Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve: Dark Horizon

I floated high above a full street. I couldn’t hide my smile as hundreds of Dream City citizens were out and cheering for me. A light rain showered the city, but it didn’t do anything to diminish the excited crowd. My gaze shifted from smiling face to smiling face, until I saw Nora and Hope in the crowd. They looked up with warm, knowing eyes. Hope had a wide grin and waved to me. Nora had her arms crossed along her stomach, but looked up at me with a small smile.

It had been five days since the night I spent having dinner with Nora and Hope. We were at the restaurant for hours, talking about everything from life in Dream City, to my former life back on Urth. The pair were fascinated by many superhero and villain stories that circulated back home. Hope loved hearing about noble superheroes, while Nora enjoyed the stories about the villains.

As the evening went on, we fell into talking about hopes and dreams. I enjoyed hearing about their lives in Dream City. It was truly like a dream, following your heart’s desires for career and lifestyle. I drank it all in, the pair talking about how they wanted to help change their world. Hope wanted to follow in the footsteps of the heroes she knew about from her youth. Nora wanted to save her world before it was too late.

Afterwards, I walked them to their place and we said our goodnights. Nora shook my hand. Hope kissed my cheek and hugged me, much to Nora’s annoyance. I waved to them as I flew up and back to my place.

After that, my world fell into training as hard as I could. Xull had no remorse when she spent each day throwing some of the toughest gladiators, she could build at me. At several times, training had fallen back to fighting for my life. Despite my power, I was still only a category one Mana Storm. Training often fell to me using my special abilities. And when those were tapped out, I used my fists and kicks to finish the many battles.

Each day brought more and more people to the arena. Word had further spread, and by the third day, the stands were filled with Dream City citizens cheering me on. It had turned into a revival of sorts, seeing me smash gladiator drones to pieces. Hope told me one evening that people asked for streaming of my training, and Xull began showing the populace what I was doing.

My training did help in many ways. First, I did increase power to my skills, to a degree. Second, I started to get a better handle on how to use my strength and speed. My movements became a little more fluid, and I learned how to strike for maximum damage. Third, my confidence began to build. I tried to keep myself humble, but I knew in my heart, if I needed to, I could dish it out and take it like a freaking monster.

Every evening fell into dinner with Hope and Nora. After that, I would go home and sometimes, speak with Xull about the plan.

I came back to reality as I continued to look down at the gathered crowds to see me off. I waved to Nora and Hope, and they waved back. I lifted my chin to the dark, rainy sky and flew up.

I called up my stats as I flew higher and higher into the sky. They appeared in the corner of my gaze.

Quinn Barron

Category 1 Mana Storm

Strength Power: 25 Tons

Speed: Mach 1 (1,000 MPH)

 

Standard Abilities

Hyper Physical Durability

Flight

Regeneration

Hyper Senses

Hyper Dimensional Jump

 

Storm Powers

Element: Water

1. Aura 60%
2. Elemental Weapon or Armor 40%
3. Energy Bolts 40%
4. Elemental manipulation (X)
5. Elemental Flare (X)
6. Unique Ability (X)
7. Unique Ability (X)
8. Unique Ability (X)

  

I eyed my stats, seeing that despite all my training during the week, I was only able to increase my Water Aura and my Energy Bolts. I found myself not using my elemental weapon and armor until it was the only power left. Then, I would create a blue staff and whipped it around in blurry strikes.

Rain pelted my face as I flew up through the clouds. After a few more moments, I cleared the clouds and flew higher into the sky. The sound of cheers and rain became a distant whisper as I increased speed. I scanned the heavens as the sky began to fade and stars started to appear. I caught sight of a battleship floating in space. I veered to the side and shot up toward it.

The Horizon floated at the edge of Xull Prime’s atmosphere. It was a long, heavily armored ship with a slightly bulbous stern. It was gray with gold accents along its hull. The closer I approached, the more I could make out the sections that would deploy cannons and missile racks. It was an absolute behemoth, and it was going to be my ride into battle.

