Saturday Super Stories - Religion 108 Part 1

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I am the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

The phone rang over and over again pulling Sapphire from her nightmares.  She rolled and slapped it out of the cradle and let it strike the phone, clattering off her bedroom floor tiles.  She stabbed at the speaker button and asked, “Hello?”

“Where the hell have you been?”  Walters voice came through the speaker.

“I’m working on something.”  She muttered in return.

“Are you still working that Scion thing?”  He retorted. 

She nodded before speaking, “Yes, I am still working on that Scion thing.  I’m going to cure him and try and regain a little of my past if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s not.  I need you back on the job.  There’s something big brewing in the city and I need as many eyes on the ground to try and get ahead of this thing.”  Walters growled back at her.

“I’ll be there as soon I get done with this, I have to go to Sham’bala next and I don’t have a choice.”  She pulled herself free of the sheets and sat on the edge of the bed looking the living area and Wynn’s unconscious body on the couch.  “My next lead showed up on my doorstep last night and it’s in Sham’bala on the full moon in two days time.”

The phone was silent for a moment.  “I expect you back here by week’s end or your fired.”

“Deal.”  The phone went silent, and she sighed.

Religion 108 - Part 1 “The Book of Genesis”

‘I am the Nameless and I bring you a tale of evolution and destruction.  Our story begins on a world long forgotten in the current era, where a young man has been deposited by his fearsome masters for gaining sentience and losing the subservience that had been bred into the minions that they grew as their cannon fodder.  He is the Coming Darkness.’

They had left him abandoned and alone on a desolate world, one used in ages past for training and warfare.  Everything around him had been designed to kill or test an individual and he found it irritating.  This was in its own way curious in the manner that he had never before had thoughts such as these. So he wandered the world, his ‘new’ home, in the hopes of finding some way off of it so that he might take his revenge on his former masters.

Much time passes…

The locals have taken to calling him the coming darkness.  As he wanders the world destroying whatever comes his way the planet evolves to meet his challenge.  He grows in might and strength, gaining everyday as the world tests him.

But soon the world is not enough for Project Genesis and he escapes into the atmosphere as he is now capable of flight, but in space he finds his next obstacle, one that keeps him busy for quite a while. 

In space no one can hear you scream, until you evolve to a point in your genetic potentiality that the vacuum of space cannot hold you back, and he is released into the universe un-tethered by the war world.

More time passes…

The Coming Darkness moves through the universe and destroys system after system; no survivors are left in his wake.  Eventually the rest of intelligent species still living band together and put together an army to combat the Darkness and imprison the galactic threat once and for all.  The battle lasted one full day and ended with the structure of one galaxy in flux and a violent gash in space time, but the threat was gone once and for all.

Just Before the End…

He seethes in the void that had seized him and held him captive.  He loses track of time as the monotony of this life drags on and on into infinity.  Then one day the atmosphere changes and he feels an opening to another place and he heads there. 

“Once again into the breach,” he speaks to himself and passes through the Cascade.  He finds the parasitic race of Harvesters soon after and they in turn wait with him until the moment is once again right, there power source waning with just enough energy to jump to their next meal.

They do not wait long before the Cascade produces their salvation.

They call it Earth.

TBC in Religion 108 Part 2

Stand Alone 9

Sapphire sighed. She had been doing that way too much these days. “That didn’t tell me anything. I have no context for that meeting.” 

Zoe spoke up at her side. “Perhaps you asked the wrong question?” 

Sapphire shot her a dirty look. “I am being given free reign over The Knowledge, and when I was with the Archivist I was given specific ‘visions’, and those led me to other specific trains of thought. So now I see a catalyst moment in time without context, and I’m supposed to try and gain some kind of epiphany from it?” She frowned at Zoe and then threw herself to the ground and sat crossed legged. 

“I have no idea what to ask next." She thought for a while, and at last something emerged from the edge of her memory. "…Everyone has a boss...”

Stand Alone 9 - Authoritative Action

“Everyone has a boss.” He spoke to his minions beneath him.

“Even you, sire?” One of them asked.

Nearby, Darion leaned forward to regard the minion with wonder. They hadn’t been designed to question, and this was an enormous oddity. 

