Deadline

  Really, one week was simply not enough time to be fully prepared even in the slightest, but it was at the very least enough time to do something. And that was precisely why it was the amount of time the Savior had chosen to give humanity to prepare. Horrible!! Horrible!! Horrible!! The Savior thought to herself, her branches slowly extending deeper and deeper into the ground around her, her very life-force flowing outwards and allowing all the monsters in her presence to bask in it. One week wasn’t just the time limit chosen to give humanity the chance to prepare, but it was also dangerously close to the deadline of the monsters themselves. Savior- I am the Savior. Even now the Savior could feel bloodlust writhing and squirming within her, making her wince and retch at her own existence. If she had been capable of vomiting, she would have died from dehydration by now. One week. I can last one week. She smiled, the monsters gathered around her trembling intensely as they remained on their knees, all their eyes fixated on her.

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  Eight groaned while holding her temple, her phone ringing incessantly as she stared directly at her computer from where the broadcast just now had aired. “So it finally begins. The anomaly shows itself and we were too late to get the jump on it. A shame, isn’t it?” she called out aloud, staring across her desk and at Nine, the old man’s gaze covered in a shallow shadow, only his gently glowing gray eyes visible. His own phone began to ring shortly thereafter, but he made no move to reach into his pocket to pull it out, instead turning his gaze upwards and towards his boss, his entire being radiating a murderous energy that was terribly unlike him, his mere stare threatening to eviscerate the woman speaking to him. “In the end there was no point in trying to hide things from the public, it seems,” the grizzled old man answered without answering, a hand reaching up to slowly stroke his beard, doing an awful job of hiding his true feelings, “All that effort, gone to waste. Tragic. Tragic.”

  Empress eyed her fellow Celestial for a few moments, the tense silence only being interrupted by the annoying buzzing of their phones. “No,” Eight answered, tapping the wooden table, her violet irises vibrant with life despite not currently glowing, “The extermination campaigns, while not a success, were also not a failure. Any monster we would have let live would have surely joined the ranks of this… danger that just made itself known. It was in our best interest to thin their numbers as much as possible anyway. It’s just a shame we couldn’t figure out what this force, this ‘Savior’ actually was in time,” she muttered dejectedly, standing up from her seat, her eyes dimming as she became engrossed in thought. Nine’s eyes followed Empress’ every move, despite the rest of his body remaining unchanging in its actions or position, “You will not be able to count on me, not on my full power, not even on half of it,” he stated bluntly, also deciding to rise from his seat, turning around to leave the room. Empress sighed, shaking her head, “Yes, I know. Still, I’ll be counting on you, Stalwart. Even at your 1%, you’re still a Celestial. More than that, these ‘Apostles’ are obviously their version of some sort of royal guard for whatever their Savior even is, and I have a feeling I’ll be counting on us ten to beat them - you included.” I know you well enough to be fairly certain of that much, Kronos. Is this what you needed Angellica for? Is this the disaster you claimed would come to happen? Empress wondered. Stalwart stepped away, the sound of his footsteps echoing and seemingly drowning out the ringing of the phones despite them being the louder of the two sounds, his hands behind his back while his eyes stared forward with a rage that would be unfathomably impossible to understand for anyone besides Empress and exactly one other. He only spoke up once he was about to leave the room, giving only these parting words, “The only reason you aren’t dead right now is because I know you didn’t know.” And thus, he left Empress alone in the room with only the ringing of her phone to bring her company. I’m aware. The heroine thought with a saddened smile.

