Hey! Thank you to everyone who read; it's all appreciated! For this story im taking inspiration from a lot of different things including X-men, some musical bits and a mash of TV/Movies.
Recap:
The Brawlers were celebrating the end of the war against Zenoheld when the fire alarm was set off. At first the fire department said nothing was wrong then Marucho's mansion exploded into flames. The Brawler's then realised Alice wasn't with them and the firemen found no trace of her and the building burnt to the ground.
It was a dark day. Alice was dead. Actually dead. The Brawlers went looking for her for days with no outcome. She was gone.
The Brawlers trickled in one by one into the Misaki diner in complete silence. All dressed in black from Alice's funeral. They all dispersed around the room, some starting to whisper to each other about the service or the food. They all still couldn't believe the last week. Runo sat in a booth next to Dan in a complete blank state, she hadn't spoken all day. Julie stared at her best friend, almost bursting into tears once again but there was nothing left in her.
Baron then decided to break the silence, "Well, as far as funerals go I guess that was pretty ok?" he turned to Dan. That broke her and Runo whispered, "It wasn't a funeral..." the Brawlers turned around to look at her, looking like she was about to snap. "A funeral...is burying a body...but...WE DIDN'T EVEN FIND THAT." She finally broke. The other Brawlers just looked down, they understood what she was saying and most agreed. The rest of the team slowly left as the night started to set in, leaving only Runo, Dan, Keith and Mira. Runo was in the kitchen sorting the place out while the other three were sat down in a booth. "This is insane..." Mira whispered "Everything was finally going well and then..." she couldn't finish her sentence. She hadn't known Alice much but she still considered her a team member and a friend.
"I still don't understand how she didn't make it out...but it's beyond us now." Keith commented, he too unable to understand how to feel. He had known Alice about the same amount as his sister with the added interactions while helping with interspace.
"I haven't see Shun since the service, where did he go?" Mira looked up at Dan, who was sat opposite her. He gave her a small and slightly saddened smile.
"He and Alice had...a special bond. I can't imagine this being easy on him at all." he replied to her. Neither Vestal had ever seen Dan like this, completely drained and out of sorts. Both Mira and Keith nodded then looked at each other. "I think we are going to have to get going if we're going back to Vestal." Keith told his sister. Mira nodded in response and gave Dan a small smile who gave both of them a small smile as they left.
As the door closed behind them Runo came out the kitchen. Dan looked at his girlfriend. She was a shell of what she used to be. She walked to him and sat down beside him, not a word was exchanged but she started to break down into tears. Dan pulled her close to him and she buried her face into his chest. Out of their own personal losses this was the biggest, they didn't just lose a team member but a sister and that was too much for either of them to come to terms with.
Mira and Keith stepped through the portal into Vestal where Gus and Ace greeted them. "How are they doing?" Ace asked Mira.
"Terrible. I have never seen Dan and Runo like that... they've lost so much through losing her..." Mira told him. Ace gave her a single nod, fully understanding the situation. He put his hand out for her to take, which she did and they walked out of the lab. Keith and Gus started shutting down the portal in complete silence. Neither really knew how to feel at this point. Then Gus decided to break the silence with an issue that was in his mind, "What do you think happened?" He asked his best friend. Keith stopped what he was doing but didn't even look at Gus, "What do you mean?" he whispered back. Gus sighed, there was something obviously on his mind that he was scared to bring up, but then he did.
"It doesn't make sense, none of this does. She was with everyone, even on the balcony she would have heard the alarm. Nobody was in the room when we all vacated, how did nobody notice she was missing? It just doesn't make any sense and-"
"One of us died, Gus. Yes, we lost many people in the war against Zenoheld but she was the first actually genuine and good person to go. It's really not the time to discuss this yet..." Keith commented, taking Gus aback but not letting it show. He sighed while looking down at the wires he was holding.
"I understand." Gus added. Both started to wrap up but not before Keith gave one last remark.
"but I get what you mean, something isn't adding up." Gus looked at him. So he wasn't crazy for thinking it. Both men didn't know that their theories were so far from the reality of what happened that night; but it wouldn't be too long until they would find out.
It was a cold night, in many ways. Shun was sat on a bench looking out at the river, where the lights made everything just about visible. It seemed like he was still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened. Yet, he looked completely emotionless. This is how he would deal with the tough days before he met Alice; he'd be alone, all the time. It felt like things were going to go back to that now.
As Shun was battling his inner thoughts something caught his attention, he knew exactly what it was. "You really shouldn't be out in the open like this." Shun said to the dark male figure that stood behind him.
"Just thought I'd make sure you were ok." the man said.
Shun gave the comment a soft sarcastic chuckle through his nose. "No, no you didn't. I know why you're here." he said standing up from the bench slowly and turning to see the man behind him.
"What you waiting for then? Come on." the man invited him as he turned away form Shun and started walking away. Shun waited a few moments before following him away.
A month later...
Things had finally began to settle down. The mourning hadn't completely stopped but everyone had come to terms with what had happened and had started to go about their normal lives. Alice's death was no longer the topic of conversation everyday.
Runo was working in the diner while Dan and Baron were stuffing their faces at a table. Everything seemed back to normal. Then, Julie ran into the diner with her cheerleading uniform on.
"Hey guys! How you all doing?" she asked in her usual high pitched cheery voice. The boys were too concerned with their meal to respond but gave her a wave.
"I swear to God, those boys will eating anything..." Runo said as she left the kitchen to greet her friend.
"Hey Runo, How you doin?" Julie asked her friend as she sat down on a bar stool in front of her.
Runo sighed and placed her hands on her hip, "I'm alright, just a load of work and those two are making it even more..." she told Julie. Julie looked at her friend with a softness in her eyes.
