[h3][b][i]Then...[/i][/b][/h3] [color=gainsboro]These were the moments he lived for. The rhythmic pummeling of his fist into the bone and cartilege of the last Arlaaekan soldier. He kept wailing even after the invader fell. Black-green spray marking a point of difference from the usual sanguine splashback. Far ahead, but closing fast he heard the shrill sound of another alien blast, from further within the depths of the ship. He scrambled for cover once more. More blasts echoed down the passageways, before eerie silence, penetrated only by a strange new alien sound. The Vigilante angled from cover and discovered what it was, with another sigh. This time in relief. It was the original Aquilifer. The old man floating slowly, but purposely through the deck in a protective hard-light bubble shield.[/color] [b]"You're lucky I realised it was you. I was about to give you more than you could handle."[/b] [color=gainsboro]The old man turned his head sharply in surprise at his sudden appearance, before relief and a smile crossed his face.[/color] [i]The ones in black... always playing in the shadows.[/i] [color=goldenrod][b]"I'm sure you were."[/b][/color] [color=gainsboro]The old rod wielder said with a chuckle that the Vigilante found to be oddly short of actual warmth.[/color] [right][i]Is he-- Is he playing a role..? His voice, his mannerisms... he's changed everything from the old man I met in his house.[/i][/right] [color=gainsboro]The Vigilante's face screwed up in consternation, hidden well behind the balaklava. But before he could probe the elder hero for an answer to his questions, a bulkhead door opened and an officious voice broke his efforts. In overly crisp, learned english, but with an accent all his own.[/color] [color=lawngreen]"I think not."[/color] [color=gainsboro]A polished boot emphatically touched down on their deck, followed by the rest of Admiral Keelan from the shadows, his officer's suit buffed to a sheen.[/color] [color=lawngreen]"I have come to take everything; That which you freely gave as well as the power which was loaned to you. The term of our agreement has conclude."[/color] [color=gainsboro]A wicked glower crossed his face. He was enjoying this. So seldom does one get to face the man who sold a world.[/color] [color=gainsboro]A shiver ran down Alan Coghlan's spine as he saw what Keelan held. One of the rods taken from a conquored world. He'd seen so many flicker across his vision in that desolate place which changed his life, he couldn't even place which rod or which world it was. And that made it worse. Staring down the face of what seemed fated.[/color] [color=gainsboro]Keelan's rod glowed bright, and seemed to pulsate with the power, will and intent of a driven man.[/color] [color=gainsboro]The Vigilante took one look across at the old Aquilifer and took a measure of the man. Seemingly staggered and frozen by this Arlaaekan officer's appearance.[/color] [color=lawngreen]"Were you aware your compatriot sold your world, sold you, for a brief glimmer of power?"[/color] [right][i]Frozen. Guess I'd better unfreeze him. Moving first against a man with the power to take a world.[/i][/right] [b]"...Tuesday."[/b] [color=gainsboro]He uttered. Confusion seemed to cross the Admiral's face, until a flash of bright white teeth flickered from his balaklava in a leer as he moved almost as fast.[/color] [color=gainsboro]He drew nightsticks from his pack and swatted at the rod, he managed to connect, but not firmly enough to knock it from the Arlaaekan's clenched fist.[/color] [b]"I've fought demons rising from Hell, I've bested a literal god. A GOD! And I'm booked in to take out something which is planning to devour the goddamn multiverse! Alien shit-prick with designs on the Earth..? You're a sneaky Tuesday appointment at 11:45! I'm in-and-out and off to an early lunch in five minutes!"[/b] [color=gainsboro]The Vigilante tried his best to wrestle the rod to directions it could do no harm, pincering it with the two nightsticks and anchoring it to the floor with help from the gravity gauntlets. Pausing briefly he elbowed the Admiral in the teeth, with what little purchase he could get. The Admiral's alien physiology had raw strength on him, for all his toys and tricks.[/color] [b]"Of course if you want to BLOODY CHIME IN AT ANY POINT, YOU OLD BASTARD, you're welcome to it!"[/b] [color=gainsboro]He yelled out to the Aquilifer, who until now was still frozen in place.[/color] [color=gainsboro]Alan was about to seize the advantage when Keelan kneed the Vigilante in the chest, pushed him off and aimed the Off-World Rod at his head, before holding up a remote with his other hand and pressing a button which projected a hologram next to the trio. The hologram was of the Earth entire, which then rotated and zoomed in, rotated and zoomed in, rotated and zoomed in... until it showed an overhead image of a colossal matte black spire standing over Lost Haven.[/color] [color=lawngreen]"I trust you know what that is?"[/color] [color=gainsboro]Keelan said to the Rod-Wielder. To his surprise, the response came from both Earth-men simultaneously.[/color] [b]"Y[/b][color=goldenrod]e[/color][b]s[/b][color=goldenrod]."[/color] [color=gainsboro]Both men sighed, feeling the full weight of the Purifier's presence.[/color] [b]"There's no-one else there."[/b] [color=gainsboro]He said gently.[/color] [b]"Is that realtime?"[/b] [color=lawngreen]"Yes."[/color] [color=gainsboro]Keelan lied.[/color] [color=goldenrod][b]"Go."[/b][/color] [color=gainsboro]The Aquilifer said. His voice full of starch.[/color] [b]"Are you sure?"[/b] [color=gainsboro]The Vigilante was hesitant. There was a play here, and he wasn't sure of exactly what it was. The world was in peril... It was in peril OUT THERE. One man, even a high-ranking officer in war-time couldn't countenance that.[/color] [color=goldenrod][b]"It's fine. I can take him. I've been using this thing since he was in diapers."[/b][/color] [color=gainsboro]For some reason Keelan's glower widened with curiosity at this comment. The Vigilante picked up on deceit within the comment, but its cause was unclear and ambiguous. The former hero was a bad liar. But it wasn't a statement said without some level of confidence. And time was running out.