Categories > Original > Sci-Fi > Omega Chronicles
Omega Chronicles
CHAPTER 3: TRIAL BY SEPARATION
August 3rd 2025
10:35 Omega Island
“Ok guys. All the information you require is in these packets.”
Deshawn handed out small folders to the Knight, Vixen and Beast as they prepared to board the flying vehicle they acquired from their last mission. All three were eager to get back into the field and experience some action.
“Before you set off, are there any questions?” asked Deshawn.
“Yeah...how come The Captain isn’t coming with us?” The Beast replied.
“Well, The Captain and I will be working more on his skills and powers, so this will be your first mission without him. I suppose you can think of this a training simulation...except...you know...it’s in real life. It will also give you an appreciation for the role which The Captain plays on the team.”
“Sure...I guess”
The team then entered the vehicle (which The Knight had unofficially dubbed “Omega Dragon”) and hastily took off to begin their mission. No sooner had they taken off, The Knight rose from his seat and approached Vixen in the cockpit. “So...what are we supposed to be doing again?” he quizzed the pilot.
The Vixen shrugged her head. “Didn’t you read the handout that Deshawn gave us?”
“Hey, when you’re as awesome as me, you don’t have time to read silly leaflets. Besides senorita, that’s what I got you guys for!”
The Vixen sighed. “Beast...do you mind taking over this conversation? I’m kinda busy trying to prevent us from crashing and dying a horrible, fiery death”
The Beast rolled his eyes and turned away from the window to face The Knight. “Alright, listen up because I’m only gonna say this once. An informant has told us that employees at the Obsidian Building have been supplying hi tech weaponry to a local gang that goes by the name of ‘The Detroit Spartans’. Apparently a deal is supposed to go down tonight. Our job is to infiltrate the gang, attend the meeting, stop the deal from happening and send plenty of proof to the authorities. You got all that?”
“Yeah I got it. I’m not a kid you know”
“Well, you sure fooled me”
August 3rd 2025
12:40 New Detroit
The team were lucky enough to find an abandoned junkyard on the outskirts of the city for them to park the Omega Dragon. The hatch descended and the three teenagers emerged from the vehicle, except they were not dressed in their standard uniform. Instead they were dressed in casual, street attire complete with hoodies and Air Jordans.
“Y’all ready to move out?” Beast asked.
“Sure..but how are we supposed to infiltrate The Detroit Spartans?” The Vixen enquired.
Beast chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. In case you guys forgot, I grew up in these streets. Trust me I know just who to contact”.
The Vixen and The Knight exchanged worried glances to each other. Perhaps it was just because this was their first mission without their Captain or maybe it was due to the fact that The Beast seemed too comfortable in these surroundings, but whatever it was, something was making the pair seem uneasy.
The trio made their way into the busy city centre, observing the mass of pedestrians and the hi-tech shops. A new manufacturing plant had recently been opened and had attracted even more attention to the rising metropolis. The Vixen was quick to notice the numerous adverts for vacancies at the Obsidian Building. “They seem to be very popular”, she thought, “I wonder how people would truly react if they knew the truth”.
Her thoughts were interrupted when The Beast hailed a bus for a ride. Deshawn had already purchased three day passes in advance, so all The Beast had to do was show their tickets. As the three teammates settled down into their seats, The Knight couldn’t hold in his questions any longer.
“C’mon Beast. How about you tell us where we’re heading?”
“Relax. You see...this wealthy and sophisticated part of town is just a show for the tourists. The real New Detroit is placed on the sidelines and is just as corrupt and poor as it used to be. That is where we will find who we are looking for!”
The trio remained on the bus until the very last stop. As soon as they got off, The Knight and The Vixen looked back at the bus driver, who carried an anxious look on his face and quickly slammed the doors shut. “....Should we be worried?” The Knight asked whilst the bus speedily drove off.
“Nah. He’s just one of those typical inner city types who can’t stomach the real world. This place really isn’t that bad. Trust me you’ll feel right at home once we reach Hadez”.
“HADEZ???” The Knight and The Vixen exclaimed in unison, stumbling behind The Beast as he led the way.
They made their way further and further into the derelict neighbourhood. Broken, abandoned cars were strewn across the streets and graffiti was sprayed across all the buildings, most of them reading “New Detroit Spartans”. The Vixen scoffed. She was always used to order and clean surroundings. Even spending two years on a team with boys could not prepare her for this. The Knight was equally unimpressed. “Dios mio!” he exclaimed.
The Beast on the other hand, had no such reservations. He was smiling with almost childlike glee. “Awwww man”, he thought, “It’s good to be home!!”
The streets were mostly empty but the more the trio travelled, the more faces they saw creeping out of windows and ruffled teenagers hanging around street corners and against lampposts. The looks they received were...unsettling to say the least. Suddenly, The Beast raised his hand to signify to the others to stop as they came across a dilapidated car garage.
“Ok guys. The dude we wanna see is in there. Let me do all the talking and you just stand behind me and try to fit in” The Beast instructed.
The trio entered the garage, causing the numerous inhabitants to look up from their various.....questionable activities. The Beast calmly made his way to the counter, trying not to draw attention to his team as he knew how these people react to outsiders. He reached the counter and approached the “mechanic” behind it. “Hey. I hear that Khavalli can be found in this garage. Tell him that his old friend Leroy is here to speak to him”
The mechanic nodded and made his way into the back. Unbeknownst to The Knight and The Beast, a small group of boys in the corner took notice of The Vixen and slyly sent someone over to her. The boy swaggered over to her and abruptly placed his hand on her shoulder, leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Hey there pretty lady. I haven’t seen you around before. Maybe you should ditch these losers and I can give you a private tour!”
