Wonderland part 7 - The Preparations

The entire Wonderland series is here.  glad101.deviantart.com/gallery…

WONDERLAND

Phantasm had a premonition that led her to meeting the Guardsman.  They find out that there was a common incident in their lives that changed everything for both of them.  They were searching for clues about Wonderland, the drug that gave Guardsman his powers.  They found, much to Phantasm’s dismay that the whole project is run by her mother, Dr Elizabeth Juarez, whom she thought was dead.  They have killed 373 people trying to make Wonderland safe to use, and have only one success they know of, the Guardsman.  Both Phantasm and Guardsman feel a moral obligation to stop them.

Phantasm, (Chelsea Juarez) is a skilled hand to hand fighter.  Her precognitive ability means she can anticipate any move that a foe can think of, and means she gets powerful premonitions about the near future.  She wears customized body armor, and has a lot of gadgets she uses as she fights crime in the city.  But even with a multitude of weapons, such as her bow and specialty arrows, she still prefers beating the bad guys to a pulp in hand to hand combat.  She was injected by Wonderland, and has enhanced natural abilities now.

Guardsman (Edward Fenton) is the strongest hero known on the Earth, able to lift about 6 tons.  He is even tougher than he is strong.  He has enhanced reflexes and regenerates injuries very quickly.  He has a set of experimental forearm bracers and gauntlets that have a Vibranium coating, which reflects energy and dramatically enhances his punches. 

Sarah Pennington is Chelsea’s best friend.  She is an ace computer hacker, and is a huge fan of both Phantasm and Guardsman.  She has taken a job as Chelsea’s housekeeper by day, and Phantasm’s girl Friday by night.

Cliff Higgins and his wife Annie have both just been hired by Chelsea.  With all of the business going on lately, she realized she needed a security officer, and her dad’s old commander in the Army is a great fit!  He also designs the armor than Guardsman and Phantasm wear.  Annie is a gourmet cook, and only Cliff is aware that she is a Master of Tae Kwon Do, as well as being an expert pistol marksman.

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FROM WONDERLAND PART 6 – DARKNESS APPROACHES

Guardsman opens his eyes to see Lexko holding a device over his head.  “I am sorry for that, but the enhancement reopens the rejection phase, just not as potently.  I am quite happy to say that you have become a true powerhouse.  Your strength was 10 times a strong human, and now it is about 40 times that level.  Your toughness is even more pronounced, about 55 times a normal human.  Your reflexes are a little better, and your regeneration stayed about the same.  But you have one more ability that became a part of you…”  Guardsman shakes him off.  He already senses it.  He stands up and his feet levitate off the ground!  He can fly!  He sees Phantasm sitting up, and floats over to her.  “Check it out honey!”  She smiles big time!  Her head hurts though.  “Phantasm was more deeply bothered by the rejection than you were.”  He looks at her and holds the probe over her.  “Your strength is about the same as Guardsman’s was before, and your toughness is pretty close to his old level as well.  Your reflexes have improved notably, probably double the benefit you got before.  And you also got two new, useful abilities…”  She waves him off, she knows already.  She walks over to a shadow and disappears into it!  And then she walks through the wall casting the shadow!  “It looks like I named myself well.”

Soulforge walks over to them.  “Learn your powers to the greatest degree possible.  The Zendats will be very tough to stop.  And I offer one other thing to your race.”  He pulls out a brightly glowing cube.  “This is the last remaining Soulforge crystal besides my own.  I will gift it to whichever human you deem would wear it with honor, pride, and a determination to save your world.”  Bobby and Chelsea look at each other.  They both know exactly who would be the perfect candidate.

WONDERLAND PART 7 – The Preparation

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Lexko hands a wristband to Phantasm.  “This is a communications device.  Use this to update us as you prepare.”  Phantasm says, “I think I already have a candidate for the Soulforge crystal.”  She looks at Soulforge and says, “If you would like to accompany us, we can introduce you to this person for you to judge.”  He is very eager to find a candidate!  He nods to Lexko and then he points at a terminal screen.

