The International

by Christopher Vale

  “Dawn,” came a soft voice in the darkness causing her to freeze in her tracks. “What are you doing?” Dave asked.

  Dawn searched the blackness, but did not see the small, shiny white alien robot anywhere. “I’m going to stop you,” she said defiantly.

  “You cannot stop us, Dawn,” Dave replied. Then she saw him. He stepped out of the darkness and walked toward her. “Even if we somehow failed today, more of us will be here soon.”

  Dawn narrowed her eyes as she glared at him. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “A lot of things happened when you entered the base in what you refer to as North Vietnam,” Dave explained. “One, we realized that there was finally someone on this planet that could act as the controller for the Singularity. And when the base was destroyed a fleet was launched to Earth.”

  “Why?” Dawn asked.

  “Because when we were attacked we realized that your race had achieved capabilities that could be disastrous. Not only for your own planet, but possibly for other civilizations throughout the galaxy. It was time to bring the Singularity to earth.”

  “We destroyed your base and so you are going to enslave us all?” Dawn asked.

  “That was your choice, not ours,” Dave responded. “We prefer that you control the Singularity, as we have said. But if you will not, we shall do it ourselves.”

  “So why did you need Werner?” Dawn asked.

  “We did not,” Dave said. “We do not need anyone. However, when Werner discovered what we desired to do, he begged to be a part of it. His eagerness to construct this machine will bring the consciousness faster as our fleet has not yet arrived and will still take several years to reach Earth.”

  “Good!” Dawn shouted and then leapt forward bringing her boot up and into the face of Dave, knocking him to the ground. She pounced on him and began to punch him over and over, smashing his robot face in.

  In Vietnam she had been able to subdue Colonel Arnulf mentally, by restraining him physically within the ether of their minds. She prayed the same was true with Dave.

  The robot she sat on began to fade away and Dawn looked around in confusion. Another Dave stepped out of the darkness. “Perhaps this is for the best,” Dave said.

  “What?” Dawn asked.

  “You resort to violence much too quickly to be in control of the Singularity.” With that Dave raised his hand and a blue beam shot out, zapping Dawn and knocking her backward.

  ***

  Dawn’s physical body fell hard, collapsing onto the cement floor as if she had been hit in the physical world and not just in the ether of her and Dave’s minds. She pushed herself up to rest on her elbows and surveyed the room. Her friends were fighting hard, but it would all be for naught. She had failed and there was no way to stop the Omega Alpha machine now. She peered across the giant room and saw Alena fighting the iceman.

  Mikhail was facing Alena and creating a wall of snow and ice to keep her and her deadly blades at bay. He realized that she was too fast for him. But it didn’t matter. He just had to keep her busy long enough for Dave to take control of the will of every person on the planet. When the Omega Alpha machine finished, Alena, Dawn, the rest of Team Blitzkrieg and every other human on Earth would be part of the collective consciousness. The Daves would eventually replace the frail human bodies with android bodies like Dave’s, and humanity would simply disappear into the Singularity.

  Tom and Rolf were nearer to Dawn, fighting the Aryan twins. Well, Rolf was fighting them, Tom was more or less trying to stay alive, while distracting Freyja.

  Freyr punched Rolf in the ribcage and then spun. The punch didn’t hurt the giant of course. Not only was he much stronger than Freyr, but he wore armor. That was not Freyr’s point though. He was originally attempting to slip past Rolf to get to Dawn, but now that Dave had defeated Dawn, left her lying in a heap on the floor, Freyr’s object was simply to keep Team Blitzkrieg busy long enough for the Omega Alpha machine to do its job.

  In fact, that’s the only explanation for why Tom was still alive. Freyja was basically playing with him. Clearly Dave did not want any of them dead if death could be avoided. After all, he would want their uniqueness to become part of the universal consciousness. Otherwise he would have simply vaporized all of them as he had Colonel Smith.

  Tom was out of bullets and dropped the magazine from his pistol to clatter on the cement floor. He reached inside of his pocket to pull out another, but before he could slap it in, Freyja snapped the pistol away with her mechanical arm, crushing it into a ball of black steel and plastic. She opened her metal fingers allowing what used to be Tom’s pistol to simply drop to the floor with a clang. Panic flashed in Tom’s eyes, and he did the only sensible thing he could. He ran.

