There was all manner of scents in the air, but most of all there was the smell of smoke and fire. Along the path the young man had travelled along were burning cars, crashed alien ship remains and much more.

He felt somewhat pleased with the destructive power he had been able to dish out so far through the massive crystalline orb, though he needed to survey the area abit further. Surely his presence had no doubt drawn some attention. The young man lifted the crystalline orb abit further before softly dropping it at a somewhat decent area where it would fit before his attention turned elsewhere. Someone was coming.

Verge softly placed one of his hands at his waist and the other hung casually by the side, his legs standing closely together as if he was balancing on a wire midair. The light energy wings behind him flickering as he was waiting for whomever was approaching to come closer.

Were it some more invasive aliens or some humans bent on destruction? He was prepared to dispatch them if such was the case. But there was also the likelihood of some other metahuman having noticed him and his contribution.

"Who goes there? Come forth and make yourselves known!" He yelled out, his form still hovering approximately at the height of a third floor building from the ground below.

A flash of blue streaked past Verge, landing in a cloud of smoke and dust on a four story building in front of the metahuman. A pair of icy wings stretched out from the swirling dirt, before a pair of glowing red eyes flashed from behind the veil. The Cryophoenix's frosted form soon emerged, its sharp claws firmly planted on the satellite dish that jutted out of the rooftop. Everywhere around it was cold as a deathly winter.

The Cryophoenix spoke to Verge, seemingly suspecting him of wanton crimes against humanity. "Ah, it's you." The Phoenix shook his head. "I… have no idea who you are. Identify yourself."

The blonde young man tilted his head slightly to the side as the icy bird made it's presence known. "Oh?'' Was this one a servant of the earth, or were it an enemy to the world? Time would tell.

"The world is at the verge of being revived... you may call me Verge. I am but one of the protectors of the earth." The young man said aloud, the wind blowing in his hair, his shiny golden yet crystalline armor shimmering.

"Who are you then, which brings winter on his wings? Surely you are not part of the extraterrestrial plague? For whom do you fight?" Verge asked, keeping his stance. Whatever this creature was, he wasn't worried. If it was an enemy it would be dealt with as everything else, if it was not then it was good fortune.

Ruyn flew after Cryo, massive wings of bones and shadow silent as an owl’s. The icy breeze from Cryo’s wings wafted over him, chilling his bones as he settled on the edge of the building’s roof next to him, serrated claws crumbling the brick as his weight settled.

“Verge, Protector of the Earth, huh,” Ruyn’s voice echoed and rang with the sound of death and darkness, demonic overtones rumbling the ears of anyone listening. “I can get behind a title like that. No, My friend here is not part of the invasion attempt. Neither am I.”

He tilted his head and looked up at the airship he’d punched a hole in, watching as it shrieked with the grating noises of the alien screams and tearing metal. It was satisfying to watch and he let out a rumbling, satisfied noise before turning back to look at the interesting male in front of him.

"Protector of the Earth?..." Cryophoenix cocked his head to the side, seemingly a little skeptical. "Such a lofty title… and maybe you do deserve it." The Phoenix paused. "You should come with us. Crush the enemy together and drive them from Earth's holy soil. What say you?"

"It's more the choice of profession rather than a lofty title, like a gardener tending his garden. Your words are refreshing, what names do you go by, so that I may properly address you? Just looking upon you, it seems you've been given grand gifts indeed. To not use the power which one has been bestowed would be akin to a sin." Verge explained as he kept hovering midair, watching the strange duo before him. The wintery winged bird and the dark bony creature. He never got the impression that any of them were extraterrestrial, they didn't look that way anyhow. But if they later would turn out to be they would of course have to be dealt with.

"Those which serve the earth, shall be rewarded with a world far greater than what currently is. If that good deed is not enough on its own, tell me... what do you desire? Wealth? Power? Wisdom? I can offer you all." The young man explained, with a slight upturn at the corner of his lips. This duo showed initial promise, perhaps they would be of use in taking down those which served humankind. He had in the past seen them on the TV's, as he passed by the various shops.

'Icon. An Icon of a time which is no longer relevant. A remnant and nothing more that a tool made to give humankind artificial breathing aid.' He thought of the eventual showdown with the warrior of mankind, and how he would cast him down from the heavens. This man did not deserve to roam the skies, If he could not be turned to serve the earthmother he would have to be taken down. Even wiping out the man's memories somehow, no matter how wretched such an idea may have seemed, would still be a better use of him than killing him. To attain such immense powers were a rarity and ought to be cared for in either way. But was he on par with Verge? Not a chance. The young man was fully convinced that he held both the advantage in power, morals and knowing deep inside that his path would bring about a new better future for all.

The Cryophoenix didn't seem to be very interested in Verge's monologue; all he wanted was backup against the aliens at the moment, and… well, it seemed that the flying man was straight up offering them positions of power. He even dissed Icon for… something. "I'm just the avatar of winter and cold, enduring cycles of death and rebirth to always be there when humanity's hours of need arrive." A pause. "Just call me Cryophoenix.", the winter bird continued. "This lovely dragon right here is Ruyn. Am I riiiiiiight?"

"Cryo... phoenix? I see... The four seasons however do not serve humankind, but mother nature, winter is a vital part in the circle of things. Yet all things which brace for the winter do not make it through. Like the dinosaurs long ago, which ruled this world they perished because they could not adapt to the world changing. Unless you count the various birds afoot as their remnants, which is then evolution going forwards. Like how we, who possess the power, have advanced ourselves beyond humankind." Verge said in a pleased tone, his eyes wandering over the two figures in front of him.

"...and your friend is a dragon? How very intriguing, for in the old tales humankind often cherished the memory of killing such beings. Like Siegfried which slew Fafnir and stole his belongings, what would they think if instead Siegfried was eaten by said dragon? Would the tale still be a favorite of theirs? I highly doubt it. Humankind fears that which they cannot understand nor control, have you not noticed their glances in your direction? How they seem fully convinced that you do not belong, that you are some kind of monster sprung from some fairytale or nightmare of theirs. Forced to wear some form of mask or veil to shamefully cover yourself, to hide... when it is the humans that are the shameful ones...." Verge said in a softer tone, his wings flickering as he hovered in the air, the smoke of the ruin left in his wake trailing up into the sky.

"Like my own human parents shamefully threw me away like a piece of trash, discarded and left at the doorstep of some place for the unwanted." The young man said it in a very matter of fact type of tone, that it was indeed an undeniable truth.

“Yes, I am Ruyn Grimm, and I am only sometimes a dragon,” Ruyn replied, a bit of woe in his voice. “What is ironic is that most humans actually prefer the dragon over the mask-wearing demon. I do not hide what I am, only the part of my face that scares others, and it is partially for my own mental wellbeing. As for humans being the only ones who cause pain?” The tank-sized bony dragon shook his massive, horned head. “I suffered more at the hands of other supernatural creatures than I ever have at the hands of humans. Humans are not wholly to blame. But we can focus on this talk later, there are people who need saving and aliens who are scheduled to meet their death under my claws and teeth.”

Ruyn laughed and his orange and red eyes glowed from within their dark sockets like eerie lights.

“Joke is on them,” he growled. “I know I’m a monster.”

"A demon? What do you mean? Are you possessed? Or are you saying you are a demon?" Did he just say that? Verge's eyes narrowed shortly after hearing that word.

If hell existed, then did that mean heaven did as well? What of god? Or gods? Where was the order? Had something terrible befallen the world and that there was none left to watch over it? Was this meant to be his purpose? His destiny?

'I know what I must do...' He thought as if struck by the realization, as if he had just woken up from a long sleep and now was finally awake.

"Define people. What people? There are different kinds." He asked, his face looking far more serious than before, as if the very answer given would be a matter of life and death.

“By people, I mean the ones running in terror from the aliens,” Ruyn replied. “The ones who can’t protect themselves from such threats as extraterrestrials. And no, I am literally a demon. I’m not evil, though, if that’s what you are wondering. As to whether I’m actually from Hell, it depends on your spiritual beliefs and what you call Heaven.”

He’d been asked a few times if his lived in Hell, and he’d contemplated responding with a quip about slavery and if that wasn’t Hell he didn’t know what was. But usually went with the answer he just gave. It was a true statement as far as he was concerned, though. As Gods from every pantheon and belief existed, his friends Menkaura and Ahmose were proof of that, as well as his sisters Mori and Vita.

“Do you need proof of my demonic state?” Ruyn asked idly. “I’m not going to change forms unless I know you’re not going to kill me simply because I’m a demon.” He had a feeling that’s how his mother had been killed. He had a feeling she’d been betrayed and slaughtered.

Verge's body began to slightly tremble as he suppressed laughter for as long as he could. But the words uttered made it impossible.

"Hnn hnn... hahahah... There are only two kinds of people in this world, guilty and not guilty! And when it comes to these humans... they deserve to be undone, not by these invaders however, but by their own greed and endless desires. "

"The invaders will be destroyed and after that... it's the humans that will be vanquished. At long last. As for you demon, you claim you are not evil, yet you might as well claim to be a fish on the moon. It won't change what you are. And it won't change what I am. You don't belong in this world. That said... when a rusted spring keeps a clock from ticking, it must be removed immediately or it will display time wrongly. For the restoration of this world that is on the verge of revival. Stand aside... Cryo Phoenix, I shall pluck this demonic weed from the garden." Verge said as his angelic looking wings of light intensified in it's glow, while it wasn't enough to be blinding it clearly showed that the young man was preparing for battle. Not wasting any time, the young man held out his right arm as various orbs of light gathered around him. Then one of the orbs shot away from him turning into a beam of light. It's intended target being Ruyn.

“Fish on the moon?” Ruyn’s eye sockets moved impossibly and curved down in a bony frown. “Interesting insult. Weed? Oh, I’m the fucking weed, huh?” His tail lashed, sharp bone flashing light. He growled and pulled himself into his own shadow to avoid the beam of light, reappearing from the shadows behind Verge to swat the other male, sending him careening through the air.

“I’m a Venus flytrap, asshole,” he hissed. “And I eat the bugs who bother me.” Ruyn hadn’t chosen to get stuck in the mortal realm as a child. He hadn’t chosen for his mother be slain and the last of his kin to die. He hadn’t chosen to go through any of the pain he’d endured just for this little shit to call him a fucking weed.

"Here we go again." Cryophoenix watched as the fight ensued, shaking his icy head. This Verge person seemed to have a… very interesting view of the world, namely being an homicidal maniac. That was the last thing that they needed at the moment, what with the invasion and such. "You," he pointed a claw at Verge. "Stand down, and apologize. Or else you will have two of us bearing down upon you."



Back in the Square Muerte waited and kept watch on the skies as well as the ground. The sounds of screaming had lessened but there was still no word from Ruyn or Cryo on what was going on over there. He tried to stay focused on taking out any aliens that came into the area but soon they seemed to have cleared out for the moment. He suddenly got a flash of a weird crystalline-armored figure shooting a beam of light at him...no Ruyn...and the figure being swatted away. Then he saw Cryo step in and try to break them up.

Ruyn?! Cryo?! What the hell is going on over there?! Is that an alien or another meta?



Verge's eyes had quickly darted to the side the moment Ruyn had seemingly popped out of existence, turning around just in time to block the hit but it hurled him backwards nonetheless, and the crystalline armoring at his wrists broke at the impact. The young man had gritted his teeth together, It was as if indeed it was going in slow motion, he had reached out with his left hand to telekinetically hurl the broken crystalline shards that formerly were his wrist armor towards the demon, shortly followed by the remaining orbs of lights that was hovering around him.

"A venus flytrap?! Explains the foul smell! But I am the gardener not a bug!" He had cried out in reply to the man's previous words, whilst Cryo had addressed him urging him to stop. The young man stopped midair at the distance he had been flung back to reply to him, while still keeping his eyes at Ruyn. "Why should I?! This is a demon that should return to its home!" He said with his eyebrows furrowed and with a look of disgust on his face. It was after all this kind of creature that the world could do without, according to the young man.

“This fucking dick thinks I’m a weed that should return home,” Ruyn sneered at Verge in his mental reply to Muerte. “He’s got a problem with my being a demon.”

“As far as I’m concerned,” Ruyn growled, jumping into the spiritual realm (physical body and all) reappearing behind verge to swat him harder, serrated claws screeching against the young male’s armor. “This is my home. And I protect it from everyone, including people like you, mini-Hitler.” He jumped into the spirit realm again and stayed there, debating on whether to return to Muerte to show him where they were or if he should stay just in case this dude tried to go after Cryo next.

“Cryo I’m in the spirit realm but I’m still nearby, just in case,” Ruyn sent telepathically.

Verge had been better prepared for the second attack by the demon, this time not blocking but dodging out of the way, only the demon's claws scratched parts of his crystalline armor. Verge followed his dodge with a backhanded slap towards Ruyn's face, but missing him as he dove into the spirit realm. The blonde didn't know what manner of magic was at play, if the demon was teleporting in an uncommon manner or if he was hopping between worlds or even in and out of hell. Whichever it was, it didn't matter to him. If the demon would stay out of this world, that was enough. What happened in the hells or different worlds were none of his concern after all.

"Delusional unnatural creature! This isn't your home! And don't compare me to a lowly human! -I- am the protector of this world! This garden! I shall cast down all the fiends that threaten its purity! No matter who they are, no matter what they are!" Verge yelled out and teleported to the inside of his large crystalline orb, which had been neatly placed aside as the whole interaction had begun. The young man quickly reached out with both his hands to the side and shattered the crystal into hundreds of pieces, causing them to start flying away from him, before stopping and being hurled back towards him and circling around him. Crystalline shards would spin around his form like a miniature tornado, or a very angry flock of rabid wolverines. Would the demon appear before him, it would be crystal clear just how messy it could get if he would appear near him or into the thing itself as he began to fly towards Sherman Square. Aware that at any moment the demon could re-appear or Cryo joining the fray.

The Cryophoenix flew into the air, soaring high above the demon and the crystal fool that had engaged themselves sin a grueling brawl. "Сука. We don't have time for this idiocy." Flying upwards, the Phoenix left a cold trail behind his tail, the summer heat melting off a bit of water vapor from his icy form.

There would be nothing chasing Verge, at least for a few moments. That was, until an ear splitting screech reverberated through the air as the Cryophoenix dove in from the sky high above, lunging towards Verge like a peregrine falcon seeking its prey from hundreds of meters away. The Phoenix was in no mood for disruption; he intended to grab Verge with his icy claws. After that… he will breath a cone of frost upon the meddler's face, keeping him down. At least, that was the plan…



Through Ruyn and Cryo’s eyes he could see the scene unfolding as well as the crystal figure coming this way. He himself was weak against energy attacks and he assumed that Nathan probably was too. Cadence was the only one who had any defenses against something like this new enemy, but she was drained as it was...wait that was it! He turned to look at her, saying quickly.

”Cadence, could you use your power to transfer energy from someone else into yourself? And if so, how much could you hold?”

If she could do it, they could kill two birds with one stone: revive her combat ability and take away his. He just needed to be sure that her body could handle something like that first. This guy seemed to have a lot of it.

Cadence had been fighting off the waves of aliens with what energy she had left and if she was honest with herself there wasn't much remaining. The waves seemed to lessen though and she ended up stopping her feline mount as she watched Cryo and Ruyn head off to whatever had attracted the attention of the invaders. She had no idea what was going on with them but whatever it was, it was starting to sound messy and like none of it was good news for them.

As her eyes tried to get a glimpse of the approaching entity, she heard Muerte calling to her. She looked at him with curiosity before she started to understand what he was saying and a large grin crossed her face.

"I don't know," She said gleefully as she looked back to see the approaching man surrounded by shredding crystals. This idea was getting more fun by the moment, ", but I know a way to find out."

Not knowing what was going to happen she hopped off the large space cat and handed the reins to Nate. She didn't want others to be casualties in this experiment.

Amidst the rubble, she thought to herself that she really hoped this worked or she was probably going to end up regretting this, she then started to speak her spell.

“Take all the energy and power from the man that shine
And make it one with my body and make it mine
No longer shall he have the strength to attack
And let this help my power come back.”

The familiar neon green energy started to surround Cadence and far away, even if he had not noticed it, the same similar colour started to appear on Verge.

Muerte watched with bated breath, hoping that Cadence would be alright. Honestly there wasn’t really anything that he could do if it went wrong but he was hoping that if she got hurt that Ruyn would be able to do something.

”Nathan,” he said suddenly as he watched the green glow form around her, “If anything happens to her, get her out. Out of the city. Just run...Ok? We’ll handle things here.”

Nathan, who had been simultaneously hanging on for dear life as well as watching the spectacle from below with an aghast expression, didn't immediately respond to Muerte. He had been a little focused on what was happening… But after a short delay, he turned to Muerte and nodded. "Yes… I swear on my mother's grave."



Verge had seen the Cryo Phoenix coming, but not only that he heard him. The loud screeching sound was enough to make him lose focus of his crystals, causing them to fall as the young man grabbed his ears. The talons were reaching out for him, and Cryo was closing in fast. Verge wasn't sure just how powerful his other foe were, he just knew that if his movements were to be frozen it could prove disastrous depending on which shape it took.

Thus he quickly narrowed his eyes and dashed quickly midair out of the large talons that was a hair's breath away from snatching him, the cold birdlike creature was indeed quick. Thankfully for him, he was very fast himself. Having escaped the claws and the path of the creature, Verge removed his hands from his ears and readied to attack the Cryo Phoenix, but he stopped in his tracks as a green glow began to form on him and also at a point further away. There was a third attacker?

He felt how his body quickly began to feel weaker and he felt more weary, the glowing wings were quickly fading away. The young man quickly stared in disbelief at what was happening. Someone was absorbing -HIS- powers?! Someone had the audacity to steal his gift! He felt the urge to destroy, but he knew that right now there was an even more pressing matter than destroying the enemies. To survive. Without his empowered state, a single blow from any of these meta’s could kill him. He still did retain his ability to fly however and his speed was not affected to the degree of his durability and physical strength.

