“Now, where are those civilians hiding?” Arx looked around, completely ignoring the many magical heroes flying toward him.
Krystal Fae and Aphrael flew side by side, dozens of heroes behind them. Krystal pointed to the side, and Aphrael nodded. They split, dividing the heroes and going for a pincer attack. Arx seemed to either not notice or not care as he hovered, examining the streets below. Just when they were almost on him, he looked up with that gleaming smile of his.
“Nice try.” He clapped his hands together and then threw them out. A vortex of twisting winds spun around so hard that several billboards were instantly ripped from their stations and tossed into the gale. The magical heroes struggled against this attack as Arx casually left them in the tornado.
He flew fast toward four school buses being escorted by heroes. “Aw, don’t take my audience away.” Swooping down, he ripped the tops off of two buses and threw the tattered yellow metal at the heroes. However, when he turned to bask in the fear of the civilians, he found empty seats. “What the H…”
A giant fist nailed him, and he smashed into a street. Midgard reached up, balled both fists together and came down with a hard crash. Arx was smashed deep into the pavement, a crater forming that threatened the foundation of several nearby buildings.
“TAKE THAT YOU POMPOUS ASS!” Midgard bellowed, his hands still holding Arx down in what was hopefully his grave.
Hotwings came flying over and laughed, “I knew he couldn’t resist scaring civilians.”
The hero, Chains, rushed over with his wife, Whips. “Got em?”
Midgard laughed, “NOTHING BUT A SILVER SPLATTER UNDER…” Midgard lurched forward, a strange look of surprise on his face.
All the heroes gasped and stepped back. Suddenly, Midgard’s fists lifted against his will, and then he was yanked forward. Arx, holding Midgard, met the massive serpent with a fist to the jaw, and then belched out an incredible torrent of flames that sent the World Serpent crashing backward.
The heroes were so stunned by this that it took them a moment to realize the battle was far from over. Arx, more insane than ever, screamed and wave after wave of psionic energy exploded, sending all the heroes crashing into buildings, the street, and through windows.
Midgard pushed himself up just in time for Arx to push his hands forward and cause their school buses to shatter. Their little decoy turned into a cloud of mechanical parts. This formed into giant cuffs that wrapped around Midgard’s neck, arms, and tail. It forced him to the ground, held in place by this newly crafted restraint.
Arx rose into the air, his body glowing, his face contorted into a ferocious snarl. “We were just playing before! Now, it’s time…” A multicolored magical blast hit Arx, and it threw him clear out of the city.
Aphrael landed with Krystal Fae and several other magical heroes. Krystal said, “excellent shot.”
Midgard roared as he tore the restraints away. “WHERE’S THAT PIECE OF CRAP!?”
Aphrael said, “with any luck, sinking into the Pacific. That was one hell of a blast we just hit him with.”
Krystal pulled out her comm. “BADGE... BADGE come in…” she looked to the others, “that’s odd. I’m not getting a signal.”
“WATCH OUT!” Hotwings sped by.
Suddenly, bodies of Navy sailors rained down, all dead. A series of shadows that fell over them followed this. All looked up to see a fleet of powerful US Navy ships flying in the air. A battlecruiser suddenly fell, heading right for them. Midgard caught it and spent a moment struggling with it so that it didn’t fall and crush several city blocks. With a massive grunt, he lobbed it back into the air. It flew for a moment and then stopped and rejoined the fleet.
Arx appeared, hovering in the middle of this armada. Energy crawled all over his body and then flickered over the metal hulls of the ships. “ENOUGH PLAYTIME, HEROES! IF THIS CITY DOESN’T WANT ME, THEN THIS CITY WILL FALL. AND YOU, SECOND RATE HACKS, WILL FALL WITH IT!” He thrust a hand forward and an aircraft carrier hit the ground and plowed three blocks down Santa Monica Boulevard.
The heroes scrambled to stop him and the ships he was throwing at the city.
Krystal stopped Furious Squirrel. “Can you get BADGE? My comm isn’t working.”
Furious checked his special tech. “The signal is working, BADGE just isn’t responding. Weird.”
“I guess we’re on our own, I...what?”
Furious showed her his sensors. “I’m detecting nuclear activation.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
Furious looked at his sensors and then pointed at one of the Navy ships. “The nuclear weapons on that ship have been activated, and since the sailors on those ships are no longer alive, my guess is that…”
Krystal finished the thought. “Arx is truly going to raze Southern California.”
***
The screens at BADGE were nothing but static fuzz. Nova tapped his comm device and looked back at the robots. “What is going on? Why have we lost signal?”
There was a dead silence from the robots.
“Unit 100232...10915?” he tapped the side of a robot and it flopped forward, inactive. “Complete shutdown, but I didn’t authorize that. Damn, this is no time for our systems to crash.” He shoved the robot up and pressed the comm button, but it merely buzzed at him. “Soldier, come over here, I need assistance.”
The soldiers in the room were completely still.
Nova slowly stood up from the console and took a step back. He quietly assessed the men around him and then turned to those fuzz filled screens, his back to the soldiers. “So… this isn’t a simple computer malfunction.”
The soldiers lifted their guns.
Nova held the tiniest of smiles on the corner of his mouth. “Trust me, you don’t want to do that.”
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