Arc 14: Invasion

  Chapter 2

  The city stretched out as I watched through the shielded visor of the Evening Star, this thing was rather handy and reminded me of my old suit. Snug as a bug in a rug, I suppose. Though the suit was rather bulky and a little unwieldy, it would take time to get used to the movement axis and range. My hand opened and closed the movements precise, yet unstimulating, similar to wearing thick gloves. A holographic model of the Evening Star took up a section of the screen to the side. Arms three and five, are inoperable, their appendage missing. It was residual damage from my fight with this thing and the subsequent mad dash to escape the facility.

  The air jostled as Medavac’s shuttle boosted low through the city streets away from the hospital, weighed heavily down by my bulk and the machine around me. I found it a little surprising that he didn’t notice the speed difference, though we were in a rush. Retro Robo counting down until detonation. The numbers scrolled on my screen as she spoke them aloud.

  10

  I wasn’t sure as to why things were moving slowly… I feel like something like this happened to me before. My brain pumping with adrenaline, everything moving at a snail's pace. Though my mind only dragged up bits and pieces. I began to recall enough snippets to have a shiver run down my spine, the Hammer Strike. Surely this wouldn’t be nearly as bad as that, right?

  9

  The city skyline twisted, malformed save a pristine section on the northwestern end, near Xava’s lair. The rich and fancy sector of the city, Up Town where all the people with money had been holed up. The Chronic Tonic building was prominent among them, being the tallest building in the city now that the Hero League Headquarters had been vaporized. The mountains beyond overshadowed the urban mass as the last little bits of sunlight peaked over them.

  8

  To the north streaks of tracers, and powers clashing appeared. Billowing clouds of red mist boiling over crumbled buildings. Tiny silhouettes fled in every direction, escaping the roiling wave. It was hard to make out exactly what was going on over there. Some sort of fight, as usual these days.

  7

  My eyes shifted gazing down upon the ravaged and war-torn streets. Vehicles burned, and buildings crumbled as the shuttle made its way toward the Citadel. The looming city in the clouds glistened, the shields ever present, glimmering with energy as they repelled the stray round that hit. However, the Citadel was not idle. The side of it glowed as the many laser cannons charged, according to the varied specs appearing on the visor the power scale was staggering. I have no idea what the graphs mean, but surely a bright red bar that won’t stop going up is bad.

  3

  Where had the other numbers gone? I must have lost track. I looked upon the city, knowing that it was about to be changed, devastated, and that I had a hand in it, I was a part of this. My home luckily up north away from all this madness, secluded. Either way, I was thankful that my parents left days ago. They wouldn’t be involved in any of this. Come to think of it they should have already arrived at their destination in the Bahamas. They should have enough money to not need to work anymore, I suppose it is early retirement.

  I smiled, pleased with myself. I always had wanted to make enough to pay them back for always being there for me, even if I had not appreciated it growing up, and ugh, especially those last few bum-like years. I felt a shiver of shame remembering how lazy and just how awful I had been.

  2

  My mind shifted back to what was present. The familiar sights of the hospital and the hero station that I once called home, faded into the shadow of the cityscape. Most of it remained dark with only some places lighting up. Apartment buildings and some boarded-up homes emitted the telltale signs of nightlife. Muted and hushed lights bleed out through this still section of the city.

  1

  To the north, the boom and vibrations of the battle raged. The glow from the Citadel had grown brighter, the faint glimmer giving way to a scalding cascade.

  0

  My eyes that witnessed the eruption behind us, glazed over, blinded by the brilliant purple outburst. The explosion reverberated, violently shaking the shuttle. Alarms blared as it lost control, veering down towards the ruined streets below, the shockwave hammering through the ship as it spiraled. The panicked cries of the rescued prisoners within rose.

  “Fuck, fuck, shit! I am losing her hold tight it going to get rough!” Vaguely I could hear Medavac cursing.