He smiled at it. “Everyone, even one such as I, has someone that they must answer to. But I am very near the top of our chain of command, and that is something that I have worked very hard to achieve.”

His lieutenants, Darion and Kristoff, walked over to his side. “I am their boss, and you answer to them. Someday you might gain enough status to have your own henchmen to command and so on and so forth.”

The minion smiled, “I hope so, sire! I truly hope so.” He beamed at the masters and their lord. 

Kristoff leaned forward and held out a palm, and the orbs within incinerated the small being. “The cattle shouldn’t speak or think for themselves.” Darion snickered as he flickered in and out of phase-space. 

“I am sorry, my lord, if I acted out of place.” Kristoff bowed.

“Do not be hasty, Kristoff. You eliminated a potential threat to your command... but I do feel that it might prove interesting to watch over.” He snapped his fingers and the total obliteration of the minion was reversed, and the being began screaming as soon as it was whole again. Kristoff shot his lord a look, who merely shrugged. 

He stepped forward and laid a hand on its head and it quieted down. “Little one, you have proven to be a curiosity, and so I have decided to give you a chance at life... a chance to survive against all odds.” The being smiled at its lord.

“Thank you, sire. I will try my best.”

The lord smiled at it and snapped his fingers again and the being vanished. Kristoff cocked an eyebrow. “You will keep an eye on it for me, Kristoff. Do not interfere with it at all, or you will be punished severely.” Kristoff frowned. “Keep me informed on Project Genesis.”

TBC in Religion 108

Team-Building 104 - Epilogue

Team-Building: Epilogue

Deep in the reaches of space...

He laughed at them, the sound carrying into the void. Heroes. Everywhen he went there were heroes and they were all the same; idealistic morons with a blown-up sense of self-importance, each one a carbon copy of another, greater hero.

But he was free now... free of that hellish void. He would be this world's ”Genesis…”

* * *

Central Park

The assembled heroes stood around as the various members of the Column and other federal organizations moved about them, collecting the Harvesters that managed to live through the attack. The ground still shifted underneath the ship and SuperDude watched it with a cautious eye. He had noticed the Dark Avenger vanish inside it earlier. Then he noticed Jack Rabbit blurring in and out over the span of several minutes.

“I have an idea about how we can make this work to our benefit,” he had said. So SuperDude had let him go, but continued to watch the Earth.

Suddenly an arm broke free of the ground and began to pull itself up, bringing with it a stony form. Its rocky head swiveled around and took in the scene as it continued to pull itself free. A look of confusion passed over its face and it looked up at him and spoke quietly. “I am awake again?”

“Again?” SuperDude responded.

“I was once there.” It waved at the sky. “Then I fell here, and slept for eons. Now I wake and find the world has changed. But Dawnbringer still looks down on me.”

SuperDude cocked an eyebrow. “How do you know that name?”

It laughed, a grinding noise coming from the rock comprised of its body. “We are brothers. I was once like you... filled with power. And now I am weakened, but powerful all the same. This time I feel imbued with strength from another... a cousin perhaps, not of this universe. I am to be the first of an army.”

“An army?” SuperDude asked.

“The Star Force Centurians, the protectors of the universe. And after I have completed delivery of the power to those who deserve it, I will return to Earth, as it has been designated my purvue.”

SuperDude smiled. “I welcome an ally that may aid us in our future endeavors.”

The rock man lifted off into the air and soared into the sky.

“Yeah that was all well and good, but what the hell just happened?” Nicolette asked from the ground. SuperDude glanced around at the crowd watching him. He shrugged. “Why did a rock fly away from the scene?”

“Had better places to be, I suppose.” He smiled and looked back at the rock as it hit the stratosphere. “Good journey, friend.”

* * *

Later

“I call it the Hub.” The Dark Avenger spoke to the assembled WMD and IED. “I have placed it in the center of Megalopolis because of its location and centralization to most of our home cities, towns or islands. I am in the process of reverse-engineering the technology and crafting a platform for your homes so that we might be able to move around the world to do the most good.”

“So we stole the alien tech so we can teleport?” Jack Rabbit asked.

