Until We Break (13 page)

Brandon patted him on the back. “Your sense of timing was unbelievable. I gotta say, I really thought we were finished there. You’re a hero, Jaysin Marx, and I won’t rest until everyone knows that. You saved your country today, not to mention one of the Ultimus Points.” He then turned to address the others. “The rest of you showed remarkable bravery as well. I look forward to reporting our success to the Academy.”

* * *

On the outskirts of Durydu, they soon arrived at Jaysin’s house amidst a cluster of other pyramids. They knocked on the door, and a heavily-wrinkled middle-aged man with bronze skin and fair hair answered by sticking a shotgun in their faces.

“Easy, Dad,” Jaysin said. “It’s me. And a few friends.”

His father looked shocked, but nonetheless hugged his son. “Oh, Jaysin! So glad to see you! But how’d you get passed the whatever the hell that was?”

“Don’t worry about that guy. We took care of him. Mind if we come in?”

Jaysin’s father—who introduced himself as Hugh Marx—brought them into the small living room. Maya had never been inside a pyramid before; it was weird how the ceiling narrowed the further up it went, until it ended in a small point.

The living room itself was quite bare, the only furniture being a ratty beige couch that had holes in it. There was also one of those bulky low definition TVs that used to be the standard some fifteen years ago. Jaysin obviously hadn’t been exaggerating when he said he didn’t come from money.

The rest of his family filed into the room; his mother Mara, a pretty woman with long sandy hair; eight-year-old sister Hailey, an adorable kid not hurting for freckles; fifteen-year-old brother Johnny. They embraced the returning hero and everyone gathered around the crappy couch to get an update on what Jaysin had been up to. They took the story with no small measure of awe.

“Right amazing, that is,” Hugh said, nodding proudly.

Mara agreed. “Our son—a god!”

“God
in training
,” Jaysin corrected her.

“We don’t believe in gods,” Johnny said, nevertheless patting his big brother on the back. He was perhaps a foot shorter than Jaysin. “Still, you showed that dick tart who’s boss.”

“Language,” Hugh said.

Hailey quietly hugged Jaysin’s leg. She seemed afraid of Jaysin’s friends. “She’s shy around strangers,” he explained.

“Now, let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Hugh said. “Gods are real, and the evil ones—Zero Grade—attacked Durydu because of this build-up of incredible energy called Ultrus Points?”

“Ultimus Points,” Maya said.

“Right, right. Ultimus Points. And if they harness this energy, they can become even more powerful?” Hugh’s brain was clearly hurting from trying to wrap his head around this.

“Yeah, Dad, but don’t worry; we took care of them. They got cocky and only sent one god here to fight us. Granted, that one god almost did it for us, but we’re still alive.”

Concern still weighed heavily on his mother’s features. “But won’t they send reinforcements to retake the city?”

“We won’t let that happen,” Maya said. “We’ve got reinforcements of our own arriving soon. We’re going to liberate every city that was conquered.” She intentionally avoided mentioning the destruction of Kornia. They didn’t need any more worries.

Hailey perked up slightly at the encouragement. Perhaps she might warm to the newcomers in time. Maya hoped so; she really wanted the kid to like her.

“I think that’s enough scary stuff for now,” Hugh said. “For now, I insist you all stay for dinner. We’ve got a lot of celebrating to do.”

Indeed they did. In fact, once word reached the rest of the city, all of Durydu broke out into one gigantic party. All through the streets they marched, dancing and consuming alcohol. Their scourge had been vanquished, at least for the time being, and they banished any and all dark thoughts as they partied the night away.

Maya, Jaysin and the others asked themselves if the others were having as much success. Brandon seemed unusually quiet when they pressed him for information. He had been in touch with the Academy, but wouldn’t say what was happening with the other battles.

And another lingering question remained: Why had Zero Grade only sent one god to defend Durydu? Surely they had a lot more people that could have aided Ra in keeping the Academy from retaking the city.

Maya couldn’t shake the feeling they were still at the mercy of Zero Grade’s unknown machinations.

* * *

Baldr, Son Goku, Ho-Tei and their students ran blindly through the streets of Stiftung. Their options at this point were decidedly limited.

