War Plan

About four months later...

Tobi made his way through Beyond HQ, enjoying the drive in a cart to the training room. It reminded him of the tunnels back at Carleton University. Sarah had recommended that he check on the recruits.

She had ended up picking eight Novas from all around the world. They were training at the Training Centre, and fighting each other in separate 1-v-1 battles. He walked by the first audience box, where he could watch the first pair below, through the glass window.

Renesa Alvarez, a twenty-three-year-old from the Philippines, launched multiple volleys of ice at Amaara, who swerved in midair, using bursts of fire.

She had been living with her little brother and sister, in the slums, doing anything she could to keep them alive, as their parents had passed away long ago. Sarah offered to take care of them, by providing them with a place to stay and a school to go to, in the Republic of Rennaya.

Tobi turned his attention, to the two in the next arena. Carina Solvieg (21) had surrounded herself with golems, reinforced with metal scraps. She struggled to get her golems, to break through Kayed's own stone army and get to him but was slowly getting overwhelmed.

Abused the majority of her life, she reached out to a Sarah representative, flying overhead in a small city in Sweden after the World Meeting. Sarah listened to her story and offered her a new opportunity.

He walked over to the next arena and looked through the glass below. Norah Ali (20) had just leaped up, cladding herself in electricity, and proceeded to cut off, half of the arm of a giant ice golem, Helio Leondro (22) had created, then jumped back.

He stood on top of the giant's head, raising his hand, as hundreds of ice spikes formed, floating high above Norah, then dropped them.

With quick instincts, she started running at him, dodging each spike as they shattered across the floor. Simultaneously, charging up all of the energy, she could muster, she leaped up and stabbed down on the golem's arm with her short sword. Sinking it deep into the ice.

Massive spikes of electricity crackled through. Destroying the arm and sending thousands of volts throughout the golem. Shocking Helio unconscious.

She jumped back off the arm as it collapsed, but could not avoid the explosions of ice and electricity crashing down on the floor all around her. Covering her in an avalanche of ice. Medics rushed to the both of them, as Tobi laughed and walked on to the last glass.

Koji Hachiro (18) and Simon Walker (19) were having an intense fight. Simon burst flames all around the room trying to catch Koji as he zipped around dodging multiple strikes, at the last second.

Through one of the militias, Sarah had noticed a man risking his life to save a child, during the invasion of New York. She used the soldier to secure the civilians and ask the man's name. Now Simon has grown accustomed to his abilities, as if it was a part of him since birth.

Koji's family was involved in shady business. His father had disappeared and his mom and little brother were killed in a mysterious car crash just before, which he alone survived. With his father, making so many enemies around them, he found himself alone living on the streets of Tokyo.

Both of them were inspired, by the hero and wished to be a stronger version of themselves every day, just like he did during the Battle for Earth.

Koji unsheathed his katana, which Sarah designed for him, blocking Simon's daggers in place, as he struck from above. They exchanged strikes, as they tried to one-up, each other. Simon had learned from Tobi, to harness fire further, by visualizing the flames, pressurized into thrusters, and applying it around your body to boost speed. It was the only way he was keeping up with Koji.

Whereas Koji learned to pace electricity currents through his body, to maintain a good balance between speed and strength. He covered his blade as well, sending numb surges back to his opponents and wearing them down with each strike. They both backed up, giving some distance from each other.

Simon sheathed his daggers and then created a condensed small ball of fire in his palm. "Ignite: Globus." He whispered

Koji did the same, sheathing his sword and manifesting a small dense ball of electricity, crackling with energy. "Static: Denki Bōru."

Then they leaped at each other, placing their full might, into their attacks. With less than a meter from striking each other, Tobi shattered the window and placed one hand on the floor. "Frost: Time." He said as blue veins flickered on, then off.

A path of ice, leading from his hands, caught the both of them in place, freezing them like statues, with both of their attacks in mid-collision. Their eyes whipped around, looking for the one that interrupted their deadly match.

"It's just training, you don't have to kill each other." Tobi teased, as he walked between the two of them, finally releasing them of their binds. Their spheres melted into puddles of water.

"Bruh, I was about to win," Simon said, feeling cheated, but was more bothered by the cold, trying his best to warm himself up.

"Nah, you were this close to getting your ass kicked, what do you mean," Koji responded, confused by his assertion, and shuddered from the cold.

Tobi warmed him up with light flames and chuckled to himself. "Y'all can go shower up and cool your heads. That's enough training for today." He said, shooing them out.

Simon shook his head and started to leave. "Sure, sure, Imma go grab something to eat, I'm starved."

Koji looked at Tobi. "You know, I was gonna win right."

Tobi smiled at him. "Maybe next time, man."

Koji left for a smoke, then headed straight to the shower room. Just then, Tobi felt a buzz in his ear, as Sarah spoke up in his comm. "Tobi can you please come to the Command Center."

"Will do." He replied, then headed back down to his cart and drove off to meet her.

He opened the doors and walked in, wondering what he was in for. Sarah was standing up in front of a large screen. Around the large command table. The tables were mainly monitors showing scenes around the Solar System and the androids, mining and working on different planets.

