Two days Later

August was dead tired. He and Kayden had been all over the world with the upgraded Nemesis, using it to suppress their most powerful opponents. Initially, the Nemesis had been a construct held together by his and Kayden’s powers, and without them, it would have fallen apart in minutes. Thankfully, while at Asphodel base, August had modified the Nemesis to be able to operate by a normal crew. Quite fortunate that he did too, as just 8 hours ago, it had nearly been destroyed by the Scandinavian Warlord Thorin Kaelum, AKA Jotun, whose power over ice had reached such mastery that he had killed over 50 of the Supers that were sent to subjugate the area, along with 6 A-listers. The warlord had frozen his own body to such low temperatures that conventional physics were breaking down, making him impervious to August’s power. It took the duo over 12 minutes, even with the autonomous Nemesis’ aid, to manually kill the man. That was more than even the time spent besieging the Order of Twelve’s Asian headquarters, which held an absolutely massive army of Supers, well over 7000, including 900 A-listers, 60 S-listers, 4 Disaster class, 1 Calamity class, and a Catastrophe class. For reference, A-listers consisted of the world’s top 50,000 Supers, while every S-lister could destroy a town in an hour, and Disaster class beings could annihilate a city in the same time. A Calamity class was an entirely different beast, as they can effect a whole country with their power, albeit over the course of weeks or months, while Catastrophe class beings such as the Underworld Overseers and The Order’s Apostles are classified as those who manage to reach a kill rate of over 100 supers per second in any known confrontation and could reliably maintain that rate. As August closed his eyes for a moment of respite, the door to his private room aboard the warship opened.

“How is everything going?” Kayden asked, poking her head in from the slightly opened door. “It’s going well, just a lot to manage. We’re promoting many people rapidly, and soon, I, and the rest of high command, won’t have to manage everything ourselves.” August replied with a tired sigh. Shutting down his computer, he decided to rest for a bit while recounting the situation. “The Order is being pushed back. Official Underworld membership has soared well into the 80,000,000 range, mostly Chinese and Indian due to their massive populations. Of those, nearly 0.2% are Supers.” It should be known that a force of 160,000 Supers was truly tremendous, as the world’s Super population numbered at only 3 million, a measly 0.06% of the world’s population of 5 billion. “We’ve already claimed over 35% of major population centers and merely 90% of minor population centers. In effect, we rule over 45% of the world. Even in Order occupied territory such as the east coast, Central and East Europe, and Australia, our reputation is at an all time high, with various reputable sources around the world promoting us and condemning them. But the Order is now consolidating its forces. Additionally, all news agencies and social media platforms have been bought out or coerced into our service. Public perception will always lean towards us now” A sigh escaped August’s lips. “And I’m also tired as shit from the fighting.” Kayden laughed. “Well, this should cheer you right up then!” She threw open the door and at her gesture, 4 Underworld Guards, the Underworld’s elite shock troops, wheeled in a prisoner. The red-headed woman was strapped with titanium bands to a chair which was bolted to a heavy iron platform, completely immobilizing the obvious Super. August’s breath caught in his throat as he choked violently at the sight. “How…How did you find her?” August asked, his voice tinged with disbelief. The woman in front of him was none other than Christina, the woman who had first stolen his heart and then betrayed him. “Well, since you’ve been pretty stressed these past few days, I thought I could arrange a nice surprise. It wasn’t even that hard. As an Apostle, Christina here was a very public figure and once I located her with the help of the intelligence department, it was pretty easy to kidnap her from her home.” Kayden grinned smugly. “I was thinking we could both extract some vengeance together, as a stress relief. I know you don’t really find as much joy in battle as I do, so…” Kayden trailed off, gesturing at the unconscious women. 

