SAVIOR PART 3
LEGION OF THE GODHAND
A Novel by A. King Bradley
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by A. King Bradley
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Cover design by A. King Bradley of A.B.Entertainment LLC
For more information on A. King Bradley and The Savior Series visit: www.kingbradley.com & www.facebook.com/akingbradley
AKINGBRADLEY
To my lovely wife Monica for letting me get away with using the phrase “slaving over a hot computer.”
And to our wonderful daughter Christine for her remarkable ability to make me smile without even trying.
And also in joyful memory of LaMour, Tehira and India Welch as well as my dear friend and mentor Dr. Dawn DeVeaux.
“The earth will shake at the force of Her word, and a single breath from Her mouth shall destroy the wicked”
—The Righteous
PART THREE
PROLOGUE
DIRECTOR WELLS:
“THERE’S A STORM COMING MR. PRESIDENT… AND WE have to make sure we’re ready for it,” I urged as I sat in a moderately sized conference room in our moon base across from the U.S. President and my Anokian advisor Ezekiel, The Elder. I was wearing a dark grey suit similar to the one the President was wearing, though his was much more expensive. The nearly seven-foot-tall, white haired Ezekiel, The Elder was wearing a dark red and black robe that was adorned with several Anokian symbols as he sat to my right and remained silent as the President and I went back and forth.
“No, there has to be some other way to win this,” the President insisted as he crossed his arms in front of him and shook his head in disagreement.
“Well I’m certainly open to suggestions in that case,” I grumbled.
“That’s what I have you for Director. Or have you forgotten how this thing works?” the President scoffed.
“No, I haven’t forgotten. I just think establishing an Equillian presence on Earth is the only thing that will give us an opportunity to successfully fight off a full Anokian invasion,” I replied.
“Well that’s not going to happen, Director. We’ve already gotten into enough trouble agreeing to take on their godforsaken prisoners,” he grumbled.
“Well we don’t have a lot of options, Mr. President. Right now the earth is completely surrounded by a hostile alien fleet that has enough power to destroy the planet,” I reminded him.
“But they haven’t exactly entered our atmosphere yet. That must mean something, right?” the President asked.
“It means nothing,” The Elder interjected in a deep, raspy voice as he stroked his long white beard and glanced over at the President. “The fleet will attack in due time and even with your world’s militaries on high alert the humans cannot hope to defend this world alone.”
“Then what exactly are they waiting for? If they’re so much more powerful than us, why haven’t they attacked yet? And where in the hell is The Reaper?” The President asked.
“There’s been a lot of chatter on Earth ever since The Strangers leaked the footage of The Reaper’s fight with The Greater but as far as we know, The Reaper was killed in action. As for the Anokians, we’re not sure why they’ve remained in orbit for the last two weeks but as long as they don’t breach our atmosphere we still have time to figure this thing out,” I answered.
“Sir, the Anokians just breached our atmosphere,” one of my agents suddenly called out over the room’s intercom.
“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me!” I groaned as I turned towards the speaker. “How many ships?!”
“Three small cruisers, Sir. Their trajectory suggests that they are headed to Manhattan You should also know that one of our supersonic jets just deployed from Area 51. It appears to be moving to intercept the Anokians.”
“That’s impossible! Our assets should all be in the moon base! Wait a second— where is Howard Vargas?!” I fumed as I stood and prepared to storm off.
“Mr. Vargas is the one who authorized the use of the supersonic jet. He claims to have had orders from you,” the agent confirmed.
“You’ll have to excuse me, Sir,” I said as I turned and hurried towards the exit. “I need to try to stop this.”
“Wait a second, Wells. What exactly are you trying to stop?” the President called after me.
“The end of the world, Sir,” I said as I paused and glanced at him over my shoulder. “I’ll let you know how it works out,” I continued before turning and exiting the room.
1. ROUND ONE
ACE:
“HOW’S IT LOOKING, HOWIE?!” I DEMANDED AS OUR SUPERSONIC jet rocketed through the sky, in route to Manhattan. Two weeks had passed since Reaper and The Greater had clashed in Las Vegas and we still didn’t know what had happened to them. All I remembered was that Reaper was seconds away from choking the life out of The Greater when the entire city block was consumed by an enormous ball of fiery blue energy. My heart was telling me that The Reaper had somehow survived the blast but my brain was telling a far grimmer story. There was no doubt that Reaper was inside the building when the explosion was triggered, and based on the vibrant blue color of the flames that had consumed the building as well as the entire block I knew that the blast had likely come from The Greater’s highly corrosive power. By all accounts, The Reaper was virtually a superhero… but even someone as durable as he couldn’t have withstood that much of The Greater’s power. As much as it pained me to admit it, I knew that in all likelihood my best friend was dead.