The Vixen responded by grabbing his hand and throwing him across the room, crashing into a table where some boys were playing poker. Unfortunately for perverts everywhere, The Vixen was a master of over 12 martial arts and was easily the best hand-to-hand combatant out of her whole team, a fact learned too late by the boy who was slowly raising himself up from the table whilst rubbing his injured arm. The Beast sighed whilst The Knight just smirked at the chaos. Suddenly all the “customers” within the garage rose from their seats and brandished various melee weapons from within their jackets and sleeves.
“I guess things are about to get interesting”, The Knight said, whilst reaching for his hidden compacted sword.
The customers slowly began to advance towards the trio when they were stopped by the gentle creaking of a side door. A figure emerged who drew fearful looks from all those within that were aware of who he was. He was a slightly chubby Asian boy, not much older than Team Omega and was dressed in a classic suit and tie, unusual clothes for someone in his neighbourhood. Each step he took was accompanied with the jingle of hidden jewellery and a brief flick of his wrists revealed multiple Rolex watches on his sleeves. The Beast lit up at the sight of this stranger, whilst The Knight seemed relatively unimpressed. The figure continued to walk until he came within 3 inches of The Beast’s face. He cleared his throat, scratched his head, looked into The Beast’s eyes and said, “.....Well look who decided to show his face again. Let me guess...You couldn’t hack inner city life and now you’ve come crawling back to me for help.....Hehehe...Why am I not surprised?”
“Naw”, The Beast replied, “I just forgot how ugly your face is. Thought I’d come back to remind me one last time!”
“...Leroy”
“...Khavalli”
After an awkward silence, the two then proceeded to burst into laughter and engaged in a mysterious complex handshake that was only known to them. When they had settled down, Khavalli had motioned the other customers to withdraw their weapons and then took Team Omega to a table near the counter.
“So, aren’t you gonna introduce me to these new people in your life?”, Khavalli asked.
“Oh right”, The Beast stumbled, “Khavalli this is Knight and....I mean... Jose and Shaniqua”
Khavalli shook hands with both of them but his attention was clearly focused on The Vixen, briefly exchanging a smile and a wink. The Knight silently observed this and clenched his teeth together. The following 3 minutes were full of mundane small talk and private jokes between Khavalli and The Beast. In fact, the conversation would never have ended if The Knight had not cleared his throat and given a subtle nod towards The Beast’s direction. The Beast acknowledged this and motioned Khavalli to lean forward, who had only just taken his eyes off of The Vixen who was still laughing from one of his jokes. “Alright Khavalli. I’ll get straight to the point. I had an ulterior motive in visiting you...” The Beast confessed.
“Ahh...I knew you didn’t think I had an ugly face”, Khavalli retorted
“Well actually your face is still pretty ugly...but that’s not the point. We were wondering if you could get us in on this meeting that the Detroit Spartans are supposed to be having with the workers from Obsidian”
Khavalli’s grin had been wiped from his face. He was clearly surprised that The Beast was aware of this meeting, let alone the fact that he was asking to participate. “Whoa, whoa, slow down there big guy. I don’t see you for around two years and you ask me to get you in on a gang meeting?? Besides, since when did you want to get mixed up with that kinda crowd? I mean...I know you and I got up to some shady dealings in the past...but they were never violent...and people rarely got hurt....well except for that botched barbecue scam in 2019, remember??”
The Beast chuckled a little as his mind went back to the incident in question. He quickly got back on track as both The Knight and The Vixen gave him a puzzled look. “Look I know it’s a lot to ask but I was just wondering if you could do me this one favour...after all I have bailed you out many times in the past!” Khavalli nodded. He knew that there was truth to The Beast’s words and he also thought on how it had been a long time since he had seen his friend.
“...OK old friend. Wait here and I’ll see what I can do”, Khavalli said, after careful consideration.
He left the table giving a charming glance to The Vixen, once again causing The Knight to feel frustrated. “So...he seems nice, stylish, well dressed, kind....otherwise unsuited to his ‘profession’ ”, The Vixen gently said.
“Oh yeah. Even when growing up in this neighbourhood, Khavalli always seemed to hold onto the ideals of class and sophistication. A truly stand up guy....despite the criminal connections”, The Beast added.
“Well that’s all well and good amigo, but personally, I don’t trust the guy. There’s something a bit slimy and shifty about him”, The Knight interjected whilst folding his arms.....
August 3rd 2025
18:30 New Detroit
The sky was still pretty bright when the time came for the team to rally with Khavalli for the meeting. He arrived with two sizeable body guards dressed head to toe in red clothing, including sunglasses and watches. A huge grin spread across his face as he walked towards the trio with his hands stretched out in The Vixen’s direction. This did not help settle The Knight’s suspicions.
“Level with me Beast”, he whispered, “Are you sure we can trust this guy?”
“For the last time YES!” The Beast grunted under his breath, “He won’t lead us astray unless there was profit involved”
“Wow! That’s reeeaal comforting. You sure make friends with the right people, Beast”, The Knight sarcastically replied.
“Well I’m friends with you aren’t I? And remember to call me Leroy!!!”
The pair quickly ended their conversation as Khavalli stepped in front of them. “Right then, shall we begin?” Khavalli exclaimed, whilst motioning The Vixen to take his arm. She hesitated for a moment before joining him and the two lead the group followed by The Knight and The Beast with the two bodyguards bringing up the rear. Every now and again The Knight would give a quick glance back to the bodyguards who seemed to be already looking at him. Occasionally, he would check the inside of his hoodie for his compacted sword in anticipation of an attack. His focus was divided however as he also noticed how Khavalli and The Vixen were once more engaging in conversation, much to his frustration. The Beast observed this and set about to diffuse the tension. “Hey Shaniqua!” he shouted, “How about you and me switch places? Khavalli and I still got a whole lot of catching up to do”
“No problem...Leroy”, she said, flashing her trademark smile.