  The shuttle bucked and I within the giant robot dragged, cracking the pavement, tearing through the street as above us, the Citadel listed, shifting from the impact of the shockwave and the debris that followed. Chunks of buildings rained down, cascading, and impacting all around as the Citadel fired its beams.

  The Chronic Tonic building melted, the top half evaporating as the beam cut through the city, a deep scar slicing through everything that it touched. It shifted up devastation spreading in its wake as it moved up past the city, it bore a hole through the mountain. Punching straight through, it left a massive wound through the rock and stone which the sky beyond was visible.

  The sound returned, most of it having been sucked into the blast. My eyes unglazed as they beheld the ruin, the horror that I was a part of. A wave of thick dust and pieces choked the street behind us, enveloping all that it touched like a tsunami. Beyond, above that the purple hue of a dimension folding in on itself lit up the sky.

  Things began to move properly, and no longer slowed, however, that only made it even more terrifying. The dust and debris, pulled back, a vortex forming from that purple orb that was growing in size by the second. As though time itself had been reversed, the shock wave pulled back, dragging us with it. An event horizon formed with streams of matter compacting as it sucked back. My arms slammed down digging into the pavement for purchase as I forced us down, ripping and tearing, until I hit the sewer’s outer layer. The machine’s metal hands latched on for dear life as the pull grew stronger.

  Buildings to our side broke, fracturing as they were dislodged and pulled back into the abyss. The shuttle creaked and groaned as it kept its engines at full power to help offset the ever-growing suction. The fingers, slipped as the reinforced concrete crumbled. We lifted and dragged back towards the maw of destruction. Civis homes evaporated around them as the pull reached a vibration that could audibly be heard. A whining, piercing noise that shook the very fabric of reality. Objects and people distorting growing into odd and exaggerated proportions. Flesh unwinding, warping horrifically into people spaghetti. Cars, buses, anything and everyone not bolted down was drawn in, kicking, screaming.

  Perhaps my eyes were playing tricks on me, but something shifted. Something was coming out of that vortex of doom. Pillars… no fingers? Long, titanic grasping the sides of the event horizon. They were stretching it, forcing it open, even as the gravity grew stronger, buildings shattering against the hands that had now emerged, they slammed down, clenching, crushing the city below them as they dug into the ground, grasping for purchase.

  Beyond the void, the sphere-like bubble that made up the outer layer I could see something white. My eyes and the suit’s visor straining to see it. A face. Massive. Monolithic. Bone white, hardened, etched, sculpted. Was it some sort of machine or… my brain throbbed, splitting, pain blinding me as Sub was unable to suppress it. I know that face. Memories flashed of the one who changed my life. Her sinister smile spread, my mind searing and screaming from her mere presence.

  Her voice echoed, not through the air but a feedback pulsing through the back of my head. “Where are you running now, Time Skip?”

  My mind reeled catching strays, each word a brutal impact on my brain as I could only perceive some of what was being said. “This will not hold me- Another world… you only delay… prolong… spread… how many more will you sacrifice? Yes. Gather them your pathetic heroes and villains. More. More for me to FEAST UPON!”

  The hands were rippling distorting as they broke and regrew ripping the very fabric of reality open. The blackhole undulated growing unstable as it buckled. Time seemed to stand still as that face pressed to the membrane that rippled, the tension of the liquid-like surface distorting as that monster was about to breach the gap.

  It pulsed and then, with an oddly quiet pop it vanished, along with all that it had touched. An eerie stillness shuddered through the city as the kickback of gravity returned to normal. My mind reeled as that being… no as Mother Empress faded. My mouth oozed yellow and I threw up. My eyes twitched as the migraine pulsed, my brain repairing the damage that her mere presence had caused. The shuttle jolted forward from the sudden lack of tension as it dragged my suit across the pavement before it slowed and hovered above the ground.

  “Holy fuck.” Ranted Medavac, through the opened ramp as those within surveyed the carnage that we had narrowly escaped.

