The Conglomerate part 4

Boston…

Hyperion’s Light rested on a hill overlooking Ryan Bennings’ luxurious house. The Commission had just picked up Intrepid in the UK and landed the ship outside the Boston home. Inside, the team sat around a table in the lab after debriefing each other on their recent attacks. Surrounding the meeting table, holographic screens displayed pictures and files of the enemies they had faced.

“So now we know who broke Miles Cady out of prison,” Ryan Bennings surmised, “And for what purpose.”

“We need to talk about who we’re up against,” Intrepid began, “Alysa, you’re sure the blindfolded woman I fought was an enemy of yours?”

“I’m sure of it. Me and Queen Faith been beefing for a long time. Literal ancient history when it comes to Iseda,” Alysa Saraki told her teammates, “She was the one who burned down my house and her boss killed my mom.”

“I’ve had major issues with the Costa Tristen cartel recently, too,” Cavalier added.

“Same goes for me and Miles Cady,” Ryan Bennings moved around the room, “And Astra has had a few run-ins with Jennifer Sawyer and Shujai was attacked by Syfire while he was on trial,” he stopped at Intrepid, “And we all know the IMD and Second Phase have had bad blood in the past. This is pretty personal for all of us.”

“And for them,” Intrepid explained, “They’re all ideologically opposed to one another in different ways. The only reason they would band together is to eliminate shared enemies.”

“But they attacked opponents who they normally would’ve had no quarrel with,” Shujai folded his hands in contemplation, “Why not attack those they’re familiar with?”

“The element of surprise,” Intrepid answered, “They chose opponents we weren’t expecting.”

“That makes sense,” Astra Machina looked at the blurry image of Queen Faith in a Las Vegas hotel lobby, “I fought Queen Faith once but she didn’t even come after me. They wanted us to fight people we know nothing about.”

“But they’ve definitely shared notes on us,” Cavalier opined, “That Second Phase operative knew where to go to lure me out. Mano must’ve talked to him.”

“And Cady knew about my mom,” Alysa added, “Queen Faith would’ve been the only one to know any of that.”

“They’re using terrorist tactics,” Intrepid told them, “They knew where to strike us at our most vulnerable and did it in such a way to cause fear and confusion. I know some of you’ve suffered a lot at their hands, but we can’t afford to be wrapped up in our emotions here.”

“I’m not afraid,” Shujai growled, “I’m angry.”

“We all are, big guy, but Intrepid’s right,” Ryan told him, “I’m sure she’s done enough counter terrorism to know how this is supposed to work. If we take this too personally, it could be fatal.”

“They want us to get worked up. Charge in recklessly,” Cavalier added, “Nadie and his goon squad tricked me into doing that recently and I don’t wanna fall for something like that again.”

“I understand,” Shujai calmed down slightly, “But that brings me to my next concern. They’re obviously working together to track us down. They tried to kill us individually and that didn’t work. They’re smart enough to know we’ve regrouped, so what’s to stop them from tracking us down again now that we’re all in one place?”

Outside…

An aircraft approached Ryan’s house. Recall, the Second Phase operative, piloted the ship. He, Jennifer Sawyer, and Syfire worked together to track down the Neutronium signature of Hyperion’s Light in hopes that the Commission would all be on board. Meanwhile, Queen Faith was instructed to cast a spell to make them invisible to detection. “Being inside a manmade vehicle disgusts me,” Queen Faith sneered while sitting in the cabin. Mano shook his head and smirked, “Feel free to get out and walk.” Faith turned to him with a sour look on her face but said nothing. Once the aircraft was in range, a single missile was fired toward the house. The forcefield remained steadfast and there was no damage to the structure but it served its purpose – it got attention.

Inside…

An alarm went off, alerting the Commissioners to the threat. “Speak of the devils,” Ryan said as he raced up the stairs with the others following. The team began piling out of the rear exit that once led to a garage. “You have security weapons in this place,” Cavalier reminded him, “Why not use that?” “Taking down an alien fighter is one thing,” Ryan answered as he led them around the back, “But staying cooped up in one place gets more and more dangerous the longer we’re inside. If we make it to Hyperion’s Light, I like our chances better.”

