Our heroes; Syeed, Velocity, Alan, Zarge, Flame, and Celestia stood down the approaching gigantic size Banshee that stomped it's way into Central City. Buildings shook, rumbled, some even fell. The image of it all seemed terrifying; almost unreal. Velocity spoke up, shaking his head, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Whoa. This is like...War of the Worlds. EPIC!" Velocity's comment was met with a ton of stares from the rest of the team. "Okay, not cool, then." Velocity stated in response to the looks.
Flame let out an annoyed groan before his body became covered in fire. He leaped into the air and blasted off, a trail of fire behind him as he flew towards Banshus.
Alan and Zarge exchanged a nod before flying in the same direction as Flame, their eyes on the target.
"I'm going...I'm going to need a way off of this platform." Celestia stated, Velocity nodding in agreement.
Syeed shrugged, grabbing Velocity by the shoulders. He powered on his exosuit and hovered in the air, flying off of the ship, holding Velocity as he made his way towards Banshus.
Celestia stood there, alone and annoyed. She crossed her arms over her chest, sighing. "Hello...?"
Suddenly, she heard a loud thump behind her. Slowly, she turned. It was an exosuit, encased in a glass pod. Celestia tilted her head. Came to a realization.
"Oh, no. Oh, hell no." Celestia spoke into her comlink this time.
"It's the only way. It took me about 30 minutes to whip this up." Strife replied through the comlink, intense typing being heard on his end of the link.
The exosuit was purple, identical to Syeed's in terms of abilities but it was shorter, weighed less and had no helmet. Instead, a pair of goggles hovered above the suit. She pressed a button as the pod hissed open. A long, exhausted sigh escaped her lips.
"MOVE! MOVE!" A tall man, dark brown eyes, muscular build, tan skin and black hair was instructing a group of Central City citizens to steer clear of the stomping, raging, 100 meter tall Banshee that was making it's way through the city. The man turned to see a big sign falling off a building and making it's way to the ground below, right above an unaware little boy. The man ran and grabbed the boy, running out of the way of the sign just before it landed. The man sighed as he set the kid down, hugging onto the child tightly. He looked up. Never had this man seen such a sight. Central City was almost in ruins. His home, thrown into an unbearable chaos. It almost felt like a nightmare. No, it WAS a nightmare.
The man was wearing a leather jacket. Strapped across his shoulder was a camera. He held it up. Zoomed in on the giant Banshee. He spoke once more.
"This is Central City News reporter Hayden Storms, I'm down here where a Banshee a size we've never seen before is causing havoc in the city, just near the outskirts. Buildings are falling, I think some people even got lost in the rubble. I'm trying...I'm trying my best to help out here. Because I'm not just a reporter, but as a citizen of Central City we all owe it to each other to help out in this time of great despair. Even if I have to give my life doing so..." The camera was sending a live feed to Central City News, Hayden's voice being broadcast on nearly every television in the city, along with the footage of the rampaging Banshee.
Hayden heard a thump behind him. He turned, the camera turning with him. Before him he saw a Banshee, normal size, coming right at him. The Banshee held up an alien gun. Hayden's eyes widened.
He saw his life flash before his eyes.
Then, boom.
Everything went black.
The last thing Hayden felt was the stinging of the laser gun, his head and body hitting the hard cement.
Flame flew around the head of Banshus, shooting fire out of his hands at the Goliath. It only seemed to do minor damage as the Banshus was unmoved. Alan flew down, shooting out his own fire breath at Banshus. Zarge wasn't far behind, shooting ice-constructed missiles at the enemy. To his dismay, the Banshus shot ice-constructed missiles back! Zarge dodged them swiftly, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"How the hell?" Zarge spoke, looking around.
"Oh, my..." Strife came in on the other end, sighing. "It seems this Banshee can copy the abilities of anyone he sees in combat!"
"Then it's a good thing he can't see me!" Zarge identified the voice as Velocity's. He turned, looking down at the street below, seeing Velocity blasting through the streets and making his way to the giant.
