1.12 The Machine 3.0 Part 6

“Hello to you too Sentinel,” replies Oakley, “I came as soon as I received your message about killer alien robots. I assume this wreckage is what is left of them?”

“You would be correct,” I say, “If you don’t mind, Narszara and I are going to take the remains of the big guy so I can study them. You can keep the stuff from the smaller guys.”

“I’m not sure how that fits into the law about collecting evidence,” says Oakley with a shrug, “But I know that all of this way beyond me and my people. We always relied on folks like to deal with abnormal stuff.”

“I assume you won’t mind if I fill a police form later?” I politely inquire, knowing the answer will be yes as always.

“Of course,” answers Oakley with a wave of his hand, “You’ve done this enough times to know the drill. Beside, I’m hoping you deal with this as quickly as possible. While attacks like this are good PR is fended off with nobody hurt and minimal collateral damage, the longer they drag on, the more likely things are going to go sour.”

“No need to tell me about it,” I say, “Anyhow, I should get going before Narszara and I get swamped by the press.”

“Good idea,” agrees Oakley, “I’ll keep them off your backs. Or I’ll try to anyway.”

“Narszara,” I say privately over our League communicators, “Grab the body. I’ll carry the arms.”

Narszara complies as she hefts the Machine’s remains up and holds it over her shoulder. As the gathered media bombards us with questions, I pick up one of the Machine’s arms in each hand. Ignoring the reporters, I ignite my rocket pack and fly into the air.

“Warden,” I say as I call my aunt and she answers, “Narszara and I are on our way now.”

I end the call and look behind me. Narszara is trailing behind me. While the Machine isn’t slowing her down, Narszara’s flight is naturally slower than that of the Sentinel armour.

“Narszara,” I say as we fly in silence, “Why didn’t you tell me you could shapeshift into a dragon?”

“I never came up milord,” replies Narszara.

“Never seemed important at all?” I continue to press her.

“It is an ability I have had all my life and is extremely common amongst my people,” answers Narszara, “It did not seem to be of major significance at any point. It still does not seem to be overly important Verigar.”

“To public and authorities it will be,” I tell her, “It’s a powerful and overt ability. The potential dangers will worry people, especially since they know little about you.”

“I do not care that others worry about me being normal,” says Narszara.

We fall silent again and I go back to my old fall by for when I have to do long flights, thinking about technical problems.

It occurs to me that each time I fought the Machine, I’ve been forced to rely on the more powerful heavy hitters that are Sam and Narszara.

Despite my upgrades to the Sentinel armour, I’ve been growing weaker against the Machine as it continues to upgrade itself while I have only made minor improvements.

If Narszara hadn’t shown up in the nick of time, I would have probably been killed or maimed. When we first encountered the Machine, the majority of the League would have been killed if it weren’t for Sam. And when I encountered the Machine for the second time on Spartan’s carrier, I would have also died if Sam hadn’t saved me. I would have also fallen in battle before Sam arrived if it weren’t for Darrac or Spartan.

Oh Darrac. He’s probably still waiting.

“Janelle?” I call.

“Yes?” replies the AI

“Is Darrac still there?” I inquire in an innocent enough voice.

“Yes,” says Janelle, “I’m assuming you won’t be coming to deal with him anytime soon?”

“Not right now,” I admit, “I got other things to do right now,”

“I’ll inform Darrac,” says Janelle, “He’s willing to wait until you’re free.”

“Let him wait in the base if he wants,” I say.

“I’ll extend your offer to him then,” replies Janelle.

That’s that sorted. But I still need to figure out the latest upgrade the Sentinel armour.

Granddad was always continuously upgrading the Sentinel armour. He never wanted to end up stagnant or outdated, especially when it counted.

Right now, I got several upgrades I have yet to implement. The rocket boots, grappling lines, the magnetic boots and gauntlets. All major upgrades that I come up with, but the Sentinel armour is currently lacking.

Normally I would just add those upgrades to the current set of Sentinel armour, but I’m almost finished putting together a spare set of the Sentinel Mk VII armour.

Right now, I feel that I should just add the upgrades to it to create the Sentinel Mk VIII armour.

