as one of the natives approached, *D’pakja, the child is free of the Moras, we must go to Black rock now, there they have the medicines to bring him out of the sleeping sickness of the Moras*
*How far is Black Rock?* Ryan asked in the same strange language.
*Many days, but we travel light and faster than others that that already left, they wait for us there,* Behind the native, two other natives carried out a litter that held David and proceeded to the ramp that led upward, *We go now!* The native turned in the direction of the ramp and walked away.
“What did he say?” Ayers looked at Ryan.
“Apparently we must go to some place called Black Rock to finish healing David and we are leaving right now.” Ryan stood, manifesting his armor and storing the small armband away before following the natives. Ayers put his helmet on and followed close behind Ryan.
The two men fell in line behind behind the seven natives, once out of the valley they began a slow jogging pace across the barren rock. Every few hours they would call a stop to eat and drink. Ayers thought it strange when he saw the coyote turn one of the water skins up to his mouth and gulp down a considerable sum of water for its size during one of these rest stops. No one else paid any attention, but then the natives probably did not know it was a robot, he would have to ask Ryan about this when they had more time.
After these short rests the natives would then switch who was carrying the litter that David was onto another pair and take off once again at the jogging pace they had begun with. The small coyote ran alongside the litter that the unconscious David lay on.
“I wish we could have stayed at David’s longer,” Melanie dreaded the thought of being labeled a mutant and being forced to carry one of the DEHA identification cards even more than she dreaded going to the DEHA office to get tested. What was worse, she would have to show it to the school secretary and the school would then know.
“So do I dear,” her mother glanced over at Melanie, “if it wasn’t for this appointment of yours we would stay. You know that Teri fears that David may never come home.”
“I do too,” Tears began to form and roll down Melanie’s cheeks as her thoughts drifted to David and the possibility that she may never see him again.
“I think this is the place, Your father brought your sister up when she was tested, I haven’t been here before,” Mrs. Bell stated as she pulled off the road into the parking lot. The parking lot was less than a quarter full so finding a spot wasn’t difficult for Melanie’s mother. Shutting off the car, Melanie’s mother leaned over to her daughter giving her a warm hug, “Everything will be Okay, Mr. Scythe will find David and bring him home.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know what type of man David’s uncle is, he doesn’t give up and neither should you.” Mrs. Bell smiled, “He will find David. Now let's get inside and get you tested. Maybe if it doesn’t take too long we can swing by the mall before we go home.”
Any other time the possibility of going shopping at the mall with her mother would have thrilled Melanie but not today, not with David missing and having to go through the testing for her abilities. Her worst fear being how this would affect school and her friends. While the hatred of exo-humans wasn’t bad in their area as it was in the eastern United States, the anti mutant groups were growing in places like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Davenport and Dubuque having already passed many city ordinances on exo-humans as the fear and hatred spread westward out of Chicago.
Walking across the parking lot, the building seemed to be made in a square ‘U’ shape with a large courtyard in the middle that held various outdoor tables, chairs and benches giving an overall relaxing atmosphere to the entrance. Entering the building through the large glass doors they stopped at the reception desk.
“Hi, I’m Doctor Bell. I have an appointment,” Melanie’s mother said to the younger brunette woman behind the desk.
“Hello Doctor Bell, I’m Sharon,” The woman smiled up from her chair as she began typing at her keyboard, “Give me a moment to pull up that information.” After a minute she glanced up at Melanie, “Here it is, I take it you are the one that needs to be tested?” Melanie nodded, “Good, have you thought of a codename yet honey?”
David’s little sister Cindy had been the one to give her the idea. Often when Melanie would be visiting David, Cindy would ask Melanie to play with her by making puppets, as Cindy called Melanie’s creations. “Umm, puppet?” Melanie almost whispered. The woman began typing again.
“That appears to be free to use,” Sharon smiled up from her desk, “Okay I have everything here that I need. Doctor if you would like to take Puppet over to the waiting area someone will be with you shortly,” Pointing over to a large door to her left.
Once she saw Melanie and her mother had entered the waiting room, she picked up the phone, “Hello? Miss Black? Yes there was a note attached to this appointment that said to contact you when they arrived? Yes it is a Doctor Bell and a teen girl. Yes Ma’am, no problem.” Sharon felt stomach tightened into knots as she hung up the phone, feeling pity for the young girl. Sharon did not know Miss Black that well, but the woman’s reputation was well known to her, even the powered armor jocks gave Miss Black a wide berth when they passed her in a hall.
Their native guides had warned them when everyone saw the moon begin to rise, so they had run. They had to make it to a safe cave before the eclipse occurred. Ryan had formed his dark-blue armor once again becoming Apocalypse, then picked up David from the stretcher, carrying him in a fireman carry across his shoulders, holding David in place with one hand encircling David’s right arm and leg. As Apocalypse, Ryan could have easily ran faster, but that would have left the natives, who had so far been a godsend to Ryan’s little group, not to mention Ayers, who even with the added strength and speed his HALO suit gave him, could barely manage to keep the pace the natives had set.
As the large moon continued to rise it eventually blocked their view of the sun and the group was surrounded in twilight. Which gave them a respite from the searing heat, but also meant that the nocturnal predators the natives had told them about would soon arrive. The natives had said that being out in the open was certain death. They could not even describe the creatures to Apocalypse as no native that had seen one had lived to talk about it. Apocalypse knew he would fare much better with his weapons than the natives expected, but as it has been said so many times, discretion is the better part of valor, and hoped he did not have to put his armor and weapons to the test. Only a fool went confidently into a battle against an unknown opponent.
An hour later the overly large moon obscured over half the sky, and although now dark, there still seemed to be enough light to see by fairly easily. The temperature had dropped a good twenty to thirty degrees without the hot sun heating up the landscape. None of this mattered to the men as they found themselves fighting off the first of the strange creatures that had caught them. Fifty yards, was all they needed, only fifty measly yards and they would have made it to the safety of the cave. Now with more and more of the giant bat-like things reaching them, it seemed that it would be fifty yards they would never cross as both Apocalypse and Ayers fired their weapons as the creatures drew near.
One of the natives screamed, Ayers turned to see one of the beasts dragging the man across the ground. Firing a three round burst into the horror it dropped to the ground. Before the man could get up two more of the creatures landed by the native man, he screamed once again, then no more. Apocalypse had one of his pistols in hand, while still holding David across his shoulders with his other hand, firing at the creatures closest to them. The alien weapon made quick work of each creature, but for every one he killed three more took its place.
“Cover your eyes!” Ayers yelled as he tossed something out on the ground at the largest mass of creatures.
Realizing what Ayers had thrown Apocalypse shouted above the noise in the strange language of the natives, *Close your eyes NOW!* Hoping they would listen as he shouted. Hearing the explosion as the flash bang went off, Apocalypse opened his eyes turning back into the direction of safety, “RUN!” he shouted in both English and then in the natives tongue. Ayers was already moving, pushing the natives as he ran toward the rocky outcropping the natives had said held their safety. Out of the corner of his eye Apocalypse saw a blur of movement, bringing his pistol up as he turned he saw the coyote had jumped out to intercept one of the creatures that was almost upon Apocalypse.
Unable to fire without hitting the coyote, Apocalypse stood there aiming his pistol at the beast as it screeched and tried to shake the smaller coyote from where the coyote had latched on to the beast’s neck and digging his extended claws into the beast. Dark fluid began gushing from the wound the coyote had made in its neck, the coyote jumped free just as the creature fell to the ground and began flopping around madly.
“Don’t just stand there. RUN!” The coyote looked up at Apocalypse before launching itself at the next nearest creature.
The same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
My apologies for the time between this and the last chapter, real life has a way of getting in the way of the fun things we do. As most of you know, I live along side the Mississippi River, which about a week ago reached a record setting flood level in my area. So needless to say I was a bit preoccupied with things other than writing and editing. Things are still a little hectic, with roads still closed and everyone cleaning up but I did manage to get this chapter ready :)
Between the last of Ayer’s flash bangs and the diminutive coyote sacrificing its self to provide a distraction the survivors managed to get safely to the cave and seal the entrance. Ryan sat leaned against the wall of the cave after everyone else had already fallen asleep from exhaustion. In his mind he played back the fight with the creatures, what he could have done differently and how David would take the news about his coyote when he finally woke from the strange sleeping sickness the swamp had induced in him. While composed of metals and various other synthetic parts, all man made and all reproducible, long ago the coyote had become more than just the sum of its parts, it had been David’s best friend and companion over the years that David was confined to a wheelchair.
Of course this was not the same stuffed animal that David had been given at the hospital after the accident, that one had been lost. Paul, Ryan’s tech, had built the boy a new one. That was the first robotic coyote, although very simple in comparison with an aluminum chassis, electric motors and a battery that had to be recharged, it had eventually sparked David’s interest in science and engineering. Ryan smiled to himself as sleep over came him while his thoughts drifted to how a young crippled boy and his favorite toy had led not only to the great advances we now have in prosthetics, but also David being able to once again walk.
After everyone had gotten several hours of sleep, Ryan walked back up the stone carved stairs that led back to the cave’s entrance. Seeing light coming in through the gaps between the stone slab and the cave walls Ryan pushed the stone slab that covered the entrance of the cavern out of the way. Stepped out in the bright sunlight Ryan began laughing while Ayers and the surviving natives stood in various stages of shock and amazement after spotting what caused Ryan’s laughter.
Several yards away in front of the entrance stood the small figure of the coyote, its fur coated in blood and gore, one of its ears appeared to be torn almost in half, the remainder of the ear flopping forward. The coyote stood with its arms across its chest, tapping its foot impatiently. The area around the cavern entrance was littered with several dozen dead creatures. “By chance does that cavern contain a water source?” it asked in its distinct British accent.
“I should start calling you Timex!” Ryan laughed, “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” The coyote only glared at him.
“Yea, there’s water little guy,” Ayers overcame the shock of seeing the coyote still alive and kicking.
“I need to bathe,” The coyote grumbled as it walked past the group into the cave tunnel.
“You think after all that he’s still waterproof?” Ayers leaned toward Ryan and softly asked. Ryan started roaring with laughter once again.
A woman wearing a knee length dark blue skirt and a white blouse walked into the waiting room and stopping just inside the doorway. Hanging from a lanyard around the woman’s neck an ID card with large letters that read ‘DEHA’ along with a picture of the woman. The woman put Melanie in mind of a school teacher or librarian the way she was dressed, although the woman’s figure and face would have made her right at home in one of cosmetic advertisements in the teen magazines she read. “Doctor Bell and Puppet?” The woman looked at both Melanie and her mother, “I’m Miss Black, I’ll be helping you with the testing and paperwork today.”
Melanie’s mother stood and held her hand out to Miss Black, “Hello Miss Black, I’m Doctor Bell and this is Mel… I mean Puppet.”
Looking down at the outstretched hand, then back up to Melanie’s mother without offering her hand Miss Black said, “Follow me please,” before turning on her heels and walking away. Melanie and her mother had to rush to catch and keep up with the woman. Stopping at an elevator Miss Black pushed the down button, the doors immediately opened. Gesturing for Melanie and her mother to enter, Miss Black followed them in.
Once inside Miss Black held up her ID to the side panel then spoke, “Yvonne Black, Executive Assistant to the Director.” A darkened panel lit up with numbers, Melanie could not see which number the woman pressed but from the amount of them that showed up on the panel this place must have several underground levels. Melanie felt the sudden weightlessness of the elevator staring to go down.
The elevator opened into a wide hall, “This way please,” Miss Black took off at her quick pace once again, not bothering to check to see if they followed. Stopping partway down the long hallway, Miss Black waved her hand in a gesture towards Melanie and her mother to enter as she pushed the door open. Entering herself then holding the door while Melanie and her mother walked in, closing it behind them once everyone was inside.
Melanie saw the room was very large, larger than the gym at Melanie’s school, and over half full of various pieces of equipment some rather large. There were also several stainless steel tables scattered around with a few stools around some of them. At one of the tables a man sat in a wheelchair in front of a laptop on the table. He wore the typical white lab coat short brown hair and looked to be in his late 30’s or early 40’s.
“Doctor Wayne,” Miss Black said to get his attention, “This is Doctor Bell and the young girl that I spoke to you about.”
“Ja, vee hab ben expecting zee frauline,” The doctor turned his wheelchair to face them. Melanie’s hand went up to cover her mouth as she began to giggle at the fake Halloween eyeglasses with a large plastic nose attached to them along with dark bushy eye brows and mustache the doctor had on. Tossing the fake glasses onto the table the doctor grinned then began rolling the wheelchair toward the three. Looking directly at Melanie, “What do you say we get this testing out of the way, so you can get your ID and get out of here?”
The doctor could see just how frightened Melanie was, although his fake glasses did seem to lighten her mood a bit if only for a moment. “Okay all of you please follow me,” the doctor said as he turned the wheelchair around and rolled back to the table he was first sitting at. Once there he reached into a briefcase that lay open on the table and pulled out a black box roughly the shape and size of a pack of cigarettes. Sitting the device on the table, he pushed a button on it and a small red LED came on beside the button, within a handful of seconds it began flashing, and then went out as a green LED began flashing another half minute and the green LED began a steady glow. “Okay, now that I know that no one can hear us. Melanie, Miss Black and I are friends of David’s Uncle.” Glancing up with a grin at Miss Black, “Very good friends.”
“You both know the Wiley’s?” Melanie’s mother asked.
“Very well in fact,” Miss Black answered, “Teri and her husband never miss any of our big barbecues.”
Melanie’s hand shot up to her face as she gasped, “You, your Aunt Yvonne?”
Looking at Melanie’s mother, “Wesley and I are not married, but we do spend a lot of time together. When David was younger he started calling me his aunt, we never saw a reason to correct him, and to be honest I like him calling me that.”
“David has told me all about your big cookouts and how much fun they are,” Melanie perked up.
“I hope you and your parents can join us at our next one.” Miss Black smiled at Melanie’s mother, “I’ll make sure to have Teri let you know when we have another.” Miss Black turned her attention to Melanie, “Now then, Wesley wanted to be here himself, but is still out in the field so he asked me to make sure you got the red carpet treatment.”
“But, but I’m not special,” Melanie blushed.
“You aren’t?” Miss Black tilted her head inquisitively, “Is David you boyfriend?”
“Uh, yes, I guess so,” Melanie spoke timidly her face turning a darker shade of red as she let her head drop down while looking up at her mother.
