System Supervillain, Chapter 120

Chapter 120 – Staging Area

(Field Command Post, Hight Wycombe, United Kingdom)

Adams Park Stadium was buzzing, but not for the normal reasons. There was no game on, no concert, not even a political rally. Instead, the home of the Wycombe Wanderers was now playing host to the Army, and any supers (heroes or villains) that wanted to join in, as the primary staging area outside what was being called the London Exclusion Zone.

The alien shield covered an area roughly from Wood Green in the north to Croydon in the south, and from Ealing in the west to Woolwich in the east. The military had mobilized as quickly as it could, but not quickly enough to stop the shield from going up. So, they’d set up a perimeter instead, trying to keep the Gel-nak from advancing as they evacuated all the civilians from within the M25 motorway. Greater London was officially a war zone.

The Green Knight frowned as he looked out, over the scene. It was organized chaos, here. The military was still getting its footing, since no one had ever thought about needing to lay siege to London. Sure, planners had pictured scenarios with London under siege, but the reverse? And dealing with aliens, as well? No one was ready for that.

“Why so glum, Greenie?” laughed the Knave. Green Knight had to grit his teeth at the supervillain’s mocking tone. They’d fought each other more than once, and he’d foiled many of the Knave’s schemes, but the villain was a slippery one, and always managed to escape his clutches. Usually by endangering civilians in some way.

Still, the fact that he was here lent credence to the severity of the situation. While no one, on either side, had ‘officially’ talked about suspending all superhero or supervillain operations, many of the prominent villains had taken to the Guild forums and announced that they were ‘going on vacation’. Others had just… laid low, especially the ones based near the affected cities. And a few, like the Knave, had joined the fight directly.

“Not being able to punch you in the face is ruining my disposition.”

“Come on, GK, don’t be like that,” Britannia said, as she put her hand on his shoulder. “And try not to aggravate things, Knave. None of us are particularly pleased with this state of affairs, after all.”

“Either way,” chimed in Red Griffin, another UK hero, “I can understand our Knight’s frustration. Two weeks since the aliens landed, and the best that we’ve been able to do is keep them from expanding their foothold here, and in the other countries where they landed. The Yanks have already cleared off their lot, it seems.”

Silver Cutlass shook her head as she walked up, the villainess’s iconic magic sword hanging from her hip. “The only reason we’ve managed that much is because they haven’t been able to rain fire down on us from above. The government is in shambles. Most of Parliament and the ministers were in London when the aliens landed, and couldn’t evacuate in time. Even the Prime Minister is still behind the shield. If the royal family hadn’t been spending the night at Windsor, instead of Buckingham…” she trailed off at that heavy thought.

By now, they were gathering others who weren’t much use in the planning of military operations, but weren’t about to just sit this fight out. United (known as the One-Man Football Team), grumbled, “And it isn’t even anything we did that is keeping them from doing that. Oh, Bombardier and Marksman were able to take down the one ship covering the city, before the shield went up, but that’s it.”

“Pity about Big Ben, that,” Bluecloak said. “Don’t care terribly about Parliament getting flattened, but I did have a soft spot for the clock tower. Think we might be able to borrow that German lass, Fabricator, once things are said and done?”

“Probably,” Green Knight nodded, grudgingly. “Though that depends on what else gets broken in this craziness. I’ve heard that Moscow is effectively a dead zone. Don’t know about the other cities. Been too busy fighting back each time the damn lizards start trying to push past the shield.”

Technician raised her hand. “Actually, I have some information on that. There is street-to-street fighting in Rio, even inside the shield, thanks to all the super-powered gangs in the favelas. They couldn’t stop the landing, but at close range they’re making the Gel-nak bleed for every step. In Moscow, everyone and everything but the Gel-nak inside the shield is dead. But things are worse in New Delhi.”

The Knave frowned. “How could things be worse than bloody, street-to-street fighting or a mass slaughter? That’s bad, even by my standards.”

The technokinetic looked ashen as she spoke, “Because, just after the shield was erected, and it was clear that they were bringing more troops through those portals, the Holy Guard, India’s national super team, tried to make a push, and take out the portal. They all died in the attempt. Vijayee, the last one standing, managed to fall back to the New Delhi Fusion Reactor. But he wasn’t making a last stand, he was buying time for surviving technicians to overload the reactor. The aliens’ shield held long enough to contain the blast wave, but that only concentrated the radiation on the inside. They’re estimating that it will be ten thousand years or more until it will be safe for anyone to live there without the Life Support power through the System to make them immune to radiation.”

There was a heavy pause, before Britannia spoke. “And what about the Gel-nak? Do those suits protect them against radiation?”

Technician forced a smile. “There were some who survived the blast, but more than a couple supers in New Delhi had the Life Support ability, and they were ‘displeased’. Without the shield, and with many of the aliens dead or dying from injuries or compromised suits, they didn’t last long. And it seems that the blast took down the portal, too. No trace of it.”

Firedrake chuckled darkly. “Too bad. Would be nice to get a hold of that tech, maybe send some presents back to these Gel-nak, and thank them for everything they’ve done.” The villain sighed. “These wankers best not mess up the rest of the football season, if they know what’s good for them.”

