Incident 27 (5 page)

Her
face grew clouded with worry. “That would be a very bad scenario, Ev. Whoever
controls the Key controls not only the Nephilim, but the Tower of Babel as well.

You
saw just a few of the dangerous Artifacts stored in there. They nearly killed
you and Professor Strong.”

“Yeah,
but we survived.”

“But
rumor has it on the top floor is the most dangerous Artifact of all. It makes
all the others look like toys.”

“I
wouldn’t put too much stock in rumors, Maya. And even if it’s true, Professor
Strong told me it takes time to unlock the most dangerous ones. The Academy
won’t simply let some lunatic make off with them.”

She
looked out the window of the plane. “I hope you’re right, Ev.”

* * *

Heimdall
materialized from the Bifrost into another chamber. The Bifrost—or Rainbow Bridge—was a system which enabled quick transport throughout the Tower of Babel. Normally one had to fight the skeleton Keepers to get to it, but Brandon and Ev Bannen
had destroyed them during their fight through the Tower last year. Heimdall
considered that fortunate; he didn’t have to waste time facing the Tower’s
defenses. He simply stepped into the multicolored wall and willed it to take
him to where the intruder had gone.

However,
upon materializing, Heimdall’s eyes went wide as he realized where he was.
Unlike the other chambers of the Tower, the floors, wall, and ceiling were a
pure white color. Large wooden crosses lined the circular wall. No doubt about
it; this was the top floor and home to the most dangerous Artifact of all.

He
cursed inwardly. He had allowed himself to be distracted. He needed to find the
intruder, and fast. He could be anywhere.

Suddenly,
his chest exploded. A magnificent spear had impaled him from behind. A torrent
of blood burst forth, drenching the floor in crimson. Heimdall hacked up the
stuff.

“Hope
you don’t mind me using Gungnir,” someone said behind him.

With
tremendous effort, Heimdall turned around to see his attacker. It was the same
man who had struck the Murnau destroyer. “Bastard. Who…are you?” He struggled
to talk despite all the blood filling his throat.

“Sorry
to do this to you,” the man said casually. “It’s necessary. But don’t worry;
I’ll bring you back later. Maybe.

“Fool…you
mean to use…” Heimdall weakly gestured to where the ultimate Artifact lay.
“…that?”

“Of
course I do. Wouldn’t you, if you had the chance?” He didn’t seem to have a
care in the world, no understanding of what he was doing.

“D-Don’t.”

“It’s
a bit too late for that. For me, there’s no turning back now. A new world
awaits. A
better
world.”

“Not…better…”

“Hmph.
I disagree. This world’s a failure, just like all the others. I’m going to end
it.” But Heimdall did something surprising, even to himself. He laughed.
“What’s so funny?”

“Just…remembered—urk.
Can’t…use… it…even if…you—urk—want to.”

“Yeah,
I guess you’re right. I
can’t
use it. Not here, at least. I’ll have to
move it.

“I
gotta say, you’re a lot tougher than I thought you’d be. I pierced you through
the heart, and you’re still not dead. I wanted to give you a quick death. I
guess I’ll have to try again.”

The
spear was ripped from Heimdall’s chest, and everything abruptly went dark. The
Norse god knew no more.

* * *

Arcturus
plunged Gungnir deep into the head of the other god—Heimdall, if he remembered
correctly—boring out skull and brain matter. He fell to the floor in a gory
heap.

Now, time to get back to the business at hand before
reinforcements from the Academy arrived.
He went over to the massive vault where
the ultimate Artifact was stored and examined it carefully. It was made of
haradium—a metal that not even gods could punch through—and had countless
buttons and dials. Fortunately, Belial had prepared him for this. Somehow,
somewhere, the fiery god had come across blueprints for this immense door and
shared them with Arcturus at the castle.    

Working
quickly, he set about opening the vault.

Chapter
III

Back
at the Academy, in Hercules Hall, the large auditorium used for assemblies and
talent shows, the students took their seats. Ev and Maya had met back up with
Jaysin only an hour before, when he had returned from his preempted trip to
Chrichton. “Right strange business this is, interrupting my vacation. Better be
a good reason for it,” he had said.

Presently
Bethos came onstage with a microphone in hand. The diminutive black god with
the purple suit may have looked strange anywhere else, but here at Divine Protector Academy he was both revered and respected. “I’m sure you’re all wondering
why we called you back here. Well, a certain incident is currently taking place
at the Tower of Babel. A while ago, one of the faculty members stationed there
reported someone—probably another god—trying to gain entry. There’s a strong
possibility Zero Grade is behind this, and with them active again, you may have
all been in danger while away from here. That’s why we called you back here
until we can ascertain what is going on. And, unfortunately, that’s all we can
tell you right now. Please go about your normal business on campus until
further notice. Thank you.”