1.12 The Machine 3.0 Part 5

The dragon is about fourteen to sixteen feet long and three metres high. Its scales are the same green as Narszara’s sword and cover creature’s entire body. Its wings are massive and leathery like a bat.

The dragon drops the beast and rips its other arm off with its claws before pinning it to the ground.

Sensing defeat its defeat, either the Machine or whoever is controlling it activate its self-destruct. The Machine’s internal circuitry explodes and pops until only the outer casing remains.

I was hoping for something useful from its wreckage, but I can still study the armour the Machine uses and look for weak points in its design.

But first, I have to deal with the dragon.

As I walk towards the beast, it swiftly shapeshifts into Narszara. The Norgardian is wearing her new armour, the first time she has worn it in the field.

I can’t say I’m surprised as Narszara has a dragon motif to her and given her level of power, the idea of her being able to turn into a dragon isn’t that farfetched.

Most of those watching us however seemed to be deeply impressed by the mysterious Narszara. While Narszara is a known member of the League and has been seen in public, she’s not an active crimefighter like the rest of us. The primary time she has been out of base is when Narszara is escorting the Rileys when they go out in public.

Her power level and set aren’t known to the public so there has been lots of speculating about what Narszara can do, especially since she took out Vengeance.

I bet now people are going to believe she’s a powerful shapeshifter.

Now what to do with the remains of the Machine? My first thought is to take them back to base to study them in the lab, but safety always comes first.

While I may want to study, I am not about to bring the enemy in the heart of my base of operations, even if it is ‘dead’. Especially when who knows what could be inside? The Machine could easily be a Trojan Horse and I wouldn’t know until it was already inside the base.

So taking back to the lab isn’t an option, but I still want to study the Machine and I need somewhere with the equipment to do which I don’t need to worry about compromising security.

The perfect solution hits me in a moment of Eureka and I call my Aunt Mary’s Warden phone number, using my own Sentinel number.

“Hello Sentinel,” answers Aunt Mary, “I’m assuming this to do with news at the moment.”

“If you’re referring to Machine, then yes,” I reply, “I would like to study the Machine, but taking it to the base is not an option.”

“Agreed,” agrees Aunt Mary, “I’m going to assume you want to use my lab in Defender Tower.”

“Yup,” I reply, “If you don’t mind that is.”

“I don’t,” says Aunt Mary, “When can I expect you to arrive?”

“I’ll grab one of the arm and Narszara will carry the rest,” I reply, “While I can make the journey in about fifty minutes, Narszara is slower than me so it’ll take about twenty to half an hour longer. And we’ll need to make police reports first. We’ll already got a bunch of officers on the ground.”

“Understood,” says Aunt Mary, “I’ll be waiting and inform the folks here that you’re coming.”

And with that, Aunt Mary hangs up.

“Narszara?” I say as I approach her.

She is standing by the Machine’s wreckage where no one has dared approach her yet.

“Yes milord,” replies Narszara.

“We got to make police reports than we’re taking the wreckage to Defender Tower in London,” I tell her.

“Aye,” is Narszara’s reply.

I turn to face some of the police officers as they tried to form a barrier around the wreckage of the Machine. A pair of reporters, including the one I saw earlier, are trying to get through.

I sigh internally. I hate dealing the media. They always try to twist your words and the situation to make things more interesting for their viewers. And if you complain to them about that, they do their best to portray you in a bad light.

The last thing I want to do after a hard fight like that is have to explain what happened to the press. Especially since they’ll want to know more able Narszara.

My spirits pick up as I spot Inspector Oakley exit a newly arrived police car. As the guy in charge of crimes relating to powered or gifted people and the liaison to the League of Heroes, we see a lot of each other and get on well.

It doesn’t hurt that he knows my secret identity and has kept it secret. I also believe that he has been able to piece together some of the others’ secret identities, but if he has, Oakley hasn’t given me or anyone else any hint of it.

“Hello Inspector,” I say as walk towards him, Narszara following me in tow.

1.9 Mad Beasts Part 2

I look around granddad’s house. Despite telling people this was where I was spending most of my time when I was at the base, I haven’t actually been here for quite a while now.

