System Supervillain, Chapter 112

Chapter 112 – Preparations

Of course, one does not simply ‘pop over’ to hunt aliens and steal their ship. Especially when you don’t know what their weapons or security systems are like. Teleporting in, only to find yourself in the middle of a laser net that cuts you to ribbons is a great way to end up as a cautionary tale.

The fact that they were all cold-blooded reptiles made things easier for me, obviously, but I didn’t get to the position I was at now by just ensuring that I had an advantage. Supervillains who act whenever they have a simple advantage tend to wind up on the wrong side of the bars sooner or later, or they end up in the morgue. I was still alive and free because (minus a few youthful indiscretions), I always stacked the deck as heavily as possible in my favor. There were some people who cried foul, saying that I cheated. My response, if I bothered speaking to the dead, was that fair fights were for training and exhibitions. Otherwise, you should use everything at your disposal.

Still, they had a time limit of an hour, before cities started getting wiped off the map. That wasn’t much time to prepare. Which meant that they were going to have to go with the ‘overwhelming force’ option.

“Which ship is our administrator on?”

Web Mistress shook her head. “Unclear. However, I’m scanning the access logs, and there are only three administrators in the solar system right now, including the two of us. If we assume that, since the Gel-nak know more about the System than us, they would keep the administrator they brought in to manage things out of harm’s way, then the carrier is the most likely place. That’s also where the overall commanders would be.”

I nodded, and looked back at the map. “What about the three cities being targeted by the battleships?”

“Hmm,” Web Mistress hummed, scanning the data. “US Military Command is readying weapons reverse-engineered from Gel-nak wreckage, along with an experimental city shield. They should be fine, at least for a while. Beijing has the Radiant Emperor and other supers. They also look to be enacting ritual magic to shield the city from attacks.

“The problem is Cairo. The Blades of Allah are mobilizing, with Scimitar leading them. If they were fighting on the ground, I’d say that they would have a good shot. But none of them have the kind of defensive abilities to shield a city from orbital bombardment, and the military there doesn’t have the same kind of technology as the US and China.”

“Master,” Foxtrot said, hesitantly, “a large-scale bombardment of Cairo will likely damage, or even destroy, the Pyramids, and the Sphinx. If that happens, the Seal of the Immortal King will be undone.”

I sighed. The Seal of the Immortal King wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t common knowledge, outside of the superpowered community. Normal people didn’t need to have more trouble sleeping at night, but supers, on both sides of the law, needed to know about certain danger spots, which is why the Guild kept a database for members. The Seal wasn’t a problem most people needed to deal with, but if it was damaged because some aliens blasted the city, then things would get… unpleasant for everyone, as the undead army of Enskerka the Undying would escape the prison they’d been trapped in two thousand years ago.

That, naturally, was a problem, because Enskerka’s stated goal was to turn the entire world into undead, which he would rule as a god-king. And he was so powerful that he had to be sealed away, since no one knew how to destroy him. Worse, it was said that, should he rise again, he would claim the souls of every person who had ever died in the lands of Egypt, and turn them into soldiers in his army. And a LOT of people had died in Egypt over the centuries.

It was one of the reasons none of the really big players ever made a move on Cairo, or much of the Middle East, actually. There were deep, dark magics buried under the sands, throughout the region, some of which had lasting effects, even to this day. As evidenced by all the explosions when we accidentally blew up all those ‘blessed’ by the artifact in Mt. Sinai not long ago. Everyone knew to tread carefully through that region when using superpowers.

And that really sealed the deal on what the next move was. “Web Mistress, go virtual. See if you can get into the networks on those ships. As you go, though, take a moment to deploy the rest of Devastation to Cairo.”

“You mean—” Stolen Victory started, hopefully.

I nodded, and said, “Yes, I’m letting you out to do what you do best. The Seal of the Immortal King is too dangerous to let fool aliens go and blow up by accident. Especially since we don’t know if the damn thing can be repaired with the System in place. But my command is this: no survivors from the Gel-nak. They are to be wiped out completely.”

“Even those that surrender, Master?”

“You can make their deaths painless, if you like, but I want any of those reptilian bastards you get your hands on to die. We are making a statement, here, which means we need to ensure that it is made in such a way that there is no misunderstanding. You will be my messengers for this.”

Pyra frowned slightly. “So, basically, all we have to do is fry as much of the aliens as possible? Great. Only thing is, how are we going to take the fight to them? Victory’s power has expanded to allow her to exist in space, and she can extend that protection to others, but none of my abilities will work in vacuum.”

Titania stepped forward. “Master, what if Victory and I go to space to attack the battleship? Even if we can’t destroy it with our power, we should at least be able to take care of any weapon ports? And in my ‘mechagirl’ form, I would be nimbler, and better able to avoid incoming attacks.”

Foxtrot nodded. “While they go about dealing with that battleship, the rest of us could go to some of the other cities where the landers look to be going. Just looking at the list, the Houston and Warsaw groups may need some help. Houston’s been slow to recover, hero-wise, since the Activation, thanks to the White Knights getting wiped out early, and Warsaw’s heroes are scrappy, and they’d probably make life hell for any aliens on the ground, but they are more suited to guerilla fighting than head-on battles.”

That much was true. Poland had, historically, never been blessed with supers on the level of those some other countries had. Not that they were weak, per se, but their national heroes were more on the level of the New York Knights, rather than the old Squadron Supreme, or beasts like Jinlong. They were well-trained and well-equipped, but there was a definite gap in power between them and some of the monsters out in the world.