“Yvonne, if you want to give Mrs. Bell a little tour, maybe hit the cafe or something, Melanie and I can get these tests out of the way.”
Taking a step halfway behind her mother, Melanie squeaked. “Will it hurt?”
“I’ll be as gentle as possibly sweetheart,” The doctor smiled at Melanie, “If you could go over there to that changing room, you’ll find a gown to wear. Put that on and come out when you are ready.”
Melanie hesitated, looking both at the door to the room the doctor pointed at then to her mother. “Don’t worry,” The doctor spoke again, “We don’t use those nasty hospital gowns that show everyone your rear.”
“This should help also doctor,” Melanie’s mother handed him a large document sized manila envelope.
“This is?” The doctor took the envelope from her.
“A copy of her medical records.”
Melanie exited the changing room after disrobing and putting on the light gray hospital gown to find the doctor’s wheelchair still over by the table but empty. Melanie jumped when she heard the doctor’s voice, “Would you step up on the scale for me?”
Turning quickly toward the sound of his voice she saw him standing beside one of those scales they always use in a doctor’s office. Looking back to the wheelchair then again at the doctor, “Your wheelchair, you can walk?”
“Of course I can walk,” the doctor chuckled.
“But the wheelchair?” Melanie pointed over at the empty chair.
“It’s the only thing in here to sit on other than a hard metal stool.” The doctor grinned. Checking Melanie’s height and weight against the records her mother had given him. “So it looks like you had a complete exam two weeks ago, including full gynecological is that right?”
“Yes,” Melanie softly answered while looking at the floor.
“Usually we don’t do those but once every six month at most unless there is a problem. Can you tell me why you had this one three weeks ago, so soon after your last?” Melanie continued to stare at the floor without speaking. “It’s okay to tell me, I am a doctor. I only want to make sure there is nothing going on that needs to be corrected before it could cause you harm or pain.”
Looking up just enough to see the doctor, “I, I mean David and I, well, we kinda…”
“So you had sex,” The doctor said without emotion. Melanie nodded before looking back at the floor. “I take it your mother found out, had the exam done, then put you on birth control?” Melanie nodded again. “Good thing you were honest with me young lady, standard birth control doesn’t work for a lot of exo-humans. You could think you were protected, continue having sex and become pregnant. I’ll make sure to check this in your blood work and see if we need to change your prescription.”
It had taken several more days to reach Black Rock. At first sight it was obvious how it got its name. The mountain of dark obsidian glass that rose up from the weathered basalt rock like some kind of large dome that looked as if it had been placed there by the hand of some god. Ryan guessed it took up an area larger than three or four football fields.
“That has to be manmade,” Ayers spoke.
“I would tend to agree,” Ryan stated.
Once inside the large domed structure they could see the interior did not resemble other structures Ryan and Ayers had seen these people build either, Most of the interior walls and floor were made out of the same basalt rock that this planet seemed to have such an abundant supply of, but the precision of the joinery were far beyond what these people could do with the tools they had seen so far.
Both Ryan and Ayers were marveling at the craftsmanship that went into the interior when one of the natives that had brought them to the place interrupted their exploration, *D’pakja, our Saseja wishes to speak with you and your Sechaja.*
“What did he say?” Ayers looked at Ryan.
“Their elder wishes to speak with the two of us,” Ryan answered then looked down at the coyote, “Stay with David.”
“Of course!” The coyote did not bother to look back as he walked away with the natives carrying David to whatever their version of a doctor would turn out to be. Ryan motioned for the native to lead the way to this elder.
The native stopped outside a large archway and motioned them to continue inside. The room was no more than thirty feet by thirty feet square, along its center stood a long table that appeared to be made out of the same material of the dome that encapsulated the structure. On each side were benches of the same material. At the far end of the table sat an elderly man, his appearance frail beyond belief. His skin taught showing almost no muscle beneath. A boy and a girl stood to each side of the chair he sat in.
“Protector of the royalty, greetings I bid to you,” The old man spoke in heavy accent.
“You speak English?” Ayers was surprised.
“Honored warrior, I do. My father’s father ruled that all those that would take his place would learn the language the Protector of the royalty adopted.” Turning toward Ryan, “Protector of the royalty, forgive an old man’s rantings, you appear the same as you did when you first visited my father’s father when I was a child.”
“Forgive me Saseja,” Ryan seemed confused, “This is the first time I have visited your people.”
“Protector of the royalty, you told us that you would not remember your first visit,” The old man explained, “This was one of the keys that we were to watch for upon your return. These two,” the old man motioned at the boy and girl that stood beside his chair, “will lead you to those items you ask us to keep safe until you returned.”
“So they were calling you, Protector of the royalty?” Ayers quizzed once he and Ryan were alone in the room the two children had led them to.
“Yes, although their translation may be a bit too literal,” Ryan tried to play down its importance.
“Well they made it a point to use that name for you ever chance they got.”
“That’s just part of how the language differs, in their language you always begin speaking by formally addressing the person you are speaking to.” Ryan explained, “So even though they had learned the English words, they were putting them together in the fashion they were used to speaking.”
Ryan reached over and grabbed the edge of a large stitched together leather hide that covered the only item in the small room. From the amount of dust this caused it was easy to tell that this leather hide had not been touched in more than a few decades. Underneath it was a black metal cube roughly two feet per side and four feet long. The surface was seamless, the only flaw in the smooth surface was a small hole along one of the long sides, less than a half inch across and deep. Ryan placed a finger in the hole and the top of the cube disappeared revealing an assortment of objects with an I-Pad lying conspicuously on top of everything.
Picking up the I-Pad, Ryan found the power button and it slowly came to life, immediately starting a video with Ryan holding the device at arm’s length in front of himself. “Okay we know the drill, so I’ll make this short and sweet.” Ryan’s likeness spoke in the video, “Greg has a good soul, I know it is difficult but you can trust him. I have left everything we need here to nudge things toward the best possible outcome that Sara could determine.” Ayers watched the video over Ryan’s shoulder. “Greg, I know that I have given you no reason to trust me so far, but your life depends on this. You MUST leave your armor and weapons here.”
“Let me talk to him,” They heard a female voice in the video. Ryan moved the camera slightly to the side so he appeared on the edge as a woman moved into the screen. Wavy red hair framed a face that held a pale complexion that sported freckles on a pert button nose that continued under her penetrating steel blue eyes, her hair continued below her shoulders and off the screen. “Greg I know this is probably even harder for you, but it’s the truth, you must listen to Ryan he will get you home. I know that you are low on ammo so the weapons you have will be dead weight soon anyway. Ryan and I left what we could for you in this container, so you will not be defenseless.”
“Is she Sara?” Ayers spoke while the video continued.
“I thought you may know her?” Ryan twisted his head to look at Ayers as the video ended leaving the pair framed in the devices screen.
“She reminds me of…” Ayers paused for a long time as he stared at the picture of the woman, “old pictures of my mother. It couldn’t be could it?”
“I doubt it, but there is a family resemblance,” Ryan stated as he looked into Ayers own steel blue eyes.
Making his decision, Ayers began removing his armor.
Ayers watched as Ryan continued to inspect and tinker with the silvery bracer that had not worked for David back in the swamp while they sat in the floor outside the room the natives were working on curing David, “Damn wish I had known that was all the boy needed, I would had snatched a bottle from a liquor store before we came.” He chuckled.
“We have no idea if that would work,” Not bothering to look up from his work Ryan answered, “There could be some special minerals or chemicals in their homemade hooch that is the cure.”
“I’d still like to be a fly on the wall when you explain to your sister why you got her son drunk.”
“Yeah,” Ryan sighed, “I think we should skip that part of our story.”
“WE? You got a mouse in your pocket? The Reaper, Apocalypse, and the head of Wiley Enterprises all in one room. I don’t even want to be on the same continent when that happens!” Ayers laughed.
Ryan looked at Ayers and chuckled, “When you put it that way, it does sound a bit extreme. Although knowing my brothers as well as I do, you won’t get off that easy. You’ll be lucky if our sister doesn’t talk him into naming his first born after you.”
“Why would she do that? I haven’t done anything but follow you so far.”
“Those flashbangs you set off, saved all our asses,” Ryan explained, “That was great thinking, I never thought about how sensitive those things would be to light.”
“So how exactly does that thing work?” Ayers pointed at the silvery bracer, wanting to change the subject now that it had lead toward talking about himself.
“Basically it takes a sample of DNA from the person you put it on, then it uses that as a pattern to repair the person’s body.” Ryan did not look up from his work.
“So it uses nanites to make the repairs?” Ayers scooted closer to Ryan to get a better view of what he was doing.
“No,” Ryan shook his head, “It, like most all of our technology is based on expanse.”
“Expanse?”
“Yes, the void between the realms,” Ryan continued working.
“Dark matter?” Ayers sucked in a breath.
“Maybe, I’m not sure what the difference may be, if there is one.” Ryan sighed, “I’m not a tech, if I were I’d have this damn thing working!”
“I’m pretty good with electronics,” Ayers had moved closer so he was sitting right beside Ryan, “So let’s look at this logically, how does it collect and store the DNA sample?”
“That’s what is weird the collector should be right here,” Ryan turned the band over and pointed at a spot on its underside. Sliding open a panel he then pointed at some circuitry, “Here is where it should have a collector to pull a sample, but I’ve never seen this thing in its place. I can’t believe my tech missed this when he modified the damn thing!”
“Okay so why does it need a DNA sample?”
“Mainly to make sure it doesn’t inject Vrie’za nanites into a person or creature that it would kill,” Ryan explained.
“Vrie’za? That’s your people?”
Nodding Ryan continued, “Humans and Vrie’za and very close genetically, so close that the Vrie’za believed that all human-like people throughout the realms have a common ancestor.”
“So what you’re saying is the nanites wouldn’t cause any problems for humans?”
“Correct.”
“Could we bypass that collection thing?”
Shaking his head, “No it has to compare a sample to the one it holds before it will lock in place.”
Ayers grinned, “So we remove that part that you said is where the collector should be and rewire it so it compares its own sample to its self.”
Ryan’s eyes widened at the simplicity of such a repair, “You’re a fucking genius!”
“Master Scythe, Master Ayers,” The coyote, who had not left the boy’s side, yelled form inside the room, “David is waking up!”
“Wiley?” David’s raspy voice no more than a whisper.
Reaching over, the coyote picked up an earthen cup that was beside the bed, “You have been sick and must drink this,” holding the cup in front of David.
Raising his head, David allowed the coyote to give him a drink from the cup. “That tastes terrible!” David spat out the foul liquid.
“It’s medicine,” The coyote held the cup in front of David’s face, “You have to drink it to get better.”
“What happened, where are we?” David looked around.
“Welcome back to the land of the living!” David heard a voice he recognized as two men entered the room.
“Uncle Ryan?” David attempted to get up on his elbows and collapsed back onto the bed, “How did you get here?”
“Take it easy son, you have been out for several days.” Ayers looked at David then at Ryan, “I take it you never told him?”
“Told me what?” David
“Do you remember how you got here?” Ryan asked.
“Uh yea, I was trying to get out of that place, then Apocalypse was there chasing me. There was an DEHA guy there too and the whole place was filling up when those people tried to make Aegisium and Apocalypse teleported us.” David looked at Ayers, “You’re the DEHA guy?”
“Yes,” Ayers answered.
“So you got me away from Apocalypse?”
“No,” Ayers chuckled, “Apocalypse rescued both of us.”
“Apocalypse did what?” David looked from Ayers to his Uncle Ryan.
“Davey,” Ryan walked over and sat down on the bed David lay in, “This is something you have to keep secret.”
“Like the time you took me to the ball game when I was grounded secret or like Sara secret?”
“I think this may be bigger than Sara.”
“What can be bigger than Sara?”
“Drink what’s left in that cup your coyote is holding and I will tell you.” Ryan grinned.
“Uncle Ryan that stuff burns and it tastes terrible.”
“This secret is worth it son,” Ayers grinned, “I don’t know who Sara is, but it CAN’T be as big as this!”
David reached out and took the cup away from the coyote, wincing as he took a sip.
“It’s not going to get any better,” Ryan advised, “Best hold your nose and drink it down all at once. At least that way it’s done and over.”
David did exactly that, finishing the strange liquor then dropping the cup as he began coughing and gasping for breath. “Ok, tell me.” David said between gasps.
“Apocalypse was there to rescue you.”
“What you’re telling me smells worse that the stuff I just drank!” David shivered.
“I’m serious buddy,” Ryan chuckled, “Your mom would kick Apocalypse’s ass if he ever hurt you.”
“How could… Mom?” David glanced up at Ryan then at Ayers who was grinning, “No way! Apocalypse is a super villain, he would clobber mom.”
“If Cindy even tried to hit you, would you hit her back?” Ryan asked the boy.
“No, she’s my baby sister.”
“Do you think that maybe even Apocalypse would think the same way about his baby sister?”
“But no one knows who Apocalypse is or if he has any family and you and Uncle Wes are mom’s brothers.”
Ryan dropped his gaze to the floor shaking his head, “For the smartest kid I know, you can be pretty dense at times.”
“Stop teasing the kid and show him,” Ayers chuckled.
David’s eyes grew wide when he saw the dark blue armor begin to quickly form around his uncle. “Holy crap! You’re him, Uncle Ryan you, you’re a super villain?”
Kidnapped and then rescued by the world’s most feared supervillain, David begins learning of some of his family’s secrets as they attempt to find their way home.
“This makes me feel like I’m wearing a dress!” David complained about what the natives had given him to wear. All his clothing had been ruined in the swamp, so interlaced with the tendrils that had attacked him that it had been impossible to remove. Then the chemical they had used to kill and dissolve the plant tendrils had also dissolved the clothes he wore, leaving him no other choice but to wear what he thought of as a girl’s wrap around skirt. At first David had refused to get out of the bed and put it on, until he noticed that this was exactly what the men wore here, the women actually wore something similar to a sleeveless tunic.
“That’s unusual,” Ayers was looking at David’s legs.
David had already noticed how much his body had tanned since he woke and did not have to look at what the DEHA agent found strange. “My leg,” David hesitated, “It won’t ever tan.”
“Davey lost his leg when he was five,” Ryan stated.
“I made myself a new one,” David grinned, then quickly looking down so he would not have to meet their eyes. He did not see Ayers eyes widen in surprise.
“Your leg, that’s the synthetic skin I’ve heard about?”
“Yeah,” David explained, “It always remains the same color, something I never thought about trying to change until now.”
“So you’re the brains behind all those prosthetics?” Ayers asked.
