Necessity is the Mother of Invention: Chapter 7

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Necessity is the Mother of Invention

the same accident that caused the loss of his leg at age six also stimulated the latent genetics that ran in his family to trigger a mutation. Although becoming one of the ‘exo-humans’ the government monitored would prove to be the least of his worries once he stumbled upon his family’s secret.

Brought to you by the warped mind of Nuuan

Sorry for the delay in posting this part. As I mentioned in a blog real life (aka work) has gotten a bit hectic once again not leaving me much time to write and or edit during the evenings after work. There is only a few chapters left in this story and I am going to do my best to post them on a weekly basis.

Chapter 7

“Wait!” Melanie almost screamed at her father, who was flipping through the TV channels with the remote, “Go back! Go back!”

Looking quickly over where his daughter sat on the couch then back to the TV, Dan fumbled with the remote until he hit the back button. Spying what was on that channel he looked back at his daughter, “It’s only a news report.”

Melanie sat up and leaned forward, not taking her eyes off the Television, “I think I saw David’s uncle!”

“…still at the scene of what we believe to be a large scale sting operation against organized crime.” A female voice spoke while the screen showed an Aerial view of a large fenced in compound with a single large building. Two dropships sat in part of the parking lot near several trucking containers. The TV screen cut to another shot, this time a ground view of the entrance of the place. The double fencing was mangled and warped, a large crater sat in what should have been the entrance road and the single small building nearby looked like it had gone through a tornado.

“Three days ago the local and federal law enforcement agencies stormed the Verita’s Shipping company just outside of St. Louis Missouri, seizing the company’s assets and arresting its employees.” The screen switched back to the aerial camera, “From what our correspondent on the scene has been told, the local St Louis office of the Department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is in charge of this operation, but this man,” the camera zoomed in to several men near the side larger of the two dropships, one of whom was obviously giving the orders, “Who we have been told is Agent Wesley Scythe of the Department of Exo-Human Affairs appears to be the one truly in control.”

The screen switched to the news studio where the woman who had been speaking sat along with a man in a suit, “And we all know the significance of who this is, don’t we Beverly?” The man spoke.

“Yes we do Stan,” The woman continued, “The DEHA’s presence would signify that there was one or more exo-humans involved during the operation.”

“And let's not forget Agent Scythe is also one of the first men to successfully pilot the Dominator battle armor system,” her co-host added.

“Correct Stan, Those powered armor suits that Scythe and his men used are the predecessors of the various powered armor used today by both the military and the DEHA to protect us.”

“See!” Melanie pointed at the television, “David’s uncle. If he is there that means they found David!”

“Not necessarily honey,” Melanie’s mother had walked up behind the couch Melanie was sitting on, “They haven’t said anything about finding any hostages.”

The female reporter continued on the television, “Also the early reports that Apocalypse may have been sighted at the scene just before the raid were false. We have the St. Louis DEHA’s liaison officer here with us at the studio to explain the mistake.”

“Apocalypse?” Melanie gulped. Everyone stopped talking and stared at the television as the camera cut to a different scene where a gray haired man sat with another reporter.

Two of his fingers touching the ear piece as if to hold it in place, the man nodded then looked at the camera, “That is correct Beverly, after careful examination of the witness’s story we have determined that what he saw was one of our agents in the new HALO Aegisium armor. There is no cause for alarm as Apocalypse was not spotted, as you can see from these photos.” The camera cut to a split screen showing two pictures side by side. One picture of the day Apocalypse was seen fighting the supers in Georgia, the day he destroyed a national landmark. The second picture a blurred shot of a man wearing dark blue armor. The man continued, “As you can see in the pictures, the color of the armor is a very close match and from a distance could easily be mistaken.”

“They don’t look anything alike!” Melanie swore at the TV.

“Shhhh,” Her father hushed her as he had now became interested in the story.

Melanie’s mother slipped back into the kitchen, picked up the phone and punched in Teri’s number, “Hi Teri, its Mary.”

“Hi Mary.”

“Have you heard anything new about David?” Mary asked.

“Nothing since I spoke with Wes last night,” Teri’s voice cracked slightly as she fought to hold back the tears, “I’m really worried about David.”

“Melanie saw something on TV about it and I was hoping.” Mary said, “You know she really cares a lot about him.”

“I know,” Teri barely managed to get out as Mary heard her friend begin to softly cry.

“I’m going to come over, ok?”

“Kay,”

“I’ll bring Melanie with me, she can keep an eye on Cindy for us.” Mary heard the click as Teri hung up.

