Damian was floating in space after a long battle with Carol. He felt really good about fighting, even though he still held back because he couldn't bring himself to hit her seriously.
It had been over a year since he had advanced in his magical system, and he considered himself ready.
As the circles grew, so did the difficulty. Each circle was larger and denser, making it take more time to inscribe the runes.
It wasn't the case for him, but if someone didn't have the mental and magical strength, the circle would collapse, leading to a really unpleasant situation.
Damian wasn't sure how long it would take to inscribe the runes, but he was certain it would be at least a day.
Focusing and looking within himself, he saw his three magic circles slowly rotating one behind the other.
Getting to work, he closed his eyes and began creating his fourth magic circle.
His magic and blood combined to create a disc where Damian started inscribing the runes as if he had an invisible pen.
The process was slow, and gradually Damian only focused on inscribing, losing any sense of time.
...
Steve stepped out of his apartment and started walking down the streets, wearing simple jeans and a hoodie.
The streets were really empty, with only the occasional vehicle passing by.
As he walked, he was alert to any movement and sound.
Several times he had to hide when he saw police patrols roaming the streets. He wouldn't have a way to explain why he was outside when it was clearly dangerous.
Counting the number of patrols he encountered, Steve assumed it was more serious than what was being reported in the news. Remembering that the world was no longer as normal as before, Steve wondered if he was facing a regular human.
Steve took a long walk of over an hour and found nothing suspicious. There was no other way; he was just one person and had no surveillance system or companions to help him.
Taking out his phone, he thought about calling Natasha and asking SHIELD for something to assist him.
Just as he was about to dial, he heard screams in the distance. If it weren't for his enhanced hearing, he might have missed them.
He quickly started running in that direction until he reached a rather dark alley where a tall figure was cutting into a man's flesh.
Steve quickly hid behind the wall before pulling out his phone and cursing in his mind, trying to turn on the flashlight.
When he finally managed to do it, he quickly aimed in the direction where the figure was while approaching rapidly.
To his surprise, that figure was no longer there, and only the half-skinned corpse was visible.
Steve turned away in disgust while constantly scanning the surroundings, alert.
Clearly, that thing had detected him and didn't seem inclined to leave the job unfinished.
Steve focused as he looked all around, calming his breathing while paying attention to any sound.
Suddenly, Steve crouched down and felt the whistle of air as something passed over him but he couldn't see anything.
Steve quickly stepped back, placing his back within arm's reach of the wall.
He assumed the enemy was invisible or had camouflage capabilities, quickly looking around for something to help him.
Although all he saw was some trash and a bloodied body.
Steve looked at the blood before an unpleasant idea occurred to him.
He quickly took off his hoodie and laid it on the ground in a certain position. He also took off his shirt and quickly soaked it in blood.
Looking around carefully, he suddenly swung his shirt in a whip-like motion, causing many drops of blood to fly out and stain the surroundings.
Several drops fell onto something but they seemed to be floating. Steve smiled faintly, thinking he had it.
He quickly sent more blood in that direction, although he could only stain it a little since the figure reacted quickly and prevented further staining, though it was already too late. At least Steve could now see where it was.
The faint silhouette, realizing that its camouflage wasn't effective and that the humanoid figure in front of it seemed to be a good challenge, deactivated its camouflage, revealing itself for the first time to Steve.
Steve was amazed to see the figure, now sure it wasn't a human.
The creature stood at 7 feet, with a short sword held in reverse grip in one hand, and two claws extending from its wrist in the other. Its skin seemed reptilian, and it had claws on its fingers.
Steve looked at the creature with some apprehension, slowly crouching down to grab a trash can lid and using it as a shield.
Despite the situation, he couldn't help but smile slightly, as it seemed like he had been transported back in time – an alley, a guy larger than him, and a trash can lid in his hand.
The Yautja didn't wait any longer after seeing that his opponent also had a weapon or something similar.