“Yeah I guess,” David almost whispered.
“So you built your coyote too?”
“Well not the first one,” David confessed, “Mr. Gossard made me the first one.”
“I have received many upgrades since then,” The Coyote interrupted. “Nothing of the original that Mr. Gossard built remains.”
“So do you feel up to some walking?” Ryan looked at David.
“Yea I guess so?”
“Good, because we need to get you in some real clothes and get moving.” Ryan grinned.
“You had real clothes for me and you made me wear this?” David motioned at the skirt thing he was wearing. “Why couldn’t you have brought the clothes here?”
“Guess we never thought about that,” Ryan laughed.
“I’m opening the crossing,” Apocalypse stated, “Keep an eye out for anything that may stumble through while I check the realm.”
“I know the drill already,” Ayers raised the heavy beam rifle ready to his shoulder, “After that giant six legged cat, you don’t have to remind me again, ever!” Ayers thought back when that creature had leapt through one of the many portals that Ryan had opened over the past weeks since they had left the nomadic natives that had healed David. The creature had come through the portal and charged straight at Ayers. If Apocalypse had not been ready, the creature would have mauled Ayers before he could bring his rifle to bear.
Up until that world, Ryan had not said no to many crossings, of course the one the monster cat had jumped through was one of them, although Ryan had said it was because the area on the other side of the portal he created had some kind of domed barrier or force field that stopped anyone from walking through it, and that was the only crossing within the barrier.
On the world they were currently one Ryan had said no to three crossings in a row. One of them Ryan had said was a dead world, nothing but burned out buildings and a highly radioactive atmosphere, the other two he said we had to avoid Oz’oth. Both Ayers and David pushed him for more information over the hours it took to arrive at this crossing location, but he was tight lipped, only adding that the Oz’oth were a cruel militaristic people that dominated many planets in several realms.
“So how does this realm look?” Ayers asked several minutes after Ryan released his disk like probe through the portal, “This one a no go like the last three?”
“Same realm,” Ryan stated, “another location but… This is the one we want.”
“Why would you port us to another place on this planet Uncle Ryan?” David asked.
“It isn’t on this planet, just in the same realm.” Apocalypse saw the puzzled look on David’s face. “Sorry Davey, I learned all this using different words and all these years I never had a need to change. What you learned as the universe is what we call realms. There are many realms, even our scientists didn’t know how many are out there, all held together by the expanse.
“So they are like alternate dimensions.” David smiled, proudly showing that he understood what his Uncle was explaining.
“Close enough. Now let’s get moving.” Apocalypse motioned for everyone to go through the portal he created.
David stepped out of the portal into a grassy field. Looking around he took a couple steps away from the portal toward Ayers, who had come through before him. The color of the grass reminded him of his Uncle Wes’ yard, His uncle had told him the strange blue-green color was because his yard had Kentucky bluegrass, although the grass in his uncle’s yard was not this tall, David stood almost knee deep in the rich blue green carpet of grass. The rolling hills and the vast expanse of grassland reminded David of an Iowa Corn field in late June, as the corn would be about the same height. Even non farmers like David and his family knew the saying of how corn should be knee high by the fourth of July or it would be a bad year. Off in the distance David could see where small groups of trees broke the endless sea of grass, like the occasional rock that stuck up out of a river or pond.
Apocalypse closed the portal once he came through then pointed to their left, “The next crossing is that direction.”
David quickly realized that wading through the tall grass was a lot more work than necessary and found himself following directly behind his uncle’s footsteps, walking within the path his uncle’s passage made, Ayers was quick to see the economy of this and picked up position several steps behind David. They walked in silence only the sounds of birds in the distance for more than an hour when from the back pack David had slung on his back they heard the distinct British accent of the Coyote begin to sing off key;
“I’m sitting in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
On a tour of one night stands, my suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one man band
Homeward bound
I wish I was…”
“Kid drop the back pack and step away slowly!” Ayers chuckled over the sound of the coyote’s singing.
The coyote’s head popped up out of the top of the back pack as both David and Apocalypse stopped and turned toward Ayers. “Sir, I was only attempting to give us a little traveling music!” The coyote retorted.
“The only way that could be considered traveling music is if your objective was to make everyone in earshot run away screaming.” Ayers laughed.
“Enough,” Apocalypse pointed ahead, “We have quite a distance to cover, I would like to make it to the crossing by tomorrow.”
A couple of rest breaks and several hours later Apocalypse held up his hand signaling David and Ayers to stop. As Ayers saw Apocalypse forming a rifle from his armor, Ayers brought his own up and ready and began scanning their surroundings for signs of trouble. David glances nervously around, worried about what would cause his uncle to have them stop. David watched as Apocalypse shouldered the rifle then seemed to be aiming at something hidden in the tall grass. A few seconds later a pencil thin beam shot out of the rife cutting a line through the tall grass. Apocalypse began walking toward whatever he had shot, at the same time allowing his armor to reabsorb the rifle he had used.
“What is it?” Ayers shouted, his rifle still at ready as Apocalypse stopped by whatever he had shot and bend over.
Standing back up Apocalypse turned around and held up a small four legged creature with one hand as he began walking back, “Dinner!”
“We aren’t going to eat that thing?” David gasped.
“Sure, why not?” Apocalypse continued walking back to them.
“What the heck is it?” David asked.
“It’s a rabbit.”
“It doesn’t look like a rabbit!” David grunted is displeasure.
“It’s got long ears like a rabbit,” Apocalypse held it up by its tail, which was twice the length of its body and covered in long bushy fur, so its head could be seen above the tall grass.
“It looks more like a long eared rat,” David cringed.
“You do realize that rabbits are in the rodent family?” Ayers chuckled.
Apocalypse kept his armor on until after the thing he killed was skinned and roasting on a spit above the campfire he and Ayers had built. “So Davey how do you want your rabbit? Medium? Well?”
“I wish you’d stop calling that thing a rabbit,” David huffed, “Rabbits don’t have long tails or horns.”
Ayers snorted trying to hold back from laughing, “The kid’s got a point, not many rabbits with horns around.”
“Okay then it’s not a rabbit.” Ryan grinned when he saw David perk up, thinking he had won the argument. “So how do you like your jackalope cooked?” David lost the confident look on his face, crossed his arms across his chest and looked away from both men as Ryan and Ayers burst out laughing.
In the morning, the three finished off the remains of the jackalope for breakfast then began packing up their camp. Before leaving Ryan no longer wearing is armor, passed around one of the large water skins the natives on the desert planet had given them before leaving. When it reached David, the coyote reached out for it before David could give it back to his uncle. Taking several large gulps the coyote handed it to Ryan.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Ayers said, “Why does your coyote need water? I mean it’s a robot right?”
“Sir,” The coyote stopped from slipping down inside the backpack, “I use water as a fuel source.”
Looking from the coyote to David, Ayers stated, “Water isn’t a fuel?”
“Acttttuallly,” David began, “water is two thirds hydrogen and is a very good fuel source.”
“Are you telling me your coyote runs on hydrogen fuel cells?”
“No, battery technology is not advanced enough to make them small enough for that.”
“Then how exactly does your coyote use hydrogen as fuel?” Ayers concern was evident, “Don’t tell me that robot has a nuclear reactor inside it!”
“It’s a fusion reactor, and it’s really small,” David defended.
“And it makes me fun at parties for blowing up balloons!” The coyote grinned with a toothy smile.
“Damn!” Ryan laughed, “All this time I thought the coyote was full of hot air!” The coyote blew a raspberry at Ryan and slipped inside the backpack, the last noise it made was of the zipper of the backpack closing.
It had taken the crews over three months to dig out the over expanded Aegisium from the underground complex, Luckily most of the doors were weak wooden doors on that level so they never gave the Aegisium the required pressure to form correctly or opening those passageways would have taken years instead of the time it had. All work had to be done with brass tools and the men had to wear protective gear and oxygen masks since the Aegisium gave off vast quantities of hydrogen gas when it was broken up, a single spark could cause an explosion.
Most of the syndicate men had refused to surrender and died fighting the DEHA troops or during Apocalypse’s entry. Wesley continued to go over the after action reports on his desk, stopping only to take an occasional sip of the lukewarm coffee that was getting colder with each passing minute.
It was a clean bust, but he had lost three agents to the syndicate gunmen and another in critical care leaving one missing in action, presumed dead. The interrogations went as well as could be expected, of course the men they arrested refused to talk but then that was not unusual and why the DEHA employees psychics. They had learned that David was indeed being held there and also that prior to the DEHA raid Apocalypse had entered, tearing up the place. Wes knew that everything pointed to Apocalypse teleporting himself, David and the missing agent out of the complex. But if that were true why hadn’t Ryan returned with David by now?
It was fairly well known that Apocalypse had the ability to teleport, He had even been caught stepping into one of those portals he creates on camera a few times. Wes could only hope that this had something to do with how Ryan seemed to disappear for sometimes months at a time always refusing to explain where he had been after showing back up. Can he also teleport through time either intentionally or by accident? If that is the case it must be accidental because Ryan would never leave Their baby sister waiting for news of David like this. “Ryan will eventually show up, he always does,” Wes muttered to himself, “and this time I’m going to get some damn answers.”
Dropping the papers to his desk Wes sighed and picked up the phone receiver then punched in some numbers. “Hello.” The voice on the other end said.
“Hi Paul it's Wes, is Ryan around?”
“No, sorry Wes I haven’t heard from him.”
“You know how important this is?”
“Yes, It’s all over the news up here,” Paul replied, “And if I knew where he was I would tell you, honest. If I do hear anything you will be the first one I call.”
“Thanks Paul.”
“Anything else I can help with Wes?”
“Oh, I almost forgot, think you can make it down this weekend?” Wes asked, “We’re getting the family and close friends together for a barbecue at my place. Nothing fancy, just something so everyone can get together and talk.”
“The devil himself couldn’t keep me away from one of your cookouts Wes, I’ll be there.”
“Okay, see you Saturday then.”
“See ya then Wes.”
What Wes needed to ask, he could have asked over the phone, but even the phones for the DEHA could be tapped, best to talk in a place that privacy could be insured and Paul could make sure no one heard what they may discuss.
Several hours later Ryan stopped everyone at the top of one of the low grassy hills, Looking ahead they could see a distinct line where the tall grass stopped and what appeared to be a corn field began. “Kinda looks like back home,” David pointed out.
“This means we are nearing whatever this planet has for civilization,” Ryan warned then continued walking, “Keep your eyes open, we have no idea if whoever or whatever planted that is friendly.”
Twenty minutes later the three were walking between the rows of the crop. Living in Iowa his whole life, David was quite accustomed to corn fields, but these plants looked nothing like corn now that they were walking through the field. It looked like some kind of strange crossbreed between corn and grass. The stalks were somewhat purple and the leaves were longer and thinner than corn. “What is this stuff Uncle Ryan?” David asked as he tried to keep sight of his uncle ahead of him in the plants that towered above his own head.
“I believe its sugar cane,” Ryan guessed.
“I think you’re right,” Ayers said from behind David, “Looks just like it.”
Over an hour later they came to a place in the seemingly endless field where the cane had been cut down and hauled away, leaving about eight inches of the plant’s stalk sticking up out of the ground. To their left close to fifty yards away a line of men were cutting the cane and handing it off to others that were stacking the harvest onto wagons. One of the ones stacking the cane into the wagons spotted them and ran over to another and began pointing at the three after they emerged from the tall cane.
“So much for spotting them first,” Ayers groaned as he saw the one that had been told about them walking toward them, “Best hope they are friendly.” As the man walking toward them passed one of the wagons he laid the long handled curved bladed knife he had been using to cut the cane with on the back of the wagon.
“That’s a good sign,” Ryan stated after witnessing what the man had done, “He’s coming unarmed, make sure you stay the same. We need to look as peaceful as we can for now. David stay between us.”
*You are lost?* The man spoke as he drew near.
Recognizing the language Ryan quickly replied, *We are travelers, our journey takes us in that direction,” Ryan raised his left arm and pointed.
The man’s eyes grew wide in surprise as he quickly took the couple remaining steps between himself and Ryan grabbing Ryan’s arm and pushing back the sleeve of Ryan’s shirt, exposing the midnight blue armband on his forearm. *You are blue arm!* the man gasped, *The overseers will have you killed!*
*We are from far away, I do not know of these overseers you speak of,* Ryan tried to calm the man, *Why would they wish me dead for a simple armband?*
*The elders speak of tales when arms were once here, she says the overseers came and killed them. Now we have no arms and serve the overseers.* The man released Ryan’s arm, *I thought they were only stories told to children.*
*I would like to hear these stories, if you would allow?* Ryan asked in the strange language.
*Yes, yes of course,* The man said excitedly, *Hide your arm from the rest, it may not be good for some to see what you are.* Ryan made sure his sleeve covered his armband and followed the man back toward the wagons.
Once closer to the wagons that were being loaded the man shouted and a young boy that appeared to be about David’s age came running out to meet them, *This is Yani,* the man spoke to Ryan, *Yani you will take these people to the storyteller.*
*Yes father.* The boy answered.
*Why have you brought strangers to me child?* The old woman asked from the chair she sat in under the shade of the porch roof, which was not more than some posts in the bare ground with some kind of tarp hung loosely over the poles and attached to the sod and wood dwelling.
*Father told me to bring them to see you,* The boy replied.
*Alright then, go back to help with the harvest,* The old woman brushed a strand of the long gray hair behind her ear, *We do not wish the overseer to see you not working.* The boy took off at a brisk run back toward the fields.
*Come closer and state you name traveler,* The old woman leaned forward, *My eyes aren’t that good anymore and I like to see who I am speaking to.* The three stepped closer, only a few steps away the old woman’s eyes grew wide for a moment, then she looked around and picked up a wooden cane. *Let us go inside out of this heat.* She slowly got up from the chair, leaning heavily on the cane as she motioned the three to follow her inside.
Once inside with the door closed the heat felt worse, although the woman would have known this and was probably the main reason she was outside in the first place. “I believe I know your mother,” The woman spoke in plain English, looked at Ryan. “She was called Leanne correct?”
“Yes,” Ryan answered.
“You knew my grandma?” David interrupted.
“This isn’t…”
“No,” Ryan affirmed, “David’s mother was adopted when her parents died. He was born on Earth. How do you know of my mother?”
The old woman smiled at Ryan then sat down in a chair. Pulling a drawer open in the small table that sat beside the chair, the woman reached in and withdrew a picture and handed it to Ryan. “Your mother gave me this after you were born. We were very close before she became D’pak.”
