by Adam Moon
Delacourt yelled so loudly at Watson he worried he’d perforated his eardrum. “You idiot! My men got it all the way there in one piece and in the few minutes it was under your supervision, it vanished. They’ll bust you down to Private for this incompetence.”
Watson smirked. “That might be true if this little excursion of yours was at all sanctioned, but you told me yourself that it was not. So let’s cut to the chase. I have two unconscious soldiers under strict supervision. According to the interviews we both saw, the teenagers were attacked by their sphere and then went unconscious before they turned into superhumans. Now let me go out on a limb and assume you wanted the sphere opened because you wanted to create your very own super soldiers with the mist trapped inside. Well guess what, dumbass, the two men are soldiers of mine. You got your wish. Maybe it didn’t play out the way you’d envisioned it to, but it did play out.”
Watson took a deep breath and then continued, “And just so we’re clear, your men gave my men orders when they got here that countered the orders I gave them. Had my men done what I’d told them to, none of this would’ve happened. I’m curious to hear why you directed your men to do that.”
Delacourt was silent for several seconds. Watson was right to predict that he wanted to harness the powers locked inside the sphere to create a super soldier but he was wrong to assume Delacourt would bestow such an honor upon one of his own men. Delacourt had wanted the powers for himself and if there was any left over, then he’d infect his men too. In his fantasies, he’d be the leader of a band of super soldiers. With enough power, there’d be no stopping them. The world would be their playground.
Delacourt was livid now that that was no longer a possibility. He said, “We’ll talk when I arrive. I’ll be there shortly.”
Watson said, “I already dispatched your men and their truck back to New Mexico. I couldn’t care less whether you join them or not.”
Humbly, Delacourt said, “I’d like to join you. I want to see what happens to your troops when they’re revived.”
“I’ll see you when you get here. I’ll have my men bring you directly to me. Do not attempt to order them to do otherwise. Do you understand?”
“Of course.”
Bedlam
When Jack woke up the next morning, all he heard was commotion outside his door. He sat up and put his clothes on while straining to hear what was being said.
Melanie’s voice was saying, “You should’ve never let anyone near that thing.”
Watson’s voice returned, “It was a mistake. But now we need to deal with it.”
Jack opened the door on the quarrelers and interjected with, “Would someone like to tell me what the hell you’re talking about?”
Melanie beat Watson to it. “Two soldiers were sprayed by that sphere they brought in this morning. They’re unconscious just now. The sphere vanished just like it did with us.”
Jack turned on Watson. “I told you not to subject anyone to it until we knew how safe it was. Were you even listening? I thought you understood how dangerous it was.”
Watson sighed, his shoulders slumped and he took in a deep, disheartened breath. His eyes were ringed dark and bloodshot. “I was just telling Melanie that it was a mistake. The men approached the sphere against orders. I had no idea they would do that. I didn’t even tell them how important it was. I just don’t know what got into them.”
Melanie shook her head angrily. “So now what?”
“I was hoping you could fill us in on what we can expect to happen next.”
Jack shrugged. “We don’t really know. We were unconscious. We woke up at least twelve hours later, went home, and then started to black out again. When I awoke in a quarantined hospital I was shown video footage of what I’d been doing while I was unconscious. I punched a hole through a solid wood dresser in my sleep. I hovered above the ground and scared the crap out of my nurses. After that, it was all a matter of escaping the quarantine, which was essential since we were all to be executed by a United States General just because we frightened him.
“I used my powers to take us back home. After that it was all a matter of practicing.”
Watson had a terrible thought. Jack, Melanie, and Scott had shared the mist, and out in the open no less. Hank and Sally had inhaled the mist between them and inside the confines of the truck. Would their powers end up being so much more intense because they received a larger dose? Would they even survive long enough to find out?
He nodded at the young couple and said, “Let’s get some breakfast in you. I have a feeling you’re going to need your energy today.” Then he turned on his heels and walked away.
When he was out of earshot, Jack whispered to Melanie, “I don’t remember telling him we’d help him with any of this.”
Melanie shrugged her muscular shoulders. “Yeah, but we might be the only ones who can help.”
Jack smirked and shook his head. He’d always lusted for adventure, until one too many adventures started to find him, all bringing near-death experiences in their wake.
Commanders
Watson had barely stuffed down a slice of toast when Delacourt was brought before him. He was older than Watson by a decade and half a foot shorter but he had a spring in his step that had less to do with sprightliness than it had to do with having an agitated, hyperactive character. His nervous energy immediately put Watson on edge.
Watson stood from the table and asked his fellow Commander to follow him to his office. The last thing he wanted was to butt heads with an equal in front of his subordinates. Jack and Melanie eyed him suspiciously as they left.
Delacourt whispered to him, “Those are the weird kids from the news, right?”
“Yep.
“I’m happy you managed to force them to stick around. Good work.”
