Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Eight: Homeground (Patreon)

"I need to get back to London," I found myself saying. "Get the Wolf Armour here."

Doyle nodded. "Go. Do you need transport?"

"From here, no. On the way back I'll need a Traveler. With at least a hundred tons capacity."

"We'll make it happen. Just don't be gone too long."

----------------------------

As the Foldspace Generator deposited me on the other side of the Atlantic, my connection with Agni snapped.

Not unexpected, since the radio on my armour isn't designed for transatlantic operation. In place of the link with the Phoenix Company communications net, I found myself plugged into a just as familiar network.

"Belessar," came Pemberley's voice. "Good to have you back."

"You've heard?"

"We've heard. The Rapid Reaction Division is mobilizing now."

"What's the Rapid Reaction Division?"

"Twenty thousand soldiers equipped to move to any spot in the world and defend against a Hierarchy attack, with equipment and training to match."

"Wow. That's an impressive force."

"What do you think Devlin Heath and I were working on for the past four months? We’ve got the 121st Regiment, which has your Boar Armours, and the 6th Brigade kitted out in nanofibre weave, backed up by troops with portable missile launchers and anti-armour weaponry."

I strapped myself into the Wolf Armour and booted up the systems. "How fast can we get to Tanisport?"

"Ah. General Windsor wants to talk to you about that. Hold on."

Windsor's cultured voice came on the line. "Belessar. Excellent work getting the evidence. However, we have a bit of a problem."

"That sounds ominous."

"The Stratospheric Guard is asking us to hold deployment of the troops until we've confirmed the target."

"It's Tanisport. I got a …" My voice trailed off as I realised a 'quest' would make no sense to Windsor. "Call it a precognitive hunch."

"The Guard wants more validation. Right now the government of Bermuda is screaming for all the resources the Guard can spare."

"Can you point out that I was right about London?"

"Three other precogs confirmed your foresight back then. I'm arranging for one of them to be sent to Tanisport but it'll take time…"

"Meanwhile we just twiddle our thumbs?"

The line went quiet for a few seconds. Finally, Windsor spoke again. "Belessar, the division will take at least half an hour to mobilize. We'll have Travelers ready by then. Meanwhile, we'll keep looking for evidence."

"Do your best, please, General."

"I'd hardly do otherwise. Windsor out."

Pemberley came back on the line. "Belessar, please stop insulting our Chiefs of Staff, it doesn't help."

"Sorry… it's just that I know the attack will be at Tanisport, and we're losing time."

"Understood. We have ultrahumans assembling at London, and we've enough lift capacity to get them anywhere in the world. Once the Guard confirms."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Come to London."

------------------------------------------------------

Once again, I pulled up to a courtyard full of British soldiers, led by a suited officer I knew all too well.

“Major Green! Good to see you!”

“It’s Colonel now,” replied Donald Green. “New suit, Belessar?”

“Decided to dress up for the visitors. The SAS leading from the front again?”

“Actually, I got transferred out of the SAS to head up the 121st Regiment, Armoured Infantry. Something to do with my operational experience with Boar Class battlesuits.”

“That’s handy. The Regiment has the battlesuits?”

“All 1,020 of them. What’s with the convoy?” The officer pointed to the four trucks behind me.

“Two loads of missiles, one with spare ammo and weapons, and a truckload of Heavy and Mega Power Packs. Where’s the folks in nanofibre weave?”

“The 6th Heavy Infantry Brigade is expected in about fifteen minutes. Updates from Stratospheric Guard HQ indicate the aliens are halfway through the shield already. Pemberley said to tell you that we still don’t have confirmation on the target.”

“It’s Tanisport.”

“We heard that’s a possibility, so my men are going through maps of the city. How extensive is Nanocloud’s surveillance grid?”

“She doesn’t have a surveillance grid - oh, never mind. As good as we had at London.”

“That’ll be helpful. We have groups of ultras assembling in the centre of the formation, the Commodore suggested you might want to brief them. Try not to step on anyone, please.”

The assembled ultras included a number of familiar costumes. Unity waved at me as I strode into view. “Belessar! You got taller!”

“Growth spurt. Thanks for being here, Unity. Jetstream.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” the inventor grinned, floating in mid-air in his own powersuit. “Heard you were dealing with a school shooting some time ago?”

“Nine alien shapeshifters. They’re called Gellatoids, and they can impersonate humans exceptionally well.”

“Heard you shot your mayor,” grinned Unity.

“You make it sound worse than it actually was…”

“Hey, I’m fully in support. Mayors are just another instrument of the oppression of the proletariat by the oligarchs.”

