Blitzkrieg: Origins of the Prime: A Superhero Spy Thriller (21 page)

Arnulf calmed himself immediately when, although in total darkness, he realized he could see. He saw everything. He saw Axel and Alena. He saw Tom and Alexi. He saw Rolf and Dawn. Not only could he see them, he could hear them, smell them, taste them. He could feel their heartbeats. He held his breath and listened carefully. When he concentrated, he could even hear their thoughts and desires. More importantly than that, however, he could feel the base. He could feel, taste, smell, and sense the entire alien base. When someone took a step, he felt it vibrate. He had become a part of it now. He had become more than human. He was a god.

Chapter 21

Axel and Alena stood staring at the large, organic, metal cone that had twisted closed around Arnulf sealing him off from them. “We need to find a way in,” Alena said with a hint of panic behind her voice. She was still angry at Axel for preventing her from killing Arnulf before the colonel had a chance to close them out, but she had to move past that now. They had more important things to worry about.

“What does it matter?” Axel asked, clearly still not understanding. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Alena whipped around to look at him. “Don’t you get it, Axel?” she asked. “He can control this entire place from in there.” Alena took a deep breath calming herself. It was not Axel’s fault. He did not really comprehend the situation. It was difficult to come to grips with the idea of the man of your nightmares taking control of an alien base. Fighting with Axel would not do any of them any good. Alena turned back around, running her fingers over the exterior of the cone, desperately searching for a way to open it again.

“What?” Axel asked in disbelief.

“Arnulf is in the control room,” she said without turning back around.

“How do you know?”

“She’s right,” Arnulf’s voice echoed all around them. Both Axel and Alena spun looking in all directions to find the source.

“What the hell?” Axel whispered.

“Well, she is almost right. It’s not that I can control the base, but rather, I have become one
with
the base.”

Axel’s eyes met Alena’s.

“Yes, I know it is difficult to fathom,” Arnulf chuckled. Suddenly, there was a deep humming sound as more lights flashed on around them.

“The power contained in this base is almost immeasurable by our primitive standards,” Arnulf continued. “With it I shall become a god and rule over all of the earth and finally bring order to this chaotic world.”

“You’re mad!” Axel shouted into the air.

Arnulf began to cackle. “
I
am mad?” he asked. “Tell me, what is it you believe your respective governments intended to do with the power they unlocked here?” Axel and Alena did not answer. “Each side desires to dominate the other. I am no more mad than the men you serve.” He paused. “Of course, no one can rule without assistance. I need soldiers. I need super soldiers. Like you.”

“I’d rather die than help you,” Alena spat.

“We shall see, my dear. I never believed that you would serve me eagerly. At least, not at first. Oh, no. You’ve become far too headstrong. You’ll need to be broken.”

Axel’s eyes shot to Alena. “Run!” he shouted. In a flash she was gone and Axel glowed bright with blue energy. “Break this, asshole!” he shouted as lightning blasted from his body engulfing and electrocuting the cone. To Axel’s surprise the electricity dissipated from the cone to the walls. Axel stood still, fists clenched. The humming had stopped and the room was silent other than Axel’s heavy breathing.
Was Arnulf dead?

Axel’s heart leapt when Arnulf’s terrifying cackle broke the silence. “Is that the best you can do, Axel?” he asked. Axel’s eyes went wide with fear as he fled from the room, chasing after Alena with Arnulf’s laughter echoing in his ears.

***

Tom stood, his arms crossed over his chest, staring at the walls trying to figure out a pattern in the glowing symbols. Either a pattern or some oddity that would help him determine how to open the hatches and get out of there the same way Arnulf had opened the wall in the temple. He had attempted to contact the others via radio, but, as he feared, he was unable to get a response.

Alexi sat on the ground, leaning his back against the wall as he watched Tom. He was nervous, worried for Alena, but he was also very bored. “I think I could pound through with my hammer,” Alexi said for the umpteenth time. “I’m very strong.”

Tom glanced over his shoulder at Alexi. “I know that you are,” he said with a pleasant smile. “But as I’ve already explained, you run the risk of knocking out the electricity. Then we’d be stuck in here in the dark. You don’t want that do you?”

