System Supervillain, Chapter 116

Chapter 116 – Reaction

(New York City)

Luigi was having a great day. Sure, there was an alien invasion on, with the idiots having the unbridled gall to try and land transports in Central Park, but that just meant he got to take a break from his normal routine of shooting people who deserved it to shoot aliens who deserved it. Even better, because they were invading, he didn’t even have to worry about the Knights or SDI showing up to ruin his day!

As the Adjuster, he’d made a name for himself capping CEOs and other corporate executives. Oh, never as brutally as that Iceblade fella did with that Nazi guy a couple years back, but he got the job done. Guns might not work against superpowers all the time, but, fortunately, most of his targets weren’t supers. They were just ordinary jackasses who thought that money and privilege meant that they could ruin lives without anyone ever introducing them to the consequences of their actions.

That first kill, back before he took his ‘business’ name, was personal. Health insurance executive thought that being an industry leader in denying coverage was a great business move. The bastard should have updated his coverage to include high-velocity lead poisoning. Too bad thoughts and prayers were out of network. Hell, even his own people didn’t give a shit about him dying. The other board members stepped over his fucking body to get to their shareholder meeting on time, and nothing really changed.

Well, one thing did change. Someone hacked his phone, and gave him directions to the New York branch of the Tailors, got him introduced to the Guild. Even better, they also got him to the Physicians, who took care of his bad back, got him in fighting shape. Sure, he had to do a few jobs for them to pay back what he owed, but the Guild was smart. They sent him to ‘adjust’ a few people who he wouldn’t mind getting rid of, anyways.

Turns out, you kill one CEO, and nothing changes. You kill six in six months, and companies start doing a bit of soul searching. Of course, most of them needed to borrow one first, since all of management had pawned theirs long ago.

Either way, companies started promising changes. The ones who actually followed through with them? Well, he left them alone, though he definitely didn’t stop other villains and vigilantes from taking their piece of the pie. The ones that didn’t change, or walked back the changes? Well, the Adjuster started paying management and executives a visit, and those companies lost some of their overhead as a result.

And now, here he was in Central Park, blasting away at fucking alligators walking upright, all dressed up in space armor and carrying some wicked blasters and blades. His ‘normal’ guns weren’t any use against that kind of kit. Not surprising, since they were made to take on humans. But after being with the Guild for a while, he’d made sure to get some new toys. Use the human-tech guns for human problems, and the super-tech guns for super (or alien) ones. Plus, he didn’t get to bring the big gun out to play nearly often enough.

“Alien forces are holding the perimeter, Central Park North to West 59th Street, Columbus Avenue to Park Avenue. Current estimates are an invasion force of between seven and ten thousand troops in the city. Residents within the alien cordon are advised to shelter in place. Military assets are being dispatched, as well as the New York Knights. The Mayor’s office has announced that the NYPD will not pursue any unlicensed vigilantes or supervillains attacking the invaders, but urges all parties to be careful of collateral damage.”

The Adjuster smiled as he heard the news report on the radio. Good advice. Too bad he wasn’t planning on taking it. After all, he’d taken up a sniper perch on top of this building at the corner of 87th Street and Central Park West, giving him a perfect view of the park. Especially the Reservoir, where the alien transports had landed. A cloak designed to hide him from any sensors the Guild knew about, as well as keeping the sound of his gun from giving him away, and he was set up and ready to roll. The warship hovering over the city was a little worrisome, since he knew his defenses weren’t cut out for tanking that kind of weaponry, but so far the only actions it had taken were to blast cars in the border of the perimeter, destroying them in such a way that they created ‘natural’ barricades, once the warriors moved them into place. But then, actual military forces hadn’t shown up, yet.

His finger caressed the trigger, and an angry-looking gator with a frill on his head dropped as the alien caught the railgun slug between the eyes. The frill guys looked like they were in charge, since they had the shiniest armor. Of course, that was the fourth frill-guy he’d killed and he hadn’t noticed any more coming out of the transport. Either they were getting smart, and staying under cover, or he’d have to start looking for new targets. Ah, there was one, like the rank and file troops, but there was more color on his armor. That had to make him important, right?

The radio squelched, just as he was about to pull the trigger. Someone cutting into the broadcast? Looking through the scope, he frowned. His target, and all the other gators around him, were all looking at some tablet. So, whoever did this was doing it like the aliens had at the start, and getting into everyone’s comms. Was their grand leader about to come on and talk about the cities he was supposed to be destroying?

However, when the voice spoke, he instantly lost any interest in what the gators were watching. “To the people of Earth, and to all the luggage in the making from the Gel-Nak Empire, I am Iceblade.”

