William’s lips curled up into a smile, his eyes twitching left-right left-right as he read through the summary of leads they had collected. He was gripping the paper maybe slightly too tightly, and caffeine and exhaustion as well as excitement caused it to shake. The last few days had revolved around finding more out about the demons that had set up the meatpuppet ambush earlier. Will’s main contribution had not been phoning contacts or looking online or talking to the police or remote magical means, however. He had drawn the short straw, and from that his exhaustion stemmed. Where his comrades had been doing behind the desk amateur detective work, Will had been walking around the city, looking for signs of magical activity and asking at everything from churches to below-bridge hobo gatherings about disappearances or vaguely defined ‘strange activity’.
His capacity, unique among his group, to not be threatened by most things in New Haven had functioned as him drawing this straw, as it let him continue the job alone, at night in any part of the city, for hours. At least it had paid off, along with the other methods. A number of disappearances in the city, with no link between the victims, aside from them all having seemingly been chosen for living alone and being reclusive- people who won’t be missed. A decrease in the homeless population in the poorest district of the city. A small streetgang in the same district all becoming reclusive and eccentric. Finally, numerous magical signatures, centred upon a building known as the main clubhouse of said gang. Best of all, all of these different events fell into the same timeframe of ‘just after the painting was stolen’. This is colloquially known as ‘the demon timeframe’.
Will put the sheet down onto his desk, and rose to his feet. He began getting more thoroughly dressed; a helmet/gas mark combo bought from a military surplus store, a Kevlar motorcyclist’s jacket and trousers, welding gloves and welding goggles beneath the helmet thing, and strong shoes. Not exactly a superhero outfit, but good enough for what he intended; light protection against shrapnel catching him by surprise, and against gas and blinding flashes. Finally, a pair of binoculars, and contacts so he could avoid having to wear glasses under the mask.
Will moved over to the oft-stared at mirror, and inspected himself in all of his makeshift armoured glory. “I look like a rioter but I feel like a very well protected teddy bear.” He stretched, getting used to the extra weight, and the slightly-more rigid feel of the clothes. He looked down at his hand, and noted that he was shaking more than before. “At least these guys won’t be able to walk through my shields. I’ll have to go to that clubhouse like this and fight the demons soon, but for now, globetrotting.” Finally his gaze rested upon the red spray painted plus on his chest, matched by an identical one on the back of the jacket. Plagiarising the Red Cross would hopefully make his intentions clearer.
Thanks to Will’s ability to create temporary or permanent portals between locations, Will can theoretically range across the entire world to engage in heroics. More information is needed before they can attack the demons, but with the variety of flashpoints around the world, there is generally always somewhere for a super-powered individual to drop in and open a can of justice. Will already had a destination in mind, but first a view would be required. Turning on the news, will began to focus upon the live coverage of a prison riot, currently occurring in Mexico. After a few seconds of observation, he turned away, and began to trace patterns, listening to the correspondent talk.
‘…12 minutes ago, when a series of explosions destroyed large sections of the main cell block’s eastern wall and the prison headquarters. It is unknown who perpetrated the bombing, however speculators have pointed towards terrorists, cartels or it being a simple accident. What is known is that soon after, a general prison riot began, with contact being lost aside from handheld radios to the prison after 10 minutes, when the back-up generator was destroyed, as power had already been cut in the initial attack. Mexican army forces are preparing to move in, with the first goal being to reach the warden barracks, where the majority of the guards and staff are barricaded in, as of last contact.’
The camera panned out to show the prison from a helicopter, filming live. 16 tower-block sized compounds, arranged in four squares, A, B, C and D, made the cell blocks. The centre of each block held a large courtyard, with an even larger one placed between the four blocks. A high concrete wall topped with razor wire and dotted with watchtowers surrounded everything, in one place marred by a gaping crater. A short bridge connected the compound to the barracks, built on a separate part of the island. The whole facility was situated on an island at the centre of a lake, with the only connected being a heavily guarded docking station on the one area that was safe to sail to. In total, 42,000 people lived here, guards and inmates.
Will froze, realising he needed to go to the barracks rather than anywhere else in the prison first, and began to adjust the pattern, removing, altering and adding to account for the slight difference. Before he was going to appear in the main lobby, as had been shown on the news, but now he was adjusting to appear in the picture of the barracks courtyard from before the riot, flashed onto the screen as part of the report.
‘For those of you just joining us, we are reporting from the Islas Marias Federal Prison, in the Marias archipelago, Mexico. A prison riot is currently unfolding, with much of the prison being lost to the rioters, having begun 12 minu-’
There was a *click* as the gate reached completion.
