The Perfect Run

= Ruins of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina; October 2014.

Constructed inside a valley surrounded by five mountains, Sarajevo had once
been a beautiful place. A perfect mix of small, pastoral houses and tall modern
buildings, the city had housed events such as the 1984 Winter Olympic Games,
survived the Yugoslavian wars, and thrived in the aftermath.
But that was long ago.
Today, Sarajevo was a vision of hell. A steel graveyard ruled by a madman, its
skies dark even during the brightest days.
Only decaying ruins remained of the old city, consumed by a noxious purple
cloud. The other buildings were factories, weapon-development facilities, turrets,
and fearsome towers of black steel. The tallest structure was Mechron's fortress
located in Sarajevo’s center, an infinity symbol-shaped fusion between a military
base and a particle accelerator. Finally, pylons on the valley's mountains
projected a red forcefield around the city, one powerful enough to shrug off
NATO's ICBMs.
This miasma covering the city was a bioplague created to kill humans, leaving
only machines unharmed. Robots prowled the streets, from futuristic automated
tanks to humanoid, two-meters tall cyclops, while flying drones occupied the
skies. Some of these machines were cyborgs, half-rotten corpses partly
reanimated with tech when Mechron ran out of rare ore. The machine army stood
there, organized into defensive formations, waiting for the battle to start without
wasting any ounce of energy. Even the river Miljacka which once crossed the city
had been dried up.
When he looked at this tragedy from the heavens above, Leonard Hargraves
could only feel sadness. The Genome Wars had started here nine years ago; and
one way or another, they would end today.
Even long after he caused the end of the world, Mechron remained a mystery.
Pythia pieced together that he was a survivor of the Bosnian genocide and the
Siege of Sarajevo in the mid-nineties, an electric engineer by trade. His first act
upon gaining his Elixir had been a terrorist attack against the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for its perceived softness on war
criminals, before escalating to waging war on Serbia. Things quickly erupted into
a European conflict, and then finally a nuclear exchange.
Mechron had spent the entirety of the Genome Wars bunkering in Sarajevo,
letting his machines and Genome allies fight for him. The Anti-Mechron Front had
slowly destroyed his major bases and killed his lieutenants over the last six
years, and today, they finally gathered enough heroes to end the conflict once
and for all.
“We're ready?” Leo spoke.
“Yes.” The voice of Alice Martel, alias Pythia, answered through telepathy.
“Shining Knight and Nidhogg's groups are in position.”
While he was proud to fight alongside the Shining Knight, Nidhogg's involvement
left a sour taste in Leo’s mouth. Though he kept to his territory and didn’t cause
troubles unless provoked, that man was a villain, plain and simple. His followers
had taken over a large part of Denmark and allowed their Geniuses to run some
questionable medical experiments there.
Unfortunately, the Anti-Mechron Front couldn't take Sarajevo without assistance,
and the war had called for moral compromises. Nidhogg was willing to help when
so many wouldn't, even crossing half a continent to offer support. While he acted
out of self-preservation, this Green Genome understood Mechron was an
existential threat to all of mankind, and that he had to be stopped at all costs.
So while they might end up enemies one day, Leo would cut him some slack and
they would part ways amicably.
The living sun gave one last glance at the iron city from his current high altitude
before flying back to base at the speed of a fighter-jet. Leonard's human body
had been transmuted into a living star, a mass of solar plasma only held together
by a heart core and his own gravitational forces. Though he didn't age in his sun
form, the Genome usually returned to his human self while not on missions, as
he felt less like himself the longer he stayed transformed. His thoughts changed
from human to that of a star, wishing to burn bright and illuminate the cosmos. It
was a constant mental effort for Leo to contain his radiance and avoid burning
everything around him. Sometimes, he felt like he lived in a world of matchboxes.
Today would be a rare opportunity to go all-out. Maybe his last one.
In total, more than five hundred Genomes had gathered in three camps around
Sarajevo. Normal humans couldn't survive Mechron’s bio-plague, nor stand
against his machines, and so did not apply.