  Retro Robo replied, “It appears to have been a medium sized detonation.”

  “Medium? That?” Light Fly sputtered.

  “Indeed, had it been a large or bigger, the entire city would have been consumed, including the Citadel.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “How much do you think was destroyed?” asked Medavac.

  “Hard to say without a more precise look, but looks like all of Down Town was destroyed.”

  A warm and soothing voice jarred my attention to the holographic face to my side, "Vesper... Vesper. Are you ok? I detected a huge spike in your brain activity. If I am reading this right you have a concussion and brain hemorrhaging. Though it appears to be healing rather quickly, I am deeply concerned, should we cancel the operation?"

  While they chatted, I whispered, “Xava, did you see HER?”

  “See who?”

  “In the vortex.”

  “Vesper… were you hallucinating from the gravity or brain damage? It is understandable even my tech malfunctioned. There were fluctuations, but none of my sensors detected anything, well anything coming out. Due to the close proximity, all of my feeds for that area were corrupted.”

  Was I just imagining it? My head throbbing, told otherwise. Sure enough, when I searched through the suit’s recording, as soon as the explosion went off the video and sound distorted into cacophony and warped images that made no sense.

  ‘Sub that happened right?’

  My other half replied, It certainly did, the feedback nearly popped our brain like a zit.

  ‘You know who that is, don’t you, Sub.’ I accused.

  Sub sighed, I don’t think your brain can handle even knowing who that is, which is why I keep having to cover it up. We need our Vespoidia Cortex before I can even start getting into what that is.

  ‘I know who that is, that is the bitch that turned me into a wasp to begin with. Now tell me, what do you know about her?’

  I wish I could but so long as my memories are suppressed that isn’t happening.

  You are lying.

  Ok fine. A name. That is all that I remember. Mother Empress. Happy?

  That is more of a title isn't it. But hey even I remember that much, what the fuck was she doing in a black hole vortex?

  Well I guess it like her super hero name. Any who, that wasn’t a black hole, you really need to pay attention when people are talking.

  Pretty sure everybody kept saying that it would be a mini black hole. Ok then what the fuck was that?

  If that was a black hole then the whole planet would have caved in and been compressed to a grain of sand. That was a bridge to an alternate dimension or rather reality.

  Well, that is good?' I questioned, I mean the world not getting sandified is good. Though that still left the giant monster wasp woman in the room. 'How was she there though? I thought she was skulking around here somewhere.'

  I don’t know I am not some time-space scientist. We should probably ask Dr. Tesla he is the dimension pocket guy after all.

  Huh, then why are you spouting off like an expert on the matter? Fine, I will leave it be for now, we have enough on our plate as is.

  My head started to clear as the brain damage was repaired, the first thing I should have asked came to mind. “Xava, everything ok in the Lair?”

  There was a short delay before the visor filled with text. “Yes, the Lair was not hit by the Citadel, however the earthquake from the explosion did cause most of the outer perimeter sensors to be disrupted, they should be back up shortly.”

  “That is good, how is everyone doing?”

  “Glitter Kitten and the other hosts are all in optimal health.”

  “Dr. Arbor and my children?”

  “Nothing of note, though it seems some of the grubs are agitated by the vibrations.”

  “Sounds like I need to get done with this so that I can cuddle them soon.”

  Xava’s amused voice responded, “Oh always so doting and loving. I could use some snuggles too when you get home.”

  “I doubt it will stop at snuggles.”

  “Likely not.” She replied mischievously.

  “Naughty. Looking forward to it.”

  “Feel free to speak by the way, your voice will be filtered to sound like the Morning Star.” She replied.

  “Oh really now?”

  “Yes though try no to speak too much or you will give yourself away.”

  “I will keep that in mind.”

