Collab with Perse and Terminal



The man stepping out of the elevator into the hallway was dressed in nondescript jeans, with a dark shirt and jacket. His build was thick and muscled, his head was shaved completey bald, and he was wearing disposable nitrile gloves that stood out alarmingly.

Most telling, however, appeared to be the small cylindrical device that looked like an ice-pick stuck to the end of a power drill that he was casually screwing together as he calmly began walking down the hallway, his gaze already laser-focused on Jacque's door.

This guy was definitely not selling girl scout cookies.

Jacque's eyes widened as he got close enough to identify what he was holding. She cursed under her breath and looked around, trying to find something nearby to use as a weapon. She could just shoot him as soon as he opened the door but she didn't know if she'd need it to fight off those alien f*cks. That and her anger and frustration was rapidly evaporating her fear. She dashed to her bedroom, grabbed the baseball bat from beside her bed and took up a ready position on the side of the door that he would not see her immediately. There she waited with shaky but quiet breaths for him to walk through.

Her suspicions as to the tool he had been holding were confirmed when she heard the loud, grinding trill of shearing metal - it was a lockbreaker drill which he was using to core out the deadbolt. Scant seconds later the ruined, twisted lump that remained of the lock twisted on the door's frame and then fell off and onto the floor with a loud clunk.

Moments later, the man violently kicked the door in, causing the door to jostle on its hinges as it slammed directly into Jacque, standing as she was on the hinge-side of the frame.

Jacque grunted as the door slammed into her shoulder, feeling the limb zing with pain and quickly go numb. It cost her a few seconds but as soon as she could reorientate herself she stepped around the door and swung hard at the intruder. Having thankfully held back from letting out any pained noise from the impact of the door, the stranger had elected to enter the room and turn in the complete opposite direction - letting her swing take him completely by surprise, the bat catching the man right along the shoulder and glancing into his neck. If the doorframe hadn't gotten in her way, she might have been able to catch him fully in the head.

The man grunted in a low, pained voice and careened forward, both his arms spreading out for balance as he went - revealing the suppressed handgun he was holding onto, leaving no doubt whatsoever as to what this was. This was a hitman who had been sent to kill her.

Jacque immediately went in for another swing, this time coming from over her head in a power strike in an attempt to take him out before he could get back up again. The carpet would be ruined, but smashing this m*therf*cker's head in would be worth it. She was unfortunately saved the cleaning bill when the man's free hand reached out and caught against a wall-mounted cabinet, and as he steadied himself he brought his other arm around to put his gun at her - only to hit the baseball bat as she swung it. The hitman audibly swore as his arm recoiled and as the handgun was bashed straight out of his grip, pinwheeling from his grasp and across the room to slam into the opposite wall and then clatter to the ground.

The hitman recovered almost immediately and began to turn towards Jacque. "Get out of my house!" she yelled, taking another swing, this time aiming for his gut. She hoped her aggressive approach would prevent him from gaining the upper hand.

That hope was dashed almost instantly when he reached out and full-out caught the bat in one hand along its length, simultaneously turning his gaze to meet hers. He made no sound save to huff heavily through his nose, giving Jaque a clear look at his enraged, crimson-hued face, and the bulging veins that were popping out along his neck. She attempted to wrest the bat from his grip for a moment, but even with both her hands on the grip she couldn't make it budge - and then, he chopped at her wrists with his free hand, which scythed through the air like a brick-shaped cleaver.

Her hands slid off the bat easily, causing her to curse and retreat. She ran to the kitchen, throwing everything she could as she went behind her at him. Then she got to the knife block and drew the largest of them, wheeling around to leave the kitchen nook - and then was sprayed with a mixed shower of drywall and wooden shrapnel as the hitman, who rather than chasing her had simply gone for his gun, started shooting at her through the partitioning wall separating the kitchen from the doorway, though thankfully being unable to see her the actual shots had missed her - if only barely, with one whizzing what must have been directly in front of her eyes before it embedded in the far kitchen wall. The gun still had a massive report despite the suppressor she had seen on it, but with all the chaos going out in the city and the alien bombing runs, chances were absolutely nobody was going to come to help even if they had heard it going off.

When the shots had started going off Jacque threw herself to the floor, dropping her bag as she hit tile. The silver communicator rattled across the floor and slid directly in front of her. She crawled forward and slammed her hand on the big red button in the center.



Muerte was weaving expertly between cars, wrecks, and various other obstacles as he headed towards Jacque's apartment. He was aware of Cadence's petite form pressed against him, and probable would have enjoyed it much more if he wasn't so worried. At Cadence's questions he glanced down at her and said over the wind, "In order; my best friend, my ex-girlfriend, and my ex-girlfriend's apartment. She didn't make the rendevous we set up when the attack began so we're stopping by to check on her. Best case scenario she's just being stubborn." He hoped that was the case, but something in his gut felt otherwise.

"Oooh," Louisa said more to herself than anything else as she tried to create an image of this supposed ex-girlfriend but all she really just ended up was a sketchy version of a skull with a bow her mind. Shaking the image out of her head, Louisa looked back at the road. Even if she couldn't really imagine this mystery woman there was one thing she was sure of that was her new found companion seemed to care about them quite a lot.

Suddenly there was a rapid beeping sound coming from Muerte's pocket. He expertly dug it out, keeping one hand on the bike and looked at what looked like a key fob with four lights on it. One of the lights was flashing rapidly. "Sh*t" he said putting it back into his pocket. He revved the bike and they started going even faster through the streets, now only narrowly evading the obstacles before them. "We've got trouble..."



Jacque didn't wait to see if the light had turned on. She scrambled as quickly and quietly as she could to the hallway where she made a bolt for her bedroom. The hitman took a number of shots at her as she dived out from the kitchen, but was distracted by the cluttered mess of objects Jacque had thrown across the floor to deter his approach and missed as she raced by. She slammed the bedroom door shut and locked it before ducking to the floor expecting more shots to be fired through the walls. She finally drew her gun and pointed it at the door trying to keep her hands steady.

There was no immediate ensuing gunfire from the hitman, though she could clearly hear him storming down the hallway - and a split instant later, the lock on the door began to rattle as the high-pitched, keening whine of the hitman's lockbuster drill began ripping through it.

She fired a single shot at the door aimed where she thought he'd be positioned at around head-height. Best case scenario, it might take him out, if not then it might at least slow him down. Unfortunately he must have been kneeling in order to drill through the lock - she saw nobody through the hole she had just blasted through her own door.

She then heard another tremendous bang as the hitman fired his handgun through the door, and abruptly she felt herself falling straight down to the ground as something smacked her in the gut, completely blowing away her balance. She was so dazed from the impact, it took her nearly three seconds of processing the dull, throbbing ringing in her ears to realize she had just been shot in the gut.

The hitman had returned to drilling through the lock, which was now warbling precariously on the doorframe. Although she remembered how it had cored out the apartment's deadbolt in seconds, for some reason both it and everything else seemed to be moving at a snail's pace all of a sudden, and the lock seemed like it was taking ages to break apart.

Jacque looked down at the hole in her stomach and the growing red splotch appearing in the fabric of her shirt. She grunted out another curse and did her best to prop herself up. She pressed one hand to her wound and tried to apply pressure. She looked around, mind and body moving sluggishly from the pain. She found her gun and pulled it up onto her lap. Now her only chance was to wait until the door opened and hope that she could fire off before he could. This was just...f*cking...peachie...

The door swung open, and Jacque fired several desperate shots through the open air until she had run through her magazine and a resounding, hollow click rung in her ears. The wavering shadow of the hitman appeared in the door, looming over her dispassionately as he leveled his own handgun at her, taking aim to finish her off.



Muerte skirted around the apartment building and down the alley way where he stopped next to a fire escape. He dismounted and propped the bike quickly. "Look it might be best if you wait here, I'll-" He stopped as gun shots rang out above them. "Jacque!" he yelled out starting to climb the metal railing with the speed of an orangutan.

Jacque looked up at the man standing over her defiantly, then she heard a familiar voice call her name. She smiled blearily. "You're dead motherf*cker."

A whirlwind of emotions, sound and movement crashed over her, leaving Cadence staring as the black clad man climbed up the steel structure as if his life depended on it.  She didn't really have a solid grasp on what was going on or how she even felt about it but what she did know was that she wasn't going just stay there on the preverbial bench and watch the whole situation play out. Her new playmate had run off to save someone he obviously cared about and so she wobbly stood off the motorbike and catched her balance. Sluggishly she willed her exhausted body up the fire escape and towards the sounds of the altercation.

Muerte vaulted over the railing seconds later, grabbing onto the gun and crunching it in the center to render it useless. The other hand caught the man by the throat and raised him up several inches. The hitman choked in equal parts surprise and strangulation as Muerte lifted him off the floor, but he then responded to the surprise attack by yanking the lockbuster drill from his belt and attempting to drive it into Muerte's gut, the pick-bit seething violently as he depressed the trigger.

Muerte grunted slightly as the drill broke skin but absorbed most of the momentum, he then threw the man into the opposite wall. Drywall and insulation exploded everwhere as the not-so-unfortunate soul was sent through it. 

Cadence appeared in the window sill, her neon green hair now making her exhausted body even more paler than it usually did. She held on to to the window's frame as she tried to take in the scene and catch her breath.

Her exhausted mind pulled together her fuzzy thoughts, this man was obviously had to be the bad guy and then this girl must be the one Mr.Muerte wanted to protect. She looked really badly hurt. Stepping through the window frame, Louisa took a big breath and started to try to pull any last energy she had as she turned and looked at the woman who was trying to hold her blood in.

"Heal her wounds and pain

no longer being such a drain.

Let her body be like new

and ... and .. let her pull through."

A neon green light moved from Cadence's drained body towards Jacque's wound but Cadence herself had already had other thoughts. Looking back at the form of the man that had just gone through crashing through the walls, she glared, not even really caring for a moment to see if he was even still alive.

"You need to treat women nicer

now you should deal with a viper."

Neon green energy ran from her hands and a metre in front of her a 6 foot long Gaboon viper materilized. The snake slithered forwards towards the figure of the man, getting within arms length before it hissed revealing it's long fangs.

Cadence now having finished what she had come here for and being completely wasted from all her spells, she went and leaned against a wall in Jacque's kitchen. From the side of her eye she could see the viper striking forward, none of that really didn't matter now though.  It didn't matter how loud and crazy things were around her,  she had nothing left to give and to her it seemed as if  the danger was being taken care of.  Sliding down the wall, Louisa let herself sit on the cluttered floor. Sitting there, her eye lids starting to get heavy as she looked back at Jacque. Her body feeling heavy she mumbled her thoughts out loud, "You're much prettier than I imagined...."

Her eyelids started to close as she let her conciousness slip and she fell into the embrace of darkness. With the welcoming grasp of sleep, she also took her snake friend as it dissappeared as fast as it had appeared.

Muerte watched as the snake lunged at the assassin and as his body tensed before going limp. He found himself slightly disappointed at the fact that he couldn't get any information out of him now...or any revenge for that matter. His attention was then seized by the sight of Cadence staggering away. He saw her slide down the wall and was by her side in moments. After checking her pulse he sighed in relief and gently went to pick her up.

Jacque, who was still figuring out what all the green light was and how it had fixed her wounds, channeled her confusion into something she could understand. "So who's the broad? New girlfriend?" she said acidly as she got up, "I'm fine by the way."

Alejandro rolled his eyes under his mask. "How about you tell me why it took you so long to call first?" He stood up and walked over to Jacque with Cadence in his arms. "Or we can just pass on the ex-lover's spat and get to Jesus's"

She flipped him off before going into the kitchen to grab her bag where she had dropped it. After making sure everything was still inside she came back to the room and lit up another cigarette. "So, how's this going to work? Cause I ain't riding with her in my lap." "I think we'll be ok," he said with a slight chuckle as he stepped out onto the fire escape. It was Jacque's turn to roll her eyes as she followed him out. She started and took a step back but said nothing as she spotted the alien panther beast.

Soon they were on the move again; Jacque riding the bike while Alejandro held Cadence in place on the beast. It was fortunate that it seemed to be somewhat sentient and had allowed him to climb aboard. They headed toward the edge of town, having to dodge the occasional alien squad every now and again, but making it to the house without incident or witnesses. 

-

Icon swooped down on one of the troop carriers, clutching it with one hand at what he assumed was the landing bay door and then took off skyward with it in tow. When he reached several thousand feet, well below the typical cruising altitude of a commercial airliner, he spun himself around several times, building up momentum and then let go of his grip, sending the troop carrier flying away from the city, where it landed harmlessly in the harbor.

Immediately, Icon turned his attention to a group of citizens that were attempting to fight off several alien aggressors. While their attempts to keep the aliens at bay had been valiant, they had also been much for naught. The aliens had little difficulty in cutting down the over-matched humans with their advanced weaponry.

“I don't think so.” Icon said aloud as he rocketed toward the alien attackers. He touched down on the ground in front of the group of people, putting himself between them and the aliens. The one of the aliens fired some sort of laser weapon at him. The bolt struck him firmly in the chest, and he had no doubt that if it had hit one of the civilians, it would have incinerated them instantly. He looked down at his chest, and saw the smoke coming from the spot where the energy blast had struck him, then to the alien who had fired the shot. Icon noted that the weapon was not a gun, which one may have imagined after watching countless science fiction films dating back to the pulp movies of the Forties and Fifties. Instead, the energy blast had come from a staff that the alien was wielding. A staff that while different, held a striking resemblance to something that he had seen before.

“That stings.” Icon said with a grin as his gaze fell upon the alien that had attacked him, his eyes glowing a pale blue. Then the hero fired an optic blast that struck the staff wielding alien in the chest, knocking him off balance. Icon then charged the alien, snatching the staff from its hands and snapping it in half all in a single motion. “A cheap knock-off.” Icon said as he examined the broken staff that he held in his hands, discarding it like garbage, and then shoving the alien lightly in the chest, which still sent the murderous creature slamming hard into the side of a building on the other side of the street.

Then, Icon went to work on the remaining three aliens. In a silver and cobalt blur, he flew between them, first disarming them and then rounding them up, binding them together with a single piece of re- bar from a nearby construction site, then depositing them with the unconscious alien that he had sent into the side of the building.

“Now might be a good time to run.-” Icon said to the band of citizens he had just kept from being slaughtered. [b] “-Find someplace safe and stay there.” He finished before taking to the skies again.

