Chapter 119

FORCED ENTRY

Guang stepped toward the portal, then stopped. He turned back to face the group.

“Good luck,” he said. His expression shifted, something genuine replacing the careful neutrality.

He crossed the distance to Alexander, extending his hand. “And thank you for Grimnir’s assistance.”

Alexander took it, surprised. The handshake was firm. He said nothing, just held the man’s gaze for a moment before releasing.

Guang nodded once more to the group, then returned to the portal and stepped through.

Raelene stood several paces behind Maximilian, her armored form still and watchful. She’d positioned herself to observe without interfering.

The remaining four stood in silence. Alexander’s attention drifted to the chains wrapped around the gateway. Light pulsed behind the metal barriers, irregular and insistent. The cultivator was still pushing.

“We should discuss strategy,” Maximilian said. “We know almost nothing about what we’re facing. Just that the cultivator can fly and projects qi attacks.”

Alexander pulled his focus from the gateway. “From personal experience with cultivators, they’re physically powerful. Superhuman feats of strength, speed, and mobility at minimum. Greater than enhanced attribute superhumans in raw output, but perhaps only on par with or less than superhumans whose powers specifically grant those capabilities.”

Julia nodded. “That matches what we’ve learned.”

“And the qi attacks?” Hjordis asked.

“Destructive,” Maximilian said. “But limited, I suspect. The cultivator continues to assault my chains, but there are regular breaks. I assume he is… recharging. Not allowing himself to be depleted should the chains give.”

Alexander calculated the possibilities. He’d studied the fights from the solo combat challenge. Knew that the cultivators had a wide variety of abilities. Different elements. Unique techniques. And the one they were going after might have allies, too.

But he’d worked with worse.

“We know each other’s capabilities,” Maximilian said, gesturing between himself and Julia and Hjordis. “But Alexander and Hjordis haven’t fought together.”

Hjordis shifted her weight, the massive sword moving slightly on her shoulders. “My powers are straightforward. Fire generation and manipulation. Flight through fire wings. The sword and armor are mundane, though reinforced.”

She met Alexander’s eyes. “I also project an aura. Couple hundred meters in radius. It enhances physical strength for anyone within range. Provides minor regeneration. Weapons and armor gain flame properties and enhanced durability. Powers receive flame augmentation.”

He raised an eyebrow. That was considerably more utility than he’d expected. A force multiplier in the truest sense.

“The enhancements fade several seconds after leaving the aura’s radius,” Hjordis continued. “But while you’re within it, you’re stronger. Faster. Harder to kill.”

“That’s an incredibly versatile set of powers,” he said, already considering how to introduce Felix to everyone.

Hjordis’s lips curved into something that might have been a smile. “It’s kept my team alive.” Her voice hardened. “Until the System fucked us.”

Alexander glanced at the others, then back to Hjordis. “My abilities are more limited for this engagement. Technopathy will be of minimal use. I’ll rely primarily on Electrokinesis, channeled through these gauntlets for precision lightning strikes. Metallokinesis gives me flight and manipulation of metal objects, though I assume there won’t be much to work with on the other side.”

His gaze drifted toward the defensive positions, the alien technology mounted on platforms and barriers. Energy weapons. Automated systems.

“Though I might borrow some equipment from the station,” he added. “If they’re willing to part with it. Could bolster two of my powers.”

Maximilian followed his gaze. Understanding crossed his face. “I’ll arrange it.”

He spoke quietly to Raelene, who nodded and moved toward the defensive positions.

Alexander turned back to Hjordis. “The aura enhancement you mentioned. How much does it affect weapons?”

Hjordis lifted the massive sword from her shoulders with a smooth swing, holding it point-down against the platform. Flames rippled across the blade’s surface, dancing along the edge.

“Considerably,” she said. The fire intensified for a moment, then faded. “My Will flows through the metal. Makes it sharper. More durable. Capable of cutting things that would shatter a mundane blade.”

Alexander examined the weapon. “Your Will fills it.”

“Yes.”

The three superheroes exchanged glances.

“Many superhumans use mundane gear effectively,” Alexander continued. “Swords. Armor. Equipment that shouldn’t withstand what they’re put through. I’d assumed that was mostly because of the superpowers, but you weren’t surprised when I told you that the orangutan controls or somehow owns the gateway with its Will.”

He looked between them. “How is it done?”

Julia opened her mouth, then closed it. Hjordis’s expression remained neutral.

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“AEGIS restricts sharing that information,” Hjordis said finally. She glanced at Maximilian. “Among other things.”

Maximilian’s attention remained fixed on the gateway. The chains shuddered, light flaring brighter for a moment before dimming. “Let’s pretend I’m too busy maintaining the seal to hear it being discussed.”

Hjordis looked at him for another beat, then turned back to Alexander. “There are two methods of expressing Will. The first comes naturally to everyone. Channeling it through your powers directly. You’ve been doing this since you awakened them.”

“The second method requires pressing your Will into objects,” she continued. “Saturating them with your essence until they become extensions of yourself.”

Hjordis extended her arm toward him. A faint smirk crossed her face. “Electrocute me.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Gently,” she added, the smirk widening.

Alexander hesitated only a moment, then activated his Electrokinesis. He held his hand over her arm and generated a small charge directly from his palm. The gauntlets would add too much power.

Hjordis didn’t flinch. “That’s what resistance feels like when I rely solely on my Constitution. Again. Maintain it this time.”

He zapped her again, holding it as instructed.

