In a house somewhere in Tomobiki…
"It can't be true…it just CAN'T BE TRUE!"
A sigh. "It IS true, Shaskaar. The bio-scans do not lie." A pause before Fungi gazed on his co-workers. "Lum-sama…is one of They Who Must Never Be Named."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
Several people screamed out as they began to wail at this darkest of all Revelations. Watching them, Fungi — who, given that he was part-Vosian through his paternal great-grandmother, didn't have the specific genetic makeup in his body that would allow him to blindly follow others in the so-called "one true faith" into believing whatever the President declared was right and proper — could only shake his head in mute pity over what his friends were going through right now. While there were times that he wished he hadn't volunteered to be one of the over three hundred observers sent by the Church of Lum to the "holy city" to keep watch over a certain "living goddess" and her "holy company," Fungi also knew that staying on the homeworld while NOT professing FULL and HONEST belief in the Church was a one-way ticket to a date with an early grave.
So — even if he wanted to often scream out at his friends' antics, especially whenever they watched something unusual happen here and them immediately declared it the fault of the "great evil" WITHOUT bothering to investigate what really happened! — he played the game and mouthed the right words at the right time. And while he was sometimes viewed with suspicion by some of his co-workers, his immediate supervisor Shaskaar valued his diligence for hard work and gladly stepped up to defend him whenever someone decided to get too nosy. That was understandable. Despite their obvious alien ancestry — one just had to look at their tapered ears — all the observers in Tomobiki and the surrounding municipalities had adopted local aliases and had pretty much worked their way into the local community. If any of them went missing, it would be noticed. The Church — to ensure the "purity" of the observations — didn't want it to happen.
But now…
Fungi had to smile to himself as he considered what he had overheard through wireless transmitters some of his co-workers had when the revelation of the Yizibajohei — as he was part-Vosian, Fungi personally did not fear "They Who Must Never Be Named" with the wild paranoia others felt — and Moroboshi Ataru's involvement with them. That one man, working over a period of approximately nine years — according to what both the Academician and Prodigy had explained to Windtalker when the metahuman reporter began broadcasting her Live from Tomobiki special over the airwaves; such was now being captured by news stations worldwide as well as the Internet — finding "pretty girls" and enticing them to Yiziba to gain a metahuman Gift. Given the young age of the so-called "great evil" of the Church of Lum at the time he started this mission — not to mention the age of many of those he had targeted — it was no wonder that so many had agreed to do it. And certainly NONE of them had regretted taking that journey.
Earth certainly benefitted from it well.
It all could be explained by one name:
Galactus.
Even if the ancient star god had never targeted a world in the local cluster of the Milky Way Galaxy, the races living on those planets had heard of that awful name and learned what that name ultimately spelt for those who attracted the Devourer of Worlds' attention. And to believe that somehow, someway, Infinity and the Weaver — two of Ataru's closer friends among the Terran-turned-Yizibajohei — persuaded Galactus to leave Earth forever be and travel to a pocket dimension holding within it a neutron galaxy with THOUSANDS of life-bearing yet lifeless worlds to feast on.
He had not been seen since.
How many planets — how many RACES — did that act save? Fungi then mused as he turned to his machine to bring up the pictures of the two metahumans in question. From what he had been able to glean from the Internet — after certain blocks got out of the system; From where?! he wondered — the whole of Earth had expressed massive gratitude to the two girls for what they had done. In fact, the Japanese Emperor had welcomed the two into his presence to personally bestow his thanks for what they had done. Surely, if Infinity and the Weaver had done that for any other race, they would be seen as the greatest heroes of all…even if they WERE Yizibajohei!
And yet…?
Why make people FORGET what happened?! Fungi wondered. Why force Ataru — who was living with an adopted sister on Yiziba! — to forget all his friends AND family, then force him into a nearly-emotionless home just to deceive Lum-sama into believing he was ultimately harmless?! Why go to THIS extent to trick the Urusians — and by extension, all of us! — to thinking Earth was no real threat to them? Are they weak…?