It wasn't long before he saw his next move. Several of the invaders had attacked more civilians, or so he thought at first. However, there was something different about these “victims.' They or more specifically “he” was having much more success fighting back. The man, who appeared to be tall and lanky and dressed in what looked to be a custom designer outfit had had been handling the aliens with apparent ease.

"Mmmhmm! Candy is the cure! Yo! Icon! Pretty neat of you to save the city and all that! But this whole alien thing above us really is spoiling my sweet dreams so be a good boy and get that technological horror away! I make sure to prepare a gift bag with your name on it!" The strange red and white clad man said to him gleefully almost in a sing-song like voice as he went about taking down any near by aliens. Icon didn't know who this man was, or if he was friend or foe, but something told him that it really didn't matter right now. Now, all that mattered was the survival of the human race, so he was willing to take help anywhere he could get it.

“If you can fight, which it looks like you can-" Icon said as he regarded the peculiar man. “-Now is the time.” Icon said as he again took to the skies, leaving the strange man standing in the street.



High above Earth, The Autocrat watched the events unfolding below him from the view port of his private chambers aboard the mothership of the Arlaaekan fleet. Though he had seen similar scenes play out time after time across countless worlds, he never grew tired of it. The death, the destruction, and ultimately, the thrill of victory. However, this time, something was different. These humans were unlike the others that had been conquered by the Arlaaekan machine. They had a certain something, a fighting spirit quite unlike anything that he had ever seen before. While it was true that many of the worlds that he had conquered had fought back, or at least attempted to, they hadn't had the same ferocity that these humans had. Though their bodies were frail and weak, and their weapons of war were primitive at best, they held a resolve within them that he almost admired.

Almost.

The truth was, it mattered little how hard the Earthlings fought. Their fate had been sealed the moment that they had accepted the Great Concord. The day that the staff-wielder had accepted the beacon, the Earth had also unknowingly accepted its fate. There was little use in fighting back, though many had tried, they all eventually fell under the heel of the forces of Arlaaek.

It was inevitable: another world would die so that Arlaaek and her children would live.

The Autocrat watched the destruction below intently even as the doors to his private chambers slid open behind him. Towering despot did not have to turn to face the intruder, as he know that only one would enter his private chambers unannounced.

“What is it, Admiral?” The Autocrat said to his visitor.

“The siege goes well, my lord. The initial strike took them by surprise and left much of their planetary defenses in shambles.-” Keelan said as he pulled a small device from the breast pocket of his jet black admiral's uniform. The device was metallic gray and about the size of an 8x10 note card. When he activated the device, 3-D map of the Earth appeared in just above the palm of his hand. “-though there are pockets of resistance, as we expected, the heaviest fighting is here.” He said, pointing to Lost Haven.

“As expected, Admiral.” The Autocrat said as he looked away from the map and back out of the viewport. “Is this not the location of the Beacon?” The Autocrat asked, already knowing the answer.

“It is.” Keelan confirmed.

“Is it also not the area most populated with the so-called 'meta humans?” The Autocrat asked, again not really expecting an answer. The Autocrat had, along with the Admiral as well as his other advisors, learned everything they could have about their current target. The Earthlings had a strange habit of announcing themselves to the rest of the universe, almost as if they had an innate need to know that they were not alone in the universe. They sent messages into the stars, telling whoever may happen across them, everything that they needed to know about the pathetic backwater world. It told of their dreams and ambitions. However, it also told of their weaknesses, and their strengths. It told of their heroes, the ones who wield great power in the protection of the planet.

The meta humans.

The Autocrat knew that to take this planet and her resources, they would first have to eliminate the heroes that protected it. He had been surprised to learn that one of his asteroids had failed to reach its target, yet was undisturbed by that particular turn of events. He had ordered an assault on the city, and expected it and those protecting it to fall at any time.

“It appears that we may have...underestimated the resolve of the meta humans that occupy that city. They have thus far beaten back our forces.” Keelan said reluctantly.

“Hrmph” The Autocrat grunted in annoyance.

“It seems that thus far, they have been more than a match for our forces.” Keelan told him.

“Very well.” The Autocrat said as he clenched his fists at his side. “Bring me the Outsider. Perhaps it is time to finally unleash him upon his home.”

The wedding reception was in full swing. All the guests had already consumed their dinner and endured listening to the the embarrassing stories from the best man and the maid of honor. Once the bride and the groom had concluded the first dance, many guests stormed the dance floor. With a mix of both recent hits and classic beats, everyone had something to dance to.

After several songs had passed, I dragged Will back to the table where we had been seated for much of the reception so I could take a quick break before returning to the dance floor. We both relaxed in our seats and began sipping on the water we had left over from dinner. Yet Will’s sister, Sarah, had already beaten us to the table long before I even thought to retire from the dance floor. Her eyes were glued to her cell phone.

However, before I could take advantage of my break, I noticed a crowd of women were gathering on the main floor. The bride was among them and holding a bouquet. It was obvious that the bouquet throw was about to happen. I don’t know where she came from, but Will’s mother had noticed that we were still at the table.

“Sarah, go join your cousins,” Mrs. Grant ordered her daughter once she had arrived at our table. “You, too, Aubrey.”

Sarah groaned as she rolled her eyes and pulled herself out of her chair. I just shrugged my shoulders and stood up. Before I headed towards the crowd of women, I turned to Will for a brief moment.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t let anyone steal my seat.”

We just barely arrived at where the other ladies were gathered before the bride released the bouquet. Sarah and I were lounging on our feet in the back since we were late arrivals. Sarah was still preoccupied with her cell phone, showing how little she cared. One the bundle of flowers were released, it tumbled through the air, end over end. Just like a Hail Mary pass attempted at the end of a tight football game, some girls in front of us tried to leap up and snatch the bouquet out of the air. However, they weren’t blessed with the catching ability of an NFL-caliber receiver. The floral prop was tipped off their hands and tossed further backwards.

Through sheer luck, the bouquet just so happened to have ricocheted right into my arms. I honestly did not know what had happened until I realized I was holding those flowers in my hands. I cracked an awkward smile as I held the bouquet, since it felt like everyone’s eyes were locked on me. The rest of the ladies begrudgedly dispersed after they had failed to secure the prize.

Well, almost everyone was disappointed to some degree, at least.

“Thank God it didn’t come my way,” Sarah muttered as she walked back towards her seat, still looking at her phone. “Who really wants some rando stranger putting their hands up your skirt. Or worse, one of my cousins. Gross!”

As I skirted over to the side, all the bachelors took the floor. Instead of a garter that’s usually tossed after the bouquet, Will’s cousin was holding a standard football. Will mentioned to me his cousin had played quarterback at a small, local college, so this choice was not entirely out of left field. This change in tradition probably was for the best, for, if I am to be honest, throwing a used garter into a throng of singles guys is kind of weird.

Anyways, Will’s cousin wound up and placed a perfect touch on the ball. The football drilled through the air in a perfect spiral. Yet, the lob was not heading towards the mass of men in the center of the room. Instead, just like a pitcher who had tossed the ball to the first baseman to tag out a runner trying to get a head start to second base, he threw the football to somebody standing several feet to the side of the rest of the guys: it was Will. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this was planned after I caught the bouquet.

After Will caught the football, it was time for the last wedding tradition related to the bouquet and garter. I’ll be honest, since Will’s not the most athletic person in the world, I was praying the ball wouldn’t beam him in the face or something like that; I was relieved when he caught it. A chair had been pulled out to the main floor. Once I had taken a seat, one of the bridesmaids handed Will a garter. Once Will slipped the garter past my ankle, I wasn’t surprised when he stopped right above my knee. While I am clearly not a telepath, I knew Will well enough to guess that he was too shy or embarrassed to have his hands up the skirt of my dress while a room filled with hundred of guests were watching. I yanked up on the garter through the fabric of my dress until it felt comfortable, if wearing someone else’s garter could ever be described as such.

An applause erupted in the hall after this ceremony had completed. The DJ restarted the music to entertain the wedding guests until the cake was ready to be cut by the bride and the groom. I therefore dragged Will back onto the dance floor.

As we danced, a memory from one of my parallel selves flashed in my head. I found myself back at my senior prom, or rather this Aubrey’s senior prom. Nostalgia filled my ears as Lady Gaga’s recorded voice belted the verses of Just Dance through the music speakers.

Yet not everything was right that night. The sky glowed with an eerie green tint and the screams of confused teenagers filled the air. Doctor Diplodoc’s metahuman domes had already started to mutate random individuals. I began to panic as I realized that the skirt of my prom dress, now in tatters, revealed my arachnid lower body.

“Are you alright?” I heard Will ask me. His voice immediately snapped me out of this dreamlike state and dropped me back into the wedding reception.

“Just peachy,” I replied while I formed a smile on my face. Yet, while this vision was not exactly how I received my powers, even reliving that Aubrey’s experience left me a little unnerved. So, I tried to distract myself with the festivities of the reception. Nothing bad could happen here.

Right?

---

On the day after the wedding, Will and I decided to take the opportunity to visit the Columbus Zoo once more before we needed to start flying back West. Sure, we have the San Diego Zoo on the West Coast, but, as native Ohioans, nothing quite compares to the Columbus Zoo. This is especially true considering how much the zoological park had developed over the past couple decades.

Once we had finished strolling through both the Congo Expedition and Australia & Islands sections of the park, we started to head back towards the Shores & Aquarium section so we could venture through the Eastern portion of the zoo. As we were passing by the carousel, we made a quick stop at the Aldabra Tortoise exhibit, even though we had seen it on our way into this side of the zoo.

The carnival music and the laughter of children from the zoo-themed carousel filled the air around us. The two tortoises on the other side of the fence meandered around their pin, like a bunch of Sunday drivers in a hurry to go nowhere. One was chowing down on some leafy greens, while the other seemed like it was trying to find just the right spot for basking in the sun. They looked like they didn’t have a care in the world. And why would they? They were a bunch of turtles.

“I won’t lie, but when I caught that bouquet, I thought your family was going to drag us to the altar right there and then.”

“I think they were just relieved that you actually existed,” Will answered me back.

I then reached out and placed my hand on top of Will’s as it rested on the fence in front of us. Yet, out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed something peculiar happen. Both of the Aldabra tortoises, almost as if they were doing it synchronized, stopped what they had been doing and turned their heads up towards the sky. I always thought turtles were supposed to be slow and lumbering animals, but I was surprised at how quickly these little guys withdrew their legs and heads into their shells.

“What got them all spooked?”

“Some animals can sense bad weather from miles away, but we’re in the middle of Ohio and there’s barely a cloud in the sky.”

Then our cell phones began to buzz inside our pockets. When I saw the news notifications that had popped up on my phone’s screen, I couldn’t believe what I read. Several cities worldwide were blow off the face of the earth in a mere instance. And apparently aliens were behind all this destruction. From the murmuring from the other zoo guests, it sounded like they couldn’t comprehend the possibility of little green men going all nuclear on our planet, but considering the things I have seen, I don’t think anything would surprise me nowadays.

But when in the distance, just within eyeshot, a single Arlaaekan ship zoomed past the city of Columbus, as if it were either just scouting for the rest of the invasion fleet, or trying to spread fear by its mere presence, reality quickly set in for everyone. Confusion broke out as parents tried to scoop up their children and families were rushing this way and that. Everyone wanted to save whatever was dear to them.

“So, I guess you gotta do your thing now?” Will finally spoke up after he too saw the news reports. Although he did not say it with words, his face and the tone of his voice painted an entirely different picture: one of fear and anxiety.

I wasn’t sure what made me do what I was about to say. Maybe the impending alien apocalypse drove the words out of my lips. Or maybe the decade’s worth of memories from my elseworld counterparts influenced my decision. Whatever the cause was, the words just slipped out.

“Let’s get married,” I blurred out.

“Wait, what?” Will asked.

“Will you marry me?”

My heart sunk as I saw Will drag his feet with a response. Certainly I had popped the question way too quickly. With all the scattered memories of my parallel universe selves in my head, it was easy to forget that our relationship had only begun back in March. Yet those memories made it seem like we’ve been together for years. Heck, I even have a memory of another Will proposing to me.

Or maybe Will wasn’t as comfortable with my spider side as he made himself seem to be. Having a sexy spider girl as a girlfriend was one thing, but he might not be ready to commit himself to a life with an eight-legged freak like me. How could I not see this coming? Will always insisted on sleeping on the couch whenever he visited. Did he not want to wake up next to a ginormous spider? Sure, the girl of his dreams was attached to that spider, but there still was that giant monster.

“You know what, forget I mentioned it,” I muttered as I turned away from Will. “I’m sure Athena will be here soon.”

“Aubrey, wait,” Will said. He reached out and grabbed my wrist. Yet, he didn’t yank on my arm.

“It’s okay, Will. I jumped too quickly into this.”

“No, no. Let’s do it,” Will answered back. I could tell the sincerity in his eyes and his voice. “But I don’t want our love to be rooted in fear. We’re not making this commitment just because aliens are raining out of the sky. I want this proposal to be a pledge of hope: a promise that, after you and your friends have kicked these little green men off our front lawn, we will have a future together.”

As soon as Will had finished speaking, I threw my arms over his shoulders and planted a kiss on his lips. My heart was no longer burdened by the anxiety over whether I jumped the gun by popping the question. Sure, we looked out of place while everyone else were panicking over the alien invasion, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about ready to allow anyone, including little green men, to ruin our moment.

“We still have the same priest at our parish when you used to live here,” I mentioned after we parted lips. “I’m sure we could ask him to tie the knot for us.”

“Maybe we should stop at the courthouse first. I’m sure we’re not the only ones who thought of this idea.”

“Oh, right. I guess we better get going.”

It is time. For the last ten years, Nikolai Ivushkin, MD had been a secret vigilante that scoured the city of Lost Haven at night. Every criminal and thief had learned to cower in fear with the coming of the succinct chill in the air of night and the crystallized fluttering of icy wings; telltale signs that their days of stealing will be over soon. Sometimes, death would come swiftly for them, their blood spread across the frozen ground by spikes of anomalous dark ice that seemed to refuse to melt for hours under the summer heat. At others times, the cryophoenix would drop them in front of the local police precinct, ready to be charged for their crimes and to be tried fairly. There will be no quarter given; no chance of defeating the one that had come to bring them to justice, if vengeance was justice.

