Tournament of Heroes

4. PROLOGUE-2

“But the mess didn’t end there. Without warning, a huge cloud of the accumulated dark energy generated over the first three days of the Tournament became visible to the n***d eye and then started attacking IEA agents. It captured and absorbed every single IEA agent in the arena aside from myself.”

As Mr. Space said that he could see the events playing in his mind’s eye again. The dark energy cloud appearing out of nowhere above the arena, the sound of millions of voices screaming at once, the shadowy tendrils shooting out and ensnaring his fellow agents, watching as dozens of good men and women got absorbed into the darkness of the cloud, his own narrow escape …

There was a reason Mr. Space did not want to go over it again and it wasn’t just because he was afraid of how the Commanderate would punish him.

“As a result, I do not know, exactly, what happened after I left,” Mr. Space continued. He nodded at Captain Galaxy. “Camera drones sent from The Adventure have shown that the Tournament appears to be going forward. All participants in the Tournament were spotted in the courtyard of Aeno’s Universal Castle shortly after the end of the third match. We believe that Aeno has decided to keep the Tournament going. As well, our drone scouts have picked up on extra security added to both the Universal Castle and Nexus City, the closest settlement to the Castle. Therefore, if we’re going to send in more agents in an attempt to rescue the participants again, it will likely be much harder even if we try to interrupt another match. End of report.”

Mr. Space added that last bit when he saw the growing restlessness and impatience of the Commanderate. He wasn’t sure what they expected to hear. What he told them now was more or less what he wrote in his report, if not exactly verbatim. He didn’t even feel particularly proud of himself for getting through the report without stumbling or stuttering too much. He just felt relieved it was over … for now, anyway.

Chief Aster tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Why did the participants fight back against you and the other agents? Our preliminary reports said that the participants had been ‘invited’ into the Tournament against their wills.”

Mr. Space shook his head. “I still don’t know. It seems like at least a few of the victims have become fond of Aeno. Some of them seem to think he’s just a little kid who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Fools,” Commander Nova snapped. “The lot of them. I’ve read the reports on Aeno from the archives. That thing is anything but a little kid. He must have brainwashed them somehow.”

“A likely explanation,” said Chief Aster. “But the report’s conclusion is, I think, correct. After this, there’s no doubt Aeno has taken steps to ensure that there won’t be a repeat of our last mission. We have to assume that Aeno and his creations will likely be on high alert for any IEA agents. Even if we try another invasion of agents, it still might not work.”

“Can we talk about the fact that we lost the Dimension Bomb?” Commander Meteor asked sharply. He rubbed his bald head. “W&R has been complaining to me all day about that. Now that Aeno has the Dimension Bomb, we know for a fact that he can carry out his threat of destroying the losers’ universe. And four days, even taking into account the time difference between our dimension and the Nexus, is hardly enough time to come up with a plan to recover from this disaster.”

“I don’t know,” said Commander Eclipse. “We faced a similar situation during the Mechanoid Invasion fifty years ago, where the initial assault failed and we had only a single day to come up with a counter plan. Of course, the Mechanoids weren’t planning to destroy whole universes. Even so, we have a lot more time to come up with a counter-strategy than you think.”

Mr. Space licked his lips. He was glad the Commanderate were spending more time arguing with each other than focusing on him. Maybe they would even forget to punish him and Captain Galaxy for their failure. That would be nice.

“But this situation is far worse than the Mechanoid Invasion,” said Commander Nova. “As you pointed out, the Mechanoids were not planning to destroy the multiverse. Aeno is. Time is of the essence.”

“What, then, do you suggest, Commander?” said Commander Eclipse, folding her arms in front of her chest. “Do you suggest we try another full-on invasion of the Nexus and get even more innocent agents slaughtered?”

“I suggested nothing of the sort, Commander Eclipse. I’m only saying—”

“Enough!” said Chief Aster, raising his voice and causing all of the Commanders to look at him in surprise. “We must not bicker with each other. Aeno is the real enemy here. Not us.”

Mr. Space relaxed. Even though he knew he was probably still in trouble, something about Chief Aster’s firm tone made him feel safer already.

“Now, I understand that tension is high,” Chief Aster continued, “but that does not justify endless bickering among us. Remember, we’re all on the same side here. The Aeno situation may be the toughest situation that the IEA has ever faced in its millions of years of existence, but we can conquer it. We must. The fate of countless individuals is on the line here. Therefore, we need to take extreme measures to protect the multiverse.”

Commander Nova raised an eyebrow. “Extreme measures, Chief? What, exactly, do you have in mind that we have not already discussed?”

Chief Aster tapped a few buttons on the arms of his chair. A holographic image of what looked like a full-sized capsule appeared in the center of the room, big enough for everyone to see no matter where they stood. The canister had an opaque glass lid, with the words ‘TOP-SECRET’ stamped across it in huge lettering.

Mr. Space had never seen this canister before. Nor, based on Captain Galaxy’s puzzled expression, had she, either.

But the Commanderate collectively leaned back in their chairs at the sight of the hologram. They acted like Chief Aster had just shown them a dead body.

“Have you lost your mind?” asked Commander Pattie Pulsar, her skin paler than usual as she looked at Chief Aster. “There is a reason Chief Nebula put it away before she died.”

“I am perfectly sand, Commander Pulsar,” said Chief Aster. “I wouldn’t be suggesting this to the Commanderate if I didn’t think this was necessary. But you can’t deny that we are in desperate times, which often call for desperate measures.”

Commander Nova gestured at Mr. Space and Captain Galaxy. “Is this the actual reason you called this meeting? You know that this is beyond top-secret. Only the Commanderate is supposed to know about this, yet you are blatantly showing it to a Captain and her Deputy.”

“Captain Galaxy and Deputy Space can be trusted to keep secrets,” said Chief Aster simply. Then he smiled wryly. “Besides, if this doesn’t work, it’s not like we’ll live long enough to regret it.”

“Excuse me, Chief Aster, Commanderate,” said Captain Galaxy, raising her hand again before any of the Commanders could respond to Chief Aster. “But what is that canister? Mr. Space and I don’t know what it is.”

Mr. Space was relieved that Captain Galaxy was brave enough to ask that question. He had been wondering the same thing but was still too afraid of being punished to draw attention to himself specifically.

Without looking at the Commanderate for approval, Chief Aster looked down at Mr. Space and Captain Galaxy with a serious frown on his face. “This? This is the best-kept secret of the IEA. And it might be the multiverse’s salvation … or its destruction.”