Alexi shook his head back and forth. He certainly did not want that. So he simply drew in a deep breath and fidgeted with his boot straps while Tom continued to search for a less violent way out.

Without warning the illuminated emblems on the walls went dark and Tom and Alexi were engulfed by the blackness. Alexi leapt to his feet, his hammer in hand. Suddenly the wall in front of Tom parted like a puzzle piece and a new corridor opened up, illuminated before them. Tom glanced over his shoulder at Alexi. “Come on,” he said as he unslung the rifle from his shoulder.

Alexi followed Tom into the tunnel. Tom knew that going in might be dangerous, but it also might be the only way to find the others. They certainly could not just sit in the dark. They had to do something.

***

Rolf held Dawn in his arms as he sat on the floor, his back against the wall. He rocked back and forth as he held her. “It’s okay, Dawn,” he whispered to her unconscious face. “Axel and Tom will be back soon. They’ll help you. You’ll be alright. We’ll get out of here and everything will be okay.” He felt tears begin to build in his eyes. “Please don’t be dead,” he whispered to her. He then wiped the tears away. He couldn’t start crying. Not now. Dawn needed him and he had to be strong. Superheroes didn’t start crying when they got into a jam. Superheroes got out of the jam. Superheroes saved the good guys and defeated the bad guys.

Rolf gently laid Dawn down on the floor and stood up. If he could just find a way to get to Tom or Axel, they would make everything alright. He walked over to where the hatch—through which Colonel Arnulf had disappeared—had opened. It was closed now and appeared to be no different than the rest of the wall. There were not even any lines on the wall where it had separated, so Rolf had a difficult time determining where it had actually been. Suddenly, the hatch slid open again, coming apart just as before and startling Rolf and he took a timid step back. Suddenly realizing what had happened, Rolf rushed back and scooped Dawn up into his arms.

“It’s going to be okay Dawn,” he told her. “We’re going to go find Axel.” Rolf ran through the hatch and down the corridor to find his brother and hopefully get help for Dawn.

***

Axel found Alena waiting for him far down the corridor from Arnulf. He stopped running, looked at her and shook his head to indicate that he had not been able to destroy Arnulf with his lightning. “Dammit!” she cursed when she realized that Axel had been unsuccessful. “What now?”

“We get the hell out of here and call in an air strike on this place,” Axel said.

“Neither one of our governments are going to be too keen to bomb it,” Alena replied.

“Well, right now we just need to focus on finding the others and getting out of here,” Axel said. “We’ll worry about how to deal with Arnulf later. Let’s find those tubes and figure out how in the world we go back up?”

“Good luck,” came Arnulf’s voice cackling from out of nowhere.

Suddenly they saw what appeared to be arms, legs, and heads pushing forward out of the walls, as if humans were stepping out of the walls themselves. In fact, humanoid
things
did step forward out of the walls. They were devoid of any facial features however. Axel and Alena stared at them in horror as faces formed and they began to appear more and more human until they eventually morphed into German SS troopers, complete with gray uniforms and helmets emblazoned with the SS death’s head.

Pistols began to form in the thing’s hands and they raised them to aim at Alena and Axel. “Halt!” they shouted in German.

“Oh crap, what do we do?” Axel asked.

Alena glanced to their right and noticed an open doorway where she had not seen one before. Had it always been there? She grabbed Axel by the arm. “This way!” she shouted as she pulled him through the doorway. It closed behind them, disappearing completely, as if it had never been there. Axel ran as fast as he could and Alena deliberately kept her pace slow so as not to leave him far behind.

“Wait,” Axel shouted after a while and slowed to a stop. “I’ve got to rest.” He leaned against the wall panting heavily. Alena was hardly even breathing hard. This was barely a slow jog for her. “Jesus, how big is this place?” he asked not really expecting an answer.

“Our scientists estimate it’s as large as a city.”

Axel turned to face her. “What sized city?”

“Um, Moscow,” she said.

“Christ Almighty,” he mumbled under his breath.

