New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age (35 page)

“The readings
on this man are off the chart. I’ve never encountered any Post
Human with marks like his,” Stephanie exclaimed.

The exhausting and
tedious responsibilities of sensing every Post Human on the field had
finally taken its toll on Stephanie. Her eyes rolled to the back of
her head and she lost control of her body. Commander Sullivan caught
her just before she hit the ground. He lifted Stephanie into his
giant arms and gently sat her down on a chair.

“Stephanie!”
Mr. Connors concern for the young woman was like that of a man's
concern for his daughter.

“I'm okay.”
She said faintly as she took a moment to regain her composure.

“That man...”
Commander Sullivan shook his head and corrected himself. “That
individual down there isn't human, and it's not a Post Human either.”
Mr. Connors and Stephanie looked at the Commander with a confused
look on their faces.

“What are you
talking about?” Mr. Connors asked.

“That thing
down there leading that just killed Jason Shaw, isn't human or Post
Human, he's an alien. An alien whose name is Azir.” Commander
Sullivan said.

Mr. Connors shook
his head, not out of disbelief but in the fact that he wasn't
surprised by the Commander's news at all. “How long has he been
living here?” Mr. Connors asked.

Commander Sullivan
sighed. “It's not just one, it's three. Three aliens have been
blending in and living on this planet we suspect for years.”

Mr. Connors was
livid. “Why wasn't I made aware of this?”

Commander Sullivan
had an amused look on his face. The audacity of this man to think he
had a right to know about the aliens living on the planet. “Their
existence here is on a need to know basis and quite frankly... You
didn't need to know.”

“I guess it
was reasonable to assume the United States would make enemies no
matter where they go. Tell me, how many enemies out in the galaxy has
our space program made? How much danger is this planet in?” Mr.
Connors asked.

Commander Sullivan
did not answer Mr. Connors' question. The truth was Commander
Sullivan knew very little about the alien race that was living on the
planet. Now wasn't the time to worry about what enemies Earth had in
outer space, that wouldn't matter at all if they couldn't stop the
alien threat here on Earth. A threat that without Jason Shaw around,
Commander Sullivan did not know how they would neutralize.

Mr. Connors turned
his attention back to the battle and pointed to the two individuals
on the rooftop protected by some sort of force field.

“The female's
name is Aza and the short one is called Axendal. The only intel I
have on them is that they belong to a race that possess superior
technology and they are known as conquerors of planets.”
Commander Sullivan said.

Mr. Connors looked
at the Commander with absolute shock,“You don't think that's
something we outta know?!”

Noah ran up to
Jessica and placed himself in front of her. Without hesitation or
warning, Noah picked up a gun that belonged to one of the national
guardsmen. All that remained of that guard was a pile of ash. Noah
aimed the weapon at the one called Azir, but the alien was easily
able to sidestep the bullets. Noah continued firing at the alien
until the clip was emptied but not a single shot came close to
hitting Azir.

“You would
fire human made weapons upon me? You insult me with your ignorance,”
Azir flicked his hand forward and without touching Noah, sent him
flying. Jessica grabbed Jason and lifted him over her shoulders. She
tried to fly away with him but Azir used some sort of gravitational
pull to wheel them in.

“You and your
team have defeated my experimental soldiers. I must admit, I thought
they would pose a tougher challenge than they did. Your group have
improved greatly since our last encounter. These lesser beings are of
no concern to me though. I will simply rebuild my army and I will
allow your team to serve as my top lieutenants,” Azir said.

Azir looked out at
the frightened crowd. They were staring at him with complete
disbelief. As if knowing people with extraordinary abilities existed
wasn't enough to worry about, now the revelation came that there was
life beyond this planet. “Surrender yourselves to me and I will
be merciful on you.” The crowd looked among one another. No one
knew exactly what to do.

“Commander
Sullivan what are our orders?” Agent Hardine asked.

“Fire
everything you got on that alien. I want that thing taken out!”

Agent Hardine gave
the “green light” to all those that remained to execute
the Commander's orders. The groups readied themselves and proceeded
forward towards Azir.

