Standing on a rooftop, Furious Squirrel used both of his steampunk laser pistols to shoot at the augment flying through downtown Detroit.
“On your right!” A voice came through Furious’s earpiece.
Taking a flying leap off of the Cobo Center rooftop, Furious was grabbed by Captain Ultra as he flew low. “I can hit him, but it doesn’t do much good!”
Captain Ultra said, “don’t stop! Try to annoy him.”
Furious shot at the augment with abandon, hitting him as many times as he could.
“He’s gonna get to the plane before the governor can get away!” Furious yelled.
Suddenly, the augment they were chasing bounced off a large, invisible barrier near the airport. He flew back, crashing into trees and skidding across the ground.
Furious and Captain Ultra landed near the fallen augment. Rysh appeared near them, a smile on his face. “Thought that barrier would do the trick.”
Bartman skateboarded over to them and pointed at the sky. “She’s in the air.” A jumbo jet took off.
“Good, now we...” Furious stopped and looked at the ground near them. “The crystals?”
They looked over as a patch of freshly grown crystals slowly evaporated into dust, the power in them flowing into the augment.
“This can’t be good.” Bartman said.
The eyes of the augment flew open, and he screamed. A wave of power blasted out and threw all four heroes away. Launching off the ground at supersonic speeds, the augment hit the plane and bisected it in one slice. The fuselage broke in half and both parts fell to the earth, a trailing black smoke following them.
Furious sat up, gathering his wits. The explosion of the plane hitting the ground shook him even at this distance. “What just happened?”
Captain Ultra stood up and brushed himself off. “We failed, that’s what happened. Come on, we have to find that augment before he kills again. MOVE!”
Furious pressed his comm unit, “BADGE, something crazy just happened.”
***
A little smile plays on the lips of Delta as he watches his glorious augments murder. The news from all corners of the planet provided him a wonderful display. In a strange moment for him, he let out a laugh when one of his augments punched a BADGE hero right through a mountain.
Flicking off the mute button, he listened to a report from England. “The royal family has all been killed. Only the Duchess remains and she is being protected by twenty of BADGES finest. This is a dark day for the United Kingdom as it is for many, many other nations. In better news, we are receiving reports that some of the augmented heroes from the World Corps are showing erratic actions and are struggling to keep fighting. For whatever reason these people are acting strange, it is unclear. However, this presents a tactical shift that might help bring this war of heroes to a close. We turn...”
A red light blinked on the wall and Delta clicked off the monitors. He strolled out of the room, stepped over the bodies of the mercs he killed in the hallways, and headed for the landing platform. He stepped out and found three augments waiting for him. They twitched, groaned, and had crackling energy crawling over their bodies.
“Ah, my children have returned. Good.”
The woman looked at him with fear in her eyes. “What...have I...become...”
The man next to her grabbed his face. “I...I was in a car...then...I don’t remember. What is happening to me?”
Delta stood in front of them again. “You are what you were meant to be all along. My source of power. Come, I shall end your pain.”
Holding out his arms, the energy in their bodies turned to a find mist. They screeched and screamed in agony, but it fell on deaf ears. Gathering this energy in front of him, he held it aloft between his hands. Once the last ounce was extracted, all three fell dead at his feet.
“So...it begins.”
***
Nova, Nova, and Chase listened to Furious Squirrel give his report about the augment absorbing the crystals.
“Thanks. Keep fighting the augments.” Director Nova said, “we’ve received a dozen reports in the past few hours of this. They gain power, but then lose control. Keep them occupied. We need these assassinations minimized.”
“Will do. Furious out.”
Chase asked, “why are the augments absorbing the energy from the newly grown crystals?”
Director Nova said, “Osteen said that the augments absorbed morphonic energy, and we learned the crystals are created by morphons, so it makes some sense. Why they are surging in power and then losing control is still unclear.”
General Nova said, “Osteen also said that the augments were just a part of Delta’s plan to craft this neutral core. What if...what if...” He walked over to the computer and began working.
“What if...what?” Chase asked.
“Give me a sec. Damn...this is bad.”
Director Nova came over and looked at the screen. “You’re doing a morphon level scan?”
“Yes, and it shows the particles per million in the atmosphere have dropped by ninety-five percent.”
“What does that mean?” Chase asked.
Director Nova pressed his comm, “Doctor Henderson, activate your screen.”
A small window on the main monitor opened up with her. “Yes? We have little to report yet, Osteen...”
“THAT’S DOCTOR OSTEEN!” he yelled from off camera.
“Fine, Doctor Osteen is just beginning.”
“That’s not what I have to ask you. I’m sending you some current scan data and information. What do you think?”
She looked down at another screen, her brow furrowing. “Morphons down ninety-five percent...the crystals, wait the crystals are absorbing high quantities of the morphons from the atmosphere.”
“Doctor, something about this is affecting the augments, and I want to know why.”
“Lemme see.” Osteen nearly shoved her out of the way. “Oh, crappola! Yup, this is part of my work. The crystals were formed by corrupted morphon energy dispersion. The fast-growing crystals were all made of corrupt morphons. Too unstable for human bodies, but totally safe to make fast growing crystals.”
“Good to know.” Nova said. “Why is it causing the augments to act strange?”
Both doctors looked over the data. Henderson reported, “it seems their bodies are absorbing only the fast growing crystal energy. It’s overwhelming their system. Too much power.”
“Oh, monkey spit!” Osteen blurted out. “I see it now! The augments are batteries. Delta is using them to absorb the energy. Morphons act differently when they come in contact with a living conduit. Just sucking them out of the air won’t make them useful, but gathering them and then forcing them into the augments is like feeding grass to a cow, you get milk. He’s milking them. But this process would kill them.”
“Why is he taking this energy?” The General asked.
“Dunno. Most likely to make his neutral core. He’s either gonna make another augment and turn it into some kind of super-super being, or...I don’t know. But if we are at this stage, he’s getting really close to completion.”
“We’re running out of time. Osteen, Henderson, work fast.”
“On it.” He gave a bad salute and shut off the signal before she could answer.
“Please let me punch that jerk when this is all over.” Chase muttered.
“Gar, I need you...” Nova turned to the oddly silent man standing behind them.
Gar was frozen as though he had reverted to a statue again. General Nova walked over and touched his arm. “Gar...”
Gar’s body flickered. He looked at General Nova. “General, good. I need to tell...it is...time is...broken. Drochah...Drochah...across time...mecha army too powerful.” Gar stopped moving for a second and this his body returned to normal. He looked around, “what, why are you looking at me like that?”
0 Comments