Chapter 430 Blackwater Plans 2

“Before we delve into specific strategies, I would like to ask something regarding the goal for our campaign on Blackwater,” said Valera.

“Our goal has and always been the Machineheart,” said Aldrich. “Once we have that, we have enough leverage to become a global superpower.”

“I understand, but what of the revelation that the scholars we captured spoke of?”

“The Blue Ring?” Aldrich contemplated this for a moment. He had taken the Meteor Labs team and was housing them in the tower. At the moment, he did not have the resources to get them back to work. Aarav needed to ship a whole laboratory over before any real work could happen.

But he had grilled Machinemind and the team about the strange artifact they called the ‘Blue Ring’. According to them, the ring manifested on the planet seventeen years ago when the passive barrier around the earth unraveled for a moment and other alien artifacts and influences managed to slip into earth.

Among the myriad of exotic objects the Severing brought to earth, the ring was arguably the most important as it had the remarkable ability to control matter. Ace had exhibited some level of the ring’s power, merging it with his tactile telekinesis to unravel objects at the atomic level. Coincidentally, it apparently was how Superforce, the current rank 1 hero after Vanguard’s disappearance, received his powers.

Before the Trident took the ring, it was under lock and key by the U.S. government. Superforce was a researcher under them, but an errant experiment had caused the ring to generate an explosive wave that razed the entire facility that housed it, killing all but Superforce who rose again with unfathomable powers.

The ring was seemingly lost, but after a few years, re-emerged in the deep east coast Wastelands where the Trident was the first to grab it. The issue, however, was that the ring was fickle. If it was not ‘stable’ enough, it entered a dormant state where it refused to emit any energy as if it had an independent will.

To try and attract the best of the best to reveal the ring’s secrets, the Trident had branded the ring as a way to generate not only infinite energy, but give mankind control over the fundamental forces of creation. Lured by such a grand vision, many esteemed scientists flocked to the labs even though they knew it was funded by less than ethical means.

Progress working on the ring, however, was painfully slow. Even after nine years, the ring refused to share any of its secrets. That is, to everyone except Machine Mind.

To Machine Mind and to him only did it whisper its powers, telling him, apparently, to create a perfect being worthy of being blessed by the ‘Outer’. Hence his cloning experiments using the illicitly taken DNA of Superforce – the only human who had ever merged with the blue ring’s power and lived.

Which meant that Ace was in reality a clone of the current top hero in the U.S.

When Aldrich tried to press Machine Mind further about the Outer, the scientist could do little more than babble cryptic incoherencies. When Aldrich tried to forcibly invade the man’s mind using his authority as his lich, he faced an odd mental block. Or rather, he hit just blank space, as if these words and memories were not Machine Mind’s but someone else’s, someone who Aldrich had no authority over.

“Machine Mind’s told me all there is about what he knows is holed up in Blackwater,” said Aldrich. “And there’s nothing related to unlocking the secrets of the ring. If there was, the Trident would’ve used it years ago.

As it stands now, the ring’s been in their study for almost a decade with near zero results.”

“What of Ace? The boy uses the ring’s power, supposedly,” said Valera.

“He is under my current study,” said Fler’Gan. “I am utilizing alchemy and scrying in an attempt to understand the nature of the power imbued in his body. As of now, I cannot yield any results.”

“Regardless, the ring is something we can sit on and crack open later. Especially since it’s currently now within me.” Aldrich raised his hand. On the back of it, a blue branch glowed.

He could not actually use the ring’s power. It seemed that the tree symbol on his hand was more like storage that kept the ring contained rather than something that channeled it into a useful form. But he could remove the ring and have it be under study again when he felt like it.

For now, though, with no equipment available, he felt it best to keep it on his person for safety’s sake.

“The Machineheart is the only real objective we have here,” finished Aldrich. He nodded to V.

V’s eyes flashed blue as she changed the table hologram again. This time, it showed a diagram of the Machineheart. It was a cube shaped piece of metal approximately the size of a basketball. Red lines criss-crossed over its surface, gleaming and dimming in a rhythmic, heartbeat-like pattern.

