…
He was floating above the night sky. It was cloudy yet the light of the moon persisted though the cracks to bathe the world below in its pale light.
He wore a white suit, tactical, modern, effective for stealth and espionage. A pale, featureless helmet that seemed to shimmer in the moonlight hid his face.
"01 status report." The voice of his commanding officer demanded.
"I am on site." His reply was stoic, void of any emotion.
He looked down. Below him was a camp site filled with armed man surround by military equipment, vehicles and war machines.
"State your mission." The voice said.
"Eliminate all enemy combatants. Retrieve Package. No survivors. No witnesses."
This is what he trained for. This is what they prepared him for. This is what heroes do.
"Good. Commence mission." The voice commanded.
He lets himself fall.
They screamed. They shouted. They panicked. They shot at him. They struggled. They blew him up. They cursed him. They turned their war machines on him.
Fire and explosions filled their camp.
They tried to flee with the vehicles. They failed. They died.
No survivors.
He made them disappear. He erased their camp. He retrieved the package.
There was noise.
Others were hiding there. Others were children. Children with weapons. Children who turned their weapons on him. Children who witnessed him.
No witnesses.
He made the Children disappear, too. He left with the package.
"Mission Complete."
He hated his voice. It didn't sound like him. It didn't sound human.
…
Matthew sat in the snow, enjoying the peace that Mount Everest Brought. He flew to the top of the mountain to enjoy his dinner, which consisted of a few boxes of pizza and a lot of Coke.
The moon shone brightly above him.
He stared at it as he chewed on a slice of Pizza, his favorite song blasting through his headset. He leaned back sharply, lifting his head to both admire and loathe his handy work on the surface of the moon.
There on the surface of the moon, shining with pale and blueish silver light, was a wide horizontal line that started on one edge of the moon to the other, the remnants of his fight against the Pale Man years ago.
A symbol of his greatest mistake.
The teen bobbed his head to the beat of his favourite song as he glanced back down to his phone. His fingers scrolled through the latest chapter of the web-comic he was reading. A translucent shield formed a sphere around him protecting him from the harsh cold environment.
There wasn't much for him to do these days aside from the usual calls he got from Cecil Stedman to handle villains and natural disasters here and there. That was okay with him, things were peaceful like this.
This was freedom.
He chuckled lightly as he chewed, finding something funny in the comic he was reading. His phone buzzed as a caller id pooped up before he could continue.
Speak of the devil… The caller was Stedman.
"Aww…God damnit." He cursed before answering the call after quickly finishing the last slice of pizza. "What do ya want, Stedman?"
"Contingency Code Blue. Scenario 3." Cecil's voice was calm. Hauntingly Calm.
Argk! Cough! Cough! Cough!
The shock of Cecil's statement caused the teen to cough out the pizza he was chewing. He wiped the crumbs and spit off his lips and stood up. His hands squeezing the phone the phone in his hands lightly. His eyes wide with shock.
The immortal's dead? Damn… The hell could kill that ancient relic?
Mathew's annoyed demeanor instantly vanished as his expression turned serious. His lips thinned. Contingency Code: Blue was a contingency plan designed to use him as a weapon against anything or anyone that became an imminent threat to the world and humanity, a threat that must be eliminated by any means necessary. This plan was only activated under a series of extreme conditions, each designated a particular scenario that served as a trigger for its activation.
For his Activation.
Scenario three was a dead-man's switch tied to the Immortals' heartbeat. When active, it meant that the Immortal's heart stopped beating, which also meant that something had happened to the Guardians of the Globe.
Never thought I'd live to see the day…
Although Mathew detested the idea of being used as a weapon, even though he understood that it was necessary. It was part of the agreements he made in order to gain his freedom. He had already acknowledged the fact that he was one of the GDA's most effective weapons against otherworldly threats to humanity.
"Location?" Mathew asked. A pulse of energy shot through him and out of him as he began to hover.
"Guardians Headquarters, Utah."
"Rules of Engagement?" Mathew cracked his neck as he spoke.
Rules of Engagement meant something different for him, it dictated the amount of damage he was allowed to do in a particular scenario and outlined the danger of the 'enemy' or 'targets' he was facing. It ranged from Delta to Omega with Delta being targets that could destroy a small city and Omega being a threat to the planet.
Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.