Guardsman, Phantasm, and Soulforge find themselves about where they were in the beginning.  The cops have cordoned off the area, and a pair of detectives are investigating.  He looks up and sees them.  He runs over and says, “You’re alive!  We were all scared to death!”  He looks at Soulforge and gets a terse look.  “The officers were not pleased with you.”  Phantasm steps up.  “It’s really important he goes with me.  I can’t explain right now, but trust me, we need him.”  She looks around.  “And no one died.”  The detective really wants to take the guy in, but after seeing the mess he made, thinks he will let the superheroes handle him.  He waves them off.  Then Chelsea says, “Can you turn off the glow?  We need to be discreet where we are going.”  He nods and the armor goes to smooth metal.  Then Guardsman grabs Phantasm and takes off into the air!  Soulforge is right behind him.  One detective turns to the other.  “Now he can fly?  This city, it’s too much…”

As they take off Chelsea gets a call, it’s Sarah.  “Where the hell have you guys been?”  She replies, “Sarah, I can’t even try to tell you on the phone, just promise me you will not take a pill before we get there.”  “OK, don’t understand why not, but OK…”

They fly to the well, and then she signals for them to go in.  Guardsman jumps in with Soulforge right behind him.  Then Chelsea goes in.  Bobby keys the door, and they enter.  Sarah stands up and runs to Chelsea and hugs her.  “I was scared I lost my best friend.”  She looks at Sarah.  “Be careful with hugs.  I’m as strong as Guardsman used to be.”  She gets a confused look on her face.  “Used to be?”  “Guardsman is about 4 times stronger than before.  And I’m sure you saw he can fly now.”  Sarah says, “I saw Ed, er Bobby, take out Soulforge here, and then you all disappeared for over an hour.  I got online to see if I could hack into any cameras in the area, but there was nothing.  I was so worried about you two!”

Chelsea tells Sarah to sit down and just listen.  She tells her the story of what happened, and then demonstrates her new stealth ability.  She walks over to the weights and easily picks up the 850 pound bar, the setup she normally struggles to get over her head, and with one hand holds it up.  Sarah is taking all of this in, and then looks at Bobby.  “If they are right, I can pick up six tons if I am pressed to.  Six.  Tons.  The very idea is mind boggling.”   Sarah is trying to take all of this in.  She looks at Soulforge and says, “I’m very sorry about what happened to your people.  You look so… human for some reason.”  Soulforge looks at her and says, “Lexko thinks a being took some of your people and seeded my world with them.  If one of your doctors looked at me in an MRI, he would be hard pressed to find any real differences.”

She looks at him.  “Do you have a name?  I assume Soulforge is a superhero name.”  He replies, “Yes, my name is Darrev Shahkim.  You are the first person to ask me in… a long time.”  He looks at her.  “Soulforge is how my people referred to all of us fortunate enough to bond with a soul crystal.  My specific ‘hero’ name translates into your language, as Silver, the color of my bond, er, armor.  My bond makes me into a fighter – tough, strong, and my energy blasts are concussive, leading to knock out blows, and battering type damage to objects.  Others had powers that were tied to their color.  Ruby used fire as a weapon; Diamond channeled the storms, and so on.” 

He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a blue soul crystal.  Everyone there is enamored by its beautiful glow.  “This one is new.  No one has ever had a blue soul crystal before.  It has refused all attempts to bond so far.”  He holds it loose in his hand, and then it leaps onto Sarah’s chest!  She screams as it forms a circle right over her heart.  She looks at Darrev, “What is it doing?”  With a look of reverence on his face, he says, “Sarah, the blue crystal wants to bond to you.  It is waiting for your permission.”  She looks down and then around the room.  “Does-does this mean I would have super powers?”  He nods.  She yells to the sky, “YES!  OH PLEASE!  YES!”  Then the crystal flows over her body, forming a shimmering blue armor that covers everything.  She looks at herself, examining her arms and legs, and notes that it has conformed to her clothing.  “What can I do now?”  Darrev replies, “I don’t know.  Close your eyes, get peaceful and get to know the essence that you now share.”  She does that for several minutes.  Everyone in the room is staring at her, and then she starts snoring.  Her eyes pop open and she says, “GOTCHA!”  And then giggles.  “Guardsman, would you escort me outside for a moment?”  He looks at Chelsea and she nods, and they both fly out via the well.

