The Khalanium Blades

Chapter 3: PROTECT

Ray stressed his eyes to open, and got up, but hit his head on hard glass. His eyes opened wide, wider than he had that day. He looked to his left, and saw his heart rate being displayed. On his right were two other "beds" with Sam and Jane's bodies lying there. Thoughts swirled violently throughout his confused head. Was it all a dream? Did he really have super powers? He pressed his hands on the cover. He wasn't sure if he wanted them, or wanted a normal life. He pushed harder, and it melted! With more flames visible he got out.

As if in a time loop, he did the same things over again, except his friends didn't wake, even when the smoke was hurting their lungs every second. He thought better this time. Don't go outside. He returned to his coverless bed and sat there, watching his protectors solemnly. I was knocked unconscious. Sam and Jane probably got blasted with the same thing I was hit with. But I'm awake. He was furious at his captors. His eyes and hands glowed brightly.

Suddenly, as Ray tried to control his rage, the doors slid open and with shock he accidentally blasted heat towards whoever was about to enter. In an instant, the flames disappeared and what was left was smoke. Then, as if the fire didn't happen, the shape of a human being emerged from the fog and a bald man came out, holding a fire extinguisher. He looked badly bruised on his left cheek. Ray's eyes widened.

"Who...who...are you?" Ray stammered. The man raised his hand, obviously gesturing him to be silent. "I am Howard Quick, director of PROTECT." He began, inspecting the confused face of the unique teenager. "PROTECT stands for Planetary Research Organization Targeting Eventual Celestial Threats." He stared at Ray.

"Um...can you please repeat that, Sir?"

Quick grumbled, sat down on Ray's bed, and replied, "Somewhere in space, there is an unknown force, currently planning to conquer the world. I experienced that first hand, and believe me you won't like what I saw."

Ray was overwhelmed. He didn't believe a bit what he was hearing, knowing that this was all fantasy stuff and he would wake up from his very stupid dream. But he didn't.

"So I recruited agents from around the world and also celestial guards from the first planet I discovered just on the corner of the Milky Way, Ryoa." This guy is crazy. Ray thought, and shook his head, longing for the comfort of his bed. His real bed. "And now PROTECT is responsible for intergalactic chaos, with the help and assistance of world leaders."

"So why me?" Ray asked, "What did me and my friends do to deserve being pulled out by a galactic organization?" He was angry. He thought of how worried his and his friends' parents would be. As Quick sighed, Sam and Jane both groaned and shook in their beds, about to wake. Then, Quick loudly snapped his fingers rapidly three times and they instantly rose. Ray rushed over to his best friends and hugged them both. "Where are we?" They asked but quickly snapped out of their daze.

"How did this happen?" Sam asked, looking at Quick, deciding not to punch him again. Quick stood up. It took him about ten minutes to explain and make the teenagers believe what he had told Ray before. "So I and my scientists summoned the Red Lightning to strike the best warriors to experience having super powers through its current. And it chose you," Quick continued.

"So...where are we?" Jane asked, who was mostly silent, appreciating the room's neatness, aside from the shattered and melted glass.

"We are in PROTECT's main watchtower of the Alpha sector in space, which includes the Milky Way. Now for the main reason why you three children were called to be unknown superheroes," Quick began. "When I was working as secretary general of Interpol or the International Criminal Police Organization, the whole base in the mountains was ambushed by white wolf-like creatures. Thousands of them! They all came out from a green portal just outside of the base's tall electric fence."

He took a heavy breath and exhaled. "I was the only survivor." Quick opened his sleeve on his right arm and a metal sheet covered the segment of his arm below his wrist. The trio's jaws dropped, but Sam thought it was pretty cool. Quick answered their unsaid question. "One wolf found food in my arm while I strangled it. Had to get the poison out, and when they did, it had already contaminated the bones. Needing support, this sheet will forever remind me of the horrors of the coming invasion."

Just as if they were watching a movie with no visible content, the trio was paying so much attention they forgot how dumb it sounded. "So when do we come into play?" Jane asked. "Aren't we supposed to train or something?" Quick nodded.

  "Just as I was saying, intel has provided that the unknown force is targeting something called the Khalanium Blades. These are two very special blades, connected by a short golden handle in the middle. Once they have obtained it, they can duplicate it and their army will be unstoppable."

"Why is it so special?" Jane asked, clearly mystified, "and what do we do?"

"Well, it's density is beyond that of a mountain of diamonds, and can cut through or at least damage any physical object that comes into contact. Your mission is to go to the ancient temple in the heart of South Africa, and obtain it before someone or something else does. But first, we shall train you."

Just when Quick was going to stand up, Sam gently pulled him down and asked, "Wait. Aren't adults more capable for this kind of thing?"

"Yes," Quick replied. "But the temple will have five tested, and an encrypted code on the entrance reads, 'Only the children of humans may enter'. Come on, you will all be first tested to prove your worth. If you do, Coach Wilson will teach you basic fighting and power control, and after a month you will be dispatched. Understood?"

Sam and Jane nodded, speechless, but Ray didn't. "But what if the Blades are taken before we are ready?" Ray blurted out. He understood just fine, but still had doubts about this whole sci-fi impossibility.

"Good question, Ray, the temple is guarded by five squads of our second best-class agents there are out there." Quick protested, and said it proudly as if his "army" could beat the whole world. "And there are a few small camps out there regulating and discovering uncharted areas of the jungle. So they'll hold up till reinforcements arrive."

Ray and Sam loved the military and everything about it from tanks to soldiers armed with M16's. Jane, on the other hand, hated fighting and wished violence could float itself away from the earth forever. Quick walked out the semi-burnt door and the trio followed. "What happened here?" Sam asked, feeling the rough texture of the black burns on the walls. Ray smiled and shrugged.

In Ray's apartment . . .

Mr. Pierce held his wife's shaking hand. She covered her face in despair and once again let her emotions control her. She cried as the empty room echoed it loudly. "Don't worry, dear, we shall find them. Soon." She looked at him for a moment, and continued her weeping as she trodded to her room.