Near Mint Mill

A little note before we get to a whole lot more of Delta Squad. Sometimes when I’m writing the movie/comic/image in my head is so clear that I have to add specific instructions, which you will see here. Otherwise I just leave it up to Cross to do what she sees. So enjoy this look into our beloved Delta Squad.

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“So…question.” Blake said leaning sideways towards Shawn. “Who’s the kid?” [panel zooms out to show Ryan sitting beside Blake]

“He’s Delta.” Matt stated.

“You went and got a fourth without me?!” Blake was shocked.

“You did go and get yourself captured.” Shawn said.

“He’s Delta.” Matt stated again. “Rites?”

Shawn looked down and lifted the shackles. “Vulkarian steel.” He said. “One piece.” He said flexing his arms as he tried to break them.

“With Corsian mineral inlaid to disrupt any focus of power.” Blake said. “I’ve had a few days more than you with these things.”

“So neither of you can get out?” Matt checked.

Blake puffed up his chest.

“No.” Shawn said.

Blake let out the breath he was holding. “Nope.” He said. “Only way we’re getting out is if we can get the keys.”

[Silent panel of all four of them]

Ryan leans forward and looks down the row to Matt. “So…want me to get us out of these?” He asked bouncing the shackles.

Blake just looked over at him.

Matt arched an eyebrow and looked over at him as well. “Can you?”

Ryan jerked his shackles in Blake’s direction. “He said focused power. I’m more…chaotic.”

“Go right ahead.” Matt said. Ryan sits back up straight

[Horizontal panel of all four sitting there]

[below that another horizontal panel same lineup: Ryan instantly changed into a werewolf, head and shoulders out of the top of the frame. Blake practically leaning his back into Shawn as he was staring at the now werewolf Ryan, eyes wide and jaw dropped.]

[Another horizontal panel same lineup: werewolf Ryan discarding the shattered shackles. Blake with his mouth closed now.]

[fourth horizontal panel on the screen Blake just lifting his shackles for Ryan to break]

Blake and Shawn were rubbing their wrists while wereRyan got Matt’s off.

“You got us a werewolf!” Blake exclaimed. “And here I thought the cold distant attitude meant you didn’t want to get attached but you really do care!” He said proud of Matt. Blake spread his arms wide. “He’s so big!” He tried to put his arms around wereRyan and buried his face in his fur. “He’s so furraaay!”

WereRyan looked down at Blake before shrugging him off and heading for the door.

Blake raised his hands and looked up like he was trying to invoke the ceiling gods. “This is amazing!” Ryan shoulder checked the door and took the whole frame out. Blake had watched with his hands still in the air then looked back at the ceiling. “BEST! DAY! EVER!” Blake followed wereRyan out the hole in the wall. “Good job Keys!” He said patting him as he passed.

“I hate you.” Shawn told Matt.

“No you don’t.” Matt said patting Shawn’s shoulder before heading out as well.

Once they were all out in the hall Keys, had dropped to all fours and turned to sniff all of them.

“What’s he doing?” Blake leaned towards Shawn.

“How would I know?” Shawn asked.

“You’re the northerner.” Matt said.

“With that whole wolfy, Viking vibe thing.” Blake gestured at all of Shawn.

Shawn took a breath. “I would assume he’s taking our scents so that he can track where our gear is.” Shawn said.

“Brilliant!” Blake declared, slamming a fist in his palm. “Alright Keys. Let’s go.” He said following Keys down the hall. Blake lead the way down the hall but then a group of soldiers came around the corner. “Oops.” Blake said skidding to a stop. He immediately ran to his left and right through the wall.

A wide-eyed Keys stared at the spot Blake had disappeared then at the guards, who were staring at this massive hulking werewolf in the hall.

Then from down the hall where the guards had come from Blake charged right into all of them like a boulder, sending them all flying. “Excellent distraction, Keys.” He gave Keys a thumbs up.

A very bewildered Keys look from Blake back to Shawn and Matt.

