Chris had enough.
He sat in a circle with a couple hundred people in a crater of what used to be the house of a rich stock broker. What was once a sprawling manor filled with luxury and high end cars was reduced to nothing but dirt, debris and the remains of his wife's corpse. Or one of them at least. Chris tilted his head back and gazed of what remained of the city he once called home. Where once he saw sprawling towers, vibrant parks and that god-awful statue put up by the council to "honour our heroes." were now nothing more than piles of dust, dead trees, brambles, death and decay.
"This is the end." Was all Chris could squeeze out of his mouth.
Next to him, A slightly pudgy man stood up, crusted in dust and dirt.
"Well... this is it. I want you all to know that... that..." The man's booming words quickly lessened into soft mumbles.
He couldn't find the words. Nobody could.
Chris stood up and began to walk around the circle absentmindedly thinking about the events that lead them all here. To this crater. To this coffin.
It was 5 days ago. The sky cracked open and from it descended a mass of writhing tentacles connected to some sort of whale like monster. Monsters were not an unusual occurrence as Chris' world was one of magic, mystery technology and wonder. But this monster was none of those. It was a nightmare. The first 3 days were hell.
Heroes from the United Heroes Association battled the giant monster. By the second day, the world government and S Rank Heroes authorised the use of all A+ and below Villains to assist them. By the 3rd day, It was only Chris, some low level Heroes and the S Rank Villains. Chris personally released the S Rank Villains and directed their Insanity squarely at the monster.
Chris stopped walking and closed his eyes. He remembered the final battle. The whale like monster was all but defeated, his heart lied exposed and Chris grabbed Excalibur from the hands of a nearby S Rank Villain and charged the heart. As the brought down the sword on the pulsating mass of blue flesh, he felt his powers fade. He collapsed. On the 4th day, the only supernatural entities on the planet were a Villain with pale skin and sunken black eyes, partially covered by a mop of crimson hair named Andy, and a tall tanned villain with long, smooth, violet hair that cascaded down her back, drawing attention away from the slim white mask that obscured her face. Chris didn't know her name and so simply referred to her as prisoner SP-003.
The world was in shambles and Chris was the only one who could pick up the pieces. He would fix this world. Or at least, that was what he thought. On the eve of the 4th day, Andy revealed himself to be the Apostle of Satan and declared the world irredeemable. He claimed that the world must be destroyed to balance the cosmic scales. He summoned the hordes of the Underworld and carried out another war. No, an extermination on the residents of this world.
Chris once again fought Andy on the ruins of the planet with SP-003. Although Chris had lost his powers, he still had the systematic training of the elites in the Unified Heroes Association. With his planning and SP-003's unique ability to materialise blades anywhere within 10 meters of herself, they were able to kill the wretched Apostle and send the demons of Hell back to the inferno. But at the cost of SP-003. With the Heroes gone and any sizable weapons reduced to rubble, the planet was defenseless.
On the dawn of the 5th day, Humanity knew the resolution of their story. They looked up from their broken houses and burnt fields and witnessed a meteor inching towards them. The size was immeasurable. This meteor was their end. But Humanity didn't panic. They didn't scream, shout or search for hope. They smiled. The smile of a race that lost too much. The smile of a tortured victim finally knowing the release of death. The planet's survivors gathered in large areas, parking lots and stadiums, to wait out their end. They would die, but not alone.
Chris' thoughts shut off with a tug on his jacket. He looked down to see a little girl, around 8 years old. Her face was bruised and bloodied and her teeth were cracked, causing her to speak with great difficulty.
"Mithter?" She began. "Arth you a hee'ro?" Chris stared at the child.
"My name is Chris." He replied succinctly.
"Owkay mithter Kit. Arth you a hee'ro?"
Gazing into her eyes, Chris saw innocence, hope and happiness. "Where are your parents?" Chris asked. He avoided the girls question. He wasn't a hero anymore but, he couldn't stamp out the child's hope.
"Momee thaid that momme would meeth Alith ath home. But momme never thowed up. so Alith came here lookin' for her."
