Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Heroes Rising Fiction: Dea Ex Machina Part 16

Nova swayed gently with a baby sleeping in his arms. His private secret quarters flashed and flickered with the images running across his computer screens. Not unlike Drocha, he too had a dozen screens displaying the carnage in the world. Sirens screamed, local and national militaries organized to evacuate civilians, and heroes fought to the death against the growing menace of the Legion clones.

The door of his room opened and closed. Dr. Henderson walked in with a computer tablet in one hand. She stopped and stood next to him, taking in the horrific sights.

“I have to admit, you’re taking this calmly.” She said.

Nova turned and walked away from the screens, still rocking the baby. “Trust me, doctor, I feel it all. I learned a long time ago to focus myself, to seek the path through the storm. If I let myself get lost in the grief and horror of the moment, then the enemy wins.”

She held out the tablet. “From Gar, a report on all of... this.” She gestured to the screens.

He took it with one hand and looked it over. “This is getting worse by the moment.”

“If I read that correctly,” Dr. Henderson said, “the clones are all steadily getting stronger. And they spiked this morning, jumping to incredible strength.”

Nova flicked through the tablet with his thumb. “We aren’t capturing them any longer; Leagues and Rangers are simply containing them as best as they can. We’ve lost two dozen heroes already, and four hundred citizens.”

“What do we do?” She asked.

Nova said, “Find Drocha and his control center before that ship arrives. Stop him and figure out how to shut down the wormhole before it completely opens.”

She asked, “Can’t we close the wormhole without having to find Drocha?”

“We have a quantum wave generator that could be fine-tuned to try, but wormholes are dangerous at the best of times. Few spacefaring civilizations ever found a way to control them for travel. One slight miscalculation and it rips apart this entire solar system. The risk is too great. Even Strange Quark, who understands these things better than anyone I know, won’t touch it without getting into Drocha’s computers first.”

“That’s bad. We...” Dr. Henderson’s comm unit beeped at her. She pulled it out of her lab coat and clicked it on. “Henderson here.”

One of her assistants said, “Doctor, it’s Gamer G. He wants to speak with Nova. Say’s it’s urgent.”

Nova put the baby in the crib and then took the comm unit from Dr. Henderson. “This is Nova, put him on.”

“Oh, uh, yes, sir.”

Gamer G’s voice came through clearly. “I don’t want to talk to the doctor; I need to talk to Nova.”

“This is Nova.”

“Oh, good. Hey, I just had this incredible spike in my energy readings I’ve been monitoring using the tech Drocha left me.”

“We know. We saw it too.” Nova was slightly frustrated by this seemingly unimportant discovery.

“Well, then you know it lit up something like a firework.”

Nova frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Look, I’ve been studying the signals that your people followed that led to me. The signals are now dead, like totally dormant. But, when that spike happened, there was a suddenly flair, and it stuck around in one location for a full thirty-four point two seconds.”

“And?” Nova asked.

“This kind of signal can only be made by a Legion computer; I should know. And for almost half a minute, I was seeing a legion computer lit up hot. If there is any place to look for Drocha, it’s where there’s a random Legion computer.”

Nova had a refreshed look of determination in his eyes. “Send me those coordinates. Also, work with Gar and use every available scanner on this station and planet to scan that location.”

“Can do. Agent Gamer out.”

“You’re not an agent.” Nova said and turned off his comm.

Dr. Henderson said, “You have to admit, he’s being helpful.”

“He trapped us all in a simulation that nearly murdered eight billion people.” Nova commented.

“Point made.”

Nova punched in his comm channel and connected with Justin. “Justin, are you there?”

Justin appeared on the screen, looking down at his watch. “Director?”

“I am sending you coordinates. Check them out right away. We have a lead.” Nova sent along the coordinates that Gamer gave him.

Justin frowned as he looked at them. “Sir, this can’t be anything of value. We checked that place thoroughly. Not to mention we have a BADGE unit stationed there to monitor the rubble.”

Nova looked at the map after plugging in the coordinates. It was then he realized where this was. “Renn Tech HQ?”

