Origins, page 14
“The flower species known as Dassranians, are a hybrid race, half Creator and half Destroyer, who create these amazing life forces resembling flowers that breathe to replenish a planet’s atmosphere. But, they also have the power to wipe out every living thing, so it was deemed best to keep them away from other species. Thus, they were sent to flourish on a world of their own.”
“Can we find these creatures and contain them? These Seni whatever’s and flower people?” General Hoskins demanded.
Fuck if it ain’t one thing and not the other! He cursed to himself.
“I doubt that. If they have not been clearly seen, then they must have learned to adapt to the environment here on Earth.”
“So, now what?” The Prime Minister of Russia asked, directing his question to the scientists. They were all discussing something in low voices amongst themselves so no one else could hear.
Professor Pretchov leaned forward.
“I believe it is imperative that we not only raise the timeline of our recruitment, but get every weapons specialist on board to create new ones capable of proving that monster wrong.”
“But first,” Professor Makoto interjected, “a press conference. We should alert the world now that it has come to this. Put the rumor mills to rest.” He turned to the Karysilans. “Agreed?”
The aliens responded with nods. In addition, Sspark snorted in disgust. The League officers turned and headed back into the convoy. They surely had a plan of their own to devise.
CHILDREN OF WAR
Janti tapped his study booklet on the desk in a steady rhythm while he stared out into nothingness. He had long tuned out the scenery before him and relished the calm. Class was over but many of the students stayed to socialize until the next bell. He was bored as usual with the curriculum, his I.Q. off the charts even for an advanced human. What went through his mind now was the sorry excuse for a press conference everyone had to watch regarding the impending alien war.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tommy walk down the hallway to class located in a room across the way. Tommy may not be as smart as him, but he was just as powerful because Janti could feel it oozing off him. His own testing was coming along nicely since, unlike Tommy, he had no qualms about letting everyone know how much energy he could push out. He had met a few other Bi-Genetics who were not part of the facility but held captive by their government for ‘observation’. A frown creased his brow thinking about the way they were treated. It was worse than animals. Being tested along with other children in the facility for the sole purpose of finding bioweapons was no surprise. One thing was certain; General Hoskins was a hateful prick and Professor Lancaster was not to be trusted, making him overly protective of Tommy.
“Hey, Janti!” A classmate called from across the room.
“Yeah?” He blinked, focusing on his surroundings. “They say Professor Lancaster is coming for another visit. He’s going to give us a pep talk on what the war means for,” he put up his fingers and made quotation marks in the air, “all of us.”
“Right,” Janti grunted.
“Are you going?”
“What?”
“To the auditorium to hear what he has to say?”
“Hell no!”
“Well,” the classmate shrugged. “Suit yourself. Class is cancelled for the rest of the day because of it. See ya’.”
As the class headed out for the event, Janti stood and decided to grab Tommy when he came out of his classroom. It was time for a serious talk. No more stupid destructive arguments they both regretted afterwards. They were soul mates and could not be without each other no matter how they felt. Not knowing the outcome of humans, he was not going to waste any more time.
Willing to comply, albeit furious, Professor Makoto watched as the electrodes were attached to Hana’s flawless skin. The poor thing looked nervous and scared but put on a brave face for him when they made eye contact. General Takayama stood next to him outside the viewing room with a gleam in his eyes Professor Makoto did not like. He felt his authority was being slowly taken away as the years progressed with more stressing issues coming to light.
“I’m sure you understand, we have to assess every Bi-Genetic with even the remote of talents to cover our bases,” the General stated.
“Of course,” the Professor replied, not severing his gaze from Hana who smiled softly at him. “We must do what is best for humanity.”
“I’m glad you concur.” The General tapped on the glass and the lead tester nodded.
The technician stood in front of Hana, blocking his view to check the electrodes and make sure the data registered on the equipment. Satisfied, he stepped back and went to his terminal inside a separate tempered glass bunker. An initial analysis of Hana’s talents assured him it was a satisfactory precautionary measure. The young man was not powerful enough to destroy the base.
“Okay, Hana,” he began. “I want you to focus all of your energy into a ball that surrounds you. When you feel like it is stable enough, you are going to expand the bubble as far as you can, as quickly as you can, without losing control.”
