Dimensional Warrior
Chapter 18
Calisto sprinted through the forest in a crouch, the silver form-fitting armor she wore shifting to a deep black as she crouched behind a hill. Her body shifted avoiding anything that could alert anyone to her position.
Peering over the edge, her featureless mask stared at the fence surrounding the entrance to a large cave.
The technology inside the mask isolated guards in a red aura. With a thought, a yellow outline isolated their weapons.
"1911 A1 pistol", Calisto mumbled, "rifles are Bushmaster ACR."
Leaves shifted behind her as people in formfitting black armor peered out from behind trees.
With a gesture, they fell silent and Calisto thought about everything that had changed.
–XX –
Calisto stood before a mental projection of Harry, "I am about to go after Maria Hill, the leader of Shield. While I am away, I want you to train the people of Gaia."
Calisto brush the hair out of her left eye, she still couldn't believe the metal born were able to help her regrow it, "why me, and how will it be done."
"You are the best person for the job, not only do you care about the people under your command, but your intuitive tactical abilities allow you to instantly understand most battles."
"As for how it will be done, the telepaths of Gaia will link your minds together and then the metal born will place you in simulations to train your mind and bodies for anything you may ever encounter."
"The oath people take to live on Gaia prevents us from hurting one another. Why do we need a military?"
"We may be safe for now, but that won't always be the case. I have talked to the Council, everyone will work together to create armor and weaponry for your people, so long as they take an oath not to use it against the people of Gaia unless they are attacked first, so will you do it?"
"Yes, but why are you going after Maria Hill?"
"I have discovered that aliens have infiltrated earth. Maria Hill is one of those that has been replaced. I need something from her to take down the others."
Calisto gripped the hilt of the knife attached to her hip, "Do you want our help?"
"No, I want to know the people of Gaia are safe, I want to know that those persecuted by the people of earth have a place to come to be free and happy. That is your mission, that is what I need you to do."
–XX –
Susan Bones, Kevin, Marrow, Neville Longbottom, those were the people on her team, the first soldiers of the Gaia military.
Neville Longbottom moved forward 5'9" tall with a broad-shouldered build and shaggy dirty blonde hair. He placed a metal covered hand on the ground, his armor withdrew so that his flesh touched the earth. His eyes glowed a leaf green.
The Metal Born had fundamentally changed Gaia. After seeing how they were able to help mutants, the magic faction wanted to know how the Metal Born could help them. By altering the water for a month, the metal born were able to change the magic faction's body so that they could absorb and manipulate magical energy without the need of foci.
This made the magic faction more in tune with certain aspects of magic.
Neville in particular became linked with the earth, causing him to seek out training from the elves,
After seeing the changes in Neville, more magical families began to move over to Gaia. Some wanted to keep their political power and position, but the oath they swore quickly killed off those who planned to use their burgeoning society for personal gain.
"Six guards are patrolling the perimeter."
"For more inside the cave, guarding a front and back entrance."
Lifting his hand from the ground, Neville moved back.
Marrow moved up, 5'9" with lean muscle, short red hair, and pink tribal tattoos running down her pale skin. She stopped beside Calisto, staying low, she raised her hands, one blue eye glanced at Calisto, "Alive or dead?"
"Alive, bodies would be too conspicuous."
Nodding, she glanced back at Neville, "Where the cameras?"
"The outside cameras are positioned at every post on the fence, covering the outside. Four inside cameras appear to completely cover the inside given their angle."
Marrow shook her head, "All this security for toxic waste."
"We should've bought Erg with us. His energy manipulation abilities would take out the guards easier."
"True, but he hasn't gone through the training yet."
Marrow stayed silent, while the training was useful, the mutant people have been fighting for most of their lives, she felt that he was good enough to attend the mission.
"Now go," Calisto ordered.
Concentrating, Marrow willed armor to once again cover her head. With a thought, she became invisible.
Flexing her fingers, runic lines flared to life over the black metal before fading away.
Power flooded her body as her already enhanced senses became heightened even further by the armor.
Time seemed to slow down.
With excitement in her veins, she shot forward keeping herself close to the ground.
With inhuman grace, she slithered across the ground. At the edge of the shadows, she leaped towards one of the poles holding the cameras, her armor shifting to become invisible to the electronic eye.
Gripping the pole with the edges of her feet, she made sure to keep her knees away from the chain-link fence.
Shimmying up the fence, hand over hand, she stopped just below the camera.
Reaching forward with two fingers, she placed them on the wire leading into the camera.
An image of what the camera saw appeared in her mask.
This was what she lived for, the thrill, the challenge of the mission, her success in accomplishing an impossible task, this was why she joined Gaia's military.
Hanging there, her dual hearts pounding in her chest she waited until the guards made a complete patrol around the fence, recording their every action. Once they started another round, she focused on her intent to create a loop with the images recorded by her suit.
Magic and technology inside her armor work together to complete her desire of creating a loop with the images she recorded.
Once it was finished, she withdrew her hand, touching the side of her mask.
"It's done, it's up to Brainstorm now."
