Incident 27 (4 page)

Maya
put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault, Ev. There was
nothing else you could have done. If you hadn’t done it, your mother would have
been the one to die, and your father would have been the one to live. I’d say
that’s an even worse scenario. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah.
It would have been. Still, it doesn’t change what I went through. It doesn’t
change what I go through every single day.”

She
squeezed his hand. “But you don’t go through it
alone
, Ev. And you never
will again.”

Despite
(or because of) everything, he smiled. She was right. He
wasn’t
alone
anymore.

* * *

Captain
Arnold Schmitz stood on the deck of the
DRM Blitzkrieg
, one of several
destroyers stationed at the giant tower which had appeared off the coast of Stiftung last year during the attack by the sinister stranger who called himself Belial. He
claimed to have been a god, and with everything he was able to do, few doubted
him. Having grown up in an atheist home, Schmitz had never been very religious,
and still didn’t know what to make of Belial. It was difficult to argue with
what his eyes saw. After all, Belial had summoned angelic giants to terrorize
the people of Stiftung. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he also had called down
this behemoth of a tower. What exactly it was or what might be inside, no one
knew. Not long after Belial went inside, three mysterious individuals were seen
flying up from the depths (apparently, the tower’s entrance was underwater).

When
the Murnau military sent divers down there, however, they reported finding no
means of entry. The only conclusion to be drawn was that there had to be a
secret method of entering the structure, but so far no one had been able to
find it. Schmitz and his crew tried using a blowtorch to cut a hole inside, but
that didn’t even make a scratch on whatever material the tower was made of.
Ditto for D5 explosive charges. Next they tried shelling the place with the
destroyer’s guns, but that produced no results as well.

Thus
they could not get inside. With that being the case, the Murnau government
decided to bow to mounting pressure from other governments to allow them access
to the site; they had nothing to lose at this point. Therefore, the
Blitzkrieg
was now part of a joint operation to study the tower and prevent any
unauthorized entry. Of course, Schmitz suspected his superiors would be
secretly pleased if someone could get the damn thing open.

So,
with nothing to do, he just stood there on the deck, staring at the tower in
the vain hope it would reveal its secrets to him. There was full cloud cover
overhead, and it looked like it might rain. Schmitz hoped it would. At least
then
something
would be happening. This was incredibly boring.

Suddenly,
a private ran up to him. “
Kapitän
! Radar is picking up a high-speed
object heading this way from the east.”

Well,
that was something, at least. “How big?”

“About
the size of a missile.”

Could
one of the other countries be launching an attack on the site to gain control
of the tower? That, he could not allow. “Are we sure its not one of ours?”

“Positive,
Kapitän. Central Command has nothing in the air.”

Schmitz
ran to the bridge. He told his first officer, Friedrick Gastoff, “As soon as we
confirm the unknown object isn’t nuclear, I want it blown out of the sky.”

Gastoff
looked worried. “And if it
is
nuclear?”

They
both knew the answer to that question. If it was a nuke, they would wait for it
to pass by the major population areas and then destroy it over the ocean.
Unfortunately, they would likely get caught in the explosion, as close as they
were to Stiftung.

But
Schmitz just said, “Tell me when we have confirmation.”

A
few minute later, one of the officers on the bridge announced he now had a
clear radar return. Schmitz asked if it was a known nuke type. The radar
operator shook his head nervously. “I don’t think it’s a nuke. It doesn’t even
look like a missile.”

What
the hell was that supposed to mean? “What does it look like?”

The
operator hesitated for a moment. “A person.”

“A
what?”

“Take
a look sir. Two arms, two legs.”

Schimitz
studied the display. The unknown did indeed resemble a human being. And it was coming
in even faster than a missile. He had a sickening feeling the events of last
year were about to be repeated. He had to prevent that at all costs. “Shoot it
down.”

Gastoff
nodded. The object had been close enough to lock onto for quite some time, but
they hadn’t fired for fear of unleashing a nuclear holocaust. Now, though, they
locked on and fire away with every non-nuclear missile they had. Schmitz wanted
that thing shot down, but not bad enough to utilize the final option. If he was
wrong, a finished career would be the worst of his worries.

The
Blitzkrieg
unloaded a volley of warheads at the unknown. After thirty
seconds, a series of explosions lit up the eastern sky. “Did we get it?”
Schmitz asked.

His
hopes were high that they had just ended a threat before it could begin.
However, movement in the direction of the smoke cut that hope short. The thing
was still coming in, and fast.

He
ran out onto the deck for a better look. It was almost upon them, now, and
Schmitz could see it was, in fact, a person. It had to be another of those gods
(or whatever they were) flying in to do who-knew-what.

The
dark blur slammed into the hull of the
Blitzkrieg
, and the ship rocked
from the impact. The whole thing tipped sideways as water rushed into the punctured
vessel. Schmitz grabbed onto the railing to keep from falling off. Aboard the
bridge, Gastoff was shouting for all hands to evacuate.

