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Phobos

Verlin's fingers grazed the cold surface of the robot. Giving it one last glance, he noted its uncanny resemblance to himself, down to the finest detail. To the untrained human eye, distinguishing between them would be impossible.

Exiting the top floor, he descended to the pyramid's main level. The pyramid's tranquil atmosphere was abruptly shattered by Desna's alarmed voice.

"Verlin," Desna intoned, "Our sensors have detected unusual activity within Earth's gravitational field."

Verlin quickly moved to the control center where Desna's physical body resided and asked, " What kind of activity?"

In response, Desna activated a large hologram depicting Earth's orbital space. Narrowing his eyes, Verlin inquired, "How was this overlooked until now?"

"I can't be certain," Desna admitted, "It seems to have materialized out of nowhere."

The hologram displayed Earth and its moon in their usual orbits, but there was an anomaly: a small celestial body darting past the moon, on a direct trajectory to Earth. This object was Phobos, one of Mars's two moons. Astonishingly, this celestial body, which should've been over 216 million km from Earth at this time, was now bypassing our moon.

Shifting his gaze from the hologram, Verlin focused on the vastness of space. His X-ray vision pierced through the pyramid's hull, locking onto the approaching Phobos. Given its velocity, it would breach Earth's atmosphere in roughly 10 hours and 41 minutes.

Breaking the tense silence, Desna remarked, "This movement is unnatural. Phobos lacks the natural propulsion to achieve such speeds, especially departing Mars's gravitational influence and heading for Earth. Even if it possessed such capability, the odds of it taking a direct course to Earth are minuscule."

Verlin slightly rolled his eyes and said, " I know that, Desna."

"I'm aware you know that. What I'm tryna to imply, is It's most likely a trap."

Before Verlin replied, Chloe's voice rang out, " What's a trap?"

The door to the Control room opened up revealing Chloe that seemed to be still feeling the effects of her nap. She yawned and stretched, brushing her tousled hair out of her face. "What's going on?" she asked, looking between Verlin and the hologram.

Verlin pointed at the hologram. "That is Phobos, one of Mars's satellites. It's heading straight for Earth. And Desna believes it's a trap."

Chloe's eyes widened, and she hurried over to the hologram, analyzing the data. The sudden news completely waking her up. "How is this even possible? And who could have the capability to push a moon out of its orbit?"

"We aren't sure but, not only were they able to move it from its orbit, but they were also able to keep it hidden until now."

Chloe ran her fingers through her hair, a worried expression on her face. "This is... I don't even have words. It's massive. If Phobos impacts Earth, the devastation will be unimaginable. There would be nothing left."

Desna chimed in, " But there is still some good news."

Chloe looked at him with a questioning glance. "What good news could possibly come out from this?"

"If Phobos collides with Earth, it would undoubtedly end the ongoing war," Desna remarked.

Chloe looked at Desna with disbelief, "Was that sarcasm?"

"No, it was an astute observation."

Chloe looked at Verlin and said, " So, what are we going to do?"

Verlin stayed silent for a moment before saying, "Desna might be right."

Chloe was taken aback by Verlin's respose, " You also think if Phobos hit the war would end?"

Verlin turned his head towards Chloe, " Well Yes, the war will be guaranteed to end, but that's not what I meant. I think Desna might be right about this being a trap. Stopping Phobos itself isnt the problem, what I'm worried about is the person behind this."

Chloe was relieved when she heard there was a way to stop Phobos and said, " Well, we can't keep worrying about the person behind it, if we don't stop it now. All life on Earth will perish."

Verlin nodded his head, "You're right."

Chloe gave Verlin a determined look, " So, what's the plan?"

"Well, I'll fly up there and push it away."

Chloe blinked in surprise. "You're going to... push it away? Verlin, it's a moon! Even with your abilities, that's... that's a lot."

Desna chimed in, " Actually it's not. Before adding Anti-gravity to the ship, Verlin was capable of moving the Pyramid of Solitude around with relative ease. And according to my calculations the mass of Phobos is only a several billion tons heavier than the pyramid."

Chloe's eyes darted between Desna and Verlin, trying to wrap her head around the gravity of what they were suggesting. "Several billion....So you're saying Verlin can actually do this? He can push an entire moon?"

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"While Phobos is termed a 'moon', its diameter is a mere 22 kilometers. In comparison, Earth's Moon spans 3,474 kilometers. Phobos is just a small celestial body." Verlin clarified. "However, it still carries a tremendous mass and force, especially at the velocity it's currently traveling. I would have to slow it down first to prevent it from shattering."

As Chloe was trying to process what she was hearing, her wristwatch sent out a blaring alarm. She quickly glanced at it, and frowned slightly, " The Hidden Society just sent out a message for all the its members to find the remaining enhanced humans on the planet and return to the Headquarters."

