The city seemed numbed by the cold. The damp streets reflected the bluish streetlights, while the wind swept through the tall buildings carrying old newspapers and dust. Very few cars still circulated in that area.
A white line dashed across the avenue so fast that the sounds came only afterward. Signs spun in the air, windows rattled, and alarms began to go off in sequence. It was Pyramid, sprinting through the entire city in seconds in search of Galactor.
His white cloak dragged violent air currents behind his body while his single eye shone intensely. He didn't even seem to touch the ground; each step warped the concrete inward, and he was so fast that the ground turned red from the heat.
Far behind, Miguel pushed through the city carrying Lilith on his back. His feet splashed through puddles of water as he dodged between parked cars and narrow streets.
— HE'S WAY TOO FAST! — Miguel shouted amidst heavy breaths.
Lilith held on tight so she wouldn't fall, her hair reacting so fiercely to the wind that it was practically frozen in the air.
— That's not "too fast," Miguel! That's absurd!
— If he's heading in that direction... then Vierius is really there. Galactor must be with Vierius!
The enormous C.E.M structure appeared on the horizon like a black block illuminated by military lights, in the deepest part of the empty streets.
C.E.M Base — Containment Sector.
The metallic sound of the air drafts echoed faintly through the room.
Vierius remained seated in the containment cell, his hands bound by chains that wrapped around his arms, chest, and legs. In the adjacent cell, Galactor remained leaning against the wall, unchained, trying to find an opening. B34 remained deactivated inside the transparent capsule.
Silence was their only company, save for the hum of the vents and the constantly flickering lights. Galactor stopped biting the bars, giving up.
— I hate you! You miserable little group of Earthlings! If it weren't for you and your damn robot, I wouldn't be in the facilities of a poorly-recognized military base.
Vierius raised his eyes to the wall.
— Galactor, why do you hate us so much?
Galactor frowned immediately.
— You. Earthlings, you destroy each other just for your own pleasure, being selfish to the very end.
— You don't look at us like someone who hates, at least, not me and Miguel.
The alien prince sat on the floor; angry, he sighed and continued.
— Kieria. I should have been her only son. I should have inherited everything. The power. The Yaol. Her knowledge. Even her musculature. — His voice began to harden. — But then you were born.
— Miguel inherited the more physical powers, like regeneration and transmutation, which manipulate his own body and the closest matter, transforming their characteristics. You inherited the more... metaphysical powers, like portals, gravitational control, and...
— Well, I don't have any gravitational control. How do you know all this? — Vierius interrupted.
Galactor slowly lowered his head.
— Shut up! You stole the inheritance of the powers that was meant for me! And I... I don't even have Yaol.
Vierius detached himself from the freezing wall; he held his breath for a second as if he had made a discovery.
— So that's what you feel? Inferiority?
Galactor froze, his pupils narrowed, and everything fell silent for a minute, even the ventilation. Deep in his heart, he felt weak and vulnerable.
"I... I really am useless," Galactor thought.
— Idiot... Vierius, you are an idiot!
— Don't you hate humans too?
The reptilian gaze trembled; he was starting to breathe irregularly.
— The Earthlings took my mother from me.
— You blame them for Kieria's death. You blame yourself for not being able to protect her.
Galactor gritted his teeth so hard it seemed like he would break them; he flexed his muscles in sheer rage.
— YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!
— You aren't cruel, Galactor.
You're confused. Afraid.
Those words completely destroyed his aggressive posture. And he didn't answer anymore, his eyes just trembled. Relaxing his muscles, he then began to cry.
— I just wanted to be happy with Pyramid, I just wanted to stay away from everyone, because... he was all I had left.
Vierius changed his facial expression, furrowing his brows. He sat near the cold wall, curling up with his back against it.
— Galactor, know that you are not alone. We are your family too.
Vierius said one last time, triggering one final tear from Galactor before absolute silence; the lizard closed his eyes, feeling truly welcomed for the first time in millennia.
C.E.M Main Entrance.
Alarms began to sound, with red lights flashing in all the corridors as agents and guards ran everywhere, with automatic doors closing and locking in sequence.