A chill then filled his heart as he thought of something.
…or are they THAT strong?
«Well, well, well…» a woman's voice echoed in his mind. «What do we have here?»
Fungi jolted on hearing that voice — which had a curious echo in it which warned him immediately that it was a telepathic contact — and then he relaxed himself. A quick glance to his friends quickly revealed they hadn't noticed his actions. Who are you? he then thought out as he turned back to gazing on his computer screen.
«Soul Searcher,» the voice called back. «You've seen my picture.»
He nodded. A tall Japanese girl with flowing dark brown hair and dark brown eyes that wore goggles over her eyes…which probably indicated that she had something of a vision problem and most likely wore glasses when out of her black-and-white jumpsuit. Staring at her — and imagining what she might look like without the goggles — he then sighed. So what do you want? he thought. My friends haven't discovered your friend's taking the cobalt bomb away — not that I personally ever approved of such a thing, but when you're at the bottom of the totem pole, what can you do? — but they'll clue into it sooner or later. If they do, they'll scream out for help back home…
«And be jammed. It's happening now. Check your systems.»
Fungi blinked, and then he tapped controls. A second later, he paled. How…?
«Part of the reason the Men In Black decided to play 'helpless planet' when your so-called 'goddess' came to us,» Soul Searcher answered. «There's tech on this planet that's more advanced than anything you've probably ever heard of. We've dealt with races that control whole GALAXIES, not just a few star systems close together. You know about Galactus. We've had people — metahuman heels so psychotic, they deserved to be put down at birth — who've travelled through TIME to hurt us. After a while — especially if you're one of the spandex club that has to deal with this nonsense — it gets boring after a bit.» A chuckle. «Besides, the MIBs knew the Urusians really didn't want to conquer Earth. Just keep it clear of your enemies. If they had only explained that to Ataru-kun, I'm sure he would have gone along with it.»
He was quick to sense the undertone of outrage in her mental "voice" on saying that. What happened to you all? Given your powers…?
«Ataru-kun's a natural empath. It's how he scouted each 'pretty girl' out to see if she was a good candidate for a Gift. Because of that, after we all got Gifted, we forged empathic bonds with him. When his mind got blanked out, ours got blanked out in turn,» she replied. «He also was exposed to the Crystal of Power — the Seeker's Forge as it's known to some people — when he was six and his sister got separated into her own body. He never received a Gift — Negako-sama never really needed one and he went along with it — but the meson in his blood expanded his powers quite nicely. That's how he was able to sense Lum when she got into trouble just after he started living on Yiziba. Thanks pretty much to a fellow from YOUR planet named Ganzo!» As Fungi gasped on hearing THAT name, the telepath then trilled. «Ooooooooooooooooh…an actual race of female BIOROIDS you're holding as SEX-SLAVES?! Naughty-naughty!»
Fungi shuddered as he glanced around the room. The other observers of his group were all consoling each other as the younger of them wailed in grief and fear over what had just been learned. None had glanced his way. Why would he do that to Lum-sama?! he then demanded. Ten years ago?! She was SIX at the time! She was HARMLESS!
«Your 'great awakening' was underway at that time. I've never meet the guy, but I'll bet that given that he didn't care too much for whatever 'faith' was running the show back home,» Soul Searcher explained. «And since this 'Church of Lum' seemed to be catching on big time on your planet, what better way to break it…»
Then kill or cripple the 'goddess' herself, he finished.
«Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight,» she trilled. «Now pay attention. Every major metahuman team on the planet is minutes away from arriving in Tomobiki. With them are soldiers of a metahuman control unit you've NEVER heard of before…but they are too skilled and too well-armed to be stopped by anything you might have. If you don't want to wind up either dead or literally frozen on ice, get out of that house now. A friend of mine is close by so she can walk you over to Tomobiki High School. I'm waiting.»
