The Hade War

by Luke Carlisle

  Elaine rushed into the fighting to join Silvercord as she defended herself against multiple attackers.

  “The opening!” she yelled over the noise. “It’s nearly closed! We can regroup with the others soon.”

  “And not a moment too soon. We’re getting decimated here!” Silvercord yelled back in response. A shard of metal sliced past her face cutting the skin and causing a trickle of blood to run down to her neck. She didn’t even see where it came from but it hurt like nothing else she had ever felt.

  Josiah ran out of shots. Stopping in his tracks he didn’t even take cover while reloading the gun. He was now above fear. Taking a moment he looked up from the ammo to survey what was happening back outside the dome. His heart skipped a beat. Cold sweat immediately formed across every inch of his body. Beyond the dead and dying heroes and police officers marched a horde of escaped PATMOS inmates easily three thousand strong. Each one still wore their regulation prison uniforms and most carried guns of all sizes and power. The only saving grace was that each inmate still wore the power restrictor around his or her neck. Josiah ran to the opening of the dome which was closing fast then suddenly he stopped, struggling to believe what he was seeing.

  The PATMOS inmates had spread throughout the wounded and were delivering water and first aid to anyone they could find in need of it. They were organised and instructed by several obvious leaders. Josiah stood and watched in disbelief. They were even helping the injured PATMOS guards that had been called to the frontline. He didn’t notice the enemy creeping up behind him silently. Luckily for Josiah, the enemy didn’t notice Elaine creeping up behind him silently.

  “Are they helping?!” Elaine asked Josiah, bringing no attention to the fallen foe laying mere feet away from Josiah.

  “It… it does look like it,” Josiah answered.

  “Those power restrictors, I’m guessing they are still working?”

  “I don’t see why they wouldn’t be. I think they are powered remotely.”

  Elaine thought for a moment then reached up to her communicator.

  “Manning?!” she called and waited for his response.

  Not hearing the conversation, Josiah took several steps out of the bulwark towards one of the leaders of the inmates who was now approaching him. Meeting several meters away from the opening in the dome they both slowed as they drew close to one another, Josiah gripping his shotgun tightly.

  “It uh… looks like you could use some help,” the inmate said.

  “What you are doing is enough. These people need all the medical attention they can get,” Josiah said as he gestured to the fallen.

  “They’ll get it. But there are many of us who have a score to settle with Kennedy. Powers or no powers we want in that dome.”

  “I’m aware not all of you are necessarily criminals. A lot of you were rounded up and hunted down simply for having powers even though you just wanted to live normal lives. But I can’t let you in there. I’m still a New Belfast police officer and you are still prisoners. I’m obviously not going to arrest all of you right here and now but I can’t let you in. Help here where you can then stay here.”

  “With all due respect officer,” the inmate began as several more of his friends approached and joined by his side. “My wife was the one with powers. I know for a fact that Vincent Kennedy had her kidnapped five years ago and I’ve never seen her since. When I tried to get answers I was the one who got locked away with the super powered people on that God forsaken island. This thing around my neck doesn’t even do anything.” The inmate gestured to his friends standing all around him. “These men and women have had their lives stripped away from them simply for being different. They wanted to live in peace and were forced to be the enemy. I’m sure you can sympathise what that might be like.”

  Josiah felt a niggle of shame and understanding as he glanced down at the dark brown skin of his hands.

  “If you are here to fight against Kennedy, then we are allies and brothers on this battlefield today,” the man continued. “And whether we have to go with you, around you or through you… we are going in there right now.” The inmate made no motion or physical threat to Josiah but simply kept looking him in the eyes.

  A small explosion rocked the smaller battle at the wall and several members of both sides of the fight were tossed into the air only to be disintegrated against the energy wall.

  Neither Josiah nor the inmates budged.

  Finally Josiah spoke. “Without powers you are sitting ducks.”

  “What’s your super power officer?” The inmate countered.