A giant lens was facing up in the middle of the table with a pack of donuts and cookies prepared on the side. He glanced at those already seated. One, being a man in his late thirties to forties, wearing a Beyond military uniform, stitched with stars and sat opposite of Osei. Gray streaks were starting to invade his hair.

The man quickly got up to shake Tobi's hand. "Hi Tobi, my name is Selvin Hikes and I just wanted to say, that your fight during the battle for Earth was one the most inspiring scenes I have ever seen in my life."

Tobi was flattered. He had avoided most of the paparazzi, that he could and always visited his family in disguises. Nevertheless, he was still shy towards compliments.

Selvin continued, as he released his hand from the firm shake. "For real, it prompted me to come out of retirement, as a soldier and join in on your fight. If you lose, we don't stand a chance. Thank you for giving me a chance to protect my people and our planet... Anyways Sarah has something to say to us." He said hurriedly, as he noticed Sarah waiting impatiently. He rushed back to his seat, while Tobi followed suit.

Sarah cleared her throat, taking control of the room. "Thank you, Selvin. Now regarding the invasion in one week. I have prepared eight million troops ready to be deployed and led by Nova soldiers. The soldiers are training with them now. In addition, twelve Aeromachs have been added to the fleet. Six of which will descend on Sonara's main cities signaling the start of Operation: Phoenix Egg, the rest will remain in orbit."

Tobi raised his hand, as everyone looked at him. "Why Operation: Phoenix Egg?"

Sarah sighed. "Because we'll be refurbishing a planet to make us stronger."

Tobi chuckled and nodded, letting her off easy. The guys couldn't help it either, snickering to themselves. "Nah, it's a good name, I probably would have thought of it." He replied, looking at Osei.

"Oh, shut up." She said in a slightly annoyed voice and continued. "Anyways we'll drop the siegemechs on the mining stations around the planet and use carrier shuttles to fly them to outposts, taking them out one at a time."

Siegemechs were new machines she developed for war on alien planets. They were giant humanoid, combat robots, able to be piloted by one human being and capable of fitting up to five people inside during rescue missions.

Many countries had already sent representatives to see her new weapons in action. Loaded with rockets, lasers, machine guns, and photon swords attached to their belts. They were a delight for them to see and slightly worrisome.

Sarah walked over to the table and clicked a button. The lens lit up, as the semi-industrial planet of Sonara showed up in HD holographic image. Hundreds of red dots flashed all over the planet, indicating the attack points. Three gold points were close together on the same continent.

Osei asked as everyone examined the hologram. "What are the gold marks?"

Sarah responded. "They are the three princes in their castles. Both of you and three members of the Nova Division will be taking on the three princes at the same time. We have to keep them separated, they cannot work together."

Osei replied. "I figured. So it will be a two-on-one for the most part. So who will be fighting alone?"

Sarah smiled. "I'll be supporting Tobi, but he is only to hold them off so that the target doesn't join the others." She looked at Tobi, with earnest eyes, as he sighed back.

Osei tried rebutting, but Tobi cut him off. "It's ok, I'll take them out." He said, with a serious tone.

Osei knew he had changed a lot in the last year, but he was still worried that constant battles too soon would make Tobi go numb, causing him to make mistakes.

He noticed Tobi wasn't reading manga or comics the way he used to. He was just constantly training. Selvin felt slight chills from Tobi.

Sarah continued, trying to change the topic. "Furthermore, we've received more military support from our allies, so we'll be putting them into action. I will be broadcasting the war live on my website and putting the highlights on social media to grow support. So try to behave yourselves."

"Yeah, yeah we got it, Sarah." The brothers said almost in sync.

She had been acting like a mother to them, forcing Tobi against his will to eat his veggies. "Well, that's it for this meeting. I will inform those in the Nova Division to go with you. Keep training and be prepared in one week."

"Yes, ma'am." Everyone said in unison.

She turned, glancing at Selvin. "Selvin can you come with me to the Mech Barracks?"

Selvin was surprised as he had a few things scheduled, but he agreed regardless. "Sure, Sarah."

Tobi and Osei got up. "We'll be at the training center," Tobi said, as they said their goodbyes and left.

Sarah drove Selvin down to the Mech Barracks. They walked into a massive room filled with siegemechs and different machines of war, but there was one much larger than the rest, almost thirty feet tall, taking the spotlight.

It was blue and white, built with titanium alloys and some more steel recipes that Sarah had cooked up. He noticed a giant laser sword on its back and a massive futuristic pistol on its belt. With Beyond's logo printed on its chest.

"Woah what is this?" Selvin asked, unable to contain his excitement.

She smiled, as they walked around it. "The Nova Prime is a special siegemech I created to combat giants and hold off princes in worst-case scenarios. It has the Rennayan gene, multiplied through stem cell research and synthesized with nanites, which I call R-Tech. It will allow you to pull portions of energy from around you to fuel the suit. You can link your mind, to feel as one with it, minus the pain."

Selvin was impressed. "That's pretty neat, Sarah, this will definitely be useful during the mission."

Sarah nodded in agreement, her lips breaking into a loose grin. "Of course, that's because you'll be piloting it."