“I did no such thing. They’re free to go whenever they want.”
Delacourt shook his head sadly. “I’d have gone about it differently, but whatever. To each his own, right? What matters is that they’re here.”
Watson regarded him coolly, wondering how on Earth a man so arrogant had ever made it so far up the chain of command.
Delacourt looked around as they walked, paying particular attention to the damp stone walls and the hanging fluorescent lights. “This is no way to live. You should ask for a transfer to somewhere better.”
Watson was already starting to get annoyed by the man. “This is perfect for me. We have some very sensitive things going on around here that just wouldn’t stay contained on a normal military base.”
“Like what? The aliens you have in custody? Give me a break, man. Every base on the planet holds alien prisoners.”
“There’s that, and the teenage superhumans, and now the unconscious soldiers that were just recently subjected to an alien aerosol that has unknown side effects.”
Delacourt shrugged his agitation and said dismissively, “Whatever you say…”
Watson wanted a pay raise just for the added aggravation of his visit.
They both took a seat in Watson’s office and Watson relayed the events of the past twelve hours. Delacourt’s knees bounced as he listened. Several times, his mouth opened as though he was going to interrupt but then he’d close it back up and fidget with a pen, clicking it furiously the more impatient he got. Watson took a twisted pleasure in making the man squirm.
Delacourt waited for a long enough pause to interject. “So what’s the plan?”
Watson looked at him incredulously. “There is no plan. Maybe, if my soldiers wake up, we can monitor them to see if they develop any unusual abilities and if they do, we can possibly use them if another alien invasion commences. I have no contingency for any of this and neither do you.”
Delacourt held his palms up defensively. “It’s your show, chief. I was just asking.”
But Watson knew there was more to his arrival than just witnessing what might happen to the two infected soldiers. He was shifty and hard to read but his body language betr
ayed him. He was jumpy and agitated. He wanted something out of this. Watson worried about what that might be. He decided right then to keep a close eye on the sprightly Commander.
Escape Plan
The Grey Captain was growing more impatient by the minute. A rescue mission should have arrived by now or at the least, a mission of retribution. And yet all was silent with this filthy world.
That was problematic. They’d given up peacefully only because she had banked on a second wave to come for them when no one from the first wave issued a status report back to high command. It was protocol so where the hell was the cavalry?
If, for some unknown reason, they’d been abandoned, then her first instinct to give up was a poor choice. She’d made a horrible decision and now she had to rectify it. But what could she do to gather her people together to continue the fight, alone without reinforcements?
First, she had to escape. Then she had to find out what these humans had done with her mechanized armor. Inside the armor, she’d be able to pinpoint the exact location of every other mechanized unit on the planet. And where there was armor, her people would be held nearby.
She was strong enough to break out of the crudely built cell they were being held in, and fast enough to avoid detection. She assumed the armor was close so all she had to do was find it. With the armor, she was almost indestructible.
That thought brought back memories of those super humans they’d come up against last month. She’d assumed that there were more of them than the few she met which was why she’d given the order to surrender. Now she was having her doubts. None of the Earthlings she’d met since then showed any signs of unnatural abilities.
She had a feeling that her people, held captive all across the planet, regarded her as a coward and a traitor.
She was too proud to sit idly by and let that become true.
She had no concrete plan, but when she relayed to her men her intentions, they supported her escape plan with zeal. The fact that they’d get to kill humans with their bare hands was just an added bonus.
Rising Powers
Delacourt wanted to see the unconscious soldiers so Watson sent for Jack and Melanie too, to kill two birds with one stone.
The moment Melanie arrived; Delacourt first ogled her, and then began to gently tease her. He smiled impishly as he said, “How much do you bench press, young lady?”
She smiled but it wasn’t out of humor, more so out of politeness.
When she didn’t take the bait, he got more aggressive about it. He started referring to her as an Amazon and a she-hulk, all before they’d even arrived at the medical wing.
Jack considered teleporting him into the mouth of an active volcano or halfway through a wall, but Melanie seemed to let his thinly veiled insults slide right off her back. If she started to look uncomfortable, he’d step in in a heartbeat.
When Delacourt called her Melanie the Monolith, Watson put his arm over Delacourt’s shoulder and yanked his ear close to his mouth. He was spitting as he hissed threats at the hyperactive older man.
Delacourt regarded him curiously when he was let go. Then he smiled and nodded a mock apology to Melanie.
He said in a half-assed sort of way, “Just teasing. You all need to lighten up.”
Jack was glad Watson was in charge of the mountain bunker. Under Delacourt’s command, the place would be mayhem.
Under Watson, it was more like controlled chaos, which was probably about as neatly contained as was possible, given the circumstances.
Delacourt seemed to settle down by the time they reached the medical wing.
Watson led them to a room and opened the door. They heard the chaos within before they saw it. Otherwise none of them would’ve been prepared for the scene that awaited them.