I notice a police car roll up outside and it occurs to me that, as Daniel Griffin, I haven’t given a police statement about my fight with Nightblade yet due to my attempts to avoid the press.

I look out the window to see who’s in the car and I blink in surprise when I spot Inspector Oakley get out. I consider him a helpful associate when dealing with the police as Sentinel and we get on fairly well.

Of course I have to pretend I don’t know him thanks to my secret identity.

I look at the second officer to get out on the passenger side, wondering if it is also someone the Sentinel knows.

The answer turns out to be yes as I spot Constable Melville, one of the three supers on the Hampshire police force.  I guess the reason both of them are here is due to this involving a superhuman and them both being part of the superhuman department.

I walk towards the door and open it before the officers can knock.

“Hello?” I greet to them.

Let me tell you something, it is weird meeting two people who you know, but they don’t know you and don’t know you know them and you have to pretend not to know them.

But something must click into place as Oakley blinks at me and stares for a moment. Melville gives him a look.

“Daniel Griffin?” asks Oakley as he focuses again.

“Yes Inspector,” I reply and I flinch internally at my mistake.

Not many people know how about different police ranks, particularly the higher up ones, here in the UK due to the lack of them on TV, especially how to recognise one. That must have tipped him off about something.

“We’ve here to collect your statement about your fight with the supervillain assassin Nightblade last Thursday at St James Park,” says Oakley as he looks at me, “May we come inside?”

“Sure,” I tell him.

Normally I wouldn’t invite the police inside, but I know Oakley well enough to trust even if he doesn’t know it.

I step aside and let Oakley and Melville inside.

“I saw your face after Narszara arrive,” says Oakley in a causal manner.

Yup, he’s figured it out. Next time, I need to be more careful.

“So you pieced it together,” I reply as Melville looks at the two of us, confusion on her face.

“What’s going on?” asks Melville.

“Meet Daniel Griffin, Eleanor, also known as the Sentinel,” answers Oakley.

“Him?” blurts out Melville.

“Me,” I reply, “By the way, my identity is secret so keep it secret. You weren’t supposed to find out and you don’t want to find out the consequences if you reveal it.”

“After all the trouble that it’s caused Britannia, I’m not revealing any super’s secret identity,” says Oakley, “But you sure do make a lot more sense now.”

“Pardon?”

“We were looking over your background over the last few days, especially since you held your own against Nightblade,” says Oakley, “And kid, you are not normal. You’re a millionaire that lives like middle-class. Not only that, but you got your grandfather’s money, company and house over the rest of your family. And people you hang out with just don’t fit. I’m going to guess they make up the rest of the League? Anyway, you and your friends are very mysterious. You seem to go off the grid while hanging out with each other, but it’s not only when the League shows up. Not to mention how well you have avoided the media, it’s almost unreal. You also took on Nightblade and almost beat him. Yet you don’t have any powers like he does. But you do have training from an old family friend who we can’t trace at all. Plus you’re associated with the Sentinel and the League like your grandfather was. None of it made any sense.”

“So you’re the Sentinel?” says Melville as she looks at in mild surprised, “You’re not what I expected, but then again, I’m not sure what I expected. I never really fought about what the Sentinel was beneath the armour. Apart from he was male. But even that, along with your age, we only had your word for.”

“That was sort of granddad’s idea,” I reply, “He felt that he should keep his normal identity separate from the Sentinel’s.”

“Except for when he was the Sentinel’s number one business partner it seems,” points Oakley.

“People just figured he worked with Sentinel, not that he actually him,” I reply with a shrug, “But aren’t you here to get my statement regarding Sunday’s events?”

“Good point,” concedes Oakley, “We best get onto that.”

***

I watch the police car pulls out before I call Sam.

“Hello,” answers Sam.

“Hey Sam,” I reply, “I called to called to tell that the police just collected my statement about Sunday at granddad’s house.”

“Anyone we know?”

“Just Inspector Oakley and Constable Melville. That’s part of the reason I called. Oakley put two and two together about our secret identity.”

“Is that bad or good?” asks Sam.