As they walked past each other, he carefully whispered to her “Keep an eye on Jose. He seems to be getting a bit restless” The Vixen nodded, verifying her understanding of the task. The Beast caught up with Khavalli and quickly sank into nostalgic conversations of their past misadventures. Meanwhile, The Knight seemed distracted and slightly fidgety. However, his disposition lit up when The Vixen appeared next to him and smiled.
The group came across an empty playground, long since abandoned by the rush of excited children. Already standing in the middle of the field were more teenagers dressed in red attire. They seemed cautious at the sight of strangers but relaxed at the appearance of Khavalli. “Wait here guys. I’ll go ask how long we have to wait before the contact arrives. Just relax and hang tight”. He departed with the bodyguards and went towards the entourage of red. The Beast turned and faced The Vixen. “Alright. Looks like it’s all going to happen pretty soon. Vixen, are you sure you can make that camera invisible?”
“Don’t worry. You know our Captain isn’t the only one who knows how to manipulate his aura”, she answered.
“Good. Hey Knight, you know what to do if the plan goes wrong?”
“Yeah. I grab Vixen, she turns us invisible and I speed us both all the way back to the Omega Dragon. But even at top speed that will still take us awhile to get there and then fly it back to you, so what will you be doing in the meantime?” The Knight quizzed.
“I can take care of myself. You just focus on getting the information to safety”
“Still”, The Vixen interjected, “This plan is very risky, especially as it involves hi-tech weapons. The Captain wouldn’t approve”
“Well it’s a good thing he ain’t here right now!” said The Beast, smiling cockily.
Just as he had finished talking, a jet black helicopter with a tinted windshield began its descent onto the field. Team Omega walked to regroup with the others whilst shielding their eyes with their hands to protect them from the breeze. The Vixen placed her hand in the pocket of her hoodie and charged the aura into her camera with little effort and without drawing attention to herself. She then took the invisible camera out of her pocket and attached it to her belt buckle, casually placing both hands on it to give the appearance that she was simply stopping her jeans from falling. Out of the helicopter emerged a tall, thin blonde man with a piercing on his right ear. He was dressed in a suit without a tie and the top button of his shirt was undone. Besides him were four Obsidian Enforcer Bots, who were carrying two large cases of weapons each and two armed guards, who kept making return trips to the helicopter in order to retrieve the rest of the merchandise. Not soon after looking upon the blonde man’s face, The Knight made the connection as to who he was. “Yo Leroy? Is that who I think it is?” he whispered.
“Yes Jose”, he replied, “That is Osiris Winter. The CEO of Obsidian Industries!”
Upon hearing this information, Vixen made sure to take more than a few pictures of the man’s face, who by this time had made his way to Khavalli. “Alright you mangy street rats, I delivered the merchandise as promised. Now I expect to get my...hehehe...compensation”
“Not so fast. I need to make sure you haven’t swindled me. Hey Leroy, Shaniqua and Jose. Come over here and inspect the crates for me”, Khavalli ordered. The three were momentarily shocked but quickly complied with his command as they were desperate not to draw attention to themselves. They used a nearby crowbar to pry the cases open and drew upon all their willpower in order to hide their surprise at the grade of weapons which they saw. The crates were filled with grenade launchers, submachine guns, sniper rifles and prototype positron lasers that Obsidian was rumoured to be developing for the government. When Vixen had finished taking pictures with her invisible camera, she nodded to The Beast.
“Everything seems to be in order Khavalli”, he said.
“Excellent. It seems you’ve kept your word”, Khavalli said to Osiris.
“Compensation...NOW!!!” he replied.
“Of course. Bring them to him!” Khavalli shouted to his bodyguards.
They nodded and went into a shed at the corner of the field. They returned with a bunch of handcuffed teenagers, who seemed to be from the neighbourhood, and marched them back to the meeting point. Their pleas of mercy were ignored by all except for Team Omega, who looked around frantically in an attempt to understand what was going on. The Beast worked his way to Khavalli’s side and got his attention with a hard tap on the shoulder. “What the hell is going on here Khavalli? You never mentioned any of this!”
“Relax. Osiris needs human test subjects for his company’s experiments and it’s not like any of these guys are going to be missed. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Anyway Leroy, you’re the one who wanted in on the deal”, replied Khavalli, a little too casually for The Beast’s liking.
Osiris sent his Obsidian Enforcers to retrieve the prisoners. When the last one had been taken, one of the Obsidian Enforcers suddenly stopped and sharply turned in the direction of Team Omega, startling everyone at the meeting. The robot’s optical lens began flashing red before a voice stated “Beginning facial recognition process. Processing”
A beam of light descended on the faces of the team, who were trying to keep their nerves under control. Osiris raised an eyebrow and turned towards Khavalli who simply shrugged his shoulders.
“Processing.....” continued the robot.
“Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please...” The Knight thought, whilst subconsciously reaching inside his hoodie for his sword.
“Processing.....”
The Beast threw on a facial expression to feign ignorance but couldn’t resist wiping the sweat off of his brow.
“Processing complete. 100% facial match with recovered Obsidian footage”, the robot concluded.
“What footage?” Osiris demanded, “Display it on holographic imaging”
The robot then projected footage from the unsuccessful infiltration mission that the team had performed on the Obsidian building. There were then pauses in the video where there were close ups of the faces of The Knight, Vixen and Beast. After the recording finished, all members of the meeting slowly focused on the trio, as if awaiting an explanation.
“Aww...CRAP!!” thought The Beast as he placed his face in the palm of his hand.
Osiris once again turned to Khavalli. “What.....in the hell.....is going on here?”
