by Alan D Jones
able to make the feet for that damn thing go bye-bye, but I can’t grab a hold of the device itself to teleport it somewhere safe; too much energy.”
Nick replied back to Akina, “Stand down Akina. You’re too valuable to all concerned.” Nick said this in reference to Akina being the only resource on our team that could instantaneously ferry personnel across the universe. Thus at the direction of the Elders, she was not to engage in direct combat. But let’s just say that following orders is not really something that Akina excels at.
The red headed Elizabeth, flew low over Akina giving her a quick smile, before arching back up towards Nemesis, “I think girlfriend here could use a facial, don’t you?” Elizabeth proceeded to unleash a torrent of flames into the face of Nemesis. While the flames startled Nemesis at first, but weren’t hot enough to harm her, much less ignite her flesh. But they were distracting enough to cause her to take a moment to adjust. Matter from her head ban descended down her face to form goggles around her eyes. By artificially expanding the electromagnetic range which she could perceive, they literally allowed her see through the flames again to her tool of destruction.
Nemesis spoke aloud the universal tongue, “Here to save the day, are you, righteous as you are? I will concede that we are a warlike people with little regard for human life, but so are you. You are no better than us. And now that you carry your destructive ways into the stars, you are no more worthy of life than us. Welcome to Armageddon earthlings, we’ve had our fill!”
As this was happening, Darnell struggled to deposit us near the Magni, but the Norse god, was busy alternating from stoking the raging storm he’d brewed and striking the ground with Mjollnir. Nemesis had a plan, but Magni simply wanted to smash as much stuff as possible. Reggie instructed Darnell, “Just pull up and hover above his head and I’ll jump out.” Darnell did as he asked and Reggie, along with his trusty club, lept out of the cargo bay and onto the head of Magni. As Reggie landed he swung his club down into the Norse god’s metal helmet. The impact was such that a low bass clang could be heard across the battlefield even over the raging storm. The space god swung to and fro trying to dislodge Reggie. But the thing with Reggie was that even though he was a big man, who could barely pass through a doorway without turning at least slightly, he was very agile, extremely so. If any of us cousins could dance on the head of a pin, it would be Reggie. Finally Magni, grabbed the helmet from his head and tossed it, along with Reggie, into the tree line.
These events allowed Darnell to deposit the rest of us in between the two oversized combatants and return to the skies once again. But this is where things began to go off plan. As we entered the battlefield the software inside of Nemesis’ head band began to assess each of us just joining the fight. In doing so, it alerted Nemesis, that I, Michael, the one and only son of Black Sarah, was present. Nemesis, paused for a moment in disbelief. In the universal tongue she called out to Magni, “It is the alchemist, Michael, son of Black Sarah! What better way to avenge to our ancestors than to slay the only child of that devil woman before we destroy the world of her birth!”
Magni’s reply of a wide grin needed no translation. He turned toward me and swung Mjollnir into mother Earth causing her to split open. The breach shook those of us on the ground.
Akina, who had been standing atop a tall building which overlooked the battlefield, cried over her communicator, “Enough of this!”
“Stand down Akina! You know the deal.” Nick barked at Akina. She wanted to grab a hold of these beasts and teleport them somewhere far away. The problem was that she had to be tangible to do so, and like a bug she could be squashed either before she teleported them or after they reached their destination. And since we didn’t really know at the time how they breached our defenses to arrive on Earth, such a tactic might not buy us anything more than a brief respite. But as anyone in the family could tell you, Akina is not really known for following orders. We all knew that she was only going to stay on the sidelines but for so long.
After witnessing the two giants marching in my direction, Kim looked over her shoulder towards me and joked, “Hey cuz, they seem excited to see you. Do you owe them money?” before she mounted her metal skateboard and soared into the air to confront Magni.
My kids, Nick and Rachel stood beside me. For me it was a mix of pride and horror. I was pleased on one level that their first instinct was to protect me, but that was the absolute last thing I would ever want in such a situation. I looked at them feigning puzzlement, before switching from teammate to Dad. “Hey, y’all need to be over there taking care of that drill while they’re focused on me. Now!”
