A sharp beeping woke me up.

Three a.m. I reached for my SURGE pager. Sure enough, there was a message on it:

POSSIBLE ATTACK EXPECTED. LONDON. ETA 2-4 HOURS.

Paul and Anne were in the kitchen. "Looks like it's time," my sister said, holding up her own pager. "I'm warning Phoenix Company."

"I'll call Agni. After that, we head for the garage."

"Coffee first," announced Paul, "and breakfast. I've got sandwiches and apple slices packed and ready."

Agni picked up her phone on the first ring. "Morning."

"Alert came in for London. ETA a couple of hours, possibly."

"Y'all ready?"

"We'll be at the garage in twenty minutes. You can meet us there. Rendezvous is at DURABLE."

"The Phoenix Girls on their way?"

"Anne's waking them up now."

"Fine. I'll be there."

Half an hour later, the Gladiator pulled up at DURABLE headquarters.

Most of the Phoenixex were already there, chatting with each other and with Doyle's men. I spotted Daisy and made my way over. "Everyone present?"

Daisy craned her head up to look at me. "Everyone present, Belessar."

"Good, I've got more HEPARs in the back. As well as power packs and explosives for everyone."

"Good morning, Belessar," came Doyle's voice. "Do you have a list of what you've got? It would help, tactically speaking."

I mentally cursed myself for not thinking of that. I was too used to relying on Inventory…. "I'll make one and send you."

"Just tell PFC Kim and he'll keep track."

Kim looked less than enthused by the possibility. Resolving to make it up to him later, I scanned the area for other ultras. "Where's the Traveler?"

"The DURABLE team said they'd call him as soon as you got here."

"That means we'll have to wait a bit, I suppose."

"Possibly. I believe your other ultrahuman colleagues are here, too."

Sure enough, I could see the four ultrahumans of Tanisport standing off to the side.

Lumina's expression was neutral as I strode up to them. "Belessar."

"Hi. I just wanted to say, no hard feelings. We should cooperate today."

Lumina inclined her head. "We can be professional about this, sure." Her eyes ran over the assembled group. "It might be best if we worked in different sectors today, though. We wouldn't want to get in the way of your …. team."

"Understood." As much as their suggestion stung, it made sense; we didn't have time to include these four in our tactical plans. At least they were being civil.

For that matter, if Agni needed to reveal herself - which I expected would happen, sooner or later - then it was best that Viking and Quintana were far away when that happened.

Soundwave was staring at my armor. "How much did that cost?" he blurted.

I frowned. "It's not for sale."

“Okay, I get that. I just wanted to know who you bought the components from. The rifle? The power source? I get the armoring material, but what about the gear trains and actuators? Can you at least tell me who you bought those from?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I built my armor personally.”

“.... The whole thing?”

“Yes, the whole thing!”

Soundwave backpedaled rapidly.

…. Okay, so that came out a bit louder than I’d expected.

I strode over to where the others were waiting.

Lieutenant Doyle cocked his head up. “Trouble?”

“Soundwave can be a bit annoying at times.”

“You don’t say. Here I thought all ultras were models of tact and patience.”

I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“You hike up the volume for a reason?”

“The voice modulator is automated - it increases depending on my, um, sense of urgency,” I explained.

“Ah, and educating Soundwave was extra urgent. I understand.”

“Was I really that loud?”

“Not compared to a rocket launch, I suppose.”

“I’ll tone it down….” I resolved to tweak the voice modulator settings at the earliest.

It was less than five minutes before the Traveler arrived. “Driver Forty-Six,” he introduced himself, “here to transport a party led by Belessar and Nanocloud to London, with a weight limit of three hundred and fifty tons.”

Lumina bristled. “Belessar isn’t the party leader. We are all independent superheroes from Tanisport.”

“My mistake. Are Belessar and Nanocloud present?”

“Here,” I announced. “We also have thirty-two armored troopers, a support vehicle, and forty-two soldiers from Alpha Platoon, 2nd Rifle Company, along with their support vehicles.” Doyle had brought along a Hummer with one of my modified Mass Driver Rifles mounted on it, and two trucks with the platoon’s gear. “And, of course, myself, Nanocloud, Lady Lumina, Soundwave, Quintana, and Viking as the ultrahumans.”

The Traveler nodded and began marking off a circle around us. Five minutes later, with the distinctive crackle of a portal, we were in London.

A light drizzle was falling as we stepped out of the circle.

: why is it always raining in England?

: It’s just how the weather is.

: It’s chilly, too. Too chilly for eight-thirty in the morning.

: Wait till the aliens land. Things will heat up then.

“Belessar,” Tucker called. “We’re getting orders from local command. Support bases are set up, and they want us over by the Tower of London.”

“Sure, lead the way. Any updates on the aliens?”

“Nothing yet, but the locals are setting up a command post near there. Evacuation alarms have been sounded, and civilians are being escorted to shelters.”

The Tower of London looked like a medieval castle. Fitting, because it used to be one.

Built in 1078 by William the Conqueror, and rebuilt by his descendants up to 1285, the Tower was once the foremost military fortification in London, and the heart of its defences.

Now, a thousand years after its founding, the Tower had been refitted as the command centre for London’s greatest defence.

I could appreciate the symbolism.

Nor were the defences only symbolic. The grounds of the Tower were occupied by two massive artillery pieces, with their long, deadly-looking barrels pointing skyward.

A quick Observe told me a great deal about them:

LANCELOT AIR DEFENCE LASER CANNON

DESIGNED BY THE INVENTOR ASMODRAXUS ALONG WITH A TEAM OF THE BEST STRATOSPHERIC GUARD SCIENTISTS, THIS UNIQUE WEAPON IS INTENDED TO STRIKE DOWN ALIEN SHUTTLECRAFT FROM A DISTANCE. REPRESENTS THE PINNACLE OF HUMAN ENGINEERING.

