Max Black a.k.a. Quantum doesn’t like bullies. He’s met his fair share; they never seemed to understand how he could play football but also read comic books and know half of Star Wars by heart. Not until he kicked their asses to protect some poor geek who couldn’t fight back.
And until now, he couldn’t think of Noriko as a bully. But now he sees the five feet tall Asian teenager about to shoot the seven feet tall Talas Khanos in the head.
He moves at the speed of light to grab her wrist, trying to disarm her without hurting her.
<What do you think you’re doing!?>
Noriko Null stares at him with her silver eyes. He’s known her for a couple of months now, and it’s still creepy as hell. Almost as creepy as her deadpan voice.
<Max, my brain contains all the knowledge of mankind. I’m literally the smartest person who ever lived. I know exactly what I’m doing: I’m executing an enemy soldier.>
<Well in case you haven’t noticed, little miss genius, Demeter leveled half a city and dropped a skyscraper on us. It’s 9/11 times a thousand here; there’s people who need our help.>
<The brown skin is right. While Vesta keeps her busy, we have a shot at killing Demeter> Torn intervenes. For someone who dropped out of nowhere and tried to kill him, Max thinks that the red-skinned man is right.
<Killing a goddess? Isn’t that kind of impossible?> Kari asks; a couple of her duplicates shrug.
Noriko is thinking it over. Everybody can see it when her silver eyes shine. She’s glancing over the street filled with debris; now that Torn has dispersed the dense cloud of pulverized concrete, the ruins of Null City are in plain sight.
Countless deaths. The last remnants of a once proud civilization ripped to shreds. Children crying, people scared for their lives. Asking forgiveness to the goddess who would gladly slaughter them.
<Alright. Let’s kick her ass> Noriko nods.
<As much as I’d enjoy watch you fail, this planet isn’t safe anymore> Khanos intervenes, breaking something inside his mouth.
His body is suddenly surrounded by a green aura, then dissolves into a beam of light that shoots right into the sky. Everybody is shocked by his sudden disappearance, except Noriko who doesn’t waste any time taking her N-phone from her leather jacket.
<Finally. I was afraid I’d have to tell him to do that> she comments, furiously typing something into her phone.
<Ah…what was “that”, exactly?> Max asks, scratching his head.
<He had a transmitter inside one of his molars; remote-controlled teleport to the mothership, I suppose.>
<Oh yeah, kinda forgot about that> Kari notes, looking up <It’s hard to miss a spaceship floating over your head, unless someone drops a skyscraper on you.>
<There. I can override the signal now. Kari, Torn, you’re with me. Max, keep Demeter busy.>
She activates the signal, and the three are surrounded by green energy. Noriko cocks the Genius Gun, celebrating the occasion with one of her rare smiles.
<Don’t worry. I’ll be back with a bigger gun.>
Demeter’s mothership
Despite being the capital ship of the Demeter Theocracy, the Twin Dragon has seen little to no combat in the last millennium.
The ship certainly looks intimidating, with its large wings and the two main cannons in the front, leaving the shadow of a two-headed dragon. But it’s little more than Demeter’s personal chariot.
It doesn’t carry more than a token ceremonial platoon; there is only one guard in the teleporter’s room. After all, who would commandeer the warship of a goddess?
The guard is still interrogating Talas Khanos, who beamed inside the ship without permission.
<I’m sorry, sir, but our orders are to keep guard and wait for Holy Demeter. We are not authorized to take you off-planet.>
<Unauthorized remote activation> warns the teleporter’s operator, frantically pressing buttons on his console.
<Clever girl> admits Khanos, stealing the guard’s spear and using it to hit him in the face.
While he does this, the teleporter fills the room with green light and beams inside a male with red skin and two females, one with silver eyes and the other one with purple hair.
<Secure the control station> is Noriko’s first order.
Talas Khanos presses a hidden button on the spear, releasing an energy blast. Torn deflects the blow in mid-air, while two of Kari’s duplicates simultaneously disarm Khanos and knock out the guard.
Noriko fires the Genius Gun: the telekinetic blow hits the operator with enough force to throw him against the wall with enough force to take down a heavyweight boxer.
<Do I kill him?> Torn asks, pressing a red energy knife against Khanos’ throat, where his godstone used to be.
<You have better things to do; Kari and I can handle the situation here> Noriko answers, nonchalantly disassembling the spear to recover its battery. She glances at the control panel: its flatscreen is showing a great deal of information, but it’s not written in Myridian.
<Do you honestly think you can understand Olympian technology?> Khanos mocks her.
<Yes. But right now, I just need to know how to use it.>
Using the tip of the spear as a screwdriver, she removes the flatscreen to expose the teleporter’s internal wiring. Even she can’t hack into a system without knowing its language: she’ll have to manually connect the controls to her phone and jury-rig a new control design.
<Give me five minutes.>
A mountain range several miles away
Finding them wasn’t hard. Flying at the speed of light in his energy form, Quantum can be anywhere on Myridia in less than a second. As useful as it sounds, it also makes everything a very blurry picture. But the devastation left behind by the fight between Vesta and Demeter is so immense and widespread to be unmistakable, even at the speed of light.