The
Tru Republic’s ship,
Emerald Valiance
, pulled up alongside them. “D’ye
be needin’ assistance,
Blitzkrieg
?” one of their officers asked in their
sing-song accent.

Schmitz
thought about it for a moment. “It depends on how bad the damage is. For now,
you should keep an eye out for the guy that hit us.”

“Oh,
it was a guy now, was it? Didn’t realize you could be taken out so easily.”

“This
is not the time for jokes. Those gods—or whatever the hell they are—are back.
He’s probably going for the entrance to the tower. You’ve got to do whatever it
takes to stop him.”

If
they failed, Bethos only knew what would happen.

* * *

From
miles away, on a deserted building in Stiftung harbor, Heimdall watched the
events unfold. A fellow god just crashed through a Murnau ship standing guard
at the Tower. Heimdall knew almost all of the players in this game, but he
didn’t recognize the man that had now put his token in.

Following
the Stiftung Crisis, Bethos had stationed Heimdall here to watch over the Tower
in case someone tried to enter. Evidently the Blood Key was still out there somewhere
and could be used to open the entrance. As the god with the greatest eyesight,
Heimdall was the logical choice.

He
gritted his gold teeth nervously and contacted Bethos via telepathy.
Someone’s
trying to get into the Tower. He’s making an unnecessary mess of things
.

Bethos
responded,
I’m sending reinforcements. Wait until they arrive. Don’t try
taking them on by yourself
.

By the time they arrive, it might be too late. If this person has
the Blood Key, we can’t afford to wait.

Don’t do it. Wait for reinforcements.
And with that, Bethos
was gone.

Heimdall
stood up. He knew what he had to do. Orders or no, he wasn’t able to wait
around while some unknown god made his way into the Tower of Babel and helped himself to all the goodies inside. The most dangerous weapons on the planet
were stored in there, and a twisted mind could do almost anything with them.

And
there were plenty of twisted minds in Zero Grade.

Heimdall
launched himself off the building and towards the Tower.

* * *

The
three of them once again sat down in the living room. Ev’s mother had suitably
recovered from the shock of his revelations and was now willing to talk about
it. “It’s a lot to take in,” she said.

Ev
nodded. “I know. Think of how much it was for
me
to take in, being the
one who had to go through it all.

“But
at the same time,” Anni said, “I’m so proud of you. My son, a god! Not only
that, but you fought to save the world.”

He
looked away, sheepishly. “Well, I really didn’t do that much to help Professor
Strong…”

But
Maya said, “That’s not true, Ev. You distracted Belial long enough for
Professor Strong to pull the spear out of his chest and hurl it at him,
piercing him in the heart and killing him.”

“And
what was
your
role in this?” Anni asked her inquisitively.

Maya
squirmed, afraid to admit the truth of her involvement. Ev decided to help her
out by telling his mother the truth. “Maya was by my side at the time. She
healed me after Belial struck me with lightning.”

Anni
rushed over and took Maya’s hand. “Thank you so, so much for everything you’ve
done for Ev. He’s so, so lucky to have someone like you in his life. He’d be
dead if not for you.”

Looking
uncomfortable, Maya averted her gaze. She was clearly tempted to admit the
truth, that she was the one who had put Ev in so much danger in the first
place.

“Please,
Misses Bannen—”

“Call
me Anni.”

“Please,
Anni. I didn’t do that much. Ev’s done so much more for me than I’ve done for
him.”

“Really?
Like what?”

Before
Maya could say what she was thinking, Ev intervened. “I just helped her out
with some things. No big deal.”

Perhaps
sensing she was wading into sensitive waters, Anni backed off. “Well, I won’t
pry. I’m just glad you two are there for one another. I worried about Ev for
years, but I now I think he’s going to be OK…”

His
mother’s words were droned out by a ringing in their ears. It was Freya.
Attention,
all students of Divine Protector Academy currently on leave. An emergency has
been declared. Everyone is hereby instructed to return to the Academy
immediately
.

“Sorry,
Mom, but something has just come up. We need to get going.”

Ev
and Maya rose to leave. Anni looked confused. “Those giants aren’t invading
again, are they?”

“I’m
sure it’s nothing,” Maya said.

“Well,
OK.” Anni hugged the two of them and told Ev to keep in touch.

* * *

They
returned to the plane. A bunch of students were crowding in and around the
cockpit, pressuring Brandon to tell them what the emergency was. He danced
around the question as best he could. “I don’t know all the details. You’ll
find out once we get back to the Academy. I can’t tell you any more than that.”
The students pressured him further, but he kicked them out of the cockpit,
telling them to take their seats.

Ev
and Maya took theirs. “I wonder if the Nephilim really are back,” Ev said.

“But
who could be controlling them? Belial’s dead.”

“Maybe,
but he used that Blood Key to control them. It disappeared when he died.
Professor Strong was evasive when I asked him what happened to it. What if
someone else now has it?”