“Okay.” Hana replied in his small voice.
Professor Makoto felt his chest tighten and when he turned to the General, his stomach lurched at the man’s eager eyes drinking in the scene. He waited for the military man to start licking his lips and didn’t have long to witness it.
The bubble of energy became visible almost instantly and apparent that Hana was unable to keep a grasp on it. Sweat poured out of every inch of his body as his eyes flashed bright. A shockwave hit the walls, shaking the building and cracking the tempered glass barrier. Blood spewed out of Hana’s mouth and his body slumped in the harness.
“No!” Professor Makoto shouted. “No, no, no!” He pounded the glass in desperation.
“Relax, Professor” General Takayama purred. “Those things can heal at a fast rate. He just broke most of the bones in his body. He should be good as new in a few weeks, yes?” Professor Makoto stared at him in horror. “Of course, now we know he is not viable. You can have your pet back.”
“Hana is not a pet or a THING!” Professor Makoto snapped. “They are human, just like us!”
“No, they are not.” The General turned to leave.
“Yes, that’s right. They are more evolved than us Regular humans. Advanced humans make us feel obsolete, yes?”
The General didn’t turn around but stopped his stride.
“There is no need for humans to advance in this stage of evolution.”
When General Takayama entered the elevator and the doors closed, Professor Makoto pushed the sensor that opened the bay doors.
“You’re wrong, General. We need to advance now more than ever.”
He went into the testing area to assist with retrieving Hana. If the World Military was going to play games and insist on super soldiers, he had an even more sinister resolution in mind. It was all about timing.
With the thought of impending doom circulating throughout the masses, new battles raged on Earth pitting human against human in a fight for territory. A recent census found that many people felt they could weather the war by being in certain underground areas. Prime sectors were marked, unleashing a fire fight.
This all played right into General Hoskins’ hands, giving him an excuse to test out his new soldiers in rebel territories. Internal mini cameras had been injected into their eyes so he, and his personnel, could watch their actions in real time. He wished it was something he had thought of first but good old Professor Lancaster had come up with the idea.
“Bring up Terror Eight,” he instructed the technician below.
He named them Terrors instead of agents or giving them military rankings because they were anomalies, tools to be used and discarded.
“Make sure our troops are evacuated from the area before it’s sent down.”
“Yes, sir!”
Terror Eight was fifteen. His hatred for the military was justified and he knew it would not be this way forever. Doing what he was told bought his people time. They could all easily wipe out everyone and everything, but it would defeat the purpose of being accepted as normal human beings. And, yes, he was a terror by definition. His ability included razing an entire five-mile radius to dust, sparing nothing.
“Terror Eight!” The earbud commlink squawked. “Confirm drop point and commence operation. Target area is two kilometers. Maintain distance from friendlies.”
“Roger that, Command.”
His dark hair flew back as he opened the side door of the helicopter. Leaning over he saw the target below and glanced over to the right to see how far away the cavalry had gotten after fleeing the scene. The rebels looked triumphant.
He leapt out of the helicopter and made a straight dive for the middle of the town. About five hundred feet before hitting the ground, he formed an energy bubble around him and flipped upright, landing on his feet. He spread his arms wide and smiled at the rebels who seemed perplexed by his arrival, unsure whether to fire their weapons.
That’s when the shockwave hit them as the bubble surrounding Terror Eight expanded, engulfing everything, disintegrating all. The entire area resembled a desert shaped in a perfect circle. Dust swirled around in the aftermath, finally settling along the edges. Above, the helicopter returned for his hasty retrieval. Quick and dirty. He nodded to himself in satisfaction as he climbed up the rope ladder that dropped down and rode suspended in midair for a while before going in.
Professor Morandi found herself in front of a mirror admiring her features until she caught the sly smile on her face. Since assimilating alien DNA into her system nearly forty years ago, the aging process had slowed to a crawl, almost halting. She had watched her male colleagues revel in it by ditching their wives and chasing after younger female fare. They were all pushing the eighty mark, some already past it, and no intentions of letting themselves go before saving the planet or at the very least, resolve the discrimination issues for Bi-Genetics.