Max doesn’t want to think how many people would’ve been killed if the fight took place on Earth. Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions are devastating entire continents; even on this sparsely populated planet, there must already be tens of thousands of victims.
Vesta is on her knees; after surviving a trip to the center of the planet, she’s not in the shape to fight anymore. Her skin is slowly growing back from her charred flesh, but Demeter is just fine.
<Just say it, sis. Just admit I am the rightful heir to the throne of Kronos and I’ll let some of your pets live. What do you say?>
<Go to Hades> Vesta answers.
<Our brother won’t help you now, sister dear> Demeter says, preparing a devastating telekinetic blow. Before she can release it a blinding flash of light distracts her.
Without giving her time to think, the light then turns into ten thousand volts of electricity. The green-haired sister of Zeus isn’t impressed; she withstands the attack with little effort.
Quantum turns back into human form, facing the goddess.
“Not even a scratch. This is gonna be harder than I thought” he admits.
<I don’t know you. Are you a god?>
<I’m a super-hero. And I’m not gonna quote Ghostbusters.>
<What?>
As an answer, Quantum shoots a red laser in her face. To her utmost surprise, the telekinetic shield completely fails to protect her. He ramps up his attack, putting more and more energy into the laser until it’s a solid stream of red death flowing towards her.
<How…how did you…> Vesta murmurs, struggling to get back on her feet.
<I can turn into energy, remember?>
<No, how’d you get past her shield? I threw her at a planet and it didn’t work!>
<Her shield is green, but you can see inside it. It means that most visible light can get through it; it’s just a matter of finding the right wavelength.>
<That’s…I fought her for thousands of years and I never thought of that.>
<Then I guess Nori isn’t the only genius in the team, right?>
<ENOUGH!!!> Demeter shouts, generating a massive telekinetic wave. The ground shakes and collapses under the stress and the air itself catches fire from the sudden compression.
<To be honest, I got the idea from an old comic book> Max admits quietly.
<It’s the thought that counts> Vesta consoles him.
Demeter is standing in front of them, infuriated. All the sweat and dirt of a long battle is finally beginning to show: her beautiful green dress is in tatters, yet despite facing a high powered laser that could melt titanium there’s still enough fabric to protect her modesty.
<You are all beneath me! I am the Daughter of Kronos! I am a GODDESS!!! I AM…>
There’s a sharp whistle, the sound of a bomb dropping. Something lands on Demeter at a hundred miles per hour, sticking a red sword in her heart and a red dagger in her brain.
Demeter falls to the ground. Torn gets off her back, dusting himself off.
<You are too loud.>
<Dude! Way to make an entrance!> Quantum greets him, showing him the palm of his hand.
Torn looks at him like he just landed from Mars.
<High five!> Quantum clarifies.
<Five what?> Torn asks back, looking around.
<Guys, I don’t think we’re done> Vesta notes.
<How’d you get here, anyway? I left you with Null and Kari. Shouldn’t you, y’know, shout ridiculous names for your attacks back on the spaceship?>
<I don’t have to shout to attack. I only do it when I need to concentrate> Torn clarifies.
<Guys, Demeter’s getting back up. I think we’re screwed here.>
<But you didn’t call your attacks when you almost killed me and Vesta.>
<Exactly.>
<GUYS!!!> Vesta shouts, forcing her allies to look at Demeter.
The green goddess is floating before them, bursting with energy and hatred.
<Angry killer goddess. Right.>
Demeter’s mothership
Like the vast majority of the Theocracy’s military, the crew of the Twin Dragon is Myridian. Since this mean that each of these soldiers can create at will up to ten thousand duplicates and Kari is just a girl in her mid-twenties, you’d think this is a pretty one-sided fight.
To their utmost surprise, however, they’re having a hard time keeping her at bay. They multiply to block her passage and shoot on sight with their spears, but they never hit the original Kari.
When one duplicate disappears after being hit, another one is there to kick the soldier in the face, together with another one to redirect the fire towards another enemy.
They’re trained to intimidate the opponent through sheer numbers, but Kari knows how to exploit it.
She forces the originals to create duplicates where she wants, preventing them to have a clear shot at her; the fact that spears can’t be duplicated is another major point in her favor.
It’s like a fast-paced chess game with thousands of players. With a lot of physical violence.
Her mind goes back to when she was just a kid on the run from the Oracles, rescued from her destiny by a former Minister of War.
“The average Myridian sees his duplicates as slaves” the Old Man taught her “They are just tools. You can be more than this, Kari. You aren’t a girl with ten thousand slaves: you’re a legion”.
She stops to take a breath: all around her, the hallway is covered with unconscious soldiers.
She recovers a couple of spears and opens the door to the bridge: a dozen officers are taking aim.
<Last chance to surrender. You have an army, but I am Legion.>
Nobody argues with the girl who just took down a Myridian platoon while wearing a pink miniskirt.
Discussion ¬