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    Metahuman Wars
    Metahuman Wars
    Metahuman Wars
    Ebook270 pages3 hours

    Metahuman Wars

    By Den Warren

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Metahuman Wars is an action-packed superhero novel set in the Unbelievable Universe by Den Warren. Follow new characters from their super powered origins to the many battles among the numerous colorful factions in Neogothic City. Supervillains from all over the country and beyond flock to Neogothic City after all metahumans are banned from the City. They know that without superhero opposition, they can openly wreak death and mayhem. The true superheroes must decide if the City is worth trying to save. Some will not come to their aid. Some will leave. Yet a brave team, called the Pain Posse, continues the fight to erase the scourge controlling the City, known as the Tolerance Consortium.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUnbelievable Universe
    Release dateApr 2, 2016
    ISBN9781311965295
    Metahuman Wars

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      Book preview

      Metahuman Wars - Den Warren

      Chapter 1

      Near McMurdo Station, Antarctica

      Larry tilted his head as he looked at the display on his resonant scanner. He couldn't believe his eyes. It seemed like it had to be some kind of illusion or something. Maybe it was the composition of one or more things that looked exactly like something else. No one could blame him if they saw the image. He ran to the radio. Hey Bill! Bill! You there?!

      Bill here. Go ahead, Larry.

      Hey. We've got this object deep into the ice. It's really deep. Over.

      So? Over.

      It looks like . . . a guy or something. . . over.

      A silent pause came over the other end. Then Bill said, You tryin' to be funny? You ain’t been drinking again, have you? Over.

      Yeah, Bill. It thought I would go down to the corner bar for awhile.

      When I get back we'll take a look. It's not going anywhere. Over."

      Yeah, yeah, just get back here! Over!

      Back at the Station, Larry and Bill looked at the scanned image.

      Bill looked at it awhile and said, I see what you are saying, but that's just a dead seal or emperor penguin or something.

      Larry said, What?! That seal of yours is a human! Look, you can see an arm there! That's no seal!

      We don't have time to waste a whole day digging up your figments! We've got a job to do and we’re already behind schedule! Those image tests are not going to do themselves! Now shut up and get to work!

      Larry said, No problem. I'll just tell the boss you could have dug up a valuable artifact and instead you chose to ignore it. You know I can convince them that you didn't dig up this guy. The image is right here and I got a picture of it.

      Okay, fine! Go get the gear, and make it happen! The institute had plenty of ice digging equipment, but getting at the object still took some time.

      By the end of the next day, the men had a deep shaft going down about thirty feet into the ice.

      Holy crap! Larry said. "There is a guy . . . no . . . two guys down here!" Larry found the bones of two men, barely covered with a nominal layer of sinew. They were in a pose as if they were either hugging . . . or trying to kill each other. As Larry dug, he continued to find more. He found some ancient arrowheads, then a dagger. Also he found a half rotted sack.

      Look! Larry said when he ascended from the ice shaft. A knife! He was busy taking pictures of the site for posterity. Bill lacked appreciation of the dig, or any other dig because it cut into his exploration efforts.

      Bill said, You're not keeping that dagger. It belongs to the Institute. They might be less mad about all this if it turns out the dagger is worth something.

      Larry was disappointed, but he handed over the dagger to Bill. Don't you even wonder what those guys were doing down there?!

      Nope, Bill said, I woulda left that stupid sack down there.

      That doesn’t sound very forensic, Larry said.

      DNA tests confirmed that the bodies were from ancient Japan, and they were brothers. The experts said the find totally contradicted historian’s understanding of travel during that part of history. Upon further study of the artifacts, it was found that they were made with methods consistent with craftsmanship from that time period.

      Larry took the sack that Bill called ‘stupid’ with him into his quarters. He was carefully fumbling with the fragile bag, thinking more about how lonely he was than the incredible sack. Then he was thinking, how in the world was it was possible that the guys from ancient Japan were down there? He also wondered why no one in the Institute cared. Were they just jealous that they didn’t discover it? Guess there was just not enough money in the find. Not like the sum they were collecting from an oil company for testing and evaluating this new equipment under extreme conditions, which was also a rush job. Then Larry thought about not getting to keep the knife after all of that work digging the shaft, while Bill just sat around watching, telling him to hurry up.

      Click. Click.

      Huh? Larry heard some tiny dense particles hit the floor of his cubicle. They sounded not quite like pebbles. He picked them up. He recognized them as seeds. They looked like apple seeds. He turned the bag inside out, and more seeds were found tucked into the seam.

      Larry started to wonder, what if these seeds could somehow still be good? They didn't look bad, but his cousin Harold was the expert.

      Larry remembered his cousin Harold back in Louisiana. Harold was one of those organic people who never married and was a fanatic about gardening. Harold told Larry once that he could grow anything from a seed, except for rhubarb. So Larry thought that maybe if the old seeds could be from some long lost variety they could make him and his cousin millionaires.

