Wanda swept the glass up from her floor after the drones had shot her window. She took care not to miss any or cut herself as she disposed of it into her bin. Then she stepped out of her broken front door and surveyed the street outside.
Things had largely died down now. Everyone was too beat up to keep fighting. And the groups just kinda huddled together, eyeing each other and looked about looking for things they had lost.
The Chook's Creek cricket team looked around for their missing bats and balls. They'd need them for their next match after all. After they gathered mostly everything, they went back to the pub to celebrate.
The cultists, led by Roy the head priest, looked around for their missing Matriarch. They were the most beat up of the 3 groups as the church members were not experienced fighters like the cricket players or the police (who had plenty of experience from the other cricket brawls that frequented the town).
The police were looking for their missing authority. Nobody in Chook's Creek ever stopped fighting when the police asked and they were quite frankly sick of it. They just wanted to go home.
And the 2 aliens were looking skywards for their missing spaceship.. Einstein had tried hailing it but got no answer. They couldn't even detect it so they didn't know which way to fly in their suits to reach it. Not that Edison's suit was in any condition to fly.
"It's past time to sort this mess out" Wanda thought out Loud. "EVERYBODY, LISTEN UP! YOU (pointing at Roy), YOU (pointing at the officer in charge), AND YOU (pointing at Einstein), GET OVER HERE AND EXPLAIN SOME THINGS TO ME. THE REST OF YOU BETTER GET TO CLEANING UP MY STREET BEFORE WE'RE BACK OR THERE BE HELL TO PAY SO HELP ME!"
Wanda had the kind of voice that people jumped to obey when she was mad, she’d make a great leader. Everyone hopped into action right away doing as they were told even the three leaders she had called out. They reluctantly limped over to Wanda and gathered in front of her house.
"Well that was a fine show you put on in front of my house wasn't it. I hope you're all happy with yourselves!". she scolded. "Now I want some bloody answers!"
They all had the dignity to look sorry for their part in the commotion. Wanda was channelling everyone's most feared Aunt.
She started with Roy "You! Who are you guys? What cricket team are you with and why'd you bring a giant dog to a cricket brawl?" She asked, finger pointing at Roy's nose.
"I am the head priest of the church of the wolf, Roy Arabella, right hand to the.."
"Stop." She snapped, "Your name is too long, we'll shorten it down to 'Head'. So, tell me 'Head', what team and what's the deal with your dog, some kind of Mascot?"
Roy struggled between correcting her first mistake or correcting her other mistakes. "As I was saying, we're not a cricket team at all. We're a religious organisation. We came to collect a man who had escaped from our compound a few weeks ago."
"you're not a cricket team?! Why didn't you just say that you're not a cricket team to the Chook's team? You could have avoided that whole brawl" Exclaimed Wanda.
"Wait more importantly than that, what do you mean escaped? Were you holding him against his will?" The police officer asked. Wanda had honestly forgotten he was there already despite being the one to call him over.
"Shush, don't sidetrack the conversation." Wanda scolded.
'I want to go home,' the officer cried in his mind.
Wanda might have read his mind a little because she glared at him a bit then turned back to Roy. "Ok 'Head', back on topic, you were saying about the dog?" She ordered.
Roy hated his new nickname but answered anyway, "That was the Matriarch of our organisation. She is the pillar on which we stand, the one who will guide us to glory.. "
"Stop talking please. She wouldn't happen to be a shapeshifter would she? I met a bloke just before you came who could change into an octopus."
"That was probably her son, the escapee."
"Describe this man to me."
"Very skinny, dark skinned, short hair....."
"Hmmm.. ok yeah, that sounds like Wally." She shook her head "I mean Tomas."
"Yes, that's the traitor's name. We came for him so that we could.. uhh.." Roy glanced at the officer, "treat his mental illness."
"Ok I think I understand the situation a little better now." She turned to Edison. "What's your deal? Who are you? Wanda asked Einstein.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
"Oh uh.. Yes hi!" A robotic voice came from the suit. "I'm Einstein, this is Edison!'' Einstein gestured at the 2nd alien laying on the ground.
"Einstein? The name sounds familiar. Anyway Einstein, Are you an alien or something? You're shaped weird and your suits are too fancy."
"Rude! I think my shape is perfectly fine, thank you very much. And yes, I'm from another planet. We're called Scientist."
"Scientist is your race name? What do you call your scientists then? Scientist scientist?" Wanda asked but held up her hand to stop Einstein from answering. "don't answer that, instead tell me, were you the one responsible for the flying robots that smashed my windows and took away my customers?"
"And the Matriarch! Where have you taken her?! What do you want with her!?" Roy demanded.
Wanda gave Roy a stern look. But let Einstein answer his question.
"Ok well, those were stunner drones. And they were here to stun and capture the dangerous threats down here. I ordered them to take them up to the ship's containment cells. So that's where they'll be!" She explained.
"You can't just kidnap people like that!" Exclaimed the police officer, again Wanda forgot he was there. He went on, "And just to clarify, when you say ship, you mean spaceship, in the sky."
"Yes officer, she's an alien, catch up." Wanda sighed.
"It's just that, I became an officer out in a rural town because I thought it'd be quiet and now there are military home invasions, and dog Ladies and alien kidnappers.. I'd like to just go home now."
"Fine by me." Said Roy
"I forgot you were still here, twice." Said Wanda
"I don't even know who you are," said Einstein.
The officer left Looking dejected and then there were three.
