Sentry: 1-Violence & Variations

by Thomas Shaw

"Right you are" Benjamin confirmed and he opened the door. They walked in to a room, filled with about sixty desks which only about half were manned. The sounds of chatter and the clicking of keyboards filled the air. On the wall was a large screen, half of which was filled with numbers and times, the other side had a map of the world with small red and green dots all over it.

  "Seems quite busy" Laura pointed out.

  "It's night in America, we get calls from there mostly at night"

  "Calls about what?" Amy asked, twirling her hair through her fingers. She had pushed her way towards the front and was stood close to Benjamin.

  "Well, whenever someone sees a ghost, an alien or something unexplainable, the common thing for people to do is call the police" Benjamin guided them out of the room and closed the door behind them. He started walking down the corridor and continued, "Now either the police put them through to us or give them our number, they usually state that we're some sort of specialists in this sort of thing"

  Sam raised an eyebrow, "How many calls do you get?"

  Benjamin chuckled softly, "You wouldn't believe how many people call with stories of floating orbs in their living rooms or hovering lights above a car park. We usually humor them and say we'll investigate, and they don't call again. But if they do, or if we get a call with something that doesn't fit the usual description, we investigate" He stopped as they got to the center of the building, with the large spiral staircase. He started walking up but stopped halfway. He pointed down, "You know what's at the bottom?"

  "Prison" Sam answered flatly.

  Benjamin nodded, "Only ever had to use them once, for you" he said with a smile. Sam didn't think it was so amusing.

  "I'm flattered"

  "As I was saying, once we get some information, we send a team out to investigate"

  "What if it's in America, or China?" Amy asked.

  "We have Agents all around the world who report back to this base with information. Originally they were sent out from here, but as DarkWatch grew, it was easier to have them situated in the countries" They reached the top of the stairs and Benjamin pointed down three corridors, "That one is the dorm rooms. At least twenty agents live in the facility, another ten choose to sleep here often. I hear you've been staying here lately Mr. Crow?"

  Sam nodded, "Seems easier"

  Laura looked down the corridor with a questionable look, "How do I get a room here?"

  "Speak to the boss, I'm sure he'll be able to sort something out"

  David gave her a look. She shrugged her shoulders, "Save me a ton of money on rent"

  "The second corridor leads to the canteen, kitchen, laundry room and wash room, and the third one here is empty at the moment. And of course, you're all aware of the boss’s office" Benjamin pointed across the stairs to the familiar door of Mike Richards' office. Benjamin ushered them back down the stairs.

  At the bottom, he looked down a corridor, paused for a moment then turned right, "This here is our garage" He opened the door and they went in. The room was cold, and smelled of petrol. There were three black vans, a dark lorry, a fleet of black cars and a tank. The garage was like a typical garage: stone floors, hanging lights, a huge corrugated metal door and the sound of drilling and machinery echoing around. Benjamin walked back out, followed by the others.

  "A tank?" Laura immediately questioned, "Why would you need a tank?"

  "Why would we need four people with super-human abilities? The things we've discovered would blow your mind, one or two will stop you sleeping at night I'm sure!" Benjamin continued, "It's investigations like those that drew our attention to Amy a few years ago"

  David looked at Amy who was blushing.

  "So aliens are real?" Amy asked, trying to change the subject.

  "Oh yes"

  "Ghosts?" Sam added.

  "Kind of"

  "What about God?" David asked.

  Benjamin didn't speak, but he gave him a look that could either mean yes or no.

  "But what I don't get" Laura started, "Why all the secrecy. Why not come public with all this information?"

  Benjamin stopped and faced her, "If Mike Richards appeared on the news tomorrow and announced 'Aliens Exist', would you believe it for a second?"

  Laura didn't reply, she wouldn't, but there'd be plenty of people that would.

  "Plus, what's the point? Cause widespread panic and stress when there's no need. As far as we can gather, there's no plans for invasion! We've been left in peace. We're more concerned with what's going on on this planet, with our own species"

  Amy laughed at him, "I suppose you're right"

  Benjamin took them back to the corridor at the foot of the staircase, "The other rooms are just meeting rooms. This is where you should be going next" He pointed down a corridor. "Head down there and speak to that guy in the white coat" They looked down and, like he said, man was leaning against a door, typing on a tablet. Benjamin lightly waived to them, "Good luck, and I'll see you around"

  The team said goodbye and walked down the corridor. Up close they could make out a young face, with floppy blonde hair almost covering his eyes. The coat looked exactly like a traditional lab coat. David made out the words 'Science Lab 2' on the door behind him.

