Okay, this chapter is over 8'000 words. Twice as long as the first chapter. Wasn't planning on that but I got carried away. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy.


Ch. 2: Legends can Kill


Jason sat in his passenger seat on the transport ship as they warped to Lylat. He was in the seat closest to the door on the right side of the cockpit. The other four were occupied by his fellow representatives from Earth.

There was Elizabeth Henshaw; their pilot and mechanic. She was only sixteen, but she was more than qualified. Especially being one of the Stark Industries top engineers. Most wouldn't have employed such a young girl, but Stark Industries was known for thinking outside the box. She was five foot four with hazel eyes that held an intelligent look in them. Her fair skin had a few black smudges on it from checking the transport before take-off. Her hair reached down to between her shoulder blades and was chestnut brown with blonde highlights and black spots caused by motor oil stains. She was currently wearing a grey long sleeved shirt under a blue vest that had pockets and straps for all kinds of tools that were hanging from it. She wore some black hiking shoes, and a pair of blue jeans graced her skinny legs. She had a pair of black leather gloves on her hands and a black military cap on her head. He hadn't known her for long, but she seemed like a nice girl. She seemed to have warmed up to him rather fast. Most people did on account of who he was, but he guessed it also helped that he was the only other person near her age.

Then there was Trevor Brody; U.S. Marine for seventeen years and gun salesman/hunter for six. The guy was six foot six and built like a tank with almond brown eyes. His grey military buzz-cut hair stood out against his dark skin. He wore his green camouflage military fatigues and black combat boots, with his sidearm strapped to his leg. If you first looked at him you would've guessed that he was the strong silent type, and you would be right. Once you got to know him though, he was a pretty decent guy.

Elsa Radcliffe was the politician of the group. She was a former state senator with a snotty attitude. Sure, she played nice in front of the cameras and when it was necessary, but the rest of the time she was a cruel, vile, vulture. She was five foot three with grey hair that framed her pale and wrinkled toad-like face. Her grey eyes held an evil look behind them as they scanned the other people in the ship with her. She wore a woman's business suit at all times, with black high heeled shoes. Jason could tell that she didn't like him. She always gave him a death glare whenever she laid her eyes on him.

And last of all was Alvin Cooper; S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and leader of this mission. He was five foot eight with a moderate build. He had well kept black hair, pale green eyes, and freckled skin. His face always held a stoic expression, only smiling when absolutely necessary. The only thing that told his emotions were his eyes. He wore a navy blue suit with a white shirt underneath and a navy blue tie. His black shoes were polished enough to make a drill sergeant envious. He was a kind enough guy, but always took everything way too seriously.

The five of them had all been specifically chosen for this mission to represent Earth. Cooper was in charge of the entire mission. They had no idea which way this could go, so if things went south he would scratch the mission and they would get sent back to Earth. Brody was sent to help with military matters. If they had questions about our military or if we had questions about theirs, he was the guy. Else was sent to handle the more political matters, which Jason did not trust her with at all. If this mission took a turn for the worst, he had a feeling it would be because of her. Elizabeth was responsible piloting them there and back, as well as maintaining all their devices from Earth. She was also in charge of sharing their technology with the Lylatians, and learning from some of their own technological advancements. And Jason, he was there for two reasons: propaganda and protection. Their leaders back on Earth thought it was a good idea to send some of the younger generation along to learn about the Lylatians, hence why Elizabeth was there as well. He was also plan B in case things were really bad. His skill set made him ideal, should the worst case scenario arrive.

They were seated with Alvin was sitting directly across from Jason with Elsa to the left of him, and Trevor sitting next to Jason on his right. Elizabeth was sitting in the pilot's seat at the front of the cockpit. Elsa was constantly glaring between him and Elizabeth. He could tell that she didn't trust her to fly the ship, despite the fact that Elizabeth had designed it.

In fact, Elizabeth was the one who made this trip possible. She was the one who designed the first ship that traveled to the Lylat system. She designed everything from the shape and layout to the Trinitron Hydrazine Orbital Reactor engine (or just THOR) that powered the whole thing.

"I hope you know what your doing missy," Elsa snarled at her. "If I had my way, we would be flying with a pilot who was around my age and knew what he was doing."

"Oh. So, we'd have a pilot who was as old as a dinosaur and is having an affair with a former senator," she replied in an happy tone. The remark received faint smiles from Trevor and Jason, although Jason had to raise an eyebrow at the nerve she had to throw out that last part. Alvin looked as impassive as ever, but Elsa seemed livid.

