Modern Age Online

*DIY Armadillo Armor Mk 1*

Defense: +16 (+4 DIY Armorer)

Magical Resistance: 12%

Upgrades: 0/4

Durability: 130

Grade: C

Description: A rough blue-black metal covered in smaller sheets of scrap. Its layered texture and hinged joints make the armor both flexible and extremely durable. The Kevlar and Ifrit Skin under-layers give the armor some added protection from bullets and magic.

*Elemental Quad-Gun*

Damage: Variable

Upgrades 0/3

Durability: 105/105

Grade D+

Description: A four-barreled, Elentian crystal powered gun. The barrels have been modified to withstand the energy from each element. Bulky and quickly made. It’s a good first attempt. Its alien power supply should keep the crystals charged for a long while.

Kaleb strolled proudly out of his workshop after he put the finishing touches on both of his new pieces of equipment. The quad-gun hung on his right-hip, meaning he had to move his Cybar to a thigh holster. Combined with the Sun Gun in his left holster and the Magic Gun in a shoulder holster, he felt almost weighed down with weapons. And that wasn’t counting the Taser Egg and Spike launchers.

His friends ohh’d and ahh’d appropriately as he did a little spin with his new armor. Most of the alien alloy was covered with hammered scrap. But Kaleb could see that the stats were nothing to sneeze at. Especially with the new level in DIY Armorer he got from creating the armor. Now he was getting a plus four to all his defenses across the board.

Kaleb tried to wave his friends off to test-fire the Quad Gun, but most of them came to watch. It was surprisingly similar to Kaleb’s magic gun, shooting bolts of electricity and giant fireballs. So much so that Jar-lock commented on it.

“Doesn’t this just do the same thing as your magic gun?”

Kaleb shrugged. “Yeah, kind of. But this doesn’t leave me winded and with a screaming headache after every shot. Also, this one can be used instantly. I don’t have to focus and charge a shot. So it’s good for those quick reaction moments.”

Kaleb spun and pulled the Quad Gun’s trigger. It was set to the blue crystal, which meant that a spray of crystal-clear ice covered the dirt backstop they were using. The ice hardened and solidified on the dirt, leaving a thin sheen of ice across it. Kaleb spun the barrel to the red crystal and locked it in place. Waiting for the hum of the crystal connecting to the power supply, Kaleb took a breath and then fired. A large fireball belched forth from the barrel and instantly melted all the ice. Kaleb nodded and switched the gun off. The crystals were a constant draw on the gun’s power supply, so he needed to remember to turn it off.

“So instead of focusing on your magical studies, you're using a scientific facsimile.”

“Hey, I’m not a wizard, okay? I’m a scientist. Besides, I used magic to empower the barrels. In fact, magic has helped my crafting immensely. I just don’t think I’m going to be throwing fireballs anytime soon.”

Two Gun chuckled. “And with a weapon like that, you don’t need to.”

“Will you be testing the armor?” Claire asked, cracking her knuckles.

Kaleb turned, listening to his new armor make soft metallic sounds as he did. He waved off the super-strong woman.

“I think I’ll have plenty of chances to put this armor to the test tonight. As soon as y’all tell me where we are going.”

“Garfield. Or just past it, the Leylines are screaming at a place between Garfield and Wyldwood. But it hasn’t reached the apex yet. Farrah was talking to the local police out that way and they want to help, but they don’t have the manpower. There are a few Supes out that way, but they are the old retired ones.”

“And the players out that way say that trying to be a villain in a retired Supe’s area is wishful thinking. Just cause they’re retired doesn’t mean they can’t still throw down.” Abby explained.

“But it takes a lot to get them to move.” Jar-lock continued.

“A potential demon invasion ain’t enough?!”

“The local PD out in Wyldwood asked one of their retired heroes to help and he said, and I quote, ‘The demons are always about to invade. Stopping them is a young heroes’ game. Call me if the kids fail and the bastards break through.”

Kaleb rubbed his face. “Great…”

“At least we know the city will be safe if we fail.”

“Wasn’t that always a given? I mean, there have to be thousands of players in Austin alone, right?”

“And a bunch of them are villains that will take advantage of the chaos.”

