The Hade War

by Luke Carlisle

  Elaine, Ronan and Daniel sat around the TV in Ronan’s high rise apartment watching the scene unfold. The news report was abuzz with the actions of Mastadon smashing his way through the floor of the lobby. The camera was fully zoomed in to the wall he smashed revealing a solid sheet of metal. The reporter didn’t speculate any importance of the metal wall but talked mostly of how the police bullets had no impact on the super powered terrorist. A photo of Mastadon was now on the side of the screen as the report continued.

  “Manning has talked about him,” Daniel wrote and the others read. “He levelled an entire building he thought we were in not long ago.”

  Ronan stood up and walked to the corner window. From here you could see the Skyborn building in the distance. From here you wouldn’t know anything was happening.

  “You haven’t heard from Manning or the rest for a while?” Ronan asked.

  Daniel shook his head.

  “Just Marcus, The Sufferer,” he wrote. “Israel is being kept in South City Hospital.”

  “Get in contact with Marcus. We need to meet as soon as we can.”

  Metalcore stood up.

  “We need Manning. Find out if Marcus knows anything that can help us find him,” Ronan concluded as Metalcore went to leave but stopped quickly in his tracks, writing something down in his pad.

  “By the way, Manning gave you a code name,” he wrote

  “Ugh. One of his super hero names? No thanks.” Ronan shook his head. Metalcore wrote something and held it up. It said one word.

  “Warstone.”

  Ronan stared at the name for several moments.

  “Yeah ok. Go.”

  Daniel turned and left.

  Ronan, now Warstone, said one word to himself.

  “Badass.”

  Marcus rushed to the kitchen window of his apartment as quickly as he could. Before he saw who it was knocking on the glass he knew it would be someone with news. The super powered are funny, they always liked to make grand entrances like this instead of just using the door. A surge of relief hit him when he saw the mask with sweaty black hair draping all round the top and sides. Opening the window he held out his hand to help his friend in.

  “Daniel! What’s been happening to you man?” Marcus asked and looked down at the note pad Daniel held out. He had already written something on it in anticipation.

  “It was that Nightfall creep. Im back now. We’re regrouping. Come with me to Ronan’s.”

  Marcus looked up at the eye slits in the mask then smacked Daniel’s upper arms in appreciation.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed. “The old, mind reading lady in church was right!”

  Metalcore tilted his head in obvious confusion.

  “Uh… never mind. It’s been a weird time for me too,” Marcus told him.

  “Do you know anything that could help us find Manning or Greyfall?”

  “Yes! You guys don’t know yet?! My buddy in the force says they are being held at PATMOS.”

  Metalcore stared at Marcus for a second then slowly scribbled something on his pad and held it up while taking out his cell phone with the other hand. Marcus looked down. The pad said one word.

  “Shit.”

  Finally. Finally a break in the metal. Not much but enough for a strong finger hold. Mastadon placed eight fingers inside a ridge in the metal and began to pull with all of his might. Slowly but surely the metal gave way and began to reveal an opening. It was immediately clear there was a room on the other side of this metal wall. Blinking lights and humming machinery were active and Mastadon could hear rapid footsteps and shuffling inside. Doors could be heard banging shut as the room suddenly descended into silence. Mastadon had ripped the metal aside enough now that he could fit his head and shoulders through the gap.

  His heart skipped a beat.

  Nothing on earth prepared him for the horror that was laid out in front of him.

  All around the world the entire human race collectively put a hand to their mouths in despair. Millions of coffee cups smashed to the ground world wide at the same moment.

  Elaine grabbed Ronan’s arm.

  “Oh no! Oh please God no!” she cried.

  The dinner hall in Patmos had never been more quiet. Manning closed his eyes, dropped his head and began praying. Greyfall clenched his fists.