I was starting to think that he had been completely disintegrated by The Greater’s unearthly flames but just when I was about to give in to my despair I received a glimmer of hope from the most unlikely of sources— The Suspect. Somehow, against all odds, The Reaper’s brother had returned. At first, I didn’t believe it was truly him because no one had actually seen The Suspect in person since he announced his return online. But when he hacked into the moon base in order to warn us that the Knights of Eden were preparing to breach the atmosphere I knew it had to be him. Besides my friend Howie Vargas, The Suspect was the only other person in the world who had enough juice to breach the moon base’s network in order to deliver that warning. Suddenly, I was convinced of The Suspect’s return and the fire that had been driving me to frantically search for The Reaper was once again reborn. The Suspect had told Howie that the Knights of Eden were meeting with The Righteous in order to move a body to their mothership. There was no way for us to know if it was Reaper’s body or not, but this was the best lead we had and Howie and I couldn’t help but take the chance.
My heart pounded ferociously as I realized just how high the stakes had gotten. Not only were we carrying out this operation without the blessing of Director Wells but we had only received The Suspect’s warning a few minutes before three Anokian spaceships entered the atmosphere. Luckily Howie was able to bring the wormhole generator at Area 51 back online, but even with the use of the supersonic jet that we had managed to procure I still wasn’t sure if we would make it in time.
I was wearing my all-black, tactical ninja gear as I sat across from Charlie and anxiously tapped my fingers on the sheathed katana resting in my lap. I had wanted to take an entire squad of agents along with Tango and Charlie but Howie and I knew that Director Wells would never sign off on the mi
ssion. Tango was the only one of us with enough pilot experience to fly an aircraft as sophisticated as Wells’ top secret supersonic jets, therefore, he was the one seated in the pilot’s chair while Charlie and I anxiously waited in our seats behind him. Tango’s cybernetic left eye glowed ominously beneath the gold and ivory half-faced Venetian mask on his face and the muscles in his massive arms bulged as he gripped the controls and steered the jet forward. Instead of his usual shirtless preference Tango now wore a black and grey combat vest over his upper body in order to cover the severe burns and scars that he had sustained during our previous dust up with Darius, The Greater.
As always, Charlie wore his trademarked black cowboy hat and a long, brown duster coat over his tactical combat gear. As our jet sped onward, he sat quietly across from me and fiddled with the toothpick in his mouth as if he didn’t have a care in the world— as if we weren’t expecting all hell to break loose in less than ten minutes. I always liked that about Charlie— no matter how high the stakes got, he never seemed to get flustered or anxious. Even in our most intense battles he always remained calm, and whenever he decided to pull that massive revolver from his right hip his aim was always true.
“How’s it looking, Howie?” I repeated as I tightened my long, black headband around my head.
“The gang’s definitely all there,” Howie replied in my earpiece.
“Even The Greater?” I asked anxiously.
“Affirmative. The Righteous is doing all the talking but The Greater is definitely in the mix as well. And he looks pissed for some reason.”
“Yeah, well, he’s gonna be a lot more than pissed after I run my sword through his chest,” I growled as I tightened my grip around the razor sharp katana in my lap.
“Hoss, you sure this here’s just a rescue mission?” Charlie suddenly asked in his thick southern accent.
“Sure it is, Charlie. Why do you ask?” I wondered.
“Well it don’t do any good to go into a fight with a head full of steam, Hoss. And from where I’m sittin’ you sound about madder than a wet hen. I just wanna make sure you got your head on straight, ya know?” Charlie replied.
“I’m fine,” I lied as my heart pounded with anticipation. The truth was I was about as far from fine as possible. It was no secret among our organization that I hadn’t taken Reaper’s uncertain fate particularly well and now that I was minutes away from facing down the one who was possibly responsible for his death there was nothing I could do to control the rage that was swelling in my chest.
“The Knights of Eden just took custody of two large pods. They’re both definitely large enough to contain bodies,” Howie confirmed over the radio.
“Do you think they’re moving Monica and Reaper?” I asked.
“That’s certainly a possibility but we won’t know anything for sure until we get you three on the ground. Tango, I’ll be assuming remote control of the jet in just a second so you guys can go ahead and get ready to make the jump. I’ll drop you off a few hundred meters south of their rendezvous point,” Howie said.
“That’s not close enough, Howie! We’ll never get there in time,” I growled as Tango, Charlie and I grabbed our parachutes and moved to the rear of the speeding jet.
“We’ve been over this, Ace! Any closer than that and they’ll just blast the three of you out of the sky before you even hit the ground. I’m just not willing to take that risk,” Howie snapped as Tango, Charlie and I strapped on our parachutes.
“I guarantee you that nothing they do will compare to what I’m going to do when I get my hands on you imbeciles!” Director Wells suddenly barked over the radio just as our jet’s rear door opened
“Director, I—”
“Save it, Ace! I don’t have time for your excuses! Now you turn that plane around and get your ass back to the moon base ASAP!” Wells ordered.
“I’m sorry, Sir, but I can’t let them take him. I’ve already abandoned him once. I won’t do it again,” I replied as I hung my head and stared at the city below through the jets open doors.
“Dammit, Ace, that was not a suggestion. That’s an order!” Wells fumed.
My heart thumped wildly in my chest as I contemplated defying Director Wells. The loyalty and obligation that I felt towards him for rescuing me from that horrible foster home all those years ago compelled me to adhere to his demands, but the guilt and regret that I felt for abandoning Reaper during his fight with The Greater also compelled me to dive into the city below.
