Alternax

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

Featuring

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How much longer will this take, doctor?"

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

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

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

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


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

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

"Goodbye, Rex.."

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

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

"I love you too!"

"I do!"

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

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

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

"Never better."

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

"Are you sure, Dr. Stainnick?"

"Absolutely!" He smiled.

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

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

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

Intermission post.

Lost Haven, ME

A future Halloween

Seven days before Halloween.

A casually dressed young man briskly walked through the hallway, breathing heavy and hard. The campus was surprisingly big, and he had a ways to walk before getting to his car. Seeing as it was night, it was obvious there wouldn't be as many people walking around, but it seemed off.

"Whew, super empty..." He muttered to himself. There were rumors about a vampire walking around, but he knew that was just some kind of bullying, he actually had a class with her. Nice girl, great notes, she only got treated like that for being quiet. Still, the rumors about ghosts were a little more valid. That terrorist attack had left an awful feeling for everybody still attending classes, and he could swear he could hear voices under the wind. Sometimes he thought he saw blood under the flooring late at night. But these were just rumors, and tricks of the eyes. Is what he would usually say, out loud too since he was alone, except the wind was pretty loud.

"Brrr... too cold." He muttered again, and then realized what he had just said. The man was still inside, in a building with a perfectly fine AC unit. The wind started howling, then a bright light dashed somewhere behind him.

"Who's there!" He shouted. The wind had stopped, and a voice called back.

"Who's there!" Someone shouted replied from farther up the hallway. One of the classrooms? The man thought. He was about to shout back until he realized something. The voice that shouted back, sounded a lot like his, his legs immediately turned him the other way.

"Nah, no no no, not like this, hell no!" The man started shouting, his backpack swished wildly on his back but he dealt with it.

"Go away.." The voice came as an quited whisper, this time it sounded like it was right behind him. His heart stopped, and he briefly hoped it was just some prank. Maybe the football team was standing behind him with cameras, they'd all laugh about it later, good fun. The voice had caught up to him so quickly, so obviously he couldn't run from it. Probably was the football team, right, could be track?

He turned around, and then he screamed.

-----

Halloween day, the 31st

It was 10'o clock pm, hundreds of families had been out trick or treating, or celebrating the spirit of Halloween. The Jones family were not an exception, having spent the last few hours going around the neighborhood. They eventually made their way to Sherman Square to take part in a special event held being held throughout Lost Haven, everyone throughout the city had hung up decorations in the spirit of fun to help recover from the recent attacks.

Both parents and children were encouraged to participate in costume, which is what David had done. He wore a store bought version of Iron Knights' costume, unfortunately no helmet, and Cecilia wore a Radiance costume. While their daughter, Maddison ,had taken to wearing a TV hero's costume, Pheonix-Man. It had a flashy design, red 'pauldrons' and vest, with gold and black streaming down the rest of the outfit, along with a gold feather pattern on the back, the mask it came with had also featured gold feathers around the edges.

"Geez, I got a ton of candy corn, I hate those..." A girl travelling with them complained. Alice, one of Maddison's friends from school, whom had come with her family; with each of her parents wearing costumes of their own.

"Let me have some of your snickers!" Alice tried to dip her hand into Maddison's 'pumpkin' shaped basket.

"Nooo!" Maddison quickly turned on her heel and ran around her Dad.

"Now, now, no need to get grabby. The night's still young, plenty of chances to get candy later. Here, I'll give you some of mine." David dipped into his own basket, and pulled out a handful of twizzlers and tootsie rolls after a moment of digging around. Alice and Maddison both looked at him.

"Bleh." They said synonymously.

"David, you're still so childish. Stop trying to give them candy you don't want.." Cecily hooked her arm around his. "Well, like you said, the night's still young. Let's get that candy." She smiled.

-----

After another half hour of visiting and looking through the hundreds of attractions, they finally returned to their cars to drop off their haul. While the parents were busy talking Alice pulled Maddison aside. "Hey, look over there!" She pointed towards another building, hidden off their path.

"Huh? Lost Haven University, so?" Maddison tilted her head and asked.

"Your dad works there right, haven't you heard, there's actually some spooky stuff that's supposed to happen at night?"

"Uh, you mean like pop quiz's, 'cuz it's a school?"

"Noooo! They say there's a vampire, and even ghosts!"

"In a school?" Maddison was skeptical, but everyone remembered the Hounds of Humanity, who had attacked the city several times, and even the school her Dad worked at. At the time she was home on summer break, when the news started reporting on the shooting she and her mom had tuned in to see if her Dad was okay. They never saw him in any of the videos at the time, but they were worried. They never called just in-case he was hiding, but they held out hope that the heroes then had saved him. Thankfully, it seemed like they did so they never pushed for details about it.

It made sense that people would think that there were ghosts haunting the place, but it was still a little outlandish. "Come onnn! It's not even that far away, let's just have a look around!" Alice started dragging her hand.

Well, it was Halloween, and what harm was a little exploring going to do? Still, she couldn't just leave so suddenly. "Mom, Dad! W-we're gonna check out one of the haunted houses again!" Maddison yelled out.

"Just come back soon!" Her mom yelled back and waved them off, her dad did he same, but he quickly turned back to say something.

I guess adults have a lot to talk about... Football?

-----

A soft wind had been blowing all night, they were relatively warm in their costumes, but away from the festivities they could actually hear it. It set the mood somewhat for a little late night urban spelunking. The lights were out accross the building, the night classes were apparently cancelled for tonight, and it seemed there was nobody home.

Alice led the way and hesitantly pulled on the door handle, and then stopped. "Ah."

"Ah?" Maddison raised an eyebrow.

"Ah! It's locked..." Alice turned and frowned.

Maddison shook her head and sighed. "Of course it is, it's night time!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Hey!" Suddenly, a voice called out from behind them, surprising the girls.

"The university is closed today, you kids should go home." A man said, there were two other people with him, all of whom were wearing their own costumes. They clearly weren't the security guard.

"Chill, look at them, they probably want to check out those rumors too." One of them said. The first man looked over Maddison and her friend.

"Who are you guys?" Maddison asked, more on reflex than actually being curious.

"I'm Johan." The first man said, he was dressed as Icon, he had the mask resting on top of his head though.

"Rick." The second man said with a shrug, he was dressed as skeletal astronaut, with fake blood that slid down his 'helmet'.

"Dan." The final man said with a limp wave, he was dressed as a completely normal man. Maybe.

"Yeah, well, the door's locked. It's no use." She said with a shrug.

Johan pulled out a silver ring and smiled. "That's why we brought a key."

After that, it didn't take long to enter the school, and it was as empty as it looked from the outside. It was possible to hear the faint sounds of celebration outside, but now that they were inside it was completely silent. The hallways were dark with only the barest of moonlight to illuminate them, the kids ultimately decided to use their phones to light their way. Eventually they even passed Maddison's Dad's office and classroom eventually; she didn't mention it, but she did get an off-hand idea to explore them.

They passed through a few of the outside areas as well as some of the smaller buildings, for Maddie, it was a little weird to see the place her Dad worked at, but mostly boring. Alice felt more or less the same, and spoke up to break the silence.

"So, how'd you guys get a key?" She asked the young men, Dan answered them.

"We stole it!" He said with a smile and made a fake 'hush' gesture. The three of them chuckled slightly.

"It looks like the ghosts are a total bust. You guys know about that vampire rumor?" Maddison asked.

"Oh that? Yeah, I'm actually not sure about it. But there's this really creepy girl in my history 1313 class. That might be what it's about." The Johan said, and put a finger on his chin.

"I dunno, some guy said he saw someone leaping the roofs one night." Rick spoke up next.

"That could have been some random meta. Dan what do you think?" Johan turned around, then stopped. "Uh.."

Johan's weird behavior caught everyone's attention and they all turned around, only to see nothing except an empty hallway.

"Maybe... he got lost?" Alice offered.

Johan tilted his head. "Maybe? He doesn't come to this part of the campus often, if he walked off on his own he could have gotten lost."

"Hey, Dan!"

"Daniel, did you get lost, you dummy?" The two men called out to him.

"Hey!" A voice called back from further back where they came. Rick and the girls were about to head that way when Johan held out his arm and stopped them.

"That voice, sounded a little weird."

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, actually, it kinda sounded like m-" Rick stopped mid-sentence, someone had thrown a pencil at the back of his head. That caught everyone's attention. The entire group turned around to see a giant luminescent face flying towards them from further down the opposite hallway. It was nearly featureless, only resembling a face in shape with gaps in place of its eyes and mouth. While the entire thing glowed, it seemed to be at its brightest at the 'nose'.

"Go away..."

They all screamed and in their panic, Maddison and Alice nearly took off in different directions, until Johan intercepted their hands to guide them. They ran for what felt like minutes before stopping, their hands each dropped to their knees as the three of them tried to catch their breathe. Now outside, they actually felt a little relieved, compared to the closed off and empty hallways. Outside, they felt more free, and the full moon illuminated much more of their surroundings. The wind was blowing much harder than Maddison remembered, it whistled loudly. Between heavy gasps, Maddie dared to be the first to speak.

"T-that was a ghost?"

"Muh.. maybe.." Johan said, he then took a glance around them. "We lost Rick."

"W-what should we do?" Maddison asked, Alice, still stood silently behind them. "Let's get out of here first." Johan moved to take Maddison's hand into his own, but the ground beneath him suddenly slid forward, and he fell onto his back. He let out a small groan before a hand came down to help him.

Johan looked up to see a skull. "Ah!~ Rick, like, thanks man." He grasped the hand offered to him, and it pulled him up. It even patted down his back to get off some clinging dirt and grass.

"H-hey, t-that's not your friend!" Maddie yelled out. Johan did a double take, his eyes made extra sure to examine the hand he had just taken, and the body it belonged to. Rick had a skull astronaut as his costume, but the only 'skeletal' part was the skull. He was now holding hands with a bare-bones skeleton.

Another one came staggering towards them at an incredibly fast pace. Maddie took Alice with her and ran off, while Johan began to panic behind them. "H-hey, let's call someone!" Alice suggested, and Maddison nodded. They had been using them as flashlights only before now so it completely slipped her mind, she didn't like calling for help, but they were lost, and something weird was happening.

I'll call my dad. She thought, then immediately searched for him on her contacts and called him. Only to realize there was no signal.

"Wha- what do we do?" Alice hesitantly asked, visibly shaking, probably from the cold. Her costume wasn't as heavy, and the wind had seriously picked up recently.

"I've had enough!" Maddison started shouting, she could only think about this logically for so long, but she had no idea what was happening. If weird stuff kept stopping them from running away, they'll run towards it.

"We're going right to the center!" She kept yelling.

"Hey, are you crazy! Keep it down!" Alice yelled back, and tried to cover up Maddie. She pushed Alice away long enough to say what her piece.

"I'm tired of running around with no clue! We've been running like crazy but the wind just keeps blowing that way. Whatever is happening, it's over there, I'm gonna see what it is!" Maddie roared out. She was at her limit, angry, impatient, and a little spooked. But the only way things will move on is if they find out what was happening.

