Flabbergasted, the crowd just gawked at Soundwave's words. The Sinister Sisters also stood, mouths agape, as they processed what had just come out of the Hero's mouth. Did he really agree with them, or was this a delay tactic to buy time for other Heroes to join him? It couldn't be the latter, as he had been able to comfortably handle all three of them up to that point, but they couldn't fathom it being the former either. A Hero agreeing with Villains? Hell would freeze over, first!

In spite of the incomprehension of his foes, Soundwave once again spoke, "I am willing to hear you out, but I cannot condone your destructive methods. Disarm the device, and we shall discuss your points peacefully!"

The first to recover was the eldest of the Sinister Sisters, Karina. "You swear on your honour as a Hero, in front of all these witnesses, that you'll actually listen?"

"Karina, what're you doing?" hissed the youngest, Francesca. "He's gotta be lying. Heroes never listen!"

"What reason does he have to lie?" retorted Karina. "He's been kicking our arses thus far. We have nothing to lose."

"I don't trust him, either, but Karina's right," interjected Darla, the middle and final Sister. "He could have ended this already. I'll trust your judgement, Karina."

Taking the control out from her jacket pocket, Karina looked again at Soundwave, "Swear here and now that if I disarm the device you will not attack, and will listen to us!"

"I swear on my honour and name as a Hero. I will stand down once the device is no longer a danger to the people," he replied, raising his hands in the air. "You made a few good points, and I'm curious as to whether you actually have thought them out and are willing to take in other points of view, or if you're just trying to justify your destructive behaviour. I will give you the chance to convince me; fail to do so, and I will take you down."

With that guarantee that they'd get a chance, and the subsequent threat should they squander it, Karina nodded to her Sisters and keyed in the sequence on the device's controller to deactivate it. Maybe not all Heroes are self-righteous, stuck up pricks, she thought, confident that she and her Sisters could convince Soundwave as long as he wasn't lying.

Thank you! Yeah, she was not ready 🥴 I actually had a few different ideas, but absolutely had to get this one written down!

"I love you, Raven Wing! Please, be mine and I'll stop all of this!"

The silence is deafening! I finally understand that turn of phrase as I stand there, mouth agape, face beet red, trying to comprehend what The Twilight Huntress just said. In the middle of fighting me and Leoporina, no less! I can't even form words at the moment, just a series of incoherent sounds.

"Uhh, I-I, I, I, umm... Uhh, W-w-w-wai- Yo-yo-you- Uuuuhhhhh...."

As I stand there, bewildered, confused, embarassed, and honestly a little bit honoured, The Twilight Huntress says nothing, just staring at me with open vulnerability and earnestness in her eyes, letting me process. 10' away, Leoporina is as motionless as I am. No, not quite... Her entire body seems to be shaking, her head bowed so I can't see her face. I imagine she's in shock at the sudden and unexpected confession that just came from The Twilight Huntress, as well.

"...ink you're doing?"

I barely catch what seems to be the tail end of a whispered phrase. Even so, I can tell the words are filled with a venomous rage. The Twilight Huntress' ears twitch at the words, indicating that she too has heard them, though she ignores them. I, on the other hand, zero in on them in an attempt to get my overloaded brain to start working again. Who said them, and what do they mean? Who are they directed at? What could bring about such vitriol? I don't have to wonder for long.

"I said, what the FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Leoporina's head snaps up and I am stunned once again. Her usually stern but calm face is contorted in hatred and anger as she glares at The Twilight Huntress! To her credit, the Villain doesn't even flinch at the malice rolling off of the Hero.

"Do you mind staying out of this? I will deal with you shortly," she responds, her eyes not leaving mine.

I continue to gaze back into her dark eyes, unsure what I should do or how I should respond.

"No! You get the fuck away from Raven Wing!" Leoporina screams, launching herself at The Twilight Huntress, claws extended and mouth drawn back in a feral snarl. "You're not taking her from me! She's mine!"

I see Leoporina collide with The Twilight Huntress, both of them flying off to the side, as my vision blurs and the world tilts, my brain finally shutting off at the realisation that two of the most powerful and beautiful women in the world are fighting over me.

