Chapter XIII: Earthfall

Earth's Outer Exosphere.

Finally, after nearly twenty hours had passed from their arrival in the solar system, the full view of the Earth could be seen as the ship and its two-man crew approached the blue-white world. From their perspective standing in the observation deck, with the sun hanging behind the planet, it allowed the occupants to have a clear picture of nighttime Earth from outer space. The oceans were a dark black-blue and the clouds a stormy gray. Joining the nightlight theme were the signs of an expansive and thriving civilization, consisting of yellow lights from countless cities and towns that covered the seaboards on the northern continent, and more spread throughout the land. Some of the lights were hidden underneath the clouds, but the glow was just able to pierce them. The two onboard could see that the impact zone near the lakes was far from uncivilized, but not as heavily as they had originally expected.

"Wow," The female voice whistled as she soaked in the sights, gazing at the planet below with a sense of admiration. Despite having traveled across the entire galaxy, it was quite a beautiful sight to see. "This planet really has changed since the last time we were here. It feels more alive, and seems a tad cleaner as well, who'd a thought?"

"It has been some time since we have set foot on Earth. It is understandable that this planet has undergone revamping." The male occupant was busy typing away on a holographic keyboard at the control panel, where a hologram of the modern-day Earth could be seen on-screen along with many sourced images of just how far the world of humans has gone. Innovations, devices, and general life improvements were all there for him to see. "And it seems I was correct. Humanity has indeed progressed rapidly regarding their creations and society. We can use that to our advantage once we set up a proper outpost."

His fellow hunter tapped her chin as she gave it some thought, and something pressing came to her mind.

"So how are we going to get down there without being seen? We passed by some of their satellites earlier, and it looks like there isn't much space left that's not taken." She said, observing the bright lights of the planet's cities with some sensing doubt. She had also noticed the many machines orbiting around the planet as well. Their ship would surely attract unwanted attention if they weren't careful, something that the both of them would prefer to not deal with for the time being.

"Don't fret," he responded quite calmly, "I've got an idea of how we can remain out of humanity's collective sight."

On the module screen where he was busy typing, the large lake to the west of the impact zone was displayed in the maroon-tinted holoscreen, where there was plenty of space to hide from any sort of nearby civilization. Also on screen was a long segmented line of a flight pattern for the ship, leading it straight into the heart of the waters depths...

Royal Woods.

"Hey guys, we're home! I found Lynn!" Lincoln announced the moment he pushed the door open and entered his home, Lynn following right behind him. It had been a quick journey from the park to Franklin Avenue, something that the two of them were thankful for as the night got darker. Luckily there was little to no one around, so the two of them made it back swiftly and safely. Lynn and Lincoln had barely enough time to take their shoes off and start heading to bed before they were nearly besieged by a mob of worried siblings, who practically stampeded down the stairs to meet up with the late arrivals. They were all dressed up in their pajamas as well, something Lynn and Lincoln noticed first when they started to talk.

"Oh em gosh, I was so scared! Thank goodness you're okay, Lynn!" Leni had her hands up on her face, which was drowned in relief that her younger sister was alright. Lily, who was in Luna's arms, let out a little babbling cheer once she saw Lynn before her.

"I was quite tempted to find you using some form of clairvoyance magic, but Lincoln beat me to it before I could make up my mind. Sigh. As much as I enjoyed the dreariness, I'm very glad you're home Lynn." Lucy said, betraying her usual monotone for a small semblance of happiness that her roommate and closest sister was back home safe and sound, which didn't go unnoticed by Lynn. The sportstar felt a smile tug at the edge of her mouth.

Before anyone else could speak up, Lori decided that she needed to get some answers from her formerly missing sister.

"Alright, alright! All of you take a big step back and let me do the talking here." She shouted, clamming her sisters up with her impressively loud voice. Seeing that they adhered to her command, Lori turned to Lynn, letting out a sigh as she put her hands on her hips and spoke with a rather displeased tone. "While I'm literally beyond glad that you're unharmed Lynn, I want to know where the hell you've been for so long. Do you literally know how freaked out everyone was when we couldn't get a hold of you? No calls, no texts, no nothing! I think we have a right to know."

"Yeah yeah, nice to see you to, Lori." Lynn grumbled, slinging off her backpack and sportsbag from her shoulders and flinging them onto the nearby couch. She turned back to her sister, crossing her arms as she gave her reply. "And if you guys really wanna know where I was all this time, I was in the park. There. Happy?"