The Front Gate…

As they rounded the corner, they saw that the aircraft had landed at the end of the road leading up to the house. Meanwhile, their enemies stood in a line within the iron gate surrounding Ryan’s home. Jennifer Sawyer, Queen Faith, Syfire, Miles Cady, Recall, and Mano had them cut off, waiting for them to make the first move. Hyperion’s Light remained on a hill nearby, just outside the parameter of the gate.

“Going somewhere, traitor?,” Syfire shouted at Shujai who returned a glare.

“I can sense you, Alysa Saraki!,” Queen Faith shouted, her eyes still covered by a blindfold.

“Good!,” Alysa shouted back, “I want you to know it was me when you lose another body part!”

“Hey, Cav!,” Mano spoke next, “How’s New York?”

“It’s not like you to take orders from anyone that isn’t Nadie,” Cavalier answered back, “What’d they promise you?”

“Free plane ticket,” he answered jokingly.

“Sawyer, is this how far you’ve gone to get to me?,” Astra Machina asked Jennifer Sawyer, “This doesn’t concern anyone else!”

“It wasn’t entirely my idea, but it was an interesting prospect,” she responded.

“That’s enough talk,” Cady sneered, “Let’s get this over with.”

Cady gathered up a great deal of telepathic energy and expanded it outward to take control of every organic mind in the small radius. This included, not only Ryan Bennings and his comrades but also his kidnappers. He hated them and wanted to kill them almost as much as he tried to kill Bennings. He knew Astra Machina was likely immune as she was an AI being and Recall potentially had a cybernetic brain but he could easily eliminate them once he took control of the small crowd. His first order of business was to have Ryan Bennings flayed alive. He tried to reach into their minds, but he soon learned a disturbing truth.

“Did you forget this was my house, Professor?,” Ryan Bennings gave him a knowing smile, “Yeah, I have anti-telepathic frequencies running 24/7 thanks to you.”

“And I’m gonna punch you for hurting Labrat!,” Astra added.

Mano glanced at Cady and muttered in Spanish, “And Recall thought I was the useless one.”

“Dammit,” Cady clenched his teeth and backed away as quickly as his injured knee could take him.

“I suppose we’ll have to make due,” Sawyer extended her arm several feet. Ryan raised his forcefield just in time to protect himself from the enlarged fist, but the force of the punch still sent him into the air. The Cavalier raised his sword as the elongated limb passed and took a swing; Sawyer’s arm snapped back, and her wound quickly healed. The rest of the Conglomerate raced toward their enemies. Sawyer’s orders were clear: her team was not meant to attack their usual targets to throw the Commission off-balance.

Recall leapt on top of Alysa, having identified her as extremely powerful but physically vulnerable. “Alysa!,” Astra’s arm transformed into a cannon and she fired. Recall performed acrobatics to avoid the blasts sent his way, but it was enough to distance him from her friend.

As the Cavalier helped Ryan to his feet, Syfire snuck up behind them. Both men found energy-tendrils wrapped around their throats and the U’ntari assassin quickly began draining them of their life force, “Sawyer didn’t want me to fight Shujai, but I’ll gladly kill the two of you instead. We’ve unfinished business after all!” Shujai flew in for assistance, but Queen Faith cast an unwieldy telekinetic attack. As she was going by her mystic senses, not her sight, the attack was successful in throwing Shujai off course. Unfortunately for her teammates, it also threw Syfire into the air along with Cavalier and Ryan.

Intrepid, meanwhile, flew at Jennifer Sawyer, firing her 8mm. The bullets tore through Sawyer but she quickly healed herself from the attack and produced two sets of claws. Intrepid soon found herself on the defense as Sawyer extended her arms and began slashing at her.