He ran towards Steve and kicked his shield. To Yautja's surprise, he was pushed to the side relatively easily before receiving a blow to the helmet that shook him violently.
The force of the blow made the Yautja reassess the human in front of him.
His race was no stranger to humans. There were stories of powerful humans who defeated Yautja and even more impressive Yautja who defeated humans.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Taking advantage of his tribe being quite close, he snuck away to hunt some prey and receive great honor, just like in the stories.
Unfortunately, he found nothing to like in the stories, only weak humans with no combat instinct.
To his disappointment, they had all been terribly weak, providing no challenge.
Until now, he believed that this human would definitely give him the honor he sought.
The young Yautja slowly circled the human before quickly lunging at him.
Steve skillfully dodged the attack before turning and slamming his shield against the Yautja's face, causing it to stagger back.
Not willing to give up the opportunity, Steve swept his leg, causing the Yautja to lose its balance before striking with the thin edge of his shield against the alien's chest, sending its back crashing into the ground with force.
Steve heard a slight grunt of pain, as, unbeknownst to him, the Yautja had impaled itself with a piece of glass as it fell.
The Yautja quickly twisted its body, sending a stab with its two claws towards Steve.
The two claws pierced through his shield like paper, creating two large holes.
Steve stepped back and looked at his shield, which was now heavily dented from the blows he had dealt to the alien, and now had two holes. He quickly scanned the surroundings, looking for another one to use as a replacement if necessary.
To Steve's surprise, the alien stood up but did not attack him.
The Yautja looked at the shield in the human's hands. Clearly, it was of very poor quality, something he had picked up to defend himself. He wasn't willing to fight now; when the human had a proper weapon, then they would fight. Only then would there be honor in killing him and taking his skull.
The Yautja retracted the blades on its forearms before pressing a button on the back of its helmet, releasing a burst of steam and causing its mask to fold back slightly, revealing its real face.
The alien pointed at him before growling and making guttural noises before putting its helmet back on, activating its camouflage, and leaving the place.
Steve sighed and relaxed his stance a bit. He hadn't let his guard down entirely, but he believed he had understood the intentions of the alien. It seemed that it disdained to fight with him if he used low-quality tools.
After several minutes and seeing no trace of the alien, Steve finally let go of the trash can lid before approaching the victim.
If the behavior of the alien was as he thought, then this person must have had weapons or a threatening attitude.
Searching what was left of the body, he found a backpack with what appeared to be drugs.
The arm was missing from the body, so digging deeper into the alley, he saw an arm severed with a pistol.
Steve was already putting the pieces together in his mind and guessed that the alien only hunted strong people who could give him some kind of challenge. The people who died were just prey, whether they satisfied him or not was another matter.
Steve picked up the severed arm before tossing it at the alley entrance. With patrols passing by constantly, they would likely find it soon.
Seeing that there was nothing else left, Steve retrieved his hoodie, which he had used to try to track the alien by its footprints. In the end, it was useless, but at least it was still relatively clean, so he didn't have to go home with his upper body exposed.
Upon returning home, Steve secured all the entrances before heading to the bathroom for a quick shower.
After the shower, Steve prepared a quick dinner before turning on the TV and tuning in to the news. He wanted to see if there were any updates about the body in that alley or anywhere else. This could reveal if there was just one or more.
The news continued to discuss the matter, but to his surprise, no more bodies were mentioned.
Steve frowned slightly because he had left the body in the alley quite conspicuously, so it was most likely that they were beginning to cover up the matter, perhaps because they realized it wasn't the work of a human.
Steve took out his phone and asked Natasha for a favor: to pick him up the next day to go to SHIELD.
If he wanted to face these aliens, he would need his shield.
...
Maria stepped out of a black vehicle before walking towards a dark alley. Several agents got out and began to inspect the area, illuminating it and taking photos.
Maria stood in the middle of the scene while all the agents quickly scanned the place.
"Tell me something," Maria said, looking at an agent who approached her.