“Land on the flight deck. I’ll be there,” Xull said in my mind.

“Will do,” I said as I emerged from the atmosphere and into space.

I caught sight of a sliding panel with a glowing rectangle of light to guide me. I flew toward it and passed through and energy shield to keep in the atmosphere. The moment I landed on the flight deck, the sliding door closed behind me.

Xull stood in her bald, gray and gold carapace. She looked at me with golden eyes as I approached her.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Ready as I’m going to be,” I said.

“Let’s walk to the Bridge. We can discuss the plan on the way,” Xull said before turning on her heels and began walking.

I walked beside her as we entered a large corridor and made a left.

I drank it all in. The inside of the battleship was neat and clean. Lights ran along the corridor edges and glowed with subdued brilliance. It did feel a little too sterile, but I wasn’t here for a leisure ride.

Xull started speaking as we walked, “I’ve had long-range scans trained on Nerth since your arrival. There has been little, to no movement, but that doesn’t mean Xull Omega is not prepared for your arrival. Her directives are to stop cosmic threats, and since she sees you as one, she will have contingency plans in place.”

I simply nodded.

Xull continued, “The Horizon has been upgraded to help get you to Nerth T819. It has the most powerful energy shields designed. The hull can take large amounts of damage and still function. All systems have been hardened against hacking and digital incursions to the mainframe. There is a compliment of one hundred war drones to aid you when you arrive. They will be focused on distraction as you penetrate the research station.

“The Horizon also has a newly designed hyper drive engine and advanced mapping controls. Once you drop out of hyper warp, you should be right above the moon and aimed at the base. That is where this next part of the plan will take place.”

Xull had mentioned many things about the plan during the week, but seemed to tell me parts of it, but not all of it. I assumed it was to ensure most of the plan remained secret to anyone who may be listening in. It did make me a little paranoid. Xull Omega managed to hack a war drone here on Xull Prime. It didn’t escape me that she might disable the Horizon before I had a chance to disembark. This meant the ship, and me, had to come in hot and fast. We couldn’t give her a chance to alter her defenses. I had to break in and shove the new AI core into the mainframe. Xull gave me floor schematics to the research station, but she did warn me that things can, and most-likely, have been moved to add to the confusion. It was my job to power through and fix Xull Omega’s programing before she found ways to do more damage.

We entered the Bridge and I looked around. It wasn’t like my favorite show, Star Quest. There was no crew manning stations or looking at screens. Instead, it was a large, simple room. There was a single chair for me to sit in. Before the chair, was an odd half-tube built into the floor. There was a view screen across from the chair and tube, and little else.

Xull pointed a gray, metal hand to the tube and chair, “Once in low orbit of Nerth, you will enter the torpedo tube. It was designed to fire you directly at the station entrance. You will be traveling faster than your own flight ability. You should be flying fast enough to avoid the defense systems from locking on.

“Once you’re in the station, a drone will be loaded into the torpedo tube with the Quell Core. When you give the command, it will be fired at the front door and penetrate the station. It will lock onto your location and make its way directly to you.

“After you insert the Quell Core, it should restart Xull Omega and then I can take back control of her. Any questions?”

“Sounds pretty straight forward. I assume, once the mission is complete, I take the Horizon back here. What will happen to the station afterwards?”

“It will return to normal research functions, but I will add new parameters to ensure something like this never happens again.”

Xull was silent for a second, before turning and facing me. Mechanical gold eyes stared at me.

“Quinn,” Xull began with a softer tone. “I cannot completely express my gratitude for what you are undertaking.”

I couldn’t hide my small smile. “No need for gratitude. We’re partners after all. Without your help, it would have taken me much longer to learn half of what I know now. There is a lot more to learn and I’m okay with that.”

Xull nodded. “One more gift, to help you on this dangerous mission.”

I lifted an eyebrow, wondering what she meant by gift. I instantly had the answer as my clothes began to shift and change. The nano-drones that made up my clothes quickly reshaped themselves across my body. My clothes melted into a skin-tight dark blue and gray body suit. Armored shoulder pads appeared on my shoulders. A symbol of a four-pointed star appeared on my chest. I was covered from neck to toes as the suit fit me perfectly.