  Dawn pushed herself up to her feet as Tom fled Freyja. Dawn was frustrated, upset and even…angry. She did not want to lose. She did not want the entire human population to become mind slaves to an alien robot. But if they were going to, the least she could do was rid the world of these monsters in the room with her. No need to have their evil minds as part of the collective consciousness.

  As Freyja began to chase after Tom, she felt herself jerked backward. Dawn used her telekinetic powers more forcefully than she ever had before. She ripped Freyja right out of the room and flung her toward the lake. Not just toward the lake, but toward the Omega Alpha machine. One of the spinning beams collided with Freyja so hard that it sent her flying a mile into the Alaskan wilderness.

  Then Dawn turned to Freyr, only to find Freyr had already set his sights on her. Having slipped past Rolf and furious at what Dawn had done to his sister, Freyr slammed a fist right into Dawn’s face before she had a chance to react. Dawn fell to the ground feeling like she had just been kicked by a mule.

  Freyr slammed the toe of his boot into Dawn’s side and she felt her ribs crack. She shrieked in agony. Freyr reared back to kick her again when he was suddenly snatched up by Rolf’s giant hand and flung across the room to slam into the stone wall, his body collapsing limply on the floor.

  Meanwhile, Tom charged full speed at Mikhail intending to tackle the Russian iceman. Tom let out a crazed blood cry as he ran and Mikhail turned to see him. Mikhail was surprised and let his attention turn from Alena to Tom. He released a blast of ice which slammed into Tom’s chest, knocking the American agent to the ground with a thud.

  Mikhail then turned his attention back toward Alena, but it was too late. He raised a hand to re-create his personal blizzard, but she was much to quick with her sword, and sliced his hand off at the wrist. Mikhail screamed in horror and pain as he dropped to his knees gripping the bloody stump with his good hand.

  Alena returned one of her swords to its sheath as she loomed over Mikhail, raising the other sword high above her head. “This is for my brother,” she sneered as he turned his head to peer up at her, panic flashing in his eyes. “This is for my mother,” she said referring to the Valkyrie. “And this is for me.” She was just about to drop the sword slicing his head from his shoulders, execution style, when the sword was suddenly blasted from her hands by a bolt of blue energy.

  Alena spun to see Dave staring at her. “We do not desire that he is killed,” Dave explained. “We would prefer if none of you were killed, if possible.”

  Suddenly, Dave was hit with bolts of lightening knocking him down.

  “Axel!” Alena shouted, ecstatic to see he had finally recovered. He stood several yards away from Dave, panting heavily, but with a look of absolute determination on his face.

  “How did you like that?” Axel asked the alien robot arrogantly.

  Axel’s mouth dropped as Dave stood up. “Not bad,” Dave replied. “But now it is our turn.” Dave blasted Axel with the same blue energy that had vaporized Colonel Smith, but instead of Axel turning to white ash, the enhanced human absorbed the energy.

  Axel’s eyes grew wide, as electricity crackled inside of them, while his face beamed with excitement and his body hummed from the amazing e
nergy that coursed through it. “Oh Yeah!” he cried with exhilaration. He then sent the energy bolting right back to Dave. It slammed into the robot, sending Dave flying backwards and crashing into the wall. Dave was hurting, his body badly damaged, but Axel could already see it repairing itself as it pushed itself up to its feet.

  “Rolf, finish him!” Axel shouted and his brother pounced, knocking Dave down with his shield and then driving a giant fist into the small alien.

  “Crush him Rolf!” Tom shouted encouragingly.

  Just when Team Blitzkrieg thought they had won, that they had defeated the alien, the unexpected happened. Rolf was grabbed from behind, an arm ripping his helmet from his head while two others wrapped around his throat, pulling him off of Dave.

  “Werner!” Tom shouted, the shock evident in his voice. There were some red patches still remaining on Werner’s flesh but he had almost completely healed for the lightening blast Axel had hit him with. It was astonishing. Axel had literally burnt him to a crisp, but now he was not only alive, but strong enough to fight Rolf. Axel wanted to hit Werner again, but it was too dangerous as anything strong enough to hurt the villain would likely fry Rolf as well. Rolf healed fast, but not impossibly fast like Werner.