      Chapter 2

      Lincoln, Alabama

      It had been about 5 years since Harold Lancaster had gotten the parcel from Antarctica containing the seeds. From the seeds, Harold was indeed able to grow three fruit trees. Two of the trees were small and were yet to blossom. The other one was thriving. Harold knew he had to keep the valuable trees top secret, or someone would steal them.

      This Year, finally the best tree had apple or pear-like blossoms, grew six medium sized fruit which grew and ripened through the following summer. Now the unusual fruit of the secret tree was appearing to be ripening. It was a unique looking fruit, which was somewhat oblong in shape and slightly larger than a pear. It was starting to turn purple. Harold was not sure when to pick them so he decided to leave them on the tree just a bit longer.

      The next day Harold noticed that he was down to four fruits on the tree. The missing two were not anywhere around on the ground. He looked up at his suspicious, untrustworthy neighbor's entirely too close house trailer, with its Confederate battle flag flapping out front. Harold had long suspected Clem Ellis of taking just enough of his garden's bounty so not to raise suspicion. But this time he had done an inventory of the tree. Someone or something got two of his fruits. No question.

      Harold was worried that his potential fruit tree fortune could be in jeopardy. The best plan of action was to pick the other two fruits and save the seeds that might be worth a fortune. He also thought that he might try grafting a branch off of the tree to some crabapple root stock to start more trees. This practice is commonplace among anyone who raises fruit trees. This gives the tree a better root system and the fruits with the exact genetics as the original tree like a clone, versus the uncertainty of growing trees from seeds.

      As planned, the next morning he picked the fruits. He tasted the firm and moist fruit. It was very delicious. He ate a whole mystery fruit. Then he became violently ill. Eating so much of an unknown fruit was a big mistake, he thought. Then he felt disoriented as if he was levitating. It made no sense, that is, until he realized he was levitating! Now he done did it. He done ate a poisoned apple and now he was ascending toward his eternal reward in God’s Heaven. He bumped his head on the ceiling. Huh? Going to the Heavenly Home ain't supposed to work like that. Bodies changed in the spirit don't bump their heads on ceilings. He pushed off of the ceiling. He wasn’t dead, he was flying! This was impossible. He wanted to get outside where he could have more room to test this situation. He opened the screen door and then really took off. He went above the trees and looked down on his garden. He must be dreaming. This was one of the best dreams he had ever had. He was pleased that he could maneuver so easily in mid-air.

      Of course, it seems that nothing so good can last very long. Harold heard a growl and some screaming over by the Barrett's place. He went flying towards it. He heard gunshots. It's not uncommon in these parts to hear gunshots. Someone was always doing some target practice. But what you don't want to hear is gunshots along with screaming. So Harold did a dive down to the ground and came in a little too hot and smacked a tree with a glancing thud. That hurt, but he didn't wake up as if he was in a dream. He looked from behind the tree and saw a wolf-man who was dragging the older, but attractive Betty Barrett off, hostage-style. The Barrett's hunting dog was growling and barking at the hairy abductor, but not getting too close to the man beast to fight it out.

      Harold flew up and away, then around and behind the wolf-man as fast as he could, then he collided into its back. The hard collision didn't do as much damage as he thought it would, but the fiend let the woman go. The wolf-man snarled and turned. It was close enough to take a swipe at Harold with its long claws. Wolf-man was just close enough to scratch up Harold's face. Harold got a glimpse of Joe Barrett holding his shotgun out of the corner of his eye and flew straight up to get out of the line of fire.

      Blam! Joe Barrett ventilated the wolf-man with his 12 gage shotgun. Joe quickly went to his wife’s side.

      The bloody wolf-man dropped and morphed into a human. The dead lycanthrope was Clem Ellis. The Barretts stared at Clem in disbelief. Betty buried her face, sobbing in Joe’s chest.

      Harold came down to earth and stared at Clem. That beats all.

      Joe Barrett said, Thank you for coming to our aid, Harold. I never knew you were one of them superheroes.

      Harold said, I just got my powers today.

      Joe looked at the corpse and said, This neighborhood sure got plentiful weird all of a sudden. I never figured we would have werewolf troubles around here neither.

      Me neither, Harold said.

      Why don't you come inside, Betty Barrett said. I can tend to those scratches.

      They went inside and Betty put some antiseptic on the deep scratches. Then she poured Harold and Joe some coffee. Then she put a bit of whiskey in with it. We could use a little sedative right now.

      Joe said, You know, Harold, you really ought to give consideration to keeping your real name a secret.

      Why? I got nothing to hide.

      Yeah, but what if one of those supervillains decides to come looking for you. All they got to do is to look you up in the phone book. Next thing you know, you’re on one of them conveyor belts.

      Conveyor Belts?

      Yep. Didn’t you never see the old Batman program? You need to keep your real name secret from those evil types.

      I reckon that's true. What do you figure they ought to call me?

      Then Harold felt a sneeze coming on. He turned to the window. Crash! The sneeze came out with a huge blast that shook the whole house. The force totally shattered the window and tore up part of the window frame. Betty screamed. The Barrett’s dog had lost its mind with the commotion.

      Joe took another sip of his coffee. How 'bout 'Sonic-man?'

      Harold looked at the damage and wiped his nose. He said, I'll fix that.

