Elite Comic Universe PBP

When not aiding in the rescue efforts, Camilo had been immersed in the news coverage. He didn't have the benefit, or more accurately the trauma, of being there first hand. He sat in the common area with the 24 hour news repeating the same information ad nauseam, trying to make sense of what he was seeing broadcasted and what little he'd gathered on the ground.

Ayana yawned and went into the fridge and said, "That was crazy, oh man, no yogurt. Ugh, I guess I will go to the cafeteria later."

Bea had stopped by Academy House to pick up her last box of belongings.

She heard the TV and stepped in, box in hand. "Good to see you two are both okay! Ah, it's hard to hear them tally the lives lost. I wish there was more we could have done to prevent it."

"Yes, they haven't bothered restocking since we're all out this morning." He told Ayana, falling into a pattern of normalcy for a moment with the mundane comment.

Camilo waved to Bea when she came in, "I'm glad you're okay too. There is no use dwelling in the past. We have to focus on our next steps. How to prevent the next attack. No?" He stroked his mustache in thought. "Although I guess by thinking how we could have prevented this we may find a clue how to prevent what comes next. No? Maybe the common advice is not always the right advice."

She nodded.

"It all happened so fast. I think she was already in a fight with Tsehay Moqe. What drew our attention was the impact at Tshehay hit the ground and an explosion of her power. That was the first blast. She lost control briefly, from the pain. Then Lisa Singularity arrived, and the blue woman."

"Lisa Singularity moved in to stop the blue woman, and she just instantly decapitated her in front of us. You ... you don't see that very often."

"So I thought ... I have to stop this monster who is attacking and killing. Right? I mean that had to be the right thing to try to do. But she was very powerful. I tried to pacify her - to calm her mind, render her non-violent, at least for a moment so maybe we could talk, apprehend her, something. But she shrugged it off. And she said something like 'Resistance. I like it when they resist.' And then in the blink of an eye, at incalculable speed she did ... everything else. All the harm you hear on the news. It was all in the heartbeat, the breath, after I touched her mind."

"Her retaliation. She said extreme violence was the only way to get our attention and silence resistance. And the only reason she left then was that she chose to. She said her message. That they were coming in 3 years to enslave our world. And if we resisted then, they'd kill 1/10th of the population. Until we stopped resisting."

Her eyes were red. Her voice breaking at points. "It was overwhelming. She was so much more powerful than Tshehay and Lisa, let alone us. And we just had to focus on saving everyone we could in those seconds. Lives were on the line. She wasn't attacking anymore. She'd made her point. It seemed best to just let her go. Maybe I should have tried to read her mind - to truly know who she was, her intention, her truth. But I didn't dare try to touch her mind again. Not after..."

"The only prevention I can see is closing the door to all these other universes. No more passage back and forth. I don't have the slightest idea how we could do that. But if they can get to us in 3 years, everyone is going to die or be enslaved. She is apparently one of many. A herald for many. And her power was ... indescribable."

"Whoa, that's heavy," Ayana said after listening. "I... you were there, and saw all that first hand?"

She nodded.

"I was there. Yeah. I saw her. I heard her."

"She said she was from the ... the Ultrum Imperium. They are going to 'annex' our world. She said it like we should be grateful. But no one benevolent would send an agent so cruel and horrific. She said she was the herald. She seemed to enjoy the excuse for extreme violence. She was cruel. Destructive. Impossibly destructive. She said to tell our world leaders to get ready. And that if we resisted when they returned, they would kill one in ten for it. Probably immediately. And more after. The last thing she said was: 'if you choose to resist, millions will suffer.'"

"That is the truth. I do not know why UNJE wishes to blame Pantheon. That is distracting and untrue."

"Above my pay grade," she said. "So aliens are real now? Real aliens, not weird fake aliens like Frankie?"

"I'm actually not sure if alien is the right word. For all we know, the Ultrum Imperium rules an alternate earth, and so she is being from our planet, just a different universe. Or it is equally possible they are aliens from another world or galaxy in that alternate universe."

"But I think it is right to focus on how ... external a threat this is. Every person on this planet, this Earth, this universe is equally threatened. We must band together. Be ready to bring every resource together, every bright mind, every soldier, every prayer warrior. There is no one here who is not on the same team, against this external threat."

"Three years, huh, seems kind of dumb to give us forewarning," she admitted.

"I wondered about that. Maybe they have experience it is the right amount of time to splinter a population into factions? Too long for an immediate all hands on deck rally? Time enough for a faction of capitulators to rise up and do their work for them?"

"It is a very odd thing. No? For them to warn us when they have so much power, could so easily surprise us and take control now.

It could be to let us fall apart, let the anticipation drive some of us against each other. But why? Would you walk up to a child, tell them you were coming back in an hour to take away their candy, and hope they give it up in fear? Or would you just take it?"

"It could also be because they experience time differently than we do. Perhaps they are immortal? Part machine? From the herald's words, I think she understood it would feel like more time to us than to them. Maybe that is part of the message? We are so far above you that we count three years as a blink of an eye?"