- You might want to give me a helping hand at some point.
Ronnie looked at Garret and realised that the situation was about to escalate to a gunfight. Garret told Ronnie, as he prepared his machine gun:
- Got any great opening one-liners?
- Dude, we're not action heroes. - Ronnie said.
- I know, but it gives me an adrenalin rush.
- I think I have a good one, but I give no guarantees about it. On three - one...
- Two... - said Garret.
- Three! Hey loggerheads, eat this!
With those words they stood up bravely and began firing left and right. Two of the Akeruns fell after the rounds of Garret's machine gun pierced their stomachs and chests. Another two fell after Ronnie shot them in the shoulders, which was followed by shots to their heads. In all of this chaos Tyler was able to break free and commenced fist fighting the Akeruns who held him down.
- Don't even think about it, freak! - Tyler grabbed the wrist of one of them and twisted it until it broke. The agonising pain caused the reptilian to drop his blade. His wrist was not the only anatomic part that suffered injuries. Tyler did not take his time and punched his victim's jaw so hard that his neck twisted and shattered. The gunfire continued. Ronnie was surprised by his aim, but he had no time to think about it - reinforcements were coming. One of the Akeruns called for backup - sadly neither Garret, nor Ronnie killed him before the call. Tyler managed to rejoin his friends after he used a mace that popped out of his arm to slay another one of those hideous creatures.
- Where do you keep that mace? - Garret asked.
- No idea, but it does a pretty good job at busting through aliens.
Ronnie felt empowered; he was now convinced that the crystals gave all three of them powers. The boys resembled warriors, but did not quite fight like experienced ones.
The reinforcements were coming and without any sort of discussion the boys jumped in the fray. By that moment they only suffered numerous bruises and hits to the torso and head, but somehow they all kept going. The real problem was that the reinforcements had stronger firearms and one of the Akeruns shot Ronnie's left arm and leg. The ammunition that the Akerun's weapon used looked like plasma, because of the glow of the rounds and the burns on Ronnie's limbs. Tyler noticed with his peripheral sight that Ronnie was on the ground in pain.
- Ronnie!
He stopped Tyler by saying:
- Keep fighting!
Garret wasn't having it easy either. He was surrounded and outnumbered. He pulled out another machine gun and continued spewing lead. Meanwhile Ronnie's wounds healed and he felt no pain in his injured limbs. He stood up and rejoined his comrades. By that time Garret was pinned down and was about to be completely perforated by plasma, when Ronnie shouted:
- No! Garret!
With those words Ronnie threw his hands in the direction of the cluster of aliens. Somehow they all fell to the ground, which allowed Garret to stand up and finish them off. The brothers were both amazed and wondering how Ronnie managed to knock all of the scum down without physically touching them.
- What... how the... where did you learn telekinesis?
After Garret's question his jaw remained dropped. Ronnie tended to give joking answers, sometimes dipped in sarcasm and that answer was no exception:
- Um... apparently 15 minutes ago. But that hardly matters now.
As he said those words, the dropship flew away. It seemed like they killed them all. The brief moment of silence allowed the boys to assess the situation. Bodies all around, puddles of blood, weapons left and right, the open container in the other half of the stadium. Now that everything had settled down, the boys turned their attention to themselves. Garret noticed the red glow in Ronnie's eyes, the lack of pupils, as well as the fact that his face was entirely black. Tyler's eyes had no pupils either, but they were green. Having noticed those changes, Garret asked the two about himself:
- What's the colour of my eyes? Yours have changed to green, whilst Ronnie's are now red.
- Yours are blue. - answered Tyler.
The brothers turned their attention to Ronnie. They realised he now resembled Disturbed's mascot The Guy - the hoodie, the glow in the eyes, the lack of pupils, the knee-length jeans, the boots, the black face and no shirt.
- Ronnie, when we were behind the container and you grinned, you looked just like The Guy. - said Garret.