Khavalli stuttered. He was just as stunned as Osiris but he knew there was no chance he would believe him, so instead he decided to turn this situation into his advantage. “Ta Da!! Not only have I delivered healthy test subjects but I also managed to throw in these ingrates for you...Free of charge of course”
The Vixen’s jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide. Any other day The Knight would be the first to make fun of this, seeing as it doesn’t happen often, but today he was too busy stewing in his own rage. “What was that about him not leading us astray unless there was profit involved?” he said to The Beast under clenched teeth.
“Well I think this crowd is too pissed off for us to attempt plan B...so how about we move straight onto plan C?”
“What the hell is plan C?” The Vixen cautiously asked as the meeting members began to advance on them.
“IMPROVISE!!!” The Beast shouted as his body began to charge up his aura and he ploughed a straight line through a dozen New Detroit Spartans. He managed to distract everyone for a second, which was more than enough time for The Knight to draw his sword and speed blitz the nearest Obsidian Enforcer. In the time it took for the next Enforcer to react, The Knight had already dismembered it with three very precise swings of his sword. He heard two shots crack over his head and turned around to find Osiris’s bodyguards with bullet holes in the lower half of their legs as they were preparing to fire. He followed the trajectory to find The Vixen materialising from nowhere, who amidst the confusion, had managed to get her hands on one of the sniper rifles. She gave a quick wink to her companion before swinging the rifle round and slamming it into the face of a nearby gang member and turning invisible again. Meanwhile, The Beast seemed to relish the position that he was in. He wrenched a nearby roundabout out of the ground and hurled it at The Detroit Spartans like it was a discus. The ones who were lucky enough to duck picked up some weapons and proceeded to fire at The Beast but it was to no avail as the weapons were quickly dispatched by The Knight, allowing The Beast the leap to the gang members’ position. He grabbed one by the leg and swung him around in a circular motion knocking out all the others. When he had finished, The Knight zoomed next to him. “Hmm...I seem to recall that this is the second mission in a row that I’ve had to save your sorry ass. Better not take it for granted because the next ones going to cost you amigo”
The Beast chuckled, “Don’t worry. There won’t be a third time. Go after Osiris before he flies off again. I’m gonna speak to my old friend Khavalli” The Knight nodded and searched the field for the helicopter. Once he got sight of it he instantly sped towards it but despite his speed he couldn’t react to the prototype positron laser that Osiris fired at him. The blast caused The Knight’s run to come to a sudden stop, careening him through the air and into the ground. He was conscious but momentarily incapacitated. Osiris laughed to himself, clearly happy with the success of his new weapon and ordered the pilot to take off. Upon seeing this, The Vixen became visible again and began to run to help The Knight but unbeknownst to her, Khavalli was creeping up behind her. He grabbed hold of her and held a knife to her throat. “Whoa, easy there Princess! Let’s not rush things here. After all you’re my ticket to escaping from this mess!” Khavalli snarled.
Khavalli’s victory was short-lived however as The Beast had managed to sneak up behind him and point a gun to his head. “It seems another one of your plans have backfired”, The Beast said as he cocked the gun for emphasis.
“Oh don’t take it personally old friend. I just did what I had to in order to survive. We’ve both acted that way in the past. How do you think we became such good friends?” Khavalli retorted.
“That may be, but I’m not like that anymore. Release her or I swear to God I’ll do what I have to”
Khavalli laughed uncontrollably. “Please Leroy. If you were capable of doing that, you would have just snapped my neck instead of point a gun at me. Besides, there is no way I’m leaving this fiasco empty handed. I can’t face my boss with nothing to show for it. No, I think I’ll keep the girl thank you very much”
“Boss?? What boss?”
“Why the leader of the New Detroit Spartans of course?”
“And who would that be?!”
“Oh I don’t think you’re prepared to know that informa...”
“ANSWER THE QUESTION!!”
“......Ares! Ares has returned!”
The Beast’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “You’re insane...Everyone knows that Omega killed Ares”
“Sure. Just as sure that you are about shoot me now. Come on Leroy. Ditch these losers and join the winning side. You belong here. You belong with your family. What do you say??”
“I’m sorry”, The Beast said as a tear strolled down his cheek, “But my teammates are my family now” He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed throughout the empty streets as Khavalli’s lifeless body hit the ground. The Knight gathered enough strength to sit up and observe what had happened. The Vixen turned to him but couldn’t bring herself to say anything for a while. Eventually she broke the silence. “Beast...I’m....I’m so....sorry...”
“Its fine”, he interrupted, “Go pick up The Knight....we should probably get moving now”
The Vixen nodded and promptly walked off to assist The Knight. The Beast raised his hands to his face and observed how they were covered in blood. He struggled for a while as he attempted to come to grips with what happened. When it finally hit him he couldn’t help but collapse onto his knees. “What....what have...I done?....”
August 3rd 2025
23:15 Omega Island
Deshawn and The Captain were awaiting the return of the team on the landing pad when they noticed the Omega Dragon making its decent. “Thank God. For a moment, I thought I’d never see that beautiful machine again”, Deshawn exclaimed. The Captain turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “Oh....and of course I’m glad to see your teammates as well!” Deshawn recovered, whilst laughing nervously.
The team emerged from the Omega Dragon and made their way towards their companions, who were obviously more enthusiastic to see them then the team appeared to be. The Captain immediately picked up on this and was the first to speak “Uhhm...guys are you okay? Did the mission go successfully?”
The Knight took it upon himself to respond. “Yes I suppose it did....but...”
“Well what’s wrong? I don’t wanna be standing here anymore then I need to!” barked Deshawn.
“We....all need to talk”, The Beast said, quietly.
“Talk about what?” enquired The Captain with a concerned look on his face.