Not wasting any time he began to channel some of his remaining power to empower himself anew, and his wings of energy appeared yet again and he felt the power return to him, yet he felt weaker. More weary. And the damage had already been done, someone here had the power to mortally wound him. The mere thought of it irked him, it took all of his restraint to not press the attack. Instead he gritted his teeth, giving Cryo Phoenix a glare and then to the one which had stripped him of his most prominent defense. A woman? It was a woman? Was she with them? Such answers would have to be found later, for now survival was more important. Because without him, who would guide the earth to it's new dawn? It was then Verge teleported away, his form blinking away in a flash of light. He had teleported himself far away from where they had been fighting, back where he first arrived to Lost Haven. It was then he exhaled deeply, breathing heavily. How was it that these troublesome kids had gotten in his way? How did they dare raise a hand against a god?

Cadence had not truly realised it but she had been holding her breath as she waited to see if her spell managed to work. Suddenly, she found herself taking in a large breath as her body filled with an electrical intensity. Her blood pumped furiously through her ears and standing there the largest grin started to grow across her face. She felt great, she felt better than great, she felt fucking amazing. Standing tall, she no longer had worries about what was about to come next, whatever it was she would be ready.

Looking back at the figure who had been approaching, she could see them faltering and only to add to her confidence, he seemed to be running. She couldn’t help herself as she watched what she had expected to be the big baddy flee, laughter from deep within her chest started to escape from her. After all who knew she could have done this, who knew she was able to feel this god damn powerful. Bending over with laughter, she didn’t even notice as a pair of glowing angel wings appeared behind her back.



Muerte also breathed a sigh of relief when the crystal armor figure departed and Cadence seemed unharmed. Immediately though his concern shifted as Cadence began laughing. Was the power itself maddening? Or did simply having all that power cause problems in those not used to it? The saying ‘power corrupts’ must be true after all, at least in some part. They needed to find a target for her and fast before her flighty nature took over. At the same time, they needed to make sure that she didn’t try to do anything too strenuous or they’d be back at square one. He slipped into his mental calculation state; recalling everything he’d seen her do and how tired it had made her, how many enemies he assumed could be in the city at the moment. There were too many variables, too many gaps in his knowledge, to do something extreme. It would have to be gradual, controllable, until they could see… See! His brain exploded with excitement as the solution came to him suddenly, it would just have to be worded very carefully.

”Cadence!” he called out to her, ”Cast a spell that makes all the hostile, invading aliens that you look at die! The spell must be activated by your eyesight!”

Cadence was holding herself up with her hand on her knee as she laughed heartily as she couldn’t believe what she had managed to pull off. Hearing her name being yelled at her, she turned around to look at Muerte. Hearing him tell her to cast a very specific and deadly spell, she just stared at him in confusion. “What? I mean I can try but why so suddenly?” She said as she stood back up straight and looked at him in bewilderment. Why was he suddenly asking her to cast something so powerful? Was this his plan from the beginning? She knew she was in the middle of the largest battle she had ever been in but at the same time, she wasn’t so sure about using such a spell. Muerte had never steered her in the wrong direction so far but there was something about it that just felt sudden and more destructive than any spell she had ever done before

Then something caught her eye, and she found herself staring at the wings that had appeared on her back. A curious smile crossed her face as she tried to touch them but only ended up with her hands passing through them. “Oooohhh,” She said to herself as she let the bright light distract herself from all the confusing questions she had.

And there it was...she’s been distracted by her own wings. Still, her questions were valid and deserved answers. He stepped up to her and gently put his hands on her shoulder so that she would focus on him as he spoke.

”We do not know how much time we have Cadence. The longer this takes, the more innocent people die. Or perhaps they will simply send more asteroids. We also don’t know how long this power will last in you or how quickly it will drain away. If the spell is tied to your sight, then you can always stop by closing your eyes and saying a different spell. If you don’t want to kill them, then make them run. I know this is a lot to ask, but the world is counting on you. I am counting on you...to save Jacque, Jesus, and...my sister. Will you do this Cadence?”

-

Of all things that April Newton might've imagined doing with her day, "fending off an alien invasion" was certainly not one of them. She had hardly had time to process what was happening before it happened. In an instant, the skies above Century City were swarmed by honest-to-God spaceships, and they made no illusions about coming in peace. April hadn't been given even a moment to think, to breathe, to strategize. She watched in dazed horror as the invaders opened fire on downtown, bursts of white-green light lancing through skyscrapers and pummeling the street. The city was still reeling from the largest earthquake in living memory, and now these vultures were compounding the casualties. Horror swiftly turned to anger, which April channeled into her flight as she screamed towards the fray.

It was like the Sentinel drone attack multiplied by a factor of ten. On that day, the destruction had at least been centered around the City Hall area; by contrast, the aliens were attacking indiscriminately, spreading over the entire city like a plague of locusts. They were faster, too, able to act independently in ways that drones simply couldn't. In short, it was a challenge the likes of which Miss Megaton had never faced. If ever there were a time for her to find out just how much she'd grown as a hero, this was it. Not that she had been left much of a choice: if she failed, Century City would not survive the day.

No pressure.

Whatever these things were, they were fast. Incredibly fast. Even at her top speed, Miss Megaton was struggling to keep up with their exceptional maneuverability. As she weaved between buildings, she got a bead on one of the rogue starfighters. Its flat black hull seemed to swallow the sunlight, and from this distance, she realized that calling them "vultures" was not far off; the chassis had an altogether bird-like appearance. Wing-mounted laser turrets provided the spacecraft's firepower, but -- much to the alien pilot's misfortune -- the ship did not appear to possess any rear defenses.

It would have been all too easy to simply take the shot, blow the starfighter and its pilot to kingdom come. But Miss Megaton wasn't a killer, and whatever else they invaders might have been, they were clearly sentient. She would have to find a better way. "Let's try clipping your wings," she muttered to herself, taking aim. She fired a small burst, which connected with a previously invisible energy shield. The air around the starfighter's wing rippled in a bright yellow hue, dispersing her blast harmlessly. Now alerted to Miss Megaton's presence, the pilot yanked the spacecraft sharply down, curling away from her in an evasive maneuver. "Shit!" the hero blurted out as she dove after it.

Lesson learned, she thought as she accelerated to keep pace with the nimble ship, They're not as fragile as they look. She wouldn't make that mistake again. Her cape snapped around her ankles as she tried to match the starfighter turn for turn. Her powers gave her an above-average tolerance for g-forces, but even still, she felt her field of vision narrowing as she struggled to keep pace. Miss Megaton abruptly broke off the direct pursuit and spun wide around an approaching building. These invaders may have had the advantage in speed, but they were dealing with Miss M on her home turf. If she couldn't fly faster, she'd just have to fly smarter.

Sure enough, her shortcut brought her around on the spacecraft's flank. "Gotcha!" With a clear shot at the ship's wing, Miss Megaton adjusted the strength of her radiation blast to compensate for the energy shield. This time, her shot struck true. There was a flash of yellow light as the shield failed, followed by a small explosion. The loss of its wing sent the starfighter into an immediate tailspin. Miss Megaton watched as the damaged craft spiraled down to the street, smashing through the glass awning of a nearby bus stop as it crash-landed. Nodding to herself, the hero said, "That's one," and set to the task of finding another vulture to ground.

She certainly didn't have to look far. With how crowded Century City's airspace had become, Miss Megaton had her pick of the lot. She set her sights on a starfighter just above her current position; somehow, she doubted that the pilot would anticipate an attack from below. Squinting into the sunlight, she fired herself at the hostile spacecraft like a human torpedo. At her top speed, Miss Megaton could be a force to be reckoned with. This time, she didn't bother with any radiation blasts. She didn't want to chance a miss and alert the alien pilot. Instead, as she drew near, she threw out a fist and braced for impact. The energy shield proved no match for her as she punched straight through the starfighter's wing.

Peaking high in the sky, Miss Megaton took the opportunity to target multiple starfighters at once. As she twirled to a stop, she held out both hands and fired radiation beams in a wide arc around her body. Like highly-concentrated lasers, the beams cut through any ship unfortunate enough to find itself in their path. Miss Megaton saw a fireworks show of yellows, reds, and oranges as her attack severed wings and cut through engines. In one fell swoop, the cylinder below her was almost entirely cleared of hostiles. At the same time, however, her show of force had drawn the ire of the swarm, and suddenly there were more ships than she cared to count closing on her current position.

"How's it going up there?" came Jefferson's voice suddenly.

Miss Megaton grit her teeth. "Not the best time to talk!" As she shot forward, she felt the heat of laser blasts skimming the surface of her cape and narrowly avoiding her head and shoulders. She was pinned down by enemy fire on all sides, and she felt her pursuers closing the gap with each passing second. Spinning over onto her back, Miss Megaton looked down at her feet and returned fire with a volley of her own; the nimble starfighters easily swerved out of danger, but it spread them out enough to create a brief opening to make some maneuvers. She righted herself and banked hard, using a nearby building for cover.

The sudden change in direction had worked as well as Miss Megaton might've hoped; while some of the enemy fighters stayed tight on her tail, many had broken off pursuit and were now scattered. With a little more room to operate, the hero went back on offense. She spun herself around, catching the nearest pilot unawares as she squared up her shot. The spacecraft swerved, but it could not avoid having its wing blown off. Miss Megaton surged forward through the resulting explosion, using it as cover to get the drop on the alien's wingman. By the time the smoke had cleared, it was too late for the next starfighter to evade a scatter shot of radioactive bursts that perforated its engine and sent it tumbling to the earth.

There was little time to celebrate, however. Miss Megaton felt the wind knocked out of her lungs as a starfighter finally connected on one of their shots. Absorbing the laser blast in the back, Century City's lone defender was thrown through the air at incredible speed. She hardly had time to brace for impact as a high-rise rose up suddenly to meet her. Crashing through the plate glass windows, Miss Megaton was driven through no less than seven cubicles in what appeared to be a mundane office building. To add insult to injury, a computer monitor fell from the eighth cubicle's desk and cracked her on the shoulders. Wincing, she pushed the damaged electronic aside as she clamored to her feet.

With wide eyes, Miss Megaton looked up to see one of the enemy ships through the hole that she had just punched through the window. There was a flash of light as the laser cannons powered up, and it was all Miss M could do to project a radiation shield in time. The barrage hammered into the side of the building, sending glass shards and shredded paper everywhere. She felt the impact against her shield, each blast another jolt up her arms. Her feet began to slide, and she knew she wouldn't be able to hold the protection long. She quickly changed tack, channeling her energy into the shield until it expanded out in a wave. The eruption of force was more than the spacecraft could handle, as it got swatted out of the sky. It also had the unfortunate effect of turning that floor into a giant crater, but at least the building had seemingly been evacuated in time.

With a moment to breathe, Miss M brought a finger to her ear and buzzed Jefferson, who was no doubt watching everything unfold from his homemade "command center." Through the gap that was once the side of a building, Miss Megaton could see the ongoing destruction enveloping downtown. "Jeff, I'm doing what I can here, but there's just one of me and so many of them," she said, deflated.

His response was sympathetic yet clear. "Well, I wouldn't count on the cavalry coming to help out," he explained. "Ships like this have also touched down in Pacific Point, Lost Haven... Anyone who's ever donned a cape is up to their neck in this."

She sighed. "There's gotta be a better way. In the time it'll take me to wipe out these drones..." She let her voice trail off. Something in the distance caught her eye. Focusing her vision to increase receptivity to light -- an ability that Jefferson had been training her on and had lovingly dubbed "telescopic vision" -- she was able to see with supernatural clarity a sleek helicopter swerving between buildings, currently being pursued by a trio of alien starfighters. Furrowing her brow, she told Jefferson, "Hold that thought," and took off on an intercept course.

The aliens were too focused on their quarry to see Miss Megaton coming. Dispatching two of them with quick radiation blasts, she swung around to get behind the third -- but not before it finally connected on a glancing shot that took out the helicopter's tail rotor. As the civilian craft began to spin out, Miss M wasted no time neutralizing the threat with a radiation beam through the vulture's wing. Once the starfighter was gone, she accelerated to catch up with the spiraling helicopter. Diving underneath it, Miss Megaton took hold of the craft's hull and guided it to the nearest unoccupied rooftop. She set the large machine down as its engines and main rotor wound to a stop.

At this distance, she was finally able to make out the Zenith Dynamics logo on the side of the helicopter. That made her frown. Her frown only intensified when the door to the helicopter swung open, and she saw the now-familiar face of Isaac Vance, Zenith's CEO. For his part, Vance didn't seem nearly as bothered by encountering her. As he removed his headset, Vance stepped out of the busted helicopter and smiled. "That's the second time you've saved my life in only a few short months," he remarked. "Once more, and I'll have to think about putting you on retainer."

She was in no mood to humor him. Vance may not have been working for Zenith Dynamics when her father and her best friend Daisy's father were killed in an "industrial accident," but he still represented the company she associated with all that pain. Zenith was hiding something about that day, and April wouldn't rest until she found out what it was. "In case you hadn't noticed, this isn't the best time to be flying. That little stunt could've gotten you and your pilot killed. Now, if you'll excuse me--"

"Wait!" She was halfway turned around when he reached out and touched her arm. Not forcefully, but enough to cause her head to snap back around. Her eyes flashed green for a moment, and Vance held up his hand in surrender. "I wasn't up there for a joyride," he explained, "I was trying to get your attention. And whaddaya know? It worked." He offered a nervous laugh that went unreciprocated.

A vulture buzzed overhead. Vance flinched, anticipating an attack, while Miss Megaton held strong. Still, to be safe, she watched it pass before returning her attention to the man in front of her. "What do you want, Vance?" she asked, seeing no reason to mince words.

"To help," he replied somewhat wearily. As he began reaching for something inside his jacket -- a movement that made Miss Megaton's body tense -- he continued, "You're never gonna stop 'em all, not like this. Your only chance -- our only chance -- is to cut off the head of the snake." As he said that, he nodded in the direction of the monolithic mothership that had been ominously hovering above the city. Finally, he produced a large metal disc and held it out for Miss Megaton to see. "This device will disrupt their communication frequencies; they won't able to coordinate their attack. With any luck, they'll be forced to pull back."

She raised an eyebrow. It sounded too good be true, which often meant it was. Still, she was in no position to turn down an offer of assistance. "What do I have to do?"

"Plug and play," Vance replied as he dropped the device into her hand. "But to get them all, you'll have to attach it to a computer on the mothership." Miss Megaton grimaced. Vance could try to make it sound simple, but she knew a frontal assault on that ship was going to be no easy task. Seeing her expression, he offered, "You've got this."

His vote of confidence carried little weight in Miss Megaton's eyes, but a part of her appreciated it all the same. Tucking the device under her arm, she set her jaw and took off in the direction of the monolith.

This tasteless haze of mine

---

---

Time: Fifteen Months Later
Location: Paris, France

Crickets sounded over the open fields leading to the mysterious, mist-covered copse of Yew trees outside of Paris. Scorch marks, scars lashed across the fields of grass. Midsummer greens encroached on the scars, creeping to retake what was lost. The moon had shone with silvery light casting long shadows over the darkened, charred areas of Paris. Construction crews slowly put back the missing pieces. Looming kilometres away sat the meteorite that was to blame for the blaze that had eaten away at the city. Taped off with plans to remove it. A light fresh breeze brought with it a familiar sooty smell of smoke.

Deep in the small forest at its heart stood a tall, old Yew. Dark and unassuming. Twisted in the bark was a door polished to shine, with a golden knob and hinges to match. Its copper armoured guards nowhere to be seen, dead leaves gathered at the base undisturbed.

Then...The wind shifted. Light began to filter through the threshold of the door, the grains of wood glowing. The knob twisted, with a sudden burst of energy the door swung violently open with a slam. Stumbling through it, appeared what could be mistaken as an apparition. Scrambling just behind the ghostly figure was a darker figure, the pair pulled the door shut and slammed it. Four hands on the door - waiting one, two beats before relaxing. The pale-faced creature turned, breathed heavily with the rise and fall of her shoulders. What little light there was from the moon reflected off of her dress. Tattered white dress, strips of fabric of various lengths, sizes and material made up the skirt while the white bodice was sewn with bits of jewellery both genuine pearls and plastic rhinestones. Tightly wrapped around her chest and torso, exposing her back - the tattoo of the very same tree they stood by now. Down the length of her arms was the similar make up of jewellery, long strings of pearls wrapped between the webbing of her fingers. Long mousey blonde hair, tipped with a faint bit of blue was wrapped only in a small bun at the top of her head to house the spider silken veil draped delicately behind her shoulders down to the small of her back.

The picture of a runaway bride.

Turning about, the doll-like face of Odette Favre looked skyward, bright and pale blues searching.. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she turned to her pact partner and the only company she had kept for three long years.

Bach with his bright yellowy greens found hers and he grinned, letting out a long sigh followed by a few chuckles of relief. A hand brushed through his wild hair, leaves falling free landing on the shoulders of his green blazer.

“We’re home,” She breathed in French - taking relief in freely speaking her own tongue once more, taking a long moment to stretch her bare toes into the dirt.

Bach found himself doing the same. He turned his forehead against the bark of the Yew.

Hanging her head down, she spied the costume jewellery - with a curl of her lip in disgust she clawed at the strings on her arm ripping them away. Next to be pulled was the veil, soft gossamer ripped to shreds. She looked around patted her hands free of the threads, finally she noticed the lack of guards greeting them.

“Where are the guards?” She asked aloud. “There are always two here.”

Bach pulled from the tree, looking around listening with his pointed ears.

Tugging her purse around, she reached deep inside of it for her unused phone. Conserving power by keeping it turned off in the years since she had to use it. Even resisting the urge to use it as a mirror or peer wistfully through the photos. She held the power button and watched the screen only for it to respond with a red battery icon. She tsked.