  Josiah smirked. “Touché,” He responded as he turned and began walking back to the opening, cocking the shotgun. Behind him, over a thousand inmates marched towards battle.

  Just inside the wall Elaine was finishing talking to Manning over her communicator.

  “Confirmed. Do it now,” she told him.

  Back at Ronan’s apartment Manning typed on his computers keyboard furiously as he looked back and forth between two screens.

  “Aaaaaaand…” He hit the enter button. “Hacked.”

  On the battlefield, as they entered the opening to the bulwark every power restrictor around the inmate’s necks unlatched and fell to the ground disarmed.

  “Give ‘em hell boys,” Manning said.

  The inmates looked around one another, confused and relieved. After several moments some of them turned into men of flames, flyers, speeders or giants for the first time in years.

  “Attack!” Elaine bellowed to the reinforcements who yelled back in response as they surged into the dome. Flashes of energy blazed at the enemy. Flyers took to the sky and took out their aggression on Kennedy’s forces. Telekinetic powers, invisibility, super strength, fiery eyes, metal arms, extendable limbs all came out on show in a display of force which crashed into the smaller of Kennedy’s forces like a tidal wave. It only took a few moments. The fresh reinforcements with years and years of backed up aggression overran their enemy with ease, all the while Josiah fired wildly into the opposing crowd.

  Moments later they stood in relative silence. Silvercord, gasping for breath walked over to where both Josiah and Elaine were standing. Elaine gasped as she saw Silvercord’s face. All around the wound on her cheek a black rash was beginning to form. It looked like nothing Elaine had ever seen before. Instead of drawing attention to it she merely nodded to the warrior.

  Behind them the energy wall had retracted so much that the opening was now shut. The edges cut by Greyfall had merged back together. They were stuck inside.

  “I think we’re done here wouldn’t you say?” Elaine said as the surviving members of the Stirling Forty had now drawn around them. Silvercord was almost struggling to speak.

  “Let’s… let’s get back to the rest.” She gestured to the main battle line that was desperately trying to inch it’s way forward towards the Skyborn.

  Greyfall hacked and slashed at the enemy with a ferocity that struck fear into anyone opposing him. With the sword in both hands he held his ground confidently. Around him, his allies struggled. If nothing else, fatigue was severely setting in. Most of the super powered beings had super human energy reserves but these were being taken to their limits as even the super powered needed rest.

  Warstone had fought his way over to stand near the time traveller.

  “Greyfall! Look!” he yelled over the carnage as he pointed back towards the other force. It was a sight for Greyfall’s sore eyes. Running and flying towards them were Elaine, Silvercord and her fighters, the Stirling Forty, Josiah and a reinforced band of fighters ready to charge at the front line. Greyfall reached up to his communicator.

  “Alright Manning, anyone who can hear me, we’re doing this now! Now! Full attack front and centre! Everything we’ve got! Flyers and runners move in!”

  A terrifying yell rose from Manning’s force as the final push was now on. The reinforcements came running through the crowd to attack the enemy with everything they had, all cen
tred right down the middle to clear a path to the Skyborn. All sorts of colours and sounds exploded in a beautiful and terrible display of power as the attackers surged forward successfully.

  The first line of flyers took to the sky and made their way to the front doors of the building. Some were shot down, other set ablaze by whatever super power Kennedy’s fighters had. But some made it through. The runners had more success. Most made it to the building where they were met with more resistance.

  The main fighting line hammered on their attack relentlessly and effectively. Kennedy’s fighters were now firmly on the back foot and still Greyfall and the attackers poured it on. More and more flyers and runners made their way into the building and down through the hole Mastadon had created to enter into the hidden metal fortress Kennedy had built up through the middle of the Skyborn. Every room was ransacked at lightning speed until the prisoners and experiments were found.

