Apex 2: Rise of the Super Soldiers

by Adam Moon

  She spoke into her suit, ordering her troops. “There are three humans facing the base. I want everyone to converge upon their position. Handle them quickly.”

  When her men hesitated a beat too long, she knew they were rattled by what the young man had done.

  The young girl on the ground stepped forward and squinted in concentration. As she did that, two Grey soldiers were cleaved in half by an invisible blade. The young man with her strained again and another explosion erupted from him, knocking several of the Grey’s away, damaging some of their suits. The older human took a step backwards like he wanted to run.

  The Grey Captain quickly refocused her energies. She still had to deal with the two superhumans above her.

  Retreat

  To Jack, it had all happened so fast. The troops on the ground had been swarmed and ripped to pieces by the Grey’s. Jack felt bad about disarming them moments earlier because they might’ve stood a chance if they still had their firepower on them. But what choice did he have?

  Three Grey’s saw them and broke away, heading in their direction, but the leader became distracted by Hank, Sally, and Delacourt and must’ve ordered one of the men to take care of them. That was when Jack saw what Hank was capable of. Hank looked at them and yelled a quick warning to find cover. Then his body swelled with energy and burst in a cascade of light and heat that came out of him in thick waves. Jack grabbed Melanie and teleported away for just a couple of seconds; long enough for the wave to pass, before returning to the same spot.

  They watched as Sally used a force field to slice through a couple of Grey’s the same way Scott used to be able to with his powers.

  The leader of the Grey’s along with her companion kept rushing up at them, as determined as ever.

  Jack poised to attack but he didn’t need to. Melanie’s hands started to swell with blood as her entire body quaked.

  She turned to Jack and said through gritted teeth, “I think these are the same Grey’s that Dan and I defeated back at the farmhouse last month. I have some unfinished business here.”

  Her hands hovered before her body as she concentrated. And then she clenched her fists. The companion of the Grey leader screamed out in an alien, animalistic gargle. Then his suit crumpled like a tin can being crushed. He fell out of the air, tumbled downwards, and hit the ground with a barely audible thud.

  Jack grabbed a hold of Melanie before she lost concentration and started to start fall.

  The Grey leader halted and scanned the ground quickly. It was now littered with the bodies of her people.

  By her count, there were at least four enhanced humans and only about a half dozen of her people were left standing. She couldn’t win here. She had no choice but to retreat or surrender. She yelled, “Fall back. We can’t win this.”

  A voice called out, “No. We already gave up once. I’d rather die than do so again.”

  “I’m giving you an order. We need to regroup.”

  Just then, something amazing happened. A small landing shuttle whooshed past them, heading towards the ground. It quickly landed in a plume of kicked up dirt.

  Abduction

  Everyone stopped what they were doing. The Grey’s recognized the ship as one of their own. But what could that mean? It was no rescue party. The ship was too small and there was no sign of back-up.

  But when the hatch opened and the figure from within appeared before them, a great whoop went up between the Grey’s. It was General Shaylo. The greatest of them was in their midst. Most of them had only heard of him through stories and legend. He was their greatest warrior, never defeated. They were saved. They would be victorious.

  But their jubilation was short lived. Shaylo aimed a laser rifle at the cluster of three humans on the ground.

  The young man sent a blast of energy at him but Shaylo walked right through it.

  The young man fell back and the girl set up a force field to protect them both.

  Shaylo fired at the two young humans but his lasers rebounded from the force field so he quickly diverted his attentions rather than waste any more valuable time.

  Shaylo rushed forward, grabbed the older human by the throat, and then dragged him, kicking and screaming, back to the shuttle. The hatch sealed shut behind them and the shuttle took off into the sky.

  They watched it vanish as it left Earth.

  The humans were flabbergasted.

  The Grey Captain didn’t know what to make of this recent development. But she was euphoric nonetheless. Reinforcements had arrived. She didn’t understand what Shaylo was up to but that didn’t surprise her. Shaylo was a brilliant tactician, strategizing in ways she would never fully comprehend.

  She yelled, “Fall back. We’ll use the beacons to find the other suits and liberate our people to help Shaylo when he returns.”

  No one argued this time. She led the way down the mountain side as her men followed after her. The humans didn’t give chase.

  Useless Jack

  Jack stared up at the vanishing alien shuttle. His eyes were nearly shut as he squinted with all of his energy. His skin tingled and his breathing became labored.

  Melanie took him by the hand. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to see where that ship is going. If I can find the mother ship, I can teleport there and end this before it starts.”

  Melanie sighed but she patiently waited for him to give up. When he did, he said, “I lost it. It’s too far away.”

  “Why do you think they abducted Delacourt?”

  “I have no idea.”

  A voice called up at them from below. It was Watson. He’d survived the attacks. He was one of just two soldiers to get so lucky.

  They watched as Hank and Sally rushed at him.

  Jack teleported in front of them and lashed out at Hank with a brutal uppercut that would’ve caved in the head of a mere mortal. Hank backpedaled with a look of shock and pain on his face.