Kaleb nodded in understanding as Farrah sauntered out of the hangar. She took in everyone’s faces before she smiled and gave them a thumbs up.

“We are a go for the mission. The Bastrop PD is providing support. They’ll be backed up by the Sheriff’s offices in Garfield and Wyldwood. Bastrop has its own enhanced division, but they understand that this is your show. The kids are packed and we are ready to roll.”

Jar-lock and the others nodded as Kaleb stood there confused.

“Wait. You’re coming too? And the kids!?”

Farrah rolled her eyes. “Our equipment isn’t strong enough for me to provide support from here. Me and my staff will link up with the police and set-up a base camp for you guys.”

Kaleb nodded. “That makes sense, but do we even have the cars for this?”

“It’ll be a squeeze, but we’ll manage since it’s only a twenty-minute drive.”

“A twenty-minute drive? I thought we would be out of Austin’s jurisdiction.”

Farrah nodded as she and Abby led Kaleb to his car. “It is. But just barely. It comes under Bastrop county’s jurisdiction and they are much more amiable to our help. Apparently, the HLO only has a small office out there and they haven’t weaseled their way into Bastrop’s City Hall.”

“Yeah,” Abby added. “One of the discussions being tabled for later is whether we should move the SG out there.”

Kaleb grimaced at the thought as he opened his driver-side door. It felt somewhat like running away, which was probably the smart move. But he wanted to at least give the Austin HLO offices a black eye before he did. Maybe that was petty, but Kaleb really wanted to wipe some smug looks off people’s faces. The sound of his back doors opening made Kaleb turn around and he paled as Daivor and Roy sat down behind him. Farrah was seated behind Abby, who was putting on her seat belt in the passenger seat.

“Whoa! Roy! No way, kid. You…”

“Doc, calm down.” Roy chuckled as he raised a hand. Kaleb could see the kid was kitted out with his baton dispensers and he was even wearing armor.

“I’m just going as support. I’ll providing Miss Farrah with protection and manning the cordon with the police.”

Kaleb let out a sigh of relief before what the boy said registered fully. When it he did, he spun on Farrah and raised an eyebrow.

“Protection?”

“That’s just the excuse on paper. Technically, Roy is listed as a junior member of our Super group. In particular, he is your sidekick. So his attendance isn’t exactly mandatory, but it would look poorly on you if your own sidekick wasn’t taking part. This is a big mission and we are a small SG. We need to show a united front.”

Kaleb blew out a breath and started his car.

“Sidekick, huh?” He said as he pulled away from the hangar and turned down the runway.

“I gotta think of a good name, though.” Roy chuckled. “I was thinking Science Boy or Robot Lad.”

Kaleb snorted. “How about The Assistant?”

“Please don’t try to come up with names. Ever.” Abby said, hiding a smile.

“Baton Boy?”

“The Builder?”

“Kid Mason?”

“Little Nova?”

The car was filled with laughter and bad superhero names for the entire trip. Farrah led him all the way down the seventy-first highway, past Garfield and almost to the Wyldwood county line. Police Barricades started popping up and Kaleb had to give his credentials several times before they were allowed to pass.

The police had stopped traffic in both directions and were set up on the northern edge of the road facing south. They had tents, large trucks, and multiple police officers rushing about and doing their jobs. Kaleb even saw a few costumed Supers out and about. Behind him, Roy was shuffling about in his seat as Kaleb was directed to a parking spot near a large tent. He came to a stop and shut the car off as he gave Abby an uneasy look. She just laughed at him as she got out of the car and let Farrah out of the backseat.

Kaleb shook off his unease and did the same for Roy and Daivor. Although Roy’s new appearance made him pause.

“What the hell is that?! Can you even breath in there?”

Roy’s laugh came out muffled as he tapped the faceless metal mask with a finger. The silver helmet covered Roy’s entire head, and it didn’t even have eye holes. But by Roy’s laugh and Daivor’s bemused look, Kaleb figured he was missing something.

“It’s a Moldi-metal alloy that Daivor and I cooked up. Daivor was also good enough to enchant it for me. I can see and breath as if I was wearing nothing at all. Some of us want to have secret identities, Doc.”

“Fair point, Metal Head. But we are going to discuss this Moldi-metal later. It’s giving me ideas.”

