Chapter 117: Upgrades

Crimson Hydra elevated fifty-six local Blue Light and special forces operators to level 117, Ascender 1, and cleared out every hive in the local Philly area.

They reconvened at just past one in the morning at the central airfield. Righteous Obelisks glimmered as they slowly revolved in the stadium lighting, and the choppers and Wings used up the entirety of the field.

James sat on the edge of a storage container some fifteen feet above the large crowd that formed below him. Jelly hovered over his shoulder. The rest of Crimson Hydra and the newly ranked operators all gazed up at him, along with scores of military officers and soldiers.

“All right,” said James. “We’ve done good here. You’re all as ready as can be for what’s coming tomorrow. Nobody knows what the Pits will bring, but it won’t be anything good. You’ve all got about twelve hours to prepare, but what I want you to do is this: keep leveling folks up. And not just in Philly. Crimson Hydra’s moving on to DC after this, which means you lot are responsible for this whole area.”

James surveyed the faces below. They were grim, determined. “I want the fifty-six of you to split up and get to work. Each of you can now lead a new group. A quarter of you should stay local and get the rest of Philly’s defenses up to snuff. The rest of you need to spread out and help others get ready. Some of you should head south to Wilmington, to Atlantic City. A good chunk should hit up Pittsburgh. See if you can’t get a handful up to Buffalo.”

The officers nodded, a couple turning already to confer.

James stood up. He didn’t feel tired or achy in the least. His body brimmed with energy, his mind was crystal clear, and even his spirit felt bold and ready for more. But the scale of what they were up against was daunting.

“Good luck.”

He hopped down and led his crew to the Wings. Local operators tagged along, expressing their thanks to the Hydra members who’d led them, swearing to do their best, to carry the torch.

James nodded to anyone who spoke to him, but when a colonel and several captains approached, he raised his hand, forestalling them.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. We ain’t got time for nothing more. We’re heading south. You’ll have to figure it out on your own.”

The colonel grimaced but then nodded reluctantly.

Everybody mounted up on their Wings.

The locals backed away.

James raised his sat phone. “Star Boy, we’re heading to DC. They ready for us?”

“It’s a shitshow down there, man.” Star Boy sounded hyper-caffeinated. “We just got word. President Cox was killed by a Nem5 just hours ago. They’re scrambling to get the new Vice President sworn in, but…”

“Star Boy.” James spoke slowly, methodically. “Are there fifty-six operators ready for us?”

“Uh, yes. Yes. They’re gathered out front before the White House. Just like you asked.”

“That’s what matters. Heading there now.” James clipped his sat phone to his belt and looked at this crew. “Ready?”

“Ready, boss,” said Yadriel. “Let’s go spread the love.”

The others nodded. James burned an Aeviternum and summoned his Teleportation Circle.

White fire blazed.

The world fell away. A moment later they appeared in a grassy expanse, the Ellipse that was set before the White House proper. The Mall spread to the south, the Washington Monument rising strikingly into the night sky, and everywhere around them was movement, bright lights, men and women bustling and shouting and trying to maintain a semblance of order.

Constitution Avenue was crammed with security vehicles. Soldiers were everywhere. Cordons had been set up, and helicopters circled the sky, their spotlights scrawling patterns across the ground.

Crimson Hydra’s arrival set off a ripple of shock through the ranks; soldiers shouted and raised rifles, spotlights were trained on them, and generalized panic swept through the massed forces like a wind rippling over a field of wheat.

“What a shitshow,” said Serenity, crossing her arms.

Several different men were shouting at them, telling them to get down, to lace their fingers behind their heads.

James frowned and sought someone to address.

They clearly hadn’t gotten ready for them.

“Aureate Bucklers up,” called Olaf quietly.

“Hold up, I got this,” said Yadriel. He raised his arms and stood on his Wing. The ring of soldiers tensed, and more commands were yelled at them.

“Yo, everyone,” shouted Yadriel. “It’s time you all LISTENED AND OBEYED. WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOUR SORRY ASSES. LOWER YOUR GUNS AND TAKE US TO YOUR LEADER.”

Yadriel’s voice magnified and boomed over the Ellipse, so powerful it might have been a roll of thunder. But more than that was the spiritual resonance. James felt the might behind Yadriel’s command, a thousand times more powerful than Kimmie’s Inspire.

The soldiers never had a chance.

They lowered their guns immediately, faces blanching, and their ranks parted as an older man strode forth, his whole being trembling as he wrestled with the power of Yadriel’s miracle.

“Damn,” said Serenity.

James made a face. Echoes of Bjørn washed over him, but they didn’t have time for scruples. It had worked.