The whole super soldier program was a travesty her colleagues and she had tried to prevent with Professor Lancaster as the exception, authorizing it behind their backs. She resented his assumption that it was necessary and that they were equally on board. A file she had previously ruffled through lay on her desk. Bi-Genetics with talent were one in a thousand or more. Rare, but with the world population churning out nearly twenty percent of its number as advanced humans, there were more than the military could have hoped for.
She squeezed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, taking a deep breath. Tapping the intercom button, she summoned her assistant.
“Kevin!”
“Yes, Ma’am?” A silky tenor male voice replied through the speaker.
“Get in here!”
“Of course, Ma’am.”
The office door swung open and a tall, sandy brown-haired man in a grey suit stood in the doorway. His piercing grey eyes were partially covered by long strands of hair hanging haphazardly forward.
Gods, he’s beautiful! She couldn’t help thinking to herself.
It took all the strength she had not to go over, push his hair back and caress his face. She had never touched him nor planned to.
“I told you to not call me Ma’am!”
“My apologies…” he stopped before calling her that again, seeing the look of warning.
“I want you to take a look at this.” She pointed to the file, not wanting to touch it again.
He strode across the room in three steps due to his height and with one finger flipped it open. It rose off the desk and positioned in front of him, the pages turning rapidly to the end before it dropped into his outstretched hand.
“Interesting.”
“They will come for you too, I’m sure of it.”
“Are you worried about me?” His tone was condescending, and she showed her distaste by frowning. He smiled.
“This is serious!” She snapped.
“Let them come. I am not so weak that I’d die from something like this.” She felt her skin go pale with fear and saw the regret on his face the moment he finished saying it. Reaching over, his fingers brushed against her cheek to wipe away a lonely tear running down it. “If you want me to defend myself, I will.”
“I won’t let them take you again. What they did to you was monstrous.”
She leaned on the desk supporting her weight with her arms.
“This?” He wagged the file.
“I don’t want to see that again, either.”
“A copy?”
“Of course. They wouldn’t dare give us the real thing.” A flash of orange made her glance up and she saw the file go up in a fiery blaze until there was nothing left. “That’s not what I meant! We could have used some of the data.”
“For what, exactly?”
“I don’t know! Something!”
Exasperated she went around and plopped into her chair.
Kevin studied her for a moment, and she remembered the first time they met twenty years ago during a raid of the experiment camp he was enslaved in. Seeing the look of horror on her face when she burst into the makeshift lab and half the children dead, the rest on their way made up his mind if she was friend or foe. The new super soldier programs forced down the scientists’ throats by the military did not sit well with him either.
“They’re coming.” He said to her telepathically.
Her head snapped up higher.
“How long?” She asked.
He hit the Allcom and gave a command.
“Do not let one soldier enter this facility. Use force if necessary, but no casualties unless they decide to provoke the issue.” He looked up at Professor Morandi. “What do you want to do with the leader?”
“What?” She was confused.
“Captivity, torture?”
“We’re capturing an entire retrieval team?” She exclaimed, incredulous.
“Why, of course. Give them a taste of their own medicine, if you will.”
“If you insist.” She let out a sigh. “I just don’t want to know about it.”
“Agreed.” Kevin turned to the door and whipped off his suit jacket, tossing it on the table by the door. He rolled up his sleeves as he went into the hall. “I’m off. Cheer for me?”
“Buona caccia,” She waved him off.
The Navy General was not happy with the stalled progress of getting into the Italian facility to retrieve the prized specimens for his new super soldier unit. It would be his third and the candidates in the building ahead were exceptional, in his opinion. Especially the Professor’s pet assistant. He knew where the boy had come from and felt he was merely returning stolen military property.
Meeting resistance was not part of the plan. None of the other Professors whose facilities he had raided made a stink so why this one? That uppity bitch. He wondered how much power she thought she had these days to defy the military. One if his men came running towards him interrupting his thoughts.
“Sir, we can’t seem to get a clear path to either of the entrances. We may have to find another way in.”
“Then, that’s what we’ll do. Get a blueprint of the layout.”
“Sir?”
“That’s what hackers are for, soldier!” He snapped. “Get to it!”
“Yes sir!” The soldier ran off to the technology van positioned in the formation’s rear.
“This will teach you to fuck with me, you old cunt,” The Navy General spat.
Just as planned.