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you, honey.” August cooed as he stood up, tiredness seemingly dissipating into thin air. “You’re right. This is gonna be therapeutic as hell.” August created some smelling salt with his power and waved it under CHristina’s nose, causing the women to rouse. Blinking blearily,  the women’s eyes widened in surprise as she tried and failed to move her limbs. “Hello, Christina. Did you miss me?” August asked mockingly, with a hint of anger. Christina’s eyes snapped up, focusing on the oh so familiar voice that had spoken. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as she took in the face before her. “Good, you still remember me. Although, I’m unsure whether you recognize my dear fiancee here.” August gestured towards Kayden, who gave a mocking little wave to Christina. “August. I won’t make excuses for what happened. I made a choice. Apparently it was the wrong one.” Christina said, masking her fear with a mask of bravery. “Just kill me and get it over with.” She looked down, resigned to her fate. “Oh no no no, you’re not dying like that. You don’t get to die as a hero and a martyr for the Order. You will only be permitted to die when we are satisfied. Now, I’m not that big a fan of torture, but then again you knew that didn’t you? You handled that stuff for me before. I’m more of a believer of ‘an eye for an eye.’” August talked as he walked circles around Christina, like a shark circling it’s prey. “Instead, I will inflict emotional pain on you, just as you did to me when you betrayed me.” August grinned disturbingly. “But first, I’ll let Kayden have her fun while I watch. That’ll be enough to satisfy me.” At his words, Kayden stepped forward, gripping Christina’s chin between her fingers. “You didn’t answer his question earlier, bitch. Do you recognize me?” Christina simply glared, her fear turning into anger. “His new lapdog bitch?” Kayden’s eyes burned with fury as she backhanded Christina with an energy coated fist, leaving a burning mark on the red-head’s face. “No. I’m the one you bullied for a year and beat your ass after I awakened.” Christina’s mouth dropped open, both in shock and from the pain on her right cheek. “I always regretted that I killed you too quickly back then. Now, I can take my time with you.” Kayden grinned cruelly. 

Manipulating the lights in the room, Kayden turned it into powerful radiation and directed all of it straight into Christina’s body, causing her DNA to mutate bit by bit. As the energy ran through her body, she let out grunts of pain, feeling her flesh and bone being torn apart. Unsatisfied with Christina’s reaction, Kayden additionally ran some electricity through her nerves, causing Christina to experience the worst pain that a human body was capable of feeling. This proved to be too much for the Apostle, as she finally let out a scream of pain. As all of this was happening, August was talking. “You see Christina, I know you quite well by now. I know that you think you’re some kind of hero, the main character of this story that defines the world. That somehow, you’re special. Important. But you’re not. The only thing special about you is your power, and any competent time manipulator or a sufficiently powerful regenerator could match your effect. The only thing you’re good for is acting as a spy or a sleeper agent, scurrying around like a rat in the dark. Because the truth is, you’re worthless. Expendable. You gained your position of Apostle not because of your power or ability, but because you betrayed me, the only one who ever gave a damn about you for more than just your ability to revive yourself.” August’s eyes were misty, but he didn’t seem to notice, as his words turned into fierce shouting. “I loved you, Christina! I gave you a chance to be something more than an expendable pawn in this game of life, but you threw that away all for what? A chance to be known as the one who took down the greatest villain in history? You’re a pathetic, useless wreck who never got past her awakening. Your need to feel important was your doom.” August concluded his monologue, taking a glance at the one he was ranting at. Christina was a wreck. Her body was filled with burn marks and blisters as her regeneration healed her based on the mutated DNA that was now in every cell of her body, causing her to turn into an abomination. She didn’t even look human anymore, as the numerous injuries Kayden inflicted on her healed over and consumed her original body. All that was left was a quivering mass of flesh, with two broken, empty eyes sparing out from a deformed head. 

August waved his hand, turning the entire thing into subatomic particles, ending Christina’s suffering. She would never revive again, as nothing was left to regenerate from. August turned around, and threw up all over his couch. Kayden, seeing her beloved’s condition, approached with worry. “What’s wrong, darling?” August vanished the vomit from his mouth, but couldn’t be bothered to clean the sofa, simply vanishing the whole thing. He slumped weakly to the ground, leaning against the coffee table as he gasped for breath. “Fuck. I should feel joyful, no? I finally but a ghost of the past behind me, and got the vengeance I so deeply desired. Yet why does it feel so…horribly empty?” August asked weakly, looking imploringly at Kayden, hoping for an answer. Kayden sighed, unsure of how to answer, but determined to try anyways. “Well…ok, first off, is this your first time torturing someone?” August shook his head. “No, I’ve tortured people before, sometimes for information, other times to make an example, or to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies. I’ve never had a problem with it before.” Kayden hummed. “Ok, so what about this time made you feel so bad?” August thought about it. “I guess… it felt meaningless, or rather, selfish. There wasn’t a need to torture her from a strategic standpoint, I jut felt like it because of what she did to me, and what she did to you.” Kayden was starting to get an idea of how to help August move past this. “So, do you feel disgusted with yourself for what you’ve done?” August looked down. “Yes.” He whispered. “And do you feel disgusted at me for erging you into it, and participating?” Kayden asked gently. August gazed into her eyes deeply. “No.” “Why?” “Because I love you, and I knew that you liked doing these things, but I still love you anyway. I can’t find it within myself to ever be disgusted with you.” Kayden smiled. “And I’ll always love you too, no matter what you do, August. Because I know you, and I know that nothing you could ever do would deter me from loving you either. So quit feeling bad about yourself. Think of it this way, that woman was gonna get tortured anyways for what she did to you and me, if you didn't mentally break her, I would have broken her body even more to compensate. Besides, she got what she deserved. If you can’t trust yourself to judge because you fear you’ll make selfish decisions, then trust me to make them for you. You trust me, right?” Kayden looked down at August with a soft yet dangerous smile. “Yes. I trust you.” August gazed back, his eyes now more focused, more clear. “Then trust me when I tell you that Christina deserved everything we did to her, and more. You shouldn’t feel guilty about dispensing justice. And I am telling you that what we did, it was justice. Ok?” “Ok.” August nodded, standing back up, feeling much better. He wrapped his arms over Kayden’s shoulders and pulled her head down to his height, before engaging in a passionate kiss. “Thank you for that, love. I feel much better now.” August said with a smile, after breaking the kiss. Kayden grinned down at him, glad that he was feeling better. “Good. I won’t let you feel bad about yourself, ever.” Taking a look around the now oddly empty room, Kayden pointed towards the empty section on the carpet. “Could you put the couch back though? And make it really fluffy. I wanna cuddle while you tell me what we’re doing next.” August smiled indulgently and waved his hand.