“You’re going to get yourself killed, Ace! You don’t even have a plan!” Wells fumed as I finally leapt from the jet and plummeted toward the ground below.
“I’m sorry, Sir, but I don’t have a choice. I’m the reason he’s in that box right now and I’ve got to do whatever I can to get him back— even if I have to do it alone,” I said as I cut through the icy wind and rocketed toward the decayed city below.
“We’re with ya, pal,” Tango added in his deep raspy voice as he and Charlie also leapt from the jet and sailed towards the ground below.
“Dammit, Echo, if this goes south I am personally holding you responsible,” Director Wells barked to Howie as I pulled my ripcord and deployed my chute.
“The Anokians have numbers but we still have the element of surprise, Sir. The boys will be fine,” Howie responded. “Alright guys, I’ll circle back around with the jet and take out the two outside ships. Ace and Tango, you infiltrate the middle ship and identify the contents of those pods and, of course, Charlie can provide cover.”
“How much time do we have, Echo?” I asked as I tucked and rolled just as I hit the ground. I was on my feet and sprinting forward in a matter of seconds.
“They’ve loaded the pods inside the center ship but it looks like they’re in the middle of some kind of argument. The Greater and one of the Knights of Eden are at each other’s throats but it looks like The Righteous is playing the mediator. The argument should buy you some time but I don’t know how much. Director, can you see if The Elder knows anything about the guy who’s arguing with The Greater?”
“That is Jonas, The Redeemer,” The Elder suddenly said over the radio. “He’s one of the Knight Commanders with the Knights of Eden. Wells should already have my file on him.”
“I’m sending you the file now, Echo,” Director Wells added.
“10-4,” Howie answered. “Ace, you’re getting too far ahead of your team. You need to slow down,” Howie continued as I silently darted forward with my long black headband whipping in the wind behind me.
Overhead our stealth camouflaged jet circled around and prepared for a bombing run while Tango and Charlie hit the ground several meters behind me. Fire burned in my lungs as I dashed forward as fast as my body would allow, but I dug harder and kept pushing as I finally caught sight of The Greater standing amongst the congregation of Anokians in the distance. Most of them towered above seven-feet-tall and they were all wearing flowing red cloaks and dark colored variations of the same high-tech Anokian-Steel armor that The Greater and The Righteous wore.
“You’re coming in too hot, Ace!” Howie insisted as I galloped closer to the small group of Anokian Knights who stood near a group of armored SUVs as well as three triangle-shaped Anokian spaceships parked in the middle of the decayed Manhattan street. Tango and Charlie were racing to catch up to me but I was already several meters ahead of them, and as I gripped my sword’s handle and stormed onward, slowing down was the last thing on my mind. Our nearly invisible jet suddenly shimmered into view overhead as Howie remotely deactivated the craft’s cloaking mode in order to draw their attention away from me.
Fire suddenly rained from the sky as Howie unleashed the jet’s main cannons and sent the Anokians running for cover. Tango took advantage of the diversion and quickly darted into the gaping entrance of the largest Anokian ship. I knew that I was supposed to follow him but all I could think about was how badly I wanted to plunge my sword into The Greater’s chest. His eyes glowed with a bright blue fire as he
glared into the sky and watched our jet circle around and prepared for another bombing run. His high-tech silver and black armor almost seemed to glow as the silvery moonlight shone upon it, and his dark, shoulder length hair and flowing white cloak fluttered in the wind around him as I dashed towards him.
“What the hell are you doing, Ace?!” Howie demanded as I drew my sword and prepared to attack the unsuspecting Anokian prince.
Our jet swooped by overhead just as I lunged toward The Greater but my heartbeat quickened as he suddenly peeked over his shoulder at me just as I swept my sword for his head. The Greater ducked my sword sweep with surprising quickness, but rather than continuing to fight we were both momentarily distracted when another round of deafening explosions filled the air as Howie unleashed another bombing run. Fire and rubble filled the sky above us as I set my sights back on The Greater. In a flash he produced a large Anokian pistol from beneath his flowing cloak but I sliced the weapon in half before he could squeeze off a single shot. The Greater was forced to drop the gun and back pedal as I ferociously pursued him with my sword, and even though I had not yet drawn blood I knew it was only a matter of time.
“We have to abort the mission!” Howie fumed as I repeatedly attempted to decapitate The Greater with my sword. “Tango’s a sitting duck in that ship by himself, Charlie. Do you think you can get to him?!”
“I’m on it, Hoss!” Charlie confirmed as several of the Knights of Eden slowly emerged from the rubble and destruction left behind by Howie’s bomb run.
“I’m good to go, Charlie!” Tango suddenly said over the radio. “I used my beacon to jump back to the moon base once I saw that Ace wasn’t sticking with the plan.”
“Good call, Tango. Charlie, you and Ace need to get out of there as well!” Howie ordered but I ignored his advice and ruthlessly continued my pursuit of The Greater.
Savior Part 3: Legion of The Godhand (The Savior Series) Page 1
