Point Zero: Of Gods Old And New: 3 (Patreon)

Point Zero: Of Gods Old And New: 3

…

Commissioned by Ichypa

Wordcount: 2500

…

Surprisingly, it was easy to fine-tune a regular piece of equipment to find Demons once I knew what I was looking for. Energy scanners were pretty much a necessity in any basic laboratory set up, since they were needed to make sure some pieces of equipment were in tip-top shape and nothing was leaking while putting out loads of energy. Hell, most of our drones used had them as part of their usual sensor suite, since it was a good way to track down people who used their Infections.

Anyway, once I had my devices calibrated, Gwen sent an update request to the surveillance system in the district… and soon enough we had a new ‘Demonic Energy’ overlay for district map.

If I wasn’t under NDA, I’d snap a picture and send it off to the lads and lasses back home.

They’d get a real kick out of it, I’m sure.

“There.” Gwen stated, and I looked at where she was pointing. I’d started scanning from the bottom of the map and she’d started from the top. The location with the nearest source of demonic energy was on the upper right corner of the map. “It’s hiding near a Mass Driver station.”

“Hm, might be thinking about using it to get out of Point Zero. Host wouldn’t survive, but it will.” I’d done a bit of studies regarding the individual who got possessed. Atop the usual baseline Infection improvements every human received, the demonically-infested individual got a substantial increase in their durability and muscle density and had their neurological systems heavily altered to presumably emit and detect various forms of energy. From my calculation, assuming an average human host, traveling via mass driver to the other side of the planet will kill the host and leave the Demon without one. “Think we can just have Joan bless the cargo containers, so it’ll perish in transit by slamming into a sanctified surface?”

“A good idea, but criminals are to be apprehended. Not summarily executed.” On one hand, I had questions about treating a being composed of energy as a common criminal. One the other hand, it was a sentient creature that committed a crime in my girlfriend’s jurisdiction, so it had to be apprehended properly. I’ll just let my superior handle the situation, since she had the right to do so anyway. “We go now. Did you make my requested modifications to my weapons and procure the new equipment?”

“Yep. Went over to the nearest church, had some silver blessed, and placed them on your weapons. Also, here’s a few daggers and some holy water for you to use.” I’d passed the stuff before and after they were blessed through the energy sensors. I’d gone ahead and guessed that the power source I was looking for was the direct opposite of the demonic energy that I’d looked at, and I was surprised to find that it had worked. Regular metal, after the blessings, gained a new property. They made the demonic energies dissipate and drastically reduced the toughness and strength of the infected individual. “They work, too. I checked on the body that we retrieved. Nothing invasive, of course, just putting the pieces close.”

“You did so with a remote drone that was disposed of later, correct?”

“Yep. Completely remote and according to protocol.” We weren’t taking any chances on the former host. We were treating the infestation like a possible disease of high lethality, so the body was contained in a morgue unit with a separate generator in a vacuum. The UN had a lot of protocols in place to handle diseases nowadays. Couldn’t blame them. If something can hit an Infected human’s immune system, then it was a danger to more than just our people. “Documentation is also finished. We’re probably going to get an award for discovering how to locate demons and determine if the weapons we’re having blessed are actually blessed.”

“Good job.” Gwen stated before nodding and uncrossing her arms. “Let’s get to the transport. I want you to pilot and on overwatch. I’ll engage this situation myself.”

Some part of me was worried that my girlfriend going off to fight a Demon.

Most of me was wondering if we could go somewhere for lunch.

We only went out once this month so far, right?

…

Mass drivers were great for transporting goods across the planet and putting things into orbit. For earth delivery, they had two stage designs. They fired shipping containers encased in modules that had rotors and wings that extended once the initial velocity wore off. After being fired high into orbit, the modules activated and glided the rest of the way with the rotors only being used to make slow descents. With Point Zero producing nigh-unlimited energy thanks to the Intrepid, the UN created fields of them in the cardinal directions and slung their goods across the world.

For things destined for space, they aimed up sent their packages into an orbital lane where they’d get picked up by automated tenders.

With ZPMs being manufactured, I’m sure it won’t be long before they mass driver fields here in Point Zero were downsized and better locations found elsewhere.

So, I enjoyed the vast vista of massive guns pointing skyward while I could.

“We’re here. That’s the warehouse.” At the base of each massive gun was a fully-automated warehouse staffed by civilian versions of our drones. The massive guns didn’t have any overpressure issues, but being around a constant barrage of hypersonic booms everyday wasn’t good for the ears. “I’m sending out a shutdown order for the next thirty minutes. Take control.”

“Aye, commander.” We were on the clock for a pretty big mission, so we had cameras on and voice recordings going. For the sake of my own, personal privacy I went with a helmet and made Gwen put on a jacket. No one’s going to see me ogle my girlfriend and get to ogle her themselves. “Taking an overwatch position and releasing drones.”

The side-hatch of the transport opened, the frigid winds of the highest point on the planet entering the transport for a moment, before it closed.

I watched Gwen… walk down towards the facility, the invisible platforms she made with her power briefly visible as snow fell on them.

She could just fall in style, but why would she when this was safer and gave her the high-ground advantage.

Meanwhile, the drones that we launched from the bottom of the craft found something. They were the swarm type, just little helicopter-like drones with cameras to point at targets and one main rotor and a tail rotor. A fabricator could mass produce them by the hundreds, and they usually did, because they provided battlefield awareness… and allowed Verdict to find our targets without any issue.

“He’s trying to get access to a shipping container now. The shutdown warned him.” The lights inside the warehouse were off, but the drones could see just fine in the dark. They had thermal vision, too. Strap some explosives on the things and give them an attack algorithm, and you could give someone a real bad day. Just like we were going to. “Permission to flush him out?”