Ryan found himself staring at a picture of his mother holding a baby wrapped in a dark blue blanket. The baby would have been Ryan.
“Your mother told me that day, the day you were born, was worth all she had given up when she became D’pak. You are D’pak also?” She asked. Ryan pushed his sleeve up so she could see the dark blue bracer on his arm. “You should not have come here, the Drav have taken control of this world and are allied with your enemies. If they discover a D’pak they will make you reveal where she has been hidden.”
“The Drav pose no threat to us,” Ryan stated, “I’ve fought them before, their weapons are too primitive.”
“Yes they were, but that was over four hundred seasons ago,” The old woman explained, “They had help, someone betrayed our people and they were able to equip some of our weapons to themselves.”
“But that is impossible!” Ryan proclaimed.
“As I said, we were betrayed.” The woman continued, “They went after the museum. A place we never thought to worry about, but even though we stopped using those weapons long ago, they were still functional. They have yet to adapt any of the pak bands to work, but they have managed to make some of our weapons work.”
“This is not good, I must destroy those weapons.”
“No!” The old woman demanded, “You must do nothing of the sort. What you must do is get away from here immediately before you are found, our future depends on her, not those weapons. Anyway those weapons have all been sorted out, at least the ones they can use. The only things that remain at the museum are the bands and weapons they could not use.”
“Do you know exactly what was left?”
“No but they continue to store everything they cannot use there, and conduct experiments trying to make those items they cannot use, work for them. I do know that all the pak bands there are all bonded to long dead wearers. And the Drav are short lived so none know of the meaning behind the colors.”
“Short lived?” Ayers asked.
Looking at Ayers the old woman asked, “You are of Earth?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ayers responded.
“You have a very nice world, Leanne took me there to visit a few times. Your people are very similar to ours. Leanne though it highly possible that your people may be descended from a lost colony.” The woman continued by answering his question, “Yes the Drav are very short lived, they reach adult status by five or six seasons and most do not live beyond thirty seasons.”
“Still, I must remove this threat,” Ryan brought the discussion back on topic, “I will need to know everything you can tell me about this place the Drav keep our devices store at.”
“You are D’pak,” The old woman scolded, “Your responsibilities are to her, not our people.”
“While you are correct,” Ryan argued, “The chance that the Drav could learn the secrets of the pak pose too great a risk to her.”
“Ma’am, On our world Ryan here is known as Apocalypse, because that is what he brings to those that he fights. And he won’t be alone, There is no way in hell I’d go back and let his brother know I did not help.” Ayers grinned at Ryan, “Anyways I have an idea that I think you will both like.”
“A brother?” The old woman looked strangely at Ryan.
“Let’s hear this idea of yours,” Ryan ignored the woman’s question.
“You were telling me before that these arm bands could be changed so that they could be used by someone else,” Ayers asked, “Can you show me how this is done?”
The old woman’s mouth opened and eyes grew a bit wider even though she tried to hide the surprise she held that any D’pak would give out that information. Seeing this Ryan spoke up, “They have a saying on Earth, in for a penny in for a pound.” Seeing the woman’s face turn toward confusion he explained, “What it means is that if you are going to take a risk, you may as well go all the way and take all the risks, not just some of them.”
“Okay,” Ayers continued, “The idea is that we get into where those arm bands are stored, since you have the armor and weapons you provide cover while I modify as many of the arm bands as we can and give them to her people that come with us. This way we not only take those armbands away from those Drav critters, but give them to the people they have enslaved so that they can drive the Drav off their world.”
The old woman gave Ayers a toothy grin, “I think I like this companion of yours, he has much boldness for one of a race so weak.” Turning to look at Ryan, “I think that is what your mother liked best about that world.”
“Yes I can show you how this is done,” Ryan stated rolling back his sleeve exposing his arm band, “What I do show you must never be shown or told to anyone. If the Drav or any other race were to learn of this, it would give them access to all of the realms and the firepower to enslave it all.” Touching several places on the exposed armband Ryan drew his hand back as it began to expand outward away from his arm, a seem appeared then the whole band hinged open on itself. Ryan quickly grabbed the open armband with his free hand.
“You have never chosen a Sa’na?” The old woman saw that it was not his arm band but an exact copy of the one that remained on his arm.
“Holy shit, you can clone those damn things?” Ayers gasped.
“That is not a copy,” The old woman stared longingly at the new dark blue pak band a tear running down her weathered cheek as she remembered the one who once wore it, “That is his D’pakna, the mate to his D’pakja.” Pointing out the dark blue band that remained on Ryan’s arm.
“It was my mother’s” Ryan sighed, “ I can use this to show you the procedure.”
The old woman’s voice sounded almost frantic as she looked toward Ayers, “No matter what, you must never put that on!”
“Why?” Ayers asked.
“It will bond with you, you will become D’pak!” She answered.
Ayers thought of how their plan hinged on modifying the armbands in the museum so that the old woman’s people could put them on, bond with them as she put it. He couldn’t help but wonder why it would be different for him to put on one himself? So it would be part of him for the rest of his life, that’s exactly what her people would be doing once he made the modifications.
Seeing the doubt in the man, the woman tried to explain, “Wearing that will change you. You will become D’pak! You will remember who you once were but never be the same again. Swear that you will not put that on.”
“Given the circumstance,” Ayers stipulated, “I can’t promise that, we don’t know what may happen once the fighting starts and it may be necessary.” Ayers jokes, “Not that I would really want to be mistaken for Apocalypse once we return home anyway.” Changing the subject, “Do you think your people would want to go along with this, take the chance to fight the Drav? The only thing left would be finding a way to sneak into the place.”
“Both of those are easy, we will be taking the wagons into the town in the morning and there will be no shortage of men and women that wish to be free of the Drav.” The woman studied Ayers, hoping he would heed her warning. It was a pak band that she had lost her own true love to. Not any pak band but the exact one that Ryan now held had taken the one she should have grown old with away from her. The old woman took solace in the fact that at least her love did not have to suffer the slavery the Drav has put their people through. If she had given Leanne the choice she would have returned and fought the Drav, maybe even driving them off their world, but to keep her love safe, the old woman had personally destroyed the anchor arch that Leanne used to travel back and forth between the worlds easily.
the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
Ayers got his first look at a Drav as he helped to pull the wagon heavily loaded with the cane stalks. The first thing he noticed was their size, the creatures had to be at least eight feet tall and muscled like weight lifters. They were human like in appearance, at least they had two arms and two legs like a man but their skin color was strange, several shades of gray and even some black mixed made Ayers quickly realize why using the cover of darkness as he has first suggested would not have worked, the pattern on their skin would give these creatures a natural camouflage in the dark.
The two guards that stood on either side of the hard packed dirt road outside of the small town wore very dark goggles. Yet another item that told Ayers that these beasts were originally nocturnal. The sun was not that bright yet, and even at its fullest that Ayers had seen in the couple days he had been on this planet, it was no more than a sunny day would have been on Earth. The one that stood on the side of the wagon Ayers was on was missing an ear and had a long scar that ran from the missing ear to its very prominent chin. Ayers quickly ducked his head down when he saw the creature look toward the passing wagon. Ayers wished there was a way he could determine the beasts speed and agility. Ryan had said they were near human normal in that respect, but had a much greater strength.
Not quite fifty yards past the gate, the coyote released his clawed grip from the underside of the wooden wagon and dropped to the ground. Quickly gaining his feet the coyote scampered off to the right and disappeared into a narrow alley between two buildings. The caravan of wagons would be in front of the old museum in less than twenty minutes, not a lot of time for the coyote to find a suitable location and prepare but it would have to do. Electing speed over stealth, the coyote ran down the alley away from the wagons, hoping that any Drav that did notice would mistake him for one of the large furry rodents that seemed to be everywhere.
The Coyote continued moving away from the caravan of wagons as fast as he could without being spotted, sticking to the side streets and alleys as much as possible. The people at the small village had drawn rough maps of the large town in the dirt giving him and the others some idea of where everything important lay in within the sprawling settlement of one and two story structures. There were some larger buildings but all those lay in the center of town, one of which was the other team’s target, the museum. It along with close to a dozen other buildings in its vicinity had all been constructed out of large limestone blocks that had been transported here to build those buildings centuries before the Drav had taken over this world.
The buildings slowly became smaller as the coyote made his way stealthily away from the city’s main avenue. Wood and sod structures became prevalent now. Stopping at the corner of one of smaller buildings before crossing what appeared to be a larger more well used street, the coyote noticed the roofs of the buildings across the hard packed dirt road were thatched roofs. Thinking this could create the diversion his allies would need the coyote made sure the coast was clear to dart across the roadway.
Just as he was about to bolt from his secluded position he heard a noise behind him, swiveling his head around the coyote saw a large creature stalking toward him, well large in comparison to the coyote’s two foot tall stature anyways. It walked on all fours and the way it was trying to creep up on him it reminded him of a cat stalking its prey, but that was the only similarity it held with a cat. Its head looked more like that of an alligator or crocodile but its eyes were placed looking directly forward instead of the sides like the reptile’s head it resembled. Its body was covered in long fur the same color as the tan earth under its feet. At the shoulders it appeared to be slightly taller than the coyote and it was obviously stalking the coyote. The beast was quiet, it was only by sheer chance the coyote had noticed it was behind him, how long it had been stalking him through the city streets he had no idea.
The coyote started it directly in the eyes, not blinking. Yes the coyote blinked just like any living animal did and for the same reason, to clear dust and debris, although in the coyote’s case it was not an uncontrollable reflex like living creatures had. The coyote was mechanical, a robot, blinking was something is processor controlled and only did when necessary. Many animals would back down when you could show them dominance and one form of dominance was to look them in the eye and show no fear, the coyote hoped this was the case for this alien creature.
When the beast pounced, the coyote was ready and by the time the creature landed the coyote was halfway across the narrow roadway. The coyote did not stop to look behind him as he ran, zig zagging through the alleyways between buildings giving his best effort to lose the creature only stopping when he knew that the diversion he was to create must begin now or else he would not be able to draw enough of the Drav away from the museum to give Apocalypse and Ayers the time they would need.
Skidding to a halt in one of the narrow alleys the coyote took one glance behind him to make sure he had lost the creature or at least left it far enough behind to set up the diversion. Throwing the lid off one of the trash bins the alleys seemed to have a multitude of, he dug around until he found some papers and cloth rags. Reaching around to his own back, the coyote’s hand slipped inside the small hidden compartment just to the right of his spine. As he pulled his hand out from inside his back a business card fell out and landed on the ground, on it was written, “Wile E. Coyote” in the center of the card. Under that the words, “GENIUS” and in the left lower corner, “Have Brain,” and on the opposite corner, “Will travel.” Holding the disposable lighter up to the paper and cloth he had found in the garbage, the coyote struck the lighter and set the items on fire before dropping them back into the trash. Digging into the other trash cans the coyote began tossing as much flammable material as he could find into the one he had sat on fire. The fire grew higher and higher until it set the dry straw of the thatched roof on fire.
Pushing the lighter back into his hiding place, the coyote make a gesture of wiping his hands together several times and turned to leave the way he had come. “Yikes!” he muttered when he saw the creature making its way down the alley toward him then turned to run once again. The coyote had reached the far end of the alley and the creature had just passed the trash can when something in the trash can exploded. Fiery debris rained down on several of the thatched roofs in the surrounding area.
It was so easy to get around in the Drav held town, the old man’s people had become complacent, finding it easier to outlive their oppressors than to fight them and die. Which was easy actually since the Drav never made it much past thirty seasons, his people’s children didn’t even reach puberty in that short of a time span. In his lifespan he had seen generations of the Drav come and go. His youngest son, who was only beginning his growth into a man, had already seen three overseers be replaced due to old age on their farming village. For hundreds of seasons the Drav had been in control, over a thousand of generations of Drav growing complacent at the docility of their slave labor, today that would change. The D’pakja had come and was giving his people the opportunity to take back their world, this chance would not be wasted. The man had been instructed to set off the device Apocalypse had given him and toss it from the stairs, and then run, but the man knew if he did that the guard may have time to intercept the device and throw it off the rooftop. No, the man may have led Apocalypse to believe that was what he would do, but he had other plans, plans that would make sure the device destroyed the Drav’s ability to use their communication devices.
The man feigned that he was out of breath once he reached the roof of the three story stone building, not that he truly was but it gave him the chance to get closer to the communications array before answering to the Drav guard that was there. *My overseer,* the man panted as he walked quickly toward the array, *Important…must do this he ordered.*
The Drav guard raised his weapon, *You are not allowed there!* As the man continued to approach the comm array.
The man continued toward the array, *The overseer ordered!*
*Stop!* the guard shouldered the weapon, *You will die!*
Pressing the button on the small baseball size black orb, the man turned and grinned at the guard, *You are coming with me.* He said tossing the black orb behind him where it rolled a few feet before coming to rest almost under the comm array.
*What is that?* The guard commanded and answer.
*Freedom!* The man said as the orb began to give off electrical effects and then burst into a swirling vortex of utter blackness that began growing, sucking the man into it before the guard could fire his weapon. Loose debris on the roof began flying into the swirling mass and the communication array began to groan and bend to the intense gravity before it was ripped off its moorings and followed into the abyssal vortex. The guard tried to fight the intense pull it held on him but as the force grew he quickly lost his footing and was pulled in. The effect continued to grow, pulling more and more into it, even some of the buildings heavy limestone blocks began to move toward the ever increasing vortex, then as suddenly as it began it vanished leaving a twenty foot hole in the roof.
Dark smoke from the blazing fires billowed into the sky as Drav all around the town dropped what they were doing and raced toward the blaze. Ryan and the crew continued pulling the large wagons down the dirt street as Drav ran past. As the wagons approached the museum entrance, Ryan stepped away from the wagon pulling the cloak off as his armor covered his body. On Que the other men pulling the wagons screamed, *It’s an Arm, a D’pak! Run!* dropping their holds on the wagon’s yoke and ran toward the museum. Ryan, armor now fully engaged, reached his right hand over his shoulder and gripped the rifle’s stock that began forming from the armor, at the same time his left hand went to the small of his back. Soon as Apocalypse’s sensor disk formed, he released it into the air where it quickly soared upward to give him an Aerial view of what would quickly become a battlefield.
