I'm Aliveā¦. Teehee
Sorry about the absence a lot has happened recently. With the main news being I got a girlfriend š. Also I'm back but updates will be slow I'm a lot busier then I once was.
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The once gleaming metropolis that sprawled across the Flaxan homeworld was now unrecognizable. Where towering skyscrapers of glass and steel once pierced the skies, there now lay twisted metal, collapsed buildings, and crumbling remnants of a once mighty civilization. The advanced technologies that had symbolized the Flaxans' dominance over entire galaxies were reduced to nothing more than lifeless husks, their lights flickering dimly before going out for good.
Smoke filled the air, rising in thick, black plumes from the wreckage. The streets, once bustling with Flaxan citizens and soldiers, were littered with debris, the broken bodies of those who had fought in vain to defend their planet. Skeletons clad in decayed military armor lay strewn across the ruins, the eerie silence occasionally interrupted by the distant crack of gunfire or the sporadic explosions of collapsing structures. The flickering flames from scattered fires painted the scene in a sickly orange glow.
This was not the Flaxan homeworld that had once instilled fear throughout the universe. It was a graveyard. A place where even the strongest of their species had been humbled.
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"Keep moving!" Sergeant Kor barked, his voice hoarse from the dust and smoke that filled the air. He pushed forward, glancing over his shoulder at the group of survivors trailing behind him. Their expressions were hollow, eyes wide with terror and exhaustion. They weren't soldiers at least, not anymore. Just civilians and conscripts who had survived the initial waves of devastation.
Kor clutched his pulse rifle tightly, its once shiny metal exterior now scuffed and blackened. His armor was battered, covered in grime, and streaked with blood, some of it his, some of it not. His eyes darted across the ruined landscape, searching for any signs of danger. Though he knew deep down it was useless. There was no point in watching for what had brought his world to its knees. If it came for them, there was no escape.
They were running on borrowed time.
The Flaxan soldier knew what his people had once been conquerors, warriors, the rulers of entire galaxies. They had crushed worlds beneath their heel and expanded their empire through sheer military force and technological supremacy. But that was a long time ago.
How long had it been since that creature appeared? Kor had lost track. Days? Weeks? It all blurred together in his mind, an endless cycle of running, hiding, and losing more comrades with each passing moment. Whatever that thing was it didn't negotiate or wage a war of conquest. No, it just wanted one thing. To wipe the Flaxans from existence entirely. It had ravaged the planet, decimated the population, and left nothing but ruin in its wake. Now the only thing left to do was flee.
"We're close," Kor muttered, more to himself than anyone else. The military base ahead was their last hope. If they could activate the portal inside then they could escape, leave the planet behind, abandon the homeworld to its fate. There was no hope of fighting back anymore. The Flaxans, with all their might, couldn't stand against what had come. Escape was the only option.
The survivors stumbled over the rubble, their feet dragging as they followed Kor toward the distant silhouette of the base. It was partially collapsed, one of the main towers having crumbled to the ground, but the portal chamber, deep underground, should still be functional. Kor prayed it was.
"Sergeant Kor," a voice rasped behind him. It was a younger soldier, barely more than a recruit. His helmet was cracked, and he was limping heavily, but his eyes still held a flicker of hope. "Do you thinkā¦ do you think the portal will work? Will we really get off this planet?"
Kor didn't answer immediately. His mind flashed back to the reports from the outposts, to the final transmissions before entire regions had gone dark. He thought about the soldiers, the generals, the leaders who had been certain they could repel the invaders. All of them were gone now, just like the cities that had once stood proud.
"I don't know," Kor finally said, his voice barely above a whisper. "But it's all we've got."
They pressed on, the sounds of destruction growing louder behind them. Whatever was left of the Flaxan military was still fighting, holding off the inevitable, but it wouldn't last long. Every minute they spent out in the open was a gamble.
Kor's heart pounded as they neared the entrance to the military base. It loomed ahead, partially covered in debris, but the massive steel doors were still intact. He gestured for the group to stop, moving ahead to inspect the area. The place was eerily silent, no signs of guards, no automated defenses. Nothing. It was as if the base had already been abandoned.
With a wave of his hand, he beckoned the survivors forward. "Get inside! Quickly!"
One by one, they hurried through the narrow opening, scrambling over the debris to reach the relative safety of the base's interior. Kor took up the rear, scanning the horizon one last time before slipping inside and sealing the door behind him.
The corridor was dimly lit, the emergency lights casting long shadows on the walls. The once bustling military hub was now as desolate as the city outside.