The Dark Avenger nodded. “It’s powerful, and does not need that much energy to use. The hydro-electric dams along the joined rivers running through the city are more than enough to power it. I will be able to set up solar power for the platforms, and therefore reduce any impact on the environment.”

“So, Here we are. Sixteen strong. Who’s ready to change the world?”

TBC in ????

Team-Building 104 - Part 4L

Team-Building 104: Part 4L - "The Voyage Home: The Harvest"

7 Days Ago – The armor touched down safely on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Megalopolis and immediately started to klaxon loudly. It didn’t take long for the resident superheroes to arrive on the scene to investigate.

“What are you doing here?” SuperDude asked it.

“Looking for you, actually,” It responded. “I have been sent by the government of the United States in an attempt to recruit you to be a part of a team of like-minded individuals.”

“That work at the beck and call of the bureaucrats?”

“Not entirely. I work with a business man that will be able to provide funding should we need it. But the government is starting to grow scared of the amount of heroes/vigilantes that are popping up these days and does, in a way, want to police them. That’s why they are forming the WMD, the Weapons of Mass Destruction. If I am able to gather enough people, there are plans for a small satellite group called the IED.”

“It seems like a solid idea. Let me think about it Mr…?”

“Warmonger. I am called Warmonger.”

6 Days Ago – “What in blazes?” His fingers stabbed at the keyboard and pulled up the satellite imagery. A small craft was entering the Earth’s atmosphere and heading towards North America. He started to get readings and suddenly it vanished. He growled under his breath and set another program to estimate where it was headed based of the telemetry.

Several hours passed and he had a guess. New York City. Suddenly another computer pinged as strange readings appeared in Megalopolis. The Dark Avenger stood and pulled on his cowl.  It was time to meet the man called SuperDude by the press.

5 Days Ago – The Dark Avenger watched the one called SuperDude from the shadows on top of a building nearby. The readings had led him to an alien being attacking the hero of Megalopolis. He watched as they talked; a guttural growling noise that ended in a question. He dropped down and spoke up. "Not everyone likes you."

* * *
Thomas walked through the streets of downtown Detroit searching for the local hero he had heard rumors of, a young black youth who called himself Jive. Apparently he was a sound-manipulator of some kind.

He rounded the corner as two thugs peeled away from the shadows of an alley to follow him. They were quickly joined by another two and then a fifth. He smiled and continued to walk until they totaled seven strong. He stopped in the middle of the street and turned to acknowledge them.

“Evening, gents. I don’t suppose you’re the welcoming committee?” They snickered and two pulled out knives.

“That’s funny. Rich guy like you gots to have a wad of cash on you as thick as my…” A roar ripped through the street and he was blasted right out of his shoes and into the wall next to a parked car.

“JIVE!”

“Damn right!”

4 Days Ago – SuperDude frowned at the position of leadership, but everyone seemed to listen  to him. Amazona had taken off to find her ‘god’ and they were headed to a Veterans Hospital outside of New York City on the insistence of ‘Jack Rabbit’. He secretly wished that this Dark Avenger fellow would step forward and flat out say he wanted to lead but he could feel him nudging him in the right direction. Within a day and a half they already had five people, and possibly by days end two more. How many powered people were out there in the world?

3 Days Ago – Finding the Mystic City of Sham’bala had been difficult and the recruitment of one of its most powerful sorceresses had been surprisingly easy. She had been bored and eager to escape the confines of her ‘prison’ to go out and visit the real world beyond the mountains and fogs that hid the city from the world. She had mentioned another student of the magickal arts who may be useful; a master who could use literary works to summon assistance.

* * *

She was called the Wolf and she was tracking poachers through the wilds of Africa. They had been killing elephants and harvesting their ivory for weeks.  She had begun to track them down and eliminate them one by one.

Night had slowly crept in and she was nearing the final camp deep in wilds. She had lost the scent hours ago but she knew deep in her soul that she was close. Suddenly the night was lit up by a flare and she turned in the direction of it, moving slowly.

Sounds of fighting came in with the wind. She moved faster and witnessed a heavily armored warrior fighting against the remaining poachers. Their guns fired uselessly against the metal hide and she thought she could hear it laughing at their attempt.