  Alena was not as cautious as Axel. She drew her sword and dashed toward the four armed monster. She reached him in the blink of an eye, slicing one of his arms, But he was able to grab her with another one as the cut healed immediately.

  Alena had distracted Werner enough that Rolf was able to maneuver out of his grip. The giant then used all of his strength to pry Werner’s arms from Alena before slamming him against the cement floor. Rolf then lifted Werner up and slammed him down again. And then again.

  Alena stared at him. “He’s still alive,” she shouted. “And healing.”

  “Tie him up!” Axel shouted as he pointed toward chains and a hook. Alena smiled. She was there in an instant, retrieving the chains and then zipping back to Werner where she wrapped him with the chain securing him.

  With Werner secure Rolf turned back to Dave to find him standing, his body having nearly completely repaired itself. Dave stared at Team Blitzkrieg for a long moment. “You forgot the others,” he said.

  “What others?” Tom asked.

  Then they heard the cries of the hundreds of workers that had, until very recently, remained bowing low, their heads pressed against the floor. Now Dave was sending them to stop Team Blitzkrieg.

  “Oh no,” Tom said as he began to run. Alena zipped away to Dawn and tried to lift her. Dawn screamed in pain.

  “Leave me,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. Once the blue energy reaches us we’ll all be his slaves anyway.”

  She turned to look at Rolf, fighting off the hundreds of workers as best he could while trying not to hurt any of them too badly.

  “We can call in an air strike!” Tom suggested.

  Alena nodded. “Hurry!” she shouted to Tom. They all knew what an air strike meant. The zero point energy would likely explode wiping out most of Alaska and them along with it. But at least the rest of the world would be safe.

  Unfortunately, Tom could find no way to the radio room. There were too many workers. “How do I get there?” he asked.

  “I’ll cut you a path!” Alena said, the determination ringing in her voice.

  Meanwhile, Axel stood, staring out of the enormous opening at the blue energy that had almost reached them. Then he had an idea.

  “Wait!” he shouted at Alena, freezing her in her tracks. “Dawn get me out there!”

  “What?” Dawn asked, confused.

  “Get me out there to the top of the machine!” he shouted. “I need to get close to the source of the energy.”

  “Why?” Alena asked.

  “I think I can absorb it!” Axel replied.

  “Zero-point energy is too powerful Axel!” Tom shouted. “I don’t think you can hold that much energy.”

  “I don’t intend to hold it,” Axel told him.

  “It’ll kill you, Axel!” Dawn added.

  “We’re all dead anyway!” Axel reminded her. “Get me out there or we’ll lose all of humanity.”

  “Alright,” Dawn replied.

  “Axel…” Alena began, but he cut her off.

  “Keep Dave busy!” Axel shouted.

  Alena nodded and flashed toward Dave. She would attack him quickly and then dart away before he had a chance to vaporize her. Then attack again, just to keep his attention off of what Axel and the others were doing.

  “You’re going to have to hold me there,” Axel explained. Dawn nodded as she pushed herself up to a sitting position while wincing through the pain. Tom rushed to help her, letting her lean her broken body against his. Due to the intense pain, it was difficult for her to concentrate, but she squeezed her eyes shut and was able to lift Axel up and toss him through the large opening.

  Axel released a nervously excited cry from his lips as he flew through the air over the lake and toward the center of the sphere. His flight slowed as Dawn lowered him down to his destination. Tears of pain rolled down Dawn’s cheeks as she held Axel hovering over the rotating sphere and the source of the glowing blue energy.

  Rolf struggled to keep the workers at bay, while Alena zipped around Dave, occasionally slicing at his shiny body with her sword. She was doing no real damage, but that wasn’t the point. Dave watched her. She was fast, but even her speed could not keep up with the computer that was his brain. He calculated her path, and fired a blue beam of light. She ran right into it. It was not enough to disintegrate her, like Colonel Smith, but only stun her, knocking her to the ground, temporarily unable to move her limbs.

