Havok Bringer

Chapter 10. Elvis the Berserker

Elvis sat in the Pup as the group made its way to the New York area. All things considered; Elvis was happy. He looked around the inside of the Pup and smiled. Matty and Jax had now crossed level 20, each sitting at 21, respectively. Loren and Red were still lagging a bit but had both made good progress, with Red at 16 and Loren at 15.

So why was Elvis smiling? He was smiling not out of pride or joy for his fellow crewmembers; no, Elvis was smiling because he knew that he could dismantle the entire group without so much as breaking a sweat.

Now, for most, this would be a weird process of thought, but not for Elvis. Elvis was still acclimating to his new body, but so far, it was far more exciting than even he could have imagined. He was strong, not quite as strong as the Captain, but that was to be expected; after all, the Captain was chosen to carry the gift and had proven himself to be a warrior far beyond what his level showed.

No, Elvis was strong, but not quite that strong. He would, however, try to improve that as quickly as possible. He couldn’t gain levels as things stood right now, but he could improve his fighting ability and kill anything that needed killing.

So, as he looked around the cockpit, flashing a psychotic toothy smile at everyone else onboard, they just accepted that this was Elvis, and he was okay with that.

When Elvis had first received his new body, only the Captain had known his secret; his level was high. When Captain Andrew first identified him, he was blown away by what he saw.

Elvis

Bio-droid Berserker

Level 50

“This is a good class for Elvis; Berserkers are fierce and fear no battle!” Elvis said as he clasped his fists and held them up in the air.

“Wow, Elvis. You are at a very high level. I am glad the Coeus were able to help you with that body and didn’t make you start at level one,” Captain Andrew said, “But I want to see if you can do something…”

That is when Captain Andrew asked Elvis to hide his status. Now, normally, people couldn’t do this, but Elvis soon learned that a body and status created by the Coeus, along with some of his supreme AI intellect, allowed him to do just that.

Anytime someone identified Elvis, they simply saw:

Elvis

Bio-Droid Berserker

Level ??

Why would the Captain ask Elvis to hide his level? Elvis wasn’t sure and didn’t bother to ask; after all, the Captain would surely have a good reason, and that was good enough for Elvis.

Elvis sat strapped to his seat as the Pup flew across the planet toward its destination and suddenly found himself deep in thought.

Why had Captain sent me away with this group?

Has he lost faith in me?

Am I being punished?

No, Captain values his friends and has sent his most fierce warrior to protect them. They are obviously weak and will need someone to do killing for them. Elvis, will kill. Elvis will show Captain that he is trustworthy and strong.

With those thoughts, Elvis began smiling his psychotic smile again as he thought about all the killing he would get to do on this trip. As he sat there, music started to play through the speakers inside the Pup.

Because I’m happy

Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof

Because I’m happy

It was the song Happy by Pharell, and why not? Elvis was happy that the Captain had given him such a big responsibility.

“Jesus, Elvis. Can you turn it down a little bit?” Matty said, turning his head from the pilot’s chair to scold Elvis, who was smiling and bouncing his head to the music.

“This is a great song! It is meant to be played loudly!” Elvis replied.

“Elvis, we are approaching our destination, and we all need to have our wits about us. We don’t know what we will find down there.” Matty said, trying to talk some sense into the AI.

“Fine, you are a party shitter!” Elvis said, grumpily.

Jax exploded in laughter, “I think you mean party pooper, bro.”

“That is what I said. Are poop and shit not the same thing?” Elvis looked around, hoping for someone to back him up.

“Yes, Elvis, they are technically the same, but for this particular figure of speech, you are looking for a party pooper. You got close, though, honey. Don’t let them bother you,” Loren said with a soft smile and a wink at Elvis.

Elvis had gotten to know the crew rather well over the last few months, but Loren was definitely his favorite. She was always nice to him and even helped him as he started to try and advance phonetically. After getting his new body he decided that it was time to change the way he communicated to better fit in with the humans. It was not as easy as expected. Human language had such nuance to it. The way they used it to convey emotion was definitely something that Elvis had struggled with, but Loren was always there to offer him tips and help him improve.

There was something else, but he just couldn’t place it. Elvis thought she was pleasant to look at, and whenever she was close, he even noticed that he found her scent pleasant. He was sure that it was just some of the sensory systems in his new body that were operating slightly out of parameters because the physical response when Loren was close was almost overwhelming.

Elvis kept this to himself, though; when he found time, he would have to speak to Captain about this to see if a full scan of the body was required.

For now, though, he just smiled, nodded, and felt his cheeks get warm again, a response that was obviously the result of a systems malfunction.

“It’s fucking gone…” Matty said as the Pup slowed to a hover.

“Those bastards wiped the whole city off the map…” Jax said.

Loren and Red unstrapped and ran to the cockpit, seeing the crater that was once New York. It was utter desolation where the sprawling city of New York should have been.

“Did anyone have family still in the city?” Matty asked.

“No, I ain’t got no family left. I just wanted to see home one more time,” Red said as he returned to his seat and strapped in, “Guess you guys are the only home I have left.”

