The Adventures of Mavus Pt. III

"The Adventures of Mavus Pt. III" continues where Part II left off. Mavus Shaw has been taken into the Waystation as he searches for the demigod Remy Jackson to aid in the Inquisition's efforts to stopping the New Militia.

Chapter 12 - Foreigner

"So, Mavus, how did you find this place?" Josephine asked. This lady was really friendly... a bit too friendly. You know those old grannies who are super sweet and kind, but spoil you a bit too much? Josephine kind of reminded me of that. Aside from the fact that she was built like a bodybuilder. She had insane musculature enough to make Jason jealous.

"I used a magic crystal to locate the entrance. I came from... somewhere else." I couldn't tell her I was from another universe. "I see", Josephine said, taking me to the infirmary. She started to patch my scratches up. "Have you been on the run? Where's your family?"

That hit me hard. I stared at the ground. "I don't have one." No point lying to such a kind lady. I was from a family that was... complicated. My mom wanted me to be a doctor/lawyer/engineer. Choose one of the three, anything else I was considered "not fit to survive in the real world". My father wanted me to learn how to live off my own hustle. They were strict and I hardly considered them my parents.

I know, haha, he's an asian guy with asian parents that want him to be the most asian thing ever. The thing was, they treated me like I was a responsibility. Not as a son. My mom wanted me to be in STEM because she believed that to survive, I needed to be able to get hired into a stable job market. My dad, well. He believed that harsh discipline made strong men.

When my parents found out about my powers, they were disappointed to say the least. "After everything we had done for you." Those were their exact words. They saw me as a threat, and when the government showed up to my doorstep, they didn't even bother saying their goodbyes. Just sent me on my way, ready for the suits to pick me up.

Dark, huh? That's why I never talk about my past. Because it gets depressing real fast. I guess my expression showed that.

Josephine continued patching me up. "Poor thing... It's okay. Everyone in the Waystation is treated like family in a way. Emmie over there is my wife." I looked in her direction. "Huh?"

Josephine chuckled. "You sure are old fashioned for a man your age! Are you surprised of my orientation? I knew Emmie back when we were Hunters. We parted ways with Lady Artemis after we decided to get together."

"No! No... I have no problem with that. I'm totally fine with the LGBTQ community. It's just... I sent a freaking rocket her way. I'm so sorry Jo." Josephine laughed. She kind of reminded me of Varen. And yes, I jumped, causing the bandage to slip and run against my cut. "Ow!"

Josephine continued to patch me up. "It's a-okay kid. You're quite talented with machines! Are those your powers?" I looked at my hands. "Yeah. I'm a technomancer, I have the ability to create and manipulate technology." Josephine finished and helped me to my feet. "I can tell. I have similar powers, but not at your extent. My mother is Hecate."

"Like the goddess of magic?"
"Yep"

Josephine looked at me. "You know, I could always use an extra pair of hands with a few of my projects. You seem to know your way around a wrench."

That night, I joined a bunch of demigods and legacies to dinner at the Grand Hall. Everybody was chatting up a storm, having fun. Talking about a card game called Mythomagic. For the first time, I felt alone.

Believe me, I've been alone most my life. I was a loser in every school, elementary to college, because I wasn't allowed to be in society for being a Tier Zero Metahuman. But it never really bothered me. After talking with Josephine and being forced to recall my past, and seeing these guys having fun. I don't know. It just bothered me.

"Hey." Calypso sat next to me. I gave her a half smile. "Hey. Sorry for attacking your place." Calypso held up her hand. "Don't worry about it." I continued looking at the other residents. "The boy you seek is no longer in the Waystation."

I stared at her. "What? How? Why would he leave this place?" Calypso watched as several demigods started to play with their powers. "Remy wanted to go back to the real world, as he only saw this place as a temporary place to stay."

Dammit. I went through all this trouble to get here too. At this rate, I'll never get this mission done. "You're not from around here, are you?" God, she was like a freaking sleuth. "Nope. I'm from somewhere else, that's in deep trouble, and if I don't find this Remy guy, then it's a mission fail."

"Corinth?"
"Yeah. Wait, how the hell did you know that?"

Calypso put her plate on the ground. "I have the ability to see a person's past. I'm sorry, I should have asked for your consent, but at the time, I was suspicious. You are unlike any mortal I have ever seen."

