Secrets Behind the Badge

PreviousWinter and Explosions | NextTBA

## Plot

The three masked Plumbers walked through the large piles of snow that have accumulated during the night. Their armors were covered in cuts with pits of their inner circuits showing from underneath while the harsh wind of the snowy desert pushed their bodies back.

The first Plumber wiped some snow off their helmet’s visor. Unfaltering under the weight of the body-sized backpack that it was carrying, the Plumber stopped for just a moment to glance back at his companions and make sure that they were still following. The small group has been walking for a few hours now. After their defeat by the cultists, the remaining Plumbers ran back into the city and have seemingly stayed there ever since, without any concern about any survivors that they might have left behind.

The silhouette of a city has finally appeared in the far distance. At their current pace, it should take them about three to four more hours to get there; time, which some of them might not have. The leading Plumber shook his head. If only they could have teleported back, but the Plumber suits didn’t have a built-in teleporter, which was a serious overlook by the Galvans that made this armor. But who knows. These suits were used since the days of the great Ben Tennyson, the designers probably thought that the Plumbers would just have to be able to hold back whatever threat they were facing until the hero showed up.

But the days of heroes were long gone for the Galaxy. The tales of legendary heroes battling interdimensional Gods, foiling the plans of evil Time Travelers, and protecting the little people, were just that - legends. If the Milky Way Galaxy didn’t start to progress, they would become the next victims of whichever powerful galaxy was ruling beyond the known Universe. But what could a tiny group like this do, when the rest of the galaxy was still in rejection that the great days have long passed.

Inside the dome city, three Security Officers were on guard duty at the gates. Neither of them knew why anyone would go through the desert to get to the city instead of using the transport tunnels that connected all four main cities on the planet. Nor could they imagine how anything that wasn’t a Necrofriggian or a Polar Manzardill be able to survive in the vicious storms outside; but as long as they got paid, they had no objections.

“I can’t believe that Marsu really went and called the Plumbers to resolve his mess.” one of them spoke up.

“For someone that tries to avoid the authority, he sure seems to be very chatty with them.” the second on said with a chuckle. “But as long as they do the hard work while we get paid, I don’t mind them!”

“I would rather have them leave as soon as possible.” the first one grumbled. “The civilians aren’t liking their presence all that much, and around them, we started to get a bad name as well.”

“How so?”

“Yesterday I and the team had to go to Siesienf’s shop and help the boys in white get all of the food that they requisitioned from him loaded into their tanks. Siesienf wasn’t very happy about it. Things even got a little heated, and he probably had to pay a dentist too afterward.”

“Ouch.” the second one winched. “And when they leave, the citizens will blame it all on us, won’t they?”

“I really hope that Marsu has some sort of plan. But even if he has one. He probably will be looking to save his own ass. We’re going to be thrown under the mothership, I tell ya.”

“As long as the Plumbers’ crusade on our planet ends, I don’t care who wins.”

The third officer shook his head. He wasn’t taking part in his co-workers’ discussion because not only was this the first time that he was assigned to work with them, but also because he was more interested in doing his job properly and getting back home in time. He looked at the screens in front of him again, for the thirteenth time since the start of their shift. This time, he caught something strange. Maybe the computers were busted because what he was seeing wasn’t supposed to be there.

“I think there’s a problem.” He turned to his colleagues.

“What kind of problem?” One of the officers walked over to his co-worker and leaned over his shoulder, taking a look at the screen in front of them. “Huh. That’s a new one. Something’s showing up on the radar.”

“So there is someone crazy enough to walk out in this weather after all.” His friend added.

“Should I try to restart the system?” The operator raised an eyebrow.

“Leave it. We will go check if there’s really someone outside.”

The third officer nodded and turned to the other screens and consoles. His co-workers ran to the next room and picked up two class three Kylmyys Cold Suits, putting them before making their way toward the front gate. They weren’t sure what could be stupid enough to walk outside during a blizzard, but whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a human since, well, they would have died less that fifteen minutes after stepping outside.