Date XXXX of the Interstellar Calendar

This new species is absolutely fascinating! They are a still young species, barely out of the 'infant' stage of their evolution I would guess, but never before have I seen such an inquisitive species throughout the Universe. They are immature and undeveloped technologically, but their curiosity drives them and perhaps their relative youth explains their seeming lack of fear. They developed vessels for space travel far earlier in their evolution than any other species so far, a feat likely to never again be repeated. Curious as to how they pulled this off, a select few of us were sent to their planet to learn what we could and see how best we could help this fledgling species develop. What we found was a complete divergence from how all other life in the Universe developed. They are uncouth, violent, immature, and their technology is as basic as it could possibly get, but they have somehow developed their mathematical knowledge so rapidly that for centuries before they developed space travel they were already able to predict the motions of the celestial bodies they could observe with a margin of error so negligible as to be non-existent. They can predict the future, simply through mathematical equations. Their mathematically driven feats of engineering have allowed them to ascend to the heavens within a fraction of the time it took any other species, even those that had help from already spacefaring species - and they figured this all out on their own. It is truly astounding, and far beyond anything that any other sentient race has reached. What this strange, young species has managed to develop through mathematics will completely overhaul everything we thought we knew about the Universe. It is fortunate that their technology is still so primitive, as if they had the tech to support their mathematics then they could rapidly expand and take over the Universe with minimal resistance.

When I changed, the vampire that sired me explained things to me. I was stronger, faster, more durable, had a range of abilities unobtainable for humans such as shapeshifting, and no longer needed to sleep. All the "lore" surrounding vampires were fallacies spread by them to divert suspicion. Running water? Not a problem. Garlic? A delicious addition to any meal. Sunlight? Actually less deadly than when I was human, and definitely none of that sparkly fairy bullshit that was popularised by that one terrible series of books and films. Crosses or other holy symbols? Ineffective. While no longer impeded by the creep of time or illness, we can still be killed - though it is considerably more difficult than killing a human. The one truth is the thirst for blood. We do not die without it, but it intensifies until we begin to lose all reason. Go long enough without, and we devolve into animalistic creatures that hunt and feed without caution. A fully grown adult can sustain me for roughly a year if I fully drain them, before I begin to feel adverse effects; small feedings more frequently is better, as I can avoid killing that way.

He also imparted a few warnings: do not feed indiscriminately; avoid killing the innocent; do not feed on high profile individuals; always wipe the memory of those I feed from; do not expose us by using my powers carelessly. As long as I didn't risk exposing our society, I could do whatever I wanted. His final words before leaving me to figure out what I wanted to do with my new life were cryptic at the time: "Remember, you are what you eat." Vague bastard could have explained it more clearly! Instead, I am now realising exactly what those words mean.

I've spent the last 150 years as a vampire, learning everything I could, dabbling in sports, making a name for myself before "dying in a freak accident" and starting a new life with a new face. I've been a professional athlete, a university professor, a cardiovascular surgeon, and myriad other things over the course of my life. And throughout it all, I've stuck to hunting the scum of the earth for my sustenance. Murderers, rapists, abusers, you name it I hunted and killed them. One a year, the worst of those who escape the paltry justice of the mortals. I suppose I fancied myself a bit of a champion of justice, an avenger if you will. I was doing a service.

Recently, though, I've realised that I've changed. I'm no longer hunting and quickly killing them. I'm stalking them, always at the edge of their perception - an ever present shadow that vanishes the moment they're consciously aware of me. I find myself enjoying the fear I inspire within them, the look of terror in their eyes as I finally corner them, the desperation as they try to fight off the inevitability of their punishment. I torment them, breaking their resistance and will with my superior abilities. One of my powers is illusionary visions; I can make them see things. So I show them the greatest horrors of the various hells that humans have believed in throughout history. I take the form of terrifying demons and creatures that should exist only in nightmares.

It seems a diet of the sadistic has had an impact on me. Personally, I don't see this as a problem.

Another late finish... Goddamned Jerry! I fucking told him to get that report finished up this morning! And screw Adam as well for dumping that shit on me! I bet they did it on purpose, just because Jenny agreed to go out with me this weekend. Jealous bastards! Why'd they have to pull this crap when my car is in the shop?

I sit in the bus stop, still panting and dripping sweat after having run from the office building, only to watch as the tail lights of the last bus of the night pull away from the stop. I reach into my pocket to grab my phone, only to find the battery dead. Fuck! Can tonight get any worse?!

Luckily, that didn't cause a sudden storm or anything. After all, that shit only happens in fiction. I sigh deeply, realising that I have no way to get home tonight and cannot afford to find a hotel room. Too tired to find somewhere a little more discreet, I resign myself to sleeping in the bus stop and lay down on the bench, tucking my jacket under my head as a pillow, and try to get some sleep.

"Ya gettin' on, or wot?"