The little girl was about to continue when a man staggered up to her, seemingly nursing a broken leg, and began speaking to her.
"Alith, was it?" His cracked yet gentle voice resounded.
"No! ith Alith! Alith!" The little girl stamped her feet a few times before squatting to the ground and scratching the name 'Alice' into the dirt. "Ah! I'm sorry Alice!" The man started.
"You see Alice, Your mother went to grab some food for your trip to the Heroes Terrific Theme park! But she told me to tell you to stay here and not wonder off." The old man smiled a hollow, sad smile.
"Yay!" Alice jumped up and down, drawing the stares of everybody present.
"I wov theme park!" As she jumped up and down, Chris simply stared at her and tried to remember the last time he smiled like her.
Then he wondered if he ever smiled like that at all? Was he ever happy? He couldn't remember.
All that clouded his mind were his dead friends. Their bodies, their screams, their pleas for help. What did happiness feel like? His thoughts stopped. He didn't want to show such a weak side to this little girl. Instead, he got down on one knee, facing Alice.
"Hey Alice." Chris spoke energetically, masterfully constructing a lie that would fool an 8 year old.
"Can you come here a sec? I wanna tell you a secret."
Alice's eyes glowed as she bounded over crying "Secret?! What secret?!" One she got within half an arms reach of Chris, he shot forward, grabbing Alice and lightly pinching a spot on the back of her neck. Alice's eyes closed and her bound halted as she slumped into Chris' embrace.
The man with a broken leg limped over. "I thought you were gonna lie to her."
"I wanted to. But I couldn't look into those eyes and tell her everything would be alright. Besides, at least this way she won't feel the pain."
Chis cradled Alice in his arms as the man remarked "It's here." As if planned, everybody stood up and closed their eyes. Chris was no exception, sinking into the inky blackness his eyelids provided. First he saw nothing, then red, then white, then the world ended.
White. All Chris could see was white. "Wow." Chris muttered. "The afterlife looks a lot different than the last time I was here." Chris slowly got to his feet and inspected himself. 'Hmm.' He thought. 'Both hands and feet... and clothes too.' He noted the plain white pajamas he was wearing. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he hurriedly jerked the front of his pants forward. 'Phew... Still there.' Chris breathed a sigh of relief. He then turned his attention to his surroundings. He noted a plain white space, no discernible lights, no pieces of furniture and no entry or exit points. Even with his trained skills of insight, he could gleam nothing from his surroundings. So... he did nothing. he simply sat and closed his eyes, reliving the most painful week of his life. He did this for hours before a change occurred.
9 hours after waking up in his bleach white box, Chris' eyes snap open as a large, swirling blue hole appears on one of the walls of the room. From that door steps a woman with raven black hair tied neatly into a pony tail, neatly contrasting her light skin. Her eyes seemed to flicker between shades of purple, her outfit consisted of a pair of tight fitting leather pants and a casual red shirt with the words 'I fought the law!' Printed on it.
She marched towards the wide eyed Chris before slamming her jet black trainers into Chris' stomach. It was when Chris violently expelled his insides next to him that he realized that he wasn't under an illusion. His shocked turned into horror as he slowly gazed at the woman's scrunched up face.
"I'm only gonna ask ya this once kid." The woman began. Contrary to her looks, her voice was firm, easily conveying the strength she had at her disposal. "Who the hell are ya and how'd you end up in the middle of our base?"
...
In response to Chris' silence, the woman casually pulled out a serrated knife before saying "Y'know, if you don't start squealin', your lunch isn't gonna be the last thing you spray onto the floor."
Chris finally found his voice through the pain and possibly cracked ribs before uttering. "Liz? i-is that you?" The woman's eyes narrowed as she bent down and grabbed Chris by his hair before slowly raising him up to her eye level. "How. Do. You. Know. My. Name?" Her purple eyes darkened and the hand holding the knife tensed up, ready to stab at any moment. But Chris wasn't even paying any mind to that as he stared into her darkened eyes. "Know you!? I was at your funeral!"