~o~O~o~

“Ryan, any of your new friends tell you why the sun never sets here?” Ayers questioned as Apocalypse, who was no longer wearing the strange blue armor, walked out of the room they had David in.

“The planet’s rotation is much slower than we are used to. One revolution of this world takes several months to occur. This is the reason there are so few of the natives here right now. Their people have already begun moving to a new location before this area goes dark.”

“I thought this was Like our Earth but another universe?”

“Not likely,” Ryan answered, “Their sun is a bit different, either its smaller than Sol, or this world orbits further out from the star. With the temperature here, that would also mean that this sun is hotter than ours.”

“When you made that portal, shouldn’t we have crossed into the same location in this realm?”

“It doesn’t work that way. The realms are not like flat sheets of paper that you can punch a hole through one into the next and be at the same location on the seconds sheet as you were on the first.” Ryan explained, “The realms are more like a pot of spaghetti noodles moving around in a pot boiling water, there is no order in the way they touch, but when and where they touch a crossing can be opened. It’s even possible that we are still in the same realm as our earth, but have crossed into another part of that realm hundreds, maybe even millions of light years away from earth.”

“So you’re saying that one of these realms can bend back on itself and let you cross great distances?” Ayers whistled, “Wow talk about travel!”

“Yes, that is one of the reasons my people all but gave up space travel, “Ryan agreed, “It was much faster, economical and safer to travel through the realms.”

“Do you always have to hunt these places, couldn’t they make some more permanent?”

“Yes, our scientist came up with a technology that would hold the two realms in place so that the crossing could be made permanent,” Ryan’s voice grew quiet, “Those were destroyed.”

“Destroyed, why?”

“Long story, but we destroyed them when our world was invaded.”

“You were invaded?”

“In our travels through out the realms we aided and taught the other races we met, shared technology that they could use to better their world.” Ryan activated his armor as he walked up to Ayers, pulling the silvery blue armband from it before deactivating the armor and sitting down beside Ayers. Staring at the armband Ryan continued, “One world become jealous, they wanted the one technology our laws forbade us from giving to others.”

“Let me guess,” Ayers said, “it’s the one that lets you open the crossings.”

“Yes and no. The crossings we created were free for any race to use. The technology that powers it…” Ryan sighed heavily, “It’s very dangerous.”

“How dangerous?”

“We were not the only race to discover this, nor were we the first. Back when my people were taking their first baby steps into the expanse, there were other races that had mastered the expanse, ones that could open crossings anywhere at anytime to anywhere of their choosing,” Ryan paused. “There was a great war between several of those races. A war that spanned across several realms, eventually shattering those realms. The effects of their war began to cascade into other realms fragmenting those realms in the wake of the destruction those races caused. It was explained to me like an ever expanding hole ripped into the fabric of time and space that would have eventually swallowed everything.”

“If that is true, how are we here now?” Ayers questioned.

“My people, our scientists and scholars, found a way to repair this tear in reality, somehow reversing much of the damage caused by the war.”

“Are you, I mean your people, the only ones left that can make these crossings?”

“No, but we may be the only ones that use technology to do so,” Ryan stated, “We learned how to open crossings by studying those that could do it through their own innate ability.”

“You mean your people built a technology that mimics magic?”

“Would you agree that magic is the ability to use or manipulate an unknown force or power?”

“Yeah, I guess it could be described that way.”

Suddenly Ryan’s armor appeared, covering him, “So what or how would you describe my ability to create this armor?” His armor quickly faded away.

“It’s not metal, it looks like, almost like some type of magical or maybe even a PK shield?”

“And how would you say I ‘manifest’ my armor?” Ryan asked as the armor disappeared.

“It has to be magic or some mental ability.”

Rolling up his sleeve Ryan showed Ayers a dark blue metallic armband that covered much of his left forearm, “This is what allows me to bring forth my armor, it is neither magic, mental or a mutant ability.”

“You have a magical bracer?”

“No it’s a technology that my people developed.” Holding up the smaller lighter blue almost silver armband he held in his hand, “This is also. I just don’t understand why it did not work.”

They were interrupted as one of the natives approached, *D’pakja, the child is free of the Moras, we must go to Black rock now, there they have the medicines to bring him out of the sleeping sickness of the Moras*

*How far is Black Rock?* Ryan asked in the same strange language.

*Many days, but we travel light and faster than others that that already left, they wait for us there,* Behind the native, two other natives carried out a litter that held David and proceeded to the ramp that led upward, *We go now!* The native turned in the direction of the ramp and walked away.