  "Hello, my name's Andrew. I've been asked to develop something for you. Come in"

  They walked inside to the laboratory. It seemed that Andrew worked on electrical hardware for DarkWatch; different electronic devices and tools littered all the shelves, tables and counters. David noticed an arm of one of Anthony's robots propped up inside a glass case at the back of the room behind a desk. Andrew took a seat at the desk and started typing on his laptop, "Mr. Richards asked me to develop something to help you all during combat” He explained without looking up from the screen, “I can't say I'm happy, it took me away from what I'm currently developing, but anything to help our new heroes"

  "Help us? Like a weapon or something?" Laura asked.

  Andrew looked up and smiled, "No, I'm pretty sure you guys are the weapon. No, what I'm developing is protective gear. As well as some things to help you do what you do" he pressed a key on his keyboard and turned his monitor round to show the others, "I'm working on an alloy that will help deflect each other’s attacks. I heard in the report about Amy hitting Sam with a heat blast?"

  Amy blushed and nodded, "At least he could take it" Sam gave her a peculiar look.

  "Yeah, I suppose. But if it was anyone else, it wouldn't have been something so easy to brush off"

  "You're not planning on putting us in matching costumes, are you?" Sam asked with a roll of his eyes.

  "Oh god no! Just some safety pads and deflectors. Take a look" On the screen was a plain model of a man. It looked like a shop mannequin. Attached to each wrist were long, blue protective braces, with a similar set up on the shins. On the back of the model was a grey plate and another covered the torso. A helmet that sat on top of the head and a clear visor attached, with an antenna sticking up from the ear piece.

  "Why not give us a full body suit and get it over with?" Amy expressed, not looking impressed with any of it.

  "No no no, this is just a prototype. I've called you here because I want your opinion. Also, I need to use your abilities so I can learn how to counter them, making the material fully protective"

  "I just don't think that we need all of this" David waved his finger at the screen, "Especially the helmet, I think I speak for all of us when I say we are not wearing something that looks like a welder’s mask"

  Andrew turned his screen back around, "Mr. Richardson is thinking about your safety out in the field, I'm just following his instructions" he explain defensively.

  "We'll help. But I can't promise we'll use them" David agreed.

  Andrew smiled, "In that case David, let's start with you"

  The morning of the next day, David walked in to the training center. Laura was moving her hands around in circular motions in front of her. Above her head was a huge ball of water, and floatin
g around inside was a training mannequin. She noticed David out of the corner of her eye, "Hey, what's up?"

  David stood by her side and looked up at the water above them, "You know your glasses are crooked?"

  Laura peered down at her nose and the thick frames, "Yeah. New ones, they're rubbish though, very uncomfortable, but they'll do for now. Where've you been?"

  "Our new DarkWatch liaison is currently finishing his training. Just been to see how he's getting on"

  The water moved away from them and Laura quickly moved her hands away from one another. The ball froze and hit the floor with a huge thud which shook the floor, "Liaison?" she asked, re-adjusting her glasses.

  David explained Richards' reasoning, "I'm not going to argue with him. He's going to meet us later for introductions. Where are the other two?"

  Laura grabbed her bottle of water from by her feet and took a quick drink, "Sam's with that Andrew guy and Amy is... actually, I've no idea where Amy is" Laura looked around the room, "She was in here earlier"

  David pulled out his phone and started dialing her number. It rang for a few seconds and was cut off, "Hmm" David hummed, "Not like her to not answer"

  Laura was about to say something when the doors to the room burst open. In ran an agent, clutching a tablet. They recognized him as the agent they had first met in their initial meeting, Joseph. He ran up to David and Laura and showed them the screen. It showed an aerial view of a city, "He's been spotted again, Mr. Richards wants you out there now!"

