The Almighty Ring

“Very good. Thank you for the Energy Crystals. Here is the Core of Will. Pleasure doing business with you,” said Monarch as he tossed the tiara into the air. In that very instant, Ariel was about to unleash her charged thunderbolt when the Android triggered something.

“Warning! Base will self-destruct in 60 seconds. All personnel are to evacuate this facility. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Warning! Base will self-destruct in 60 seconds. All personnel are to evacuate this facility. Thank you for your cooperation.”

…

“0542, intervene!” said Jiang Fei without an ounce of worry. He knew that the facility was only functioning on low-level computers, allowing 0542, a highly advanced artificial intelligence to interfere with the program.

“Captain, I am unable to stop the self-destruct program. The entire system is based on an analog signal which prevents any digital form of intervention,” 0542 gave the most disappointing answer.

“You better not follow me or I’ll make sure the old farts in the lockup will go down with the entire facility!” Monarch laughed before he pulled out a communicator.

“HQ, this is Z13-0 requesting emergency extraction. The mission is a fail. I repeat, the mission is a fail.”

“What are we going to do, darling?” Ariel asked. If she were to concentrate her powers to create an electromagnetic field, she would be able to stop Monarch from running away. However, Jiang Fei was warned not to do anything to him. Although he was not afraid of his threats, taking him down would take too long of a time and the other officers trapped in the base would be killed. Jiang Fei himself could still take a hit, or even teleport away at the last second.

“Ignore him! We don’t have a second to lose! We have to go to the lockup!” Jiang Fei roared. He quickly put the tiara back on Isabella’s forehead and got Ariel to teleport them to where Yang Xiao and the other officers were kept.

As soon as everyone was in the confinement room, Jiang Fei latched the new bracelet on Isabella’s wrist. Isabella was incredibly weak, like a drug addict who was being forced to quit drugs the cold turkey way. Fortunately, he had the Core of Will back, and with the Valium being slowly injected into Isabella’s body, she was beginning to stabilize and recover her strength.

“Extraction request received. Please standby…”

A voice echoed out from the communicator after Monarch had yelled into it for more than six times in a row. A faint white light glowed around him, as well as all the Energy Crystals before vanishing.

“How is she?” Yang Xiao asked when the energetic little girl was now as pale as a blank sheet of paper. The other officers then expressed their share of worry in order to gain his favor. He was the last person that they knew could really save them all.

“She’s fine! Tell me! How do I stop that self-destruct mechanism?” Jiang Fei roared nervously. These old dogs might be high ranking in the military but they were only human. They could not do anything a Metahuman could and if the base was destroyed, they would be buried along with it.

“We… don’t know. After the Androids rebelled against their programming, they took over the entire facility and rewrote all the programs. They might have already changed the entire protocol!” said Yang Xiao.

“F*ck!” Jiang Fei barked angrily at the uselessness of these officers.

“I think I might know how to stop it,” said an older gentleman dressed in a janitor’s outfit.

“Old man, if you have something to say, don’t wait for permission. This is not the time!” Jiang Fei roared. There were only 30 seconds left on the timer and he was incredibly anxious.

“Oh! Ah! This entire facility, including the auxiliary support systems, runs only on one generator. The self-destruct mechanism works by compressing and forcing the entire generator into overdrive and…”

“I don’t want to know about that! Tell me how to f*cking stop it!” Jiang Fei bellowed from the top of his lungs and stomped so hard on the ground, it cracked.

“Just cut the power!” said the old man with a cold sweat.

“Ariel, you’re up!” Jiang Fei yelled out. Anything that had to do with electricity was Ariel’s forte.

“Leave it to me,” the girl squealed before she concentrated. She closed her eyes, focusing all her energy into her body. When she opened her eyes, Jiang Fei could feel the hair all around his body stood up. He did not know what was the cause. It could be the static electricity in the air or perhaps Ariel’s appearance. When she opened her eyes, it was glowing brightly, exactly how Phoenix looked when she was about to throw down.

Bzzz… Bzzz…

Everything around the vicinity that ran on electricity burst out in a shower of sparks. She was absorbing all the electrical power by literally sucking them out of their power lines.

“Darling… help her… she’s not going to last…” said Isabella. She might be weak but her sensory ability was still that of a Level 5. Right now, Ariel’s body was only a pseudo-Level 5, she could not absorb that much energy without storing it elsewhere!

“0542, time to feast on energy!” Jiang Fei sprang to his feet and said. He grabbed onto one live wire that was sparking with electricity and allowed the ring to absorb. Even though it was direct contact with the power line, 0542’s draining speed was significantly slower than Ariel’s.

“Captain, I am not able to absorb energy this way. Advice activation of Energy Absorption Mode,” said 0542 as soon as the ring absorbed a certain amount of energy.

“Do it!” Jiang Fei cried. The time left was only 5 seconds.

“Five… Four… Threeeeee…”

The moment 0542 switched to Energy Absorption Mode, the entire place blacked out. The lights ceased to function. At that moment, when the announcer counted down to three. Its voice began to distort, the kind when a turn-table was slowed down.

“Twooooooo…”

It was getting slow but the countdown was still going on. Whatever 0542 was doing, it was working but not fast enough!

“Ooooneeee…”

“Oh no,” Jiang Fei gasped, preparing himself for the worst outcome.

Just when, before the announcer could finish pronouncing the last number, it stopped halfway through and ended with a loud click sound. Jiang Fei immediately cringed hard and focused all of his power and energy into defense. A few seconds passed and the facility was still intact. There was no explosion.

“Did it work?” Jiang Fei asked. Like a bad omen, the moment Jiang Fei opened his eyes, the lights that went out were powered back up!

“Holy shiiieeet! Ariel, start sucking again!” Jiang Fei cried out in panic.

“Stop! Stop! Stop! That’s enough!” cried the old janitor.

“Old man! Don’t touch them!” Isabella rose to her feet and stopped the janitor from touching Jiang Fei. If she did not, the janitor would have instantly died.

Both Jiang Fei and Ariel had electric currents coursing through their bodies. A single touch would kill a regular human.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Fei asked whilst stopping Ariel from absorbing the currents.

“The backup battery is now activated. It would not be enough to power the self-destruct system as it could only power up sufficient life-support system of this facility. We would all suffocate if you take that out as well!” said the old janitor.