The MetaWar Saga (unfinished)

[Alexander Tau]

Chapter 11


The first time a whole city was used as a pawn in the MetaWar it was part of an attempt at conquest. Mordred really did plan to settle down and rule.

The second time it was to insult Olympus, and collect a bounty on Medusa.

A horde of malformed humans attempted to rip a City down with their bare hands. Third time.

Now we come to the fourth.

It was different, the residents were allowed to flee and were for the most part unmolested as they did so. About 100 people died the night the Meta group arrived, and 930 died trying to get out later.

For a City of 300,000 that is not too bad. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but this was a war.

Once the populace was gone, they began to destroy. Homes, businesses, gas stations, libraries, hospitals, everything. Power plants exploded with violent fury, fire was everywhere.

Olympus, after contacting the President of the United States, decided to wait and see if the invaders were indeed going to let the people go. Once more the Emergency Broadcast system was not a test and it told everyone to evacuate as quickly, and calmly as possible.

That many people take a long time to get out of somewhere. Twelve hours later, at 9 am the city was mostly deserted and the marauders had been rampaging for over an hour.

We always complain that we never have enough time to respond. Star has changed that but still we feel like the clock is our mortal enemy. Twelve hours is far to long to wait to go into battle. The whole time we were ready to go because we did not know how serious our new enemies were about letting people go unharmed.

They did not make any overt moves towards the panic-stricken people and so we ended up just waiting, ready to jump. For twelve fucking hours.

We almost killed each other while we were just waiting. I had to get real rough with everyone at one point about two hours in, and Psyche actually yelled at someone about an hour later.

I knew exactly who I was facing, what they called themselves, and what basically they could do.

This was not going to be easy.

They had a perfectly balanced combat team. I was impressed with the structure.

Vulture, flier
KillerShrike, flier
Destroyer, energy blast disintegrate
TNT, energy blast, focused explosions
Freyr, strength
Sigyn, strength
Venom, armor
Fenris, armor
Lady Pain, mind blast
Blood Archer, acrobat, explosive arrows

This happened on a day when everyone was home and available. None of the combat teams was on a mission and nothing but routine stuff was going on. Since for once we could fight without having to worry about innocent people getting hurt I decided to take a special team with me.

Every one of the Captains protested this decision.

I asked them if it would make any difference if I said that I was planning on taking most of them?

Funny to see that sort of grin on those usually oh so serious faces. I ended up going with : Nike, Valkyrie, Warlock, Apollo, Arclight, Demon, Huntress, Thor, Sif, Atlas, and 2 speedsters.

You might notice I was not at all playing fair, there were more of us then there were of them. Fair never even enters my mind. Win, win fast, that is what I am thinking. As it turns out the odds were not as much in our favor as I expected but I am getting ahead of myself.

Nike and Valkyrie were going to go after the Fliers. That is a one on one type of fighting, a style of combat my two were quite good at.

Apollo and Arclight were both powerful Energy Projectors but neither can fly. They were actually going in as fire support rather than to engage a specific target. If they could help out any of the other pairs they were free to do so.

Blood Archer had a bit of a reputation so I tagged Demon and Huntress to put her down. The evil archer used Arrows with explosive tips and was amazing in close combat. Huntress would get her at range, or Demon would take her out hand to hand, well knives to claws.

Thor, Sif, and Atlas would take the lead as we moved in. The strength of those three combined was such an amazing thing. Atlas could move about fairly freely for once which seemed to make him happy.

We also had a fairly inexperienced team member, but a vital one. This one did have some field experience and had shown himself to be an asset. Warlock, 23 years old, Mind Blast. He was more powerful than Talon and had limited Telepathic abilities as well. He was fully armored and would have Arclight and Apollo to look after him. Warlock's target was Lady Pain.

People who can throw mind blasts operate on their own unique frequency. I can block them, as can others, but they are dangerous. They generally do not have normal defense so if they show themselves they are easy targets. These days most are smart enough to operate under cover or from a bit of a distance.

But before everyone but the Fliers would be able to do much my two powerhouses would attack. I was not sure who QuickSilver and Hermes would get but I was sure their attack would devastate our opponents. Plus having two of them on hand would just make things go a lot smoother.

I assembled the team, assigned Nike air command and Thor command on the ground.

Star opened a Portal and we all moved through it.

I had imagined this so many times, but it was still so very hard to see.

A once proud city in flames and rubble.

Most of the taller buildings in the downtown area were damaged but standing so we arrived well south of them. Destruction was everywhere, huge swaths of homes had been smashed. Cars lay on rooftops. Telephone poles stuck out of walls.

All I could think was it look liked giant children had wandered through. Crushing, grabbing, throwing away what is no longer interesting. In a way that was the truth.

Time to end this nightmare.

Something very weird happened. I felt it and I was not alone, Arclight and Apollo's heads both snapped up and around at the same time mine did.

“I hope that is not what I think it is.” muttered Arclight.

It was.

“A force field, a sphere shaped force field around the entire fucking city.” I reluctantly said.

“Who is doing it boss?” asked Demon.

I concentrated. The energies were hard to trace at first but then I got the pattern down. Down was the operative word it seemed.