  2.5

  This time they decided to travel by helicopter. They flew over the city towards an industrial complex. They hovered above what looked like a steel yard. They started descending and when they were close enough to the ground, David, Sam, Amy and finally Laura jumped out. The helicopter immediately flew back upwards and cleared the area. They were left alone. Around the yard were scrap cars stacked atop one another, large rows of steel beams and other large bits of metal littering the whole place. They heard a loud clang from behind them and turned to look. The noise came from a large building, similar in size to an airport hangar. They walked closer. The large doors were open, once they were at the entrance, David peered in. It was dimly lit inside, the only light source coming from the morning sun shining through the huge skylight above. Chains hung from the ceiling and old, machines were piled in the middle in a very untidy pile. Then David saw him. The man in the robotic suit. He was currently carrying a huge steel girder towards the pile of machines. David turned and looked at the others, "Ok, we do it this way"

  David walked into the building, "Hey!" He shouted over.

  The man in the suit turned. He threw the steel on the ground and started stomping over to him.

  "Never caught your name before?" David asked inquisitively. The suit got closer, and closer still, close enough for David to be able to read something on the shoulder plate. It read 'Quake'.

  "Quake eh? Ok, whatever" David raised his hands and sent bolts of lightning at the suit. He was knocked back but slowly started to push through the bolts of electricity. He went to grab David but he managed to quickly jump out of the way. He ducked down and tried grabbing Quakes leg but missed. Quake kicked him in the gut and David was knocked across the room. The suit armed its missiles and was about to launch them when he was hit in the back of the head by a huge piece of ice. Quake spun round and saw Laura behind currently throwing more ice spikes at him. He held up his arms to deflect them. Once she stopped he raised his arm, pointed and the missiles launched from his shoulders towards Laura. She turned and crouched to avoid them but they were punched out of the way by Sam. They flew off and hit parts of the wall, exploding on impact and leaving huge holes, which let in more light. Sam turned and held out his hand, helping Laura to her feet. She nodded with thanks and they turned to face Quake. David had stood now too at the other side of him. Quake looked from Laura and Sam, to David then back again, "The other?" He said over his communication system.

  Right on cue a beam of heat came from above. Through the force, Quake just managed to look up at Amy, who was stood on the roof, firing through one of the open skylights. Quake crouched down to the ground, seemingly pushed away from the heat beam. David gave Amy a thumbs up thinking she was helping. But he was wrong.

  Quake pushed away from the ground with an amazing amount of force, it left two large cracks in the concrete floor! He jumped upwards and smashed through the skylight, grabbed Amy by the collar of her top and dragged her down with him! They landed hard on the ground and dust flew everywhere! It settled and Quake was stood, holding Amy up by her neck. David started walking towards Quake, "Drop her!" He shouted, hands crackling with electricity.

  Quake laughed over the intercom. He held Amy higher and looked like he was about to throw her to the ground when he was suddenly, somehow, knocked off balance. His grip loosed and Amy was free. She landed on her feet and uppercutted Quake in the helmet, her fist literally on fire. David stopped running and was surprised. Amy had only ever managed to produce heat but never actual fire! Quake turned to look at what had knocked him. Sam was stood behind him and went in to punch him again. Quake managed to grab his hand and with his other, readied his machine gun. He started firing at Sam but, even though they were very close to each other and Sam couldn't get out of his grip, every bullet. Sam managed to pull Quake around and eventually got out of his grip. He tackled him into the pile of scrap and stood back up. David ran over and electrocuted the whole pile! They saw Quakes joints and systems start to smoke.

  "Laura! Call in DarkWatch!" David called over. A little too soon though as Quake jumped out of the pile and grabbed David in a tackle. He ran, with David held close to him, across the building and slammed him into the wall. David shouted in pain. Quake threw him again into the wall and grabbed him by his neck and went to punch him but luckily David managed to duck and dive from every punch. Sam was behind Quake again and he grabbed him and threw him across the room. Amy immediately started firing another beam of heat at him and he recoiled back in pain. He started shouting through his intercom. The suit was failing. Quake pushed back and picked up a metal pole. He launched it at Amy, just missing her by an inch. Amy stopped firing and Quake went to attack her. But he was back by something with enough force to bring him to one knee! It was none of the heroes who all looked at one another. Amy, who was closest ran over and looked down at the suit. On the chest was a large crack with a large bullet lodged in the center. Quake stood up straight and tried to grab Amy again but was knocked back by another bullet, this time flooring him. David looked behind him, to where the shot had come from.

