The team arrived in a blur to the streets of the Downtown of Chicago.
Downtown was already erupting — the air shimmering like heat above asphalt as another portal tore itself open in the sky. A jagged rift of green light pulsed, vomiting out armored Flaxan soldiers with energy rifles crackling in their hands. Civilians screamed, cars crashed, and the air stank of ozone and panic.
"Damn it— they didn't waste time," Eve said, already throwing up pink energy barriers to block incoming shots. Bolts of green plasma slammed against them, flaring harmlessly before fading.
"Flaxans, three o'clock!" shouted Kate as her duplicates split off, each one tackling a different group of aliens.
Robot hovered above the team, scanning the field. "Temporal distortion stable. This is a smaller force, likely a scouting unit. We neutralize them quickly before the breach stabilizes."
Johnny landed hard beside Mark, fire roaring across his arms and shoulders like living armor. "Then let's shut the door before they invite their friends!"
Mark nodded, launching forward in a sonic burst that cracked the pavement beneath him. He slammed into the nearest Flaxan with a punch that sent the alien flying through a parked van.
Johnny charged up, the flames around his hands thickening — shifting shape. He gritted his teeth, focusing, and for a moment the fire solidified into the rough outline of a sword. It flickered and trembled, but held.
He swung it in a wide arc, the burning blade cutting through two Flaxans before disintegrating into embers. "Still learning that trick!" he shouted over the noise.
"Try not to burn the city down while you practice!" Rex yelled, hurling a handful of glowing pellets that exploded across the street, taking out a group of aliens.
Johnny glared. "You worry about your aim, bomberman!"
Rex snorted, launching another barrage. "My aim's perfect, hothead!"
"Could you two maybe stop flirting and focus?!" Eve shouted, blasting a group of Flaxans backward with a shockwave of pink energy.
But there were too many. The streets were chaos — civilians screaming, running between cars, hiding behind shattered store windows. Flaxans fired into the crowd without hesitation, their green plasma bolts tearing through walls and flesh alike.
Eve's eyes widened. "No—!"
She threw up a massive barrier over a group of trapped people, shielding them from a barrage of shots. The impacts rattled through her constructs, shaking her to the core. Each hit drained her concentration, forcing her to kneel and focus everything on keeping the shield up.
"Eve!" Johnny shouted, torching two Flaxans that got too close. "You can't hold it alone!"
"I have to— there are still people out here!" she gasped.
Above, Robot locked onto the portal, projecting a series of magnetic pulses that disrupted the rift's edges. "The portal's unstable — I need thirty seconds to collapse it!"
"Then we hold the line!" Mark shouted, punching a Flaxan so hard it cratered into the street.
Johnny flared his hands again, shaping two fiery axes. They flickered but stayed solid this time. He spun and slammed them down on a Flaxan soldier, cleaving through its armor with a spray of molten sparks. "Come on! Come on!"
Eve looked up just as another wave of Flaxans emerged, deploying strange hovering spheres that buzzed like insects. One darted toward her before she could react. It latched onto her helmetless head with a wet thunk, the metal tendrils of the thing wrapped around her face.
Her eyes went wide — she tried to scream, but the device sealed over her entire face, including her mouth and nose.
"Mmmph—!"
"EVE!" Johnny yelled, as he flied towards her. She clawed at the sphere, with pink energy flickering from her fingers, but her powers sputtered as she gasped for air.
Rex saw her struggling. "Robot! One of those damn things has her!"
"I see it," Robot said sharply, adjusting his scanners. "Do not damage the device! It's fused directly to her respiratory tract!"
Johnny ignored the warning. He reached her, with his heat radiating wildly as his flames intensified. "Hang on— I got you!"
He grabbed the sphere, and started to heat it up, the metal hissed under his touch as it started to melt. Eve's eyes fluttered as air rushed in through a crack. The device pulsed once, trying to shock him, but Johnny gritted his teeth and poured more heat into it until it disintegrated into molten slag.
She fell into his arms, coughing hard.
"You okay?" he asked, frantic.
Eve nodded weakly, her face pale. "Y-yeah… I think so."
Johnny stood protectively in front of her, fire roaring brighter around him. "No one else touches her."
Rex, meanwhile, hurled another explosive charge toward the advancing line. "They're not slowing down! They're not even aging like before!"
"They seem to have discovered a way to resist our time stream," Robot said, "That means this battle could last indefinitely unless we collapse the rift now!"
"Then do it fast!" Mark yelled, slamming into another Flaxan.
Johnny turned to Eve, helping her stand. Her hand lingered on his arm for a brief second before she steadied herself.
"Go help them," she said hoarsely. "I'll cover the civilians."
He nodded, fire coiling tighter around his body as he launched himself back into the fight, with his body flaring like a comet.
Johnny's blood boiled. He could still hear Eve coughing behind him, the echo of her muffled gasps clawing at his brain. Every rational thought burned away at that moment — replaced by yellow-hot rage.
"You bastards…" he muttered, his flames flaring violently around him, licking up the sides of nearby cars and melting the pavement under his feet. "You're dead."
He charged forward, with fire building into his palms. He quickly formed a construct on his hands.
A massive hammer of solid fire materialized in his hands, and with a roar, Johnny leapt into the air and slammed it down on top of a Flaxan tank.
BOOOOM!
The explosion shook the street, shattering nearby windows. The tank crumpled like tin foil, a wave of heat rippling outward. Pieces of glowing shrapnel rained down as the surrounding Flaxans stumbled back, shields flickering under the blast.