Leonard flew over the camp, where everyone was gearing up for war. The plague
doctor Stitch finished inoculating the soldiers with additional protections against
bio-plagues; the Cossack had put on his white, knight-themed power armor, a
cannon mounted on his right shoulder and a forcefield shield on the other;
Kresnik and Kudlak, the werewolf siblings, had transformed into giant humanoid
wolves the size of polar bears, one white, the other black. A Violet summoned
warbeasts from alien planets to serve as shock troops, while Orange Genomes
transformed into beings of metal and stone.
Alice was networking people near the camp's center, with Sidekick standing
nearby to boost her power. A beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes, Alice was a
powerful seer with the ability to create telepathic links between people upon
touching them; those she “networked’ worked intuitively together like a hive mind,
much like Mechron’s robot army formed a superorganism spread through
countless bodies.
Besides increasing teamwork, Pythia’s power could also be used for precognitive
purposes; the more people she networked with, the more she could anticipate
the future. In many ways, she had been the driving force behind this alliance.
Today's battle would be the culmination of her chess match with Mechron, and
the heroes would be her pieces.
Sidekick, meanwhile, was an average-looking youth with brown hair and amber
eyes. He belonged to Shining Knight's group, being a White enhancing the power
of other Genomes so long as they remained within ten meters of his person. The
trio would soon be rejoined by Calculator, a Genius with the ability to calculate
probabilities to the point of precognition.
Pythia, Calculator, and many other Blue Genomes had debated the plan of
attack; from nuking Sarajevo to a guerilla battle, everything had been considered.
Leo didn’t know what made them decide on a conventional invasion, besides
mentions of a “dead hand system,’ but he trusted their judgment.
Some, like Pythia, were members of Leo’s Carnival. Others were hero warbands
or vigilantes like the Cossack, who answered the call to war. Dynamis hadn't sent
anyone, though they did provide equipment.
They were too busy dealing with Augustus in Italy.
The mere thought of his nemesis infuriated Leonard, reminding him of that
dreadful day he returned to the Costa farm, only to find all its inhabitants
murdered. He had sworn to bring their killer to justice, and once Mechron was
dealt with, he would do exactly that.
The living sun—though he disliked that nickname—Ilanded near Alice, toning
down his body heat to prevent her from catching fire. “Leonard,” she said with a
warm smile. Unlike the Genomes making up the army, she dressed casually.
“Ready?”
“Like the day I was born.” Even before the apocalypse, Leonard had been a full-
time firefighter in the London Fire Brigade; quite ironic considering his main
power. He liked to think he still put out fires threatening the innocents, even if
some could shoot lightning from their eyes. “How much time do we have?”
“Enough for one last speech, if you're up for it.”
She tried humor, but Leonard didn’t hide his concern for his old ally. “You're sure
you want to do this?” he asked her. “You have never networked so many people
at once, even with help from Sidekick.”
“We can't out-think a combat Al without the use of powers,” Pythia replied.
“Mechron’s armies are so effective because they fight as one. They have us
outnumbered more than one thousand to one; even if we have superpowers on
our side, we need all advantages possible.”
“I'm just saying the risks are great.” She often suffered from dangerous
headaches when she directed a large group, and never one this big. “Unlike me,
you still have a husband and son at home.”
“It's precisely for them that I'm willing to risk everything.”
Leonard couldn't argue with that.
As if on cue, the various fighters gathered around them. Most were veterans of a
dozen battles, others were new recruits. Leonard noticed a few of his other
teammates among them. The teleporter Ace, a freckled young woman with long
auburn hair, dressed like a rogue with high boots, a red coat, and feathered hat;
and Mr. Wave, a creature of pure energy wavelengths held together in a fancy
purple suit.
Every set of eyes was on Leo.
“I'm not one for speeches,” the Red Genome declared. Shining Knight and
Nidhogg were probably speaking with their troops, miles away. “So I will be short
and to the point. This is it. This is the final battle. Mechron is exhausted. His
facilities, those which we could locate, have been destroyed. His last Genome
lieutenant, Asmodeus, has been slain. He's low on troops, low on weapons, low
on options. This is his last stand, and he knows it. The news should be a relief,
for all of us have lost something to this madman. Family. Friends. Home. But as
they say, a cornered rat—"
“Will bite a cat,” Ace mused, a few people chuckling among the audience. “We
know, you say that all the time.”