  Sally lurched at Jack but he was too quick for her. She stumbled when she over committed to her strike, barely catching herself before she hit the dirt. She stood up, looked at Hank who was doubled over in agony, and then she stiffened in concentration.

  Jack saw the force field go right through him but it didn’t cleave him in two like it was supposed to. Either it was too weak or he was too strong.

  Melanie swooped into Sally from above screaming, “You tried to kill him, you bitch!”

  She landed on her, forcing Sally to cower in order to protect herself. Melanie grabbed her by her collar, heaved her head closer, and punched her square in the face. The boom of the impact ricocheted off of the mountain walls.

  Now it was Hank’s turn to lash out. He stood up in a flash, grabbed Jack by the wrist, swung him through the air and threw him at the mountain. Jack tumbled through the air for just a second before teleporting back to where he’d originally been standing.

  He slapped Hank in the face with an open hand and said, “You’d better do better than that if you’re going to survive this, you wimp.”

  Sally put a stop to the warring when she started to cry. Hank rushed over to comfort her. He knelt beside her, putting an arm around her shoulder, and shooting an accusatory glare towards Jack and Melanie.

  Sally stammered, “We’re so sorry. Commander Delacourt had some kind of mind control over us. I just wanted to kill Grey’s. I had no interest in hurting other people.”

  “Well Delacourt’s not here so why were you running at Watson just now?”

  “To help him. He’s our Commander.”

  The adrenaline was starting to seep out enough for Jack and Melanie to think clearly. Hank and Sally had helped them against the Greys. They had also seemed to change now that Delacourt was gone. Maybe they were telling the truth.

  Watson ambled towards them as Hank and Sally got to their feet.

  Hank rushed towards him and said, “I’m so sorry, sir. We might not have liked it here, and I sure as hell wanted to smack you in the mouth a few times, bu
t we would’ve never tried to kill anyone. Delacourt had some type of control over us.”

  Watson said, “Oh, shut up and help me here.” He stumbled into Hank and Hank put an arm around his back to help him stand. The embrace helped Hank more than it did Watson.

  Melanie put a hand on Sally’s back and said menacingly, “You’d better not be lying to us or we’ll kill you.”

  Sally shook her head. Her face was full of anguish and regret. She started to cry all over again so Melanie decided to ease up on the threats.

  Jack stood before them and said authoritatively, “We need to warn the world that the second wave is coming.”

  Traitor

  Commander Delacourt was latched to an alien interrogation torture table. His fingers had all been removed as had his left eye. The skin on his legs had been flayed off like the Grey’s were scaling a fish. But the real pain started when the alien lasers were used to sear and burn holes through his skin.

  The pain was unbearable. He yearned for death but it seemed like the Grey leader was just getting started.

  A small square translator no bigger than a postage stamp was all that allowed them to communicate with each other, and it wasn’t very accurate.

  At one point the translator said, “Tell they where the the is at.”

  His voice quivered. “What?”

  The Grey leader slammed his fist down on the table and yelled something alien.

  The translator said, “Tell these the where powerfulness came to from.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  The Grey reached out for another torture tool so Delacourt just started talking, telling him everything he thought he might want to know.

  He told him about the metallic spheres and the powers they’d granted Jack, Melanie, Hank, and Sally. He told him about the captive Greys being held all across the globe. He stammered and cried and choked as he spilled the beans on his fellow man.

  Shaylo patiently waited for the translator to convey the message and then he put the torture device down. Delacourt let out a deep breath. His pain started to subside already. Maybe they’d let him live now that he’d helped them. Or better yet, maybe they’d let him join them. Perhaps something good would come of this.

  Battle Stations

  The First Mate said, “I’ve got a lock on the four enhanced humans but I don’t know how long that’ll last. Some of them are able to move in ways I don’t understand and their energy levels are affecting the sensors. Should I deploy troops to their locations?”

  Shaylo said, “No.”

  “Did you get any intel from the captured human?”

  “I got enough to know what we’re up against. These humans have abilities that defy common sense and the physical laws that bind us. But they can be beaten if we play our hand right.”

  “Can we use the captive human against them?”

  “No. His powers are weak compared to theirs. That’s why I grabbed him instead of one of them. I knew we could bring him here and manage him without any trouble.”

  “Did his genetic material yield anymore information?”

  Shaylo was getting impatient with the line of questioning but he answered her anyway. “The decoder couldn’t make heads or tails of the material. It struggled to even break the cells down to retrieve the genetic information. It hardly matters. We don’t have the time or the resources to do anything with that type of information.”

  “So what’s our next move?”

  “Wake the troops. Keep tabs on those enhanced humans. And then jettison that cowardly human out into the void of space.”

  “Yes sir.” Finally, they were going to get into a fight. Finally, they’d have their revenge for the humiliating defeat the humans had handed the first wave. It would be a glorious victory with Shaylo at the helm.

  The First Mate eagerly went about preparing for the invasion.

  The End

  For more by Adam Moon, check out:

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