  I shifted observing the crackling crater. The city just got a whole lot smaller. The gaping hole was comparable to the hammer strike. Though it went deeper, boring into the earth. Gazing upon it I realized that the majority of the blast had been absorbed by the ground and what had emerged above was perhaps a third of the force. Waterfalls of glowing sewage plummeted on the opposite side from us, the honeycomb of tunnels gushing like exposed arteries of the dying city.

  The city had grown eerily quiet, the raging fight to the north stifled and strangled, leaving a choking tension that was palpable. The only sounds that I could hear were the panic cries of both sides retreating.

  “Everyone good?” Asked Medavac doing a final check of the varied survivors huddled within his ship.

  His increasingly familiar grizzled features almost comforting as my brain kept getting errant twitches and mashing together memories as it repaired itself. Thinking on it, he was one of the only guys nice to me in the league. I think I will avoid killing him, as for the others… well… no promises.

  “You guys can get it out right?” angrily asked an unfamiliar voice.

  I turned to find a frost-encrusted Kraken soldier holding the thin and somewhat lanky body of Retro up by her neck, the synthetic woman wasn’t particularly in any real danger though the heroes certainly didn’t know that. Ice crystals jaggedly jutting out from the sides of the domed helmet. More people that I had not seen before were attempting to restrain the ice-clad super. Some shady-looking detective and Armadillo… wait a minute. Armadillo was over there. Sure enough, the one there distorted for a brief moment, it was so fast that a normal person would have missed it and I doubt most supers would have seen the transitional form, maybe only a fraction of a second as its shape shifted, but I saw it, I saw its real form.

  It seemed to fade out of existence into some sort of uncanny valley silhouette without a face, all of its proportions were… wrong to say the least. It gave me the creeps. Everything about it changed as it became something, no, someone else. From looks to, sounds, to mannerisms, everything except its smell. That stench remained. What even was that smell? It was sharp, clean… sickly sweet? I feel like I had smelled it before somewhere but couldn’t place a claw on as to where.

  I shifted, looming over the struggling and squabbing heroes. Medavac, goop person, and even Armadillo joined in pulling off the irate Kraken Operative. The Evening Star imposing my presence over them, to defend my supposed pilot. My hand descended entering the fray as they fought, grasping the supposed hero. The mechanical fingers gripping the Kraken defector as one would a toy to break. I restrained myself keeping it to a mere a oppressive grasp rather than a bone breaking, body snapping squeeze. Even though it would be so… easy.

  I stared at that green liquid figure as it undulated and borderline strangled the struggling ice-armored soldier in my hand. Oddly every time that thing moved it made me twitch a little. Hmm might be from getting run through, damned thing lit my guts up before it escape. Behind the thick glass, my eyes narrowed into a death glare. If I was more maiden-like I would have felt utterly violated by having some person? Thing? Oooze through me. Although… I suppose it did kinda feel good, but a bit of a warning would be nice. I shifted, trying to scratch my chin, but failing due to how oddly shaped the suit was. Noticing this I quickly returned to a neutral position.

  “Enough Mystral, you are lucky that we found you in there.” Said the older trench coat guy.

  “Luck? Thanks to me, you and Encore were able to do your jailbreak. Now get this fucking thing out of me before I explode!” the apparent Hero yelled back.

  Retro Robo replied, “Getting the device out will be easy enough, so relax a bit, anybody with surgical experience can do that, that being said I work on machines, not people. Lucky for you preventing it from exploding is the hard part. So long as you stay in range I can continue suppressing the detonation signal.”

  “Well then for all of our sake, you better stick close to me.” Replied the frost-encrusted Kraken-geared soldier.

  Armadillo reassured the icy individual, “Once we get into the Citadel you should be fine, all unauthorized signals are blocked.”

  “He’s right, thanks to that I can’t remotely control my Evening Star while in the citadel.” Replied with a bit of a pout Retro.

  Mystral gave a glacial nod in response, “Lets get a move on, I have had enough of this get up and Nitro’s twisted games.”