+500,000 DAMAGE/SHOT.

FIRING RATE: 1 SHOT / 30 SECONDS.

HP: 22,000/22,000

“Those are impressive,” I commented. “Just two of them?”

“Impressive and expensive,” Tucker replied. “I’ve heard that each of them costs as much as an aircraft carrier.”

That explained why there weren’t dozens of these across the city, then. They weren’t alone, though; the walls of the Tower were occupied by fierce-looking British soldiers with heavy machine guns, flak cannons, and rocket launchers. A surface-to-air missile battery sat atop one of the battlements.

: Support ultras are assembled in the hall. I’ll join up with them. Stay safe.

: You too.

A thin film of Nanocloud’s fullersteel bots floated out of the canister she was carrying and faded into invisibility.

: I’m sending a few of the advanced ones with you. Just in case, you know.

: If I want someone shanked, I’ll let you know.

“Belessar?” a familiar voice reached me.

“Corporal Winford! Good to see you. How’s the arm?”

“Fully normal now, and it’s Sergeant. I’m your local liaison. Everybody, kindly patch into this frequency for instructions.”

The hardest part of a battle is the wait.

Over the course of the next hour, we checked and double-checked our equipment, tuned into the Stratospheric Guard frequency to receive updates, and familiarized ourselves once again with the map of London.

Organized columns of men in varying uniforms marched by us, some in the green of the Brits, some in African khakis, German black-and-greens, Aussie light greens, Irish tans, Indian olive-greens, and Bangladeshi green-and-greys. Tanks and trucks rumbled through the streets, each headed for unknown destinations.

Lumina and the other Tanisport heroes headed off on another assignment. We weren’t left to fend for ourselves, though, as a group of British heroes joined us shortly after.

Bulldog, Animus, Rhodia and Derry were a British superhero team called BARD. Bulldog was powerfully muscled, a strongman who could lift Doyle’s Hummer with one hand - and proceeded to do so as a demonstration, much to the officer’s annoyance. Animus was a Shifter who transformed into a sleek, blue-furred striped tiger. Derry’s gift of enhanced speed made him a deadly knife-fighter, and the man carried two ultra-sharp inventech blades with him - blades which Observe showed were normal in themselves, but took on a razor-sharp edge when in his hands.

Rhodia’s gift, however, was special. “I’m a cognitive,” she explained. “I can detect hidden enemies from a distance and find their locations.”

“That’s pretty useful,” I remarked. “How far does your range go?”

“Close to half a kilometre, so I can help spot snipers. Or hidden enemies.”

Which explained why she needed to be in the field, as opposed to sitting in a support team somewhere and giving coordinates to artillerymen. “You tell us where to shoot, and we’ll shoot.”

“Thanks,” Rhodia grinned. “Bulldog and I have heard a lot about you, by the way.”

“How’d it feel to take apart all those aliens, eh?” Bulldog grinned.

“I wasn’t thinking too much about it,” I confessed. “It was more along the lines of - kill them before they set up a defence grid and turn this place into another Turkmenistan.”

Rhodia nodded soberly. “We couldn’t make it to the rendezvous in time for Liverpool, but when they told us about London we said we had to be here.”

“Sodding bad time to be on vacation,” Bulldog grumbled. “Still, at least we got warned this time, you know? We grew up here, wouldn’t be right to not fight for it.”

“First alien defence?” I inquired.

Bulldog scowled at me, but Rhodia touched his arm. “He’s just asking, hon. Besides, he’s a top thousand ranker, we ought to listen.”

“Sure, sure. Sorry, me temper gets the better of me sometimes.”

“My apologies. This is only my third fight, anyway; I was exactly like you less than a year ago. You know the alien classifications, right?”

“Yeah. We saw the documentary.”

“Basically, try not to get hit, and let the troops and massed fire do the killing. Herculeans - and inventors like me - we pin down the Sarnak or the Raptors, make ourselves the targets and draw fire. Meanwhile, the platoon of troops behind us shoots at the enemy. If we can hold them in position for long enough, we can even call in artillery strikes.”

“Artillery? You mean drop shells in the middle of London?”

“We did it in Liverpool against an alien fighting vehicle. They’re not actually tougher than us, you know; we just have to pin them down and give our firepower the chance to bear. You can batter through any alien’s defences with enough time.”

The two British ultras nodded.

The next person I checked with was Maria. “How’re you feeling?”

“Nervous, mostly. No matter how much we’ve trained, it’s still a little terrifying to know we’re going to be face-to-face with the aliens anytime now.”

“It’s not as scary as it sounds.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re in ten feet of powered armor.”

“And you’re in the same armor I wore for my first battle. Don’t worry about it. How’s ‘Nina’ holding up?”

“She’s actually pretty encouraging. Keeps telling dirty jokes to the girls, keeps their spirits up.”

“... Do I want to know?”

“No, you don’t. Some of those jokes even shocked me.” Maria gave me a look. “You two got something going between you?”

“... Not really.”

“Huh. You be careful, that girl has an incredibly filthy imagination.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You’re fairly athletic, aren’t you?”

“I suppose so, why?”

“No reason. That Sergeant Winford told us there’s almost a million soldiers in London right now, ready to fight the aliens. Will we need that many?”

“All previous alien attacks have been a few hundred Sarnak and Raptors. Best guess we have is that this one might involve thousands, plus maybe a Carnotaur. The Brits want to squash the attackers flat as soon as possible, so they’re hitting them with everything that can be brought to bear. Tanks, aircraft, ultras, everything.”

The communicator in my suit buzzed, the signal for an incoming transmission from the Stratospheric Guard command.