The Crusaders -Volume 1

Chapter 6

Denali, Alaska…

The Crusaders materialised amidst the roaring winds, a few feet outside the massive dome of a facility. The expansive steel wall before them was torn down the middle, with an army of Sentry Drones viciously mutilated and slowly freezing in the cold air, their torn-up bodies strewn across the barren landscape within the bounds of the entrance. The tops of the walls were lined with defense turrets, which looked in no better condition than the Sentry Drones. As he overlooked the sight with a pit growing in his stomach, Starbolt tried to formulate a plan that would cover more bases than simply thwarting the monster. The energy generated by his cells instinctively got to work keeping his body warm in the cold air, while Mind Master had a telekinetic field redirecting the icy gusts and Nocturne and Techsmith's respective garbs covered their whole body and kept them warm. Gunk, and Red Cross in particular, were not so lucky; Red Cross immediately grabbed her exposed biceps and began rubbing madly for warmth, letting out a loud groaning noise. The air touched Gunk, and he felt himself falling victim to his only other known weakness as his body began to cool and slowly solidify. In annoyance, Red Cross took the communicator off her belt.

"God damn, you couldn't have dropped us INSIDE the building, could you, Alderman!?" The volume of Red Cross' exclamation was shocking to all who heard it as she yelled into the mic.

"She speaks, does she?" Nocturne's rhetorical nature was clear.

"Sorry, Suzy, but when the monster hit, the whole facility became a dead zone." Alderman confirmed from the other end of the line, his voice audible to the rest of the Crusaders. "Couldn't even pick the damn place up on the map. No coms, either."

"Wait, wait, monster?" Starbolt interrupted slightly frantically.

"What security footage we could get showed a creature resembling the one that attacked Christos' party arriving here in a flash of white light and making the mess you see before you."

"It looks like our mysterious adversary has struck again." Techsmith mused aloud. "Seems like they have quite a fixation on Prometheus Innovations. We should probably avoid killing the big guy this time…we might be able to get something out of him."

"Didn't go so well last time, admittedly." Mind Master muttered, as if wanting no one else to hear it.

"But a good point nonetheless." Alderman said.

"So…" Nocturne sounded increasingly deflated with every word. "...you're saying we have to face off against an exact clone of the monster we only barely managed to thwart in our first encounter with it, in a location that is only perceived as a blank spot to our sole exit strategy, where we can't even attempt to broadcast an alert signal of any description."

"Pretty much. Be back by nine, kids." With that, Alderman cut his link, leaving the Crusaders in silence.

"Well, think of it like this." Mind Master began, his tone almost offensively optimistic. "With all of that adversity in mind, our victory will be even more satisfying and impressive."

"You make certain death sound so inviting." Nocturne replied.

"That's assuming we face this thing at all." Starbolt stated, trying to come off as commanding. "We have to locate this guy as quickly as possible." The Crusaders wandered through the hole in the wall and made their way to the inside of the facility, their coms rendered inept upon intrusion and the group finding the door ripped open, with more decimated Drones laid throughout the front lobby. Techsmith took point, with Starbolt in the middle as Mind Master, Red Cross, Gunk and Nocturne lurked behind him.

"As convenient as it would be for us to just follow the trail of robotic bodily horror and general damage, I'm gonna scan for the largest energy signature in the facility to find the big guy." Techsmith announced.

"But wouldn't it be more convenient to - oh." Starbolt cut himself off when her words hit his ear, before turning to the three Crusaders gathered behind him in the front lobby with an almost parodic pseudo-authority. "So, here's my cunning plan…" Without warning, Mind Master's arms shot up and he grabbed Starbolt's head with both hands from behind. Starbolt responded negatively. "Dude, what the hell are you doing!?" He grabbed his hands and yanked them off as he wheeled around with an aggravated look.

"Yeah, he worked hard to get that sweet hair in place!" Techsmith teased as her scan was set up in her helmet's HUD. "How could you so callously ruin it?"

"I'm establishing a psychic communication network. Y'know, since we have no coms." Mind Master explained. Starbolt raised his hand in protest.

"Okay, no. Good to see you problem solving and all that, but no. I don't want you guys hearing what I think. Especially Nocturne." Nocturne gave a detached shrug, while Gunk took note of Starbolt's distrusting justification.

"It only works if you directly communicate to someone else. Usually. Sometimes a stray thought can slip out to the group. Besides, it's already there, so no use arguing now." Starbolt's words bore genuine annoyance.

"I thought psychics were supposed to ask permission before entering minds."

"I thought you had a cunning plan you wanted to tell everyone." Starbolt refocused.