      Chapter 3

      Harold was stretched out on his couch watching NASCAR commentary on his big screen TV. He was grateful that he had the ability of flight, which he thought was fun, so he flew around every day, mostly to see the reaction of people who would spot him. Harold figured flight must be one of the best superpowers, but it was not much good by itself in fighting evildoers. He could carry his AR-15 with him while he was flying, but sure enough, he would cross over into one of those wimpy blue states that have gun laws that violate the Second Amendment. If he ate another fruit, would he get another super-power, or would he turn into a werewolf?

      He didn't think too much about it, but while he was watching the TV he sneezed. After he recovered from another sonic sneeze he looked up and saw a big crack across the TV.

      Sonofa! He marched outside to his shed in the garden and grabbed a hatchet. That would be more than enough of a tool to bring down the superpower tree that cost him his large flat screen. That cursed tree gave him the cursed sonic sneeze and it also turned Clem Lancaster into an insane werewolf. He drew hatchet back, prepared to take a full swing, but he remembered that he did get the ability to fly from the tree. Again, he thought, what if he ate another fruit of the tree of powers and curses? Then he thought, What are the odds this damn tree will buy me a new TV? Again, he pulled the hatchet back.

      Damn stupid assed tree! He grits his teeth, ready to take a mighty swing and rid the world of the tree. Carey Underwood started playing on his phone. He let the hatchet drop to the ground.

      Yellow, Harold said.

      Harold?

      Yep.

      Sonic-man. This is Joe Barrett.

      I ain't really settled on that name, ‘Sonic-Man’, Joe.

      We were wanting to know if you want to come to our place for a barbeque for a celebration, on account that you saved Betty.

      Thanks, Joe, Harold said. He thought of the expense and time of having to fix the Barrett's window, and didn't want to tear up any more of their stuff. And the bottom line was that he was unsociable anyhow. I have to decline. Sorry. I got some superhero stuff that came up.

      Joe said, I totally understand. You are super busy with all that. How ‘bout Sonic Avenger?

      I ain’t really gave gitin’ a superhero name much thought, to tell you the truth.

      They hung up the phone and Harold stared at the tree. He really did save Betty Barrett with the powers he got from the tree. That was nothing to ignore. Betty was alive because he ate the fruit. Harold had never really done much with his life. He surmised that being a superhero must be his calling. But he figured that he needed at least one more decent superpower, even if he got another curse. He went into the house and ate another superfruit. It did taste real fine, but the same miserable sickness set in again.

      Who am I? What am I doing here? Harold's memory was totally wiped out, including the recollection that he had even eaten the fruit that was now making him sick. He forgot every detail of his life. He looked at the table and saw the peelings and the seeds from the fruit. He knew right away that the memory loss was from the fruit. He told himself not to panic, that his recollections would surely come back momentarily. Time passed, but his memory didn't come back at all.

      He felt a sneeze coming on. He flew outside. The sneeze cracked in the air. He quickly perceived that the power to fly and the sonic sneeze also came from the fruit. He wondered how he knew to fly outside. He just knew. These perceptions were not memories, because all the memories were wiped out. He realized that he had gained the ability to perceive things not readily known, a hyper-perception, or enhanced awareness caused from the fruit. He reasoned that he must have eaten multiple fruits to give him all these good and bad traits. He saw another fruit on the table. Maybe he should eat another one. What was his original goal in doing all this? He perceived wrongly that he would gain another power and lose his memory again. Since there was only about five minutes of memory to forget, he figured he wouldn’t lose much. He could figure out his real name later after the next bout of amnesia. Just to make sure, he left himself a note detailing everything he thought he knew. It didn’t take long to write.

      So then he ate another fruit. Oddly enough, he remembered eating it and writing the note to himself, so he figured that he only lost his memory once, which means that the memory loss was not a constant, and that some other things happened separately, like the sneezing. So what happened this time?

      He was aware that he had this new perception ability, but he didn't have a clue about what his accompanied new curse was. Maybe there were only so many curses a body could absorb. With his memory loss, he started to wonder if he was just going insane.

      Harold casually scratched an itch in his crotch. Yeow! What the . . . ?! He looked at his hand. It was all purple and enlarged! His fingernails were claws, a couple of inches long. Now he would have to trim them back and wear gloves to at least hide the weird color. He went into the bathroom to trim them. Sonofa! He saw his face in the mirror. His skin had turned completely purple. No! Oh my God! No! He thought that he looked like some kind of alien. Damn it all! Evidently, being purple was his newest curse. His hair was still the same sandy color. He desperately hoped that the purple would somehow wash off. He scrubbed it. Nothing doing.

      He stuck out his tongue. It was a bright purple. He touched his lip, once again forgetting about his claws. Yeow! He drew blood with his long fingernail. He stuck his fingers out to look at his hand and the two-inch claws. Then he found that he was able to retract them when he relaxed his fingers a certain way.

      Harold shook his head. Was it worth being purple in order to get the claws?

      Harold still had no recollection about his past. He found some mail on the kitchen table. Harold Lancaster. At least

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