  Marcus stopped gathering his things to take in the nightmare. Metalcore was already watching on the TV in The Sufferer’s apartment. It was the live feed of Mastadon’s camera on the news. The news anchor had no other words to say.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for what you are witnessing here,” he apologised to the millions of viewers

  Even for the likes of Mastadon this was a whole new level of evil. There was no string of obscenities long enough or foul enough to describe what he felt. Slowly inching forward into the room step by step he made his way past incubator after incubator. Passing row after row.

  All across the globe it was finally revealed; the truth about Vincent Kennedy, the evil behind the billionaire tycoon.

  Mastadon shed his first tear in decades. Even he felt the scene was too horrid to broadcast for any longer. Placing a hand over his camera he made his was to the door on the far end of the room, more intent than ever to find and kill Vincent Kennedy.

  In the newsroom, the blacked out screen woke the anchors from what felt like a trance. They realised they had to say something.

  “I… I’m sorry folks, I truly am, for what… for what you just witnessed…” the anchor fought to hold it together. “It appears… the super powered terrorist Mastadon has revealed…that somewhere hidden behind that giant, what seemed to be metallic wall inside the Skyborn building here in New Belfast… Vincent Kennedy is… what seemed to be… running some sort of, uh… tests… on people… even… even children.”

  Marcus began to cry.

  Elaine began to cry.

  Manning began to cry.

  “We appear to have lost visuals, but what looked to be several hundred people… some of whom were babies… appeared to be…” he couldn’t finish his sentence. His co anchor tried her best to help him out.

  “The people appeared to be attached or hooked up to all forms of machinery, and wiring. It looked… I mean it looked like some of them were… not of this world, so to speak. Uh… one or two of them had animalistic features. One certainly appeared to have a small set of wings. I think I saw a man with four arms… I…. Oh my I’m so sorry viewers, I have never witnessed anything like that. We will try our best to figure out what is happening and keep you updated. We are receiving word that many more of both police and army personal are either arriving at the Skyborn building or are on their way.”

  Deadvolt opened the door into yet another empty office. Empty to him anyway.

  Vincent Kennedy slowly crept his way forward. The spell meant that Deadvolt saw nothing. He didn’t see his intended target approaching with an ivory knife in his hand. He didn’t see Frank standing in the corner, afraid to take a breath. He didn’t see the seven foot tall witch walking alongside Kennedy with her eyes rolled back in her head, her black ragged cloak trailing along the floor behind her, focusing all her energy on her veil of invisibility.

  Deadvolt felt a sudden fire in his stomach. Looking down he saw only a wound and his own blood pouring down onto his crotch. What felt like a punch struck his chest, another wound had opened. The side of his neck tore open and he dropped to his knees as he tried feebly to hold in the river of blood pouring onto the floor.

  Suddenly Kennedy, Frank and the witch appeared out of nowhere. Or was he seeing things? His head was spinning. His eyes began to blacken over as he thought he saw Vincent Kennedy drive something towards him. This time his heart tore open.

  Turning to Frank, Kennedy barked his orders.

  “Find Simon. Tell him the I want Bullwark and Masterpiece now!”

  Frank quickly made his way to the phone on the desk at the side of the room, dialling one number.

  “And Kill Mastado
n! Send everyone!”

  Chapter 22

  Beep…beep…beep…beep

  If Israel was conscious all he would hear all day was the sound of the machines around him. Trapped inside a forced coma he lay waiting.

  Silence. Patmos lay in utter silence. The inmates had been sent back to their cells. Trapped inside, the inmates simply lay and rotted. Greyfall and Manning waited.

  The screaming had stopped, replaced now with constant heavy breathing and gagging. Jessen stood strapped into the machinery in agony waiting to be freed, or die. Simon, Kennedy’s newest head of research stood in front of him.

  The cold night air was refreshing on Marcus’ face. Flying in the arms of Metalcore across the city, he wondered how Daniel didn’t do this all day every day. It was wonderful. Metalcore was not so content. Marcus wasn’t heaviest person he had ever lifted, but after several miles it got to be exhausting. Struggling to fly he dragged The Sufferer across the sky towards Ronan’s apartment.