Nearby, Alysa picked herself off the ground, only for Mano to wrap an arm around her throat, “Nothing personal, niña.” He raised a blade, ready to strike, but Alysa summoned an animalistic spell. Mystically-produced porcupine quills stabbed at him and he fell back in pain. Meanwhile, Astra continued to chase after Recall, but a mystic lighting bolt clumsily fell from the sky and slammed her into the ground. “Abomination!,” Queen Faith roared as she attempted to mystically lock-in on Astra’s location, “I haven’t forgotten about you!” Recall tried to assist Queen Faith, but a concussive blast from Alysa sent him rolling across the lawn. Next, Ryan fired a laser pistol at Queen Faith who raised a forcefield to defend herself. Syfire took a swing at Intrepid with a whip, but she flew over it, delivering a flying kick to his chest. Close by, Sawyer took a hit from Cavalier’s battle axe before swatting him away.

Shujai returned to Ryan’s yard and produced massive energy blasts from both palms. Sawyer, Recall, and Syfire were bounced into the air. Queen Faith, meanwhile, generated a forcefield to protect herself. As one of the more vulnerable members, Mano tried his best to clear the area and dragged Cady along with him. The force of the explosion still sent them rolling into the iron gate, however. “Ow, I have a bad leg,” Cady complained. “You’re welcome,” Mano growled back.

“That landscaping bill is gonna be huge but I’m happy for the save,” Ryan used his watch to start Hyperion’s Light, “We need a distraction!” Syfire, Recall, and Sawyer were already on their feet but Alysa was ready with a spell. Bright lights and thunderous noise briefly blinded and deafened them, which bought a few precious moments. Queen Faith lowered her shield for an attack but Intrepid dropped down from the sky, knocking her to the ground and stunning her. In the next second, Hyperion’s Light flew to their location and hovered over the destroyed lawn.

Mano and Cady were still standing but Intrepid trained her firearm on them as the ship’s tractor beam dropped down behind her and the Commission rushed to it. “We’re good, Intrepid,” Cavalier called to her, “Let’s go.” The team leapt into the beam and quickly ascended into the ship. Once her teammates were secured, Intrepid quickly flew after them and disappeared as well. When Sawyer’s group recovered, they watched as Hyperion’s Light shot into the distance.

“So what happens now?,” Cady asked openly, “Bennings probably has some weapons inside the house. We can see what we can grab.”

“We don’t need technology,” Queen Faith snapped.

“Yes, we do,” Recall countered.

Sawyer sighed. She showed a slight hint of annoyance. “Bennings likely has a series of redundancies and traps set in case of situations like these. It’s not worth the risk. Additionally, the Commission know we’re here and will retaliate. I’d like to regroup and formulate the next plan.”

“We’ve gone after them twice,” Syfire said impatiently, “They are no closer to being eliminated.”

“I agree with the demon,” Queen Faith added.

“I’m not a demon,” Syfire growled back.

“One more try is all I ask,” Sawyer offered, “If it doesn’t work, we go our separate ways.”

Somewhere over the East Coast…

Hyperion’s Light carried the team away from the house to nowhere in particular. Once more, the Commissioners sat around a meeting table.

“Well, that coulda gone better,” Ryan began.

Shujai seemed silent, which Astra noticed, “Syfire called you a traitor,” she told him, “I’m sure that upset you.”

“Seeing him again brought back memories. Feelings. It’s nothing,” he brushed her off, “We need a plan. As I said before, they seem to know how and when to attack.”

“They’re relentless,” Intrepid explained, “They know to keep us off balance, giving us no measure.”

“Any idea how to take them down?,” Cavalier asked, “These are individually some of our nastiest enemies all banding together. It’s a lot to deal with but you seem to be pretty good with knowing how they think.”

“Intelligence gathering agencies are adept at learning how these people operate,” she told the group, “Sometimes, the best plan is to use pages from their own playbook.”

“We’re all ears.”

Intrepid began to explain her plan to them. The irony of being the best at understanding deceitful minds did not escape her. She couldn’t help but think about her role as a double agent. She was spying on them, yet they trusted her. They didn’t know she was reporting to Director Pierce of the IMD, and she was beginning to feel guilty. The innocence of Astra Machina endeared her to the team, and she knew she had been compromised. It was too late to leave the group, though. She was too deep in the mission. She had to see it through. It was a conflict to be solved later, though. For now, she was the key to defeating the Conglomerate.

Continued…