For a split second, an archway appeared in the middle of the pandemonium filled concrete barracks, through which music and a reporter’s commentary could be heard, as Will looked in. The gate would last only a second, long enough for Will to wish he could speak Mexican Spanish while also raising a dome shield around the exit. Screaming and gunshots and breaking and burning noises all filtered through the gate to his side, muffled as if through water. Wisps of smoke, dust and ash gently wandered through into his apartment, accompanied by a magical after-image.
Will’s gut clenched at this last sensation, wondering that their demon problem might be greater than previously thought, but cast aside that thought. It was too unlikely, and he had no more time to think, as he stepped through.
Will was immediately aware that he had stepped into a warzone; smoke was thick in the air, and all the sounds from before were no longer muffled. At one end of the courtyard, double bunks, desks, doors and all manner of furniture as well as a few cars were piled up, blocking the exit from the bridge onto the barracks area. Guards, with varying levels of injury- ranging from unharmed to stab and bullet wounds- were manning it, numbering around 6 dozen. Sparse gunfire and the sound of blunt and bladed objects hitting flesh and armour ringing in the air. The defenders were in some cases fully kitted out in riot gear and armed with guns, in others they had clearly had to wake up, grab a baton and start fighting, with everything in between. The attackers had stolen a few guns from wardens, but in most cases were armed with chairs, batons, and knives, as well as the ubiquitous combination of fists and rage.
At the back of the room, piled up on mattresses, were the wounded; wardens, staff, visitors and some prisoners, along with those tending to them. A quick glance told Will that the barricade would hold for now.
‘Now for the difficult part.’
Still protected by his shield, this time using one that was fully invisible, Will raised his hands above his head, and began to approach the medical area. Two medics, with a panicked, determined look and what looked like tire irons ran out to greet him, yelling and brandishing their weapons. This was expected, as Will had appeared from midair, looked like a bandit, and was attempting to reach the wounded. As soon as they were a few metres away, Will placed two dome shields around them, and turned his head from one to the other, making eye contact both times and instilling calmness via his pacification power. They stopped struggling to get to him as he let down the barriers, and when he gestured back to the wounded, they turned and rushed back to what they were doing before.
As he approached closer, he was confronted once more, but the same trick worked, and the pacified defenders convinced their friends that he was on their side, at least long enough for him to approach one of the wounded. A quick demonstration upon a man with a jagged chest wound, and trust was gained, now without needing to use his psionic powers.
Will spent a minute being led around by medics, healing everything from a Sinola member who had fled from an attack by Zetas, to a warden with a bullet lodged just left of his spine. Once he was done, he was approached by an officer, bearing a megaphone.
‘Come on, save my monolingual barbarian ass, speak English, be awesome.’
“Are you Icon?”
“…Oh god yes. I mean no. Hello though. He has different powers, though with only one ‘out’ metahuman, I can understand the confusion.” ‘Rambling.’ “I’m here to help you though.”
There was a brief pause as the officer gave him a strange look. “Okay. Good. What can you do? Flying and strength as well, or is it entirely different?”
“Entirely different. Healing, energy shields, some weak mind control and… magic bullets.”
The officer seemed relieved, understandable. “We want to survive until help arrives, with you that should be possible.” He paused, as if considering whether he really thought what he was about to say. “Despite so many of them being horrible bastards, if your power would let us, we would rather stop more deaths amongst the prisoners by stopping the riot than merely survive the siege. Plus there is the matter of other wardens still elsewhere in the compound.”
“I may be able to help. I think there may be something more than cartels and rioting inmates here, but I should be able to subdue them.” Will stopped and realised that his habit of adding qualifiers to everything was not reassuring here. “Scratch that. I will be able to subdue them, this is within my power. Don’t worry. However, before the attack, was there anything abnormal, you might call magical or spiritual?”
“Good. Magical? That’s… Well, one thing springs to mind. Cell 4582 in Cell Block B1. The prisoner there was found dead yesterday. No shadows could be cast in that room after that. That is coincidentally around where the first explosion seems to h-”
*KOOOOOMM*
Everyone seemed to jump an inch into the air as a wave of force rippled through the barracks, knocking dust and small bits of debris loose, and knocking some off of their feet. Will and the officer were motionless for a beat, as if waiting for something more to happen. The part of the cacophony that was breaking and crushing noises seemed louder, but nothing more.
“Do you have a megaphone? Also tell me what to call you. We’re going on the attack now. I’ll subdue, make sure everyone I take down is contained, have everyone ready to turn back when I say. No offense, but there’s something here that is far out of my power league, and you don’t register on the scale. When it comes to dealing with that, I want you and your men to run to safety.”
“No, but I can get one. Aurelio.” The officer gritted his teeth, not wanting to leave the safety of his men and the facility entirely over to Will in the case of them fighting this unknown. “Fine, I will trust you to handle this.”
“Thank you.”