"Same case, same types of wounds and brutality, although this corpse was left half-skinned. It seems there was a fight, which caused the killer to abandon the body."
"We found a trash can lid with dents and punctures that we suspect are from the killer. We've taken fingerprint samples, but they don't match any in our database," the agent said, speaking quickly.
"Maybe SHIELD's database has his prints," the agent added, looking at Maria with hesitation.
"We don't work with SHIELD anymore," Maria said, looking directly at the agent, who seemed to shrink back a bit before continuing to talk about the case.
"We'll send the trash can lid to metallurgy. Maybe fragments of the weapon got caught in the holes."
"This case is really getting troublesome," Maria said, scratching her head.
"Ma'am, we've found something," one of the agents shouted, catching Maria's attention.
As they approached, they saw a small fragment of glass on the ground, stained with phosphorescent blood.
"Well, it seems you were right. Our killer isn't a local," Maria said, laughing lightly.
"Quick, take samples and bring them back. Also, only agents level 8 and above can handle the sample and its results," Maria instructed, supervising everything.
A couple of agents quickly took the sample before placing it in a capsule for preservation.
With the scene cleared, Maria and her agents got into their vehicles and left.
Later, when they arrived at their base in New York, Maria followed the agents with the sample to the laboratory.
On the way, an agent quickly approached her and handed her a tablet while they walked.
"Boss, we've identified the person who was at the scene. He didn't really try to hide," the agent said, playing the video.
Maria watched as a tall, blond, clearly fit man walked down the streets.
"We tracked his movements with the cameras, and he seemed to be using himself as bait."
"Also... we found this," the agent said hesitantly, playing an image that showed Natasha and Clint accompanying Steve to his apartment.
"Hmm," Maria hummed, looking at Natasha.
"Just have an agent watch his house. Our aspiring hero will probably be out again the next night. Don't lose sight of him, and I'll try to find out who he is," Maria said, nodding before entering the lab with the agents and closing the door.
The agent quickly went to deliver orders while Maria was inside with her most trusted agents.
She sat on one of the experiment tables as the agents in charge began examining the sample.
Maria opened her phone to pass the time while looking at the photos her daughter sent her of the sea or the ones Carol sent her, showing the antics the girls were up to or their adorable moments.
Almost an hour later, the initial results were ready.
Maria saw that the agents were particularly ecstatic as if they had discovered of the century.
"Well, that's enough. Hurry up and tell me what you've got," Maria said, unable to bear their expressions any longer.
"Boss, this time we've found something really big," one of the agents said excitedly.
"Boss, do you know why we age?" one of the agents asked.
"Because of telomeres," Maria said, thinking for a moment.
"That's right. Telomeres are the biggest contributor when it comes to aging. Usually, when our cells divide, a part of our DNA should be lost, but this doesn't happen thanks to telomeres."
"Telomeres are something fixed that we're born with, and as our cells divide, they also wear down. When they wear out, cells stop dividing, leading to aging and eventually death."
"This substance, which is the blood of the alien, seems to have the function of activating telomerase, which is capable of lengthening telomeres. Usually, this protein is only active in all our cells during our embryonic development."
"This was just our preliminary analysis, and there's still a lot to verify, but... we might have discovered the secret to increasing our longevity as a species," one of the agents said, excited.
"Hmm," Maria hummed thoughtfully.
"Keep conducting tests, and make sure you know what you're talking about. Also, I don't want a single word about this to anyone."
"I'm deadly serious," Maria said, looking at the three agents with her eyes that seemed to glow terrifyingly at that moment.
The agents shrank in fear while nodding.
"Alright, if you investigate this properly and know how to keep your mouth shut, I'm sure you could be the first to get the results of the experiment," Maria said, getting up from the table before walking out of the lab.
The agents inside looked at each other with excitement in their eyes. Who wouldn't want to live longer?
Maria chuckled to herself as she walked through the halls, a carrot and a stick.