“Neither, just unexpected,” I reply, “Oakley and Melville can be trusted.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah,” I say, “Can you remind the others about the meeting this evening?” 

1.4 Sins of Our Grandfathers Part 5

“I’m glad to hear somebody going to stop these monsters escaping justice if it comes to that,” replies Oakley, “I would warn you to think of the consequences of doing that, but I doubt you or the rest of the League care after what Vengeance has done”

He sighs.

“I don’t understand why Vengeance would arm Hall and Edison’s gang,” says Oakley.

“I don’t think they did,” I say, drawing a look from Oakley, “When I brought that up to them whilst they had me pinned down, it confused them. I think it was a set up by whoever did supply the weapons to kill off some of the League, maybe scare the rest of us away.”

“You think so,” mutters Oakley, his face deep in thought.

“We still don’t know what Vistorix was after when we stopped him,” I explained, “We stopped him then some heavily armed gangsters and supers attack nearby to us. I think the suppler wanted some of the League to get killed in that. Then Narszara shows up and this happens. And how it was set up make it seem so clearly like a trap in hindsight. We were closer enough to check it out instead the Defenders. Too dangerous for the police, but not too dangerous for us. And at the same time, it was quite far from are base so it take the rest of a while to respond. Vengeance would easily take an excuse to kill Bulk and Storm Knight and anybody who fought alongside them. And if someone died, some of us might quit in fear while the others would be too angry at Vengeance to see it was too unlikely for them to have been the ones behind all of this. We would have blamed Vengeance for setting us up not whoever actually did set it up. We would be weaken and unaware of our true enemy, leaving he or she or they to continue pursuing their goals without our interference.”

“That does make a lot of sense,” says Oakley.

“Narszara figured out most of it, but Lantern and I still figured out someone else has been behind recent trouble,” I say.

“Here comes Britannia,” says Oakley, looking up.

I look up just in time to see Britannia come down to land.

“What happened?” demands Britannia, “All Warden told me was that Bulk, Storm Knight and Bolt were attacked by Vengeance and Sentinel and Narszara were on their way to help.”

“Bulk, Bolt and Storm Knight went to investigate a warehouse where Hall and Edison got their weapons,” I explain, “They walked into an ambush by Vengeance minus Shade. I and Narszara put on our armour and flew over here. I then called the police, MI9, Warden and Aquiline while in flight. I arrived when Storm Knight was down and Bulk and Bolt were going down. I held Vengeance off so they couldn’t kill the others. They had me pinned down when Narszara arrived. Then she wiped the floor with them while I watched in awe.”

“Aquiline is on her way here?” asks Britannia, “And Narszara took out all five of them while you just watched?”

“Laura will be here in about thirteen, fourteen minutes,” I answer, “And Narszara turns out to be a Class 6.”

For the first time I have ever since her, Britannia looks shocked. She shakes her head before replying.

“Damn,” says Britannia, “A Class 6. Now I don’t feel so bad about her breaking my arm the other day. Still a Class 6. Damn.”

“At least no one died tonight,” I note, “I been having unpleasant dreams about Gorlack recently and I hope never to have repeat of that. I should also mention that I can’t fully say for certain Narszara is Class 6.”

“His death was a very good thing you know,” says Britannia, “And you got Narszara because of it.”

“I’m feeling better about it,” I reply, “But better doesn’t mean good. Takes Vengeance for example. They’re better than some of their enemies, but that doesn’t make them heroes or even the good guys.”

“You’re smarter than you seem kid,” comments Britannia.

“Smarter than Forsworn and Avenger,” I reply, “Tried to use my own tech against me. Oh yeah, Inspector Oakley you should check them for dangerous weaponry. I deactivated the stuff I built that they had, but they might have other stuff.”

“How do you know that they have your tech?” inquires Britannia.

Instead of being accusing like I would expect from her, it appears to be simply curiosity.

“Neither I or my granddad would sell folks like them anything so they didn’t legally acquire them,” I answer, “Unless they got them second hand. I wouldn’t put it past an American superhero to pass on my tech to them. That’ll be something I have to look into one day even if it isn’t that major.”