"This way," Kor said, guiding them down a series of winding hallways toward the portal chamber. His footsteps echoed in the silence, his mind racing. They had to make it. They had to escape. It was their only chance.
As they approached the chamber, Kor's heart skipped a beat. There it was! It was dusty and old but the control panel should still be capable of cutting through dimensions as it did decades ago.
"We made it," he breathed, allowing himself a brief moment of relief.
"Hurry everyone put on these wrist bands they should help in keeping us safe from the difference in time" It was a neat device the scientists had created years ago. the military had even made thousands in preparation for war but they never got used. Fortunately this meant their were plenty to go around.
Following his words the Flaxans quickly placed on the bands and beganĀ to step forward, eager to leave the horrors behind, Kor hesitated. He looked back, the weight of his failure pressing down on him. This was not how it was supposed to end for his people. The Flaxans had been conquerors, but now they were nothing more than refugees, fleeing a force they could never hope to defeat.
"Sergeant, are you coming?" one of the survivors asked, already stepping into the portal's glowing light.
Kor glanced back at the ruins of his world, knowing that there was no saving it. With one final, resolute breath, he stepped forward and vanished into the unknown.
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Off in a cozy warm coffee shop, Brandon was currently enjoying a good cup of Chai Tea as he met with some he hadn't expected to see for a while. Sitting in front of him was a pretty country girl his same age. Had anyone passed by they would have thought the two were just regular teenagers but that couldn't be further from the truth. Brandon himself was an alien from another world and Caitlyn well she had an IQ of 250ā¦
"This fabric is off the charts Brandon where in the world did you get it! I ran so many tests and nothing I did even damages it. Its properties aren't even on Earth's periodic table of elements"
Brandon was about to give her a reply but she didn't give him the chance as she went off on another tangent asking questions and making theories. Sighing to himself he just shook his head. This had already been going on for thirty minutes. Thankfully he had the foresight to bring a noise-canceling device to keep their conversation private. If not she would have brought them way too much attention when he was just trying to relax.
"Alright alright, Caitlyn slow down. How am I going to answer any of your questions if I can't even talk?"
Caitlyn paused hearing Brandon and realized she may have been a bit hasty making her cheeks take a red hue in embarrassment but she couldn't help herself. It had been weeks since she last talked to him so this left her full of unanswered questions.
Though she didn't blame him she knew he'd been busy and had even watched the news about the death of several Guardians. Meaning he must've been more swamped than usual.
"Ahh sorry"
"No problem as for the material, I can't really explain it to you."
Brandon's words felt like a thorn in her heart. She so badly wanted to understand more about the material but it looks like that won't be happening.
"I understandā¦ our deal was just to give me some material after all. Learning about it was solely up to me"
"But I might be more inclined to help you if you help me with something else first. Like I had said previously, like partners." Caitlyn's eyes shined with some hope as soon as he said this and Brandon knew he had her hook line and sinker.
"It's not exactly common knowledge but I'm working on restoring the guardians. This means I'm going to be in need of lots of talented supers but also people good with tech." Brandon explained this while heavily implying the last part and Caitlyn wasn't a fool to not notice it.
"You want me to be a guardian?"
"In a sense. You won't need to do any crime fighting but your role would be similar to tech support. Making sure everyone has proper gear and tools for different scenarios."
Caitlyn immediately wanted to say yes but held back her reply and thought calmly about this. The last Guardians had just been murderedā¦ Who's to say that she'll be safe joining? Or worse, her family?
"I don't know if I can join Brandonā¦ Half the Guardians died and I don't even have superpowers so what chance do I have?"
'Hmm her worry isn't unfoundedā¦ I'm not really concerned because I know Nolan is off-world and will probably go after Mark before me. But someone like Caitlyn doesn't. For all she knows he might come back to finish the job' Feeling slightly troubled he began thinking of ways to convince her but he could confidently say that he would protect her at all times. Not when he plans to check out the Flaxan dimension and also travel to the god realm with Holly.
Wait! Holly that might just workā¦
"Give me a second" Getting up from his seat Brandon walked outside the cafe and made a quick call.
"Well if it is my favorite sparring partner what can I do for you Brandon?" Holly asked with some interest on the other side of the phone. She didn't expect him to give her a call so soon after the funeral so she didn't think it was because of the trip she wanted to make which left her curious. "Another spar perhaps?"
"Haha no I beat you all the time" Brandon's simple words were clearly a taunt that she should ignore. Obviously, she was the elder here and more mature but that didn't stop the aching in her fist as she crumbled The edge of her bathtub.