“Granted.”

“Done. Safeties on drones are off and attack mode is on.” The small drones had a charge inside them that could explode with about half the force of a hand grenade. One of them could probably knock the wind out of a guy or knock him out, if he wasn’t wearing any protection. They’d be lethal to normal humans, but there weren’t any of those around anymore. So, in order to surmount the defenses of a demon, we were going to use the swarm of nearly a hundred. “They’re going in.”

One drone hung back, while the rest buzzed towards their target, who only had a second to realize the oncoming attack since the drones were whisper-quiet unless they sped up.

The Demon was hit by a stream of drones targeting limbs, elbows, and eyes. They came in waves, gaps between each separate attack, so that those coming in wouldn’t be disrupted by the explosions made by those who attacked first. Like a stream of bullets, they rushed at our target and exploded all over him, showering him with shrapnel and explosions… and practically just making him pissed and angry enough to try and make a break for it.

Small arms really don’t do jack shit against these guys if they’re not blessed, huh?

Next time, I’ll have the priest bless our munitions, because this was just a waste of resources.

But they did the job and flushed the guy out.

As far as lads went, the demon picked one of the blokes who lived on the edge of society in Point Zero. People who fell into hard times in Point Zero led hard lives, especially with all the gangs in power before Verdict started stamping them out. Hopped up on synthesized super drugs, unable to keep working, and turning to cage matches where they bet more of their humanity each time for another hit, loads of folks went into the underbelly of the city and never came back out.

The Demon found one of those pit fighters and took him over.

With the upper half of his clothes blasted off, I could see that the man had more scales than skin on his torso, and his skin was a dark red in color from the possession. His eyes were bloodshot, his head bereft of hair, and his mouth was filled with needle-like teeth. He looked deep into Infection, half-mad and completely addled, and in need of being put down before he caused any harm to anyone. This was the terminus for most people who found themselves risking their humanity for that next hit. One single, last fight before they lost it all, just in the hopes of having their last moments be that of ecstasy and pleasure beyond imagining.

Again, if anyone was going down there besides Gwen, I’d be worried.

Instead, the moment I flushed the man out of the warehouse, he was basically done for.

A blast of pure gravity struck the creature and cratered the road around him. If Gwen hadn’t intended to apprehend him, then he’d simply be dead. However, Verdict didn’t kill unless an order was given, and Gwen was quite the stickler for the rules… but that didn’t mean she was going to play fair.

“Deploying prototype munitions.” Gwen intoned and from her jacket flew the projectiles I provided her earlier. Holy water in glass bottles and small sanctified knives. They fell upon the creature while it was struggling to escape the perfect circle of tripled gravity around its person. It could barely stand under its new weight, but the sanctified attacks worsened its state. The holy water seemed to boil on contact with the man’s skin, the reddish parts burning away to reveal fresh pink skin, while the small knives found purchase… and the flesh around them seemed to begin to burn and burn. “Recording in progress.”

“Secondary recording also in progress with supplementary sensors.” It was fascinating to see the demonic power collide with the holy one. How the two energies annihilated one another made me wonder why the holy energy seemed to have superiority over the demonic. There was far more demonic power pound-for-pound in the living creature we confronted than on the weapons I had sanctified, yet the creature was being overwhelmed by the comparatively lesser amount of energy leveraged against it. “Please observe the effectiveness of blessed weapons against the demonic creature. By my calculation, it appears that the holy energy is incredibly potent despite being lesser in quantity when used against the demon.”

The creature’s host had very few wounds. Practically speaking, the embedded knives in his body and the holy water shouldn’t do anything to him. These were wounded, most Infected humans, even without training, should be able to walk off. However, it was howling in pain and agony and… inciting its Infection as though it were a situation where it could only fight for its life.

The possessed man grew in size swiftly, scales covering his body, while he grew swiftly in a hybrid between man and alligator. Thick leathery hide enrobed his form and some sort of energy field formed around him. I quickly scanned the net for information on his possible powers and found them. Defensive powers for alligators-infected were electrical in nature and doubled as an attack. Their primary attack method was sheer strength and speed, while their supporting power granted them regeneration and increased physical size.

A standard Infection, all things considered, but with the amplification provided by the Demon… the possessed man was able to surge through the field of gravity imposed upon him and send a fist Gwen’s way. Again, I thought that the danger posed by the holy weapons was greater than expected, since the Demon elected on trying to kill Gwen instead of running away with all its new physical attributes.

I thought this because, as strong as the man became, he wasn’t even close to Gwen.

The ground under Gwen’s feet cracked and broke, while she caught the fist with one hand.

And, her free hand already had her weapon out in blade form.

“Demonic Entity, you are under arrest for causing the death of a UN citizen and the possession of the body of another UN citizen. Your crimes also include trespassing on government property and entering Point Zero without a visa.” Gwen recounted the creature’s rights, while keeping a hold on its wrist and twisting so that it was forced to its knees. The hulking mess of a creature with red scales and the size of a small shed was helpless before Gwen. Even when it opened its mouth and unleashed a breath of flame it shouldn’t have, she was unfazed and unscarred. “Subject is resisting arrest. Applying nonlethal force.”

Even though I was looking at a Demon who certainly deserved it, I hesitated to keep looking.

Because, as always, Gwen’s views on nonlethal force was different from everyone else.

Her sword swung forward in her free hand towards the Demons’ neck, and it tried to move away only to be held by Gwen, and the sword met the creature’s neck.

A moment later, the body fell onto the ground, spent and without direction, and after another moment the creature’s head fell right into Gwen’s gloved grasp.

“Suspect apprehended. Prepare transport to the nearest detention center.”

Right.

We’re going to put a demon’s head in a tank, hook it up, and interrogate it.

Just the usual day in the office.