Then flames began to lick down her arm, wrapping around the limb in thin ribbons of fire. The air shimmered with heat.

He felt the difference immediately. The resistance multiplied. His power met something almost solid, something that pushed back against the current before it could even reach her skin. It felt similar to when Annie phased out her body with MetaMetal.

“That,” Hjordis said, “is Will-infused defense.”

The flames faded. She lowered her arm.

“Powers are expressed through Will. It is an inescapable fact. But Will can also be expressed directly. Weapons and armor. Your drones.” She paused. “The principle is simple. The execution is not. Fill an object with your power completely, then withdraw that power while maintaining your sense of ownership over it until it remains even when the power does not.”

Alexander processed that. The concept made sense, theoretically. Droney already had a piece of his soul through Animachina. But the other drones were just machines. Tools that he controlled via Technopathy.

And he’d already considered how to work around that limitation by relying on enhancements from Augustus and Talia. The approach was essentially the same, except he’d never considered how his own powers might directly overcome the limitation of mundane machines except through sharing his soul.

“So I could use Technopathy to fill the drones with my Will?” he asked.

Hjordis nodded. “If that is how your power works. But filling them completely will differ from simply controlling them. I’m sure you understand better than I how difficult it can be to exert power over many things at once.”

“And in battle, hesitation kills,” Hjordis added. “Your Will must be certain. Absolute. That certainty is what fills the blade.”

Julia spoke up. “It’s one of the most guarded secrets at AEGIS. That and—”

“I can argue that sharing the knowledge of wielding Will was a necessity given the threat to The Nexus,” Maximilian said, cutting her off smoothly. His eyes remained closed, remaining focused on the gateway. “Anything more crosses a line.”

He paused. “Especially with a villain.”

Alexander watched Maximilian for a moment. “Do you still genuinely believe AEGIS and the mega-corporations are the good guys? That anyone opposing them is automatically the bad guy?”

“The law is the law,” Maximilian said after a moment. His tone was dispassionate. “Until the law is no more.”

Alexander said nothing to that. There wasn’t much to say. Maximilian had made his position clear. The Dragon Lord would follow the rules until the rules stopped existing.

Maximilian turned and met his eyes. “But to answer your question: no. I no longer see things as black and white as when we first met, Alexander Rooke.”

The admission hung in the air between them. Alexander studied the other man’s face, finding something there he hadn’t expected. It wasn’t agreement. Understanding, perhaps. Recognition that the lines they’d drawn weren’t as clear as either of them had once believed.

Julia glanced between them, something shifting in her expression.

“We should prepare,” she said, breaking the tension. “How long will you need?”

He turned toward the defensive positions again. “Give me ten minutes to borrow some things. Then we crack it open.”

***

They stood in front of the gateway, Maximilian’s chains wrapped tight around it. The red dragon loomed over them all, scales gleaming under the station’s light.

Raelene had joined Guang through one of Augustus’s portals.

Alexander turned to Maximilian. “Raelene could have stayed to help. I’m sure you know I’ve basically figured out what she can do. Transfer senses between you. Attributes and powers, too, probably, given how hard you punched me down the hallway.”

Maximilian glanced at him, then turned back to the gateway and said nothing.

Julia scowled at Alexander, though her tone remained light. “Leave my best friend alone. She’s still mad at you for trying to crush her with an elevator. And for spraying metal dust in my eyes.”

Alexander smiled. “Fair’s fair. Your dragon tried to eat us first. Then you dropped a building on us when that failed.”

Behind him, Hjordis spoke up, confused. “I thought you were friends.”

Julia turned to her. “We are. Sort of. It’s complicated.”

Maximilian cut in. “Focus. When Alexander breaches the gateway’s defenses, I’ll pry it open. You’ll need to help and defend against any attacks.”

Alexander turned his full attention to the gateway. The others shifted into position around him.

He closed his eyes and activated his Core. His powers spiraled together, weaving into a single point of focus that he drove into the gateway’s center.

It was remarkably easier than the first gateway. Then he realized that wasn’t quite right. The difficulty was the same. His powers had simply grown considerably since then.

The System’s suppression pushed back against him. He drove his unified powers harder, cutting through layer after layer of resistance. It fought him, but couldn’t hold. Not against all four powers working as one.

He found the machine beneath. Unlike when he examined the orangutan’s gateway, he didn’t target its ownership. He targeted its function instead. Its purpose. Dug through the metaphysical architecture, felt it respond. Found the restriction keeping it one-way and disabled it.

“Now,” he murmured.

He heard Maximilian’s chains shifting, then stabbing into the gateway’s surface. Then a shift as Julia and Hjordis lifted off, grabbing the chains and pulling, tearing at the reality held within.

The suppression spiked stronger for a moment, crashing down on him like a wave.

Alexander sharpened his Will. Ambition demanded this. Demanded that he prove it could be done.

Then the pressure abruptly vanished.

He opened his eyes. The image in the gateway was ripped. Like two layers of the same picture, with the topmost one torn away to reveal an identical one beneath.

Hjordis didn’t hesitate. She flew through, sword swinging to carve through a glowing ball of energy racing toward them. Julia went next, ice forming around her hands. Maximilian strode through with complete confidence.

The red dragon stomped past Alexander, snorting at him as it went.

He glanced behind him at the pile of turrets and reinforced barriers floating in the air, then sent them forward through the gateway with Metallokinesis.

Droney beeped at his shoulder, the others floating above in formation.

“I know,” Alexander said. “Dragons are rude.”

He stepped through after the others.