Matthew's own threat assessment left him as a continental-class threat at the lowest after he left a deep trench on the surface of the moon that came close to almost splitting it. There were also other engagement codes tailored to specific heroes to if they ever became a threat to Earth.
"Recon and target assessment only. If engagement becomes necessary, then proceed with Engagement Code: Ciera. We don't have a grasp on the situation yet. Get over there and report asap." Cecil's voice was as calm as ever.
Possible large city-level threat huh…
"ETA?" Mathew asked, and he was already flying high above the sky.
"Five minutes after your arrival on site. How fast can you get there?"
Mathew closed eyes to calculate the distance. His psychic abilities were a lot more scientific that most people gave him credit for. In some odd way physics calculations came naturally to him as they act of breathing was to others given that his ability came with an innate sense of spacial awareness the constantly quantifies the space around him.
Remove friction, distance is roughly 7,400 miles(11,900 km) in one minute would be, 7,400/(1/60) and then divide that by 767mph and thats roughly…Mach 578… Shit, can't do that in this atmosphere…
Mark glanced back at the moon.
Free fall from space it is...
"I can make it in a minute. Watch for fireworks, I'll be dropping in from orbit."
"Alright." The call ended after that.
Mathew tucked his phone into his pocket before pulling a small high-tech ear bud out and pushed it in his left ear.
"Time to go to work."
Mathew bent his knee as a translucent telekinetic barrier formed under his feet. His form flickered briefly.
Boom!
A sonic boom shook the mountainside as he launched himself upward towards the moon. The scenery blurred past him as he zoomed past the clouds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three more sonic booms echoed in rapid succession in the sky as he pushed himself to go even faster. His psychic barrier negated the friction to a degree allowing him to speed up as his momentum increased. When he was high enough he increased his speed even more and before he new it he was already in space.
He was able to sense only one life signature in the mountain fortress that became the Guardians of the Globe's main base.
Guardians Headquarters shook as Mathew blasted through the side of the mountain. Recon and target assessment only my ass… He was never allowed to go all out for reasons, but he did enjoy a challenge sometimes.
If something did happen to the guardians, then something strong was here. For the sake of saving what remained, engagement was necessary after all.
Dirt and metal gave way as he forced himself in.
Boom!
He stopped himself in the air, hovering above the area where he felt the life signature coming from. The smoke and debris from his entry cleared swiftly with a small telekinetic burst. His form still gave off wisps of smoke from re-entering the Earth from orbit.
As soon as the smoke cleared, his eyes widened in shock at the sight that greeted him.
What the fuck?
Blood, lots of blood and guts, gore and brain matter. The main hall of the Guardians' Headquarters was the site of a massacre. He would have vomited if he hadn't already gotten used to seeing things like this.
There were pieces of them everywhere.
Redrush had his head caved in as if it had been put through a hydrophilic press set to max. Dark-wing looked like he had been used like a baseball bat with his twisted limbs, spewed out guts, and shattered cranium. The Green Ghost had a gaping hole in her head, and her body looked shredded and not in a good way. The Immortal was missing his head, and Warwoman's head was facing the wrong way.
Damn. What the hell happened here? This is disturbing, even for me.
He once worshiped this people but time and experience hollowed his childish naiveté. As he is now he has nothing but respect for them, he wasn't close enough to any of them to mourn their loss. Mathew was sure they had more than enough people for that. He viewed them as a person would view a distant coworker or a passing acquaintance. Their jobs implied danger and sooner or later they all knew that they were gonna die at one point.
How or when was up to lady luck and old man fate.
Omniman was on his knees, and that said something because very few beings could challenge the mighty Viltrumite in a contest of strength. The rest of the guardians were spread out all around in various states of gore. They were all dead.
Omniman was the only survivor. He was the only life signature here.
Mathew extended his psychic senses and his awareness increased to cover the whole base, he had to secure the area first. He closed his eyes to better allow himself to process the information. Another small pulse of energy spread out of him as his sphere of influence increased to cover the whole mountain and then some.
There's nothing here…
There was no one else around here. Mathew couldn't sense anything else aside from Omniman. The entire base was empty, and apart from natural wildlife, flora, and fauna, there was nothing in the vicinity for miles.
"Blue. Blue! Report. What's happening over there?" His earpiece buzzed with Cecil's voice.