"The park?" Lana quizzically wondered. "What were you doing there?"

"I-"

"She fell asleep." Lincoln said, beating Lynn to her own answer and leaving the tomboy with a gaping mouth, which turned into a frown directed right at her brother as he continued to talk. "I found her tuckered out against a tree, completely passed out. Looks like I was right Lynn. You should have taken that mulligan. I bet you were so tired you could barely even swing your bat! I mean, since you had your baseball-"

That was as far as Lincoln got before Lynn grabbed him by the collar and thrust her enraged, burning face right in front of his. Her eyes glowed with primed fire, ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice. Lincoln's little speech had rubbed some sensitive nerves that the Loud girl didn't want to remember, especially when it came to sports. After today it was the last thing she needed to hear from her little brother. That and her tired body did not go well with a bad temper.

"You finish that sentence, Lincoln Loud, and I'll incinerate you. Kapeesh?" She snarled at him, giving him a good shake and showing that she was not in the mood for any sort of barb at her drowsiness. Seeing the potential inferno that was aimed at him, Lincoln decided to wisely keep himself shut.

"Yep. Totally gotcha. No more words from me, sis." He squeaked out, and Lynn let him go, dropping him to the floor.

"Right, now that we're all caught up with everything, I'm off to bed. I still need to get some shuteye after today and I don't want to have a repeat of what happened earlier, so goodnight everyone." Lynn announced, making her way through her sisters and up the stairs to her room, leaving her sisters behind her. Some of them were a little stumped that Lynn was acting so flippantly, especially since they had all been so worried about where she had been. Lynn was acting like it was hardly any concern.

"Hold up a second! Don't you wanna eat something, dude?" Luna warily asked, still holding Lily in her hands. "We've got leftovers in the fridge that we saved for you!"

"Nah, I'm good, but thanks for the offer Luna. I'll just have some breakfast in the morning. G'night." Lynn gave a small wave to her family as she reached the top of the stairs, turning towards her room. Her siblings heard the door close soon after, leaving them standing there.

"Wow. Talk about a hothead. Not even a thank you." Luan slightly shook her head at Lynn's seemingly ungrateful attitude.

"She's just tired, Luan." Lincoln said as he stood up and brushed off his polo shirt. "Let her be."

"Anyone suffering from that much prolonged exhaustion would definitely be acting out of character, which includes her apparent moodiness my comedian sister." Lisa added on, silent through much of Lynn's arrival, only deciding to speak up once her sister was out of earshot. The little scientist had instantly seen that Lynn was under some sleepless duress with her enhanced vision. Lisa then turned to the clock, reading where the two hands lay on the devices face.

"And it seems that we should adhere to Lynn's actions as well. It is late, and it is also a school night." Lisa said, right as Lola unintentionally let out a frosty yawn with small snowflakes flying out of her mouth. She pursed her lips, feeling the chill coming from her throat.

"Icy."

As she watched her younger siblings act on their need for sleep, Lori decided that despite the rather lackluster ending to tonight's event, it was probably for the better for it to be this way. The clock hanging on the wall that Lisa was looking at showed almost ten in the evening, and if they had stayed here questioning Lynn about everything that happened they would probably be up all night talking their already tired sister into a coma. Lynn wasn't the only visibly sleepy as Lori could see that everyone was in the mood to hit the hay, herself included. The size-shifting sister rubbed her eyes before she gave the last order of the night.

"Okay, everyone. Off to bed, it's late. C'mon." Lori said, making sure that everyone followed her up the stairs. Slowly the Loud sisters and bother left the living room for their bedrooms, with Lucy remembering to grab Lynn's bags hoisting them on her shoulders right as Leni flicked the light switch off.

Lincoln, however, was getting lost in his thoughts as he followed his sisters upstairs, scratching his chin in the meantime. There was something that was weighing heavily on his mind. He couldn't help but remember how Lynn behaved when he first woke her up back in the park, her wide-eyed, terrified face sticking out like a sore thumb in his recent memories. She could have been suffering from a simple nightmare like the night before, but the look she had then was telling a different story. Lynn had said to him that it was nothing to worry about, but the inquisitive boy had seen too many movies and read many comics to know that she was lying to him. He recognized the look of fear when there was one.

He knew very well how Lynn operated, from her superstitions to her favorite foods, all from being his immediate older sister and one of his closest siblings. And there was very little that she was truly scared of, so whatever Lynn had seen in her dreams must have frightened her, and that only seemed to embolden his desire to know more about what happened to her.