The winds blew in one direction, but as they followed it towards its center it began to curve around a certain area. It looked like it was an old garden, it seems as if it was neglected, flowers had dried up and wilted. Suddenly, two of those glowing faces appeared from mid-air.

"Go away!"

"Go away..." The two of them shouted and mumbled at her, as their forms shifted and wobbled downwards towards them.

Maddison grabbed a hand full of the pebbles that surrounded some of the plants, and threw them up at the faces.

"Owwie.." One of them said.

"Huh?" Maddie stopped herself mid throw, something unexpected happened, those spooky gravelly voices, and turned into a very high pitched and girly voice. The faces merged into something more ferocious, fangs, blood, and a faded out skull beneath it. To join them, the skeletons from ealier emerged from behind a far off building, along with a stiff looking shadow. From what they could see it looked like a man, but half his skin had been torn off, revealing his flesh.

Alice screamed out, Maddison lost her courage and began to cry, when another voice descended down towards them. It was a reassuring voice, one that had saved her before.

"That's enough. These kids look like they've had enough, don't you agree?" A glowing red-orange man slowly descended from the air with his arms out to the sides. It was Terra Firma.

"Foolish mortal, you can no longer contr-" The giant glowing mishapen voice tried to taunt him. Terra snaped his fingers, and a small blue line shot towards the face.

"Ahh!" He shouted in its high-pitched voice again. The giant face disappated, and several glowing motes emerged and danced around him. The skeletons and that other figure suddenly stopped and fell to the ground.

"Heyy, we're just having a little fun!"

"Yeah, you let us stay here!" They glowing orbs tried to make their excuses and raced around him angrily.

"You came here for a reason remember, and it wasn't to scare kids." Terra said sternly and crossed his arms. The scene reminded Maddie of when her Dad would scold her, it was kinda weird, no, it definitely was.

"Oh yeah!" One of them said, and they all floated off. They split off into groups, then shot all accross the garden for a few moments. Now that things had obviously gotten way less dangerous, Maddie approached Terra, though Alice couldn't bring herself closer to this weird scenario.

"Uh, what's going on?"

Terra looked down at her for a second or two, then gave her a reply. "Those things in the school, the animated skeletons, and that thing next to them." He pointed off towards the back of the garden. "The anatomical model, and the skeletons from biology. It seems they look quite scary with low lighting. Brought to life by magic." Terra gestured his hand at the floating orbs.

Magic? Maddie questioned what she heard, but the situation was still too weird to ask that.

"Everything tonight was because of... those things?"

"Pixies, from the stories." Terra nodded. "Every bit as troublesome as you might think, but they never hurt anybody, those older boys are just asleep in the gym. The Pixies are responsible for everything."

'No, no matter what he says, I still can't believe this.' Maddie tilted her head to the side.

"Heyy~! Don't blame us for everything!" One of the orbs came back and rushed up to Terra in a huff. "Even y-"

Whatever it was about to say Maddie never heard it, Terra backhanded the pixie out of the air, it made a gasped in surprise and landed behind some bushes. He tried to disguise that as him reaching up to cover his coughing.

"Ahem. Sorry you kids got involved." Terra then seemed to intensify his gaze on her. "But this school was locked, and obviously closed. This counts as tresspassing, you know."

"W-well, you see..." This definitely felt like a lecture. Terra didn't go that far though, instead he gestured towards the garden again. The winds began to soften, the glowing orbs danced around flowers, trees, and through the pathways. Their colors made it seem as if a rainbow river was running through, pedals flew up and around them as the wind shot up.

"Whoa.." Maddison muttered. The plants in the garden glowed softly as they straightened back up, the ones that had wilted were blooming again, the leaves had returned to the trees, even the grass had suddenly grown just a bit taller. The entire area had a glow to it, as if the sun was out again, the flowers were radiant, the tree swayed back and forth slightly.

One of the orbs floated up to her face, and then she could see it. Terra told them that these Pixies were just like the stories, and they were. She was small, colorful little wings, and some kind of leaf dress.

"Looks like we had too much fun, sorry!"

"Hey, what's your deal? Why'd you try to scare us like that?"

"We just didn't want any humans nearby~."

"Hey, you know this is a building for humans, made by humans, right?"

"Sorry, not my problem! Anyways, good bye!" She said, and then flew off towards the sky. The rest of the pixies followed her up, and they disappeared beyond her sight.

"Wait, what was all this?" Alice asked, finally gaining the courage to come closer, and Terra answered.

"It seems they made a pact to revive this garden. A silly old man's wish."

"And why did they have to scare us, can't they just use magic to stop us or something?" Maddie asked this time.

"Well, Pixies in legend are famous for being supernatural pranksters. Their logic might not make sense to us, but it seems they just wanted to prank people too."

-----

Afterwards, Terra offered to fly everybody home, but both Alice and Maddison declined. He was kinda weird looking, and it wouldn't be good if he told their parents they were sneaking around the university. So instead he went to recover the older guys, leaving Maddison and her friend alone again. They might talk about it again one day, but right now, it was just too weird.

"So kids, how was it?" Maddies father was the first to see them, and he greeted them with a smile.

"Uh.. let's just go home?" She sighed with exhaustion.

"Nonesense, we talked it over, we're all going to visit a haunted house together." Her mom added next.

"Noooo!"

Writer's note

Yeah, so i just wanted to have a little fun with it. Wanted to use some off-hand ideas I had floating around before I lost the chance to use them. I didn't have to time to polish it up, but I hope it wasn't awful. I wanted to give a small bit of scooby doo to this post too so I hope it never seemed like i was trying hard to scare you. You're behind a computer so that's hard to do.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

You know guys, the max limit is 150,000 characters. Who goes that high?

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

Mal’ahk #7: Apocalypse Now, Part 3

Dr. Jacob Regan & Dr. David A. Jones

Lost Haven
The Chinatown Bridge

As the adrenaline of the chase began to wear off, Anhur started to go into a limp. The cut on his leg, oozing down his leg from the large gash, started to throb with each beat of his heart. It didn’t take long before the blood was left behind on the ground with a partial print of the boots he was wearing. With his DNA profile obscured from the database, thanks to the connections The Eye have within the DNA database in the country, it would take a long time for any police to connect him to the shooting. That is, if they ever find him again after this.

With the detonator on his belt so the bombs on the bridge could be dismantled safely, he pulled the radio off of the belt next to the detonator and raised it to his lips.

“Dirk, breng de gevangene terug naar de pakhuis. Ik heb hem een paar vragen zodra ik melden met Dullahan over de bruggen.”

“Ok, baas,” crackled the Dutchman’s voice over the radio. “Wij zal uw bij de pakhuis te zien.”

With the order given out, the skull-faced man slowed his pace to allow him to look at the injury on his leg. “Ah, fuck,” he groaned as he pulled away from the fabric of his trousers. “That’s going to need to be treated. I wonder if that fine piece of ass Alison will book in another session to see if she knows how to work her magic on that.”

-----

‘All but the middle one..’

So with the one bridge saved, that meant two other targets. The bridge with their lead was likely the one connecting towards Chinatown, on the other side of Lost Haven. Seeing as how it was one of the only remaining bridges. There didn’t need to be words, Uriel knew this too, and so they both took off. To supplement his speed, David had taken to using his board trick. Using a small section of cement, he formed a flattened construct not unlike a surfboard, but with footholds for himself, and used his power over the Earth to ‘push’ himself towards supersonic speeds. As opposed to his normal flight, which would have been insufficient for the occasion.

His control over it seemed shakier than usual, maybe because this was only his second time using it? Whatever it was, he could only deal with it now. Upon approaching the new bridge he was appalled by what he saw. People were trying to get by, as they should, but there were many shouting and drawing attention to a hanging body.

Uriel would be coming to back him up so he can begin the search first, but David flew towards the body. Nobody deserves to be strung up like some hood ornament. Flames plumed out from his palm as he vaporized the strap he hung by, then carried it down, and lay the body flat.

Dr. Reagan followed along in the wake of his surfboarding partner in crime as they headed straight for the Chinatown bridge. As they approached he witnessed a macabre display that his newly acquired ally immediately veered off to deal with.

He cares an awful lot about the mortal shell it would seem. How strange.

”The fact that you don’t concerns me.” Coming to an abrupt halt in mid air he drove his wings downwards downard and fell into an upright hover as he scanned the bridge. Someone else must have stopped the attack here but who and how? Inhaling he slowly scanned the surface of the bridge. The chaos wasn’t much better here but it hadn’t drawn war’s presence. The destruction of the other bridge combined with the landing of the alien craft must have been the correct convergence of destructive things to bring him into existence there.

There

On the bridge was a single limping individual and when he turned to look at his leg the pattern of a skull face appeared. ”I would hate to assume he is responsible just because of how he looks”

Discarding an anomaly in some false attempt to avoid the appearance of prejudice is foolish.

”Fair enough”

With that he leaned forward and fell into a swoop that brought him alongside the edge of the bridge before arcing out and over the man and then dropping onto top of the bridge's upper arch. Taking him in he looked from the injury to his face to the similar object hanging from his belt. Dr. Reagan had to admit that Uriel had a point. ”Just a moment. Are you the one responsible for stopping the bombers?”

Anhur turned towards the angelic figure as soon as he was called to. Cursing under his breath, he turned to the figure. In the corner of his eye, he saw the hero he presumed to be Terra Firma lay down the corpse of the man he blew a hole into. While he didn’t know the full capabilities of the angelic hero that was talking to him, Terra Firma was a problem for him that he would be easily overwhelmed if they decided to try and take him in. And with the knife wound on his leg, it made trying to fight both of them all the more difficult. Instead, he went for a different method.

While still holding onto the empty assault rifle in one hand and the sniper rifle sling over the shoulder, he reached down to the detonator that was on his belt. His eye caught a glimpse of the boat making its way to a small gathering of people to try and cover their tracks of being in the location and help a few of the people across. Slowly, he unclipped the detonator and raised it for the flying figure to see.

“You mean the assholes that tried to blow up this bridge alongside some of the others?” In a swift motion, he threw the detonator towards the figure hard enough that it was easy to catch at that distance. “Yeah, you could say I stopped them from blowing the bridge up. The explosives are down by the water on one of the columns if you wanted to see what they were using.”

Seeing Uriel stop an injured man caught David's attention and he quickly joined them, just in time to overhear the latter part of their exchange. Eyeing the man, he could tell that his rifles and bloodstains weren’t for show, but the would-be bombers took precedence. Whoever this was, at least he wasn’t trying to do the aliens’ jobs for them.

"We'll have to leave the bombs to the authorities. What we want now are the ones who planted those bombs...."

Anhur looked in both directions at the roughly where he had dropped the bodies and sighed. “Well… if you know how to talk to dead bodies then there’s one in that direction and two in the other. It was only those three at this bridge. Though in all honesty, three dead bodies might be an inconvenience but it’s worth saving the hundreds of people who would have died if the bombs had destroyed the bridge. What would you say?”