Outside, Sarah flies straight up in the air, maybe a thousand feet.  Guardsman is right behind her.  She stops and starts floating, and Guardsman floats across from her.  “Thank you for pretending that I did nothing a few days ago when you put me to bed.  But now my bond has shown me the entire scene.  I-I appreciate the sentiment.”  Now he understands why she wanted him to come with her.  “Sarah, forget it.  I know it was just the pill.  I’ve already moved on.  You are my friend, and you are Chelsea’s friend.  Nothing will change that.”  He looks at her awesome blue glow and says, “So what can you do now?” 

She opens a port on her face so it is visible, and says, “You are NOT going to believe this!”  She spins and moves in polished style, and ropes of energy appear between her hands.  She throws one around Guardsman, and he is shocked to feel quite restrained!  “I’m sure you can break out, but that’s just part of what I can do!”  She casts another rope of energy, but lets it get really big, and then spins it as a circle of light straight up in the sky, where is explodes like a firework!  “I can cast these ropes with varied energy, and make them big and small.  I can make them explode on contact, or delay for a good while.  I can also make restraints, like I used on you.”  She looks at her arm and makes a muscle.  “With the armor on I’m about 5 times stronger than I am without it.  The armor protects me pretty well, and I may be nearly as tough as you used to be when the glow is active.  And as you can see, when I have the armor up, I can fly.”  She floats over to him.  “I can also cocoon people in these ropes to cause them to heal crazy fast.”

Guardsman is pretty impressed!  He flexes hard, and breaks her restraint, but it was a lot tougher than he would have thought!  “Let’s go back and tell the gang.”  They fly down and Guardsman calls Chelsea.  “Is it OK to go back in?”  After a few seconds, she replies, “Go now.”  They both fly in, and Bobby opens the door.  He walks in and points his hands at Sarah as she comes in and says, “Introducing Sapphire, the newest superhero on the Earth.  And she is impressive.”  All of the people there clap.  “Draw your armor in Darrev, let’s go to the main floor and introduce you to my replacement at the monitors.”  She draws her armor in and plans to find clothes that are more flattering when the armor is on, like a workout top and runner shorts, just in case the armor needs to draw in, as it warned her it may need to if it gets too badly damaged.

They go up and Annie meets them.  “We-we saw the whole thing on the monitors.  So now we can call you Sapphire, Sarah?”  She nods and giggles.  “I’ll be back in a few minutes, I need to change.”  She armors up and flies to her room!  Everyone watches her, and Bobby looks at Chelsea.  “Yeah, I’ll let her know no flying in the house.”  She looks at him, “That goes for you too.”  He gets a shocked look, but realizes she is right.  ‘Do what I say, not what I do’ is not a good way to live!

Annie prepares a snack, and is relieved to find out Darrev can eat human food just fine.  Then Sarah comes down in a midriff showing workout top and skin tight runner shorts, with nice looking running shoes on.  “What do you all think?”  She armors up, and the blue armor contours to her clothing and looks pretty darn spectacular.  Everybody agrees, this is a good look!  “I tried without any clothes on, and um, it’s really embarrassing…”  She puts her hand over her crotch and her chest.  Chelsea snickers a bit.  “So you are just as tough as I am now?  We may need to spar a bit, so I can show you a fighting technique of two.”  Sarah is actually quite excited about that!  She has never been in more than a token fight her entire life.  Anytime she got in trouble when they were growing up, Chelsie always bailed her out.  Now, she has a lot of catching up to do.

The team spends the next three weeks honing their skills.  They received permission to use a military proving ground nearby, and Guardsman has found he can create exceptionally strong tremors now.  He can fall from a thousand feet, and when he lands, everyone around him will be on the ground.  He can now take a hit from a field cannon in the chest!  That was an accident, and it hurt, but he is VERY happy to see that he can take it!  Chelsea has adjusted her fighting to take advantage of her huge strength increase, and has added a VERY powerful composite bow to her arsenal.  Between that and her training with Sapphire she is becoming a true terror.  Sarah has taken very well to her new training.  At first, she was quick to put her arms over her face, but now that she trusts her armor, she has been quickly learning the trade!  She has worked out a way to form a rope on her fist that explodes out when she strikes, making her hit as strongly as Phantasm!  Soulforge has adapted her technique to his own energy beams, and can even cause a little pain to Guardsman, which he likes!  No pain, no gain; without the motivation of avoiding a hit, he won’t get better…