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  “What a twist!! That’s what I like to see!!” Warpbreaker chuckled joyously as he seemingly walked through the air over the skies of Greenland, his hands coiled over his eyes like make-believe binocular, using small portals at the ends of them to view things from up close despite being so high up the human eye would barely be able to see his silhouette. He hummed a tune as he snacked on some potato chips he had left back home, using his power to literally just bite into them from where he was standing over half a world away. He had rushed over as soon as the broadcast had ended, his pupils dilating with expectation and his eyes sparkling with intrigue. And ever since arriving there, he hadn’t been disappointed yet. “Hoh!! They weren’t lying either!!” he confirmed, his eyes laying on the visage of the various dozens of monsters frolicking about in the forests, although they were giving any human settlements a sort of wide berth. Of course, said human settlements were currently in a complete panic, with any sane citizen doing their utmost to grab their things and evacuate as soon as possible. Even though there was no reason to really distrust the monsters’ words, no one was really willing to trust them either. But number Six of the Celestials didn’t really care about the humans, his childish smile instead being caused by the wonder he felt at sizing up each of his future enemies one by one. He wasn’t an idiot that would just rush in and try to fight the monster invasion right off the get-go, though, as it was more akin to a kid feeling up their christmas presents before the fateful night. Oh man, I wonder where those ‘Apostles’ are? That Mecha guy seemed powerful, seeing as how he apparently hacked all devices on earth. Knowing how global crises work, however, I got the feeling that I’mma get to beat one up myself!! He bit down on another seemingly nonexistent potato chip, smirking as crumbs gently floated down from his spot in the clouds and towards the forests below. “Haha!! This is gonna be fun!!” he laughed, energy overflowing from him as his eyes illuminated his spot in the sky with a deep dark blue, “Finally; Action!! Scenery!! Stakes!! This ought to fit into my biography quite nicely. Quite nicely indeed!!”

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  “Ridiculous,” was the very first thing that Ten muttered to the man standing a few meters from him, the ferromancer furrowing his brow in anger as he stared at the screen on his phone as it flew back down to his hand, returning from where it had been floating in front of him. “Ah- What? What’d you say?” responded Immortalis, blinking a couple of times, all too baffled by what had just happened to properly react to Crusader’s words. Ibrahim shook his head, his eyes dull and his expression one of deep thought, his brow wrinkling as he placed his phone back into his pocket under his armor, “A formal declaration of war. Giving the enemy time to prepare. Giving civilians time to evacuate. It’s… it’s nonsense…” he muttered, his eyes narrowing with intent. John blinked a couple of times and sighed, putting his own phone in his pocket as he shrugged, seemingly far less mentally afflicted by the broadcast than his counterpart, “I don’t think it’s nonsense. The monsters have clearly managed to acquire some way of getting a conscience, so I’d guess that they wanna do things the proper way. Honor or whatnot, would be my guess,” he explained, putting his hands on his hips and raising an eyebrow at Crusader. Number Ten shook his head vigorously, the various metal constructs around him floating in circles idly, his gaze extremely serious as he stared with distaste at the seemingly unbothered Seven, “No. No one ever follows rules when it comes to war, not willingly. It is nonsensical that the monsters would agree to such a ridiculous idea out of something like honor or the good in their nonexistent hearts.”

  Number Seven pursed his lips and rolled his eyes, walking past Ibrahim as he made his way towards the exit of the training room, “I wouldn’t overthink it that much if I was you, frankly. Just be grateful we’re getting some sort of respite before the big day at least. Oh and I’m guessing the training for today’s over, yeah? I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, man,” John called out, waving behind himself as he left the older yet lower ranking Celestial in the room to ponder his thoughts by himself. However, despite what his words and the expression on his face would bring one to think, John was in quite the mental turmoil himself. This is my chance. This is perfect!! He thought, barely able to suppress a wide grin on his face, his hand clenching so tight that blood was dripping from his palms, staining the floor a red crimson before the color vanished in five seconds. This is my chance to redeem myself. I’ll show everyone that what happened in Rio was just a- a fluke!! It was just bad luck. They’ll see!! He smirked to himself. Plus, all this training had better not been for nothing or else I’ll lose my goddamn mind.