“If I’m correct, we’re basically in the city center. The temple we came in through acted as a sort of subway entry point, for lack of a better reference. There are most likely others.”

“This place just sits here? Where are all the aliens?” Axel asked.

“I have no idea, but the Nazis speculated that these are automated outposts spread throughout the galaxy or the universe, or whatever.”

“And they just sit empty waiting for humans to stumble in and take them over? To make an army of Nazibots or whatever those things back there were?” Axel asked.

Alena shrugged. “You now know what I know,” she said and then looked him up and down. “Are you ready to go?”

Axel was about to answer when the wall behind him began to move. He leapt forward, startled, so as not to fall backward. He and Alena were astounded by what they saw next. Colonel Arnulf stepped forward. Not the Arnulf they had left back in the base’s “brain” but the younger version they remembered from their childhood. Both of them stepped backward, away from the young Arnulf.

Alena felt her pulse and breathing quicken as terrifying memories swept through her mind. “This is impossible.”

“What is, my dear?” young Arnulf smiled wolfishly.

Axel didn’t wait for it to speak again. He released a burst of electricity which hit young Arnulf right in the center of his chest. He essentially cooked him from the inside and young Arnulf exploded.

Axel looked at Alena. She stood still, shocked and scared. He grabbed her by the arms. “It’s alright, Alena,” he said. “That wasn’t him, just one of those things.” Her eyes met his. “Are you alright?” he asked. She nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”

Axel led the way now, taking Alena by the hand and pulling her behind him. They ran along the corridor, which seemed to stretch forever. Suddenly, Alena stopped, causing Axel to do likewise. “What?” he asked.

“We can’t just run aimlessly through a place this big,” she said. “I have to find Alexi.” Axel nodded. “I’m not just going to leave him like you left us.” She didn’t mean to let that last part slip out.

“What are you talking about?” Axel asked.

Alena shook her head. “Forget it, Axel.” She had not wanted to get into it, but seeing young Arnulf had brought a flood of memories and emotions rushing back.

“No, I can’t forget it now,” Axel said.

“In Berlin,” she reminded him. “You left us there. Dr. Holger took you and Rolf and left me and Alexi. Left us with those monsters.”

“I didn’t want to Alena. We didn’t have a choice,” Axel said. “They were trying to kill us.”

“What do you think they were trying to do to us?” Alena asked.

“You ran off,” Axel began, but Alena interrupted him.

“I was chasing Alexi. He was terrified.”

“We were all terrified. We were just kids, all of us,” Axel said. “Dr. Holger took us back and then left to find you. I swear Kristel.”

“Don’t call me that!” Alena said and spun angrily away from him. She placed her face in her hands and fought back tears. Then she calmed herself. “I know you were terrified, too. I know that it wasn’t your fault. But we felt so abandoned. Left in the hands of that demon and his little hell spawns.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I’ve missed you, Axel. I’ve thought about you every day.” She waited, but he didn’t say anything. “I love you,” she said. “I always have.” He remained silent which hurt. It hurt badly. Why didn’t he say something, anything? “Do you even care?” she asked softly as she turned to face him, but no one was there. Axel was gone.

“Axel!” she shouted. “Axel, where are you?”

Alena began to run back the way they had come. She saw no doors, nothing where he could have gone. She stopped. How could he have just disappeared like that. “Axel!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, but received no response.

Chapter 22

Axel laid on the floor, unsure of what had happened. It was as if the floor had simply given way beneath him. It was pitch black and he could not see a thing. He sat up and as he did so, the area was illuminated. He sat upon what appeared to be a twenty foot-by-twenty foot disk floating high above the floor of a stadium-sized, dome-shaped cavern. Axel stood and looked straight up at the ceiling, just a few feet above his head. That ceiling had been the floor just a few moments ago and he had to assume Alena was still up there.

“Alena!” he called out but received no response. “Alena, can you hear me? Alena!” He paused for a long moment, but after hearing no answer from above, he glanced about his surroundings in an attempt to figure a way out. He peered over the edge of the disk and his stomach tried to climb up into his throat. It was a long way to the ground. Much too far to jump. At best he’d break his legs, at worst he’d kill himself.