As the three princesses fell into the darkness below, Armaza thought that maybe there could have been a better way to deal with the situation.

Pitch black. For some reason, it is always pitch black, with darkness and uncertainty lingering around. That is of course, unless they are there. Her target. As she closes the gap between the two of them, she almost wishes that they had been more careful, that they had kept a bit to the right, where they would not so foolishly fall into the light. But at the same time she knows that if they were careful at all she wouldn't be chasing after them. Or at least that's what she tells herself. The target is shaking; their breathing is loud and full of fear, giving their exact location away. Each step she makes is comparatively silent. Once more the thought comes in, they should hear you. They should have the chance to run away. They are not taking it, one way or another they cannot live. So many sounds are present in the darkness, the dripping from a pipe, the scurrying of vermin, the walk of the hunter, and the fear of the prey. Only she will survive. She is silent as she reaches the target; they see her and in that moment the two of them see recognition. "Is... that you? I can't believe it I..." No. No no no no no. The target speaks words of hope, weak, desperate words that she has to ignore. That she can't listen to. That she knows she cannot even acknowledge as a possibility. "I was so scared. I thought that this would be it. Ha ha ha ha... uh..." She isn't listening. She cannot listen. But at the same time, she knows. She knows every word and every motion. She knows what is going on in their head and what will soon go on in their head. She will see them, staring at her, as they die, confused, scared, and sometimes, angry. Angry at her, because she betrayed them. She betrayed them. That there was no other option does not change anything, if anything, it makes it worse. She still chose this. She doesn't give them a chance to even turn around. The death is brutal, painful, but relatively quick. It is the only death she can give, and the death she has to give. And another one is added to the list. Another face that she will never forget another moment that will haunt her forever. They deserved it. If they couldn't escape you then they wouldn't be able to escape anyone else. Someday you will make it up. You changed, they could have too. You need to do this for your family. Failure was not an option. This was the only way. She does not cry. Not anymore. She doesn't know if she can. This was the only way. The moon is bright. She can still see them, lying there, it is so clear. This was the only way. Her partner is catching up. It will know what happened. Maybe it already knows. This was the only way. And then this scene will be behind her, but not too far. Always scratching at her. Always brushing against her skin. This was the only way.

1 - Heroism It is the dead of the night in FueMotion Industries, one of Olive City's many research centers-slash-criminal targets, and a breakthrough has been made. Some weeks ago, one of the divisions within succeeded in creating a new form of Energy Cell, capable of holding an obscene amount of power in very little space. There are as always, a number of other aspects to it, some sort of wireless array, an anti-compressor, watt voltages, your run of the mill super science. After comprehensive, secret testing, the division has determined that the Energy Cells are ready for announcement. It is the final night that they will be held in the lowest ultra-high security room, and no one should know of the immense power hidden. On this night, something enters FueMotion Industries, bypasses all of the general anti-super villain security measures, enters the vault holding these Energy Cells, and takes them. No camera catches this being. No prints, marks, or record of it is left. If it wasn't for the stolen goods, none of it would have happened. This is not something that the police are capable of handling. This is the work of someone mystical or magical or super. And as a result, the only option is to call someone who can match it. FueMotion Industries calls The Eagles. === "Well of course it would happen now while the rest of the team is away, come on." Freefall, the newest addition to Olive City's star super hero team, stood, arms crossed, listening to the report from FueMotion's representative. The rest of her team, Ace, The Gadgeteer, Magenta, and M.E.T.A.L. all went off into space to fight some aliens and leaving her to keep watch for the city. "I wanted to beat up some aliens, why couldn't I go?" She exhaleed and as calmly as she could, which for the record is still a bit snarly, asked "And what do you want me to do about it? Look, if you can't find any evidence or leads what do you expect me to do? I punch things. Most of the detective stuff is Ace's schtick, I'm not gunna figure it out." As the heroine shrugged, the mousey representative squeaked out some more info, "Well, you see there's something else, you see we have a bit of a lead..." "Well why didn't you say so, spit it out!" "Well it's just that you see..." The representative murmurs something. Freefall smashed the table, "lightly". "Alright alright! We... we know that Apollo Inc. could use our power cells and that it is likely that our criminal was either hired by them or could strike there next. Well that is it good luck catching that whatever, bye! Freefall could only stare as the representative ran out before she could ask anything like "how did you know that" and just sighed. With a puff, she stomped down to the Eagles' Nest's hanger, where to her surprise, she saw an unfamiliar face. "Hey, nice place you've got here." Freefall put up her dukes as she stared down the intruder in front of her. The red haired dude had sunglasses, a suit with it's collar popped, baggy jeans, and sneakers (who taught him how to dress?). After successfully ignoring his fashion sense, Freefall noticed that he had a clawed metal glove on his left hand (alright, so I'll have to avoid his left hook). Rather than get up in arms over her show of aggression, the intruder began to calmly walk around, turning his back against the superhero and smugly responding to her silence. "Oh, is that any way to treat a guest? I'm just here to lend a helping hand. I saw the FueMotion suits come by, they were robbed, weren't they?" Freefall didn't say anything, and only moved closer to the intruder, keeping an eye on his glove, and thinking about how hard she'd punch his smug face. "Look Freefall, I'm not here to fight. I'm here to help you find out who did this, we both know you aren't the best at detective work, and the rest of The Eagles are off who-knows-where, so come on." Freefall reluctantly eased up her stance, but didn't change tune, "Who are you, how'd you get in here, what do you want?" He sighed and rolled his eyes (or at least she thought he did, under his sunglasses) "You can call me Apollo, I slipped in when the suits left, and I already told you, I want to help you find FueMotion's tech." Freefall, crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, "What are you, Apollo Inc's new poster child? I don't need help from a publicity goon." "Oh that? Just a coincidence, I'm from out of town! Heard the rest of the team was away and thought I'd pay the lovely Ms. Freefall a visit." He has a point, and I could use some backup, I guess. Still, there's something about his smile that rubs me the wrong way... "Whatever, you can tag along, but the moment I see you get out of line, I'll punch you so hard, you'll see antimatter instead of stars." "Pleasure to be of service." === After arriving at Apollo Inc. and cajoling a few secretaries into letting them do their job, the duo reached what they concluded was the division that their mystery criminal wanted. "Well, I could see how our completely lossless cables would be of use, but what makes you think that this criminal knows about them? No one outside of Apollo, other than you two, should know about it!" "Well that didn't exactly stop him from stealing the Energy Cells from FueMotion, those were top secret too." "So what do you expect us to do exactly?" "Nothing." "Pardon?" Freefall and the lead researcher asked in unison. "If we want to catch this guy, we can't just put his prize on a higher shelf, there wasn't a sign of intrusion at FueMotion, so whoever it is has access or can get access to wherever he wants. If we put the cables behind more and more codes, it will just take him longer to get them, which doesn't catch him." "So what you're saying is that they should do nothing, while we wait around for him to take it?" "And then we'll beat him up, and that'll be the end of that." "Alright then," Freefall turned to the lead, "You heard him, show us a place we can stake this guy out." === "So, how long have you been doing this sort of thing?" It was later that night and the two were hiding inside the safe that held the all-important cables, which when paired with the cells, would be able to give anything virtually unlimited power without any loss or overloading or explosions. To pass the time, the two had been making some small talk. Freefall wasn't very sure what she thought about Apollo, but she felt like she could trust him, at least a little, maybe. She wasn't sure exactly what it was about the admittedly charming and intelligent man had filled her with such ire, but she had done a good job of putting it aside as he hadn't done anything harmful, and had really helped her here. She'd have to thank him after they finished. *pat-pat* Freefall and Apollo both heard it, even if they weren't sure what it was, but it did mean that the chitter-chatter had to come to a close. The two silently stood by, waiting for their perp to come through. A wispy woman faded into existence, her eyes like a cat, and smelled the air. She paused, wondering if her suspicion was correct, before walking to where the cables were supposed to be held. Just as she was about to open the container that held her prize, Freefall leaped from her position, lightly flowing to the villain before smashing her down in one fell swoop. As the villainess lost consciousness, Freefall confidently stood and declared "Well that was almost too easy, thaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Freefall began to shake as suddenly, she felt all of her energy painfully leave her body. She managed to turn around, and see Apollo, wielding a twisted smile, as everything went to black. 