Chapter 1: Welcome to the New World

"I meant when you can." She clarified. Then she pushed her cell number into Amy's hand. "...if you ever find time to spare. And...let me know how I can apologize to Chris." She let go. "Be safe."

"You too," Amy said as she started walking away. She left the unit, pocketing Stella's number as she made her way home.

James brought Alexis over to a table (it was a strip club, there were no shortages of them) and placed her on top. "You okay? Did they hurt you or anything?" He asked.

Libra looked at him. "...Im fine." She said. "...abandoned building...southside...Prefecture...Apartments...Seyna..." Libra closed her eyes. "D...drug."

"Ow that hurt" he just recovered before dark could make a move. "Bloody hell i'll just trying to help her" He got up and brushed a bit of rubble off him just noticing a pain in his back he reached over and felt a metal tip. "Well shit, hey robot guy mind helping me here" he jogged after the man while calling out.

human you have a metal pipe in your back almost reaching your lung and your going after the man that put it there.


"Well he can pull it out and apoligise for attacking me, I know he was worried but I was just trying to help" 

well you tell him that when we get there.


"Fine, hey metal man"

Without even thinking, James spun around, one hand formed into a blade and the other a block for a hammer. He stood well between both the shadow-man and Alexis, intent on protecting her. "Back for another go?" he growled out, oblivious to the man's injuries.

The pipe was painful and dark was doing his best to control it but still, he liked it, "Hey dude sorry if you thought I was going to attack your friend but I need you to pull this metal pipe out because it hurts like hell and you put it there," his hoodie  still covered his face but he decided to grab some darkness and put it on his face giving a bit of a demonic look but keeping his identity hidden plus it distorted his voice a little. "So another super powered guy, nice to meet you, you can just call me shadow for now, you?" he asked adsorbing whatever darkness he could just in case he tried to attack.

James was......more than hesitant about trusting the guy. "What do you need me for? Can't pull it out yourself? And who the hell is dark?"

"Well I would but you put it there so you can Apologise and use your nano machines to pull it out or not but it would be rude to not, and dark is my second soul I like to call him, hes a demon really," Marcus finished studying the man more closely 

"Human if you can here me, This man is stubborn as hell and only wanted to help that human, I may have wanted her soul but this human is too much of a gentleman to." 

"What makes you think I put it there? I just hit you into a wall," James said.

Pfft, a demon, Gestalt thought. More likely a trans-dimensional parasite.

"Well yes you threw me at a wall which I went though and landed on a metal pipe, you know what screw it i'll just pull it out myself" he bended some darkness from his shirt and and lassoed the metal pipe before ripping it out, "Ow, that hurt like hell, dark you mind fixing that." 
Of coarse human, dark started to mend the flesh back together and covered the hole in Marcus skin with darkness to stop bleeding.


"Thanks man and metal guy i'm sorry if you thought I was going to kill her, I fell asleep here last night and woke up to the sound of bullets saw her and tried to cut her bonds, any-who nice to meet someone who can do more than the average human." Marcus said as he walked a little closer

"Name's Revenant," James said. "Look sorry for hitting you, but you've already killed some people and I didn't want too take chances." He kept the blade up though, and said "That said, I'm still not taking chances. Stay back."

"Oh well sorry for the dead, you see I don't like it when the man said kill a woman every 5 seconds and when you took the lights I jumped at the chance killing 3 of them before seeing your friend over there, now you may notice that they are missing hearts but you see this demon feeds on souls which he takes from there hearts and we both get power ups from it, I only kill those who threaten me or innocent people, I know you have no reason to trust me, I don't trust my self but Revenant I heard her say some things, those souls upgraded my hearing though dark places, if you need to check it out I don't mind helping, that last word was interesting,"  Marcus finished saying he stopped moving and let his hand out for a hand shake, he kept the darkness close to him just in case but he trusted this, all he wanted was to help this lady.

"Geez all you had too say was eating Hearst gave you power," James said. "Look I can take it from here. No offense but not sure I want the help of someone who eats peoples hearts."

"Well I don't eat the hearts, Dark does," He let the serpent out of his back. "And plus I've only taken like 9, 10 maybe 12 souls, any-who i'm bored as hell and wouldn't mind helping out, might give me something else to do than hunting for food or finding a place to sleep,"

"Yeah that's one too many deaths right there," James said coldly. "We'll wait for her to wake up, see what she has to say."

"Right, sorry I can wait, so hows your day been" Marcus said a little saddened at the mans distrust.

