Project Silver, below the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker
The alarm is sounding incessantly, and everything short of grenades has been used to slow down Beautiful Cancer. But her body is only a mass of black smoke shaped like a female silhouette: bullets can’t hurt her, and her slightest touch is deadly.
Doctor Debra Rosenthal is watching the massacre through the security cameras. The sheer amount of guns in this installation used to make her nervous, but it’s not remotely enough now.
Her heart is pounding while she checks, double checks and triple checks the electronic locks of the massive titanium vault behind her. Then the sound of bullets disappears.
Doctor Rosenthal turns towards the door lab: Beautiful Cancer is pouring through it like dark smoke from a fire. She just knows everyone on the other side of that door is already dead.
<Ah, yes. I knew there was a woman somewhere around here> the smoke hisses.
<You won’t get inside. The door is completely sealed, you won’t be able to pass through.>
<How smart. How old are you? Sixty-five? Seventy? I can never tell.>
<I’m…I’m forty-three> the doctor answers nervously. The smoke is getting uncomfortably close.
<I lost my body, you know. My father stripped my soul from it as punishment for my so-called sins. Do you have any children, old woman?>
<I have two sons. Please don’t kill me> she pleads.
<If one of them conquered a planet and threatened to destroy it unless every firstborn was slaughtered in his name, would you punish him?>
<I…I don’t> the doctor starts to say, before Beautiful Cancer slithers down her throat and crawls inside her brains. She would scream in terror, but her voice isn’t hers anymore.
<The correct answer was “no”, stupid mortal> the being possessing Doctor Rosenthal says, using the codes from the poor woman’s mind to open the vault’s door.
Behind it is a massive seven feet tall robot with luminous black and white armor plating, with a plasma reactor still pounding inside its chest. A Talos.
<Wake up, big boy. We have a war to start.>
Washington, D.C.
The Centurions have been reduced to a black gelatinous substance covering the Capitol’s stairs. It was a long and brutal fight, with most of the casualties coming from the Centurion’s ability to explode on command.
Quantum has already left, moving to help other cities defend themselves. Noriko is escorted by General Anderson and Blue Star, the military’s first superhero. She deduced that Quantum’s sister Kayla is under the mask in two seconds flat.
<What’s the situation, General?> she asks.
<I’m under orders to secure the city and take you to a secure location, miss Null. You’re not giving the orders here, is that understood?>
Before Noriko can open her mouth, Todd jumps in:
<With all due respect, General…>
<And who are you supposed to be?> the General dismisses him.
<Todd Slate. Public relations manager for Null Technologies.>
<You can worry about her image later, son; in case you haven’t noticed, we’re under attack.>
<Conventional weapons are useless against the Empire of Shadows, you’ve seen it yourself. If they are controlled remotely, Null is your best option to trace the origin of the control signal…if you give her your full cooperation, and if you’re not afraid to admit you’re out of your league here.>
Despite the death glare, General Anderson is ready to acknowledge that Todd is right. And he would openly admit it, but one of his men approaches him with a two-way radio.
<Sir. We have an urgent communication from Doctor Rosenthal.>
The General gives a worried glance at Noriko before answering the radio; she isn’t supposed to know about Project Silver, and with the kind of technology she carries around she could be listening to the call.
<What is it, doctor Rosenthal?>
<I’m in your base, killing your dudes> the woman answers.
<What!?>
<Project Silver has fallen. I have the Talos and the Heart of the Universe. Unless you want both of them to fall into the hands of the Empire of Shadows, you will surrender the Palladium to me.>
<ho are you!?>
<Cursed Daughter, Angel of Darkness, Beautiful Cancer…take your pick. Oh, and give my regards to sweet Noriko, won’t you? I’m her biggest fan!>
After that, there’s nothing but static coming from the radio. General Anderson takes a deep breath… this is the worst case scenario, and there’s no time to waste. With Project Silver compromised, there is only one option.
<Miss Null. How fast can you reach Cheyenne Mountain?>
Taganrog Bay, between Ukraine and Russia
Vesta’s impact was powerful enough to lift an enormous amount of water, which is still falling minutes after her arrival. She walks on the water, towards the beach.
<Okay. I definitely felt that one> she admits, squeezing her red hair in an attempt to dry it.
“Vesta, are you there? I could use some help here” Quantum says through the Neutral Transmitter; she can’t remember the last time he used it to communicate long-distance, instead of simply beaming to her location.
“I was thinking the same thing, Max. A giant attacked one of the Plasma Reactors” she answers mentally, her thoughts translated into radio waves across the planet.
“Wow, seriously? I have twenty cities under siege by the Centurions. Wanna trade?”
“What’s a Centurion?”
“Nevermind. I’m sure you can handle it and fly here to gimme a hand”
“Actually, I don’t think I can. Punching it only made it bigger”
“You’ll think of something; they can’t be worse than your sister, right? Gotta go now!!!”