"Watch you tongue missy! You've got a lot of nerve speaking like that." She scolded.

"Please, I don't care much for the news, but I saw those headlines you made right before your divorce," Elizabeth countered in the same happy voice. "Besides, if you can't eat the vegetables, then don't cook 'em."

"Cake." Jason commented out loud.

"Beg your pardon?"

"It's cake. If you can't eat the cake, then don't bake it." That was a saying Jason knew all too well. It had been one of Jennifer's favorites.


He remembered when she first used it on him. They were swimming at a local pool about three years ago. They had just been swimming to relax when Jason decided to grab her, lift her out of the water, and dunk her back in. When she resurfaced she started chasing after him. After a while they calmed down and he held her in his arms while her's were wrapped around his neck. They just floated there and stared deeply into each other's eyes. Jennifer touched her forehead to his and just as he thought she was going to kiss him, she wrapped her legs around his in a way that allowed her to pull them out from under him, causing him to get submerged underwater. He resurfaced and found her giggling right next to him.

"That wasn't very nice." He told her off teasingly,

"Hey, if you can't eat the cake, then don't bake it." She joyfully replied with a smile adorning her angelic face.


"Trust me young lady, if I was in charge of this operation, then you would not be anywhere near here." Elsa monologued. "Why, if I had my way you would be cleaning the sewage pipes. That would teach you to respect your superiors."

"Hey, I've got respect for Agent Cooper, I've got respect for the President, I've got respect for my parents, I've got respect for my boss, I even have respect for Thor and I've never even met him. You're the only one I don't have respect for, and that's because you haven't earned it." Elizabeth replied with an edge to her voice while glaring over her shoulder at Elsa.

"Hmph, well at least Jason has enough respect for me to keep his mouth shut."

"Look, let's get one thing straight." Jason interjected forcefully before Elizabeth could reply to the remark. He did not like being dragged into their arguments, especially when Elsa twisted facts to make him look like the bad guy. "I don't have respect for you Elsa, never have and probably never will. What I do have respect for is your position. The politicians back home sent you on this trip, and put us under your command for certain circumstances. I have respect for the leaders back home and their decision, but that doesn't mean I like it. Are we clear?"

Elsa however just ignored him and went back to bad mouthing Elizabeth. "I must say, I feel sorry for your parents, having to live with you everyday for sixteen years."

"You know, every word out of your mouth makes me feel less and less guilty for installing that ejection seat in your chair to launch you into space." She cheerfully replied before anyone else could intercede. Jason could tell from the others' expressions that they agreed Elsa had gone too far.

"You wouldn't dare," she said, though it sounded a bit more like a question than a statement.

Elizabeth turned to glare at Elsa and spoke in a dead serious tone, "Try me."

Several moments of silence filled the air before Elizabeth turned back to face forward. The moments then stretched into minutes before she spoke up again.

"So, if you can't eat the cake, then don't bake it, huh? Where'd that come from?" Elizabeth asked.

"My girlfriend...ex-girlfriend used to say it a lot." He informed her with a depressed tone.

"Sounds like she meant a lot to you," she noted with her voice missing the happy cheer that it held earlier.

"She did." Jason replied before losing himself to his thoughts and subconsciously holding onto the engagement ring, that he could never bring himself to get rid of, in his pocket.

He always drifted into phases of thought like these, especially when Jennifer was brought up or if something reminded him of her. He thought about what their future could have been. About their honeymoon, their future house, even their future kids. He thought about their past, from the time they first met at Jackie's diner, to their sudden and unforeseen break-up. The latter of which he thought about the most. Some people thought he was obsessed with her, and they were partially correct, but their break-up seriously bothered him. It was sudden, it was unpredicted, it was cold, and most of all; it just felt wrong.

Naturally, most guys feel that way when they get dumped, but Jason knew something was off. Him and Jennifer were getting along great. He had run everything through his head and couldn't find any reason behind their break-up. Plus, Jennifer was a kind, gentle, sweet hearted girl. Granted, she could break someone's arm and K.O. them in less than a minute, but only if you pushed her far enough. Otherwise she was the last person you'd believe would dump her boyfriend in the middle of the hallway. She had changed. He just didn't know why.