It had all gone wrong as soon as they entered the city. Zero Grade had done something, and the group immediately lost their powers. The God Dampener. It had to be that device Ev and Maya had talked about when they returned from the Battle of Stonecroft. Damned Zero Grade had robbed them of their abilities and were now shooting guns at them. Guns! Weren’t they supposed to be gods? But no—they had chosen to play dirty, and now the Academy group was powerless against them.

“Keep moving!” Baldr yelled as they passed another city block. His lungs ached at the extraordinary demand being placed upon them; this was a sensation he hadn’t felt since becoming a god. Still, he fought through the humiliation and pumped his legs for all they were worth.

Without warning, his chest exploded as a bullet tore through him from behind. He went down in a bloody heap, but waved at the others to keep going.

Damned Zero Grade. Had they no honor? What he wouldn’t have given for the chance to fight them man-to-man. But alas, it seemed his time had come. The Fates were cruel indeed to allow his life to end this way. What would Thor think of him if he could see him?

He shook his head. No use thinking about such things now.

Chapter X

We are Zero Grade

Stiftung remains ours

Regret your folly

Bethos watched the message on the TV with a growing rage. He had lost contact with the Stiftung group as soon as they entered the city. He didn’t know what tricks Zero Grade had pulled, but he had to assume everyone he had sent there was dead.

He decided not to tell the others groups about this; it would undoubtedly hurt their morale. He would tell them in due time, but only after the other battles were decided.

With a mounting dread he realized the true struggle had only just begun.

* * *

Upton and Durydu had been liberated, while Kornia had been obliterated. Stiftung, Dokiu and Stonecroft remained in Zero Grade’s possession, resulting in the deaths of Baldr, Son Goku, Ho-tei, Mac and numerous students. Counting Mt. Orleia, that left three Ultimus Points with the Academy, and three with Zero Grade. The stalemate continued for several months through intense fighting. The Academy students and faculty fought valiantly with conventional weaponry, but they struggled without their powers because of the God Dampeners employed by their enemies. It appeared everyone’s worst fears would be realized, and the fighting would go on indefinitely. It seemed only a miracle could turn the tide and prevent more bloodshed.

In the month of Behrn, in the following year, something happened which neither side could predict.

The tide turned.

* * *

Nuada stood atop the TV-SDS building in downtown Stiftung admiring his new kingdom.

Clad in silver armor and hair, and standing at six and a half feet tall, the first king of the
Tuatha Dé Danann was known as The Silver Hand of Zero Grade.

Retaining Stiftung had been remarkably easy. All the organization had needed to do was deploy the God Dampeners across the city. The gallant knights of the Academy quickly found themselves stripped of all their powers, and Nuada’s group simply mowed them down with traditional weapons. The same had happened in Dokiu and Stonecroft. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough of the devices to send to the other Ultimus Points, and Zero Grade had lost control of them. But they still retained half the pockets of Big Bang energy. Now it was simply a matter of whittling down the Academy knights and reclaiming the lost territory.

However, both sides had been especially cautious as of late, due to the destruction of Kornia. Neither side wanted a repeat of that since the annihilation of the previous universe was forever etched upon their souls.

Lord Nuada!
One of his subordinates called via telepathy.

Yes, what is it?

We’re under attack!

       That’s impossible. The God Dampeners should still be online.

They are, but it’s not having any effect on the invaders.

Curses. Could the Academy have found a way to nullify the Dampeners?
Describe the attackers.

They appear to be…uh…robots.

Robots? What are you babbling about?

You’d better come see for yourself
.

Very well. But if the God Dampeners aren’t having any effect, shut them down so we can fight at full strength.

Yes, my lord.

Irritated, yet concerned, Nuada took the elevators down to the lobby, where he was greeted by his subordinate. “Where are these invaders?”

The subordinate pointed outside to the street. He went outside and was dumbfounded by the sight that greeted him. Dozens of his own men were engaged in battle with beings wearing black armor. No, he thought as he looked closer; not just any armor. It was the XYL exo-suits they had been developing in Adlo before the Academy took it out. To his horror, he realized someone had salvaged the technology and was now using it against him.

