The Price of Power, Part II

This story was really designed to give life to Loki, one of the antagonists of season II. Although he fails, it sets the stage for Solstice. Of course, Stephen released that before this! :D

SolsticeDeep in Nexus…

 

Scorpio and Eron stared into each others eyes.  Eron’s finger was on a hair trigger and he had a determined look on his face.  Scropio glared back at the Akkadian Knight leader with not a hint of fear.

 

He released his grip on Wyldecard, letting him fall to the floor.  Wylde grabbed his throat and gasped for breath.  Scorpio turned to Eron and took a step forward.  Eron raised the rifle up to point directly between his eyes.  “Not one more step or it’ll be your last.”

 

Scropio thought better of it and stopped.  Eron continued as Wylde moved behind him.  “Who are you?”

 

“Scorpio.”  The response was curt.

 

Wylde spoke up in a croaking voice, “of the Syndicate?  What are you doing here?” 

 

“I’m not Syndicate, not any more.  I’m here as a hired gun and I was paid to delay you from getting to the reactor core.  Seems I’ll get paid.”  Scropio allowed a thin smile to crease his lips.

 

Eron kept the gun trained on him.  They’d already seen what this one could do, “Why not just kill us?” 

 

Scorpio’s smile disappeared.  There was no deceit in his voice.  “I wasn’t paid to do that.  Someone must want you alive.  Anyway, I used to be a Knight and don’t know that I would have taken the contract if those were the conditions.”

 

Eron lowered his gun slightly in surprise.  He began to speak, obviously surprised by Scorpio’s response.  As he did, Scorpio touched his belt and a second later he disappeared.  Eron raised the gun back up and peppered the hallway with plasma bolts and hit nothing. 

 

He must have teleported away.

 

The two heroes cautiously continued down the hallway towards the Nexus reactor core where they expected to meet up with Quan and xx.

 

Somewhere else, inside Nexus…

 

Quan and Stalker flew through the shafts connecting the air systems in Nexus.  They were large be design, allowing massive amounts of oxygen and sometimes other gasses to flow in a highly controlled manner.  Massive hatchways allowed for the manipulation of the airflow.  Right now, most of them were open to allow the free flow of air throughout the station.  Fortunately, the ones leading to the reactor core had been open up until now.

 

The two heroes were now floating before a massive set of doors leading to the reactor core, some 100 feet in front of them.  Three large robots resembling Wal-Evas floated in front of the portal, armed to the hilt.  The two heroes looked at each other and knew what had to be done. 

 

The robots reacted quickly to the attack, but not nearly quickly enough.  The two heroes made short work of them.  As the last robotic guardian hit the wall, breaking into thousands of pieces, Quan convulsed.  Stalker reached out to grab his shoulder and his hand passed right through him.  Quan turned transparent and faded for just a second.  He reached up and held his head and the convulsions passed. 

 

Looking at Stalker, he shook his head.  “I’m ok.  We have to keep moving.”

 

Stalker didn’t question his new friend.  Within moments they flew through the hole he had ripped in the steel doorway.

 

The Reactor Core…

 

The reactor core was understandably hot.  The core itself was a large sphere, transparent and filled with what appeared to be a miniature sun.  It floated in a large room the size of the Superdome and was completely surrounded by large devices that held it stationary in its bubble.  The bubble was ringed by a decking.  At one point, the decking actually extended into the bubble like an old fisher mans’ dock.  At the end of the walkway was a semi circular computer array.  The end of the dock was less than 100 feet away from the miniature star. 

 

Along the decking that ringed the room opposite from where the decking pierced the bubble, a door silently slid open.  Eron and Wylde tentatively entered the room.  Both had to immediately cover their eyes from the powerful light.  Eron reached into his coat and pulled out some sunglasses. 

 

“Don’t suppose you have another pair of those?”  Eron looked at Wylde and chuckled.  They both moved into the room.

 

As they rounded the room, they heard a deep voice bellow from out of nowhere.  “So, the Knights have returned… Why is it that you seem to always show up in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

 

Neither hero could see their foe, but they knew where the voice was coming from.  Whomever it was was floating in the air between them and the miniature star, completely invisible by virtue of the massive amount of light in the background.  Both heroes took cover behind some banks of computers.

 

“Seriously, do you think you stand a chance against me?  Why are you here anyway?  What brings you to Nexus and the reactor core?”

 

Eron tapped the communicator on his throat, “Quan, you there?”  Silence.  The core must be shielded in some way.  It made sense.

 

Eron attempted to use the filter on the scope of his rifle to look for his foe, but even the filter was not enough to diminish the light.  This was not good.

 

Wylde and Eron looked up to see a line of red, armored warriors advancing on them from both sides.  They immediately recognized Barthandalus’ troops, but the voice talking to them wasn’t the demi-god.  Back to back, they watched as the troops advanced.