Jennifer had her hands behind her head as she leaned back and tried to relax. Or she thought she was leaning back. It's hard to tell in zero gravity. It's also hard to relax when you have burning sensation at the base of her skull. She knew what it meant, but at least it was under control for the moment. She just hoped he stayed that way.

She then came to the realization that she couldn't speak Lylatian. It may seem like something obvious to you, but with everything she had to deal with, languages weren't really a priority. She untangled herself from the netting and started looking around for anything that looked like it would contain spare translators. She didn't do well with languages. She had almost flunked basic Spanish in school, which proved to be a useless course since she ended up forgetting ninety-nine percent of it within a month. She knew that he could translate for her, if he was in an agreeable mood (which was almost never).

She spotted several suitcases strapped to the back wall with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem on it. If any container had the translators, it would be theirs. Using the cargo netting, she pulled her way along until she reached them. She unstrapped one from the wall and opened it up; nothing but some high tech weapons. She placed it back before trying again on the second one, and bingo. The case had twelve spare translators/communicators. She was slightly afraid that they would be able to track her with it, but as long as her presence remained unknown she should be fine. They wouldn't think to track her if they didn't know she was there.

The translators were basically fancy touch-screens that were curved so they could be more discreet when attached to your arm using a special sleeve. Each unit had an earpiece that could be hidden within a secret compartment in the unit. She took the earpiece and placed it in her ear to get used to the feeling of it being there. She pulled up the sleeve of her jacket and slid on the translator's sleeve. She then clipped on the translator with a click before pulling her sleeve down over it. She closed the case and placed it back before climbing back up to her hiding spot.

She wasn't sure how long it took to wrap between star systems, but she guessed she probably didn't have as much time as she wanted. She would have to figure out how to sneak off the ship when they landed. She would probably have to wing it since she didn't know the lay of the land. Then there was the problem of living on an alien planet with her only chance of escape a year away from now.

Once she got out of the ship she was going to have to find somewhere to hide. She would have preferred some farmland. Wide open spaces, plenty of places to hide, and not many people to bump into. Plus, she could live off the produce of the land. She didn't like the idea of stealing, but she would find a way to make it up to them somehow.

She had trouble keeping her thoughts straight though when she knew Jason was on the very same ship as her. He was in the next room for all she knew. For the second time that day, the close proximity to him caused her heart to plead for her to go and kiss him. To go grab hold of him and never let him go. To tell him the truth; that she loved him with all her being.

But then the cold fingers of reality grabbed hold of her, like they did every time she thought about Jason. They could never be together. Once he learned the truth, the full truth, he would reject her; throw her out and leave her to suffer. Why wouldn't he? Her own mother had kicked her out after she learned what she was.


About ten minutes later, the human transport ship exited warp in view of Corneria. The planet was being orbited by several large vessels that looked like warships to Jason. Probably a normal planetary defense in case of invaders. A gruff Lylatian voice came over the radio that Jason's translator immediately converted to English.

#"Human transport. This is Bruce Larson, Captain of the Corellia. Please send verification of your identity and purpose."#

"This is ER-4, Elizabeth Henshaw, pilot of the Iron Eagle. Security code: SFV1914," Elizabeth replied sounding mostly professional.Mostly. "We're the representatives from Earth you guys have been expecting."

They took a few seconds to confirm the information before they answered through the radio, #"Your info checks out. We're sending you the coordinates for you landing. Enjoy your stay in Lylat."#


Jennifer braced herself as she felt the entire ship shook while entering the planet's atmosphere. She could feel her jaw rattling as she was shaken up and down. Even with all the disorientating bouncing, she could feel gravity starting to weigh down on her again. Within minutes though, the shaking was greatly reduced after they had successfully entered the atmosphere.

She could feel the ship lowering its elevation in order to land, and within minutes she felt a bump as the ship's wheels met whatever ground they had landed on. As she felt the ship slow to a stop, she untangled herself from the cargo netting in case she needed to make a quick escape. She heard a heavy metal door open below her and quickly ceased all movement. She could her the voices of the representatives no more than ten feet below her.

"Nice job with that landing Miss Henshaw," came an unemotional male voice from below.

"Oh please Cooper, don't encourage her," came a second voice from below. This one was feminine, but older, more conniving, and far crueler.

"Don't listen to her Elizabeth," said a voice that caused Jennifer to feel a familiar pounding sensation in her chest. "You did a great job."