1B - Villainy The Vorixian Empire was one of the more expansive ones in the universe, mostly due to their tendency to conquer over other planets and essentially harvest them for whatever they needed. This had gone very well for a while, until they hit a planet called Earth and their initial scouting team got their green, slimy asses handed to them by a group of "heroes" called The Eagles. In retrospect, they should have sent a scouting team less likely to cause such an impact, but the best hoverflyers always are. At any rate, they had been sent home packing and then as icing on the cake, they were also dealt a counter-attack by the same group. They would let it slide for now, but after some recovery, the Vorixian Empire would return and take Olive City along with the rest of the Earth. *boom* "WHAT WAS THAT?" The green, bottom heavy Emperor of the Vorixians, clad in all his ornate gold and jewelry, lifted his royal, many limbed flab up from his bed full of concubines, his mojo disturbed by the sudden sound of an explosion. *boom* There was another, this time much closer, leading the Emperor to worry. He threw off a few of his lighter concubines (they still weighed a lot, though, the Emperor liked them heavy for a few reasons) and stretched one of his flimsy limbs to grab his golden Compressive Blaster Cannon, and aimed it at the door, his three eyes adjusting just in time for it to explode open. In response to the blown open door, the Emperor let off a shot, which met the corpse of one his former men. "Damn," he muttered under his breath, "Why does this damn thing take so long to charge?" The smoke cleared, revealing a young man with red hair, wearing sunglasses. "That was your pitiful excuse for a royal guard? No wonder those bird-brains beat your Vorixian asses down." "Do.. do you know WHO I AM? DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER OR ELSE!" The panicking Emperor grabbed one of his concubines, just in case he needed to throw her to make an escape. "Yea, I do, and I also know that you don't like a certain superhero team. I presume that you want take them out, and guess what I can help you with." The Emperor loosened his grip on his concubine, but kept his charging Cannon pointed at the intruder. "And so what if I do? I am an emperor, I can't just team up with any low-rate supervillain who wants to take out The Eagles." "Who said anything about teaming up? I just want to make a deal, you see, I have... acquired some technology that I think will benefit your army greatly." Chad holds out a bag and removes a yellow cylinder and some gold cables, "This is a FueMotion Infinity Energy Cell and an Apollo Inc. Lossless Cable, with these in your army, you will have nigh unlimited power along with the ability to connect and divide it in any way you want. It's all yours, if you attack the planet of Lagran." The Emperor raised an eyebrow, "Lagran? But I thought you wanted to attack The Eagles?" He eyed the charging meter on his cannon. "Lagran is the closest civilized planet to Earth, if you attack there The Eagles will come to their aid, no doubt about it, you can take them out and meanwhile I'll be wrecking Olive City." "Ha, as if they would leave their city defenseless." "Oh I have plans for whoever mans the fort, I just need you to lure the rest of the birdies away, so, do we have a deal?" Charging complete. "Hmmm, a generous offer, but how about instead..." He fired the second shot, "I TAKE THE CABLES, LAGRAN, AND EARTH ALL FOR MYSELF!" The cannon's second shot goes off and... missed? No impact that the Emperor could see, yet the intruder no longer stood where he was. His confusion ceased when he felt a cold, metal hand clamp onto his shoulder. He quickly realized that this was not a problem that he would be able to solve by throwing a fat person at someone. "I'm sorry," the tone of voice was noticeably colder, and lower, "Wrong answer, would you like to try again," the grip on his shoulder tightened, he could feel the pain spread, "Or would you like your reign as emperor to come to a slow and painful conclusion?" The Emperor gulped. === Shaderider hadn't had the best of luck. The former super-heroine had temporarily used her invisibility and phasing-through-inorganic-object skills to perform a few heists here and there, but she had to, she was down on her luck and super-heroing almost never paid the bills. At the moment, she was in one of Olive Cities seedier bars, head clamped on the counter, almost in tears. "Hey lady, here's ya drink." "I didn't order any drink..." The barkeep planted a glass in front of her, "It's from the guy over there," he pointed over at the other end, where a man wearing sunglasses waved. After some thought, Shaderider downed the drink and slowly stood, making her way toward the nice man who had kindly bought her the drink. "Uhm, hi, thanks for the drink..." "No problem, you looked like you needed it, something wrong?" "Yea, well, you know, things aren't all that good right now, jobs are hard to come by, I'm in a rough spot... oh but I'm sure you don't care..." "No, go on, I am very interested." Chad smirked. Later that night, after many drinks, a trip to Shaderiders home, and a night of what some would call passion, Chad dropped his drunken act and pinned the sobering Shaderider down to her bed and calmly told her what she would do for him. After a heated convincing, she agreed to his terms, albeit, over tears. And with that, all of the pieces were in play... 1.5 - Conclusion Freefall awoke. Of course, her arms and legs were strapped to a wall or something, and no amount of density manipulation was changing that. After failing to break out of her binds, Freefall took a look around, the first thing she noticed was a swirling orange portal. The second thing she noticed was the scum that had knocked her unconscious. "YOU LITTLE MOTHERFUCKING SHITFACED ASSHOLE! