Once more, only the thunderclaps and the rain droplets were heard.
Agatha sighed. "Well fuck...."
She stood there. Staring at her son as the rain mixed with his blood. Agatha placed him on the ground and looked at him.
"He was harmless. You...didn't have to..." She gritted her teeth as the anger set in. She roared with the tears in her eyes.
"Get over yourself." Agatha said. "You could always make another one when all this is over. A normal one."
"Agatha, that wasn't necessary," Jude said. He wasn't always in support of Agatha's decisions.
"Shut the fuck up, Jude." She walked over to her. "Get up. Or don't you want to find shelter?"
"You killed your kind," she fumed.
"That thing isn't my kind," Agatha frowned. "I understand your pain. Before all this, a Xanian killed my only daughter. In cold blood. So no, I will not have mercy on another of their infants because they didn't have mercy on mine."
"I'm human. I am!!" She shouted.
"Exactly. And what? Your husband was Xanian? What happened to him? Where is he now?"
"He..."
"I thought so too. None of the two sides would've accepted your child. He was born to die."
"Agatha! There's a lot of them coming!" Jude warned as he looked at the device beeping in his palm.
"Xanians?" Agatha asked.
"Yes. About 9 of them."
"Shit." She looked at the woman. "This is your last chance. Come now, or die."
She looked up at Agatha. She reasoned for a second if following her would be...
No.
"I hope a Xanian, pops your fucking skull!" She cursed.
Agatha scoffed. "I gave a chance, didn't I? I hope your death isn't that painful, woman."
Agatha disappeared in the mist with the other soldiers.
She sat there under the rain staring at her dead son. She wasn't sure if anger was what she should feel anymore. She just stared void of any emotion.
"He's dead..." She muttered to herself. "...and I couldn't do anything to protect him."
She stared for so long that she could no longer feel the droplets of rain touch her skin.
The ground progressively trembled, getting worse every extra seconds that was counted. Nine people had descended from the sky in a disorderly fashion. They all surrounded her.
Regardless of this, she kept staring at her son.
One of the people leaped at her, aiming for her neck with the possibility of taking her head off.
Another one from the nine stopped him, standing in front of her.
"Wait," a tall woman stood in front of her and her son. Her turquoise-pink gradient hair pronounced that she was pure Xanian.
"Szlena, step away from the human," he warned. (Pronounced as Si-zlei-na).
"Or what?" Szlena asked.
The woman looked up and then around her. She was surrounded by nine Xanians. She couldn't possibly outrun any of them. She looked at Szlena and then the others. Szlena looked bigger, of some sort. She had markings all over her body like tattoos, but all of them were glowing bright green. She looked a lot more powerful than any other Xanian she'd seen.
"Why do you protect this one?" One of the Xanians asked.
"If you do not accept my judgement as your unit leader, might as well take me on," she let go of his hand, "but do know that you all must attack me at once, for you will stand not a single chance against me."
They all stared at her.
Szlena looked at her. "Where are the soldiers that were here...?" Szlena waited for her to answer.
"Eleanor," she muttered.
Szlena lifted her above the ground, her hand firmly gripping Eleanor's shirt.
"Eleanor, where are they?" Szlena asked.
Eleanor looked at her dead son. Then back at Szlena. The natural will to live kicked in and by reflex she started kicking and screaming, waving her hands and legs frantically in the air. But part of it all was in frustration.
"They killed him!" Eleanor screamed. "They killed my baby!"
It may have seemed like frustration but different from the other times, she had no tears running down her face.
This was pure fury.
Szlena tossed her to the ground. She picked up the infant already looking pale, from the ground and fit her index finger through the hole in his head.
"Your child...is Xanian?" Szlena said.
Eleanor looked at her with rage still burning in her eyes.
"How is this possible?" Szlena asked. "Your husband, was a Xanian? Where is he?"
"He's fighting alongside the rest of you."
Szlena kept quiet. The Xanians had her husband on a death mission and a human had killed her son. She pledged her alliance to none of the sides. She hated both equally.
"Who killed your son?" Szlena asked.
"The unit you search for," Eleanor replied.
"Then come," she crouched with a knee to the ground, "climb onto my back. I shall let you kill whomever it is."
Eleanor looked at her. She was confused as to why this Xanian would help her. Why did she even care?