“You didn’t leave a single one alive? They could have more bombs somewhere, not to mention that we need to find their boss.”

Anhur’s eyes narrowed at Terra Firma. “Judging from what I have seen, only the bridges have been taken out barring the bridge that, I presume, you stopped the bombers at. If there were any other targets, especially with the coordination shown, then those places would have been gone by now. The less people these bombers have returning to wherever they are, the less manpower they will have to pull something like this again. Plus, it was either me or them and I would very much like to be alive.”

David scrutinized the man, it was true, he could not fault him for killing them if it was self defense. But there were still several problems here. “With the coordination shown there could be future bombs, and they had it on a timer. We can’t rule out another wave of bombs as impossible. But if they’re all dead, I have no choice but to handle what’s in front of me. You left that man hanging, didn’t you?” He started taking a few steps forward, towards Anhur.

In an unusual move, Anhur unshouldered the sniper rifle and set it down on the railings of the bridge. He remained unmoved by the hero’s approach, though inside he relished it.

“Maybe, but they’ll struggle with getting it down with three less mooks running around. While he was dead before he ended up in that position on the rope, it’ll send a message to whoever they work for to think twice about doing something like this again.”

“What really would have sent a message, is following their tails all the way back to their boss. I’ve seen my fair share of gunshot wounds, those Hounds of Humanity were everywhere, you see. It would have taken something a little more high powered than a glock to get through those vests. If your story was true, that he was dead already, I know you’re no innocent bystander here. Why don’t you come with me?”

“See, the problem with organizations like whoever these fucks were working for, there will be pockets where they might be and anything that’s off, they’ll scatter into the wind and disappear. Even before their ‘Finger of God’ had signalled the location of the Hounds of Humanity main base, you heroes had difficulty in finding them. Otherwise, places such as Philadelphia and Nautica Island would still be around.”

“As for your comment of that man getting a hole through him, it’s a reason why that sniper rifle was there. I took it off of one of his buddies and shot him before he could get away with the detonator, which your companion now has. As I still have the rifle in question, it is fucking obvious I’m no innocent bystander but someone who saved those people below from an explosive end. So thank you, but I will not be coming with you. In case you haven’t noticed, there are still aliens attacking this city that needs more attention than whatever this is.”

The earlier words stung David, worse than any of the punches he’d taken so far, but even so, all that meant, was that he’d have to be better for the future. “I would have liked to have ‘followed their tails’ but I can’t now, can I? David stared straight ahead at the man now.

I trust my allies will come up with a plan for the aliens soon. Right now, I’ll thank you for saving everyone here, and I’m not lying when I say I’m glad you were here. Except, your story doesn’t excuse you leaving that man strung up and executing him. It’s within your right to kill in defense, however, it’s not your right to make such a gruesome display. The police have a lot to deal with now, so I’ll personally take you to a station.” David then closed the distance, moving to take the mans’ other rifle, to disarm him.

“I do not think so,” was all Anhur said. While the sniper rifle was still loaded and resting away from him, the assault rifle that was strapped around him was completely empty. But Terra Firma didn’t know that. It only served one purpose at this point and the hero fell into Anhur’s trap. He allowed for the hero to take hold of the rifle. In one motion, he drove the heel of his palm towards the hero’s flaming body.

A shadow washed over David’s mind as a dark energy transferred itself from Anhur, and into his body. It felt like a snake was trying to worm itself in, coiling around his heart, his head, and every nerve in his body. Because of the situation, there was already plenty of screaming and shouting in the background, but Anhur had done something to him. The wailing he heard just a few seconds ago was now loud and booming, fear stricken shrieking pierced his ears, and he moved his hands to his head. Trying to get ahold of himself as his senses slipped further from his grasp, into that darkness, the gloom that began to cover his soul.

A normal human like David might have suffered far worse, and much longer under this ‘fear’ effect. But a warm, radiant, feeling began to spread through his body, pushing back the encroaching shadows, offering him a safe haven. The heaviness and terror that had attempted to cloud his mind had been flushed out by a pure source of energy, night turned to day, and David found himself being guided through the dark. But this was a new experience for both himself, and the Earth. While he may be cleansed of that attack, his own senses were still foggy, the rest was on him.

-----

Catching the detonator as it sailed through the air, Dr. Reagan hefted it in the palm of his hand and then looked back at the man. Interesting. There were more than a few of these wood-be gun toting do-gooders-by-any-means-necessary in the city. That was on one level extremely concerning and on another it was nice to know that Lost Haven was not going to roll over without a fight and it wasn’t just the capes who were taking it to people around here.

Terra Firma joined them and Dr. Reagan continued to study the man pensively. His callousness about the situation bothered him but Uriel didn’t seem to care either way from his notable silence. Must have been his assumption that they got what they deserved. Either way it was really starting to grind his gears that an Angel had so little care about killing people.

Then again…

Uriel was an Old Testament sort of ass kicking waiting to happen. It was strange associating a being that was supposed to be about love and mercy with a messenger like Uriel. Returning his attention to the conversation he caught that all of the bombers were dead. That wasn’t terribly helpful.

We could pluck one of their souls from the Pit. If you had mastered my wings

”I’m aware”

Terra Firma continued to go on about how he shouldn’t have strung the man up in such a display which was fair. Following that he moved into a comment about bringing the man in, which was probably not going to go very well. Sure enough he didn’t seem to think that was what was going to happen and naturally Terra Firma slowly reached for the gun. Dr. Reagan sighed and then the man slammed Terra Firma with the heel of his hand. Was that going to work?

He didn’t wait around to find out. Lunging on the right side of Terra Firma he didn’t bother with the sword. He just drove the tip of his right wing towards the man’s shoulder with the intention of driving the supernaturally hard feathers into the space between the chest and shoulder about six inches.

”Why is it always a fight…”

Anhur didn’t get much of a chance to react to the angelic figure flying close to them and attacking with their wing. Fortunately for him, the motion of driving his palm into Terra Firma caused enough momentum for the tip of the wing to nick his left shoulder with a deep cut. It was one thing to try and fight off a hero of Terra Firma’s calibre, but to fight another hero on top of that? The skull-faced man wasn’t going to lie, he was in a rough spot and it seemed that there was little to no chance of getting out of this uncaptured.

---------------

Down in the boat, close to the shores where people gathered to get onto one of the larger boats to get away from the city, the rest of the Penose blended into the crowd of ships, keeping away from prying eyes. Dirk, the person in charge of the Dutch organized outfit, looked around to see if there were any authorities about. He felt uneasy leaving Anhur behind, but if the head of Lost Haven operations needed to report to Dullahan about the unexpected destruction of bridges, then he understood the reasoning.

On the off-chance of looking in the direction of the bridge, he noticed a meta with a flaming body and a figure with wings in the area around the bridge. Mere moments later, both of them about the area where Anhur was last spotted. The Dutchman didn’t like the looks of that at all. Looking to the waters, he noticed a few of the other Penose boats were coming back after the destruction of the bridge just to the north. Not waiting for another chance, he pulled the radio up and started to speak. It was then he saw the angelic figure landing on the bridge.

---------------

Still recoiling from the cut from the angel, Anhur thought about having no choice but to try and fight both of them off. His hand started to hover around his back to where a knife was. But, he paused as his eyes narrowed to focus on something. As if he was concentrating on listening.

His eyes widened at the recognition of a distant sound. The hand that was hovering around his back snapped to the barrel of the rifle and undid the clip to the strap. Once freed, he allowed gravity to take his body to the floor just as a torrent of bullets whizzed into the area, punching through the steel girders like they were nothing. Peering in the gaps, he saw 4 of the Penose boats had turned around, the men on the boat firing up at the bridge. Concealing his face to the two heroes, he smirked as the white blur of the turrets’ cannons were raining death and destruction towards their location.

The wing clipped the man’s shoulder and sliced through clothing and flesh like it was nothing. Dr. Reagan grimaced as he moved to pass Terra Firma and continued after the man but he suddenly discontent his firearm from the strap and fell flat on the floor of the bridge top. A hail of bullets slammed into the top of the bridge stitching across concrete and steel in an angry whine. Shrugging his wings up and forwards he closed them over the front of his body. It meant he couldn’t see anything but the bullets simply rattled off the feathers of his wings. It was hardly ideal but it was better than getting shot since he was fairly certain that the wings were the only bulletproof part of his body. With the wings providing a sort of cowl he jerked his right hand down and the sword sprouted in a gout of fire. There was no way to tell where the other man was now but he needed to be ready in case of some sort of ruse. Hopefully Terra Firma was resistant to the fullisade of fire.

As the bullets rained on the trio, Anhur saw his opportunity when the winged hero curled his wings forward to defend himself. While the bullets seemed to be bouncing off of them, it completely covered the view of him on the ground. And with Terra Firma still shrugging off the fear effect, the skull-faced man saw the window and took it. Shuffling on the ground, he pressed himself up and began to run back to the location where he climbed onto the catwalk.

David shook his head as he stumbled through the after effects of the man's attack. The crackle and thundering of specialized bullets blasting through the bridge around him quickly put him onto alert. Tossing his gaze around, he saw the murderer making a run for it, while Uriel had taken some sort of defensive stance.

He sprinted off towards the angel, placing himself between a stream of gunfire and the angel, then tasted the power of these special bullets for himself. Hundreds of red and orange sparks shot off his body as the energy in the bullets and his body clashed. David's grunts of pain and strain echoed out as his body faltered, he crossed his arms in front of his chest to better withstand the onslaught of these new weapons.

"Are you hurt... can you fight?" David asked in a strained tone.

Once he reached the railing he climbed over, he turned to look. He smirked at the sight of Terra Firma now also defending himself from the hail of turret fire, even taking some of the fire off of the angel. He wasted no time and jumped over the railing and slid down the entire length of the column, guiding himself down with a steady hand and both feet.

Once he reached the base of the bridge where the explosives and dead bodies were, he looked in the direction of the destroyed bridge further inland. Another boat was coming up. Perfect for a getaway. As the boat passed, Anhur jumped onto it. His body rolled across the small deck until it crashed onto the opposite wall, his blood painting the deck from his shoulder and leg. As the men on the boat went to aid him, he got onto one knee.

“Get us out of here!” he barked at them. “I don’t want those fucks taking me in!”

The men on the boat scrambled to aim for the boat to charge away from the scene. It didn’t take long for the boat to pass the ones firing on the two heroes as it sped away. Now on his feet, Anhur reached for the radio on the boat.

“Listen up, I want to put some distance between me and them. Hold them off for as long as you can before pulling away.” He wasn’t going to lie, some of the men on the other boats were probably going to be captured by Terra Firma and the angel for questioning. But as long as he was not one of those people captured, the others were expendable and they knew what they had signed up for.

Putting the radio back down, he turned to the driver of the boat. “Take us to Rendezvous B. I don’t want them to catch up to us or our prisoner.” The driver nodded as the skull-faced man slumped onto one of the benches.