Agent Vargas widened her eyes as she recognized the energy signature on the monitors.
— It can't be... He's back!
Rource quickly got up from the chair he was resting in, looking around without understanding a thing.
The reinforced black steel wall was shattered, causing an explosion of steel in all directions, followed by a small smokescreen. Pyramid walked in through the smoke, destroyed debris, and pieces of molten metal; he looked serious but acted calmly.
All the guards quickly aimed their weapons at the alien, surrounding him from every possible angle. But he kept walking peacefully, with no aggressive posture, and then stopped in front of one of the guards.
— I came here to get my son. — He said calmly.
From the cameras, Agent Vargas swallowed hard; she was perplexed by the sudden appearance of the alien, the very same one who had fought against Yatswan, the same one who had been in Boston.
— Looks like the King of the ankakis finally showed his face at C.E.M. — Dax said, adjusting his gravitational gauntlets as he walked.
Pyramid tilted his head slightly, thinking carefully about the words.
— I have no desire to hurt anyone. Just give me back Galactor. — Pyramid said in his most serious tone.
— The prisoners will be executed in three days; you're not going to interrupt any process, alien. — Lira stated.
The council members quickly positioned themselves in front of Pyramid, the other agents backing away as the tension grew. Keon's sword was consumed by burning flames, Dax calibrated his gauntlets, ready to use them, and Lira forced her transformation. Pyramid's eye turned white, and before anyone could act, Pyramid crossed the room thousands of times in a matter of seconds. The weapons began to explode one after another as metallic pieces flew through the corridors. Not a single agent died; he only destroyed equipment, ammunition, and anti-Yaol mechanisms.
He continued down the corridors until he passed the elevators and reached the containment cell, shattering all the security systems in seconds and reaching his son.
— Are you hurt? — He asked quickly, as he was still coming to a halt.
Galactor went a few seconds without answering, his eyes shining when he saw his father.
— No, I'm fine.
Pyramid then finally noticed Vierius and B34; Vierius curled up in the corner, afraid of the destruction, and B34 tossed by his side thanks to the destroyed prison. His gaze changed slightly.
— You were captured as well?
— Yes, C.E.M caught us off guard, in the middle of the road.
Before anything else could happen, red alarms covered the entire building. Pyramid instantly cleared a path, holding back the debris with his hands.
— Go, quickly!
The walls of C.E.M began to crumble as he literally tore an exit out of the building, with many electrical sparks flying from the snapped cables coming from the walls.
Vierius tried to open a portal but was still neutralized due to the effects of the anti-Yaol weapons.
B34 powered back on immediately, its lights flashing blue as if it were breathing again.
— Systems partially restored. Escape probability: 72%.
Vierius and B34 quickly went through the opening Pyramid had made; Galactor, before passing through, turned to his father, gathering the courage to speak:
— Father, I've made a decision! — He said confidently.
Pyramid was holding up the entire building with his arms and back so it wouldn't collapse on top of them; he turned to his son.
— What do you have to say? — He said, his voice on alert.
— I'm going to unite with my brothers, I'm going to call a truce for at least one day; together... we'll defeat the cult. — Galactor's voice weakened, afraid of his father's disappointment.
— Galactor... — He said, lowering his tone of voice to something a little gentler. — I am proud to say that one day you will be the great king of the ankakis. I am proud of you, my son.
A tear of emotion rolled down Galactor's eye before he could reply:
— I love you, Dad! — Galactor said, running toward the exit so he wouldn't be left behind.
Outside the building, as the steel and metal melted into a single mass, the building tilted backward, falling and turning into a pile of rubble. Miguel and Lilith finally reached the location at the exact moment half of C.E.M's facade collapsed.
Lilith was paralyzed.
— IS THAT HIS DAD?
Miguel stared at Pyramid in the distance, who was destroying military tanks with his bare hands while dodging and counter-attacking C.E.M council members without killing anyone.
— He is really, really strong...
Vierius and Galactor emerged alongside B34, who was flying with jet thrusters toward the two of them. As soon as Miguel saw them, he broke into a relieved smile, approaching to hug them.