Right now he didn't want to start overthinking things again. It was a bad habit of his, and he was beginning to develop a new one as well as Lori poked her head out from her bedroom to snap at her brother.

"Lincoln, stop floating. And get to bed, mister."

The voice of his eldest sister snapped him out of his deep thinking, and he looked down to see that he was hovering about a foot off the floor. A faint blush filled his cheeks as he lowered himself back down as everyone around him returned to their rooms for the night. Lincoln made his way to his tiny room to get some shuteye, eager to get some sleep after today.

But he swore to himself then, staring up at the ceiling and clenching his fist, that he would find out for himself what Lynn had seen in her dream.

...

At the same time, Lucy entered her shared bedroom and saw that Lynn had already passed out on her bed. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her jersey or even open her sheets, she'd simply lied down on her bed and went straight to sleep. Frankly, it was more than enough convincing for the black-haired Loud to know that Lynn most definitely needed her rest. It was certainly better having her here than having her outside in the dark. The little goth dropped her sister's belongings at the foot of the bed, and then made her way over to her own rest. After the day she had, the thought of sleep was a welcoming one. Peeling off the dark black quilt and equally dark gray sheets, Lucy prepped herself for the night.

Yet only after a couple moments of staring up at the ceiling did she turn on her small LED reading lamp and grabbed her notebook, the same one she was using before in the school library. Instead of the newfound desire to create magical runes to help aid the growth of her powers, Lucy clicked her pen ready and prepared herself to write some poetry to ease her mind. It was something she felt she had to do, a personal celebration that her sister was safe and sound.

That and she always slept better after letting her creative juices flow.

For a little while of staring at the empty page, Lucy mulled over what to write to build up some rhythm, choosing words that would fit the latest addition to her poetic library. She found some after thinking about Lynn's powers, and just how it seemed to enflame the tomboy. The words she needed soon clicked.

"For fire, my sister..." She quietly said to herself, scribbling down her words as she spoke with her pen.

Had Lucy been able to see for herself in the midst of her poetry, Lynn's slumbering eyes were beginning to burn.

Washington, D.C.

Just like it had been outside back in Royal Woods, it was dark outside the Pentagon. There were no sights above save for a few bright stars poked through the haze of the city skies and the waning crescent moon, tinted a pale yellow from the surrounding light pollution. The capital city was still bustling with life at this hour with pedestrians walking around the city. It seemed to be equally busy on the inside of the Pentagon as well, and there was good reason.

Deep in the concrete halls and steel superstructure of the Department of Defense headquarters, the secret agency known as Starwatch was undergoing a radical change of pace, for they believed to have stumbled across something spectacular. Situated On the massive holographic screen situated in the agency's expansive control room, there lay single dot positioned above the planet's atmosphere, steadily moving towards Earth's terrestrial surface. Typed out above the dot in large green letters was the word "UNKNOWN", a testament to what they had uncovered.

The inbound object was being studied immensely for what they could gather from their computers, and it had sparked quite an excitement since its sudden discovery some hours ago. Agents were running around from one desk to another, talking to whoever might have found a lead on what was travelling inbound to their home planet. Clerks were typing away rapidly on their computers. Some were on their phones while others were writing down notes on what they could try to decrypt from this incoming object using the agency's satellite arrays. Everyone in this room was solely focused on finding out what this object was, and what it could entail for the agency itself.

While all of this was going on, Major Vassallo was busy watching this scene unfold from inside the meeting room behind the angular glass window that reached down to the floor. The meeting room itself was built behind the control room, giving access so that people to see what was happening inside. With his arms behind his back, Vassallo stood dead center of the window as he usually did, eyes laser focused on everything he could see from his vantage point, yet he mainly kept his vision on the dot itself.

The double doors to the meeting room on his right opened, and in walked Director Woods and two others, a man and a woman. The pair of guests were dressed completely differently, but oddly reminiscent of Woods and Vassallo. The elderly African American man with a white-haired buzz cut wore a black-colored suit similar to that of Vassallo's, complete with the star-decorated emblem of Starwatch on the left breast pocket, but with more stars and ribbons indicating his higher rank. The red-haired, freckled woman had a white-blue jacket and a blue skirt, a laboratory style like Woods, with dark-rimmed glasses on her face complete with a ID tag dangling around her jacket collar.

"Major." Woods nodded as he entered the room. Vassallo gave a nod back, and recognized one of the newcomers.