"Thanks Jason," said a much younger female voice. Something about that adoring tone made Jennifer get a painful feeling in her gut.

"He's right. Most kids your age wouldn't even know how to turn this thing on." Said a fifth voice that sounded gruff and held an air of military experience.

"Alright people, you can chit-chat some more once we reach the apartments," said the stoic voice. "As soon as that door opens we are representing Earth. I shouldn't have to remind you what that means. If things go bad, it could possibly lead to war. I know it won't be easy, but try to behave yourselves."

She heard someone walk across the metal floor before the cargo door's hydraulics activated. She heard the door finish opening with a loud thud. She listened to the footsteps as they walked around and gathered their things. She then took notice of a sixth set of footsteps coming up the entrance ramp. She noticed another voice ring out. It sounded gruff and experienced. Like someone who had survived many hard times.

"Agent Cooper, am I correct?"

"General Pepper, pleasure to meet you in person." The man she assumed was Agent Cooper replied.

Jennifer risked a quick look and noticed that General Pepper was an old bloodhound. By her guess, he was just short of six foot four inches in height. He had brown fur and was wearing a red and gold officers uniform, similarly colored hat, and black boots. She also quickly noted that it was night where they had landed, which would hopefully make sneaking off much easier.

"I hope our men in orbit didn't give you too much trouble. Standard security procedures, I'm sure you understand."

"Of course. It wasn't much trouble at all."

"Good. I see you brought your own modes of transport."

"Yes, we thought it might be easier than learning how your own vehicles work. And it would give us chance to examine each other's technology, in some aspects. Plus, some of us are kind of attached to them." Jennifer had a pretty good idea he was talking about Jason. "As long as you don't have any problem with it that is."

"Not at all. Our communications with your planet revealed that the rules of the road are identical so that's another obstacle avoided. We're keeping the media at bay for now, but they're bound to get inside somehow. They have an annoying tendency of not giving up without a story."

"Another similarity between our worlds."

"And an unfortunate one at that. Once you're ready to leave, I have a man who can lead you to where you'll be staying. I'll have some more men finish gathering your things and then they'll bring them to the apartments. Don't worry, you have my guarantee that they won't mess with anything."

"Thank you General. Before you leave, I believe introductions are in order." Jennifer risked another peek and saw Cooper standing next to General Pepper, with the other four representatives standing in a line in front of them. "This is Lieutenant Brody."

Brody gave the General a salute, which Pepper kindly returned. "General."

"Lieutenant."

"This is Elsa Radcliffe." Cooper said as he introduced an elderly lady who resembled a toad. Jennifer wasn't sure if she was allowed to make that comparison anymore.

"General." Elsa greeted in a sweet voice that was entirely different from how she sounded before.

"Madame." The General replied, tipping his hat to her.

"This young lady is Elizabeth Henshaw."

"General Pepper." The young brunette said cheerfully, but with respect, as she shook the bloodhound's hand.

"Miss Henshaw."

"And finally, Jason Rogers."

"General." Jason greeted holding out his hand.

"Mister Rogers." The General replied while shaking Jason's hand. Pepper then stepped back and addressed all of them. "Well, I shall leave you to finish packing while I fend off the savage beasts with the cameras."

General Pepper turned around and exited the ship. Once he had gone everyone went back to gathering their things. Jason unstrapped his bike and walked it off the transport. Elizabeth then told them to go on without her so she could taxi the ship into the hangers. Agent Cooper finished loading what he could into the corvette and back it out as well. Then Radcliffe and Brody piled into the SUV and drove it out. She then saw all three vehicles drive off and out of view of the cargo bay door, and Elizabeth left to wait in the ship's cockpit.

Once the sounds of their engines had disappeared, Jennifer climbed down from her hiding spot and hung from the cargo netting. She let go of the netting and dropped to the floor. As soon as her feet hit the ground she bent her knees and turned the momentum into a forward roll to decrease the stress on her joints. She stayed as low as she could as she slowly made her way to the exit. She kept an eye out for the personnel that would be coming to finish unloading the ship.

Once she was close enough to the off ramp, she dashed out of the ship and quickly turned around the corner so she could use the ship as cover. She looked around the back of the ship and saw what looked like an air-force base. To the front and rear of the ship was a runway and several landing pads of various heights. All with roads or ramps leading to the base. Beyond the side of the ship she was hiding behind though was about a hundred yards of grass before a chain link fence stood as the boundary for the base.

