“Is… Is that Darkday?”
And with those single set of words, a chilling silence followed.
A chill. A certain chill that even the scorching rays that rained from above were almost completely ignored by the skins it touched upon. The heat of Miami, almost non-existent as an orchestra of vibrations whispered in the air– an orchestra of hopeless trembles.
The people’s feet were almost a choir; the shivering of their limbs in harmony as a black-clad individual slowly descended from the skies.
Ever so slowly, it made its way down to the crowded plaza; as if the final sand inside an hourglass– an hourglass called life.
The individual’s suit was completely dark, with even the rays of the sun failing to light up its silhouette; no reflections, no luster. Almost like a void in the shape of a human– a black hole that threatened to swallow them whole.
And soon, from the crowd of people, a pair of knees met with the ground in reckless abandon; giving up all hope. Some even started to hug their sons and daughters; crying, comforting, accepting their fate.
And soon, the black silhouette landed on the ground ever so softly. But for the people, the moment its feet touched the ground was the drum that signaled the end of their lives.
This was the effect of the calamity known as Darkday to the people.
Threat Level – Darkday… There were no people running for their lives, not even a beg nor a call for mercy. Everyone just held their breaths, waiting for their deaths to come.
But amongst all the halted breaths, there were two that fluttered differently– Tomoe and Riley. Even Hannah, Gary, and Silvie could not help but hold their breaths… but still, even with their trembling legs, they did their best to stand tall.
“E… eliminate…”
Hannah and Gary’s eyes, however, quickly widened as they heard a whisper suddenly escaping from Silvie’s mouth.
“F… fuck,” Hannah gritted her teeth, “N… not now, Silv… please, not now.”
It took all of Hannah’s strength for her to glance at Silvie, only to see her eyes once again moving erratically, “F… fuck you, Silv.”
3 days. 3 days of Silvie not even acting up even once… and now she chose to go psycho in front of Darkday!?– Hannah could not help but wince at the thought. Fortunately, contrary to her expectations, Silvie’s eyes quickly flickered back to normal.
Silvie then quickly shook her head as a look of silent despair once again filled her face; perhaps the sheer fear was enough to bring her back.
It was the same for the people– their fear had completely shadowed everything else that they were feeling. Even completely forgetting the fact that there were several people that fell from the sky, currently sprawled on the ground with their bones protruding from their skin.
But why would they even care… if they were going to join them in a little while?
“…”
And soon, it started to walk; its steps almost caused the hearts of the people to follow its beat. It continued to walk, only stopping its steps as it was a few meters away from the Baby Crew.
Its jet-black helmet, turning to face Silvie.
“!!!” Silvie’s whole body began to tremble as her breaths once again completely stopped… but once again, even so, she did not stray her eyes away from the apocalypse in front of her. Did… it want something from her?
If so… then she would gladly give herself if it means saving all the others. Silvie then, without any hesitation, lifted her foot to walk forward. But before her foot could even land back to the ground, the calamity shifted its gaze towards Riley.
“!!!”
Everyone then flinched as it slowly moved its hand, pointing at the mangled corpse of the scarred man in front of it. And soon, a monotonous, almost robotic voice vibrated in the air.
“This man and his group wished to harm you and your group, Riley Ross. I took care of them as an offering– I wish for you to join me.”
“Join… what?”
And as soon as the black-clad individual’s words reached their ears, Hannah quickly blocked Riley from its view.
“F… fuck you, Darkday,” Hannah then breathed out; her teeth almost chattering as her jaws began to tremble, “Stay… stay away from my brother!”
“…”
“You… you think I care about who the fuck you are!?”
“I have no intention to harm anyone… now or even in the past. That was never the intention of my organization.”
“Or… ganization?” Hannah slightly squinted her eyes, “Wait, you’re not–”
And before Hannah could even finish her words, a roaring thunder reverberated through the air. The black-clad individual turned its head to the noise, but before it could do so, a glistening shadow dived through its position.
A crevice then began to crawl across the ground as the black-clad individual’s body rolled several times through it.
“W… what?”
Hannah then turned her head towards where the black-clad individual was previously standing, only to see a familiar figure now standing there instead– Empress, her long white hair fluttering still slowly flowing down towards her skin.