 

“It’s about time I finished the job our master attempted to finish some time ago.  I don’t need you interfering in my plans.  If I’m to bring my master back, I need the right key and I’m not letting the two of you spoil it.”

 

“What about us?”  Stalker's booming voice was unmistakable.  A flash of green light shot across the room, disappearing in the light of the star.  Eron watched as a humanoid form shot out of the air between him and the sun and hit the far wall.  Although he didn’t recognize him, the red armor he wore gave him away as one of Barthandalus’ troops. 

 

Moments later, battle was joined.  Eron and Wylde tore into the red troops while xx shot across the room and engaged the mysterious foe in hand to hand combat.  “Loki, I should have known it was you.” 

 

Loki proved to be much more powerful than Stalker anticipated.  His counterattack sent Stalker shooting into the bubble containing the miniature star, sending colorful ripples of energy out in every direction as the force field containing the sun buckled under the strain of the attack.  Loki extended his hand and a massive telekinetic force pinned him to the bubble. 

 

Stalker started to strain to break free.  As he began to break the force, the bubble behind him became highly unstable and lines of energy similar to cracks in a window stretched out from his body along the surface of the bubble in all directions.  From the other side of the room, he heard Loki’s voice, “I wouldn’t advise killing everyone on Nexus in an effort to break your bonds.  You might want to think twice.”

 

Realizing he was right, he stopped straining and started to look around frantically for another way out.

 

Loki advanced on xx, intent on finishing his job as a second green blast of quantum fire hit him in the chest.  He crossed his arms in front of him and held his ground.  As the blast ended, he pulled his smoking arms away and stared at Quan.

 

“Quantum Elemental… no wonder the Knights found me.  I should have expected this.” 

 

Quan convulsed and faded once more, this time more than before.  He fell to the decking below extending from the wall into the bubble.  Loki started to laugh.

 

“Now I get it!  My creation is interfering with your connection to the Quantum Field.  I guess its about time you met your replacement then!  Loki pushed a button on a small remote he had in his belt and a bright point of light disengaged form the mini-star.  Moving towards Quan, it took on a humanoid shape.  Setting its foot on the deck feet away from Quan, it took shape as a silvery man.  Its connection to the Quantum Field was unmistakable and as it approached Quan, the convulsions increased.  A purple haze rose up from the floor at its feet and its eyes blazed.  Quan could see power, but couldn’t sense any life in it.  It was a true construct. 

 

“This is my key to returning my master.  I needed an elemental of my own that could re-open the rift and used your DNA to create one.  Beautiful, isn’t it?”  Loki was so enthralled with his creation that he never saw the dark shape shoot out of the air above him.  In the blink of an eye, the force of a planet hit him on the head and he hurtled towards the bottom of the chamber, crashing through the floor into the rooms below.

 

Just as quickly, the dark shape blazed a path towards the new elemental.  Scorpio hit the thing so hard that his fist actually crushed its chest and burst through its back on the other side.  The elemental opened its mouth in the shape of a scream, but nothing came out. 

 

Scorpio pulled his hand back.  The newly formed elemental put his hands up to cover the gaping hole in his chest, which was now bleeding  all manner of radiation, a direct bleed to the Quantum Field.  The computers in the room flickered and went out.  The force field around the sun began to flicker as well. 

 

With the new elemental disrupted, Quan’s convulsions ceased.  He shook his head, trying to clear it, and felt a hand on the underside of his arm.  Eron and Wylde, having dispatched with the troops, were helping Quan stand.  They exchanged looks and Quan turned to the new elemental.

 

Quan immediately held up his hands and began absorbing the energy and returning it to the Quantum Field.  He reached into the wound in the creature’s chest and made a fist in the hole, physically closing the link this thing had to the field.  The silvery man vaporized and the bleed stopped.

 

The power went back on to the computers and the force field bubble around the miniature star stabilized.

 

Stalker landed on the deck behind Scorpio.  “So, who do we have here?”  The other three heroes turned to face him.

 

Eron stepped forward, eying Scorpio intently.  “You get paid to do that?” 

 

“Not exactly.  I told you I was a Knight before.  I thought it over and realized that I haven’t been a hero in a long time.  I haven’t been on the side of good for a long time.  I was so intent on power and prestige that I forgot what it was like to fight the good fight.  I want to be a Knight again.”

 

Eron let his plasma rifle drop to his side.  Reaching a hand up, he placed it on Scorpio’s shoulder.  “Welcome onboard, brother.”  Scorpio genuinely smiled.

 

Stalker stepped closer in.  “I’ve seen everything I need to see.  I see what the Knights are made of now.  Welcome to the God’s Alliance.”

 

Wylde tapped Eron on the shoulder, “boss, I think we may want to leave now.”  Eron looked back at him smiling, “why’s that?”

 

Wylde pointed at a long line of Nexus troops pouring into the room.  Large security robots were joining them.  The heroes, with no desire to be at the center of an investigation, quietly slipped out through the air system and teleported back to the Defender.