Killstreak laughed at her fellow villain. “Sure, Drakey, it’d be fun to send a token of our appreciation back through their portals, but even if they all go boom, we still got all those ships they came in, right? The ones that didn’t get shot down, at least. Sure, Iceblade and his bints been taking their sweet time killing everything and everyone up there, but they’ve only got, what, maybe a dozen, two dozen people? No way they can make use of all those ships. There’ll be toys up for grabs, for sure.”

A flash of light in the middle of the pitch drew everyone’s attention, along with the crack of displaced air. Both common side-effects of teleportation. “Well, speak of the devil,” Green Knight said, loud enough for those nearby to hear.

No one needed an introduction to the new arrivals. Well, to most of them. Iceblade was famous, or infamous, enough that everyone knew him. Same with Bloodmoon, after what she did to Beijing. Serafina was well-known amongst European supers as one of the best healers around. And then, there were Stolen Victory, Foxtrot, and Pyra, formerly of the Squadron Supreme. All well-known to everyone here.

However, there were others that weren’t immediately recognizable, but there were clues. The one with a web-themed costume was probably Web Mistress, though few people ever saw her in the flesh. And the girl that looked like she was the bastard child of a magical girl and a mechsuit was most likely Titania, formerly Titan of the Squadron Supreme. But the last person, was a complete unknown.

“What the—” Witchcraft sputtered, as she looked at the group with her magically enhanced senses. “That girl’s naked! Her clothes are just an illusion!”

“Well, when you look like me, why not flaunt it?” The unknown said, a completely shameless smirk on her face. “And I’m covered enough that it isn’t a problem unless you go peeking. Anyways, my Master doesn’t mind me being naked.”

“Now, now, FX,” Iceblade said, his voice quelling the argument in the making. “We came here to help ‘see to’ the Gel-nak, not poke at the delicate sensibilities of the heroes.”

The Green Knight sighed softly, and stepped forward, only slightly annoyed that the Knave moved with him. “Iceblade, ladies,” he nodded. “Welcome to the UK. We saw the broadcasts you put out. Gel-nak saw them, too. Was it your intent to drive them into a frenzy? Because we’re getting reports of the aliens turning their weapons on their own people behind the shield.”

“Psychological warfare,” Iceblade said, simply. “There are rules in the System preventing System Administrators from directly using administrator abilities during conflicts, unless there is a valid support ticket in the queue. However, that doesn’t mean I was unable to look up the species entry in the database, and learn a few things.”

“Like how the scaleys are weak to the cold?” the Knave asked.

“Exactly. Turns out, the Gel-nak have a very regimented caste system, and are preconditioned to obey orders, regardless of their circumstances. Most of the crews on the ships my girls and I cleaned out never even tried to leave their posts. They didn’t try to surrender. They didn’t even kill themselves.”

Firedrake nodded. “Like that second transmission you made, right? Where those engineers all got into formation and let you kill them one by one?”

“Precisely. They had not been given orders to flee, and had not been ordered to blow up the ship, or commit suicide without losing what honor they had left, and probably shaming their families, as well. And so, they did the only thing they could, make their engine room as perfectly presentable as they could, as a testament to their loyalty and skill, and accepted death when it came to them. That is the kind of being we’re up against, here.”

Technician frowned. “Not that I’m complaining, what with the fleet not blasting us from the sky, but why send your pets to the places they went, instead of here? Couldn’t help out us Brits?”

“I ordered Stolen Victory and Titania to intercept and harass the strike force heading to Cairo because I disliked the idea of dealing with an undead apocalypse at the same time as an alien invasion. One crisis at a time, and all that. As for why my other pets went to Houston and Warsaw, instead of London? That was their choice. Houston was still down several supers after the ’fun’ of the System Initialization, and Warsaw’s supers aren’t really ‘punch a ship to death’ types, yes? Meanwhile, the UK has so many supers, I didn’t see why you couldn’t handle it yourselves. But I guess you slept in?”

“Enough!” Green Knight said to the supers behind him, cutting off yet another argument. There were too many clashing personalities here, but they couldn’t afford to let things get dragged into trading insults. Turning back to Iceblade, he asked, “So, why come here, now? Not that I’m complaining, but why here, and not, say, Moscow, or Rio?”

“Ooh, don’t tell me,” the Knave cackled. “Did you want another go at the British Museum before the aliens ‘protected’ all the artifacts back to their worlds?”

“Tempting, but no,” Iceblade said. “The reason we came is because Web Mistress has been reading the Gel-nak’s mail. The Gel-nak Emperor is supposedly on the planet this portal leads to. He is very upset with the slow progress of the invasion, and is due to conduct a ‘morale inspection’ of the troops getting ready on the Gel-nak side of the portal.”

The entire group went silent. Then, Green Knight nodded, and spoke with purpose in his voice. “Right then. You come with me.” When Iceblade just cocked his head inquisitively, he sighed. “The King is being briefed by the General in charge of the defense. I’m assuming that you want a shot at assassinating the Gel-nak Emperor, since they’re so rigid in their hierarchy. And even with your team, you aren’t confident you can pull it off and still make it out the other side, right? Which means, we need to coordinate an assault. Which means I need to get you to talk to the people in charge.”

Iceblade just nodded, and said, “Lead the way, then.”