“Tempo, evacuate all the civilians!”
And halfway through Empress’s roars, the crowd soon disappeared one by one. There was a sort of echo in the air, as if a skipping stone hitting a lake of ice; the echo was partnered with a fading black blur.
“What the…”
“You kids should get out of here while you still can,” Empress then turned her attention towards the Baby Crew, the rings on her arms dangling as she gestured for them to leave,
“It’s too dangerous to stay here,” she then said, “We still don’t know what the leader of the Dark Millenium is capable of.”
“Leader… so it really wasn’t Darkday?” Hannah then let out a long and very deep breath as her conjecture was confirmed. She and the others already had a guess that it wasn’t Darkday when it mentioned something about an organization.
“No,” Empress shook her head, “We’ve been tracking her down for quite–”
And before Empress could even finish talking; a fist suddenly appeared right in front of her cheek. It was extremely fast, perhaps even a blink. But for the Baby Crew, it was as if they were seeing it in slow motion as Empress’s face met with the Dark Millenium leader’s fist.
And with a snap, time once again went back to normal as Empress was thrust straight back to the skies, leaving a small crater down below like some sort of rocket.
“Riley Ross,” the Dark Millenium Leader then once again stretched her hand towards Riley, “Join the Dark Millenium– I saw you during your trial… you know first-hand how they treat beings like us; beings who seem to not belong anywhere. Together…
…I know we can save this rotten world.”
“N… not good, guys,” Gary then whispered. Now that they know that the individual in front of them wasn’t truly Darkday, a sliver of confidence once again revived within all of them, but still…
“We should probably run.”
“We… we should help them,” Silvie breathed out.
“No,” Hannah quickly shook her head, “This fucker seems to be intent on taking my brother with her… I’m not letting that happen, you guys take escape with my brother.”
“What!? We’re not going to leave you beh–”
And before Silvie could finish her words, another thunder erupted through the air as Empress once again landed to the ground, this time right in front of the Baby Crew; she was then followed by another silhouette, standing beside her as he waved his hands at Hannah and the others.
“It’s… It’s Tempo,” Gary took in a small gulp, his phone suddenly already on record.
“When ’til the others get here?” Empress muttered, her eyes not leaving the Dark Millenium’s leader even for a single second.
“…Now.”
And as soon as Tempo said that, a whisper whistled in the air.
“…” The Dark Millenium Leader swiftly tilted her body to the side, avoiding the glint that suddenly carved its way down through her arms.
“…” The Dark Millenium Leader then slowly turned her head to the side, only to see Butcher’s knife and bald head reflecting the rays of the sun. The Dark Millenium Leader then quickly grabbed Butcher’s bald head, only for her fingers to just slide away from it, as if she touched the surface of a melting ice, but dry.
This seemed to not perplex the Dark Millenium leader, however, as she quickly stomped her foot on the ground and slammed her entire body towards Butcher. But instead of rolling to the ground or flying away, Butcher’s body just slid across the ground as if it was the smoothest thing in the world.
“Die!”
The Dark Millenium did not get any time to rest, however, as a pair of clasped grey-colored hands suddenly threatened to slam through her head from above. Hera’s expression, showing that she was completely out for blood.
The Dark Millenium Leader, however, was able to grab Hera’s arms; swiftly rotating her body and using Hera’s own momentum to slam her to the ground… instantly causing the ground to split.
“Fuck, get us out of here, Riley!”
And as soon as Hannah’s words reached Riley’s ears, he slightly raised his hand– along with it, him and the members of the Baby Crew.
“…” Riley and the Dark Millenium looked at each other as he continued to float away– she seemed to want to follow him, but with the members of the Hope Guild keeping her grounded, it would seem there was no chance for them to meet.
“H… holy shit!” Gary’s stuttered bellows then quickly traveled through their ears.
The plaza was completely ruined; a huge crater completely replaced it. And Miami, which was full of life just moments ago, was now seemingly completely devoid of people– even the cars were empty, their doors open as Tempo did not really have the luxury to close them as he evacuated everyone.
“This…
…this is what Grade-S Supers are capable of?”