Dr Juarez has backed off from her Wonderland experiments.  Apparently the extra heroes in their midst has caused her to move her operation underground and go into hiding.  Phantasm doesn’t mind; she has a lot to think about.  At least people are not dying.  But there is one person she wants to talk to about this.  She takes a break one day and goes to the prison where her dad is being kept.  They call him to the visitor’s booth, and they talk.  She tells him about the impending invasion, and Cliff has convinced the military to be ready.  But she has a request for him.  “Dad, that armor you were using, do you have another?”  He nods.  “It is actually a superior unit, stronger, better armor, more weapons, and jets on the legs.  It is powered, but only someone on Wonderland phase 1 can use it.”  He looks down and then back at his daughter.  “I’d like my chance to repay the world.  If you can figure out a way to get me released, I swear on my oath as a former army officer, I will come back here to finish my time.”  She considers this, and then stands up.  “I’ll see what I can do.  This looks like an all hands on deck situation.”

When she gets home, she talks to Cliff about it, and he will make some calls.  In the mean time, she goes to check on her compatriots.  She is somewhat surprised that Sarah has not been hanging out with Darrev, but found out that it is unheard of for a pair of Soulforged to become a couple.  The crystal entities won’t allow it.  Apparently that intimate of contact is more than the soul crystals can bear.  So now she needs to find someone for her to date… They have time after the fight.  They have to focus everything on that.

The next day, Cliff meets with Chelsea before they leave.  He has a new chestpiece for her to try, and he has news.  The military pulls some strings, and her father is being released to his oversight.  He is picking Marco up, and then Cliff is taking him to meet up with the gang at the grounds.  He asks if she would mind watching the house until he drops Marco off.  She agrees, and Cliff drives to the prison.  He sees Marco waiting for him, and gets in.  He turns to his old commander and says, “Is it as bad as they said?”  Cliff nods.  “Your daughter is worried sick about this, and she doesn’t worry about anything.  With the crew they have together, and the military at full standby, you would think this will be easy.  But she is highly concerned…”

“I am sure that a full military response will hold them in check, but she thinks, and I agree, one talented and powerful strike team can end this threat for good.  That’s where you come in.  You have that power armor, and you have a military officer’s sense of tactics.  Work with them.  Show them the proper way to maximize their abilities.  And lead them to victory.”

They talk further, and then get to an old R&D building in the industrial area.  In there they see a vault, a huge metal walled construct.  Marco goes over and turns on a keypad on the wall.  Then he flashes his palm and types a code.  The door opens, and Cliff is stunned at what he sees!  “How long have you been working on that?”  Marco replies, “About 12 years.  Every time the tech improves, I upgrade it.  I wanted to save it for something special, when the need was huge, and it looks like this is it.”  He walks up to the power suit.  “The armor is based on Chobham, but it is my own unique blend.  There are reactive plates all over the front and covering the ammo bins in the back.  The power supply is a self replenishing reactor that only needs a few grams of Plutonium every couple of years to sustain it.”

Marco walks to the back and keys the code to open the back.  Doors open, and he walks in, with his arms and legs locking into their homes.   “Enable for Marco Juarez, Alpha Tango two four zero.”  Cliff hears engines wind up, and hydraulic pumps build pressure.  Lights switch on, and Marco sees the HUD light up in the helmet.  He sees the weapons are all armed and ready.  Cliff yells, “.30 CAL CHAINGUN ON THE RIGHT, 20MM Cannon ON THE LEFT?”  Marco nods, and so does the armor.  “HOW MANY ROUNDS?”  Marco’s voice, tempered by filters, says, “I have a 1000 round belt for the .30 Cal, and a standard 100 round belt for the 20MM.  I also have a 50 round belt for the 40mm grenade launcher on my left shoulder, and two loaded STINGER launchers and one loaded GUSTAV launcher on my right shoulder.  This suit makes me about 17 times stronger than a strong human, and I am really tough with all this armor.  I built an inertial dampening system that should limit damage from blows, objects and falls.  Even with Guardsman’s new strength, I should be able to go toe to toe with him, at least for a few minutes.”