"Thanks, I get that a lot from the average immortal."

Calypso continued. "You are not a demigod, and you lack the impulsiveness of many of the heroes I have met. Your powers are incomprehensible, yet you are not a god, but a mortal. And the way you speak, your dialect, it is almost... foreign."

"Racist." I managed a smirk, causing Calypso to smile. "Your humour is a lot like Leo's though. A bit edgier, but still similar."

I finished up my dinner and leaned back on the sofa. "How did you guys even meet? I'm guessing he is the guy who sprinted you from Ogygia." Calypso raised her eyebrows. "I'm surprised you know of this."

"Like I said, people, excuse me, mortals love to write about you guys."

Calypso continued watching the demigods. "Leonidas indeed rescued me from the island. He did what no man could, and returned, saving me from my curse. As we speak, he is currently away, at the Roman Demigod Camp." She looked worried, and I didn't blame her.

"I'm sure that guy is fine. He's good with machines, like me. We tend to be the more creative of the bunch." Calypso gave me grateful look. "Thank you for the kind words, Mavus. I hope all goes well with your love for Junon."

I nearly choked. "What?" Calypso looked amused. "I told you, I can see the past. You love this girl, to the point where you would follow her to battle without fear. I admire that." I repositioned myself on the couch. "If only she felt the same way." Calypso looked at me. "Just follow your heart, and it will work out eventually."

Something suddenly came to mind. Oh crap. I forgot about Junon! My coms unit was still in Main when Calypso had busted it up! She must be worried sick.

"Hey, I'm going to head to my room, it was great talking to you." Calypso waved me goodbye.

I quickly reassembled the com unit that Junon had given me. Hopefully this will work. "Um... hello?"

"Mavus? Is that you?" Junon's voice appeared from the com unit. It felt like the most reassuring thing ever. "Yeah, it's me. Listen, I'm sorry, the com unit broke after a mishap-"

"Don't worry about that. I'm just so glad that you're still here. I need your help, it's bad. Can you come to these coordinates as soon as you can?"

Junon uploaded the coordinates onto the device. San Francisco. How the heck did she get all the way over there?

"San Francisco? Did you find the demigod?" Junon was quiet for a few seconds. "Yes. She's with me. But Mavus, you need to hurry. We aren't the only ones who made it to this universe. There was a third person who managed to get through."

"Blackflame is here. And he's wiped out Camp Jupiter."

Chapter 13 - World's Biggest Nerd vs. World's Strongest Edgelord

I left The Waystation early. Josephine noticed that I had already grabbed my things and stopped by.

"Leaving so soon?" I looked down. "Yeah. Something came up. It's really urgent." Josephine crushed me in a hug. "I hope things get better for you kiddo. I'll be waiting to work with you on future projects, sorry you didn't get a chance to check out my workshop!" I thanked her. Emmie was at the door. "She's right. The Waystation serves as a refuge for anyone. Demigod, Hunter, even mortals like you. You are always welcome back if you need it."

I looked at the numerous people who were lost, who were given a home thanks to these two. I nodded. "Thank you."

I headed out, and closed my fist. Numerous pieces of scrap metal from the station swirled around me as I dissipated into green sparks, merging with the mechanical body, repurposed into Main. Blackflame, that scrawny edge lord. He had to ruin everything. I turned around. Josephine was giving me a thumbs up. "Nice. Go kick some ass kid!"

I gave her a thumbs up back. I activated my thrusters, then shot to the sky.

"Juno, set location to San Francisco, Camp Jupiter, fastest route, full aerial mode."
"Acknowledged."

My mechanical body transformed, metal parts clacking into place as my body became more streamlined. The flame from my thrusters shot up in intensity, turning it from its usual light green to bright white. I shot forward with immense speed, breaking the sound barrier.

I learned my lesson from my last encounter with this dude. If I was going to stand a chance against his ridiculous speed, taking damage was going to be inevitable. He got me last time because I was being cocky and fought him with a body upload. This time, I was going to... fight him with a body upload.

Dammit. Well, time for Plan B.

I approached Camp Jupiter and began to slow down. The sight was horrific.

Bodies everywhere, demigods and legacies barely clinging to consciousness. There was only one guy left who was facing a hooded figure with one arm. My sensors indicated that the Jupiter....ites were still alive, just barely conscious. Thank God.