This didn't go unnoticed by Brandon as he heard the sound of something breaking along with water.
"Cocky nowā¦ we'll I hope you keep this same arrogance once I ascend." She said this in the same tone as Brandon's previous comment making it sound like a joke but the feeling her words carried was clearly not that.
'I should've not messed with her, perhaps mah was right when she said not to tempt a woman's anger?'
"Maybe but that's not why I called. Instead, I wanted to know what kind of things your company worked on. I know it was mostly focused on humanitarian efforts but it can just be that right?"
"Strange for you to be curious about my affairs but yes you are correct. We also work in the energy and food sectors. Sometimes in medical as well but our hold in the sector isn't as strong as the other two."
Her explanation satisfied his curiosity as he saw a real chance for this to work. "Interestingā¦ What if I told you I have my hands on a really talented person who could possibly help you elevate those sectors?"
"Then I'd be happy but if you did have a person like this why tell me?" Why indeed. Brandon had previously thought about having Caitlyn help him in building a company but he really doesn't have the time for that. Not with him building a new team, dealing with the flaxans, going to the god realm, and waiting for the viltrumites. All this not even considering his own personal projects.
So in the end he figured it would be better to invest in someone who already has a company like Holly. Anyway Brandon doesn't need to be the richest guy around to be happy. All he wants is for his parents to be financially secure.
Which shouldn't be difficult. Giving Caitlyn to Holly would help give the girl a safe work environment where she could still help the guardians while being off the book. It would also serve as a good place for him to sell alien technology he may come across in the future.
Resuming his conversation on the phone Brandon shared his idea and also some background on Caitlyn. Which easily drew Holly's intrigue. She always welcomed talented people and if this person would also help the new guardians then she'd gladly spend resources to help keep her safe.
As for purchasing alien tech, she was all for this as well. Personally, she also kept some advanced technologies over the years and used them to help strengthen her company. So this was also easily accepted.
"We'll Brandon all I can say is you surprise me. I didn't expect you to be interested in something like this. You even refused any pay from Cecil so I thought you were rich"
"No not richā¦ like I mentioned before when I came to this world I ended up with a new family. I can't say they have the most money so I mostly plan to use it for them" Having hacked into the GDA Brandon had confidence in talking about these things to Holly Over the phone as he had long blocked them from having access to his devices.
"Hm, that is honorable of you. I'm sure your parents are proud. As for the deal, consider it accepted. I'll even have a full contract ready by tomorrow."
"Thanks, Holly" Hanging up the phone he walked back into the cafe confident Caitlyn would like this deal.
Working in a popular company that's well-liked by society. Along with a high salary and good protection? Yeah, he doubted that she'd refuse and like he expected Caitlyn easily accepted.
This job was clearly safer in her mind than working directly for the guardians. It also paid really well so this meant her mother wouldn't need to work in that diner anymore getting hit on by old geezers who think they still have it in them.
"I don't know what to say Brandon"
"No need to thank me. We both know you were in line for several scholarships and would've easily reached that point. I just made it happen sooner."
Caitlyn wanted to refuse and be humble but she couldn't. Honestly, she knew she'd make it big in some tech company someday. It's impossible not to when she had already made devices companies would kill for by the age of twelve.
"We'll thank you anyway for the help. It still saved me plenty of time and trouble"
Brandon gave a smile to that and the two continued enjoying their drinks. At the same time, he thought about getting her involved in his own personal affairs with the smart atoms but decided against this. The potential in smart atoms was just too high and if it somehow got released amongst the public then he'd have a lot more to deal with than just Viltrumites.
However, as he thought about this he suddenly noticed that the atmosphere of the cafe changed with everyone becoming focused on one of the tv screens.
[This just in we have reports of a large portal appearing in Chicago. Similar to the ones that appeared several weeks prior. Citizens have already vacated the area with heroes already on sight]
With her intro over the camera changed angle and pointed towards several heroes that Brandon easily recognized. Except something seemed a bit wrong.
Robot was being his regular self. Ready for whatever arrived but the rest of his team was clearly not in sinc. Dupli Kate stood off with an awkward look while Rex looked embarrassed and confident all at the same time. This kind of behavior was not good for ones about to enter a fight but the worst was probably Atom Eve.
She had dark under-eye circles and occasionally glared at her teammates while Invincible floated around with confusion not knowing what had happened.
'Yeah this must be after Rex cheated by how things look and if that really is the case then these guys might just get people killed from making mistakes.' Sighing he realized that his day off looked to be ending a bit early.