Prism Academy 5- Chapter 25 (Patreon)

Chapter 25- Entry

As I expected about twelve minutes later, the super, who identified himself as Col. Ryan, escorted us with a dozen supers and as many soldiers in powered armor into the city. I paid close attention as we were traveling at a job through the streets of the city. Unlike Chicago, Atlanta had not possessed the infrastructure for a population even a fifth of the size of their current fifteen thousand people. The city itself was rather small with an extended urban area around the city proper. Now the city had built itself up like the old city of New York prior to its destruction along with all the other coastal cities.

Now a much larger population was crammed into the capital of the only human nation left on Earth. I had access to more information than before I became a super obviously and knew that all contact with any other remnants of humanity outside of NAAG had ended a few years ago. There were still rumors of human hold outs in Asia or Europe, but there was absolutely no evidence to support it.

I had to act like NAAG was the last bastion of humanity and protect North America through any means necessary. The layers of defenses were interesting but I couldn’t understand how anyone had expected this to stop a super even as strong as Bravo or Supreme, let alone me.

It would have been better to rely upon supers to fight them if it had to be done rather than putting hundreds of thousands of supers life on the line. As I expected I did notice that a number of buildings had shielding put up around them in the form of electrified plating on the walls. Clearly that was meant to stop teleporters.

My Sense Energy skill showed me concentrations of energy and I realized that they were burning though a great deal of power. This likely wasn’t sustainable and would end up leaving Atlanta without power. That would make them an open plate ready for the shadow to feast upon.

The bigger issue though was that I started to detect threads of shadow energy. I couldn’t place it exactly but it all seemed to lead to the building we were headed to. I filled in all my bonds. This was our worst case scenario. Valkyrie would communicate with General West, and I feared that things were about to get violent.

That was when we arrived outside of the government compound. According to some old video, the former head of government had been in some large white house. Why it was white never seemed to be explained in the histories I had read. Not that it mattered as DC had been one of the first cities the shadow wiped out. The cities of that time had little in the way of defenses and had been vulnerable to the shadow. That wasn’t the case here. This was a state of art building using the latest in 24th century technology.

As we approached the government compound, I couldn't help but be struck by the sheer scale and technological sophistication of the place. It covered four full city blocks, with buildings that seemed to blend into one another, creating a seamless fusion of modern architecture and practical defensive measures. The compound, though heavily fortified, exuded a sense of elegance that spoke to its dual role as both a military installation and the residence of the President-General.

The walls of the compound were a mixture of reinforced concrete and what appeared to be some sort of advanced alloy, designed to withstand significant force. I could see the glint of hidden energy shielding, ready to come online at a moment's notice. The perimeter was guarded by soldiers in mechanized powered suits of armor, their movements fluid and precise, an impressive display of man and machine working in harmony. If I didn’t miss my guess they had a new model that was only available to the government.

"They clearly are trying to impress you with a show of force. Too bad they don’t know what real power is," Inferna whispered in my ear, her fiery breath tickling my neck.

"I hope it doesn’t come to a fight. I’m sensing some shadow here. There are clearly some who are infected but the vast majority of them are just soldiers following orders. I’d like to kill as few of them as possible, but with this many some deaths will be inevitable," I replied. I felt worry hit me as we walked further into the compound, not for our safety but for what we might have to do.

Col. Ryan choked when he heard what I had to say. He didn’t say anything but I expect he thought we’d be more impressed.

Demis must have noticed his reaction because she giggled. “Don’t get worried yet. As long as the President-General is on his best behavior, I’m sure Aden, won’t have to cut loose.”

The colonel looked at her. His eyes bulged a bit as though he was both shocked and yet uncertain whether he should take her seriously. The guards around us were definitely tense. My enhanced senses could make out the pounding of their hearts even within their armored suits.

When the colonel didn’t respond Demis added, “Besides if he doesn’t get to use any of his energy fighting, he’ll have more for me. I bet it would be so cool to make it on the president-general’s desk.”

Aqueous chuckled at that and my two bonds shared a high-five while Inferna rolled her eyes. She was in full blown diplomat mode and so didn’t seem to have any openness to the other two’s jokes. I could feel their emotions through the bond though and knew they were only joking because it covered for stress.

As we walked through the compound's gates, I noticed that the grounds were meticulously maintained, with lush gardens and sculptures scattered throughout the area. The place was a testament to human ingenuity and resilience in the face of the shadow threat. Even now, with humanity reduced to thirteen… no really only twelve cities, humans still appreciated beauty.