“We need to talk about Ares!” The Beast replied.....
CHAPTER 3: TRIAL BY SEPARATION
August 3rd 2025
10:35 Omega Island
“Ok guys. All the information you require is in these packets.”
Deshawn handed out small folders to the Knight, Vixen and Beast as they prepared to board the flying vehicle they acquired from their last mission. All three were eager to get back into the field and experience some action.
“Before you set off, are there any questions?” asked Deshawn.
“Yeah...how come The Captain isn’t coming with us?” The Beast replied.
“Well, The Captain and I will be working more on his skills and powers, so this will be your first mission without him. I suppose you can think of this a training simulation...except...you know...it’s in real life. It will also give you an appreciation for the role which The Captain plays on the team.”
“Sure...I guess”
The team then entered the vehicle (which The Knight had unofficially dubbed “Omega Dragon”) and hastily took off to begin their mission. No sooner had they taken off, The Knight rose from his seat and approached Vixen in the cockpit. “So...what are we supposed to be doing again?” he quizzed the pilot.
The Vixen shrugged her head. “Didn’t you read the handout that Deshawn gave us?”
“Hey, when you’re as awesome as me, you don’t have time to read silly leaflets. Besides senorita, that’s what I got you guys for!”
The Vixen sighed. “Beast...do you mind taking over this conversation? I’m kinda busy trying to prevent us from crashing and dying a horrible, fiery death”
The Beast rolled his eyes and turned away from the window to face The Knight. “Alright, listen up because I’m only gonna say this once. An informant has told us that employees at the Obsidian Building have been supplying hi tech weaponry to a local gang that goes by the name of ‘The Detroit Spartans’. Apparently a deal is supposed to go down tonight. Our job is to infiltrate the gang, attend the meeting, stop the deal from happening and send plenty of proof to the authorities. You got all that?”
“Yeah I got it. I’m not a kid you know”
“Well, you sure fooled me”
August 3rd 2025
12:40 New Detroit
The team were lucky enough to find an abandoned junkyard on the outskirts of the city for them to park the Omega Dragon. The hatch descended and the three teenagers emerged from the vehicle, except they were not dressed in their standard uniform. Instead they were dressed in casual, street attire complete with hoodies and Air Jordans.
“Y’all ready to move out?” Beast asked.
“Sure..but how are we supposed to infiltrate The Detroit Spartans?” The Vixen enquired.
Beast chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. In case you guys forgot, I grew up in these streets. Trust me I know just who to contact”.
The Vixen and The Knight exchanged worried glances to each other. Perhaps it was just because this was their first mission without their Captain or maybe it was due to the fact that The Beast seemed too comfortable in these surroundings, but whatever it was, something was making the pair seem uneasy.
The trio made their way into the busy city centre, observing the mass of pedestrians and the hi-tech shops. A new manufacturing plant had recently been opened and had attracted even more attention to the rising metropolis. The Vixen was quick to notice the numerous adverts for vacancies at the Obsidian Building. “They seem to be very popular”, she thought, “I wonder how people would truly react if they knew the truth”.
Her thoughts were interrupted when The Beast hailed a bus for a ride. Deshawn had already purchased three day passes in advance, so all The Beast had to do was show their tickets. As the three teammates settled down into their seats, The Knight couldn’t hold in his questions any longer.
“C’mon Beast. How about you tell us where we’re heading?”
“Relax. You see...this wealthy and sophisticated part of town is just a show for the tourists. The real New Detroit is placed on the sidelines and is just as corrupt and poor as it used to be. That is where we will find who we are looking for!”
The trio remained on the bus until the very last stop. As soon as they got off, The Knight and The Vixen looked back at the bus driver, who carried an anxious look on his face and quickly slammed the doors shut. “....Should we be worried?” The Knight asked whilst the bus speedily drove off.
“Nah. He’s just one of those typical inner city types who can’t stomach the real world. This place really isn’t that bad. Trust me you’ll feel right at home once we reach Hadez”.
“HADEZ???” The Knight and The Vixen exclaimed in unison, stumbling behind The Beast as he led the way.
They made their way further and further into the derelict neighbourhood. Broken, abandoned cars were strewn across the streets and graffiti was sprayed across all the buildings, most of them reading “New Detroit Spartans”. The Vixen scoffed. She was always used to order and clean surroundings. Even spending two years on a team with boys could not prepare her for this. The Knight was equally unimpressed. “Dios mio!” he exclaimed.
The Beast on the other hand, had no such reservations. He was smiling with almost childlike glee. “Awwww man”, he thought, “It’s good to be home!!”
The streets were mostly empty but the more the trio travelled, the more faces they saw creeping out of windows and ruffled teenagers hanging around street corners and against lampposts. The looks they received were...unsettling to say the least. Suddenly, The Beast raised his hand to signify to the others to stop as they came across a dilapidated car garage.
“Ok guys. The dude we wanna see is in there. Let me do all the talking and you just stand behind me and try to fit in” The Beast instructed.
The trio entered the garage, causing the numerous inhabitants to look up from their various.....questionable activities. The Beast calmly made his way to the counter, trying not to draw attention to his team as he knew how these people react to outsiders. He reached the counter and approached the “mechanic” behind it. “Hey. I hear that Khavalli can be found in this garage. Tell him that his old friend Leroy is here to speak to him”
The mechanic nodded and made his way into the back. Unbeknownst to The Knight and The Beast, a small group of boys in the corner took notice of The Vixen and slyly sent someone over to her. The boy swaggered over to her and abruptly placed his hand on her shoulder, leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Hey there pretty lady. I haven’t seen you around before. Maybe you should ditch these losers and I can give you a private tour!”