Human you can't win them all, we talked about this


I know, I know

"Hey Revenant, that body amour you have is releasing a hated taste is there an A.I in there that doesn't think I'm a demon" Dark asked a little intrigued at the anger that emitted, before he wouldn't be able to tell but the souls of those humans from before have given him a type of aura seeing, most likely why Marcus could see the human while he was invisible.   

Then the windows broke, the doors exploded, and men just flooded in, guns up.
"HERCULES! Everyone put your hands up!" One shouted. "Weapons and superpowers away, or we have been authorized to use lethal force!"
From the sounds, a sizable force, including aircraft, has the stripnclub surrounded.

James didn't need to look around, Gestalt already informing him that they were surrounded. "Oi, I'm on your side here dammit!" he shouted, though he doubted it would have any effect. He picked Alexis back up, holding her in his arms gently though without risk of dropping her. Gestalt we need a way out of here. Ideas?

Can attempt to turn the lights off again. However, they may have thermal or night vision attachments rendering that useless.

"Put the girl down." One ordered. "We are prepared to accept casualties if it means the masses are safe." Safeties clicked off. "You have three seconds before you three die."
A few were hesitant in taking their safeties off, but others not. They meant buisness.

"Yeah well I'm not," James said. He couldn't leave Alexis though, since she was an alien and these guys would no doubt figure that out at some point. He had to get her out, he just needed a way....What about emergency exits? Those open out and have no handles on the outside.

Worth a shot but you'll need to move fast.

I'll take it. "Wish I could stay, but I gotta run with my date here," James joked, and sprung back and ran, Alexis in his arms and held tightly as he shielded her with his back, running for the nearest emergency exit.

HERCULES opened fire, peppering the entire area with armor piercing rounds. They werent being cute about it; they made sure to fill the entire area that James was occupying with bullets.

"AHH!" James screamed as the rounds tore through the nanoepidermis and into him. He found it hard to breathe, the rounds entering his lungs and breaking his ribs. On the HUD Gestalt made, it showed damage to both lungs, heart, and spine, and James tumbled down to the ground.

Recovering, but we need to put them down. James, suggest turning off pain receptors to allow you to perform at greater potential.

Fuck, do it, he said, and suddenly he couldn't feel a thing, all the pain gone. Through his mind, he formed a picture for the nanites of what he wanted to do. Then he lashed out, one arm swinging out and a whip-like tendril of nanites swung out, grabbing onto a table.....and it didn't stop as it carried the chair into a throw aimed right at a group of the gunmen, forcing them to dodge. Screaming in fury, he did it again with another arm and felt as Gestalt hardened the nanites. It was more than just hearing his suit crackle, there was added weight to it as the suit got heavier, thicker. His mobility and dexterity would be decreased, but that didn't matter. Scooping Alexis back up, he ran again, the damage being repaired.....and more of his body converted into nanites, for the damage that could not be repaired, but replicated.

Crashing through the door and into an alley, James held tight onto Alexis as he looked for a fire escape. Gestalt.....I need a way to move freely but keep from dropping her. Ideas?

One. Valkyrie physiology is much more durable than your own. Position her behind you, arms around your neck.

Doing so, and holding her arms steady over his shoulders, he waited.....and then felt as the suit began to move, the nanites going over her arms and securing them to his shoulders. Then they went further, belting around her waist and even her legs, which Gestalt instructed James to hold steady. By the end of it, James felt like he was carrying a very heavy back-pack.....which in a way, he was, as the nanites kept Alexis secured to his back. This is going to throw off my balance something fierce.....but fuck it.

And with that, he ran for the fire-escape......and stumbled as his balance was, predictably, thrown off. Stabilizing himself and standing still, he used a whip on the fire-escape to pull himself up, but it was difficult with the added weight.

Outside the sky had multiple stark white gunships. They turned to engage, but then began to lurch. Guns fired on each other, and a massive video billboard now bore the sword and lightning emblem of Aether Rain. Small UAVs began to attack HERCULES, covering James' escape.

But gunships and transports kept coming, rounds kicking up concrete dust as they aimed for him.

"Jesus Christ!" James spat out as he ran across the rooftop, having gotten onto it moments ago. "I'm just one guy dammit, go after that Shadow guy!" However, the gunfire near him stopped and Gestalt showed that there were drones firing on the gunships. Stella......thanks.