Did she lose her child as well? Eleanor thought.
"Why?" Eleanor asked.
"Your rage requests such. Moreover, you have no fear for death, do you? For after this, I would kill you."
"My reason to live already died." Eleanor didn't really mind this condition and walked over to Szlena.
"Good. Now let us go and fulfil your last wish."
Eleanor climbed on her back and all ten took to the sky.
________________________________________
"Sir, the eastern unit got attacked."
A middle aged man in a black suit stood over the display panel. He watched from this room as it all happened.
In the same room, were several other people. Each one analysing the outcome of the battle so far, who was losing and who wasn't. Situated far away from the battle was the base for the city.
"Dammit," he said.
"Ivan," a short beautiful woman walked into the room.
"What is it Diane?" Ivan asked.
"It's quite a big situation."
"Tell it to me."
"A Xanian. He's on his way here."
"What?!"
"Ivan, it's Cosmic."
Ivan paused and rubbed his palms together. "We have to it him with—"
"Ivan, it's fucking, Cosmic," Diane repeated, as if reminding him of something.
"We—"
"In case you've forgotten, he's the strongest of them all. Only a selected few can best him."
"I know that, and because of him I've been preparing something."
"What do you mean?"
"Call it a human-Xanian if you must."
"Strong enough to battle Cosmic?!"
"It'll need some assistance from us as well."
"IF I WAS TO COME AND KILL YOU ALL... I WOULD'VE."
Everyone in the room froze. They all pulled out their guns and stood up, pointing it in different directions.
A bright light pierced through the room. It dimmed and he became visible.
He stood there in the flesh amongst all of them. He was tall, but taller than most Xanians as their average height was 7 feet. He was 7 feet and 9 inches. He had a robe on, with a hood to cover his face, though his glowing blue eyes could still be seen.
His robe had inscriptions on it, most likely symbolic in meaning. His aura was intimidating and was as if it could cut the air with a knife.
Ivan picked up his gun and pointed it at him. "What're you doing here, Cosmic?" He asked, with a frown on his face.
Cosmic walked closer to him and stood some meters away. "Like I said, if I was here to kill you, I would've," he resounded.
"So why are you here?"
Cosmic began to walk around the huge room. "Ivan, it has been two months," he began, "hasn't it? A lot of lives have been lost. Human and Xanian." He stopped. "And to what avail?"
"It's a bit too late for—"
"This squabble is pointless, Ivan. I can't fathom why we began fighting in the first place."
"Unity? You came here to preach unity?"
"Precisely, Ivan. You are a smart man. You know this is pointless. I've come here to stop this war."
Ivan laughed. "You don't understand the situation here, do you Cosmic? You speak as if you aren't strong enough to wipe us all out." Ivan shot at him. Cosmic smacked the bullet away from himself.
"You see that?" Ivan said. "That's the fucking point, Cosmic. You're strong. Too strong and that poses a huge problem because one day, the Xanians will rise, kill us all and take over humanity's only planet. The risk of that happening is what you call a pointless war?! We are fighting for our existence."
"By erasing yourselves further?" Cosmic removed his hood to reveal his light blue skin. "Xanians and humans have lived on this planet for as long as the earth stands. And you want to change all that because of mere fear? I expected more."
"To live...can also mean to be enslaved. Ruled. By the likes of you. I don't know the history but fuck it. This is now. And we stand the risk of extinction if we don't do anything."
"So you will not stop this war?"
Tension struck the room once more. There was silence and no one dared to move.
"You have made your choice," Cosmic said. He put his hood back on and disappeared in a bright light.
"Ivan," Diane stared at him. "What does he mean by that?"
Ivan gritted his teeth. "I need eyes on Cosmic! Where is he right now?"
"He's beaming out of the stratosphere, sir," a soldier answered.
"Stratosphere?" Diane said, perplexed.
"I can't say for sure what he's doing, sir," another soldier said.
"It doesn't matter. We'll blow him out of the fucking sky," Ivan scowled. "Ready the big guns."
"Ivan, they're still prototypes. We don't even know if they'll hurt the Xanians," Diane said.
"Then let's make him a test subject. I can't afford to have him attack again. His last attack trapped us in this eternal darkness. If he can control the night and day, he's not Cosmic for no reason."
Diane nodded. "Ye heard him! Let's blast him outta the fucking sky!"
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