“But this time, the rat may very well kill the cat,” Leo rolled with the metaphor.
At Pythia's behest, a light-manipulating Genome projected the image of two
massive war machines behind Leonard. Enormous satellites equipped with solar
sails and enormous laser cannons.
“These are the Kujata and the Bahamut, orbital satellites with the power to
devastate entire countries,” Leonard explained. “Mechron’s previous orbital
weapons remained in low Earth orbit, where they could be destroyed. The new
ones, though, will fly deep into space, and even I won't be able to reach them. In
a few hours, maybe minutes, Mechron will attempt to launch them and wipe us all
out.”
Whispers spread through the crowd, as the grim reality of the situation settled
among them.
“I know some of you, myself included, were a bit apprehensive with the help we
enlisted to wage this war. But this is not a battle between nations, or between
heroes and villains. This is a battle between life and death. And more than ever,
this is a battle against time. Our goals are twofold: to destroy these satellites
before they can be activated, and to defeat Mechron once and for all. Over the
past few months, we have methodically cut off his escape routes. Today, we fight
to the death.”
“Good,” Cossack said, his tone dangerous. “Mechron’s death.”
“Yes,” Leonard agreed. “Mechron surrendered his humanity long ago. He desires
to destroy all that makes us human; to replace our hearts with metal, and our
souls with technology. He is a despot who believes men should be his slaves
because he only sees the worst in us. But he is wrong.”
The living sun raised his hand, the satellites beyond him collapsing in a flash of
bright light.
“Humans are not slaves!” he shouted. “Mechron chose to see the worst, but we
chose to see the best! That humans are capable of compassion! Of art and
kindness! Of greatness! And together, we shall end this decade-long nightmare
once and for all! Today, we take back our planet!”
His declaration was met with a cacophony of shouts and war cries.
Immediately afterward, Leonard flew across the skies, followed by dozens of
flyers. The Cossack’s armor activated the powerful propellers in its back; a
chrome humanoid flew by his will alone. The ground forces moved towards the
shield aboard assault vehicles or carried by teleporters.
“Now, the moment of truth.” Leonard flew above the clouds, facing the shield. He
built up the energy inside his core, preparing to go supernova.
And then, he set the world ablaze.
His heart core unleashed a focused ray of light that burnt the skies. The ionized
laser hit the crimson forcefield and the mountain supporting one of the pylons,
melting the stone. The forcefield undulated like water as it took the blast, an
unstoppable force facing an immovable object.
And then... one of them gave up.
The forcefield around Sarajevo shorted out, and Leo's beam vaporized the pylon
supporting it. The blast continued its course towards the city, setting an entire
street ablaze in a cataclysmic detonation.
The shield collapsed all around the city, and Mechron’s army woke up.
Spherical drones instantly spread across the skies like a bug swarm, opening fire
on the heroes with lasers. Holes opened all over the metal towers, revealing
hundreds of beam turrets, while the robots and vehicles on the ground opened
with an artillery bombardment.
Leo's flying allies moved to intercept the drone swarm, while the fire Genome
recovered from his effort. While he could draw on an enormous power reserve, it
needed time to replenish itself.
With the shield down, the other groups moved to action. A flash of green light
illuminated the darkness to the east, Nidhogg undergoing his transformation. The
Green Genome metamorphosed into a colossal, kilometers long serpent with
human skulls for scales; the monster slithered towards the city, his venom
melting stone while his own forces followed. Purple blinking lights popped up all
over Sarajevo, as Ace teleported small groups across the city.
Explosions shook Sarajevo to the west, the Shining Knight having entered the
city. While no heavy hitter, the charismatic leader of men led her troops
personally in battle, her heavy green armor shrugging lasers while she cut robots
with her bright energy sword. Her contingent was by far the largest, providing
almost half of the Genomes participating; most were the defenders of a
democratic state rising from Germany's ashes, the New Republic of Bavaria.
Mechron had destroyed their home once, and now they would see justice done.