With that, he nodded as he closed the machine off — though he didn't engage the security locks — and then he stood up. "I'm going to get something to eat," he advised as he gazed on Shaskaar. Noting her not reacting — she was comforting a wailing Saari — he then nodded before heading to the entranceway. Slipping on his shoes, he stepped outside of the house they rented — it wasn't too far away from the Miyake home — and then, after closing the door, turned…
…before gasping on seeing an incredibly tall Japanese girl with waist-length black hair and grey eyes standing there. Dressed in a mottled Yizibajohei-pattern jumpsuit which looked like it could be used as camouflage out in the woods, she had a grey-furred cat seated on her shoulder…and dozens of other cats, dogs and other animals — including some birds! — standing around her on the ground or on the bordering fence of the property. "Konban wa," she said in a quiet yet powerful voice. "You must be Fungi-san. Come with me, please. Soul Searcher is waiting."
He blinked, and then nodded as he followed her. Quickly noting the animals also moving to stay with their friend, he slipped his hands into his jacket pocket — it was early fall in Japan, so the weather was getting a little chilly — and then he blinked as several of the birds landed on his shoulders. "Don't mind my friends," the transformed Sakaki Kiyomi — Lady Lofting — stated as she gazed in amusement at him. "They can sense you're much different than your friends. Though I suspect that once you wash away all this silliness you consider a 'religion,' they'd be normal people, too."
"Sometimes I'm forced to wonder," he mused…
Tomobiki High School…
"Holy shit! You're serious?!"
"Dead serious, Ryū-chan," Soul Searcher answered as she relaxed with the others on the front lawn of the school. "This is something that could solve not just Yiziba's population problems but also help the Zentraedi big-time as well. Given how leery all the boys are when it comes to doing the deed with any of the girls…"
Wolverine laughed as many of the others giggled or chuckled; Mizuhara Yomi was known for her rather ribald sense of humour. "I still find it shocking!" Miyake Shinobu stated. "A whole race literally being BRAINWASHED into believing Lum was a living goddess figure. And because we interacted with her every day she lived here, we became her 'holy company.' Which meant that they actually SPIED on our DIARIES…and then turned around and PUBLISHED them in some sort of perverted BIBLE?! Why?!"
"Typical moves of a dictatorship," Windtalker stated. "You control the flow of information and you control the masses. Make them believe something. Make damn sure there can be no way to QUESTION that something. And given that these sames are all so easily brainwashed into following the popular 'party line'…"
"Yeah, just like Yiziba was at the Dawn of Power," Soul Searcher noted, and then she perked on sensing someone approaching. "Ah, there she is!" she said as she looked over.
Prodigy blinked, and then she smiled as Lady Lofting came through the front gate, walking alongside a man with tapered ears in normal clothing. Amongst the animals accompanying the "All-Speaker" — as those who were not human referred to the transformed Sakaki as — was Mihama Chiyo's own pet Great Pyrenees dog, Tadakichi-san. As he barked out before running over to lick his mistress on the face, Lady Lofting walked Fungi over to sit him down next to Soul Searcher. "You owe me," she then said as she gazed in amusement at the transformed Yomi before she headed off.
Fungi watched her go, quickly noting she was engaging in a very detailed conversation with the animals around her, and then he sighed. "What is she?"
"She's a telepath like me, but her skills are focused on communicating with animals," Soul Searcher replied as she smiled at him. "We call her Lady Lofting; her Yizibajohei name wouldn't really translate well into any of the Earth languages."
He perked. "After Hugh Lofting. The author of Doctor Doolittle."
"The same," Carcajou stated. "So what's your name, anyway?"
"Fungi dai-Jaideen," he introduced himself. "So why…?"