Now, an alien invasion had come to the world itself. Cities all over the world were being pummelled by the invading extraterrestrials, their advanced weapons turning most of those that sought to fight back against them into black ash and hot pools of molten flesh and bone. The aliens wielded dark sciences far beyond the ken of the most sophisticated minds of humanity; if not for the metahumans that defended the planet from threats within and without, it would have fallen so much faster, as it was their power that has staved off the aliens for this long. This is war, and there will be no mercy...

"Kolya." Nikita Ivushkin crashed into the living room, where his twin brother, Nikolai, was watching the news of the invasion that was currently the hottest topic in every outlet and station. "The aliens are coming to the city. What are we going to do?"

Nikolai shook his head. He knew what he must do; he needed to assist in the defence of Lost Haven, and then aid in their expulsion from the rest of the planet, no matter how dangerous that was. After all, that was why the spirit within him decided to place itself in an eternal cycle of death and rebirth; to help defend the world from those that would seek to harm it and those that live upon it. "Niki. Take mom and dad to the fallout shelter." Nikolai gestured to the floor below them, which contained a basement that was dug nearly 10 feet into the ground. It also doubled as their storage place and a second place for sleeping... a more or less perfect place to wait out an impending alien invasion, assuming it gets driven off. "Call our sister too, she needs to somewhere safe. As for me... you know what I must do."

"Take care, brother." Nikita said, wiping a tear off his eye as he wrapped his arms around his brother in a tight hug; this could be the last time they saw each other. "See you later."

"I will." Nikolai nodded as he bit into the last cookie that he had been eating in the living room. "Now go. Now!"

With his brother taking their parents to the basement, Nikolai turned towards trapdoor that was hidden beneath the rug. It wasn't dusty, as it was used often. In it was the mask that he used to conceal his identity when patrolling.

Putting it on, he stepped out of the door, seeing the plumes of smoke that was emerging from the rest of the city as the invasion began to throttle. "Nastupayet zima." he began with a voice of one and a hundred. "Ya vzyvayu k tebe." At this, the phoenix emblazoned on his wrist began to glow. "Dukh vechnoy zimy." Mist began to cover his body in a manner not too different from a tornado, though it was not a tornado. "Prikhodit zashchishchat'."

The mist turned into a little blizzard, and out of it emerged a flying phoenix of ice and snow, which then sped towards the battlefield in the streets nearby...

---

It would have seemed that many heroes had made their stand in Sherman Square, where numerous aliens have been crushed beneath their power. A small cohort of aliens had taken cover behind some debris, shooting at whatever moved; people, animals, whatever. This was brutal urban warfare, and the aliens seemed to like fry civilians with their plasma weaponry. Little did they know that things were going to get chiller from here on.

The Cryophoenix swooped in from the skies like a falcon homing towards its prey, freezing several aliens in place with its icy breath. It then flew back for another run, this time taking its cold, dark talons forward to destroy the aliens that had been turned into statues. It smashed upon them with the force of a freight train, turning their frozen bodies into pieces of unthawed meat. It then looked towards a bunch of civilians, who were gawking at the 10 feet long bird made of ice.

"What are you waiting for? Go!"

As the people ran off, the Cryophoenix glanced towards the group of heroes that were in there. icon had flown off to the sky, and there was a man in red and white killing any alien that got near him. "I assume our rules of engagement is kill on sight, no?" It then shot a spike of ice from its wing towards an alien that had taken aim at him, impaling the creature on a nearby building. "Kill them all. Got it."

Collab involving @IrishAngelQueen, @The Man Emperor, and @Perse

*****

Muerte led the beast to the garage of the dilapidated property that they had arrived to with Jacque walking the bike behind him. He entered a code into a hidden panel which unlocked the door. Careful to not jostle Cadence too much he knelt down and opened the garage then coaxed the alien panther into it.  Once Jacque was in with the bike he closed and relocked the door.

They made their way into the house proper, minus the panther, and Muerte called out, "Jesus!? Jesus!?"

A sweater clad figure peeped around the corner of the hall cautiously. "Who's that?" He asked pointing to the green-haired woman nervously.

"Its ok Jesus, she's with me. She helped me and Jacque get here." The figure made no move into the room but did creep a little more around the wall.

 "Is she hurt?" 

"No, just tired. She is one of us and her powers drained her. She's just asleep. Hey Cadence." He began to try to rouse her, though gently so. After a few moments her fist flew out and landed solidly on his jaw, which he was not prepared for and his head actually turned with the momentum. "Ow!" Jacque snorted.

Lungs heaving as she panickily look around her as she tried to take her situation in, she then saw the familiar skull covered face and relaxed slightly. Than noticing that her fist had made impact with her friend's face, a small mischievous smile crossed her face as she giggled and said, "Morning, Mr.Muerte"

Wriggling her way out of his arms, she got her feet back on the ground before looking around at where she now was. She didn't recognize the area at all but there was that woman that Mr.Muerte liked and there was only this one other guy that seemed to be staring at her. Not really worried about her situation at the moment, Louisa took it in all in stride and started to stretch out her tired body by pulling her arms behind her back.

Feeling her achy and tired body, Cadence turned to the strange man down the hallway that seemed to be homely with his cute sweater and happily waved at him, "Hiiii! Do you have any coffee?"

Jesus shrank away from her acknowledgement of him further into the shadows. After a few seconds a timid "Yes" came from the hall. 

"Jesus," Muerte said in a gentle coaxing tone, "Its alright. You don't have to be scared, I think she will like you! When there was no response, other than a peculiar shuffling, Muerte sighed and looked back to Cadence. "I will get you some coffee, wait here," he said making his way towards the kitchen. 

"Ya gonna get her some f*cking crumpets too?" Jacque said exasperated, "Or did you forget that the world is kind of ending?!" She lit up a cigarette and pulled an ash tray out of her purse while talking.

"First off, crumpets are for tea," Muerte said calmly from the kitchen, "Secondly, unless we can communicate with other sups in the area and actually coordinate a counter attack there is little we can do right now except to catch our breath." Jacque gave him a 'F*ck you and your f*cking logic' look before taking another drag off of her cigarette, but said nothing further. "Jesus? Have you had any luck establishing any sort of communication with anyone?"

"No," came the reply though it seemed to be coming from a point closer to the ceiling now, "but I guess its because anyone who would actually be able to help is running off a coded signal. I'd have to either know what channel to ping or broadcast a signal to them and hope they find it. But that would-"

"That would lead them to you, I know, but what if we took the signal elsewhere and broadcasted from there? Would that work?"

There was a pause before Jesus responded. "It might...I'd have to build you the transmitter though..."

"Please do, and quickly Jesus. We don't know how much time we have."

More shuffling, again coming from the ceiling, and then a door closing. Muerte came back into the living room with three mugs of coffee and gave one each to Cadence and Jacque. "I hope you like it black, Jesus doesn't do dairy. Or sugar. Or coffee for that matter. This is just the emergency stash he keeps in case I come over."

Watching the other man retreat more, Cadence tilted her head in curiosity. She wasn't really used to people hiding themselves from her, if anything she was quite used to the opposite. Which just made her more and more curious about this guy who wouldn't come out and meet her. She was about to move to follow the sounds of shuffling and movement but she ended up being caught off guard by Jacque's bitterness.  Louisa was not really one to want to please everyone but she had been hoping that a friend of friend would mean they would also be her friend. Looking at Jacque's form and the way she dragged her cigarette, Louisa felt a little weight in her chest.

"I like crumpets...." She whispered very quietly to herself, she hadn't known what she had done wrong. She had saved her hadn't she? With a last look at the other woman she decided to shake it off and not let it get to her.

Then as if nothing had happened, she went back to her focus on the voice of the mystery man that now seemed to be coming from the ceiling. Having not had someone as shy or interesting appear in front of her since her childhood, Louisa was ready to explore and figure out the mystery before Muerte entered the room with coffee.

A wide smile grew on her face as she took and cradled the coffee cup within her hands. Her eyes stared at the black liquid treasure for a moment before she remembered Mr. Muerte was standing in front of her.

"Doesn't matter what as long as it's bean juice ," She said joked and smiled up at him before greedily starting to down the coffee. Even though it was still piping hot, and it burnt her tongue a bit, Louisa welcomed the caffeine to her body with large pipe sounding swallows.

Only when she was fished downing the whole drink, did she return back to the real world and look around at the other two. It was then as if the caffeine had just hit her a  light bulb lit up within her and she instantly remembered the mystery guy.

"Thank you for the coffee!" She said happily at the death masked fellow before putting her mug down on the closest surface. She then quickly started to in an almost skip start to go down the corridor towards the sound of where she had heard the closing door. She just had to know what was going on, who was this guy, why did he not want to be seen, why did he sound like he was coming from the ceiling? All the questions rushed through her as she held down the door handle of the door which held all her answers.

"Hey Cadence, what are you-?" Muerte began but the green haired woman was already gone down the hallway like some fleet-footed sprite. "Cadence!" he called again now starting to follow her down the hallway, "Jesus is jumpy, don't just barge in!"

But again he was a half second too late as the door handle turned to reveal a small room that was dark save for the glow of several monitors which seemed to be connected to cameras outside. Amongst the blue tinged light was Jesus, though now more than his upper torso was visible. From the waist up he appeared a gangly lad somewhere in his late teens or early twenties with a baggy purple sweater and a mop of shaggy brown hair. From the waist down however was the abdomen and legs of a large spider in an almost orb weaver configuration. Jesus turned at the disruption to reveal a face that had four sapphire blue eyes; two large ones in the same spot as a human's and two slightly smaller ones higher on his forehead. He had menacing looking mandibles for a mouth and his hands were elongated with claws at the end. At the sight of Cadence in his doorway Jesus let out a small "Ah!" before scuttling rapidly across the ceiling into what looked like a walk in closet and closing the door with a snap.

Cadence stood still in the middle of the doorway with large eyes as she stared at the human spider hybrid. It wasn't until he had run away and slammed the door behind him, her normal large smile grew back on her face. He reminded her a lot of the kids she used to know when she was young so she rushed forwards and started to knock on the closet's door in an child's version of a secret knock, 5 knocks/pause/2 knocks.

"Hey, how do you wear pants?" She loudly asked through the wooden door thinking this was a question that would hopefully make him more comfortable before then also adding a probably simpler question, "How do you walk on the ceiling? I want to walk on the ceiling!" She thought about using her powers for a moment and hopefully joining her new friend but her exhausted body told her that it was probably not the smartest idea so she then added, "Can you help me walk on the ceiling?"

There was no response from the closet, even the shuffling had ceased. Muerte entered the room seconds later. "Cadence," he said in a slight groaning voice, "I told you he was skittish. Now he can't work on our transmitter!" He walked up to the door and after trying the knob and finding it locked he said, "Jesus! Come out! We need that transmitter!"

"No," came the frightened squeak from within.

"Jesus!" Muerte said in strained tones, "You are being silly! Get out here right now! The fate of the world may be..." He stopped as a rapid beeping sound from one of the screens drew his attention. He walked closer, squinting at the image it was displaying before exclaiming in excitement. "I think we just found our two first recruits! Jesus, keep working on that transmitter. We are going to go say hello. Come on Cadence!" He caught her by the sleeve and started leading her from the room.

Louisa looked at Muerte in surprise as he sounded disappointed in her. She had no idea what she had done wrong, she had just wanted to make another friend and this had always worked with her other friends that were different like her. It wasn't like she had meant to scare him away and make it so he wouldn't make the transmitter. She frowned a little as she looked away from both, she really didn't know what she did wrong but what she did know was that she didn't like when the people she thought were her friends were angry with her. She liked it even less that the idea that she may have scared or hurt her possible new friend.

She hardly even paid attention to the beeping sounds, and when Muerte caught her by the sleeve of her hoodie. She knew there was probably important information about the invasion but she was still stuck on the thought that she had scared the man that reminded her of her childhood.  She quietly talked to the closet door, "I'm sorry if I scared you. I think you're really cool..." and then she let Muerte lead her out of the room.  Staying unusually quite, Cadence just follow the skull masked man. Her thoughts were still on the spider man and if he was alright.

Muerte glanced back at her, noticing her face. She's upset...about Jesus? At least she's not afraid of him, but I need her to focus right now! "He will be fine, he just doesn't get out much," he said reassuringly to her as they made it back to the living room. To Jacque he said, "Cadence and I are going to go flag down some help. PLEASE stay here Jacque, Jesus needs someone to watch his back."

Jacque sighed then shrugged, "Sure, whatever. You just come back in one piece ok? I wanna kick your ass proper for being late."

"Love you too, Melocotona."

"Just go @sshole!"

Muerte grinned under his mask as he walked out into the garage. "Not sure if we want to take your friend here," he said gesturing to her alien friend, "They might think we're hostile."

Louisa looked up at her friend and nodded sullenly as she thought about why her new friend might be so scared of her. People were weird and judgmental, hell some had said some pretty rude stuff about her hair colour so she wouldn't be surprised to see someone freaking out at his spider like appearance. She really did try to focus back on the situation but instead she caught the last end of Muerte and Jacque's conversation and she found herself questioning if they were still together even if he had said they weren't. Either way she was starting to feel a heavy feeling in her chest and a knot in her throat as the exhaustion was really starting to get to her. She didn't really know why she felt so bad hearing what Muerte had said but at the moment she had chalked it down to her being annoyed at herself for scaring the spiderman. Either way she was starting to feel as if it was time for her to leave.

Luckily it was about then she saw her big furry friend again and she went running towards the panther like beast while shouting, "Kitty!"

Not really paying attention to Muerte's comments about seeming hostile, she quickly climbed her way up on to the mount and sat upon the beast with a large smile on her face. If the other supposed heroes couldn't accept a big cat, she didn't see the point of teaming up with them. Leaning down into the big cat's back she rubbed the big cat's neck fur and she whispered to it, "You're a good kitty aren't you, yes you are."

But then turned to Muerte and with a much happier heart and smile said, "Let's go"  and then urged the beast forwards. She didn't even really know where she was going or what they were planning to do but that didn't really bother her. She knew at least that they were planning to go back out to the fight and as much as she hated to admit it, it was probably a good idea. That and she really didn't want to go back to the hide out where she felt like she had made a large mistake. She just wanted to get out and free, possibly even have a new adventure.

Muerte sighed, rubbing the back of his head a bit before getting on his motorcycle and opening the garage door. "Follow my lead and stay close, ok?" He revved his way out of the garage and started riding towards the two figures in the sky that he'd seen fighting the aliens.

