Off The Pages
Chapter Twenty-Two

I.

Jack Hurst and his Lord sat opposite each other on Air Force One. They had just finished a multi-day trip across Europe, preaching to the faithful and gathering allies, and their ranks had swollen accordingly. Everywhere they went, the masses fell in line. Even those who did not want to serve their Lord bent the knee when eternal damnation was on the table. Their collection of supers loyal to the cause had grown to over a hundred. It probably would be more, Jack thought, except our enemies are good at interception, the bastards.

“My Lord,” Jack said, looking up from his thoughts. “Where are we headed now?”

“China,” the Lord spoke. “It is the largest collection of people in need of my presence in the world.”

Jack pondered that. “It’ll also be the largest group of supers to join our cause,” he noted.

“We’ll be landing in a half hour!” the pilot announced over the intercom. “They’re refusing to allow us permission to land!”

“That’s a shame,” the Lord spoke. “I was hoping they would merely accept us. I had thought speaking to them directly would have changed their minds. It turns out, I was wrong.” The Lord’s eyes glowed.

A few miles away from the plane, three fighter jets sent to intercept vanished in a white ball of light. As the plane streaked onward, a massive display of military force gathered on the runway. Dozens of tanks, hundreds of men armed with heavy machine guns, and thousands more in the waiting outside the runway area, and mobile rocket launchers had taken up residence to stop the plane from landing. As the plane streaked over the Chinese countryside, missile launchers that had been assembled once word of the fake Jesus’ arrival had gotten out lobbed their ammo. One by one, the operators went up in inhuman balls of heat, their ash falling gently to the seats. The runway came in sight.

“Sirs!” the pilot nervously shouted. “They’re blocking the runway!”

“Land,” the Lord commanded. “I will take care of this.” He clasped his hands together and stood up.

As the Chinese military stood, prepared to blow the plane out of the sky as it grew ever larger in their sights, the sunny skies turned overcast. A nasty bluish cloud gathered overhead, turning almost violet. Thunder cracked in the sky. Dark blue rain began to fall. It harmlessly rolled off people, but as soon as it touched tanks, guns, or any other weapons of war, they dissolved like sugar cubes in hot tea. Soldiers stood with empty hands and equipment operators sat on the ground with empty air in front of them where tanks and other vehicles had been. Not a moment later, the skies parted, the sun came out, and a strong gust of wind blew the liquid away and pushed the soldiers off the runway.

The plane landed safely. Confused and angry soldiers rushed the staircase that descended from the plane. The door opened, and the Lord extended his hand, an invisible force propelling the men off the stairs. Jack and his Lord exited the craft. A separate jet landed on a nearby strip, carrying their superhuman allies.

A middle-aged gentleman, elaborate uniform on his person, approached. Unlike the fear in the eyes of his men, he stood firm. “You will not destroy our nation” he commanded in Mandarin.

“So, you are the general,” the Lord noted, his words translated by magic.

“We will not fall to you the way India fell!” the general shouted.

“Their nation made a choice,” the Lord stated. “I responded in kind, with judgment. In spite of what you have seen, I am not here to destroy lives, but to save them. Any who prostrate themselves before me and accept Our Father’s love into their heart shall be saved. It is my mere intention to bring about a wondrous kingdom of God, consisting of all mankind under the Father in Heaven, a kingdom of acceptance and love and eternal happiness.”

“No,” The general rebuked. “Others may see a savior, and the people of the western nations may easily be swayed, but in you, all I see is a false prophet who murders anyone who will not be his slave.” He paused to reflect. “After all, I thought the Lord of Christianity was supposed to be a healer and accepting of all?”

“When I return,” the Lord explained, “I will return as a conqueror. That is what the Word says. The armies of Satan would marshal together to stop me and I would be tasked in defeating it and bringing the children of God before their Father in love and power.”

The general considered. “You have the power to do as you wish,” he said, “but understand that there are those who will never accept your racket of ‘love-me-or-die’ as a gift from a God above.”

The Lord’s expression darkened. “I am tasked with the judgment of all who refuse His call,” He uttered, anger bubbling up. “Should I interpret this as your refusal to accept?”

Helicopters for news agencies hovered nearby. “You will have to be seen killing me,” the general said. “I want my nation’s people to see the ‘love’ you bring them firsthand.”

The Lord bowed his head. “As you wish,” He uttered. When he brought his head up, the man vanished in a brilliant light, his scream cutting off. At this, the soldiers scattered. Superhumans loyal to the Lord gathered around him. One figure hovered down from above.

“My lord!” August Dietrich cried.

“What news do you bring?” the Lord asked.

“They’ve gone on the offensive,” the psychic said. “They’re practically begging us to fight them.”

Both Jack and his Lord pondered this. “Fantastic!” Jack announced after a moment. “Come on, my Lord, let’s go dispatch them now!”

The Lord shook his head. “Not yet,” He said. “How many are there?”