He then perked on hearing a faint turbine roar echo through the skies overhead. Snapping his head around — having lived on Earth for the better part of a year, Fungi was familiar with all mechanical noises common to this world; THAT was nothing he could recognise — he then gaped on seeing a dozen or so aircraft approach from the east. Looking like swept-wing versions of the Boeing YC-14 prototype tactical transport aircraft from the mid-1970s, they were pained a very dark grey shade and moved with a grace and swiftness that seemed impossible for aircraft of their type. As the first one soared overhead to bank around the orbiting Redet Glory, Fungi was quick to spot the low visibility ring roundel-and-maple leaf insignia of the Royal Canadian Air Force on the wings and hull. "The Canadians?!" he gasped. "What are those things?!"
"Defence Research and Development Canada CY-199 Borealis multi-environmental transport craft," Prodigy answered as she gazed in amusement at him. "Fully space capable, can accelerate to hyperwarp speeds once clear of a planet's gravity well and capable of crossing the gap between this galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy in a couple of hours."
Fungi gaped at her as Soul Searcher giggled…
The Redet Glory…
"TELL ME WHAT THEY ARE!"
"We CAN'T, Boss!" the first officer of the Urusian cruiser stated as he stared apologetically at Invader. "As soon as they detected our putting out scans to try to get a better clue as to the source of their technology, they put up a jamming screen around each of their ships! We can't even scan the lifeforms aboard them!"
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh…Mother of All Fight Scenes coming!"
The bridge crew of the Redet Glory cried out on hearing those taunting words from the woman in the black leather one-piece suit standing at the aft end of the bridge with all her friends, including the transformed Lum; on seeing what had happened to their leader's daughter, all of the bridge crew had nearly fainted on realising that the Devil's Daughter (as Lum was popularly nicknamed amongst other races in the Galactic Federation) was also Tempest of the You Know Whos. Before Invader could try to do anything to keep some discipline on his bridge — which was extra hard since he himself was still scared spitless of his daughter's new friends — Infinity then sighed as she gazed on her classmate. "Now, Tomo-chan, stop that!" she scolded. "That's not nice."
"Hey! What happened to Ataru-kun was not nice, Ōsaka!" Warwind snarled back. "Hell, what Negako-chan had to do to Lum here was also not nice! It ain't our fault that the ancestors of these stupid sames couldn't take the fact that we — specifically Jess-chan's past-self — beat them in their stupid little tag race!" She waved to Rampage in emphasis. "If they want to blame someone for what happened, blame the dork that led that 'invasion' in the first place!" A smirk. "Without doing his homework!"
Several of the girls laughed. "Tomo-chan, stop that! You're not being nice!" the Hearth Witch stated as she gazed at the younger girl. While she had the empathic power to calm other people down, the elder Tendō daughter knew that the transformed Takino Tomo could become so excited that she could easily shrug off the telepathic influence of the most powerful psis on the planet like Charles Xavier. "They're frightened enough as is…and they're also hurt enough because of what happened to Lum-chan."
"Well, at least they should show some gratitude for what Ataru was so kind to do for her after he found her in the Terrible Swamps after that Ganzo fellow slapped that power-dampener on her to make her the equivalent of a squib," a voice then said.
Albus Dumbledore — who, with Konoe Konoemon, had been chatting with Oyuki off to the port side of the bridge — perked before he smiled. "Hello, Pansy!" he said as the shadows on the other side of the bridge morphed in the image of a girl in a gunmetal grey cloak and hood over the standard Yizibajohei jumpsuit, also grey and decorated with very intricate runes. "I trust all is well back in England?"
"Ah! It's Pansy-chan!" Infinity crooned out.
"Hermione and the others are rounding up all the people in the Ministry of Magic who were involved in what happened to us, Professor," Pansy Parkinson — Shadow Weaver — then reported as she slipped off her hood to reveal her very beautiful face…which had finally grown out in all the right places to make her once-puggish nose look sexy on her. "Three-quarters of them were either Death Eaters or supporters of same. But I'm afraid that Chikage is now involved in this, not to mention Chikaru. Both were able to break into Azkaban. The results were…" A sigh. "Predictable."