At Terra Firma’s question Dr. Reagan grunted. ”I’m fine but I’m not bulletproof the whole way through. Just my wings.” At a lull in the fire of the boats he risked a peek through the center of his wings. They were changing out the box on the front machine gun of one of the two boats. Now was his chance before they got it reloaded and opened up again. Crouching low he held his wings up at an angle sort of like the cow catcher on a train until he was at the edge of the bridge and then he leapt. Closing his wings around him in a cocoon he plummeted towards the water.

Knifing through the surface he vanished from the view of the boats. As he plunged beneath the surface he arched his body and his wings. Opening them to carry him through the water as he brought the sword up with an effort and drove it along the bottom of the now reloaded boat. It split the boat and began to sink it.

Twisting his wings as he slid by underneath it he angled them so that he came shooting out of the water. With a powerful stroke of the wings he hovered briefly making eye contact with the driver of the second boat he had turned around to see what was happening. The man reached for his sidearm. With a grunt Dr. Reagan swung his legs forward and kicked the man over the steering of the second boat.

”I’ve had about enough of that for today. Thanks.”

The gunfire had fallen off for a moment, either because they had to reload, or because Uriel had taken their attention back, so David took his chance too. He blasted off into the air as quick as he could, then swiftly bore back down at them, making a '^'-shaped contrail in the sky. They in turn, trained their guns as far up as they could, unleashing a storm of weapons fire as soon as they could.

The sun's glare kept them from being accurate, but they clipped David's body enough to cause him to lose control. Cascading energies exploded off the outside of his body, and the resulting turbulence proved too much. David immediately dropped like a brick, he grunted as he tried to regain control, but there was simply not enough time. He finally splashed down into the water, shooting up water dozens of feet into the air.

But this was fine, in fact, this was the best place to be. The guns apparently didn’t have the ability to shoot low enough to nail targets directly below the boat, nor could they reasonably shoot through it. A bright light closed up underneath them, then the sound of metal crunching, was all the warning the first boat had, and it wouldn’t be enough.

The boat suddenly went under, then emerged upside down, with both the cabin and turret completely submerged, rendering both useless. If one was close enough they could make out muffled screaming and shouting, before the waters turned quiet once again. Not a minute later, the gunmen were tossed up onto the upturned boat; where they lay, able to breathe, but unconscious.

The other boat could clearly tell what happened, and fired on David, or as close as they could based on the glow. Blurring his image was the only protection water offered him, but it wouldn’t matter. David emerged out of the water as quickly as he had fallen, with both arms at the side, fists out, he then quickly brought one arm over the other. Lightning followed his hand as it swiped over the other, and towards the boat’s turret.

As the bolt raced over the water, it met the incoming bullets and melted them mid-air, carving its own path of destruction straight back to the turret. David’s superheated bolt turned the gun into a sizzling, misshapen hunk of metal. Upon seeing this, the mercs shouted at their driver to accelerate their craft. But they would be far too late, a certain someone had landed on their bow.

“You’re all coming, with me.”

Working his way through the rest of the individuals on the boat he’d landed on Dr. Reagan, cut, kicked, grabbed, and flung until the remaining men on the boat were incapacitated.

It would have been swifter to dispatch them. They made themselves enemies of the Lord of Hosts.

It was becoming increasingly disconcerting to him that the Angel was perfectly accepting of the loss of life incurred from stuff like this. Sure he was an unknowable ancient messenger of a potential omnipotent being but still it seemed so out of character. Then again. They were talking about the God of the old testament. At least. In theory. Either way. He shrugged and didn’t bother to give him a further response. Turning the boat and gunning it towards the shore he watched as Terra Firma handled the other vessel.
It didn’t take long to flag down national guard troops and hand over the wood-be terrorists. Truthfully they probably needed the man from the bridge. These individuals were working with him but he had other problems right now. Somewhere out there, there was a Horseman of the apocalypse and probably another one who had been present for even longer.

Looking back to Terra Firma he nodded at him. ”I wish we could do more but I think our only lead took off.” Pulling the detonator out of his pocket he handed it to Terra Firma. ”Hopefully you can make better use of this or know someone who can. I’m rather new to this hero game but either way. You can find me at St. John’s Parish. War isn’t the only problem running around and I think given the actual aliens falling from the sky we are all hands on deck. I’m afraid Conquest is out there somewhere and I need to find them both. Snapping the sword from existence he held out his hand. ”You may call me Mal’ahk it would seem the Lord of Hosts has a vested interest in this fight. Find me and I will help if I can. Otherwise I’m going to try and cancel the end of the world before it gets rolling.”

”Stopping the end of the world? A very noble goal, let’s hope we succeed. Call me, Terra Firma. David took Mal’ahk’s hand, embracing it with his own, and gave it a firm shake.

”Indeed, I’ll give this detonator to someone knowledgeable, and I’ll do my best to keep you informed. Speaking of, will I find Mal’ahk, or someone else at St. John’s?

At the question he took the man’s hand. ”I don’t think there is much in the way of a difference anymore. At least for now, though I suspect the Monsignor who runs the Parish will probably know me more simply as Uriel. I haven’t the faintest if he cares beyond that fact.. Dr. Reagan chuckled but in the moment he realized that it was probably a true enough statement. He was a weapon now.

”I can’t speak for this Monsignor, but I care.” David put a reaffirming hand on the man’s shoulder.

”I doubt it’s the same, but I get the feeling you share the same bewilderment about outside powers as I do. I can tell you aren’t some ruthless executioner, and I don’t know what you consider yourself. But you helped saved lives today, you’re a fellow hero in my eyes. So, whether it’s an ear, or a fist you need, you can call on me. Likewise, if you need me, you might find me at the Lost Haven University."

Dr. Reagan tilted his head in curiosity at the comment. Was it possible that LHU was so blessed or cursed to have two resident super powered beings. ”It is rather surreal I will admit. Though assuming the campus is still standing I’ll be resuming classes at some point. You can call me Dr. Jacob Reagan The day just became curiouser and curiouser.

David resisted the urge to tilt his head as well, instead, his head jerked back. As if someone had just slapped his face. What he just heard had startled him, and had him just a little unnerved. Thinking about the incredible amount of ‘encounters’ he’d been through recently, he couldn’t help but feel a little crowded.

Dr. Reagan huh…just how long had this been going on?

Though he felt apprehensive David quickly got over it. The fact that he had not used that sword to cut down the terrorists, even after their appalling acts of violence, spoke miles about his character. Self-defense was one thing, but so was restraint. They needed the terrorists alive to punish and hold accountable, and discipline so that ‘heroes’ didn’t become scarier than villains.

He firmly believed that he and the other heroes needed to leave a proud legacy behind, to show that a better future was possible, that the superpowered were not a change to be feared. Actions speak loud, and today Reagan had made a friend if not an ally. David nodded, then ‘cleared his throat’.

”Ahem. Surreal is one way to describe it. I’ll return your trust, you might know me as Dr. David A. Jones. I occasionally travel out, but I’m part of the history and archeology wings. Let’s work together sometime!

David then looked towards the sky. Right now though, it seems we both have something we need to do. Good luck with Conquest and War, I’m going to work with Icon to see what we can do about the aliens.”

From here, they separated. David took off towards the skies. Without a lead to chase down, it was finally time to unite with Iron Knight and Icon.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

Uh for the record moondog

My Hider

i'm doing a pacifist run with terra, none of the aliens in that dropship are dead, i'm just assuming they aren't prepared to blow through their own ship armor

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

Mal’ahk #6: Apocalypse Now, Part 2

Dr. Jacob Regan & Dr. David A. Jones

Lost Haven, ME

Present Day

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. -Revelations 6:4

The first of the smaller ships met its end on the point of his wings as he slammed the two of them together and drove right down the center of it. Presumably sheering the pilot in half. The fire of the explosion washed over him and much to his surprise it didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest. Whirling to look behind him as his momentum carried him forward, Dr. Reagan narrowed his eyes at the tumbling two halves of the craft.

I am the Fire Sword of the Lord of Hosts. Fire is of little consequence to my person.

”Well that’s good to know.” As his wings carried him further up the next fighter his feet smashed into the front canopy and he drove his sword through it before flicking it out through the roof. The sword parted the void hardened front of the craft like paper sending a spray of whatever passed for blood amongst the invaders into the air. It was quickly flicked away by the rushing air.

Onward and upwards Dr. Reagan climb cutting down fighter after fighter after fighter. It was slow laborious work more akin to chopping wood as his wings slapped aside their energy weapons and his sword cut them appart.

We need my fire. This will never matter at this rate. We are too slow and too- Wait.

The air rippled around them and suddenly Dr. Reagan felt his gaze drawn towards a descending drop ship however what was more concerning was the chorus of whispers that rose in the air around him as he stared out towards one of the bridges. Suddenly a wash of eerie red light descended from the sky and struck the ground near the start of the bridge.

”What was that…”

I wish I did not know what it was.That lander is heading right into the heart of the bloodbath around here. That is the only explanation for what is about happen.

Wheeling in midair he lunged past and through any fighters that moved to intercept him. Something had the Angel of Repentance and Fire...scared? That could not bode well. In a diving arc he slammed into the canopy of a fighter and tucked his wings. Driving his sword through the roof he yanked it over by the sword and used it like a glider. Stamping down on the edge of the fighter it tilted and he yanked hard. It curved in a heavy arc as he directed it towards the lander. Until suddenly something fired a surface to air missile at him. With a leap he cleared the fighter right as it exploded. For one thing there was no way a surface to air missile like that could have destroyed the fighter. How he knew that was beyond him but still. Snapping the wings open he descended to the ground only to witness.

Annihilation.

That was the only word for the man.

Wearing fatigues, a grey tank top, and a black tactical vest he leapt to the top of a police car which was parked at the bridge. They had been directing traffic but now with the invaders unloading from the troop transport there was not much they could have done. This man however was walking destruction. Dr. Reagan spread his wings and came to a beating hover as he watched.

The man was wearing what he assumed was a full face ballistic mask but it was in the shape of a skull. ”Who is that?”.

That is War.

Sure enough, that appeared to be exactly what happened.

In the blink of an eye the man leveled a light machine gun and opened fire into the front ranks of the aliens. The result was spectacular and devastating which seemed unusual given the fact that the weapon probably shouldn’t have had that effect. As the invaders spread out to seek concealment from his arc of fire he dumped the machine gun and produced a shotgun. ”Where is he-”

As the sword is a part of me, so is the Red Blade a part of him. They are just different expressions of it. He can manifest them at will.

The man, or angel. Thing. War. Moved from the position on the top of the police car to the nearest position where one of the aliens had concealed itself and fired three shots into the thing racking the shotgun each time sending shells arcing through the air. The others poured energy weapons towards him but he leapt behind the car he had just killed one of them behind only to bodily lift the car and slam it into the next position where one of the invaders was hiding.

He is getting stronger. This fight is about to get worse….

-----

How much longer can I handle all this, will the power last long enough? David bit back his thoughts as several bolts of plasma raced over his head.