August collected his thoughts. “There’s about two hundred all over the world saving people,” he explained, “but the main group of six or so are hunkered around a base of operations they brought out of a portal into Vietnam.”

“They seek to test our forces,” Jack noted. “Why don’t we throw everything we’ve got at them?”

“It would be a waste of lives,” the Lord spoke. “August, send only our most powerful supers at them. My servant and I will minister to the lost children of this nation.”

“A brilliant plan, oh Lord!” Jack cried.

“With their power having grown with my support,” the Lord explained, “they will not be able to lose.”

“The day of glory is almost here!” Jack exclaimed.

II.

“You think they’ll notice?”

Jennifer looked at Annie after she asked. “They’ll notice,” she replied.

The group stood poised for battle, waiting. Edward had his new kimono on, blade drawn and ready, with Kadosuke’s spirit senses stretching out for miles, sensing any oncoming danger. Jennifer hovered twenty feet above the ground, with eyes and ears open for any disturbance. Annie clenched her massive fists and stood firm, using her battle sense to detect any ill intent from afar. John and Raymond stood in the pilot seat of twenty-foot-tall robots. Their immense science-fiction-level intellects had brought the group a smorgasbord of enhancements and ultra-powerful technology, and they looked forward to saving the world with it.

A crack and a bang later, and multiple senses lit up at once. Jennifer and Annie sensed it first. The giant felt pure killing intent emanating from a few hundred miles away, and Jennifer heard the sonic boom. A group of at least thirty supers flew over the terrain, supported by August’s telekinesis, and ahead of them a group of no less than twenty speedsters dashed ahead.

“Incoming!” Jennifer thought, and Jericho relayed it to everyone telepathically. Jericho threw up forcefields around the robots.

Shifting into super speed, Edward drew back his blade and swung, a bolt of energy propelling forward at unimaginable velocity. The speedster in front and those to the side dodged, but one unfortunate super got vaporized. The group had been running largely in formation but scattered and attacked, like a swarm of wasps, when the attack began.

Jennifer swung and missed, as a torrent of blows from six different attackers bludgeoned her with fists and feet, vibrating to cause extra hurt. Fuck, she thought, they’re faster than ever! The fake Jesus’ ability to enhance people’s powers really pissed her off. She tried to zap their nervous systems, but they moved out of her range so quickly she couldn’t hit them.

Annie saw her friend get pounded with fists like being sand blasted. Despite the heroine’s invulnerable skin, the blows still hurt when they came in at relativistic speeds. Her own durability was tested by the onslaught, and she swung and kicked only to miss each time. Edward had the best luck, as he drove his sword into the ground, and it sent a blast of bright light that knocked people flying.

Jennifer shoved her way through a swarm of fists and feet, absorbing a wasp swarm of blows to get close. A single zap shut them down. Seven corpses hit the ground. A dozen speedsters redoubled their efforts. Speedsters struck for eyes.

Jericho waited until people got close to him and smashed a bubble forcefield on, launching four enemies outward. Annie plowed through her attackers to smash into the airborne enemies before they could regain their footing. A straight kick bent one attacker into an impossible ‘C’ shape, his spine breaking and blood spurting from his mouth as his internal organs ruptured. Another smashed against her shoulder tackle like the sea crashing against shore. He crumpled to the ground in a heap. The remaining two broke their ankles on landing and were mincemeat a moment later.

Eight remained and they regarded their enemies. They’d done some damage; the redheaded hero and the giant had faces covered in blood from where impossibly fast blows had finally damaged nigh-indestructible skin. The billionaire had his battle suit in shambles, and one of his eyes was swollen shut. Still, they stood firm, and didn’t falter. It bothered them. They dashed forward.

Jennifer slammed her eyes shut as she sensed pointed vibrating fingers aiming for them. Relying on her energy sensing, she felt where the attackers were and managed to catch the leg of one. A voice cried out and she remembered it as one of the four she’d fought before. As Craig’s leg went limp as his nerves fired in radical ways, she immediately stuck her hand out and smashed a palm into his chest. His torso compacted like an accordion and his body launched backward, splattering across a fifty-meter line. His ally Dylan hesitated for a moment at the sight of his comrade’s death. A feeling of horror passed over him. Annie used the moment to plant a fist through his head.

Edward swung, and attackers leapt and dodged to the side. Sahar dodged, but the edge of the curve caught his arm and he bled out a few moments later from the stump. Annie let out a scream as a speedster buried a vibrating hand into her eye socket. He went to pull away, but his hand was stuck in her bleeding skull. A huge hand grasped the speedster’s neck, and one swift squeeze ended the man. Another attacker, sensing weakness, went for the other eye, but she stuck out a foot and knocked the man to his knees. Before he could recover, a soccer kick separated his head from his torso.

“You three!” Jennifer shouted. “You see this isn’t going the way you wanted! Surrender now!”

They paused.

Edward swung his blade. A curved arc of light shot forward, vaporizing them where they stood.

“Annie, my god,” Jericho cried, approaching.

She kneeled. “Do you have a healing power in there?”