The Vixen responded by grabbing his hand and throwing him across the room, crashing into a table where some boys were playing poker. Unfortunately for perverts everywhere, The Vixen was a master of over 12 martial arts and was easily the best hand-to-hand combatant out of her whole team, a fact learned too late by the boy who was slowly raising himself up from the table whilst rubbing his injured arm. The Beast sighed whilst The Knight just smirked at the chaos. Suddenly all the “customers” within the garage rose from their seats and brandished various melee weapons from within their jackets and sleeves.
“I guess things are about to get interesting”, The Knight said, whilst reaching for his hidden compacted sword.
The customers slowly began to advance towards the trio when they were stopped by the gentle creaking of a side door. A figure emerged who drew fearful looks from all those within that were aware of who he was. He was a slightly chubby Asian boy, not much older than Team Omega and was dressed in a classic suit and tie, unusual clothes for someone in his neighbourhood. Each step he took was accompanied with the jingle of hidden jewellery and a brief flick of his wrists revealed multiple Rolex watches on his sleeves. The Beast lit up at the sight of this stranger, whilst The Knight seemed relatively unimpressed. The figure continued to walk until he came within 3 inches of The Beast’s face. He cleared his throat, scratched his head, looked into The Beast’s eyes and said, “.....Well look who decided to show his face again. Let me guess...You couldn’t hack inner city life and now you’ve come crawling back to me for help.....Hehehe...Why am I not surprised?”
“Naw”, The Beast replied, “I just forgot how ugly your face is. Thought I’d come back to remind me one last time!”
“...Leroy”
“...Khavalli”
After an awkward silence, the two then proceeded to burst into laughter and engaged in a mysterious complex handshake that was only known to them. When they had settled down, Khavalli had motioned the other customers to withdraw their weapons and then took Team Omega to a table near the counter.
“So, aren’t you gonna introduce me to these new people in your life?”, Khavalli asked.
“Oh right”, The Beast stumbled, “Khavalli this is Knight and....I mean... Jose and Shaniqua”
Khavalli shook hands with both of them but his attention was clearly focused on The Vixen, briefly exchanging a smile and a wink. The Knight silently observed this and clenched his teeth together. The following 3 minutes were full of mundane small talk and private jokes between Khavalli and The Beast. In fact, the conversation would never have ended if The Knight had not cleared his throat and given a subtle nod towards The Beast’s direction. The Beast acknowledged this and motioned Khavalli to lean forward, who had only just taken his eyes off of The Vixen who was still laughing from one of his jokes. “Alright Khavalli. I’ll get straight to the point. I had an ulterior motive in visiting you...” The Beast confessed.
“Ahh...I knew you didn’t think I had an ugly face”, Khavalli retorted
“Well actually your face is still pretty ugly...but that’s not the point. We were wondering if you could get us in on this meeting that the Detroit Spartans are supposed to be having with the workers from Obsidian”
Khavalli’s grin had been wiped from his face. He was clearly surprised that The Beast was aware of this meeting, let alone the fact that he was asking to participate. “Whoa, whoa, slow down there big guy. I don’t see you for around two years and you ask me to get you in on a gang meeting?? Besides, since when did you want to get mixed up with that kinda crowd? I mean...I know you and I got up to some shady dealings in the past...but they were never violent...and people rarely got hurt....well except for that botched barbecue scam in 2019, remember??”
The Beast chuckled a little as his mind went back to the incident in question. He quickly got back on track as both The Knight and The Vixen gave him a puzzled look. “Look I know it’s a lot to ask but I was just wondering if you could do me this one favour...after all I have bailed you out many times in the past!” Khavalli nodded. He knew that there was truth to The Beast’s words and he also thought on how it had been a long time since he had seen his friend.
“...OK old friend. Wait here and I’ll see what I can do”, Khavalli said, after careful consideration.
He left the table giving a charming glance to The Vixen, once again causing The Knight to feel frustrated. “So...he seems nice, stylish, well dressed, kind....otherwise unsuited to his ‘profession’ ”, The Vixen gently said.
“Oh yeah. Even when growing up in this neighbourhood, Khavalli always seemed to hold onto the ideals of class and sophistication. A truly stand up guy....despite the criminal connections”, The Beast added.
“Well that’s all well and good amigo, but personally, I don’t trust the guy. There’s something a bit slimy and shifty about him”, The Knight interjected whilst folding his arms.....
August 3rd 2025
18:30 New Detroit
The sky was still pretty bright when the time came for the team to rally with Khavalli for the meeting. He arrived with two sizeable body guards dressed head to toe in red clothing, including sunglasses and watches. A huge grin spread across his face as he walked towards the trio with his hands stretched out in The Vixen’s direction. This did not help settle The Knight’s suspicions.
“Level with me Beast”, he whispered, “Are you sure we can trust this guy?”
“For the last time YES!” The Beast grunted under his breath, “He won’t lead us astray unless there was profit involved”
“Wow! That’s reeeaal comforting. You sure make friends with the right people, Beast”, The Knight sarcastically replied.
“Well I’m friends with you aren’t I? And remember to call me Leroy!!!”
The pair quickly ended their conversation as Khavalli stepped in front of them. “Right then, shall we begin?” Khavalli exclaimed, whilst motioning The Vixen to take his arm. She hesitated for a moment before joining him and the two lead the group followed by The Knight and The Beast with the two bodyguards bringing up the rear. Every now and again The Knight would give a quick glance back to the bodyguards who seemed to be already looking at him. Occasionally, he would check the inside of his hoodie for his compacted sword in anticipation of an attack. His focus was divided however as he also noticed how Khavalli and The Vixen were once more engaging in conversation, much to his frustration. The Beast observed this and set about to diffuse the tension. “Hey Shaniqua!” he shouted, “How about you and me switch places? Khavalli and I still got a whole lot of catching up to do”
“No problem...Leroy”, she said, flashing her trademark smile.