He rushed through the air, over open water now, with several alien fighters on his tail. Obviously having taken note of the more notable resistance. They slowed to his speed so they could fire on him. Turning all the way around, he unleashed an elongated stream of flame that burned its way through the clouds, a trade of furious energy attacks traveled between the jets and David. But where he stood his ground, the fighters broke off, and came in from different angles. Neon green bolts pelted David’s body, the energy crashed and exploded into fizzling sparks, the force of the blasts moved him a foot or so out of position.

Fire’s too slow, I need something faster…

The air around his body ceased wavering, a sign that he was no longer channeling fire. The flames of wild fury, gone, replaced by the feeling of decisiveness, the need to reach his enemies quickly. Lightning gathered, and danced across his upper body. Bringing up both his arms, he led one hand over his other arm and swiped across, another hand flew over his chest, as if grabbing that lightning, and flinging it towards the invaders. Alternating hands and arms quickly, his torso blurred as he sent out a shower of sparks flying out towards the jets.

The flurry of fierce lightning blazed an electric pattern in the sky. While some of the shots went over, past, or behind the jets, there were many more that were dead on. A yellow flare gave him the impression of some kind of energy shield, but it quickly dispersed into soft embers. Several of his bolts struck the wing tips of the fighters, or pierced through and hit the engine in the back. Several small explosions told him he hit dead on, if he couldn’t feel it for himself, and the jets tailing him all crashed down into the water. Non-functional, and not a problem.

Except, the day was far from done. Something told him to look off to the distance, and then he saw it. A single fighter flew over him, racing towards a bridge in the distance, and he didn’t need any enhanced sight to see it’s target. Hundreds of civilians tried to pass over it, and they weren’t going to if that fighter had its way. He thought of the innocents lost so far, the innocents being forced into this fight, and blasted off as quickly as he could. However, these jets had one thing over him, it was speed, and at this rate he wasn’t going to make it.

David brought an arm back, and then launched it forward. A firebolt flared from his arm and towards the jet, which promptly broke into a bank, causing it to slow. It was enough for David. While the jet dodged his flame, the heat broke its shield, and he caught it by a wing. David swung himself around as fast as he could, and threw the jet straight down into the water. The wing broke off in his hand, and the jet itself launched into the water; throwing hundreds of gallons of water into the air around him.

A familiar sense of anxiety brought him back on his toes, he tossed his gaze around. For some reason, he felt his attention was divided purposefully, onto a man on the bridge, and another man flying some ways away. That feeling of anxiety manifested into some kind of aura around the bridge, but he couldn’t make sense of it. Looking at the two men, he got the feeling they were alien in the sense that they don’t belong, but not that they were directly related to the current problem. Images slowly poured into his head, pages from his bible, moments from his sunday school days, pictures and ideas he associated with certain figures.

‘The archangel of repentance, Uriel. I-is that right?’

-----

Over the river near the center of the bridge, an Emergency Search & Rescue helicopter hovered in the air, the distant sound of its blades just audible from where they stood as a low, ambient din. Given the sheer chaos unfolding upon the bridge as vehicles slowed to a crawl and civilians abandoned their transports to make their way on foot, its presence was unsurprising. It appeared to be pulling close up to the top of the bridge’s central flat-topped support arch, where atop the massive structure a single distant figure appeared to be waving at the craft as it approached.

War finished with the first wave of the troops from the ship in spectacular order as he plunged an actual chainsaw up to its handguard in one of their chests. Despite the strangeness of the whole encounter there was still a decided sense of mounting dread pressing on Dr. Reagan’s sense. It was as if Uriel was sensing something but the aura of War was blocking the real threat. Not far off one of the cities other defenders flung one of the fighter craft into the water.

It is one of the others. I do not know this one. Though he recognizes me

Moving from his position, hovering over the carnage War was still engaged in, Dr. Reagan approached the being. ”Excellent timing. Something is about to happen. The man down there is literally War. He seems quite content for now to continue ripping into the ground forces but I think something else drew him here.” Dr. Reagan’s gaze was drawn back to the fight unfolding on the ground as the aliens unloaded some sort of heavy armament version of their standard armor pattern. It was equipped with a rapid fire energy weapon which proceeded to lay down a fusillade of fire and wrath on War’s position reloading behind several damaged cars nearby. The man responded by heaving a fragmentation grenade into the massed aliens and laughing at the resulting explosion. With the armored suit momentarily distracted by the explosion, War stepped out from behind the cars and fired the underslung grenade launcher of his rifle into it before stichting the suit with rounds. Changing cars he switched at magazines and drew the things fire away from the bridge.

David tossed them both a sceptical look, not quite believing the ideas flowing into his head. One, from what the Earth was showing, was supposed to be Uriel, and the other was war? The horseman? Fire, bloodied hands, and screams; the sounds of combat echoed in his head, and then the faint impression of cold river water.


“That’s supposed to be war? He looks nothing like I thought..” David mumbled to himself.

It still didn’t feel right. They were missing something. What was it?

”We need to figure out what is about to happen and stop it. He feeds on death and conflict. He’s waiting on something and I think it has to do with the bridge.”

“Are you Uriel?” He hesitated.
“Can you feel it too?” David asked the angelic man, and looked about. There were police trying to get people moving, other officers were fighting with ‘war’. Although they, along with David, were surprised by his weaponry, they didn’t dwell on it long. Everyone seemed to be focused on the aliens, the incoming soldiers attempting to take the land, and the fighters that Uriel and David had dispatched themselves.

A heavier feeling took root in his chest. ‘That’s the problem’ is what he felt. There was just the one helicopter, and the police ground vehicles at the entrances and exits to the bridge.

‘Huh?’

Just one helicopter? When the skies were at their most dangerous, and it was here before David and ‘Uriel’ arrived. “Isn’t it strange that emergency helicopters would be flying now?” He ascended and soared towards the craft to get a closer look.

As he flew towards the Helicopter, he saw one of its side-doors swing open, and two men disembark from it, carrying indistinct packages. From this far away, their appearances were still fuzzy and unclear, but he could already tell something was off about them. The irregular bulk around their chests was indicative of body armor of some kind, and he could scarcely imagine any reason why a Search & Rescue chopper would be unloading equipment onto an area like the top of the bridge’s archway. The whole point was to extract trapped and injured people…

As he grew closer still, the men atop the bridge reacted to his presence. One of them pointed to him, the others turning to look - and the helicopter pulled away from the edge of the arch, swerving in the air so that its opened door faced him, and that was when all pretense of legitimacy went out the window. Facing him now in plain and open view was a tripod-mounted, heavy anti-materiel machine-gun with three men crewing it, complete with its own ammo belt and ammunition box.

He barely even had time to register as much before the helicopter’s gunners opened fire, the heavy and audible cracking report of the machine gun rapid-firing was loud enough to be audible even over the cacophony of the helicopter’s blades, with a hailstorm of rounds scythed through the air towards him even as a torrent of spent ammunition casings began to eject downwards out of the mounted gun, clattering against the rim of the helicopter’s floor before bouncing down to eventually clatter amongst the clamoring masses of people swarming across the bridge.

David didn’t dream of dodging the bullets, if he didn’t stand in their way the people on the bridge would be torn apart. As the turret unleashed a hailfire of lead, David stood resolute, he briefly thought about trying to grab the metal to catch the spent casings, but he trashed that idea. This was no time to test powers, and thoughts like that only bore fruit half the time for him.

Soaring forward as quick as he could, David did his best to resist the pure concussive force of the bullets, but he was slowed more than he liked. The gunner took this chance to aim higher, shifting the spitfire of lead towards his head. David placed the palm of his hand in front of his face and continued on, as he got closer the gunner began shouting. Not a shout of fear, but of anger, fury, as if his own willpower could make the gun shoot harder.

David slashed that idea in half. He placed his hand over the barrel, ripped the still spinning turret from its mounting. The sound of hot metal screeching and bending under his fingers screamed out. Then he threw it further into the inside of the copter, denting the cabin, sending the gun banging loudly into the back.


“What the hell are you doing! Don’t you realize what’s going on?” He shouted in righteous fury of his own, taking a step into the cabin, forcefully pushing the gunner back inside.

The resulting stream of swears from the surrounding mercenaries - and that was exactly what they were, glorified thugs wearing surplus military fatigues and body armor - were barely coherent over the din of the helicopter blades. He did, however, hear several reiterations of “that flying fire freak.” What immediately caught his attention though, instead of the helicopter’s occupants and their dress, was the stack of plastic explosives piled into the back of the helicopter on top of a pallet, set into cases with anchoring rods and arming pins - and how there was a conspicuously uneven number of them across the top of the stack. The men on top of the bridge - their packages would account for some of what was missing. But not nearly all of it. Their intent was clear enough though.

These people were trying to bomb the bridge during an alien invasion.

Before he could redirect his full attention and fury onto the occupants, one of the mercenaries calmly stepped up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, dangling a grenade with a pulled pin in front of his face.

What exactly the mercenary said next was completely lost due to the volume of noise from the chopper blades, but David got the gist of it.

Fetch.

The mercenary dropped the grenade, letting it and its separated arming lever plummet towards the surface of the bridge. David would have given the man a look of scorn if this body had a face, or backhanded him into the wall if he had the time, but none of these were possible. So he dived back out for the grenade.

‘Was it simply going to explode, was it going to have shrapnel?’

If he was a military man he might know for sure, but that’s not what he was, so he had only one plan to be sure. Catching the grenade in one hand after finally catching up, it also occurred to him that he had no idea how long it was. Throwing it like a baseball was entirely out of the question, so he clamped his hands around it, and curled his body over it as much as he could. Then pressed his hands inward.

The grenade popped in what would have been a loud, ear-splitting, explosion, and it was. To David, who was subsequently sent flying into the water, just short of the bridge by the force of the explosion. Luckily for those on the bridge, it exploded several dozen feet above them, with something else taking the full brunt of the blast.

The flying being of fire didn't give Dr. Reagan time to respond as he turned in air; obviously sensing something amiss. It was like something was scratching at the back of his brain and he couldn't but the pieces together. That was until he turned and zipped towards the lone search and rescue helicopter circling the bridge.

Turning to watch him go he tracked the movement and then realized that the helicopter had let people out on top of the bridge but had not seemed to do much of anything else.

As if on cue the helicopter opened up with a spray of bullets. That was definitely not standard for one of those and the being who had so recently appeared flew right into it.

we need to help

Looking down at War dishing out even more punishment to the invaders and the surrounding environment. With a huff Dr. Reagan swooped on his wings and dove low under the machine gun’s arc of fire skimming the surface of the river. He watched as the other being ripped the gun off its mount to toss it further into the helicopter’s cabin. Whirling, he drove straight up underneath the helicopter only to see the other being racing towards a small falling object. He caught it and then it detonated.

Surging upwards Dr. Reagan brought the sword to bear and in a single swoop he sheared through the sidewall of the helicopter before he peeled back the metal. Driving his wings into the gap he pried opening a hole on the opposite side.