“Very well,” I said, coming to a decision. “Titania and Stolen Victory will strike the battleship heading for Cairo, and hopefully cause enough damage that they cannot just bombard the city. The others may split up as they see fit, coordinating through Web Mistress to go where they can make the most difference. Remember, no surrenders, and no mercy to the aliens. They chose this fight, so they need to pay the price.”

“And what will you be doing, Master?” Serafina asked.

“Well, if Web Mistress cannot get me a schematic of that carrier, then I am going to teleport out to the carrier, cut my way through the hull, and begin murdering anyone I can get my hands on. If I teleport just outside the hull, then it will be easier to avoid teleporting into a wall, for instance. But I would much rather teleport onboard, if possible.”

FX frowned. “But Master, you don’t have any way of moving around in space, do you?”

“In actual space? No. If someone turns off the gravity on a starship, I can bounce around the same as anyone, and I can use my costume’s abilities to stick to the hull easily enough, if I want to. But being able to at least maneuver in space is something that I’m going to have to work on.”

“Well, I’m sure that defeating an alien war fleet should give us some XP, Master,” Stolen Victory said. “Perhaps enough that you can add new tricks on to your costume, with the help of the Tailors? You’re earning a good bit of ‘store credit’ from them, right?”

“True,” I nodded, “but first we have to win. Don’t count your victories before they happen, Victory. Otherwise, you might rush off and end up getting enslaved. Again.”

“Yes, Master,” she said, sheepishly.

Web Mistress caught my eye. “I don’t have a firm grasp of their network protocols, yet, but I should be able to ride a transmission into the carrier, and get you there. You’d probably be on your own, though. I doubt I’d be able to infiltrate the same way twice.”

“Even if it is you, Master, you can’t take on a whole ship’s worth of fighters at once,” Pyra said. “At the very least, some of them should have something like grenades. And grenades in enclosed spaces are distinctly unhealthy, even if you have major resistances in play.”

“You know what? Fair enough,” I nodded. Never let it be said that I didn’t take constructive criticism to heart. “I’ll just have to cheat, instead of playing fair. Web Mistress, go ahead and deploy the others. Then come back for me, once you’ve located their main life support controls.”

“Undertstood,” Web Mistress nodded.

I turned my attention away from them, and started concentrating on my powers. If I was going to do this right, then I needed to be less an unstoppable force, and more of a ghost. However, I couldn’t just ignore my defenses. I was going into a major fight against unknown opponents, after all. Fortunately, I knew a combination that would do quite nicely for this.

Power Configuration (84 Points available)

Cost

Power

END Cost

24

Frozen Armor (Armor) – (20 PD/20 ED) (60 Active Points). Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END, -1/2), Visible (-1/4), Costs Endurance (Only to activate, -1/4), Physical Manifestation (-1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4)

Covering his normal costume in plates of ice, Iceblade is able to better protect himself from attacks while this is active.

12

18

Mist Form (Desolidification) – Desolidification (affected by Fire, Wind), Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2), (60 Active Points). Side Effects (Automatically. Cannot Speak in Mist Form, -1), Cannot Pass Through Solid Objects (-1/2), Side Effects (Automatically, Only Affects Environment. Cold Aura, -1/2), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4)

Iceblade turns himself into a cloud of icy mist. While in this state, icy cold can be felt in the air nearby, and he cannot speak.

0

13

Mist Form (Flight) – Flight 10m, x4 Noncombat, Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2) (37 Active Points). Concentration (Must concentrate constantly, 0 DCV, -1), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4), Limited Power (Only while in Mist Form, -1/2)

As an icy mist, Iceblade can quickly fly through the air, allowing him to appear places that would normally be beyond his reach.

0

7

Mist Form (Perception) – Increased Arc of Perception (360 Degrees) with Sight Group and Hearing Group (20 Active Points). Concentration (Must concentrate constantly, 0 DCV, -1), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4), Limited Power (Only while in Mist Form, -1/2)

While in mist form, Iceblade’s sight and hearing automatically expand, turning every drop of water vapor into his eyes and ears. However, this onslaught of information makes it difficult to react to attacks that can still hit him in that form.

0

17

Mist Form (Invisibility) – Invisibility to Sight and Hearing Groups, Reduced Endurance (0 END, +1/2), Persistent (+1/2) (50 Active Points). Only when not attacking (-1/2), Limited Power (Only during Mist Form, -1/2), Always On (-1/2), Limited Effect (Does not affect Infravision, -1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4)

While in mist form, Iceblade automatically turns invisible to all forms of vision, save for those designed to detect changes in temperature, and his misty form gives off no sound.

0

4

Mist Form (Shroud) – Darkness to Sight Group 1m radius, Personal Immunity (+1/4), MegaScale (1m = 1km, +1/4) (15 Active Points). Side Effects (Automatic, only affects environment. Frost forms on solid objects, -1 1/2), No Range (-1/2), Limited Power (Can be dispersed with wind, -1/4), Conditional Power (Does not work in high heat, -1/4)

With a thought, Iceblade can project a burst of icy mist to shroud his location. Perfect for hiding the mechanics of how he turns intangible, or setting up a sneak attack.

1

Points Remaining: 1

It had been some time since I last used my mist form settings. Not since Chicago, when I dropped in on Storm Front. Direct violence had been the answer, more often than not. Now, however, I needed to put on a show, and that meant I needed smoke and mirrors to truly carve fear of me into the hearts of the aliens.