The large cat like critter, followed and kept up with the motorcycle with well practiced ease. Cadence happily rode the beast, and looked around the city to take in all that had happened since she had last seen it. What mostly seemed to be new where the alien ice sculptures, with everything going on she had nearly forgotten about the invasion.

---

The large, skeletal dragon roared a fiery breath at the invading aliens, setting ablaze the ones that were not already frozen or in the process of freezing from the Cryophoenix's attacks, limbs smoking with shadows with every movement made. Ruyn dive-bombed into a large group of aliens, tearing at limbs with sharp, serrated teeth, a whiplike tail with a scythe-tipped end slitting throats and dismembering them. The faint sound of a heavy engine and a distinct mechanical purr reached his sensitive hearing and he chomped an alien in half before taking to the sky to breathe flame once more.

"Cryo," he called. "Looks like we possibly have help, over there. Should we go say hello?" He dipped a wing and nodded in the direction of a man on a motorcycle and what looked like a girl on a large alien feline.

Cryophoenix gleefully impaled several aliens with ice spikes from his wings, sticking their accursed bodies into the side of a destroyed grocery store. He has frozen so many of the aliens at this point that he had lost count of how many he had destroyed, and yet, the damn things keep popping up like mushrooms. Now, though, there were more of the city's defenders in sight. They were somewhat familiar, though unlike Ruyn, he had not been acquainted with them.

"Well let's say hello to them, then." He would then fly over towards the man in the motorcycle and the cat lady he was with, gliding right above their heads. "Well, well, well, look at what we have here."

It took a moment but when Louisa noticed the two forms flying through the air, she stared up at them with the awe and excitement of a child on Christmas morning. Dragons are real?! And there are big ice birds?! She wanted nothing more than to see if she could also make friends with the large creatures. That's when the big ice like phoenix came closer to them and started to glide next to them.  You could practically see the sparkles in her eyes as she took in the large bird, and then when he spoke her draw just dropped.

"You can talk?!" She shouted back at Cryo with a large delighted grin on her face, then without thinking she also added, "Can I ride you?!"

"Cadence, not everyone enjoys being a mount. You haven't even introduced yourself yet," Muerte said looking over at her. He brought the bike to a stop and turned to look at the two winged fellows. "It is nice to have some help at last. I'm Muerte, this is Cadence. Are either of you in contact with any other metas in the city?"

Ruyn landed in front of them gracefully and with a soft whooshing of air, turning his skeletal head towards them, wicked teeth on display and eyes glowing.

"I know of them, but unlike my companion here, I do not know how to contact them," he rumbled. "As for introductions, they call me The Grim Reaper, or the Grim Dragon when I am like this. Otherwise, my name is Ruyn Grim. You might say I'm a demon." Ruyn gave a growling laugh at his little joke, wondering if they got it.

The panther mount started to slow down to a quick stop as it tried to not get closer to the large demon dragon. Cadence sat upon it pouting a little, she knew she was being childish but today was really starting to not feel like it was her day. She couldn't make friends with the spider man, she had in fact scared the guy, and now after she found out dragons and phoenix's were actually real, she couldn't go flying with the phoenix and dragon. This day was starting to be a lot less fun than she had expected when she had first started to meet up with the others. She knew she should have been more aware about the aliens, and care more about the invasion but her truth was that she was much too excited by the mythical creatures appearance to think about the circumstances.

Getting off her mount, she walked closer up to the dragon. On her way she had a few aliens appear out of the corner of my eye, she knew she was already working beyond her limits and so she quickly spoke a limited spell as fast as her brain let her create it.

"Don't mess with this meeting

and start your retreating."

The bright neon green arose from her and went sending over to the aliens who quickly started to retreat in a blind panic. She didn't pay any more heed to them though as she tried to act like the spell had not worn her out more and instead put out her small hand out to the massive dragon as if to shake his massive claw.

"I've heard people call me a witch but I've never met a dragon or a demon before," She joked as she smiled up at the massive creature. Louisa didn't even know if the creature could shake hands with her but after the way she had scared off the man spider hybrid, she was trying to be a little more careful and civil.

"There were others fighting in Sherman Square." Cryophoenix responded as he too landed in front of them. The size difference between him and Ruyn would be quite marked at that point; Ruyn was as big as a tank, while the Phoenix was not even half as big. "Icon went up to the sky to take the fight to the head of the snake, I assume. I was scouring the area around the square when I came across this friend of mine."

A pause. "And yes, introductions. I'm the Cryophoenix... everything about me is icy. And yes," he glanced at Cadence. "I would give you a ride, but you would get frostbite once you sit. That would be too bad, isn't it?"

Muerte perked up at the news of Icon and Sherman square. "Perfect! We need to coordinate with others if we're going to have an effective counter strike against these invaders. This is, as far as I can tell, an organized military operation and while they may not have suspected Lost Haven to survive the attack we are fast losing ground. Can you give us air support on the way there? As well as point out anyone else who could join us?"

Ruyn offered his claw for her to shake, the thing serrated and sharp, nearly as long as small log, then answered.

"Nice to meet you, little witch," he turned to Muerte. "My eyesight is excellent for spotting enemies, so yes, I believe air support is doable. Hmmm." He thought for a moment, then sighed and his form turned to smoke, shrinking until he was in his armor and demonic form; amber eyes and red sclera, black and red-edged scaled skin with long crimson red hair on half of his head, two sharp, curved horns on either side of his head, and large, black leathery wings on his back, mask on his face.

"If we are to communicate, I have to draw my mark either on you or a piece of paper-like material," he told Muerte, trusting that the male seemed to know military strategy the best. "Cryo, do you still have the one I gave you last time or did you burn it?" Changing from dragon to demon took less of a toll on his body and soul, than changing from dragon to humanoid did. 

"Oh, bloody hell." Cryo shook his head as he too turned to a human. He seemed to look ordinary when not an icy bird; rather short in terms of average height for men in this country and a black trenchcoat. He turned back, as he was burning up precious time by remaining in that form. "I have no idea... I think my mom swept it when she cleaned the house. Oh well, mark it is."

Shaking the least sharp side of the talon with her own small hands, Cadence smiled up at the dragon. She found herself liking the nickname little witch, it was definitely one of the nicer things she had ever been called.

At Cryo's words, she quickly turned around him in excitement, "Really?!", she exclaimed at the idea that one day she could actually ride a big ice bird. I mean sure it would probably freeze anyone normal but there was surely a spell for that.

This was right before she saw he was in his human form though and looking at him change, she couldn't help her face look a little disenchanted. Not only was she starting to realize that this man was not a magical phoenix that she had thought of but she was suddenly starting to realize that she had asked to ride him. Turning away from Muerte and the man that called himself Cryophoenix, she quickly tried to hide her expression as she looked back at the massive dragon.

That was also when she saw that the dragon had also started to turn into a humanoid. She looked at him and his horns and wings and she had a million questions running through her mind, and the one thought of relief that she didn't also ask if she could ride him.  It was then she reminded herself of the situation she was in and she couldn't but let out an external sigh. These were some of the most interesting beings she had met in a long while, but it all would come second to the fact there was invasion. She understood why she had to focus on the outsiders assault but she admittedly would have rather stay and talk to the two new intriguing strangers.

"I guess we should stop them before it's too late," She said out loud to herself more than anything else. It didn't help that she really have much hope for most humans but deep down her she knew that there were people worth saving, and she wouldn't want anything to happen to them.

Muerte was about to ask about the nature of this 'mark' when a building in the distance was suddenly shot down and collapsed into rubble as he watched. "I guess there is little choice," Muerte said slightly agitated, "Put this 'mark' on me then, but I warn you: if you're after my soul it's definitely not in the best shape. 'Used' rating at best." He stepped forward and waited, half of him cautious, the other half very curious. If Ruyn was indeed a demon, which Muerte was skeptical of, then he would have a lot of questions after this was all over.

"I am not after your soul, not until your death," Ruyn replied. "And even then, it is not a guarantee that I will be the one to Reap it." He took one of his clawed fingernails and cut into his arm, black blood welling up, and then approached Cryo and began to paint his mark onto the male's jaw below his ear, curving towards his mouth, connecting the two body parts so that the telepathy was strongest. Once done, the mark was already almost dried, and Ruyn tilted his head at Muerte as he walked the short distance to him, asking quiet permission to touch him.

"I am taking a risk to my own life by painting you with my mark," he explained. "Whoever has its pattern could find me wherever I am or summon me to kill me or torture me for a very, very long time. And I'm not about to be anyone's prisoner ever again." There was a dark promise in the last words he spoke.

Muerte considered the man before him for a few seconds before saying, "Fair enough," and peeling up just enough of his skull mask to allow the mark to be placed where he had just put it on Cryo.

"Thank you," Ruyn moved forwards to carefully paint his mark into the other male's face, finishing quickly and hoping Muerte didn't mind him blowing in it a little to make sure the mark wouldn't smear, for if it smeared then it wouldn't work. "There. You can replace your mask now."

"Can you hear me?" he asked with his mind, directing his thoughts at both men, being careful not to be too loud.

"Yes," came the tentative reply, "This certainly is different, but it seems far more efficient than shouting.

"Indeed. Most demonic races can do this naturally, in varying degrees with one another, making ambushes and battles easier to coordinate. The strongest connections are between families and lifemates."

Watching the demon known as Ruyn or Runey as Cadence had already started to nickname him in her mind, paint his blood on the other two she had mixed feelings. She didn't particularly want his blood on her but at the same time she hated being left out.

"What about me?" She called out to the other members.

"If you are willing and understand the risk I take," he replied, turning to her as he backed up to give Muerte some space.

"I'm not sure she does... Muerte interjected with the new mental link. Out loud he said, "Only one of us should be taking this risk and I would prefer it be me. Besides, if I get into trouble because of it I will need your help to get me out. Let's go!" He revved his bike once more, nodding to Ruyn and Cryo.

Ryun nodded once, then crouched and jumped into the air, flapping his wings in a hard, downward, thrust, smoking into his massive dragon form as he did so, circling above the other three.

"Ready when you are, Muerte, Cryo."

​​​​​​​Hearing Muerte's words, Louisa couldn't help but actually feel a bit relieved as she wasn't too sure if she actually did want the black blood touching her skin. Well that and she didn't really like the idea of someone else being in her head.

Thankfully smiling back at Muerte, she then walked back to her panther like mount. She was thankful she had the war beast, since she wasn't so sure how many spells she had left in her at the moment. It was time to enter this battle for real.

Cryo nodded, speaking his incantation before flying off in his Cryophoenix form, circling at an altitude higher than Ruyn the dragon. "Let's go now and meet up with the others."

Just before she nudged her feline mount into movement, Louisa knowing all too well that she was not at the top of her game quickly decided to speak a spell to help protect herself in what she was just about to face.

"As I'm about to go into battle

I want myself to embattle

Let me not be pushed into drama

and grant me some protective armour."

A neon green light spread around her and a moment later, she was wearing a set of magical still glowing green armour. It looked more like something out of a fairy tale then anything actually modern but luckily for her since it was magical it weighed next to nothing on her. 

Turning to look around at her new found comrades, she tried to keep her carefree on her face even though she couldn't help but feel a little anxious at knowing she was wearing herself too thin. She nodded at Muerte, ready to go when he was.

Muerte nodded back to her and took off rapidly down the street. To their new comrades in the air he sent them an abbreviated version of what he'd learned so far about the aliens.

They appear to have a few set patterns of movement with very little deviation in their ground and air formations. Surprise attacks are very effective, and as long as your movements are unpredictable you are less likely to get hit. Their ships are resistant to impact but not piercing damage. They are also weaker on the inside, so once you are in don't stop. Hit them fast and hard.

With that he focused on making his way to the Square, stopping only momentarily to gather up some of the weapons that had been discarded by the Cryo's and Ruyn's attacks earlier. He even passed one to Cadence. She had fallen unconscious earlier and he wasn't sure how much of her magic she could do but was sure she had to be close to her limit. Soon, they were in the city proper again and the Square was just around the corner.

Cadence and The Horror

Skipping over the piles of trash left over by what she guessed were the homeless, Louisa hummed to herself as she started to walk towards the decript old warehouse. It looked like it had been abandoned for years, and if it wasn't a place for the homeless to hang out it was definitely the perfect place for a massive rat's nest. To Cadence though with no other person in sight, it looked like a good roof over her head for the night. Sure it wasn't the Ritz or even a nice abandoned house she could break into but she would take what she could get. It was already starting to get dark and it was the best location she had seen all day so she might as well do. I mean it just needed a few touches anyway, a little clean, a small bed and maybe a shield to keep her protected from anyone who decided she was an easy target.

Walking into the structure she knocked on where there had once been a door, "Hellooooooo, anybody in?" She called out into the ominous dark.

At first, there was nothing. No answer from within the darkness, no shining light or foot stepping out from the shadows. Nothing.

Then, there was a noise, one that sounded like it came from a random creature in the woods. It was like a hyena's cackling laughter, which became deeper in pitch within the span of a few seconds. 

Tap, tap. One pair of footsteps sounded in the dark, and then another, and another. They multiplied in number until there was a cacophony of quiet feet from the void... that is, until one stepped out. It was a figure in a labcoat, a man in an advanced state of decomposition that walked rather unsteadily, as he had a broken leg. It gave out a growl; it sounded hungry.

Hearing the footsteps, Louisa sighed to herself. It didn't look like this place was as empty as she had hoped. It wasn't until she saw the telltale lab coat of the first stranger, did her chest tighten. What in the hell?! Seeing a familair sight from her childhood instantly made the small animalistic part of her brain screaming for her to run.

Than her eyes caught something, wait... why were they hurt? It then growled, and she couldn't help herself. She started to laugh a high pitched gasping laugh as she tried to calm herself. She didn't even care if it was the same people from her childhood anymore because fuck them. They deserved whatever this was that happened to them.

"The nightmares of the past

this shall be your last

may your bodies carrode

and from this world fade."


A bright neon glow came from her hands and stretched out towards the monster like beings from her past.

The first of the eldritch monstrosities crumbled into ash, it's remains tumbling unto the floor like a sack of potatoes. The two behind it followed suit, and then the next four, the next right, and then the rest. In a few seconds, all of them were destroyed by Cadence's spell. But it wasn't over. Not yet. Another pair rushed out of the darkness, this time running full speed towards her, teeth bared and leaving drops of blood in a trail behind them.

"Hey Nathan." Alfred cackled as he watched through the eyes of his minions. "This is a good catch. Don't you think?"

