Chapter 9 - "The Name Game." “Oh you have got to be kidding me.” I muttered as I stared at the monitor.
“I am Caaaarnagggge.” came out of the speaker. What I was seeing was a 8' tall ugly red monster. MetaHuman, shape shifter, hostile. Ugly really falls short as a description.
Problem? The visual was from Nemesis who is Apollo's weapons master. She was very good but she was hurt and outclassed.
Oh and this was Carnage #3. More on that later.
“Nearest speedy gonzales?” I asked.
Central was fully active and buzzing like a friendly nest of bees.
“Quicksilver.”
“How long and what is he doing?”
“6 minutes, MetaSearch.”
He could get there in approximately 6 minutes and he was looking for Metas that we have not contacted.
“Vector him now.”
He was on his way but 6 minutes is an eternity in combat.
“Nemesis. Can you get out of there?” I asked her over the voice channel.
“Hell no boss. I can stand up. Hooray for me.”
“Weapons?”
“Pistol. Used everything else with that other freak.”
“Aim for the eyes and try to evade. Help is 6 minutes away.”
“Roger.” BOOM.
Her first shot was on target, as usual, but did not seem to bother the beast all that much. Crap.
“Team Status and locations. And coffee please.”
I reviewed what had lead us to this sitation as I drank the hot liquid.
Apollo's team had run into a bad situation. They were being hunted by another group of Metas. They had arrived in the city to track down a Meta that had been rampaging for the past 2 days. The local police had been helpful but the trail lead to a trap.
Apollo had Athena, armored Mantis, weapons master Nemesis, superstrong Cronus, telepath Selene and flying Lightray with him. Geo was off helping in the earthquake recovery efforts in Asia.
Their initial investigations lead them to a certain building east of the main part of the city. As soon as arrived life went straight to hell.
Explosives had been attached to dozens of vehicles and other spots on the street. Apollo and his team were split up by carefully triggered explosions. The team Leader, Mantis and Cronus ended up on their own. Athena and Nemesis somehow ended up in an alley together.
I watched the remote feeds as Apollo engaged the only non-Carnage hostile. Some big bruiser of a Meta, never did learn his name. The two spotted each other with a full city block separating them. The hostile was on a corner near the steps to the sports studio.
"Yo. I heard some ass was throwing cars around. Betting that was you." Apollo calls out as he begins walking slowly down the middle of the street.
The hulking Meta steps off the curb.
"Yeah it was. Love to hear them scream." is his reply.
"Got anything to throw right now?" Apollo asks somewhat lightly.
The hostile looks left and right. At the corner and in front of the Stadium there are no cars handy. Apollo smiles as he raises his arms.
"Too bad." the warrior of Olympus says as he fires.
zzzzzzzzzt Wooomp
A blast of intense light and heat slam into the hostiles chest. The heat is a massive system shock and the target reels.
zzzzzzzzzzt Woomp
The second blast follows closely on the first.
"You can surrender anytime moron." Apollo instructs.
Then he fired again.
"Switch to Athena & Nemesis." I ordered back in Central.
At first all I could see was rapid movement. This Carnage had the ability to project webs-like ropes and was making the most of it. He had kept away from Athena's explosive fists while slowly disarming Nemesis. She had to use all her acrobatic skill to keep from getting stabbed by her red foe.
"Athena move move move." shouted Nemesis.
"I am moving dammit." cursed Athena in reply.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Nemesis manages to get off 4 shots from her heavy pistol. They rip the attacker's head to pieces. Amazingly he does not fall but he does waver for a moment.
"NOW Athena." screams Nemesis.
Blackness. All the feeds from the Team go down.
Somebody shot down my spy drone and jammed our communications. We were blind and out of touch for almost 4 minutes.
Apollo had a small base HQ established on the edge of the city, they got a new drone into the air fast. Lightray was now flying escort for the newly launched drone. He knew he would get extra brownie points if he bagged whoever hit the first one. I hate it when it when they pop my drones.
When we finally got communications going, by pushing all of our transmitters to maximum, it was just in time to see Carnage #3 make his entrance. Somehow Nemesis had ended up underground with one more of those things.
“Apollo, Cronus, Mantis and Selene are all 100 active and searching for a way to get to Nemesis. Athena got stabbed a couple of times but after some tape she is up and moving. There are no holes or other obvious entrances they can see. Lightray reports nothing but birds in sight. Sir, Nemesis is shaky, vitals are all over the place, mostly bad.”
A very familiar voice that.
“Janice?” I asked.
“Yes?”
“Get bored with all the paperwork?”
“No. My best friend is fighting for her life and Sandy is out sick. I took the slot. Rank hath it's privileges. Unless you object. Please don't.” the last in a much softer voice.
“You are going to be here anyway might as well be useful. Find the next nearest available speedster. If they are within 10 get them moving now.”
“Yes sir.”
“You can talk to her Janice... but don't distract her.”
“I know. I won't.”
On the main screen I was getting a lot of blurry moving images. Flashes of that ugly red sucker mixed with bursts of light when Nemesis fired. She also screamed a few times.
“ETA on Quicksilver?”
“3 minutes, 30 seconds.”
Carnage #3 was clumsy, I was wrong, she was not outclassed. Nemesis could have killed him easily with a sword. Hurt as she was though she barely held the bastard off.
“Central.” came across the speakers from Apollo.
“Central online.” responded a Tech.
“We cannot find any possible way she could have been hauled down into a sewer let alone as deep as she seems to be. Something else is going on, she was moved, somehow. Any reports of Zippy in this area?”
“Negative, he is still in Asia.” from another Tech. I do know their names, I am just not going to use them.