“I know, right!?” Daivor said excitedly.

The three of them happily jammed their heads together, discussing the possibilities of Daivor and Roy’s invention. They moved among the cops and Enhanced Supers. Drawing eyes from everyone as they discussed proper melting temperatures and how to find more Moldi-metal. Once they were at the main command tent, Roy and Daivor broke off to stand guard as Kaleb entered the tent with a smile on his face. A smile that quickly vanished when he saw everyone staring at him.

“What? Are we too late?”

Vivienne and Jar-lock looked at him weirdly. “Can you not feel that?”

Kaleb focused his attention on his senses. When he did, an immediate sense of vertigo overcame him and he felt like his soul was dipped in pure garbage. A slimy, sticky feeling engulfed him and he wanted to immediately run to a shower. The feeling hung in the surrounding air, and he wanted to run away from it. But he grit his teeth and shoved the feeling to the back of his mind. Opening his eyes, he stared at Vivienne and Jar-lock.

“What the fuck is that?”

Jar-lock nodded. “They are gathering power to open a gate to the demon realm along the Leyline. And they aren’t hiding it anymore. I think the movements of the police alerted them. They are going to be waiting for us.”

“Now hold on a minute,” said a human man with a large white mustache. “My boys had no way of knowing we would alert them demon fellas.”

“Sorry, Sheriff. I didn’t mean to imply it was anyone’s fault. But the fact remains, they know we are here and they’ve stepped up their plans.”

“So, what’s our plan? Smack them fast and hard?” Kaleb asked.

“HAHAHA! Smack! Smack!” Mass screamed from his side of the tent.

He and D34d-I took up one whole side of the tent on their own. The small duck was calming Mass down as Jar-lock shook his head.

“No. We need to disrupt the ritual before they open the demon gate. So Abby, Vivi, and I are going in first. Once we’ve disrupted the ritual, everyone else can move in and sweep things up.”

“I get Abby. But why you and Vivienne? No offense.” Two Gun asked.

“Because we can both cast invisibility spells. But they aren’t that powerful and have to be constantly applied. So it has to be us. The three of us are the only ones that can get close.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Kaleb said, “Where are we going?”

Farrah pointed to a map on the table in the center of all of them. “The ritual is happening just south of us. Like Jar-lock said, they aren’t hiding what they are doing anymore. We’ve got reports of news vans and various supers sticking their heads up to take a look.”

“Then we need to hurry before some idiot blunders in to our operation.” Said Claire.

Everyone nodded in agreement and turned to exit the tent. Farrah started talking rapidly to the sheriff as Kaleb and his friends stepped into the dark night. The police had arranged some large spotlights in various places. But for the most part, the stretch of highway was completely dark. Kaleb thought he could see an ominous purple haze raising from the south.

“We really need to hurry.” He said, unbidden.

“Yeah. But final checks are important too.” Jar-lock argued as he twisted an ear-comm into his ear.

Kaleb sighed and did the same as his friends checked their weapons and armor. Kaleb gave his weapons one last look over before he sighed and waited for the others. Once everyone was done, Jar-lock, Vivienne and Abby stepped off the south and into the field at the southern edge of the road.

“Give us a few minutes and then follow.” Jar-lock called over his shoulder as the three of them disappeared.

Kaleb clenched and unclenched his hands as he mentally counted. But the ominous feeling in the air, combined with the purple haze in the distance growing, unsettled him. Claire, Two Gun, D34d-I, and Mass all waited with him, and each seemed to be just as uneasy as him. The rush of movement from the cops behind him fell into a steady hum that Kaleb ignored. Instead, he focused slowly on the purple cloud growing bigger.

“Now?” He asked, unsure.

“It’s as good a time as any.”

“What if we are early?”

*Quack*

“Better early than late.”

D34d-I’s words emboldened Kaleb to take his first steps off the road into the grass. Jar-lock and the others would be radio silent for their stealth operation. So Kaleb knew they couldn’t ask for a go ahead. Instead, they all continued forward at a steady but slow pace. The last thing the others needed was for them to ruin things. So, as quietly as they could, they made their way further and further south.