My eyes fly open at the gruff voice, and I bolt upright as my eyes adjust to find a dilapidated bus in front of me, doors wide open. I didn't even hear it pull up. How long have I been asleep? I go to check my phone before remembering it is dead.

"Well?! I ain't got all night! Get on, if yer gettin' on!"

I look up at the source of the voice to find a figure shrouded in darkness where the driver would sit. Still groggy and slightly confused, I get on and reach into my pocket to pull out change to pay.

"Ah, don' worry 'bout it. Ya look like ya've had a rough night. This one's free."

Thanking the strangely shadowed driver, I turn to the interior of the bus and pause. There's something not right about this situation, my mind tells me. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end, and I realise a shiver has been running up and down my spine since the moment I stepped onto the bus.

I'm thrown down the aisle as the bus lurches forwards, my hand grasping at the rusted metal poles attached to the worn and poorly maintained seats. I catch myself and tumble into a vacant seat, sliding into the window seat and gazing out of the cracked, hazy window.

Something inside me is screaming that I shouldn't be here! I can tell that it is some deep rooted, primal instinct that humans long since stopped paying attention to. Well, right now it is refusing to be ignored. I take a better look around at the sparse other passengers, and my breath hitches as I recognise creatures that exist only in the stories humanity came up with to frighten one another.

"Nope. Too tired for this shit" I mutter to myself, and turn back around, laying my head against the window and resigning myself to the most unnerving bus ride I've ever experienced.

Eventually, I realise the other passengers have disembarked, except for myself and one other; an elvin looking gentleman, early 20's by the looks of him, who I realise is staring at me.

Suddenly, I realise I have no idea where this bus is going and go to stand to ask the driver where we are, where we're headed, and maybe to get off.

"Don't worry, sir," a lilting, sing-song voice says. "The Driver knows exactly where each passenger needs to go. It's unusual for a Human to ride this bus, though not entirely unheard of."

I realise it was the elvin man, and turn towards him.

"Forgive me, but what exactly is this bus?" I ask.

"Why, 'tis just a bus, sir," the gentleman replies. "Don't you worry about the finer details. Just be sure to thank The Driver when you reach your destination."

"Of course," I respond. "Thanks for the info."

"Not a problem," he cheerfully says. "If you don't mind, may I have your name?" he asks, a glint in his eye.

"It's-" I begin to answer before I suddenly recall stories from my childhood of a type of creature that will steal your name if you give it freely. Wily beings for whom words are Power. Sly tricksters that trick humans into giving up everything if they do not answer carefully and precisely to leave no room for them to twist the meaning. The Fae!

"Actually, no, you may not. But you can call me Owen," I amend my answer. "And what might I call you, good sir?" I ask as the gentleman's smile falters for just a moment before flaring back with thrice the vibrancy.

"Oh, most excellently done indeed! Rare to encounter a Human that avoids that little slip. You may call me Alfred." He exclaims, jovially, as he hands me a card with his name.

"I hope we meet again!" He says, as the bus shudders to a halt. I look out the window and realise we're at the bus stop just down the road from my house.

"Ya gettin' off, or wot?!" comes the gruff voice from the front.

I stand and take my leave of the strange Fae gentleman, Alfred. As I reach the front of the bus, I turn to The Driver and thank him before alighting. The doors hiss shut behind me, and I turn to watch the bus leave but it is already gone. Bewildered, I look at the business card in my hand - the only evidence that this was not a dream conjured by an overly tired mind - and turn to walk up the street to my house, certain that I've not seen the last of that strange bus, nor the Fae gentleman I met.

Never considered that. If anything, it does improve the vibe of what I was going for 😁

It was nearly 300 years ago that humanity finally took its first tentative steps into real galactic travel. Since then, we have made many great advances in space travel. We've developed FTL quantum engines that fold space around the craft to allow manned travel to distant galaxies and back.

It was with great hope and anticipation that, in the year SD56, the Galactic Reconnaisance Force set out to find intelligent life beyond our Solar System. By SD133, we had exhaustively searched the entirety of the Milky Way with no luck. So we looked to our neighbouring galaxies.

Over 150 years later, in SD289, we've found no other intelligent lifeforms amongst the dozens, hundreds of galaxies we've traversed. That isn't to say we've found nothing; no, we have found evidence of other species that attained legitimate space travel, but nothing of their societies remained.

What happened to them? Where did they all go? These are the questions that have risen in our expedition. These are the questions we are now trying to work out. And we fear that it is the answer to these questions that our equipment is detecting, rapidly approaching from the direction of a recently destroyed civilisation in a galaxy on the fringe of our radius.