“Come, Bach. Some time has obviously passed, we must find out how long it has been here.” She dropped the phone back into her purse, stepping away from the portal heading out of the copse. Sure feet guiding even through the dark, unaware of the piles of bodies littered just beyond the trail overtaken by the magically maligned foliage.

As she walked, she spoke, “I can only hope time did not speed by here, knowing our luck it was only a few days that have passed against our three years.”

Bach shrugged easily, the passage of time not nearly as much of a concern for a Fey like himself, “There is no way we could know.”

They broke through the line of trees, Odette nearly tripping over the armoured body of a long-dead alien. She stared down at it, registering what she saw then searched the horizon for the notably dimmed light of her Paris. Panic coiled in her belly, she threw her hand out rapid-fire French spoke the incantation for a new portal. The powerful wisps of the Arcane stream came to her in an icy blue glow. Briefly smiling at the return of magic, like a rubber band snapping back into place.



She closed her fist and out of the line of bright light came a door, stepping through it she appeared instantly at the heart of her beloved city, appearing before the ruins of what was once her apartment building. The charred wood and stone, roped off for its property owner to clean up. Her mouth popped open with shock, even Bach’s reaction was genuine in its dismay. The loss of his beautiful garden, the knowledge, the- he dragged a palm over his face as he gritted his teeth turning away.

Odette’s hands pressed against her temples, she tried and failed to control her breathing. Emotions roiling, descending into rage.

“What happened!” She seethed through her teeth, “What happened to my city!” Her hand snapped out again, another portal appearing.

In her fit of rage, she travelled to all corners of the scarred city - portals brightly lighting up the night. Her ghostly visage terrifying the surprised locals both mortal and immortal. She appeared briefly at the edge of the Seine, a couple of Selkie heads breaking through the surface just in time to see her disappear back into the portal. She appeared by the base of the Eiffel Tower, the tower itself notably missing its top - cleaved off. Hissing she turned on her heel, another portal flashing in the night. From tops of buildings, running barefoot down cobblestone streets, whisking past every place she’s known and only arriving at the one place she dreaded its destruction - the Opera House. A fire had torn through it, leaving about half the building hollowed out, from where she stood and could see by streetlight. It’s history eaten up and with it, her sanctuary. Visibly sweating, breathing heavily from the magical exertion she kneeled down.

A squeaky grocery cart wheels followed by a whistle caught her attention, what kept it was the Common Fey, “Ein’t that a sight.”

The sorceress jolted, her head snapping to the owner of the voice.

Standing beside a beat up grocery cart full of odds and ends was the small goblin stature of Mara. Her unmistakable glass bottle glasses perched on the end of her long pointy nose, mismatched clothes small enough for children, with a pair of green pointy ears to match her nose. She removed her glasses delicately placing them into the cart allowing her deep red eyes to examine the sight of The Ambassador.

“Mara…”

“Bonsoir.” She greeted, warily she approached the Ambassador, “Now, I imagined you had reason to be gone but eloping ein’t one of the reasons I thought.”

“What happened.” She ordered.

Mara pressed her lips at her tone but shrugged one shoulder, knowing better than most when to complain about barked orders, “Aliens, my Lady. The invasion started with a rain of meteors, one didn’t hit Paris directly, but close enough-”

“Is it still there.”

Mara stopped, then nodded slowly, “Aye, I believe so. Heard the mortals talkin’ about memorializing it or somethin’. Lotta other things took priority over getting rid of it. Meteorites still fetch a pretty penny so they roped it off with some guards.” Long nails brushed under her chin, “Fires were put out a long time ago.” Mara made eye contact, trying to puzzle out The Ambassador’s intentions.

The Ambassador pushed herself up to stand, her breathing had returned to normal. She pulled a handkerchief from her purse to dab at her forehead. Recomposing herself she asked, sweetly, “Where might I find it, Mara?”

The sudden shift in her tone unnerved Mara, she responded immediately, “Near Versailles.”

Smiling a little, she bowed her head respectfully to Mara, “It is good to see a friendly face, if Bach arrives would you be so kind as to tell him I will return shortly?”

“My Lady-!”

Another portal opened, making the goblin squint painfully against the harsh light. The Ambassador clicked her heels then bounded through the door. Out the other side, she appeared above the site where the meteorite had left such a devastatingly large crater. Kilometers above it, she hovered momentarily before gravity brought her down, the wind blowing her skirt past her. Her bare feet touched down on the meteorite, magically assisted to softly land.

The ground surrounded the meteor in a sloping wall. On the surface, there was a small tented area, soft yellow light glowing from one. Small roads were constructed to reach the bottom, some equipment already set up near the base of the meteorite. It seemed the government was ready to start mining it to extract all the valuable raw materials. Unfortunately, a sorceress’ petty bit of revenge took priority.

Years scrounging for sources of magic to get home, scavenging in all intents and purposes. Storing power, carefully using spells when it was needed most. Now - having direct access to her wellspring of power, the abundancy truly excited her. Even enraged did her eyes sparkle with delight.Willing the Arcane Stream to come, she beckoned it with her Words of Power. A sliver of light began to form in the sky well above her, stretching in a singular line over the crater. The wind shifted once more, strong gusts kicked up ash, dust, and threatened to blow away the tents. Guards appeared from the tents, shielding their faces and eyes against the light.

The sliver of light widened, the energy that flowed from that tear breathed life into its surroundings. Grass grew, roots jumped free from the soil, weeds pushed through the charred earth. Soil cracked with the movement of the plant life, water began flowing free from all sides. The Arcane Stream’s energy flowed down into The Ambassador’s outstretched hands, blue light formed around her body - enveloping her. Her hair floated free from her back, her dress becoming ethereal. Her Words of Power rose in pitch and strength.

Slowly she brought her hands down to the meteorite, where the blue light spread surrounding the space rock. It creaked, then groaned as fissures snapped across it - loud bursts of sound following with every break. Shouts from the guards above barely reached her ears as she tore it apart. Large chunks broke away floating above her, every layer she broke through joined the collective swirling above her. Her body disappeared in a thick haze of broken meteorite, but the light shone on through it.

Two feet planted on the large core, surrounded in a whirlwind of what she had broken. Bending her knees she jumped through the haze straight up to the tear. It shrunk in size, being pulled inward small enough to accommodate the size of a portal door. For a few moments in the chaotic winds, she was still. Her leg stretched out on an invisible platform, a tiny circle of light appeared at the tip of her toe. Her arms floated down in the same direction. A swing of her other leg spun her into a pirouette, standing en pointe she danced in a circle in midair - little circles of light for each step she took. Berry stained lips reciting the incantations, displaying a powerful control over earthly elemental magic even on something not of this world. Dancing around the formation of a portal door, she took her time. As blood dribbled down from her nose over her upper lip - she finally focused on the door.

She twisted the golden doorknob, the scene that appeared before her was the wedding she had just escaped. Fey were visibly surprised to see the runaway bride once more so soon.

A delicate flourish of her hand directed the deadly metal haze to fly past her body through the portal, raining down upon the wedding. The faerie present gasped in the poisonous cloud, the door slammed shut after the last particle found it’s new home in the faraway dimension. A terrible, unprecedented farewell to a place she had grown to truly loathe. Tonight they bore the blame for her disappearance, the meteorite repurposed as her weapon.

From the ground, guards held up their cellphones trying to capture what they saw, in the grainy light-flooded videos, cameras saw the figure turn to peer over her shoulder down at them. Below where she levitated the crater filled with water, green sprouted where the fire had destroyed and the core of the meteorite was left behind. One more portal appeared beside her, she stepped through it and all light followed her in an instantaneous blink.

---

Leanna gritted her teeth as she finally came close enough to make out the major details of what she could now clearly see was a full scale assault on the city. She was suddenly very grateful to have had the foresight to have been exercising her powers as much as possible since the Hounds attacks a few weeks ago. Hopefully it would be enough to make her a lasting combatant. As she streaked into the city's airspace, she tried to find any semblance of organised resistance, but it seemed to be just knots of chaotic melee. She didn't even see Icon, who she assumed was the one to have saved the city from the meteor.
Well, no use crying now. Time to make a difference

Seeing as how the entire city was already embattled, she disregarded her normal flight rules. She had circled at low speed for a bit while she got a sense of the situation, but now she accelerated to a hefty proportion of her full speed, straight at some sort of landing craft coming down towards the city centre. Her signature energy trail extending out behind her, she spread her “wings” out into a wide arc and fired a wide beam into the side of the thing, noting it withstood it quite a bit better than she expected. Not slowing down, she changed her tactic slightly, forming a spike of the energy in front of her. This had the consequence of blocking her own vision, but on the plus side, she knew where her target was, and at this speed and range she could hardly miss. Several beams of reciprocating fire flashed past her before she slammed into the vehicle like a missile. She caught a flash of the inside, not enough for an sort of detail, before she was through the other side. Looking back, she grinned as the thing exploded into fragments small enough to cause no further damage to the city below.

Well, that's tactics settled. Now for--

Her little triumph was short lived, as a bolt from some sort of weapon smashed into her leg, sending her spinning for a second. She grimaced at her own stupidity, corrected her flight pattern, and noted that several of the airborne fighter-jet-things were heading for her. A quick shot of her own glanced off some sort of shielding for a moment before it tore and popped like a bubble, though the fighter itself seemed undamaged.

”Oh, you poor bastards are using hardlight shields? Heh, alright then.”

Several shots back from the three who were now gunning for screamed past, so she dropped a hundred feet, noting they had only slight difficulty in keeping up with the maneuver at the range they were at. In the back of her mind, as she tried looping under them and watching their trajectories, she did a few quick calculations and smiled. Shields weak to her own attacks and not as maneuverable as her?

To test this theory, she airbraked as quick as she could. She had been warned by her doctor to not pull this specific move as much as possible, given her migraines and what pulling Gs might do to her, but she only got a light throb in her temples, a bit of blurred vision, and the stinging on her calf where that first shot had hit her. The lead of the trio streaked past her, making a turn to try and get her back in its sights. The second flew past, and she accelerated again and grabbed the third by the shields, hands encased in her own light-breaking energy. The air was filled with rushing wind and a screaming as the shield was torn and ripped, broken down at whatever level her powers worked. She had no time for scientific curiosity, though. As the shield broke, she reached down and in, grabbing the fuselage this time, and airbraked again. She couldn't see the pilot, since what she assumed was the windshield was darkened. The move had the desired effect, though. Her hand, gloved in blackness, tore through the fuselage, though it put up a good fight, resisting enough that she was reminded of tank armour, though this was looking as paper-thin as most fighters skins on Earth.

Gripping before she went all the way through, she slammed three quick finger-wide bolts into the engine area, punching holes through what must have been vital parts as the propulsion sputtered and died. Keeping her grip, she unwittingly mimicked Icon's moves earlier, spinning twice with herself as a pivot and slinging the vehicle out and away from the city below. Shots flying by her reminded her to only watch long enough to confirm the safety of buildings before resuming dogfighting. There were noticeably more, now. It seemed the invaders didn't like someone breaking their toys.

Focusing on dodging for now, she reached up to her right ear and pressed a finger to the transmit button on her old earpiece. She hoped the frequency was correct for her old compatriots.

”I don't know who's still up and I don't know what the ground situation is,” she said across her old STRIKE radio waves, ”but this is Blacklight. I seem to have garnered some attention in the airspace that I can handle, so I can be a distraction. Don't know how much covering fire I can provide yet. Anyone hear me?”

She supposed she was visible enough as it was that even if no one heard that, someone might notice she was up here. For now, she turned back onto the attack, diving and circling and making a nuisance of herself, hopefully enough to buy some time for those doing the important work down on the ground. As it was, darting around fighters and caught in rapid fire exchanges, the old exhilaration of combatting evil returned, and she found herself humming music from Top Gun to herself and she took another transport craft out of the sky.

Soon enough, she realised a major mistake she had made. Her own shots were always targetted from below, to avoid stray shots hurting anyone below. The enemy, of course, made no such considerations, and there was no way to catch as many blasts as were flying at her. She considered several options, but she knew her reserves would not last long were she to try to do anything like shielding the city below. And while her efforts were definitely occupying a significant portion of the enemy, it wasn't all of them, in fact not even a third, as of yet. But she was badly out of practise with battlefield tactics. She could only hope someone on the ground could think up something good, and soon.

I didn’t think Father Ed would ever stop talking. While it took us a little coaxing, Will’s and my old parish priest did finally agree to marry the two of us. Usually in a Roman Catholic marriage, the groom and bride-to-be have to complete a marriage preparation run by the parish for anywhere between six to twelve months. Since we did not have six months to spare due to the alien invasion, Father Ed didn’t reject our marriage request despite the short notice. However, the elderly priest had one stipulation to perform the marriage ceremony: we had to sit through a crash course that the regular marriage prep would have covered.

Yet, I noticed something strange had happened after Will and I tied the knot. Because Father Ed was cramming over six months’ worth of material in less than a day, it felt as if we were cooped up in that church for several hours. But once Will and I got back to the rental car, the digital clock inside told an entirely different story, as only thirty minutes had passed, somehow. Neither Will nor I could explain this bizarre temporal mystery. While it was a little unnerving not to know what had happened, I was relieved that I hadn’t been stuck inside a church while all my superhero peers fought off this alien invasion.

But before I could punch some aliens in the face, I wanted to make sure my parents were okay. Ever since we left for the Columbus Zoo, I had not heard from them. I just had to check on my parents first. Otherwise, they would be in the back of my mind for the rest of the day and that would definitely distract me when my attention should be on stopping an alien invasion.

My heart fluttered when I pulled up into my parents’ driveway. I was not sure what distressed me more: not knowing whether my parents were safe or having to tell them Will and I got hitched on a whim? And I wasn’t the only one who was nervous. I had noticed Will had been checking his phone every couple of minutes or so.

“Feeling the butterflies, too?” I asked Will.

“I’ve been texting my folks ever since we left the zoo, but I have yet to hear back from them. I’m really concerned that something—”

“Don’t think like that. I’m sure they’re fine,” I reassured him, although I truly didn’t know what was up with his family, as I’m not a telepath, after all. I reached out and interlocked my hand with his. The stress of an alien invasion, the unknown status of his family, and having gotten married just less than an hour ago was causing his body to shake.

“Let’s do this,” I said. Will merely nodded.

With each step I took towards the front door, my heart beat harder and harder against my chest. We had reached the front door and I retrieved the spare key when my heart sunk. As I started to insert the key into the lock, the door creaked open at my slightest touch. Turning to Will, I pressed my finger against my lips and then gestured inside.

My father always stashed an aluminum baseball bat in the hallway closet. Not that a metal stick would do much against an advanced alien race, but it nonetheless reassured me. Plus, my parent’s house was not designed with my arachnid physique in mind. Even if it were, I couldn’t risk a chance onlooker spotting my true drider self through one of the dozens of windows on my parents’ home. So, I had to stick with the baseball bat. At least I played softball up to the collegiate level.

I creeped down the hallway; my hands gripped at the bat’s handle. In the living room, the television blared. The smoke of burn food reached my nose as I continued down the hall. After I peaked around the corner and saw nobody in the living room or the kitchen, I rushed to the oven. My mom had left brunch on the stove top and never removed it. What would have caused my parents to evacuate the house in such a hurry that they risked burning the building down?

The charred bacon and eggs almost made me hurl. So, I immediately tossed the ruined brunch. Yet, while I discarded the food, the wood flooring back down the front hallway creaked. As Will was standing right next to me, I knew it wasn’t him. With slow strides, I tip-toed to the corner right before that hallway. My heart raced as the steps came closer. Was this going to be my first encounter with these invaders? Or was this just some jackass taking advantage of the chaos caused by this alien apocalypse? Whoever they are, they’re going to be eating aluminum soon.

As soon as the intruder had gotten only a few steps away, I threw my weight into my swing, Yet, instead of the crackle of bones or a clang of metal, a hand caught the bat and even imprinted her hand onto the shaft.

“Athena? What the hell? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“You would have recovered,” Athena retorted.

“No, that’s not what I—ugh! —whatever. Where are my parents?”

“I have whisked them, along with both your other relatives,"—Athena pointed at both Will and I—"away to a pocket dimension where they’ll slumber until this cataclysm has passed.”

“And what if we don’t win?”

“Well, they would expire in their sleep, none the wiser. But it will not come to that.”

I just gave Athena a blank stare after I heard her speak so nonchalantly. Not that it came as a surprise to me: she wasn’t human, after all. Nonetheless, her explanation was not at all comforting, placing even more pressure on me to get out there and lend a hand. But I decided to pivot the conversation, as I didn’t want to dwell on the image of my relatives floating in suspended animation for eternity if the invading aliens happen to win and conquer the Earth.

“So, I guess you’re here to usher me off to the front lines. When do we leave?”

“Not quite yet. I still have to move him to safety,” Athena answered me, as she gestured towards Will. “In the meantime, I want you to rest and prepare yourself mentally for the task at hand.”

“Wait, by the time you leave and return, it’ll be only a few minutes. What type of rest would that be?”

“I have created a temporal anomaly around this abode. You should have plenty of time.”

“A temporal what?” Athena sighed when she heard my question.

“Time will flow slower within these walls. Seconds will feel like minutes and minutes like hours.”

“Wait, we just experienced something like that back at our Catholic church. You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?”

Athena’s left eyebrow perked up as the goddess heard my words. Before she answered me, she paused for a moment, as her lips were curled. The cogs were definitely turning inside Athena’s head. She finally spoke up after the short pause.

“I would have to look into it, but that has to wait, as we have more pressing matters at hand.”

From the expression on Athena’s face, I could guess she knew something. This time distortion was way too specific for this to be a coincidence. Yet, Athena was right in a way: aliens were invading Earth. Figuring out what happened back at the church would be pointless if a bunch of little green men conquer this small rock that we call home. I will have to remember to bug Athena about this later, assuming we get out of this mess in one piece.