The men ran into the museum screaming and pointing back toward the position Apocalypse had taken in the center of the street, where Apocalypse was now taking aim and picking off the Drav that were too foolish to take cover. The Drav were shouting in their own language as they ran in his direction. From the way the Drav that had not noticed him turned and ran in his direction, those shouts must have been a call to arms. Most of the tall aliens were unarmed, some did have various weapons in their hands, mostly the long knives most of them carried on their belts, although there were a few with firearms.
Taking aim at the ones furthest away Apocalypse squeezed the trigger again and again, each shot sailing past the closer Drav that were rushing forward toward Apocalypse, before striking their respective targets. Not a single Drav bothered to take cover as it appeared to them the blue armored man was a terrible shot, not even coming close to hitting a single one of their own that they could see closing in on the shooter. Of course the dead that were piling up behind them told another story.
Dropping several more of the Drav, Apocalypse could see the one rushing him from what should have been his blind side, had he not released the drone, which hovered far above relaying a birds eye view of his surroundings that displayed on the inside of Apocalypse’s visor. Apocalypse could have easily avoided the creature as it lunged at him, but the longer they believed they had the advantage in strength and numbers, the longer it would be before they brought out weapons that could penetrate Apocalypse’s armor. It was a delicate balancing act Apocalypse preformed, keep them focused on himself while appearing just challenging enough that the Drav would engage without bringing any of the heavier weapons. Apocalypse had no idea what types of his own people’s weapons they may have managed to get working and some of those could penetrate his armor.
Overseer Trakk looked up from the archival record he had been reading when several slaves came running into the building. Drakk had won his place as head overseer in Vrie’za research only last season. Larnm had been in charge up until that point, although Trakk had not meant to challenge his superior at the time, he had only wanted to voice his concern over how Larnm was overlooking obvious key points that could help them understand the strange technology of the Vrie’za. Trakk has only suggested that they learn the written language of this world, believing that by doing so they could better understand how their technology worked. Trakk was in her prime at only nine seasons, while Larnm with twenty six seasons behind him was old by their standards. While she knew that Lranm did not have many years left, she had never intended Larnm to take it as a challenge to his authority. She had given Larnm every chance to accept defeat once the fight had turned against him as Trakk stood over her once superior in victory. Larnm could have picked himself up and walked out, but he pressed the fight, forcing Trakk to kill him. Maybe it was the thought of becoming an elder that forced him to continue unto death, whatever the aged Drav’s reasons, Trakk would never know.
Over the year that Trakk had been in charge, she had learned how to read the written language of the natives of this world. Her first surprise was that this building was not an armory as Larnm and many others suspected it was a museum and library that contained historical documents that dated further back in time than the creation of Trakk’s own people. She had even discovered that the people of this world were the creators of the portals that her own people used to travel from one planet to another. Although this was a discovery that she kept to herself, The Drav thought their gods had placed the portals in worlds that they wished the Drav to conquer. Telling anyone that the race they enslaved here on this planet were the true gate builders, the ones her own people worshiped as gods would only bring Trakk a quick death.
Rising up from where she had been sitting, Trakk walked over to the nearest window to see what was going on as all her workers ran out the door in hopes of scoring much wanted status. Trakk was nowhere near that impulsive, especially after hearing what the Vrie’za had called the attacker. Their language was spoken exactly how it was written, with multiple prefixes and suffixes combined to describe things exactly. Trakk was probably the only one of her people that knew the significance of that particular almost unused prefix when the slaves ran in shouting, “D’pakja!” Carefully picking up the ancient book so as not to lose her place, Trakk went over to the polished sandstone steps that led up to the second floor and proceeded to her quarters. If she were to die today, Trakk thought she may as well do so comfortably lounging in her rooms.
Opening the door to her room Trakk saw the human girl quickly get up from the chair she sat in, *Mistress Trakk, is something wrong?*
Trakk shook her head.*Lorni, How many times have I told you not to call me your mistress when we are alone?*
*Sorry Trakk,* Lorni replied, *Since it is not like you to return to your room at this time of day, I did not know if you would be alone.* Lorni paused then glanced at the window, *Sounds like a fight is happening, has there been a challenge?*
“No my dearest friend, there is a fight but it is no challenge,* Trakk closed the door then walked up to Lorni. Looking down at the shorter woman, Trakk locked her eyes on the petite woman, *Promise me that you perform my last honor. I wish that you, my true friend do me this honor when I am gone.*
Lorni’s eyes widened at hearing this, *You, you are young for a Drav, why would you ask of this now?*
*Because you have taken care of me since before I could crawl, you are my family.* Trakk got down on one knee so she would be eye to eye with the woman, using the woman’s own language she wrapped her arms around the woman in a gentle hug, *You have always been and always will be CuuSa’sena.* Switching back to her own language, *Did I say that correctly?*
A tear ran down the woman’s cheek as she returned the hug, *Yes, and I am proud that you wish to call me your mother. You have always been CuuSa’eena. So tell me why this sudden fear of dying?*
*The fight outside, it is a D’pakja.*
Lorni stiffened, sucking in a deep breath, *It cannot be, the D’pak are no more, slaughtered before I was born.*
*I saw it with my own eyes, the dark blue molten armor they are said to wear.*
*But their oath, their purpose…* Lorni’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew wider.
*Yes my Dasena,* Trakk interrupted, *that means at least one of your people’s high born still exist.*
Apocalypse was ready for the impact when the much larger Drav tackled him to the ground. Dropping the rifle as he rolled with the impact, the rifle morphed into a fluid mass and began flowing back toward its owner. The two rolled along a few yards before Apocalypse stood up, a short sword in each hand while the Drav lay on the ground in an ever widening pool of blood. The swords resembled the ancient Japanese Wakizashi blade. A simple hand grip with no guard with an eighteen inch slightly curved blade that ended in a chisel tip. Preparing for the onslaught of Drav almost upon him Apocalypse found his mind wandering once again to the cryptic old woman as he began fighting, twisting and slashing the razor sharp blades at the waves of Drav coming at him. Why would she treasure a picture of him and his mother so much? Why did she refer to his mother as ‘her love’?
As more of the Drav pressed in it became harder to swing the twin blades for the killing blows Apocalypse wanted and he was forced to use short slashing moves and stabs with the blades that only wounded and angered the Drav. The dirt under his feet had turned into a slippery mud from the amount of blood that had spilled onto the ground causing Apocalypse’s footing to give him trouble, the only saving grace was that it was even more difficult for the Drav as Apocalypse’s blades wove a circle of death and pain around him. Apocalypse knew the moment he lost his footing the sheer number of Drav around him would be enough to weigh him down and disarm him.
Apocalypse’s mind drifted back to the old woman, she reminded him of how a grandmother would act. Apocalypse never knew any of his real relatives, other than his mother and father of course. They had fled their home world with him and their charge when he was very small. So small he could not remember anything other than the home they made on earth. Although he had no children or plans for any, Apocalypse, like everyone else, had heard that there was no greater love than a mother has for her child. If what he thought was correct, why wouldn’t the old woman just come out and tell him she was his grandmother? But then she had told them that she had personally destroyed the gate his mother used to visit her so that his mother and her family would remain safe. Was she hiding the truth to protect him also? It had to be, it was the only thing that made sense to him.
An explosion caused apocalypse to lose his footing and drop to one knee. Luckily it had an even greater effect on the taller Drav around him, knocking many of them to the ground. Glancing in the direction of the blast Apocalypse saw his reinforcements had arrived. Five pak had joined the fight and one of them wore a crimson armor his parents had told him legends about. The blood-cutter armor had not been used in eons, none was even known to continue to exist according to Ryan’s parents, but here one was brandishing the whip swords of legend. This armor was not pak it was Sa’Cha, elite warrior and extremely dangerous to not only the enemy but to the wearer. The ancient armor used older and discarded nanite technology to conform to its wearer. While it gave the wearer immediate and intimate knowledge of its system and weapons, worn by someone with a weak will it could take control of the wearer mind turning the wearer into a mindless killing machine.
The armored allies quickly engaged in the fight, still heavily outnumbered but due to their superior armor and weapons the battle quickly turned against the Drav who were beginning to flee. Across the wide street Apocalypse saw something dart out between two buildings, a four legged creature about the size of a large dog. It took him a moment to realize that the coyote was riding on the back of the strange creature and holding a long pole of some type out in front of the rider and its mount. The creature’s growl got the attention of the Drav it was barreling toward. As the Drav turned the coyote lowered the end of the pole and using the momentum of the creature he rode, drove the pole like a lance into the Drav’s crotch as they sped by. Apocalypse watched as the beast and rider made a wide turn and began to line up on another Drav. Apocalypse couldn’t spare any more attention on the coyote as he was pressed back into battle himself.
After half a dozen of the brown arm bands had been reset and handed out, Ayers stopped worrying about what color the damn things were and began grabbing the nearest one and working. There was an abundance of brown and gray ones although Ayers was so intent on getting the bands reset, he would not have even noticed the red one had it not been such a bright crimson color. Although he only paused for a moment before he had that one reset and held it out for the next person to grab it and put it on. A woman had grabbed that one and ran toward the front where several browns were holding any of the Drav from entering. Before reaching the door the band activated quickly covering her body in crimson armor that matched the color of the band. The woman now fully engulfed in crimson armor shouted at the armored men and they followed her quickly out the door. Glancing up Ayers saw only two men left without bands, grabbing another one, Ayers began to work on it when something hit him hard in the back, sending him sprawling across the floor.
Sitting up on his knees he saw a brown armored man getting up and across the room a very large Drav. The brown armor got up and rushed toward the Drav as Ayers quickly looked around for the band he had dropped. Spotting it a few feet away Ayers half slid half crawled to it and finished the reset before tossing it to one of the two that were still waiting on a band. Before the armor had time to form and protect the man, there was a bright flash and the man fell with a large hole in his chest. Another flash and the man still standing near him fell, half his head now missing. Ryan dove to the side and behind a column just in time to see another flash and a six inch circle on the floor where Ayers had just been kneeling turned molten from the searing heat of the beam weapon.
Ayers took a quick glance around the side of the column he had used for cover but the attacker could not be seen. Leaning slightly further out, Ayers felt a vise like grip lock onto his arm behind him and was flung through the air across the room, landing heavily on the floor before sliding to a stop. Before Ayers could begin to get up he was jerked up off the ground two vise like hands one on his arm another on his leg, lifted him high above the Drav attached to those hands. Ayers tried to reach into the leather bag at his side but found it hung behind and under him from the single long strap that ran across his chest and around his shoulder. The Drav that held him let out an animal like noise, half growl half roar before throwing him across the room.
Ayers hit the stone wall and slid down to the floor, his left arm between his body and the floor at an odd angle. From the pain he felt when he tried to move it, Ayers knew his arm was broken. Before he could roll himself enough to free his arm, the Drav that had thrown him had ran over and picked Ayers up by his left shoulder causing Ayers to almost black out from the excruciating pain. As Ayers felt himself being pulled up from the floor, he spotted the long knife the Drav carried on his belt. As the creature pulled Ayers up, he grabbed the handle of the long bladed weapon with his good hand, pulled it free of its sheath and with all his might drove it into the creature’s side, burying almost half the twenty seven inch blade between the Drav’s ribs.
The Drav’s scream was something Ayers hoped to never hear again, calling it blood curdling would have been akin to calling a cat’s meow a lion’s roar. The sound the creature made sent chills up his spine. The Drav let go of Ayers and reached for the long knife sticking out of its side. Ayers had hung onto the handle and as gravity pulled him toward the ground, his grip on the bladed weapon caused the blade to open the wound further, leaving a long gash in the Drav’s side as the blade sliced its way along its side as it pulled free. Further infuriating the creature, the sudden movement of the long knife as it tried to grasp it, caused the drav to grab the razor sharp blade, cutting its hand deeply as the sharp blade removed three of the Drav’s fingers as it sliced through the creatures grasp.
Ayers fell onto his back almost losing his grip on the blade he held. The Drav falling face first beside him put an arm under itself and began to get up. Swinging the blade as hard as Ayers could, he hit the Drav in the back of the neck, almost severing its head from its body the Drav fell back to the floor, unmoving. Dropping the blade, Ayers fought to drive back the darkness that began to cloud the edges of his vision as he used his one good arm to drag the satchel around so he could reach one of the few items he had not left with his HALO armor. If he could reach one of the e-stims he had brought, he could retain consciousness.
The e-stims they were issued were a combination of Oxycodone and Epinephrine premixed into one of the auto injectors most everyone referred to as an epi-pen. Although instead of being used for Anaphylactic shock, the dosage was vastly different, giving the soldier an adrenaline boost along with a heavy dose of painkillers which would allow the user to continue on even after being wounded.
Ayer’s vision continued to darken, he could barely see the body of the Drav lying beside him, “At least I took your ass with me, you son of a bitch.” Ayers cursed when he located the crushed plastic box, wet with the contents of the pens that had leaked out after being crushed. Relaxing Ayers allowed his head fall back to the floor while sighing deeply as he consigned himself to the inevitable darkness that he knew from the extent of the injuries he would probably never wake up from. As darkness surrounded him, his hand brushed against the one thing inside the satchel that remained undamaged.
Remembering the old woman’s warning a second of indecision crept into Greg’s mind but knowing of the healing properties the device was his only hope of survival Greg began struggling one handed trying to position his arm into the arm band so it could close on his arm.
the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.
Reflexively Ryan’s armor spread out covering him as he stood, knocking the chair over he had been sitting in. A few feet away the cause of his abrupt action, a similarly dark blue armored figure kneeling on the floor with one knee and hand on the floor after having rolled out of the bed the figure had been lying on.
“Whoa slow down. You’re safe, it’s over,” Ryan tried to reassure the figure that had flung itself out of the bed.
Relief washed over the kneeling figure seeing the sleek dark armor of his friend standing there. Greg couldn’t remember when he had begun thinking of Ryan, the man behind the mask of the most terrifying super villain on the planet, as his friend.
Although only a handful of people knew the truth, Greg having been initiated into that small group over the time they had traveled together knew that the infamous video of Apocalypse’s first public appearance in Georgia wasn’t what it seemed to be. Although Greg couldn’t blame the news crew for the error as the noise of an explosion drowned out everything the then unknown super had said between the words, ‘I am,’ and, ‘Apocalypse.’
“Here,” Ryan reached down toward Greg, “Let’s get you back up on the bed.”
Nodding while reaching up to take Ryan’s hand, “What happened?” Greg’s free hand rising up to his throat as Ryan guided him to sit on the bed, “What the hell?”
Kneeling down so he was eye level with Greg, “I need you to stay calm, you’re in D’Pak armor and could tear apart Warframes barehanded with it on, a hissy fit could bring this building down.”