She decided to just go for it and sprinted for the fence. Her heart pounded with every step as she expected alarms to go off at any second. She reached the fence and quickly used the momentum from running to scale the fence in no time. She reached the top of the fence and was face-to-face with barbed wire. She sucked in a breath before reaching out and pushing the barbed wire down with her right arm. The barbs dug into her skin and drew some blood, but the damage was minimized thanks to her leather jacket.

She swung her leg up and over the lip of the fence, causing the barbs to dig into her leg as well. Ignoring the pain, she pulled her self up and over the top of the fence before falling fifteen feet down, this time on her stomach. The impact with the ground knocked the wind out of her.

She just laid there for a minute to regain her breath. She then pulled herself up and observed the damaged done by the fence. The punctures were barely bleeding; those would heal up in a day. She wasn't worried do about it getting infected, her curse made her immune to diseases. Her jacket however had suffered several punctures that had been turned into small tears when she had rolled over the top of the fence.

"Meh, those will get fixed soon enough." she thought to herself with a tinge of fear at the end.

She looked around and noticed the glow of city lights in the distance. She could tell that they were many miles away. Seeing no better options for the moment, she started walking towards the city. Hoping she would run into a farm on the way there. The less people there were to spot her, the better. She looked up into the sky as she walked and saw two moons in the sky. One had a pale blue coloration and the other had a pale orange coloration.

She had no idea what time it was, but she was suspicious of the good fortune she was having. Rider always came out at night, so why he wasn't showing his presence was a mystery. Maybe it was because they were in a different galaxy? The thought sparked a glimmer of hope inside of her. If being in this galaxy meant she was free of Rider, then maybe she and Jason could have a future together? She quickly shook the notion out of her head though. It was too good to be true. There was no way it could be that simple. Besides, he may not be showing himself, but she could feel his presence still within her.


Jason pulled up to the apartments they would be staying in. The building design was different from what he was used to. There were two main buildings right next to each other with a staircase in between them at the front. The two buildings each contained two apartments: one on the ground floor and one on the second floor. The apartments took up the entire space of the building. Then what really set it apart, was the fifth apartment built on top of the two buildings. Jason vaguely remembered doing something similar with toy blocks when he was a child.

The buildings were all white and the outside seemed to be constructed from a type of metal. Instead of normal square windows, the buildings had long rectangular windows that stretched across the side of the building. The only gaps in the windows were when a wall separated two rooms.

Jason parked his bike in one of the parking spots and activated the anti-theft system. He didn't know if any Cornerians would try to steal his bike, but just in case, he had a security system installed in it. He unstrapped his stuff from the bike and carried it up to the front of the building while the others unpacked their stuff.

"Lieutenant, you have the ground floor apartment on the left. Miss Radcliffe, you have the one on the right. Rogers, you have the second floor on the left. Miss Henshaw will have the one on the right. I'll be on the third floor if you need me. Once the rest of our stuff gets here, get a good nights sleep. We're going to have a big day tomorrow."

Jason grabbed his stuff and carried it up to his apartment. He unlocked the door with the key Cooper had given him and pushed the door open. He turned on the lights and almost dropped his bags as he looked at his living arrangements.

To his left was the living room which had soft grey carpet, with white walls and lights installed into the center of the ceiling. There were two large comfortable white couches, each backed against a window. Opposite the couch on the right was a large HDTV mounted to the wall. There was a small grey table in the corner between the two couches. A small waist high wall separated the living room from the dining room and backed up against that was a white leather armchair slightly turned to face the TV better.

The dining room had fake wood floors, a solid wood dining table and chairs, with a fancy lighting fixture hanging from the ceiling. Right next to that was the kitchen with marble counter tops, an oven/stove with a microwave over it, several wood cupboards, and a stainless steel sink. The kitchen led into a hallway that led to the outside deck, the supply closet, and the apartment's bedroom at the end.

The deck was made out of the same metal that the building was, and had glass and steel railings. To the right was a small wood table with leaned back beach chair to either side. To the left was a barbecue grill and, much to Jason's delight, a hot tub.

Jason hauled his stuff into the bedroom and dropped it on the ground as he looked around. Backed against the window was a large king size bed with white sheets, white pillows, and a grey comforter that went with the carpet. The bed had two grey bedside tables on either side of it. There was a digital clock sitting on one of the tables. On the right wall hung another HDTV over a set of solid wood drawers. To the right of the door was a large solid wood wardrobe. To the left of the room was a step in closet that was to the right of the bathroom entrance.