The alien looked on
amusingly as they approached him, “You humans amuse me. Even in
the face of defeat you still find it necessary to push forward with a
pointless agenda!”

Azir stretched his
hands forward and with the simplest of ease knocked the guns out of
the approaching units' hands. “I am Azir, Supreme Intelligence
Officer of the Ashatarian Empire! I was sent here to learn about your
race and report back to my commanders. Soon my people will take this
planet as their own and there is nothing you can do about it. There
is no one left to oppose me. Surrender before me and I will be
merciful. Defy me and I will unleash my wrath.”

“I was
thinking about unleashing my wrath instead!” a voice from
behind Azir shouted. The alien quickly turned his head and was met
with a powerful uppercut to his jaw. Azir ascended straight into the
air from the impact. He quickly caught his balance and levitated a
few feet in the air.

“You live?”
The alien said sounding genuinely surprise to see Jason Shaw back on
his feet. His tone sounded as if he was happy to see Jason Shaw still
alive.

“It'll take
more than what you can do to keep me down,” Jason said
defiantly. Azir chuckled. Jason charged forward and threw a slew of
punches at Azir. Before Jason could land a punch, Azir activated a
personal force field that prevented Jason from connecting. Aza and
Axendal watched the confrontation with delight. The snipers that
previously concentrated on them were given new orders to aim their
weapons at Azir.

Azir used his
telekinesis power and flicked Jason as if he was a flea. Jason went
flying but impressively landed on his feet.

“Now Shayne
do it now!” Jackson shouted. Shayne and Jackson each unleashed
a heavily concentrated blast of their respected projectile ability.
Azir laughed profusely as the fire and ice bounced off his force
field.

“Well that
sucked,” Jackson stated pointing out the obvious.

Azir introduced
another devastating attack of his unleashing a ball of shock that was
so wide in radius that it was able to connect with each member of the
League. The League of Protectors fell to the ground clutching
themselves in excruciating pain. Aza and Axendal cheered with glee.
Azir calmly walked towards Jason and lifted him up off the ground
with one hand. He placed his free hand on Jason’s head and
attempted to control his mind. The mind control he was attempting
wasn't a natural ability. On his left hand was some sort of device
that made it possible to control others minds. The process appeared
to be going smoothly until Noah returned to the fight and pushed Azir
off of Jason.

“Fool!”
Azir hissed. Azir stood tall and calmly walked back towards Jason.
With the mind control process incomplete, Jason was able to maintain
control of his actions.

“Protectors,
let’s take him out!” Jason shouted.

“Would be my
pleasure!” Jackson replied smiling. Shayne seconded that.
Jason, Shayne and Jackson unloaded their projectile abilities on the
alien but their attacks had no effects on Azir’s force field.

All six of the
League's field members closed in on the alien and circled around him.
Azir stood still he wasn't the least bit intimidated by their
presence.

“You cannot
defeat me. None of you can. I am superior in every conceivable way.
Fighting me is futile.”

Jackson wasn't
trying to hear that nonsense. He shot off a ice ball directed at
Azir, but the alien easily caught the ice ball with the use of his
telekinesis. He proceeded to send the ice ball back spiraling towards
Jackson.

Thinking quickly,
Jackson created a wall of ice to shield him from his own ice ball.
The ice ball hit the wall of ice and dropped harmlessly to the
ground. Noah charged in on Azir but was caught by the force field.
Jessica attempted her missile dive but she too couldn’t
penetrate the force field. Bianca ran over to check on Jessica. The
young woman seemed a bit shaken up but she assured Bianca she’d
be fine. Jackson and Shayne continued using their projectile
abilities in hope of breaking through. Jason took a page from Joe’s
book and began heaving cars, debris and whatever else he could find
at the impenetrable force field. Nothing they did seemed to work.

“You are
embarrassing yourselves League of Protectors. Surrender now and I
will still allow you to serve as my lieutenants! “My force
field is impenetrable!” Azir boasted proudly.

Suddenly a smile
appeared on Jason’s face. He knew how to bypass the force
field. “Fall back!” Jason ordered. “Fall back now!”
With surprised looks on their faces, each member did as ordered and
met up with Jason away from Azir.

