Arthur stood atop a mountain, hovering just above a vertical drop staring down at the massive compound. Many of its buildings were already erected, standing high above the snow. He stood with his arms wide, feeling the snow brush up against him, the air biting his limbs. He squatted a bit, taking a low stance, he then allowed himself to begin falling forward, at just the right moment, he launched himself off the mountain, blowing the top off of it.
He flew like a bullet, the wind whistling in his ears, a smile pulled across his face as he hastily approached his target.
The building shattered, crumbling under the immense pressure of its newest occupant, the aliens inside screamed as rubble collapsed onto them, crushing them into paste.
Arthur stood up, lifting a rather large piece of rubble off of himself, dust and concrete fell from his shoulders as he began moving to the next compound. Aliens began raising their rifles, their hand shaking violently as he approached. He stopped and stared at them for a moment. The first shot rang out, a compressed beam of lights splintered off his shoulder.
He didn't flinch.
He flew forward, punching a hole through the chest of the alien that shot him. The alien dropped its rifle, blood sputtered out of its mouth as it desperately tried to grab at him, his now weak hands attempting to strangle him. Arthur pulled his hand out from the cavity in his chest and watched his body collapse to the ground. The light drained from the dead aliens eyes, his body slowly growing limp.
Arthur didn't say a word and began walking forward once again. Some of the aliens fell to the ground, surrendering, begging for their lives. He stood above the closest one and swung his arm down, cutting through the aliens head like a blade. His head emptied itself on the ground, organic matter and blood pooling at his feet in the snow.
The aliens realized that he was going to kill them regardless, and raised their weapons, firing. Bullets, beams of light, knives, even chunks of rubble bounced off his skin. He continued unwavering, killing man after man, woman after woman.
He watched as one of the aliens ran up to him with a bundle of hand grenades, hugging him in a desperate attempt to slow him down, he felt a knife uselessly dig into his back.
One of the aliens brought his rifle closer to his chest and fired through his comrade, piercing through his chest and setting off the grenades.
The explosion was deafening, ash had settled like a scar on his body. He looked down and noticed he stood in the on the edge of a crater, the blast couldn't affect anything behind him after all. He pulled a disembodied arm off his body and took the knife from its now limp hand.
He flicked the knife into one of the aliens head and he swayed to the side, cutting down one of his comrades.
He placed his hand on his heart, wondering why he felt nothing at the carnage he had caused.
These were people too.
After a few moments he turned to leave when another bullet struck him in the back, he looked at the man and threw a rock through his skull, spilling its contents on the ground.
...
Alara looked up as the ground began to shake violently, she ran out of her home, seeing Gary on the street watching the skies in fear. She too watched the skies as forty massive vessels appeared, wrapping space to approach the planet. Terror gripped their hearts as they watched the hulks unload their payloads on the planet, turning the land to ash. It slowly approached their location and they heard screams as people burned alive, buildings collapsed.
In that moment she could only think of Arthur.
She felt tears stream down her cheeks as she tried to run from the waves of fire.
...
Arthur was walking across the frozen tundra, once again soaked in blood. His communicator had been crushed in his haphazard assault on the base. Through the wall of falling snow, he saw the outline of the massive base slowly come into view.
"Arthur!"
He turned his head at the sound and saw Cap' sprinting from the doors towards him.
"They moved up their campaign, they knew you were here! They razed the Klantar system to the ground!"
He felt despair pool in his heart, through his nerves and to his brain. He fell to his knees holding his chest when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Cap' was trying to shake him to his senses but it wasn't working.
"Please, go inside, Coleman is on the line and needs to talk to you, they are sending a ship to pick us up soon."
He shakily stood to his feet, leaning on Cap' as she pulled him towards the doors, the world was spinning, he couldn't help but panic in that moment, what else was there to do. He was lightyears away and couldn't get their in time to help.
He heard Coleman's voice over the communicator she held out to him.
"I am so sorry, Arthur."
...
It was a week later, and he stood on what remained of Klantar, the ground was thick, full of ash and soot.
It was clear to him now, the base on that desolate planet was bait, they pulled their attention away from their true goal. They knew if he was alive he'd be near Klantar, that'd he would respond to their call to arms.
How did they know?
He walked further into the ashen crater that had once been a populated town, walking past what used to be the market. Eventually he found Alara's home, or rather what remained. The charred remains of what used to be Gary and Gary Jr. laid in the street, the larger holding the other against his chest.
He never found Alara's remains, nothing was left of her body.