“Your approval fills me with deep misgivings.”

“Setting aside Unity’s socialism for now, do we have an idea of what we’ll be facing?”

I fought down an impulse to scratch my head - mostly because that would unnecessarily bang together the Wolf Gauntlet and the Wolfblood Helm, causing impact damage to both. “The Hierarchy is using all of their ships to punch the hole in the shield this time, so it’s probably big.”

“How big?”

“Bigger than the shuttles they sent for the Carnotaurs.”

“We have visitors,” pointed out Unity.

A short superheroine floated into view, wearing a flaming orange suit with widespread wings that sparkled in the sunlight. My power helpfully reminded me of her name.

MAHOTSUKOI

LEVEL 30

CLASS: ELEMENTAL SORCERESS

HP: 105/105

AS A CHILD, MAHOTSUKOI ALWAYS DREAMED OF BEING A MAGICAL GIRL. PROVING THAT THE UNIVERSE DOES SOMETIMES ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS, SHE HAS GAINED THE POWERS OF AN ELEMENTAL. OUTSIDE OF HER UNIFORM, SHE IS A MILD-MANNERED COLLEGE STUDENT.

WEAPONS:

GIANT ANIME HAMMER

POWERS:

MULTIPLY WEIGHT - BURDEN YOUR ENEMY WITH 10-1000 TIMES THEIR WEIGHT.

BIG SMASH - SHATTER THINGS WITH YOUR GIANT ANIME HAMMER.

LEVITATE - FLOAT THROUGH THE SKY UNBURDENED BY MINOR THINGS LIKE GRAVITY.

HOLY LIGHT - PURGE THE UNCLEAN ALIENS FROM BLESSED MOTHER GAIA.

“Belessar! Hello again!”

“Mahotsukai,” I smiled. “It’s good to see you. Will you join us for Tanisport?”

“It’s confirmed then? The Guard hasn’t said anything.”

“I have very strong evidence that they’re hitting my hometown. Precognitive evidence.”

“That’s nice! I haven’t been to America since the New York fight. Are there places to see nearby?”

“Uh… there’s Disneyworld? If it’s still standing after the fight, maybe you can go.”

“Excellent! I love Disney. By the way, there’s a rumour going around that you shot a major?”

“It was a mayor, not a major.”

“Oh. Do they let you do that in America? I thought shooting elected officials was wrong but I didn’t really do well in my civics class….”

“He was an alien shapeshifter in disguise.”

“Oh, that’s okay then.”

“Belessar?” a new voice called, this time over the radio. “Indradhanush. We met at the Convention?”

“Hi, Indradhanush… are you in London?”

“My cousin sister’s niece is getting married. Raced over when I got the alert.”

“Sorry you had to skip the wedding.”

“I’m not, there’s four more days of ceremonies to go. Did you get my power packs?”

“I did, actually. There’s a truck full of Heavy Power Packs sitting in the yard now.”

“Nice! Hey, is it true what they’re saying? That you shot somebody on live TV and turned them into a shapeshifting blob?”

“That’s not what happened… the creature was an alien shapeshifter impersonating our mayor.”

“Oh, I thought it was fake news. Cool.” The teenager came into view, his costume fluttering in the breeze. He stopped to stare at Mahotsukai. “Wow, that girl is sexy.”

“Indradhanush, you’re on an open radio channel?”

An indignant male squawk followed, and Indradhanush’s line went silent. Mahotsukai giggled in mid-air.

“Children,” muttered a new voice on the radio, as yet another armoured suit came into view. “Dyzer here, reporting for duty. Belessar. Long time.”

“Good to see you, Dyzer.”

“Which suit are you?”

“The tall one.”

The green-armoured hero looked at me, seemingly taken aback. “You… upgraded your suit.”

“I upgraded to a new suit, yeah. I call it the Wolf Class Battle Amour, or Wolf Armour for short.”

“That’s not armour, that’s a combat mech.”

“So I’m told. You up to fighting the aliens?”

“Yes.” With that monosyllabic answer, Dyzer trudged off.

A chuckling man wearing a mask with black-and-white squares followed. “I think you made him feel a little inadequate.”

“Hi, Chequers. Good to see you!”

“Likewise. We’re doing your hometown this time?”

“Yes. How’s Razorback?”

“He’s fine and sends his regards. As well as another set of shield disrupters. By the way, is it true that you shot the mayor?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“Are you planning on executing any more elected officials today?”

“I don’t plan to make a habit of it, so no.”

“See you around, Belessar.”