The crew all turned towards the viewport to watch the helmet footage from Henry's on-board cameras that Albert uses, along with the audio that his helmet cam provides, and the overhead footage from the drone that Ningamu dispatched earlier. Nani started gagging at what she saw. The overhead view showed a humanoid in black armor, Henry, Vanguard 001. He was surrounded by the green blood that left far too many Altherium bodies. Limbs and head were strewn around, and more carnage was still being committed. To the UHCV New Dawn crew, it was hard to disassociate the carnage from the all too quiet Vanguard, especially since he only spoke one sentence to the crew during or before the mission. They watched as Henry slowly approached the large gray AAA (Anti-Air Armament) with a massive cannon, or what looked to be one.
"Hey Albert, can you hack this? If the Corvette is going to send drop ships, I think we could use this," Henry said as he looked up at the 30-foot-tall AAA.
"My boy, don't insult me like that," Albert said with a chuckle as Henry grabbed an Altherium that tried to hide in a bend along the street right before the AAA. Nani couldn't hold back the bile in her stomach as he took his free hand, then crushed the skull of the Altherium along with his helmet, causing the brains and eyes of the soldier to pop out.
"Gawd damn that's brutal," Youri said as she slightly covered her mouth in shock.
"If you or any of the crew thinks he is a monster, just remember that your government made him that way, and sadly, so did I," Albert said as he was also guiding Henry on the ground. To the New Dawn crew, it was obvious that his tone showed remorse.
"Henry, not to alarm you, but the intel was wrong about the AAAs also," the crew heard Albert say through Henry's helmet.
"What could it possibly be now?" Henry said as he dodged a four-armed flurry of fists lazily before punching through the soldier's armor, entering through the front, and his fist exiting through its back.
"This is a massive laser, the kind that they put on heavy cruiser-class ships. I just ran twenty thousand simulations, and the only thing that fits what is going on is one thing. Henry, they knew that we were coming," Albert said grimly.
"Albert, don't lie to me. We both know you came to that conclusion when they had UHC tanks," Henry said, not buying that his best friend just came to that conclusion.
"Astute as ever, I see," Albert said as he took full control over the AAA.
"When all this is over, I want some questions answered, Albert," Youri said as she leaned back in her chair in the center of the bridge and focused solely on the viewport.
"All in due time Captain, all in due time," Was Albert's simple reply.
"Drop ships are launching from the ship," Ningamu stated, knowing the crew could do nothing anyway.
"They are a non-factor," Albert said just moments before an icy blue light streaked across the sky, turning the drop ship it hit into molten slag, and dropping all soldiers on board to their deaths. The AAA fired again, and again, shooting out a dozen drop ships and the Corvette, which was cut in half, but not before it finished launching its drop ships. One of the drop ships was hit and targeted the AAA as its target. It hit and ripped through the hollow base like a hot knife through butter. The crew watched from both Henry's and the UAV's angles as the AAA fell over, crushing dozens of Altherium that couldn't get out of the way in time. Soon, dozens more drop ships landed with the reinforcements.
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"Albert, cut all power to the gravity generator, put all the power towards shields," Henry told his AI friend. The Mark and the others on the bridge knew that Albert complied with the order because less than a second after Henry told Albert to cut off power to the GG, the concrete around Henry cracked under the weight of the armor.
"Damn, how heavy is the armor?" Nani leaned over to ask Valleri.
"How am I supposed to know?" Vallery said in that awkward loud whisper.
"You two shut up," Youri said as she continued to watch the carnage. Even with the increased weight, it looked like for Henry, everything was in slow motion. Laser shots were landing on his armor, but in hand-to-hand, he was untouchable when he wanted to be. Youri knew that he was damn sure moving and reacting to things faster than any normal human could. He slowly made his way up to the reactors, which were far more massive than originally shown by intel. To Youri, they looked almost double the size that they were supposed to be.
"Holy shit those things are massive," Mark muttered to himself,
"The intel said they reactors were 200 feet, but from my estimates, which are all but guaranteed to be right, these stand at 380 feet tall. Judging by the EM signature they are putting out, these are fusion reactors," Albert told the crew and Henry. "Henry, if you set these off, by my estimations, you'll kill the seven and a half billion people on this planet, and possibly make the planet inhospitable for decades," Albert warned Henry.
Henry stared at the building for a brief moment as laser fire bounced off his shields, slowly chipping away like an ant nest eating an elephant. "That is almost eight billion people who could join the fight against the UHC. I will do what needs to be done," Henry said as the bridge crew watched him slaughter his way to the reactors.
"Do you see what monster the Admiralty board, scientist, and I have created?" Albert asked the increasingly uncomfortable bridge crew. The crew felt a shudder, then heard the unmistakable whine of the UUH-121 shuttle, then listened as it rapidly faded away, the noise unable to travel in the void of space.
"Shuttle is on the way," Albert said solemnly, knowing that he couldn't change Henry's mind, and that he was right, how many of the almost eight billion would join the war, whether as conscripts or volunteers.
"I need the help of this crew; I cannot connect to Henry in the way that he needs. Please, please save my friend, my student, please save the boy that I failed. I failed him almost nine years ago. Please help me save the fifteen-year-old who has been unjustly burdened. He should have been making friends, watching movies, playing sports, hell, he should have been doing so much more, yet he is here. Fighting a fight that he shouldn't be in, making a monumental decision that he should have never had to make. I beg of all of you, please don't see the monster, read the files, and see the boy who was turned into what you have witnessed. I will be with him and you every step of the way, but for all that is right, just save Henry from the solitude that he has been bound to," Albert begged the bridge crew.
The bridge fell even quieter than it already was. Everyone sat in place and put their heads down. Only the sounds of Henry fighting through the swarm of Altherium, leaving a mountain of bodies, and ocean of blood in his wake, filled the room.
"Damn it," Mark shouted, startling the others and ending the silence. Captain, I request permission to see the records," Mark said firmly, followed by each of the other bridge members wanting to see the records that Albert provided her.
"Granted, however, we will wait till we see that he makes it off planet," Youri said as she leaned forward to continue watching the one-man army.
"I know that I don't want to know, but that is a lot of bodies. How many are there?" Youri asked while resting her face on her interlocked fingers.
"Two hundred and ninety, however, he is still adding them," Albert said.
"Hey, Captain, look, they are starting to fall back," Nani said with glee.
"Why?" Youri asked herself, but Albert answered.
"Henry turned off the safety features and destroyed the console. He is boarding the shuttle now. In three minutes, that reactor is going critical." Albert said with sadness in his voice, not for the people that will die in twenty minutes, or the billions that are going to die in the next twenty-four hours, but for Henry.
