A week into the invasion, people were beginning to notice what was really going on. There were robberies, fighting, violence worldwide, but there was no sign of the Hero Squad anywhere. The call went out for someone, anyone, to save the innocent and fight for justice. In a single week without the Hero Squad, the scum an villains of the world rose up to take whatever they wanted. When the super cats away, the super mice will play. After a week, more than half the banks across the world were robbed, museums were picked clean, entire art galleries were bought out with fake money.
Samson Marcel stood on top of his tower, looking out across the burning New York as it trudged lower and lower into scum and villainy. He had people holed up in his tower, good people that he knew personally, but this was something else. As he watched, he heard the ding of the elevator and looked back to see Alexander with a bandage over his heard. He was breathing heavily and staggered a bit out of the elevator. "Alexander," said Samson, quickly rushing to the older gentleman's aide, "what's going on?"
"Ruffians in the lobby, sir," said Alexander, breathing like an asthmatic.
"I'll take care of it," said Samson, "give yourself a rest here."
"Thank you, sir," said Alexander as Samson got into the elevator and descended into the lobby. When the doors opened, two guys were standing in front of the elevator with a crowbar and baseball bat. Samson punched both of them in the face viciously, knocking them back into the wall. Samson looked into the very fancy lobby to see seven other guys looking at him, one of the thugs standing over the crumpled body of a man.
"This is getting ridiculous," growled Samson, stepping forward and mowing them down as they came at him. Once they were all down, Samson and another few men picked up their bodies and laid them outside before blocking the doors with all of the furniture in the lobby. "Where is the Hero Squad," Samson shouted to the people taking refuge in his building. Right as he said that, the large TV in the lobby suddenly came to life with the picture of a blue man.
"Greetings, people of earth," said General Baslo, "as you have no doubt noticed from the chaos in your streets, the Hero Squad that you once depended on is no longer on duty. We have nullified their entire force, and are holding them as prisoners against peace. As of now, this is an invasion of earth for which you humans will certainly lose." The image cut out and Samson could hear the scream of an entire city as millions of souls wailed their upcoming doom.
"Figures," said Samson, looking at the TV screen as though it was a karaoke singer at amatuer hour. "Looks like I'm going to have the last bit of fun that I can." Samson marched into the back offices and left the building out the back way, then he dropped all pretenses of secrecy as a lightning bolt arced through the city towards New Jersey.
On board the T'Tachi ship, Mark was sitting up against the wall of the cell block with around a hundred other superheroes. Since he worked mostly with the supervillian prevention unit, a lot of the heroes there assumed he was a civilian caught up in the mess. He was tired of explaining it, and it seemed as though everyone was tired of asking. They would get random food drops occasionally, but the food looked as though it had been chewed already. The water fountains were warm like urine, but it was as much as they could ask.
The passage of time was hard to accurately predict, since there were no windows or clocks, but the lights would turn off sometimes and that was when most people slept. Judging by the period between power failures, it had been almost ten days since they were captured. The only thing they could do was think to pass the time, and it was in thier minds that the torture began. The fear and the vulnerability would chew away at the people who believed themselves invulnerable.
Standing on a platform floating in the middle of a vast crowd that watched from balconies, Queen stood wearing the royal robes of a T'Tachi queen. She was raised up into the middle as millions of eyes watched her and the two generals behind her. She had memorized the script the generals had layed out and was told that her speech would be broadcast across the world over every screen just as every announcement. After all, the announcement of a new queen was something that everybody deserved to hear. Once the platform stopped, a massive screen appeared behind Queen as a small microphone picked up her voice and amplified it.
On earth, every screen available popped up showing the royal majesty Queen. She looked directly into the camera as if speaking to an individual person, when in fact her voice was heard by billions.
"Greetings, people of earth, my T'Tachi brothers and sisters, and any who hear this broadcast. I speak to you as someone whose identity has finally been brought to light after a truth was revealed to me by the noble generals. You may know me as Queen, the blue alien member of the Hero Squad and adopted daughter of Big Man. Others may know me by my human face," her face changed into that of Karen, "and name, Karen Margaret Hunt.