Will jogged over to the barricade, as Aurelio’s voice began to boom out of the megaphone, as far as William knew, he was repeating in more words what he had said. A wall of silver force flashed into place at the front of the barricade as Will ascended, and the defenders moved back from it. Prisoners that previously had been smashing weapons against riot shields and bodies now attempted to break the shield, with no real effect. Will cast his gaze around the screaming throng of inmates, catching their eyes through the transparent shield, rapidly inciting mass panic as the rioters at the front of the crowd went temporarily mad with terror, wailing and clawing as they fought to get back from Will. This sent a wave through the crowd, which became less bunched up as parts moved away from the wall, allowing Will to raise another two shields, one trapping 95% of the crowd between it and the barricade, the other shield being raised to split a third of the crowd off from the rest. He continued to cast his gaze around, now focusing upon the isolated third. At the same time, he conjured up 20 of the magical projectiles, each shaped like an equal sided pyramid. He slotted them together, forming two basketball-sized diamonds of magical energy. With these, he bludgeoned select members of the crowd, those showing the strongest resolve, those with covered eyes, those armed with guns and those attacking others, using enough force to incapacitate but not wound. After a few dozen seconds, the isolated third of the crowd was reduced to a panic-stricken mob, allowing him to mentally dominate them easily despite their large numbers. Over the course of five seconds, over a hundred rioters stopped trying to escape the shield and Will’s gaze, and merely dropped down motionless upon the floor. Using the same tactics, Will pushed the remaining rioters further back from the barrier and moved it forward, before motioning for the wardens to take the bodies.
This corralling continued for a few minutes until all the rioters that previously had been besieging the barracks had been defeated and captured. By the estimates of the guards, this represented about a tenth of the prison’s population, which totalled around 40,000. Despite Will’s best efforts, 51 prisoners and 6 wardens had been killed in the barracks area since his arrival. He could now detect a powerful magical signature near the eastern section of the prison, with the signature occupying a worryingly large amount of space. Will and Aurelio now stood on the top of the barracks, looking out onto a courtyard connected to the bridge linking the barracks area to the bulk of the facility.
“Aurelio, why haven’t the soldiers moved in? They’ve got a lake to cross, sure, but it’s been half an hour and their base is close by, surely?”
“…I don’t know. They’ve always been here in half this time in the drills, maybe they’re holding off?”
“Gahh.” Will took out his binoculars, and peered at the banks of the lake.
“I see armoured vehicles, I’m no expert so it could be anything from APCs to MBTs, but either way, they’re just staying there, they have hover crafts ready, but... And the helicopters we spotted earlier are definitely military.”
“Cowards. Can’t they see what’s happening?” The warden balled his fists and glared out at the bank, before letting out a sigh and continuing. “In any case. We have to re-take the rest of the facility. And you need to deal with whatever monster you can feel, if the army is too-” he stopped, his gaze transfixed at a point in the sky for a moment, before leaping sideways and tackling Will to the ground. Something grey and trailing fire moved through the air above them, going from a point on the horizon to somewhere behind them in a handful of moments. A deep thud was heard as they got to their feet, unharmed due to the distance from the impact, as they saw a burst of fire blossom out from somewhere on the island.
“WHY- Why are they [B]bombing us![B]” yelled out Will, as a slower and much higher metal shape passed over them, piercing through clouds with its sonic scream following behind.
A deep roar echoed from the direction of the explosion, sounding disturbingly similar to that of a wounded, angry animal.
“Ah. They’re afraid of the monster, and this is how they want to fight it.”
A series of smaller booms were now heard, accompanied by flashes of light along the bank and the hills around it. Then, more explosions near the point that the fighter had attacked, as the projectiles landed.
“To state the obvious, they’ve begun shelling us.” Spoke Aurelio. “We need to get people to safety, the closest thing to that would be the other side of the facility. You need to stop this thing as soon as possible. This is going to be a massacre for the prisoners, even if the military wins.”
The metahuman nodded, staring in the direction of the monster, unable to see it for the buildings. “After each impact, it seems to become weaker, but then much stronger than before. I think they’re hurting it, but as prisoners die, it becomes more powerful. This whole prison riot situation must have been done to summon this in a place where there would be huge numbers of deaths to feed off of.”
“No more time to waste then. We’ll start trying to evacuate those that we can, fighting those that won’t… You can go slay the dragon.” Replied the officer, adding a smile with the final statement.
Will grinned. “Good luck. Happy to have been able to fight on your side. I just want to mess with numbers and rockets, someone like you should have been given this power.” The two men finished their goodbye and ran down the stairs, one heading back to the barracks to organise the wardens, the other walking out onto the courtyard.
Without the rooftop vantage the banks were hidden, though Will could still see puffs of smoke from mortars on the hills, and the helicopters hovering over the water. There was a terrific crash, and the sky seemed to flash as if with lightning. For a moment everything appeared in negative, harsh unnatural colours that hurt the eye. When the colours returned to normal, one helicopter was falling and burning.
