The Metahuman Agency: The Superhuman War

The Final Countdown

Gunfire crisscrossed through the air as Jason sprang across the bridge. He slammed down into one of the mercenaries and knocked the man to the floor behind a terminal. Bullets bounced off the terminal, a technician at the station springing for cover.

Jason clocked the mercenary he was on top of before he looked up. Audrey was charging forward, smacking mercenaries aside like bowling pins. She rammed through a line of desks, as soldiers and technicians fled from her rampage. She barreled across the bridge towards Jacqueline, the old man in her path.

Jacqueline raised her grenade launcher. But before she could fire, the old man's eyes suddenly glowed. Jason's eyes widened as suddenly a small portal burst into existence out of thin air, bathing the bridge in a iridescent blue light. Audrey, going too fast to stop, charged right into the portal and vanished from sight.

"Audrey!" Jason screamed. Jacqueline spun around toward his position and cackled, before firing her launcher. Jason sprang to the side, rolling under another computer station. Behind him, the launcher struck a desk and it exploded, showering the computer station in its remains. The force of the blast knocked the computer station backward and Jason was sprayed with a blast of dust, blinding him.

Jason coughed, wiping his eyes. He forced his eyes open, wincing from a stinging pain. Through a blurry haze, he caught a glimpse of Jacqueline striding across the bridge, the grenade launcher automatically reloading. Gunfire exploded from behind him, the cries of soldiers echoing out.

Jason groaned and forced himself up. But he stood up too fast and his knee was slammed with pain. His legs gave way like a bowl of jelly and collapsed on his side, crushing the remnants of the destroyed desk. Jacqueline laughed in glee and leveled her launcher at him.

But before she could fire, Tuatara suddenly jumped over Jason's head. He was clutching the destroyed turret James had been fiddling with. In midair, he tossed the thing like a Frisbee and it sailed across the bridge, slamming into Jacqueline's front.

Then it exploded.

Jason shielded his eyes as Jacqueline was enveloped in a blast of fire, computer stations around her exploding in volleys of sparks. Technicians were thrown aside like toys, screaming as they slammed into the walls or outer window. Jacqueline herself was lost in the explosion, hidden by the fire and smoke.

"Holy shit!" The old man screamed from his chair, clapping his hands to his ears. Tuatara spun around, looking past Jason and hissed urgently.

"James! Hurry! The coilgun!"

Jason turned, seeing James scurry from the smashed entrance doors. Mercenaries lay all around him, groaning, unconscious, or ripped apart. Laureen limped in after him, Hiroshi floating behind them.

James darted to the nearest desk, one of the few that had survived. He began typing furiously at it, his eyes wide open in pure concentration. As he talked, he babbeled: "I imagine that won't keep her down for long I simply overloaded the turret's system to produce a rather explosive overload but keep an eye out hurry hurry hurry we need to hurry I estimate we have less than two minutes before that monstrous gun fires!"

Jason stood up, his slashed knee shaking but he kept his footing. He turned to the other side of the deck but the end of it was still obscured with smoke, destroyed computers popping amidst small burning fires. The old man nearby...Jason realized he must be Wormhole...was uncovering his ears, turning his gaze back toward them.

"That's Wormhole!" He cried, pointing at the old man. "Stop him!" Hiroshi immediately fired an energy blast but Wormhole's eyes again flashed, the muscles in his wrinkled brow tightening. A portal opened up before him, the energy blast disappearing inside. A second portal opened behind James and the energy blast shot out, slamming into James's backside. The man squealed, his blonde hair bouncing as he slammed face first into the computer, the machine beeping in protest.