Gun fire answered him as the men inside open fired on the opening. He moved to the side using the sheet metal of the helicopter to shield him as they shot at his wing which was still wedged in the opening.

They are persistent

He hung there for a long moment thinking about what needed to happen. Then suddenly he drove the sword straight up into the first set of blades. It ripped part of them free and all of a sudden the helicopter dropped forwards into a slow spiraling fall, keening alarm indicators starting to cry out in the cockpit as all of the mercenaries lost their balance and were sent tumbling across the cabin as the helicopter spun out of control.

Leaping free, he arched backwards and snapped his wings open before striking the back of the helicopter feet first and sending it juddering towards the side of the bridge currently under assault by the aliens.

Turning he scanned the bridge and the people. Where had the other entity gone?

David blasted out of the water, as fast as he could, anxious to rejoin the fight and to finish his business with the helicopter. Only to see it spiralling towards the side of the bridge, with the nearby people scrambling to get out of the way.

Damn, another one? Why is it, there are so many superpowered killers?

Is what he thought, then he remembered who it was, or at least who he believed it was. A problem for another day. He flew towards, then at the falling copter, and caught it. David grunted as he pushed upwards, slowing their descent, and then dropped them as softly as he could onto an area of the bridge the police cleared for him.

Looking inside he could see the men had been knocked out, from being knocked around the cabin, and battered by a certain unsecured gun.. As for the bombs, they seemed inert. Judging by how fast and chaotic the day had been so far, David reasoned he didn’t have enough time to freeze them into a dormant state and called out for a nearby officer.


“Get a bomb squad, check the back of the copter, maybe the bridge too!”

Then he flew back up towards Uriel. It bothered him, an angel, as far as he knew, almost commiting accidental manslaughter. He really, really, didn’t want this to be his problem. But for now, there was another problem.


“The helicopter had bombs, those men at the top are definitely involved. Try to be careful, and please try not to kill them.”

Dr. Reagan opened his mouth to respond but instead it was Uriel’s words:

”They accepted the consequences of their actions and the results of it are not for me to know nor determine. To question the fall of the sword is to question the Lord of Hosts.” Internally Dr. Reagan scowled and pushed at the consciousness of Uriel. It was like trying to move a brick wall. It wouldn’t budge no matter how much he strained until finally it receded and he found himself back in the driver’s seat.

He didn’t like that one bit. Despite all his commentary of the free will of the host Uriel seemed perfectly content to assume the driver seat. That was something to be discussed at another time.

”BUT! As the Angel of Repentance there should be an opportunity for them to do so.” He waited and it seemed as though Uriel considered this internally before Dr. Reagan nodded externally and turned towards the top of the bridge. There was going to be a serious reckoning when this was all over. It had never crossed into his conscience that Uriel’s definition of right might have been different than his. Now it was awkwardly clear that it might in fact be very different.

Moving towards the top of the bridge on heavily beating wings he swooped around the exterior in a wide bank before he landed on one of the pylons. The mercenary drew a submachine weapon and leveled it at him. It opened fire with a vicious rattle. Sweeping his left wing in front of himself he walked towards the man using the wing as a shield.

”You have been found a sinner and stand before the judgement of the Lord of Hosts. Throw down your weapon!”

He felt power flow from him and towards the man who suddenly lowered his weapon in confusion. There was a clatter as he dropped it from numb fingers and Dr. Reagan moved his wing away to watch the man he stood with his head in his hands. Sobbing. “I-I can’t. There isn’t anything I can do to make this right! The bridge. The bridge will explode and I don’t have the detonator!” Dr. Reagan’s eyes widened, just to the right of the man was a placement of the plastic explosives. Beyond that he wasn’t sure what the man would do if he removed his attention. Uriel had been specific, for now at least without the full light of his Halo he couldn’t compel the masses to repentance. For now it required focus.

In that moment Dr. Reagan found himself doing something he never did.

Praying. Praying that the other one would find the detonator. He couldn’t leave this man up here in this state. If he did, he had no idea what he would do. Being confronted with your wrong doings all at once was a highly traumatic experience. The man could very well be like Paul….conversely he could be like Judas. They were on a bridge after all.

David found himself thankful, that he could be wrong, it was relieving that his faith in strangers wasn’t misplaced. Was this part of the grand plan? Focusing himself back to the task at hand, he moved closer to the bridge alongside Uriel, with the both of them separating at an exchange of nods. Uriel to handle one man, with David to handle the other who must have gone further.

Resolving not to lose the last bomber, David soared above the bridge, eyeing everywhere he could have gone, then he felt a strange power surge through him. He didn’t know what it meant or where it came from, the only thing he could say if asked would be ‘resolved’. Then he saw it, a man ducking into one of the arches, into the maintenance accessways. David swooped down at full speed. The area underneath the arch was filled with girders preventing an easy flight, he’d have to be some kind of aerial ace to navigate it through the air.

Except, he played hopscotch with his daughter all the time, along with competing in a charity jump rope contest for parents. Navigating the catwalks was going to be a piece of cake; is how he felt. While David Jones might have accidentally slipped due to arrogance, the newfound power coursing through Terra Firma now ensured spot-on accuracy Still, it was hard to overlook a brightly colored man skipping towards you.

The bomber cursed and unholsted his sidearm, metal pinged on the girders beside him, even on him, causing his aim to wobble, but never falter. David was getting close, but the other man was desperate. Upcoming service workers, who hadn’t yet managed to dislodge themselves from their work and evacuate, made their presence known by shouting in fear. They were pleading with their comrades to get them up faster, the alien invasion had caught everyone by surprise, and now an armed thug was closing in on them.

One of the servicemen managed to get his harness free of his work equipment and was ready to ascend, when the man suddenly grabbed him and placed his pistol to the workers’ head.

“Stop right there freak!”

So he did, David planted both his feet firmly onto a beam and waited.


“What are you going to do? Can you get out of here before the bombs blow?”

The bomber did not answer, and instead visibly glanced at a digital wristwatch on their free arm. Evidently escape was not a priority - but timing was.


“If you kill that man, I’ll make sure you won’t leave this place. I’ll survive, but will you? Surrender now and we all go up happy!”

The bomber gave him blank stare, before calmly asking,

“Have you ever heard the story of five thieves?”

David didn’t know what to think, why bring up a random story, was it related? Or was it simply stalling?

He hesitated, but replied.
“What about it?”

The bomber’s lips curled in a grimace. “Guess not.” He muttered. With his free hand, he began to reach for his belt - David’s eyes were drawn to the detonator there. It looked mostly standard-fare, albeit the head of another digital watch had been adhered to its side. It wasn’t oriented the right way for him to catch how much time was left on it though - if it was even counting down...

It must have been the latter, this farce had gone on long enough, David thought. Hostages, crazed gunmen? This was a ploy he’d dealt with before, though, with far more skilled opponents. The only thing left to spice up this affair was that bomb, and he would not allow that to take the lives of everyone trying to run, or the lives of the emergency personnel doing their best in such an unforeseen crisis.

A thug with an itchy trigger finger was no match for a disciplined and trained merc from the HoH. While there was some distance between them, along with a number of beams in the way, David felt like he could do this, no matter how much time was left on that detonator. It would stop now.

He shot his arms forward as fast as he could, power surged through them as he focused on what he wanted. That gun and detonator had to go. Lightning and foreign energy charged through him and out his fingertips. Fortunately, his aim was true. In the blink of an eye his lightning superheated the man’s weapon, turning it to molten slag, causing him to scream and hastily lose it. Another bolt burned a path through the air and struck the detonator, turning it into tiny, melted pieces of scrap, and junk. The melted gun was the first to fall, then both the hostage and hostage-taker screamed as they plummeted towards the water, only to be caught by fiery red arms.

As David flew them all topside, he briefly wondered if ‘Uriel’ was doing alright. But something was bothering him, the Hounds of Humanity mercs were all fueled by intense hate for metas, in the thickest fighting with them David had felt like he was being swallowed sometimes. Is this man the same?


“Did you really want to take us all with you?”

The bomber said nothing, and simply went limp in David’s grasp. He stared blankly out at the city, where alien strike-craft buzzed over skyscrapers and blocks, like distant fireflies. After a few moments he raised his arm again and looked at his wrist-watch, which David could now clearly see. It was 2:58 in the afternoon, assuming the watch was correct.

David was shocked by what he felt through his empathic senses, if it indeed was coming from the bomber. The Hounds had always felt like fire, temporary, but hot and alive. But this man, he was empty, a void.

“You… You wanted to die?”

“I still do not want to die. It just wasn’t relevant.” The bomber’s voice was eerily steady.


“Relevant? You’re talking about your life!” David shouted, he had never seen anything like this. Though he was unsettled still by his connection to others by the Earth, he didn’t even bother thinking about it, what this man just said was crazy.


“What are you even trying to accomplish?”

“Not sure. I was just supposed to set it all off. They didn’t even say I had to be there, I just assumed it would shake out that way.” The man shifted awkwardly in David’s grasp. “You planning on landing anytime soon?” The utter lack of concern - or anything else for that matter - in his voice was nothing short of alarming.


“You didn’t mind it ‘shaking’ that way.” David looked at him with pity, with anger, but remained silent.

He lowered them to a nearby officer, who was shocked at first, but thankfully seemed to recognize Terra Firma. Firstly, he lowered the service worker. The officer nodded and waved one of his allies over, and then the two prepared to receive the bomber. Clearly recognizing that he was part of the problem.


“Get some help.” Was all he could muster, stopping himself from putting the man into the ground, the hard way. The last thing the bomber did before David handed him off was raise his arm to check the time again. It was 2:59. Probably only moments away from three. Even as he was led away, the man turned his gaze to the West, to gaze at the Eastern Brooksdale bridge in the distance.

David groaned and fell to the ground on one knee, bracing himself with his other arm. Fear, anxiety, pain, so many negative emotions washed over him again, and he almost couldn’t bear it. It was no worse than when the aliens had announced their violent intentions, but it was too much, too soon. The sound of multiple explosions bloomed in the distance, the keening, quaking sound of metal and concrete splitting apart underscoring them, and already David knew what it all meant.

So it wasn’t Uriel I had to watch out for… it was us humans, again…

The man before Uriel had been reduced to a catatonic slack jawed being having experienced the weight of his past. Hopefully with an understanding of it he could move on. Let go. Seek the fullness of redemption as Dr. Reagan understood it at that moment merged with Uriel as he was. For all his violence and apparent callousness to human life Uriel was in fact the angel of Repentance for a reason it seemed. A sudden chill washed over Dr. Reagan as he looked up. In the distance a series of explosions rippled across one of the other bridges.

”No…”

Turning his gaze to the base of the bridge where the last of the Aliens were making a fighting retreat his blood ran cold.