- Really? I find it hard to believe.
- Garret's got a point. Could you replicate that grin he's talking about? - said Tyler.
Ronnie smiled with a strong hint of uncertainty. The brothers' faces lit up with excitement. Ronnie was the exact copy of a world-famous mascot whose face appears on T-shirts everywhere around the world. Tyler, who had a taste for women noted:
- I can already imagine the sea of rock fan girls you'll be swimming in! Garret and I will be your wingmen.
- Trust me, Tyler and I will make 'em think you're, like, the long lost son of, uh, uh, some demon. Or - oh, I know! We could tell them that the band Disturbed summoned you to our realm and David Draiman himself ordered you to protect humanity from all evil influence and...
- Garret... please stop. I can see that you want to help me solve my problems related to social skills, but can we focus on the initial issue - hiding the container?
Ronnie had a lot on his mind, but he couldn't share it - Tyler interrupted his speech:
- We've got more trouble on the horizon, lads!
The young Brit wasn't kidding - a second dropship was on its way to the stadium. That vessel did not look as wacky as the previous one; in fact, it was exactly the opposite - sleek lines, bright colours, an overall non-threatening exterior. But Ronnie was not convinced that that dropship belonged to an ally. A pair of double barrel shotguns slid onto his forearms and turned to the brothers:
- Let's find out how much trouble they could potentially cause. Shall we, gentlemen?
- Certainly, sir. Onward! - Tyler supported Ronnie's idea in a slight sarcastic manner and with a typically British attitude.
With enough firepower to take on a drug cartel, the young trio advanced towards the landing spot of the ship. Part of its hull descended and acted as a ramp. From the belly of the vessel a handful of troopers zipped onto the grass and into the field. A portion of them stayed a few steps away from the boys and pointed their guns at them. These soldiers were most likely a part of a platoon, but the boys had no idea what they were ordered to do. The trio had chosen a selection of weapons that they felt comfortable with - Garret was still brandishing a pair of M249 machine guns, Tyler had gone for a pair of uzis for each of his arms, while Ronnie combined the pistols that he used earlier with the shotguns he had already prepared. Garret noticed that the portion of soldiers in the field were constantly aiming at the sky, as if they were waiting for something to happen. Some of them examined the open container, hoping to find something useful inside, while the rest of them aimed at the boys. While the troopers were following their orders, another two figures descended down the ramp. One was a male, the other - a female. Instead of body armour, they wore what looked to be lab robes and had no weapons. None of the boys had any intention to lower their weapons. Tyler stepped up and commenced asking questions as if he was in charge:
- What's with all of the army boys? And do you have anything to do with those... what did they call themselves...
- Akeruns. - the female replied calmly.
- Precisely.
The male responded to the other parts of Tyler's questions:
- We have nothing to do with these creatures. They are under the banner of Ren'ul Furot.
- Ren who? - Ronnie asked with a confused look on his face and continued:
- All we know is that they wanted us to surrender to some Overlord... until the fuckers went berserk and began torturing my friend. At that point we had to intervene and exterminate them.
- And you certainly performed that task with a fair amount of competence.
Garret had a look over his shoulder and noticed the soldiers picking up the container with what he described as "a pocket-sized forklift", which was a tiny device that produced a magnetic field that lifted the container off the ground. That prompted him to ask the two scientists:
- What are you gonna do with the container?
With the exact same calm voice the male gave and answer:
- We need to analyse the vessel, figure out how it works and how it reached this destination.
He then turned to the soldiers and ordered them to lower their guns, after which he continued:
- We, New Hope, have no intention to decimate you. We seek answers as much as you do, I hope. If you join us, we will be able to find out more about the contents of the vessel, while you will find out who the Overlord is and why one of his Hordes wanted you dead. Your cooperation will help us immensely.
Having realised that their intentions were good, Ronnie lowered and holstered his pistols and shotguns. Tyler burst shortly afterwards:
- Are you bloody serious, Ronnie? You do realise that there's a chance they could be lying, don't you?