  Rachel the flyer hovered several feet in the air, surrounded on all sides by her allies. They stood in front of dozens of scientist and researchers who all stood statue still with arms in the air. Incubators and cages littered the large room, all filled with Kennedy’s vile experiments. Without threat or intimidation one of the female scientists was the first to talk, trembling as she fumbled over her words.

  “Please don’t hurt us!” she begged. “We’re just doing our jobs! There’s dozens more labs. I’ll show you. Just don’t hurt us please!”

  Rachel looked the woman in the eyes then scanned the room. The sentiment was obvious in the expressions of each and every employee of Vincent Kennedy. There was no loyalty here. There would be no resistance.

  “Show me,” Rachel told her.

  Outside the battle was finally even. Kennedy’s force had suffered heavy losses in the surge. A large amount of Manning’s flyers and runners had formed a small force right outside the entrance to the Skyborn. Seconds went by like hours as they waited and waited. Finally, like the first cry of a new born baby a sudden and huge wave of joyous relief filled the small force. Freed prisoners and employees of Kennedy began surging out of the building. The employees were made to stand and wait while flyers took the prisoners and those destined for experiments to the edge of the bulwark away from the fighting.

  Cheers were beginning to sound as the skies above the battle filled with people being rescued.

  Elaine slowly made her way to where Warstone and Greyfall were fighting side by side.

  “Guys!” she yelled. “We got a problem!”

  “What is it?!” Warstone yelled.

  “The wall has been retracting. The opening you made has closed in on itself entirely! Those people are going nowhere,” she told him.

  Greyfall turned to survey the scene at the wall. The crowd of rescued individuals was growing and growing as they could not escape the bulwark. Some flyers and runners were standing holding babies, not knowing what to do with them. Thankfully though they were not under any attack. Kennedy’s force was fighting as one in a last effort to defend the building.

  “They will be ok,” Greyfall told her. “For now anyway. We must finish here and get to Hade! He’s the source of-“ Greyfall was cut short by a thunder crack whipping it’s way across the sky which made every single fighter pause and gaze upwards. There was a single second of complete silence as no one so much as threw a punch. Suddenly the energy dome above them began to sparkle and flicker like an old television set searching for reception. A sizzle that sounded like electrical current began to grow louder and louder until suddenly a blinding white light burst across the sky. The entire battle ground was littered with bodies that had hit the earth, each fighter shielding their eyes from the blinding light. It was only unbearable for a moment then the light died back down to the colourful purple and white of Jessen’s force blasts.

  Greyfall unshielded his eyes and gazed up at the roof of the dome.

  “Hade,” he said aloud.

  Suddenly dome burst into a billion small fragments that began to drop to the earth, dissolving as they fell. The fighters began to get back on their feet. Still no one struck their enemy as they watched the development unfold. The bulwark fell to pieces that disappeared in a beautiful, effervescent cloud of purple and white dust. The dust swirled and swam through the air for several moments then completely dissipated and was gone.

  The Skyborn building was now completely unprotected from the outside world. The rescued prisoners standing at what was the edge of the dome began to run towards the PATMOS inmates who were now helping out with the wounded. One by one they were seen to and taken away by medical personnel.

  “They’ve rescued Jessen,” Warstone announced as he looked excitedly around his friends. “They’ve rescued Hade!”

  “Guys…” Manning began over the communicators. “The army and airforce are probably gonna come at you and that building with everything they’ve got.”

  Greyfall, Warstone, Elaine, Metalcore and anyone else with a communicator able to hear Manning’s voice knew what that meant.

  “We have no time,” Greyfall announced.

  Kennedy furiously overturned a table in the lab and grabbed Simon by the collar with both hands clenched. A single unending and high pitched note was sounding out of the machinery hooked up to Jessen’s body. Kennedy yelled at the top of his voice.

  “You stupid son of a bitch! He’s dead!”

  Chapter 28

  “Where is the Masterpiece?!” Kennedy yelled at Simon who was now trembling.

  “You mean the vial?” he answered.