“The Machineheart. Ancient artifact way back from the Altering. It’s theorized to be the ‘heart’ of the Omega Mind that went full Terminator on earth in 2030. It’s the form it chose to show people whenever it interacted with them. Just a floating, ominous cube,” said V. “It’s said to be the most data-energy dense construct that has and will ever exist on this planet.”

“Can you merge with it?” asked Aldrich.

“I’ll be honest here: I’m not too sure,” said V. She licked her lips in equal parts nervousness and excitement. “But I gotta say, thinking of all that data, all that energy just coursing through me, in me, on my fingertips – man, I’d atleast like to try.”

Aldrich raised a brow. “That’s not entirely reassuring.”

“Relax, boss. The Italian Prong wanted to get Mad Jack to fuse with it. If he can do it, I can do it. I’m not entirely at his level, but I’m close enough where I’m relatively confident I can do it. Even if I can’t, we can just take the cube and keep it with us, right?”

“Yes.” Aldrich nodded. “And about Mad Jack: any information about his location?”

V shook her head. “Nada. Crazy bastard’s been offline for a while now. Kinda scared. Either he’s cooking something insane up or he’s dead. But I highly doubt he’s going to be against us.

Internal data from Feather’s shown that the Italian Prong doesn’t know where Mad Jack is either. Apparently they parted on less than good terms. It’s part of the reason why A.I.I. managed to wreak havoc on dozens of Italian Prong operations across Europe and North America.”

“And A.I.I.? Any notice about his movements?”

V waved her hand, putting the holographic cube to the side and bringing up a map of the east coast of the U.S. She highlighted several blue dots above where Blackwater was, a few hundred miles out.

“A.I.I.’s been moving his bots down slowly but steadily from north to south, wiping out any Trident outposts he finds in his way. By the time we start our operation on Sunday, A.I.I. will be in position outside Blackwater.”

“What of this creature’s battle capabilities?” said Valera. “Have you learned anything?”

“All his bots are like ghosts. They phase in, wreck face, then phase out,” said V. “The aftermath of the attacks on the Trident suggest cryo-weapons and top-notch stealth tech which, now I know, is partly magic based.”

“Ah, it will be glorious to secure samples of these mechanical specimen,” said Fler’Gan, rubbing his lavender hands together. “I have yet to break the merger between technology and magic. But with their samples, that breakthrough is one reverse-engineering away.”

“It’ll be high on our priority list,” said Aldrich.

“Concerning.” Valera frowned. “The frost bolts and invisibility we already know of. Surely an enemy of this caliber has more. Might we not strike now? Before these golems can set perimeter around Blackwater?”

“Then we have to run into Solomon Solar. He stays in Blackwater 24/7 with his mistress, the headmaster of the academy. The only time he’ll be gone is Sunday, and that’s when we can make our attack,” said Aldrich.

“But the Kryptic we took should eliminate this foe, no?”

“We need to apply it first, and if Solomon is on guard from an attack he knows is coming, that gets very, very difficult. I have a plan to cripple him when he goes to his mandatory meeting with the AA, when he’s all alone.”

“And what of Fafnir? The dragon-shifter that, from what I know, is quite a fiercesome beast.”

“Yeah. He along with Monk and some Sword Capos are the strongest threats. But it’s a good thing we’re going to be getting rid of two out of those three threats.”

Valera smiled in glee. “Ah, I knew you had something in store, my dear. Does this involve gratuitous amounts of violence, preferably inflicted by us?”

Aldrich nodded. “It does.”

Valera’s fangs gleamed. “Excellent.”

“Who are you guys thinking of whacking?” said Feather, interested, slight grin on his face. “Hopefully the Sword Capos. Most of them are arrogant bastards. Idiot jocks, the whole bunch of em’.”

“The Sword Capos and Fafnir,” said Aldrich. “Courtesy of your assistance, Feather.”

Feather blinked. “Huh, me? How?”

Aldrich nodded to Fler’Gan, and Fler’Gan sensed Aldrich’s intentions, his three red eyes shining with anticipation. “To begin with, we’ll have to cut you into pieces.”