In
the hallway outside Hercules Hall, Ev, Maya and Jaysin stopped and discussed
these latest developments with much interest. “So someone
is
trying to
get into the Tower,” Ev said.

“But
who could it be?” Jaysin asked.

Ev
asked Maya, “Do you think it could be Zero Grade?”

She
shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. It could be, but Belial and I severed all
ties with the organization when we went rogue. I can’t think of anyone he would
have given the Blood Key to upon his death.”

“Suppose
you weren’t his only disciple,” Jaysin suggested. “Suppose he had another that
he never told you about.”

“I
guess it’s possible. I know for a fact he kept secrets from me. He would never
tell me where Zero Grade’s main base was, for one thing.”

“That
would be a good thing to know,” Ev said.

“Let’s
keep supposing,” Jaysin continued. “Suppose Belial
did
have another
disciple. When he knew his death was upon him, he couldn’t have given the Blood
Key to Maya, since she had already betrayed him.”

“It
was
not
a betrayal,” Maya insisted.

Jaysin
replied, “Sorry. Poor choice of words. When he knew his death was upon him, he
couldn’t have given the Blood Key to Maya, since she had already turned against
him.”

“Better,”
Ev said.

Maya
nodded her approval, and Jaysin continued. “Now, then. We know he gave the Key
t’
someone
because it didn’t stick around when he bit it. He clearly sent
it off to someone else, someone he could trust.”

“But
who
?” Ev asked.

“Don’t
call me a prophet, but I have a feeling we’ll find out soon enough,” Jaysin
said.

They
spent the rest of the day with a dark cloud of doubt hanging over their heads,
wondering just what was headed their way.

* * *

The
Academy team had made their way into the Tower. They stepped into the Bifrost
and mentally commanded it to send them to wherever the intruder was.

Nothing
happened.

“The
intruder’s gone,” Freya said. She was team leader.

“But
the entrance hasn’t been resealed,” Aphrodite noted.

Atlas
frowned. “Bastard probably didn’t even care. He got what he was after and then
hightailed it out of here.”

A
lightning bolt of fear struck Freya. “But then, where’s Heimdall?” They hadn’t
seen any trace of the Norse god since arriving in the area. They suspected he
had disobeyed orders and gone after the intruder, but couldn’t be sure.

“We
should tell the Bifrost to take us to where he is,” Dian Cecht said. As usual,
the Academy physician offered sound advice without a hint of emotion.

“Good
idea,” Freya said.

They
gave the Rainbow Bridge the command, and immediately they were enveloped in its
multi-colored brilliance. They materialized in a pure white chamber, and

Freya’s
anxiety skyrocketed. This was the top floor. Why had Heimdall come up here?

They
quickly spotted his lifeless corpse in the center of the room. Each of
them—with the exception of Dian Cecht—uttered gasps of horror as they ran over
to render assistance.

“Shit,”
Atlas said, his chiseled countenance in agony. “Bastard butchered him.”

Freya
covered her mouth to keep in the cry of anguish that desperately wanted to get
out. Aphrodite put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Dian
Cecht passively examined Heimdall’s body. “He’s been dead for at least an hour.
Only thing to do now is decide how to handle the body.”

Freya
couldn’t think about that right now. “Atlas, please pick up Heimdall and let’s
go. We need to get out of here and send a message to Bethos.” Their telepathic
waves couldn’t get through the haradium lining the walls of the Tower.

“Wait.
We should see if anything’s missing,” Aphrodite said.

They
looked around. Their attention almost immediately settled on the open vault in
front of them. Even without going in, they could see
it
was missing.

Dian
Cecht was the first to voice their thoughts. “The Ark of the Covenant is gone.”

The
worst-case scenario was happening right before their eyes. “But how?” Freya
said. “It should have taken someone a hundred years to crack that lock.”

“Doesn’t
do any good thinking about that now. We have to get out of here, and fast.”
Atlas gathered what was left of Heimdall in his beefy arms, and they went back
to the Bifrost and left the Tower.

* * *

A
few days later.

First,
the Academy faculty used their powers to conjure a Viking ship from the
previous universe. Then they put Heimdall’s body in it. They proceeded to lower
it down to the sea, being careful to have it land away from the jagged rocks at
the base of Mt. Orleia. Finally, Brandon Strong summoned a flame to ignite the
ship. The only thing to do now was respectfully watch the whole thing burn.

The
faculty and students looked on from the hangar, their faces a solemn wall.

