New York, United States
Lars, a man of ordinary appearance, around thirty-five years old and with a few extra pounds, wore a light blue uniform while driving the school bus through the city. His routine repeated from Monday to Friday, almost every month of the year, and nothing about it surprised him anymore. Even the usual noise of the children felt natural to him.
But that day, something was destined to break the normality.
BOOOM!
An explosion echoed on the street right in front of the bus and Lars braked immediately, the sudden movement along with the jolt of the wheels made the children scream. Lars ignored them while searching for the origin of the blast.
"Stay in your seats, do not move", he ordered in a serious voice, managing to silence the children before stepping out to check the situation.
In front of the bus, several meters ahead, smoke blocked part of his vision, so he had to get closer. At first he thought it was a crash or a subway collapse, but when he finally saw clearly he understood it was nothing like that. Several ice spikes were emerging from the asphalt, piercing cars as if they were paper.
The people around were running away in panic, screaming. Lars followed the direction of their frightened gazes, and then he saw him, a green skinned man, smiling mockingly as he enjoyed the fear he was causing.
"Skrulls…" Lars murmured. "I knew we couldn't trust those shapeshifters."
Without wasting time, he ran back to the bus and climbed inside as fast as he could. Ignoring the children who were shouting and asking what was happening, he reversed as much as possible, turned around, and drove the opposite way. He had no destination, he only wanted to get away. But as he advanced, he saw the same thing everywhere, skrulls using powers indiscriminately, killing anyone who got close.
"What is happening?"
"Are they invading us?"
"Who is going to save us?"
The children were all talking at once. Lars was grateful they were almost teenagers, if they were younger, they would be crying nonstop.
"Do not worry, someone will save us", he said, trying to sound firm.
"Who? My mom said there are no powered people left on Earth", answered a quiet boy sitting in the back.
"That is not true, the Avengers are going to save us", another replied.
"The Avengers cannot save everyone", the first boy said in a somber voice.
But the discussion was abruptly interrupted.
"Waaaaah"
Everyone screamed when gravity suddenly shifted. The bus was lifted into the air while a blue light surrounded it. At first Lars did not understand what was happening, but as they ascended higher, the figure outside became clearer. Finally, the bus stopped at least a hundred meters in the air, right in front of the windshield stood a skrull holding blue energy in his hands, extending his arms toward the bus with a cruel smile, as if he were observing insects.
"Kids, fetal position, quickly", Lars ordered, prioritizing their safety.
With no other choice, Lars simply closed his eyes and prayed silently for a miracle.
The skrull smiled before releasing the bus, which began to fall, dragged down by gravity from a great height.
Even with his eyes closed, Lars could hear the sound of the wind as they fell, while the panicked voices on the ground grew louder and closer. But soon Lars heard a different noise, the sudden sound of something inflating rapidly.
The expected impact never came. Instead, the bus landed on a soft surface that instantly deflated, cushioning the fall.
Still with his eyes closed and without knowing what was happening, he heard voices outside.
"Target secure, zero casualties confirmed, proceed."
"Telekinetic abilities at mid level. Use high speed decoy rounds mixed with real ones."
"Confirmed."
"Target down, repeat, target down."
"Good. Record location and powers, the data could help track the metahuman later."
Lars opened his eyes. The children, in shock, barely moved. Through the windshield he saw armed agents disappearing toward the next skrull.
They surrounded the ice powered skrull they had seen earlier and used flamethrowers powerful enough that the streets could be seen melting.
"Who are they?"
"Are they heroes?" the children asked.
Lars recognized the logo on their chests.
"SHIELD."
"But… my mom said SHIELD is bad."
"Then it seems we owe them an apology", Lars said after thinking for a second.
Similar situations were repeating across all of America, with SHIELD agents neutralizing the skrulls causing chaos.
But outside America, what was happening where SHIELD could not arrive as quickly?