As they ran off, Kim and Magni traded electrical charges, until both realized it was a futile exercise. Kim then focused her efforts on magnetizing Mjollnir in hopes of somehow making it more difficult for him to use. All manner of metallic matter, such as steel pipes from underground and railcars from the rail yard, flew into the powerful hammer, but none of it seemed to impede Magni’s progress.
Reggie re-entered the scene slamming his club into the heel of Magni, causing the giant to spin and swing Mjollnir down upon him. The force of the blow drove Reggie into the ground.
In the meantime, Elizabeth, realizing that the heat of her flame was nowhere near hot enough to stop Nemesis, reached into her bag of tricks to stop Nemesis. But nothing seemed to work.
I called out to my teammates, “Guys, all of you, back off. Go take that drill out while we have the chance and leave these two to me. Just give me some room.” Sure that was quite a statement to make given my circumstances, but it was not completely without merit. While I’d seen less combat than the others present and my offensive skills did not compare to some, I played defense with the best of them. I was hard to kill, very hard to kill. Thus, I welcomed the attempt on my life.
Nemesis, who was very powerful in her own right, also had the ability, within certain limits, to adapt her abilities to a given situation. Marching towards me, she removed her goggles and unleashed a killing glance which caused every living thing around me to immediately wither. This was typically her finishing move, but our book on her stated that she sometimes did this as an opening move. As one who cannot age or deteriorate, it had no effect on me.
Magni took his shot next by calling a barrage of lightning strikes down upon me. The ground smoldered for acres all around me and smoke rose to the heavens as Magni called on a wind to aid him in examining his handy work. At last in the clearing air they saw me. I smiled at them, and then in the universal language I shouted back angrily at them, “My turn!” I’m certainly not the destructive force that my mother is, but I can do a few things. I touched the ground liquefying it out as far as my two attackers, making the whole area essentially a huge tar pit. Then just as soon as they splashed in, I changed it into a particular metallic compound to lock them in place. Magni, struggled mightily, even calling down a second round of lightning from the skies. But he could not free himself. Nemesis however was a different matter. At first, she too was trapped, but then I saw it. I saw her glow a blushing hue, just as our research stated she would do when she called upon her adaptive powers. She summoned the ability to change the state of molecules, the same as my son Nick. And in doing so, she changed the prison around her into its gaseous state and flew up into the air and landed next to her compatriot to free him as well. We were back where we started, or so it seemed. The two behemoths stood side by side facing me. I waited a moment. Then I saw it. The compound I’d frozen them in was relatively harmless to them in its solid state. But in its gaseous state it binds with Oxygen and subsequently forms a compound that binds and solidifies when it comes into contact with their alien flesh. With a quickness, their own skin became a metallic prison, and to convert this new compound into gas or liquid would literally rip away their flesh, and on Earth the substance would simply solidify upon them again anyway. And while their artificial respirators continued to supply the molecules that they needed to remain alive, they w
ere little more than statues. Their glistening faces turned towards the setting Sun as the winds became gentle once again was quite a sight. I turned and began walking towards the prone planetary drill. From a distance I could see that with a few quick blows the mud covered Reggie had broken the planetary scalpel into several pieces, which my son Nick then turned into a liquid which ran down the giant hole in the ground the drill had created.
Akina, Kim and Elizabeth joined me on the ground as I walked towards the others.
Elizabeth, who’d officially only joined our team that year, asked, “What now?”
Kim and I both looked off, before Akina answered, “Well, we used to hold intruders like these and negotiate some kind of terms with whoever they belonged to. But the current set of Elders really don’t believe in diplomacy.
Kim asked, “Can’t we just leave them like this and move them off world?”
I answered, “Well, their environmental packs should operate for years, but eventually, they’ll run down and they’ll suffocate.” I was quiet for a moment before I began again. “But now that they’re powered down, with a touch, I can take