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I WILL CRUSH YOUR TORSO, REMOVE YOUR SKULL, AND FUCK IT!" "Feisty, aren't we? Straight to the point, no asking questions or speculating on how I'm getting away with this?" Chad gave a chuckle, "As expected from Freefall, I knew it was a good idea to team up with you, saves time on the monolog." "YOU AREN'T FUCKING GETTING AWAY WITH THIS." Chad scoffed, "Of course I am, the rest of The Eagles are dead, just like you are about to be!" There was no megalomania in his voice, just the same chipper tone he used when he was introducing himself in the hangar. Freefall was taken back the statement, not so much by the content, but by his indifference at it, normally villains are so triumphant about this announcement, but he said it as if it was a solid, immutable fact. Still, she stuck to her gut feeling, he was lying and rolled her eyes. "Riiiiiiight, I'm so sure that they're gone, beaten by those Vorixians, ooooh, I know how tough those shitheads are!" Chad chuckled, before giving a sigh and shaking his head, "Oh Freefall, I didn't expect you to be so full of hope! I'm not going to pretend that the Vorixians are your top-notch aliens, but even you, with your pitiful deduction capabilities, can see the damage that they would do with a few crates of infinite, easily distributable evidence... given time." Freefall raised a brow, thought about it for a bit, and decided to indulge in his obvious hook, "...Why did you say that last word so oddly?" "Oh, didn't I tell you, I can travel through time. That's what this is, you see," He pointed at the swirling portal, "What, you think this is my first attempt at trying to get rid of you? No, I've been doing this for a while now, I just haven't gotten it perfect until right now. Last time I got the news that your friends died right as I was about to kill you, one thing led to another, and well, you spit at me! Chad looked as if he was remembering a fond memory, "That didn't end well, but I promise it won't happen again." Chad pointed his finger at her and winked. Freefall winced at the wink, momentarily wishing she could erase the gesture from history, before focusing on what mattered. Really, time travel? Rather then scale the wall of crap that had been built in front of her, she settled for a "Well. That's a load of bullshit!" "Hey, whatever keeps you comfortable in your last moments, if it makes you feel better, that bitch you hate died all alone." The last words were elongated, with every syllable increasing in wretchedness. Chad walked to the suspended Freefall, still wielding his crooked smile. "That high density of yours makes killing you difficult, so if you don't mind..." Chad grabbed at Freefall's lips before she could spit at him with his right hand and started choking her with the left. Once more she felt her energy fade, and she found it difficult to keep her high density. The pain was bearable now, but she felt if she lowered even a little, it would be the beginning of the end. As she felt her focus slip, she stared down at the smiling bastard in anger one last time before closing her eyes. "LET HER GO!" Freefall opened her eyes to a blown away 'Apollo' and the members of her team, heroically standing and prepared to kick that assholes ass. "About... time you..." Freefall struggled to regain her breath, "Fuckers showed up." "It isn't our fault that it took Gadgeteer and M.E.T.A.L. so long to diffuse the Energy Cells." "Huh?" Freefall let out as Ace freed her, and the rest of the team started to confront 'Apollo.' "The Vorixians were using the things that this guy here stole, luckily, they deactivated them wirelessly. Sorry it took so long to get back, it was a bumpy ride." Ace and Freefall started to join the others, who despite the 3-to-1 advantage, seemed to still have trouble with the lone villain. SURRENDER V1LLAIN. Y0U CAN N0T DEFEAT US ALL. The snarling and angry Chad faced down his opponents, all five of The Eagles, and let out a "I disagree." before there was a crash from the sky and a flaming ball turned into a majestic dive kick that hit the lone fighter square in the forehead. As the newcomer cleared his flames, The Eagles couldn't help but notice that something about him felt familiar. This curious feeling of familiarity turned into shock when the man turned and he had the same red hair, sunglasses, and smirk as the man that had just been kicked down. "Hello Eagles, thanks for your help in dealing with my evil time clone, he's a pesky bugger." "Wha.. WHAT?" "Name's Chad," he reached down and handcuffed the unconscious time clone(???), "I'm sorry for the trouble he's caused, every time I send him to the Time Police he just finds a new way to wreak havoc." Chad lifted the unconscious body of himself(?) over his shoulder and typed some things into the console near the glowing vortex. "Now, I've got to rush and pop him back were he belongs, but after that I'll stop by your Nest, if you don't mind." Without another word, the two were gone, into the threads of time, leaving The Eagles a bit confused. Still, the episode had left them tired, so they decided it would be best to wait and see what this Chad had to say. Without another word, they made their way home... 1-Final There is only darkness, darkness and a chair. Sitting on that chair is Chad Chaswell Charles, reviewing the plan that he made and smirking at its perfect execution. With the triumph over his 'evil time clone,' the establishing of his tendency to escape or be freed, and his subsequent talk with The Eagles, he was now free to do anything he wanted. He would become The Eagles' greatest ally, and slowly take Olive City from their grasp, along with the rest of the world. Once more, he put on a twisted smile. "Suckers."