Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Nine: Homeground, Part Two (Patreon)

A new radio transmission broke in. “Honoured Belessar. We of the Temple of Ten Thousand Fists send our regards to you and pledge to follow you in this battle to come.”

“Hello and thanks, who is this?”

“This one is Mizuno Gasukei, servant of the Temple, chosen by our most respected Elder to learn from the most honoured Belessar.”

“Okay, welcome to the team Mizuno. Anyone else with you?”

“By my side stand the blessed and gifted warriors of the Temple, Tsuyoiken and Haganenoken, who are tireless in their practice of the Path of the Swift Fist. Also with us is the most elegant Lady Katarusishu, whose words calm the minds of the uncertain and infuse courage in the hearts of warrior and waif alike.”

I scanned the four with a quick set of Observes. Mizuno was a water elemental, while Tsuyoiken and Haganenoken were Herculeans - both specialists in swift, powerful punches that would break even steel armour in second. As for Katarusishu, she seemed to be a Master, although a fairly weak one from the description.

Which reminded me of another Master that I’d encountered here in London. Sure enough, the young Mirantibus was in the square, getting fitted with basic body armour alongside a red-skinned young woman with devil-like horns poking out from her raven-black hair.

Devilmade was a new Bostonian heroine with short-range teleportation, a reputation for beating up local crooks, and a Level 12 from Observe. Mirantibus was Level 4….

“Devilmade? Mirantibus? Are you on this channel?” I asked.

“B-Belessar,” a teenager’s voice stammered on the channel. “Where are you?”

“Look up. I’m in the thirty-foot tall battlesuit.”

The two teens glanced upward and gaped, staggering back. “Uh, that’s bigger than your last suit,” stammered Mirantibus.

“Yeah, I thought I’d go for an upgrade.”

“I like it,” Devilmade’s voice purred. “Hey, Belessar, got room for another in that thing? You could give me a ride all up close and personal…”

“You realize I have a girlfriend, right?”

“Maybe I like playing with fire.”

“I’ll tell Agni you said that. You can play with her instead.”

“We don’t have to rush it, you know. Taking it slow is more … enjoyable.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Have either of you two been in an alien defence before?”

The two ultras shook their heads vigorously.

“I’ll suggest a group of soldiers you can stick close to. They’ll help you get through your first fight.”

“Do we really need normals telling us what to do?” Devilmade asked.

“I listened to normals during my first battle. Worked out okay.”

Mirantibus nodded emphatically. “I’ll do it. Not even sure where to start with fighting aliens. I mean, what can I do exactly?”

“You can rip the memories out of an alien’s mind and leave it confused in the middle of a battle. That’ll give the troops time to kill it.”

“Oh. Yeah, I can do that.”

“And I can slice ‘em up with my knives,” snickered Devilmade. “Or with my tail. Plus, when I’m out there they won’t be able to keep their eyes off me.”

“The Velkmorath are giant hermaphroditic crabs. Do you really want their attention on you?”

“It might be fun.”

“Please try to avoid seducing the invading aliens, it doesn’t work.”

“Spoilsport. Hey, is it true what they’re saying? That you shot some politician?”

“It was the mayor and he was an alien shapeshifter.”

“Damn, that’s cool. I thought you were one of those stuffy establishment types. Does Agni share?”

I cut the channel and connected to the HQ instead.

“Pemberley here, Belessar.”

“Any confirmation?”

“We’ll know soon. There’s thirty ships involved now. Half are burning through the shield. The other half are playing tag with Fortress Skyguard, preventing Bastion or the others from intervening, so they’ll punch through the shield faster than ever before. Stratospheric Guard command is hitting every panic button it can.”

“How many troops are we getting?”

“The U.S. will have close to eighty thousand troops available. They’ll be rushed in as soon as the target is confirmed.”

“Allied nations?”

“Mostly it’ll be just us.”

“Other nations aren’t responding?”

“Belessar, there’s no time for them to mobilize.”

The words took a moment to sink in.

I’d known, intellectually, that most battles were fought with the troops that could be rushed into position as quickly as possible. We’d fielded a million soldiers at London because we’d had three months to prepare. And even then, it had been far too close.

Everything pointed to this raid being at least the size of London, if not bigger. And we had a hundred thousand troops, total?

A tenth of our combat power at London.

Visions danced through my mind. Raptors flooding Pendleton, burning the houses down. The shelters cracking under the weight of Grizzeloid Heavy Tank fire. Rovers blazing down Torrance Way. Sarnak squads breaking into the shelters, burning civilians alive.

Not on my watch.

“I’ll be right there with you,” Pemberley continued. “We have enough air assets to provide rapid deployment…. Get ready. Stratospheric Guard just confirmed they’ve burned through the shield.”

It was less than a minute later that my pager buzzed.

ALIEN ASSAULT ON TANISPORT, USA. ETA 10 MINUTES.

“Troopers and ultras,” Devlin Heath’s voice sounded through the radio channels. “We’re about to go into a very promising firefight. The city of Tanisport and a half million people are counting on you. Assume your positions, and Godspeed.”

Within seconds, portals began to expand, covering entire sections of the field as a dozen Travelers whisked away fully armed battalions at top speed.

For the third time in a day, I crossed the Atlantic.

If only portals came with frequent flyer miles…

<Nanocloud>: Hey. We’re ready and suited up.

<Belessar>: Where’s Dad?

<Nanocloud>: He’s in Quartermain Heights. I’ve told him to stay buttoned up there behind the defences.

<Belessar>: Good, those’ll hold off anything short of a nuke.

<Nanocloud>: Phoenix Company is fully deployed. I’m having them call every ultra we know.

<Belessar>: Where did you get their phone numbers?

<Nanocloud>: Duh. At the convention, while you were making small talk, my nanobots were getting people’s digits.

<Nanocloud>: By the way, Quintana is freaking out.

<Belessar>: Why?

<Nanocloud>: Not sure. She’s having some massive argument with Lumina; I don’t really want to spy…

<Belessar>: We have other things to worry about. How much of the city can you cover? A lot of heroes will need overwatch. And other mundane things like directions.

<Nanocloud>: Not nearly enough, but we’ll make do. I’m increasing my bot population as fast as I can.