Chapter 27

"OPEN FIRE!!" came Olva's cry, and all four defenders let rip upon the advancing enemy. The first wave of troops, already badly wounded by Jess and Fi, was exterminated within seconds, but the second wave had been hardly touched. Mutant upon mutant piled into the reception, clambering over the dead bodies of their predecessors. Fi and Jess flew in above the oncoming hordes, and hovered close to the ceiling, throwing more bombs down to weaken the attack.

"How you holding up?" Fi called down

"Don't know, how may more are there?" Olva called back.

"Thousands! 20 odd thousand at first!" Jess shouted

"And how many have you killed?" Olva asked

"About 3 thousand!" Jess answered, "About 4 thousand are at the other entrance."

"So without the ones we've just killed, we've still 12, 500 to go!" Olva groaned

"Just about!" Fi cried

"Whoopee!" yelled Olva, unleashing another volley of shots.

Stood on her vantage point on the rocky hillside, Althea watched as her troops battered the base. Her blue robes whirled in the wind. There was a red puff of air behind her. Not even looking to see who had arrived, Althea just inhaled deeply.

"Report!" she demanded

"Mother, Lord Morgormir has sent me to tell you that they are about 3 minutes from the central plaza!"

"Well tell him I don't want to hear from him until he's 3 minutes from capturing the central plaza. I can see you got your brains from me!" she sighed. "What's the status of the plaza's defence my son?"

"Very little as of yet. The don't expect us," snarled Coral

"Excellent," muttered Althea, before motioning to her son, "Come, Coral, come and look at this."

Obeying his Mother, Coral mover to the edge of the ledge.

"Observe, what happens when you try to deny the greater cause!" she growled

"Do you want me to go and finish off the traitors?" Coral asked

"No, lead your men into the Plaza. Don't return until it's been raised to the ground!" Althea said firmly. Coral nodded, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Down in the base, David was hurrying to the breach in the defences. Having secured the rear entrances, with the help of Siobhan freezing the hinges and locks, he was determined to stem the wound in the reception. As he burst through the door, he let out an almighty blast, that ranged from his whole body, throwing all the attackers back out of the wreckage of doorway.

The notion grabbed Althea's attention

"My enemy reveals himself!" she hissed, before a blue mist whisked her into the air.

Back in the Base, David and Fi were trying to hold fragments of the door back in the frame, to hold back the hordes, but they were thrown back by the sheer mass of enemies that charged the door. Jet and Luca had left their positions at the east door, and had entered the reception. Jet launched herself into the air, and her powers kept her in-flight. She span towards the enemies, several black strips from her dress turned to a grey haze and span around her body and evaporated all the enemies in the room. Landing in the doorway, she fired a grey stream of power through the ranks of enemies, evaporating more and more, as the number of opposition fell by the hundreds. Victory seemed assured by the arrival of the three powerful leaders, as Luca had repaired the door, teleporting a second into position.

"Cover me! I need to secure it in this position!" she cried

"I think we have everything under control!" Fi called, but her words came too soon. There was a turquoise flash, and Jet was sent soaring back into the base, crashing into the back wall. There was a second flash, and Luca was sent flying, colliding with Jess, and the two of the, skidded along the floor, as the door shattered, Luca unable to maintain it. A third flash sent Fi flying into Will and Ella, knocking them to the ground. David was shielding his eyes from the splintering door, but turning back to face the door way, there stood Althea.

"We meet again, David!!" Althea hissed.

"Oh you couldn't stay away could you?" David shot back "Quite obviously you can't stand to see anyone match you in power can you?"

"When my new regime is established, I would look forward to your challenge. Until then I advise you to stand aside. This world is advancing into the Nuclear age, whether I'm the one to push it through the technological barrier or not; you can't stand in the way of progress. Not even you David!"

"I can stand in the way of your brutal methods though. The world will move when it's ready, not when you want to become dictator!"

"Profound, but the Central Plaza is going to fall this night, in major cities around the world. London, Amsterdam, Paris, Beijing, New York, Berlin, New Deli, Buenos Aries and Moscow. Stop all them in the next 20 minutes."

Everyone in the room stood stunned.

"Enjoy!" Althea smiled, before the blue haze returned, and she vanished. David was infuriated.

"OI! GET BACK HERE BITCH!!!!" he bellowed, his head turned to the sky.

"What the hell do we do now?" Luca asked, as Pete ran into the room.

"You might want to see this!" he gasped. David turned back to the plains outside the base. Only the dead remained, the living mutants had fled.

Gathered around the holographic screen, M had pulled up the BBC news.

"And all around the world, city centres are falling to a new threat. Not by a country, but by a species. Mutants, that caused havoc many years ago under the leader known as Morgormir, are reappearing around the globe. India, Germany France and Russia have all been attacked. The world is on red alert, and the next attack is due in London!"

As the news reel trailed off, David continued to stare at the screen. He had been wrong, not within two days, but in two minutes, she had got the world at hr feet.

"What do we do know?" Luca repeated

"We go to the Plaza, and continue the fight!" he replied, his voice still filled with anger!