Kevin smirked as he watched the General and his soldiers break through two emergency bunker entries. He knew they weren’t going to give up, deciding to find an alternate way in. It was also obvious that the General would want to come and give the Professor a hard time himself. Pinpointing the General’s exact location, he went to personally crack a few bones as a greeting and teach him a lesson instead.
“Here I come, General.”
The corridors filled with gun smoke from the semiautomatic rifles rapid fire in a closed space. Every round fell short of their target as four office workers stood side by side across the threshold forming an invisible barricade, stopping them halfway. It went on for about two minutes until the soldiers retreated down the hall and threw a grenade. The barricade tightened around the four and shielded them from the blast.
Scorch marks covered the walls and floor but there was no other damage. The facility was built to sustain a nuclear blast. As the first wave of soldiers re-entered the corridor, the smoke barely cleared, two of the workers shot forward in faster than light sprints to engage the enemy while the other two remained blocking further infiltration of the building.
At the main cargo hold on the same side as the office suites, Kevin waited patiently along with three of his own personal assistants for the General. They stood behind him in silent anticipation. It wasn’t every day their got to use their talents. He could hear the gunfight going on just outside and shook his head, disappointed with the General’s decision to use force.
The cargo doors were forced open and a group of ten soldiers spilled in with the General and two guards following behind. They slowed their advance and eased up about two hundred feet from Kevin before halting, guns raised, red laser sights making a straight-lined grid.
“Well, well,” the Navy General started. “How generous of you to come on your own. I didn’t have to chase you after all.” Kevin and his entourage did not move. “Just in case you think this will be easy, I must warn you we have developed a nice little restraint module to prevent you from using those nasty talents of yours.”
His eyes gleamed.
“Oh, I know,” Kevin replied.
His hand swiped across the room, the first row of soldiers lifting into the air and following its trajectory into the far wall. They dropped in a pile. Rounds from the second row’s rifles slowed to a stop inches before the three men and before they could hit the ground, useless, they were reversed and sent back, taking down the five soldiers.
“Stop them!” The General screamed at his two guards as he watched them pushing the buttons on the modules. “What are you waiting for?” He turned back to the fighting and found himself staring into the cold grey eyes of Kevin. A loud cracking sound filled his ears and blood bubbled up his esophagus then out of his mouth.
“Can we find these creatures and contain them? These Seni whatever’s and flower people?” General Hoskins demanded.
Fuck if it ain’t one thing and not the other! He cursed to himself.
“I doubt that. If they have not been clearly seen, then they must have learned to adapt to the environment here on Earth.”
“So, now what?” The Prime Minister of Russia asked, directing his question to the scientists. They were all discussing something in low voices amongst themselves so no one else could hear.
Professor Pretchov leaned forward.
“I believe it is imperative that we not only raise the timeline of our recruitment, but get every weapons specialist on board to create new ones capable of proving that monster wrong.”
“But first,” Professor Makoto interjected, “a press conference. We should alert the world now that it has come to this. Put the rumor mills to rest.” He turned to the Karysilans. “Agreed?”
The aliens responded with nods. In addition, Sspark snorted in disgust. The League officers turned and headed back into the convoy. They surely had a plan of their own to devise.
CHILDREN OF WAR
Janti tapped his study booklet on the desk in a steady rhythm while he stared out into nothingness. He had long tuned out the scenery before him and relished the calm. Class was over but many of the students stayed to socialize until the next bell. He was bored as usual with the curriculum, his I.Q. off the charts even for an advanced human. What went through his mind now was the sorry excuse for a press conference everyone had to watch regarding the impending alien war.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tommy walk down the hallway to class located in a room across the way. Tommy may not be as smart as him, but he was just as powerful because Janti could feel it oozing off him. His own testing was coming along nicely since, unlike Tommy, he had no qualms about letting everyone know how much energy he could push out. He had met a few other Bi-Genetics who were not part of the facility but held captive by their government for ‘observation’. A frown creased his brow thinking about the way they were treated. It was worse than animals. Being tested along with other children in the facility for the sole purpose of finding bioweapons was no surprise. One thing was certain; General Hoskins was a hateful prick and Professor Lancaster was not to be trusted, making him overly protective of Tommy.
“Hey, Janti!” A classmate called from across the room.