Mark stared wide-eyed. "Holy shit!"
But Johnny wasn't done. He dissolved the hammer midair and willed a new weapon into existence — a long, blazing sword, its edge burning so bright it hurt to look at it directly.
He landed hard, swinging in a fluid, furious arc. One Flaxan's rifle was cleaved in half; another's arm went flying, the cut was so clean it left a trail of sparks in the air. The alien screamed, clutching its shoulder — and then, suddenly, its entire body began to shrivel and age in seconds, collapsing into dust.
Johnny froze for a split second. "What the hell…?"
He turned just in time to slice through another Flaxan's arm — same result. The alien decayed instantly, armor corroding as if centuries had passed in an instant.
Then he saw it — the severed limb smoking on the ground. Strapped around the wrist was a small metallic band, pulsing faintly with green light.
Johnny's eyes widened. "That's it."
He grabbed the charred wristband, flames licking over it without melting the metal. "They're using these things to stay stable here — to resist time!"
He turned, shouting over the chaos. "Robot! They've got devices on their wrists! That's why they're not aging!"
Robot instantly rerouted his scanners, his voice sharp. "Confirmed! Everyone — target the wristbands!"
"Got it!" shouted Eve, already back in the air and firing concentrated blasts of energy at the aliens' arms.
"Finally something easy to hit!" Rex yelled, throwing a cluster of explosive discs that detonated perfectly, blowing off several of the wristbands in a chain reaction of dust and armor.
Mark swooped down, grabbing one of the larger Flaxans and crushing its wrist before tossing it aside. "They're falling fast now!"
Johnny grinned savagely, spinning his flaming sword and forming smaller blades orbiting around him like molten satellites. "Let's end this!"
He launched himself into the thick of the enemy line, his constructs cutting through armor, slicing wrists, and igniting alien tech. Each explosion of time-warped energy left a fading echo — the Flaxans aging, disintegrating, vanishing in seconds.
Eve landed beside him, catching her breath. "You found the weak point, huh?"
Johnny smirked, fire still roaring across his body. "Guess I'm getting good at this."
"Don't get cocky," she said with a grin — but there was pride in her eyes.
Robot's voice came through their comms: "Excellent work. The rift is destabilizing — thirty seconds until it collapses completely!"
Johnny nodded, turning his sword toward the remaining soldiers. "Then let's clean house."
The last of the Flaxans stumbled through their collapsing portals, their withered hands clawing at the air as time caught up with them. The ground was littered with scorch marks, shattered vehicles, and broken glass as sirens echoed in the distance.
Rex sat on the curb breathing hard, his costume half burned away. Eve was unconscious after all the adrenalyne ran out and the lack of air catched up with her, she was being tended to by paramedics.
Johnny stood there, with his hands trembling, and his flames flickering weakly around his fists. He stared at the destruction—at the bodies being covered by sheets, at the blood smeared across the concrete—and felt a pit in his stomach. He'd saved lives. But not all of them.
Robot crouched beside the remains of one of the destroyed wristbands, his mechanical eyes narrowing. "They were stabilizing their molecular decay," he murmured. "That's how they resisted the time differential during their incursions."
"Great," Rex said bitterly. "Too bad we figured that out after they vaporized a bunch of people."
Johnny stayed quiet. He could still feel the echo of his fire constructs. He'd let anger drive him. When he glanced back at Eve being loaded into an ambulance, guilt hit him like a wave.
The air suddenly shimmered, and a blue portal opened. Cecil Stedman stepped out, flanked by agents in black suits and tactical gear. His eyes swept over the devastation, his jaw tightening as he lit a cigarette.
"Well," Cecil said flatly, "that went beautifully."
No one replied.
"Thirty-seven civilians confirmed dead," Cecil went on, his voice cold. "Seventeen more in critical condition. I've got news feeds full of chaos and half a city demanding answers." He took a long drag from his cigarette, then exhaled slowly. "Tell me something good, Robot."
Robot stood up, holding up the charred wristband. "We discovered their means of time resistance. These devices are the key. With study, we could predict or disrupt future incursions."
Cecil gave a short nod. "That's something." Then his gaze turned to Johnny. "You were on the front lines."
Johnny didn't meet his eyes. "Yeah."
"I saw the footage," Cecil said, flicking ash to the ground. "Big damn fire show. Took out half a block."
"They killed people, Cecil. They hurt Eve. I wasn't—" Johnny stopped himself. "I did what I had to."
"I know," Cecil said evenly, though his expression stayed hard. "And I'm not saying you didn't save lives. But next time, I need more control, not carnage."
Johnny's jaw clenched, but he nodded. "Understood."
Cecil turned toward Robot. "You, with me. You too, hothead. We're gonna talk."
He led them away from the wreckage, his tone all business now. "The Guardians are gone. Earth's vulnerable, and I don't trust anyone left on my payroll to lead a team. I want a new generation—people who can fight, adapt, and think."
Robot tilted his head. "You want me to oversee recruitment."
"Exactly." Cecil turned to Johnny. "And I want you on that team. You've got raw power, and you care. That's good. But if you want to keep doing this, you'll have to learn how to keep it together when things go to hell."
Johnny looked back at the battlefield—at the bodies, at the wreckage—and nodded solemnly. "Then I'll learn."
Cecil took another drag and exhaled smoke into the night air. "Good. Because after today and what happened to the guardians, we're gonna need every damn hero we can get."
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