Will began to sprint, forming shields around himself as he ran into the main prison compound. Three mace-like energy constructs floated around him, preparing to batter away anyone in his path.
He moved through a lobby and a smashed security station, entering cell block B3. Prisoners occasionally appeared running in the opposite direction, ignoring him for the most part, but at times warning him back. A few times he stopped to heal wounded, in some cases they were abandoned, others walking and still more being carried by their friends. A few wardens were intermingled in the mess of prisoners, this close to the monster it seemed that the hatred had been shelved.
Dull thuds continued to call out, as well as that horrific scream. Artillery and missiles kept firing, now only coming from over the horizon; those that had not retreated from the banks had been scoured from it. The helicopters no longer graced the skies with their spinning murder-presence, and even the roaring fighters were at risk when they appeared in the distance to fire their missiles.
The demon now seemed to be expending most of its efforts at shooting back at the military and firing into the fleeing crowds as they attempted to reach the shore or the dock, realised Will. He began to encounter destruction caused not by the riot, but by the military’s attempt to contain the creature. He took this as a cue to harden the shields around him, the faint silver glow solidifying into a shell of energy.
‘Next time we bring ear defenders too,’ he thought, as a high pitched wail shook the air and walls around him. Will could sense at least a hundred prisoners and wardens trapped or fleeing ahead of him. He saw signatures winking out every few seconds, victims of the monster or those fighting it, and had to stop bile rising up in his throat, and keep running.
Finally he burst out into the courtyard between blocks B1, 2, 3 and 4. Or rather, he transitioned from concrete corridor to crater, where a house-sized section of B3 on the edge of the court had been gouged out by a tremendous force.
Will ignored a burst of heat and light above and to his left as a mortar shell hit his shield harmlessly, instead staring at the demon before him.
It possessed a light grey, bordering upon white, chitinous carapace, with a flat lozenge-shaped body held off of the ground by 8 double jointed trunk-like legs. Its feet each had 5 thick chitin spokes fanning out upon the ground to help distribute weight, and when lifted, revealed writhing lamprey mouths, about 20cm in diameter, with the feet slightly below twice that width. The demon’s carapace plates were entirely smooth, apart from where marred by burns and dents from the weapons used against it. For the most part, it seemed unhindered by any injuries it had.
From under the hood of its shell, near what was presumably the front of the creature, 3 pairs of purple glowing points swivelled and peered out. Below this, there was a wide opening adorned with mandibles of varying size and uniform viciousness. The opening did not seem to be a mouth as it seemed, so much as a tear or rip in space, held in place by the demon’s body. Will felt himself being drawn in as he stared into it, to his mind and eyes it could equally be a furious inferno, an expanse of stars or a simple void. The sensation of energy being stopped by his shields snapped him back into attention, however. Constant and low level bombardment, invisible aside from the ripple on his shield, seemed to emanate from opening. With a sickening feeling, Will understood that it was radiation, powerful and strongly ionising as far as he could tell from the impacts. He observed as the demon unleashed another strike of false lightning to the horizon, his mind turning to the question of how many of those that escape would succumb to radiation poisoning soon after.
It had yet to notice him, as it seemingly focused on a point in the sky, the air seeming to shimmer in front of its ‘mouth’ as a fighter came screaming out of the clouds. Will saw it waver in flight, something barely perceptible, and felt a sinking feeling, realising that the creature must have bombarded the pilot with a lethal dose. A few seconds later, the jet crashed against the hills around the lake, with no ejected seat appearing to give hope.
‘Are we gonna fight this thing or just watch it slaughter those that try to stop it? Come on, we’re Aegis, we can do this and thus we don’t have the choice to not. False bravado, then we’ll finish this.’
Will took a step forward from the crater, clapping his hands once above his head, and yelled at the demon. Any spoken language, intention or body language would be understood by any demon, if the speaker wished and was magical in some way, however for Will talking to his more hyper-powerful foes was just a way to bolster his nerve.
“Ha, what are you meant to be, a bloody trilobite? Did you forget to go extinct with the rest of your kind? Fish with vertebrae destroyed you lot, and I ate one of those for dinner yesterday.”
With surprising and worrying grace, the demon turned to face William. The air in front of the tear shimmered and melted, but Will merely laughed, and placed his hands upon his hips, cocking his head as if disappointed or unimpressed.
“Is that some kind of microwave? I think you’re just a confused meal.” In the air above Aegis, sky-blue shards of energy started to form, gathering into sets of 8 arranged in octagonal patterns, slowly rotating like barrels on a Gatling gun.
“Now tell me, are you gonna roll over so I can kill you quickly, or are you planning to fight your atonement?”