“General,” said James, moving off his Wing to greet the officer. “Thank you for your time. Did you receive word of our arrival? We’re Crimson Hydra from Blue Light, New York group.”

The stern-faced man shook his head. “I… no. Nobody has notified us. All communication lines are jammed. You’re here to help? How?”

James sighed and outlined what he needed. The general was quick on the uptake; within minutes he’d grasped the situation and decided to enable James to the best of his ability.

Thirty minutes later they were airborne, split up as before, another fifty-six men and women in attendance as Crimson Hydra got to work, targeting hives and eradicating demons wherever they found them.

An hour and a half later James gave his farewell speech and commanded the newly elevated soldiers to spread the love to Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk, to try and fly some folks to Charlotte all the way down in North Carolina if possible.

Then they teleported to Jacksonville.

Two hours later, just before five in the morning, they hit Cleveland, which had prepared and allowed them to hit the ground running. They ordered the fifty-six newly ranked soldiers to spread out to Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Detroit.

Then they teleported to San Antonio.

They were in San Diego just after nine Eastern time. Dawn was just starting to break when they finally got airborne with their new followers, but when James got close to the first Hive he saw that matters were progressing quicker than he’d anticipated.

Up until this point the ground beneath each demon symbol had sunken a dozen yards, cracking asphalt, rupturing pipes, and causing buildings to tilt and collapse.

But now, with only three hours to go, the devastation was far more overt. The depression had already become a pit, looking like a huge sinkhole, easily several blocks wide and causing all the buildings within to fall apart into piles of rubble.

By the time Crimson Hydra had cleared the hives the pits had deepened another twenty or so yards and growing even wider in the process.

James hovered above one, staring down in mute anger at the yawning mouth. Dark energy was rising from its depths like shimmering heat waves. He could sense a density rising to the crumbled pit bottom, like a great bolus of magma rising to cause a volcano to explode.

He checked his status text:

The Nemesis Gauntlet Has Ended

Global Pit Opening Initiated

3 Hours Remain till Complete

James rubbed at his face. They’d all spent an Aeviternum a few hours ago to stay fresh, but for all his spiritual ascendance he couldn’t resist the primal dread that gripped him.

What the fuck was going to come out of those pits?

“Sir?” The radio that the local military had given him chirped to life. “Is there a problem?

“No problem.” James grimaced and urged the Wing to turn toward the next Hive. “Let’s hurry this up.”

It was past ten when they finally reconvened. Everybody’s Aeviternum refreshed. Once again the fifty-six local operators were euphoric, drunk on the hundreds of points they suddenly had to spend and bubbling over with good cheer.

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James directed a handful to fly to Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco if they could, but the command felt futile. There was just an hour and a half to go.

“I think it’s time to head home and prepare,” said James once they’d gathered by their Wings. The crafts were massively depleted and kept flying only with the direct support of their divine pools. “We need to be in place and agree upon a strategy for what’s to come, and I want to integrate whatever Jessica’s come up with into our final plan. We ready?”

Everybody looked hale and refreshed, but there was no hiding the bleakness in their eyes. They’d all seen the deepening Pits. All sensed that they were about to enter a completely new phase of this war.

“Let’s do it,” said Serenity. “You think we got time to swing by Herman’s for a drink?”

Despite everything, James couldn’t help but crack a smile. “I wish. Saddle up. Time to return to NYC.”

A young soldier broke away from the ranks to run up to where they sat on their Wings. She was handsome, her gaze intense, her manner utterly focused. “Excuse me, Sergeant Major Kelly?”

All of Crimson Hydra turned to regard the young woman. Her lieutenant barked at her to return but she stared resolutely at James.

“What’s up?” he asked quietly.

“I just wanted to thank you. For coming here. For what you all have done.” Her eyes brimmed with tears even as her expression remained forthright. “I know you didn’t have to. But it’s an honor to meet you, and knowing that you’re out there, fighting for us, for all of us - well.” She sniffed and raised her chin. “It’s kept me going more than once.”

James considered the young soldier. He could sense the pressure she was under, the pain of countless losses, the terror. He held her gaze and finally raised his hand to a salute.

She returned the salute crisply, nodded to the rest of the crew, then hurried back.

“Damn, dude.” Yadriel scratched at his armpit. “Tell me you had that kind of game before this all went down. It woulda been awesome to watch you work a club.”

“Permission to shoot Yadriel, sir?” asked Jason.

“Permission granted,” said Serenity. “Actually, fuck it, I’ll do it myself.”

James snorted. “Game faces on. We’re heading home.”

He spent his first Aeviternum of the day. Burning white fire spread around them and even as the local soldiers hollered their goodbyes the world fell away.