  “…What you are seeing now folks is the live feed of the Skyborn building in downtown New Belfast. Police and army had cordoned off a five block radius around the scene where earlier today, as these pictures show, we learned of what can only be described as a secret laboratory inside of the Skyborn. This video was streamed live by the super powered terrorist known as Mastadon. Viewers be advised, these images are distressing…”

  The shot cut to the earlier recording from Mastadon’s live stream. It was now the most watched online video in the world.

  “…As you can see, Vincent Kennedy appears to be running some sort of experiments on people inside incubators of some kind. Also as you can see… there are a number of babies among them. We lost visual for several moments but regained it only to see room after room of… well, as you can see… people with strange abilities and oddities. It is here where we will stop showing the rest of that video. The terrorist Mastadon engaged a number of these people in combat, only to be cut down in what seemed to be a ball of flames. We are uncertain of his status, but considering the people he appeared to be facing and the danger he was in, it doesn’t look good for him. At the end of the stream you could hear a grunt as Mastadon fell sideways to the floor. Then the room filled with fire and we lost the feed. Police have attempted to enter the building only to be repelled by what can only be described… as an army of the super powered. Our cameras have been able to capture some footage of strange movements in the foyer of the building and the lowest floors. What we can see is beyond any rational explanation. The police and army are holding their position for now around the Skyborn and are desperately trying to get in contact with Vincent Kennedy.”

  The television was on quietly in the background as Ronan paced around his kitchen.

  “Great… great, thank you, yes anyone and everyone who is ready to fight,” he spoke down the phone. His door opened as he spoke as Metalcore and The Sufferer returned. Gesturing them in Ronan continued his conversation.

  “We’re working on that… have you been to PATMOS?… no… no he’s in hospital.”

  Elaine welcomed her brother and Marcus in the living room. Several large pizzas were sitting on the coffee table. Two men and one woman sat on the sofa. They stood as Daniel and Marcus approached.

  “This is Nick, Scott and Ruth.” Elaine gestured to them. “And this is my brother Daniel and Marcus. Everyone exchanged nods. Elaine pointed to Daniel and Marcus. “Flight, takes peoples pain.” Then she pointed to the new comers one by one. “Metal hands, super sight and flight again.” Everyone nodded their understanding of each others powers.

  “How many more are we? Who is Ronan on the phone to?” Marcus asked. Daniel took off his mask and picked up a slice of well earned pizza, forcing in through the gaps left in his molten lips.

  “We are a few. I don’t know who Ronan is on to but he seems to have a few contacts. He’s trying his best.”

  “I agree. Ok, bye.” Ronan hung up the phone and returned to the group. “I’m going to get Manning and Greyfall as soon as possible.”

  “Attacking PATMOS is a suicide mission,” Ruth, one of the new comers stated. “The whole place is especially designed to repel the super powered.”

  “I know. But we need them. I’m not asking you to join me but…” Ronan stopped mid sentence and walked briskly towards the TV, picking up the remote from the coffee table on his way and turning up the volume.

  “…And we are about to go live to a feed that Vincent Kennedy is broadcasting to us from inside the Skyborn building…”

  The group of super powered huddled around the television in silence. The broadcast cut to headshot of Vincent Kennedy smiling right down into the camera, right into the souls of millions upon millions of viewers world wide. For several second he sat in silence until he began to speak.

  “My fellow American’s…” he began, mocking the president, showing his complete lack of regard for anything that was happening. “I guess the jig is up. Today your little world was rocked with the reveal that ole Vinny here has a little more going on than your news reports, magazines and talk shows would lead you to believe. Today my home and workplace was so barbarically invaded by two terrorists by the name of Mastadon and Deadvolt. The fat oaf Mastadon invaded my privacy even further by streaming the whole thing live online, showing the world my little experiments in the secret research facility I have buried within the inner sanctums of the Skyborn. So… rude… And if that wasn’t bad enough, there I was innocently finalising my grand Masterpiece which I plan to use to rule the Earth when Deadvolt killed several of my guards and interrupted my meeting. Well…”

  The camera slowly zoomed out to a head and shoulders shot. Kennedy held up the decapitated head of Deadvolt. The eyes had been gouged out and the words ‘I’m dead LOL’ were scribbled over the forehead in pen.