A big, furry white sofa appeared on the carpet, much more comfortable than the one he usually kept in the room. Kayden hummed an approving noise and dragged him down, wrapping her arms and legs around August as they fell into the fluffy cushions. “So, what are we doing next? More fighting?” August chuckled. “Unfortunately, well actually fortunately for you, unfortunate for me, it is indeed more fighting. We are going to oust the Order from the east coast of North America.” Waving his hand, a map appeared on the far wall, large enough to make out all the details. “We’ve already claimed everything on the Canadian side, as well as Miami, Orlando, and Georgia, but the Order still controls the major cities of New York, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia. Officially, the US government still stands with the Order, but our agents are sowing discord and taking out any high ranking officials that do not support us publicly or privately, and arranging for them to be replaced by our supporters. The rest of the UN are falling in line, with their nuclear weapons and submarines disabled and no way to fight back against us. Course, a lot of countries tried to resist, but the Underworld’s military might is unmatched, and we have enough supporters in all their governments to completely take them over without destroying vital infrastructure. Only a couple European countries, South Korea, Russia, and Australia have yet to fall in line. In the rest of the world, the Order are considered terrorists who have taken over control and are being fought by both Underworld forces and the armed forces of those nations.” After finishing his explanation on the current situation, August snuggled into Kayden embrace, resting for a bit, before moving on. “After we reclaim the East Coast cities, we will leave the rest of the US to the regular forces, while we meet with the UN to reaffirm their loyalties and make it clear who is going to be in charge. There’s still quite a few competent fence sitters who haven’t acted against us and are thus still in power, so although it’s a hassle, it’s necessary.” Kayden pouted at that. “Awww, but that shit is so boring! I don’t have to do much for it, right? You’ll do all the talking?” August sighed fondly. “Yes, yes, I will handle the politics, you big baby.” Kayden smiled, deciding to let the baby comment slide. “Good. Now, let’s rest and enjoy ourselves before we crush those Order imbeciles.” August murmured an agreement, and the two decided to watch a movie while cuddling.

Soon after their movie was finished, they had arrived in the first city in need of conquering, Boston. As the Nemesis pulled in towards the city, an armada had already been assembled. Nearly 60 airships, as well as hundreds of APCs and tanks surrounded the city on all sides. The Underworld had deployed over 80,000 personnel to this battle. On the defender’s side, a wall of mud, likely created by a Super’s power, stood at over 10 meters tall. As August looked at the command console, it was reported that 3000 normals and 400 Supers lined the wall, with another 100 Supers in the air, at a low altitude. “All airships do not engage the aerial Supers unless they stray outside of the city limits. They intend to hold the city hostage. Anything we fire at them will have to be angled downward and will hit the city. Provide air support to the attacking squadrons and maintain air supremacy outside of the city proper, but do not push in until the walls have fallen.” August relayed his command, before standing up. “Sam, I’ll leave the ground troop’s coordination to you.” August’s trusted friend saluted sloppily. “You betcha! I got thi-!” He was cut off as he tripped on thin air and fell to the ground in a heap. “Right, well, Kayden, you’ll need to take care of one of those Supers. It’s the one in red and black spandex with the purple cape near the edge of the formation. He’s able to nullify my power within 10 meters of himself, it’s why no-one is close to him.”August continued on as if he didn’t see it, erasing all the flying supers in one go except for the power nullifier. However, just as he did so, his eyes sharpened as he felt a projectile speeding towards the Nemesis. August quickly turned it into oxygen, letting it impact uselessly against the Nemesis’ hull, before using the ship’s powerful sensors to find where it had come from. 

