Wraith: Origins of Supers: Book Three Read online

Plus, bringing me coffee was always a pre-approved form of coddling.

  “We’ve been drafted?” I asked.

  Aura waited until Ella, Lia, and Gabriel joined us to answer Jace’s question.

  Aura explained, “Not yet, but it’s just a matter of time. Did you know the U.S. has been running a secret dimensional missile program, and we’ve just launched on China?”

  The blood drained from my face. She was obviously being facetious about it being a U.S. program, but just as obviously missiles had just launched from our territory.

  “What happened?”

  Aura said, “Missiles launched from the desert in the middle of nowhere, near the border between Arizona and Nevada.”

  Chris said, “Can you catch one, with our scrambler probe? If we can recover one of the missiles intact, then we may be able to prove it was built in China.”

  Jace shook his head, “It’s a good idea, but he’d never give us the time we need to examine it and present our findings.”

  Aura said, “Perhaps not, but it will take his army a few hours to fly the distance, whether from east, west, or north over the pole. If we move quickly, we could get the information out ahead of time, and proof might stiffen some spines. Even if only Mexico joined us, that would lower the odds from four point five to one, to three to one. The best-case scenario would be India getting involved, Dragonfire would have to recall all his forces, if they attacked him to put him down. He’d be poorly guarded, and so completely outnumbered by them if most of his army was halfway around the world.”

  Jace frowned, “You’re assuming they can’t teleport their army here directly, but I suppose it won’t hurt to try.”

  Aura said, “That’s unlikely, given the millions of supers in their force. It would waste a lot of resources and energy, when a three-hour flight will do just fine.”

  “I agree, do it, even if it doesn’t work it’s better than doing nothing.”

  Aura interjected, “I deployed the technology suppression probes. We’ll be able to catch three of them in the field. They’re too spread out to catch more.”

  “What about the launchers?”

  Aura shook her head, “An A.I. local to that area already reported the launchers have self-destructed after launch. It’s a little… busy. They’re all talking and all their people have ideas.”

  I giggled.

  Aura winked at me.

  Aura tilted her head, “The four of you have been officially activated, but are to stand by for orders. I suspect they’re waiting to see where the Chinese army approaches from before assigning your locations. Just to note, we,” she used hand quotes, “launched twice as many missiles as Russia did. Their defenses are already being activated.”

  Lia asked, “How do you know?”

  Aura said, “I’m linked into everything right now, all our A.I.s are working together, including the military ones which are feeding us spy satellite data. Oh, my.”

  “What?”

  Aura replied, “Your mother and grandmother just took out a third of the missiles. From what I can tell, they used their reactive shields to create a feedback loop of constantly building back and forth sonic energy, each of them enhancing and releasing in tandem, which when released destroyed everything in a mile sphere around them. The rest of the missiles have gained an altitude they can’t reach.”

  Yeah, they were both kind of terrifying, and apparently when working together they were even more effective. Yet, it hadn’t been enough.

  She continued, “Your mother thought if we could stop them all, it would short circuit Dragonfire’s plans. Obviously, the missiles were too far apart at that point to get them all. Here we go. I got one, two. I got two with the electronic disruption field. Chris, I’m delivering them both to the bunker in the city’s superhero building. Your mother wants you to help her with the analysis. It seems prudent to use the bunker, even if the field should prevent them from self-destructing. If Dragonfire figures out what we’re up to he might send the self-destruct codes.”

  Chris kissed me with concern in his eyes, before he stood up and teleported out.

  I was somewhat alarmed in that moment. The love of my life was about to be playing with very large bombs, but I had faith in their tech stopping them from exploding. That gave me the idea that we should just teleport them both back to Dragonfire, and set them off, but I pushed that out of my head.

  That would be monstrous and would kill millions of innocents in addition to our target. It wasn’t really an option, just a random thought, mostly because I wanted that asshole to die.

  Jace said, “They’ll be fine.”

  I just nodded in agreement, and I continued to worry anyway.

  “Any visions, uncle?”

  Jace frowned, “No. Not yet.”

  I got a funny feeling he’d just lied to my face, which worried me. Why? A shiver went down my spine, but by the look in his eyes I knew he wouldn’t tell me.

  Aura said, “Dragonfire is already on air. Do you want to hear him?”

  Jace shook his head, “Just summarize.”

  Aura replied, “All the same rhetoric. He’s shocked by America’s betrayal of their word, and that we let our leaders make decisions in fear. He’s advising our citizens to stay indoors and that they’ll be safe, but their government must be taken down. All the same talking points, just slightly different words, as when he started his invasion and annexation of Russia. His sorrow at our actions almost appears believable, I’d have said he was sincere if I didn’t know better.”

  Jace snorted, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, a third time… the world just can’t be that gullible.”

  Ella said, “Maybe, but they won’t act right away, even if they make that decision quickly it will take time for the rest of the world to organize. Dragonfire will want to take us out of the equation, before we can be a part of that joint response, we’ll have to fight him either way. Then he can consolidate and hope he has enough to meet the world’s response. Hell, if the missiles have no telltales, he might even get away with it again.”