The big dude, was probably the Praetor, judging from his cloak. He looked pretty beat up, but the fact that he was still standing against a Tier Zero definitely demands respect.

"Junon, you there?"
"Yeah, I'm with the people who managed to escape. I told them you would be here, so we all evacuated to a bunker. You'll need to drive Blackflame out, but please be careful. You know how your last encounter with him went."

It was time for Plan B to get put in motion. I unveiled several shoulder compartments from Main, releasing several pods. The pods zipped and shot to the ground, circling Blackflame.

I shot down, putting distance between Blackflame and the Praetor. "Who... Who are you?" The guy asked. I turned around and almost snickered.

This guy was a praetor? No way. He was still in his pyjamas and looked like he had been rolled out of bed. His sheepish face and obvious nervousness was completely offset from his huge muscular frame. He kind of reminded me of this dude in my college named Milton. He thought if he went to the gym at 4am in the morning he could work out in an empty building, then he could go to bed at 5am and wake up at 7am then chug coffee for his 8am classes. Every time he was in class, Trevor would aim the phone camera at his snoring ass. It was so funny. Good old Milton.

"Mavus Shaw." Blackflame glared at me. I waved my hand.

"Hi. Yeah, before you begin your rant about how great New Croft is, can I just start off with, seriously? You didn't just have to screw with us in Corinth, but you had to go out of your way to go to another universe to ruin things? What are you, obsessed with us?"

Blackflame inspected his hand. "No. A little bird, told me, that the two you seek were Roman Demigods. I did my research. So I came here. Camp Jupiter welcomed me with open arms, as you can see." He spread his hand, showing all the carnage. My vision turned red.

Blackflame continued. "They didn't take kindly to visitors. That's just too bad. They tried to even attack Junon. Did you know that?"

I was silent. I also realized that Junon was also silent.

"Lo and behold, the mighty Twelfth Legion. How does it feel, Praetor Zhang, to be completely outclassed by me, even with your precious camp of demigods?" Zhang looked like he was about to turn into a gorilla. Dude was choked out of his mind. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. Camp Jupiter attacked Blackflame, thinking he was an intruder. Zhang probably thought it would be easy to take down a single enemy, not realizing how powerful a Tier Zero Metahuman was, and Blackflame singlehandedly annihilated the Legion.

Blackflame looked me in my mechanical eye. "Don't think you're any better, Mavus. Don't you remember the last time we met?"

Oh yeah. I definitely did.

"Juno, Plan B, now!"
"Acknowledged! Initiating power drain."

The pods began to power up. Blackflame looked around, and soon he realized that his power was being absorbed. The pods hummed with power as the red and black fire left Blackflame's body and entered the pods, making them glow even brighter green. Blackflame turned to me. "You..."

Haha, what an overconfident fool. It's payback now, kid. I willed the pods to raise from the ground, flying to the direction of my mech, and they mounted onto my shoulders. I could feel power surging. I leaned down, aiming my new giant shoulder cannons, two cannons per shoulder, four in total.

The cannons fired, sending two huge green blasts at Blackflame, who was now drained and unable to react to the attack in time. The blast created a huge green shockwave that decimated the camp even more. Oops. But the good news was that Blackflame was sent miles into the air, smoking from the huge attack.

I detached my shoulder cannons, and transformed them into more mobile draining units, commanding them to pursue Blackflame. I held out my arms, which expanded into a network of separate rocket launchers and munitions, sending a barrage of missiles at Blackflame. With his regeneration and durability dulled by the drainers encircling him, it should deal enough damage. The missiles hit the guy head on, causing massive green explosions. Camp Jupiter was ravaged by winds of the shockwaves.

I kept firing. Turning around, I realized Zhang was still staring at me like an idiot. "What are you staring around for? Don't you have a legion to help evacuate?" Zhang's mouth was hanging open. "Dude... what... who are you? Who is he? Who are you people?"

I looked back. The target lock disappeared. Blackflame managed to escape and was zipping around an arc, the draining units pursuing him. "I'll explain later." I shot forward to meet Blackflame.