They appeared again in the avenue before the Marriott. The sun leaped higher in the sky. The street was impassable, choked with ruined vehicles, broken glass, and bricks gauged out of building walls. The smell of death was in the air along with thick smoke from a few blocks away. A Killer Egg buzzed by overhead.

“Home sweet home,” said Denzel looking up the length of the hotel. “I’mma go check on Kerim and Kimmie.”

“Take ten,” said James. “All of you, and let me know how they’re doing. I’m heading downstairs.”

Jason hesitated. “Shouldn’t we do an after-action report with Hackworth?”

“Go ahead,” said James with a smile. “Saves me from having to. We’ll reconvene at 11. Clear?”

“You betcha,” said Yadriel. “I’m going to go get laid. Last chance, suckers, before the Pits open up!”

“Who would agree to sleep with you?” scoffed Serenity.

“Man!” Yadriel scowled at her. “I’m fucking Crimson Hydra. Bitches be lining up around the block.”

“Bitches?” asked Serenity, voice low.

“Nasty ass…” Yadriel caught on and raised both palms. “Quality ladies, yeah? OK, heading out.”

James shook his head as he had Jelly pair the other six Wings to his own, and then led them around the back of the hotel to the parking ramp.

Where he stopped.

Shit had changed.

“Damn, Jessica,” James whispered, eyes going wide.

The parking ramp entrance had expanded, huge pipes of steel shot through with Divine Diamond having peeled open the entrance to triple its width. The ramp itself was now corrugated with a variety of materials, most of which were conveyor belts like tank treads. Drones were flying in from every direction with payloads in large iron chests that they dropped on the belts, then flew to the far side to collect new chests, lock their dangling arms around them and then fly off.

James flew down the ramp, navigating the aerial traffic and into the belly of the beast.

The parking levels had been gutted, floors one through five opened up into a huge stadium-sized space shot through with support pillars and alive with activity.

James didn’t even know what he was looking at, but his gaze was drawn to the very center where a huge column ten yards wide was alive with activity, its metallic height glimmering with blue and gold light as countless processes took place within it. Alcoves opened up its height from which new drones flew forth while others on tank treads rumbled out at ground level.

The iron chests were handled by great articulated arms which picked them up and dumped their contents into crucibles the size of cement trucks. These funneled down to huge pipes that led to the central spire and were tended to by skate-board sized ivory and rose ants that crawled all over it.

Fabricators were everywhere, working furiously in partitioned areas. Everywhere James looked he saw unintelligible activity. Teams examining new technology, others forming ritual circles and infusing Aeviternum into objects, some working on exploded Wings that hung mid-air, their mechanicus tools blazing with light.

The space was filled with the sizzle of sparks flying, with alien lights pulsing, with the acrid tang of superheated metal, the clank of metal, the whirring of wings.

James just sat there, eyes wide, overwhelmed.

A platinum sphere covered in a latticework of glowing blue lines flew up to him. “James Kelly. Jessica asked that you be taken to her when you arrived. Will you follow me?”

“Hello,” said Jelly, sliding between the two of them. “I’m Kames Jelly. Did you know I’m Gloria-enhanced?”

“Hello Kames Jelly. I’m Jessica’s OmniVoluntas.”

“We can come up with a better name than that. How about Messica Jiles?”

The Omni-thing dipped around Jelly to fix James with its attention. “If you will follow me?”

“Uh, sure. What about these other Wings?”

“They’re not a problem. I’ll send them to recycling.”

James felt the six Wings uncouple from his control and as one fly deeper into the huge space.

“Whoa, how did you do that?” asked Jelly.

“This way, James.” The Omni flew down into the belly of the huge room to a platform surrounded by monitors and esoteric energy signals in whose center stood Jessica. The platform was easily twenty yards above the ground floor and connected to balconies that ringed the huge space by a metallic staircase.

Only now did James realized that all manner of new rooms and hallways had been burrowed into the walls.

“James!” Jessica smiled up at him and a glass visor and twin metal gauntlets floated off her to hover to one side. “You’re back!”

“Holy shit, Jessica.” James dropped off the Wing to land beside her on the platform. “What the fuck happened here?”

“It’s been an intense past twelve hours.” Jessica put her spectacles back on and turned to survey the huge space that she’d excavated from the bowels of the earth. “I know we don’t have much time, but there are somethings I want you to see. Ready?”

“Ready, yeah.”

She stepped to the side of the platform, several hovering monitors disappearing as she passed through them, and her Omni sphere dipped down and flattened out into a circular platform onto which she stepped. “Here, join me.”

And she extended her hand to him.

James took it, marveling, and stepped onto the Omni. It didn’t even dip under his weight.

“All right,” she breathed, and the platform began to float forth and descend. “Time to show you what I’ve done.”

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