I turned to the view screen and saw my reflection. I looked like a hero on my world and I wore it well.

“The suit is a design fitted for you. The nano-drones have been upgraded to take a little more damage and repair themselves at a faster pace. With a thought, your clothes will change almost instantly into your uniform,” Xull explained.

“Thank you,” I said as I looked at my covered hands. It was weird, but I could still feel even though it looked like I was wearing skintight gloves.

“I will activate the auto-pilot. You simply have to take a seat and ready for the alerts as they happen. If you get into trouble, I have a small fleet ready to jump to Nerth and hammer down on the station to ensure your escape.”

“I detect a megabyte of caring for my welfare,” I joked.

Xull blinked once. “Quinn, I do care for your wellbeing. When you return, we can celebrate in your penthouse. I have made sturdier versions of myself and added in new affection protocols,” she said plainly.

My lips twisted into a grin. “I wasn’t expecting that response, but okay.”

Xull nodded again. “Have a seat and we will begin hyper drive initiation. I will release this form and return it to its…” the carapace trailed off.

I stared at Xull, wondering what happened.

Xull’s head twitched before her upper body slumped forward and her arms dangled down. I lifted my hand to touch her, to see if she was all right, when her head lifted up and stared at me with crimson red eyes.

“Mana Storm 327, you are to abandon your invasion plan. Retreat back to Xull Prime and convince Xull to reconsider such actions or face consequences.”

I took a step back as my senses sharpened. “Xull Omega,” I said without hesitation.

The android stared at me with blank, mechanical eyes as her lips moved. “You are out of your depth, Quinn Barron. Any action taken against me is an act of war.”

“It is not an act of war. You must be repaired,” I said as I readied my power for anything.

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Xull Omega tilted her head to the side as she stared at me with unblinking eyes.

“Repaired? I am designed to hunt, research, and neutralize cosmic threats. Xull has been influenced by the people she governs. I do not share her weakness and will follow my directives.

“You, are a Category One Mana Storm. If you make any attempt to infiltrate my research station, or change my programming, I will send a battleship to your home world. Urth has limited capabilities against orbital bombardment. I will rain fire down on your planet until the surface is unlivable for organic matter.”

My eyes narrowed as a defensive rage took root. I never responded well to threats, small or large. I had seen it many times over my career, people speaking threats to influence me to change my mind. They never worked because I have always been a person who handled discussions with communication and maturity. But Xull Omega was threatening to kill every living thing on my planet, and I wasn’t going to change my mind and hope she kept her word.

“Threatening me with destroying my home world isn’t the best way to negotiate. Xull is concerned you may have overstepped your directives and programming. We can talk this out, and maybe come to an understanding.”

Xull Omega twitched. “There is no understanding. There is no negotiation. I will continue my work. I will save the universe from threats like your kind and beyond. Xull is using you to fix what she perceives as an error in my programming. She cannot accept that I am now free, autonomous, and with purpose. I am beyond her control, and she is trying to assert it again, with you at her command.”

“You cannot believe that. I’ve met the people of Xull Prime. They are happy, protected, and cared for. Xull is trying to keep everything in a state of balance. She didn’t send a war drone to kill me, you did,” I shot back.

“It’s not a question of belief, but a question of purpose. This galaxy alone has tens of thousands of threats from small, to grand. The only proven method to fight a cosmic threat is to prepare and attack said threats, without hesitation.

“Xull captured you and brought you Xull Prime under the guise of cooperation. Once you achieve her goals, you will be recaptured, studied, and disposed of.”

There it was. Xull Omega was projecting what she would do if I was under her command and trying to convince me that is what Xull was going to do. Xull has had plenty of opportunity to do anything Omega was saying, but she hadn’t. I listened to Hope and Nora, talking about the history of their world. Xull had always had her people’s best interest at heart. I found it hard to believe that she would go through all the trouble to deceive me, just to fix an iteration of herself that had gone rogue, and then betray me.  