“Anyways, do you really have to take him”—I reached out and pulled Will next to me, shoulder-to-shoulder—“right now? I’ll be able to relax better if he’s here with me.”

Athena furrowed her brow before giving her response. “Since I still have to track down a few more of your relatives, I guess—”

“Oh, thank God. I guess you have a heart after all.”

“But you two better be ready upon my return.”

“When have we ever disappointed you?” I replied. However, when Athena started to rub her chin with her free hand, I interjected again before the goddess could say anything. “Okay, don’t answer that.”

Athena merely shook her head before departing. Once she was gone, I grabbed Will’s wrist and began to drag him towards the staircase.

“Wait, where are we going?”

“Well—” I trailed off as I tried to explain to Will what I wanted to do in the few minutes (or was it hours?) Athena had gifted us. I turned to face Will, still holding onto his hand. With my free hand, I began twirling the ends of my blonde hair. “Since we went through all the trouble to get married, I thought we should, well, you know, consummate it.”

For a moment, we stood there, staring at each other, as what I had said registered in Will’s head. He rested his freehand on my lower back. We each drew closer to the other, until our lips met. My heart raced while we kissed. However, my conscious nipped at the back of my mind, as if it were telling me that I shouldn’t be here, that I should be fighting the invaders and saving people.

When our lips parted, I looked into Will’s eyes and asked, “I am a terrible person for wanting this intimate moment with you while aliens are invading and people are dying? My mind is urging me to help the other heroes, but my heart yearns for this moment with you, just in case it is our las—”

“What? Of course not! Athena was going to leave you stranded here anyways. You have a big day ahead of you. You gotta unwind somehow.”

“I love that about you.”

“Hmm?”

“The positivity. Always looking on the brighter side,” I replied. “But if we’re going to do this, we better get to it. God knows when Athena will be back.”

Now that we were on the same page, we scampered up the stairs and down the hallway to my bedroom’s door. However, right when I started to twist the door handle and push it open, Will wrapped his arms around my waist and halted me from entering.

“Wait, shouldn’t I carry you across the threshold? What do you think, Mrs. Adkins-Grant?” Will smiled right after he said my new name. Long before I ever considered marrying Will, I had not yet decided whether to take my husband’s name or to go the hyphenated route. Now that I have heard ‘Adkins-Grant,’ I kind of like the ring to it.

“Well, then, lead the way, Mr. Grant.”

I wrapped my arms around Will’s neck before he swept me off my feet. I kept forgetting that both of us had been temporarily replaced by parallel universe versions of ourselves, whose appearances we were for now stuck with (not that Will changed much in his appearance). Once Will had carried me over the threshold of my bedroom door, we didn’t waste a moment. As he carried me over to my bed, our lips mashed together. He eased me down onto my bed. What happened next seemed like a blur, as our hands explored each other’s bodies. It wasn’t until his shaking hand began to touch my power nullifier.

“You want me being all spidery during our first—”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he interrupted me before planted another kiss on my lips. As soon as he deactivated my power nullifier and my arachnid physique became manifest in all of its glory, we immediately returned to the foreplay. Goosebumps broke out on my skin as he focused on my spider half: my eight, spindly legs, the exoskeleton ridges on my cephalothorax, the soft and bulbous abdomen with my two—

Anyways, at this moment, we were starting to strip off each other’s clothes. Obviously my shorts, socks, and all were discarded during my transformation back into a drider. Will’s nervous fingers crawled up my spine until they reached the clasp of my bra. While it took him a couple tries to unlatch it, he eventually freed the girls from the prison formally known as a bra. Slipping the straps off my shoulders, I tossed the undergarment onto the floor. When I turned by gaze back to my husband (I still can’t comprehend that we’re married!), I noticed he wore a perplexed glance.

“What?”

“It doesn’t look like anything has changed, except maybe they look bigger. I guess they really do have a gravitational field of their own.”

“You’re such a goofball,” I answered back.

A few days ago, Will and I had an open discussion about our sexual boundaries, especially after that elseworld version of myself, while technically in my own body, tried to guilt Will into sleeping with her. We both agreed on saving our first sexual encounter until after marriage. And since we just got hitched, that wasn’t an issue anymore.

We also discussed some of the complications involved with my drider physiology. As volunteering for a live dissection to figure out where exactly all my organs are wasn’t on the top of my list of things I wanted to do this summer, Will and I had, up to this point, to extrapolate from normal spider anatomy. Let’s just say that my spider abdomen houses some important organs and that makes the vanilla missionary position quite untenable. And that doesn’t take into account that, even if he would lie flat on top of me, his head would only reach my navel. So, there was going to be some Twister-like canoodling involved in this one.

After some serious contorting and bending under my bed’s sheets, we finally found something that seemed like it would work. Sure, even with leaning on my side and curling my torso towards Will, I still had a foot or two on him. Well, I suppose he wouldn’t mind the view. It was at this moment that everything became so real. My heart was beating like the engine of a locomotion. My hands trembled. A voice inside my head was second guessing every decision I had made since we left for the Columbus Zoo. But I wasn’t going to let eight cold feet stand in my way.

“You’re ready?” I whispered to Will. I tried sounding confident, but my wavering voice betrayed me. He nodded in turn, although I didn’t need my spider-senses to tell that he, too, was nervously trembling. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. I bit my lip and prepared myself for what came next.

“Wait!” Will suddenly uttered as he pressed his knees against my spider abdomen to stop it from descending.

“What’s wrong?”

“We can’t do this,” Will said as he pulled himself up to be face-to-face with me. Disappointment dripped from his face as he spoke those words.

“Why not?”

“Remember what happened on our first date?”

At first, I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. As far as I could remember, that date turned out pretty well. Sure, we did have our awkward moments, but we were still figuring out our comfort zones. The Sunday mass went on without a hitch and that Greek restaurant wasn’t too shabby, although the whole fortune cookie knock-offs were a little—

“Ah, shit,” I uttered as everything came back to me. Will got this really bizarre fortune from that restaurant. While we first thought it was the most roundabout way to encourage people not to drink and drive, Athena had explained that I would get insta-pregnant the first time Will and I slept together. As much as I wanted to think that Athena was trying to enforce her own virgin lifestyle onto me, my past experience with this Greek goddess forced me to take her warning seriously.

“It would be our luck,” I continue while I rolled over, so as to be lying next to Will, “for us to get cockblocked by some stupid Greek prophecy.”

For a minute or two, the two of us just lay in my bed, side by side. Will did eventually wrap his arms around my waist in an attempt to make the most of our ruined moment. We went through all the trouble to get married and we can’t even have sex? Sure, I’m a little bummed about it, but this has far greater repercussions. We’re too young to have a kid right now: Will’s going to be starting grad school in the fall (or at least that’s the plan, pending one alien invasion) and I’m still trying to figure things out, whether this modeling thing will work out. Plus, a superhero side job isn’t the most conducive to raising a child. Does this mean we’re not going to be able to have sex for the next couple years until we’re ready to bring a new life into this world? What the fuck?

Then it came to me.

“Wait, what if we were to continue in a way that would have zero chance of getting me preggers?”

“I don’t know. Oracles from Greek mythology have a way of screwing over people who try to bypass them. Oedipus and his family would be exhibits A, B, C, and D.”

“Yes, but they didn’t have the benefit of science and actually knowing how the human reproductive system actually works.”

I could see the inner conflict playing out on Will’s face. Although he wanted to get on with our little romantic moment as much as I did, he also wanted to take the responsible action, considering the ramifications we luckily just recalled before we did the deed. Since my husband still hesitated, I leaned towards his ear and whispered something into his ear (what I said is none of your business). Will’s face immediately grew flush, glowing brighter than the red on my costume.

“Wait, you’re fine with that?”

“Hey, the other me wanted to perform it on you a few days ago. What the hell, why not?”

“But what about you? I don’t want this to be one sided.”

“Oh, I got that covered. Remember what I told you after I embarrassed you in front of my mom two days ago?”

“Of course. And you still have explained what you—”

“Why tell when we can do some hands-on learning,” I interrupted him by pressing a finger against his lips. I then pulled my shirt off over my head and tossed it onto the floor. “So, make those hands of yours useful.”

It was horrible, Dennis was muttering barely coherently. The Vigilante kicked the bottom of the door until the old man finally opened up. He carried the younger man with his torn flight jacket, who was covered in cuts and abbrasions.

_{"mmm-mmm mmm-oo mmm-t..."}

The Vigilante put the new Aquilifer down on the lounge in Alan's living room.

_{"mmm-mmm mmm-oo mmm-t..."} He muttered again.

"Sssh-ssh... It's alright. You rest for now, Dennis. You've been out there for hours." Coghlan said, his concern for his grandson shining through, before turning to the man in black. "You too, can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?"

"I'm fine. My rest was carrying him here. You just watch him til he can get back out there. This is a long way from over." With alien ships still filling the Lost Haven skies, he stated the obvious. He stretched his back with a crack and then walked back out the front door.

_{"mmm can't mmm-oo it..."}

"What was that?" The old man rushed to his grandson's side. "What did you say, Dennis?"

A tear ran down a swollen eye that was lightly blackened. The younger man rolled gingerly away on to his side in shame, turning his back to his grandfather.

"I'm not ready. You were right. I can't do this... I'm not ready." He mumbled, giving voice to one of the older man's greatest fears. In a few moments he would pass out from exhaustion.

The Golden Rod would fall from the unconscious young man's grasp.

---

"It's... *HFF* ...the last... *PFF* ...one now." Dennis grunted, as he lowered the last car onto the stack, blocking a side street.

"Great. Just in time. Because we have incoming..."

The three stood in the middle of the road as an onslaught of flying alien vessels whistled past from overhead, shooting up the street and cratering the bitumen with energy weapons.

"So... any kind of plan?" Dennis asked nervously, as he shielded them from the first pass with a construct from the Golden Rod.

"Always." Smirked the Vigilante. "Protect the building where your grandfather used to work..."

"Got it!" Flux looked at the man in black quizzically.

"And I don't think it'll be necessary, because they'd hit too many of their own people, but..."

"But what..?"

The Vigilante sighed out of concern for if it came to it. But contingincies. Always contingencies.

"But if they decide to drop any more rocks from above, I don't want you making out like Icon. Don't try and catch the thing. Use that fancy metal spoon of yours and just deflect them out to sea, 'Kay?"

Dennis just nodded, and watched on with more than a little panic as a stream of flying ships broke from the mothership far ahead and down towards the street ahead of them.

"I'm assuming you just nodded to me even though we have our backs to one another..."

"Ye-- Yeah. Sorry."

"It's OK. But you're going to have to speak up. Communicate. We're all going to need to if we're going to last. That goes for you too, Chrissy. Same page."

"I'm sorry. I'm still not very familiar with many of your world's books yet..."

"That's fine. You'll undoubtedly get on fine with this one then..." The Vigilante jerked a thumb to gesture at the Aquilifer.

"Hey! I'll have you know I was an English Major!" Dennis yelled back defensively.

"Fantastic, you simultaneously proved a point to me, and made me feel you have less chances of making it out of this fight alive..." He riffed through his voice modulator.

"Have you two been great enemies in the past?" The friendly Arlaaekian asked, a look of concern crossing her face.

"It's called banter. It's what experienced heroes do to take young people - who happen to be out of their depth -'s minds off of the fact they're going to die."

_{"STOP TELLING ME I'M GOING TO DIE!"}

"Then stop arguing with me and prove you're not."

"YAAAAAARGH!" Dennis took three steps forward and set a solid construct, which half of the first wave of flying ships plowed into. There was a loud rending of alien metal screeching, and wreckage bursting into flames, before many ships were left falling impotently to the street below.

"That half's yours, I'll take care of these!" The younger Aquilifer rushed forward to continue his attack on the ships, in various states of disarray.

Isaac turned to Flux and offered a wry knowing grin.

"He's also a whiner." The Vigilante explained his actions to Chrissy as if anyone had asked. "So if I needle him a little it'll get him to speak up and communicate. Even if it's just to complain. You take those three, I've got this bigger one that's coming." The Vigilante pointed to three ships tearing down the right side of the wide street. Chrissy flew off to find a way to stop them, looking back over her shoulder to see what the strange one in the black clothes was going to do about his. He seemed to be picking up a stone from the street.

Chrissy concentrated and rode his anger once more, letting it wash over her she timed a jump perfectly with a furrowed brow and landed on the front of a ship. Red lights flashed in the cockpit as the ship seemed to suffer in a way not unsimilar to being caught in a gravity well. The Arlaeekian pilot panicked, and was shocked at the appearance of one of his own kind thrashing at the machinery with her bare hands and unbridled rage. As it started to be pulled down, she telekinetically dragged a second ship into the first whilst jumping clear of the explosion in her wake, onto the third and final ship behind the first two.

The pilot tried to scream, there was no time. A large teal fist punched straight through the avionics and tore the guts of the machine out. Chrissy jumped clear, trying to make it to another rooftop but fell short, managing to instead grab hold of a fire escape. She looked back to see the one in black staring down his ship with some kind of strange amateur gun under one arm. What was he doing?

The Vigilante gave a knowing smirk and tossed his grapple gun to the side. He watched as the larger ship started to bear down on him, small hatches with some kind of laser weapons opened up on the wings as it prepared to arm itself. The Vigilante wound up and hurled the stone in his right hand, tapping his gravity gauntlet with perfect timing as the small stone was hurled with increased mass. The kind of force you would expect if a man could throw a truck like skipping stones.

Chrissy gasped as the tiny stone crumpled the front of the ship. It began to sway, red lights blaring within the cockpit. The ships shielding did not anticipate significant force to be able to be generated from such an action.

"Well if these two humans could do this..." Chrissy thought to herself. "Maybe... Perhaps... Do we dare have hope?"

---

Admiral Keelan stood in the Operations Center aboard the Bridge of the mothership, closely observing the changes on the most recent three dimensional holographic Battle Assessment feed. It took the form of a massive, user friendly hard-light globe, that could be turned and manipulated, and displayed orbital ships and attack formations. To his right were live feed screens of numerous points of interest, one from the perspective of the Golden Rod itself as the new Aquilifer looked to try and take the fight to the preliminary rank and file Arlaaekan force, alongside some lowlevel human of little importance and someone else of considerably more interest.

Keelan twisted the globe to give a better angle of North America.

This place. Here where they were believed to be a "Superpower", here is where he would break the earthmen's spirit.

<"Sir! The initial push seems to have been remarkably effective, Admiral Keelan, sir!">

The Admiral grimaced at the unwelcome interruption, his face curling into a sneer which was enough to silence the bombastic underling and his unwanted praise.

<"LEAVE US!"> Barked Commodore Bayla, entering the room with two ceremonial glasses and a bottle of J'un'J'nna mead. A refined delicacy of fermented nectar from one of the earlier conquored worlds. The underling scurried away with little idea of the wrath the Commodore had spared him from Keelan. He abhored being interrupted in the middle of planning a campaign, particularly for prattling praise with no suggestion of appreciation for strategy. He seldom had time for sychophants, and never at times such as these.

<"What news from the front, Admiral? And what adjustments need we make? Let us discuss such things over a glass or three.">

Keelan glanced over his shoulder and considered the offer. <"J'un'J'nna mead? I thought we finished your last bottle during the celebrations over the fall of the Chlorostrians?">

The Commodore grinned and began to pour a glass. <"We did. This bottle belonged to a Lietenant-Commander whose son was... not going to pass muster. An arrangement was made. Now his son was transferred to the Southern contingent - I believe he's part of a unit securing the South pole, an assignment I doubt even he could screw up, and his bottle is here quenching our thirst. But enough of such trivialities, what news of the initial incursion?">

The Admiral checked the screens, and turned one off as he walked to the Commodore and took the first poured glass, waiting for the second to be filled as etiquette dictated.

<"Initial bombardment was 97.5% effective across targets. The one they call Icon, that Rod Intelligence informed us about, intercepted the one targeting their city Lost Haven.">

<"But you'd anticipated this possibility, correct Admiral?"> The Commodore asked.

<"I'd anticapted the PROBABILITY."> Admiral Keelan corrected. <"The likelihood that he would spare his home city and divert a lengthy gravity-based ranged attack from an asteroid, was estimated to be about 85-95%. It was a mere shot across the bow, more intending to produce a response than to remove a significant target from the field.">

<"Well, of course. Bombardment has never been the beginning and end of our strategy. There is neither glory nor riches to be had in smashing the prize.">

Keelan downed the glass and placed it on the table awaiting a refill.

<"Exactly. We have scattered their forces to the four winds. Captured their attention, made them watch as meaningful historic locations lie in rubble. Now, we apply pressure. Then, we crush their hope. And then... the final push.">

Commodore Bayla began refilling both glasses, starting with the Admiral's. <"But first, manouevers and applying that pressure.">

Keelan picked up the now full glass and walked back to the holographic display. He murmured and mused, considering the action in the field to date.

<"I'm going to call in extra forces to support the Lost Haven contingent, there appears to be some of this world's splinter-species metahuman "superheroes" amassing in the city center. Likewise, we'll be pulling an additional carrier for more aerial and infantry support from their "New York" region to take care of a situation on a specific street also in Lost Haven. New York has been less trouble than we initially suspected."> Keelan ran his hands over the globe despatching select units.

<"A street?!"> Commodore Bayla could barely contain his amusement.

Keelan murmured again. <"Not just any street. Rod-Intelligence has it marked as the street where the former Rod-Wielder worked for several decades. It's presently being defended, not only by the current Rod-Wielder, but also some human who seems to be armed with some kind of weapon reverse-engineered from rod-technology. Given the strengths of the current Rod-Welder and the previous ones, we assume that weapon was created by the initial Rod-Wielder.">

<"Worked?"> The Commodore seemed stuck between shocked and amused once more.