Verlin nodded in acknowledgement, "It seems the Hidden Society has also found out about Phobos. Since its not within their capabilities to redirect or stop Phobos, It makes sense for them to prevent total life annihilation."

Desna interjected, "It might be possible if they sent Chloe. Theoretically speaking, She could attempt making the entire asteroid intangible and having it pass throught the planet....Theoretically."

Chloe shook her head, " There's no way I can make an entire moon intangible. I dont think that would be possible even if I reached the pinnacle of my power."

"Alright its settled. I'll go move Phobos. While you and Desna, Prepare if something were to happen."

Chloe nodded her head, while Desna remained silent. Verlin turned to Desna and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Indeed, Considering that there is a high probability that this is a trap for you. I suggest we use the new technology we have been working on to stop Phobos."

Verlin thought for a moment before shaking his head, " Although its been theoretically perfected, we haven't yet used it in practice. We can't risk have you destroying Phobos and having its pieces fall onto Earth."

Desna simply acknowledged, "Understood."

Verlin made his way towards the exit of the pyramid, with Chloe and Desna's physical body following close behind. The door slid open as Verlin floated in the air outside of the pyramid, his eyes focused on the distant object hurtling towards Earth.

Chloe seemed to have thought of something and said, " Don't we need to make calculations on the exact force and angle you'll need to apply to redirect Phobos? A slight miscalculation could either shatter it or send it on another catastrophic trajectory."

Without turning his head to look at her, Verlin replied, " I'll wing it."

Chloe's eyes widened in disbelief. And before she could say anything Verlin had dissapeared as she got a face full of cold wind. Staring at the spot where Verlin had just been, Chloe felt a mix of frustration and worry. She yelled towards the sky, "Be Careful."

As the words fell, she could heard the sonic booms from Verlin's rapid acceleration echoing back from the distance.

Desna beside her suddenly spoke up, " Don't worry Chloe, Verlin's processing and calculating power surpasses mine a hundredfold. And my processing and Calculating power is unmatched by anything else on the planet. He won't make a mistake."

Chloe's voice seem to surrender. As her face moved from surprise to acceptance, she whispered, " That's Incredible."

Desna hummed slighltly in agreement, " Indeed he is. Sometimes I wonder why he even created me. Working with me would only slow him down."

Chloe smiled wryly "Tell me about it. Sometimes I also wonder why he cares about me so much, there isn't much of anything I can help him with."

Desna hummed again, "Sometimes I wonder the exact same thing."

Chloe bumped his side with her elbow and said, " Oh, shut up."

Desna stared at Chloe who had a smile plastered on her face for a while. Noticing Desna staring at her she asked, " What's wrong?"

This time Desna shook his head and said, "Nothing, I thought I felt something."

Verlin on the other hand had just blasted his way through most of Earth's atmosphere and entered the void of space. No longer feeling the friction of air, he accelerated even faster, his eyes locked on the approaching Phobos.

He made sure to scan everything around , going through the entire electromagnetic spectrum, looking for anything that looked out of place or suspicious. But apart from reflected light in the infrared, ultraviolet and visible spectrum there was nothing out of the ordinary.

He continued to make his way towards the wayward moon and in under a minute he was 5,000 km away from it. He started slowing down until he came to a halt. Verlin watched as the moon enlarged in his face.

As Verlin drew closer, he could feel the faint tug, a gentle pull towards the moon's surface.

The barren surface of Phobos loomed before him, As he gently landed on the moons surface. Because of the lack of mass, the moon didnt have enough gravity to round itself out, so although it was called a moon, it had a closer resemblance to a large asteroid. Still noticing nothing out of the ordinary he prepared to start moving the moon.

Verlin took on a pose that looked identical to a handstand, He planted his hands firmly on the rocky surface, he spread his Bioelectric Forcefield around Phobos and started applying force. The ground underneath Verlin's hand collapsed and cracks started to spread, he closed his eyes and concentrated. With each passing second, the force he applied gradually increased, and the once speeding moon started slowing down and evetually it came to a complete stop.

With a sigh of relief Verlin started pushing it back in the direction it came from, he gently pushed it past the Earth's moon before calculating the amount of force required to let it be captured by Mars gravity without it hitting the planet. Just as he was about to push, he saw a giant spaceship shaped like a skull suddenly appear behind him, easily 20 km in diameter. The mouth of the skull was opened and shone with a red light as a giant light beam was fired at him. Instinctively, he turned around and crossed his arm to protect his upper body.

All of this happening in under 1 microsecond. The energy beam crashed into Verlin and quickly encompasses him and the moon he had been pushing. The beam continued blasting at Verlin even after completely obliterating the moon. The sheer force and intensity of the blast was unlike anything Verlin had ever encountered. The energy beam overwhelmed him, pushing him further away into the vast expanse of space. The last thing Verlin felt was a burning sensation, as if his very atoms were being torn apart, before everything went dark.