"Your gonna wanna see this yourself. No threat on site. Place is clear of your people to enter." Mathew lowered himself down in front of Omniman. He reached out and placed his hand Omniman's head to scan his body.
It was somewhat difficult to do since Viltrumite biology was naturally dense, and Omniman's innate ability to manipulate their center of gravity made it a little difficult for him to spread his energy throughout the Viltrumite's body. He spread his psionic energy throughout Omni's body, his skin, muscles, bones, and nerves. He couldn't go any deeper than that, or the Viltramite's physiology would adapt to his energy and kick him out. Viltramite cells were made of some ridiculously sturdy stuff.
Cracked ribs, friction burns, major blunt force trauma to the skull, muscle tear…
Mathew noted a few more injuries; most of his major injuries stemmed from his chest area. His face was heavily bruised with dark patches of purple skin and swelling; he had a busted lip and a broken nose. Surprisingly, Omniman didn't suffer any fatal injuries, but his brain activity was spiking like crazy.
Is he in shock? His unresponsive brainwaves are a little hazy too…
Mathew couldn't help but wonder. If all his teammates and friends were killed before him, he'd probably be in shock too. Lucky for me, I work alone...He let go of Omniman's head and glanced around the area.
There was a flash of blue light, but he paid it no mind. He knew who it was.
"Jesus Christ. What the hell happened here?" Cecil walked up beside him as his team rushed through a metal door a few meters to his left.
"Check for pulse."
"Clear."
"Is that Green Ghost? Fuck that's brutal."
"Scan for vital signs."
Soon the halls was buzzing with activity as medal staff and security flooded the room pulling out various high tech devices, stretches and medical equipment.
Mathew turned to him, his gaze calm. Cecil looked as he always did in his blue suit, grey hair, and scarred face.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Mathew replied. He turned back to the scene and made his way over to Redrush.
Mathew took a knee, stretched his hand out, and placed his palm softly on Redrush's body. He closed his eyes and focused, digging into his mind in an attempt to decipher the history of his death. His hands glowed with a faint blue aura.
Darkness, speed, run, a blur. To fast. What is that? Run. RUN. Talisman burned. Rune. Rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune, rune. Conceal. Erase. NOTHING…WHITE!… I SEE YOU, CHILD… Nothingness. White bunny. Pale moon. Star child. Silver owl. Eye of Horus. Rune. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness. BEGONE!
Mathew pulled his hand back as if he had been burned. His eyes squinted as he stared at the dead body in confusion for a brief moment before his expression changed to one of annoyance. He was attempting psychometry, one of his many abilities, but the results were less than comforting.
"What is it?" Cecil asked.
"Fucking magic is what. Single use. Some sort of talisman was burned here. I'm thinking Sorcerer..."He tilted his head in thought. "But that guy is already dead. Check your vaults. A page from his Grimoire was used here. The 'history' here is 'shrouded' or rather 'stolen'? Seriously can't tell with all this magic mambo jumbo. " Mathew explained as he stood up. " This spell or whatever, it's designed to hide shit from me specifically. Whoever did this knew I'd be the first to appear on site. They came prepared."
Mathew tilted his head curiously and observed his hand. He clenched and unclenched his fist, rubbing his thumb and pointer together, weirdly fascinated with the blood on his fingers. " Some higher being is concealing the shit that went down here, it's only temporary but for the next year, no one gonna find out what transpired here in the last twenty-four hours before I arrived through esoteric or psychic means."
It is weirdly tuned to my energy signature, though. Unless you have a couple of hundred years of lifespan to trade or you wanna go through a sacrificial pagan ritual to open a portal to some self-proclaimed god's domain and fight or bargain your soul for info that is. Esoteric or other means to find out what happened here are off the table. I'll take a guess and assume that security footage here is also off the table. One doesn't just kill the strongest beings on the planet and leave behind incriminating evidence of said act. Apart from that, Omniman is the only one with all the answers to your question right now."
Cecil let out a frustrated sigh.
"God damn it." Cecil cursed. He suddenly looked old, way older than he already was. For a fleeting moment, the man looked aged. Only for a moment, and it was gone as quickly as it came. He turned to Mathew with a stern glare. His lips thinned. "Alright. Follow the team back to the med bay. Stay close to Omniman, nothing comes close to him without my say-so. There's a possibility that whatever or whoever did this might come back to finish the job. I'm authorizing Engagement Code: Alpha if something does show up."