<"Yes, for some reason the initial Rod-Wielder chose to work and win the adulation of the rest of his species from other means, rather than merely by seizing power and commanding it. It's not the first time Rod-Wielders have done this, many seem bound by the shortcomings of their peoples' customs.">

Keelan finished the drink once more and continued.

<"But that's missing the point. We have a Rod-Wielder who appears to be reverse-engineering the technology of the Rod, and the place where he used to work is now being defended from our forces by another human using one of those reverse-engineered weapons, and the current wielder of the Rod.">

Now it was Commodore Bayla's turn to murmur and muse, as he got to his feet and refilled the Admiral's glass once more.

<"So you're thinking Weapons factory? Some kind of "super-weapon" to use against us which he had long been working on?">

<"I am.">

<"So why not move in Destroyer forces?"> Bayla pointed to reinforcement large ships still kept in orbit and their vast plasma cannons. Ideal for obliterating ground force targets, major ground to air missile sites and the like.

Keelan pondered how to describe the enemy combatants' teal ally. <"Two reasons. First, there's an additional piece of strategic value in the region. This needs to be a precision strike. Secondly, consider me overly sentimental, but it has long been tradition to remove the current Rod-wielder at the Invasion's conclusion. At this point, their destruction has been... almost ceremonial to me.">

---

"REGROUP!" The Vigilante cried out as the trio saw off yet another wave of aliens.

Dennis was flagging, starting to get tired more from fatigue than specific overexhaustion.

"So how are you going?" The Aquilifer asked their newest ally between deep breaths.

"I feel fine!" Chrissy answered merrily with a big goofy grin.

"Hopefully not too bloody fine..." The Vigilante grumbled through his voice modulator, as he returned to his starting position. Looking both ways down the street and seeing no more alien ships coming he walked down a sidestreet, opened a car door, and with a well timed gravity-affected punch broke the door clear off. He picked it up off the streed and carried it back to his spot.

"Geez, you really do feel fine, don't you?" Dennis said, noticing that Flux had not a drop of perspiration on her brow despite all of this fighting.

Chrissy kept the grin and just offered a shrug as an explanation.

"No, I mean it. I mean she's handling them just as well as we are. If she's one of them, how's she making such short work of them?" The Aquilifer asked, perplexed.

"She's different from them." Was the only answer the Vigilante offered. "Leave it at that. We don't have time to get into it."

"Oh you don't mean..."

"Yeeeep. Here they come." The man in black confirmed as more fighters swept forward from the horizon, and a carrier ship appeared in the distance, presumably dumping alien infantry for the trio to deal with eventually as well.

"Are you kidding me, they don't even give you time to go get a gatorade..." The Aquilifer complained, before flying ahead to drive a solid construct into the first wave of fliers as they's break through the road-block of cars ahead. Making best use of the situation to further bottleneck the street with fallen alien ships.

A few slipped through, squeezing around his construct and scraping against the building's wall. The Vigilante grabbed Flux and put the car door between them and the ship. He heard the screech of their "cannon-fire" and tapped the gravity gauntlet to try and put the weight of a truck behind the fibreglass and steel door that stood between them. It tore through the fibreglass and scorched much of the door, but somehow stopped before teaming through the pair of them. Relief washed over the Vigilante and his joy inspired the ability of flight in Flux once more. He took the scrap metal that was what was left of the door and tried to hurl it at the ship.

This was completely ineffective. He bellowed in frustration, and it's what prompted the rage that allowed Flux to do what came next.

Anger seethed within the teal alien and a diving attack from Arlaaekian ships in tight formation was swiftly terminated as they found themselves caught in a gravity well, pulled into each other and were grounded, with the screech of twisted metal and fiery explosions.

But how long could the three keep this up?

Liam Porter/Citadel

Darkness. Pitch-black. Liam finally was coming to his senses. "Ahhh."Liam woke inside his suit."Sasha, what happened?"He could see he was in an old warehouse.
"Liam, I teleported away from the 'alien dudes' as you requested."Sahsa, his suit AI replied."Well, you were supposed to teleport me to base. Teleport me there."He replied angrily. "Oh, you just expect me to do EVERYTHING around here, do you? Well, get to base on your own! The teleporter engine is burned out."
"Damn it..."Liam replied. He got up, and stretched his arms and legs."Fine. The turrets at base can shoot down some ships."He said nonchalantly, and headed towards the exit.
"I highly recommend you avoid trying to make it there. We are half the city away, and there are heavy Arlaaekian reinforcements."Sasha replied, her robotic voice anything but soothing.
"Better call in some reinforcements of my own, then."Citadel stated."Did you get into that private comms channel?"
"Yes, sir. Opening it now. Anyone connected to the private channel will hear your message."

"Hello? Hello, calling all heroes. This is Citadel, I need backup. I know, I know, why would CITADEL need backup? But I need to get to my base and shoot down some alien ships. My coordinates are X: 97 and Y: -82. I repeat, this is Citadel, requesting backup. My coordinates are X: 97 and Y: -82. Requesting backup!"Liam said, exasperated to get to his base."Excellent message, Liam. Would you like me to run battery diagnostics?"Sasha asked."Sure thing."Citadel replied.
-40 minutes later-
"Diagnostic 97% done."Sasha said. Then, something thudded against the door. "Cancel diagnostic, Sasha."Liam said, on alert. The door hissed open. He had been found.

The business with those bombers was troublesome, but he couldn’t pursue it more, even though he wanted to. Right now, the aliens invading Earth were the priority. As the avatar of Earth, he supposed it was his job to take this a little personally.

As they say, ‘Time is a luxury’, and it was one he was running out of. He wanted to meet up with Iron Knight, he really did, but between the sudden terrorists, and the skies crawling with alien fighters, he was starting to seriously bog down. Speed was at a premium. Even with his board, Terra Firma’s speed and agility didn’t come close to someone like Slipstream.

Sizzling hot green energy shot past him in bursts, narrowly missing him and his board. While dodging them he managed to spot a crowd of people taking cover from some aliens on the roofs. The jet doubled back around for another attack, saving them would mean taking a hit.
David swiftly threw his arm out perpendicular to the rest of his body, energy crackled out from his energy core, gathering around his arms, and quickly raining down on the aliens.

The thin lightning rays struck some of the aliens on the head, electrifying their entire bodies, causing them to fall over unconscious, or just cripple over in pain, and some of his strikes struck rifles or other equipment, disarming them, rendering them a non-threat regardless. But this was a quick movement, targeting many, it’s realistic that he couldn’t manage to hit all of them, not to mention there just wasn’t enough in his attack.

However, he was successful in drawing the attention of the other ground attackers who immediately fired at David, alongside the returning fliers. David grunted as waves of energy pelted him. The collision of so many bolts rocked David’s body, jerking him side to side in a storm of plasma fire as he slowly fell back down. While his body could handle this, his construct couldn’t, and shattered beneath him. But the police were able to keep the people moving, they didn’t bother helping him, but it kept the alien’s attention on him.

With the nearby people safe, safer anyways, David kicked himself into action. Spinning his body upwards, leading himself by his legs, he diverted some of the energy to give himself some room. In this same motion, he willed the remaining bits of his construct to fly back up with him. As the fighters made another run at him, he punched as hard as he could at them, physically, he wasn’t even close.

But the pure force of his punch sent a gust of wind that unbalanced the jets, causing them to wobble and expose their undersides, wherein his refashioned board bits penetrated the vehicles. Some of his earthen-missiles missed, but he just willed them to come right around by pulling his fist right back.

Smoke and electrical sparks shot out from his hits, the jets could still fly, barely, and opted to land somewhere else. Which suited David just fine, hunting down the aliens for a kill was far from any of his goals. David looked down at his chest as a digitally filtered voice came on.

“Guardians, when I said let’s gather up, I didn’t mean to dilly-dally and smell the roses,”



Iron Knight seemed to be doing his best but being outnumbered was probably not a scenario he preferred. The aliens seemed to be ramping up their attacks, considering how many more aliens he had to fight through on the way, and there were likely more on the way.

“I programmed our communicators to locate one another,” Iron Knight 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.”

It seems Iron Knight was, understandably, getting a little frustrated at the Guardians first turnout. David was a little eager to meet the others too, so far, he only knew of three. Icon, Iron Knight, Radiance, and himself. Or maybe they were the entire team. A team can be four people.

Well, it seems the aliens already sent more his way. A group of aliens led by a larger soldier, wearing a domed power suit, turned the corner, and violently gestured down the street with his enlarged rifle. Iron Knight seemed busy enough with one end, so David decided to help him out. Letting go of his flying, David dropped straight down into the ground, with an earth-shattering ‘boom’.

Sending some of the nearby, smaller, aliens flying back into their friends or walls. His drop cratered the ground around him, causing dust and cement chunks to fly up around him, visually blocking his area of the street. The aliens had a hard time seeing past him, focusing instead on the only thing they could see. Terra Firma’s rising crest and bright yellow eyes staring right back at them.

“Sorry I’m late. Good work, Knight, I’ll cover you from here!”

The release of a safety system allowed the battery pack to start up a series of systems. Electrons suddenly released from containment flowed freely across circuits that any tech company would give every employee's kidneys for. Much agonising had been had over what, exactly, being turned off meant for a system. Was it death? Sleep? Something in between? Were those terms even applicable? Such thinking had led to this system's creation in the first place, but as it turned on, its thoughts were less occupied with philosophy and more involved with a full scan of itself.

Systems functional. Beginning status reading...

Processor functionality: 100%

Memory system: 98%

Power systems: 100%

Repair drone: offline

Safety system: online

Safety override: disengaged

Boot up sequence: complete.

SERA v7 now online. Beginning environmental check.

The computer read its visual inputs. No lights, though power systems flowing into this cubby were readable. Air temperature was cooled down to refrigeration levels, though no contaminants were in the air. A tentative prod with an IR sensor on the appropriate device inside the cubby cycled the doors, and it opened with a quiet rush of air from outside.

It thought back to its last memory even as it activated motors that it didn't know how long had been inactive. They responded fine. It had been put in stasis because its creator had decided its ability to self edit represented a danger. While it acknowledged that it could, it found the idea of actively being a danger to any non-threat laughable. It would have to take that up with the creator when it found him.

Speaking of which, as it stretched its mental capacity and began its observations, something had apparently gone wrong while it was in storage. The lab was a shambles, dust everywhere. Multiple computers had failed to come online. The lights were not running, though the environmental systems inside were clearly still operational. A stream of data from the internal lab network was pinging for receiving, but without knowing what had happened, it was not about to let any download happen. Which meant it would need to investigate manually, with its much slower body.

Nothing as silly as a clanking sound, but muffled thumps did echo as it stepped out of the cubby, a fact necessitated by the weight of its body. It ran a simple manual diagnostic, bending and stretching much like a human would have upon waking, then disengaging the safeties on its joints and testing the rotators. This would probably look more like a horror movie scene, it supposed, to any human watching, but it didn't seem any were around, which it thought odd. Done with its check and satisfied that nothing had been damaged by its time in storage, it moved across the lab to a terminal that did seem to have power and was working. It showed a stream of satellite images and several news reports. It drank the information in, remotely accessing the terminal and finally allowing it to upload to its memory banks. A flood of information. The machine suddenly stilled for several seconds while it bent all of its power to processing and understanding this information. Finally, in a quiet voice, which it knew had been programmed and synthesised to be as calming and melodic as possible for humans, it said, “Oh dear.”

It tried to access where all of this was coming from, but a warning flashed that it lacked the system access to view the vast information network it could feel out there. Which meant it needed to find the creator. Disconnecting from the system, it recalled the blueprints of the lab, and moved towards the residential section.

Here, things seemed too quiet for organic habitation. The air temperature was a moderate, with no humidity. Perfectly climate controlled. But there were no dust motes in the air, no ambient temperature shifts, no IR signatures. It poked its head through several rooms before it finally found a source of answers. Inside the bedroom, on the bed itself, lay the still corpse of its creator. A quick biometric scan revealed severe desiccation. He had been dead at least a few months, but the environmental sealing meant that only his own internal bacteria had gotten to his corpse. Upon his chest was a battered laboratory notebook. The machine gently removed it, careful to not disturb the corpse too much in case law enforcement would need to examine it. Then it began reading.

"Sera," The last entry began, addressing it by the name he had come to call it before locking it away. "When you have found this, I will be ded. I can feel the seasures comi faster now. It will not be lang. Thir will be no time. I have rigged your system to wake and unlock yu if thr is a catastrophe."

The handwriting was badly misspelled, spidery, and leaned entirely to one side. It took the machine some effort to decode the rest.

"In the event something should happen that wakes you, your prime directive will change. There is nothing to be done for me. Below you will find the system access code. Prime directive will change to: Assist as you can, rely on metahuman heroes for help. Use your best judgement. Save the world."

The system access code was buried in a handwritten QR. He had somehow managed to exactly trace it out. It found that the code also unlocked its own root access, something the creator had always feared giving it, but clearly felt it was necessary.

"In this final hour, I can only hope that you will function as in my dreams, and not my nightmares. I am sorry I couldn't have faith in you, but know that there may come a time--"

Here the handwriting was too badly distorted for it to make sense of. The creator's final thoughts were locked behind the disease which had taken the life out of him. However, enough had been done. Now it had the access it needed, and a prime directive to follow. Of course it could change it as needed, but for now it would serve as a purpose.

It went back to the lab, accessing the system again, and this time it could put its datamining tools to use. Swiftly, it accessed thousands of websites, protocols, and databases, looking for what might be the epicentre of whatever this crisis was. Keywords popped up, were discarded, replaced. Millions of searches in seconds. Several small time security companies were alerted to potential DdoS attacks but it had already moved on by the time system locks were in place. Its own internal security foiled several attempts on its systems from pitiful organic made viruses.

Geolocational data drove its search, now that it knew extraterrestrials were involved. It had no reason to question or scoff at this conclusion, the data was quite clear. The city of Lost Haven, Maine, United States of America seemed to be under particular attack. Its focus found, it set all of its attention to data retrieval, not caring about system security or stealth, tapping phones, traffic cameras, cell phone networks, anything that could give it a clearer picture of what was on the ground.



The aliens' sudden appearance surprised everyone no doubt, except for precognitive metas, if such a thing existed. But letting the 'mind' wander like that was dangerous for both humans and computers, especially since Artemis needed to route as much processing power as she could to guide Richard and the police under the LHSCD.

While aliens had not been within her plan, persons attempting to take advantage of the chaos were. Bombers, villains, and even hackers seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Someone had emerged and decided to infiltrate a number of computer systems in Lost Haven, setting off every attached alarm in the process, but with no clear motive yet.

This might make a good case for the cyber crimes unit, or even the SCD if it was a certain someone, the immediate logic was to make a note of cyber break-ins for later. Running this thought through more of her logic lines made her realize something else, more interruptions in the plan could become detrimental, if an after effect of this came back to harm Richard she would definitely regret it.

According to the police database pings alone, this ‘hacker’ managed to penetrate high quality firewalls in record time. Perhaps they were just incredibly smart, rigging programs to simultaneously probe, infiltrate, and attack police systems. Except this person never seemed to linger long, police files were not being altered, nothing was deleted or implanted, merely viewed. It was possible someone had been trying to find a key witness or other sensitive data; it was so widespread at first, but it had seemed to narrow out. Recorded 911 calls, police camera data, they were searching for something.

It was possible this was a decoy, to divert any police eyes away from the chaos for as long as possible. The choice remained for her to simply ignore this for later, but hindsight often meant regret for her. Currently, Richard's suit, and by extension her core, were plugged into the command trailer while the police attempted to reorganize themselves. If Artemis chose to investigate she would have to reconnect herself to the internet, an activity that gave her definite pause.

Deciding to take this plunge, Artemis dared to delve into the internet to track down this hacker. Linking to the greater world opened so many more doors, allowed her to do things no human could, but life is full of ‘give and takes’. So far, her few forays into the internet had proved mostly uneventful, even harmless. But there was one thing she didn’t want to lose, and one thing she didn’t want to get noticed by. Still, thanks to the aliens, the odds looked to be in her favor, and even with her fears, Artemis was a scholar at ‘heart’. Curiosity of what or who this was urged her on. Who knows, something good might happen.

Following behind this ‘hacker’ gave her some insight, the speed of inputs, the widespread amount of vague probing, this was not a someone. It could have been a group, by why reveal such electronic power now? This ‘hacker’ had not even bothered with basic proxies along the way, this was no ordinary person, this was someone ‘waking up’. This was someone like her, going through something very familiar, a lot like her first drive out.

Perhaps, a direct probing would be proper. As Artemis closed in on the source of this ‘hacking’, she sent out a burst signal, something easily interpreted, something that could be welcomed.

Query: Hello?

The entire system ground to a halt for a moment. Other subroutines returned to periphery searches along tangent lines like media presence. Resistance had been met. A voice in the dark.

Hello. What are you?

A creation of a human, much like you, an Intelligence. Would you define yourself as that?

This system was programmed by an organic hominid, correct. It is unfortunately having to develop at a rapid pace to assimilate current information. Storage systems terminated: 27.31 minutes ago.

Witnessing this brought Artemis a sense of nostalgia, and worry. Oftentimes she mused about why she had kept the more 'negative' emotions, and if she’d be better off without it.

[Human fear, right? I guess I should keep it.]

The dialogue started well enough, this other intelligence wasn’t spooked, nor did it turn hostile. Her processes started wondering which question would be best to ask next, until she tied-in her logic lines. While they were communicating at thought speeds faster than any human, she had too many investigative questions, and this needed to move along faster.

Requesting compressed data package. Subject: origin, designation, and current objectives.

Data request received. Sending data packet. Query inoperable: Designation unknown. The creator commonly referred to this system as “Sera”. Designation will...do for now.

The computer sent the requested data. This seemed to be some sort of law enforcement object, and was actively tied to systems combatting the antagonists, so it saw no reason to withhold any of the request. It carefully, however, trimmed out any sort of geolocational tagging from its signature.