"Colonel Matthews, sir! It's great to have you here." He reached over to shake the older man's hand, being friendly to the older Starwatch agent, which was accepted. He turned to face the younger woman with a curious glance, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, but could not remember her name. Starwatch had plenty of agents and scientists and keeping track of all their names was a difficult issue, even for Vassallo.

"Excuse me, and you are?" Vassallo asked politely.

"Oh, I'm Kimberly. Kimberly Smith. I'm one of the lead scientists from the Starwatch archeological research teams. Director Woods brought me here because he believes my expertise in xenology might be helpful regarding our latest find." She said with a chipper tone, shaking the major's hand as she spoke. From the way she was smiling with a mouth full of bright teeth, it seemed that she was very excited to be here.

"Can I just say that I am super stoked to be here right now?" Kimberly gushed. "I mean, it's not every day you get a call to the control room about an incoming object of unknown origin!"

"Well, we're happy to have you here Ms. Smith." Vassallo grinned.

"Xeno?" Matthews incredulously said as he overheard a peculiar word from Smith's mouth, approaching the younger scientist. "As in alien life form xeno?"

"Um, yes?" Smith responded, albeit nervously.

"Woods, what kind of goddamn operation are you running here? Hiring people for tin foil hat conspiracies?" The colonel turned to the somewhat surprised Woods with a tone of disbelief in his voice. "I knew you Starwatch nerds were all kinds of nutty, but this is just simply ridiculous. Aliens? C'mon."

"Pardon my interruption sir, but this is something you should know about." Vassallo said, catching the older man's attention. Matthews turned around to face his subordinate to perhaps give him some sense, only to have his eyes suddenly dart from the major straight to the large screen at the end of the control room, and the blinking dot that everyone inside was currently watching. It had been closing the distance with speed even before the colonel and Smith arrived, and now it seemed to be on the verge of entering the atmosphere.

"What is that?" He mumbled out loud, as surprised as can be. Kimberly was right beside him, adjusting her glasses to get a better look. She too was perplexed.

"That is our latest find, and what we're trying to find out right now." Vassallo said, going on to explain what was going on to the colonel and Smith. He pointed at the blinking dot as he began to talk. "About six hours ago, we managed to pick up something from one of our stellar transmitters, inbound from beyond our planet's atmosphere halfway between us and Mars. At first we thought it was a meteor, or maybe even a piece of space junk, but our guys down in the lab are convinced that it might be something else. And its getting closer by the minute. Colonel, this could be huge."

At first the colonel had nothing to say after hearing Vassallo talk so seriously. He had known Antonio for a good while now ever since he had joined the agency. The man was driven, focused and intelligent. A model agent of Starwatch for many years. Yet it was because of this that the colonel knew that Vassallo did not make radical statements such as the concept of extraterrestrials coming to Earth as a light-hearted speculation from his scientists. Hearing the major speak with such an even, clear voice when talking about what was going on was enough to make Matthews consider that maybe they really were on to something incredible here, one that just might change the entire world.

"And you're certain that it's not a hunk of space rock?" Matthews asked, once again turning to face Woods.

"Sir," he began, "we've been tracking this object for hours. And I know for certain that meteors don't suddenly appear out of the blue in stellar space, nor do they alter trajectory at will. Whatever this thing is, it is doing so of its own accord possibly under whoever or whatever is manning it."

Wood's answer was good enough for the colonel to make a sudden decision, and to bring him along the ride of learning about this new discovery. There was a moment of acceptance within Matthews before he continued to talk to Woods.

"Do you know when and where it'll make impact?"

"Based on what we can calculate from its current speed, we've estimated that it will land on Earth any moment now somewhere on this continent. The exact location remains to be seen, however. But when it gets here, we'll know." Woods replied, right as the label above the dot changed from 'UNKNOWN' to 'STELLAR OBJECT', a testament to what Woods had been talking about earlier. Matthews, however, narrowed his eyes at the sight of the new title. A sense of duty began to blossom in his heart. Wherever the UFO was heading, he would make sure that Starwatch would be there.

...

Several hundred miles above the Earth, the alien ship began to reposition itself once it had reached a good distance for atmospheric entry as it cruised across the planet towards the target continent in a steadily descending path into the atmosphere, the blue hue of the sky radiation seen underneath the windows. The armor-plated hull and ion shielding would protect the ship from any damage inflicted by the world's high-altitude weather and subsequent descent. Inside the ship the two occupants were getting ready to begin their hunt on Earth.