"Ok...how you actually doing?" she knew her friend had been having a particularly hard time with their best friend's death. Runo's face dropped to a sad smile.
"I'm ok...things...are getting better." she reassured Julie. Both girls just looked at each other; they were still a family, but a piece was missing.
Meanwhile in an unknown location...
Three young men were looking at a wall of screens, each showed different locations where the Brawlers spent most of their time. The three looked seriously at the different groups of people they saw through the screen.
"I think we're almost in the clear." one of them said to the other two. The eldest looking one then looked down and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Don't get sloppy now, they might not be asking questions but it doesn't mean they aren't thinking." he informed the others, "I need you guys to keep an eye out, we can't have any incidents now that we seem to have things under control. Understood?" both men nodded and smiled at each other, they both turned around and started walking out of the dark room.
"You just keep Shun under control, J" one of the boys said before exiting through the mechanical automatic doors.
The one remaining person just stood there in silence, looking at the screens in front of him. Finally he sighed with some sort of relief and he placed his hands on his waist. "Hopefully, we've seen the last of you, Brawlers..."
A week later...
The brawlers had been spending a lot of time together, Marucho was working on Bakugan interspace and everybody was in on helping. Marucho, Runo, Julie, Mira, Ace and Keith were all in
in the control room, Baron and Dan had just finished a test battle in the arena. "Daaaaaamn master Dan, you could have gone easier on me there!" Baron commented, obviously feeling deflated about losing to his friend.
"What good what that do? To become the best you need to beat the best; and the best is still me haha!" Dan remarked, full of glee.
"Oh lord Dan quit it!" Runo rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. They all gathered around the screen where Marucho was typing away.
"I think it's almost ready for the beta test run, guys! With the data of that last battle I will be able to fix any last bugs!" Marucho announced to his friends. They all smiled at the screen and at each other; then Marucho's smile quicjly faded as the memory of Alice helping him through the first stages of setting it all up. Dan noticed his suddenly saddened friend and placed his hand on his shoulder, Marucho looked up at him. "She would have been proud of what you've done, buddy" Dan whispered to him just enough for him to hear over the sound of the others chatting away.
A sudden ringing like cellphone tone went off and Keith took out his hologram communicator and pressed the answer button. A hologram of Gus appeared and he was shaken. "Master!" he said in a panic.
"What is it, Gus? You seem out of sorts" Keith said with worry in his voice, he hadn't seen his Gus like this in a long while.
"You need to see this!" Gus told him as he typed something out and sent it over to the control centre interface. It was a video, a disaster zone which looked like earth. People were screaming and running from a a monster that seemed to be made of a grey rock-like material. It had cracks all over with a luminous red glow coming through which also pierced through its eyes. Everyone was confused and shocked. "What in the world is that?!" Julie squealed out loud.
Keith turned back to his friend on the hologram, "Gus, what is this?!" He questioned with concern and a hint of fear in his voice. Gus took a breath and looked at Keith.
"That's not the most shocking fact of the video, keep watching." so they did. They watched as the creature destroyed, attacked and terrified everything and everyone in its path. Then off screen a young male voice was heard, "Hey!" and person who was filming turned to find a group of young people all in matching dark blue jumpsuits coming down on the scene. They all wore black masks that made their eyes bright red circles. Two teen boys who looked almost identical with bright orange hair, Two girls, one with long black hair and one with short blonde hair and an older guy with black hair.
"Who are those guys?" Baron questioned the room but everyone was too taken by the scene in front of them. They watched as the team approached the beast. "Jane, go!" The man with brown hair commanded and the girl with black hair started levitating and a sphere created around her, it was like energy or electricity. She though her arms in front of her and all that energy was thrown towards the beast in the blink of an eye, sending it flying ahead. The Brawlers were in shock, they had never seen anything like that. They watched as one after another each of the members of that mystery group attacked the beast. It wasn't a long fight, finally they had managed to have it pinned to the ground and the blonde girl walked up to it and simply held her hand up and closer her fist and it exploded into millions of pieces. The camera was hit by the pieces and cut off.
Everyone was in shock. Keith snapped out of it and turned back to Gus who had been watching their reactions. " Gus, what is this?" he asked and Gus started typing again.
"This video was posted a couple hours ago and the president made a statement not an hour ago. I'll send it through." He said as he typed away and the video appeared on the screen. It showed a press conference where the president was addressing the public.
"For years, we have been working with a gifted group of young people to make this world a more secure and habitable place. This work was done in complete discretion, until now. We owe this group of young people with extraordinary abilities the recognition they deserve, for saving us time and time again and never demanding anything in return." the president announced to the press as cameras flashed and people discussed.
The Brawlers all stared at the screen, they could see a couple of the members of the group from the video they saw before. They were standing behind the president, in line. "Please, give a warm welcome of appreciation to the M.S.S, the mutant secret service!" The president announced as he turned to show the whole line up of tea members. They were all there, masks still one, plus a couple new faces, so to speak. The oldest one stepped forward to the microphone.
"Thank you, mister president." He spoke to the man to his right and took a second and then a depe breath. "We weren't born like most of you. We were born with different DNA. DNA that makes us who we are, still human but different. We don't have all the answers but one I can assure you of is we're here to stay; and we will do everything in our power to help humans be safe on our planet." a round of applause filled the room and the line of mutants was shown again before the video stopped.
The bawlers were in complete silence, in complete shock at what they had just witnessed. Then Dan broke the silence quite loudly.
"Well... WHAT THE FU-"
That was a long one! I do feel like I should have probably included that first scene into the first chapter but oh well.