Dumbledore winced. "Boy! I sure bet the Dementors had a lot to eat!" Infinity said.
"Ayumu!" the Warlock stated, shocked that the normally forgiving Infinity would say something like THAT. "There's nothing at all funny about a bunch of soul-wraiths sucking out the very LIVES of people, even if they're criminals!"
The Oni all croaked on hearing that. "Harry-kun, Chikage-chan is involved," the transformed Kasuga Ayumu warned. "You know how much she feels about her 'Ani-kun!' And Chikaru-chan is just as passionate about having a pillow-scene with Ataru-kun as Lum-chan or Tara-chan here!" She waved to Tempest and Terra in emphasis. "Besides, knowing how much that creep Riddle scares everyone over in Britain, it wouldn't take long for them to get busted out of jail."
Suddenly, a crack! echoed across the bridge, which made the Oni all gasp as they looked around…before they gazed on the rather dapper-dressed short humanoid that just appeared close to Infinity. Warlock looked, and then he smiled as he bowed low to the just-arrived goblin. "Master Griphook! May your foes all fall before you!"
The goblin bowed in return. "Master Potter! You are too kind to a humble warrior such as myself! May your foes all fall before your wrath, especially in the wake of what just was unmasked this very evening!" He then produced a money-bag out of somewhere and turned to bow low to Tempest. "The Lady Nabiki was quick to tell me of your willingness to participate in the bet concerning what power Master Ataru will receive once he overcomes his shyness concerning advancing himself into a metahuman state, Lady Lum. It was quite easy for our Japanese branch to convert what accounts were set up in the name of the beings pretending to be Master Ataru's parents to galleons and putting it into your name. The fifty galleons of your wager was withdrawn."
A deep bow. "Thank you so much, Master Goblin…" The transformed Lum then caught herself. "Wait! You said 'beings pretending to be' Darling's parents! If they really aren't Darling's parents…!" She then caught herself. "Oh! That's right! It was Doctor Death that killed them!" She then perked as the Oni — not to mention Oyuki — gaped in shock on hearing that. "So what were they, anyway?!"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Life Model Decoys constructed in their image. And clearly magically enhanced to ensure that the technology of your people — not to mention the mystical senses of the monk Cherry and his niece — could not detect the truth about them."
"Did you tell Fury?" Terra asked.
"The good colonel has already been told, Lady Tara," Griphook stated. "He requested the Specialised Warfare Regiment's personnel here in Tomobiki locate and deactivate them so that the Lady Elizabeth or the Lady Chiyo can examine them."
"That must have been really freaky!" Infinity stated. "Ataru-kun actually living with his dead parents for a whole year!" A shake of the head. "Weird."
The others gaped at her, and then Wildflower leaned over to whisper to the Weaver, "Isn't that the pot calling the kettle 'black,' Haruhi?"
The Mistress of Time and Space giggled…
Below…
As the people of Tomobiki and in areas of the neighbouring municipalities watched in disbelief and shock, rifle sections of well-armed soldiers in Arctic camouflage — with Canadian flags on their shoulders — appeared thanks to what seemed to be some sort of transporter beam on the streets close to various homes. Immediately, the soldiers stormed their way into those residences, weapons — very futuristic battle rifles — at the ready as they moved to shoot down whoever was inside with very bright energy bolts. Seconds later, the soldiers then moved to extract the people attacked out of their houses…and in doing so, revealed that those they were targeting were the mysterious aliens whose presence in town had just been revealed hours before.
Before many could move to contact the police about what was happening, many familiar people in bright costumes began to appear on the streets. Immediately recognising the likes of many of the X-Men — not to mention Superman, his cousin Supergirl, Captain Marvel, his sister Mary Marvel, Wonder Woman, Captain America, Raven of the Titans and other legendary faces from the vast mosaic of adventurers that lived and worked in America — the onlookers watching the Canadian soldiers doing their work calmed down. While Canada was not known to possess a government agency that dealt with metahuman affairs — not like America, which had S.H.I.E.L.D. (the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate) to protect its normal citizens from the metahuman and paranormal — that the Great White North would possess such a force seemed logical as the country was home to a team of metahuman adventurers, the Heroes Alliance of Canada, as well as a former team (Alpha Flight) and several independent heroes.