[/color] [b]"I'll save the world. You stomp his face in."[/b] [color=gainsboro]He growled. The Aquilifer smiled, as the pair of cross-generational heroes were finally on the same page. He turned and with one blast from the Golden Rod bore a hole clear through the side of the ship. A strong breeze rippled Alan's sagging suit, but he didn't feel frail and small within it anymore. In fact he felt better than he had in years. The Vigilante fired a grapple line out to a rooftop far below, and with a short salute left the pair of Rod Wielders to their own fight.[/color] [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pzWrnNW.png?1[/img][/center] [hr] [h3][b][i]Now...[/i][/b][/h3] [color=gainsboro]The tides were low, here on the leeward side of the Terrarian coastal city of Cooktown. On the other side of the island, the nation's capital Georgetown had been levelled by a tidal wave, caused by early implementation of an Arlaaekan weapon which caused an initial strike of devastation, and then kept the city's survivors off balance with floods and electrical issues. That left Cooktown as a strategic target of invasion, however. With less support coming from the eastern cities, it very much had to fend for itself against alien incursion. And without the help of the city's less than lawful self-proclaimed crime fighter, who seemed to have gone Missing in Action at the worst possible moment. Less threatening civilians were being rounded up, all resistance annihilated. The invaders worked systemically, moving from the city center's highrise building to highrise building moving outwards, their influence sprawling across the city to the outer suburbs like an infection. Once this smaller locale was taken it would operate as a guardpost whilst straggled survivors from the eastern coast were brought in. It only took a small cohort, there were no superpowered people here. No caped saviours. No cowled champions. Only people. The terrified. The small. The helpless. And that's how Tony Morris felt as he was herded with the rest of his colleagues from his office into the transport vehicle. Accountants, financial planners. Suits, ties, long sleeves. [hr] Knaves Motor cycle gang leader Russ Williams, found himself cornered in a drug den. Tables of automatic and semi-automatic weapons had allowed them to hold out against the invaders. They'd been cut off from their energy-weapons at the clubhouse closer to the Dockyards, but the conventional weaponry still held form. The regional contingent would counter and converge on their point, but for now they remained one of the most stout hold-outs in the city. Pockets of holdouts with suicide-runstyle attacks by members of the Jesters Motor Cycle gang kept the Arlaaekan insurgents off-balance with chaotic shows of force, but the Knaves hold-outs seeemed to be the singular point of organised revolt. [hr] Renee Stevens was being held in a facility north of Murrayfield, the high-rise building in the CBD which held the city-planning fundraiser was one of the earliest buildings hit. Food was scarce, as it had been in the compound for the last three days, which wasn't a good sign for their captors long-term plans for them. They seemed to be provided with barely enough basic essentials for survival to prevent a focused rebellion/escape attempt, but little enough that lethargy had settled in. The atmosphere was rich with hopelessness and a general malaise had set in. Early on they had pooled their food, to ration it according to need, but now selfishness was starting to set in, with desperation for survival. Renee had given a quarter of her ration to a newly captured young girl who was scared some 12 hours ago. As her stomach gurgled she began to wonder if she'd regret that decision. [hr] Gunny watched on at the numerous screens from the Warroom, watching the consequences of decisions he was making, as men he commandeered died for the world in varying degrees of success. The truth was, the war effort was looking far more positive than it had been when he'd taken command. Forces were rallying, and even the non-military metahuman forces he had no control over had found ways to counter and start making focused attacks on critical targets even without military oversight. The Arlaaekans had shifted their point of attack to make a more pointed target of some seemeingly random street corner in Lost Haven, presumably countering a hero contingent they'd marked as high value. Since then it cost them a large ship with a sizable primary energy weapon, which had surprisingly been torn from the sky by the younger new Aquilifer. The newest high value target on the Warroom's screen was a large black plinth that was in downtown Lost Haven, by Sherman Square. Metahuman heroes were converging on it and... [hr] ...the Purifier was less than a kilometer away now, Isaac thought to himself, as he threw gravity enhanced punches that sent him flying across the city-scape. A dreadnaught gave chase, and the black-clad Vigilante took to the streets, remembering his last run-in with one of these overmuscled warriors a whole world away. He turned a corner and waited. He was the mouse, when he last faced these monsters. He had never had the gravity gauntlets then. The ground shook as the brute approached the corner. It seemed to block out the sun, as an uppercut with the force of a howitzer exploded into the teal beast's eye, sent it sailing across the skyline. A wry grin flashed from his balaklava, before dropping just as fast as he saw one building from that skyline rapidly drop from view. He continued his end-run to Sherman Square at double-time, and the giant black tower that awaited the heroes congregating there. When he finally found his way there he was met with a familiar group of heroes, who had suffered a greater battering than he was usually accustomed to seeing. [/color] [b]"Can't say I care for their architecture."[/b] [color=gainsboro]He said, dwarfed by the colossal black monolith.[/color] [b]"Time we returned this bastard to sender..."[/b]