The Banshee blew out fire breath at the team in the sky, sending Zarge reeling. Alan and Flame withstood the fire, Alan throwing his sword right at Banshus. It hovered in the air before Banshus, which the gigantic Banshee sent flying into the air using telepathy.
Alan looked up in shock. Held out his palm as his sword reappeared in his hand. He charged at Banshus but the alien created an ice-constructed field around himself. Alan grunted in anger, taking out the field in one slice with his sword.
"How the HELL do we beat this thing?" Flame shouted, creating a 'fire tornado' with his hands, directing it at the giant alien.
"I can trip it down by running circles around it, but there are WAY too many buildings in my way." Velocity spoke into his comlink device, still on the ground below. "Maybe get him in a lake? A large field area?"
"Good plan. But you're forgetting one thing, genius," Alan started. "We can't MOVE him."
Another voice chimed in from behind. "Yes, we can. Or, I can, at least. You guys can help." Syeed flew into the scene, holding out the palms on his exosuit. "Anti-gravity." Suddenly, Banshus started to float in the air! The other heroes looked in amazement.
"Keep him there!" Alan shouted. He charged, punching the 100 meter Goliath in the face, the impact was small. But he charged, punching again, this time the impact gained! The Banshee was sent flying back! Flame and Zarge joined in, performing charged kicks and punches, helping move the Banshee out of the city.
Velocity dashed and waited on an open field outside of the city. He tapped his foot, crossing his arms over each other. He watched as the team drew closer with Banshus. Eventually, the giant as dropped into the open field, making the ground shake and causing Velocity to fall over.
"HEY! EASY, EASY!" Velocity shouted into his communication device as he pulled himself to his feet.
"Sorry!" Flame, Alan, Zarge, and Syeed all replied at the same time, with Alan's 'apology' sounding more like a question.
The giant rolled. The ground shook with every move the Banshee took.
"NOW, THOMAS, NOW!" Syeed shouted at Velocity. Velocity nodded, and started to run circles around Banshus. Banshus was taken aback, letting out an odd scream as a tornado formed around him. He started to hover in the air, and then...
...he disappeared. Right in thin air, he was gone. Velocity slowed himself down, before coming to a stop. Him, along with the rest of the heroes, looked around, confused. Celestia, the Shadow Avenger, had finally arrived on the scene, having seen the Banshee disappear.
"Um...did we win? I don't have to fight in this thing?" Shadow asked, looking around in her newly constructed exosuit.
"Thomas!" Syeed shouted, seeing a white figure in the distance charging up behind Velocity. Velocity, in a rare moment, didn't react quick enough and was tackled down by the white figure.
"Did I mention he can change his size, too?" Strife butted in.
"Thanks for the reminder!" Velocity spoke as he got pummeled by the now equaled-size Banshus. Velocity kicked the alien away, getting up breathing heavily. He and the Banshee both charged at each other, colliding and sending each other flying back. Velocity regrouped and stood at the same time as Banshus did. They charged at each other again and traded lightning quick blows with each other, almost unseen by the rest of the team.
The brawl eventually ended with Banshus having his hand gripped tight around Velocity's neck, squeezing the life out of him. Shadow flew down and punched Banshus in the side of it's 'jaw', sending the alien flying across field. She dashed across the field, the exosuit boosting her speed up significantly, the grass parting with every step she took due to the boosters under the feet of the exosuit.
"I feel so...empowered!" Celestia admitted, stopping in front of Banshus as the alien stood.
"Oh, you go, girl!" Syeed replied in a mocking tone, flying down towards Banshus.
The alien, surrounded by Syeed, Celestia, and Velocity scanned his three opponents. Banshus started to vibrate his molecules at an intense rate, and he appeared to duplicate!
Syeed and Celestia looked around in confusion, as seemingly endless Banshus' surrounded them. They tried to hit the duplicates but found themselves punching thin air.
"His copies aren't real. He's creating illusions with his speed. My speed." Velocity spoke as he broke the speed mirage by grabbing the real Banshus. Velocity then saw that his hand was beginning to become covered in ice. His eyes went wide as he kicked Banshus away. Alan rushed to Velocity's side, his God-given sword precise enough to cut the ice without completely taking off Velocity's arm.