“Yeah?” He blinked, focusing on his surroundings. “They say Professor Lancaster is coming for another visit. He’s going to give us a pep talk on what the war means for,” he put up his fingers and made quotation marks in the air, “all of us.”
“Right,” Janti grunted.
“Are you going?”
“What?”
“To the auditorium to hear what he has to say?”
“Hell no!”
“Well,” the classmate shrugged. “Suit yourself. Class is cancelled for the rest of the day because of it. See ya’.”
As the class headed out for the event, Janti stood and decided to grab Tommy when he came out of his classroom. It was time for a serious talk. No more stupid destructive arguments they both regretted afterwards. They were soul mates and could not be without each other no matter how they felt. Not knowing the outcome of humans, he was not going to waste any more time.
Willing to comply, albeit furious, Professor Makoto watched as the electrodes were attached to Hana’s flawless skin. The poor thing looked nervous and scared but put on a brave face for him when they made eye contact. General Takayama stood next to him outside the viewing room with a gleam in his eyes Professor Makoto did not like. He felt his authority was being slowly taken away as the years progressed with more stressing issues coming to light.
“I’m sure you understand, we have to assess every Bi-Genetic with even the remote of talents to cover our bases,” the General stated.
“Of course,” the Professor replied, not severing his gaze from Hana who smiled softly at him. “We must do what is best for humanity.”
“I’m glad you concur.” The General tapped on the glass and the lead tester nodded.
The technician stood in front of Hana, blocking his view to check the electrodes and make sure the data registered on the equipment. Satisfied, he stepped back and went to his terminal inside a separate tempered glass bunker. An initial analysis of Hana’s talents assured him it was a satisfactory precautionary measure. The young man was not powerful enough to destroy the base.
“Okay, Hana,” he began. “I want you to focus all of your energy into a ball that surrounds you. When you feel like it is stable enough, you are going to expand the bubble as far as you can, as quickly as you can, without losing control.”
“Okay.” Hana replied in his small voice.
Professor Makoto felt his chest tighten and when he turned to the General, his stomach lurched at the man’s eager eyes drinking in the scene. He waited for the military man to start licking his lips and didn’t have long to witness it.
The bubble of energy became visible almost instantly and apparent that Hana was unable to keep a grasp on it. Sweat poured out of every inch of his body as his eyes flashed bright. A shockwave hit the walls, shaking the building and cracking the tempered glass barrier. Blood spewed out of Hana’s mouth and his body slumped in the harness.
“No!” Professor Makoto shouted. “No, no, no!” He pounded the glass in desperation.
“Relax, Professor” General Takayama purred. “Those things can heal at a fast rate. He just broke most of the bones in his body. He should be good as new in a few weeks, yes?” Professor Makoto stared at him in horror. “Of course, now we know he is not viable. You can have your pet back.”
“Hana is not a pet or a THING!” Professor Makoto snapped. “They are human, just like us!”
“No, they are not.” The General turned to leave.
“Yes, that’s right. They are more evolved than us Regular humans. Advanced humans make us feel obsolete, yes?”
The General didn’t turn around but stopped his stride.
“There is no need for humans to advance in this stage of evolution.”
When General Takayama entered the elevator and the doors closed, Professor Makoto pushed the sensor that opened the bay doors.
“You’re wrong, General. We need to advance now more than ever.”
He went into the testing area to assist with retrieving Hana. If the World Military was going to play games and insist on super soldiers, he had an even more sinister resolution in mind. It was all about timing.
With the thought of impending doom circulating throughout the masses, new battles raged on Earth pitting human against human in a fight for territory. A recent census found that many people felt they could weather the war by being in certain underground areas. Prime sectors were marked, unleashing a fire fight.
This all played right into General Hoskins’ hands, giving him an excuse to test out his new soldiers in rebel territories. Internal mini cameras had been injected into their eyes so he, and his personnel, could watch their actions in real time. He wished it was something he had thought of first but good old Professor Lancaster had come up with the idea.
“Bring up Terror Eight,” he instructed the technician below.
He named them Terrors instead of agents or giving them military rankings because they were anomalies, tools to be used and discarded.
“Make sure our troops are evacuated from the area before it’s sent down.”