Within minutes, the last of the aliens had been rounded up, rendered unconscious and loaded onto stretchers to be beamed away from the city for the last time…
Tomobiki High School…
"You used to work for THEM?" Carcajou asked.
A shake of the head. "Nah! Worked for Department H, which was a whole separate group in DND," Wolverine answered. "Department H used civilian metas in their 'Flight' groups like Alpha Flight. The Regiment's all military; you gotta be a serving soldier to be part of it, especially if you're part of the Heroes Alliance."
Fungi blinked. "How do they get their technology?"
Wolverine gazed at Soul Searcher, who nodded in return. "Five million years ago, there used to be a race called the Karollans," he explained as he gazed intently at the young Niphentaxian, who gulped on sensing what the Canadian was emphasising; NOT A WORD about this to anyone else! "Lived out in one of the galactic clusters close to our galaxy. They were the intergalactic big dogs before the Skrull, the Kree and the Shi'ar began making waves. But something happened and a real big black hole developed in the middle of the cluster. Destroyed their homeworld and wiped out their race, like Superman's and Supergirl's people were lost some years back when their planet blew up." As Fungi nodded — the legends of the Children of Krypton WERE well-known to the worlds of the Galactic Federation — he added, "They left a cache of very high technology buried under a mountain in the Canadian Arctic. Back in the late 1940s, a friend of mine named Dean Raeburn found the cache and persuaded the government in Ottawa to create a unit that could make use of it. These days, it's call the Specialised Warfare Regiment of Canada; 'specialised warfare' is the military code-phrase for metahuman operations."
"Why aren't they known, Wolverine-san?" Shinobu asked.
"You know who Deannie is, don't you?"
A nod. "Earth's Jewel Warrior." Hearing THAT made Fungi gasp as he stared wide-eyed at Ataru's former girlfriend. "The Grandmaster of the Tensei-ryū. Master Hosan's last heir and adopted daughter. Also the leader of the War Hawks."
"Well, the War Hawks were officially the 1st Canadian Specialised Warfare Unit," Wolverine explained as he moved to light up his cigar. "The unit was disbanded at the end of Big Mistake Number Two, but after the Karollan base was found, was reactivated as the 'Joint Service Specialised Warfare Unit' under Deannie's command. After the whole stupid mess of Unification went down in 1968, it became the 'Specialised Warfare Regiment of Canada.' Not on any official order of battle; they're even blacker than JTF2." He then winked. "But maybe it's time for the secrecy to be done away with."
"The straw that broke the camel's back, you mean," Phoenix mused.
"Yeah…"
The Redet Glory…
"Captain Invader."
Hearing that strange voice, Invader jerked before he turned…
…and then gasped on seeing three people standing there, all in very colourful costumes even if the two men standing behind the lone woman in the blue jumpsuit were draped in nearly solid black…save for the white skull-like motif on the one with the rather LARGE gun with the exposed head; the other one wore a mask and cowl that was topped with pointed ear-like extensions over his real ears and had a stylised bat on his chest, his body draped with a floor-length scalloped cape. Shuddering on seeing the Batman and the Punisher for the first time, he then focused on Telepath…
…and then he gargled as he felt something SEIZE his body for a second, freezing him in place as the leader of the Heroes Alliance of Canada crossed her arms. "Now, Captain… we need to have a talk about certain things," she declared.
As the bridge crew paled — many of them instantly wondering if the girl in the blue jumpsuit was one of the You Know Whos — Infinity hummed before she turned to the other girls close to her. "Here! Let's go over to Lum-chan's ship," she said.
As they all vanished from the bridge of the Redet Glory, we now…
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