- I'm fully aware of that possibility, Tyler. On the flipside, though, we will have a clearer picture and a more adequate decision taken as a result.
Following those sentences, Garret and Tyler holstered their weapons as well. Then Ronnie turned his attention to the scientists:
- If I smell even a whiff of a lie, your heads will fly. You keep it cool and so will we. Do we have a deal?
The scientists and the soldiers exchanged looks and one of the latter gave out some encrypted message through a miniature radio transmitter on the left of his helmet. Everyone boarded the ship, including the soldiers with the device that carried the container. None of the three boys knew what to expect. All they knew was that they wanted answers. By observing the insides of the dropship the boys could tell that the rabbit hole goes very deep.
Chapter IV
Clearing the fog
The flight took a while and Garret used the opportunity to extract further information about New Hope:
- So... what does your... organisation stand for?
- We give an opportunity to those who have been neglected and abandoned - an opportunity for those who want to change their lives and become a part of a good cause. - the female replied.
The noise in the cargo area was very loud due to the engines running and the rattling was severe, but it was far from unbearable. This meant that the conversations had to be held in a slightly higher tone. After a while the rattling ceased, but the noise persisted. Weapon and helmet racks, soldiers staring into nothingness and an engineer with a handheld device scanning the container - this is what the cargo area looked like in a nutshell. The first thought that crossed Ronnie's mind was that the handheld device was a Geiger counter - a gadget that measures radiation levels, but in reality he had no idea what the engineer was doing. All he knew, as a The Guy look-alike and a murder machine was that if there was another gunfight, he would trust no one but Tyler and Garret. His heavy breathing and darting eyes were a dead giveaway - Tyler could see the heat emanating from Ronnie's arms and the accelerated heart beat on the display of his retinas. He made a gesture with his hand, which was another way of letting Ronnie know that he was not alone and that it would all end well. Ronnie exhaled heavily, wiggled his waist and shook his head sideways. Meanwhile the conversation between the "lab rats" and Garret continued:
- How exactly are the contents of the container linked to you? Did you create those three crystals?
- Crystals? - the male replied.
- Yes, crystals.
- You mean that these looks are the result of a reaction between you and some crystals?
- Exactly. We opened up the container once it crash-landed into the stadium. All of us saw three flashing gems that began flashing furiously and later stuck themselves into our chests. What you see right now is not what we look like in reality. - said Garret.
- What's your name in reality?
- Garret. Garret Bryson.
- You might find this odd, but you three look just like three Immortals I know... or rather used to know.
- Oh, really?
These words caught the attention of Tyler, who was looking at some electronics and trying to figure out how they worked. He immediately approached the group and made a hand gesture directed to Ronnie with the words:
- You might want to hear this, Ronnie.
Upon hearing those words, Ronnie jumped from his seat and nearly knocked down a soldier who walked in front of him. Ronnie apologised and joined the rest.
- You, Garret, look a lot like Hexer. He was the size of a cliff and equally fearsome. The gentleman...
He pointed at Tyler.
-... is very reminiscent of Kugen, a fierce and nimble Immortal with an interest in electronics, while the one next to him looks like Ankonian. All of you had many nicknames: Hexer was also called The Giant, The Stone Crusher, Hammerfists, among others. Kugen was also known as The Assassin, The Fog and The Mist. Ankonian had even more striking ones - The Walking Shadow, The Living Nightmare, The Red-Eyed Evil... the list goes on and on.
Upon hearing this, Ronnie asked:
- Pardon me, but... you kept using the word "was".
The female scientist gave an immediate answer:
- The home planet of the Immortals was obliterated. Up to this moment in time we have no clue as to who is responsible for the death of the entire race. Our number one suspect is, of course, the Overlord, but we have no solid evidence about any sort of interference on behalf of his troops. You and the container are the only remains of the Immortals.