“About 2,000 feet below the center of the City. Somebody, no idea who.” I explained.

“Pulsar to Central”

Nothing, no surprise. But we had comms with each other so that was something.

The forcefield was only a few thousand feet behind us.

“Everybody stay put, I want to see this sucker up close. Nike, Val, with me.”

Off we flew. Took only moments to arrive.

You could actually see it if you were close enough. Thick, say 3 feet thick. We moved off a 100 feet or so and I let loose with a strong energy blast to no effect.

I thought I could bring it down in time, with help, but not easily. If Star could get in here then more help would arrive, if not we were on our own.

We rejoined the group.

“The plan has not changed, but we do not have the Speedsters or any other support. Everybody stay focused and alert, I feel more surprises in our future, and I fucking hate surprises. Thor, Nike, lets get moving.” I ordered.

Our ground forces got moving while the fliers waited for a moment. We took off together.

“This scenery is depressing, but any day I get to fly with you is a hell of a day boss.” said Nike.

Yeah, a hell of a day.

What happened next never happens in real life. In the comics the artists love to draw line-ups. How many times have you seen both sides of a fight looking right into each other's eyes? But that is just not how it actually works. Full teams do not meet and then fight, things go a lot faster than that.

Except for today.

As we reached the center of what used to be a city, they were waiting. And there were more of them than I expected. Six more to be exact.

The ones I knew about were in the center, a short line of people waiting for us. To their left were four of the new ones. I reached out with my senses to try and learn something about them. Two of them were pretty big, 6' 4” or better, supermen I was guessing. One was quite thin and dressed in some fairly heavy armor.

I focused on him and immediately saw energy fluctuation around his body. Gravity waves, crap.

The other unknown was more subtle. It would take time to figure him out, time I did not have.

“Pulsar to Team. Now the plan has changed. I just scanned the four on the left. The tall thin guy in the armor controls gravity, Arclight he is your first target. Atlas time to get big and team up with Arc.”

I waited for acknowledgments from the two of them before issuing my final order.

“Thor, Nike, lets do it. The two on the right are mine.”

Those two I knew, and I wanted them very badly.

[Alexander Tau]

Chapter 12


I screamed off in the direction of the pair, pouring on the speed. Swooping down I sent tendrils of my cloak to wrap around the wrists, ankles, and especially the neck of the male half of the duo.

I hit the female with a quick wave of 13 gravities, enough to knock her down and rattle her for a bit.

I wanted a little time with Romeo.

“I'm Pulsar. You tried to kill a friend of mine, you failed, I won't.” I boomed at him.

We were nearing the northern boundary of the force wall so I angled down to 6' off the ground. I snapped upright, killed my forward speed and at the same time let Romeo drop. He bounced across the rubble for about forty feet.

I landed. My cloak swirled around me, settling down into a pool extending outward for ten feet.

Romeo got somewhat unsteadily to his feet.

“Ok asshole, lets see what you've got.” I commanded.

“So you are the great Pulsar, I am pleased to meet you. Truly I am.”

“The feeling is not mutual, shoot, or I will.”

He wanted to delay to give Juliet time to find us.

“Oh very well.”

He fired a whole volley of blasts, most of them even hit. Not bad actually, a combination of kinetic force and something else. Normally I would take the time to analyze them.

Not today.

He was still sending bolts at me as I began to walk towards him.

“It is too bad you choose the life you did Romeo, you are fairly strong and you could have done a lot of good.”

“Good? Who cares about that? I have a ton of money.”

We were now only ten feet apart. He had stopped trying to blast me. Ever since he had gotten up he had been looking around for something. We were both waiting for her to appear.

“Stupid, powerful and stupid, what a combination.” I said.

His defensive screen was also formidable, it took me five shots to knock down.

“Goodbye Romeo.”

“STOP!” screamed Juliet from my right.

“Don't move Juliet, or he dies.”

She was about 50 feet away from me, just far enough away that I did not feel her teleport in.

“See that glow around his neck, that is a forcefield, you vanish and I will snap it. As I recall the story, Romeo finds your seemingly lifeless body and kills himself. Then you awaken to find him dead and kill yourself. Is that how the story goes?”

“Yes, but our story will be different!” she spat back at me.

“Now be a good girl and play out your part.”

As I spoke I had sent tendrils of my cloak along the ground to grab Romeo again. I lifted him up and in one smooth motion threw him at his lover. He smashed into her and they collided against part of a concrete wall. Looked like it used to be a parking garage a part of my mind noticed.

Juliet untangled herself from her lover's unmoving body. She gathered him up into her arms. It took a moment for the truth to sink in, but when it did she screamed.

“Noooooooooo!”

I was hovering 10' in the air, looking down at them.

My eyes shot ruby red death at her. They vanished.

Goddammit! Nobody can teleport sitting down! Star told me that was freaking impossible. Romeo was dead before I threw him but I wanted to get her as well.

I felt cheated but there was no time to dwell, there was still a battle going on. You might be wondering how Juliet got out of the city with the force wall still up, join the club. Somehow she did.

I flew back in the direction of the fight.

“Pulsar to Nike.”

“Nike, go.” came a rather rushed reply.

“Status?”

“Outnumbered.”

“On my way.”

