A group of African native warriors crept through the bush, brandishing weapons. They ducked out of sight as an ATV raced by with men wearing strange uniforms. Using only hand signals and facial expressions, they moved quickly, catching no one’s eye.
Soon, they approached a large gathering of women, children, and a few elderly who were sitting together in a large, open part of the grassland. They seemed to be in a trance, with a smile as they all looked toward an empty stone throne. Men in garb that seemed to be partially religious and partially military walked around them carrying weapons.
One man gave the others a signal, and they ducked down, hiding in the taller grasses. He slunk through, avoiding being seen by the guards. He raced toward a large opening in their defenses and tried to get to a woman on the outside. However, one guard saw him and shot his weapon at him. He was able to avoid being struck.
Those hiding in the bush opened fire as well. The large, gathered captives dove to the ground with screaming and yelling while the two forces exchanged fire. One guard went down, but they had far more numbers than the men coming in to attack.
“STOP!” the man who came in first yelled in Swahili and his eyes beamed a red color.
The guards trained their weapons on him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m here to take our people home. Your leader is no god and I’ll not let you kidnap our people into this cult. I’m just as powerful as him, and I’ll destroy you if I have to.”
“Don’t be foolish, kid. You are nothing like Lord Antaeus!” one guard yelled.
The boy took in a deep breath and just as he released his breath and the energy from his eyes, his body sunk halfway into the ground, causing his blast to be diverted upward. The earth also trapped his companions.
The ground rumbled, and the guards bowed low. The women and children began to praise and sing as they knew who was coming. A figure rose out of the ground and stood taller than any person here. He was a muscular person with a body that seemed to be made of stone. His features were not that of an African, but more European.
“Who dares to challenge my divinity?” He called out.
The lead guard bowed low. “This whelp did so, your lordship. He has powers and pretends to be a god, like you.”
The young man yelled, “I do not pretend to be a god! I am a super human. I am...”
“SILENCE! I am Antaeus, Son of the Earth, lord of stone. A mere mortal will not challenge me. Are you alone? Do these other warriors you brought also brandish these powers?”
The boy sneered at him. “I’m the only one with powers. And I will be glad to show you what I can do with them.”
“I will not play your game. To your companions, I make the offer, worship me or die. To you, I make no offer. Mark, do you duty.”
The leader of the guards said, “At once.” He pulled out an old Anti-Morphon gun and used it to vaporize this poor kid. The others trembled at the sight of his death and the power of this man before them.
Antaeus declared, “I will suffer no interlopers who pretend to be gods. Let that be known. Now, BOW!” He commanded and all the gathered captives bowed toward him.
***
Krystal Fae and her husband, Alex, sat in Nova’s office on the station. Nova had not arrived yet, and both were silently waiting.
“Kinda feels like I was called to the principal’s office.” Alex said.
“Not something I’ve experienced before, but I suppose you're right.”
Alex frowned. “You never got called to the principal’s office?”
“Where I come from, we don’t have the same school system as Earth. So, no.”
“Right.” Alex asked, “What do you think he wants with us?”
“No idea. He said it had to be kept secret. That’s all I got from him.”
The door opened, and Nova walked in while looking over a tablet. “Oh, good, you’re here.”
“Still busy with all the new recruits?” Krystal asked.
“Just finished with the initial assessments. So many fresh faces. I’m going to have to get more instructors to teach at the rate this is growing. Not since the first wave of morphons came to Earth have I see so many meta-humans at once.”
Alex asked, “Is this bad?”
“Not bad or good, just... odd. I suspect there is something behind it, but we can’t figure it out. It might be some effect from the magic cloud that Lady Echidna covered the Earth with just before she perished. It might have something to do with all the temporal anomalies from Drocha’s messing with time... I just don’t know. Our best minds can’t figure it out.”
Krystal said, “With all these new people with powers, I worry that someone will realize they have powers and want to use them for evil purposes.”
Nova said, “My concern exactly. I have all the leagues on alert to be even more mindful of unusual morphon activity. So far, it seems to be normal out there. But all it takes is one.”
Alex asked, “Is that why you asked us here? To help keep an eye out for potential super-villains?”
“No. Actually, I need your help to investigate those Renn Tech spheres.”
Krystal said, “But I thought we determined they were just some cell phone tech. They haven’t really done anything bad.”
“I know. And I want that to be all there is to it. But, there is a part of me that can’t let this go at that. Anyone willing to put the kind of technology into something that can hide from all our best sensors has to have a reason deeper than just keeping it out of competition’s hands.”
“That could still be true.” Alex said. “Tech companies, especially trendy ones, are always working to be ahead of their competitors.”
“I know. And, if that’s the case, then I wish them well in their friendly market war. But I have to be sure.”
“Where do we come in on this?” Krystal asked.
Nova shuffled through papers and tablets on his desk and pulled out a file. He held it out to them. “This is all we know about the Renn Tech spheres, Renn Tech itself, and about Dr. Chorad. I want you to use your investigative skills out there to sniff around, see what you can find. Look at a few more of those spheres and the area they are in. See if anything is out of place, or abnormal enough to be worthy of note. Good or bad.”
Krystal looked at the file with Alex. She asked, “Why us? You have dozens of agents at your disposal. Chase is a skilled investigator.”
“And too well known as a member of BADGE’s inner circle. You, Krystal, are a well-known journalist. Alex, you are not a well-know BADGE agent, so you are not on most people’s radar. Together, you can work as a team to look into this without it looking like BADGE is getting nosy.”
“I know Renn Tech made it clear they didn’t want us poking into their stuff, and we don’t have any legal reason to bypass their privacy, since they’ve done nothing wrong.”
Nova let out a long, annoyed sigh. “You see where I am at right now. I hate public relations. I would rather fight a leviathan with just my fists than have to tip-toe around PR nonsense. But, we need a good image with the public if we are to help protect that public. If we engage in unauthorized actions, it will once again damage our reputation. So, you two are going to quietly do this and if you are caught looking too close, …“
Krystal laughed. “I can blame the paper. Journalists are always sticking their noses where they don’t belong. The public expects that.”
“I’m glad we are on the same page.”
Alex asked, “Where do you want us to start?”
Nova held up his hands. “This is your investigation. You decide where the best place to start, where to go and what to look for. I want deniability on my part for your actions.”
“Understandable. We will let you know what you need to know. Otherwise, we will keep BADGE out of this.”
“Very good. Now, magic yourself down to the planet quietly and get to work.”
“On it.”
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