The bathroom was elegant, just like the rest of the apartment. The countertops were marble with two ceramic sinks installed in them, all in front of a large wall mirror. The toilet room had its own door for privacy, even though the bathroom itself had a sliding door that could be locked. The shower had marble and glass walls, and was large enough that two people could fit inside and have plenty of elbow room. The showers water system had been installed into the ceiling so the water rained down from there.

After getting over his initial shock of how well they were already being treated, Jason started to unpack his things. When he finished he went to the living room and looked out the window to see if the rest of their stuff had arrived yet. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long as he spotted headlights coming down the road. Pepper had set them up with apartments near the waterfront so they could look out onto the sandy beaches. It was also a slightly less busy part of town that would hopefully decrease troubles such as traffic, noise, and crime.

Jason exited his apartment and walked down the stairs to meet Elizabeth. She exited one of the Lylatian SUVs, along with a white and brown beagle. It had felt weird meeting the Lylatians at first, but he seemed to be getting used to it fairly quickly. He guessed it might have been from playing several video games where the characters were half human/half animal like the Lylatians were.

"So, did I miss anything?" Elizabeth asked as she walked around to the back of the SUV. She opened it up to reveal several suitcases, and tucked behind them was something round and shiny.

"Not really. Cooper told us which apartments we would be staying in. Your's is the second floor on the right. Careful with the noise though, Elsa's right below you." He informed her as she pulled out two suitcases. Upon receiving the news about living above Elsa, her face contorted into one of disgust.

"Great." She muttered in disdainful sarcasm.

"Look at it this way, at least you're not roommates." Jason said with a smirk.

Elizabeth visibly shook at the mention of it. "Don't even suggest that sort if thing."

"C'mon," was all he said as he grabbed some more suitcases and easily lifted them. They carried the bags up to Elizabeth's room and she opened the door. She stepped inside and dropped the luggage on the floor as she cast her eyes upon her apartment. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped to the floor as she took the place in.

"This. Is. AMAZING!" She shouted in glee. She spun around the room acting as giddy as a schoolgirl. Jason just set her bags down inside the door and left her to settle into her new residence. He walked back down the stairs to where the beagle was walking up with another bag and the big shiny disk. He told the beagle thanks as he took the bag and disk from him. The beagle nodded and told him goodnight before turning around and driving off in the SUV. Jason walked up the stairs and knocked on Elizabeth's door. Within a few seconds the door opened to reveal Elizabeth, still as wide eyed as ever.

"Can you believe it? I wasn't sure how well we were going to be treated, but I wasn't expecting this."

"No, they definitely beat my expectations. Here's the last of your things." He said, handing her the bag. "Why do you have so much stuff anyway?"

"Oh it's not that much. Just the usual: Tablets, work tools, scanners, hologram projectors, my robo-pets, extra ARC reactors to recharge anything." She answered, looking like those were the only logical options to bring.

"Of course, well I guess I'll see you in the morning." He said giving her a quick wave before turning to leave. Jason returned to his apartment and put the disk next to his bed. He decided to go to bed and got what he needed to get ready. They had all of tomorrow to get themselves settled in before their first meeting with the press.

Once he was ready for bed he tucked himself in and waited for sleep to overtake him. Jason dug his hand into his pajama's pocket and pulled out a small black box. He opened it up to reveal a gold and diamond ring inside. The diamonds were arranged to look like a flower with six petals and a slightly larger one in the middle of them. Smaller diamonds were embedded into the gold around the outside of the ring. On the inside of the ring was Jennifer's name, engraved into the gold.

Jason just laid there, staring at the ring. He did this most nights, staring at the item that was all that remained of his dreams.


Fox held open the door of their car as he helped Krystal out. She was wearing an elegant black dress with black high heeled shoes. Black beads adorned her hair instead of the white beads that she usually wore. She matched him with his black tuxedo and black tie.

She looped her arm through his as they walked side by side into government building in front of them. It was mostly news reporters and their camera crews who were using the front entrance. All the military officers and government officials were parked in a special lot behind the building. It was a bit crowded, so they were probably going to have to sit at the back. He didn't mind though, it was nice not being the center of attention for once.