“Max, wait! Max?”
“Null to Vesta, can you read me?” another voice says through the Transmitter.
“Yes! Nori, what’s going on?”
“It’s a long story. Are you still in Ukraine?”
“More or less” – Vesta answers, looking around.
“I’m going to Cheyenne Mountain. Help Quantum get rid of the Centurions and join me as soon as you can. Pick up Torn and Ka… Legion while you’re on the way”.
“It’s not that easy. I’m fighting a giant!”
“So? Defeat him and join the others”
“But I don’t…I’m not a fighter like the others, Nori. I’ve never done something like this”
“For cryin’ out loud, Vesta! You’re a freakin’ goddess. Grow a pair and do your job!!!”
It’s the last message through the transmitter. Vesta hesitates, sitting on the beach. Before she met Noriko, she was just a waitress…hiding herself from humanity, living in peace. Now they call her a heroine and expect her to save lives. Why do they keep having faith in her?
Something flies above her. Fighter jets, moving towards the Reactor’s construction site.
<It’s not like in the old days. Mortals can fight for themselves now> Vesta sights. But then she remembers the grey giant that was able to smack a goddess like a fly.
<They don’t stand a chance without me!!!> she realizes, taking flight towards the battle.
Project Silver
The Talos holds the massive blast door like a mirror. Beautiful Cancer studies her reflection: Doctor Rosenthal’s wrinkles are slowly fading thanks to the energy possessing her body, but it’s not her favorite look.
<This is what I don’t like about mortals: they spoil too soon, and it takes forever to fix them.>
The Talos doesn’t answer. With its programming erased thanks to its last battle with Noriko, the only reason it’s able to move is the fraction of Beautiful Cancer’s essence injected into its core.
<I’m bored. Let’s go shopping for a new body> she decides, casually walking towards the door that leads out of the lab.
She steps on the corpses of the scientists, technicians and soldiers that used to surround the Heart of the Universe at all times. She whistles, throwing the Heart in the air and catching it when it falls, as if it was a tennis ball instead of the most powerful device on the planet.
Ukraine
The fighter jets fail to hurt the giant: their ammunition isn’t even able to scratch its grey skin. It’s almost three hundred feet tall now, and it raises a hand to grasp one of the vehicles mid-flight.
Vesta is able to twist the giant’s arm behind his back, in a position that would be painful to a human but that isn’t doing much. Worse, the giant is getting bigger each second.
“This isn’t working. I need another strategy” she thinks, flying straight at the giant’s face and delivering a massive uppercut. The last time she put so much force into a single punch she shattered a meteor, but the giant doesn’t even flinch. And gets so big that at this distance she can’t see the whole face anymore.
“It’s absorbing kinetic energy to grow!!!” she understands, feeling the heat of the first bomb dropped on the giant. It doesn’t hurt her, and the giant is similarly unimpressed.
<Idiots!!! Get away, you’re making it worse!!!> she screams, as if the pilots could hear her voice.
She gains some altitude, putting herself beyond the giant’s reach. At this height she can see the nearest city…less than thirty miles away, and in the giant’s path.
“I can’t let that thing anywhere near civilians. Is there a limit to how much it can absorb? It’s already the size of a mountain, what happens if I make it even bigger? Come on, Vesta, think. It’s artificial, like the Many. Does it have the same vulnerability to heat?”
The goddess creates a ball of fire the size of a small house and throws it at the giant…but again, it fails to deal any sort of damage.
“Nothing. But it doesn’t look any bigger. Maybe it’s only vulnerable from the inside? But how do I get in if I can’t hit it?”
Then she gets a crazy idea, and flies away at Mach 20. Her destination, some 300 miles away, is reached within the minute.
Mamayev Kurgan, Volgograd, Russia
The statue is called “The Motherland Calls”: the sculpted woman is a full 170 feet tall, and the sword in her hand 108 feet. Hundreds of Russians snap pictures as Vesta rips the gigantic sword from the statue’s hand, engulfs it in bright flames, and flies away without a single word.
The giant doesn’t even see her coming. Moving much, much faster than sound, Vesta stabs him in the chest with a sword wreathed in fire…and finally the giant stumbles back.
It tries to take out the sword, but it’s stuck. It’s Vesta’s best change, and she plunges into the monster’s flesh. What she finds inside is a gelatinous substance, not too different from what the Many dissolved into after exposure to extreme heat.
Vesta’s body catches fire, and the thick gelatin immediately starts boiling. From the inside, there’s no telling if the giant is getting bigger…she has to take care of it before it can absorb the fire.
The temperature increase is sudden and catastrophic. Vesta becomes hotter than the surface of the Sun for a few seconds, causing the giant to explode in a thousand different directions.
Vesta lands on the scorched earth, barefoot, and looks at the fire raining from the sky.
“Vesta to Null. I won. What do you need me to do?” she asks through the Neural Transmitter.
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