Before Banshus could land on the ground, Zarge swatted him away with an ice-formed baseball bat. Banshus went flying into the air, being met by Flame's fire entourage. Banshus burned as he fell back into the grassy field.
"Enough of this!" Syeed shouted as he nodded at Zarge. Zarge created an ice ball around Banshus, trapping the alien. But Banshus was smarter than assumed, he vibrated his molecules and passed right through the ball. Banshus' body started to grow once more. But this time, he grew a tail behind him. Wings on his back. The team gasped in shock as Banshus grew into a Dragon taller than the city. The now dragon-like alien took off into the skies, past the clouds, and out of sight.
The rest of the team looked at Alan. Alan grinned, followed by a sadistic smirk. Alan himself started to grow. Larger than a skyscraper, larger than Central City. Larger than life. He followed Banshus' path, disappearing from the rest of the teams sights.
The dragon and the alien exited Mobius' orbit, blasting off right into space. Banshus stopped, turning. Alan the Dragon stared off with the alien. They both released fire from each others mouths, their fires colliding and pushing against one another. Even the vacuum of space couldn't cancel this sight.
Alan's will, his power, proved stronger. His fire ended up burning Banshus' face, the silver colored alien whimpering in pain. Alan flew, his gigantic fist smashing into Banshus' chest, sending the alien flying right into the moon. The moon rattled. Most of the Banshee bases that were stationed there were crushed.
Banshus regained himself and came flying back at Alan. But Alan was quicker. He grabbed Banshus, flying up into the depths of space. He came back down at supersonic speeds, clenching onto the alien. As they re-entered Mobius' orbit, fire formed around them. They were headed right back down towards the field; on a crash course. Alan put all his strength, his power hanging onto the Banshee. As they drew closer to the ground, Alan closed his eyes.
The impact created a large 'BOOM' effect and left a huge hole in the field. Smoke blocked the other heroes' view of the two fighting.
When the smoke cleared, Alan, now back in his human-sized form, was holding a defeated and unconscious normal-sized Banshus by the neck.
Finally, it was over. They had won.
The other heroes; Velocity, Syeed, Shadow Avenger, Flame, and Zarge all approached Alan holding the beaten Banshee. Alan turned to face them, smirking.
"Hopefully, we'll never have to see an anorexic alien again." Alan's words were met with a bunch of laughs and smiles from the rest of the team.
Epilogue:
"See, it all works out in the end." That was the voice of the Mobian Chipmunk, Tomoe, Celestia's long-time friend and assistant. Celestia and Tomoe stood on the balcony of Celestia's condo, overlooking the currently-repairing Central City. "Celeste, you just have to give things a chance."
"Yeah, yeah. You get to say 'I told you so' in different words again, right?" Celestia chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest, turning to face Tomoe.
"Actually, I'm proud of you. Plus, I think it's extremely cool that you got to work with Velocity. Who, by the way, I didn't even know was real until you told me. You also got to work with Syeed the Hedgehog AND that Human-Dragon hybrid creature that the government keeps denying the existence of? I actually wish you'd have asked me to go out there instead." Tomoe explained, placing her hand on Celestia's shoulder, patting it. "Celeste...Celestia...you've done this planet a good service."
Celestia smiled, turning back to face the city. "I don't think you're ready to take on aliens just yet. Or to suit up, for that matter."
"Yeah, yeah." Tomoe rolled her eyes as she walked back inside of the condo. She heard a beeping noise on Celestia's laptop, walking towards it.
"Oh...you've got a...message." Tomoe raised an eyebrow and looked up at Celestia. Celestia turned, letting a small 'hm?' escape her lips.
"It's from someone named...Strife?" Tomoe asked and stated, still confused herself. Celestia walked over, a smirk coming across her.
"WOO!" An excited, adrenaline rushed Velocity blasted down the streets of Central City, still fully dressed in his costume. He had just foiled a very poorly constructed bank robbery. Now, it was time for a joy run. Of course, it wasn't much joy when more than half of Central City was either in ruins or very badly damaged. That still didn't cloud the beauty of the evening sky. Velocity, Thomas Tybalt, ran up the side of a highrise building and onto the roof. He halted his speed and stood on the edge, looking out at the city before him.