"Screw you, every night, you're like this." Nathan grumbled from the corner of the mind that they both resided in. The two of them were in what appeared to be an office space, though all the lights were out except for the ones inside the cell keeping 'Nathan' imprisoned. "You should let my body go to sleep."

"And leave out the fun? Aw, no. Besides, I'm the one that does what is necessary. You don't have the guts."

"Just... wait." Nathan pointed at the TV screen that represented what his dark side's minions were. "I know her. It's Louisa... from the facility we were taken to!"

"Oh? I'll go and say hi then. But first..."

Absolute darkness enveloped the entire warehouse, including the area in which Cadence was standing on. The creatures would simply look upon her with dead eyes as another pair of footsteps began to sound in the dark, though this one was far more stable in movement...

She smiled to herself with a little pride and started to relax as she watched the creatures from her often nightmares started to crumble. It looked like she had celebrate victory too soon though as the same monsters lunged out of the darkness. Louisa quickly took a fighting pose, this was not the first time she would have to defend herself from others in an abandoned lot. Though it was definitely the first time she would have to defend herself from what looked like the undead.

Nevertheless, she tried to calm her erratic breathing and readied herself to only see them suddenly stop as all the light in her world seemed to suddenly be turned off. I mean it was dark before but now she couldn't even see her readied fist in front of her face.  What the hell was going on.  This was not normal in the least and all that Cadence knew at the moment was she was not planning to spend the night here. Screw a possible roof over her head, she rather sleep on a street bench. Oh good, she thought to herself as she heard the heavy footsteps, what is this now?

Nathan threw a metaphysical pencil at Alfred, who was still sitting on the computer that represented their control over the mind they were in. "Get off the wheel you idiot, I should be the one to talk to her."

Alfred chuckled. "Awww, it's not daytime, baby. But... okay. Just for now, hehehe."

The dark ego stepped aside from his station, and bowed slightly as Nathan quickly rushed towards the seat, taking control of the body that they shared. 

As soon as he got down on his 'seat', the undead creatures that Alfred had summoned crumbled into ash, and the darkness dissipated. What would appear before Cadence's eyes was someone vaguely familiar; someone she knew. "It's really you, huh, Louisa." Nathan said, looking down at her due to their marked height difference. "It's been a long time."

Wait where are they going? Cadence looked dumbfounded as she just stood in her fighting pose just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead in the place of the terrors, she was looking up at a normal enough looking man who was just a bit older than her.

What the actual fuck, Louisa thought as she stared bewildered at the man in front of her. It took a moment but hearing her old name, it all started to click into place.

"...Nathan?" She asked as she started to relax her body out of the battle position and then with what seemed like a spark of recognition she squealed and jumped on top of him hugging him with all her strength, "NATHAN! Oh my god is it really you?! Where have you been? How did you get out? Did you escape back then too? Did they let you out? Do they even still exist..." And then she started to question her thoughts, "and ... was that you? you couldn't do that before." 

Stopping squeezing him she looked up at him with her arms still around his neck, "wait where's Alfred?"

Nathan only shook his head. "He's been dead for a year, Louisa. Shot when we escaped. But... it seems that he is not entirely gone..."

At that moment, he suddenly began to spasm and fell down to the ground... and shifted into the form that the younger Salazar had when he was still alive. "I'm right here! Hahahahahahaha! Scaring the crap out of people has been soooooo fun! And... yeah. I'm dead. Kind of. But not really. We now share a single brain and body, though he's quite icky about the whole thing... hah."

"What do y-," Louisa suddenly stepped back as she looked over her childhood friend in worry. She was about to try to find out if he was alright but then to her surprise Nathan started to transform and instead she was now looking at Alfred. Her bright smile came back to her face as she stared at the younger boy, not really caring about his little manical laughter and pretty much his confession that it was him who had scared her.

"I'm so happy to see you too!" Cadence said as she jumped on him and hugged him as tightly as she could. She had no idea how this was possible but she honestly didn't care how weird the situation was, because she could accept it all if it meant she had both her friends back in her life. As a teenager she had escaped hoping that they had only been right behind her, but the truth that she never saw them get out was a thought that liked to be recalled during those dark lonely nights. Now with them in her arms, she wasn't going to let them go so easily. Pulling back to look at his face she then pouted and pointed out, "That was a mean trick."

"I had no idea it was you." Alfred winked. He held her in a hug, keeping Louisa close as he sensed that Nathan had missed her quite a bit. "So, it's really been a while, and yet, you haven't gotten taller at all. HAH. Either way, it's really late, so why don't you crash in my place?"

"Our place, you idiot." Nathan grumbled from within.

Louisa smiled brightly back at Alfred, but she couldn't help but wondering how much truth was beyong the tricky younger brother's words. Though she really didn't mind at the moment and all she did was release her hug and stand in faux annoyed position and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I did too grow," She huffed in fake annoyance before then she did a light twirl around the area as she took it all in. "Is this where you two live? I can make beds appear" She finished and then looked back up at them with a her familiar beaming smiling.

"Oh, not really. I just like to wander around at night, see who can I play tricks with." Alfred snickered rather gleefully, as this kind of deed was a lot of fun for him. "You should meet a friend of ours, too."

"I was gonna sleep here. Big empty space, no drug addicts and a roof over my head," Cadence pointed out still smiling as she showed the charm of the area to her old childhood friend. She happily grabbed his arm though, "but sure, I would love to meet your friend and see where you live,"  before she started to pull him towards the exit.

"Okay, then..."

Some time would pass before they reached the apartment building where Nathan and the other friend lived in. It was a rather decrepit building, with dysfunctional light switches and a broken doorbell. Either way, they just came in and knocked on a door on the third floor labeled '21'. It quickly opened, revealing a man in his mid 20's and wearing pajamas and a bed coat. "Oh, hi, Nate, and, uh, girlfriend." Zach extended his hand... and at that moment, Louisa would feel that her mind was being read...

Louisa happily followed Alfred towards the old apartment building, it didn't matter how ancient and broken the place looked, to her she was just so happy that her old friends were not only doing well but had a regular roof over his head. She was curious on why he was knocking though, if this was his place why didn't he have a key. Either way she was all smiles looking at the disheveled man in front of her, well that was until he called her Nathan's girlfriend.

Her face scrunched up in confusion as she looked at him, "but it's Alfred right now and I'm not his -" There was a niggling at her brain and she looked at Nathan and Alfred's friend and raised an eyebrow as she recognized this feeling. There were many thoughts that were going through her brain at that moment, but the main ones were that he was like them and that he really didn't want to be looking into her head, he probably wouldn't like what he found. If he looked under that all that though and really saw into her mind, it would have been deafening colours that swirled vibrant shades, screams of fear, a young voice talking to herself and  a woman with a permanent fixed smile who skipped around her mind reciting rhyming words.

Zach immediately recoiled after trying to read Cadence's mind, his head hurting from all the pain and suffering. He swung the door open​​​​​​​ and motioned for them to get in. "Alfred? You mean Nate's long dead brother?" Zach had no idea. That was a secret that Nathan had kept this past year; though Zach was a telepath, he did not know that his friend has a split personality, as said split ego is rather discreet when around him. Oh well. 

Once they were both inside, Zach crossed his arms and faced them both. "The name is Zachary Bennet. I have been his friend for a year now, and maybe only friend in this city, that is, until you came along. Uhm, how do you two know each other?"

Watching the telepath's face scrunch up in pain, all Cadence could think was 'I told you so' but what she said out loud was, "That was rude," and humphed as she walked inside the apartment. She had no idea why this guy had no idea it was Alfred, I mean sure he looked like Nathan right now but shouldn't it be pretty easy to tell the two apart. They had completely differently personalities and he was a telepath wasn't he?

Louisa instantly made herself at home and went to lay down on the couch, with her feet over the side of the arm,  "My name's Louisa but you can call me Cadence." Kicking her feet over the arm of the lounge she looked up at both of the men with a bright smile back on her face and then also added, "We grew up together."

"Ohh, I see." Zach nodded his head. "I see, in that... place. Terrible place, he told me. Anyway, just feel at home. There's pizza on the table." He would then shamble towards the refrigerator, and pulled out a jug of water. 

At the meantime, Alfred looked back at Cadence with a scowl. "Hey, he doesn't know." He shook his head, telling her not to let off any more. "Don't tell."

Her relaxed smile faltered for a second when Zach talked about the facility. Her eyes quickly moved from Zach to Alfred and then back at Zach as she tried to keep her pleasent smile on her face. Her arm slammed over towards the table and she took a slice of pizza. Mouth full of food, she looked at Alfred in confusion. Why did he not tell Zach? Wasn't he living with him? Wait how did Zach not even figure it out? Whatever that didn't really matter, why he wanted to keep that specific thing as a secret was up to him.

Looking up at Zach coming back with water, she smiled brightly and said, "Do you or Nathan need money for the pizza?" Then looking around the small apartment she also added, "Oooooo do you and Nathan have bunk beds?! I love bunk beds."  She pat herself on the back with her flawless recovery. She then smiled up at Alfred hoping he thought she did good and was no longer annoyed at her.

"We do." Zach answered, setting the water back on the table. "Though sometimes I will find him sleeping on the couch like a bloody puppy. And... well, we do what we can. And no, the pizza has already been paid for, thank you." With that, he bowed a little and left the room; he was going to sleep.

Cadence happy that it looks like she had managed to trick Zach, relaxed into the couch as he left the area. With half a pizza slice still in her hand, her eye lids started to feel heavy and before even a minute had passed, she had fallen asleep in that same position. Alfred put his hand on her sleepy head, and drifted off into the night...

---

"Bloody aliens." Nathn grumbled as he let loose a fiery surge of solar energy and radiation towards a group of aliens, turning them to ash. The invasion was in full swing, and it won't be long before his dark side decides to take over and continue the job of killing these invaders. They all must fall...

-

As they returned to Sherman Square, Cryophoenix five in from the sky, freezing waves of attacking aliens in droves. His time in this form is going to run out soon enough, and it looked like the numbers of their enemy was still unending. At this rate, the defending metas of the city will be beaten by sheer attrition, as they were spread rather thin trying to fight off these invaders. Pockets of resistance like here in Sherman Square did rather well, but the rest of the city would not be as lucky.

Right now, though, he could only think about his brother and parents and sister; surely, they were safe and sound in the bunker. At that moment, he called out to the demon that was his friend. "Ruyn. Are alien flyers inbound? We will need to intercept them if they start coming in to to strafe our allies on the ground."

"I'm so happy you are both safe!" Louisa yelled over the sound of battle, probably louder than she actually needed to. Releasing him from the hug she then looked around at the actual situation and realized it was probably actually time to act a little serious. Turning to face the enemy she shot blasts from the small staff and called out behind her to Nathan asking him, "Do you like my kitty?"

Nathan had just evaporated another pack of aliens with a fiery blast of solar plasma when, seemingly out of nowhere, Louisa, no, Cadence came in and gave him a hug. The first thing that she might when touching his body was a burning, searing heat; hot enough to sting, but not really to hurt her. He got flustered by her sudden arrival so much that he was speechless for a few moments. It took him a little while to pull himself together, but when he did, he immediately put his hands on her shoulders. "Louisa, you do not do that!" Nathan was a little upset, though he was more worried about her than himself. "I could have burned you if you came in the wrong time, or if I was charging energy for release. You could have been hurt..."

He trailed off. He's scolding her at the middle of a battle. "Sorry. But I really could have turned you to ash by accident if you had come in at the wrong moment."

He then looked at her Panther, and then at Muerta. "Friends of yours?"

They were almost to the Square when suddenly Cadence veered down a side road. "Cadence!" he yelled after her but to no avail. "Sh*t," he said wheeling the bike around in a tire screeching turn. He sped off again and turned onto the road she had only to see her hugging another meta. He clicked his tongue in disapproval and using the mark reached out to Ruyn

Keep going, we have to find Icon. I'll stay here with Cadence, she appears to have found a 'friend'. We'll meet you there.

He skidded to a halt and brought up the alien gun he'd nabbed earlier, taking out two targets as they attempted an ambush on the distracted pair. The sound of the gun firing died down just in time for him to hear the other Meta call her 'Louisa' He knows her...? He made his way over to them firing sporadically as aliens showed up.

"You could have warned me Cadence," he said as soon as he was close enough to be heard, "I'm glad you found your friend, but we have to keep moving." He fired some more rounds off to the right. To 'Nathan' he said, "We are headed to the Square to rendezvous with Icon and anyone else we come across to coordinate a counter attack. You coming?"

A ship rounded the corner just then and started firing on their group, thankfully the first few shots missed allowing Muerte to fire back. He aimed for the thrusters of the ship and after several misses struck true. The ship went careening out of control and collided with a nearby building before exploding in a ball of fire. The building managed to stay upright but had a chunk taken out of the first five floors. Muerte sighed with relief and turned back to the other two.

"If you can just say yes and get on the space panther I would really appreciate it."

-

“Guardians, when I said let’s gather up, I didn’t mean to dilly-dally and smell the roses,” Chris snapped at the others over their communicators that were connected to his suit’s computers. He had given all the members of the Guardians these card-sized devices so they could effectively coordinate their efforts. If they happen to get out of this apocalyptic scenario alive, Chris knew he might have to schedule some drills to practice their assembling time.

And Chris needed help now more than ever, as his fight with the Arlaaekan had grinded down to a stalemate. Although Chris might have been able to take on the alien invaders one at a time, the group transports that Arlaaekans had been sending down to the surface had created pockets of dozens of soldiers. Chris definitely did not want to field test how well his armor would stand up against several blasts from the Arlaaekans’ energy weapons all focused on a single spot on his suit. All he could do at the moment was give civilians cover as they retreated to safety.

“I programmed our communicators to locate one another,” Chris explained over the intercoms, “but if you would prefer directions, I’m located 12 blocks west north-west of Lost Haven University. You can’t miss the mass of aliens clogging up the streets.”

Chris peaked over the wrecked SUV he had been crouching behind and launched a missile from the wrist of his amor at one of the Arlaaekans, whose attention had been drawn elsewhere. As soon as the explosive payload left his armor, Chris immediately ducked down, and luckily so, as several green beams soared over his lowered head. At this rate, he would be surrounded before he could take out all of soldiers in front of him.

“Alright, I’m here. What do you need?” Iron Knight heard Radiance’s voice come from beside him as he saw her take cover behind the same SUV. Chris could not quite put his finger on it, but something looked off or different about her. Maybe divine was the right word.

