[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rFsVPbQ.png[/img][/center][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/UQuTKNr.png[/img][/center]
[center][b][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5318123]Previously On Create-A-Hero[/url][/b][/center]
[center][b]Aubrey Adkins | Ross Barber | Odysseus Laërtiades | Kyra Muller | Miyamoto Musashi | Emily Prichert | Joel Vaughan | Jeffery Zimmerman[/b][/center]
[center][b]Day of the Arlaaekan Invasion[/b][/center]
[center][b]Pacific Point, CA[/b][/center]

	[color=4682b4]”So… Does anyone have any suggestions?”[/color]

	[color=b22222]“Well, Athena could teleport us onto that giant UFO in the sky. Pretty sure that was her plan, but she wanted to gather up a few more heroes, as a single spider girl probably wouldn’t cut it.”[/color]

	“Wait, we’re doing [i]that[/i] again?” Emily whispered to me, keeping her voice down as if trying to keep her word about not mentioning the little teleportation debacle she, Kyra, and I experienced just a few moments ago.

	[color=b22222]“Don’t worry. Athena has been teleporting me hundreds of times ever since I became a superhero and that had [i]never[/i] happened before.”[/color]

	While Emily and I were having that quick side conversation, something else caught the attention of the other heroes standing around us. A swirling portal spontaneously manifested near us, starting out as just a barely visible speck and eventually expanding to a size even taller than any of us. 

	Because I have been a member of the Immortals almost ever since I moved to Pacific Point, I recognized the portal as the Son of Osiris’ magic. Sure, the Immortals usually relied on Kyra’s portal creation powers for transportation, but we would use Son of Osiris’ powers from time to time, especially when she wasn't present. Since Kyra lost those abilities due to the whole alternates problem that’s been affecting not only most of the team, but also many other people across the country, we couldn’t rely on them now. And my suspicions were proven correct when not only the Son of Osiris stepped out of the portal, but also Gajana and Talus, the last two Immortals not accounted for as of yet.

	“Well, this is quite the surprise. It is the future man!” Gajana said when he saw the only person here I did not recognize. However, as soon as Gajana mentioned the so-called “future man,” I suddenly recalled a story from my fellow Immortals teammates about how Gajana and Kyra had run into someone that matched the future man’s description back when the Hounds of Humanity were a threat.

	[i]I’m sure you have questions about why some of us don’t look like we normally do, but unfortunately, we do not have the time to run through a PowerPoint presentation. I could get us onto that ship, but it would consume most of my magical energy and I would have to retreat to regenerate it back.[/i] The Son of Osiris communicated specifically to the “future man” via a telepathic message, although all of us could nonetheless hear him. Except for Odysseus and the Son of Osiris, the rest of the Immortals, along with Emily, had our normal appearances replaced by those belonging to other versions of ourselves originating from alternate universes.

	[color=b22222]“Don’t worry. Athena has our ride covered,”[/color] I reassured our team’s leader, as he wasn’t present when I first mentioned Athena’s original plan.

	[i]I see.[/i] He answered via telepathy to all the heroes assembled here. As the avatar of the Egyptian god Osiris 'spoke' (so as we are told, although considering Athena chaperons me around all the time this definitely is in the realm of possibility), he looked towards the direction where Athena was standing, indicating he could see her, too.

	“Seriously? Am I really the only one who can’t see this Greek goddess?”

	“Well, that does explain why everybody has been staring at a whole bunch of empty space,” Gajana interjected, indicating that he couldn’t see Athena. Of the four of us Immortals who have been turned into alternates, Gajana fared the best. Although he normally looked like a really buff Babar the elephant, his alternate looked pretty much how he did before he was turned into a metahuman by the Pax Metahumana domes, but with his non-alternate’s musculature. So, not quite incredible Hulk buff, but he was still a walking brick, so to speak.

	“I’m not picking up anything on my scanners, but what do I know. This chassis doesn’t even have the technology to read floppy discs, let alone use USB-compatible devices!” Talus complained as a way to get a word in on the conversation.

	[color=b22222]“See, you’re not the only one,”[/color] I told Emily as I tapped her shoulder with a fist. I made sure I wasn’t touching the arm she had injured before Athena teleported us to our current location.

	“I’m in [i]such[/i] great company,” Emily responded while rolling her eyes.

	[i]Since all of us are present, we better execute this plan now. Delaying for any other stragglers will unfortunately shrink our window of opportunity to surprise these invaders.[/i] The Son of Osiris communicated in his usual manner.

	I turned to Athena, who was already way ahead of us. She slammed the butt of her spear against the asphalt street and in a blink of an eye, the lot of us were no longer standing in the warzone the Arlaaekans had transformed Pacific Point into. Instead, we beheld the sleek interior of the Arlaaekan battleship. The corridor where Athena had brought us stretched out for hundreds of yards in either direction. The lights emitted a green glow that, although providing enough brightness inside the hallway to see, gave off an eerie and ominous mood.

	[i]Our best bet is to utilize the element of surprise while we still have it, as they shouldn’t expect a boarding party.[/i] The Son of Osiris told the entire group. However, as soon as we all heard those words in our heads, a set of double doors slid open and out walked two Arlaaekan soldiers. These two enemies, while not as decked out as the power-armored assault troops that had been deployed against Pacific Point, were still outfitted with advanced protective armor and energy weapons.

	Instinctively, Odysseus let the cord of his bow sing, planting one of the arrows Kensei had lent to him into the chest of one of the Arlaaekans. It took the alien a moment for the arrow’s impact to register in his foreign brain, as he certainly would not have expected a primitive shaft to penetrate their far-advanced armor.

	“Might be a little too late for that,” Odysseus declared as the wounded Arlaaekan slumped to the floor and his partner directing his weapon towards us.

	I guess it is time to rumble on an alien spacecraft.