The gate opened and they stepped into the deep snow outside. The two guards activated the thermographic vision of their goggles and looked around the frozen wasteland. There were indeed several humanoid creatures walking toward them but their heat signatures were… weird to say the least.

“Great, just when I expected this to be an uneventful patrol.” One of the guards sighed.

“Come on, let’s see who they are.” the second one urged.

His partner nodded reluctantly. He didn’t like getting too far away from the city walls, even less so during a dangerous storm, but he also had to move in order to avoid freezing to death at that spot. Kylmyys Cold Suit wasn’t helping by much in that regard, but then again, the suit was probably brought from a garage sale, so his expectations about its performance were low.

The two of them moved closer toward the incoming creatures. Each guard kept a hand close to their blasters, ready to blast the incomers at the slightest provocation. They lowered their guard once the newcomers’ badly damaged Plumber uniforms came within view.

Everybody in the city was aware of the Plumbers’ shameful defeat at the hand of the humans. There was no way for them not to know. Less than thirty percent of the Plumbers that left managed to return on that day and they all locked themselves into the old military base ever since. There were rumors going on the streets that many of the Plumbers which didn’t make it back that day were left to die by the rest; that the humans had killed all of the survivors they got their hands onto.

“Plumber badges?” One of the guards asked.

The Plumbers nodded and each of them pulled out a badge with a red dot inside of it, showing it to the guards. The guards scanned them with their goggles, several files popping onto their screens.

“Yeah, they are legit.” the guard nodded.

“And do you look awful.” the other guard commented. “We honestly didn’t expect to see any of you coming back alive.”

The Plumbers shrugged, saying nothing in return. The one standing at the front reached with a hand to their neck and rubbed it.

“Your vocals are damaged?” the guard asked, earning a nod in response. “I hope that the medics will be able to patch it up.”

“There’s only one more question before we let you pass.” the second guard stepped forward. “What do you carry in those bags on your back?”

The Plumber on the front looked at the guard for a few moments in awkward silence, then he waved his hand in front of the guards’ faces. The guards strumbled back, their eyes losing their spark; as if they have fallen under some sort of hypnosis. After a moment, they stepped to the side, making way for the “Plumbers”.

“It’s nothing important.” the guard said. “You can pass.”

The leading “Plumber” turned to his companions and waved for them to follow after him. The trio walked past the guards, leaving them to stand in the cold, their minds frozen in a trance for the time being. The “Plumbers” through the gate into the dome city and carefully set their bags on the ground, opening them.

A female human dressed in a black bodysuit with a mask covering her face climbed out of the leading Plumber’s bag with two men dressed in similar outfits climbing out of the other bags. They all stepped on the ground and took their blaster rifles. The female quickly gestured her men toward the end of the corridor, then turned back to the Plumbers.

“As expected, your plan to infiltrate the city went brilliantly, lord Nosyerg.”

The Plumbers nodded and took off their helmets, throwing them on the ground. Night Templar looked at his left arm and the glove that covered it burst apart, revealing five deadly claws that he processed to cut the rest of the Plumber suit apart with. Eternal Sentry followed suit, activating her arm-blades to cut through the white armor and Shinning Guardian tore her off with her bare hands.

Once the three Warp Champions rid themselves of all the unnecessary weight, their bodies began to sink, de-evolving back into the normal human forms that the Greysons were accustomed to.

“Let’s not waste time on pointless compliments,” Roxy grumbled. “The faster we move, the less time the Plumbers will have to react,”

“That’s some simple logic, you’re using there.” Evan sniffed. “But you’re right. I already have the whole city mapped into my head, so just follow after me.”

“And Rachel, remember to set your weapons on stun,” Avice warned.

“As you order.” the girl, Rachel, nodded.

Evan stepped in front of the group and held out his prosthetic arm, summoning Ascalon in his palm. Avice followed suit, summoning Escevon, which automatically attached itself to her left arm.

“Follow our command, and this will be our last fight for this planet,” Evan remarked. “Well, for the time being at least.”