“What did he say?” Ayers looked at Ryan.

“Apparently we must go to some place called Black Rock to finish healing David and we are leaving right now.” Ryan stood, manifesting his armor and storing the small armband away before following the natives. Ayers put his helmet on and followed close behind Ryan.

The two men fell in line behind behind the seven natives, once out of the valley they began a slow jogging pace across the barren rock. Every few hours they would call a stop to eat and drink. Ayers thought it strange when he saw the coyote turn one of the water skins up to his mouth and gulp down a considerable sum of water for its size during one of these rest stops. No one else paid any attention, but then the natives probably did not know it was a robot, he would have to ask Ryan about this when they had more time.

After these short rests the natives would then switch who was carrying the litter that David was onto another pair and take off once again at the jogging pace they had begun with. The small coyote ran alongside the litter that the unconscious David lay on.

~o~O~o~

“I wish we could have stayed at David’s longer,” Melanie dreaded the thought of being labeled a mutant and being forced to carry one of the DEHA identification cards even more than she dreaded going to the DEHA office to get tested. What was worse, she would have to show it to the school secretary and the school would then know.

“So do I dear,” her mother glanced over at Melanie, “if it wasn’t for this appointment of yours we would stay. You know that Teri fears that David may never come home.”

“I do too,” Tears began to form and roll down Melanie’s cheeks as her thoughts drifted to David and the possibility that she may never see him again.

“I think this is the place, Your father brought your sister up when she was tested, I haven’t been here before,” Mrs. Bell stated as she pulled off the road into the parking lot. The parking lot was less than a quarter full so finding a spot wasn’t difficult for Melanie’s mother. Shutting off the car, Melanie’s mother leaned over to her daughter giving her a warm hug, “Everything will be Okay, Mr. Scythe will find David and bring him home.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know what type of man David’s uncle is, he doesn’t give up and neither should you.” Mrs. Bell smiled, “He will find David. Now let's get inside and get you tested. Maybe if it doesn’t take too long we can swing by the mall before we go home.”

Any other time the possibility of going shopping at the mall with her mother would have thrilled Melanie but not today, not with David missing and having to go through the testing for her abilities. Her worst fear being how this would affect school and her friends. While the hatred of exo-humans wasn’t bad in their area as it was in the eastern United States, the anti mutant groups were growing in places like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Davenport and Dubuque having already passed many city ordinances on exo-humans as the fear and hatred spread westward out of Chicago.

Walking across the parking lot, the building seemed to be made in a square ‘U’ shape with a large courtyard in the middle that held various outdoor tables, chairs and benches giving an overall relaxing atmosphere to the entrance. Entering the building through the large glass doors they stopped at the reception desk.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Bell. I have an appointment,” Melanie’s mother said to the younger brunette woman behind the desk.

“Hello Doctor Bell, I’m Sharon,” The woman smiled up from her chair as she began typing at her keyboard, “Give me a moment to pull up that information.” After a minute she glanced up at Melanie, “Here it is, I take it you are the one that needs to be tested?” Melanie nodded, “Good, have you thought of a codename yet honey?”

David’s little sister Cindy had been the one to give her the idea. Often when Melanie would be visiting David, Cindy would ask Melanie to play with her by making puppets, as Cindy called Melanie’s creations. “Umm, puppet?” Melanie almost whispered. The woman began typing again.

“That appears to be free to use,” Sharon smiled up from her desk, “Okay I have everything here that I need. Doctor if you would like to take Puppet over to the waiting area someone will be with you shortly,” Pointing over to a large door to her left.

Once she saw Melanie and her mother had entered the waiting room, she picked up the phone, “Hello? Miss Black? Yes there was a note attached to this appointment that said to contact you when they arrived? Yes it is a Doctor Bell and a teen girl. Yes Ma’am, no problem.” Sharon felt stomach tightened into knots as she hung up the phone, feeling pity for the young girl. Sharon did not know Miss Black that well, but the woman’s reputation was well known to her, even the powered armor jocks gave Miss Black a wide berth when they passed her in a hall.

~o~O~o~

Their native guides had warned them when everyone saw the moon begin to rise, so they had run. They had to make it to a safe cave before the eclipse occurred. Ryan had formed his dark-blue armor once again becoming Apocalypse, then picked up David from the stretcher, carrying him in a fireman carry across his shoulders, holding David in place with one hand encircling David’s right arm and leg. As Apocalypse, Ryan could have easily ran faster, but that would have left the natives, who had so far been a godsend to Ryan’s little group, not to mention Ayers, who even with the added strength and speed his HALO suit gave him, could barely manage to keep the pace the natives had set.