“Well somebody grabbed her and took her down into that hole. Unless you people have a better idea I am going to start blasting a freaking tunnel.”
He was angry, frustrated and I could not let him do that.
“Apollo, this is Pulsar. Quicksilver will find a way to her. Hold on the massive property destruction until after speedy gets a shot, ok buddy?”
“Roger Central. I just want to do something.”
“How the hell do you think I feel, hold for now. Central out.”
“ETA.”
“2 minutes, 10 seconds.”
“There is a teleporter near Nemesis and Apollo!” shouted Pathfinder as she burst into the room. “The big boy. The one that can jump anywhere.”
Mystery solved.
“Hello Pathfinder. Your timing is excellent.” I said as she fell into the chair next to me.
Big grin from her followed by her attempts to breath again after the run.
“Janice, do you know where Nemesis is yet?” was my next question.
“Part of an old subway system, never completed.”
“Please tell me there is a surface entrance.”
“Yes, but it is sealed, buried maybe, not exactly sure. Can I send the drone that way?”
“Yes.”
“Central to Apollo.” I called out.
“Apollo, go Central.”
“We found your way to Nemesis about 8 miles north. And we have confirmation of a teleporter active in your area. Pretty sure that answers your mystery.”
“Great. All our vehicles are toast, burned toast. Any suggestions?”
“Steal a car.”
“Say what?”
“I think the phase is 'say again'. I said steal a car.”
“Been drinking boss?”
“Two minutes ago you wanted to rip up a public street and now you balk at stealing a car? Blow out a goddamn window, have Selene hot wire it and get the f--- over there. Any more smart-ass questions?”
“No Sir, we are moving. Out.”
A Teleporter. Damn. They are elusive and all our plans for catching one involve me and a whole bunch of other people working together. I had none of those things at the scene since I was sitting, well pacing, back at Olympus.
“Quicksilver is onsite.”
Finally!
“Central to Quicksilver.”
“I am here bossman”
“Nemesis is being hunted in an abandoned subway system tunnel. She is hurt. You are standing at the old entrance. Find a way to get to her. Dig, smash, do whatever you have to, but find her. Out.”
Lightray and the drone arrived just in time to see Quicksilver vanish into the structure.
“Status on Nemesis.”
“She has managed to put some distance between herself and that thing, but she is running out of space fast. Vitals are still weak, but stable.”
Waiting, it is just the worst. If it drags on long enough you begin to second-guess yourself. Did I miss something? Did I make the right calls? I usually try to avoid these thoughts by attempting to watch every monitor simultaneously.
Apollo and his team arrived on the scene at the same moment that Quicksilver found Nemesis.
She was down, but still moving. Quicksilver did one of the magic speedster things and administered first aid. In an eye blink all her wounds were bandaged. An air gun hypo blasted painkillers into her neck.
Carnage #3 charged down the tunnel towards the two of them. I could not see Nemesis's face but I bet she was smiling. I sure the hell was.
The monster was going forward one moment and sideways the next. Pieces of him seemed to fly off on their own as he was slammed left and then right.
Quicksilver pounded his opponent into unconsciousness in 12 seconds. The doomed Meta returned to human form in mid-air. The impact against the concrete wall was harsh. Fatal actually.
The Techs exploded in cheers, shouts and lots of unnecessary hugging.
I let that go for all of 30 seconds and then barked “Stations! We are not done yet.” And yes being an ass is part of my job description.
Up top Apollo was sitting on the hood of his stolen car and just waiting. I was just about to contact him when something happened.
A shape formed 30 feet in front of him. Male, normal sized, dressed in flowing panels of cloth.
“New Player!” called Janice.
He spoke. The words were artificially amplified somehow, “Have you enjoyed my game?”
“Game? Is that was this has been?” snapped Apollo with obvious hostility.
“Oooo so unfriendly. Is that any way to address a fellow deity?”
“We are not deities and you sure as hell ain't. What was the point of this game?”
“Well you would know about you I guess. I know about me. I am Loki and I am a god. The Game? The Name! Why the name of course... whichever one of the three managed to make the first kill got to be the one and only Carnage. The other fellow was just to even the odds a bit. Sad performance really."
"People are dead you freak!" shouts Lightray.
"Humans. Barely people. When I was down to one shape shifting pawn I thought I would give him an easy kill. I like that girl she has spunk. Surprised me. If you did not enjoy my game I will leave. BUT... before I go I have to ask you one thing. Is your sister dating anybody?” Loki asks with an impish smile while looking at Apollo.
The Olympus Meta responded with a massive light blast. I saw the people on either side of him jump back as it went off.
The beam passed right through Loki and dug a hole in the ground behind him.
He laughed as he faded out of sight.
“Pathfinder where did he go?” I asked.
“One sec boss.” she replied with her eyes screwed shut in concentration. “He is gone... really gone this time.”
“Central to Apollo. Looks like our new friend has left for now. Pull your people back to your base and then head home. How is Nemesis?”
“Roger that Central, she will be ok.”
Two months after Day One (the eventual official name for the founding of Olympus). We had made friendly contact with 46 friendly, or at least neutral, MetaHumans. We had killed 19 less than friendly ones. Nine while they were in the process of murder or other major crimes, the rest when we tried to talk to them. And much to my surprise, four MetaHumans were working, voluntarily, for the U.S. government.
And now some loony who thinks he is Loki.
If you really must use comic book labels he was the first true Mastermind. He was not going to die easily or anytime soon. I hated him already.
Apollo, Athena, Selene & Nemesis
Cronus, Mantis & Lightray
Loki
MetaWar Chapter Ten MetaWar Chapter Eight