Inside the Plumber Base, two Plumbers were standing on guard duty in area 4-C. Armed with Plumber Rifles and fully equipped, they stood as if they were waiting for an army to attack them. Yerei was expecting the humans to retaliate after their previous victory and until reinforcements arrived, his remaining troopers had to double their efforts patrolling the base.

“I can’t wait to get off this frozen wasteland.” One of the guards growled. “I’m starting to get frostbite on my arms and legs.”

“I’m used to colder temperatures, but I get what you’re saying.” the second Plumber nodded.

“How cold are we talking?” another voice asked.

“About minus thirty degrees Celsius.” The Plumber answered.

A moment later, both Plumbers’ eyes widened and they turned on their heels, looking at the new figure standing behind them. Avice gave them a polite smile and slammed the first one with Escevon, the forcefield on her shield firing the Plumber’s body back, slamming his partner and taking him along as both Plumbers got slammed against a wall. Rachel walked past Avice and fired two white bolts at the Plumbers, stunning them.

“That will keep them down for about ten minutes, right?” Roxy asked.

“And with the pain in their backs, I don’t think that they will want to get up even after that.” Rachel nodded.

“That’s more than enough time.” Evan sighed.

“What’s our goal here anyway, sir?” Rachel asked. “We haven’t brought any explosives to overheat the energy core, and I don’t think that we will be able to kill every single Plumber in this base.”

Evan looked back at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t get me wrong, lord.” Rachel bowed her head. “I’m sure that you could pull it off, but I don’t think and I and my men will be around to see it happen.”

“Heh, you’re putting more thought in your words that Archer ever did.” Evan chuckled. “But you’re right. That’s why the Plumbers aren’t our priority.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve predicted that a superweapon of some sort will be activated from this base and cause destruction across the entire planet,” Evan explained. “Our mission is to prevent that from happening.”

“What kind of superweapon, lord?”

“Come on, where’s the fun if I tell you all the answers,” Evan smirked.

But the truth was, he didn’t know what the superweapon was either. He wasn’t allowed to use his powers as Time God unless it was an abnormal crisis threatening the very fabric of reality. In fact, the only reason he knew that there was a superweapon that would go off in the Plumbers’ base was that he had mastered his psychic powers enough to foresee possible future events without the aid of his natural set of powers.

“How are we going to find it if we don’t know what we’re looking for?” Roxy crossed her arms.

“Um, hack the main computer?” Evan suggested.

“Begging your pardon, Lord, but I would suggest we take a different approach.” Rachel said.

“Hmm? What’s the problem with this plan?” Evan asked.

“The military has stopped using centralized computing several centuries ago,” Rachel stated. “Since hacking the central computer would give the enemy access to all data, out of security concerns the military no longer uses this system.”

“So what? They now email each other?” Evan raised an eyebrow.

“There is a species that can absorb computer data, but if the Plumbers have such an alien with them, it’s probably going to stay nearly the commanding officer.”

“Ahem.” Avice cleared her throat. “May I suggest we head for the storage room instead? If we do end up having to storm the command center, we will need some better equipment. Especially those among us that aren’t Gods.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Evan shrugged.

“So, what now?” Roxy asked.

The group was already in the storage room. Getting there was pretty easy, only had to stun two more groups of guards. There were no cameras or other equipment that could give away their presence, which was both very convenient and also very worrying.

Avice looked around the boxes. She couldn’t open them, but she was picking a signal coming from somewhere within the room. It was extremely weak, so much so that she could only sense it because of how well-tuned her psychic powers were.

“There’s something… trapped… cold...” Avice winched. The next word was hurting her mind. “Kill...”

“This just got ten times crazier.” A soldier whispered to Rachel.

“Focus,” Rachel whispered back, hitting him on the shoulder.

“My lord, is there anything that you can’t do?” the second soldier asked.

“We can’t stay dead for long.” Evan shrugged. “Do you guys have any scanners that can scan for life forms?”

“We’re a bit short on the budget for that kind of gadgets, sir.” the soldier joked.

“And with a sense of humor… Man, I’m starting to love this company.” Evan chuckled.