As the large moon continued to rise it eventually blocked their view of the sun and the group was surrounded in twilight. Which gave them a respite from the searing heat, but also meant that the nocturnal predators the natives had told them about would soon arrive. The natives had said that being out in the open was certain death. They could not even describe the creatures to Apocalypse as no native that had seen one had lived to talk about it. Apocalypse knew he would fare much better with his weapons than the natives expected, but as it has been said so many times, discretion is the better part of valor, and hoped he did not have to put his armor and weapons to the test. Only a fool went confidently into a battle against an unknown opponent.

An hour later the overly large moon obscured over half the sky, and although now dark, there still seemed to be enough light to see by fairly easily. The temperature had dropped a good twenty to thirty degrees without the hot sun heating up the landscape. None of this mattered to the men as they found themselves fighting off the first of the strange creatures that had caught them. Fifty yards, was all they needed, only fifty measly yards and they would have made it to the safety of the cave. Now with more and more of the giant bat-like things reaching them, it seemed that it would be fifty yards they would never cross as both Apocalypse and Ayers fired their weapons as the creatures drew near.

One of the natives screamed, Ayers turned to see one of the beasts dragging the man across the ground. Firing a three round burst into the horror it dropped to the ground. Before the man could get up two more of the creatures landed by the native man, he screamed once again, then no more. Apocalypse had one of his pistols in hand, while still holding David across his shoulders with his other hand, firing at the creatures closest to them. The alien weapon made quick work of each creature, but for every one he killed three more took its place.

“Cover your eyes!” Ayers yelled as he tossed something out on the ground at the largest mass of creatures.

Realizing what Ayers had thrown Apocalypse shouted above the noise in the strange language of the natives, *Close your eyes NOW!* Hoping they would listen as he shouted. Hearing the explosion as the flash bang went off, Apocalypse opened his eyes turning back into the direction of safety, “RUN!” he shouted in both English and then in the natives tongue. Ayers was already moving, pushing the natives as he ran toward the rocky outcropping the natives had said held their safety. Out of the corner of his eye Apocalypse saw a blur of movement, bringing his pistol up as he turned he saw the coyote had jumped out to intercept one of the creatures that was almost upon Apocalypse.

Unable to fire without hitting the coyote, Apocalypse stood there aiming his pistol at the beast as it screeched and tried to shake the smaller coyote from where the coyote had latched on to the beast’s neck and digging his extended claws into the beast. Dark fluid began gushing from the wound the coyote had made in its neck, the coyote jumped free just as the creature fell to the ground and began flopping around madly.

“Don’t just stand there. RUN!” The coyote looked up at Apocalypse before launching itself at the next nearest creature.

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Comments

Multiple Writers?

BarbieLee's picture

Nuuan, I would love to meet you, but not at night and it would have to be a high traffic public place. Hon, you shift personalities with your different stories. Totally different person, style of writing, and writing skills.
Your ability to handle the necessary elements for a great read comes through with each personality change. No matter which muse is whispering in your ear, still good story telling.
Fascinating looking at it from this side.
always
Barb
Life is a gift, treasure it until it's time to return it.

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

4 out of 5

of the voices in my head want to say thanks for such a glowing review. The 5th one is too excited about playing in the traffic:)

We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

I like that voice, it sounds

I like that voice, it sounds fun :)

As long as majority rules you can't go wrong with those voices :D

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

Traffic good!

WillowD's picture

Er, ..... wait.

That is

Monique S's picture

one hell of a coyote!

Lovely story, Nuuan.
Monique.

Monique S

Agreed

The roadrunner would not survive one minute against this one.

Lucky for everyone

David didn't build a Bugs Bunny robot

We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

Yet.

Yet.


I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.

Coyote isn't brave

but he was well desugned.

Flavor

I'll have to agree, this chapter had a different flavor to it. Not bad just different, which is great for the flow and color in the story :)

You go, Wily!

It looks like the creatures have met their match.

Darkness not friendly

Jamie Lee's picture

Well, now it's clear why the natives travel before it gets dark. A horde of flying killers more than ready to take advantage of the dark is not a pleasant thought.

Coyote is an extremely faithful creation, and useful in a fight. Thankfully it's small enough, and doesn't give off a heat signature, or the flying hunters might have had a very small snack.

Others have feelings too.