Meanwhile, Kayden had already exited the ship and was flying towards the power nullifier with great speed, stopping herself right in front of him. “So, what’s your deal?” She grinned at the hero cockily. “I am the Preacher, and you will kill August Presalis and then yourself for your crimes, sinner!” The Preacher answered confidently, sure in his power. “I see, I see, power nullification plus brainwashing is a really good combo for subtle behind the scenes manipulation, but straight up confrontation? Really? We’ve already developed technological counters to brainwashing Supers, ya know. If that’s all you can do, you can die now!” Kayden grinned, a smile full of teeth, before blasting the Preacher with a few million joules of solar energy. However, as the energy reached within 10 meters of the hero, it dissipated into regular sunlight, that, although harsh and hot, did little to damage the Preacher. “Hmm. How annoying. Ants like you should just die when they provide no further entertainment value.” Kayden snarled angrily, gathering a much, much larger pool of energy at her fingertips. Before the Preacher could even attempt another attack, Kayden unleashed all of the energy right at him. Even if his nullification field dissipated the attack, it would still contain enough energy to kill him just from the proximity. Unfortunately, Kayden was forced to let the ant live for another few seconds as she rapidly dodged to the side, sensing a massive projectile soaring towards her at over the speed of sound. It turned out to be a giant telephone pole, which August disintegrated into air before it hit the buildings below them, although the shockwave of air still sent the cowering family of 5 on the streets below sprawling. Luckily, none of them died. Kayden decided to stop playing around. “That’s it. Your fucking dead!” Gathering a tremendous amount of energy, Kayden unleashed it immediately towards the Preacher, incinerating him before the attack even reached his nullification zone with pure heat. As Kayden returned to the ship, she noticed that the projectiles had stopped coming.

A few minutes earlier

August was pissed. Someone was trying to use the life of Kayden, as well as countless innocents, to force him to take to the field himself. The sensors on the Nemesis had zeroed in on the women who was launching projectiles at the city. It as a Disaster class Super with extremely long range and powerful telekinesis, although she could only telekinetically hold a single, solid, item at a time. The women, Artillery, was launching the heaviest objects she could find at the city from over 20 kilometers away, outside of his range. Thankfully, he could still detect and destroy her projectiles before they hit anything important. Although, he couldn’t really retaliate. However, now that the Nemesis had found her, there would be no escape from death. “Captain Simmons, prepare the starboard long gun. Target is locked on to by the targeting system. Fire at will once ready.” August sat back and prepared to watch the marvels of technology at work. The long gun was exactly as it’s name suggested, a gun made for long range sniping. It was an electro-magnetic slug thrower that could target anything within a 500 km radius. A mere 20 km was nothing on its maximum range. The Captain quickly relayed August’s orders, and within the minute, the long gun was ready to fire. Looking back at August, and receiving a nod, the Captain ordered the gun to fire. A massive, 30kg iron slug was accelerated well beyond mach 10 as it left the barrel of the gun and barreled straight towards the lookout tower that Artillery was using to launch her projectiles. Within 7 seconds, the target, along with everything in a 10 meter radius, was reduced to dust. Kayden returned shortly after, and the two retired to their room. The ground forces overtook the defenders within the hour, and the city was secured and cleaned of enemy forces within 3. The next 3 battles occurred much the same, with a single exception in Washington, where the 8th Apostle was hiding. August had taken to the field himself to handle the man, cutting him into a million little pieces with a web of sharp fibers. It was a well deserved fate, as the man had threatened to set off bombs all over the city, demanding tha August handed himself over. Thus, the North American theater of the war had closed. 