I should have called Thor for a sitrep. If I had I would have found things were not going all that well on the ground either. My assumption is that if I had done things the proper way I would have headed towards Thor first. So I am glad they happened the way they did. There was nothing I could have done to change what was about to happen. But at least I was there.

Zooming up into the sky I spotted Nike twisting and turning to avoid gunfire coming from one opponent and explosive blasts from another. The Meta who called himself TNT could fly. That was unexpected since his power was a focused explosion contained within a narrow forcefield.

I pulled up and to a stop, my cloaked flared outward into gigantic wings. Amplifying my voice I called out.

“TNT try me!”

Nike immediately pulled a tight turn and came zooming above me. Vulture kept on her but TNT came right at me, and he was blasting away.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Powerful blasts tore into me. My shield held but the combined force of the blasts and the resulting disturbances in the air caused me to have to work to stay upright. I let him take all the long range shots as I poured power into both of my hands.

TNT was about fifty feet away from me when he stopped shooting to take a look at me.

My right hand sent electricity in a massive bolt towards TNT's chest and at the same time from my left hand came the sound wave.

ThunderBolt.

His shield barely effected the bolt and the sound wave tumbled him. TNT went into an uncontrolled plummet towards the ground.

Valkyrie reported her opponent was down but not dead, she was flying my way already.

Nike was down to swords with Vulture. I could see them looping, engaging, and then breaking apart.

I really did not think she would need me, so I waited in place for Val.

Nike did not need my help to finish her final foe. She drove the sword through Vulture and attempted to break away. Despite the mortal wound her enemy grabbed onto her and drove downward.

We were at 20,000 feet.

I could not see well enough to tell but somehow Vulture must have gotten a lucky hit on Nike. Central's report that Nike was barely conscious triggered me into action.I was too far away but I took off after them anyway.

Calling below I tried to get somebody in position to do something but everyone was engaged and could not get to the right position even if they were not. Even the mighty Atlas was too far.

Valkyrie caught up and then went past me. Central was feeding me speed and distance information, you do not need to hear all that. But I knew that even Val's speed was not going to be enough.

Nike and Vulture hit the ground with a sound that I hope I will someday forget.

Valkyrie held onto the chase far too long, she was not going to be able to pull out in time. I threw waves of antigrav in front of her. They added enough lift to get her clear.

I stopped in midair. 5 seconds later. Central quietly told me that Nike was dead.

Reports started to come in, our enemies were pulling out. They lost Venom, TNT, and Vulture, we lost Nike. Warlock and Atlas were not in good shape. Atlas had been the target of a number of blasts from TNT before he took off to join the air battle.

Warlock had lost his fight with Lady Pain and suffered at the hand of Sigyn.

I felt the force wall around the former city vanish, and shortly thereafter I felt the source vanish from his hole. Turns out the hostile Density Master could extend his field to others. His AntiGrav buddy provided the motive force. Together they could travel underground, quick and undetectable.

Arclight never got a shot at either of the two of them. As soon as he started to close they sank down into the earth leaving Freyr & Sigyn to do the fighting. Another puzzling pair, they both wore costumes with a definite Norse flair for one thing. And for another both of their faces seemed longer and thinner than was natural.

Warlock called Sigyn 'freaky looking, Marlyn Manson freaky'. She did say something about Loki but the details were not recorded, or remembered.

We gathered our wounded, our dead, and Star took us home.

In the following weeks we would discover that the main Meta team worked for the MasterMind we were calling Dracula. The other two groups were Meta Mercenaries. Seems Drac wanted to test his team in pure Meta combat and that was the only point.

Nearly a thousand people dead, a whole city destroyed, for a little live training exercise. I freely admit I developed a deep hatred for his guy. I looked forward to killing him and looked for ways to accomplish that for quite a while.

[Alexander Tau]

Chapter 13




Darkness.



I feel fuzzy.



Can't move. Restrained somehow. Can't see, eyes are covered.


Where am I?



My head was fuzzy and my mouth tasted like dirt. It was hard to think.

New Orleans, that was where we were. Nova had been badgering me about a vacation for months and I finally gave in. Mardi Gras was colorful and noisy.

Praetorians don't blend.

Why am I thinking that? Oh yeah, because I realized that when we were out and about. The Centurion had insisted we take a couple of squads, so we did. But even dressed like everyone else around them you just could not miss those hard focused faces.

Nova and I slipped away from them.

There was something, a parade. Nova and I got separated but I was not worried. I mean what could happen to us?

Girls. Boobs. Beer.

Images were still fuzzy but I remembered a girl and her naked breasts. No, three or four girls, lots of naked flesh.

And a Beer. They gave it to me, I drank it.

No. Oh god no. I did not fall for the oldest trick in the book.

Crap. I am never going to hear the end of this. But then again, when considering my surroundings, perhaps living with it was not going to be my problem.

Why did I feel so tired? Even a drug should not do this to me. I looked inward and realized that my internal power levels were basically zero. Something had, and was, draining me. That something was easy to determine because I had had a hand in creating them.

We called them PowerCuffs. They completely enclosed the hands and could be set to drain almost any form of energy. Very effective, but not against me. When we tested them I always was able to overload them quite easily. Even if I were unconscious putting a set on me would cause an overload.