Although it was damaged, it could be fixed. That was thanks in part to him and joining the team that saved the city, the planet. He felt proud of himself, saving the world felt great. As a kid, he had always reached for adventure, dreamed of it. Now he was living the dream. His black optics studied Central City. He wondered what his father, who was a former 'superhero' of his own, would think about the heroic deeds.
But, in the distance, Velocity saw a green and black streak ramming through the streets of the city. His eyes shot open in shock, confusion, and curiosity. He ran down the building he was on and onto the streets below, tracking the streak and following it at super-speeds. As he drew closer, he saw a figure before him. But then it disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Suddenly, Velocity felt like he was knocked over by a huge gust of wind. He lost his balance, skidding across the street on his back, coming to a screeching stop in the middle of the road.
He stood up, quickly. Looking around, breathing heavily. Was he attacked? As soon as he got up, he was knocked back down again. Now, he could clearly see the figure, standing over him. The figure had a costume identical to his. Well, kind of. The torso was green. The arms and legs, black. The cowl, black. The 'V' emblem on Velocity's chest was absent from this figures costume, instead, a huge 'X' made it's home on this figures chest.
"Hello, Thomas." The figure spoke, it's voice eerily deep, almost sounding like it came out of a voice modifier.
"Who the hell are you?!" Velocity replied as he pulled himself to one knee, looking up at the dark figure.
"Someone you'd love to know." The figure spoke, followed by a muffled chuckle. He grabbed Velocity by the neck. Whoever this was, it was fast. Faster than Velocity. He threw the hero against a car window. Velocity grunted in pain as he slid to the pavement, holding onto his cowl.
"You're not fast enough, yet. But you will be." The figure continued. "See you soon." With that, it bolted down the street, out of sight.
Velocity looked on, finally regaining his composure and standing on his own two feet. His breathing became heavier, slower.
When emotions become sounds, they usually are better defined by the "sound" of silence. That, at least, is what Flame thought as he stood before Nitro's grave. His best friend. His fallen friend. In some ways...his brother. Every time Flame closed his eyes, the events of Nitro's death replayed in his head. If only...if only he were faster, quicker, or maybe even smarter. What kind of hero is he if he isn't good enough to save those close to him? Flame sighed as his pessimistic thoughts flooded his mind. Flame's chain of thought, thankfully, was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Penny for your thoughts." Those were the words of Eli the Squirrel, who wore a casual black t-shirt and some jeans. The green Mobian stepped behind Flame, who turned around to face his speaker.
"No...I don't think you want my thoughts." Flame chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "They're all over the place right now."
"I know what it's like, you know. Losing a friend." Eli responded, his hands in his pockets. "It's hard to recover from, holding that burden... 'Could I have saved them?'"
"But that's going to be the question I'll ask myself for the rest of my life, Eli."
"Then you'll just have to live with it. You know why? Because there will be more people you lose...we all know that. You can't save everyone, unfortunately."
Flame went to reply, but paused, looking at Eli. Eli nodded as he turned to leave.
"Oh yeah!" Eli exclaimed. "Strife needs you up in space. You know, usual place?"
Flame looked to the skies. Nodded his head.
Alan landed outside the Orbital Watcher, taking in the vast view of space. He smiled. A rare occasion; but he couldn't deny the beauty of the outskirts of planet Mobius. Plus, the fact that he got to smash some Banshee set his mood at an all-time high for the week. Initially, he wasn't sure about 'teaming up' with a bunch of other heroes, but it paid off. It had been a week since the invasion and Central City, plus the nearby affected towns, were entering the repairing process. Alan had kept to himself mostly in the past week, returning to the Dragon World to handle some unfinished business up there. But now he had gotten a call from Strife; still amazed at how the Fox was able to track him down. Here he was, entering the Orbital Watcher once again.
It was quiet inside, but as he traversed his way through the base, he came into the main room. There, he saw all of his teammates that he had helped fight the invasion, standing around a large table, chatting away.