“I don’t know if we can do it by ourselves, but we need to slow these guys’ advance,” Chris suggested.

“Then maybe you need a boost?” Radiance replied as she reached out her hand. Giant sparks were dancing off her fingertips.

“I don’t think that’s how it wo—”

A jolt of electricity radiated throughout Chris’ armor. Yet, he did not feel any pain or shocks. In fact, the readings displayed on his helmet UI indicated that the power surging through his suit was off the charts. All the systems were running at an efficiency higher than anything he had recorded while testing out his armor.

“Or I guess it does,” Chris admitted, still stunned at how Radiance’s powers had interacted with his power suit. “Anyways, cover me.”

The boosters on Chris’ feet launched him several feet into the air. As he descended, Chris drew his sword. The blade’s edge sparkled with lightninglike plasma, even more intensely after the supercharging Radiance had given Chris. With one downward swing, he struck one Arlaaekan on the right clavicle; the alien crumbled to the pavement as Chris landed.

[Energy Beam Incoming]

Chris miraculously sidestep a blast from one of the fallen Arlaaekan’s comrades. He counterattacked with another wrist rocket. The ballistic missile slammed into the Arlaaekan who had fired at Chris and sent him flying backwards in its mangled armor.

“Alright, who’s next?”

---

Upon Olympus on high, Hermes fluttered about, rushing to and fro between the abodes of his brothers and sisters, his uncles and aunts. The messenger of the gods eventually came upon the luxurious home of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. Hermes found his half-sister soaking in a nature pool beside her dwelling. The waters sparkled purely in the sunny light that poured upon Olympus’ high slopes.

Yet, Aphrodite was not alone. Eros, her son, hovered about, while the three Graces sat at the edge of the pool, dipping their legs into the clear water. All their eyes were locked upon a small puff of clouds that floated over the pool. The cloud displayed a scene playing out on Earth. A blonde woman and her beau stood before priest of that religion that had ousted the Olympians from their hegemony in the Mediterranean. It took Hermes a moment to recognize the woman, since she was not all spidery at the moment, but he recalled she must have been Athena’s favorite.

“Greetings, Aphrodite!” Hermes hollered as he approached, “Our Father has called for a council of the gods and he requires your presence immediately.”

“What terrible timing,” Aphrodite complained as she raised out of the pool. The Graces took the goddesses clean clothes and draped her body. “My schemes have almost been consummated. A tragedy it shall be if I miss it.”

“Then you better leave at once,” Hermes suggested before zooming off again to pass the message along to the next Olympian.

Aphrodite rung out her silky red hair before setting out for her father’s halls. Once she was ready, the Goddess of Love held out her hand and watched as her body dissolve into a whirlwind of butterflies. The cloud of butterflies fluttered towards the portico of Zeus’ palace, where Aphrodite reformed herself. Within the halls of Zeus, many of the Olympians had already arrived, while more filed inside to their seats, although none dared to sit before the King of the Gods had done so first.

Once mighty Zeus had taken his seat and the rest of the Olympians followed suit, Gray-Eyed Athena was the first to speak as she rose up from her chair.

“Lord Zeus, the father of gods and men, have we become so complacent in our ivory tower to forsake humanity in its hour of need? Did Themis in vain pity Promethides after you released the deluge upon the world? Does your underworld brother keep a steady guard over the Titans and the Giants for just a danger from the stars to threaten the mortal realm? Even you, father, smote Clymene’s foolish son with your forked lightning bolts to prevent the sun from scorching the Earth and rendering it barren.”

“If we do not intervene, the Earth sure will fall and humanity shall be eradicated. With the mortals extinguished, our last anchor on this plane shall be severed and we will quickly fade into nothingness. Not even the techniques and technology we have developed to maintain ourselves in our weakened states will be able to save us. Are we so devoted to our mandates and accords that we would prefer our own mutual destruction to a breach of our sworn prime directive? Swift action must be taken, else all shall be lost.”

Zeus wore a somber expression on his face as he sat in his throne and listened to his daughter’s recommendation. Once Athena had concluded her speech and returned to her seat, the father of gods and men stood up and addressed the assembled Olympians.

“No fault can I find in your words, Tritogeneia. Indeed, even I have grown lax on curbing divine intervention in human affairs. Yet, we have stayed without the bounds of the exceptions in the mandate we agreed upon with our brethren pantheons. This alien invasion does not fall under that purview. Humanity forsook us long ago. To us immortals, humans are like unto the leaves of the trees. Springtime births the buds of arboreal foliage and summertime nourishes them into maturity. But autumn causes the old leaves to wrinkle and the winter winds seal the deaths of any that had not fallen yet. So is the race of men.”

“Yet, do not fret, my daughter. A council of the pantheons have been summoned and I must attend as our representative. While I do not reckon the other chief gods will arrive at a different conclusion, the fickleness of our kind makes anything possible.”

Once the father of gods and men had finished, he concluded the assembly and departed upon his chariot, drawn by divine horses. The remaining Olympians watched as their lord soared through the sky and vanished upon the horizon. Now left alone, the siblings and children of Zeus disperse to their own abodes upon Olympus on high.

Aphrodite rushed back to her home, as she did not want to miss any of the juicy romance the Goddess of Love had manufactured. Yet, before she could relax in her pool, Aphrodite noticed another four-horse chariot charging through the sky. At the reins was Zeus’ favorite child, Athena, not doubt intending to aid the mortal heroes, whether it be her spidery pupil or someone else.

“Eros, my boyish child, I must check on my handpicked hero. I would hate to have to find a new champion if the mortals happen to repel these extraterrestrial invaders. I will be gone for only a short while. Yet, fetch me if things start to heat back up down there,” Aphrodite commanded as she pointed to the cloud she had been using to eavesdrop upon a certain drider and her new husband.

With her commands given, Aphrodite transformed into a dove and fluttered away. Through the metaphysical path the Olympians had long used to traverse their own divine realm and the mortal world below, the Goddess of Love descended upon Lost Haven, where she found the Iron Knight out numbered and outgunned by the Arlaaekans.

Seeing her champion in need of aid, Aphrodite pulled the oldest trick in the Olympian playbook. Once she flew down from the roof, she changed her appearance once again. But this time, Aphrodite took on the form of one of Iron Knight’s fellow Guardian, Radiance. The Goddess of Love was not quite as good as Athena at hiding her divine figure while in a mortal disguise, but this effigy should suffice. Just like how Diomedes raged upon the battlefield of Troy, Aphrodite’s divine power would tip the scales in the Iron Knight’s favor until her real allies could arrive.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when through yon meth-house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
Apparatus were strewn around, shattered without care,
And the chefs and muscle-for-hire were equally impaired;
Bones fractured, men broken, all unconscious as if snug in their beds;
And doubtless concussions from the bell-ringing delivered to heads;

Whilst up on the roof, wrestling with his grappling gun and poor aim,
Stood a familiar Vigilante, more satisfaction than shame,
The grapple hook missed its target, he curses, as the hook gives its clatter,
With nary a thought for the preceding violent splatter.
The hook breaks through a window with an audible SMASH!
And sighing, he takes it, swinging on the line in a flash,

The moon catches his teeth as he flashes a grin,
Another night's toil; he laid waste to sin,
The scar tissue on his knuckles throbs without feeling,
A meagre comparison to the drug den of felons left reeling,
He swings down to a car; awaiting without plates,
Looks like any other, further attention; it seldom rates,

More rapid than an eagle his car swoops round a corner,
Frustrated and with lane changes, he lays off the horn, a
"Now, You bucket of bolts! You clunker! You lemon!
Let's hightail it out of here! The gas has been stepped-on!"
Came out of his voice with a mechanical twang,
Designed to mask any and all familiar pangs,

He downshifts, now comfortable that he'd put in enough space,
And that 'Cooktown's Finest' had not given chase,
He would park once again and seek the high ground,
Patroling his city for any crime to be found.
Later, another twinkling, can be heard on a roof
The grapple hook followed, by thick-booted hoof.

Once more he aims grapple-gun high, it strikes a skyscraper's gilding,
With a smirk, he hits auto-recoil, and flies up the tall building,
He was dressed all in black, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all matted with blood, dirt and soot;
A bundle of 'toys' he had flung on his back,
But t'were tools of violence, resting within his pack.

His flashbangs would twinkle! Nightsticks, how merry!
When brought down with a CRUNCH, they'd leave quite a cherry!
His droll little mouth was light up with a leer,
Catching the moonlight when his violence brought cheer;
It would contrast so richly with his balaklava's dark pitch,
He'd attack from the shadows, knock em flat out, but for a twitch.

His head on a swivel, from his perch he surveyed the dark night,
For the other types of malevolence that would feed upon fright,
A mugger, a rapist, or signs of drive-by;
What other's would seek to avoid, he instead hoped to spy.
A flash of his grin and a twist of his head
Gave proof to the fact he saw something we'd dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And checked his pack's presence; then turned with a jerk,
And grasping his line he descended to a more suitable perch,
His eyes flashed to once again find the target of his previous search;
A well practised descent, he dropped; soft, silent as a cloud,
Darkness fell upon muggers like a pitch black shroud.

A mechanical growl, and before they could flee--
“Ho Ho Ho! Forget 'All'. Merry Christmas to Me!”

Some Years Ago...

The house is chaotic. Helen and Brian Connolly had brought their sons Dennis and Sean to her father's for Christmas and for once the big, empty house was abuzz with life.

"Dennis, get off your behind and help out!"

Or the Connolly family's approximation of it.

Dennis was laying back on the lounge listening to MP3s with headphones on. He rocked forward and pulled out his left plug.

"Where's Sean at? Why doesn't he have to help out?"

"I didn't ask Sean, I asked you. Now get up and set the table."

Dennis got to his feet and trudged into the kitchen to get the plates and cutlery, whilst his mother wrestled with the turkey.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the basement a grandfather and his grandson were in the midst of an historic transition. Fitting, with Christmas being a day for tradition in so many households.

Few like this family, though.

Sean stood silently and respectfully in a long, skin-tight blue, yellow and red outfit with a large gold eagle emblem emblazoned upon his chest whilst his grandfather approached holding an oak box, a little over a foot in length, horizontally in front of himself.

This was a day he'd waited quite some time for. He'd put so much work in, proving himself with years of hard work and an exemplary record of long standing good ethics. Today was the payoff. The perfect 40 yard spiral in the Championship game after months of throwing it through tyres. The beachtime bod after the thousands of situps. The graduation with honours after years of cramming and long nights spents putting in the work.

Goal, hard work, payoff.

His grandfather opened up the long box and removed the Golden Rod with the small eagle emblem which he'd long ago metalworked onto the base of the handle as a younger man. Once more feeling the weight of the powerful item in his wrinkled hands. He smiled, both out of memory for what the pair of them had been able to accomplish over the years, but also out of pride for his grandson.

He held the Golden Rod out and Sean took it in his grasp. He held it aloft and a bright golden light glowed from the end, growing brighter and seemingly sending all shadow in the basement scurrying away, helpless from the seemingly omnipresent source of light in their midst.

The pair's smiles grew wider as they watched as Sean gaped in wonder at the amazing light show the grandson was able to put on. Alan began to wonder if this display was even brighter than he was able to get the Rod to shine, even at his greatest peak...

_{"HA HA HA HA HA HAAA!"}

Laughter echoed from the top of the stairs.

"Man, you look like a tapeworm in that getup. Spandex is NOT flattering, and you can see EVERYTHING..."

"Get out of here, Dennis!" Barked Sean.

"It's not Spandex. It's A-Q-Fiber. An engineered aramid fibre type which combines the external heat resistence of Nomex and the ballistic capabilities of kevlar." Alan corrected, scowling at the black sheep.

"...and the spandex properties which allows you to see the full outline of his meat and potatoes. Ha-Ha! You look skinnier than me in that! What was the point of all those pushups and weights in football just to get around looking scrawnier then I do?! HA HA HA!"

"I DO NOT look skinnier than you!" Sean barked back, pointing at Dennis with the Golden Rod in one hand and cupping his genitalia selfconsciously with the other.

"Sorry 'little bro'." Standing up from his hunched over position at the top of the staircase and spinning around showing off his own snow jacket. "It's why I wear this kind of stuff. Can't tell where the coat stops and the me starts. I could be anywhere in this. You'd never catch me wearing anything like that..."

"Well, Dennis... Nobody's asking you to." Alan spat back venomously. The words stopped the older grandson in his tracks and he turned and went back up the stairs and left the pair alone.

Alan adjusted the suit from where it had bunched up around Sean's shoulders.

Sean opened his mouth to say something to his grandfather, only gor the older man to cut him off.

"I know. I know. It's just a big moment for you and I won't have him--." The older man stopped and composed himself. "He'll get over it."

---

Later on the assembled family were all gathered around by the Christmas tree. Sean back in his LHU letterman jacket and Brian Connolly dressed in red, with a hat and fake beard years beyond the time everybody in attendance had ceased believing in Santa Claus, periodically firing off "Ho Ho Ho"s (perhaps more similar in delivery to Long John Silver than any traditional portrayal of Father Christmas, as Dennis had noted, to considerably more good humour and mirth than his appraisal of his brother's outfit) and distributing the presents from under the tree.

"Aaaaaand here's one for yooooou, Dennis! HO! HO! HOOOOOO!" His father said.

"Thanks, but now you're sounding more ghost than pirate or Santa... Ahhh you'll hit the right note eventually, Pops." He said, taking the large rectangular box covered in green and red Christmas wrapping.

He tore the paper clear and removed the lid, revealing an old surplus, fleece-lined aviator's flight jacket. It had a set of wings on the pocket, was two sizes two big, just like most of the clothes Dennis chose to wear.

"Awww thanks Ma, this is perfect!" He got up and gave his mother a hug.

"How'd you--? Alright... AND your father. It's a gift from the both of us."

"Sure, Ma." He said, in acquiescence.

The gift giving continued, Alan getting some jazz records from Dennis and some kind of modern newfangled coffee machine which wouldn't see out the year. Sean received a football jersey that had been taken around the lockerroom and signed by 50-odd players of some pro team or another, and socks from his grampa (because his 'real' present came before). Cufflinks which he'd seldom use for Brian, along with a flask which would see only a little more use. And Helen received a vast number of smaller gifts, which somewhat showed who tended to be responsible for collaborating and finding the 'big' gifts.