“I’ll into it to as well,” says Britannia, “What about the Evil Empire that Gorlack belonged to? Should we be expecting trouble from them anytime soon?”

“Narszara says we don’t need to worry about them for the next year or two,” I reply, “And maybe not at all.”

“Good,” replies Britannia, “I take it you’re not going to let Vengeance get away with this despite whatever the Americans might do. I know I wouldn’t if was my team that was attacked.”

“If any American supers try to get them out of this mess, the League will fight them,” I reply harshly, 

“They just tried to murder two innocents. They will not get away with that not if I have any say. Not here, not today, not anywhere, not ever. But I doubt it will come to that.”

“If it does comes to a fight,” says Britannia, “You kids can count on me to be by your side.”

1.4 Sins of Our Grandfathers Part 4

Narszara roars at Vengeance and they all stagger backwards. That roar of hers must have had some force behind to physically affect Vengeance. Maybe Narszara enhanced it with magic?

She slams into Avenger as she lands. Avenger groans before slumping over.

Narszara rushes the other members of Vengeance and they scatter before her. Forsworn sends his spears at her, but they barely dent her armour without slowing her down at all.

Nightmare covers himself in blades and charges her, but he suddenly gets frozen in a block of ice with a glance from her. She must have used some of her magic on him.

The Mad sisters leap at her at the same time, but Narszara zooms out of the way and slams into Forsworn. He is sent flying as Avenger starts to get up.

Mad Cat rushes Narszara while Mad Dog jumps over Mad Cat at Narszara. Narszara roars at them again. Mad Dog is sent off course while Mad Cat staggers. Now I’m certain it must be magic roar of some kind.

Faster than me or my armour can track her, Narszara punches Mad Cat into the ground whilst stabbing her in the side with her sword. It doesn’t look too deep, but Narszara has made it clear that she doesn’t have any qualms with killing her enemies.

Mad Dog grabs Narszara by the head, but she rolls away, leaving her helmet in Dog’s grip.

As she rises, Narszara has a genuinely happy smile on her face and lets out a laugh.

Not a crazy laugh like ones Vengeance or other nuts like them have, but the kind when you’re on a roller coaster or winning a game of sports or something like that.

Mad Dogs halts her attacks, seeming unnerved by Narszara’s smile and laughter. Plus the disregard for her secret identity is probably confusing for the vigilante.

Mad Dog makes a decision and grabs a large chunk of broken wall. Mad Dog tosses at Narszara, who rushes at the villainess.

A moment before it hits her, Narszara’s entire body turns light blue and transparent. Like a ghost or spirit.

The block of wall goes straight through Narszara and she turns back to normal. She then uses her speed and momentum to slam into Mad Dog. Narszara breathes fire straight out of her mouth at Mad Dog as they tumble. Mad Dog screams as she burns. For that fire to come out her like that without burning her, Narszara has to be fireproof.

Narszara punches Mad Dog in the stomach before grabbing Dog by the back of her head. Narszara slams Mad Dog’s head into the ground repeatedly until the villainess is without a doubt unconscious.

As Narszara stands up straight, the flames on Mad Dog go out while Nightmare breaks out of the ice. He stumbles towards to Forsworn, who is getting to his feet.

Narszara calmly walks towards the two of them, her blade trailing along the ground.

“Do something!” yells Nightmare at his teammate, “The others are down!”

“Don’t worry,” replies Forsworn as he winces in pain, “That bitch’s armour is metal.”

He appears to be attempting to grab Narszara’s armour with his metal control and tries to send her flying.

Emphasis on tries.

 Narszara is staggered, but pushes on, stomping towards them.

“£$%*, “£*$, @#$&,” curses Forsworn, “She’s resisting it.”

“You can’t control her armour!” exclaims Nightmare, panic in his voice.

“No,” replies Forsworn, his voice strained, “I have full control, she’s just too strong for me overwhelm.”

“Let’s see how she deals with this,” snarls Nightmare and he charges at Narszara.

Narszara roars at him again and he goes flying backwards into another wall. Nightmare goes limp and morphs back to his normal self.

Narszara grins at Forsworn and uses her speed to rapidly approach him. Forsworn soon goes down in a fury of superfast punches.