The smell of wet earth and grass filled Kaleb’s nose as he walked through the calf-high grass. But even with the pools of water and the vegetation, Kaleb didn’t hear a single animal. No frogs, no mosquitoes, nothing. Kaleb figured that even the bugs knew that shit was going down tonight.

As they walked further south and the dark night was lit up by a wave of purple magic, Kaleb could hear murmurs on the wind. Voices, all chanting in unison, carried through the night to them. But Kaleb couldn’t parse out any of the words. Which told him some magical nonsense was going down. On instinct, Kaleb hurried his footsteps through the dense grass. Eventually, he found himself staring at a large treeline in the distance. But just in front of the treeline, surrounding enormous bonfires belching purple smoke, stood dozens of robed figures.

An acrid and disgusting smell hit Kaleb’s nose as the wind picked up around the demon gang. Kaleb spotted several bodies on the bonfires and realized what the smell was. All the robed figures were chanting in time with one another and each time they finished a line, the smoke grew more dense. The blazing bonfire was also turning colors as the group chanted. Kaleb looked around for Abby and the others, but the night was dark and he couldn’t see very well. He did spot Two Gun and Claire spreading themselves out for an attack.

Kaleb drew his Cybar and Sun Gun, setting them both to their highest settings. Then they waited. The smoke was raising; the chanting getting louder, but Jar-lock and the others hadn’t attacked yet. Kaleb wanted to break radio silence, but he fought it off, even as the chanting reached a crescendo. That’s when he saw a spike of black pierce through one cultist. It was followed by a fireball and then a white missile of magic that lit up the night.

Jar-lock, Vivienne, and Abby appeared all at once as three cultists fell to the ground dead. Jar-lock fired off another large fireball as he shouted into the comms.

“Kill as many as you can! We can’t let them finish!”

Kaleb realized the cultists were still chanting, even as he and his teammates charged at them. What happened next was a one-sided slaughter, as the demon gang never fought back. Instead, they went to their graves chanting the same stupid chant. Kaleb was starting to feel disgusted with himself when a rumbling nearly swept him from his feet.

Jar-lock swore and redoubled his attacks as Kaleb vented his Cybar. Sending a few blasts into the remaining cultists, he asked.

“Does that mean what I think it does?!”

“Yes! The portal’s coming. Keep fighting. We may be able to mitigate the damage.”

Kaleb’s entire party stepped up their speed as the rumbling and chanting seemed to merge into one noise. Kaleb was venting his pistol again and firing into the face of a humanoid alien when the chanting and the rumbling suddenly stopped. Then an unearthly screech echoed through the night and a blinding purple flash filled the area. Kaleb shielded his eyes and then blinked the spots away as he heard the others complaining and groaning. When his eyes were clear, Kaleb spun around and found himself face to face with a large black arch sticking out of the ground.

Jar-lock gave an audible sigh. “Oh good, we stopped most of it.”

“Most of it? Son, that thing is twenty feet high!”

“Which means the larger demons can’t come through.” Vivienne sighed.

Kaleb stared at the swirling purple magic that flared to life underneath the black arch. It was clearly a magical doorway into another realm. But this one felt all kinds of wrong to his senses. He had seen a few doorways like this, but never this color and never this big. Kaleb even thought the magic was swirling the wrong way.

“How do we close it?” Kaleb asked, turning to Jar-lock.

“We could break the archway. But the safest way would be to…” Jar-lock trailed off as he stared into the purple portal. He glared at the purple magic for a few long seconds until he looked around for Vivienne.

“Vivi, is the magic swirling in the opposite direction?”

“Yeah,” Kaleb answered. “At least compared to the other portals I’ve seen. Is that like an evil portal thing? Like how some toilets go clockwise and others…”

“RUN!” Jar-lock screamed, interrupting Kaleb.

Everyone hesitated for just a second too long, and that’s when a wave of power exploded from the portal. Kaleb felt sick as the purple magic engulfed him. All around, he heard his friends shout in surprise and he watched as Jar-lock attempted to throw Vivienne clear of the oncoming wave. But it was fruitless. All of them were caught up in a wave of magic that picked them up, spun them around, and then sucked them toward the portal. Kaleb’s last clear view was of the dark Texas sky being tinged purple as he was forced into a portal leading to a Demonic realm.