Christmas would go on a little longer before most of the family would pile into the Range Rover, and head on home. Leaving Alan Coghlan's home as painfully quiet as it had been since Margie's passing some years ago.

Alan made a token effort to tidy up, and then truly feeling the emptiness of the house, decided to go to bed and clean the house proper in the morning, when the absence of family would be less felt.

---

This Year...

Dennis pulled his fleece-lined aviator flight jacket tightly around him as he looked over Lost Haven from his chilly perch atop the Chambers Building. He'd spent much of the night ensuring that many of the city's homeless safely found their ways to the shelters which were more heavily funded and resourced this time of year. It was plenty cold and nobody should go without a good meal in them at this time of year.

Violent crime seemed to dry up somewhat immediately around Christmas, but that didn't leave him without people to help. Along with the homeless, self harm situations and suicides were generally high around this time of year. A time for family is often a bitter reminder for those who have lost theirs, or feel they have. As he pulled his jacket tight around himself, Dennis felt his own losses again. He sighed and saw his own breath in the cold air.

So much of this, being the Aquilifer, extends beyond just punching villains and stopping muggers. Grampa started this believing he could be an inspirational figure. A beacon of hope for people, to strive for more. To believe in betterness, both in themselves and the world around them. A sense of renewed hope. And sometimes it was difficult to figure out just how to be that. It took a sort of lateral thinking beyond the normal, the sense to find new ways to use almost inconceivable power and project it with that sense of purpose.

It seldom came naturally.

He looked out over the city. He'd filled the shelters and soup kitchens. No muggers out and about. No world destroying villains. No bankrobbers. Maybe he could call it an early night... or maybe even go down and give some local tourists a thrill. He looked straight down the building at the people directly below and saw the lights.

The Chambers Building had a series of green and red lights all up the side of it, on all four sides. Shaped in the form of great big Christmas trees on every point of the compass, overlooking all the burroughs of Lost Haven. It was another nice little thing the city would do this time of year. He looked up at the telecommunications antenna and smiled.

---

On the city's streets below, Maria Rodriguez tried to assemble her three kids for a photo in front of the Christmas tree in Sherman Square with the iconic Chambers building in the background. She'd repeatedly try setting her phone's camera down on a solid surface and scurry over to try and wrangle the children with varying degrees of futility.

"You kids! We're never going to get this shot for your Abuela! Now this time, come in and behave!"

She went back to the phone and was disappointed with the results again. A fair-faced young woman was walking past and saw the woman struggling. She reached out for the phone and offered to help.

"Salud! Gracias, oh thank you, Senorita! Thank you so much. Can you get the tree and the Chay-mbers in the background too, please, Miss?"

Maria got back in line with her kids. The young lady had a look at the phone in her hands. It was a good modern smartphone. Unlocked. Possibly even had internet banking attached... Almost certainly had personal details that would have been valuable for--

"Thank you again, Senorita! Now, you kids, don't you waste too much of this nice young lady's time!"

The young woman stopped and smiled, she framed the family up in the photo with the building and tree in the background just as she'd asked, watching the family closely to make sure none of the kids squirmed or pulled untimely faces. She took three shots, just to be safe so that the hurried mother could pick her favourite to send, and then held the phone out for Maria to come and take it.

Maria rushed over and took her phone back to look at the photos and thanked her again, checking the kids were all behaving. The younger woman said "That's more than fine." and turned to leave, before she heard Mrs Rodriguez' exclaimation.

"¡Mis cielos! ¡Un ángel!"

She turned curiously, to see what the older woman was talking about. Then realized it wasn't just in the photo.

There was murmuring all around, and she turned to see what was receiving all of this talk of the divine and saw it almost instantly.

There was a star atop the Chambers Building Christmas tree.

She squinted to penetrate the bright light and recognized it immediately. The same angel who saved her life the day the Hounds came for her. They had killed one sister and the other had selfishly fled without any regard.

He'd saved her and set her down safely without a scratch, whilst he soared over the city luring the killers away.

The whole city was seeing the same angel she'd seen on that day. A tear fell on her cheek.

Far atop the city, Dennis balanced atop the telecommunications antenna, setting the Golden Rod to shine just as bright as he could get it to go and laughing joyfully, his flight jacket flapping wildly in the winter night.

But Dennis didn't feel cold at all. Not this night.

In the brief moment between the waves of attackers, Voyager was sort of surprised that Wanderer was able to tell who they were, perhaps from the Psionic signature he’d mentioned before in passing. It was comforting to a degree, since it indicated that they were still the same Voyager as before, even with the new coat of paint.

”It’s fortunate that you survived the wave, but we need to start taking down whatever these things are and protect the people within the city. At least until that thing…” Wanderer went on, jabbing a thumb towards the large alien ship. ”… Is taken out. Any suggestions?”

“Well technically I did not survive the wave, but-” she began before Hound Dog descended in a bolt of lightning to join the duo.

”I’m assuming you ain’t like those greenies who are such a drag, though yet somehow oddly familiar. You a relative of Voyager? Cause man, the more I eyeball you the more I see her. But first we got more friends joining our shindig here.”

”Rest assured, this person and Voyager are one and the same. Just that her dive into the water as the wave hit caused the change,” Wanderer said on their behalf.

“I think that I was lethally incapacitated,” Voyager said, figuring she should said something to prove their identity. “But I assure you I am still the same Voyager who fought alongside you in New Haven against the Hounds of Humanity.”

”leat.. Hold on youse died, guess the only constant in life is just taxes then. That blows for us, suppose the squares can now tax the dead.”

Voyager nodded, tilting their head slightly. “Does it still count though? I did get better!”

”Youse certainly did. Right-O then dunno about the two of you, but taking that thing on my own would be a tall order. Maybe if I got inside. I can fire off some wicked powerful blasts but the big ones nah.”

With ships firing down and blasts shattering skyscrapers the trio as it currently was found themselves scrambling. While most civilians had evacuated, cries could be heard in the far distance and distinct gunfire and police sirens seemed to indicate just about every hero was on the scene.

" We rightfully can't be standing around heres. Not when all this commotion is happening right under our noses. I think the plan should be breaking into the big one, take out the air support and give the rest of the heroes a bit of breathing room. Anyone here got a bunker buster!? Because I need Voyager to pop a hole and show them how we dos down Earth side with a payload to send these beatnicks packin.”

“Ooh, I don’t know about a bunker buster but I have an idea!” Taking a moment to plant their feet, Voyager held out a hand towards the main ship bearing down on them. Focusing as clearly as the could on the ship, Voyager moved their hand in a circle, and a portal directly into the ship opened up, right beneath Hound Dog’s feet.

“Do you think you could...oh, where did Hound Dog go?” Voyager asked as they looked behind them, then putting on a confident smirk. “Ha, probably off to kick some alien tail! Wait, I AM alien tail, maybe that’s the wrong phrasing…oh gosh that’s REALLY the wrong phrasing…”

The Wanderer turns to the two that had been talking, his psionic blade still active. ”While the mannerisms in your speech is different, could we get on wi…”

His eyes catch sight of the flying figure firing an attack towards Voyager, with Hound Dog having disappeared. Wasting no time, he phased away from where he stood and reappeared in the path of the beam heading towards as Voyager leapt out of the way. He braced his arms in front of him as the beam hit him. His coat flapped in the gust from the impact. He grit his teeth as he took the full brunt of the attack on the sides of his forearms.

When the beam disappeared, the mutant remained in place, his arms scorched from the attack. While he still had strength in his body, the toll from the barrier and the giant beam strained him as his body heaved with each breath. Despite this, fury was etched on his face as he stared at the flying figure, backed up by Voyager standing in an offensive posture.

”What the fuck was that all about?!” he roared at the figure, his voice guttural with the rage.

Verge's eyebrow lifted slightly on seeing his beam being intercepted by The Wanderer. First he had done what he could to save the humans of the city, and now he was saving an alien?

"Temper, temper... That's my line... why are you getting in the way? These invaders do not belong in this world, she is one of them isn't she? Why do you protect an invasive species? Whose side are you on?" Verge asked the Wanderer, his voice calm yet cold. He might as well had spoken about tending to a garden and pulling up weeds. Voyager seemed to pick up on this sentiment as she reached out psionically to find something to fight with.

"The earth is screaming, can you not feel it's pain? Humans and these invaders are the reason why. Why raise your hand to protect them? Join me and the earthmother, save this world from the looming apocalypse they seek to bring." Verge continued, his hair blowing slightly in the wind, his suit flickering in the wind.

“My scumbag senses are tingling,” Voyager growled.

“What is this ‘scumbag sense? Since when did you get it?” Wanderer shot back, not taking his eyes off of the intruder.

"You are one of the few chosen, why waste your power for those who seek to destroy everything? All this destruction, whose fault is that? The answer, whilst you might not like it... is undoubtedly true!" The young man began to softly laugh, one of his hands reaching to his own face, before he wiped his facial expression into a more serious one.

“I’ve heard better monologues out of TNG’s first season,” Voyager shot back. Fuming, she levitated up and over Wanderer’s head. “Look Q-Lite, I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m not one of the aliens you need to worry about right now. If you really want to save your Earth Mom, either get on our side or get out of the way.” There was a loud wrenching sound as steel poles tore themselves from the rooftops with the movement of Voyager’s hands, aligning to point at Verge like arrows waiting to fire.

"What are you talking about? And what did you call me?" Verge's eyebrows furrowed in unison to his narrowing eyes. The young man's gaze darted slightly to the sides as Voyager's hands had begun to move.

“Q-Lite. Like the obnoxious imp from Star Trek but lamer,” Voyager sniped back.

"So -it- speaks our tongue. Not surprising for an infiltrator or a spy. And you can bend the metal to your whim, but that is nothing compared to what a son of the earthmother can do." Verge's wings flared up in a stronger light, but there was still no attack being readied nor hurled towards the pair ahead.

The mutant gritted his teeth. ”This one fought to save this world - this time - from those who deem to destroy it! The Hounds of Humanity had wanted to destroy it to remove anyone who was deemed a traitor. That, in my eyes, is why I saved her: she protected everyone so that they see the future they deserve.”

Blue and purple flames started to whip up around him. ”I raise my hand to prevent the fate of this world from the apocalypse that will come to pass in my world 200 years from now. Where every man, woman and child, whether they have powers or not, struggle to survive day by day in a dead world of nightmares you won’t even begin to comprehend. I will fight to stop that nightmare from coming to pass, beginning with this ‘alien invasion’.”

"This time? Are you saying you are some kind of traveller in time? Hah! Who would believe that fairytale?!" Verge's voice almost echoed out, there was a sense of amusement mixed with bewilderment. Had this man truly travelled through time itself? If that was the case, then it was indeed a scary thing, but it also opened up other possibilities to be explored. Although at a later time.

A green bolt whizzed over everyone’s head as the aliens The Wanderer was planning on taking down began to fire. Training his focus off Verge for one moment, he raised his hand and fired a ball of psionic energy towards them. When it came close, he clenched the raised hand. The ball suddenly erupted, sending the invading aliens flying. His eyes return back to Verge, purple flames starting to lick from his psionic eye.

“And somehow he doesn’t believe time travel is feasible,” Voyager said, rolling their eyes.

”I don’t know who is at fault for the destruction, but I am here to fight to prevent it. It started with the death of the Esper family. But I need the help to prevent these aliens from destroying this world for the families of the future and if you stand in the way of that, then I will be forced to erase you from the pages of time.”

"The Hounds of Humanity were the result of people having chosen the wrong path, the path taken by doctor Diplodoc was the right path to take for humankind and the world! Look upon the world and tell me! Had it not been more safe if more of our kind were there to defend it? All this destruction could have been prevented with his master plan. I know this! Because I am a result of it! That's right, I am one of those who were given the power because of that man's action. He is my father and the earth is my mother." The young man explained, briefly taking the time to look over the smaller alien ships being shred to pieces.

"Erase me? If you are from the future as you say, how could you be so certain you wouldn't undo yourself with such a move? We are so alike after all... Ahh... but I do believe there's more to it than that, wanderer in time. I think you are one of -those- soldiers... instead of no memories, they gave you false ones in that lab of theirs where they played gods. Superhuman project Alpha-4CU. What you seek isn't the future nor the past, but the truth. Don't you?" Verge said in a softer voice, looking down to Wanderer and momentarily to Voyager. His facial expression became more relaxed but also calculating.

"I do believe you have a ship to catch. I will catch you later... hopefully you have disposed of this alien invader by then." Verge said in a slightly amused tone.

“At least when John De Lancie spouted out nonsense it was fun,” Voyager grumbled as the intruding ‘hero’ thundered off, leaving her to take out her frustrations on some incoming ships by launching the steel beams at them.

"You sound almost human... but it doesn't matter. You are a weed that must be pluck out of the garden and thrown into the fire." Verge replied back swiftly in a snarling manner to Voyager.

The Wanderer thought to himself when the man spoke to him about the possible paths that humanity could have followed if someone managed to give more people the powers to defend it. ”I was not in this time when this Doctor Diplodoc did what he did. But it doesn’t matter as this world remained intact and the desolation of my time happened. No matter if you are a regular human being or someone with the gifts to control their own destiny, nothing matters in the wastelands. So it doesn’t matter if he is your creator or if his plans were for the greater good, they will all come to naught if the flow of time doesn’t change.”

When the man questioned the validity of him being from the future and whether his memories were his own, the mutant began to self-reflect. All the pain from being tortured from the mutated monsters. The banishment from Settlement 149 when he got his powers. The cold nights in the wastelands just for him to survive. It was a lot for one person to experience in their lifetime. Almost too coincidental. Maybe the figure had a point about the memories being from another.

As a small gust of wind washed over the group, a faint tinge of a copper smell wafted through his nose. It was the memory of the sight of the trapped survivors of Settlement 149 that perished from the mutant raid. The ravaged corpses, while gruesome in appearance, was nothing new to him and his ‘memories’, but the sight of the arm of a child that didn’t survive stuck with him. That was real.

His eyes narrowed at the flying man. ”I do seek the truth alright… the truth of the origins of the nightmare of the future. Your future.”

"Who do you think put that nightmare in your mind and is leading the world towards self destruction. It is none other than humankind. And when you are no longer of any use to them they are going to throw you away. Such is the nature of man. They are envious, fear one another and seek to destroy each other. To kill them is the right thing to do, the merciful thing. And for the preservation of our world, it must be done." The blonde young man replied swiftly to The Wanderer,

Click.