It is only once it’s all over I realise I have just been standing there watching her.

“Narszara!” I call, “Storm Knight and Bolt need help! Can you heal them?”

“Yes milord,” replies Narszara as she causally strolls over to me.

Now it’s over, the police are swarming in to arrest Vengeance.

Narszara bends over Stefan and breaths a green light over him. It heals Stefan’s wounds as Inspector Oakley walks over to me. Another magic power of hers

“Good work taking out Vengeance,” says Oakley as Narszara heals Vance, “You and Narszara did well.”

“The others held out for almost ten minutes,” I point out, “And it helped that Narszara has turned out to be a Class 6.”

Oakley freezes before shaking his head. Sam lands next to me.

“You took them out already,” he says.

“Narszara is a Class 6,” I reply.

Sam looks at me for a moment before laughing.

“You got to be kidding me,” laughs Sam, “That’s awesome! We got a Class 6 as part of the League!”

“I can’t say for certain that Narszara is a Class 6, but after seeing her in action tonight, I would bet good money on it,” I tell him, “Can you carry Bulk back to base? His suit is trashed.”

“I can do that,” replies Sam.

I turn to face Oakley.

“Now what?” I ask him.

“Lock them in power draining cuffs,” says Oakley, “And bring them to justice in court. Just hope that some American heroes don’t cause any problems with that.”

“Why would they do that?” I ask, confused, “Most of the ones that I know hate people like Vengeance.”

“Sticking together against false foreign justice is their reasoning most of the time,” replies Oakley, “Most of them are okay as you said, but you always get a few wackos like that.”

“Has it happened before?” I inquire.

“Nothing in public,” explains Oakley, “It has all been in private or out of public eye or just pressure on government.”

“That won’t happen this time,” I reply quietly.

“You can’t know that,” he replies, shaking his head again.

He starts to say something else, but I cut him off.

“I know it will because the League of Heroes won’t let Vengeance get away with this,” I state in a harsh voice, giving Oakley a hard look, “They just tried to murder two of us based on their grandfathers, one of whom is currently a member of the League himself and other dead before he had grandkids.”

I pause for effect.

“If anyone tries to break Vengeance out, we’ll stop them.”

1.3 Dragon Knight Part 4

My helmet’s facial plate flies up and back into place before staying there.

“I’m using telekinesis,” explains Sam over our League communicators as I give him a look.

“I guess you took your mask off to puke,” says Oakley as he reaches us and looks down at the mess I left on the ground.

I nod in reply and Narszara points to the fallen power armour man.

“Ah,” says Oakley, “This is going to be a really bad report to write up. All five of them are dead. Did he kill him as well?”

“Narszara here is a girl,” I answer, “She stabbed him in the head before I fire my lasers.”

“Things just keep getting worse,” says Oakley.

“They were really evil and they all needed to die,” offers Narszara, “They were also soldiers, not criminals or supervillains. Their deaths were those of warriors falling upon the battlefield.”

“Yeah, that might help a little,” says Oakley, “You’re all going to have to write reports.”

“Can we do that later?” I ask, “We need to get back to base at the moment.”

“If you must,” sighs Oakley, “Can you at least explain who she is?”

“This is Narszara Geous Coura,” I explain, “She’s an interdimensional warrior. She’s also a badass and has just sworn loyalty to me. She’s a Norgardian who has just lost her team stopping us from getting invaded. We’re going to find out more back at our base.”

“You best be off now then,” says Oakley wearily.

As we fly off, Narszara flying alongside us, I realise that Inspector Oakley had a gash across his upper arm and bloodied nose. He didn’t mention his own wounds once.

***

I stand facing Narszara once I have taken off the Sentinel armour. This the first time I taken a good look at her.

Her armour covers her entire body like the Sentinel and Warden armours. Hers has taken a lot of battle damage. Several chucks of varying size are missing while it all seems rather charred and burnt with the exception of her sword and scabbard. It seems to be coloured a mixture of green, brown and grey. Beneath the metal armour, you can see what looks like used to be leather and fur, but that’s all pretty much burnt away.