Suddenly, he found himself dancing to some song by P.O.D. It was called "boom" or something to that. It was really quite random. It just started to play on the radio. Then he started dancing because, why not? There was no one in his apartment that could see him. Judge him. It's not like cats judge people. The blinds are also shut, so it's not like anyone can peep in. So he danced wildly, and then fell into a rhythm. Then he started practicing the empty handed martial arts he learned in his time abroad. Quite a strange occurrence, he thought. Someone must be fighting some where. If it was major enough, it would probably make the news. Such music truly aggravated the soul, moved him towards aggression.

Perhaps over time he would relax and settle down. He had spent years amongst places most alien to earth. Played hero, or at least, helped play hero. But that feels like another lifetime. Another age, another ero, another epoch. A completely different time. That he could return to at almost any given moment. After all, it was just a skip and a hop away. Any universe, dimension, wherever, he could jump to. He could continue to explore universes as well. Perhaps he would find a universe that was parallel to this one? Would he find an alternate him? That would be interesting, how would he differ? would their choices be radically different? Would his mightiest of foes, the Meta-Mage, be ultimately defeated? or dead? That being said, would there even be such a person? Such questions were intellectually stimulating.

The cat watching him intently. He imagined her thoughts being "how strange this human is." and "what a silly human" or even better "how can I attack his feet when he moves like that?" These were humorous imaginings. Far from the truth as well, except for the "how strange he is" thought, that was quite accurate. There were other, darker and lighter thoughts being thought by the black cat that watched him so. More to his thoughts, however, if the cat transformed into a person, would his firsst reaction be that of him slapping the cat-person and stating simply "you have seen me naked SO many times." This was, of course, based off a comic he saw on the internet in his youth. Humorous to think of it now, after all that has happened. He had not even touched a computer in 18 years, yet at work, it was like getting on a bike, he never forgot how.

Drones swarmed the skies. While on autopaths, the sheer number meant Aether Rain stole half of Andrew's shit. And was currently ruining HERCULES without a second thought. That, and their IFF tags were fucked too.
Stella was brutal. Extremely brutal.

Running to the edge of the roof James jumped, his legs pushing him off the ground as he went over the gap between buildings. Gestalt recalled what Alexis had said, and tracked down where she most likely meant. Painting a path, Gestalt said Follow the path to the Valkyries home. Or hideout. Whatever it is to her.

That was going to be a problem, given that they were still being tracked.

Then a complete blackout happened. Everything was off, from street lights tomamnumber of other items. One Billboard flashed red letters.

GO

The UAVs began firing at the strip club, drawing attention.

The blackout didn't really do much, since it was only 3:45 in the afternoon. But the distraction it helped cause, coupled with the drones, was enough and James kept running. getting as far away as possible from the fight.

The UAVs broke off and scattered, and Stella shut down the link. Revenant was away.
That was the important bit.

The run was difficult, more than it was long. In fact it wasn't even that far, but having the added weight didn't help as he got to the abandoned building she told him about. Getting inside, the nanites removed themselves from around her, and as she dropped he spun to catch her. "Hey, hey Alexis," he said. "Come on wake up, what am I supposed to do now?"

The charging of a very big gun sounded.
"You are going to set my sister down. Slowly. Then you'll spill your guts before I do it for you." The voice sounded. "And that means right now."

Gestalt was a bit embarrassed at not having paid attention, but then saw the figure standing with the energy weapon. James, not letting go of Alexis (or at least not about to drop her to the floor) turned and said "Hey I'm a friend. Saved your sister's life, but she was drugged or something and told me to come here. Hell, how do you think I found you?"

The figure jumped down.
"Set her down. I have some medicine but it's my last vial." She said.

"Alright, just don't shoot me Valkyrie," James said, hoping the knowledge that he knew what she was would help things. He bent down and gently placed Alexis on the ground, before stepping away.

Seryna jabbed something into Libra's neck. "Libra...Libby, wake up dammit...Aries will kill you..." she paused. "I'm getting married to Sagittarius."
Libra shot up, scrambling for a weapon. "OH HELL NO!"

Seryna sighed. "Every fucking time sis..." she threw her arms around her. "Dont fucking do this anymore."

James stood and watched the exchange, wondering if he should leave or not. "So uh.......can I go?" He asked.

Libra looked at him.
"...be careful. And th...thank you for saving me. Im...useless, without the Scales."

"No problem Alexis," James said. "But what the hell is going on here?"

 moments after Revs escape


Marcus had his hands on as the men surrounded him he could see there aura some where frightened by his mask others where skeptical. "Sir, we have another powered hero nothing we've seen yet" The lead soldier said

"Hey don't point your guns at me you don't want to die right" Marcus pointed out, his serpent slowly emerging they blasted some lights in the club and the darkness was breaking the rest giving him more power.