“Personal density control.” Matt said.

“He can make himself go really hard.” Shawn said.

“Ladies love that.” Blake winked.

“Or intangible.” Shawn finished.

“Ladies don’t like that so much.” Blake said. “Oop.” He said as his attention was brought down the hall to the side as more guards started showing up. Blake stomped his heel down on one of the guards guns at his feet and it flipped up behind him and he caught it as it came over his shoulder and started firing at the guards sending them scrambling.

Keys charged down the hall, a couple bounding steps down the hall before he jumped and took a couple bounds along the wall before tackling some guards.

Matt had bent down behind Blake and passed a rifle to Shawn who was firing now as well, while Matt was looting the guards for other things.

“Hey!” Blake called after Keys. “Think if you got going fast enough you could run on the ceiling?” Keys just ignoring him and carrying on.

“Church.” Matt snapped. “Focus.”

“I’ve never met a werewolf!” Blake said turning and seeing more guards coming down the hall and opened fire on them. “I have so many questions!”

“I’ll carry him if you let me knock him out.” Shawn offered.

 “Let’s get out of here first.” Matt told him. “What’s Church been calling him?” He asked indicating wereRyan.

“Keys.” Shawn supplied.

“Keys!” Matt called, getting his attention. “Where’s our stuff?”

Keys sniffed the air and head off down a hall, the other three quickly following. 

“Alright Delta. Suit up.” Matt said as they went about getting their gear. Keys shifting back to Ryan.

“Hey now. We may still need that.” Blake said.

“Burns too much energy.” Ryan told him grabbing some pants. “I’m going to sleep for a day as it is already. If I kept going I’d randomly turn back and pass out.”

“So we need to work on your stamina?” Blake grinned.

“Do I get a choice if I want to stay in this squad?” Ryan asked Matt.

“You’re Delta.” Matt said.

“Stuck with us.” Blake beamed getting Ryan in a one-armed hug. “Going to have so much fun! So what’s the plan?” Blake asked Matt.

“We either get a line out to our contacts or we find a bird and fly out of the country.” Matt said.

“They’ll track and pursue the bird.” Shawn said.

“Could always steal it, set it to auto and ditch it.” Blake said.

“Then call contact for pickup.” Shawn said.

“Wait…who’s the contact?” Blake asked.

“Niko.” Matt said.

“Oh boy.” Blake said blowing out a breath. “Soph is not going to like this.”

Matt paused checking his gun. “Why won’t she like this?”

“You were on vacation with her weren’t you?” Shawn asked.

“Was supposed to meet her here.” Blake said.

“And instead got seduced by a spy.” Matt said, finishing loading his gun.

“Smoking hot blonde in a skimpy bikini that turned out to be a spy.” Blake stipulated.

“Holy Hades.” Blake cursed as he got the door open and saw Shawn. “How long have they had you like this?”

“Too long.” Matt said as he hopped down into the knee deep water and moved over to support Shawn who’s forearms were shackled and chained to the ceiling.

Blake waded over and grabbed the chain. He sucked in a deep breath and then crushed the chain, snapping it.

“Anything for this?” Matt asked of the shackles.

“Laced with corsian metal. Not without breaking him or me.” Blake said.

“Zirol?” Shawn asked of their other squad member.

“Those alarms are for his funeral pyre.” Blake said waggling a thumb over his shoulder.

“May he be celebrated in the halls of his fathers.” Shawn said. “I feel I may not be far behind.” He said as Blake and Matt each got under an arm and started to lift him out of the pool.

“Not today you aren’t.” Blake said. “I never want to be the one to tell that pretty little girlfriend of yours you aren’t coming home.”

The trio moved through the facility, coming to a stop at the end of one hall. They propped Shawn up against the wall.

“Hang tight.” Blake told him as he and Matt headed around the corner and snuck into an occupied room.