Well, there was nothing to do but rise to the challenge and destroy these common thieves. He unsheathed his sword and calmly strode into battle.

* * *

The invaders, in fact, were Morovian soldiers on a high-level mission on behalf of Joe Lambda himself. The country’s best scientists had worked night and day on the suits to get them operational as fast as possible. Once that was completed, they found volunteers and injected them with drugs that would allow them to endure the suits’ tremendous drain on the human body.

Now Exodus Squad, as they were called, had been sent into Stiftung to free the city from Zero Grade’s control. Sitting in the war room, Lambda held his breath, his every heartbeat the pounding of a jackhammer. Everything hinged on this mission; if it failed, it was all over for the human race.

From the room’s speakers he heard the sounds of battle: grunts; yells; the cracking of bones. From what he could gather, it was going well so far. Exodus Squad had the element of surprise on their side. However, he had no idea what tricks Zero Grade might be hiding, waiting to unleash like a coiled snake.

“This is B4 to M5. We have secured the package.” Exodus Squad had been split into two groups, A and B. B had been sent to investigate a mysterious device that had been spotted on top of a building in Stiftung using satellite imagery. “M5” was the war room.

“Describe it,” Lambda said.

“It resembles a satellite dish. There’s an antenna, a parabola, the whole works. But there’s some sort of large generator connected to it. Some superhumans were guarding it. Under interrogation, they explained it’s called the God Dampener. It supposedly nullifies the advanced abilities of the superhumans.”

Lambda had a decision to make. Did he dare take the risk? “Do you think you could turn it on?”

“Yes, sir, they told us how to do it. They said it had been turned off so their allies could fight us on equal terms. Apparently it doesn’t work on our exo-suits.

Lambda smiled. He
did
dare. “Activate it.”

“Yes, sir.”

The president made eye contact with his staff seated around the table. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Hinsom asked. “I don’t mean to question you, but if they lied about the device, our soldiers could be put in a dire situation.”

Lyra straightened in her chair. “Under the circumstances, the president had to take a calculated risk. If Zero Grade’s lackeys were telling the truth, it will give us a huge tactical advantage.”

Larson said, “I hope this works. This device could make all the difference if we can reverse-engineer it.”

General Haig was silent. He had been against the plan to utilize the exo-suits, insisting on using conventional methods to fight Zero Grade. Everyone else understood only radical measures would work against their enemy, but Haig remained firmly rooted in the past.

Locking his fingers nervously, Lambda waited with bated breath for the outcome of this battle.

* * *

Using his sword, Nuada cut down another of the mysterious attackers. His adversaries had guts stealing Zero Grade technology and turning it against them, but no armor could stand against Nuada’s blade. He effortlessly slashed his way across the streets of Stiftung like a graceful dancer. His countless millennia of battle experience made this almost too easy.

As he came upon yet another enemy, he raised his sword for the killing blow—

—but the attack bounced harmlessly against the exo-suit. The enemy easily turned the blade aside, and Nuada suddenly felt impossibly weak. He came to the crushing realization he had been stripped of his powers; someone had turned on the God Dampener. For the first time in countless ages, panic roared through him as he faced his own mortality.

The enemy raised his fist and slammed it against Nuada’s chest like a locomotive. The once-mighty god flew backwards into a concrete wall and knew no more.

* * *

“This is A1 to M5. Enemy presence neutralized. Stiftung is free.”

Happy cries erupted throughout the war room. Joe Lambda released his breath, rejoicing in the burden that had been lifted.

“We did it, sir,” Lyra said, beaming from ear to ear. “You know what this means, don’t you?” Hinsom said. “We beat Zero Grade. We can win this!”

Lambda nodded. “You’re right; we beat them at their own game. But we can’t declare victory just yet. Those bastards still control two other cities. Until they’ve been liberated, this isn’t over.”

“Don’t expect them to fall for the same trick twice,” Haig cautioned.

Larson replied, “He’s right. Once they figure out what happened in Stiftung, they’ll make sure we don’t get our hands on any more God Dampeners. They may destroy every last one just to prevent them from being used against them again.”

Lambda knew what this meant. “The next battle will be much more difficult.”

“I think that’s safe to say, yes,” Lyra said.