The air was filled with the hum of advanced technology, and my ears picked up the faint sounds of military drills being conducted in the distance. As was expected, the Rays, female supers, who were on guard duty outnumbered their male counterparts, the Refractors, ten to one. That was a fairly standard ratio so it didn’t really trigger any response from me. I simply knew that unbonded Rays were the weakest of supers.

"Take it all in," Demis said, her bat-like wings folding behind her as she took in the scene. "This is the heart of the last human nation on Earth." She even managed to sound serious for a moment. She must have been more impressed than I’d first realized.

"And we're right in the thick of it," I replied, my senses on high alert for any signs of shadow energy. It flickered all around us but something was off about it. Then I realized there was a trace of essence flowing around this place. It felt odd.

Colonel Ryan led us through the compound, and we passed by a variety of high-tech weapons systems, many of which were integrated seamlessly into the compound's design. There were particle cannons hidden within the walls, anti-aircraft batteries disguised as decorative rooftop elements, and even concealed missile silos beneath the surface of the courtyard.

It was clear that the government had spared no expense in fortifying their stronghold, though I couldn't help but wonder how much of this was for show and how much they were really willing to use. I worried that if the shadow had seized control of the President-General or others that they might consider me to be the real threat.

As we made our way deeper into the compound, Aqueous leaned over to me and whispered, "I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Aden."

"I know. I don’t want to have to use force, but I’m worried they won’t leave us any choice," I replied, my eyes scanning the faces of the supers we passed. "We have to be prepared for anything."

Our procession finally reached a large, bunker-like room, where we were to meet with the President-General and Representative Bosch. The room was dimly lit and heavily reinforced, with a single, massive table in the center, surrounded by high-backed chairs. A large screen on one wall displayed a map of North America, with various icons indicating military installations and ongoing operations.

The President-General, an imposing man with a strong jaw and graying hair, stood at the head of the table. He wasn’t a super, of course, since supers were banned from leadership positions, but he was the type of man who in his prime was probably quite fit. He regarded us with a mix of curiosity and wariness. I focused on him but took in Representative Bosch standing behind him. The politician still had the same weasley expression on his face that he always did. This time if anything the sneer was even more pronounced.

I didn’t like how confident he looked. Taking an enemy for granted was always a mistake. The thing is that Bosch was powerful in terms of political influence and his ability to whip the public up into a fervor. That wasn’t the kind of power that would matter today.

Today would be decided by physical power not political. What worried me though was that I didn’t know if Bosch actually understood that. Politicians like him often seemed to think they had more control than they actually did.  I reached out with Energy Sense to determine if there was any shadow energy within him.

For the first time it was like I hit a brick wall. I couldn’t feel any shadow in him, but I couldn’t feel a lack of it. That almost didn’t make sense, but I was sure that something was off. It was like I was being blocked. I reached for the President-General and felt a vague cloud of shadow over him, not possession or even true infection, but some type of influence all the same.

That led me to scanning the rest of the room. Col. Ryan and our escort had left, but there were still three supers in the room, a man and two women. If I didn’t miss my guess they were a bonded team. I tried to scan them and met the same resistance I felt from Bosch. I was just about to push more progenitor energy into my ability when the President-General interrupted my thoughts.

"Welcome, Aden or do you prefer your superhero moniker, Son of Light?”

I winced at that as I heard Demis chuckle. She never let up on me for having picked such a stupid here name. ‘Aden is fine.” If he was bothered by the fact that I left off his title when addressing him, he didn’t let me know. Amongst supers, titles were a sign of weakness almost. Heroes were judged by their accomplishments not by their position or degrees.

He nodded. “Aden then. And Ms. Soros, I was grieved to hear of your father’s passing. He was a good man, who I worked closely with on more than one occasion. You’ve grown into quite a beautiful young woman and I’m sure you’ll live up to the heritage left by your father.”

Inferna was silent for just a brief second. The murder of her father by shadow monsters was still too recent for this to be easy for her. “Thank you. I know that once he counted you as a friend and ally, someone committed to the salvation of the human race.”

I knew her words had been carefully selected and from the way the President-General sat back he knew it too. The sneer on Bosch’s face only deepened. How, I longed to wipe that off.

The President-General continued, “And the esteemed heroes, Demis and Aqueous, now bonds of the only Prism. It is an honor to meet with you.”

I said, “As much as I understand that need for small talk and pleasantries, the clock is ticking. There are threats which need to be dealt with and I came here to see if I could still count upon the government for support.”

The President-General started to reply but Bosch put his hand on the man’s shoulder and he clammed up immediately. “You didn’t come here at all. You were brought here as a criminal to explain for the mass murder of millions in Mexico City. You were supposed to be the hope of humanity but instead you let your pride control you. You refused a truce with the shadow and then killed millions to prevent peace. You are here to answer for your crimes.”