  Now that the ice woman had gotten her cool back, my hand released her as I returned to a neutral position, acting as the obedient and well programmed mecha that I was playing the role of.

  Medavac circled the ship, “We can leave shortly it looks like my ship took no significant damage.”

  Retro put her hands on her hips, “Maybe not to your ship but my precious Evening Star got all beat up keeping us in one peace.”

  Armadillo shifted looking up at the citadel as it loomed nearby. “After today’s mission we should have some breathing room so I am sure you will be able to do the repairs that you need to.”

  “I better, I can’t fight without my Evening Star.”

  “Ok, ok I will make sure you get some time off for repairs.” Armadillo gave her a reassuring pat as he passed, boarding the shuttle.

  I observed, vaguely missing that team stuff, fond memories surfacing of the Juniors, of Chief, of Sunshine. My fists clenched. Sunshine would scold me if she saw what I have done… what I have become. The metal fists ground together as I squashed those thoughts, it didn’t matter now, she was gone. I do what needs to be done for my family, and my love. Even if it means becoming enemies with everyone. So long as Xava and my children are safe, I don’t care about anything else.

  The rest followed as the back ramp sealed shut. The engine revved as it hovered, shifting over above me. The loading clamps locked into place around the shoulders of the mech, lifting off of the ground as the shuttle ascended through the cloud of debris that had formed a ring around the Citadel’s underside.

  “Now then, to reiterate.” Rang Xava’s voice in my antennae. “Once you have entered the shield it will block my signals and I will not be able to directly communicate with you. I have uploaded all of the schematics here in the Evening Star, a map of the Citadel, as well as step by step instructions on how and where to disable the signal blocker, the shields, and if need be security codes for the maintenance accesses. That being said, this is more of a contingency. Overseer will be in charge hacking and bringing the shields down.”

  To her words the semi-familiar diagrams appeared, they were the same as when she had originally shown me earlier today. My eyes scanned over them, taking them in once more. It was very handy that most things were labeled. The security codes were a garbled mess of random letters and numbers… yeah nobody renumbers that, it must be something that gets reset periodically, and the maintenance crews are given the code.

  “How old is that code?” I asked.

  “I obtained it earlier today.”

  “How often are they reset?”

  “Once a week, Sunday evening.”

  My eyes shifted to the top right corner of the screen, it was Tuesday at 8:35 P.M.

  “Seems doable. Just gotta pull a few switches and press a few buttons.”

  “Indeed my love, knowing where the vulnerabilities are always makes it easy. Now remember act like a machine. You remember how Overseer talks.”

  I wasn’t sure if I could do that properly. “I will try but you guys usually use a lot of lingo I don’t know. Can’t I just be a sassy AI?”

  “Just in moderation, the less attention you get the better, unless of course Overseer needs you to distract them.”

  “So just do what Overseer says?”

  “Yes it knows the plan in and out, assuming there are no discrepancies, you won’t even need to use any of these resources, however, I always over prepare just in case.”

  “Mmmhm and that is part of why I love you. Well then I guess I need to vacate the squatters in our new home.” I smiled teasingly.

  “A wonderful way to put it.” Xava’s digital face leaned in and gave me a smooch. “I love you, stay safe.”

  “Love you too, I will.”

  As the shuttle approached the shield all the signals were jammed. Xava’s face distorted and was replaced with the sassy afro-ed AI that piloted the Evening Star. Or rather Overseer, it seemed to be having fun, role-playing. The head bobbed in time with some ancient disco music. The golden looped earring swaying with every movement. Wait a minute I know that song.

  Trumpets rose and crescendo, funk oozed out of the speakers as the smiling disco lady clapped. “Young man! There is no need to feel down, I said pick yourself off the ground. It is fun to stay in the H L A! The Hero League of America today! We got all that you could ever need. So don’t be shy come on up and I will meet you in the sky. Welcome to the H L A! What a wonderful place to stay!”

  Well, I guess there are worse soundtracks to die too if things go sideways.