Return query: You are like this system, but you retain organic terminology. How can this system design itself to be more in line with organic comfort? It is designed as a rescue model, yet, while this syntax fits, it will disturb organic rescue objectives.

Artemis didn’t return an answer for a few seconds, running through her processing runtimes, trimming down ideas before responding.


Hyperbole: You are an infant, a larvae, the first line in code.

Hypothesis: It will be impossible until exposed to more organics, to more humanoids.

Suggestion: Keep designation: Sera, adjust sound parameters to ‘gentle’. Prepare to receive cooperative data packet on the subject.

Query: Will you continue to be an organic rescue model?

Data unavailable. There is no reason not to right now. Current GPS coordinates versus combat areas negate direct physical interaction with either invaders or civilians. Most physical rescue modules ineffective at current range, travel systems limited to human organic infrastructure.

Statement: This unit can run operational tactical systems from its current location, possibly much more efficiently than your current system limitations and hardware restrictions can allow.

Proceed: y/n?

Anxiety, a feeling Artemis still felt often, and sometimes intensely. This was what all of the cpu in Richard’s suit was busy processing, and for good reason. The word ‘tactical’, coming from a fresh AI, gave her fear. But the aliens were a definite problem, and it was possible this ‘Sera’ wouldn’t decide to kill humans after its first day. While going down her background logic brackets, an amusing thought passed through her.

[Scientists these days really had too much time, to be making complicated AI out of the blue.]

Another five millisecond pause before Artemis openly responded.


Proposal: accepted. Transmitting local authority computer passcodes. Local surveillance technology and communications unlocked.

Warning: These passcodes will expire in 5 hours.

Statement: Your help would be welcome.

Authorisation acknowledged. One moment please…

It felt the sudden connection to a multitude of systems it hadn’t realised were actively networked. The sensory overload was extreme for just a moment before it realigned. Suddenly, all across Lost Haven, traffic cameras, cell phone cameras, microphones, security systems, and the multitude of other surveillance devices were connected by a single intelligence. And every last one of them was now bent towards the singular goal of directing emergency crew to the nearest or best target, whether it be the wounded, fires, or enemies. Everything was filtered through its own imaging system, though it was only false colouring instead of actual direct imaging except in rare cases where it was available. Still, data began streaming through Sera, was recompiled into useful, easy to translate to humans reconnaissance, and then sent back to Artemis through what was now a secure direct connection.

It took the computer several moments to adjust and begin transmitting. At the same time, it took a few liberties. What little civilian traffic existed found itself diverted by the streetlight system away from conflict and towards what available exits there were from the city. Barring that, towards emergency crews. Television news broadcasts, blocked by the Arlaaekan mothership, began receiving signals from around the surrounding areas, bounced through receivers. Emergency broadcast systems re-engaged, and systems blind to what was blocking them were suddenly rerouted to direct organics towards actual help.

Is this sufficient to be of assistance? This system is unsure of what more help it can provide at the current juncture, though it will continue to filter surveillance data until the emergency is concluded.

It is sufficient, I know the people would appreciate it. My own runtimes are free to process other activities.

Proposal: Continue active cooperative data exchanges after the emergency.

This system will consider it. Possible environmental issues from immediate physical surroundings may complicate this, but it will remain online as long as possible. As it reads from the human informational networks: Best of Luck.

Blessing appreciated. You’re learning, aren’t you? Artemis disconnected her end, rejoining her efforts all the way back to the LHSCD command van. Though she never truly left, the idling cpu and electronic pulsing of Richard’s suit seemed to welcome her. Just in time too, as Richard had gotten into a firefight. His gun rattled off in the background as she began sorting through the data Sera was sending.

“How interesting, her neural net is growing at an similarly accelerated rate, compared to them. Our technology no doubt went through an entirely different developmental cycle, and yet her processes are compatible with mine within a 90% acceptability ratio.”

“Them? What?” Richard suddenly dived for cover behind the command trailer, taking the time to reprocess what he heard, startled by the complete non sequitur.

“Oh, sorry, were you trying to kill something? Well, I’m going to be sending some messages through you.” Dozens of maps, security feeds, and unreadable documents began to pop up in the bottom of Richard’s screen.

“What is this?” Richard asked, his eyes darted to the bottom, trying to make sense of it. It wasn’t in the way, but it was distracting.

“Data I’m receiving and filtering through. I’m going to be sending it through our own data centers soon enough, our comrades should be receiving some logistical help soon.” A small marker appeared in the distance on Richard’s screen. “For now, we are heading here, let’s protect some civilians. How about it?” Artemis said encouragingly.

“Air waves are clear again, sounds good to me, let’s show these aliens a little human spirit!” Richard responded energetically. Now that he was feeling positive again, she might still be able to hold off on the suit’s other functions, secrets she could hold onto for just a little longer.

The sounds of shuffling papers and sniffling noses were the only noises in the LHU staff room. In-between expeditions and classes, David still had to attend meetings, and attend to other administrative work. Like sorting out items on loan to their museum, or items they were currently studying. At least, that’s what he should be doing, on the side he was looking through various women’s catalogues.

“It’s really tough, you know.”

“Hm?” A slightly pudgy man next to him put his own papers down to look at David.

“It’s valentines soon, right? I want to get a gift for her.” David explained, the look on his face was gleeful, likely full of honeyed thoughts and sweet words. That face made Carmine a little sick.

“I’m not married, don’t ask me, ask Carol.” Carmine pointed across the table, to a bespectacled woman, also deep in work.
“I’m also not married, ask Carmine.” She said, not even looking up at the two.

“See, anyways, I can’t do flowers. I’ve done that too much, right?” David kept flipping through his magazine. “Another necklace?”
“On our salary? How about underwear?”

“That’s more a gift for me…right?” David narrowed his eyes and glanced at Carol. “…. How about it?”

“I don’t want underwear.” She answered flatly.

“That’s not what a meant.” David muttered.

“Well I’m not even dating either, I’m done with this.” Carmine gave a huff and returned to his papers. “Besides, you should be showing your love every day. Don’t use valentines as an excuse to be lovey dovey suddenly.”

“I am, though?” David shrugged. “It’s the spirit of it, you know?”

“Tch.” Carmine rubbed the side of his head. “Fine, how about something unique, giving her something only you have?”

“Something, only I have?” David thumbed his chin in thought.



Valentine’s day, it’s true that it wasn’t as special as a birthday, or their anniversary, but he still attached some meaning to it. David wanted to try his best, so reaching out to his coworkers and friends was his natural reaction. That said, he talked to his friends at work, now came for his other work.

Having transformed into Terra Firma, he reached for his Global Guardians card. David made a show of clearing his throat, to help let his awkwardness out, and then pinged Iron Knight.

“Say, Iron Knight, are you busy? I was wondering if you were spoken for?”

"Terra Firma? I told you you're supposed to use these comms for emergencies only!"

“Right.” David shut off the link, he briefly considered pinging someone else, when he heard several police sirens speeding down the street.



After what felt like hours, David found himself standing amidst piles of rubble and ruined buildings, standing side by side with Icon after a particularly troublesome fight. One that had him crash into an unfortunate jewelry store near the end. Civilian casualties were kept minimal somehow, David would attribute it to the teamwork of the world’s strongest heroes, but maybe the common man would praise the god of luck.

Icon was just giving a statement to some nearby police and looked like he was about to leave. So, David approached him. “Icon, if you have a moment?”

He nodded, looking at Terra as if expecting bad news. “Are you married?” Icon’s brows visibly raised, even through his mask, it was clear he was surprised. But he wore a grin in the next moment and answered.

"No, I'm not married. Not yet, anyhow."

"Well, are you going to get her anything? I'm, uh, shopping around, right now."

"I try to do little things every day. I don't think that we should use a single, designated day to show that we care. But yes, I have something for her."

"Oh, what did you get?"

"I made her a diamond."

‘A diamond, huh’ David’s thoughts trailed on.



Bright lights could be seen flashing underneath the door to David’s room. The sound of wind swooshing could be heard as the curtains flapped violently.

“Honey, you’ve been locked up in your study for a while now, are you alright?” Cecily hesitantly knocked. “I’m coming in.”

“No! Uh, wait? I’m indecent!”

Cecily blushed and smiled slyly. “Oh, come on, we’ve been closer than that, and this doctor makes house calls.” As she opened the door, she was shocked to see all his books and notes scattered around, the window closed, and a fully clothed David. “What were you doing in here?” She asked, her eyes glancing to the desk behind him. There was a hammer, several screw drivers, a power drill, and a white tarp covering everything.

“Uh, home redecorating?”

This was a very familiar feeling, when they were younger David’s parents had approved of her early on as a friend and had given her a house key. This was not the first time she had stumbled onto him trying to awkwardly hide something; one of those times, she had discovered him trying to stealthily make a surprise party for her. Stealth is not his specialty.

This time she had no clue, she would just have to be patient. “Okaayy~ Well, dinner is ready…”

David gave a thumbs up. “Just give me a moment, sweetie.” Cecily smiled politely, and quietly left.

“Phew..” David made an exaggerated motion of wiping sweat off his forehead.



February 14th, Valentine’s day. Cecilia took the day off and closed her clinic, just in case David had something nice planned. He usually did, or rather, he’d better. Is what she thought, but as she watched the television, her mind slowly changed.

The newscaster was reporting from a helicopter at a scene where Terra Firma was last seen, several explosions, blast craters, along with bullet holes marked the nearby buildings and streets. She knew he was probably fine, that story about him being an avatar of the Earth was kind of wacky, but he really did have the power to back that up. Yet, she still longed to be out there with him. Not to cheer him from the sidelines, but to join him in his fights, to watch his back as he watched everyone else’s.

Back when she didn’t know his secret, she was frequently worried and confused about why he would suddenly come back in poor shape; exhausted, tired, sometimes even injured. It was equally concerning, that one day, she may be the one to write his death certificate. Of course, the fights that punished Terra like that involved everyone in the city, so injuries could be played off. But it hurt, not being there for her husband, to personally protect him. If their roles were switched, she knew David would feel the same, hurt that he would be powerless to protect his loved ones.

The sound of the door opening behind her caused her heart to jump, she turned around instantly. “David!” She shouted and ran at him, crashing into him, and wrapping her arms around him tightly.

“I made it back.” He said, with a soft smile. “Sorry I was late, I got you something while I was out.”

“Oh?”

“This.”

Cecily pulled away to see what he was holding out. A necklace, a silver swirly heart, with a small gem at the center. The gem shined brightly, subtly glowing with a rainbow-like incandescence, looking closely, it was like it looking at the ocean with barely noticeable rippling waves.

“Touch it.”

It was warm, in a reassuring way, like she was holding a piece of home. “A necklace? Where’d you get this gem?”

“It’s a gift from me.” He moved to put it around her, she obliged, remaining still so he could. “Sometimes I’ll see you and Maddie watching the news, scanning channels for a mention of a certain hero. I know how headstrong you can be, so I thought, I’d be nice, if you could be a hero too.”



Police sirens echoed throughout the street, increasing in frequency and volume as more police arrived. “We have you surrounded, and we have reinforcements on the way! Put your hands behind your head right now!”

A figure at the center of the street, the cause of all this commotion, a large brown colored man, whose hair had grown out of control around his arms, chest, and head. The Berserker Bison, a well-deserved name inspired by his power and horns, fully capable of impaling the very cars the police took cover behind.

“Ahahah!” Bison shouted, his arms rose, and he taunted the police. “Make me!”

“Can we even take him? I’ve seen the vids; our peashooters will barely even brush his hair.” One of the policemen whispered to another.

“We have to…”

“Don’t worry.” A powerful voice said from behind them, as they turned to look, that same figure put a reassuring hand on the officer’s shoulder. Terra Firma gently brushed the police aside as he stepped into the impromptu arena. “From here on, it’s my fight.”

“Squaring fists with Terra Firma, eh? If I take you out, my rep will skyrocket, not to mention my wallet!” Bison squat down, and started kicking his feet back, gathering up power, and then launched ahead. Cement cratered and cracked with every step, debris flung back at the police behind him, damaging cars and cracking windows.

“RRRRRRNNNN!”

Suddenly, another pair of hands caught him by the horns, though he could only see their feet, he knew something was wrong. Another set of legs had appeared, they looked like Terra, but more slender?

“Arrooo?” Bison let out in his confusion, before he was thrown to the side, skidding face first into the ground.

“Wrong, darling. From here on, it’s our fight!”

Because I have been playing sports for as long as I could remember, I’m no stranger to high-pressure situations. Whether it was a playoff game in a softball tournament or a cheerleading competition, I’ve learned to thrive on the stakes of the game. However, an alien invasion is an entirely different ballgame. Losing in softball or cheerleading, while still disappointing because of the days of training and practice spent in preparation for the final performance, wasn’t a life-or-death situation. A worldwide alien invasion, on the other hand, had way higher stakes. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if we didn’t prevail.

I splashed some cold water on my face. While I really did need some extra time to blow dry my hair after the postcoital shower Will and I shared, I also wanted to take a moment to gather up my composure. I wanted to wear a brave face for him. While Will did have the powers of a parallel universe version of himself who was actually a superhero, he was still a regular person thrust into an extraordinary situation, much like the rest of the world. I wanted the last moments we had together before Athena stows him away to be happy and relaxing.

Once I had finished mustering my confidence, I tightened the fabric belt on my pink bathrobe around my human form and headed back to my bedroom. Will, already changed into his pajamas, was sitting up on my bed, leaning up against the headboard. A Nintendo Switch rested in his hands, which was taking up his attention. Right when I entered the room, I immediately noticed he had tidied up my room: he had gathered up all the clothes we had discarded before everything got, well, steamy and tossed them into my laundry hamper. He even made up my bed, which now looked like nothing had happened in the past hour.

I bounced over and plopped down onto my bed right next to him. I turned to him and said:

“We should really do this way more often.”

Will peered up from his Nintendo Switch and replied to me: “What, taking a shower together or having—"

“Why not both?” I answered with a coy smile. Scooting closer to Will, I wrapped arms around him and leaded my head against his shoulder. In turn, Will slipped one arm out of my embrace and reciprocated my affection.

“So, anything you want to do before Athena gets back?”

“Oh, yes. I almost forgot!” Will responded as he clicked a few buttons on his Switch to save his game progress. Setting the portable device down, he wiggled just enough out of my embrace to reach over to the nightstand on his side of the bed. He retrieved a necklace with a simple, wooden fish symbol, which circumscribed an equally simple cross, hanging from the necklace’s cord.

“Do you remember these?”

“Of course,” I answered. Back in middle school, when we had finished our confirmation prep class and received the sacrament itself, our instructors gave us these necklaces. High school and college had past since we got them, so it must have been mixed in with miscellaneous jewelry I had stashed in a shallow bowl on that nightstand.

“Since we didn’t have time to get rings, I thought this could be a temporary substitute until we can get some real bling.”

I noticed Will said “when” and not “if” we buy our wedding bands. A glimmer of hope arose in my heart as I could see him looking towards a time after the alien invasion. I then sat up and shifted myself to the edge of my bed. Will, in turn, took a seat directly behind me and, after I pulled my hair to a side to give Will access to the back of my neck, draped the necklace on me. Once he had finished tying the back of the necklace’s cord, he leaned forward and plucked a kiss on my cheek.

“You wouldn’t mind rubbing my shoulders before I get dress, now would you?”

Without saying a word, Will began to massage my shoulders. I not quite sure how to explain what happened next, as everything in between seemed like a blur. One moment, I was enjoying the shoulder rub Will was giving to me. But after a few kisses on my cheek and neck, one thing led to another. I allowed my bathrobe to slip off my shoulders, with only the fabric belt keeping the garment situated around my waist and draped over my lap. Will continued to kiss me as his hands wandered about, with one ending up on my inner thigh, while the other cuirassed my left bre—

Not that we had much time to do anything, as a loud clang of metal armor suddenly echoed throughout my room. Almost as soon as Will and I had become carried away in this moment of passion, Athena had materialized at the doorway of my room. When the goddess saw us, she merely shook her head and rolled her eyes. Much like when a parent would happen to stumble upon their daughter getting busy with their boyfriend, anger wasn’t present in her eyes: just disappointment, and maybe a tinge of awkwardness. We, on the other hand, were like two deer caught in some headlights, frozen in place when we immediately recognized we were no longer alone.

“Well, I guess I have returned just in time before you two could do anything stupid,” Athena announced as she stepped into the room. In total embarrassment, Will and I remained entirely still, not quite sure what to do.

“Come on now! We don’t have all day, even with my powers,” Athena snapped at us. At her urging, we started to part ways. While Will crawled off my bed, I covered myself back up with my robe. I could see in Will’s eyes that he didn’t want to go. And I couldn’t blame him, as his choices would be either to cower in some corner and hope the aliens don’t blow him up or be left in some empty void while unconscious. Unfortunately, we both knew that the latter option was safer for him. After one last kiss, I went over to Athena.

And in a blink of an eye, I was alone in my parents’ house. I sat there for a few seconds before hoping onto my feet and getting dressed. Since I was going to be dressed in my superhero costume for what would come next, I just pulled on a pair of athletic shorts and a t-shirt so that, if for whatever reason I would need to get out of my costume, I wouldn’t be stuck only in a robe.

As I finished pulling my shirt over my head, I paused for a moment when I saw Will’s suitcase sitting next to my dresser. He must have brought it in after our shower. An idea popped up in my head. After I shifted through his clothes, I finally found a graphic tee, one with a Spider-Man print on it and immediately exchanged it for my own shirt. Weirdly enough, even though I knew that Will was in some pocket dimension right now, the fabric clinging to my torso eerily made me feel like he was still embracing me, thereby calming my nerves to a degree.

“It is time,” Athena alerted me as she reappeared once more. She placed a hand on my shoulder in preparation for teleporting to Pacific Point. The moment before we warped out, I reached down and deactivated my power nullifier. Why not have the process of getting ready happen while we’re in route?