War launched himself over the burned out barricade of police cars and ran at the Alien lines shrugging off energy weapons like they were nothing, instead of weapons War ripped them apart with his bare hands. It was a truly gruesome sight as he painted the exterior of the big with them. Though what happened next was almost far worse. As the lander closed its exterior doors and fired its propulsion to begin its ascent. War’s hands glowed and in one of them a sword appeared bleeding sickly red light. From the end of the sword a chain extended around his wrist and forearm. As the craft began to ascend he hurled the massive blade into its exterior hull and it caught there. Then with a massive exertion that cracked the ground he stood upon he physically hauled the lander in an arc smashing it to the ground.

From his perch atop the bridge Dr. Reagan could only stare in horror as the Second Horseman grew even stronger with yet another act of aggression complete.

Wait…

The Second Horseman.

”War is the second Horseman….where is Conquest…”

That is a disturbing question.

Fixing his eyes on the ground where the being of energy had landed Dr. Reagan leapt into the air and soared down to him.

”At least we saved some. Though I’m afraid War grows stronger still”

He deposited his own wouldbe and thoroughly catatonic terrorist on the ground gently. Near the burning bridge he could just about hear the wails of the dead and dying. ”We should try to find any survivors.”

David slowly rose back up to his feet. He felt as if he was at his limit, aliens, horsemen, an angel, the bombs. It was all so chaotic and strange, yet, that was his life now. He hated that he couldn’t have been there for everyone that was lost, but he did have a duty to those still alive, and the ones he can’t bear to lose.


“Agreed. But I think you know how we can be the most useful now.”

Dr. Reagan felt his eyes slowly drift to the other bomber as though Uriel was subtly hinting at what needed to be done. Despite the supposed benefits of Uriel’s Glory, Dr. Reagan was far from sold on it considering how it had caused a cultist to claw out his eyes and the other bomber to subside into a semi catatonic state. In either case he had yet to see the outcome of it but given that there was some obviously orchestrated plot afoot he was loathed to stand by when he might be able to help.

It was then that it hit him. He was using utilitarian ethics and it made him sick. How could he be the judge of if either of these men’s suffering was sufficiently outweighed by the outcome. It was impossible

For you. But, not for the Lord of Hosts whom I act on behalf of

The statement bothered him deeply but on the other hand they didn’t exactly have time right now with the Apocalypse on them and literal aliens falling from the sky. Turning his gaze to the second bomber he stepped forwards and his wings shook out and spread slightly as the glow around him intensified.

”You have been found a sinner and stand before the judgement of the Lord of Hosts. Tell us why you conspider to murder hundreds of innocents!

Honestly, it was kind of rich coming from Uriel but on the other hand. They didn’t have time right now for him to question. Seeing the outcome this ‘repenting’ had on the last man, David stepped forward, with an idea that he had only vaguely become aware of recently.

David reached his hand and grasped the bombers’, a gentle flow of warm radiance flowed from his chest, and through their hands. He realized what this was, he was sharing a fraction of his power, and a fraction of his mind. The power to resist the overpowering nature of Uriel, that was what was needed, but not enough to completely block the man. He nodded to Uriel to continue.

Still restrained by the two police officers David had handed the bomber over to, the afflicted man, exposed to the unbearable and ineffable presence of the Lord of Hosts, immediately pitched forward as far as the men restraining him would permit and retched onto the surface of the bridge, spattering David’s feet with vomit and bile from the lack of warning. The bomber continued to heave, and then dry-heave onto the surface of the bridge for perhaps a minute straight - his expurgations punctuated and underscored only by the sonorous wail of his grief-laden sobbing, with teary streams and ribbons of snot falling from his face as he was uncontrollably stricken with the unbearable repulsiveness of everything that he had done - and everything that he was.

As Dr. Reagan stood watching this happen and it dawned on him that perhaps this wasn’t an uncontrollable phenomenon. Closing his eyes he focused on just the presence of the bomber as he could feel him before him. The vomits acrid stench filling the air. ”With repentance comes mercy. Clear your conscience and tell us what is happening. Who wants these bridges destroyed.”

The man choked for breath and raised his face - now stained and smeared with bile and mucous - and between tremendous gasps for breath and teary, wracking cries, he finally spoke.

“I was...I was told to do this by a man...I do not know his name...he coerced me with threats against my salvation...he is...he is…”

As the man’s voice faltered, a vision of the one he spoke of bloomed in David’s mind, and Uriels’ as the bomber’s mind surrendered what it knew. A tall, lean man wearing slacks and a dark-red silk shirt beneath a long coat. He was in his autumnal years, that thin period of time where physical ability and the strength of youth briefly matched the wisdom and discretion of years - he has long dark hair, worn in a pony-tail. His face was tall, with handsome features and an easy smile gracing his lips.

There was something wrong with his eyes - whether it was from the imperfections in the bomber’s memory or due to some supernal perception of Uriel, those windows to the soul were an abyss - cloying, ravenous patches of shadow that clawed at the light and pained David to look at directly.

In the vision, the man was speaking.

“Do you know…” He uttered in a hushed, conspiratorial tone. “...the story of Five Thieves…”

As soon as it had come, the vision went.

“...knew all that I had hidden...the children in Columbia...where I was hiding them...the threats he made, the unspeakable things he promised…” The bomber was still sobbing. “I knew I would burn, but I thought...I thought everyone here...they would die quickly...painlessly...that god would justly assort the just and the wicked...but I see now nothing was ever enough...it was never enough...I was sent here just to suffer! This is my prelude to the fires below! My heart! It is bursting! I can feel death festering in my skull…”

The bomber descended into a torrent of incomprehensible, incoherent gibbering, ranging between begging David for absolution and cries of mixed guilt and requests for the most obscene of punishments.


"You can never make up for what you tried to do. But you can take responsibility, allow the police to take you in. Confess everything you've done." David patted him on the shoulder, and shook his head.

“...No! You do not understand! I am damned either way! In my failure, those who serve evil have consigned the innocent to Hell upon Earth, and to Hell in the thereafter! Those I was keeping safe, who I swore to defend, have been damned for my weakness! There is no salvation!” The bomber cried out. David, with his connection to the man, could sense a dawning chasm of oblivion. A dread epiphany had come over this man - if he was not brought down from his state of dark fervor, he would consign himself to it.


"Can you feel it, that warmth, it means you're alive. Even if you feel damned, even if you are, you're alive now. Grasp that feeling, learn from your own mistakes to stop those who follow in your path. What do you think? Do you want to learn from your mistakes, do you want to bring the man behind this to justice?"

“NO!” The man howled. “I want those who I swore to defend to live! To not be condemned to anguish! They are the ones I did this for! I have failed and they will be subjected to the most obscene of torments for all time! I deserve the inferno! But...the one who is responsible…” The man’s clouded eyes began to clear. “Yes...he needs to be punished as well! I can help you find him! He is here! In Lost Haven! He is...nearby...watching! Watching his work...the four...he wanted to bomb FOUR of the bridges...all but the middle one, leading North to Brooksdale…I do not know this man, or where he resides, but one of the others...if any of the other bridges were spared, one of the others with the detonators might know! And there will be more! He will never stop unless YOU find him…!”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

“Let’s start with not dying.” An electronic voice answered as David hovered over an evacuating crowd.

I can work with that

David nodded and scanned the skies. He had to help with the offensive, while making it to Icon and the others. With that in mind he flew up several dozen meters and his gaze locked onto the nearest alien jet. The central body was curved like a bird's beak, the wings on the side angled downwards with a small cylindrical object at the tips. A few of them blew right over him. It seems he was beneath their notice at his size, so he took advantage of that.

His hands crumpled into fists and he bent his arm inwards, energy swirled around him, his very image wavered as the heat around him rose to several hundred degrees. Something he hadn't quite gotten control over, he had yet to actually need precise control over fire, as it had only been used on someone who could take it. Another element of his powers that he couldn't fully grasp, his 'feeling' of temperature. While he could tell he was getting 'hotter', it didn't burn, however, he could tell it was something that would have melted 'David Jones' alive. A problem for another day.

David threw his arms outwards, the spiraling red-hot energy around him gathered to his arms, then shot off into the air wildly towards the alien jets. It was his goal to go high and aim high, to prevent the injury of innocents, while maximizing his chances to hit fast airborne targets. But the results were... poor, another thing he would have to work at.

His dozens of fire blasts shot off into the bright blue sky, with only a couple scoring glancing shots. The jets he did hit had the edge of their wings vaporized or some rear mechanical part burned away. A bright yellow shimmer could be seen over the ones he hit momentarily.

Some sort of barrier maybe?

With that level of damage, it's no wonder they continued to ignore him, and instead gunned after a group of runners.

"Don't even think about it!"

David shouted and flew as fast as he could, putting himself in the path of the fighters. Then braced himself, holding his arms in front of his body, as the energy bolts pelted him.

"Hah, attacks like that won't work on me!" David shouted, he had some doubts about himself at the beginning of the day, but he had no choice but to push through. He glanced back, and he could see the group continuing to run as they met up with a policeman.

Good, go!

Before he could counter attack, a larger, bulkier craft descended near him. The whole thing reminded him of a jellyfish with its odd curvatures and sloped design. What he assumed to be a gun of some kind opened up from the side and launched large, bright purple, bolts at him. David braced himself again, only for those same rounds to blow up on him in a blinding explosion, blasting him all the way back down.

"Gah!" He let out as his body was sent whistling through the air, and crash landed a moment later into an empty street.

“Guardians, we have troop carriers landing all over the city, we have to try and contain them before they can cause too much damage.” Icon relayed to the rest of the Guardians.

"This is starting to feel like a war... Well.."

David looked up to see the 'carrier' landing nearby, likely so the troops can finish him off. But that is not how it will end. David stood up tall and threw an arm out and then brought it back in, causing the cement under the ship to suddenly jerk towards him. David then positioned his arms outwards vertically, his hands curved as if holding a ball, and he inverted his hands.

"If it's a war you want, I'll give you all the war you can handle!"

The dropship doors never got to open all the way. Several earthen pillars shot up and wrapped around the ship, flipping it upside down, and then swallowed it into the ground. The ramp at the back only allowed the faintest ray of sunlight in, before being forcefully shunted into the ground. Only the bottom of the bulbous ship could be seen, just a few inches above ground level.

Star Wars: Legacies (Always Open)

_{Side Story - The Broken Hand}

---

{Flashback}

A middle-aged woman with raven black hair, tied up into a ponytail, looked down onto the hangar floor from up above on the catwalks. There were mechanics and technicians of all kinds walking back and forth, attending to ships, or some other piece of equipment. One of the people that stood out was a pilot working on his own ship. That wasn’t exactly standard practice, it wasn’t as if she didn’t approve, but It was the small things that changed first. And it troubled her to imagine the bigger changes that would follow.

But she recognized that pilot as part of the squad that saved her, she had botched her escape from Hutt space; overconfidence, and maybe incomplete training. Whatever it was, she had almost died in vain in the vacuum of space, if this ship hadn’t been within range.

She remembered it vividly, the fear of death. If the TIEs had been even a second late, her hull would have blown up into space dust, with all her goals, her aspirations, history, turned into nothingness. The woman lamented her own failings, she was never as skilled as the Emperor’s enforcer, Darth Vader was.