  Jace nodded, “I suspect you’re right.”

  Suspect my ass. He saw something, but I let it go. He must’ve had a good reason for not telling, maybe if we knew it would make whatever was going to happen worse. I didn’t like it though, it bothered me.

  Aura said, “All missiles have been destroyed by China’s defenses, and their army is heading our way. It looks like he’ll be hitting the west coast first. It’s a slightly longer flight time, but it means not passing over Canada’s airspace, not to mention the international presence in the Arctic, or violating the airspace of the European countries by flying west toward the east coast of America. He already owns Japan, so there’s nothing in his way and no third-party air space from that direction.

  “They’ll outnumber us four to one, since he’s keeping a fifth of his force back to watch his borders, and the small occupying forces currently in Japan and Russia.”

  I nodded, they’d killed any offensive supers in both those countries, about halving their populations in the act. There was no possibility of resistance there, which of course was his plan. To make as many countries as helpless as possible before the world got a clue and joined together.

  I no longer had any doubts at all, just certainty down to my bones. My pessimistic uncle had been right from the start.

  Aura interjected, “You four are going to Portland, where you’ll meet the rest of your assigned platoon. The four of you will be squad two in that platoon. Manzanita is where you’ll be defending from though, right on the coast. Your mother’s team will be in Lincoln City, and your grandmother’s team in Newport. I’m not sure why they’re splitting up the city’s teams, but they’re doing it that way for all the cities across the country.”

  “That is odd, I’d think we’d be more effective fighting with the superheroes we know and have worked with before.”

  Ella and Gabriel gave each other a look, and then Gabriel spok
e reluctantly.

  “They leave the two person teams together to be more effective, and we’ll assist other superhero teams just as diligently as we would your mother’s or grandmother’s. But… when one of those teams are killed, it won’t break us like it would if you saw your family die. It’s a cold calculation, but it’s a morale consideration, and so we keep focus as the people around us die.”

  I shivered, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Terrified really. This wasn’t taking down a supervillain, this was war. I was already mentally going through my tactics, and changing them to deadly responses, and it made me feel a little sick at heart doing so. A mental picture of the gravity wielder kept entering my head, of his empty glassy eyes looking up at me, but I had no choice but to focus through it and make those adjustements.

  Aura said, “It’s not definitive proof, but Chris and Silvia have identified several circuits including the guidance system that only China uses. The gravity drive also differs greatly from American designs, but it’s amazingly similar to the designs in Chinese spacecraft. They’re compiling a report now, and they’ll send it out to the world shortly. Of course, it will be our word against China’s, and Dragonfire will deny everything and say we’re lying.”

  Jace nodded, “But it might be enough to wake them up.”

  Aura said, “Time to go.”

  The four of us stood up, and the last thing I saw as I teleported away was a sad look of regret on my uncle’s face as he looked at me and Lia.

  Talk about a mind screw.

  Chapter Sixteen

  There were superheroes all over the place, and the background noise was loud, but before I could even get my bearings a loud and deep male voice yelled over the explosive din.

  “Clear the platforms for the next group!”

  My body obeyed that voice filled with authority instinctively, as the four of us walked off the flat metallic platform onto dirt and grass. It was a vast field just outside Portland. There were a lot of supers in uniform, but a whole lot more in custom super suits of every cut and color. That would’ve been an issue, except I knew the Chinese army all wore similar black and red uniforms that were very distinctive to their military. We wouldn’t have a problem identifying enemies from allies when the time came.

  There were thousands of us gathering, and this meeting point outside Portland was just for a very small part of our military. Those of us that would be defending maybe a third of Oregon’s coastline.

  A super in military uniform waved us over. He looked a bit harried, but also confident in his authority.

  He said, “Platoon twenty-four, squad two,” he pointed in a direction, “That way, you’ll see a sign for your platoon. Your lieutenant should already be there and will get you squared away. We’ll be briefed by the general in twenty minutes, then fly to your post on the coast. Get moving.”

  We headed in that direction, only to hear him start giving the same speech to the superhero group that’d teleported in behind us, save with different platoon and squad numbers. It looked like barely controlled chaos, but we almost looked like a precise military as groups found their platoons and lined up. It looked like we were fighting with five other squads, from five other cities.

  I was rather conflicted, as I tried to get to know all their faces, wondering if I’d regret that later when a whole lot of them were dead. If not all of them, including myself. Four to one was no joke, and while powerhouses like my mother and grandmother would even those odds more than a bit where they fought, we had to assume the enemy had stand out supers as well.

  It was moot anyway. They wouldn’t be fighting anywhere near us. Still, I could imagine that any of the enemies that were vulnerable to sonic attacks, would just die immediately when they got in range of Death’s Mistress which was over half a mile now.

  Point being, I thought we had a chance, even if it was a slim one. Twenty-four against a hundred or so, for our part of things. Of course, the enemy would be thicker and thinner in places, but if the military did their jobs right and assigned platoons evenly it’d be close to that. Even if we lost, it wouldn’t be the slaughter Russia had faced at ten to one odds, and if nothing else I was determined to gut them enough that Dragonfire’s ambitions would turn to dust.