The two soldiers had been placed in restraints in their respective beds, and remained there, still as the dead. But the room itself was alive, and violently so.
The air smelled of ozone intermingled with smoke. The curtains were horizontal and pulled taut by an invisible hand. A dresser was slowly creeping across the floor under its own power. The TV was no longer set on its wall mount. It had been shot across the room so viciously that it was imbedded in the apposite wall.
A male nurse entered behind them and said, “I just called for you, Commander. A few minutes ago, this room was silent as the grave. And then, out of nowhere, all hell broke loose.”
Watson looked at Jack and Melanie but they had no further insight.
Jack stated, “This is kind of what happened to us before we woke up. On the bright side, it means they’ll probably survive.”
Delacourt watched the dresser finally come to a stop against the wall. When it would no longer move in that direction, a violent, invisible force threw it in the opposite direction like it was no more than a toy. It shattered into splinters, caving in part of the wall. As he watched, his expression changed from one of mild terror to one of barely concealed glee. It was like he was a kid watching a sideshow attraction.
Before any of them sustained injury, Watson ushered them back out through the door and shut it behind him. To the nurse he said, “No one is to go in there unless they get express permission from me.”
Just then, an animalistic squeal came from within the room. It made the hairs on Jack’s arm stand on end.
The nurse made to enter, but Watson grabbed his shirt and said, “Under any circumstances. Do you understand? The two soldiers in there made a terrible mistake and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone else suffer for their folly.”
Melanie said reassuringly, “They’ll be fine. They’re probably tough as nails already. I’d be more worried about the room than about their wellbeing.”
Watson pulled a key-ring out and locked the door.
The nurse was exasperated but he relented and said, “I’d like to double check on them whenever things settle down.”
“Of course. Just call me and I’ll come right down. This is for your own protection, you know?”
“I know that. It just goes against my training.”
“I understand that. It’ll be over soon.” He looked at Jack for confirmation. “Right?”
“I think so. I don’t really remember.”
Watson patted the nurse on the shoulder. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
Then he took a deep breath to gather his thoughts.
Delacourt said, “If those men die, this entire excursion was a waste of time and resources.”
Watson sighed. “Those are good men, regardless of the single mistake they made. They’ve struggled through loss just like everyone else has and they’ve done so with little or no time to grieve. They’re more than lab rats to me. If they die, it’s not just a failed experiment, but a failure on my part, as a leader. ” He added, “I managed to retrieve a small sample of the contagion that affected them. I can’t be sure if it’s still active or if it’s worthless but if we can synthesize it and produce it in bulk...”
Delacourt opened his lips to speak, to find out where the contagion was being stored, but Watson cut him off because he didn’t want to discuss details of future military endeavors in front of Jack and Melanie. “Who wants to see the aliens?”
Delacourt rolled his eyes. Jack looked at Melanie but neither of them replied.
“Your enthusiasm is contagious,” Watson said sarcastically. “Come on then.”
The Grey Prisoners
“What have you been feeding them?” Melanie asked as they made their way to the holding cell.
“We’ve tried to offer them everything from meat to veggies but they won’t eat even when we leave them alone with the food.”
“They must be starving.”
“They don’t look that way. None of them have lost an ounce. All they’ll accept is water but I have no idea where they’re depositing their waste. I think it must just evaporate from them or something.”
Delacourt concurred. “Our prisoners won’t accept anything but water either, eve
n under duress.”
Watson wanted to ask him what he meant by that but he had a sinking feeling he already knew. Delacourt seemed like the type to use torture as a means to an end. The realization served to sour his feelings even further towards the spry old man.
Watson approached the singe sentry posted outside the door and told him to take a five minute break.
Then he pulled a key out and turned the tumblers inside the lock.
Stand Down
Her men were ready to pounce. They hadn’t spilled blood in a long time now and it showed on their snarling faces and in their clenched fists.
These men had committed the ultimate cowardice in order to secure victory but now that reinforcements weren’t coming, amends had to be made to clear their consciences. Surrender was only acceptable among her people if it was a tactical surrender. It had seemed that way at the time, but the deadline for a second wave had passed, meaning their surrender was simply that; they’d given up. That could not stand. Wrongs would be righted with spilled blood and entrails. Even if they were forsaken, stranded on a planet not their own, they could at least stand tall knowing they had fought back and won.
They stood together and listened intently to the key entering the lock from the other side of the door. They heard the crude tumblers falling into place. They watched the door open and, to a man, coiled in preparation to strike quickly and mercilessly.
But when the Captain recognized one of the human visitors, she whispered for her men to stand down immediately. None of them knew what to make of her reversal until the young female human walked inside.
They’d personally surrendered to her when they saw what unnatural abilities she possessed. She was a weapon unlike anything they’d witnessed in all the time they’d be battling alien creatures. Her powers defied common sense. She might’ve killed them all had they not given up to her on the spot.