Before the soldier could respond, Evan grabbed pushed him back as a green bolt of energy flew past the soldier. Rachel and the soldiers immediately ran behind several metal boxes for cover, while Evan, Avice, and Roxy looked at the direction that the blast came from to see a group of Plumbers standing on near the exist with their rifles aimed at the group.

“Intruders in sector Six-Q!” one of the Plumbers yelled. “I repeat! Intruders in sector Six-Q! Reinforcements required.”

The remaining Plumbers all opened fire on the group. Avice stepped forward and raised her shield, redirecting the blast bolts away while Evan and Roxy stood behind her for cover. Rachel and the soldiers returned fire, managing to hit one of the Plumbers while the others ran behind cover and continued to fire from different directions.

“Back-up will come in two minutes tops!” Avice shouted.

“Roxy, how much Warp Energy do you have left?” Evan asked.

“Not enough to transform.” Roxy shook her head.

“Then get to cover with the others.” Evan pointed toward Rachel. “Me and Avice will take care of the Plumbers!”

Roxy nodded and ran back while Evan stood behind her, redirecting incoming blaster fire with his sword. Once Roxy was at a safe distance, she turned around and shouted.

“Go!”

Evan gave a half-smile and charged forward, holding the broadsword in front of himself like a shield. Avice slammed her shield into the ground, releasing the build-up energy as a shockwave that unbalanced everyone except for Evan, who had jumped into the air and threw his sword through one of the guards’ chest.

As soon as his feet touched the ground again, he ran behind several boxes as the Plumbers re-opened fire on him. He pulled the sleeve over his left arm back and fired a cable at the ceiling, pulling himself off the ground. Once he was high enough, he retracted the cable back into his arm, allowing gravity and his forward trajectory to send him straight against one of the Plumbers that he knocked out with a kick to the face.

Using the distraction that her brother was providing, Avice tapped the ground with the tip of the shield, which resulted in the weapon firing her forward. She held the shield in front of herself and slammed into a Plumber, the shield’s effect doubling the power of the impact on the Plumber’s side, sending him flying backward into a wall. Two of the Plumbers nearby fired at her, but she raised her shield, redirecting the bolts back at them.

Evan rolled behind Avice holding a Plumber Rifle and fired at another Plumber, but missing. Avice turned around and gave him a flat look.

“Seriously?”

“I’m not Red Leader.”

“He was just five meters away.”

“Shut up.”

Evan fired his wrist cable again, hitting the Plumber’s suit then pressed a button on the side of his wrist, releasing an electrical charge that shocked the Plumber, burned his suit’s circuit and knocked him out cold.

“That’s better,” Evan smirked, then looked back at his sister. “Could I borrow the shield for a moment?”

Avice looked at her brother in confusion for a moment then nodded. She undid the die that kept the weapon on her arm and threw it at Evan. He grabbed it by the handle and turned around, throwing the shield like a disk at a Plumber sneaking behind them, knocking him out cold. A moment after that, a groan, followed by a loud thud was heard as the last remaining Plumber fell on the ground with smoke coming out of the hole in his shoulder. Avice looked back at Rachel with a frown, then held out her arm, the shield flying back to her.

“That was a minute and a half,” Evan remarked.

Avice nodded and turned to face the door, placing her shield in front of herself. Evan used his cable to pull himself to the wall above the door and then activated the magnets in his boots and gloves to keep himself against the metal surface. A second later, the door opened and another, much larger group of Plumbers lead by Yerei walked into the door and immediately opened fire on Avice.

The energy bolts hit the surface of Avice’s shield and recoiled. Yerei instinctively jumped up and the bolts hit the Plumbers standing behind him instead. Evan pushed himself off the wall and jumped on Yerei’s back, then fired his arm cable into the ground and pulled them both down, slamming the Lieutenant's head into the ground. As soon as he did that, Evan rolled to the side, avoiding incoming fire as Rachel and the others fire at the Plumbers, hitting a few before the rest charged at full force.

Avice jumped to the side to avoid one of the bulkier ones from slamming into her, then spun around and slammed her shield into the face of another Plumber and send him flying him back into the troopers standing behind him. Sensing another danger approaching, Avice flipped back a few times, avoiding a series of electric bolts, each of which hit exactly where she was standing just before she made the next flip.