Nodding, “What happened to my voice? I sound like…” Greg stopped as the thought of how he now sounded came to him. One of his favorite groups had always been a group that did Celtic music with all female vocalists. Greg has always thought those women sounded like angels when singing, which was the main reason he loved listening to their music. Greg realized his voice sounded like that.
Steadying his eyes on the faceplate of Ryan’s armor, wished that he could see the expression behind the mask, “The arm band, did you know it would change me?”
Shaking his head, “I had no idea. My parents came to Earth when I was young, and the only arm bands I had ever seen were the ones my parents wore, it was much later when I found out about the silver ones. So I really didn’t know that much more than you about them when we arrived here.” Pausing to put a hand on Greg’s knee, “You had the skill to reactivate the ones here, I doubt I could have even got one working in the time you reactivated all of the ones you did and that is without having the distraction of the fight outside.”
Letting out a long controlled breath, “I assume when you saw this happening, you found out what is going on?”
Ryan nodded, “Good or the bad first?”
“It’s always best to begin with the good. I’ve been told it lessens the blow of the other.”
“Okay, the good first,” Ryan began. “You’re alive. You would have probably died had you not put it on, since no one found you until after the battle was over.”
“Yeah that’s obvious, I hope there’s more good to this than that?”
“You’re stronger and faster than normal humans now. You’ll age slower, live longer and most human ailments will not affect you. And of course you now have the best armor ever created in the known universe with you at all times.”
“Is that everything in the good list?”
“Mostly, of course you’ll be able to use the weapons and equipment that I can use.”
“Alright, let’s hear the stuff on the bad list.”
“The band did a little more than change you into a female. It rewrote your genetics, you’re one-hundred present Vrie’za now, female Vrie’za.”
“What’s a Vrie’za?”
“We are,” waving his hand at himself then to the obviously feminine figure of Greg.
“I think I need a bit more information than that,” Drawing in a deep breath before pointing at her head, “First tell me how to take this damn helmet off and then find me a mirror. I want to see what your damn arm band did to me.”
“Just think about removing the helmet,” quickly adding, “Only the helmet! That is unless you want to flash me.”
Noticing he could feel the skintight armored suit against his skin, Greg saw the meaning behind Ryan’s words. He had nothing on under the armor and removing it would leave his body completely naked. ‘Not a him now, I’m a girl,’ Greg thought to himself, ‘and the first person that will see me naked will not be Ryan!’
“Like this,” Ryan’s own helmet appearing to flow away from his face and into the rounded collar of his armor.
Consciously thinking of taking off the helmet, Greg began feeling the release of the slight pressure it had against his head. Seeing Ryan’s eyes widened as his mouth fell slightly open, Greg quickly looked down to his new breasts, thinking he had caused all his armor to vanish. Long tresses of red hair fell to the sides of his vision as he did. Finding his body still covered in the dark blue skin tight armor Greg let out the breath he hadn’t noticed he was holding.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” Seeing the slack jawed look on Ryan’s face when Greg looked back up.
It’s, Um, shit!” Shaking his head while averting his eyes from looking at Greg. Reaching down to his left thigh, the tablet they had found that held the video the two had watched, formed out of his armor. Handing the tablet to Greg, “See for yourself.”
Taking the ten inch tablet from Ryan, Greg watched the screen as it started up. Feeling a bit of relief at the sight of the familiar Android graphics appear on the screen, showing him it wasn’t powered by some strange alien operating system as he had feared. Greg did a double take at the sight of the version number that appeared in the upper left corner. ‘Thirty-two? What the hell?’ Greg thought to himself, ‘Last I knew everyone was still wondering what they would be naming Android ten.’
Shoving the mystifying idea of an android version that did not yet exist into the back of his mind, Greg touched the camera icon then switched it to the forward camera so he could see what her now looked like. At first Greg thought he had mistakenly hit play back on the video he and Ryan had watched when they first found the tablet, as the red headed woman from the video was looking back at him on the screen. It took only a moment of watching the picture on the screen mimicking his every expression to realize it was his face that appeared on the screen.
“Holy shi…” Greg watched his reflection as his free hand slowly reach up to her face. Looking over the top of the tablet at Ryan, “I’m her, the gal that was with you.” Ryan slowly nodded.
Noticing some words flash on the screen, Greg looked back down, “Facial recognition?” She asked aloud. Looking up at Ryan after reading the next text that came on the screen, “It says I have an unread message.”
Ryan moved to sit beside her on the bed, “Let’s see what it is.”
Touching the link on the screen a video opened showing the female Greg, who began talking. “Greg you can be assured I know exactly how much of a shock to you this is as I was there too. Yes I am the future you, and yes, time travel is possible, how else do you think we left the equipment and this tablet for you both? I won’t get into how it’s done as Ryan or Doug can explain it better than I can, but let’s just say it’s a pain in the ass and requires a lot of portal jumping.”
Greg glanced over to see Ryan nodding his head.
“Before Ryan butts in and says it can cause more problems than it fixes, in most cases he’s right," the video continued. “This was or will be an extreme case. In every fracture I’ve traveled the Oz’oth eventually find D’eena before she is ready. I know this doesn’t mean anything to you yet Greg, but she is important in stopping the Oz’oth and will become very important to you in the future.”
“Sara has come up with a plan,” Greg’s future self continued. “By removing or actually stopping specific fractures in the timeline from occurring we stop any advantages the Oz’oth gain from seeing her abilities.” Pausing her narrative for a moment as if in deep thought then after a heavy sigh continued, “I know Ryan hasn’t told you about this yet and Ryan will end up shoving his foot in his mouth if he tries, so it’s up to me to say this.”
Throughout the stone building everyone could hear the high pitched scream coming from the room they had carried Greg into, “WE’RE WHAT!”
Seeing Ryan coming down the stairs from the upstairs of the museum building the old woman asked, “How is she?”
“Angry,” Looking over at the woman, “Why didn’t you tell me about that before she put on the bracelet?”
Walking over she put her hand gently on his shoulder, “You had already given her the bracelet, once one has been given we cannot interfere and must let the one make up her own mind. I was going against our customs to give her the warning I did.”
“Neither of us had any idea what putting it on meant.” Shaking his head, “And she only put it on to save her life.”
“Would it have been better if she had died?”
“Of course not!”
“Then give her the time she needs,” squeezing his shoulder, “She will come around.”
“I think the message she left for herself is helping a lot,” Ryan agreed.
“Message from her future self?” Seeing Ryan nod she continued, “The D’pak swore not to do that kind of travel!”
“Apparently sometime in the future I must agree that it’s necessary, as she is watching it upstairs now.”
“Was watching it, I’m done now.” Everyone looked up toward the sound of the voice to see Greg leaning over the banister that surrounded the upper level, a serious look on her face. “I need my husband. That means you Ryan, so trot your ass back up here now.” Looking around at the few others that were downstairs, “Everyone can call me Gwen now since I’m stuck like this and married to that fool!”
“She sounds like she is taking it well. Already ordering you around like you’ve been mated for years,” chuckling as she patted Ryan’s shoulder.
Muttering under his breath as he jogged back up the stairs, “And people think I’m scary.”
Closing the door behind him as he followed his new mate in the room she had awoken in, “Whatever it is couldn’t this wait? Or are you letting your anger dictate how you act toward everyone?”
“Sit down Ryan,” the anger that was evident in her voice now missing. Holding her hand out toward Ryan, “I need the D’eena bracelet and that toolkit we used to work on it earlier.”
“What was with that little show outside?” Thumbing toward the closed door.
Shaking her head, “Have you forgotten your people are a matriarchal society? They expect me to be in charge in our marriage.”
Retrieving the bracelet and tool pouch from his armor, “So you’re not pissed?”
“Dear husband,” Gwen giggled, “pissed is an understatement, I’m fucking furious! I’ve been turned into an alien girl that looks like a younger version of my mother, and to top it off I’m married! If I hadn’t left that video for myself I don’t know what I might have done.”
“What else was in the video? And why Gwen?”
“That’s the name she, my future self called herself. Looking like this I may as well get used to the name now,” Gwen’s eye tracing downward at her own beasts. “From the video it looks like this is me now and there’s no going back. As for the video, both our future selves made it very clear that the less people that have that information the better. The only other person I’m supposed to give anything to is someone called Sara when we finally get back to your, um our home.” Turning with the bracelet and tools, Gwen sat down at the small desk in the room and began working on the bracelet.
Confused as to what Gwen needed to do with the bracelet, “I thought the mods you already made would heal David if we needed to use it?”
Looking up and over her shoulder at Ryan, “Yes, but there will be fractures where it isn’t enough. This, I’m told, will keep those fractures from occurring and forming new timelines.”
“Sort of like trimming a tree then?”
“The way I understand it, we will be stopping the unwanted limbs from growing in the first place,” Gwen answered without looking up from the bracelet she was working on.
Almost an hour later the door swung open to reveal Ryan following Gwen out of the room looking down at the modified bracelet he held in both hands, “Are you sure about this?”
Stopping in her tracks Gwen turned to Ryan speaking softly so only he could hear, “How can I be sure about anything? It’s a goddamn message from me from the future! Do you think I really want to know this shit? To know that if I don’t do a specific thing at a specific time people will die? Even my future self was cryptic and said almost nothing about the consequences of what I must do, only that doing so would stop unwanted fragments. As far as I know some of these things I’m supposed to do will cause people to die!”
Looking up from the bracelet in his hands, “In the video, you said Sara helped, she wouldn’t have if there was a better way.”
“Good, then let’s get this done so we be on our way home.” Gwen turned and began walking once again, “I can’t wait to meet this Sara I keep hearing about. Best remember you’re a married man now, even if it will be a cold day in hell before you touch me.”
Following Gwen down the stairs and through the main room of the museum in the rear of the building Ryan couldn’t help but think about what he had to do. Using the bracelet on David had always been a backup plan, a failsafe in case he was hurt. Thinking to himself, ‘Hell it hadn’t even worked when they needed it! Only sheer luck and the natives of the planet saved him.’ Looking down at silvery band in his hand, Ryan could only hope that Gwen had made the modifications correctly she had been given in the video. He did take sustenance in knowing that Sara would have been involved in detailing those modifications and Sara would never do anything to allow David to come to harm.
Knowing now how close he had come to hurting maybe even killing David with the bracelet unnerved Ryan. When Gwen had told him that he had grabbed the wrong bracelet in his hurry to leave the day he found out that David had been kidnapped could have been disastrous for the boy. How would Ryan have ever faced his sister if anything had happened to David? And knowing he held a fully functional armband bracelet for the D’eena instead of one of the medical ones only made him wonder how well Sara knew the Vrie’za technology.
Was it even possible to modify the D’eena’s band to work on David? Would it give him full use of the D’eena armor like Gwen said it would? If so he could be assured of David’s safety once it bonded to him as the armor held even greater protection than the D’pak armor that he and Gwen wore. Up until now Ryan had been flying by the seat of his pants, his original plan falling apart when he was unable to reach his original extraction point after rescuing David. Whether he liked it or not, Following Gwen’s lead was the most practical thing to do at this point.
Following Gwen into one of the back rooms Ryan saw the older woman along with a couple of younger men sitting at a rectangular table along with David, the coyote sitting on the edge of the table beside David. From the empty bowls and plates the group had just finished the mid-day meal.
Spotting the two walking in, “Come sit, A’aen here can go and bring your both some food.” The old woman waved her hand at one of the young men. Taking a chair Ryan sat down beside David while Gwen sat across the table from the boy.
Looking at the red headed woman across from him David spoke, “Wow, Aunt Gwen you’re really pretty.”
Sitting straight up across from David, “Aunt Gwen?”
Nodding while a large grin radiated across the boy’s face, “Great Grandma told me you and Uncle Ryan are married now.”
“Who?” Gwen’s eyes widened.
“While you were out we David and I got the full story about my mother,” Ryan took over the conversation. Gesturing at the old woman, “My mother was her daughter.”
“Yes,” a toothy smile spread across the old woman’s face, “The band changed my love, although she never lost the love for her mother nor I of her.” Looking over at Ryan, “And as much as I wish to spend as much time as possible with you family, you must get back, you must continue to protect the D’eena.”
“There’s one more thing we have to do first.” Glancing from the old woman to Ryan, “Ryan?”
Raising his hands above the table top, the wide thin bracelet on display in his hands, Ryan turned to face David. Watching the three locals, Gwen easily saw their surprise at the silvery colored armband evident in the wide eyes and slack jawed expression on their faces.
“We need to put this on you,” rolling it in his hands for David to see Ryan asked, “You trust Sara right?” Watching as David nodded, “In the messages sent back she said we have to put this on you now, before we leave.”
“But it didn’t work?”
“It will now," Gwen added, “she gave me directions on how to fix it.”
Holding up his arm above the table toward Ryan, “Okay,” looking over at Gwen, “Will it change me like it did you?”
Looking into David’s eyes, Gwen leaned closer to the boy, “I’ll be honest with you, we were told it was the best way to keep you safe, now and after we get home, so it might? We really don’t know.”
Looking at his Uncle, “Sara wants me to do this?”
Ryan nodded, “We all want you safe, Sara, me, Gwen and especially your mom and dad.”
“And so do I,” the coyote grinned his toothy snout at David.
Holding his arm closer to Ryan as Ryan snapped the silver band in place around his wrist, “I hope Mel will still like me if it changes me.”
“D’eesa stop tugging at your underwear,” Gwen chastised to the smaller platinum blond girl.
“But it itches. And I don’t like that name.”
“So does mine. Once we’re back on a civilized world your uncle will be buying us both some more comfortable underwear.”
Stopping and turning toward the two women in the middle of the wagon trail they were walking down, “I will?”
“Yes, if you know what’s good for you, you will.”
Shaking his head, Ryan began walking again, “It’s only been three days and you’ve already began a honey-do list.” Twisting his head around over his shoulder at Gwen, “What happened to having a normal honeymoon first?”
“Have you been in the sun too long my dear husband?” Gwen chuckled, “You best start thinking like those monks you said you live with and remember the word celibacy.”
“They’re Buddhist monks,” Ryan stated without looking back, “They’re not celibate.”
“Aunt Gwen doesn’t celibate mean no marriage too?”
Looking over at the young teen girl walking beside her, Gwen cupped her hand speaking softly, “Remember we’re both girls now and us girls should stick together. Now stop playing with your bra.”
“But it itches.”