"Oh yeah." He turned back to the other three. "Okay, listen up. Since Techsmith has a trace on this monster's general location, and I want to save our best fighters until we need them, I'll follow the monster with her. Mind Master, give everyone their little psychic whatever and break off with Nocturne and Gunk to look for as much info as you can get about this place. We good?" Red Cross raised her hand. "Yeah?"

"W-what do I do?" It was back to her standard vernacular, this time through the filter of chattering teeth.

"Oh, uh…you tag along with Techsmith and I. If we do come across this thing, we might need some first aid." Red Cross nodded and lowered her head as she silently recalled Starbolt's previous choice to forgo her help and once again remembered the fact that Techsmith bore nigh-unbreakable battle armour, rendering her supposed position irrelevant. Some more fodder the next time she and Gunk had a talk. "We good?" His teammates all gave agreeing nods, and after Mind Master established the link by touching their heads - this time with consent - they went their separate ways. The facility was labyrinthine in design. Vast hallways spread out in all directions, lined with dozens of doors that led to a multitude of projects and offices. The lights were surprisingly still functional despite the presence of an electricity-sapping beast. The design of every room was the most generically futuristic look imaginable, with many whites and silvers, and lights indicating various designations of areas. The hardworking, bee-like scientists had been evacuated following Christos' kidnapping, and an army of DSA Sentry Drones had taken their place to protect the facility in the event of an attack. Evidently, that didn't work out. Starbolt and Red Cross followed behind Techsmith, and the halls they traversed kept some attributes in common; general damage and decimated drones, like outside.

"Hey, Kon." Mind Master's echoing telepathic greeting made Starbolt jump.

"Scared the crap outta me." He replied, having to focus the thought on Mind Master.

"Sorry."

"What've you got on this place?"

"Well, if Nocturne is to be trusted, the reason this place exists. It's called the Olympus Institute. Dozens upon dozens of ideas in the works, apparently to benefit Earth in the long run."

"So, of course, someone's out to exploit it." Nocturne jumped in.

"Great, insanity is inevitable with both your thoughts in my head." Starbolt thought, mentally sighing.

"We're all in each other's heads, idiot."

"So I guess when I get to the mental hospital, I should expect your company not far behind. Keep at it with the intel, guys." After a considerably long period of wandering while the other half of the team sought out more information, Starbolt's team finally reached an elevator, the doors of which had been – keeping with the theme – torn apart from each other, showing the cut elevator wire hanging loosely.

"As if this place wasn't big enough." Techsmith uttered as she leaned through the doors to look down the abyss-like shaft. Starbolt's eyes were unintentionally drawn to her figure.

"Could that armour be any slimmer?" Starbolt involuntarily thought. Red Cross shuffled uncomfortably, having heard it. His addendum came out loud as he realized what had happened. "Ah, crap."

"Very well played, Kon." Nocturne salted the wound. "If you were any smoother, you'd be a slipping hazard."

"I did warn you." Mind Master lightly threw in.

"Was I the only one who heard what Kon just thought?" Gunk openly inquired.

"Don't worry about it." Techsmith sounded perky as ever, surprising both Starbolt and Red Cross. "It is a pretty slim suit. That's the nice thing about XO-10. You can manipulate it however you want and it'll maintain its essential properties. Nearly weightless, almost invulnerable and wholly flexible during the moulding process. So yeah, I can see why you'd be impressed." Starbolt sighed with relief as Red Cross resumed rubbing her arms. "And I dohave a nice butt." Without another word, telepathic or otherwise, she turned on the night vision in her helmet and dived down the shaft. Before she could hit the ravaged wreck of an elevator at the bottom, she broke her fall via jetpack and gently hovered out of the open doors into the metal basement. She activated her environmental scanner an attempt to detect the monster, finding its signal right around the corner. She followed into a right hallway, the trail of robot bodies continuing up to a grey door, clearly labelled in massive white letters: PROJECT APOLLO. Before it lay a dozen dead drones, above them standing the Frankenstein monster, with a field of electricity still crackling around it. "Hey, guys?" She thought. "I found our buddy."

"What's he doing?" Starbolt asked.

"He's just kind of standing here… I'm gonna fight him."

"Did you forget how that panned out last time?"

"Relax, Mr. Smooth. I know this guy inside and out now. Literally. I'll let you know if I need backup." She let out a loud whistling noise, to which the monster turned around sharply before swiftly identifying her. The roar he unleashed was ever so slightly deeper than the original's, which Techsmith picked up.