Having recovered, Leo flew into the city, followed by the Cossack and some
caped fellow. Their allies had cleared a path ahead, engaging the drone swarms,
but faced heavy resistance. The towers unleashed hundreds of lasers in all
directions, cutting Genomes and buildings alike, while artillery bombardments
from the defensive turrets destroyed almost every ruined building still standing.
And of course, Mr. Wave couldn't help but brag. The show-off had moved in the
middle of a robot-crowded street, hands raised. “Can you feel fear, robots?” The
robots had opened fire midspeech, but lasers and bullets harmlessly phased
through the Red Genome. “Because Mr. Wave feeds on tears!”
Mr. Wave vanished, his wavelength body turning into a deadly laser moving at
lightspeed. Before Leo knew it, his teammate had carved a path through the
robots, cutting the machines in half merely by moving through them. Meanwhile,
the werewolf siblings were busy tearing apart a tank with their bare claws,
leading a pack of monsters.
The caped fellow charged at one of the metal towers and brought it down by
going through it. The other flyers spread to support the ground forces, while
Leonard and Cossack moved towards Mechron's fortress.
The enormous base’s walls opened, waves of jetpack-powered robots flying
towards them armed with heavy rifles. They immediately fired a volley of black
projectiles at the duo, forcing them to spread out. Though they moved slowly, the
robots’ bullets powered through any matter, absorbing anything close to them.
Gravity rifles. Leonard had faced a few in previous engagements, and one had
almost torn his core apart. He suspected Mechron had specifically designed the
weapon to kill energy-based Genomes like him.
Leonard retaliated with plasma beams, while the Cossack hit the machines with
his shoulder-cannon. Both sides aimed with deadly accuracy and moved around
with grace; the machines dodged with inhuman dexterity and reflexes, while the
Genomes had speed on their side.
Guided by Pythia's network, Leonard entered some kind of trance, his body
moving on its own. It was as if a primal instinct had taken over, shutting down his
conscious mind and leaving only a battle program. He became no different than
the machines he fought.
No, Leo realized. He was different from these machines. Pythia’s network let
each individual keep their free-will, yet allowed people from different
backgrounds and who had nothing in common, to cooperate for a common
cause. Their army was united in its diversity, while Mechron’s machines were
mindless copies; soulless slaves to a despot who considered free will as a
disease, rather than something to be cherished.
And at some point, Pythia’s network began to outperform Mechron’s robotic hive
mind. Leonard hit one robot, then two, then three. The numbers kept climbing,
but the Genomes view had been reduced to blasts, black bullets, and burning
metal.
Fifty, seventy...
“When will they learn?” the Cossack asked, bombarding drones with his
shoulder-cannon. Leo assisted him with plasma blasts, the two wingmates
coordinating their assault with perfect synchronization; Pythia’s network even
allowed them to hear each other over the explosions, as astonishing as it
sounded.
And yet, in spite of their impressive resistance, more robots kept coming.
There was something terrifying in fighting these machines. Humans and animals
could feel fear, fleeing lost battles, often hesitating before attacking, or attempted
to communicate. But not Mechron's robots. They felt no remorse, didn’t make a
sound and never retreated.
Leo fought an unrelenting tide of steel that just wanted him dead.
Still, the battle seemed to be going well for them. The Shining Knight's troops
held the line on the western side, while Nidhogg had reached the city, toppling
buildings and crushing a laser tower under his sheer weight. The corpses of
Mechron’s undead cyborgs were absorbed by the giant reptile on contact,
regenerating his biomass lost to the enemies’ energy weaponry.
Once transformed, Nidhogg was almost unstoppable. A juggernaut fueled by
death. His troops followed in his wake, Genomes modified with cybernetic or
biological implants; like remoras supporting a larger shark, they mostly stuck to
defending their leader from smaller drones threatening to swarm him.
The plan was to have the reptilian titan destroy the defensive towers and then
breach Mechron’s fortress with his acid spit, though the rogue Genius might have
a trick up his sleeve.
As it turned out, he had two.
The Red Genome noticed movement near Mechron’s fortress, holes opening
inside the two circles making up the base's infinity shape. Two enormous rockets
the size of skyscrapers emerged from the ground, flying towards the heavens at
incredible speed.