Yerei stood back up, grunting as sparks of electricity jumped across his body. He looked around at Evan, who was jumping and flipping, avoiding energy bolts as he landed kicks into the troopers’ faces, then turned toward Avice who had avoided all of his attacks from a moment ago, as she knew exactly where each electric bolt was going to hit. Finally, the red Plumber looked at the small ground of other humans that were quickly running to new cover every few seconds while firing at the incoming troopers.

“I see now,” Yerei growled. “You were the ones that started all of this, aren’t you?”

“What makes you come to this conclusion?” Avice asked as she casually turned on her heels, reflecting an incoming bolt back into the head of the trooper that fired it, then immediately turned around to face Yerei again.

“You two have powers,” Yerei stated. “It’s unusual for a human to have powers.”

“Tell that to AF’s crew,” Avice replied.

Yerei tilted his head slightly. Evan charged at the large Plumber and jumped up, throwing a punch toward his face. Yerei grabbed the human’s arm and charged electricity through his body, shocking him. Evan cried out in pain and the Plumber swung his body around, slamming it against the floor. Avice stared with wide eyes as her brother began to cough blood only for Yerei to stomp on his chest, holding him pinned on the ground.

“But you’re just as stupid as the rest.” Yerei sighed.

“Lord Nosyerg!”

Avice glanced back at Rachel from the corner of her eye. The Plumbers were starting to overrun them. One of the soldiers groaned and collapsed on the ground with a smoking hole in his chest. Avice gritted her eyes and turned back to Yerei.

“Your little adventure ends today!” Yerei yelled.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Avice replied. "Akvius-Okovai-Leti!"

Avice threw her arms to the sides and a pair of chains made out of bright light flew out of her sleeves. The chains flew toward the Plumbers, wrapping around the waists of two troopers before throwing them into another set of troops. The remaining Plumbers panicked and turned around, firing at both the chains and at Rachel’s group at the same time.

“That’s going to buy them enough time,” Avice smirked.

Avice hit the ground with the tip of her shield and fired herself toward Yerei. Yerei jumped, flipping over Avice as she flew through the open door. Evan fired his arm cable at Ascalon and pulled it toward himself as he pushed himself off the ground and onto his legs before grabbing the sword into his hand. Yerei used his electric powers while still mid-air to cover two metal boxes with electricity and throw them at Evan. The human spotted the incoming objects and swung his blade creating a whirlwind that both knocked the boxes away, and send Yerei flying backward.

The red-armored Plumber landed on all-four, growling in annoyance before raising his fists and slamming them against the floor, releasing a controlled wave of electricity toward where Evan was standing. The human quickly made a backflip, avoiding the electricity cracking underneath him they slammed the sword into the floor, absorbing all of the electricity into the blade.

“How the hell?”

“Ascalon,” Evan replied drily.

“You gotta be kidding me.” Yerei sighed.

Yerei raised back onto his feet and fired electricity in all directions, capturing as many objects as he could within his electric field before sending all of them toward Evan at the same time. Evan narrowed his eyes and raised the sword, erecting a force field around himself that blocked all of the boxes, then pointed the sword toward Yerei, releasing all of the electricity stored inside within a single bolt that the later absorbed into his body before tilting his head in confusion.

“That was dumb.” Yerei deadpanned.

The red-armored Plumber turned around and ran over to the other Plumbers, grabbing the chains that they were still struggling with and electrocuting them until they burst into particles. He fired another bolt of electricity from his wrists, blowing up Rachel and the remaining soldier’s weapons while also knocking them back. Yerei’s troops fired at the unarmed humans, but a portal opened in front of them as Evan and Avice jumped through it and began to redirect the blaster fire back at the Plumbers.

“Ceasefire!” Yerei shouted. “They are mine!”

The Plumbers nodded and stepped back as their commanding officer charged forward and threw his fist toward Evan’s face. The boy raised his broadsword in a defensive stance, blocking the fist, then ducked as Avice swung her shield over her brother, slamming it into Yerei, firing him back into the crowd of Plumbers standing behind him.