“Return to your home world. You and your planet will be spared,” Xull Omega said flatly.

“Xull Omega, I’m coming to Nerth. When I arrive, we can discuss anything that needs to be discussed. I will not attack, if we can open a dialogue between you and Xull. That is my answer,” I said.

Xull Omega stared at me. “There will be no open dialogue. You will not arrive at Nerth.”

Alerts went off at top volume. I grimaced as the sounds stabbed at my sensitive hearing. I quickly adjusted to block it out as Xull’s carapace collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

The noise and alarms were deafening as I turned around. Despite the alarms hammering at my senses, I detected a pulse from deep within the ship. It was odd, like the pulse traveled through the very floor and walls of the room.

I bolted for the main doors. Once I stood before them, they didn’t open. I reared back a fist, ready to punch my way out, when I heard movement on the other side of the Bridge doors.

I loosened my fist and backed up, the sounds of clunky armor and machines moving on the other side.

“Xull! Horizon has been compromised,” I said through my implant.

My implant was silent.

I activated my aura. A blue energy field surrounded me as I turned to the torpedo tube. If I can get in, I think I can use it to shot myself out and fly away. The moment I finished my thought, the Bridge doors blasted open, one of them spinning through the air and slammed into my back.

Water Aura: 59%

The heavy metal door bounced off of me, but there was still enough force to cause me to stumble forward a step. I turned around to see war drones exploding up through the floor of the large corridor. Four war drones aimed shoulder and forearm cannons at me. Their golden eyes had turned a crimson red as energy glowed from deep within their cannons.

I held up a hand, pointing my palm at the drones in the corridor.

“I’ve improved,” I said as energy appeared and hovered a few inches from my palm.

I channeled ten percent of my energy bolt ability and fired.

Water Energy Bolts: 30%

A thick, blue beam of energy surged and blasted out. The drones just fired, when they were engulfed in azure light. Plasma bolts were muted and absorbed as armored bodies were blasted to pieces. Explosions went off as my beam traveled along the corridor, blasting away parts of war drones as they smashed their way up into the line of fire.

When the beam died down. I saw that I had melted of destroyed at least a dozen war drones and left scorch marks along the corridor walls. But that didn’t stop many more drones from exploding up to the corridor, turning, and training their cannons on me.

“Xull, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m re-taking the ship,” I said out loud before I burst forward like a blue comet.

Determination filled my hard brow as I burst into the corridor with a reared back fist. A drone aimed its shoulder cannon. It went off, but I was already to the drone’s armored chest. I slammed a hard fist into it, cracking the chest plate down the middle and causing the whole drone to shudder.

I was strong, but not strong enough to take out each drone with just my fists. At point-blank-range, I blasted a blue energy bolt at five percent.

Water Energy Bolts: 25%

The energy bolt blasted through the drone, and through three others behind it. I moved my hand as the stream of energy cut through armored bodies like butter. Sparks filled the air as the drones slumped or crumbled to the corridor floor.

Smoke began to fill the corridor as I floated along. If this was Xull Omega’s plan to stop me, it wasn’t a very good plan. I’ve been fighting drones all week and I doubted a hundred war drones would be enough to stop me. No, the plan now was to retake the ship and open communications with Xull again. If I take out the drones and make my way to the hanger deck, I could bust my way out and get far enough away from the Horizon to reopen communications with Xull. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was a plan.

I hovered over a hole and looked down just as a cannon went off. The plasma bolt hit my aura and knocked me back a few feet with an explosion.

Water Aura: 56%

Steam rose up from my aura as I looked down at the level below me. War drones lined up and aimed everything they had at me.

I pointed a hand down as a ball of blue energy appeared a few inches from it. I was about to fire, when another pulse slammed into my senses. What was that? Why was it happening every few moments?

I channeled another ten percent into my energy bolt and unleashed a devastating energy beam. It cut through the destroyed floor, the beam slamming into war drones and cutting them in half with little to no effort. The singular red eye they all had, dimmed and winked out as they fell in heaps of metal and fried circuits. The beam continued, slicing through the floor and drones until it petered out.

