Rebellion (Zero Series) (18 page)

“This
is going to end tonight. Our city will be free to live as they please. It seems
surreal,” she replied.

“I am
going to make sure this ends tonight. One way or another I am taking that tower
down,” I said.

“I
know you will,” she said.

“I
need you to stay here, though,” I said.

“Why
on earth would I do that?” she asked in an irritated tone.

“I
need to know that you are going to be clear of the tower in case something goes
wrong and I have to destroy it. I’m going to tell everyone else to clear out if
things get too bad up there,” I replied.

“I
know you don’t mean that you’ll take yourself out with the tower do you?” she
asked already knowing the answer.

“If I
don’t take Hades down tonight, we will not get another chance. This is our best
shot and if I have to, I am destroying everything,” I said. She remained
silent. She knew that nothing she said would change my mind. She knew that deep
down, I was right.

“You
better come back to me. Alive,” she said.

“I
will,” I said, not knowing if I could deliver on that promise.

We
both exited the room and met everyone in the main hub. They were all geared up
and ready to go. “How are we doing this?” Vine asked.

“Pan
and Synapse will sit on nearby rooftops with thermal goggles and keep a visual
on me until I have opened the way. They will then radio to the rest of you to
send the troops in. Jet, Sky and Flint will monitor radio activity from the war
room,” I looked around the room at the faces of all of my friends, “I just want
to say, that I couldn’t have done any of this without your help. Whatever
happens tonight, you all need to carry on and make what we and our troops
fought for count.”

Everyone
was silent as we exited the greenhouse. I was about to take flight when Jet
came up behind me and spun me around to kiss me. After a moment, she pulled
away and said, “I love you. Now go give him hell.”

I
nodded and shot into the night sky. As I flew toward the tower, I noticed that
there was an aura of energy showing around me. It was like a shadow that had
taken on the form of smoke. Now that I knew of my true power, I felt it growing
and I felt myself connecting more and more to it. I landed about one hundred
yards from the cargo bay at Poseidon. I saw four large men in thick armor
standing guard with heavy machine guns. I tapped my earpiece and said,
“Everybody in place?”

One
by one, everyone answered with an, “Affirmative.”

I
broke into a full speed run towards the guards. I was moving at a speed I never
thought possible. They must not have seen me coming because they reacted once I
was ten feet away from them. I slid and shot energy up under two of the guards’
helmets. I was expecting my normal force blasts to come from my palms but
instead a concentrated heat beam emerged. The laser-like blast made contact and
the two men fell to the ground. The other two stood in shock as I leapt to my
feet and crushed their guns with a gravity blast. They both threw their hands
up and surrendered immediately. I hit them with just enough energy to knock
them unconscious. I stepped back a few feet and fired a large energy blast into
the thick, steel door. It crumpled like tin foil under my power. I heard
Synapse and Pan both yell “Engage!” in my earpiece, signaling the rebels. I
hovered above the ground and flew into the cargo hold of Poseidon Tower. I began destroying machinery and power stations when moments later, the rebels came
storming in through the doorway I had opened. A blaring alarm set off and
Kraken troops came from the elevator. I yelled, “Fire!” and the troops began
unloading their rifles toward the Kraken troops. They fell like ragdolls as the
rebels’ energy rifles eliminated them one by one. Once they had destroyed the
Kraken battalion, they began storming the stairways and elevators to move up in
the tower. I blew a hole in the ceiling and ascended to the next floor. I found
rebels and Kraken troops engaged in heated battle as I continued to shoot holes
in the ceilings and ascended higher and higher in the tower.

“Zero,”
I heard Flint say in my radio.

“Go
ahead,” I responded.

“Synapse
got a thermal reading of the top floor after you destroyed some power source in
the basement. We show only one heat signature up there. Be careful when facing
Hades,” he said.

“Will
do. Zero out,” I said continuing my ascent. Floor after floor I passed by
carnage and heated conflict. I never had realized how tall the tower actually
was. I finally broke through into the lavish penthouse that Hades occupied.
There he stood looking out the large window over the city.

“Zero
my boy,” he said without turning around.

“It’s
over Hades,” I said angrily.

“I’m
sure you think so. However, you won’t be able to get any answers if I’m dead
will you?” he asked still facing out the window.

I
stood speechless. How did he know?

“I
must admit, you destroying Tartarus and defeating Armageddon was surprising to
me. I didn’t think you would succeed so soon. Your power must be growing at an
unprecedented rate,” he said turning to me.

I
stared into his evil eyes and wanted nothing more than to tear him apart. “How
do you know all of this?” I asked.

“I
know quite a bit more than you think,” he said lighting a cigar, “For instance
I know that you are a birther and you want to know where this scientifically
impossible power comes from. I also know that your parents lied to shield you
from the truth of this harsh world. Let me tell you a story. A long time ago, a
group of insane scientists used a gravity machine on the Earth causing
pandemonium and destruction. Little did they know that they had just set into
motion a series of events that would most certainly alter the world as we knew
it.” He pressed a button on the wall lowering an electronic map of the world. I
had never seen a map of the entire world. We had little access to resources
that would inform us on the layout and geography of the Earth. There was a
large red dot in the middle of the map. “This is where the machine was set
off,” he said pointing toward the blip. “People thought that it only affected
the Earth in a topographical way but something much more dangerous was set off.
Armageddon was just a distraction so I could continue my work.”