Now that they were here, it was time to enact a little bit of stealth.

The male occupant was prepared to make his move. Standing at a large podium in another area of the ship, the navigation module, he reached over towards a holographic keyboard made of red light and hit one of the large hexagonal buttons, which turned green upon activation. On the outside right as the ship began to breach the thermosphere, the starcraft began to disappear as beams of blue energy began to shoot out from hidden panels. A mirror-like reflection, a cloaking field, began to encompass the entire ship until its whole entirety was covered, rendering it invisible. The only evidence that there was anything flying was the faint distortion in the air around the craft, and even then it was faint.

"The cloaking field will shield the ship for the time being," He said to his friend, who seemed to be impressed with his simple yet effective idea, "It'll keep us unseen while we make way to our destination."

"You think whoever might've spotted us when we first arrived are feeling a little confused right now?" She humorously asked.

"Definitely."

...

This action was certainly being felt back at Starwatch. It had taken the agency completely by surprise as one moment the dot was there on the screen as it had been, and then the next it was gone. No warnings or anything for the agents in the room to take in, it had simply blinked out from their scans entirely. Everyone who was in the room stopped in the middle of what they were doing in dawning realization that their latest find had vanished without a trace, going dead quiet as they stared up at the screen. The four in the meeting room did the exact same thing, blinking in surprise.

"W-Where did it go?" Matthews said, saying what everyone was thinking in their heads. "Where did the thing go?"

"Is it... is it gone?" Smith wondered.

"Woods!" Vassallo yelled at the Director. He was hoping for an answer, but he found none from his friend. And Woods wasn't faring too well either, the man running both hands through his silver hair as he fought the urge to start hyperventilating from panic.

"Oh no no no, this can't be happening!" Woods gasped as he reached over to grab a headset from the table behind him. "Can someone explain to me what's going on down there? How did we manage to lose it?"

"We don't know, Director!" One scientist over at a monitor replied as the room suddenly exploded with a frenzy. Everyone who had been rushing around trying to find answers was now concentrating on finding out what happened to their discovery. And so far it wasn't looking good on their screens. "We're running our scans right now to try and find it, but it's like the thing just straight up vanished! Like it wasn't even there anymore! We'll try to get something done in the meantime but wherever it's gone now, we might be too late to find it!"

Woods visibly paled upon hearing that sort of news, slowly turning around to face the other three members of Starwatch in the room who had overheard. His look of horror was clear to them, and answered their fears. With the object now gone from their radar, Starwatch was now thrown into a terrifying issue of what to do or where to go from here other than to try and fix their latest problem before this became too big of an issue to contain. They all accepted one thing however; their planet has now been invaded by an unknown force, and they had no idea of where it had gone.

...

Lake Huron, Michigan

It was a quiet, still night at the shores of the Great Lake. Surrounded by woodlands under a blanket of stars, not a single soul was to be found. There was a gentle breeze coming from the air over the water, the waves lapping against the shorelines. With the moon hanging overhead, shining down on the lakes surface with a silver touch, tonight was as peaceful as can be.

Yet this calm was about to be pierced by an otherworldly visitor.

A resting seagull atop the waters surface opened her eyes and noticed something peculiar happening overhead. From her vantage turning her head to the sky, she saw what looked like the clouds being pushed open by an unseen force. Yet she could sense that there was something there, massive and hidden. She and the other seagulls sitting around let out braying calls as they took off from the water before whatever was above could crush them into the lake.

Right as they made themselves clear there was a great impact, like an unseen force pushing the surface apart. Waves jettisoned from the change of pressure splashed out, coating water across an invisible structure as it slowly descended into the abyss of the lake. As it did, the water began to sink back over the area that had once been split as it went deeper, hiding the intruder in the dark blue depths of Lake Huron. After several more moments of sinking, it was gone from the outside world and fully submerged. The only evidence that there might have been something there were the white ripples racing across the water's surface, the bubbles popping from trapped air, and the faint form of something massive setting down on the lakebed.

Hidden from the world above, the ship decloaked once the landing gear extended, large hydraulic plates holding up the spacecraft as it lay to rest on the soft sands. The observation deck opened to reveal an underwater world of near darkness. The exterior lights flashed on, shining a crisp blue-white onto the seaweed forests and the occasional fish swimming by. It was very quiet down here, just as planned. The two occupants stared out into the waters of Earth surrounding their ship, now that they had successfully infiltrated the planet without issue.

"Now," the male voice said, "we get to work."

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