(Command Nest, Gel-nak Imperial Navy Ship Blessed Deliverer of Judgement, high Earth orbit over Cairo)

“Ship High Commander! A priority message from the Harbinger of Death to the Unworthy! All channels broadcast!”

Ship High Commander Hess Kirta, snarled as the Worker in charge of communications called out to her, while she was busy yelling at the gun crews for their failure to dispatch two simple targets, and allowing her ship’s primary weapons engines to be damaged so severely that they could not descend further into the gravity well of the planet without crashing. If the crews on the Rite of Regulation hadn’t similarly failed in keeping their cruiser intact, she would have already called for execution of the gun crews for their appalling failure. Still, it was not allowed to deny a priority transmission from the Supreme Commander. “Put it through.”

She straightened up on reflex as the image of the Imperial Seal appeared on the screen. Then, her eyes went wide, and it was only firm discipline that kept her mouth from gaping. There was Supreme Commander Dhava Vrir’ak and Ship High Commander Zizuk Garsa, or at least their armor. Their bodies, though, looked as though they had been turned to solid ice!

She ignored the heads of the two Warrior Caste that lay on their laps, except to note that the heads had clearly been taken with a blade of some sort. That they died was unimportant. She needed information. Her keen eyes noted slashes on the Leader Caste armor, but they were not from a Warrior Caste or Leader Caste blade, and certainly not from Gel-nak claws. What was the meaning of this?

An icy mist swirled on the screen and took the shape of one of these ‘humans’ in some sort of strange outfit that covered their skin completely. Was it some sort of environment suit? Or a form of armor? And what sorcery was this mist ability?

“To the people of Earth, and to all the luggage in the making from the Gel-Nak Empire, I am Iceblade.”

A low hiss of anger went out across the Command Nest. Kirta did not bother to silence it, for she felt much the same. The practice of taking lesser beings and turning their hides into garments or garment-carriers was known to them, of course. It was one of the first steps of a species moving from savagery to sapience, after all. However, saying that the Gel-nak were luggage in the making was to say that they were lesser beings than these overgrown mammals!

“I am sure that, by now, everyone is aware of what has happened, but allow me to spell things out for the more intellectually challenged of those listening. The Harbinger of Death to the Unworthy is now under my control. Most of the crew is dead, and the remainder have until the batteries on their armor run dry, or until I get around to hunting them, whichever comes first. By the way, allow me to offer thanks to your Emperor for having the ‘wisdom’ to create a system of ‘Uprising Controls’ that were so easily subverted. Truly, locking down the entire ship and venting the atmosphere did so much of my work for me.”

Kirta grimaced. The Uprising Controls were supposed to be a secret, taught only to Leader Caste, and some of the more trustworthy or essential Warrior and Worker Castes. With this going out to the entire fleet? Everyone would know about it. They would have to purge all trace of this when they returned to Imperial space. Perhaps even purging the Workers and Warriors. Event he surviving Leaders might not be safe after such a failure to keep critical information contained.

“As you can see, the Supreme Commander is no longer in any position to make demands of Earth. The battleships sent to attack Earth cities have all been disabled or damaged to the point that they are in the process of crashing to Earth. Your transports are all surrounded, and the ten thousand troops you landed are quickly finding their numbers dropping. They’ll drop even faster when the supers and militaries of the world start switching to cold and ice-based attacks, to target the critical weakness in Gel-nak physiology.

“And while we’re on the topic of Gel-nak weaknesses, I would be remiss if I did not mention that much of their defenses, and all of their ranged weaponry, can be disabled by intense magnetic fields. Also, the warriors can be taunted into traps from which they are unable to back away from, and the leaders, identifiable by their head frills and fancy armor, are vain to the point of stupidity, and extremely untrusting, though they do have some telepathy and mind control abilities, so all forces in the field should employ counter-psychic measures. I’m sure all my listeners will have no trouble putting this information to good use.”

Kirta shook her head in disgust. This was going to absolutely destroy morale on the ground and in the fleet. They would lose control of the Worker and Warrior castes. An enemy knowing their weaknesses so thoroughly, and broadcasting the information from their own command vessel? The only chance any of them had was to ensure that the Harbinger did not remain in enemy hands, so that, when the reinforcements came, the fleet, at least, could claim they’d done their duty.

“Set course for the Harbinger of Death to the Unworthy. We will not allow this enemy to mock the Empire without consequence!”

“Oh, and to the ships heading this way, please do hurry. This is my first opportunity to be a space pirate, and I do so enjoy playing the Rhuk for you insignificant reptiles. Do not disappoint me by growing a brain. It lowers your value as pets and handbags.”

“By the Emperor, turn that v’tak off! Tell the Engineworkers to give me best possible speed! And bring up all available weapons!”