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  “You think this was all part of Kevin’s plan?” Maquineer asked the two people she was currently sharing a coffee with, her voice unbothered and perfectly calm, only raising one of her eyebrows as she flicked her wrist to turn off the projector she had been shining into a nearby wall. The man took a small sip of his coffee, his eyes closed, equally as unbothered as Alice, “I’d wager that it is. Michaela doesn’t feel such an intense hatred for him for no reason, after all. I’d even gander that this might be why he caused the New York Incident to happen the way it did. What do you think, Angellica?” he asked the woman to his right, completing the triangle of heroes while opening his eyes to reveal the subtle twinkle in his pupils. Number One was staring directly at the table, her pupils quivering only ever so slightly while she pursed her lips in internal agony, “If I can be frank, I really hope that’s not the case…” she barely managed to answer in between grit teeth. It’s understandable. Horde thought to himself, taking another sip as he turned to look at the inquisitive Five. She must be very shocked by the broadcast, as should be most of humanity. Poor thing has quite a tough road ahead of herself, having to validate her own existence in the eyes of the masses, not to mention the suspiciously conveniently timed big speech. “Of course,” he continued, breaking the awkward silence while giving Maquineer a piercing disapproving stare due to the way she had been ogling Angellica, “If this IS part of his plan, it stands to reason that he has absolutely no doubt that you’ll succeed, One.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Angellica furrowed her brow and turned to look at the Celestial directly underneath her in the ranks, her gaze one of deep thought yet also clear worry and stress, “I’ll do my best,” she murmured politely, yet also with faltering confidence. “Oh!! Mhm!!” Maquineer quickly added as well, smiling politely as she noticed the elder hero's stare and corrected herself with only an embarrassed blush in her cheeks, “I’m sure you’ll do great, Angellica! I know Empress has been giving you a tough training regiment, right? You’ll finally get to show off and umm…” she shrugged and gave a thumbs up, realising mid-sentence that she had said everything she wanted to say. Horde nodded politely and took a final sip of the coffee, setting it down on the table with a sigh, “You too, Maquineer,” he suddenly stated bluntly, his eyes flicking over to number Five of the Celestials, causing Angellica to raise an eyebrow and turn to look at Alice. Five, meanwhile, merely blinked a few times in surprise as her eyebrows raised and she put her hands in front of herself as if surrendering, clearly confused, “Ah?? Me?? What do y-” she was then rudely interrupted by Two, a waitress coming from behind him to pick up his coffee despite having never called for anyone. Angellica’s eyes trailed to the waitress, catching a glimpse of the glow in her pupils as she turned around and walked away with the cup in her hands. Ugh. That’s just way too creepy. Can’t you wear some sort of name tag that says “This is Horde”?? I nearly had a heart attack. Angellica lamented, her golden irises dimming slightly before turning back to look at the two she was sitting with, now only marginally interested in the conversation once she figured out it was about Maquineer’s feelings, something utterly incomprehensible to her. “Yes, you,” Horde grumbled, pointing a finger at her, “All I’ll say is you should be very careful to not let emotions get to your head.” Maquineer stared directly into the eyes of her superior, her expression one of distaste and frustration. She finally broke their staring game with a sigh and snapped her fingers, replacing the coffee in her mug for tea before downing it in one gulp and standing up, “Y-Yeah, I get it. I’ve come to a realization of sorts, so you don’t have to worry about me losing again.”

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  “How did you know I was around here?” Four asked in a half-annoyed tone and a raised eyebrow, neon yellow light emanating out from around his sunglasses even in the scorching bright sun of the mid-day. Michaela slowly opened her eyes to look up at her fellow hero, a half-hearted smile beginning to taint her lips, “Aha~ That’s a secre~t, Lev,” she called out weakly, raising both of her arms towards Breadman and flexing her fingers as if asking him to help her get up. Four sighed and shook his head, tapping the ground with his right foot and causing an amalgam of beige substance to suddenly rise up from underneath Dreamstress and lift her up like some sort of stretcher. He had received a text message about ten minutes prior from Three, which only contained an image of her laying down on the floor post-battle and holding up a peace sign, as well as the message ‘this dreamy woman needs saving :3’. She somehow knew I just so happened to be in Morocco today. I thought I was being stealthy, but that might have just been a pipe dream. Lev turned around and shook his head in disappointment, beginning to walk towards the road while a strand of doughy substance coming out from his spine kept Three laid out on a flat surface behind him.

