Act 6
No Man's Village: Home of the Planetless
Our protagonist, filled with renewed hope and determination, fills his lungs with the hot desert air. His muscles tense like springs, and then he takes off. It wasn't a simple run, it was a whirlwind of movement, a blur of superhuman speed that raised a trail of red dust, his smile was one of pure joy, an expression of freedom after so much solitary training.
However, in the shadows, enemies watched, the young delinquents who had witnessed his power now represented a real threat, from behind the rocks, their cameras captured every movement, every display of supernatural strength.
"Did you get everything? Perfect, send the images to the police. That masked guy isn't leaving here alive today", whispers the group's leader.
Masayoshi enters the village with renewed caution, avoiding acquaintances and using the shadows, his internal clock warns him: the night job awaits, and he had already stretched his secret training too far.
After crossing the village and returning to the desert path, he finally spots the lonely station, the last outpost between civilization and the abandoned. The nearly empty carriage, his fatigue, and the post-training euphoria cloud his perception, he settles on a bench, his tired body yielding to drowsiness as he contemplates the potential of his powers to change the world...
SUDDENLY...
The transport is abruptly halted by an external force, having barely covered a few kilometers. A loud crash echoes, followed by the aggressive sound of doors being forced open, outside, a sight that made Masayoshi's heart freeze instantly: a squad of Human Officers, hooded by metal helmets and wearing tactical armor, raised energy rifles, among them, Police Robots moved sinisterly, while their red optical sensors scanned the interior of the carriage with deadly, relentless precision.
They were looking for someone, the masked person, the phenomenon who reached superhuman speeds without mechanical aid and who destroyed solid steel with his bare hands. Masayoshi's eyes widened behind his mask, and in a reflex of pure instinct, he threw himself to the floor, hiding among the empty benches, his pulse accelerated, hammering against his ribs; his mind, once filled with hope, was taken over by a whirlwind of panic.
"Fight them? Madness, Flee? Where to?"
The rhythmic, heavy sound of the officers' boots and the soft buzz of the robots' thrusters echoed in the silent carriage, approaching his position. Each step was a second closer to capture, exposure, the end.
It was then that despair gave way to a flash of instinct, he felt the familiar heat radiating from his eyes, an ancestral cosmic energy eager to be released, concentrating all his will, he channeled that primordial force, directing it to his fists. His hands began to glow with a red, pulsating aura, like living energy from a god's forge, it was an unrefined power, dangerously impulsive.
Desperate, he joined his hands, the energy from his right hand flowed to the left, merging, amplifying, growing into an unstable sphere of pure power that hissed and distorted the air around it, it was like containing a small sun about to give way.
A robot's red sensor blinked, fixing on his hiding place. It was now or never.
Masayoshi exploded from behind the bench, his muscles propelled him like a human missile towards the open doors. In the air, in the brief and eternal instant between the thrust and the escape, he launched the sphere of chaotic energy.
It didn't fly with elegance, but like a violent whirlwind of Omega Force that collided with the robot in the center of its chassis. There was no explosion, but a massive propulsion, the robot's metal groaned, bending and cracking under the concussive force, its internal systems creating a symphony of agonizing short circuits, the machine, weighing several tons, was thrown backward like a toy, colliding with two advancing officers and knocking them down like pins in an avalanche of twisted metal and muffled shouts of surprise.
It was the minimum chaos he needed. Masayoshi hit the arid ground outside, rolling to cushion the impact and immediately catapulting himself forward, his body already an arrow shot towards the red vastness, while behind him echoed the angry shouts and alarms of his pursuers.
It was the distraction he needed.
Masayoshi hit the arid ground outside, rolling to cushion the impact and immediately catapulting himself forward, his feet barely touched the ground, each step an explosion of speed that raised clouds of red dust.
"TARGET FLEEING! MAXIMUM PRIORITY!", an officer shouted, his voice distorted by his helmet's amplifier.
The chase began, the remaining robots, ignoring their fallen comrades, activated their thrusters, buzzing low over the desert like mechanical vultures. The armored officers ran with wide, powerful strides, their energy weapons hissing as they charged.
Bluish energy rays burned the air around Masayoshi, vaporizing stones and creating smoldering craters in the ground, he moved in a zigzag, his body reacting before his mind could even process the trajectory of the shots, adrenaline and the Omega Power propelled him, but fear was a constant weight.
He led them straight to the village.
The once peaceful alien village, once a refuge, instantly transformed into a battlefield. Aliens screamed and scattered, seeking shelter as the roar of thrusters and energy blasts shattered the usual calm, Masayoshi, cornered and with no way out, used the terrain to his advantage, leaping over market stalls, hiding behind water tanks, always one step ahead of the destruction.
But he was getting tired, controlling the power, maintaining speed, the constant fear, it was all consuming him. He was almost pushing his limit, his power was just over 30%, fluctuating frequently as if every sprint or big jump made his power spike.
One ray, more accurate than the others, did not miss, it came from a robot hovering above, calculating his escape pattern. The energy ray hit Masayoshi in the left shoulder, Masayoshi is thrown back violently, the robot had hit him with full force, until an officer finds him and pins him against the wall, repeatedly striking his body as if wanting to eliminate him right there, and he said:
"YOU ALIEN SCUM, YOU FILTHY META-HUMAN, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE SHOWN UP", with each blow landed, the officer's anger increased, the punches were like cannon shots thanks to his powerful armor.
Pinned against the wall, he thinks of an alternative based on his training, as a last resort, he acts, the moment the officer loads a right punch towards Masayoshi, he raises his left arm and successfully blocks the blow, thus creating an opening to cause considerable damage to the officer.
Bleeding but conscious, Masayoshi says with a tone of confidence and authority,
"The... good people of this world... deserve better people than you enforcing the law..."
The hero then strikes the officer's head and then lands a full-force blow to his stomach, sending him flying to the other wall and knocking him unconscious. Masayoshi got free, but he was feeling all the damage, the pain was catastrophic, it was a cold agony that practically locked his muscles and made him stumble, rolling in the dusty ground of a side street, the smell of burnt flesh and charred fabric filled his nostrils, his vision blurred, he was wounded.
The footsteps of the officers and the buzz of the robots were getting closer, he crawled, desperate, his arm badly injured, his strength was failing him, darkness called from the edge of his consciousness.
It was then that a door of wood and rusty metal opened slightly in front of him, a pair of large, gentle eyes, of a deep green, stared at him from within the darkness, a wrinkled hand, with a somewhat greenish skin tone, waved him inside, urgent, silent.
Without thinking, with his last vestiges of strength, Masayoshi crawled inside. The door closed silently behind him, just as the shadows of his pursuers fell upon the street.
He collapsed on the packed earth floor of a humble hut, the light was weak, coming from a single energy lamp. Two elderly aliens, a couple with faces marked by time and loss, looked at him, they didn't seem frightened by his mask or his horrible wound, there was only a resilient kindness in their eyes.
The female alien knelt beside him, her trembling hands hovering over the smoldering wound, her companion brought a clean cloth and a bowl of water.
"Stay still, son", she whispered, her voice a soft, soothing drag.
"You are safe here, we... we know what it's like to be hunted, we lost our world too."
Those kind beings thought Masayoshi was also some kind of alien with special abilities, they didn't ask who he was, didn't demand anything, they offered shelter, offered help, in that moment, for Masayoshi, bleeding and on the verge of unconsciousness, that unexpected kindness in the midst of chaos was more saving and more powerful than any Omega Force.