The Kujata and the Bahamut had been launched.
Leo immediately raced after them, unleashing a plasma beam at the Kujata. A
force-field around the rocket negated his attack, and though it briefly shorted out,
the two orbital weapons continued their ascent.
“If they get too far...” Leonard couldn't finish his sentence, blasting a path through
the flying robots. They weren't even fighting to win, but to delay.
“If,” the Cossack replied with laconic wit, flying after the Kujata at full speed. The
g-force involved would have crushed any normal pilot, but the vigilante powered
through, catching up to the satellite. He was a man who believed in actions over
words.
Leonard pursued the Bahamut, intending to crash into it and bypass its force-
field, when a roar echoed from behind him.
The Red Genome turned around, as a monster emerged from the fortress.
Visit Novelxo.org to read full content.
The creature looked like some kind of
biomechanical European dragon. The
ten meters tall reptile & jen
similar fq $9lar calls red scales
xe “with black machinery covering
the chest, the head, and the claws. Its
yellow, reptilian eyes glared at the
Red Genome, betraying a hint of
intellect. The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
What the hell was that, a biomechanical war machine? Leonard didn't have time
to fight it, or the Bahamut may escape Earth's orbit.
As if to answer his thoughts, the dragon pointed at Leonard with both its hands,
the claws shining with crimson energy.
A crushing force took over the living sun and forced him down. Much to his
surprise, Leonard ended up crashing towards the ground, an invisible hand
dragging him away from the Bahamut.
Visit Novelxo.org to read full content.
Though he was more skilled with
plasma and fire, Leonard could
manipulate his ow yi While he
os weed 6 fl “he had learned a
few other tricks. Manipulating his
gravity-field, he managed to collapse
the effect bringing him down,
returning to the fight. The content is
on Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
“What was that?” Leonard asked out loud, pursuing the dragon. “A gravity well?”
“Gravity-control,” Pythia said as the dragon roared back. “It's a Red.”
Leonard thought he had misheard for a moment. “What? But only humans—"
“Until now.”
Visit Novelxo.org to read full content.

’
Mechron'’s power covered
multi-agent systems, from artificial
intelligences to nanotech constaygts.
His MO was 10 gredte A) dédicated to
the nie of new technologies,
allowing him to make breakthroughs
in specialties outside his own.
Mechron was the most dangerous
kind of Genius; the one who could
make more. The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
But to think he had uncovered the secret of Elixirs...
The rogue Genius couldn't be allowed to escape. No matter what.
Gathering up plasma in his core, Leonard fired a deadly beam at the creature.
Though it moved at supersonic speed, the monster couldn't outspeed light.
But as it turned out, it didn't need to. Instead, it turned its own gravity crush ability
on empty air, creating a miniature black hole the size of a fist. The phenomenon
absorbed the dragon into itself before disappearing, the ion beam hitting nothing
but air.
Damn, did it use gravity to create a wormhole or something?
Whatever the case, it had fulfilled its mission in delaying Leonard. The Cossack
had somehow managed to bring down the Kujata, the satellite's wreckage
crashing on Sarajevo’s streets, but the Bahamut had become a faint light point in
the skies.
“Shit!”
“Seventy-three percent chance that the Bahamut opens fire on Sarajevo once
online, according to Calculator,” Pythia warned. “Increasing by one point every
ten minutes.”
Had Mechron grown desperate enough to fire at his own base?
It wasn't about winning anymore.
Leonard turned towards the heavens, ready to pursue the satellite even into the
dark reaches of space if needed when Pythia’s voice interrupted him. “No, don't.
Hit the fortress and reach Mechron. Kill him before he pulls the switch. The odds
are better.”
“But the satellite will—"
“Something worse is coming.”
Leonard froze. “What do you mean?”
“If his fortress isn't annihilated soon, Mechron will somehow kill everyone in
Sarajevo,” Pythia said, her composure breaking into genuine fear. “Destroy the
bunker at all costs.”
“What's waiting for me inside?”
“I don’t know.” Her words turned haunting. “I only see black. It's all black.”
Leo braced himself for battle and flew at mach-speed through the fortress’ metal
walls.
Mechron was waiting, deep down.