While making his retort, The Wanderer’s arm reached across his body and under the coat, hand grasping something that seemed to unlock.

”As I have no one to return to and I want to change the course of history for the better of all., I am willing to give my life to secure it. And as long as I have this to remind me of what lies for everyone…”

In one fluid motion, he ripped the body armour off of his body. The tearing of fabric was audible as he revealed the flesh underneath. On the side that his psionic eye was, mottled skin of purple and red ran ragged all the way along with rippled muscle as if something burnt him. On his right, jagged scars ran along with it of various sized gashes that covered every inch of his body, all pockmarked with various injuries from bullets.

With a brooding guise to his face after the reveal, his eyes glared at the man. “Then I will do everything necessary to achieve it. And that includes protecting those who save others. No matter who or what they are. For as long as I draw breath, this ‘alien’ you want dead is under my protection. If you want to get to her, you will have to deal with me.” His gaze shifted towards Voyager, keeping the flying man in his sights. ”But now is not the time to bicker about who wants to kill who. We have an invasion to stop and a ship to destroy. And we have to do this together.”

"You should join me, Wanderer of nightmares! Not fight alongside the ones who are the source of all this suffering. You are like the wife of an abuser, protecting him despite what evil he does. As if it has been programmed into your very being, Alpha-4CU. To alter a mind and body is a small price to pay for their continued warmongering, harvesting and leeching of this world. And if they could do it, why wouldn't they do it?" It was with a softer tone that Verge began speaking in, as if it was but one of many sentences which flew around in his head.

"Hahah... did you think it would stop with their attempts to clone animals? To artificially alter plants or their own genes? Humankind is like a virus, trying to survive no matter what. Crawling away from the hot needle. Alpha-4CU, you are one of them clones they bred in that one lab. An artificial warrior created for the army of humankind, a weapon to be exploited and then disposed of when your purpose is over with. Like a puppet on a string. A wanderer lost in time, but a wanderer is only a wanderer until he finds his place of belonging. Your destiny is to join with me, let me help you find the peace you seek. The end of your nightmare."

Verge held out his hand in an offering manner down towards Wanderer, the young man's face serious and his body appearing tense. This man couldn’t be from the future, it had to be some tinkering with his mind. But if this wasn’t the case and the man came from the future itself, then no matter what they would do there would be surely no way to change the future. Something like that didn’t sit well with Verge at all.

“-I- am the future of this world…” The young blonde finally said, awaiting The Wanderer’s answer.

--------

Meanwhile on board the Alien ship

Energy pulsed through the hull of the ship if Sinclaire couldn’t see the electromagnetic spectrum he would be completely unaware of the sheer power around his person. It was far more than he alone could produce and it was all his.

”Is this? Oh ho man I dig this. OH it’s rad as hell. They used the metal itself as a battery, I know carbon fiber can be used to store a charge but this is a whole new level. I can’t even tell where the power source is coming from, no wait is there even one on board?”
As Hound Dog inspected the ship’s hull his fingers pressed against the temperate metal blasters fired upon him to no avail, all this free energy tapped into like a wine barrel overflowing into Sinclaire has left him with far more versatility to wield his powers as he saw fit. Creating a barrier disrupting light and energy based weapons essentially a wall of plasma with supercharged air. ”Right things are getting a bit warm around here Here’s a bit of a parting present for all youse; enjoy the tan.” Electricity zapped around his feet and Hound Dog moved with impressive speed as the wall of plasma inched down the opposite end of the hallway slowly and steadily moving towards the aliens as the air shimmered and sweat dripped from their brows.

Panicked the Aliens could tell something was wrong, the engines were being starved of power and heat spikes of undocumented scale began popping up all over the ship forcing the ship to vent heat overwhelming the cooling systems and boiling super coolant until it evaporated. Suddenly as two maintenance engineers looked up from the displays a solid wall of energy melted the door. ”You know youse probably don’t understands me but on the off chance you do I’d run. Though the thing about all this electricity running through this ship is that it’s hot approximately 30,000 kelvins. From the looks of it you all handle the heat pretty well with quite a robust and effective system that both cools the air and distributes any heat spikes. But every system has a point of failure and dealing with heat half as hot as a Wolf-Rayet star is definitely overkill.”

--------

Wanderer’s eyes shot towards the large ship in the sky as the falling ship began to explode on the outside, as if something ruptured from the inside. Probably the work of the other hero that was with them, the mutant’s eyes returned to the flying hero.

”We can talk about this later. We still got these hostile aliens to take care of and as long as I’m fighting for the protection of this world, Voyager is my charge and is to not be harmed by you during this. Agreed?”

Verge’s teeth clenched on seeing the ship above, had something gone astray? “Tch..” Such misfortune. He scoffed slightly on hearing Wanderer’s words, before replying to him. “We may speak later, but I expect you to have disposed of this alien, this Voyager by then... or I will do it myself. This is a promise.” The young man waited, hovering in the air for a few moments if Wanderer wanted to add something more before he dashed away at high speed in the air, moving away from the city.

”Well, you better hope you can accomplish your promise,” the mutant retorted, reaching across the clip the armour back together. He watched as the man took off into the distance, presumably out of the fight for Pacific Point.

When the man disappeared into the sky, The Wanderer turned to Voyager. ”Come on. We’ve got some invaders to kill…”

”Good, I have an inexplicable need to vent right about now,” Voyager grumbled.

Lost Haven (River at the top of the city map)

After having heard The Wanderer's words, Verge had teleported himself to his home to grab the only thing he felt like he truly needed with him. A set of pitch black clothes and boots. Having swiftly dressed off and on like only a few could imagine the young man manifested a crystal briefly too perceive himself in the reflection before teleporting a second time. This time further away.

Lost Haven.

When he opened his eyes next, the young man found himself in yet another chaotic place. The extraterrestial attack on the world seemed quite significant indeed, what were they after? To rule the earth or to destroy it? Verge would have neither of them. As far as he knew, the representative figure for the mother earth was none other than himself. The humans and aliens alike would have to be removed, and now was an opportune moment to do both. Though it didn't stop the young man from seizing a few moments to collect himself after the far distance teleport. When he felt he had collected himself, Verge began to hover, his feet lifting from the ground as he channeled his light powers within himself to empower himself. His angelic looking wings of pure energy appearing more brightly at his back as he began to cross the large 'river' between Olympia and Brooksdale. The dark waters below him.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth..." He said softly, while raising his both hands, then a crystalline armor would begin form and decorate his completely black outfit, leaving enough gaps to not hinder his movement however. Within his right hand a crystalline sword would also form. The white coloured crystal would soon after turn into a golden colour. Then in his left hand an orb of the same kind of crystal but white. The young man threw a brief glance down to the dark waters beneath his hovering form.

"Darkness was over the face of the deep... and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters..." His tone became more calmer and almost methodical, a slight curl forming on his lips as he raised his head, looking at the crystal orb which was now floating away from his hand and increasing in size, kept afloat by his geokinetic powers.

"Then God said. 'Let there be light..' and there was light!" The young man's eyes widened and a grin appeared on his lips as he shot a channeled beam of light light through his crystalline sword and then with a flick using the other hand he allowed the now massive crystalline ball, which was now the size of a small house, to spin around quickly as the beam of light struck it. The beams began to multiply soon after striking the partly hollow spinning orb of crystal, sending beams of light in all directions of the area. Shooting down aliens and humans alike who were caught in the pathway towards Sherman's square, buildings, cars, alien ships and other structures were not left untouched neither.

Many of the said beams even bounced back right unto Verge himself at he floated at a distance behind it, only for the beams to be absorbed by him and in turn powering him even more. He kept using his geokinesis to keep the crystal orb spinning and floating, his light powers being channeled through his sword and into the orb, making it into a very violent and destructive disco ball. The various screaming of aliens and humans alike did not deter him for a second, after all it didn't matter how loud they were screaming, it would be nothing compared to the weeping the earth itself was feeling. Why would he feel anything in removing threats to the world? What was there to feel? They deserved it. They all deserved what was coming to them.

"It's like a melody, I can hear it in my memory. A final tone of breath ending with your... coming death... as I fly into the sky... I know that you will die. There is no escape, nothing left in my wake... crossing this path will be your ending mistake." The young man softly hymned on a song as the screaming, rumbling and crushing sounds were all around him.

Ambiance music:

Christmas Eve, by all rights David should be home with his family, instead he was at the hospital, overseeing a captured supervillain under special care. Apparently he started to suffer some sort of brain aneurism and had to be rushed for urgent treatment, while the authorities had called upon Terra to safeguard the staff.

"Thanks a lot, Terra Firma, for coming to help with this so close to Christmas." A man in a white coat next to him said.

David nodded. "It's fine Dr. Stainnick. It's an emergency, it can't be helped." He said that as Terra Firma, the hero, but he truly felt sour about it himself. The holiday spirit hadn't quite shined as brightly as it used to, could be age, could be recent events, maybe it was the fact that none of the Guardians could answer this call, whatever it was he just wanted to be home.

"Nonetheless, I'm sure you have a family too. If it's any consolation, I'm glad it was you. I'm confident you're the right hero to help watch over his treatment." The doctor put a reaffirming hand on his arm.

The hallways were mostly empty, except for the handful of guards standing outside a certain room. They were armed with what David assumed was one of the normal police rifles, but they wore special helmets, and as soon as David and the doctor arrived they offered a pair to the both of them.

"Ah, that's right, I nearly forgot." Dr. Stainnick smiled and accepted, while David declined. When the villain was first brought in Terra Firma had been one of the few people who couldn't be affected, whether that was because he wasn't exposed long enough, or due to his unique patron, he didn't know, but had confidence.

"Are you sure? There's no telling what could happen if he worms himself into one of the world's strongest heroes." One of the guards insisted, but gave up a few moments later. "We'll be out here then."

The room itself had been altered to accommodate the powered, windows and walls reinforced, along with a specialized vent to deter the extra-dextrous or those with a gaseous state. As for the furniture, there was a single bed attached to some wall-mounted equipment, along with a small stand next to it that signaled doctors and guards if something were to happen.

As for the man, he smiled upon seeing the two walk in, to which, the doctor greeted.

"Hello, Mr. Varuy, I'm Dr. Stainnick, I'll be here to do a few last minute scans." The doctor gestured to a computer on the wall, and then to David. "And this is-"

"Oh I know, Terra Firma, or can I call you Terra?" His brows furrowed and his face seemed to cringe for a moment, before he continued. "Ah, but you two should call me Mindcrawler."

"Okay, well Mr. Varuy, I'll just be in the corner here." The doctor continued towards the computer, while stroking his beard. The equipment around Mindcrawler started to spin and glow, the computer was probably spitting out stuff only a doctor could read. David was a doctor, but not the right kind.

"Thank you for coming." Varuy said, staring intently at David, to which he nodded slightly. "Tell me, do you have any family? It seems quite a few heroes have dead parents, it seems to spur them on, sometimes it's even their reason for being. Is it the same for you?"

David remained silent, only for the doctor to speak up. "This is the season for cheer, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to talk about family?" He said, still continuing to stare at the data, whatever it was.

"Please, just a small story, anything to pass the time? The helmets and the walls, they keep me shut out, there is nothing, not even TV." Mindcrawler seemed to be desperate for some talk, it seemed the guards outside weren't quite as social with the supervillain.

"Alright, then here's your share of my Christmas spirit.... "

"Whoa, what is this?" An enthusiastic, 8-year old David Jones rushed to his father, holding what looked like a jetpack in his hands. It had a flashy design with red stripes going down the sides, like a race car. He span himself around wildly and in response the toy made an explosive noise, and lights shined brightly at the back. Attracted by the noise, a small brown German shepherd quickly rounded the corner and danced around him, barking excitedly with him.

"When I was younger I wanted to be a pilot, and I noticed you liked to look at those space comics. If any of us are going to find aliens and dance around the galaxy, I know it'll be you!"

A little later, young David would try strapping the jetpack to his dog, Rex, to play around with. Of course, it didn't do anything like rocket him off, but it always felt like it made him faster, cooler even whenever they played frisbee, or even just running around the yard.

Retelling the story brought back a powerful nostalgic feeling, he missed his own parents, and Rex. It felt like he even forgot them for a little while.

Varuy chuckled softly. "That was nice. Prophetic even, considering what has happened."

"How much longer will this take, doctor?"

"Just a little longer, please be patient." Dr. Stainnick replied, and seemingly in response to that, Varuy started to laugh.

"Oh ho ho, you won't be leaving. You weren't affected by me last time for some reason, but now I've got a hand in your mind, you showed me some of your strongest feelings, and now I'll eat you whole!" Mindcrawler shot him a devilish grin. "And once I've consumed your consciousness, I'll take your body for my own!"

True to his name, it now felt like there was something crawling around in his skull, like a spider had moved in, except it started pulling at him, bringing out things he had long forgotten, and things he might have wanted to.

"Fine, take it, take my strongest feelings, all of my love and my passion!" David's body shimmered gold, and memories started to flow outwards like a powerful river.


"Happy Birthday David!" The voice of his dad presenting a puppy they had rescued.

"Whoa, careful, Santa might run you over!" Road safety from his father after he had almost walked into oncoming traffic.

"Goodbye, Rex.."

"Goodnight David!" A random memory of his parents tucking him in. The memories started to come faster, and faster, toward more
modern times.

"You're a louse, David Jones.."

"I love you too!"

"I do!"

"It's a girl! Let's name her Maddison, after.."

The tables had turned, though it wasn't obvious on the outside, a burning sensation now ran through Mindcrawlers mind, then he screamed and began writhing in pain, veins began to pulse wildly on the surface. The doctor rushed over and applied a topical sedative, then backed off as Varuy started to breathe softer, then passed out peacefully.

"Are you alright?" The doctor asked. David 'breathed' in deeply, and then nodded.

"Never better."

The guards ran in a moment later, then stopped at the door, looking questioningly at both David and the doctor. "Thank you, Terra Firma, I tracked down the source of his aneurism. I'll be able to treat it within the hour." The doctor said, while beckoning the guards over with his hands. "I believe you've handled his worse, we can handle the rest of the night ourselves."

"Are you sure, Dr. Stainnick?"

"Absolutely!" He smiled.

"Then, Merry Christmas, and a happy New Years to you guys!" David waved to them as he jogged out the door, then quickly accelerated to a sprint. There was somewhere he really wanted to be, and something he had to do.

"Merry Christmas, Mom, Dad, and you too Rex."