---
Tokyo, Japan
Kaede and Yuuto were childhood friends. They had grown up together, and their families basically considered them part of the same household. Since they were little, everyone joked that they would end up getting married, and although both got embarrassed every time someone said it, they never actually denied it, they had enough emotional intelligence to know not to.
But Yuuto had a recent dilemma, Kaede had been disappearing for months after school. She had told him it was a part time job, but she always avoided saying where.
For the first time in years, Yuuto suspected Kaede was lying to him.
"So, are you going to tell me what kind of job keeps you so busy?", he asked one afternoon as they walked home from high school.
"Uhh… you know, just a store", Kaede answered, looking away.
"Last time you said you were a tutor."
"That… well… I changed jobs. Yes, that is it. My student passed her exams, so she no longer needs me", she lied without hesitation.
"It is not exam season", Yuuto replied, frowning.
The conversation ended abruptly when they saw three skrulls approaching. Yuuto tensed up on reflex, but relaxed almost immediately. The skrulls had lived on Earth for months and, although some people rejected them, he never did. He had only been startled for a moment by their intimidating presence.
But Kaede saw something else. Her instincts, far superior since childhood, never failed. Their behavior was too coordinated. She looked around, two other groups of skrulls were approaching civilians in the same manner. It could seem like coincidence to anyone, but not to her.
"Yuuto, something is wrong", she whispered.
Yuuto looked at her, and although he did not understand the situation, he simply trusted her.
"So you noticed. Not bad", said a skrull stopping in front of them, with two others beside him.
Yuuto stepped in front of Kaede without thinking. "Do you need something?"
The skrull smiled. "Nothing special, only the extinction of the entire human species."
Yuuto drew the wooden sword he used for Kendo and joked, "That is a bit extreme, don't you think?"
"You are right. I suppose we can leave a few alive as slaves."
Yuuto took a fighting stance. The skrull did the same but without weapons, maybe he trusted his physical abilities, or simply did not consider it necessary to use powers against a human.
"Kaede, get back", Yuuto said before charging forward and launching a downward strike.
The skrull simply punched the sword head on with his bare fists, shattering it into pieces.
He smiled arrogantly while looking at the two humans in front of him.
Yuuto got serious and whispered to Kaede that she should run while he bought time.
But Kaede did not move. She stared at Yuuto's cheek, where a piece of the broken sword had cut him.
"You hurt Yuuto", she murmured coldly, barely more than a whisper.
The skrull felt a shiver. A sudden bloodlust appeared, then disappeared just as quickly, leaving him confused.
"Boss!"
"Watch out!"
His subordinates' shouts were useless, because before he could react a cold blade was already against his neck.
"No one can hurt Yuuto."
Those were the last words he heard before a kunai sliced his throat. He bled out in seconds and fell dead to the ground.
The other two skrulls became alert and tried to use their powers, but they could not surpass Kaede's speed.
She threw a kunai to each side. They seemed to miss, avoiding both targets… but they had not missed, the kunai changed direction in midair and looped around their necks, wrapping them with an almost invisible metal wire.
Kaede twisted her body and crouched, pulling hard as she crossed her arms. The heads were cleanly severed and flew upward before falling to the ground at the same time.
"K-Kaede… what is happening?", Yuuto asked.
Kaede did not answer. She moved behind him and knocked him out with a precise strike. She held him gently and laid him on a bench.
A ninja fully dressed in black appeared in front of her.
"Number 1, the situation has entered critical state. You have permission to act and neutralize all skrulls you can in public."
"Understood." Kaede nodded before disappearing instantly.
The other ninja observed the corpses on the ground and smiled proudly.
"Taking down a physically enhanced skrull and two others before they activate their powers… as expected from the rising star Elektra is training personally."
Leaving those words in the air, he vanished just like Kaede.
And so, throughout all of Asia, the skrulls fell before they had the chance to use their abilities to defend themselves. Of course, the Hand allowed a small initial disaster, since they needed an excuse to act.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)