“Okay think about something else,” Gwen suggested. “What about your name don’t you like?”
“What’s to like about ‘Dee-EE-sa’ The former boy emphasized the middle syllable of his, now her new name in the same way the people in the village had done after he woke from the changes the armband did to him? Can we at least shorten it?”
“You mean like calling you ‘Deesa’” shortening it into two syllables, “or just Dee?”
“At least those don’t make me sound like I’m some kind of alien.”
Gwen chuckled, “I hate to break it to you but we are aliens now.” Seeing the frown appear on the girl’s face Gwen added, “How about ‘Deesa’ then and I can call you Dee for short if that’s okay?”
“Um,” blushing as the young teen lowered her eyes, “I sort of like how Deesa sounds.”
“Then Deesa it is!” Gwen smiled at the teen.
“I just hope we can convince mom and dad it’s really me.”
“I don’t think it will be much trouble,” Gwen assured the girl, “Both your Uncle and I were there and watched it happen.”
“And so was I,” they heard a muffled voice coming from the backpack Deesa carried in her back as a tiny claw emerged between the two zippers at the top that quickly pushed the zipper open. As the coyote’s head emerged through the opening it continued in its normal fake British accent. “I saved a recording of your transmutation in case that problem occurs. I can have Sara replay it in its entirety, from the moment the bracelet was put on your wrist all the way through until you woke and removed your armor.”
Remembering how removing the armor left her standing in front of both her Aunt and Uncle completely naked, Deesa’s face turned a brilliant shade of red.
Knowing what the girl was blushing over Gwen glared at the Coyote, “I think you should probably edit the part where Deesa removes all of her armor.”
Gulping noticeably the coyote nodded, “Yes I do believe that would be a wise decision. I’ll get started on that now.” The coyote’s head disappearing back into the backpack with one clawed hand reaching back out to pull the zipper mostly shut.
“This is the spot. Suit up everyone, that includes you Deesa but take off your back pack first.”
Unconsciously scratching at her bra strap as the silver armor began flowing over the teen girl’s body, “Finally! I can take this darn thing off.” remembering a question she had been meaning to ask but had been too preoccupied to ask up until now, “Uncle Ryan, how come the first time I put this on I lost all my clothes but when I take off the armor now, my clothes reappear?”
“Good question?” Crossing her arms under her breasts as her eyes narrowed while looking at Ryan, “Care to explain that one to both of us?”
Glancing at Deesa then to Gwen, “Okay, look, short explanation is your armor will use any available mass for healing.” Looking over at the silver suited Deesa’s leg, “Even missing limbs like it did yours. Anything the suit determines not necessary is fair game, it’s why I made you take off your backpack as your Coyote would be considered unnecessary if you got hurt.”
“Oh!” Deesa squeaked.
After watching Gwen’s armor finally begin flowing over her form, Ryan held out his hand allowing the floating disk he had sent out that morning to lower landing in his hand. Looking over at Gwen while reaching around to hold the disk against the small of his back, where it was reabsorbed into his armor, “So are you ready to learn how to do this?”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean we have Deesa here too. I think it might be better if you open it.”
Shaking his head Ryan explained, “You can’t do it wrong, as the function is built into our armor. You open the portal or you don’t, it’s that simple.”
“But what if I open it to the wrong world?” Hesitant to put the group, especially someone as young as Deesa in jeopardy Gwen continued to argue.
“It’s like opening a door, we have no control of what is on the other side.”
“Then can I do it?” Deesa squealed excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Answering while shaking his head, “Only D’pak armor as that system, your armor doesn’t have this ability.” Staying quiet about the fact that she would probably be able to open the portals one day on her own, that is if the arm band had indeed turned her into a true clone of the D’eena. This was yet another thing on a long list of things Ryan knew he would need to explain, but it was a discussion best left for when they were home and had plenty of time for all the questions the two would bombard him with.
“Would you stop squirming, I have to get this zipper hidden properly or the fans will see it!”
“Sorry, it just feels so weird,” apologizing to the young woman applying the final touches to his costume. Looking down at the glimmering dark blue padded spandex and neoprene that covered his chest, “This is nothing like the costume you guys had me wear for the movies.”
“That’s because the graphics department could add the shimmer,” the woman explained. “Can’t add CGI to a public appearance.”
“At least the helmet is the same.” Considering that it could have been changed too, “It is the same one right?”
Finishing up her work on the back of his costume the woman strode over to a table picking up a dark blue motorcycle-like full face helmet that had been laying there. Holding it up to the man, “The same one you used in the last two movies.”
Nodding the man thought how much he had loved comics as a kid, how he would run around his home wearing a blue sweater pretending to be his childhood comic book idol. He had been devastated at how badly the actor portrayed his hero in the original movie. Al had been a teenager when the movie hit the theaters himself. It was that movie and what he considered a terrible portrayal of his childhood superhero that made him decide to go into acting himself.
Now twenty two years and five starring roles later, Alfred Emmanuel Neuman, or Al Neuman as he hated being called Alfred, was probably the greatest ‘name with no face’ in Hollywood. Famous for his face always hidden on the big screen it had become one of Hollywood’s inside jokes to have him appear in small roles in movies where his face was always obscured in some fashion. Al seemed destined for small side roles until he got his big break with the remake of a classic.
Gaining the starring role of the “Beast” in a live action remake of the original cartoon movie, Al thought his ship had come in when the director stated that under no circumstances would a stand in be used at the end of the film when the beast was returned to human form, Al’s face would finally be seen on the big screen! It was all could do to hide his disappointment at the film’s debut when he saw how the director had used camera angles and editing to make sure Al’s face never once appeared on the screen.
Although Al’s disappointment led to more starring roles of masked men and other heavily made up costumed characters that always hid his face. Of course if none of this would have happened, he may not have been given the leading role of his childhood hero, the greatest comic book superhero that ever existed.
Broken out of his thoughts by one of the curtains parting that kept them hidden from the crowds in the convention center, Al’s agent stuck his head in, “the MC is going to begin his spiel in five minutes, you ready yet?”
Placing the helmet on his head, Al turned to face his agent, speaking in the deep commanding voice of the character he portrays, “I am always prepared to bring apocalyptic retribution to any threat to Earth!”
“He will be,” The woman handed Al his helmet. Once he had the helmet on the woman who had been doing his makeup for the past several years did her job of hiding the seams before Al moved out to stand behind the stage curtain.
Waiting behind the curtain on the temporary stage half listening to the spiel of the MC Al waited for his cue to step out through the curtain to reveal himself to the fans when he heard the MC suddenly stop talking. Peeking out through the curtains Al could see what looked to him like a small ball of lightning hovering about five feet off the stage floor between him and the crowd. Al’s jaw falling open behind the mask of his helmet as the ball of lightning formed a ring inside the ring was a blackness so complete it hurt his eyes to look at it, although Al found himself unable to look away as the ring of lightning expanded completely obscuring the stage and the crowd beyond from his sight.
Thinking to himself as he watched, ‘I knew they were going to use some special effects to cover my entrance but the crew have outdone themselves with this!’ Stepping through the curtain Al reasoned that they must want him to step out through the black center of the effects. Taking a deep breath Al jumped through.
For over thirty years Ray had made a living of announcing various events. One of his favorites had always been the comic-com. Whenever he was asked about that he would always say that it was the fans and the costumes so many of them wore to the event, but honestly it was the special effects some of the larger companies would put on display during the convention. And the special effects he witnessed occurring beside him on stage at this very moment was so realistic he was left speechless as it appeared. So close to the CGI created portals of the superhero’s movies that he felt he was suddenly in one of those movies.
The curtain of darkness forming within the expanding ring of static electricity made him feel as if he was looking into a void, an empty void of nothingness. From the impossibly black circle of nothingness three figures stepped out. Two adults, one male one female both dressed in the dark blue alien space suits of the comic book superhero. Both holding strange looking ‘rayguns’ his in his right hand and hers in her left. Between them another shorter female in a similar costume although instead of the dark blue attributed to the superhero, it was silver that seemed to have a hint of blue, the two adults each holding on of the shorter girl’s hands. From the silvery figure’s height and figure Ray immediately thought teenage girl.
“Announce them! Announce them!” Ray could hear the voice yelling through the ear piece he wore.
Gaining his composure, Ray could see the fans were just as stunned at the special effect as he had been. Brining the microphone back up to his face. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Making a sweeping motion toward the three figures on stage with him, “I give you Apocalypse!”
“Fury, her name is Fury!” the voice in his ear piece informed him.
“And Fury!” Ray spoke louder into his microphone trying to speak above the cheering and applause. Then following what he was being told in his ear piece, “And a special treat, the reason Apocalypse worked so long on his own without Fury’s help, she was busy with their DAUGHTER!”
Looking out at the multitude of various costumes a good quarter of the people in the crowded area held then the banners that decorated the walls Deesa all but screamed her excitement, “Oh my god! This is comic-com!” Bouncing on the balls of her feet, “We’re at comic-con!” Letting go of Ryan’s hand Deesa grabbed Gwen’s arm with both hands, “thank you, thank you, thank you, I’ve always wanted to come here!”
“Comic con?” Ryan turned to look at Deesa, “You mean that big comic book convention you’re always talking about in San Diego?” Directing his attention to Gwen, “Of all the places you could open a portal, you open one directly into the largest comic book convention on the planet?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Gwen replied sarcastically, “beginner’s luck?”
“Maybe I should stick to being the one who opens portals from now on.”
Giggling, Deesa chirped in, “You were the one that told her to open it, even after she said she asked you to open it.”
Those close enough to hear the exchange between Deesa, Ryan and Gwen all began laughing and applauding at what they thought was an act. Although there were two partially hidden by the stage curtain that also heard the exchange. “This is great stuff they’re doing out there,” the taller chubby man said to the other man.
“No shit!” the shorter skinny one with glasses replied. “Grab the latest issue of the comic and let’s see how well he can ad-lib with it.”
“Great idea!” the first one ran off further behind the stage. Returning moments later with issue of the comic. After getting the attention of the MC on stage and being introduced the two main writers for the comic book walked out on stage waving at the crowd.
Walking directly up to Ryan on the stage, the taller man holding the comic book got Ryan’s attention, “Sir, Mr. Apocalypse, we know how busy your off world activities can be so you probably don’t have the latest copy and as two of the writers of your story we’d like to present you with the latest publication of your comic that only hit the shelves last week and features the debut of your wife, Fury.”
Taking the comic book that was handed to him, Ryan looked carefully at the cover then over at Gwen, “We’re goddamn comic book heroes like Superman or something!” Handing the magazine to Gwen to look at.
“Who’s Superman?” the writer that handed the comic to Ryan asked.
Looking over the cover then flipping through a few pages Gwen handed it back to Ryan, “Of course you’re a fictional hero as anyone that knows you wouldn’t use those words to describe you! They would use words like, egotistical, hare-brained, half-cocked and other words I could use to describe you that I shouldn’t use in public.”
Picking up on the confused looks of the fans the announcer spoke into the microphone, “Well if there was any doubt about these two being married before, I think we can all rest assured that it’s true, as who else but his own wife would talk to the most powerful superhero on the planet that way!” hearing this, the crowd roared with laughter.
Switching his armor to communicate only to Gwen and Deesa, ~This has to be an alternate Earth.~
~Really? What gave our great exalted superhero the clue?~ Gwen chuckled.
Ignoring her snarky comment, ~We should play along with this until we can get out of here.~
~I agree.~
~Okay Daddy,~ Deesa giggled.
Stepping through the portal Ryan encountered a sea of black and white moving away from the portal as hundreds of penguins surprised by the sudden appearance of the portal, pushed, shoved and squawked their way toward the safety of the water. Deesa stepped out of the portal moments later, followed by Gwen, all wearing their full armor.
Looking around at the snow and ice covered wasteland Deesa sighed, “Please tell me this isn’t Hoth?”
Ryan’s suit signaled that it picked up a known communications signal, ~Sara?~
~Hello and welcome back Ryan,~ The voice of Sara came through his helmet clearly. ~Were you successful in rescuing David? I’m detecting two alien life forms with you wearing armor of a similar construction as yours, one similar to your own and another that I have never encountered before.~
~They’re friends Sara. The one like mine is Gwen, she is my wife. The other, um that’s David.~
~I can confirm their armor works on the same communication matrix as your own, shall I connect to them?. Wait David’s coyote has begun uploading its memory files. Give me a moment to complete the upload and review as that should negate any questions I need answered.~
Looking around at the rocky, desolate, ice covered coastline Ryan and his group had stepped out of the portal onto, ~nothing but rocks, snow and ice here. I think we might need a lift home.~
~Yes, I have your location in the South Sandwich Islands, five hundred and thirty six miles east of the southern tip of Argentina. We have some acquaintances in that area that I am contacting to provide transportation.~
Several minutes later the speakers in Ryan’s helmet came on with Sara’s voice once again, ~Ryan I’ve completed the review of the coyote’s memory files. I am eager to review the information on the tablet Gwen possesses to determine why I would agree to doing this to David.~
~I hope you have better luck than I did. I was told the knowledge had to be kept from anyone else to keep temporal distortions to a minimum.~
~I’ll need to speak to Gwen about this. I’ve reached our submariner friends, I am told one of their ships should arrive shortly. It has no landing craft so you will need to swim out to it when it arrives. I am now adding everyone into this conversation~
~Hello D’eesa,~ Sara greeted. ~I am glad to see you are well. And hello to you Gwen. I hope we can become friends.~
~Hi Sara, I recognize your voice from the tablet. It’s nice that we can finally have a two way talk. I take it that being able to speak with you means we are back on our earth?~
~That is correct Gwen, I do not possess a means of communicating with other realms.~
~Good, then we all need to have a long talk before we meet up with any people.~ Turning to look directly at Ryan even though their armor hid their faces, ~Another video unlocked on the tablet last night. In it Sara and the older me stated that it was extremely important everyone believe that David died in that warehouse.~
~But Mom and Dad!~ Deesa wailed.