“Yes, sir!”
Terror Eight was fifteen. His hatred for the military was justified and he knew it would not be this way forever. Doing what he was told bought his people time. They could all easily wipe out everyone and everything, but it would defeat the purpose of being accepted as normal human beings. And, yes, he was a terror by definition. His ability included razing an entire five-mile radius to dust, sparing nothing.
“Terror Eight!” The earbud commlink squawked. “Confirm drop point and commence operation. Target area is two kilometers. Maintain distance from friendlies.”
“Roger that, Command.”
His dark hair flew back as he opened the side door of the helicopter. Leaning over he saw the target below and glanced over to the right to see how far away the cavalry had gotten after fleeing the scene. The rebels looked triumphant.
He leapt out of the helicopter and made a straight dive for the middle of the town. About five hundred feet before hitting the ground, he formed an energy bubble around him and flipped upright, landing on his feet. He spread his arms wide and smiled at the rebels who seemed perplexed by his arrival, unsure whether to fire their weapons.
That’s when the shockwave hit them as the bubble surrounding Terror Eight expanded, engulfing everything, disintegrating all. The entire area resembled a desert shaped in a perfect circle. Dust swirled around in the aftermath, finally settling along the edges. Above, the helicopter returned for his hasty retrieval. Quick and dirty. He nodded to himself in satisfaction as he climbed up the rope ladder that dropped down and rode suspended in midair for a while before going in.
Professor Morandi found herself in front of a mirror admiring her features until she caught the sly smile on her face. Since assimilating alien DNA into her system nearly forty years ago, the aging process had slowed to a crawl, almost halting. She had watched her male colleagues revel in it by ditching their wives and chasing after younger female fare. They were all pushing the eighty mark, some already past it, and no intentions of letting themselves go before saving the planet or at the very least, resolve the discrimination issues for Bi-Genetics.
The whole super soldier program was a travesty her colleagues and she had tried to prevent with Professor Lancaster as the exception, authorizing it behind their backs. She resented his assumption that it was necessary and that they were equally on board. A file she had previously ruffled through lay on her desk. Bi-Genetics with talent were one in a thousand or more. Rare, but with the world population churning out nearly twenty percent of its number as advanced humans, there were more than the military could have hoped for.
She squeezed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, taking a deep breath. Tapping the intercom button, she summoned her assistant.
“Kevin!”
“Yes, Ma’am?” A silky tenor male voice replied through the speaker.
“Get in here!”
“Of course, Ma’am.”
The office door swung open and a tall, sandy brown-haired man in a grey suit stood in the doorway. His piercing grey eyes were partially covered by long strands of hair hanging haphazardly forward.
Gods, he’s beautiful! She couldn’t help thinking to herself.
It took all the strength she had not to go over, push his hair back and caress his face. She had never touched him nor planned to.
“I told you to not call me Ma’am!”
“My apologies…” he stopped before calling her that again, seeing the look of warning.
“I want you to take a look at this.” She pointed to the file, not wanting to touch it again.
He strode across the room in three steps due to his height and with one finger flipped it open. It rose off the desk and positioned in front of him, the pages turning rapidly to the end before it dropped into his outstretched hand.
“Interesting.”
“They will come for you too, I’m sure of it.”
“Are you worried about me?” His tone was condescending, and she showed her distaste by frowning. He smiled.
“This is serious!” She snapped.
“Let them come. I am not so weak that I’d die from something like this.” She felt her skin go pale with fear and saw the regret on his face the moment he finished saying it. Reaching over, his fingers brushed against her cheek to wipe away a lonely tear running down it. “If you want me to defend myself, I will.”
“I won’t let them take you again. What they did to you was monstrous.”
She leaned on the desk supporting her weight with her arms.
“This?” He wagged the file.
“I don’t want to see that again, either.”
“A copy?”
“Of course. They wouldn’t dare give us the real thing.” A flash of orange made her glance up and she saw the file go up in a fiery blaze until there was nothing left. “That’s not what I meant! We could have used some of the data.”
“For what, exactly?”
“I don’t know! Something!”
Exasperated she went around and plopped into her chair.