  “The bloody Masterpiece serum! I don’t care if it’s in a flower pot! Where is it?”

  Simon fumbled around a heavy duty filing cabinet. Opening it with a small key he pulled out a drawer which contained a single metal box. He took out the box and set it on a table then began to key in the security code on the side. With a click it popped open and a glass tube of red liquid with needles lay inside. Beside that was a smaller syringe containing a black liquid. Kennedy looked in the box.

  “How does it work?” he asked Simon.

  “You just take off the cap, screw on one of the needles, inject it anywhere into the body and push the button on the end. It should only take a few seconds to enter the blood stream and take immediate effect. If it looks like it’s going wrong, the black one should neutralise it quickly enough, killing the subject.”

  “Simple as that?” Kennedy asked.

  “Simple as that,” were Simon’s last words as a bullet shot through his brain and his body fell dead to the floor.

  “You killed my Hade you little prick!” he spat as he took out the vial of serum and inspected it.

  Frank, who had remained quiet throughout all of this finally spoke up.

  “Sir, if the bulwark is down we’ll more than likely be under attack by the airforce in moments.”

  Before Kennedy could answer there was heavy footsteps on the ground in the hallway just outside the lab. Kennedy pointed his gun at the door but smiled once he saw who stood in the doorway.

  Israel’s limp body was flung onto a cold metal table in the middle of the lab.

  “Perfect timing,” Vince said to the shrouded figure who had carried the victim in.

  In the lobby of the Skyborn Dustin stood with his eyes closed, sensing the life that was inside the building. He was talking out loud to himself. It helped him concentrate.

  “Not many now. Not many now. Not many now,” he said. Rachel approached him, breathing heavily.

  “We think we’re nearly there,” she told him.

  “We are,” he confirmed. “There is only a handful left.”

  As they spoke more and more people were being rescued from the depths of the building. A runner shot up to stand beside Rachel and Dustin.

  “We think that’s the last of them,” he told them.

  “There are nine left, including us,” Dustin told him.

  “So six,” Rachel said. “There’s obviously still Kennedy and whoever he has around him for prot
ection. Hade is still in here somewhere. That’s gotta be it.”

  “Agreed,” the runner said. “We really think we’ve been in every lab of the building.”

  Dustin nodded. “Ok let’s get back to Greyfall.”

  The three ran out of the building and didn’t notice the single solitary security guard peeking his head around the corner watching them leave.

  “How’s life outside?” Kennedy asked the hooded figure as he lay the box containing the serum beside Israel’s head.

  “A bit shitty,” the man responded.

  “It isn’t much better in here,” Kennedy told him. “Nonetheless, you have just brought me what is hopefully my final piece to play in all of this.”

  “Is that the Masterpiece?” the man asked, pointing to the red tube on the table.

  Frank looked at him suspiciously. He recognised something about this man.

  “That’s not exactly any of your business,” Kennedy told him. “Your work is done here. Go out and fight and die or live or whatever, just leave,” Kennedy wafted his hand to signal for him to leave. Frank suddenly jolted as if struck by something. Reaching out he yanked the ragged veil from the new comer’s upper body and revealed his helmet and mask.

  “Simpson!” He shouted as he lifted a gun to the intruders head.

  Kennedy was startled and frantically looked back and forth between Frank and Simpson. Instinct and trust took over and he lifted and pointed his own gun at Simpson.

  “What is it Frank? Why am I hold a gun at this man’s head?!” Kennedy asked.

  “This son of a bitch is…” Frank stopped mid sentence and quickly pointed his gun at Israel who still lay on the table with his eyes closed.

  “It’s a lie!” he yelled

  Suddenly Israel’s wrist coil whipped out, striking Frank’s gun out of his hand and on to ground. Kennedy panicked and began shooting at the young man but Israel flipped himself off the table with amazing agility and landed on the ground unharmed. Simpson raised his gun and pointed it at Kennedy’s face.