Stepping over to take Deesa’s by the hand, Gwen knelt down in front of the young girl, ~They can know the truth, but you’ll have to call them Uncle Dan and Aunt Teri from now on. It’s the only way to keep you safe from some really bad people that want to force David to work for them.~
~Will I still be able to see mom and… um, I mean Uncle Dan and Aunt Teri?~
~Of course you can, we would never keep my daughter away from her favorite Aunt and Uncle!~
~What about me building stuff? Do I have to stop doing that?~
~No, you can still make things, you’ll just do it as mine and Ryan’s daughter.~ Giving that a moment to sink in Gwen continued, ~No one on Earth is crazy enough to even think about kidnapping the daughter of Apocalypse.~
Thinking about what she was being told, Deesa knew what Gwen was saying made sense. People had already kidnapped her once trying to get the formula for aegisium, if David completely disappeared she would be safe and there was no way she could reenter her old life as Deesa without everyone finding out she used to be David. As David’s cousin she would still be part of the family so she wouldn’t really lose her real mom and dad. ~Okay, I’ll do it.~
Turning her head to look toward Ryan, ~Daddy can I have minions?~
~What?~ Ryan turned from where he had been watching the ocean to the two.
No one could see the playful grin hidden behind Deesa’s mask, ~Minions Daddy. Super villains have minions and if I’m going to be the daughter of a super villain I’ll need my own.~
~I’m not a super villain!~
~And I’ll need my evil laboratory where my minions work and I make my plans on taking over the world.~ Deesa did her best to keep from laughing, glad he couldn’t see her face as it would have given her away.
~Not just no but hell no!~ Ryan denied.
~But Daddy!~ Deesa pleaded, ~All the other kids of super villains will make fun of me…~ Unable to say more Deesa broke down in a giggling fit.
Laughing along with Deesa, Gwen looked over at Ryan, ~You do know she was pulling your chain?~
After the giggling died down, which took some time as any time Deesa or Gwen looked toward each other one of them would begin giggling again Deesa began watching the water off shore trying to discern what Ryan was watching for. Spotting a large dark hump surfacing offshore twenty minutes later, Deesa pointed, “Is that a whale?” Although instead of re-submerging as one would guess a whale would do, the dark shape not only stayed on the surface as it continued in their direction, it grew larger.
Watching the approaching shape grow closer Ryan announced, “It looks like our ride is here!”
“Our ride?” Deesa gasped, “I’m not riding on that things back!”
“What?” Turning to look at Deesa, “Why would you think we have to ride on its back?”
Waving both hands back and forth in front of her, Deesa’s voice became almost shrill, “If you think I’m riding in its mouth you are crazy!”
“Mouth? You think that’s…’ laughing too hard to continue.
“What’s so funny?”
“Calm down Deesa,” Placing an arm around the girl’s shoulder while pointing at the mysterious black shape out in the water, “It’s a submarine.”
Watching the dark shape Deesa saw the distinct figure of a man climbing up out of a hatch on top to the left of the highest point of the hump she had thought was a whale. Cupping his hands around his mouth the man yelled, “This is as close as I can bring her in. You’ll have to swim out!”
Holding his hand out toward Deesa, Ryan spoke, “Give me your backpack.” Seeing the girl hesitate, “You don’t want everything in it to get wet?”
Shaking her head, while pulling the straps off her shoulders, Deesa handed over her backpack.
Stepping off the last rung of the metal ladder inside the strange submarine, Deesa noticed two women in the room. Both wore a type of form fitting one piece golden brown coverall that had a round patch above the left breast and on the right shoulder a black rectangular patch with a large gold letter ‘N’ in the upper left quadrant of the patch. The shorter and much younger of the two, who Deesa thought to be about her own age, appeared to be pleading for permission for something in typical teenage fashion.
Feeling a vibration on the ladder Deesa still gripped in one hand, she looked up to see Gwen coming down the ladder. Letting go of the ladder, Deesa took a couple steps back, away from the ladder and further away from the two strangers in the room. Glancing around Deesa could see the walls, ceiling and even the catwalk-like grating of the floor was all the same dull golden brown color, which reminded Deesa of tarnished bronze. On one wall she saw the same rectangular emblem the two women had on their right arm painted on the wall, although close to five feet across. Beside the ladder a recessed panel bore several gauges and controls, an identical panel was recessed in the wall near the hatchway on the wall.
‘Oh crap!,’ Deesa thought as she grabbed Gwen’s hand, pulling her away from the ladder and the two women, ‘There’s only one group of people in history that used a flag with a black background!’ Hoping she got the suit comms right so that only Gwen could hear her, Deesa whispered, “I think these guys are pirates.”
“Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut until we learn more,” Gwen sent back to her through the comm of her suit.
Turning toward Deesa after descending the ladder, Ryan formed the backpack from his armor that he had kept dry during their swim out to the submarine and handed it back to Deesa, as his armor began melting away, “We’re safe here, you both can remove the armor.”
Turning back toward the man in the heavy pea coat, which had descended the ladder while he had spoken with Gwen and Deesa. “Thanks for coming so quickly,” holding his hand out toward the man.
Taking Ryan’s outstretched hand in his own, “Welcome aboard the Zoeken Mr. Scythe. I’m Captain Kellum,” waving his free hand toward the two women, “This is my wife, Elizabeth, our ship’s executive officer and our niece Allison,” directing his gaze toward the girl, “whom I’m sure has an explanation for her presence in the wet room?”
Placing both hands on Allison’s shoulders from behind, Elizabeth answered, “Sorry Captain, she was hoping to get a look at the surface.”
Nodding while looking at his niece, “Aye, I’d allow it if there was more time. I promise you’ll get to see the surface when we reach our destination.” Turning back to face Ryan, “May I ask who be these fine ladies you have accompanying you?”
“Captain, this is my wife Gwen,” gesturing with his hand toward Gwen, then toward Deesa, “and this is…”
“Our daughter, Deesa.” Stepping forward Gwen held her hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Captain Kellum. I want to thank you for going to all this trouble for my family.”
Noticing the girl, clutching the tattered backpack to her chest, still covered in the silvery armor, step back defensively behind her mother as he offered his hand to Gwen, “The pleasure is all mine and my crew’s, Mrs. Scythe. It is a great honor that we are the first of our people to greet the family of such a revered individual as your husband.”
Looking sideways at Ryan, Gwen chuckled, “Revered? Ryan? I think most of the world sees my husband differently.”
“That’s because the surfacers believe the propaganda their so called news stations spout as the truth,” Elizabeth added as she and Allison walked across the room to the group. “They show the destruction your husband has caused but fail to show the terrible things he actually destroyed.”
“There’s many things we need to discuss but as there be a satellite due to pass over this area within the bell and I would prefer to be deep before that occurs.” Walking over to a small panel near the room’s hatchway, “I’ll begin purging the nitrogen just as soon as the hatch is secure.” Looking over in Gwen and Deesa’s direction, “We use a helium-oxygen air mixture instead of the nitrogen-oxygen mixture of the surface world.”
Looking up at Gwen as her own armor dissolved, Deesa explained further, “It’s common to use helium for deep diving to keep divers from getting the bends.”
“Aye, your daughter is correct,” The captain looked up from the console, his voice already beginning to sound much higher in pitch, “Helium is also easier for our people to obtain.”
Following her husband to the panel, Elizabeth opened a panel in the wall beside the controls Captain Kellum began operating. “You’ll need these once the nitrogen is purged,” turning around with three bands slightly over two and a half inches wide of the same color as the cloth of their uniforms. Walking back over to their three guests, Elizabeth handed out the bronze colored cloth bands. Raising her voice enough to be heard over the loud noise of the helium, oxygen mixture hissing out of multiple orifices in the ceiling above them, her voice sounding several octaves higher. “They go around your neck,” demonstrating by showing them a seam in thickest part of the circle of material which she pulled apart before looping it around her neck and allowing the two ends to join back together. “It relaxes your vocal chords allowing your voice to sound normal,” her voice returning to normal as she explained.
Looking over the unusual neck device in her hands, Deesa could see the front of the device was more than twice as thick and reasoned it must have some kind of electronics embedded within. Knowing the change in voice when breathing helium was because helium traveled faster over the vocal cords, therefore the device must somehow slow the helium down in the throat or relax the vocal cords in some way. Deesa felt certain that it had to be the latter since she felt it much simpler to modulate the vocal cords than build anything that could affect the helium inside the throat.
Pulling apart the seam easily, as if held together by weak magnets, Deesa couldn’t fight the urge to hear what her voice sounded like in the helium atmosphere and get an answer to how they worked, “These relax the vocal cords?”
“Yes,” Elizabeth answered.
“Oh this is cool,” Deesa continued speaking without putting the device on her neck, “I sound like Alvin and the chipmunks.”
“More like one of the Chipettes,” Gwen chuckled.
“Somebody please put that damn thing around her neck before she starts singing pop songs!” Ryan chortled.
Remembering that she had been introduced to these people as her Uncle Ryan and Gwen’s daughter, the side of Deesa’s lip curled upward while looking up to Gwen saying, in her helium induced chipmunk voice, “Mooom Dad’s being mean to me!”
Watching the readings on the control panel, Captain Kellum pretended to ignore the girl’s antics. It wasn’t the first time he had seen a child take off his or her throat device and speak in the squeaky high pitched voice the manufactured atmosphere produced, he could remember many times he and his older sister had done the exact same to their own parents.
Seeing the readings where he wished them to be Captain Kellum turned to the others, “Pressure’s normal, Mr. Scythe if you would follow me I’ll update you on what has occurred during your extended absence. Mrs. Scythe, Elizabeth can show you where you and your daughter may freshen up and issue you both some clothing more appropriate for our submersible.”
Looking toward Elizabeth then the captain Gwen asked, “If you don’t mind I’d like to be included in that sitrep.”
Ryan quickly added, “Captain it would be for the best if my wife did accompany us.”
“Yes, yes,” Captain Kellum acknowledged, “You’re more than welcome to attend. My apologies for not including you ma’am.” Looking over at his own niece, “Allison would you be so kind as to escort their daughter to ship stores and procure her some under and outerwear.”
“This is our map room,” Captain Kellum stated while motioning Ryan and Gwen in as he held the door for them. Following the two in Captain Kellum closed the door, “In the months you’ve been absent there have been incidents that have made many believe you to be dead Mr. Scythe.”
“Months? It’s only been…” seeing the look Ryan gave her Gwen stopped. “Sorry Captain Kellum please continue.”
One eyebrow rose as he looked at Gwen then to Ryan, the captain continued, “Um yes, there were several major incidents of organized crime activity that occurred within the part of the northern hemisphere that would have normally gained your attention. As you did not appear at any of these, most of the world believes that you died during your last appearance.”
“They’ve made that mistake before,” Ryan snorted.
“Unfortunately, this time the Russian government must also believe this as they began a campaign against the Japanese government taking several of the Kurils islands that were under Japanese control, including Iturup.”
“Shit!” Ryan shouted. Taking a deep breath before speaking, “Do you know if they have reached the monastery yet?”
“All we know for sure is that two weeks ago a large convoy of Russian surface ships made way to Iturup, some making port while others along with two of their Akula class attack submersibles began patrolling the island.” Locking eyes with Ryan the captain continued, “Three days ago one of the Akulas fired on and damaged one of our Mobula class ships.”
“I thought your Mobula subs were faster than the Russian Shkval torpedoes?” Ryan questioned.
“Faster than a supercavitating torpedo?” Gwen gasped, “Even if your ships also used supercavitation, I don’t see how you could propel them that fast.”
Looking Gwen in the eyes, “While our technologies are comparable, there are differences between your surface technology and our sub-oceanic. Our propulsion systems are one of those differences. To put it simply, we transfer the water density from the front of our ships to the rear, allowing the pressure itself to push our ships forward. Our speed is only limited by the amount of electricity required to generate the field around the ship.”
Looking toward Ryan, Captain Kellum answered his question, “It appears the Russians have either modified the Shkval or developed a newer faster one. Luckily it seems the new Russian torpedo has a much smaller explosive payload.”
Leaning against the table, focusing on the three dimensional map, Ryan asked, “So what are your plans captain?”
“When your friend contacted us I was ordered to transport you to Iturup with all haste. We will be joining with three of our Kraken class vessels that are currently en route to the Kuril Islands.” The captain continued. “Although we will be stopping at Atacama to take on supplies and drop off my niece. Her grandmother would keelhaul me if I took her into what will become a war zone. I would assume that you would prefer not to bring your daughter into one also? She is welcome to stay in Atacama until we return.”
Ryan let out a heavy sigh. “Your attack ships will start a war.”
Nodding his agreement, Captain Kellum explained, “Unfortunately I have very little say in the matter Mr. Scythe. My personal belief is that if we could get you there prior to the arrival of the Kraken, your presence could persuade the Russians to return home. They do seem to have a healthy respect for you since your visit to Vladivostok. But my orders are to secure the safety of my niece prior to taking you to Iturup, I don’t see how we can beat hunter killers there.”
“What kind of time are we looking at with the detour?”
“Below ten-thousand feet our speed becomes limited due to the pressure wave created by our drive. I would estimate our trip to Atacama adding between twenty-four to thirty-six hours total.”
Having been to two of their underwater cities in the past, Ryan knew Atacama and those other cities had all been built in the very depths of the deep ocean trenches that exist in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and understood the time involved in descending and reemerging from those depths. “Captain were your orders to specifically deliver your niece to Atacama, or just to a safe place?”
“A safe place of course, Atacama is the closest port along our route, diverting us for the least amount of time.’
“So it doesn’t have to be Atacama.”
“No, but as I said, it is the closest safe port and would have you at Iturup in the earliest amount of time.”
“There’s another place,” Ryan suggested, “It’s secure and you can run full speed the whole way there, saving us a lot of time. I can also have anything you need waiting on the dock for us.”
“No such port anywhere along the coast of either North or South America my friend.” Captain Kellum shook his head.
“It’s hidden off the coast of California,” Ryan informed. “Has a large grotto only accessible from underwater that’s been built into a sub pen.”
Working the controls on the side of the table, the map changed to show the western coast of North America. Waving his hand across the map, Captain Kellum said, “Show me the location of this place.”
Pointing to a spot off the coast from Los Angeles, “I can’t give you the exact coordinates but it’s about here.”
Folding his arms across his chest, the Captain looked skeptically over at Ryan, “The channel islands? We have extensive mapping of all those and the undersea terrain.” Leaning forward the captain adjusted the map display to zoom in on the chain of islands. “Which of these islands is your safe port on?”
Shaking his head, “It’s not on your map Captain, it’s not on any maps.” Meeting the Captain’s gaze, “I don’t know the specifics but the place has some unknown protection that makes even those few that know about it, and forget its precise location.”
“Pray tell Mr. Scythe, how we locate your hidden port of call?”
“When I communicate your list of supplies to my colleague, she will have informed them to be on the lookout for us so that they can guide us in.”
“Alright Mr. Scythe, we’ll set course for this mysterious Island or yours.”