A smell caught my attention, somehow familiar. Burned insulation and rubber. They had burned out a few on me until I was drained enough for them to hold.

Damn.

I heard the hum of a speaker.

“We know you are awake.” came from a male voice.

“Release me, now!” I ordered.

“No, we won't be doing that. You are not in charge here Pulsar.”

I knew they knew who I was already so if they thought that would affect me they were mistaken.

“Sorry I have never gotten used to talking to dead people. If you know who I am, then you know who is coming for me. Let me go now and you get to live.”

“Sorry.” there was a hint of fear in that one word, score one for me.

“So am I, for you.” I muttered.

“Who is in charge here?” I asked.

“You will meet him soon enough. First we have some questions for you. It will go easier on you if you just tell us what we want to know, you will in the end anyway.”

“Right. Listen carefully you little fucks! You think you can hold me? You are insane, your boss is insane. Go on take your best shot you will not get anything. But I will get free. And when I do I promise I will take the life from your bodies one drop at a time. Before I am done you will beg to die!”

They tortured me. Mostly with knives. If you think I am going to describe that you can forget it.

I do think I did indeed scare them. What they did to me was bad, but it could have been worse.

When they were done I got to meet the boss. At least he took off the blindfold.

“Well so this is the great Pulsar, Lord of Olympus. Somewhat disappointed but I guess I will have to allow for the setting. Please feel no need to get up.”

Oh yeah, this was a funny guy.

“You may address me as Emperor Zatch, or your Majesty. My dungeon keepers tell me you refused to cooperate, is that how you obey your Emperor? I all want are the access codes and a few key pieces of information so I can level Olympus. One little nuclear bomb, nothing outrageous or anything.”

I was barely conscious and bleeding from a couple of dozen places. But I felt it would be disrespectful to my host not to say something.

“You.” I began

“Yes?” he responded.

“You are going to die screaming.”

“How rude! And quite impossible, no one knows where you are, and they will never find out.”

“We are in Australia, and we call you Dracula.”

That shook him. He was quite the sight actually. Dressed in some sort of flowing robe in purple and gold. A white tunic and funky black pants completed the outfit. Face like a potato though, lumpy and not regal at all.

“How do you know that? Who told you?” he demanded.

“Olympus knows that asshole, has for a while now.”

“Take him to his cell. Spend a while in darkness maybe that will drain, hehehe, some of the insolence out of you. Love those PowerCuffs.”

They did not have to unstrap me to move me and I soon found myself alone. Or so I thought for the first hour or so.

Then a voice, female.

“Hey can you hear me?”

“Yes I can, where are you?”

“I'm in the cell next to you.”

“So how are you talking to me?”

“The air ducts, they link all the cells on this side together. As long as the guards are not around we can talk pretty easily. My name is Penny, what's yours.”

I pondered. This could easily be a trick. But it could also be true, and if true I had an obligation to them.

“Pulsar.”

“No, come on, who are you really? I know you are probably a MetaHuman, so am I. But you could not be him.”

“I wish you were right, I really wish you were right.”

“You are not Pulsar, probably working for Zatch.”

That was a new voice, a male.

“Eddie! Give him a chance, he is probably just scared like we are.”

“Zatch is a piece of shit, and a dead piece of shit at that as soon as I get free.” I stated with more than a bit of hostility.

“See Eddie! Told ya!”

“Good acting, don't trust him Penny. Words are cheap, I know.”

“Listen to him Penny, he is being smart. If I were the two of you I would not trust me either. Stay smart Eddie and you will get through this.” I said.

“Mister who are you?” Penny asked.

“I am very tired, must sleep soon. But listen to me both of you. The whole of Olympus is looking for me, and they will find me. Hang tough for a little while longer and I will get you both out of here.”

They both responded but I barely heard them.

The next day they shook me awake and some sort of doctor looked me over. A small pain in my arm which was lost in all the pain from the cuts and I had an IV attached. I was so drained that the small energy boost from the glucose was noticeable. Nowhere near what I needed to break out, but a start.

Again the questions. Again the knives.

You never really realize how much you can hate until something like this happens. Words, words are nothing. They hurt me and I got through it by killing them in my mind, over and over again. I took the rage I felt and used it to magnify the tiny spark of energy within me. Again and again I smashed against the Cuffs.

Not enough.

I blacked out and awoke in my cell.

My first thought as I came to was to wonder how long I could go without energy. I vaguely remember thinking that 4 days was probably my limit. Food, even real food, would not do it alone. Normally this is not a problem, an hour in the sun and I am good.

“Hey mister, you awake?” Penny asked.

“Alive at least.” I responded.

“I asked the guard who you were but he would not tell me. But Eddie did the same and he thinks he saw something. Tell him Eddie.”

“I am probably wrong, they were just screwing with me. You know they love to do that.”

“They said that he thought people were coming for him but that they would never find us. Someone is looking for him, he is telling the truth about that.”

“They were screwing with me!”

“That is not what you said the first time. You said they looked scared. Goddammit Eddie we are locked in fucking cages! Tell him the truth.”

“Eddie, when they talking about someone looking for me, how did they act?” I asked.

Silence.