“What are
they doing?” Commander Sullivan asked Mr. Connors, fearing the
group were abandoning the battle. Mr. Connors knew that wasn't the
case. He knew that Jason somehow knew how to defeat Azir.

“Bianca, use
your phasing ability to penetrate his shield,” Jason said.

“You want me
to do what?” she asked with a surprised tone.

Jason elaborated on
his orders. He was certain it would work. He gave out orders to the
rest of the group as well. Their job was to distract the alien long
enough for Bianca to phase in.

“With me,”
Noah said to Bianca. “Stay behind me, I’ll get you close
enough to do your job.”

Bianca swallowed
spit and moved closely behind Noah. He wasn't thrilled about her
being so close to harm's way. The League members pressed forward to
confront the alien once more. Azir battled the League from different
directions. Jackson and Shayne were in front of Azir. Jason was
behind, Jessica approached from Azir’s left and Noah and Bianca
approached from his right.

Azir laughed
profusely as he blocked all their attempts. The League kept coming as
Azir countered their attacks. They’d get hit and then get right
back up. Azir couldn’t help but admire their perseverance no
matter how ineffective he found their attacks to be.

“Now!”
Noah shouted. Noah dropped to the ground. Bianca ran up and jumped
over Noah's back, phasing right through Azir’s force field. Her
hands fumbled about trying to find the switch to shut off the force
field. Finally she located it on his left arm and disabled it.

“No!”
Azir shouted realizing his advantage was now gone. Shayne quickly
sped to her location and scooped her out of harm’s way before
Azir could retaliate. Axendal and Aza looked on with worried
expressions. Azir levitated above The League still fully confident in
his ability to defeat them without his force field. Azir ignored the
electric malfunction resonating off of him as a result of Bianca’s
tampering.

“Surrender
now!” Jason demanded. Azir laughed profusely at Jason’s
demand. He found Jason's words to be ridiculous.

“Why should I
surrender? I am in control here.”

“We’ll
see about that,” Noah said chiming in.

Noah reached to his
side and grabbed the gun he took from the deceased guardsman. He
fired a single shot aimed at Azir’s head. Azir smiled as the
bullet approached him. He redirected the bullet with one finger and
sent it hurling towards Noah. The bullet caught Noah in the chest.

Blood rushed from
Noah’s body as the wounded man hit the ground. Jessica and
Bianca rushed towards him.

“You take my
force field away, I take yours away. Seems fair to me!” Azir
said smiling. Azir pushed his hands forward and let loose one of his
deadly energy blasts.

From his back and
barely conscious, Noah stretched his hand forward providing cover for
the humans.

“Everyone get
back, clear the area!” Agent Hardine ordered. The agents and
remaining units retreated back to base camp leaving The League to
fend for themselves.

“Pathetic.
You are the best that this planet has to offer? Our takeover will be
accomplished with ease!” Azir said smugly.

Jason lounged
forward tackling the alien. He mounted on top of the alien and
unloaded with heavy fists. Azir laughed with each punch Jason threw.
It was as if Jason’s attacks had no effect at all on him. Azir
pushed his feet up to his chest and kicked Jason off of him. A flame
of fire approached Azir, but the alien sidestepped the attack. Azir
countered by diving directly into Shayne. His left uppercut sent
Shayne backwards.

Jessica momentarily
left Noah’s side. She flew towards Shayne and dove after him,
catching him before he hit the ground. “Thanks!” Shayne
replied respectfully before speeding back off after Azir.

Bianca was exerting
a large amount of energy healing Noah’s wound. Azir knew enough
about the human body to know exactly where to aim the bullet for
maximum result.

Azir used his
telekinesis to bring Jason to him. He viciously placed his hands
around Jason’s neck and demanded the surrender of the League
immediately. Jason’s eyes grew big due to the tight grip Azir
had on him. Jackson and Shayne fired upon Azir, but Azir used Jason
as a personal shield to deflect their projectile shots.

“Stop!”
Shayne shouted to Jackson realizing their attack was doing more harm
than good.