But even he was killed by the same man. A jedi.

The woman furrowed her brows at the thought, and her fists closed together tightly. An oddly dressed girl walked into the hangar soon after, one of the civilians the captain picked up, she remembered.

Civilians, in the hangar? Another change…

She rested her arms on the railing and leaned in and focused her eyes. For a moment, she thought she felt something from that girl. But before she could give it more thought, a headache rolled in, like a thunderstorm, and a familiar voice spoke up. She gripped her head, bracing herself, in anticipation; it was always intense and for five years it was always the same.

Kill Luke Skywalker!

It was an echo, the last command of the late Emperor, sent through the force as soon as he had died. She knew he had died, she felt it, a powerful echo in the force, and in the wake of such an entity disappearing her own connection to the force was severed. Snapped, it had caused her physical pain at the time. She breathed deeply, centering herself, ignoring the odd looks the nearby crewmen sent her, and began to retreat to her room.

Kill Luke Skywalker!

-----

Mara could endure it a little better now that years had passed, and with the meditative techniques taught to her by the Emperor she could even make the pain subside for a time. But it always returned, will always, until she meets him.

Remembering that girl from the hangar, Mara plugged her disk into a private terminal, and began searching through it. She furrowed her brows at the data, another expedition to that planet might be needed, she had only pieces.

It’s a good thing she kept her old access code, and even this face was useful if those codes weren’t.

I’d like to test just how loyal the Grand Imperium still is, along with this ship. Mara mused, and then her eyes darted to the bottom of her screen.

The spy program she planted into the Blackstar’s mainframe had alerted her that they had finally made the jump to Coruscant. Except there was something else, a new fleet with two Super Star Destroyers. The officers on the bridge might be panicking, or at the least, worried; worries which were well founded considering the power of these starships, and yet, Mara felt a little relieved upon seeing a certain name.

[S.S.D. Lazarus]

Perhaps it is time to come out of the shadows.

Her disguise relied on the appearance of a fifty-year-old imperial intelligence agent, a branch of the Empire that nobody wanted to cross even during the peak of its rule. Mara removed her hairband, her pitch-black hair shimmered blue, before ‘dissolving’, revealing long red hair that flowed down just past her shoulders. Looking into a mirror, wrinkles had gathered around her eyes and cheeks.

With several gentle, but accurate pokes, pieces of her ‘face’ fell off. The pieces formed a face ‘shell’ that she continued to delicately remove. Now the time came to address her uniform. Instead of the officer’s uniform she had now, she had pulled out another outfit from the footlocker at the foot of her bed. It was a combination of the old inquisitorious uniform and her old stealth suit, something she used to wear only when addressing the Emperor personally, but it would have to do.

Mara had her old look together, but one final piece left unassembled on her bed, a trusted weapon from when she could feel the force. Several cylindrical metal parts, along with a purple crystal, she would reassemble it as needed with the force. Deciding against it, she swiped everything into a bag, threw it under the bed, and turned her back to it.

She pressed a finger into the wall-mounted intercom and coded it to ping the bridge directly.

“This frequency is reserved for emergencies and authorized personal. Who in blazes is this?” The officer on the other side sounded annoyed, likely having to deal with receiving orders and her own intrusion at the same time.

“The recognition code is Hapspir, Barrini, Corbolan, Triaxis,” Mara said. “The Emperor’s Hand, I would like to speak to your Captain.”

Star Wars: Legacies (Always Open)

Admiral Kava, Mara Jade
NMS and Alternax

Kava grinned as her shuttle touched down in the landing bay of the Lazarus. Her meeting with Ozzell had gone exceedingly well, and she was more than satisfied with the accord that had been agreed to in order to not only bring her fleet into the Imperium, but to make her a member of the Imperium’s High Command, which was practically unheard of in the old Empire. This had indeed been a good day, and not even the announcement from Captain Bryce that another Imperial Star Destroyer, a ship with the designation Blackstar had made contact with the Lazarus and had sent a delegation to meet with her, could dampen her mood. Though she had, in her mind, had participated in enough meetings for the day, she looked forward to adding more allies to her fleet.

The landing ramp descended to the bay floor, and moments later, Kava, along with her landing party, debarked the shuttle. Kava stopped short at the bottom of the landing ramp and was met by Captain Bryce, who greeted her with a sharp salute.

“Where are they, Captain.” Kava asked, curious as to the whereabouts of her latest visitors.

“They are secure Admiral. They are currently awaiting you on the bridge.” The captain told her.

“And why are they on the bridge, Captain?” Kava asked, her crimson eyes locked on to his.

“My apologies Admiral-” Bryce began, reeling from the sudden flash of anger from his superior. “-I thought it appropriate, considering who is in charge.”

“I see.” Kava said after a moment of reflection. “And who exactly is in charge?

“Forgive me, Admiral, but I think you may want to see for yourself.” Bryce said with a hint of glee in his voice, which Kava noted was quite unusual for the man who had been known as her personal attack dog.

“Very well, Captain.” Kava said, her voice conveying her annoyance. “Beeone, be be alert.” She said to her security droid, who acknowledged the command.

They made the rest of the trip to the bridge in relative silence, which for Bryce, might have been a blessing. Kava did not like surprises, and was rather displeased with her subordinate’s coy games. She would certainly find a punishment suitable for the slight, should she find it necessary. However, when she finally arrived on the bridge and saw the visitor in question she understood.The woman had been leaning at the viewport, looking out on the capital world below them with almost a sense of longing.

She wore what looked to be a variance on the uniforms worn by Vader’s Inquisitors, a black uniform and cape. The woman, suddenly aware of their presence, turned to greet them. As she did, Kava realized that the uniform that she wore, with the crimson Imperial sigil on her shoulders, as well as the ews rank bars on her shoulders, was somehow different from anything that she had remembered seeing previously. However, she walked up to the red haired woman and extended her hand in friendship.
“Welcome aboard the Lazarous. I am Admiral Kava, it is good to meet you…” She let her words hang as she awaited an introduction from her mysterious guest.

The red-haired woman eyed Kava, before glancing at Bryce, and then returning to meet Kava’s gaze. She extended her hand outwards to meet Kava’s gesture.

“Jade, Mara.”

Admiral Kava was taken aback by the woman’s introduction. She had heard of a woman by that name, a woman who had been taken under the wing of the Emperor himself. A special agent of sorts, an assassin...she had been known solely as “The Emperor’s Hand.” However, her whereabouts after the tragic loss of the Emperor had been unknown, at least until now, if this woman was who she said she was.

“Welcome, Mara Jade.-” Kava said, her lips curling into a smile. “-What do I owe the pleasure of a visit from the Emperor’s Hand herself?”

“As you know, our Empire has become… out of sorts. Our starfleet is still roughly as strong as it was, and I think you know this too. But as our fleet becomes weaker from infighting, and skirmishes, the New Republic only grows stronger. Ozzel adopted a policy of upholding the status quo, a policy I wholly disagree with. So, I’ve been working behind his back. However, with the appearance of your fleet and your Super Star Destroyers, the odds have changed.” Mara said, then narrowed her eyes.

“I would like to know, what are your intentions?”

“My intentions, I think, are in line with yours. Ozzell is not a stupid man, however, he’s become too much of a politician. I have placed myself within the High Command, and I do not intend to allow the rebels grow any more powerful.-” Kava said, emphasizing the word rebels, as to this day she refuses to recognize them as anything but. “-My intentions are to restore the Empire to its former glory, and to expand upon the vision of our late Emperor.”

Mara smiled. “Then you should know, our late Emperor’s vision doesn’t stop at his death. I have been working to gather some of his old plans. When the time comes I will need the help of the fleets to deliver a debilitating strike to the rebels, starting with Luke Skywalker. I know you’ve been gone, but I trust you know who he is by now?”

“The Jedi who was responsible for the death of the Emperor, as well as Lord Vader.” Kava said, her tone growing dark at the mention of Skywalker. “I would like nothing more than to be there when we bring the rebel to justice.” Kava paused for a moment, as if deciding whether to say any more. But for some reason she felt that she could trust this woman.

“I think we have much to discuss. Why don’t we move this meeting to somewhere a little more private.” Kava said as she motioned for Mara Jade to follow her away from prying eyes.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

David had spent most of the morning watching over his daughter Maddie as she watched the morning cartoons. Summer vacation was still going strong and that meant plenty of time for her, though, he really should have been trying to encourage some studying; which is what he was doing. Ever since the Hounds of Humanity attacks, he had been struggling with his own usefulness. As a hero he was probably above average, he had a lot of power to bring, and his own defense made it so even someone unskilled like him could contribute.

But there had to be more he could do.

I have a few weird powers, maybe I should talk to one of the other professors about something…

He sat back into the couch, putting a hand on his chin. Random muggers, other small-time troublemakers, the Hounds of Humanity; they were all solved with fighting, angry emotions flying around. I was told I was needed, but am I? Every single thing I’ve done so far could have been done by anyone.

An arm reached around him and rested softly on his shoulders.

“David, could you take Maddie to her friends house today? I’ve got to show up early today.” His wife, Cecily said.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot, around noon, right?”

“Yes, thanks.” She planted a kiss on his head, and he turned around to return the favor.

“Ew, why do you guys get so smoochy all the time.” Maddison made a frown.

“Because we love each other very much.”

“Just like we love you.” They both replied, and Maddison stuck her tongue out.

“Bleh.”

-----

Another hour passed and Cecily went out, while Maddison went up to her room to get ready. David spent the latter of which looking through some notes, when a wave of ominous feelings hit him like a truck. His eyes widened and he dropped what he was holding. An echo of pain rushed through his arms, his head, and into his chest. Anxiousness, fear, desperation, a wave of feelings that weren’t his clouded everywhere around him.

“Nngh.” He grumbled and clenched his teeth.

This feeling… almost like when the hounds blasted those cities..

It passed after a few moments, and then Maddison came running down the stairs. “Hey dad, your phone is ringing!”

“My phone is…” He stopped himself. David’s phone was in his pocket, the only other thing could be…

He turned the TV on.

“Oh… shit…”

“D-dad, what do we do?”

“I’m going to get you to the police so they can take care of you, then I’ll go check on your mom. Hurry and get ready!” David shouted as he sprinted past Maddison, and up into his room.

“I should come with you right!”

“It’s too dangerous, I’ll just make sure your mom is okay, then I’ll come for you!”

Terra Firma: Link Connected
“Guardians, gather up.”

-----

Then he did exactly what he said he would. As impersonal as it was, checking on Cecily could be done via phone, and with the Police watching over the both he could fight. He may not like it, but if David’s destiny is to fight, then he’ll do it.

He had already transformed and was now holding the Guardians communicator in his hand, unsure of where to put it. He could break it, or drop it in a fight, so he wanted to put it somewhere; but the Earth didn’t give him pockets.

Or did it?

A vague idea came across his mind. He placed the communicator over the crest on his chest, and gently slid it in. It felt like someone pouring buckets of water right over him, but he could feel it still.

“This is Terra Firma, do we have a plan?”