  Far in the distance, atop a building, David could make out the silhouette of two people. A brief reflection of light shone off what was presumably a sniper scope. He turned around again to see Quake standing again. He had managed to run over to Sam and was punching him in the stomach and then took a swing at his face but missed. Sam went to grab him but was pushed back. He managed to stay on his feet and watched as another bullet just missed the suit. Quake looked straight in the direction here it was fired. He started moving towards the exit and quickly started to pick up pace.

  "Laura! Slow him down!" David shouted.

  Laura looked around, looking for a source of water. There was none around. Laura looked back at Quake who was quickly heading towards her and the exit. Another bullet was shot and clipped him on the arm. He recoiled and slowed slightly but continued to make his way to the doorway. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could sense water near. She ran past David and out of the building, not looking back. On top of the building across the road, she could see a large tank. She closed her eyes again and could feel the water inside with her mind. She started moving it around, trying to break it out of the tank but it was no use. She changed it to ice, to steam and back to water but it was stuck in the tank. She opened her eyes just as a bullet shot through the tank, and water started spraying out! She looked over at the shooter and smiled. She held her hands up and started guidi
ng the water over to herself. She turned around to face Quake who was now at the entrance to the building. He was heading straight for her! She spread her arms out and a flood of water rushed past her and engulfed Quake, slowing him down to a standstill. Laura manipulated the water into a cube around Quake. He looked around and started to walk through the water, his suit weighing him down to the ground. She closed her eyes once again and reached out to each individual molecule in the water, connecting them, bringing them closer together and eventually she opened her eyes. The water quickly hardened and froze leaving a huge block of ice, with Quake frozen in the middle. David, Laura, Sam and Amy relaxed. David pulled out his phone out of his pocket and started dialing DarkWatch. He held the phone up to his ear and rested against the wall, sliding down till he was sat on the ground.

  "Yeah, we've got him. Send someone in" He ordered. A pause to listen. Then he nodded, "Yeah, he was good. Yeah, I know. Ok. Tell them to hurry"

  Amy prodded the large ice cube, "Is he able to breathe in there?"

  "Do we care?" Laura shrugged her shoulders.

  "Yes, we do" David called over, "He'll have an escort in a few minutes. Well done guys"

  Sam came over to him and lowered down, "You ok?" He had noticed David was clutching his arm.

  "Just a scratch, I'll be fine"

  Around five minutes later, a gust of wind started blowing dust and dirt around. The team looked out of the doorway. A black helicopter, similar to the one they had arrived in was lowering to the ground. Andrew stepped off, followed by three more agents holding pistols. Andrew was unarmed and wasn't in a suit like the other three, he was still wearing his white lab coat. They walked over and the helicopter blades slowed and eventually stopped. Andrew saw straight past the heroes and looked straight at their captive, "Impressive Laura, very impressive. Now, I need to access his back, can you do that?"

  Laura nodded and walked around to the back of the ice. Everyone followed her. She placed her hand on the ice and it started to evaporate rapidly, forming a tunnel, till the back panel of Quakes suit was accessible. Andrew pulled a small metal object from his coat and placed it in the space between the suits shoulder blades. There was a whir and a click. Andrew nodded to Laura and she closed her eyes. The ice turned to steam and started to rise upwards. Sam jumped into the mist and took a hold of Quake so he couldn't escape. There wasn't a struggle. In fact, Quake didn't move at all. When the steam had cleared and everything was visible again, Andrew walked to the front of the suit and stood eye to eye with Quake. He pressed down on two points on Quakes neck. The suit, once again made a whirring sound and another click. Then the sound of little locks unclipping. The suit juddered and the chest piece, both arms and the front plate of the helmet fell to the ground. Inside was a man, wearing just a black vest and a pair of dark jeans. His short black hair was a mess and he had anger behind his eyes. The suit mustn't have had an internal cooling system because he looked very hot and had beads of sweat covering his forehead.