Kevin studied her for a moment, and she remembered the first time they met twenty years ago during a raid of the experiment camp he was enslaved in. Seeing the look of horror on her face when she burst into the makeshift lab and half the children dead, the rest on their way made up his mind if she was friend or foe. The new super soldier programs forced down the scientists’ throats by the military did not sit well with him either.
“They’re coming.” He said to her telepathically.
Her head snapped up higher.
“How long?” She asked.
He hit the Allcom and gave a command.
“Do not let one soldier enter this facility. Use force if necessary, but no casualties unless they decide to provoke the issue.” He looked up at Professor Morandi. “What do you want to do with the leader?”
“What?” She was confused.
“Captivity, torture?”
“We’re capturing an entire retrieval team?” She exclaimed, incredulous.
“Why, of course. Give them a taste of their own medicine, if you will.”
“If you insist.” She let out a sigh. “I just don’t want to know about it.”
“Agreed.” Kevin turned to the door and whipped off his suit jacket, tossing it on the table by the door. He rolled up his sleeves as he went into the hall. “I’m off. Cheer for me?”
“Buona caccia,” She waved him off.
The Navy General was not happy with the stalled progress of getting into the Italian facility to retrieve the prized specimens for his new super soldier unit. It would be his third and the candidates in the building ahead were exceptional, in his opinion. Especially the Professor’s pet assistant. He knew where the boy had come from and felt he was merely returning stolen military property.
Meeting resistance was not part of the plan. None of the other Professors whose facilities he had raided made a stink so why this one? That uppity bitch. He wondered how much power she thought she had these days to defy the military. One if his men came running towards him interrupting his thoughts.
“Sir, we can’t seem to get a clear path to either of the entrances. We may have to find another way in.”
“Then, that’s what we’ll do. Get a blueprint of the layout.”
“Sir?”
“That’s what hackers are for, soldier!” He snapped. “Get to it!”
“Yes sir!” The soldier ran off to the technology van positioned in the formation’s rear.
“This will teach you to fuck with me, you old cunt,” The Navy General spat.
Just as planned.
Kevin smirked as he watched the General and his soldiers break through two emergency bunker entries. He knew they weren’t going to give up, deciding to find an alternate way in. It was also obvious that the General would want to come and give the Professor a hard time himself. Pinpointing the General’s exact location, he went to personally crack a few bones as a greeting and teach him a lesson instead.
“Here I come, General.”
The corridors filled with gun smoke from the semiautomatic rifles rapid fire in a closed space. Every round fell short of their target as four office workers stood side by side across the threshold forming an invisible barricade, stopping them halfway. It went on for about two minutes until the soldiers retreated down the hall and threw a grenade. The barricade tightened around the four and shielded them from the blast.
Scorch marks covered the walls and floor but there was no other damage. The facility was built to sustain a nuclear blast. As the first wave of soldiers re-entered the corridor, the smoke barely cleared, two of the workers shot forward in faster than light sprints to engage the enemy while the other two remained blocking further infiltration of the building.
At the main cargo hold on the same side as the office suites, Kevin waited patiently along with three of his own personal assistants for the General. They stood behind him in silent anticipation. It wasn’t every day their got to use their talents. He could hear the gunfight going on just outside and shook his head, disappointed with the General’s decision to use force.
The cargo doors were forced open and a group of ten soldiers spilled in with the General and two guards following behind. They slowed their advance and eased up about two hundred feet from Kevin before halting, guns raised, red laser sights making a straight-lined grid.
“Well, well,” the Navy General started. “How generous of you to come on your own. I didn’t have to chase you after all.” Kevin and his entourage did not move. “Just in case you think this will be easy, I must warn you we have developed a nice little restraint module to prevent you from using those nasty talents of yours.”
His eyes gleamed.
“Oh, I know,” Kevin replied.
His hand swiped across the room, the first row of soldiers lifting into the air and following its trajectory into the far wall. They dropped in a pile. Rounds from the second row’s rifles slowed to a stop inches before the three men and before they could hit the ground, useless, they were reversed and sent back, taking down the five soldiers.
“Stop them!” The General screamed at his two guards as he watched them pushing the buttons on the modules. “What are you waiting for?” He turned back to the fighting and found himself staring into the cold grey eyes of Kevin. A loud cracking sound filled his ears and blood bubbled up his esophagus then out of his mouth.