“They looked scared, alright, they twitched, checked their weapons, looked around, they were scared. That does not make you fucking Pulsar okay!”

“Alright fine. Whoever I am we all are in the same boat. We all need to get out of here. It would help if you would both tell me who you are and how you ended up here.”

“I ain't telling you shit.”

“I will. I'm Penny and I am a MetaHuman. Wow that feels like some sort of AA meeting. Anyway, I can control animals. Birds, cats, dogs, snakes, not insects though, yech. I did not figure out I even had powers until a couple of months ago. See I had been going to the gym for a while and when that Meta change thingy happened I just thought 'Hey the gym is finally working'. I know, scatterbrained but what ya gonna do?”

“Did you consider going to Olympus?” I asked when she stopped for air.

“Sure but I am not a hero. Fights scare the piss out of me, literally. I just figured my power was too unimportant for people to worry about. That was why no one had searched me out or tried to recruit me or anything. I just went about my life, bought a dozen more animals, I have my own zoo now, and tried to keep my power hidden.”

“And then something happened?” I asked.

“Yeah. I was out walking with my two big dogs, Rocky and Bullwinkle when I saw this old guy grab this little girl. We were in the park and the girl's mom had stopped to buy a bottle of water from a stand. The girl had wandered off a little bit when this scummy old bastard grabbed her. The girl started screaming and without even thinking about it I sent Rocky and Bullwinkle after them. They caught up easily and forced him to stop.”

She paused, and then continued.

“I keep wondering why I did not just leave it at that. The mom was screaming and running toward the man and the girl. My dogs were keeping the fucker from moving. I could have just stood in place and let the police handle. But what I did was run up to the scene and order the man to put the girl down. Me. I did that. I told him to put her down nice and easy or my dogs would rip his throat out. He did, the cops grabbed him and I tried to get away. No luck so I just told the cops my dogs were trained. It made the paper and then one day I woke up here.”

“Do you know why?”

“Yeah, old Emperor Butt-Face wants to learn about MetaHuman DNA. Since my power seems to be unique he wanted to study me. Mostly they have taken samples of every single damn part of my body and then tossed me in here. They could at least give me a TV, the bastards.”

Study our DNA. Lots of people were doing that but little had been learned. Not sure what Emperor Butt-Face (I liked the name) expected to get out of that but I did not think it would be much. My opinion of Zatch was going down and that made me feel a little better.

“Thank you Penny. Your power is neither small or unimportant it is just that until you started using it you would be hard for anyone to detect. The story in the newspaper speeded up the process but someone would have found you anyway. Eddie, any chance you feel like telling me why you are in here?”

“Come on Eddie, at least tell him what you have told me. I won't tell him if you do not want me to but I really wish you would.”

“I am in here because I decided I did not want to work for Zatch anymore. I was an idiot to ever get involved with that asshole and now I am stuck here. What else do you want to know?”

“What did you do for Zatch?”

“Muscle, I have a lot of that. I just wish the Meta change had given me some brains to go along with it.”

“Alright, thank you Eddie. We can talk more later. I need to sleep now.”

“Night Pulsar.” Penny said rather pointedly.

“Goodnight Penny”

Another day. They wanted to torture me but I kept blacking out. The doctor was consulted but everything that he suggested was turned down. Seems my captors were quite worried about anything that might give me energy to work with. I just kept thinking 'Comon, come on, hit me with a good strong stimulant and I will end all your problems'.

Please.

No such luck, back to the cell.

I drifted for a while. Penny tried to talk to me but I could not really focus. Mostly I thought of Nova. I missed her. Life as a God sucks. Whole fucking world looking to me to save it. I am gonna fail but at least we will all die together. I just want to go off with my woman and maybe make a baby or two.

Can't you know. Oh we can have sex but what am I supposed to do shield the sperm?

That woke me up. What the hell was that all about?

“Penny?”

“Yes, I'm here. Are you ok?” she sounded concerned I must sound pretty bad.

Went well with how I felt.

“I am ok, just worn out”

“What they are doing to you must be harsh, you seem to be getting weaker each day.”

Perceptive girl.

“I am. Ok, look, you both might as well know. I probably only have a couple of days left. If they do not find me by then it will be too late. So I am going to give both of you a phrase to say. No matter how long it takes my people will get here. If I am gone what I am going to tell you will guarantee that they will get you out of here. Our captors have me so completely cut off from all energy sources that it is killing me.”

“Don't talk like that Pulsar, you are going to be fine.” from Eddie.

Pulsar. He called me Pulsar. Don't know why but that made me grin like a freaking idiot. I had to wait a couple of moments before I could speak clearly again. That sort of smile comes across in your voice.

“I hope you are right Eddie but I have a problem. If I tell them what is happening to me they can keep me alive but it will also help them to get what they want. I cannot allow that to happen so I cannot tell them.”

“But if you are going to die you have to tell them.” said Penny.

“No Penny. What they want is to destroy Olympus and that is more important than my life. Both of you must swear to keep this secret no matter what happens to me.”

They both did, and I told them what they needed to know.

Then I slept, and I dreamed. None of that is any of your business either.

The next day I was in slightly worse shape and Zatch showed up to question me.

