Ace, Darec, and Alessa arrived on the nameless planet after several days in Enzion. As they were leaving, Enzion appeared in her halo avatar.
"You will be careful, yes?" she asked.
"No," Ace replied dryly.
Alessa nodded, and Darec said nothing.
Enzion frowned and kept staring at Ace. With a heavy sigh, Ace nodded.
The surface of the planet was dark. There were no bustling cities, no outposts of life—only a darkness so thick, so heavy, that you could disappear completely.
"All right, stay close," Ace instructed as he put on some glasses.
He offered some to Alessa, but she waved him off. He then turned to Darec.
"No, my abilities let me navigate in the dark," Darec responded, beginning to walk alone.
"Hey, tough guy," Ace called out to Darec, who looked over his shoulder. "I said stay close."
Darec half turned. "I said I didn't need them."
Ace smiled slightly.
"You know, you're just like your dad in personality. You know what mostly got him into trouble?"
Darec, clearly shaken by the mention of his father, quickly recovered.
"Impatience?"
"Nah. The man was patient enough for a whole universe." Ace clasped Darec's shoulder. "He always needed to be reminded he wasn't alone."
Ace took the lead, and the trio traversed the landscape.
"What are we looking for?" Darec asked as he kicked a rock a few feet. He'd been kicking the rock for a few miles now.
"People?" Ace answered. "A base," he offered before taking a drink of water. "Big neon sign?"
Alessa giggled.
Darec stopped and looked around. Alessa followed his gaze.
"What's the matter?" she whispered.
"I thought..." Darec began. "I thought I felt something big move..."
"Ship?" Ace guessed.
"No... something organic..."
Ace furrowed his brows.
"There should be nothing living here. The war wiped out most of the wildlife."
"Most being the operative word," Alessa chimed in.
They felt it in their chests before hearing anything, like a long inhale stealing the air from their lungs.
"What the hell was—" Ace started, but another sound made him stop.
Alessa backed up as Darec immediately began to put up his shield.
A deep, resonant bellow rolled through the darkness. It vibrated through the ground and into their bones. The sound was wet and guttural, carrying clicks and rumbles that seemed almost too low to hear.
Then Ace saw it with his glasses, and his breath caught.
A massive bipedal beast, fifty to sixty feet tall, with gray-white skin and four limbs. Its long snout was decorated with long, thin lines, likely scars. It scanned the environment, occasionally opening its two other sets of eyes. Its tail swung leisurely.
"That's a big fella," Ace whispered.
Darec nodded. "I don't think we should make spectacles of ourselves."
Alessa pointed at the creature.
"I think it knows we're here but hasn't deemed us a threat."
Ace snorted. "When you can step on something, it's not much of a threat."
As the trio made their way around the great beast, they heard a whistling sound. Ace recognized it as an old offensive weapon and pulled the other two into shelter, shielding them with his body.
The weapon hit the beast, and it stumbled. The beast turned, and all six of its eyes opened and found Ace, Darec, and Alessa.
"Oh, no," Ace said, exasperated.
Alessa grabbed all six of her knives and threw them directly at the beast. Each one bounced off its hide, which seemed to make her blades ineffective. But with a snap of her fingers, the runes on her blades ignited, engulfing the beast in fire.
The beast advanced, stepping through the fire with a bellow.
By this point, Ace had assembled a massive gun that he aimed at the beast. He pulled the trigger, and a missile was launched at it.
As the missile came close, the beast reached out its hand, snatched it out of the air, and locked eyes with Ace. Then, with what could only be described as a snarl, it crushed the missile.
Darec stepped forward and pushed with all of his telepathic strength. The beast stumbled and fell, but didn't hit the ground.
Darec caught it. Veins began to protrude from his temples as he pushed the beast into the air.
Ten feet. Darec stumbled, but planted his feet and pushed higher.
Fifty feet. Darec's eyes began to glaze over as a thin line of blood came from his nose.
One hundred feet. Darec's nose was now gushing blood as he pushed higher.
Three hundred feet. Darec's vision began to blacken, and his hearing dulled as blood began to drip out.
Finally, Darec fell to his knees and let the beast drop from five hundred feet.
The beast hit like a meteor, causing not just rocks, but blood and debris to fly everywhere. Darec was wheezing, and he could no longer stand.
"Ace?" he called out and turned.
That was when the butt of a gun knocked him unconscious.
Darec awoke in a chair. He heard a muffled, worried voice. His sight came back slowly. He was strapped into a chair with several machines hooked up to him, some through electrodes, others through needles.
He tried to reach out with his mind, but was shocked for his trouble.
"Darec!" came Alessa's voice, which he turned toward.
"What...?" He tried to talk, but found it tiresome.
"They attacked while you were lifting the beast," Alessa explained.
"Ace?" Darec asked.