Her helmet has metal horns point backwards on it and only her eyes can be seen beneath it. Her left cheek has a hole which looks a lot like bullet hole. It has other dents which also like bullet holes, but none of them have gone through like the cheek one.

The armour that covers her body easily conceals it shape and any curves that might lie beneath. At least it explains how no one noticed she was female straight away. It has a multitude of bullet dents and lots of slashes and grazes. A small hole has gone through and has dried blood around it.

Her lower left leg has a cut to it while her upper right has also been cut open, but it’s not as long and appears to be slightly deeper. Her upper left leg has a more serious wound where it’s been stabbed straight through by a blade or spear.

On her upper left arm is another more serious wound. One of Gorlack’s soldiers has brutally slashed it open with a jagged weapon.

Normally such injuries would make me vomit, but after today, I’m too worn out to care that much. Plus how Narszara is coping with these injuries, which is to say that she doesn’t appear to be bothered by them, makes them seem not as bad as they really are.

“She looks really bad,” says James.

Along with me and Narszara, are Samuel, Vance, Stefan, James, Skyler and Lucy.

“Some of the Defenders on their way here,” says Sam, “Restorer is with them. They thought somebody might get hurt and need healing.”

For some reason, our eyes all stray to the corpse of the Colonel Gorlack at the back of the room. Narszara insisted that we bring his body with us and none of us felt like arguing with her at the time.

“He is beyond saving,” says Narszara, “In both Jari and Sari.”

One of the annoying things Narszara seems to be doing is speaking in her birth language, Norgardian, randomly whilst speaking English.

“Jari and Sari?” inquires Sam.

“Body and Soul,” answers Narszara.

“So Narszara,” says Skyler, “Can you tell us more about yourself?”

“Aye,” answers Narszara, “Where shall I start?”

“Summarise please,” replies James.

“I was born to one of the Norgardian Roaming Fleets,” says Narszara, “They travel throughout the Multiverse, seeking out and destroying evil. Mine came across a battalion of the Evil Empire’s forces under the command of Colonel Gorlack. Your grandparents faced another division of the Empire’s forces over four of your decades ago. While the fleet’s main force did battle, I and my squad hunted Gorlack. He had a personal guard of two platoons and a squad of elite soldiers. Laiana fell first in the first clash while Surikos was beheaded by Gorlack in our second encounter.  At our third and final battle, Gorlack had only two squads and two of his elite left. But he also had a dozen of the local mercenaries with him as he tried to flee to your world with his surviving forces. I forged ahead while Stea and Ardi dealt with his first squad. We rallied at the platform after felling half of the mercenaries and Gorlack’s squad.”

Narszara falls silent and closes her eyes. She opens them after a moment.

“Stea and Ardi had suffered many wounds fighting against Gorlack’s men,” continues Narszara, sadness in her voice, “As we leapt across to the platform, Ardi was gunned down while Stea was blasted off the edge as she provide covering fire. I survived unleashed by Mordi and Sari upon the mercenaries. I blow up one of Gorlack’s men as he travelled here.”

“The explosion on the other side of the portal,” I mutter.

“Correct,” says Narszara, “He lost one and the other was set on fire, leaving only him and his two elite. I had to best the remaining mercenaries before I could purse Gorlack. When I did go through, I saw your watchmen fighting the elites. I felled them before they could harm your people further. I then went to the aid of Verigar. When he defeated Gorlack, I pledged my loyalty to him.”

“So what has happened now!?” suddenly demands Britannia as she enters the room. 

1.3 Dragon Knight Part 3

A man gives a wild war cry from behind me. I barely see him past me as he slams into the power armour man.

At first glance, the new man appears to be some sort of dragon themed knight judging by his full body armour. It’s obviously unpowered and has suffered some serious battle damage.

My first thought is that he must be rather strong to wear something as heavy as the armour. Not to mention tough to take that must damage and still be fighting.

Both of them crash into the ground as the knight yanks his sword out of the power armour. He raises it over the man in power armour.

Before I can stop him, the knight stabs into his opponent’s helmet.

I start to yell something, but the man punches the knight off of him despite the blade lodge in his head. He climbs to his feet and draws a short sword with a black blade that crackles with red energy.