As they walked past each other, he carefully whispered to her “Keep an eye on Jose. He seems to be getting a bit restless” The Vixen nodded, verifying her understanding of the task. The Beast caught up with Khavalli and quickly sank into nostalgic conversations of their past misadventures. Meanwhile, The Knight seemed distracted and slightly fidgety. However, his disposition lit up when The Vixen appeared next to him and smiled.
The group came across an empty playground, long since abandoned by the rush of excited children. Already standing in the middle of the field were more teenagers dressed in red attire. They seemed cautious at the sight of strangers but relaxed at the appearance of Khavalli. “Wait here guys. I’ll go ask how long we have to wait before the contact arrives. Just relax and hang tight”. He departed with the bodyguards and went towards the entourage of red. The Beast turned and faced The Vixen. “Alright. Looks like it’s all going to happen pretty soon. Vixen, are you sure you can make that camera invisible?”
“Don’t worry. You know our Captain isn’t the only one who knows how to manipulate his aura”, she answered.
“Good. Hey Knight, you know what to do if the plan goes wrong?”
“Yeah. I grab Vixen, she turns us invisible and I speed us both all the way back to the Omega Dragon. But even at top speed that will still take us awhile to get there and then fly it back to you, so what will you be doing in the meantime?” The Knight quizzed.
“I can take care of myself. You just focus on getting the information to safety”
“Still”, The Vixen interjected, “This plan is very risky, especially as it involves hi-tech weapons. The Captain wouldn’t approve”
“Well it’s a good thing he ain’t here right now!” said The Beast, smiling cockily.
Just as he had finished talking, a jet black helicopter with a tinted windshield began its descent onto the field. Team Omega walked to regroup with the others whilst shielding their eyes with their hands to protect them from the breeze. The Vixen placed her hand in the pocket of her hoodie and charged the aura into her camera with little effort and without drawing attention to herself. She then took the invisible camera out of her pocket and attached it to her belt buckle, casually placing both hands on it to give the appearance that she was simply stopping her jeans from falling. Out of the helicopter emerged a tall, thin blonde man with a piercing on his right ear. He was dressed in a suit without a tie and the top button of his shirt was undone. Besides him were four Obsidian Enforcer Bots, who were carrying two large cases of weapons each and two armed guards, who kept making return trips to the helicopter in order to retrieve the rest of the merchandise. Not soon after looking upon the blonde man’s face, The Knight made the connection as to who he was. “Yo Leroy? Is that who I think it is?” he whispered.
“Yes Jose”, he replied, “That is Osiris Winter. The CEO of Obsidian Industries!”
Upon hearing this information, Vixen made sure to take more than a few pictures of the man’s face, who by this time had made his way to Khavalli. “Alright you mangy street rats, I delivered the merchandise as promised. Now I expect to get my...hehehe...compensation”
“Not so fast. I need to make sure you haven’t swindled me. Hey Leroy, Shaniqua and Jose. Come over here and inspect the crates for me”, Khavalli ordered. The three were momentarily shocked but quickly complied with his command as they were desperate not to draw attention to themselves. They used a nearby crowbar to pry the cases open and drew upon all their willpower in order to hide their surprise at the grade of weapons which they saw. The crates were filled with grenade launchers, submachine guns, sniper rifles and prototype positron lasers that Obsidian was rumoured to be developing for the government. When Vixen had finished taking pictures with her invisible camera, she nodded to The Beast.
“Everything seems to be in order Khavalli”, he said.
“Excellent. It seems you’ve kept your word”, Khavalli said to Osiris.
“Compensation...NOW!!!” he replied.
“Of course. Bring them to him!” Khavalli shouted to his bodyguards.
They nodded and went into a shed at the corner of the field. They returned with a bunch of handcuffed teenagers, who seemed to be from the neighbourhood, and marched them back to the meeting point. Their pleas of mercy were ignored by all except for Team Omega, who looked around frantically in an attempt to understand what was going on. The Beast worked his way to Khavalli’s side and got his attention with a hard tap on the shoulder. “What the hell is going on here Khavalli? You never mentioned any of this!”
“Relax. Osiris needs human test subjects for his company’s experiments and it’s not like any of these guys are going to be missed. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Anyway Leroy, you’re the one who wanted in on the deal”, replied Khavalli, a little too casually for The Beast’s liking.
Osiris sent his Obsidian Enforcers to retrieve the prisoners. When the last one had been taken, one of the Obsidian Enforcers suddenly stopped and sharply turned in the direction of Team Omega, startling everyone at the meeting. The robot’s optical lens began flashing red before a voice stated “Beginning facial recognition process. Processing”
A beam of light descended on the faces of the team, who were trying to keep their nerves under control. Osiris raised an eyebrow and turned towards Khavalli who simply shrugged his shoulders.
“Processing.....” continued the robot.
“Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please...” The Knight thought, whilst subconsciously reaching inside his hoodie for his sword.
“Processing.....”
The Beast threw on a facial expression to feign ignorance but couldn’t resist wiping the sweat off of his brow.
“Processing complete. 100% facial match with recovered Obsidian footage”, the robot concluded.
“What footage?” Osiris demanded, “Display it on holographic imaging”
The robot then projected footage from the unsuccessful infiltration mission that the team had performed on the Obsidian building. There were then pauses in the video where there were close ups of the faces of The Knight, Vixen and Beast. After the recording finished, all members of the meeting slowly focused on the trio, as if awaiting an explanation.
“Aww...CRAP!!” thought The Beast as he placed his face in the palm of his hand.
Osiris once again turned to Khavalli. “What.....in the hell.....is going on here?”