The next day, the UN had assembled in Beijing, one of the cities with the highest concentration of Underworld forces, with the USA being the final member to join the assembly, having only recently been ‘liberated’ by the Underworld. A total of 177 countries were in attendance, all waiting with bated breath, staring at the central podium. After letting them stew for a few minutes, August decided to enter the chamber, with Kayden and Hercules trailing slightly behind. Hercules was here as overseer of East Asia, and to enforce the decisions August made during the meeting. Taking his place at the podium, August cleared his throat. The quiet conversations around the hall ground to a halt as everyone’s attention focused onto August. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I will cut to the chase, as the war against the terrorist force known as the Order of Twelve is still ongoing and I will be required on the European front shortly. Today, we are gathered here for 3 matters. First, the dissolution of the United Nations and the subsequent formation of the United Federation of Humanity.” As AUgust finished his sentence, chaos overtook the chamber as each head of state began to shout inaudiblely, demanding explanations. August sighed, before projecting his voice as strongly as he could, glaring at the crowd intensely. “SILENCE!” His words echoed across the hall, overwhelming the chatter of the masses, as not a single man or woman dared to make another noise. “This period of instability and conquest has shown the world that when united under a single banner, for the cause of greatering humanity as a whole, we can achieve miraculous things. As such, in the hopes of replicating this across all fields, and for the rest of time, I am declaring the foundation of the United Federation of Humanity. All Heads of State in attendance today shall come before this throne, and swear their loyalty to the Greater Good of Humanity.” August created an ornate throne of gold as he spoke, directly behind the podium. It was more symbolic than anything, as the throne was so massive that no regular human could ever sit on it. “And what if we refuse?” The liberty loving President of the United States spoke. “Then your country’s name will be wiped from history along with you, and a new Head of State will be selected, and a new name chosen for your region, and he or she will be asked to swear their loyalty.” August replied calmly, as if he didn’t just threaten to disappear a man. The president of the USA bowed his head, as if admitting defeat, but just as the president of Albania was about to approach the throne to give his oath, 3 dozen men dressed in black tactical armour appeared, pointing machine guns and RPGs at August and Kayden. The delegations of France, Britain, the US, Japan, and Argentina all drew pistols as well. With a cry of “Vive la Révolution!”, he opened fire. 

Unfortunately, it was for naught, as August had already detected the men and disabled their guns. Their weapons clicked, but made no other noise. With a sinister smile, August reached out a single hand, before twisting it violently. Immediately, the traitors began to scream in pain as they watched with horrified eyes as their bodies dissolved into ash bit by bit. The room was silent. “Hercules, mark down the ones that decided to commit suicide by me, and contact the respective Overseers of their regions to have their names and governments revamped.” “Understood.” The big man nodded. Suddenly, the president of Spain stood up and approached the podium. August watched him curiously, as this man wasn’t one of his. The tall, dark haired man approached August, before kneeling down on one knee and bowing his head. “Long live the Federation. Long live Humanity.” August’s eyes lit up in surprised joy, and one by one, the other heads of state each came up to the throne and gave their oaths of fealty. The entire thing was recorded, and an edited version would be released to the public by every news agency and social media platform on earth after the meeting concluded. After the oaths were finished, August moved on to the real reason for this meeting. “Very good. As we are currently in a period of great turmoil, I will temporarily assume the position of chairman of the Federation, until such a time the economic and social council can declare that over 95% of the human population live in prosperity. When such a time arrives, I will step down and the world may vote for a new leader.” It was probably still going to be him anyways. "In the meantime, the General Assembly shall act as parliament, while I act as head of state.” Here, some murmured agreements could be heard, as the now MPs considered their new roles. “The second matter is the dissolution of all state or privately owned military, as well as the security council. The Underworld will take over maintaining peace on planet Earth, and all future Human colonies.” Agreements were echoed across the room, for what else could they do but agree now that they had sworn their souls to the devil? “Finally, the Trustee council shall be turned into the Colonization Council, charged with the expansion of Mankind from our homeworld.” Looking around the room, seeing that none of these people would dare oppose him, August let out a satisfied smile. On the side, Kayden grinned sadistically as she watched these formerly powerful men and women be metaphorically beaten into submission. “That concludes today’s meeting. General assemblies shall be held quarterly, and each member has the privilege to call a general assembly with the agreement of 14 other member states. Good day, everyone.” With that, August departed from the chamber, satisfied with the outcome.

Back on the Nemesis, as Kayden and August longed around, waiting to arrive at the European front, Kayden had a question for August. “So, what are we gonna do after conquering the world? This is fun, don’t get me wrong, but we’re gonna run out of opponents eventually. And just doing administrative work doesn’t sound fun at all.” August smiled wryly at Kayden’s question. “Well, as you know, there is preparing for the Titan threat, which means expanding into outer space. We might run into other alien lifeforms there. Plus, there’s a secret project that I’m working on right now. I’ll show it to you before it’s done, but it’ll certainly be a lot of fun. So don’t worry about it. I promised to keep you entertained, and I will. Worst comes to worst, you can always satisfy yourself with me, however you want to take that.” August threw in a little wink at the end, unsure of whether Kayden, as someone so detached from human emotion just over a week ago, would understand his words. By the devious grin on her face, it would seem like she did. The two decided to enjoy some good old superhero films from the beginning of the century, preparing for their arrival on the European front.