Taking my cue from the knight, I fire my lasers full blast at him. I close my eyes the second before the lasers hit.

When I force myself to look, the man has collapsed on the ground with two smoking holes in his chest. Surprisingly, the lasers haven’t burn through to the other side despite being as powerful as I can make them.

I take a step forward as what I have done fully hits me. I just killed a man.

I feel unsteady and wobbly. My stomach feels gushy and my head is arching.

I drop to my knees and then on all fours. I need to puke. I yank the front of my helmet off, breaking the seals with the enhanced strength that my armour gives me.

I toss it aside before puking onto the ground. I do it a few times before I notice someone standing over me.

I look up to see the dragon knight look down on me, his expression unreadable behind his helmet despite pieces of it being missing.

He holds out his hand and I grasp it. I try to regain my composure as he pulls me up.

“Eikar Rin Min Worlar Err Ornorin Min Thariloth,” says the dragon knight to me.

I notice his voice sound very feminine despite him being a man.

Suddenly the knight bows to me. An old fashion bow on one knee.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“Swearing an oath of loyalty to you milord,” says the dragon knight, “Are you a superhero?”

Definitely a female voice this time. The man is a woman, I'm sure of it. It takes me a moment to process her words as well as the fact I can her understand this time.

“What, my lord, superhero,” I splutter, unable to form a coherent sentence.

She cocks her head before waiting for me to process what is going on. Frankly, I’m grateful for the distraction from my actions moments before.

“So let me get straight,” I say as I stand up to face her, “You can speak English, you have just sworn loyalty to me and you know about superheroes?”

“That would be correct Verigar,” says the knight.

“So what does Verigar mean?” I ask.

“Sentinel,” replies the knight, “That is your title after all.”

“Right. Now ignoring how much you seem to know,” I continue, “What is your name?”

“My name is Narszara Geous Coura,” replies the knight as she points into the air, “And the Lantern approaches with the Bolt and Knight of Storm. The guardsman and guardswoman are safe and mildly harm while the other foes have been bested.”

I look to where Narszara is pointing. Sam is flying towards us with Vance behind him and Stefan barely keeping up with them.

“What happened?” asks Sam as he lands.

“This is Narszara,” I say indicating her, “She is some sort of dragon themed knight from another dimension. She’s also a badass and has just sworn loyalty to me for reason she has yet to tell me. Inspector Oakley and Constable Melville are over there somewhere. The men were a bunch of interdimensional invaders.”

“The %&*#!” exclaims Stefan as he looks around.

His eyes settle on the power armour man’s corpse. They widen as he realises what happened to the man.

“Who did that to him?” demands Stefan.

Sam and Vance both turn to look at the body while I bend over and puke again. I straighten up as they and Stefan stare at me.

“Verigar defeated the tokking tokk,” explains Narszara, drawing only blank looks from myself and the others.

“I fired my lasers at full power into him after Narszara stabbed him in the head,” I explain more clearly, “He tried to kill me.”

“Colonel Gorlack has directly caused the deaths of trillions and destroyed over a thousand dimensions,” snarls Narszara, drawing more looks, “His death should be celebrated not mourned.”

Her words cheer me up a bit. I guess knowing I didn’t take a life in vain and the guy really deserved it if not worse.

“He and his forces also slew my entire team,” continues Narszara, “But now he and his remaining warriors have been defeat once and for all.”

“She’s pretty hammy,” mutters Stefan, drawing a look from Narszara.

“So you one of the good guys,” says Sam in a tentative attempt to make conversation with her.

“I believe in courage, honour and duty,” replies Narszara, “Correct me if I am wrong, but are you kin of the League of Heroes?”

“You know about the League?” says Sam, confused.

“They are known in the Multiverse,” answers Narszara, “Especially to people like my own.”

“And you are your people,” inquires Vance.

“The Norgardians,” answers Narszara, “But I doubt you heard of them.”

“No,” I cut in, “My granddad mention them before. I’m sure he had some files on them back at base.”

“Are you okay Sentinel?” calls Oakley as he and Melville approach us.