–XX –
Brainstorm reached out with his mind, the guards walking around the perimeter froze, their eyes filling with a yellow light. After a moment, the light faded.
"It's done, I have control of them."
Calisto's armor shimmered, becoming invisible.
"Alright people, let's move."
Together, the group rose moving out from behind the hill.
Marrow met them as they descended the hill, stopping before the gate.
A guard opened the gate, moving back as they walked inside.
Calisto walked down the road, her head on a swivel as she looked for threats.
Inside the gate land was cleared away, leaving a large half circular space covered in concrete split down the middle by an asphalt road. They stopped before two large metal doors.
The guard that opened the gate moved forward, typing on a keypad set into the wall beside the door.
There was a clunk followed by a hum as the door slowly opened, sliding into recesses within the frame.
Calisto moved inside.
Cone-shaped lights dangling from the ceiling by heavy cables revealed a large man-made cavern.
Scaffolding spiraled up the walls.
Thousands of barrels with the yellow hazmat symbol in the center set stacked around the edge of the cavern, leaving a clean circle in its center.
"How are we looking?"
"Radiation is high," Neville responded, "but our suits are holding."
"Bones, get started."
Susan Bones moved forward, sweat glistening on her skin beneath the helmet of her armor. It ran down her face, moving across the splattering of freckles on either side of her nose. Her hand twitched as she fought the impulse to will her helmet away so she could run a hand through her hair, a nervous gesture not even military training had been able to get rid of.
Running a hand along her hip, a metal rectangle, with crystal lining its edges, fell into her hand. Placing it on the floor, she backed up as it enlarged becoming an eight-foot-long twelve-foot-wide container. The crystal lining its edges began to glow with a blue light.
The walls of the rectangle shimmered, becoming transparent.
"Cleaner set."
"Begin the operation."
Susan raised her hand, a barrel at the top of the cavern lifted into the air.
After being altered by the Metal Born, Susan's magic became more in tune with the magnetic field that surrounded the earth, allowing her to draw on it to make herself stronger, or to power her spells.
Gently, she lowered the barrel into the cleaner.
The blue light shining from the edges of the cleaner grew brighter as the cleaner transformed the barrel and its contents into Cleaner usable material. When the light dimmed, pale green diamonds littered the bottom of the Cleaner.
"Cleaner process is done."
"Begin Test."
Running a hand on her left hip, an atom splitter, a glass cylinder with thick metal rings on its top and bottom fell into her hand. A small silver rod sat in the center of the glass cylinder.
Moving forward, she reached into the cleaner grabbing one of the diamonds, she pulled it out and dropped it into the cylinder. The cylinder flared to life.
Slender fingers danced along the keyboard set into the bottom ring of the cylinder.
A small holographic screen appeared out of the top ring around the cylinder.
"It appears Lady Gaia was right. The crystal is producing more energy than just splitting atoms. It also produces less waste for the rod in the center to absorb."
Calisto nodded, "Okay then, I want this place cleaned out within the hour."
–XX –
Gaia walked through the mutant faction.
Day by day more and more mutants were appearing on Gaia willing to take the oath in exchange for freedom and safety.
The Japanese style building that Calisto formed had now expanded into smaller buildings connected by long hallways that formed a compound.
Exiting the city, Gaia walked through a meadow, dear, rabbits, cows, and a variety of birds gathered around her.
The population wasn't high enough yet to supply Gaia's needs, but the metal born developed natural supplements that would boost the animal's fertility to increase their population.
With a step, she disappeared, appearing near the home of the dwarfs.
Rocks slipped beneath her feet as she appeared on a slope halfway towards the gates of their city. Cool crisp air filled her lungs as she let her eyes trail the edges of the mountain. Smokestacks could be seen cleverly disguised, a blue energy field over their opening.
The energy field was the same type of technology that the cleaners used, it had been repurposed here to remove fumes and pollution produced from the manufacturing process of dwarf made materials.
Nodding, she disappeared again this time appearing high above the magical faction city.
A marble wall surrounded their growing city.
Stone buildings reached high above the walls.
People than mutants moved along the streets talking, working, or even going on dates.
Tensions between the two factions had almost disappeared with the metal born discovering that the magic users were also a subbranch of human evolution. The gene they discovered was codenamed the M gene.
This discovery along with the magical world's history of being persecuted for being different broke down the last barriers the factions had between one another with the elves and dwarves taking to those mutants who had a knack for their cultures.
A barely noticeable speck of vitality ran through her body.
"It looks like Calisto and her team have accomplished their mission."
Gaia had sent them on a mission to clean up nuclear waste produced by nuclear power plants. It was theorized by one Hermione Granger that if nuclear waste was put into the cleaner, it may produce something that could provide more energy for Gaia.
While that was interesting, all she cared about was having the waste removed from the earth, the cleaner the earth was the more powerful she would be.
As the energy within her settled once more, her head snapped to the side.
Something was wrong, specks of her power were being absorbed and changed
following the trail of this power, her eyes widened, "Harry!"
She vanished in a swirl of air.