Friday 8 May 2015

1.10 Ancient Warriors Part 6

“So her main power is her toughness?” asks Adalbern.

“I would say that her main power is more her inability to go down,” I reply, “Even then, if you do take her down, she doesn’t stay down for long short of being killed. And that is just the power she uses the most. At her best, she is a Class 6. I first got my suspicions I saw her in battle with Vengeance and confirmed it when testing her limits back at the base.”

“But enough about Narszara for now,” says Adalbern, “How is the rest of the League of Heroes? I would like to find out before I have to enduring the boring side of this state visit. Nothing exciting actually happens in modern politics. It’s all talk and no action.”

“We’re doing well,” I reply, “Of the originals, only Bolt, Vibration and Psychic are still alive and only Bolt is still active, through that is just public relations with no fighting. The first Bulk is still helping out with some the equipment and is willing to go out into the field if it gets bad enough. As for the rest of us, we been keeping active helping out the police. With every native supervillain in prison, we only really have been dealing with petty crime with something more serious coming up now and again. I will admit I have been dabbling with white collar crime recently. It costs people a lot more than blue collar crime by the way and nobody apart from me is a position to deal with it.”

“Commando, Storm Knight and I have also been looking at dealing with organised crime,” says Sam, “Taking out drug dealers and drug farms that the police can’t touch.”

“Vigilantism,” muses Adalbern, “Can’t say I’m surprised that the League of Heroes is prepared to casually break the letter of the law to up hold the spirit of the law. Your grandfathers always had that noble side to them and I expected them to pass it on to their heirs. Did I ever tell you about that time I fought them in Rouen? Back in the Second World War, shortly after D-Day, back when they were still called Lion Squad. I was leading a company of soldiers when we clashed. Lantern and I battled while Commando and Sentinel fought my men alongside your own soldiers. The rest of them were scattered around the rest of the town at the time. I slightly out-matched the original Lantern to be honest. He lacked my experience, but he was good enough that he was able to fight me to a standstill with those magnificent powers of his. It helped him I hadn’t faced a real threat in a long time and wasn’t expecting any real challenges. Even Supersoldier, Captain Magnificent and Strongman hadn’t been able to best me when they combined their might at Dunkirk. To be bested by a relatively new fighter was humbling to say the least. In my desire to break our stalemate especially as the rest of Lion Squad was effectively on the verge of winning the battle for the town as a whole, I destroyed the support for a nearby building. One containing French civilians and German soldiers. If I had known it contained my own men, I wouldn’t have done as I did.”

That was definitely true. Adalbern was a patriot, a determined one even if he wasn’t one of those fanatics that springs to mind when patriots are mentioned. Instead of short, visible bursts of enthusiasm, he was always there for his people, protecting them and fighting for them. He had literally always been there for them as he was already defending his people and conquering their enemies when they started recording history. He was several centuries old when his compatriot Sir Gawain for born.

Actually, now I think about it, I’m certain that Adalbern once mentioned something about being over seven thousand years old...

“But I did and I took that opportunity to get away,” continues Adalbern, “Lantern however moved to hold the building up and saved those inside. The rest of Lion Squad had rallied nearby to help Lantern stop me and I had to fend them off as Lantern saved those within the building. A noble deed that one could have easily excused him for not performing. Yet he did it anyway, without a moment’s hesitation. I also respected him for that. But at least he died a good death in the end, sacrificing himself against the greatest threat our world has ever faced.”

The Sektain Invasion. The one that the first Lantern died stopping.  Not many today still believe it was that great of a threat, but Adalbern is one of the few to fully understand what the Invasion meant especially as he played a key part in it.

“The American Government wishes for me join their Defender Initiative,” says Adalbern, changing the subject abruptly, “Not so much myself due to my history and politics, but the Gardisten. Both Wald Ritter and I refused their offers.”

“It isn’t so bad,” says Britannia, “All of the government teams in the Isles are part of it. So are most in the world. It is just you Germans, Russians and Chinese who resist the most.”

“Don’t forget the League,” cuts in Aunt Mary.

“We don’t resist them,” I protest, “I even help fund them and most of their equipment is Sentinel Tech. I suppose that technically makes the League part of the Initiative.”

“But as an established private organisation with lots of ties and connections already, you don’t need the help of the Defender Initiative as much as everybody else,” says Aunt Mary, “I think that is one of the reasons that the Initiative officials seem to avoid involving me. I have too many close ties to the League of Heroes for their taste and not as dependent on them.”


“Makes sense,” mutters Adalbern, “It also seemed like an attempted by the Americans to dominate the superhuman world even further.”

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