“Did
you ever meet Professor Heimdall?” Jaysin asked Ev. They stood amongst the
throng of people.

“Only
once or twice. I hadn’t taken his class yet.” Heimdall taught Physics.

“I
know the Asshole Three took his class,” Maya said. “Yet I don’t see them here.”

“They
probably figured they were too good for this,” Ev said.

“Not
a lot of respect in those three,” Jaysin agreed.

Wanting
to change the subject, Ev said, “They still don’t know who killed Professor
Heimdall?”

“If
they did, they wouldn’t necessarily tell us right away,” Maya said.

Jaysin
nodded. “They like their secrets, the faculty.”

“What
makes you say that?” Ev said.

“Well,
for one thing, they won’t confirm anything was stolen from the Tower.”

Ev
shrugged. “Maybe nothing was stolen.”

“Ah,”
Jaysin countered, “But if nothing was stolen, they would’ve said nothing was
stolen. Instead, it’s this ‘We can neither confirm nor deny…’ nonsense. That
means something was stolen, mate. But what?”

Ev
said, “Having faced several of the Artifacts stored in the Tower, I can think
of a few possibilities, none of them good.”

“What
if it was the legendary ultimate Artifact, the one that makes all others looks
like toys?” Maya dared to ask.

“But
we still have no idea what it is or what it does,” Ev pointed out.

She
looked grim. “That’s what makes it so terrifying.”

Someone
shushed them and reminded them this wasn’t the time for chitchat. They kept
quiet for the rest of the funeral.

After
a while, the ship burned up and was lost beneath the waves. When that was
finished, everyone gathered in a circle around Bethos in the hangar. “A great
injustice has been committed,” he said. He then shook his head. “No—let’s call
it what it is: a murder. An unknown enemy has taken the life of one of my dear
friends. Heimdall was a good man. He didn’t deserve this, and I won’t rest
until his killer is brought to justice. I want to make things crystal clear.
This is not about revenge; Heimdall wouldn’t have wanted that. Instead, we are
going to find the culprit, and we are going to bring him or her to trial. The
trial of a god is a rare event, but it does happen, and there are procedures in
place. Once we have apprehended Heimdall’s murderer, we shall carry them out.”

* * *

“That’s
all well and good,” Brandon said afterwards in Bethos’ office. “But we still
have no idea who to look for. And if Zero Grade is responsible, they sure as
hell aren’t going to be cooperative in our investigation.”

“I
say we take the fight to them. Make them hand the sonuvabitch over to us,”
Atlas said.

“You’re
talking about another war,” Freya said. “Wasn’t the last one bad enough?”

Atlas
rushed to his own defense. “I’m not talking about war. I just think we ought to
turn up the heat a little. You know, twist their arms so they’ll tell us what
they know.”

Aphrodite
warned, “The slightest provocation could ignite a full-scale conflict. We have
to be careful. Our next move needs to be well thought out.”

“Besides
which—we don’t even know where to find Zero Grade,” Brandon said.

“I’ll
bet Maya Brünhart knows,” Atlas said. “We should make her tell us.” Heimdall’s
death had made him uncharacteristically aggressive. He was normally easy-going
and wouldn’t even dream of interrogating a student.

Bethos
reminded him, “We questioned her thoroughly after the Stiftung Crisis. She was
only able to give up one Zero Grade base to us, a castle in the Murnau Islands. We investigated it but found it deserted. If Heimdall’s killer really is
Zero Grade, they probably won’t be dumb enough to go back there.”

Atlas
was growing more agitated by the minute. “So then, what are we supposed to do?”

Brandon
said to him, “I think
you’re missing the big picture here. The enemy has the Ark of the Covenant, the
most powerful of all the Artifacts. If he uses it, our world is finished. We
have
to get it back.”

“Fortunately,”
Bethos said, “the Ark is very complicated. It can’t be activated so easily. So
here’s what we’re going to do. I want
everyone
involved in the search
for it. Call all alumni worldwide have them actively looking. Be sure they
understand the stakes involved. Tell them if they see the enemy to not engage.
I won’t have any more deaths because of this. Furthermore, all classes are
suspended while we deal with this. All faculty members must devote themselves
fully to finding either the Ark or the killer.”

They
agreed, and left to spread the word. Bethos leaned back in his easy chair. He
hadn’t been able to relax lately.

Just
who was behind all this, and why were they doing it? The more he thought about
it, the more he felt these crimes just weren’t Zero Grade’s style. As the
minutes passed by, he doubts mounted. What if it wasn’t Zero Grade at all? What
if it was someone else, possibly someone with a grudge against the Academy?