"Why did you take the Matriarch? What are you doing to her?!" Roy started demanding answers again.
"I didn't do anything, she's fine. Chill grandpa. She's in a containment cell like I said. I was gonna study them later because that's the whole point of an abduction. But now I can't even do that." Einstein explained.
"You can't abduct or study her! Return the Matriarch this instant!"
"Well that's the thing I'm trying to explain, our ship's gone. I'm pretty sure Fred touched something. My bad because I accidentally made him Captain." Edison in his suit beside her groaned.
"Will this Fred be coming back anytime soon?" Asked Wanda "I too need my associates back. I may have put the wrong soul into the wrong body."
Einstein thought about it. As long as he didn't blow the ship up, he would surely come back for her and Edison right? Right?!
Her helmet unfolded revealing her young blue face and teary eyes "I don't know if I can get home alone. Will you help me?"
And thus the Earthen/scientist alliance was formed.
----------------------------------------
Despite the earlier hiccups, the AI had followed its instructions perfectly. It made 7 stunner drones. It didn't crash any of them because "we don't want to damage drones", it stunned the right targets and put them into containment cells. As soon as they were all on board the ship departed as ordered. It had even taken the initiative to inform Captain Fred. It felt proud, like it had learned a lot today and been very good and yet it still hadn't succeeded in ridding itself of a captain.
----------------------------------------
Fred's afternoon nap had lasted well into the evening. He woke up and groggily made his way to the ship's bridge. The ship was moving. Einstein and Edison must have come back and started their return journey.
'Damn, I really hope they didn't see me napping, they'll go on about green naps forever.' he thought. Thankfully, They weren't on the bridge now. He wasn't emotionally ready to face them yet.
He sat down heavily at the long range scanner and pressed the button. 'Oh I'm not locked out of the system' he was surprised to discover. 'Maybe I should apologise to Einstein later. I was a bit harsh.
He looked at the results of the scan on screen and then leapt back out of his chair. The screen displayed something fishy inside the ship. He panicked and looked around the bridge hyperventilating. There weren't any fish to be seen in the room. He calmed down a little and forced himself to think. He remembers that the purpose of their Trip down to Earth was to retrieve something 'fishy' attached to one of the natives. They must have succeeded and placed it in the cells. Fred was embarrassed and again super glad that Einstein and Edison weren't in the bridge. He didn't want to go look for them as they were probably elbows deep in fishy anomaly guts by now. Instead he decided to go lock himself back into his cabin and spend some quality alone time, avoiding his cremates and anything fishy.
----------------------------------------
Near the shattered ruins that was once the planet Siren, the remaining magical fish floated together in space. Despite their victory over the Scientists the mood was dark. Time Fish's noble sacrifice had saved many, but still their numbers had drastically reduced after the battle. The Goddess of Creation had made 60 magical fish when she was last born into this universe, tens of thousands of years ago. Now only 28 remained.
Destiny Fish cried, Laser Fish floated beside him. She wasn't her usually flirty energetic self. They stayed by each other's side to comfort each other in grief.
Telepathy Fish had opened a connection between all the fish and the topic of discussion was on the future of the war.
"They have no armies left any more, now is the time to strike! We should Hunt down every planet they're hidden on and shatter them all, like they did ours." Growled Kinetic Fish.
"There's too many, too spread out. Even with me and portal fish working non stop they'll rebuild a decent army before we get them all and then it's only a matter of time before we lose another fish," Divination Fish retorted.
"I say we just go so far away that they never find us. I'm done with Fighting and killing" sent Telepathy Fish.
"Na, I've told you before, a lot of the other parts of the universe are weird, uncomfortable." Portal fish shuddered remembering. "I'd rather we contact the scientists and ask for peace than go out there and search for a new home."
"Cowards." DNA Jellyfish spat.
"Huh?!? You wanna go!?" Tempers and spells flared to life.
"Enough" World fish spoke the word and everyone backed down. "I have an idea."
Now he really had everyone's attention. World Fish’s ideas were always worth listening to.
World began his pitch "When the goddess created us, all knew that we were her chosen. And none would dare to do what the Scientists have done. They would stay in their holes and reject science. All knew the simple truth, that magic is the greatest power in this universe. But it has been a very long time; they have forgotten. To remind them of that power we could crush them; Destroy them under our magic might like the insignificant worms they are. Yes, that would work. But I have a more elegant solution to this problem. We revive the Goddess."
The crowd was confused and shocked.
It was Destiny who spoke up. "Not sure what you mean dude, the Goddess is already coming back. It's like the most destined thing ever."
"Yeah, her egg is going to form once universal soul density has condensed enough. Everyone knows that." Divination Fish said. She looked around at the scattered remains of the Scientist's fleet. "If you're suggesting we go out and slaughter enough living beings to raise the soul density, there aren't enough souls in the universe. Even in the weird parts that portal fish mentioned."
World Fish waited for silence before speaking again. "As you know, the reason It takes so long to build up enough pressure for the Goddess is that souls are dispersed out evenly throughout the entire universe when the body dies. The universe is a large place. I believe there is a way we can artificially raise the soul density in an area large enough for the Goddess's egg to form. We'll need to lure them in and trap them. I think an appropriate name for this plan is: 'New Siren'. Muahahaha."
World Fish explained details of his plan and all the other magical fish were in awe at his evil madness. It was so crazy that it might just work. All the fish voted to work together and try, even Destiny Fish. The world fish truly had the best ideas.