“What
work?” I asked.

“You’ll
be dead soon so I suppose it doesn’t hurt to tell you. A strange force started
emanating from this site. I have sent aerial drones to this place every couple
of weeks for the last thirty years to take energy readings. Drone after drone
returned with nothing but a stagnant reading until about a year ago when the
camera picked up an image of a large coliseum that had sprouted up nearly
overnight. I traveled there myself and came to find strange armored creatures
standing guard at every entrance. They were not of this world. I waited until
nightfall and crept past the guard beasts and into the lower levels of the
coliseum. What I saw was unlike anything I could’ve imagined. There were three
beings that each resembled a different mixture of human and beast. One was
tiger-like, one was dragon-like and the last was hawk-like. They were standing
around a large crystal orb that was glowing green. A voice was coming from
within. It said that the three “Titan Beasts”, which I assume the three beasts
were, were to hold a tournament in that coliseum two years from that date. The
winner would be granted the gift of absorbing the power of the being with which
they were communicating. It all made sense to me after that. When the machine
was set off, it destroyed dimensional barriers. Forces from other worlds were
able to cross into ours. People started being born with gene spikes after the
incident. The energy from other dimensions began seeping into ours and altered
our world’s destiny,” he said.

I was
speechless. I stared at the blip on the map and said, “What sort of
tournament?”

“I am
unsure. I can only imagine that the strongest spikers, creatures and beings
from any dimension that they can escape from to absorb this creature’s power.
It doesn’t matter for you, though. You will be dead and I will capture the
power of this creature, destroy the other Titans, and rule this world. I will
shape this world into whatever I want it to be,” he said with an evil grin
creeping across his face.

I
felt a rage growing inside me. My eyes became hot with the same feeling that
the laser energy gave me. My vision became red and I felt electricity beginning
to crackle from my hands. I let out a scream and my power exploded from a place
deep inside. I shot a lightning bolt at Hades and he knocked it to the left
with his index finger. It shattered the window and broken glass rained down
onto the street below.

“You
think you are the only one born with immense power?” he asked. His body began
to glow and his skin chipped away as old paint would from a wall. Cracks formed
all over his skin and a blue energy shone from within. “You and I are a cut
from the same cloth child. One in a million birthers are given the gift of
energy creation. I guess we beat the odds,” he said with his voice becoming
warped from the energy.

Somehow
he had grown his power to a point where his entire being was comprised of energy.
He tore his black shirt off and cracked his neck. He moved towards me at a
blazing speed. He threw a punch at me and his fist met my face with the force
of a cannon shot. My body was flung against his desk and it crumpled like
paper. I pushed myself to my feet and curled my fingers forming bowl shapes
with my hands. Energy started pooling in each hand. I jumped high toward the
vaulted ceiling of the penthouse. I spread my fingers out and energy beams
fired like bullets from all of my fingers. Some made contact with Hades’ body
and turned him in different directions. He threw his arms up and a sphere of
energy surrounded his body reflecting the remaining bullets in different
directions. We flew at each other and began punching the other person’s body
with incredible force. The pain was becoming too much so I pushed myself back
with a force blast. I fell to one knee and tried to catch my breath. Hades was
staggered as well but not nearly as much as I was. “Getting tired?” Hades
asked.

“Not
even close,” I said. I hurled myself at Hades charging an energy blast in my
palm. He opened his mouth and a similar energy beam began to form inside it. He
fired the laser at the same time as me causing the red and blue energies to
clash and cause an explosion. They were both stopped in the middle with each of
us feeding our own energy from each end. When one of us would gain some ground,
the other would push right back. I heard the elevator whir open behind me and
Frost emerge from it. He let out a gasp of surprise.

“You
have to get out of here!” I yelled.

“Not
a chance! We are ending this like we started it, recklessly and together!” he
yelled back firing ice blasts at Hades’ feet. His feet froze causing him to
stop his energy to let out a cry of pain. I stopped my beam and began charging
all of the energy I could muster into one final blast. Hades’ body melted the
ice right away and as he opened his mouth to fire again; I released a large red
mixture of different energies into his mouth. It blew right through his head
creating a gaping hole in the back of his skull. His eyes rolled back in his
head and the blue energy under his skin faded. The once blue glowing lines
became black and dead. Hades’ body lay on the red carpet lifelessly with a
smoking hole in his head. I fell to my knees and collapsed to the ground. I
breathed as deeply as I could. It was over. Hades was gone. I looked over at
Frost and he was smiling as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Zero!
Zero!” I heard Pan yell through the radio.

“I’m
here,” I said weakly.

“We
saw a huge thermal spike up there. What happened?” he asked.

“Hades
is dead,” I replied. The radio was silent for a moment. Through the broken
window I could hear a monstrous roar of cheering and celebrations rise up from
the city.

“I
can’t believe you did it,” Frost said.

“I
wouldn’t have been able to without your help,” I replied.

“Did
you get your answers before you took him down?” he asked.

I
instantly remembered the map on the wall and pushed myself to my feet. I walked
over and extracted the memory disc that contained the map file. We had finally
beaten Hades, but we had a new problem.

“What
was that map for?” Frost asked.

“We
thought Hades’ death would be the end. It’s not,” I said.

“What
do you mean?” he asked.

I
stared at the memory disc in my hand, “We better go find everyone. I’ll explain
everything at the greenhouse. Just know that we have a long road ahead of us.”