“What is wrong with you?” he asked.

“Your hospitality is lacking, service sucks.”

“Don't be insolent. You know I have your life in my hands, talk! My keepers know their business and they say something is wrong with you. Tell me what it is, it is your life we are talking about.”

“The only thing you have in your hand is your dick. I suggest you use it to fuck yourself.”

Let me just pause for a moment to say something. There are not many moments in one's life where you really feel proud of yourself. Life is just too complex and there is always something that holds you back. But this moment, helpless and dying before an Enemy, I stuck to what I knew to be right. I am proud of that.

Pain. Darkness. Cell.

I can't describe what I felt and saw as I slowly tried to come back to the world. It was dark and filled with blood and I would rather forget.

“Pulsar?” came faintly through the haze. Penny? Probably?

“Yeah?” I croaked, I sounded bad even to myself now.

“You sound terrible.”

“Yeah well your hair is a mess.” which might have been funny except for the coughing spasm that took me as I said it. My body was failing, and I did not really care anymore.

“What did they do to you?”

“Nothing, if you talk harshly to me I pass out now, kinda frustrating for them.”

Ok, that actually was funny. I heard Eddie laugh.

“Hello Eddie.”

“Hello Pulsar, wish I could help you somehow.”

“So you believe I am Pulsar now, that is good to know.” actually I did not give a shit but it seemed the thing to say.

“Yeah, something is happening at some of the entrances. Guards are pissing themselves. Olympus is doing something so I figure you are probably telling the truth. I had a little fun with one of the assholes. I told him 'You don't think Pulsar is going to let you live do you?' And man I fucking swear he went white. God that was a beautiful thing.”

I was pleased. Mostly at the news that my friends might actually find me. That lasted about ten seconds, but it was nice for a moment.

“Pulsar, can I ask you something?” asked Eddie.

“Of course.”

“Am I a bad guy?”

Pretty sure I chucked at that.

“Did you ever kill anyone?”

“No.”

“Do you want to?”

“Just Zatch and some of the guys here. Some of the guys and girls I worked with really liked killing. They would joke about it and everything. I mean I know sometimes you gotta, but I never wanted to.”

“Then you are just a guy who made a huge fucking mistake. At least you realized it before I had to send someone to kill you.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes, I am far too tired to lie. You fucked up. But with any luck at all you will get a chance to redeem yourself. Olympus will give you that chance. One other thing though. I do not know what will happen when Olympus comes but it will be dangerous. I want you to promise me that you will make sure Penny gets out safely.”

“I will sir, you have my word.”

Good. Job done. I welcomed the darkness.

[Alexander Tau]

Chapter 14




Sounds.



They pulled at me. I resisted. I was comfy in the blackness and I did not want to leave.

More Sounds.



Against my will I was drawn back to the world.

Noise. I really wanted quiet.

Explosions? Gunfire. I knew those sounds and I knew I should care.

Another sound, much closer. My name?

“Pulsar! Pulsar can you hear me?”

Had to be Penny but how could she be so close?

“They wanted to move us but there is so much fighting they only sent a single guard for me. I kicked him really hard in the crotch and grabbed his keys. I am going to try and get you out.”

Something bad here. Sounded good but something was wrong.

“don't touch me.” I whispered.

“What did you say?”

“Don't touch me. Get Eddie.”

“Why?”

Why do women always ask for explanations when there are clearly other matters at hand?

“No time, go.” I croaked out.

“Ok, ok, I am going. No need to bite my head off.”

I drifted. The sounds of battle got louder, and then quieter. Then just when it seemed silent, Ka-Boom and off it would go again. Some part of me said I should be able to interpret the sounds, tell what was going on. I told that part of my mind to go screw itself.

“Pulsar I got Eddie, what do you want us to do?”

Stop with the questions that would help a lot.

“Eddie, don't touch my skin. The controls for the Cuffs, find that. Triangle-shaped black box”

Blissful silence.

“I have got it, now what?”

Do I have to think of everything?

“Press the unlock and then the release buttons.”

A series of clicks and the pressure around my hands went away.

“Now use your strength and get these restrains off me, be careful not to touch me.”

You are probably wondering by now why I was afraid to have them touch me. The next moment will explain that.

Penny was leaning over me and went to brush my hair out of my face. In doing so she made contact with my skin. A green spark jumped from her hand and she slumped back against the wall. If she had collapsed on top of me she would have died.

My body was so drained it would reach out for any energy it could get. Full contact with me right then would kill in seconds.

Sick as it was, I felt a little better.

Eddie went to Penny. She was still alive and would wake up so I called him back.

“She will be ok, get me free.”

He applied his muscle to my bonds and I was free a few minutes later. Free and weak as a kitten. I needed power and there was none around. They had planned carefully for their kidnapping. What little light there was in my cell, and the corridor beyond, came from low-energy chemical lights.

I would have to get into the main part of the base to find a power source.

Penny came around.

“What happened?” she naturally asked.

“You touched me and I sucked part of your life out of you. Sorry. Can't help it right now.”

“That was what that was? Weird. I feel some nausea but otherwise ok.”

“You will be fine after a while. Just make sure to keep a little distance.”

“No problem there.” but that came with a smile.