Khavalli stuttered. He was just as stunned as Osiris but he knew there was no chance he would believe him, so instead he decided to turn this situation into his advantage. “Ta Da!! Not only have I delivered healthy test subjects but I also managed to throw in these ingrates for you...Free of charge of course”
The Vixen’s jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide. Any other day The Knight would be the first to make fun of this, seeing as it doesn’t happen often, but today he was too busy stewing in his own rage. “What was that about him not leading us astray unless there was profit involved?” he said to The Beast under clenched teeth.
“Well I think this crowd is too pissed off for us to attempt plan B...so how about we move straight onto plan C?”
“What the hell is plan C?” The Vixen cautiously asked as the meeting members began to advance on them.
“IMPROVISE!!!” The Beast shouted as his body began to charge up his aura and he ploughed a straight line through a dozen New Detroit Spartans. He managed to distract everyone for a second, which was more than enough time for The Knight to draw his sword and speed blitz the nearest Obsidian Enforcer. In the time it took for the next Enforcer to react, The Knight had already dismembered it with three very precise swings of his sword. He heard two shots crack over his head and turned around to find Osiris’s bodyguards with bullet holes in the lower half of their legs as they were preparing to fire. He followed the trajectory to find The Vixen materialising from nowhere, who amidst the confusion, had managed to get her hands on one of the sniper rifles. She gave a quick wink to her companion before swinging the rifle round and slamming it into the face of a nearby gang member and turning invisible again. Meanwhile, The Beast seemed to relish the position that he was in. He wrenched a nearby roundabout out of the ground and hurled it at The Detroit Spartans like it was a discus. The ones who were lucky enough to duck picked up some weapons and proceeded to fire at The Beast but it was to no avail as the weapons were quickly dispatched by The Knight, allowing The Beast the leap to the gang members’ position. He grabbed one by the leg and swung him around in a circular motion knocking out all the others. When he had finished, The Knight zoomed next to him. “Hmm...I seem to recall that this is the second mission in a row that I’ve had to save your sorry ass. Better not take it for granted because the next ones going to cost you amigo”
The Beast chuckled, “Don’t worry. There won’t be a third time. Go after Osiris before he flies off again. I’m gonna speak to my old friend Khavalli” The Knight nodded and searched the field for the helicopter. Once he got sight of it he instantly sped towards it but despite his speed he couldn’t react to the prototype positron laser that Osiris fired at him. The blast caused The Knight’s run to come to a sudden stop, careening him through the air and into the ground. He was conscious but momentarily incapacitated. Osiris laughed to himself, clearly happy with the success of his new weapon and ordered the pilot to take off. Upon seeing this, The Vixen became visible again and began to run to help The Knight but unbeknownst to her, Khavalli was creeping up behind her. He grabbed hold of her and held a knife to her throat. “Whoa, easy there Princess! Let’s not rush things here. After all you’re my ticket to escaping from this mess!” Khavalli snarled.
Khavalli’s victory was short-lived however as The Beast had managed to sneak up behind him and point a gun to his head. “It seems another one of your plans have backfired”, The Beast said as he cocked the gun for emphasis.
“Oh don’t take it personally old friend. I just did what I had to in order to survive. We’ve both acted that way in the past. How do you think we became such good friends?” Khavalli retorted.
“That may be, but I’m not like that anymore. Release her or I swear to God I’ll do what I have to”
Khavalli laughed uncontrollably. “Please Leroy. If you were capable of doing that, you would have just snapped my neck instead of point a gun at me. Besides, there is no way I’m leaving this fiasco empty handed. I can’t face my boss with nothing to show for it. No, I think I’ll keep the girl thank you very much”
“Boss?? What boss?”
“Why the leader of the New Detroit Spartans of course?”
“And who would that be?!”
“Oh I don’t think you’re prepared to know that informa...”
“ANSWER THE QUESTION!!”
“......Ares! Ares has returned!”
The Beast’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “You’re insane...Everyone knows that Omega killed Ares”
“Sure. Just as sure that you are about shoot me now. Come on Leroy. Ditch these losers and join the winning side. You belong here. You belong with your family. What do you say??”
“I’m sorry”, The Beast said as a tear strolled down his cheek, “But my teammates are my family now” He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed throughout the empty streets as Khavalli’s lifeless body hit the ground. The Knight gathered enough strength to sit up and observe what had happened. The Vixen turned to him but couldn’t bring herself to say anything for a while. Eventually she broke the silence. “Beast...I’m....I’m so....sorry...”
“Its fine”, he interrupted, “Go pick up The Knight....we should probably get moving now”
The Vixen nodded and promptly walked off to assist The Knight. The Beast raised his hands to his face and observed how they were covered in blood. He struggled for a while as he attempted to come to grips with what happened. When it finally hit him he couldn’t help but collapse onto his knees. “What....what have...I done?....”
August 3rd 2025
23:15 Omega Island
Deshawn and The Captain were awaiting the return of the team on the landing pad when they noticed the Omega Dragon making its decent. “Thank God. For a moment, I thought I’d never see that beautiful machine again”, Deshawn exclaimed. The Captain turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “Oh....and of course I’m glad to see your teammates as well!” Deshawn recovered, whilst laughing nervously.
The team emerged from the Omega Dragon and made their way towards their companions, who were obviously more enthusiastic to see them then the team appeared to be. The Captain immediately picked up on this and was the first to speak “Uhhm...guys are you okay? Did the mission go successfully?”
The Knight took it upon himself to respond. “Yes I suppose it did....but...”
“Well what’s wrong? I don’t wanna be standing here anymore then I need to!” barked Deshawn.
“We....all need to talk”, The Beast said, quietly.
“Talk about what?” enquired The Captain with a concerned look on his face.
“We need to talk about Ares!” The Beast replied.....
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