“My parents headed east to Newtown after the drop. They had some family from there and thought it was far enough away from the city and all the looting and violence,” Loren said.

“Then we go to Newtown!” Elvis shouted.

“Hold your horses, Elvis,” Matty said as he put the pup on hover mode and got out of his seat.

“Jax and I have family a little south of Newtown in Bridgeport. Our family decided being close to the coast was best since it was a constant source of food. We can head to Newtown and drop you there if you want, Loren, then we will head to Bridgeport and check on our family,” Matty said.

“I don’t plan on staying,” Loren said, “I just want to make sure everyone is okay; after that, we can all head out.”

“Okay, sounds like a plan to me,” Matty said, “We can land for a few hours in Newtown; once you have caught up and checked on a family, we can head to Bridgeport so Jax and I can do the same. Once we all are done, we can head back to catch up with Captain Dawes and the rest of the crew.”

With that, Matty sat back down and flew the pup in a northeasterly direction. It should only take about 20 minutes to reach Newtown. He planned to fly at a low altitude to see if anything else had happened in the area. A few minutes later, the Pup was approaching Newtown.

“Holy shit,” Matty said, “There must be a whole company of soldiers down there.”

They had decided to gain altitude and were now hovering at about 10,000 feet and hidden by a cloud wall. They had used remote drones to recon the area below, the area that was once Newtown.

“It looks like a processing checkpoint. There are people locked up in transport trailers, and there are others being led into several buildings in lines,” Jax said.

“I’m sorry, Loren, it doesn’t look good. If your family was here, I don’t think they are now.

“Loren just looked at the floor as she spoke, “I honestly didn’t expect to find them. We all struggled after the drop, and we were barely hanging on before. I guess I just hoped, is all,” tears began to fall as she spoke.

Elvis walked over and sat beside Loren. Placing his elbow on his knees, he leaned close to her, “Would it make you feel better if we kill them all?”

Loren looked up at Elvis with tear-soaked eyes, “Yeah, Elvis. It would make me feel much fucking better.”

“Matty, open the rear bay door! I must go kill them all!” Elvis said, standing up and grabbing his axe.

“Elvis, hang on. We need to plan this. You can’t just…”

Before Matty could finish, Elvis had opened the door himself and jumped out.

Jax looked over at Matty, “He just jumped out of the damn Pup, didn’t he?”

Matty sighed, “Yeah, he fucking jumped,” as he pushed the stick and started a rapid descent.

Red looked at Loren, “So, you know he has, like, a thing for you, right?”

Loren just smiled and shrugged, “I didn’t see anyone else willing to kill a company of Lacertines because they wronged me.”

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This day was just like most other days for the Lacertine troops stationed at this particular processing checkpoint. Humans were shipped in and processed. They were given several rounds of medicine that would prepare them for interstellar travel; then, they were given a quick physical to ensure that the quality of the livestock was up to par. Finally, their heads were shaved, and they were given simple jumpsuits for the trip. Once this was all done, they were shipped to the nearest holding facility until the next batch of transport ships arrived. Day in, day out it was the same thing over and over.

Why this insignificant town? Nobody knew. They were given orders and followed the orders. With luck, they would soon be able to rotate off this insignificant planet and back to their home world.

Two of the lacertine troops that were on patrol were walking and complaining about the lack of field rations that had been available lately.

“I am hungry, and we have been cut to quarter rations while the commanding officers still dine nightly in the command stations,” The first Lacertine said.

“I am sure that home fleet will be sending a resupply ship soon. You should not complain so loud or someone may hear you and report it.” The second said.

As they walked, the first Lacertine stopped, “Do you hear that noise?”

“I hear nothing, just keep…” the second lacertine stopped,” I do hear something.”

Rrrraaaaaghhhh

It was quiet, but they both heard something; it sounded like… a human yelling? They both looked around but saw nothing was amiss.

RRRRAAAAGGGGH

It was getting louder and louder and sounded like it was coming from….above?

The lacertine troops both looked up to see a very large, muscular human falling from the sky. He was holding an axe, an axe that was pointed straight down and coming their way fast.

The human landed directly in front of the two Lacertine troops who just stood there dumbstruck at the sight. Dust and dirt flew up all around as the human must have died.

“How…Where did he come from?” the first lacertine looked at the second, who just shrugged.

“I came from the heavens to send you all to Hell!” Elvis shouted as he shot up out of the crater and landed directly behind the two troops.

Before the troops even had time to turn their head, he had swung his axe with both hands, removing their heads from their bodies.

Elvis smiled. This is why Captain had sent him; this is when he was most happy. Plus, they had made Loren cry, so it was up to him to make that right.

Elvis ran toward the remaining troops. Alarms sounded as the lacertine troops poured out of bunkhouses to see what the commotion was about, only to see a crazy-looking human running toward them with an axe.

“Elvis is here to kill you all!” Elvis yelled as he ran toward them at an incredible pace, his axe and entire body covered in flames.