Ok, what to do? Eddie had broken the table getting me off of it so I could not ride on that. Carrying me would get us about 5 steps so that was out.

What I should have done was sit tight. I knew my people were close and they would find me.

Yeah right.

“Ok, I am going to crawl out into the hall and then figure out what to do next.”

I did, scenery was not much better.

“Eddie you know this base right?”

“Yes sir I was here for about 3 months before I got fed up.”

“Ok, I need energy, a bunch of batteries would work. Think you can find those and get back here?”

“If all the guards have been pulled up top then it should be no problem. But you two will be defenseless.”

I hate it when people debate with me.

“We are all going to be dead if we are discovered before my people get here. Get going and get your ass back here fast.”

He went.

Penny was a cute girl. Long curly brown hair and a nice smile. She looked thin and dirty but the smile on her face still lit up the room.

“Nice to see your face.” I commented.

“Yours too, although yours is famous, well sorta. You know what I mean.”

I chuckled.

“I do indeed.”

“Glad you both are enjoying yourselves.” a new voice.

A guard with weapon leveled at us. We were at one end of the corridor and he was at the other but I imagine if he fired enough bullets he would get us.

I wish I could say I had some profound thought at this moment. I was a little surprised.

Roar. A blast of flame hit the guard from behind. He hit the ground as ash.

Red light filled the corridor as she walked through the doorway. A fire elemental out of some storybook.

My body felt the heat and drank of it.

My eyes focused.

Muscles that had all but failed me grew strong again.

My shield returned.

I stood.

Nova ripped off her mask as she was just steps away from me. I could see the tiny bursts of steam that were her tears.

“Don't touch him.” cried Penny.

“It's ok, she knows.” I said as I motioned for Penny to back away.

Nova and I met and intertwined. I wrapped us in a shield as our lips met in the sweetest kiss I can remember. Heat poured him her and I took it all.

“I was so scared!” she said when our lips parted.

“I know babe, let it out, all of it.”

Again our lips met and the power flowing from her spiraled upwards.

I wanted to hold her like that forever but as my power returned so did my sense of responsibility. I told Nova to damp it down and I dropped the shield.

“Weeeo bossman, that is quite a dick you have got there. No wonder she likes you so much.”

“Hello Demon it is good to see even your ugly face.”

Yeah I was naked.

“I brought a uniform and mask for you honey.”

She brought something else too. I gestured and it broke out of it's bag and slithered towards me. My cloak wrapped itself around me much as Nova had done moments before.

“Is that alive?” asked Penny.

“No but explanations will have to wait. Demon I sent a young Meta named Eddie to find power for me. Superman, black hair, 6' 4” dressed like her. Go find him.”

Demon looked at Nova. “Commander?”

“You heard the man, go.” she snapped.

“Since when are you a Commander?” I just had to ask.

“Since the real one went and got his dumb ass captured. I saw the video. So flash some tits and you become a moron?”

Nice to be back.

“They were very nice tits.” I teased.

“We are going to talk about this later, I promise.”

“I believe you, now... Commander, status report please.”

“We have taken the upper levels but there is still fighting down below. Pockets of resistance dot some parts of the mid levels but not for much longer. Drac engaged Zippy and he has the speedsters tied up but otherwise we are in control here.”

“Who is we?”

“Who do you think? Justice and Bloody Vengeance are down here with me. The Avengers are holding the surface entrance and trying to nail Zippy.”

“He calls himself Emperor Zatch, where is he?”

“Drac? Pretty sure he is down in the lowest level. That is a massive garage and someone is holding Thor and Sif off I am guess that is him.”

“Found him boss. He was in a fight and had put down two before I got there. Did pretty well.”

“You look better sir.” said Eddie.

“Yeah, she does that for me.” I said nodding at a smiling Nova.

“Alright time to finish this. Demon I want you to get Eddie and Penny up to the surface. You can rejoin us after you do that.”

“No way” & “No” came from both Eddie and Demon at the same time.

“You are going to get Zatch right?” asked Eddie.

I nodded.

“Then I am going along.”

“Me too.” chimed in Penny.

I should have argued but a new emotion had finally gotten hold of me. Anger.

Time for Emperor Butt-Face to die.

“Alright, fine, lets go.”

We walked through the base. Demon and Eddie took the lead. The few guards that did not run at the sight of us died quickly. A stairwell led us down.

It really was a massive garage, more of a hangar really. The fight was at the far end.

Valkyrie flew up to us as we entered.

“Boss! You are alive!” she gushed.

“Good to see you too Val, status report please.”

“Yes sir. Well they are down to about a dozen guys but they have two Meta with them. Some freak in a purple bathrobe keeps yelling orders but it is basically a standoff.”

Thor and Sif had built a makeshift wall out of cars. They were behind it throwing other cars at the bad guys. I saw two different blasts come back in response. I reached out with my senses and got them both fairly easily. Concussive force and Sonics. The blaster with the sonics was the stronger of the two.

“Eddie you stay right here with Penny and I do not want to hear a fucking word about that.”

I did not get an argument.

“Everybody else, let's go to work.”

We moved down to the battleline. Thor roared out a greeting to me and Sif waved right after she threw a car.