“Who’s dumb now?” Evan asked, taking a new stance with the left side of his body facing the Plumbers and his sword held so that it covers him entirely.

“What’s going on here?” a new voice asked.

The two groups paused for a moment and looked up, seeing a humanoid opossum standing on a balcony at the second level of the room, watching at the battlefield below him with an angry expression. His eyes widened as he saw the humans and he turned toward Yerei and the other Plumbers

“That’s them, officer!” Governor Marsu shouted. “That’s the humans! Take them down!”

“Avice...” Evan muttered to his sister.

“Akvius-Vetrus-Tearoi!” A powerful wind shot out of Avice's wrist and pushed all of the Plumbers back.

Using the chance, Evan swung his sword, unleashing a red energy blast that blew up the balcony and sent the Governor flying. Evan fired his arm cable on the humanoid opossum and pulled him in, grabbing the flying, and crying, alien, he slammed the Governor against the ground and placed his sword next to his neck.

“Don’t do it!” Governor Marsu cried out. “Please! I’ll do anything! Don’t kill me!”

“Governor,” Yerei growled.

“How lucky, huh?” Evan smirked. “I just got all the cards in my hand at once.”

“What do you want?” Yerei asked.

“The superweapon,” Evan replied.

“What superweapon?”

Evan paused for a moment, his shoulders dropping a little bit. After that moment passed, he looked at Avice and she nodded for confirmation.

“He’s genuinely confused.”

“But we both sensed that there was a superweapon here.” Evan pointed out.

Beep!

Everyone looked at the Governor still lying at Evan’s feet, holding some sort of control device. He looked back at them and chuckled, then burst into laughter.

“Governor!” Yerei shouted. “What did you do?”

“What I have to!” The Governor said between laughter, then turned toward Evan. “You will die! You will all die! You won’t ruin my planet, you won’t ruin my plans and all I’ve worked so far for!”

Evan opened his mouth to retort, but he was cut by the dull sound of something hitting against metal. He, as well as everyone else, looked toward one large metal box that has started to bend outward. A second hit and a large dent appeared in the box, then two green arms with black claws stuck out of the hole and grabbed the sides of it, tearing the box open to reveal a large green-skinned creature with fur covering its back and a pair of soulless crimson eyes staring at the group in front of it.

“A-A Bionom!” Yerei gulped. A moment later, several other metal boxes began to get torn apart like the first one was.

“Multiple Bionoms...” Avice’s eyes widened.

“Do you know what you just did?” Evan kicked the Governor.

“I know… They are going to kill you all!” the Governor growled.

“They are going to kill all of us!” Yerei yelled. “These things can’t be contro-”

Before Yerei could finish, the first Bionom appeared in front of him, like a lightning, and slammed its fist against the side of Yerei’s face, sending him flying through the wall. The Bionom then turned toward the other Plumbers. All of them opened fire, but the creature’s skin just redirected it all as the Bionom charged into them and the only sounds that followed were screams and the chilling sound of bones shattering.

The second Bionom turned toward Evan. The human immediately grabbed the Governor and threw him at the green-skinned monster. The Bionom threw its fist forward and hit the flying opossum with enough force to burst his body and send his insides flying in all directions. A moment later Night Templar slammed into the Bionom, throwing him against a wall, then began to mercilessly beat its head deeper into the metal. After a few punches, the Bionom grabbed his fist, then hit him back, sending the Warp Champion rolling across the floor.

Avice transformed into Shinning Guardian and raised her shield just in time to block an incoming hit, sending the Bionom flying back as the power of the impact got returned back to it, but doubled. As Shinning Guardian blocked this attack, a second Bionom appeared at her side and uppercut her, sending her into the ceiling.

“Hide!” Roxy shouted to the rest.

Night Templar swung his sword, hitting the Bionom’s body again and again but without causing as much as a scratch. The Bionom then stepped to the side, avoiding the next slash and hit Night Templar in the stomach before hitting him in the back of the head, slamming his face into the ground. The other Bionom jumped through the hole of the ceiling left by Shinning Guardian and after a second, Shinning Guardian came flying back down through a second hole.