"Gr! Roar! We get it, okay?" The monster began to charge at her, his face set in wrath. "I kind of hope I don't have to kill you. You're one of the most interesting…things I've ever seen." As the monster stretched its arms to attack as they sparked with electricity, she rooted her feet in the floor, put her arms before her with clenched fists and opened fire, shooting off a dozen lasers with increased power that pierced the monster's skin before the wounds sealed themselves. The monster swung its clenched fist in her direction, but her swift dodging caused it to slam into the floor from an angle. As its head was in prime position, she laid several punches into its face, before it raised its fallen fist and swung its other. She ducked beneath it and maintained her assault, throwing a few more punches upon climbing its chest. The monster tried to grab Techsmith in a bear hug, but her reflexes were operating at full efficiency, as she dropped down and rocketed underneath its legs with her jetpack, leaping off the floor and onto the PROJECT APOLLO door. The missile launchers in her shoulders opened themselves as she magnetised her hands and feet to the metal. She fired several missiles at the monster, but to her utter shock, they stopped just short of hitting the shaking creature, held perfectly still in the air by circles of electricity. "Huh. Guess we can add electromagnetic manipulation to your ever-growing list of powers." Without warning, the missiles fired backwards in her direction. She de-magnetised from the wall and jumped to the ground just in time for the missiles to hit the door, blowing it wide open. She shot up and re-engaged battle stance, but was taken off her feet by the charging monster, tackling her through to the next room, a wide open space with a dark, silvery metal floor and walls. Pinned down under the monster's weight, Techsmith was helpless to flee as the monster punched her in the face over and over again. Its anger grew endlessly, its punches coming faster and harder with every throw. Her attempts to defend herself became consistently weaker until her arms finally fell limp on the ground. After throwing several more punches, it pulled her head up with both hands and roared, its mouth only inches from her face. Bolts of electricity blasted out of its back-based electrical towers, travelling through the metal walls, making the lights flash and sending Techsmith's suit into a technical frenzy. The monster finally stopped when it looked up to see a two-step staircase that led up to a large platform. The wall before him had opened due to the massive electric discharge, to reveal a small chamber containing two metal cubicles for conducting tests on both sides of the room, and a long cylinder in the middle. It got up from the defeated Techsmith and made its way towards the cylinder. Starbolt, having lost psychic contact with Techsmith, had made his way down the elevator shaft and was running down the hall, his cape flapping behind him with every raise of his foot. The noise sent the unexhausted monster turning once more.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Upon seeing Techsmith's body laid limp on the floor, Starbolt's rage was unconfined. "You'd better say your goodbyes, asshole, because my team is coming! And when they get here, you'll-" Before the monster could let out its roar once more, two palm-sized, circular bombs went off on its back towers, sending it falling forward. Techsmith, having subtly planted the bombs when the monster tackled her, but formerly unable to detonate them when her suit was electrified, sprung from the floor and spun around, agile as ever, and turned to the falling monster, her right hand infused with the armour's super strength, and punched it in the jaw with unrelenting strength, sending it falling to the floor on its side a groaning mess. She stood upright, unharmed, and shook her hand loosely.

"Glass jaw." If Starbolt's own jaw hung any lower, it would be to his knees. This brought out a giggle from the perfectly content Techsmith. "Look, I know it's exciting and everything, but you need to stop being so easily impressed." Starbolt shed his elation.

"We better move fast. He won't stay down long." The two made their way across the room, approaching the cylinder.

"I take it this is the prized and praised Apollo." Techsmith commented, somewhat energetically. "Makes sense that a bad guy would want something like this. So many applications…." Starbolt shrugged with disinterest.

"I was kind of expecting something…cooler." Techsmith punched his arm for his blasphemy.

"You crazy? This is an achievement! Finally, humanity has managed to appropriate Novon engineering principles to keep the world going for the foreseeable future!"

"I'm not saying it's not a good thing! I'm just saying some more elaborate presentation wouldn't hurt." Techsmith reached forward to grab the cylinder and pull out its middle section, at the ends of which were two handles. The Apollo's power was contained in the metal that made up the container, but Techsmith could still feel it coursing against her armoured fingers as she held it.

"We gotta get this in safer hands." Suddenly, the monster jolted awake, and started to get up and turn around. Immediately noticing this, Techsmith handed the Apollo off to Starbolt and prepared for round two. "Get it out of here. I just told the others what's gone down. They're on their way."

"No way, I'm not-" Starbolt was cut short by a column of light forming around him as one did when the team used the Spearhead. Techsmith couldn't react to the impossible speed of the forming brightness, and in a burst, Starbolt was gone, the Apollo taken with him.