EB jumped up, grabbed Justin’s arm, and yanked it down so he could look at the screen. “Ugh, not there again. I don’t think there’s a piece of rubble we haven’t turned over. No one is there, cept maybe some rats and bugs that got in. Plus, it smells funny.”

“Just go. We’re running out of time, and this is finally new information.”

Justin pulled his arm away from EB and said, “On our way.”

The screen shut off.

Dr. Henderson said, “Could this be a false alarm? That was Drocha’s place before it was destroyed.”

“If there had been even a microscopic piece of Legion tech there when we scoured that place, we would have found it. Something set off the sensors as Legion tech, and I want to know what it was. This has to mean something.”

***


Chaotic winds and ice crashed around the heart of Africa as dozens of heroes attempted to contain the icy form of Adrianne. A blast of intense cold struck hero after hero and sent them crashing to the ground frozen.

Santa swooped in and jumped from his sleigh, landing in the middle of the battle. “RETREAT! GET OUT OF HERE!” he screamed with a magical roar. His hands filled with power as he rushed toward her.

“YOU HEARD HIM, MOVE!” Trailblazer yelled, leading the retreat away from the fray. Heroes stopped to gather their frozen comrades, while others simply ran.

Santa sent blasts of fiery energy at Adrianne. “I’ve taken down a dozen Legion monsters like you!” he threatened her.

She screamed, “I will freeze this world... I....” Struck by a blast of his magic, she staggered back and then looked up with different eyes. “Stop me! Please!” She begged and then threw another blast of cold at him.

Santa balled up a bundle of his magical power and threw it at her. She deflected it and then sent a series of ice spikes back at him. He cast a barrier that shattered the spikes.

“I WILL END YOU!” Adrianne rose into the air, the gales turning into a hurricane and her hands readying a powerful energy.

Santa was ready with his own response when suddenly a hero bounded through the air and crashed into her, plowing her into the ground. They tumbled across the frozen wasteland until coming to as top. Arx was on top of her, pinning her down.

“Release me!” She screamed.

Arx pulled her to her feet, standing with her arms pinned to her sides by his grip. She was powerful but not as physically strong as him. His hands were frosting over where he held her, the pain in him obvious by the look in his eyes. "I will never leave you."

She cried, a weeping wail of mixed sorrow and fury, two minds fighting for control. "Please! Don't make me kill you!" 

"I will die in your arms." He pulled her close and kissed her with passion. She struggled at first, but then folded into him, returning the passionate kiss. The storms slowed down as the sky cleared up.

Parting from her, Arx said, “Come back to me. Please. I will save you.”

She jerked and groaned, “I... I can’t control it. It hurts so much. Leave me before I kill you. Please.”

“I would rather die here than watch you be taken from me again.”

Smiling at him, she said, “I love you.” Her pain seemed to lessen; her struggling weakened.

Santa approached slowly. “Adrianne... are you with us?”

She looked Arx in the eyes with a loving gaze and then grimaced in agony. “The power... in me... it’s burning... the world is... in danger.”

The skies turned dark, but it was no ice storm. Stars and the moon appeared as something blocked the sun. A strange celestial cloud expanded far above the atmosphere of the planet.

Santa looked up, and his rosy cheeks turned white. “Oh God.... it’s here.”

With an ear-splitting scream, Adrianne’s body emanated a blue aura, and her eyes were blindingly bright lights. Arx struggled to hold her. A thick fog of freezing air poured from her body and spread across the ground, what was icy earth became tundra. A blistering, cold world spread fast and far. Arx's arms had ice growing up toward his torso, his morphonic resistance slowly failing as she locked the world in pure ice.

“ARX! LEAVE HER! SHE’LL FREEZE YOU TO DEATH!”

Arx held her closer. “GO! SAVE YOURSELF! I WON’T LET HER DIE ALONE!”

“Damnit!” Santa ran as he rubbed the side of his nose. With a perfectly executed jump, his sleigh met him and sped away from the frozen Arctic Africa. He looked back to see Arx once again embracing Adrianne, their bodies connected, their faces frozen in a kiss. 

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