"But, in fact, this is not who I truly am. Two hundred years ago, a ship went missing containing the queen of the T'Tachi homeworld, the very same ship where Big Man discovered me. I have grown up with humans, fought with and against them, even fallen in love, but I have always felt left out. Now I know why, it is because I am the hier to a T'Tachi royal bloodline, the one directly connected with the T'Tachi homeworld. Because I have been raised and guided by humans, this invasion will be diplomatic and peaceful as an offering of thanks from me personally.
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"As such, a show of gratitude for those closest to me is in order. The names of the humans that I list will be allowed on the T'Tachi warstation and will act as the personal ambassadors for all humans. Big Man, Iron Maiden, Samson Marcel, Lighthouse, and Warpath the Amazon. The only one who isn't on the station, we will send a cruiser to your apartment to retrieve you. Please, sit tight and this invasion will become prosperous for both human and T'Tachi alike."
"You can stop right there," said an omnipotent voice spreading across the speakers. The camera moved of its own will and focused on a figure in a mechanical black suit who was slowly being raised on a platform adjacent to Queen's. The camera focused on the face mask, a black slate that gave an ominous sense of darkness. The mechanical nature of the suit was unmistakable, even as it crossed its arms there were signs of machinery. Queen looked a bit surprised, but she did not move from her spot on the platform.
"What is the meaning of this," demanded General Baslo with contained rage. "Who do you think you are, interrupting a queen of the T'Tachi empire!"
"I am undecided on a name for myself," said the omnipotent voice, "so call me what you will. I am simply here for the ultimatum." The general raised his arm around Queen with a pistol in his hand, and he fired off several shots automatically. The shots could be seen bending across an invisible field and heading into the crowd behind him. There were screams and shouts as the shots hit bystanders behind the black mech suit. "For one who talks of peace, you seem awfully trigger happy."
The other general put his arm over the pistol and asked, "Why did you disrupt the queen's speech?"
"To deliver a message and a choice," said the man in black. "Over the past few hours, I have been frantically running around your entire base setting up very explosive surprises. To the humans on earth as well as the alien invaders, I offer a simple choice of whether to detonate or not. Each person, T'Tachi or human, will receive a single vote whether to detonate or not. A counter will appear to count the votes, and at the end of the day eastern Australian time, the bombs will either detonate or be disarmed."
"You bastard," shouted the general still holding the weapon, "the T'Tachi population isn't even a thousandth of the size of the humans on earth!" The black suit raised it's palm towards the enraged general and a faint white light was emitted.
"You yell at me one more time and I will blow your head off of your shoulders," commanded the black mech. "The fact that you get a say in it at all is the mere mercy I will spare to the lives of your people. Humans had no say in your invasion, I believe this is more than fair compensation." The camera moved into the just the black mech suit so that its face was the only thing on the screen. "This message goes out to all of the humans across the world, civilian, criminal, or otherwise.
"If you choose yes, the bombs will detonate and this entire warstation will be wiped out without a trace. The invasion will end immediately with the destruction of the generals and the death of a T'Tachi queen. However, there are more than just T'Tachi on board this warship. The captured Hero Squads are currently being held in pens like animals, collars around their necks to suppress their powers. If you choose no, you will be returning the favor to people who have saved your own lives countless times, whether you knew it or not. None of them will survive the bombs I have placed, for that, I garuntee.
"The choice is yours, either save the heroes or save yourselves," said the omnipotent voice. The camera dropped and the screen was suddenly changed to a large counter with two large zeroes 0:0 over the words 'NO' and 'YES' respectively. There was a moment of doubt, but then the numbers began to change at a rapid rate. The generals took small screens out of their pockets and they saw a simple 'yes or no' question.
"You think you are saving the world," said Queen honestly, "but you've just condemned it to a worse fate."
"We'll see about that," said the mech electronically. There was a loud shot that suddenly erupted and a hail of bullets bounced off of the invisible shield surrounding the mechanical man. The general carrying his gun suddenly dropped his gun as his eyes became tearful. The mechanical man said nothing, just raised his hand as a sudden burst of white light completely removed everything above the general's neck. The body fell limply off the platform as the queen released a shrill scream.
Looking at the black mechanical man, Queen tried to lift him with her telekinesis, but his body was much heavier than what she could manage for long. He dropped down to the base where a hail of gunfire erupted, but nothing even grazed him as he ran through the crowds. The remaining general announced, "Everybody, please, I want you all to stay calm. We will figure this problem out without panicking. All of my officers, I need to see you in the operations command immediately."