“And what are you doing out of your pool?” Shawn’s main tormentor asked as he came down the hall from the other end. “Looks like someone wasn’t paying attention during lessons.” He pulled out his shock stick as he headed for Shawn.

Shawn pushed himself off the wall to face the man. The guard swung his stick hard for Shawn, but Shawn caught the end. “So confident in your ability to bully me in a weakened state.” Shawn and the guard looked at the shock stick as it beeped indicating low power. “You forgot what I could do with power.”

He had absorbed all the power in the stick and used it to break his shackles as he pulled his arms apart. Shawn hit the guard square in the chest with the palm of his hand and sent him flying down the hall to land in an unconscious mess.

Shawn looked down at the taser he had taken from him and aimed it at his forearm. He fired it into himself and easily absorbed the charge from it. Shawn frowned at the device and pulled the trigger again but to no avail. He pulled it a couple more times before ripping it out and tossing it to the side. “What do they hope to stop with that? Ants?”

“Oh hey. You’re up.” Blake said skidding to a stop as he came around the corner.
Shawn was looking up at the lights in the ceiling, tracking his way across it to the wall then down a bit. “Your assistance please.” He requested of Blake, running his finger along a spot on the wall.

“You know, punch here, works just fine. No need to be fancy.” Blake told him walking over.

“Six inches deep.” Flynn told him.

“No idea how small that is.” Blake joked before taking a breath and punching the wall. He dragged his arm the length Flynn had indicated before pulling his arm back.

“Thank you.” Flynn said stepping up to the wall and clearing out some of the debris.

Behind the wall was as expected the crystal network layout that would be throughout the whole facility.

Shawn placed one hand flat on the network then set his other hand down. He took a breath and just opened himself.

Power flowed out of the network and into Flynn, electricity arced up his arms. The lights in the hall started to flicker before they went out and the only thing lighting the section was Shawn absorbing power.

“What is going…oh.” Matt said coming back to them.

Electricity crackled over Flynn as he pulled his hands out of the wall and stepped back.

“Alright, time for them to regret capturing Delta.” Blake said ready to rumble.

I’ve mentioned before that I love talking about the Sov. Probably to an obsessive level and as very few people understand what I’m talking out it perhaps comes off a little bit creepy. The more I talk about it, the more I think about it and the more I world build, which is my favourite thing! See, little bit insane. Regardless! I have a platform here that I can use to expand upon elements from The Sovereigncy.

First off, I would define the Sov as a Science Fantasy. I have my reasons for why, but they will be revealed in the stories as they are told.

Star Wars was a big one when I was young, I got so sucked into it that I was reading any book I could get my hands on. Through thick and thin I stuck with the novels, living the lives of those characters with them. Until the recent dark times, when the mouse came into the picture. Star Trek Voyager was also a big one for me and got me into the Star Trek universe. Which pushed me to falling in love with Stargate and I was well and truly hooked on the Science Fiction genre, and yes I am aware Star Wars isn’t science fiction, you get the point though.

Lord of the Rings movies were also a thing in my late teenage years as I started leaning more towards the creative side of things. I don’t remember how many times I saw the Two Towers in theatres, it was so well done. That battle of Helms Deep is a masterpiece. As good as they were I wanted real power, real magic in my world. I watched the old X-men animated series in the 90’s. The Phoenix storyline has heavily influenced the Sov, specifically the Arxs. I’ll get into them later. If mutants could have a wide array of powers, why couldn’t we have a world of magic and science.

Games also provided fuel for the creative fires. I loved the idea of the Warcraft universe. All those races living, fighting together. I wanted that but more diversity.

Then the Thor movies came out and I was like ‘Yes!” As Thor says, he comes from a world were magic and science are one in the same.

And thus the Sov is all of that and more. As the Sov grows, living and breathing with each story told, you will see elements from those listed above as well as so much more. We live in a world where it’s hard to come up with an original idea, but I hope that merging so many things together I can tell stories that aren’t limited to one genre or another. The Sov exists in such a way that any story can be told. My ultimate playground.