Chapter 38
Unveiled
Earth 97 , 2050, 9:02 PM
3rd person POV
Within the tower that overlooked Giovanni's castle the conference room was filled with the most dangerous individuals that the multiverse could offer. The Maxie of Earth 41, the Lysander of earth 69, the Lusimine of earth 72, and the Ghetsis of earth 82 were all waiting in the conference room, they were being poured a glass of wine from Giovanni's private collection when the door opened with a deafening thud.
Giovanni arrived with Colress and his guards behind him. He took a glass from the soldier's tray as he exited the room, leaving Giovanni alone with the other leaders.
"Welcome everyone, thanks to all of you, we're finally here. We stand on the cusp of an empire the likes of which the multiverse has never seen" Giovanni said proudly.
"Before we get to all your bravado, do you have the samples you promised us" Maxie demanded.
The entire room was silenced, shocked by Maxie's brazen request, Giovanni seemed unfazed and said "very well, I'm a man of my word"
Giovanni guestered to Colress who opened a metal briefcase with four glass vials of the perfected serum. The entire tabel went wide-eyed, in awe at the power within those cases.
"If you follow Colress, he'll take you to the chambers needed for safe infusion" Giovanni explained.
Everyone stood up and followed Colress, once they were given the powers that Giovanni promised he would explain the plan in detail.
The Icarus would launch in a mere 24 hours…
Earth 63, 2050, 1:23 PM
3rd person POV
It had been a week since the attempted mutiny, after Connor returned he had released the team and told them to take the week off, he would call them back after Z decrypted the data. Now that they had returned they were greeted by Connor at the entrance to the vault. The entire team bowed their heads.
"I don't want an apology, you'll apologize by showing me that you can do your jobs. All I want now is a promise, promise me that no matter what you're gonna follow my lead, because the only way we're gonna have a chance is if we work together" Connor requested, the desperation in voice apparent.
"We promise" the team said in unison.
Connor motioned for the team to follow. As they entered Z was pulling up a holographic map of Giovanni's compound ok the monitor's display.
The compound was massive to say the least, the 20 square miles of the perimeter was surrounded by walls that were 15 feet tall and had electrically charged barbed wire up top. There were sniper towers at all four corners with automatic anti-personnel turrets on top of them. The turrets sported 50 caliber machine guns and grenade launcher pods. Both were guided by laser and gyroscope controls.
The biggest challenge would be that wall, then they were mostly in the clear as there was no defenses built around the newest addition to the base. Teleportation was jammed in the area and surface to air missile launchers served as deterrent for airborne attack.
The newest addition to the base was a massive dome, it was at least 20 acres across, twice the size of the PWT championship stadium. It had weaponry on the sides but the guns were only suited for airborne targets.
"There a lot more underground, including the biggest booster engine in the entire multiverse" Z admitted as the team sized up the challenge in front of them.
"How the hell did he build that in only 10 years" Layla asked.
"He had the resources of 4 other earths behind him, it's not too hard to do it with all that" Z scoffed.
"But why does he want it to fly, seems odd that he'd do all that just for a new base" Alveri inquired.
"Because it's not just a new base, he's going to launch into low orbit and drain the energy of Alpha-54z" Connor replied.
The room fell silent for a moment before Nixillium finally asked the obvious question "what's Alpha-54z"
Z shook l his head and replied "it's a comet with incredible energy, so much in fact that it teleports around the multiverse constantly. Whoever Giovanni's head scientist is was able to calculate the time that it would pass by his earth for a few hours"
"Cool, but I'm still not getting it, why is a comet's energy needed? It seems like an awful lot of trouble for a power source." Lucina admitted.
"Because it's the only power source strong enough to sustain a portal to the distortion world" Connor said, sending chills down Kelly and Charlie's spine. They had heard that name before, when their parents had explained their final mission against Cipher.
"So you mean that if he gets that comet's energy, he'll be able to do what Ardos failed to?" Kelly asked, afraid of the answer.
"Yes, if he succeeds, he will release Giratina, the being of anti-matter itself. The entire multiverse will be doomed" Connor confessed.
The team fell silent, this was worse than they could have even fathomed. Their world, every world was in peril, and if they didn't come through, everything would be lost.
"Z and I will personally be leading the mission with you, I've been in the same situation with your parents" Connor reminded the Mason twins.
"Do you think we can win this time?" Kelly asked.
Connor fell silent and after a long pause said "I'd be lying if I said we've got a good chance of stopping this, but I've learned that fighting back even if it seems impossible is the only choice we have sometimes. No matter what, I won't give up as long as I can draw a breath, and I have a feeling that neither will all of you when this much is at steak"
The team nodded, Connor was right, they had all lost far too much to just give up.
Connor looked at everyone and said "This is the fight of our lives, and we owe to all of the people that aren't here with us to fight with everything we have, whatever it takes"