“We got a bunch of assholes that need killing boss.” said Demon.

“Good thing you are here then. Thor, Sif, Val, Demon, get ready. As soon as the blasters are down haul ass up there and get the rest. Do not touch the asshole in purple unless he attacks you.”

“You take the guy on the right honey.” I said to Nova as we floated upward.

She nodded and was strangely quiet as we flew forward.

I felt the impacts from the sonic blaster but they were easy to neutralize. My still hungry body absorbed quite a bit of it. He had a shield but I blasted it down with a volley of my own. One more shot and it was over.

Nova spun and dodged her target's shots until she was almost on top of him. She fired once.

The rest of the team came charging towards us. I motioned Nova to follow me as I went up and out of the way. The gunfire that had been peppering us both ceased and switched to the new threat.

Ten trained men against four gods, guess how long they lasted. Not long is the correct answer.

We landed. Zatch was as far back as he could be, hiding behind some steel boxes.

I disintegrated the obstruction.

He came out with arms raised, hands pointing towards us. An ugly black energy crackled along his fingers. His death touch, probably very lethal.

I made two chopping motions with my hands. Hot planes of energy sliced first one, and then the other hand off at the wrist. He screamed and sank to his knees.

Nova stood silently beside me.

“I think he needs a hug.” I said.

“Yes I do too.”

She walked towards him. He was screaming even before she enveloped him in flames.

I felt nothing.

No joy, no relief, nothing at all.

Except the almost overwhelming urge to go home.

With Zatch dead the rest of his forces surrendered. The base was cleaned out, all the computers were drained of information. I later sent Geo in to erase the place completely. He filled the tunnels and his team destroyed all the entrances.

We reached the surface to find more friends. And Star with a portal.

I found myself standing alone with Demon and Penny while Nova got everyone ready to withdraw.

“Man boss you should have seen it! Apollo sent Star to pull Nova and the Praetorians home as soon as we knew you had been snatched. Don't feel bad about that one boss, I saw the video. Anyway. Nova went right to Central and demanded that Apollo put her in charge of the search for you. And I mean de-man-ded! Apollo tried to tell her that this job belonged to Blood, 'Those are Pulsar's orders'. “

Even with his rough voice, it was easy to tell Demon was enjoying telling the story.

Penny was trying not to stare at my strange companion.

“Go ahead and take a good look Penny, despite his fierce appearance, and lack of social graces, Demon here is not a bad guy.” I told her.

“Yeah, I'm a freak and I know it. Listen though boss. When Apollo said that to Nova she said 'That is one big set of balls you got there boy, come outside and I will burn them off you. This is Pulsar we are talking about moron, it is going to take more than Blood, and I want command. Say yes, or burn, your choice.' And dammed if she and Apollo did not head outside! Apollo was pissed. Selene was there too but she had not said anything. Right as Nova and Apollo were squaring off the wierdest fucking thing happened. Psyche's voice came out of Selene's mouth. Freaaaky. Psyche told Apollo to put Nova in charge of the rescue, and said if either one of them took a shot they would deal with her.”

Nova came up for the last few sentences. She looked a little smug.

“He really thought I was just going to stand around and wait for others to find you. I love him but he is really dumb sometimes. Much like you my powerful love.”

My plan to take down Dracula was complex and involved. Infiltration, split-second coordination, all that sort of stuff.

Nova's plan was to start killing people until somebody told her where I was. We knew a number of people who worked for Drac, she started with those.

It worked rather well, just took a few days.

As we got ready to enter the portal to go home I turned to Nova.

“Honey, I think I am done with vacations for while.”

[Alexander Tau]

Author's Comments


That is everything that I have completed so far. I have the rest of this book written but not polished and tweeked.

Been a little while since I was working on this story on a daily basis but I would like to get back into it at some point. There is one more year of the story to tell.

Like the first book these chapters could stand a few descriptive additions. People and places need a little more detail. But when I was really writting it was a smooth daily flow of text. Just telling the story was fun and I do want to finish it.

I have written the very end of the book though. It sets up the next generation story that I did not really think I wanted to do. The MetaHumans happen, the War happens, and that is it. A nice contained piece.

But maybe it will not end there.

I have thought that I might use it as the basis for an PbPC game at some point. We would just pick the point at which the Game begins and from there on the story would be different. It would be difficult to find people who could, and wanted, to play the key people. I do know a couple of people who could play a few of the parts already so with time maybe I will find more.

Lets see I know a Pulsar, Psyche, StarGirl, Nike, Apollo, Demon, Thor & maybe Speed.

Guess that is not too bad so far.



A.T
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[Alexander Tau]

Since I am indeed working on a MetaWar game now this is a shameless bump.

I want to put this source material up at the top for everyone to see for a bit. At least until I publish the 4 Chapters of Love on the Run I have completed.

Even though I am expecting that the vast majority of the Players in the new game will want to create their own people, and that the Plot of the game will NOT follow the Plot of the Story, I think it is still going to be a useful resource for the game. I do have some ideas about how some of the more powerful Characters might find their way into the game. More on that later.

And perhaps working on the game will drive me to finish this little bit of Fiction. I have been thinking I could do a shorter approach and really tie everything up nicely.



A.T
(-)