  A couple minutes of awkward silence later and Dreamstress spoke up again with an overexaggerated groan of discomfort, “You’re not gonna ask a~nything else? What about why poor lil’ ol’ me is in this state?? C’monn~” Four shook his head and continued walking without a pause, barely acknowledging the hero ranked above him. After a few short moments he finally decided to respond, “Your jet has holes in its engines. You’re completely and utterly out of energy, barely managing to keep yourself awake. Your car was evidently stolen. Your bodyguards are mincemeat spread out all over the place,” he counted on his fingers, making Michaela wonder if this was his idea of a joke, “So, I only see one conclusion. After all, there’s only one person in the entire world who could have possibly done this and yet also have decided to spare you. I don’t really need to ask questions, do I?” he answered bluntly, with only the tiniest of inflections in his voice as any indication that he cared beyond that. The heroine smacked her lips and stared up at the sky with a sly smirk, “Awwww, don’t be like that~ It’s good manners to ask and fawn over a hurt comrade even if you already know what happened… Pluuu~s, am I not the world’s most beautiful woman? Where’d my pretty privilege gooo~?” Breadman suddenly stopped in his tracks after hearing those words, his brow furrowing in thought and realization as he quickly turned around to look at Dreamstress intently, his gaze resting on the completely dimmed and powerless eyes of his counterpart for a few seconds, giving her body a quick scan before he finally sighed and shook his head once he had finished his little experiment. He then spoke again while crossing his arms, his eyes still resting on her face while for once his voice sounded genuinely defeated and disillusioned, yet somehow also amused, “It seems that you really are as incredibly beautiful as you claim to be. I had been secretly hoping it was just your power influencing those around you, how disappointing.” Three laughed and subsequently spat out a bit of blood while giggling to herself, her lips curling up into a smile as she stared up at the hulking monstrosity of the man that was currently carrying her, “Are you THAT surprised that I was telling the truth for o~nce?? Ahh, I guess I can’t blame ya~”

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  “The Celestials really are monsters, right?” Destructor joked in bad taste while exaggeratedly shaking his head. He was currently getting treatment for his many, many wounds while Cassandra and Alexander stood at either side of him with their arms crossed. “Oi, you used to be one so don’t go complaining so much about it,” the electromancer stuck out his tongue slightly at his injured comrade, “Plus!! We all won, didn’t we?! Ey?? Ah?? Three to zero, I call that doing pretty damn well!!” Alexander rallied while puffing out his chest, already his wounds barely even visible, a wide grin spread out on his face as electricity arced between his fingertips excitedly. Cassandra shot him a distasteful look of frustration mixed with the undeniable desire to strangle him, yet said nothing. She didn’t speak, not because she didn’t want to, but because she literally couldn’t thanks to the extensive bandages around her head covering her mouth. The hydromancer let out a deep breath to make her disapproval known before a blob of water rose up to Alexander’s forehead and smacked him lightly before returning to Cassandra. Destructor laughed heartily at that, only to shortly thereafter grit his teeth and let out a groan of pain while holding onto his bandaged stomach, his eyes bulging slightly. Alexander pouted and shook his head with a sigh while shaking his head exaggeratedly, “Why’s everyone always such a pessimist, man? Y’all ought to get out and smell the flowers more often. Breathe in some fresh air or something, I swear.”

  “Have you considered that maybe we’re not pessimists and you’re just too optimistic?” Gray asked politely as he entered the room along with Rachel, his baby blue eyes twinkling with amusement. Cassandra turned her head to look at the two newcomers in puzzlement, raising an eyebrow from under her bandages. Miguel’s amber eyes flicked between Gray and Rachel, his smile dropping on the spot as he let out a sigh, already knowing what was coming as he gestured for the two of them to approach with his head. “Oh shush,” Alexander answered Gray with a half-smirk, leaning back towards the wall while crossing his arms, not wanting to interrupt as he had already noticed that Rachel’s gaze was fixated on Miguel. The leader gave the room a once-over while giving a brisk nod to each of the people gathered before beginning to approach, one of her hands on her hips. “You let her go on purpose,” the brown eyed woman stated bluntly, raising an eyebrow as she stared down at the muscular man on the hospital bed. Destructor smiled softly and shrugged, answering just as bluntly, “I accomplished my mission, I stopped her from leaving.” The rest of the people gathered immediately turned to look at the bedridden Miguel in surprise and middling levels of respect, yet without any sort of malice. The ex-Celestial's eyes refused to avert themselves from Rachel’s glare, his smile widening ever so slightly, “What more could you ask of your loyal grunt, boss?”