  Deep breaths, Amber. I told myself it was too early for thoughts of self-sacrifice to help the follow up supers from other countries win the day. But I wasn’t sure I believed it.

  The lieutenant asked, “Can any of you not fly?”

  Six people among twenty-four of us raised their hands, really fast.

  He grunted, “Speedsters, alright. We’ll be meeting the enemy right at the shore, are any of you completely ineffective against flyers? There won’t be any ground pounders among the enemy. He kept those in Japan and Russia. As far as we’ve been able to tell, no one is being carried, and they’re all flying.”

  Two of them kept their hands up.

  He nodded, “Alright, you two will deal with anyone that falls out of the sky. If it’s one of ours, and they’re out, call for a teleport to one of our healing stations. They’ll be healed and teleported back to the fight in less than half a minute. If it’s an enemy, and they’re still alive, put them out of their misery. Understood?”

  Both of them nodded, but they looked uncomfortable by the idea of killing a relatively helpless enemy soldier. But we were supers, and that meant a few minutes later that helpless enemy would be healed and trying to kill us again, it was what had to be done. Even an unconscious enemy would be a deadly threat given a shockingly short period of time. It wasn’t like the old-style wars, when a wounded soldier was helpless and could be taken prisoner, treated, and put in a stockade and expect to be kept there.

  One replied, “Understood, unless they surrender.”

  The lieutenant grunted, “That won’t be a problem. They don’t do that.”

  Aura spoke in my ear, and presumably in the others as well.

  “Word of the missile analysis has reached the U.N., which is now in an uproar. I suspect that will be the straw we hoped for, but it may take many hours for agreement on what actions should be taken. The enemy should be on our shores in just about two hours.”

  Right, good news, but news that didn’t come soon enough to spare us the battle. Or at least, spare us fighting the battle alone.

  Someone called the regiment to attention, and I just stood straight. It wasn’t like I had any military training.

  An older man with gray hair and a general’s uniform got up on the dais set out in front of all the platoons. I had to assume he was a first gen who’d never quickened, and perhaps even was an old human and had been poisoned by that nut-bag Dr. Grayson twenty years ago. Regardless, he actually looked old, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t the perfect man for the job. Generals didn’t fight on the front lines after all, and intelligence and cunning are what mattered in a military leader.

  I could only hope our general had those two qualities in abundance.

  The general cleared his throat.

  “I’d like to thank you all for your service, not one of you tried to avoid the coming conflict, and I’m proud to meet each and every one of you. The enemy will be here in just under two hours, after my briefing you’ll be guided to your posts to meet the enemy.

  “We have destroyed our old weapons of mass destruction, and I can assure you the missiles launched were not our own. We have kept our word and not developed weapons of war using dimensional technology. However, we do have a great number of older conventional weapons we only mothballed when the old military was relieved by the volunteers among you. Those weapons will be used today.

  “When the enemy reaches two hundred miles offshore, we will be firing off patriot missiles with conventional payloads, which we believe will be partially effective. We’ll also be launching what tomahawks we have left from our old submarines when they get around fifty miles out. At twenty-five miles out, we’ll be dropping fuel air bombs in their midst from a hundred thousand f
eet where they can’t reach to take out our bombers.

  “if you’re wondering, we’ve been preparing for this for a long time. We knew the kind of man Dragonfire was, long before he managed to unite China and annex both Japan and Russia. We also knew we’d be greatly outnumbered super to super, so we… took legal precautions. Hopefully those precautions will be effective.

  “Many supers won’t be affected by those old weapons, but we hope and believe enough will to lessen the four to one odds to at least two to one if not better, and give all of you brave soldiers a fighting chance not only to win the battle, but to live to see America raise its flag for another day.

  “Watch out for each other. You all have the prayers of the nation behind you, and god speed.”

  He turned and walked off the dais. The cheers were deafening from the regular super troops, and it kind of swept the rest of us up in the excitement. Despite the severity of things, and my fears, my body and instincts still fed me that same pre-fight excitement and thrill at what was coming. It wasn’t a normal super fight coming, superhero versus supervillain, but it was still a fight.

  We were all fed flight paths to our posts on shore at that point.

  The lieutenant barked, “Dismissed, time to move out,” before he took to the air.

  The rest of us followed, and our six speedsters outranged us quickly on the roads.

  Manzanita, Oregon was a postage stamp sized town, with a population of just over six hundred. There was a lot of wilderness about it right on the ocean’s shore. It was also empty, since the population had been evacuated via probes with teleport beacons.

  There was no way it was a target for China’s invasion, no doubt they’d go straight to the bigger cities, but they had no choice but to remove us as an obstacle first. It also removed any chances for collateral losses in lives, if not entirely in property. There was one other platoon very close to ours bringing our numbers up to fifty or so, but other platoons were visible a few miles in the distance up and down the coast.

  It’d taken just about a half hour to fly the sixty miles from Portland. The lieutenant had flown at about a hundred and twenty miles an hour. Probably so they didn’t leave slow pokes like me behind. My top flying speed was over twice that, but nowhere near Mach speed.