Cliff is mightily impressed.  He leads him out to the truck, and Marco gets in the back.  “There are jet engines in the legs, but they only hold enough fuel for six minutes of flight.  Can I get a ride to the proving grounds?”  Cliff smiles and takes him out there, calling Chelsea as he drives.  After they talk a minute, he says, “Meet us out there.  I’ll drop off your father and then drive home.”  She replies, “Is Annie OK with that?”  Cliff smirks, “Give her that Glock in the gun room.  She will be just fine until I get there.” 

Chelsea senses no problem with this, and gets the 9mm pistol for Annie.  “I haven’t used one of these in a couple of months, but it should do.”  Chelsea is a little surprised when she says that!  She already has her stuff on, and goes into the lair and leaves through the well.  She leaps in the air, and ziplines towards the proving ground.  She stops to sense things, and then takes off and pops out her glider wings.  She floats along at about 60 miles an hour, and then sees her target.  She works to get a little lift, and then glides down, landing in the bed of Cliff’s truck!  She waves at Cliff, who waves back, and then examines the armor.  “Nice outfit dad.  Think you are strong enough to go toe to toe with my boyfriend?”  He smiles and says, “Actually, yes, for a little while.  I can take what he can dish out for at least a few minutes.”

When they get there, Cliff drops them off and heads home.  Marco looks over the scene.  Soulforge and Guardsman are going toe to toe in mid-air, while Sapphire is observing them.  After a brief exchange, she throws a rope of energy over each of them, and then sees Phantasm arrive.  She floats over, and then sees the Power Armor walking towards the area.  “Professor Juarez, is that you?”  It nods, “Yes Sarah, it’s me.”  They all share greetings, and then they get to work.  Marco demonstrates a few military tactics, and shows them ideas like ‘divide and conquer’ and ‘pincers’.  He shows them the use for reserves, and the idea of a cavalry strike.  “Our unit is a little small for some of this, but if you are working with regular military units, coming in like a reserve force can be very good for morale.”

They continue with this every day.  Professor Juarez is introduces to Lexko, and they have several in-depth talks about science, particularly Wonderland science.  Lexko is delighted by the discovery of Wonderland Phase 1!  This stuff can benefit all races with very minimal risk.  “Professor Juarez, your discovery is brilliant.  Assuming we beat the Zendats, we will do what we can to spread Wonderland phase 1 to all races.  This is the essence of the matrix; the phase 2 product is the corruption that all races discover first, and then abandon.”

About a week before the expected invasion date, Marshall Law is declared in the US.  The Reserves and National Guard are called to duty, and all over the world military units prepare.  Guardsman, Phantasm and Power Armor travel to various military units, talking to them and doing their best to prepare them for the upcoming battle.  The Zendat strategy is always the same; attack the cities, drawing out the military, and then destroying them.  Next they send down mining robots to gather as many resources as possible as the destroyers methodically eliminate all life or means of supporting life.  Earth’s defenses are very strong, and if things work out, the heroes plan can go into action; infiltrate the mothership and destroy it, then help the military destroy their residual forces.

As they continue to train, they find more information about the Zendats.  They feed like a plant using a method similar to photosynthesis.  The race is exceptionally different looking.  Most top thinking beings in the universe adapt the single head/ four limb/ stereo vision setup of humans.  It is the ideal setup for intelligent life, allowing mobility and dexterity with usable sight.  But the Zendats are quite different.  They have a barrel shaped body, with three legs and three arms.  Each limb has three highly elongated toes or fingers that can be used independently.  The brain is in the torso, and the top of their head is filled with sensory buds, allowing sight, hearing and a rudimentary form of smelling.  Zendats have exceptional vision, able to use multiple eyestalks to form detailed 3D images that their brains can manipulate.  The race is inherently weak, but with all of them surviving Wonderland, each is about twice as strong as a very strong human.