Sam was firing his Darkfire left and right attempting to destroy the drones, but his attacks were significantly reduced in power. This meant the two of us were on an even playing field. I shot past the guy and transformed my arm, building several high power thrusters at the forearm, and increasing the size of the fist to a sledgehammer. I swung my fist down, catching the guy in the face, sending him into the ground several hundred feet below. Blackflame shot back up in a red explosion, his face full of murderous rage, his body in Form 4. I ordered the drones to increase the drain percentage. The drones began to crack from the strain. I built even more drones to drain this guy as much as possible.

Blackflame and I engaged in a firefight with the drones circulating us, draining his energy. Him shooting blasts of heat, while I retaliated with missiles barrages, repulser beams, and my miniguns. Back and forth. He tried to get in close with melee, but each time, I would blast him away with my chest repulser. This ain't no knife fight fool, this was a full fledged ballistic battle.

Some of Blackflame's dark fire managed to melt and damage my body, but he was also taking some pretty heavy hits from my explosions, his healing factor severely reduced.

I dodged his blast and fired a small projectile at his face, which exploded into smoke. Shooting upwards behind him, I elongated my hand, building large boosters at the forearms, and changing my arm into a sledgehammer. I swung down at Sam's face, sending him back into the ground with a huge

BOOM.

I landed, with the energy drain drones following suit, hovering around the two of us. Demigods were beginning to come out of their evacuation spots, helping the unconscious and the injured. Junon stood with the crowd. "Finish it Maven!"

I walked up to Blackflame, my mechanical body stomping and crushing the rocks on the ground. I grabbed Blackflame by the face, and powered up my forearm thrusters, launching a devastating uppercut which sent him flying in the air. It was now or never.

Normally if I was going to deliver a full power blast, and I don't mean that half assed little spurt I had in the Inquisition exams, or even that big aerial barrage I sent Amana's squad, I mean a full on, no holds restrained, 100% planet destroying attack, I would have done it through multiple massive cannons to better handle the energy output. But right now, there was no time to build something that big and that many in number. I had to do it in Main.

This would either be super cool, or it was going to suck some major hex nuts.

I stretched my arms, revealing every single beam based weapon in Main's arsenal. I looked like a walking military. Then clasped my arms together, the mechanical components sliding and clacking into place, forming a giant cannon. Aimed right at the airborne Blackflame.

I hoped he was ready for this, because I sure as hell was not.

"Juno, fire the Planet Buster Beam."

A huge green beam, much bigger than the Armada Cannon, fired from my arm-cannon machine. The force of the blast creating a massive crater on the ground where my feet was. Holy crap! I was going to burrow through the ground! I expanded my feet in width, planting them firmly into the ground with more mechanical supports. The beam was so powerful that the electrical discharge that was emanating through the sides arced through the camp, destroying everything in its path. A massive tornado started to spiral around me as air particles were being superheated. The clouds parted, changing in climate. A thunderstorm brewing. Juno was telling me my blast was causing major climate changing and storms all around the city, no, the country.

Under the sound of all the beam attacks from Main's weapons, I could hear Blackflame yelling. He was feeling the full force of my attack. I looked back and realized that Junon and the others had already left the area.

My entire body was smoking, and I could start to see my weapon cracking in several places, along with my armour and mechanical body. I knew this would happen. The sheer power of a 100% Planet Buster Beam could only be sustained by multiple skyscraper level cannons. It was only a miracle that my mechanical suit hadn't disintegrated from all the power yet. But I had to keep going. For Junon. For the demigods here. For the people at Waystation. Blackflame needed to be put down.

I yelled, unleashing everything I had. My mechanical arms smoking, sparking, and popping, pieces of my body breaking off. Just a little bit more. Juno's voice was starting to get distorted as my vision began to crack. Main's body wasn't going to hold out for long. I roared as I unleashed the last of my power in the beam, at that point I couldn't tell who was screaming more, me or Blackflame.

The beam dissipated as I could hear all of my mechanical components powering down. Smoke was billowing in like a million places, and the green glow dissipating from my parts. I wasn't even able to stay upright, and fell to my knees, pieces of my body breaking off and falling into the ground, disintegrating. My pods also disintegrated too.

Blackflame fell from the sky, his smoking body, horrendously scarred, slamming into the ground. He had survived my strongest attack. Tier Zero for ya. I exited Main, as it crumbled into pieces of metal. I fell on my face, losing consciousness, hearing the sound of Junon's voice screaming my name.