"Alpha's sounds a bit extreme but whatever, you pay the checks and collateral damage." Mathew shrugged as he made his way past Cecil towards the medical team. They worked with practiced ease, quickly attaching medical devices on the injured Viltramite as the rushed out with Omnimans body.
Guess I'm stuck on guard duty.
…
This place hasn't changed much since the last time he was here.
Bright lights, metal corridors, armed guards, white coats. Home sweet home…
He trudged through the metal corridor with one hand in his pocket and the other holding on to a half-eaten packet of chips.
Thank god for free vending machines…
Since their arrival thirty eight hours ago there wasn't much he could do. Omniman was already in a secure room resting peacefully, his body pumped full of a few specialized drugs to help boost his natural healing factor. Wouldn't be surprised if his fully healed by next week. Alien physiology sure has its perks...
Dense metallic doors slid open as Mathew walked into the secure room. He paused for a moment, noting another person in the room. Korean, average height, slim but athletic frame, black hair, brown eyes. Deborah Grayson. She's still here…
Cecil had told him that Omniman's family was coming so he left the room a few hours ago so he left the room to stretch his legs and get something to eat. He figured they would have left by now but it turns out he was wrong.
Deborah Grayson placed a trembling hand over the reinforced glass that separated her from her husband, her eyes red from crying and the long sleeves of her green shirt were stained with what Mathew guessed were tears. She hardly seemed to register his presence, not that he cared about that.
She was a wife and mother after all, and despite being married to the strongest being on Earth with arguably the best healing factor around, second only to the Immortal, Mathew guessed none of that mattered at this moment.
Seeing a loved one getting hurt was the same for everyone. Hero or not.
"Mrs. Grayson," Mathew said softly.
Red, puffy eyes greeted him sharply as Deborah flinched faintly. She must have been deep in her thoughts.
"Apologies for disturbing you. I'm Mathew Bale, Cecil probably informed you about me. I'll be your husband's security detail until he fully recovers from his injuries." Mathew apologized as he introduced himself. He waited patiently as she turned away, quickly pulling out some tissue to wipe her tears and makeup.
"Oh… R-Right."
Despite working with her husband on numerous occasions, this was the first time they were officially meeting. Everything he knew about her came from the GDA's database and Cecil's debriefs.
"I'll… Just wait outside." Mathew offered as he turned to leave, but Deborah stopped him.
"No. No. It's alright." She sniffed. "You are…younger than I thought you'd be."
"I get that a lot." Mathew stepped inside as the metal doors closed behind him. Shoved his chips into the pocket of his hood and awkwardly stood a few feet from her. His gaze lingered on Omniman as Deborah took a moment to gather herself.
Would anyone cry for me if something like this happened to me? Maybe Doc would. Nah. She'd probably dissect my corpse if she got the chance. Take it in, Mat, this is what a loving family member looks like…
"They said he'll recover just fine, Mrs. Grayson. A day or three and he'll be flying again. You have nothing to worry about. The Global Defense Agency has the best medical tech and facilities on earth…and he is the strongest hero on Earth, you know."
Deborah turned to him after a cleaning her self up, this time she stood a little taller, her hands no longer trembled and her expression was calmer. She squeezed the tissue in her had gently as she spoke.
"I know. I've seen him endure far worse situations and come out stronger each time. Despite that...I'll still worry about him. He may be the strongest hero to the rest of the world, but at the end of the day, he is still my husband."
Deborah turned back to her husband. "Did they, did Cecil find out anything yet about what happened?"
"They're still looking into it. The whole thing is a mystery. All we can do now is wait for Omniman to…" Mathew paused as his earbud beeped, indicating that a call was connecting.
Speak of the devil.
"Blue. I need you." Cecil's voice echoed through his earpiece.
Mathew let out an exasperated sigh. Deborah turned to him inquisitively.
"Apologies, Mrs. Grayson. Duty calls." Mathew gave her a respectful bow before he turned to walk out. Deborah quietly watched him leave before turning back to her husband as the metal doors slid shut behind him.
"What is it now? I thought I was on guard duty. "
"Not anymore. New mission. The portal Invasion is getting out of hand. Get over there now."
"Roger. Roger. Be there in five."
-Chapter End-