  With Alena no longer a distraction, Dave turned his attention back to Dawn and the others. He began to march toward them, but then halted, staring at Dawn. “We do not wish to hurt you, Dawn,” Dave said. “But we have no other choice.” He raised up his hand to fire a beam of energy at her when suddenly light filled the entire room, temporarily blinding them all.

  An enormous beam of zero-point energy blasted into Dave, vaporizing him immediately, before being redirected toward the sky. The others blinked and rubbed their eyes before turning to see Axel absorbing the zero-point energy and then redirecting it into the atmosphere, illuminating the sky above them.

  With Dave vaporized, he no longer had control over people’s will and consequently the workers quit fighting Rolf. They all watched helplessly as Axel redirected the energy away from them. Dave had taken over their will, not their memories. Everyone in the room realized what was happening, and knew how vital it was for Axel to successfully divert the zero-point energy.

  Axel screamed in pain as the massive amounts of energy surged through his body and into the sky. His plan was working, but he was barely hanging on. His mind began to blur and then began to fade. Everything started to turn black as his body began to disintegrate, becoming one with the energy as it left his body to disperse in the atmosphere. Soon the pain ceased and Axel felt nothing at all. His thoughts moved to his brother as his life flashed through his mind.

  Axel felt a surge of emotions. His fears of Arnulf. His love for his brother. His relief at their rescue. His concerns for Alena and Alexi. His joy at meeting his mother and his pain at losing her again. He remembered meeting Tom and Professor Hayes for the first time. He remembered his first date with Dawn. He remembered the hatred he had felt when he thought that the Valkyrie had killed Hayes and the fear he felt when he thought he might have electrocuted his mother to death.

  He wasn’t ready to go. He knew that. He had so much he wanted to do. So much he want to say to Tom and Rolf and Dawn and most of all to Alena. He loved her. He had always loved her. He wished desperately that he had told her. Right then at that moment all he wanted to do was take her and Rolf and run away. Run away from everything. Their respective governments and all the evil conspirators in their lives. He just wanted to let someone else save the world for a change. He and his friends needed a vacation. Yes, a lo
ng vacation. They could hideout where no one could find them. Axel, Alena and Rolf could have a good life.

  Axel pictured it in his head. He held the picture as his mind faded completely away, along with his body. The last of the zero-point energy dispersed into the atmosphere, saving everyone on Earth, but taking Axel with it.

  When the Omega Alpha machine stopped rotating, the zero-point energy was gone, but so was Axel. Everyone inside the base stared out at the lake and the now silenced machine. As their attention was diverted, no one noticed Freyr and Mikhail slip out of the base.

  “Axel!” Alena shouted desperately, and flashed away through the large opening and down the rocky hill to the banks of the lake. “Axel!” she cried, her voice echoing across the waters. But there was no response. Alena fell to her knees and placed her face in her hands and wept. She was truly alone now. Alexi was gone. Brygida was gone. And now Axel. She felt a pain inside of her, like a cold knife ripping out her heart.

  Back in the base Rolf stared at the machine and Alena weeping on the shore of the lake. “Where did Axel go?” he asked.

  Tom stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his enormous arm. “I honestly don’t know, Rolf,” Tom said softy.

  “Dawn,” Rolf said, but Dawn didn’t answer. She was lying flat on her back, now, weeping, a hand over her eyes. “Dawn where is Axel?”

  “He’s gone, Rolf,” she said between sobs.

  “Gone where?” Rolf asked.

  “Gone to heaven, Rolf,” Tom replied.

  Rolf turned to look at Tom. He knew what that meant. “He’s dead?” Rolf asked.

  Rolf let his shield fall to the ground and then he sat down wrapping his arms around his knees. “Axel,” he cried and cried. Then he said, “I want my momma! Where is my momma?!”

  Rolf felt arms wrap around his massive head and lips gently touch his cheek. “It’s alright Rolf,” Alena said. “It’s alright.”

  “Where is my momma?” Rolf asked.

  “She was killed,” Alena cried, causing Rolf to howl even louder, and bringing more tears to Tom and Dawn’s eyes as well. Alena began to rock back and forth with Rolf in her arms. “But do not worry, my darling,” Alena said in a way that sounded a lot like Brygida. “I am here. And I am not going to leave you.”