What if Kevin had been summoned as part of the group at Rhir:
"Welcome prophesied [Heroes]!"
Tom looked up at the man with the booming voice. Where in the world was he? The last thing he remembered was walking to the mini-mart to get a snack. How had he gotten here? Wherever here was.
"This is the Blighted Kingdom." The man said, as if reading his mind. Or, more likely, as if he could guess what the crowd of people around him were thinking by their bewildered expressions. Tom imagined he had to be gaping the same way almost everyone around him was. "You have been summoned to help us in our hour of need. The Demons are gathering their strength, and we require your power to drive them back so that peace may reign. Not only here, but for the entire world!"
He... had been summoned?
Tom supposed that made sense. The king, the guy to his side with robes and a staff, all the people in the crowd that surrounded them with the fancy dresses, and finally the guards with spears and swords - they all looked like they were pulled straight out of some fantasy novel.
Odd that the king was the only one smiling. The... he had to assume they were nobles, each wore expressions that ranged from a blank look to an outright scowl. The guards and the... court mage? They looked on impassively, but Tom could feel a strange sense of pride stirring in his chest.
"No." The man next to Tom spoke. Tom stepped away as the crowd around him parted. "I thought the disappearances were the work of an outside Parahuman, but you're not one. This is something else, isn't it?" He defiantly pointed at the king. "I'm not going to fight your war for you, kidnapper. Your mind tampering won't work on me, scum. You will send all of us back home right now or-"
His voice suddenly stopped as the man with the staff raised it. "[Temporal Prison]."
Tom shuddered. The guy wasn't breathing. He wasn't blinking. He wasn't moving at all. He'd been frozen in time!
"Such impudence." The king shook his head. "Fear not, children, we will not hurt you. Indeed, we will provide you with the greatest arms and armor that exist in this or any other country. Our foe is great, but our power is greater still. With your help, we will be able-"
The man on the throne continued to give his speech, but Tom looked at the frozen person. He could tell by the expression on everyone else's face. They'd looked confused like him at first, then excited, then surprised when the stranger had stepped forward.
Now?
Now the crowd was scared. Tom was too.
'Kidnapped' the man had said. He hadn't thought about it, but that's exactly what this was, right? Why would he be summoned to fight a Demonic army? That made zero sense! A moment ago, the idea might've thrilled him, but that was before one of their number had been FROZEN IN TIME!
...If Tom was being honest with himself, he would admit that even if it wasn't for such treachery, he probably wouldn't have fought. He'd tried that in the past, and Tom knew that he was an out-of-shape fat nerd. He'd lose a footrace with a turtle. A boxing match with a wet paper bag. Fighting a demonic army? He'd die in the first minute, if not sooner.
Huh?
What was that?
Something was different...
Tom frowned as he looked around. He hadn't been paying attention but something had changed that shouldn't have...
The man! The man frozen in time. His eyes were moving! It was incredibly slow, but they were definitely moving as he looked over... at the wizard instead of the king. In fact, he was pointing at the wizard now.
No. Not pointing. His index finger was bent, and his other fingers had opened. So had his thumb. It looked... like he was holding an imaginary gun.
Suddenly, the gun wasn't imaginary. It was real. Golden... and made out of tiny cubes?
A beam of light shot from it, which silenced the crowd. It felt like it blasted for hours, but it had to have only been a split-second. Then, it stopped and the afterimage left Tom blinking furiously. The wizard was dead. A hole the size of a beach-ball had replaced his upper torso and head.
The staff slipped from lifeless fingers as what was left of the body toppled over like a scene from a bad horror movie.
"You dare?!" The king rose up from his throne. His eyes blazed with fury and he leveled his scepter at the now-moving man.
"Yes."
A golden light flashed in Tom's vision again. This time, it came from the king. Only... it was intercepted by another shot from the man's strange looking gun.
Gold vs. gold warred, and Tom had no idea what was going on, or who was winning. Then, it was over, and the aftermath was clear to see. The king, his throne, and a huge swath of the castle behind him were simply... gone.
Disintegrated.
Atomized.
Erased.
"The king!" "Guards!" "Help!" "Dead gods!" "This can't be happening!" A clamor of voices swelled from the finely dressed audience behind them.
Tom whirled around. People in armor with swords were charging the man with the gun, and he was in the way! He was going to be killed!
A shimmering field surrounded the group. The men with swords slammed into the sudden... forcefield. That was the only word that came to mind. Tom felt strangely calm, as if he was watching an action movie instead of living in one. He looked around and saw large cubes on the ground, and more floating in the air.
A beam of light shot from one of the hovering groups of cubes. Not as bright or as golden as what had come from the gun he casually noted. The white beam splashed against the armor of the raging people, but their full-plate wasn't without holes.
Their helmets had visors and those visors needed to let light in for the person inside to see. So of course it let in the brilliant white laser. The armor might have been resistant to the beam, but the people inside were not. Their bodies collapsed lifelessly.
Others brought up shields to block the attack. Small glowing cubes appeared at their feet and then...
Tom couldn't understand what had just happened.
There was a flash? Then a flash of... darkness? Then... something had happened that he couldn't wrap his mind around. All that was left was an empty suit of armor and a baseball sized glob of... something.
Throughout all of this, the man with the gun didn't move. He remained facing the throne and the rooms beyond while the crowd behind them panicked and the armored people died as they ran forward.
"ENOUGH!" A figure appeared towering above them. It... was Samus?
Tom was calm. He couldn't be hallucinating the heroine from Metroid standing twenty feet tall between them and the crowd, but it was either that or she had stepped right out of a video game.
And at such a low resolution too.
"You kidnap us. Try to brainwash us. Then attack us." Samus spoke. "Don't make me kill more of you."
"[Words Not Weapons]." One of the lavishly dressed women said as she stepped forward. "Peace, visitor from-" She choked as blood frothed from her lips. Blood, then a green acid that dissolved her in front of everyone.
Tom was calm. Despite the horrifying sight that was somehow even worse than the carnage he'd just witnessed, he was calm.
"I consider any attempts to manipulate my mind or the minds of the people you kidnapped to be a hostile act." Samus replied coldly. "Try to do so again, and you will meet the same fate. Now tell me why I shouldn't slaughter your whole strange cult right here and now."
Despite his strange calm, Tom felt a shudder run down his spine at the promise behind those words.
At least the psychotic Samus seemed to be on their side?