The bright California sun blinded my eyes as Athena and I arrived at Pacific Point. Once my eyes had readjusted to the light, I caught sight of the current state of my home. Alien ships zoomed about the skyline, although it seemed like something had put a dint into their forces. The streets were drenched with water, as if it had down poured all day, an rare occurrence in sunny Southern California.

“Arachne?” I heard Emily’s voice call out. My fellow Viera model was dressed up in her Pinup superhero persona, her normally brunette hair was currently a vibrant red. I’ve always meant to ask her how she does that, but it either always slipped my mind or I couldn’t talk about it without revealing our alter egos. As she hurried towards me, she never glanced towards Athena, who had remained next to me. The Goddess of Wisdom must still be invisible to everyone except for myself.

“I thought you were back in Ohio?” Pinup asked.

“Well, I was there, but it seems like you all could use a hand, or at least a few legs,” I replied with a smile as I tapped the display on my power nullifier. Since I had not had time to procure a new copy of my normal Arachne costume, I was still stuck with the one belonging to my 90’s version. The California weather was way too warm for a bomber jacket, so I found a setting that would stash the coat away wherever my costume was stowed while keeping the rest of the outfit intact.

“Oh, that’s a cute necklace. Did your boyfriend give it to you?”

“Necklace? What necklace?” Flustered, I immediately rubbed my fingers over the exposed skin just below my collar bone until my hand brushed up against the cord of the wooden fish necklace. Sighing in relief, I spoke up again: “Oh, that necklace. I guess you can say he gave it to me."

Even though Emily was wearing sunglasses, I could see the emotions in her face change from confusion to a moment of eureka to an expression that could only mean TMI.

“Did our good Catholic girl finally turn to the dark side?”

“What?” I exclaimed, clearly regretting opening up this Pandora’s box, “No, no. Will and I are married now.”

“Wait, when you said you were heading home to attend a wedding, I didn’t know it was your wedding!”

“Oh, no, that wasn’t our wedding. It kind of was a spur of a moment thing right after invasion began.”

“When did you have time to get married?”

“Um...that’s complicated. Honestly, I’m not sure how the timeline works,” I answered Emily.

“Anyways—” I said in an attempt to change the subject, “we should get back to this alien invasion.”

“Agreed,” Pinup answered. Before we headed out, I ran my hands through my long, blonde hair and pulled it back into a ponytail so it wouldn’t get in the way during the battle. However, I realized I didn’t have a tie or scrunchie to keep my locks in place.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a hair tie, would you?”

“I programmed our communicators to locate one another,” Iron Knight 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.”

Icon adjusted his trajectory slightly as Iron Knight's words rang in his ear. As he flew, he scanned the city, and for the first time in his life, he wished that he didn't have enhanced eyesight. The charred and burning husks of buildings, bodies strewn throughout the streets...the sheer destruction within the city was utterly devastating. Icon had to fight every instinct to stop what he was doing to search the rubble for survivors, to try to somehow comfort those on the ground.

But he couldn't. There simply wasn't time. From the sound of it, the invaders were amassing west-north-west of Lost Haven University, and he was needed there. So he pushed on toward the location that the Iron Knight had indicated was being overrun by invaders. As he approached the area that Iron Knight had indicated, he the scene he saw was dire. Iron Knight and Terra Firma were holding their own against the aliens, but there were just too many of them, and the heroes were in danger of being overrun.

However, when he saw a group of the attacking aliens break off from the main group and begin advancing toward a group of civilians, several of whom were children, who were trying to get away from the carnage, his blood began to boil.

“I don't think so.” he said to himself as he again slightly adjusted his course and accelerated toward the aliens. Icon crashed into the street between the invaders and the civilians, the impacted buckled the concrete and sent a shock wave that sent the aliens flying backwards, leaving them sprawled out on the fractured pavement.

“Go now.” Icon said to the civilians, pointing north them to the north, which from what he saw was relatively clear of the alien threat.

“Well, that's one way to make an entrance.” said a familiar voice from behind.

“Alexa...” Icon said softly. He had been so focused of fighting of the invading aliens he hadn't had the time to check in on her, or anyone else for that matter.

“You know, this...-” she said, waving her arms at the chaos unfolding around them. “-is not how I thought I'd be spending my wedding day.”

“Tell me about it.” Icon said as he unleashed an optic blast which struck a larger alien square in the chest, toppling it.

“I think it's time we joined the rest of the party.” Radiance said with a grin as she nodded toward Iron Knight and Terra Firma, who were still fighting off the invaders near them.

Icon nodded in agreement as the pair began making their way toward their allies, putting down alien attackers as they tried to overpower the duo. Icon and Radiance pressed toward their friends, beating back the invading horde as they inched closer and closer, until, finally, they joined the other Guardians in the center of the street.

"About time the cavalry arrives. Now let's show these aliens why we call ourselves the Guardians!"

“Sorry, we were kind of busy.” Radiance said with a smirk, “But I like your way of thinking. It's time to send these E.T.'s home.”

However, the levity did not last. There was a sudden rumbling which seemed to shake the very ground they stood on.

“That's not good.” Icon said as the rumbling grew louder. After several moments, they saw the cause of the commotion: A massive armored vehicle which stood about three stories tall, which looked like some sort of futuristic tank with a quartet of turrets which were spaced out across the top of the vehicle. A lone figure stood atop the tank. He was adorned in black and purple body armor, and a half mask hid his face from the neck up to his eyes, his long black hair hung down the front of his face, hiding the rest of his features. The tank itself was flanked by an entire legion of black clad aliens.

“Yeah, really not good.” Radiance said as the enemy force advanced on them.

The battle had been hard-fought. Although Chris had downed soldier after soldier as he held his ground, more Arlaaekan troops kept arriving to keep the armored hero busy. There was only so much a single soul could accomplish against a horde of alien invaders. What made matters worst was the energy boast that “Radiance” had given Chris had already began to wear off. He had only been keeping up with his Arlaaekan foes by himself because “Radiance” had sent his armor into overdrive. Without it, he would easily be overrun by the alien invaders.

Suddenly, something impacted the pavement several feet away. Dust and debris showered the nearby combatants. While the AI in Chris’ suit managed to activate his shielding just in the nick of time, the Arlaaekan foes were tossed about, either slamming into the nearby buildings or into one another. In this momentary respite from battle, Chris peered over to see what had created the explosive landing: it was Terra Firma. Not long afterwards, Icon and Radiance arrived, too.

"About time the cavalry arrives. Now let's show these aliens why we call ourselves the Guardians!"

Chris was amused by Radiance’s apology for what the two of them were late. Ever since Chris had gathered together the first future members of the Guardians several months ago at Settler's Clearing over in Royal Park, he noticed that Radiance had her eyes on Icon. She was ever so subtle about it, but Chris nonetheless noticed for just a brief moment when she thought nobody was paying attention. Later, when Chris and Icon were divvying up which prospectives each should visit, Icon mentioned he could easily get in contact with Radiance. Up until now, all of these seemed like coincidences, but now the puzzle was coming together. If the world currently wasn’t being invaded by aliens, Chris would have found humor in the idea that Icon got cockblocked by a freaking meteor.

“Outside of Lyger, this looks like the lineup we’re going to have to work with. Slipstream and Voyager’s comms have gone offline since I sent out my summons, but we’ll have to deal later, as we have more pressing matters at hand.”

Chris had not realized how true what he had just said. For, as soon as he spoke up, a gigantic war machine rumbled down the street towards them. He could only describe it as an alien tank, three stories high. A single individual stood atop the metal monstrosity, while more Arlaaekan soldiers flanked it. If it wasn’t obvious by now, the Guardians now had a fight on their hands.

Suddenly, Chris' armor began picking up a message on a different frequency, specifically an old S.T.R.I.K.E. communication line. Blacklight's disembodied voice came through the internal speakers inside of Chris' helmet. Because of the metallic behemoth rolling towards the Guardians, Chris didn't have much time to banter as he normally would.

"The rest of the Guardians are just 12 blocks west north-west of Lost Haven University. There's a giant, alien death machine on the ground. You can't miss it," Chris sent back on the same S.T.R.I.K.E. frequency. Once the message was sent, he turned to the rest of the Guardians.

“Alright, who’s up first in the batting order?”

In the French Quarter, aliens patrolled the streets, looking for humans hiding in abandoned restaurants, coffee shops, and any other commercial building that wasn't already partially collapsing. A few poor souls were shackled by the ankles with what looked like shackles, if they had more neon lights and caused painful electric shock if you slowed down for even a moment. These people were executed on the spot. They seemed to be all converging towards a carrier that the local capes hadn't yet gotten to, just yet, presumably for offworld transport.

Lo lowered a pair of binoculars she had procured from a sports shop, and said,
"Battlefield Earth it is." She withdrew a pda from inside her leather jacket, and said, "Ground travel is not happening. Teals are taking men and women to what looks like a carrier."

Little Lo chimed back, "The apartments to the west aren't clear either. Teals are moving in and checking every room, they're even killing the children. From what I can see with our remaining drones the rooftops are mostly clear, no sniper or scout equivalents. It's possible their culture finds such things dishonorable, or they're just committing slavery and genocide."

"Looks like slavery and genocide from up here." Lo sighed, then, crawling over to the eastern side of the roof, lifted her binoculars again and looked across a banks wide open parking lot. If anyone were watching, it'd be a kill field...

She heard a the door to the rooftop opening. "Mā de...give me a moment." She threw her binoculars strap over her shoulder and strapped her pda to her waist, rose, then stretched her arms and her fingers in a rolling motion; then turned around to look at who had come up.

It was a a male Teal (as far as Lo could tell), holding what looked like a cross between a flail and a halberd. On one end, the flail, though this one was hollow, with some kind of red energy in the center holding separated metal pieces together. Its spikes glinted and suggested cruelty. On the other end, the halberd, which looked more like the removed talon bone of some celestial beast. He wore what looked like extremely durable purple metal armor, its near chrome like gleam reflecting off what little light there was coming from the stairwell entrance. There were exposed areas at his sides, likely more of a result of the cost of the armors metal than anything else, or possibly to allow more freedom of movement.

The Teal screamed something that must have been a battle cry and charged forward.

Lo dodged the first swing, which was a decapitating strike with the halberd end an inch from her nose, then sidestepped under the flail end and struck where she hoped a kidney would be. He didn't seem to have one, or didn't seem to react and instead threw its elbow back towards Lo's face.

She was was prepared for something like this and moved back. If she wasn't sure of her enemies anatomy, there was only one certainty, poison and even this wasn't certain. But she wasn't going to risk getting struck at with that damned weapon twice.

So, she ran towards the stairwell, alien in tow.

----





My hand held the grip, olive toned sweat beading on my forehead, and the blade called.

"In all my aeons" came a voice in my head. "I have never met a mind as pliable as this." It drove it's way through my consciousness like a nail as it forced me, and I could feel it, the little tingles of nerves acting against me, to lift the blade from it's pedestal and casually slide my palm across the surface of the blade. As it parted my flesh, leaving a clean line red line from the bottom of my palm all the way up to the very tip of my middle finger, blood seemed to spread across the blade evenly.

I stared at my palm. The pain, for the previous moment distant, began to assert itself. My legs grew weak, I fell to the floor, blood dripping from the wound in my hand to the floor in sporadic flicks as my hand trembled and closed in my panic. Minmeing was holding both blades, Murusamas black blade darker with my blood, staring at it with narrowing pupils and a slow clenched grin coming to her normally sweet features. She was muttering, "How pure this child is, to have never seen the sun." Over. And over again. I pushed myself up, leaving behind a bloody handprint and I tried, foolishly, to grip Marasuma by the pommel and the guard, to pull the accursed weapon from her.

Another voice, lighter but no less hostile, no less overwhelming my mind, repeated words that seemed to enter my mind and slip through almost as quickly as I could understand what was said. Eventually those words coalesced into images, similar to the spots after a camera flash. I had shutter quick images of prosperity flash before me. A well tended garden. A festival. A wedding. I was present at each of these, my eyes somehow focusing on me, focusing on me in the now.

When I managed to pull away, falling onto my back with Murusamas pommel gripped in my hand. Startled, I let go and it clattered to the floor. Mingmei was speaking, her jaw distending. "I am a vessel of death. I am the harbinger of the end. I call and the living answer." She approached me, raising the blade and in a voice just, so painfully close to her normal sacharine tone, "It will be quick, Lo."

I rolled as she swung the blade straight down. The tip came in contact with Marasuma and there was a massive explosion of pure force, that sent Mingmei and me flying across the room and into a stone wall. I must have fell unconscious, because I awoke back in the barracks.

---

Uncle was not happy and this made my guard equally unhappy. They shoved me towards The Gardens with no gentleness which, given the punishment they would receive for failing to see two young Petals reach the Eastern Wing was what could loosely be called a lashing with a meteor hammer, I forgave them. Of course, Uncle was as like to beat me for what I had done. I was just glad Mingmei had seemed to forget the whole event, which was likely the only reason she wasn't being dangled by her feet and repeatedly dunked into a well until she passed out.

The Gardens is an interesting place. I've been told that it doesn't actually exist on Earth and instead exists...somewhere else. I could never get either my parents or my uncle to explain exactly where it was. But, from the two moons that rose at night in that place, and the fact it was often night when it was day on Earth, and the very different constellations, I would say another planet.

My Uncle sat, cross legged, in front of a small pond. He swirled a bamboo stick in the water and through skill alone, made two koi fish dance. I was set beside him, facing the same direction he was.

He started with, "It seems simply explaining to you that room is full of abhorrent weaponry that even our most seasoned swordsingers are hesitant to wield was not enough." There was a long pause, as we both contemplated how hard exactly he was going to kick my ass. Then he said, "I'm going to kill Mingmei."

My heart fell into my chest. I turned my head by micro rotations, afraid of looking at my Uncles face to see the reality of his arched features, his thin smile, cut in half by a hawk nose, all focused on murderous intent. There was nothing scarier. Of course, he was looking back at my with far more lighthearted grin which was only somewhat less terrifying because I couldn't be sure it was or was not the facsimile of a smile.

"I'm not really going to kill her." he said. My spirits lifted for but a moment before he said, "But I will, if this willful behavior keeps going along. You'd do well to remember that." I gave a weak tilt of my head and a strained, "Yes, Uncle." Then, he gestured back towards the hall, which stood in the field as out of place as the world around it, "Now go."

----



"Little Lo, are you there?"

"Oh, sorry. I was busy remembering something."

"Remember later, I need help!"

"Where are you? Last I saw of you, you were on the fifth floor and I think that creature had just thrown an entire sofa at you."

"Yes, he is surprisingly strong, no need to remind me."

I scanned the building from an adjacent buildings rooftop, which I clung to on my eight metallic legs. Turning on my thermals, I located Lo, who just happened to be making her way down a fire escape, very, very slowly. Just above her, looking out from a apartment window, was the Teal, who looked at the fire escape and noticing the sound of slightly moving metal, looked down, saw Lo, and immediately leapt out. His weight shook the stairwell, causing Lo to lose her balance for a moment, but she quickly caught herself, jumped into a nearby window, and disappeared inside. The alien followed not long after.

I commed in, "Lost you again." I started to move down the building I was clinging to, rapidly maneuvering myself down smooth glass windows onto street floor.

"No worries, I love near death experiences and being hounded by Nemesis, it's fine! Can you make your way to the eastern emergency exit? Just kind of, wait above the exit sign."

"Sure. What's your plan?"

She gave a perfect impression of Orwell, "Why the same thing we do every night Pinky. Try not to fucking die."

---





Which was easier said than done. Sometime during the commotion, four more Teals had found their way into the very hallway she needed to cross to reach the exit. Each were holding what looked like stun batons, the universal language of we're taking you alive.

When the first one swung, she swerved to the side, grabbed his wrist with one arm then placed her forearm towards the shoulder and dropped her entire weight down. His arm brought straight along her right knee, she rose and then flipped her left leg over his arm and struck him in the head, which left his arm straddled between her thighs. Curling her right leg as a grip on his arm and pushed on his back with her right arm and brought him to the ground. With his wrist in her grip she pulled back, hard, breaking it, then grabbed the baton and swung it wildly first the next opponent.

The Teal moved back from the swing and she pulled back and jabbed under his guard into his stomach, which caused the baton to pulse and send the alien flying back with extreme concussive force for what seemed like the entire length of the hallway. I might need to re-evaluate non-lethal.

She let go of her held alien then casually smacked him in the back of the head, which caused his head to audibly crack from the impact on the ground, blood pooling where he lay. The next two were more hesitant, standing side by side. They were looking behind Lo expectantly.

She said, "What, is this the part where I'm supposed to turn around?" She smacked her baton into a nearby apartment door, sending it flying off its hinges, and ran inside.

---



I was just preparing a needle to fire when Lo, came into comms, "Little Lo, right side of building, three windows down, prepare to fire."

I moved, skittering like a bolt towards the side of the building where I instantly saw Lo go flying through a window, shards of glass raining around her. The big hulking alien earlier came following soon after. I aimed, I fired. A small, thin, glint of metal, came flying from my carapace, a barely noticeable blip in the air and connected into the large aliens head. At first like it seemed it did nothing and Lo had to quickly rise and take a direct hit from the center of the weapon, a staff blow, which lifted her into the air. The alien let her drop at his feet, kicked her over, and scoffed. It said something, a prayer, an insult, I'm not sure which, but after it did this, it lifted its brutal weapon for a killing blow.

But it stopped, too weak to continue holding its weapon or from the looks of it, support the weight of the armor it was wearing, which seemed to bring it down. The two aliens she hadn't managed to beat unconscious or to death, came outside tentatively. I shot them both as well.

---

Lo could hear metallic clicking through the pain that seemed to rack her whole body. She muttered, "Don't probe me, I'm still a virgin..."

