The Arrival
999 Words
A blur of green and gold streaked through the streets of Viremont—fast, untamed, and unstoppable. The creature raced forward, his fur catching the wind, his movements a marvel of velocity. Pedestrians barely had time to react. Buildings and traffic became smears of color in his peripheral vision. He didn’t stop until the city’s skyline gave way to sprawling grasslands.
At PRISM Headquarters, Marvel stood tensely before the main surveillance display. A high-altitude drone fed a live feed from above, tracking the creature as it skidded to a halt near a shimmering lake. He bent down, sniffed the water, and cautiously took a sip. After a beat, he began drinking deeply—his expression softening, if only for a moment.
Then the sirens came.
Squad cars screeched to a halt behind him, kicking up clouds of dust. PRISM agents poured out, rifles raised. The lead agent stepped forward, voice amplified through a comm.
“Stand down! Come quietly and no one gets hurt.”
The creature rose slowly. His gaze locked on the armed officers—unamused and unafraid. “I don’t think so,” he growled, his voice low and animalistic.
In a blink, the creature vanished.
Chaos exploded across the field as he tore through the ranks. Energy blasts sizzled past him, missing by fractions of a second. He twisted, ducked, and leapt, overwhelming the squad with ease. For every agent who fired, three were already on the ground.
“He’s too fast!” one agent shouted before being hurled into a squad car, denting the frame with a painful crash.
Squad cars flipped. Trees cracked under the force of impact. The battlefield was a blur of violence.
Just as it seemed the creature would escape again, a roar echoed from above. An attack helicopter emerged, rotors slicing the sky. Its twin cannons locked onto the creature and opened fire.
But the bullets might as well have been drifting leaves.
The creature slowed the world around him. Time crawled. He sidestepped each projectile with eerie grace, then launched himself skyward. With a mighty leap, he collided with the chopper, tearing into its engines and wiring with brutal efficiency.
Flames engulfed the sky as the aircraft spiraled out of control, crashing to the earth in a fiery wreck.
---
Marvel’s eyes burned into the monitor as she watched the feed. “Enough,” she snapped. “Deploy the prototypes. Now.”
A klaxon sounded within PRISM HQ as several mechanized suits—sleek, advanced, and lethal—powered up from standby mode. Their engines roared to life, and they blasted off into the sky, leaving trails of plasma behind as they shot toward Viremont.
Out in the grasslands, the creature barely had time to recover before a suit struck him from behind, driving him deep into the ground with an earth-shattering slam. Another suit swooped in, grabbing the stunned creature and soaring into the air.
Now the battle was airborne—and different. The creature flailed, unable to ground himself for speed. The suits moved like clockwork, passing him between each other in coordinated mid-air strikes.
One final hit came like a comet. A suit body-slammed the creature into the dirt at breakneck speed. Dazed, weakened, and restrained, he could no longer resist.
Metallic cuffs locked around his limbs.
Mission accomplished.
---
Marvel watched as the creature was secured. “Michelle, begin damage control,” she instructed calmly. “Deploy recovery teams to Viremont. We can’t afford panic.”
Back at PRISM, the creature was delivered to the detention wing—dragged past rows of reinforced cells. From within one of them, Electro leaned forward with a smirk.
“Well, well,” he sneered, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a new roommate.”
The guards ignored him, shoving the creature into a reinforced containment cell. Titanium locks sealed behind him with a pneumatic hiss. He didn’t fight. He simply sat there—silent, observant, and calculating.
---
Far from the chaos, Astrea twirled in her new suit—an elegant design built by her parents. Flexible, aerodynamic, and reinforced at the joints. She admired it proudly, her parents beaming nearby.
But the celebration was cut short.
Her television flickered. A breaking news broadcast took over.
“This just in—unidentified entity crashes through a portal over Viremont. PRISM intervenes after a battle erupts outside city limits…”
Astrea’s eyes narrowed. “That can’t be good.”
Before the reporter could continue, two suited individuals appeared on-screen. PRISM agents. One grabbed the mic.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” he said quickly. “PRISM has the situation under control.”
The broadcast was abruptly cut.
Astrea stared at the blank screen. Suspicious—but she sighed and returned to her family. For now.
---
At PRISM HQ, Danny wandered the corridors, restless. As he turned a corner, a particularly reinforced cell caught his attention. Inside, sitting quietly, was the creature.
Their eyes met.
The creature moved toward the door slowly, deliberately, his gaze sharp and unblinking.
“You… You’re one of them,” he snarled.
Danny froze. His breath caught in his throat. He didn’t know what the creature meant, but the intensity of his words sent shivers down his spine.
He turned and walked away, faster with each step.
---
Meanwhile, the world stirred once again.
Social media buzzed with footage of the sky portal. Speculation ran rampant. Where were the Protectors? Why hadn’t they answered the call?
Michelle entered Marvel’s office, tablet in hand. “The public’s asking questions. They’ve noticed the Protectors’ absence.”
Marvel leaned back, her expression grim. “Then we tell them.”
Michelle blinked. “Are you sure?”
Marvel nodded. “It’s time. We can’t lie to the world forever. They deserve to know the truth.”
The news of the Protectors’ deaths would soon break—and with it, a storm would rise.
But Marvel was ready.
Or so she hoped.
- Writer