Jericho turned it on. “It’ll take a bit to regenerate a whole eye,” he said.

“It’s alright,” she said. “Just get it started.”

Jericho set a ball of green energy on the space where her eye was. “Just try to keep from getting hit there,” he advised. “It’ll work, it’s just going to be slow.”

Annie stepped back. “No prob,” she said.

August and the rest of his allies arrived a few minutes later. The pile of corpses and limbs leftover from vaporized bodies gave them pause. Several of the attackers took in the scene and had to compose themselves. The gruesome scene did not, however, impede their desire to see their version of justice done.

A group of barrier supers formed a phalanx and pushed forward while projectiles soared over them. The heroes dodged the enemy fireballs, plasma shots, and relativistic pieces of metal and gravel. Annie dashed and leapt over the barrier, coming down hard on the other side, throwing a leg back and knocking two of them flying, and drove her shoulder into a round barrier. The occupant launched into August, whose forcefield shorted out his ally’s, and the man jerked like a fish with the current passing through his body and fell limp to the ground. From the protection of a telekinetic bubble, the psychic grabbed the enormous woman and threw her into the dirt with tremendous force. He then uprooted a stump and shot it at Jennifer.

Edward shoved the end of his katana through August’s bubble and shot a bolt of plasma into his enemy. The psychic redirected it at the last moment, burning his shoulder. With a wave of his hand, a battering ram blow launched the hero flying. The katana let out a pulse and the bubble shorted out.

“What the…”

Before August’s cry could finish, two robotic fists planted themselves in his face and torso, throwing him into a tree. A healer dashed to save his team leader, only for Jericho to shoot a plasma bolt through his chest. Covered in blood and with several broken bones, the psychic hovered upwards and knocked his foes into the air. A second impact later, and they flew backwards, bouncing off trees and crashing into rocks. He put up a new bubble forcefield.

Annie picked herself up and stood firm. The green glow ended as her eye had finished regenerating. A series of cracks in her armor, and blood coating her from rapidly healing wounds, she spat on the ground and stared at the enemies.

Edward pulled his katana from the ground, adjusted his torn kimono, and took up stance next to his friends. Pieces of gore fell from his blade and his disheveled hair. The angry scowl on his face drew a moment’s pause from his enemies.

Jennifer and Jericho both hovered to form the ends of a line. She shook her head. “You’re not winning this,” she affirmed.

“You can go back to your Lord,” Jericho cried, “and tell him we’re fighting him, and that will be the end of it.”

“We’re not giving up!” August shouted, holding his broken bones in place. “We’ll die for our Lord before we give up!”

“No,” a booming voice spoke to everyone present. “You won’t.”

“You coward!” Jennifer shouted. “You fucking monster! Come out and face us yourself!”

“My Lord!” August protested. “We can still win this!”

“They have made it clear that you cannot,” the Lord spoke. “Nevertheless, they are right; I will face them myself. Not here, however, and not now. Your service is needed. We have more to do. Return and I shall heal those who are left, and we shall continue our glorious mission.”

“Please!” August shouted. “Please! I am willing to die for you!”

“My child!” the Lord commanded. “You will return! The hour is approaching, and I shall finish this work. You will not become a martyr this day.”

“You piece of shit!” Jennifer yelled. “Come out here now!”

“No, progeny of Satan,” the Lord replied, “you will fight me, in a week’s time, at the destined battle. You will face the Armies of the Father in Heaven at the Battle at Armageddon.”

“The Valley of Megiddo,” Edward whispered, realizing.

“We’ll see you there!” Jennifer shouted, clenching her teeth afterward. The psychic gathered his remaining forces and shot off like a bullet.

“He’s giving us time to prepare,” John said, exiting the robot.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Annie replied, shaking her head.

“Yes, it does,” Jericho thought out loud.

Dark expressions came over their faces. “He knows the story,” Raymond added, stepping out of his robot. “He knows the way the story ends. God defeats the sinners, and so he doesn’t feel he can lose.”

Jack turned to his Lord as they exited a town, followed by a new group of followers. “My Lord!” he cried. “Why did you call them back?”

“I tested their power,” the Lord spoke. “And now I know how to defeat the heathens in battle.”

“It was a…” Jack trailed off as realization struck. “Wait, you never thought our men could defeat them?”

“No,” the Lord said, turning to his faithful servant. “I never once thought anyone besides myself could win against those followers of Satan. The Deceiver gave them too much power. Our faithful are useful for delivering judgment to powered servants of evil. These, however, are special. Only I can defeat them.”

“So,” Jack asked, “why sacrifice our men against them?”

“I needed to separate the ordinary evil from the special evil,” the Lord spoke. “I needed to know which ones only I could face. Besides, those fallen in service to the Father will be seated beside him in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Jack’s spirits lifted. “I’m sorry for doubting you, my Lord!” he cheered.

“Go make the announcement,” the Lord commanded. “Inform the peoples of the world that, in seven days’ time, the Battle at Armageddon, the final battle, shall take place.”