She paused and pulled the hood around her and shifted into her wolfen form, growing in size and strength. Calling on the gifts of her ancestors filled her with awe and calm, knowing that she was carrying on the heritage of her people.

Leaping into the fray against the poachers caused immediate panic among them, and gave the armored warrior pause for a moment.

“Wolf?” It asked in a male metallic voice. She growled in response and began her attack. “Oh, she’s gonna be a complicated one…”

2 Days Ago – They watched from the shadows as William Tell ran around his city using whatever technique he could to go from place to place quickly. His accuracy was deadly when needed but also passive. In a matter of several hours he had caught several looters, robbers and he was tracking a rapist.

“He is going to kill that man.” SuperDude spoke up from the long quiet.
The Dark Avengers eye’s narrowed. “You’re right. We have to step in.”

1 Day Ago – “I know of a ship that can get us to the depths where we think this city is.” Jack said when they were flying towards England.

“Really?” The Dark Avenger said over his shoulder.

“I wasn’t always a hero. For a while I was a pretty damn good explorer of the unknown. That’s how I stumbled on to Amazona and her people. We have a ship that I modeled after the Nautilus from that book.” Jack seemed proud as he reflected.

“That’s better than the submarine I would have stolen, I suppose.” The Dark Avenger smirked.

* * *

Warmonger had recruited his last two heroes in Brazil and Antartica; a plasma-wielder protecting his village from slavers and the Columbian Mob attempting to find a beachhead to move their businesses forward. The other was a creature made of energy, hiding in the icy wastes to avoid killing anyone because of its nature.

Thomas had convinced them easily to come to America and attempt a new life there. So he had picked up the others from one of his bases and started to track the attacks on the other heroes, some of which had hit the news. ALIENS ATTACK EARTH, the headlines blared.

Now…

::MANY OF OUR BROTHERS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY THIS WORLD!!::
::THOUGH WHEN WE CAME HERE WE WERE ONLY THIRTY FIVE HIGH-BLOOD STRONG, WE NOW HAVE A HUNDRED LOW-BLOODS!::
::WE SIT UPON THE PRECIPICE OF AN ANCIENT STAR FORCE THAT POWERS THE HIVE MACHINE AND BOLSTERS OUR NUMBERS!!::
::THE PRIME ARRIVES SOON, AND WITH HIM WE CAN TAKE THIS WORLD... AND THEN THE UNIVERSE!!::

The Harvesters roared in agreement.

********

SuperDude spoke to the Harvesters as they exited their ship. “We do not wish to fight you. Get back in your ship and leave the Earth and we will allow you to do so as long as you promise to never return to this place.”

“Do you really think that will work, buffoon?” Amazona called up to him. SuperDude shrugged.

::YOU WILL FEED US FOR CENTURIES ALONE, FLYING ONE!! WE WILL TAKE THE PRIME AND ALL OF THE OTHER SUB-FORCES AROUND US. THEN WE WILL DIG AND TAKE FROM THE SOIL!!::

Conjuressa gasps quietly.

SuperDude looks down at her. “You understood that?”

She nodded.

“We all understood that.” The Dark Avenger said. “She magicked us, I think.”

She nodded again. “Understand, but not speak it. Our throats won’t make those sounds. I have no idea how SuperDude is able to,” she frowned.

::SILENCE!! YOU ALL STAND IN THE WAY OF THE HARVEST, AND WILL DIE OR BE CONSUMED!!::

The Harvesters all leapt forward and began the attack on the WMD and the IED.

* * *

A pair of Harvesters circled below SuperDude as he hovered above them. They glowered up at him and punched a few buttons on their harnesses and twisted a dial. He felt energy drain from him. He glared back at them and plasma lanced from eyes and slammed into them, superheating the metal and burning their skin.

“They still seem to want to eat me.”

“No shit?” Conjuressa said. Fire blasted from her hands and froze three smaller Harvesters in place. “HAH HAH FUCKERS!! Didn’t see that coming did ya, bitches?!”