"I don't know..." Alessa answered.
Ace remembered being attacked from behind. They'd shot him in the head to ensure he was incapacitated. Smart.
Ace rose to his feet and found himself in a smooth steel room—or at least it looked like steel to Ace. Blocking his exit was a shield he didn't feel like testing. While he was thinking about how to escape, a man entered, which gave him his answer.
"Lethok Amend, commander of the Mech army." Ace smiled.
Lethok removed his helmet and returned the smile.
"Imagine my surprise when I got a message saying Ace and two brats were coming to investigate this place." He laughed heartily. "And here you are. Going at you face-to-face was suicide—"
"So, you enraged big ugly to weaken or kill us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who gave you the message?" Ace interrupted.
"Ha, like I'll ever tell you."
Lethok turned to leave.
"Last chance, Lethok," Ace called out.
Lethok left laughing.
Ace rubbed his left temple until he heard a distinct click. Enzion immediately appeared in his vision.
"Got captured?" she asked.
"Yup. Mech army," Ace answered.
Enzion playfully gagged.
"So what? Need company, or do you need me to do something?"
Ace smiled at Enzion.
"The Mech army hooks everything up to a central mainframe."
Enzion nodded.
"Kinda stupid. What if someone hacks it?"
Her eyes widened in realization.
"Oh! On it!"
Within moments, the shield to the room deactivated. Ace casually strolled to a room guarded by two soldiers, who pointed their guns at him. Ace pointed his finger at them.
"Off, please."
The soldiers pulled their triggers, and nothing happened. Ace was already upon them, knocking both unconscious and entering the room, where he found his weapons and tools.
For thirty minutes, guards reported problems and went silent, floor after floor. Alarms were silenced, comms were cut, and lifts Lethok had shut down were turned back on.
Lethok ordered his office guarded by his best. He heard several clicks and men screaming as each one was shot. Lethok's door opened, and Ace walked in. Blood spattered his face.
"Those were soldiers! You cut off their guns and shot them!" Lethok screamed.
Ace nodded as he stepped toward him.
"You are dishonorable!" Lethok raged as his hand grasped the grip of his private gun.
Pain ripped through his body, and he pulled his hand back. It was mangled. Ace had shot through the table.
"You and I both know: in our game, honor gets you killed."
Ace sat on Lethok's desk and touched his chin with his finger.
"Now, what was that you said? Like you'll ever tell me where you got that message?"
"He'll kill me!" Lethok yelled in pain.
Ace nodded and put the barrel of his gun to Lethok's head.
Lethok swallowed hard.
"Ar—"
Then his head exploded.
At first, Ace sat there confused, until he saw the hole in the glass and followed it to the shooter, who then fired two more times. Ace rolled out of harm's way and fired back.
The shooter completely cut the room in half with a laser. Ace rolled to his feet and shot at the shooter, who blocked it with a handheld energy shield. The shield lit up and revealed the shooter's identity.
Ace raised his brows and ran toward where he knew the kids were.
"Was that...?" Enzion asked in his ear.
"Yes. That was Scorpantheon."
"The best in the universe," Enzion said breathlessly.
"Best assassin. Best mercenary. Best... best," Ace said as he ran downstairs.
The alarms were blaring now, but there were no running footsteps.
Darec sat in his chair, trying to lift the inhibitor off his head. After a few moments, he felt small hands undoing the straps and everything else.
"Alessa?" Darec questioned. "How did you...?"
"I picked the locks," she answered matter-of-factly.
As they were leaving the room, Darec glanced at where Alessa had been restrained. The restraints were mangled, as if something had pulled out of them and crushed them.
The hallways were dark except for red emergency lights. The building shook with explosions, causing Alessa and Darec to stumble. Bodies of Mech army soldiers littered the hallway.
"What happened?" Darec asked, looking at the bodies, his head still spinning from the inhibitor.
"I assume Ace, or whoever is blowing up the base right now," Alessa answered.
They made it to a hangar, where they saw Ace fall out of a hallway, roll, and stand.
"You think he did all of that?" Darec challenged dryly.
"You can't judge a book by its cover?" Alessa offered.
Ace approached them and pushed on their shoulders, bringing them to their knees.
"Im—" he began. "A man named Scorpantheon is here. Do you know who that is?"
Both of them shook their heads.
"He's the best mercenary and assassin in the known universe. We have to get out of here. Get to Enzion and back to Tiberia. We do not engage unless we have to. Got it?" Ace explained with an unusual gravity to his voice.
"Aren't you immortal?" Darec asked. "Just tank his hits and kill him."
Ace looked at Darec as if he'd suggested putting his head in lava.
"Immortal, not invulnerable," he answered. "And getting shot and stabbed hurts."
They moved toward the hangar door, and Ace opened it. As soon as he saw who was on the other side, he thought about closing it.