They reached the press room and found seats at the very back next to the door they had walked in through. They took their seats and Fox started looking around at the room. The back wall had the Cornerian flag hanging from it. Then there was a blue stage with a podium that had the Cornerian emblem on it. At the back of the stage were ten chairs. The right five were occupied by several generals of the highest rank in Corneria's army. Fox recognized one of the generals as General Kane. He had helped some of his men out during the Lylat Wars. The other five empty chairs must have been meant for the human representatives. Fox didn't blame them for having them hiding in a back room at the moment, the press in the room were already ecstatic.

After a few minutes the news reporters had finally settled down, and the press conference began. Fox saw General Kane get up and stand in front of the podium as he addressed the crowd. He was a white Bulldog with brown eyes, and a few grey hairs caused by age. General Kane was dressed in his green officers uniform, with gold embroidery to indicate his rank. He had multiple well earned medals pinned to his chest. He was considered one of the greatest generals in Lylat's history, only surpassed by General Pepper and the late General Barone.

"Welcome everyone. I would like to thank you all for coming here tonight to welcome our guests. It pleases me to..."

Fox was disrupted from listening to the General when he felt Krystal shiver and her grip tighten in his hand. Which meant that she sensed something was wrong. He leaned in to whisper in her ear so no one overheard their conversation. He noticed she had her eyes closed and had that look on her face that meant she was concentrating on something telepathically.

"Krystal, what is it.?"

"Something's wrong Fox. I can feel a dark and powerful presence near us."

"Can you tell where it is?" He asked, starting to sound a bit panicked. He had only brought his pistol with him, concealed in it's holster behind his back.

"Yes," her eyes opened and she looked at the door they had entered through. "It's right-look out!"

Fox knew to trust Krystal's instincts and quickly dove into the row of chairs away from the door, pulling Krystal down with him. He had just started to do so, when the doors to the conference room blew off their hinges and into the middle aisle. Everyone screamed and backed away from the door. Fox looked over his shoulder at the entrance and saw black smoke pouring through the doorway as the smell of sulfur filled the air. He would have wondered why the smoke wasn't setting off any of the detectors, but he noticed something else instead. Something was glowing orange inside of the smoke.

He could hear heavy footsteps as the orange glow moved to the edge of the smoke. What he saw next scared him more than anything he had seen before. Out of the smoke stepped someone who was six and a half feet tall. He wore black leather boots, black jeans with knee pads that had pointy chrome spikes poking out of them. He wore a black leather jacket with steel shoulder pads that had more spikes coming out of them. Across his chest and over his shoulder was a long steel chain. His hand had black leather fingerless gloves on with more steel spikes on the back of the hand and fingers. The parts of the fingers not covered by the gloves were skeletal and had flames coming off them. And that was the scariest part of the mysterious figure. His head was a skull engulfed in flame. Fox didn't recognize the shape of the skull, but he knew that it was one. The bone had been burnt a dark grey and where there should have been eyes, there were empty sockets with only small orange glowing orbs indicating what direction the thing was looking.

Everyone in the room fell silent and were trembling with fear as they stared at the walking nightmare. Fox suddenly remembered old stories he had heard as a boy of the grim reaper. A skeleton wearing a black robe and carrying a scythe to reap the souls of those whose time was up. It had been years since he'd heard those tales, but he was pretty sure he would've remembered if the reaper had been engulfed in flames. The skeleton lifted a flaming finger and pointed towards General Kane.

Then it spoke in a voice that sent chills down from his tips of his ears to the tip of his tail and back. It sounded cruel, cold, and unforgiving; like a blade being sharpened on a smooth rock.

"Guilty."

The figure's hand returned to its side and it started walking towards the stage. Two soldiers who had been positioned on either side of the room moved in front of the stage and opened fire on it. Their plasma rifles fired multiple blasts into the harbinger of death, but the thing was left un-phased by them. The soldier on the right tried to hit it with its rifle, but a skeletal hand intercepted the hit and stopped it in its tracks. The nightmare yanked the rifle out of the soldiers hand and tossed the rifle behind it. The nightmare then grabbed the soldier and threw him at the other soldier. After successfully knocking both soldiers down, it continued its way to the stage.

General Kane quickly dashed out the side entrance to try and escape in his car out back. The harbinger of death followed him out while everyone else was frozen stiff. Fox was the first to shake the fear out of himself and ran after the two. He drew his pistol as he made his way through the halls. He had just put his hand on the handle to push open the final door, when he heard the general's horrified screams from behind the door.