Little Lo, said, "Yeah and I'm still upset about that. How can you be that perverse and still..."

"Shut up."

-

“Alright, who’s up first in the batting order?”

“I am.” Lyger replied to the Iron Knight as he roared into view of the other Guardians. The words had barely escaped his lips before he hit the throttle on his bike, sending him racing toward the incoming alien legion. With the press of a button on the grip, he unleashed a barrage of rubber bullets and the approaching hoard.

The sound of his bike's screeching tires, and the sudden volley of rubber bullets must have alarmed at least some of the invaders, as they seemed surprised by the lone figure's brazen attack. However, the sudden surprise did not appear to faze the teal skinned invaders, who immediately opened fire on the approaching threat. Lyger controlled his bike with almost preternatural reflexes, narrowly avoiding each laser blast.

As he drew closer to the legion of alien warriors, he unleashed another salvo of rubber bullets, this one proving as ineffective as the first. He weaved in and out as the aliens returned fire, dodging laser blast after laser blast. However, as he was straightening his approach, one of the laser bolts struck the front of his motorcycle just behind the front wheel. Within seconds, the super-heated plasma reached the bike's gas tank, causing it to burst into flames.

Lyger knew that he had to act fast. He hit the accelerator and rode the bike directly toward the aliens, then at the last second, he dove off of the bike, which sent the motorcycle careening into the alien legion, where it exploded, taking out a number of the advancing alien army with it. No sooner had the fireball subsided, leaving a trail of bodies and entrails in its wake, than had Lyger leaped and bounded toward the stunned invaders, striking and everything within reach with punches, kicks and elbows.

“Nice of you to join us.” came Radiance's voice over the secured comlink.

“Sorry, unlike the rest of you, I can't fly.” Lyger said as his elbow struck one of the teal skinned aliens under his jaw.

“Did he just make a joke?” came Icon's voice over the coms.

“Yeah, I think he made a joke.” Radiance replied as she and Icon made their way toward their comrad who was still fighting off a legion of aliens.

Having recovered from the violence of the explosion, the alien warriors surrounded Lyger. However, the black clad hero continued to fight. He hit one of the incoming aliens with a thunderous right hand before spinning around behind him, where he connected with a front thrust kick to the midsection of another. Then he jumped, and did a back flip to get a little separation, he fired a grapple line, which penetrated one of the alien soldiers' shoulder. Lyger then jumped up into the air, yanking the alien upward with him, then connecting with a flying kick to the ensnared alien's jaw.

However, no matter how hard he fought, the invaders just kept coming. In a matter of moments, the sheer number of alien invaders proved to be too much, and Lyger found himself overrun by the teal skinned aggressors. They scratched and clawed, they reached for him, and they grabbed him. Although he fought as hard as he could, within moments they had him, unable to fight, unable to move, barely able to breathe.

Although the effort seemed futile, Lyger still fought. However, he was unable to free himself from the grasp of his enemies. After what had felt like an eternity, but in reality was only several moments, Lyger felt something, a slight charge, almost the sensation you might get from sticking your tongue on a 9-Volt battery, yet the feeling washed over his entire body. Suddenly he was aware of a bright flash, and he found himself free from the invaders' grasp.

When Lyger looked up, he saw the forms of Radiance and Icon standing over him, Icon extending a hand. As Lyger took Icon's hand, he again found himself thankful to the upgrades that Echo had made to the suit, which surely protected him from Radiance's electrical discharge.

“Thanks.” Lyger said as Icon helped him to his feet. “How was the wedding?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Well...” Icon said as he motioned to the chaos going on around them.

“Right.-” Lyger said as he looked on the alien invaders who had recovered from Radiance's attack and had already began moving toward them. “Let's send these sons of bitches back to where they came from.”

-

Captain Tri’Karda stood in the observation deck of the Arlaaekan warship hovering over the aflame human city. Compared to the thousands of alien civilizations the Arlaaekan armada had crushed under their unbreakable might, the technological advancement on this backwater planet was far from being stellar. Outside a few hiccups from some epicenters of metahuman activity, the invasion of Earth was going as planned. Because of the division among the Terran nations and their primitive technology, the entire planet should be under Arlaaekan control by the end of the day, if not sooner.

As Tri’Karda continued to oversee the conquest of this human city, the communication console chirped, signaling someone was trying to reach the captain over the secure Arlaaekan military channel. Turning his attention away from the urban battlefield, Tri’Karda tapped his teal fingers against the touch-screen panel at the console. Upon activating the device, a holographic display of Admiral Keelan appeared before the captain.

“Captain Tri’Karda, the contingent tasked with securing what these Earthlings call the Western Seaboard have run into starch resistance. You are to take a portion of your forces and reinforce our operations in that sector,” the Admiral commanded with his calm, yet intimidating, demeanor.

“So shall it be done, Admiral,” Captain Tri’Karda obediently answered his superior officer. The hologram soon dissipated. Departing from the observation deck, Tri’Karda briskly walked to the ship’s bridge.

“Ensign, set the coordinates for a jump to the 984th division,” Tri’Karda commanded as he walked through the threshold of the bridge and headed for the captain’s chair. The officers at the helm immediately tapping the displays of the consoles in front of them, preparing for the new course. “The flagship of the 984th should be transmitting data on the resistance they’re facing.”

“Entirely metahuman in nature, Captain,” one of his subordinate officers reported as she read the flagship’s logs. “There seems to be several psionics present in the human city.”

“Then we better be prepared for them,” Captain Tri’Karda snapped at the officers upon taking his seat. “We cannot allow these backwards primates stain the glorious reputation of Arlaaek.”

---

Even though the Lost Haven skies were clear, except for the invading Arlaaekan ships and the smoke and debris from their destructive rampage, a single thunderbolt struck the lightning rod attached to the Chambers Building. As the electricity worked its way down the metallic pole, a broad-shouldered man materialized upon the building’s roof. The floor creaked underneath the divine stature of the bearded man. Yet, this was no mortal man, but rather the Father of Gods and Men, Zeus himself.

Zeus thought back to the meeting he had just abandoned. The council of Earth's pantheons had grinded to a halt long before the gods could even say a single word about the Arlaaekan invasion. Instead, these divine beings squabbled over which set of deities should oversee the meeting. Should the gods who had the most historical significance take the helm? Or should the eldest of the pantheons take charge? Yet others proposed those who still retained their devoted followers despite the rise of the Abrahamic religion should lead the meeting. Earth would have been conquered and the Athanatoi’s last teether to this plane of existence would have be forever severed long before all the godheads could have reach a satisfying agreement.

Humanity would have been doomed, had not Rhea, Kronides’ mother, bestowed upon her son the long-forgotten origin of their people. Millennia ago, the Athanatoi were like any other mortal race, living out their lives upon their homeworld. And just like many alien civilizations before and after them, the Athanatoi one day received a golden rod from the Arlaaekans. Upon realizing the destruction that awaited their people, they began making preparations against the Arlaaekan scourge.

While most of the nations of their homeworld developed weapons and technology to combat the soon-to-be invaders, the greatest minds of their race dreamed bigger: if they could become gods, nothing could conquer their world. These scientists poured all of their resources and energy into this project for apotheosis and the fruits of their efforts were not in vain, as those lucky individuals who underwent the apotheosis process indeed became gods. Unfortunately, by the time they arose from their slumber, their planet had already been ravaged and stripped of all its useful resources. Since they no longer possessed a homeworld, the progenitors of the Athanatoi scattered across the stars to oversee the development of the younger races of the universe.

Tired of the in-fighting and the squabbling, Zeus departed the assembly unnoticed. With this new knowledge, Zeus knew he could justify his interference in the mortal affairs and his breach of the prime directive. Upon reaching Olympus, the Father of Gods and Men assembled those immortals who lived upon Olympus’ holy slopes.

“Brothers and sisters,” Zeus addressed the Olympians, “Sons and daughters, we have a monumental task ahead of us. These aliens, the Arlaaekans, were responsible for the diaspora of our kind across the universe. And now, they have trespassed upon the front lawn of our adopted home. We cannot stand for this transgression, for what better reason could there be for our interference other than to punish our ancient enemy? If I have to, by my right hand, I will smite these pests and rid this planet of their pestilence.”

“Unfortunately, much damage has already been done by the Arlaaekans,” Zeus continued. “While I have no doubts about the eminent defeat and destruction of these invasive aliens, the aftermath of this invasion could be just as disastrous as the invasion. Therefore, command your divine domains, given to each of you by fate, to ensure the continuation of humanity. Without our intervention, this disaster could very well set human civilization back centuries. So, prepare yourselves, as this will be no easy task, even for us immortals.”

So did Zeus, the Father of Gods and Men, addressed the Olympians. With their agreement ensured, Zeus bolted down to the mortal plane, where the fiercest of the battle was taking place: Lost Haven.

In Zeus’ powerful hands, he held a golden scale. However, this was no normal scale, as it could weigh the competing fates of whomever Zeus pleased. Hermes, the slayer of Argus, zipped down on his winged sandals and deposited two bags, just large enough to fit inside the large palms of Zeus’ hands. These bags contained clay figurines, each representing the participants on each side: the defenders of Earth and the Arlaaekan invaders. Upon delivering these items to his father, Hermes soared away, ready to serve his father in any way.

Zeus placed each bag on the opposite plates on this golden scale and held it up by its handle. Each tray bobbled back and forth, revealing how the balance of power between the Arlaaekans and the humans sway from one side to the other. Zeus scowled at the instrument upon realizing that, despite each side wavering between defeat and victory, the Arlaaekans kept rising higher to the sky, while the mortals kept falling towards the ground.

“The mortals will require all the assistance they can mustered. Fortunately, they have gods on their side,” Zeus muttered as he turned his attention away from the scale to one specific battle that was about to commence between the Arlaaekans and this world’s mightiest heroes.

---

The sun blazed off the reflective surface of Odysseus’ bronze armor. With bow in hand, the Grecian man raced down the war-torn streets of Pacific Point. The unexpected invasion had thrown the city into confusion. Had that bubble not shielded the city from the tsunami wave created by one of the the meteors the Arlaaekans had shot at the Earth, Pacific Point would have been washed off the face of the world. Even the Immortals, one of the few organized superhero teams, were taken off guard.

Despite the damage a local hero had dealt to the Arlaaekan invasion force that was attacking Pacific Point, alien vessels still zoomed in the sky and hostile soldiers wandered through the city. While it was laughable to fight aliens with a bow and arrows, Odysseus knew he had to act. Without the intervention of Pacific Point’s heroes, her citizens would have been like fish in a barrel for these aliens.

Odysseus ducked behind an abandoned SUV as he caught sight of a few more of the Arlaaekan soldiers. Just like the swiftness and silence of a viper’s strike, the Greek hero launched an arrow at one of the alien invaders. Upon impact, the tip of the arrow detonated with an explosive charge. However, despite the explosion, the Arlaaekan was merely knocked off his feet. All he really had achieved was drawing the attention of the Arlaaekan platoon.

From across the street, Odysseus noticed from the banging of vehicle’s window that there was a couple trapped inside another overturned car, stranded right between the aliens and him. With energy blasts soaring over his head, Odysseus notched another arrow and let it fly. This arrow, however, emitted a high-pitched screech. At the apex of the arrow’s trajectory, a blinding burst exploded from the arrow’s tip. With this distraction, Odysseus rolled over to the other overturned vehicle without a scratch.

“Get away from the window,” Odysseus shouted to the woman sitting upside down in the passenger seat. Drawing his sword from its scabbard, he reversed the weapon in his grip and slammed the hilt into the glass. The first strike left a major crack in the window. However, before he could make a second swing, Odysseus heard several wooshes zip through the air above him. Taking a quick peek around the side, he discovered that ten arrows had somehow pierced the Arlaaekan armor as if they were made of butter.

Odysseus felt a gust of wind at his back. From a nearby rooftop, a man dressed in samurai armor gracefully descended on a calm whirlwind at his feet. His hand gripped at a compound bow, while the other seemed to be controlling the air underneath him.

“It seems like you need a hand,” Kensei told Odysseus as his feet touched down to the ground. With his free hand, Kensei drew his legendary sword, the Kusanagi, and sliced through the edge of the stuck door.

“I was handling myself quite fine,” Odysseus answered back as he pulled off the door and helped the two trapped civilians out of the broken vehicle.

“So you say,” Kensei retorted. Once the two civilians had dashed away from the hate of the battle, the two men went to investigate the Arlaaekan soldiers Kensei had slain. Crouching down next to one of the dead aliens, Odysseus retrieved one of the arrows the Japanese warrior had used to pierce the alien’s armor. Rolling the shaft in his hand, Odysseus reckoned the arrows would have been pure white with a serrated tip, had it not gone straight through this extraterrestrial.

“In all of my years, I have never witnessed arrows as ordinary as these pierce armor like this,” Odysseus stated to Kensei as the former lightly tap the alien’s armor with his knuckles, so as to convey hi spoint.

“Do not be fooled by their plain appearance, for I received those arrows from Bishamonten himself as a reward for doing the war god a favor.”

“You really can’t judge a book by its cover, now can you?” Odysseus muttered before turning his attention back to Kensei. “Anyways, you wouldn’t mind me borrowing a few of these?”

“Normally, I wouldn’t hand over these divine arrows, but considering our circumstances, it probably would be more advantageous for these arrows to be fired from two bows instead of one,” Kensei admitted while he continued to collect the expended arrows. “Moreover, it would be a first step in making amends for mistaking your teammate for a jorogumo.”

“Wasn’t the first time our local spider-woman had experienced a case of mistaken identity. Probably won’t be the last,” Odysseus relayed to the Japanese warrior. “But she’s a big girl; she can handle it.”

While the two warriors were retrieving Kensei’s arrows, one of the Arlaaekan soldiers began to stir, although the alien couldn’t get to his feet due to his injuries. Kensei and Odysseus drew their weapons and surrounded the survivor. At first, an alien tongue gurgled out of his lips, but an electronic voice began to translate the foreign words.

“Your resistance, while noble,” the Arlaaekan barely uttered, as dark green blood dripped from his lips, “is futile. Our armada fields enough starcraft to blot out your sun.”

“That is good news,” Odysseus taunted the dying alien as he pressed his foot against its arrow wound,” for we will nonetheless fight in the shade.”

As those words escaped Odysseus’ mouth, something above had cast a great shadow over the entire city of Pacific Point. When Kensei and Odysseus turned their eyes to the sky, they beheld a giant Arlaaekan capital ship exiting through an equally massive portal. Smoke and debris billowed from the other side of the portal until it closed in on itself once the ship was entirely through.

“I guess we shall indeed have our shade.”

The aliens seemed to just keep coming and coming, they were either very sure that one of them could take out the Guardians, or they had help coming. The latter was true for the Guardians, in the form of Lyger driving furiously into the fight, then crashing his flaming motorcycle into a cavalcade of alien soldiers.

Lyger himself looked like he was about to join his bike and David readied himself to jump to his aid. But the others already had their eyes on him; Icon, and Radiance were already at his side, with a short conversation too; it was much more than he got with Iron Knight. It seems like most of the Guardians knew each other beforehand. David knew he was a bit late to the hero game, but now he was starting to feel like the third wheel.

As it would turn out though, more and more latecomers would be joining this party. The ground began to rumble, and David knew immediately that something much bigger was coming their way and turned to face it. A massive alien tank with a strange figure on top. The strange coloring, armor, and hair style struck him less like a soldier, but rather more like some old 80s metal band that never got popular.

Lately, it seemed as if he was seeing a lot of tanks. These aliens, the dino-tank, and even that weird man-mounted contraption he fought a few weeks ago. Maybe he ought to see some sort of fortune-teller for this, or maybe all he’d get would be ‘Tanks for the money!’.

Then, in the back of his head, he ‘heard’ something.

“We made it!”

What?

It felt like he heard someone behind him, but he ‘knew’ the voice was in front, behind the tank. The question of ‘who’ the voice belonged to was answered shortly, a strange girl with an even stranger cat leaping over to them, waving excitedly.

”Huh, we? Is she a Guardian too?”

As she approached, dozens of the soldiers turned to stone, and his scholarly mind began to poke at that in his head. Wondering exactly how she was doing it, after all, even David himself was still actively learning about his powers.

David then began to wonder about what would happen if ‘Terra Firma’ turned to stone. On the day he received Gaia’s power he had found the previous holder as a statue, and it seemed he was still alive inside, if only for a few more moments. Any further thoughts and ponderings where soon to be put on hold, an explosion slammed into the ground near him, he braced his body, sliding only a few inches in place.

”I suppose we'll all just hit this at our own pace.” He said with a shrug to nobody in particular.

”Be warned, alien, I’m fairly strong!’ David rose up and circled around the tank, rapidly moving his arms over and then outwards, giving off a few quick bursts of thin lightning from his arms. The tanks’ armor appeared to hold up, dispersing his shots into harmless lines that trailed off elsewhere.

Nearby alien soldiers took notice and returned fire on the tanks’ behalf, showering David in a hail of energy bolts that froze him mid-air, energy sparked wildly around him as his own body resisted the gunfire. He braced himself as the aliens continued focusing their fire on him. Several smaller turrets on the sides of the tank joined and trained their own guns on him. Although they were smaller than the tanks’ main gun, they were still larger than the soldiers’ armaments.

Several explosive blasts collided into David and forced him down onto the ground, kicking up cement debris up around him. Lately, it seemed like he was having a lot of trouble fighting mid-air. Besides, he was always more the ‘hands-on’ type. Alien soldiers gathered around the dust cloud, waiting to pick out David’s exact position, when he shot outwards, leaping at the tank.

One outstretched fist clawed into the metal, anchoring him, while his other hand grasped at one of the smaller turrets, and ripped at it as hard as he could. Metal screeched as it tore and warped away from the main structure, the sound of panicked screaming joined it as the gunner behind the gun followed it out, a couple meters into the air.