"Yeah, but did you see how I handled 20 Banshees by myself?" The voice of Eli beamed over at Jawez.
"S-shut up. Anyone could've done that." Jawez replied, underestimating Eli.
"Well, no, I kind of just think about the object I want and it forms with this, what we call an 'Ice Ring'." Zarge held his palm out, explaining to Flame how his powers worked.
"Form a dildo." Flame requested, much to Zarge's shock. Zarge shrugged, and constructed a dildo made out of ice.
"Use that trick on your wife in the future." Syeed butted in, laughing. Zarge and Flame both chuckled.
"So...you don't have any superpowers?" Velocity asked Celestia, who shook her head in response. "Well, Syeed's right, stick with the exosuit."
Celestia rolled her eyes at Velocity's remark, clicking her tongue.
"Oh, don't mind Ms. Twenty-Four Seven period over here, she can't handle the truth." Syeed stated to Velocity, as they both shared a laugh, much to Celestia's displeasure.
Alan greeted each of the heroes as he made his way around the room. Zarge seemed to be warming up to him. Syeed was as sarcastic as ever, poking fun at Alan's skin. Flame pitched Alan a 'tag team finishing move' idea that Alan scoffed at. Velocity talked about how cool watching Alan fly off into the sky in his Dragon form was. Celestia told Alan he has a rough personality, but that she believes he has a good heart deep down. Jawez offered Alan with a sparring session, which Alan gladly accepted. Eli gawked about how awesome Alan's abilities are.
As Alan reached the end of the room, he saw Strife, typing away at a large computer monitor. Alan approached the Fox, and they shared a greeting.
"I just wanted to personally thank you...you know, for reconsidering." Strife stated as he turned away from his computer to face Alan. "This couldn't have been done without all of you."
"Hey, man. No need to thank me. I guess you could say I've had a change of heart. I remember that this is what my mom would have wanted." Alan stated, explaining his motivation. "She wouldn't want me to let this planet rot."
"Well, I'm glad you have a motive. Actually, I didn't really think you'd had any feelings." Strife chuckled nervously. "Don't burn me to a crisp."
"Nah, it's alright. Everyone thinks that. And you know what, it's fine that way. I could care less." Alan smirked. "So, why did you call us all up here?" As he said that, the room grew silent and everyone looked over at Strife.
Strife raised his voice. "That's not going to be the last time someone, or a group of people threaten Central City...or Mobius, as a whole." Strife walked to the center of the room, with Alan following and the everyone else looking on. "This team...it has to be permanent. We have to be there whenever something bigger than all of us creeps out of the shadows and tries to take our home. Our people. We need to put our differences aside for the better of this planet."
To Strife's surprise, everyone nodded in approval. Including Alan.
"If we're going to do this, we need a name." Zarge piped in.
"Mobius Defense Force!" Velocity suggested, looking around the room.
"Meh. Maybe something more simple, less over the top?" Celestia gave her input.
"I've got it." Alan said, all eyes falling on him.
"We are..." Alan smiled.
"Mobius' Finest."
- THE END -
Whew! What an exciting, 9-month ride! I had a LOT of fun writing this and thanks to all my friends and fans who read it all the way through. My vision is to build a fictional universe centered around these characters, similar to DC's Extended Movie Universe. In the future, I plan to do "solo stories" focusing on Velocity (Thomas Tybalt), Alan the Dragon, The Shadow Avenger (Celestia), and more, along with a story centered around my main character, Syeed the Hedgehog. Eli and Jawez will return in a series of one-shots titled Eli and Jawez: Agents of G.U.N. in the future. More, new and exciting characters will be introduced as well. As for this team, they'll be coming together again in 2016 for the story Mobius' Finest: The Syndicate. The plot, taking place nine months after the Mobius Invasion, riots and anarchy are wide-spread throughout Central City during the reconstruction process of the city, with many people homeless or in poverty after the destruction left by the Banshees. The rise of an anarchy group called 'The Syndicate' causes government officials to label Central City as a 'No Mans Land', leaving Mobius' Finest to infiltrate The Syndicate and get down to the bottom of it, to save Central City. Again, thank you for reading! ^-^