[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7ieqwfU.png[/img][/center]



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[color=f6989d][b]"Mmmhmm! Candy is the cure! Yo! Icon! Pretty neat of you to save the city and all that! But this whole alien thing above us really is spoiling my sweet dreams so be a good boy and get that technological horror away! I make sure to prepare a gift bag with your name on it!"[/b][/color] The strange red and white clad man said to him gleefully almost in a sing-song like voice as he went about taking down any near by aliens. Icon didn't know who this man was, or if he was friend or foe, but something told him that it really didn't matter right now. Now, all that mattered was the survival of the human race, so he was willing to take help anywhere he could get it.

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

[center]***[/center]

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

Almost. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It is.” Keelan confirmed.

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

The meta humans. 

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

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

“Hrmph” The Autocrat grunted in annoyance. 

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

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