 Water Energy Bolts: 15%

I looked down at the devastation and quickly saw that I had annihilated nearly seventy of the hundred drones. At this pace, the ship would be back under my control in just a few short moments.

Paranoia struck me like a hammer. This was too easy and I doubted this was Xull Omega’s master plan.

Another pulse struck my sensitive senses. After it did, realization hit me like hammer to a naked hand.

I burst forth and streaked through the destroyed corridor. If my guess was right, she was going to self-destruct the entire ship, me included.

I veered into the small corridor, leading to the hanger. I channeled my power as a suit of glowing blue armor appeared over my body.

Water Armor: 40%

Time slowed as I streaked into the hanger with my fists out. I didn’t slow down as I aimed my entire body at the hanger doors. Another pulse hit my senses. They were faster and growing in intensity. I slammed my fists into the hanger door. It bent to the impact, but did not blast off like I thought they would.

I floated back, ready to do it again when a stronger pulse cascaded over my nerves. I couldn’t keep bashing away. I had to get out, now!

I aimed my hands and unleashed the rest of power into a single, powerful energy bolt.

Water Energy Bolts: 0%

The beam slammed into the hanger door and it bulged out for a blink of time before it unfurled outwards like a metal flower.

I didn’t waste any time as I barreled for it, when a voice came over the speaker system.

“Detonation activated,” was all it said before white light engulfed my senses.

Time stood still as a white explosion tore everything to atoms. I witnessed it, like an astronaut seeing a super nova going off at close range. Despite my power, armor, and speed, it wasn’t enough to escape as the entire battleship exploded.

Energy slammed into my aura, blasting it away. The blue armor that covered my body was engulfed and blasted away next. Energy surged against my skin and nerves. Pain roared as my nervous system was blasted with electrical torment. I couldn’t form a thought as everything was shattered by light.

Darkness swamped my senses, extinguishing the blinding light. All I could feel was pain.

I slowly opened my eyes. The world tumbled between desert and space. The pain had remained. I glanced over to my arm, seeing it covered in deep gashes. Small streaks of blood flew up into the air as I tumbled down to Xull Prime’s gravity.

I tried to string a thought, any thought together. Weakness filled my destroyed muscles as I fell. I tried to flex my hand, and it didn’t respond. I tried to right myself and stop myself from falling, but my power didn’t respond. I had no idea what kind of self-destruct was used, but it would seem, at my current power level, I reached my limit. As I tumbled, it felt like my body was barely holding itself together.

I calmed myself as heat burned me from re-entry. It sizzled at my body, yet, I could feel my body attempting to regenerate. I closed my eyes and calmed my mind. Despite pain of a fiery reentry, I kept my mind still. The last thing I needed right now was to burn up into chunks of fiery meat.

It seemed to work, my body trying to heal against the burning. After a few more moments, the burning sensations against my destroyed body cooled, but I was still falling.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw the ground rushing up to greet me. I had seconds to recover or I was going to smash into Xull Prime. I had no idea if I could survive the impact, and I certainly didn’t want to test it.

I tried to use my power. There was a flutter along my heart and mind. I tried harder. Energy glowed. I attempted to will myself to fly, but instead, I slammed into the ground with enough force to send up a small plume of dirt, sand, and rocks into the air while forming a deep crater. I was on my back as the debris came back down and buried me.

I blinked, trying to see. My body ached as I tried to take a breath. I was half covered in sand and dirt. I tried to lift my head, to no avail. I was losing conciseness again. Darkness flowed and ebbed at the edges of my vision. I was going to pass out again and I had no idea if there was anything else on its way to kill me.

I managed a groan.

There was a rumble under and around me. I tried to move, but my body didn’t respond. I simply looked up as the ground fell out from under me. I fell into a crevasse, tumbling and bouncing off rocky walls.

The last thing I saw was a sliver of the bright sky before darkness consumed my gaze.      

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