The boys did not need a lot of time to realise that by opening the container they became part of a big mess. At least that was the way Ronnie saw and described it. More questions needed to be answered, but the boys decided to wait until they meet the engineers' superiors - the people at the helm of the organisation.
The vessel slowed down and landed inside a hangar. Once the door opened, the soldiers marched out in formation. The rest of the crew followed them, while Ronnie, Tyler and Garret were at the back.
- Follow us. We will show you the way. - the female gave a smile to the boys and ordered one of the guards to open a gate. Ronnie still refused to trust them too much. To him the worst case scenario would be all three of them in a cell or a lab or six feet under. Everyone was looking at the trio, as they walked down the corridors, looking at the walls, the ceiling and the machinery that was moving back and forth. Drones, weapon crates, experimental technology - that was part of the things their eyes were exposed to. The corridors were long, but very dark and the lights did not make them more inviting. Occasionally there were doors on either sides of the corridors. Unfortunately they did little to add any sort of variety. During that long walk Ronnie and the boys continued the dialogue with the scientists. Tyler was wondering:
- Why are the hallways of this ship so... black? It feels like a prison.
The female scientist responded once again with an explanation full of scientific spirit:
- These corridors were intentionally built like this, so that enemies of New Hope don't find their way to an important section too easily. It would be very unwise to mount labels everywhere. Wouldn't you agree?
- Hm, good point. - Garret approved and asked:
- But how do you manage to find your way around without losing yourselves?
The male engineer was impressed that these strange creatures were not so hostile and wanted to know so much. He did not show his enthusiasm - instead, he kept answering the questions in a purely calm and scientific manner:
- We walk down these paths almost everyday, making sure that every system and electronic item is in working order. We do it so often that we don't need to look at the portable holomaps that each and everyone of us has.
With those words he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small circular gizmo that had a number of buttons on it. At the
press of one of them a holographic map of the entire vessel appeared. The light wasn't all that bright - in fact it felt like someone had linked together a couple of LEDs.
This was a perfect opportunity for the trio to see the actual size of the vessel they were in. It was about 15 times the length of an aircraft carrier and roughly 4 times the height of Burj Dubai. All of them were speechless - they had seen aircraft carriers, but they were midgets compared to what they were seeing. Tyler was sure that if he told about what he saw at that moment, no one would believe him and he'd be declared a lunatic. Garret was curious about the number of personnel aboard, whether or not they had artillery, armoured vehicles and what sort of equipment New Hope was using. As much as the conversation was interesting, the engineers had to follow the orders that were issued by the commander of New Hope.
- Alright, how does everyone call him? - Tyler asked and the female engineer answered:
- Everyone calls him Stromak. His number one priority, as well as all of New Hope's was to follow all traces that could lead to a logical answer to the destruction of the home of the Immortals.
- And why would he be so concerned about that race and its destiny?
- Our organisation was an ally to the Immortals. Some us are former war prisoners, survivors from wars and various cataclysms, soldiers and warriors who fought under a different banner before joining New Hope. We all saw the Immortals as a role model, a race that had the power not just to end lives, but also to improve and change them. The Immortals accepted us as their allies and more importantly - their friends. What impressed them was our willingness to learn and change. They could have easily killed or enslaved us, and thus New Hope would have followed the fate of many other races and civilizations. Fortunately their decision was quite the opposite; the rulers saw the opportunity to become teachers and form a bond that could give birth to a long-lasting alliance with many potential benefits. Our commander will tell you the entire story.
Around 30 minutes had passed since the group began walking around the hallways of the ship. Just when the trio thought it would never end, the engineers stopped in front of a big door, which opened a fraction of a second later. The room was spacious and full of monitors and personnel. Each and every single one of them were carrying out their respective tasks, until a large figure turned away from a large screen which showed footage from the boys' maiden battle and said:
The Immortal Trinity: Inheritance Page 3