As that went on and the two Bionoms continued to beat the Warp Champions into the ground, the remaining Bionoms walked through the door, leaving the storage room.

“Not even Lord Nosyerg can fight these things.” the soldier whispered.

“Have faith,” Rachel whispered back.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Yerei roared, jumping out of the hole.

The Plumber landed on one of the Bionoms’ back and released a bolt of electricity into its system. The Bionom’s body shook for a few seconds and then it grabbed Yerei by the neck and slammed him into the ground, squeezing its neck. At that moment, Night Templar got back up and hit the Bionom in the face, knocking it back a few steps and forcing it to drop Yerei.

Night Templar looked at his sword and swung it, opening a portal then threw Yerei through it. He turned to Roxy and the rest and waved for them to get into the portal before the Bionom charged him again and threw him into a pile of boxes. As the green monster jumped toward Night Templar and raised its fists, Shinning Guardian moved her shield slightly to block the attack of the Bionom that was beating her. As the creature’s fist made contact with the shield, it got blown back and slammed into the other Bionom, knocking them both.

“Come on!” Roxy shouted.

Rachel and the soldier jumped through the portal and Roxy followed after them with Shinning Guardian and Night Templar behind her. All of them landed on the rooftop of a skyscraper; then Night Templar turned around and closed the portal before falling down and reverting back to Evan. Shinning Guardian reverted back to Avice and collapsed next to her brother, trying to catch her breath.

“What were these things?” Rachel asked.

“Bionoms.” Yerei groaned. “Sentient weapons that the Plumbers created two hundred years ago in secret. They have the power to copy any ability that they see, and their bodies are almost indestructible.”

“And how do we disable them?” Roxy asked.

“You can’t,” Yerei growled.

“But you can.”

“I can’t.” Yerei shook his head. “There’s no off button. Once they get activated, there’s nothing that can’t stop them. That’s why the Plumbers never used them.”

At that moment, loud screams filled the air as explosions began to take place all across the city. Rachel and Roxy looked out. Aliens were running, the Security Officers and the Plumbers were desperately trying to hold the line as the Bionoms charged at them. Roxy collapsed on her knees and held a hand over her mouth as tears ran down her cheeks.

Bionoms - a superweapon so powerful that not even its creators knew how to stop. Destroyers of Civilizations. You can’t fight back, you can’t run.

“So, in the end, we failed to stop this future from happening.” Evan chuckled.

“And we’re all going to die together.” Yerei sighed. “Just wonderful.”

“Do you know how this ends?” Roxy turned toward Evan.

“I know one of the possibilities.” Evan nodded.

“And what would that possibly be?” Yerei pressed, curious about the answer he was going to get.

Evan simply looked at him and smiled.

They would fight. They would give their all. And they would win.

He would win like he always does.

He would win not because he was the God of Time, not because he had the power to bend reality to his whim, not because his rough strength was unmatched even by the creatures that dragged him into this reality and forged him into the person he’s today. Those were powers that weren’t his, they were something he earned, something he learned and mastered through thousands of years of training. Those were powers he had no excuse to use on something so insignificant.

No, he would win because there’s one other power that no one else knows about. A secret power that not even the Bionoms would be able to copy or adapt to.

And his power was that he was a human.

Humans had no superpowers.

Humans were fragile.

That’s why Humans always give their all. Why they struggle with every inch of their being to survive, to push forward.

And what was Evan was before getting all of this? Before becoming the God of Time? Before getting the power to manipulate reality at his whim?

He was just a human. A weak, regular human. He was a human who fought Gods, a human who built everything that he’s today from the very bottom. He was already the best back then, and he’s only been getting better as time went by.

That’s why he can smile, laugh and joke even when the world is one match away from burning to ashes. Because he doesn’t need to be a God of Time to save the world. He doesn’t have to be some unimaginatively strong being to save the galaxy.

Being a human is enough to save the universe.

## Characters

### Warp Universe

* Evan Greyson
* Avice Greyson
* Roxy Greyson