  The boss’ eyes glinted with light for a mere moment before they dimmed again, her head shaking as she unfurled her arms and lightly smacked Destructor on the forehead with a sigh, “Don’t play coy with me, I know you know we aren’t that dumb. If I had to guess… you yourself were on the verge of death and you’re just playing it off right now.” Miguel’s smile died off and he let out a deep breath, resting his head on his pillow as he stared up at the ceiling, “I told you from the start, Rachel. I’m a traitor down to my core.” The rebel leader was about to respond, but was interrupted by a spark of yellow electricity striking Destructor’s arm, Alexander’s eyes glowing a feverish light green, his face contorted into a scowl as he remained leaned against the wall but was now pointing a finger gun at his bedridden comrade. The ex-Celestial yelped, his teeth gritting as he reflexively grabbed his bruised and still bandaged arm as he turned to look at the rebel in surprise. The electromancer tsk’d, “Traitors don’t complete their missions, idiot,” he told the victim of his strike before turning to look at the two newcomers to the room with that same glare, “I think we can end this interrogation here. There are more pressing matters than this anyway.” Gray’s eyes widened in surprise, his hands instinctively outstretching as if to activate his power, but he was stopped by a hand suddenly being placed on top of his head. He turned to look at the perpetrator, Cassandra staring back at him with an uncharacteristic kind expression while slowly shaking her head, causing Gray to sigh and lower his arms. Rachel silently stared from Alexander to a flabbergasted Miguel a couple of times before finally breaking the silence with breath, “I wasn’t going to go any further anyway, Alexander. There was no need for any of that,” she muttered coldly, the blonde electromancer gritting his teeth and looking away. She turned back to Destructor, “As for you… Your fondness for your old ‘friends’ is indeed problematic, but as long as you complete your missions I’ll overlook it. That was our deal then, it will continue to be our deal now.” She turned around, her eyes darkened over by shadow as she began to leave the room, “As for the real reason I’m here… Oliver - no, Grey Matter, has gone AWOL. You all can probably guess where he’s going.”

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  I clapped my hands and giggled, opening one of my eyes to stare over at the wide-eyed, completely stunned Jessica. “Snap out of it, Love Love! We’ve got work to do, and only one week to do i~t!!” I called out to her as I stood up from my table and smacked it lightly with my hands, my pitch black eyes refusing to show even the tiniest signs of life despite the seeming enthusiasm in my voice. My sidekick shook her head vigorously, the tips of her fingers laying on her forehead as she groaned and turned to look at me with an angered scowl, “You really couldn’t warn me about this?? I don’t know, even a little foreword would’ve been great! How about ‘Hey Jessica, we’re going to war with sentient monsters’ or SOMETHING!!” she muttered, and yet she still got up from the table and walked towards me, clearly expecting me to take the lead. I shrugged and walked out of the coffee shop with a yawn, “But it's more fun this way! Seeing people’s reactions to big moments like that is cool. Plus, it's not like it makes a difference, trust me I know.”

  Love Love looked up at me with indignation still in her pink irises, but decided to refrain from continuing her complaints, “Okay. Fine. What are we going to do now, then?” she asked softly, pursing her lips as the stunned silence that had gripped the world quickly began to dissipate as panic began to set in world-wide, the crowds beginning to disperse as phones began to ring. I grinned as I pulled out my own phone and answered the first call that came through, “We’re going to desperately try to explain to the world that I am not, in fact, evil.” Jessice rolled her eyes, “So we’re going to lie?” she joked, smiling as she gave me a light punch to the shoulder. I turned to look at her and shrugged again with a roll of my eyes, “Oh shush, you.” That is, indeed, exactly what we’re going to do. I thought grimly, setting my eyes on the floor as I pretended to pay attention to the phone call. Jessica stared at me with narrowed eyes, noticing my troubled expression, but stopped herself from doing anything about it.