The greatest difference between the Zendats and humanoids is their thinking.  They were never carnivores, and feel that carnivorous beings are an evil that must be stopped.  They destroyed all carnivores on their own planet, and then after they did the Wonderland experiment, they stripped their home planet clean and built the Ship that they travel in.  The ship is actually a Dyson’s sphere, with a central core that supplies power and synthetic sunlight for the entire race.  They all live on the inner surface of the outer wall of the spaceship, which rotates to create gravity.  At one end is the ion drive, fed by the central core and the opposite end houses the egress for their attack fleet.  They use fighter sized craft, but the most destruction is caused by their destroyers, large heavily armed ships that can bombard ground targets for a full day before needing to reload.

Deep Space radar has already sensed the approach of the mothership.  Scientists expect it to be in orbit in about a day.  After seeing as much of this news as they can stand, the group has a somber meal, prepared with the greatest care by Annie.  After a length of quiet, Cliff starts singing an old church hymn he knows.  Everyone at the table except Annie is surprised at the smooth, polished timbre in his voice.  As he finishes, Chelsea says, “I had no idea you were such an accomplished singer.”  He replies, “I don’t sing much outside of church.  And right now, a little divine intervention would be much appreciated.”  Everyone at the table, even those that don’t believe, nods their head and say a silent amen.

That night Sarah is lying on her bed in her favorite pajamas on top of her favorite comforter.  She knows she needs a good night’s sleep; it may be a long time before she gets another.  But so much is running through her head, all the tactics and prep they have been doing, and the fact that they haven’t done much fun stuff lately.  She thinks ‘I guess there will be plenty of time for fun stuff after we win.’  But there is no guarantee they can win.  Her eyes get moist as that thought enters her head.  She sits up and yells, “I’m a superhero damnit!”  She is as powerful as she could have ever hoped, and yet feels so helpless.  A tear rolls down her cheek.  Even the ever positive Sarah Pennington is having trouble keeping a smile on her face.

Then there is a knock on her door.  She looks over and says, “Come in.”  It’s Darrev.  “Hi Sarah, I’m having trouble sleeping, and I heard you yell something and thought maybe… you were doing the same.”  She smiles and pats the bed next to her.  He comes over and sits down and puts his hands palms down on the bed.  “So much rides on the next few hours.  I’ve already lost one world, and I can’t – I CAN’T – lose another.  It is very frustrating to me.”  She puts her hand on his and says, “It’s really hard for me too.  This is my dream, the dream of my whole lifetime, ever since I was old enough to read a comic book.  And my first real battle may be my last.”  Darrev repositions himself so he is facing her.  “There is never any guarantee for anything in this business.  So what are these… comic books?” 

She reaches next to her bed with glee and pulls out a Superman comic, and then a Miss Marvel comic.  “These are comics.  They are stories to help entertain and provide a little moral compass.  The heroes are amazing, and they always win.  That was what I wanted from being a hero.  When I found out my best friend since I was 8 years old was Phantasm, I freaked out!  I did a lot for her over the last couple of years, but she was always scared to hire me.  I guess she didn’t want me to get hurt.  She certainly did her best to keep me out of trouble in school!  But she decided she needed help, especially with this Wonderland thing.”  Darrev reads a few pages of the Miss Marvel book, and says, “These are quite fascinating.  When we finish this battle, maybe you could show me more of these, comics?”  She smiles grimly; she would love to show him more, assuming there is a future to show them in!

“Sarah, my bond tells me things, as I am sure yours tells you things.  My bond would like to talk to your bond for a moment.”  Sarah is a bit surprised, but nods.  A silver circle appears over Darrev’s heart and a bit of energy flows to Sarah’s chest.  A blue circle forms over her heart, and there is an exchange of energy between them.  Then both Darrev and Sarah can feel a flow of energy to their fingertips, and their soul crystals drop to the bed.  Both of them are truly stunned, but they both know; their bonds, as painful as it is to them, are allowing Darrev and Sarah the opportunity to be together.  Both of them stare at each other with pent up emotions, and then they press together, sharing their passions in a kiss.  Then they lie there looking at each other, and Sarah says, “So you are human?  You have, ahem, the right stuff?”  He smirks and nods.  She moves next to him and caresses his back as they continue to kiss…

NEXT: Wonderland part 8 – The Battle Begins