  “I stabbed him to death then cut his head off.” Kennedy dropped the head on the ground out of shot. “One of you can eat that if you want. Anyway…” Kennedy raised a glass of whiskey to take a sip. After several seconds it was clear on the screen that instead of ice floating in his drink, two eyeballs bobbled around in the golden liquid.

  “Aaaaahhhh” he over exaggerated his exhale. “Where were we?… Oh yes, I’m gonna kill all of you. Down to business. Over the last while some of the more eagle eyed of you may have noticed a giant beam of light coming out of the top of my building. It’s subtle, but if you look really hard you can just make it out. I actually can’t believe no one told me to shut it down or anything. Come on! Clean and abundant energy the likes of which no one has ever seen before? And they just let me play with it?!”

  Vince stretched out his arms and began to clap loudly and give the thumbs up.

  “Bang up job there, government. Just top notch. Did you really think I was going to share that shit with you?! Oh wait I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, what am I talking about?! It has always been my plan to share it with you. Just not like that… in fact… yes I believe now would be a good time to include some of you in the first stage of my grand plan.”

  Kennedy raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into his communicator.

  “What do you say there Simon… Two blocks?… Hell, make it five.” Kennedy lowered his arm and raised his whiskey again to take a sip. “Several flights below me a man is being tortured. He’s been there for a while. He’s going to kill a lot of you now. Allow me a minute to go take a leak while I make my point.” Kennedy stood up and walked out of shot.

  Forty flights below, in the depths of Kennedy’s secret research lab, Simon stood in front of his victim.

  “Time for your big reveal Mr Hade,” Simon said as he prepared a large needle with a silver fluid inside.

  The now skinny, withered body of Jessen stood upright, tied up in the crucifix position, attached to all kinds of machinery and restraints. Tubes where coming in and out of his body every few inches. Some were constantly extracting small amounts of blood, some were supplying his body with just the right amount of nutrients so he would n
ot die and some were pumping his body full of all kinds of drugs and sedatives. He was gaunt and pale, his greasy hair longer and his beard thick. Tubes went into his mouth, down his throat and up his nose. Every few seconds a jolt from somewhere would shock him so that he would wrenched in agony, releasing a portion of his force blast. The energy from his body travelled into the wiring and through a large machine at the side of the room. It was a long plastic box with a cylindrical tube in the middle spinning rapidly round and round every time in a beautiful display of light and colour. This energy was what was pouring up into the New Belfast sky above the Skyborn building.

  Simon stood in front of Jessen tapping away on a tablet.

  “Five blocks… and… this will suck for you man… go!” With that, Simon pushed his finger to the tablet and Jessen writhed in more agony than he had ever been in before. The cylinder spun more rapidly and more beautiful than ever.

  High above the roof the beam of light slowly grew thicker and thicker. The crowds on the ground began pointing upwards at the sight. It was quite mesmerising. Slowly the beam began to separate at the top like a water fountain, the light beginning to bend and fall downwards like a rainbow waterfall. Several people on the ground began to walk backwards. Then they began running. The light grew larger and larger, spreading out further and further from the building as it made it’s way to the earth. Five blocks away buildings began to collapse as the light sliced through them at no effort. Dozens of them either fell entirely or half remained standing upright, the insides displayed like a block of wood that had been chopped in two.

  The crowds outside the skyborn were in pandemonium now. Between there and the five block radius it was beginning to slowly sink in.

  Ronan walked over to his window to look out at the destruction in person. “I can’t believe it,” was all he could say.

  The wall of light met the ground, crushing its way several feet downwards then stopped. The panicking innocents inside the wall ran to it. The first ones to touch it were blasted into a hundred pieces. Several people tried hurling objects at it like fallen brickwork from the buildings but each piece simply disintegrated upon impact with the light.