* * *

The Dark Avenger took two quick steps forward and drew a large knife from the small of his back. Spinning around as he drove the blade into the elbow joint of one of the Harvesters he sliced clean through the bone and muscle dropping the limb to the ground. It roared in defiance. “I think I noticed something.” He spoke into his headpiece. “Each one this guys has an insignia on their harness at the left shoulder. Like a rising sun only the rays are between two and seven in number. The five, six, and sevens all drop pretty easy.  Whoever is number one is the leader.”

“I have eyes on number one, he’s coming out of the ship and he looks... human.” SuperDude spoke and he flew overhead providing support where it was needed.

* * *

Warmonger spoke up finally, “I’m inside the ship.”

SuperDude glanced to the armor fighting three of Harvesters by itself. “I can see you fighting --” he started, before being interrupted.

“Yeah, I multitask really well. Anyways, they have some crazy readings in here, and if I’m reading this correctly their main objective is SuperDude and secondary targets are Conjuressa, Amazona, King Hrolf, King Carp and Jack Rabbit. Plus they are mining some kind of power source from Central Park and I think they have one chained in their ship.”

“We need to crack the ship open then, and release it, and that will stop the harvest of the Central Park source.” SuperDude said.

“Can you upload the ships specs to me?” The Dark Avenger asked.

“It’s uploading now.”

“Enough talking,” Amazona ripped the insides from one of the aliens and swung them into the oncoming horde of weaker ones attempting to overwhelm her. Hrolf dropped down and sliced through three of them in a single swing.

“I agree.” He said before spinning around and bringing another two down.

“Keep them busy and I’ll figure out the weak spot on the ship and have SuperDude crack it open like an egg.”

“We also need to figure out what the leader is planning. He’s just standing there, and I think he has some kind of shield protecting him.,” Jack Rabbit responded.

“Why do you say that?”

“I keep getting bounced or shuffled away from him when I get close. A few feet for sure are no man’s land.”

“Damn.” The Dark Avenger started reviewing the schematics and knelt down as his brain worked through the information.

* * *

Jive spoke up, “I got this one.” He opened up his mouth as wide as it would go and began to scream. It was a slow build, and low, until it started to build towards its crescendo which erupted in a cone outward from him. Waves of soil were pushed away as the sound headed for the ship. The ship rang like a bell when the sound wave first struck it, and then it began to vibrate.

The heroes defended Jive from the waves of Harvesters looking to protect their home, ship, and food supply from the attack. Finally the ship cracked along the seam that the Dark Avenger had spotted and the roof slid open. The ground started to rumble along with the ship as light spilled forth from the opening.

One massive shudder ran the entire length of Central Park, knocking everyone to the ground. The ship hopped into the air, the landing struts ripping free of the soil beneath them. Trees toppled and a wave of water crashed against the far bank of the lake.

The Harvesters seemed to panic with these developments, some fumbling with their harnesses which seemed powerless now. The weaker of the Harvesters collapsed as if drained or they just had their strings cut by an invisible puppet master. The remaining High Blood dropped their weapons and placed themselves on the ground in a passive position, surrendering.

“Well I would have loved to say that was easy…” Rabbit popped in.

“It’s not done yet.” The Dark Avenger said. “The leader is still standing.”

“He didn’t fall when all of you did, either.” SuperDude said.  He turned in the air to face the leader. “We’ve beaten you. Surrender now and perhaps we can confine you to a lower security prison and not the SPIRaL.”

The leader began to laugh. “That’s funny. I cannot be contained. I am the last survivor of a dead universe. I have lived countless eons alone. That is until I found the Harvesters, parasites eating at the edge of existence. They need the Star Force to live and I needed pawns to break free of my tether in the dead universe I was lost in. So we struck an accord. I fed them one of the greatest Star Forces ever created and brought them here as soon as I could sense another like myself out in the void. A few weeks ago I sensed one.” He paced back and forth on the ground in front of the ship as the soil continued to churn.

“Are you seriously doing a monologue? Wait does this make him our arch-enemy or something?” Jack Rabbit asked.

“That does seem to be the case.” SuperDude responded. “Do you have a name, fella?”

“Yes I do, but unfortunately I tire of this game. We shall soon meet again.” The leader vanished in a pop.

“So.. we won?”

TBC in Team-Building: The Epilogue