— VIERIUS! B34!
Miguel impulsively jumped to hug them, and Lilith joined in the tight embrace. After a few seconds, Miguel pulled away, still excited.
— Galactor, even you? Did you guys kidnap him or bribe him? — Miguel said canonically in his amused tone.
— Galactor was converted into an ally without the use of violence, — stated B34.
— It wasn't very easy, we even got caught by C.E.M, but in the end, he made the decision to come with us. — Vierius said.
Galactor widened his eyes upon seeing Lilith, who had the exact same reaction.
— You're the lizard from that spaceship! — Lilith commented.
— You're the scared little girl!
Miguel raised an eyebrow, not understanding a thing:
— You two know each other?
— Let's just say a shapeshifting Relic Guardian invaded my ship with her strapped to his back, and well, we bumped into each other. — Galactor explained.
— Alright, everyone here knows what our objective is, right? — Vierius said. — There is no margin for error; we are the only chance to destroy the cult once and for all...
— But we don't have a plan or their location! We're going to need a lot of help...
— Unfortunately, we'll have to do this just the four of us. Once, Kieria told me that only her four children should go after the cult; otherwise, it would be too risky and there could be unnecessary deaths. — Vierius stated, clasping his hands together as he thought of a plan.
Everyone paused for a minute, debating in their own thoughts about their current location, and especially the plan. Until suddenly, Miguel snapped his fingers, having an idea.
— That distortion in the sea, you guys passed through it, right? It's highly likely the cult is hiding in there!
— If that's correct, they're plotting something. Which means we're out of time. B34, take us to the Atlantic distortion.
B34 tilted its head at Vierius in confirmation; it began to float with the fire coming out of its thrusters, and then grabbed Lilith, Vierius, and Galactor, immediately taking off into the air.
Albany Coastline — Sailboat Summer.
The main group was still discussing the disappearance of Miguel, Vierius, and B34, after dropping Ari off on solid ground. Everyone was anxious, terrified that the distortion had taken them.
— Miguel has been missing since the conflict against C.E.M... Vierius had been gone since before the plan, and B34 vanished as soon as it went up to the upper deck... What could have happened... — Michael reflected, his voice deepening with seriousness on the last sentence; he paced back and forth, panicking, though he didn't show it.
Hax raised his head; he was leaning against the edge of the sailboat, looking out at the sea, thinking his reflection was a monster.
— Look. The radio transmitter had sent a message from Ari, saying that B34 and Vierius had been captured along with Galactor, but that Miguel wasn't there.
— They went after Galactor... alone? Miguel must be at the C.E.M facilities too, but just hasn't been seen...
Hax's belly vibrated, with Ari's voice coming from inside it:
— THE C.E.M BUILDING WAS AMBUSHED! — He shouted breathlessly. — A PYRAMID-HEADED ALIEN INVADED AND DESTROYED EVERYTHING, NOW IT'S ALL COLLAPSING!
Michael and Kutro looked at him at the exact same time.
— That means...
— That Hax swallowed the device. — Michael said, interrupting Kutro.
The sea began to form waves and rock the boat violently, causing everyone to stagger and fall. Suddenly, a green tentacle pierced the sailboat, splitting it in half. While the wood groaned and splintered apart, and the three of them clung to the still-solid pieces, a green creature with multiple tentacles on its back rose up, revealing himself to be Yatswan.
— I really missed you guys! — He shouted, his ironic voice shifting into an aggressive one. — This time. I WILL MAKE SURE NOT A SINGLE HUMAN IS LEFT STANDING!
He started to obliterate the boat, with tentacles narrowly missing the trio; shattering into pieces, the boat began to sink with each devastating impact that made even the ocean vibrate. For a moment, he paused upon seeing he was face to face with a giant city filled with civilians and surfers scrambling away. He grabbed the boat and hurled it out into the open sea, sending the remaining pieces of the sailboat and its occupants flying into the distortion, vanishing from the world's sight. One last scream from Michael echoed before being taken away.