He pushed the door open and took in his surroundings. The gravel parking lot reeked of sulfur. To his left was a parked car that could be used for cover. Several other cars were parked around the lot, but only Kane's was in the middle of the lot. And standing right next to it, was the flaming skeleton holding the General by his collar up against the car. The front of the car beyond the windshield had been separated from the rest. It looked like a large plasma torch had cut right through it. What made Fox almost freeze though, was what was happening to the General.

"NOOOO! MAKE IT STOP! AAARRRGGGHHH!"

The general's eyes had orange fire coming out of them with smoke rising from the flames. Fox subconsciously made his way to cover behind a parked car, while his conscience was trying to figure out what was happening.

Within seconds the fire died from the general's eyes and the grim reaper dropped his body to the ground. The general's body was limp and just flopped onto its side, which made Fox assume he was dead. Fox leveled his sights with the skeleton's head as it walked around behind the General's car. The skeleton held two fingers to it's teeth and let out a loud whistle. Although Fox hadn't the faintest idea how.

Fox was about to shout for it to freeze, when the sound of a loud explosion erupted from behind him. War-built instincts took over and he dove for cover behind the parked car. He heard the sound of wheels colliding with gravel, and the sound of a loud engine roaring with life. He looked over the top of the car's trunk and saw the walking nightmare standing next to a flaming motorcycle.

The back of the bike behind the seat was smoke black with chrome trim and shark-fins around the outside and down the middle. The seat was black leather and all the machinery underneath it was steel. The steel exhaust pipes extended to about the middle of the rear wheel with the orange glow of flames coming out of it. The gas tank was also smoke black and had silver skeletal fingers reaching from the bikes machinery and grabbing onto it. The bike's fork and handle bars were large and rigid chrome chains that lead from the handles down to the front wheel. On the front of the bike where the headlight should have been was the steel skull of some kind of beast. It's eyes and nostrils were filled with flames. The skull was elongated and at the bottom, were five large teeth curving out and down from the bike. The motorbike's wheels were made entirely out of fire.

The skeleton set one hand on the handle bars and Fox finally got the courage to yell at it too 'freeze'. His courage left him a split second later though, when the flaming skeleton turned its head to glare at him. Emerald green eyes met glowing orange orbs, and he started shaking in fear as the orange balls of fire seemed to burn his very soul.

His mind was instantly flooded with visions of death. There was no noise by the images were none the less disturbing. Pilots getting blown up in their cockpits as they got shot down. Men with weapons getting shot and killed from plasma blasts. More pilots crashing to their doom. A Dalmatian getting blow up by a grenade.

The visions stopped the second the skeleton broke eye contact with him. Fox, still feeling the effects from what had happened to him, just stood there shaking with fear as the skeleton got on its bike. A fireball erupted from the bikes figurehead and destroyed the gate to the lot. The motorcycle's engine roared as it drove out of the lot and turned to drive down the street. Leaving a trail of flames behind it.

Fox came to his senses and ran to the fallen general's side. He gasped in shock as he looked at the general's eyes. They were completely ash grey with bits glowing orange, like coals retaining the heat from a fire. He stumbled back and looked at the trail of flames left by the walking nightmare. As he waited for more people to come out after him he kept asking himself questions, but they were all different variants of just one.

"What was that thing?"


Jason just sat against the wall of the hall he had hidden in. His knees brought up to his face, and his left head covering his right that was clenched in a fist. His breathing was unsteady and he couldn't stop shaking in fear. Of course, who wouldn't be after what he saw.

He had to use the restroom before the conference started, only he got lost on the way back. As he turned to go down another hallway, which happened to be the one right outside the conference room, he froze as he saw something in front of him. It was the tall, leather clad, flaming skeleton that was about to crash the press conference. He should have noticed how the figure's clothes bore a striking resemblance to Jennifer's but he was too focused on the flaming skull on top of it all. He would have noticed the clothes had he looked longer, but after being scared stiff for a quick second, he backed into the hallway he had come from and sat against the wall.

He hadn't moved an inch since he saw that thing. He heard the screams from the conference room, but he didn't dare go in after that it. Partly because he was scared, and partly because he knew there was nothing he could do.

The stories his grandfather told him were true. The legends were real. The Ghost Rider was here.