Human we need to get out.
hang on


A second soldier spoke to his commander "Sir, he just threatened us, orders"
"Fire" the captain said shooting his weapon but Marcus erected a wall of darkness in time, keeping it there he moved it onto the soldiers almost crushing them ageist the wall but he stopped it and ran the soldiers just getting back up.
"Alright dark can you sense anything outside where Rev went"

"No human, life is empty but not for long" dark said sending the snake around the corner to check. "Alright, lets go"


"Thanks pal" Marcus ran though the door and turned right, he already lost his tracking on Rev and decided to just hide "Man we are not going to get breaks" he whispered to himself, knowing well that organisation would most likely hunt him down. He turned down a ally and made it to a street where he began to walk but instead a light fell apon him and a gunship was looking right at him, He didn't waste time and brought all the darkness he stored in his bodie from before into a giant orb of black before throwing it at the ship, the ship exploded on impact making a loud noise that he didn't need right now, he began to run as the ship crashed onto the ground and saw a subway system, running into it a squad of soldiers came down and fired, bullets ripping into Marcus's skin he collapsed onto the ground centimeters away from the tunnel.

"Must I do everything when you almost die" dark took control of his host bodie and continued to run into the tunnel surprising the soldiers that just thought they killed their target, he continued to run while healing the 5 gunshots in his bodie. "Oh this is going to take a while" after trans versing the subways he found a little secluded spot where he sat Marcus down and began to heal his bodie "I am not going to sit around for another 4 years Marcus, so don't die" 




Above ground, "Sir we lost the revenant" the soldier said to command, already hearing the complaints in his head

"God dam it how did you lost it" command yelled into the soldiers comms

"Sir we ran into a unidentified hero, we have code named him 'the darkness' for now, he took down one of our gunships and an entire squad of marines"   

"Hmm, alright get back here and debrief did we get any footage of him"

"No sir, there was a black out and he destroyed all devices"

"Interstellar civil war. The Valkyries are at odds; the rogue faction Starfall, led by Cassiopeia, wishes to overthrow the Valkerious Council and make us Valkyries warmongers. The Council wishes our stance of defenders, not conwuerers, remain as such. We came to Earth for a peaceful mission, but Cassi had agents. My ship, Sayla, has crashed in the ocean and I have no chaos energy left. I used it saving Seryna. Worst part is we had a portable space station connected that we detached. Its in orbit now...and her caretaker is alone and trapped."

"Wait, your ship crashed?" James said, in spite of the rest he had heard. "Listen......I think I may know where it is. Let's just say I came into the possession of some files, and one of them showed a large ship, over in the Pacific ocean." He stood straight, arms folded as he then thought on what else had been said. "How many of these......Starfall, was it? How many are there? And what exactly was your mission?"

Gestalt then chose that moment so speak, its voice being separate from James'. "And what of your station? Is it stable? Do you have a means of contacting it?"

"We have no means of contacting Sheretan. We have no tech. The escape pod was captured by US Military forces and...yeah. Any tech with a transmitter would be able to. Its just....we got none." She rubbed her head. "I dont know the details of Starfall. I just know they are jerks."

Seryna piped up. "Did the vessel crash in a ring of volcanoes called the Ring of Fire?"

"That's pretty much the Pacific ocean," James said, thankful he paid attention to his science class. Then again, it was volcanos. How could he not? "But yeah, it's around that area. And look.....I may or may not be able to help you out," he said. "This suit......what do you know about a race called the Tu'Vari?"

"Geniuses. Master of science and far beyond us in nanotechnology. They were wiped out by an enemy everyone will stop fighting each other to face together." She paused.
"Mutamorphs."

"Hreshtak," Gestalt corrected. "We.......I, am the last of their creations, the Tu'Vari. I bonded to this human to survive, and save his life. Believe us, he can be trusted."

Blushing beneath the mask, James said "Oh stop it, no need to embellish..."

"Hreshtek. Dammit Ser, supposed to correct me!"
"I was busy calibrating."
"...fuck you."

Libra rubbed her temples. "Anyways. Thank you, whoever you are. I owe a bit more than my life tonyou this time around."

"The name's Revenant," James said. "And this time around? What do you mean? Thought I only saved you once." Unless, as he feared, she knew who he was.

"Uh. You saved me from rape, defloration through rape, and them finding out I'm an alien. I'd say I owe you more then my life." Libra frowned.

"Oh, oh right of course," James said, chuckling a little as he was glad she didn't figure him out. "Well.....happy to help."