Athena - The swarm

"Indeed, long-time no see, son," I reply, watching him coming from behind to my side, my heart rejoicing by his sight.

He uses a shield of yellow plasma to protect us both from the beams of the shooting enemies' ships.

He gives me a quick kiss on the left cheek, "Is nice to see you back in action," he says gleefully.

"I should be the one saying that," I say, quipping a brow with a smile.

He doesn't like taking missions or being on the battlefield, his passion is to write and to teach meta-humans how to be better persons and citizens and also taking care of his family of four.

He is part of the board of directors of the Meta-Humans Institute, co-founded by the Justice League and the United Nations.

More ships came to cover the whole Jimmy made with his attack to their defense.

"Cover me." 

I take the position to fly through ships. 

"As you wish mom", winks. He positions in front of me and waits for my cue.

I take a last look around, "Go!".

He flies off fast to the swarm of ships defending the sector where the mothership is, growing his plasma shield and changing it to an arrow-like shape, making it easier to go through their defenses. 

"WOO HOO!" He shouts excitedly, " The view of these fellows being kicked out with the shield is otherworldly, I wish Jor was here, he would absolutely love it knowing his character," he shouts. There is too much noise around, with all the shooting, his shield that sounds like a vortex of fire, and the clashing of the ship against the shield.

"But he surely has his fair share of action in Europe with this invaders," he says with a smirk, "This will do a good book, I will talk it out with father when it's over," he says with newfound inspiration, "I look forward to what's to come." 

I've been following him from behind since the moment he launched.

It is strange to hear him so excited in the middle of the action, maybe his time in the institute got him a little bored, or is his love for writing fantastic stories... the second.

His older brother Jor and him have a lot in common, they used to play together quite often, as there were only two boys in the house. Their common traits were their tendencies of being lucky with girls, their high energy and their rebellious attitude, however, their rebelliousness were shown in different ways; Jimmy was passive, being the one who would rebel by doing things like hiding, hunger strike or by giving us the cold shoulder; on the other side, Jor was aggressive, he would scream, throw tantrums, break things, start a fight with other metahumans. 

I do not miss those days.

However, I am thankful that he understood he had to control his strength if not the consequences would be dire, he was rebellious but knew his limits, with parents like us… anyway, he was the most difficult to handle of the five. The funny part is that sometimes his siblings would follow his actions. Disastrous! 

Lucky me that they all got along with each other. *Internally sight* Is not easy to be a mother. 

Yet, I am happy for him, I love the way he expresses. I cannot help but smile at his sight.

"Mother, we can't help it, right?" He asks, watching how some of the ships explode because of the heat of his shield.

I realize what he is saying, "Yes, some of them are dying, it was their choice in the first place to come and invade us. They are ready to die for their cause," I answered.

How come this swarm is never-ending?! I can see they are coming from behind and placing in front. It is like they are doing a kind of toroidal movement that is also getting thicker and is getting more difficult to pierce through.

"And what about father?" he asks, I see his worry pouring out of his eyes. Makes the shield more sharp than it is.

Just thinking about some of Kal's beliefs gives me headaches, is one of the only reasons we fight.

"This is war, Jimmy, casualties are a part of it. Your father will understand."

Jimmy is the closest to Kal and shares many of his beliefs, that's why he cares a lot about what his father thinks of him even though he is all grown up. He doubts them however, one of the reasons he chose his career, he didn't know what he would do if he is in a situation that requires making decisions of that sort, so he chose to avoid it all and become a teacher.

I didn't like to meddle in between them so I just let them be and just question their points of view, never getting into a conclusion, they can think for themselves.

He stays quiet as if he is reflecting, I can see the confusion all over his face.

"However," I say, trying to amend the situation, "I agree with him, we should avoid it at all costs."

He looks back at me, realization dawning on him, his eyes glittering with gratefulness, "Yes mother! Thank you!" he voices thankfully.

He might have avoided this question for a long time. 

"We will never get to the mothership at this rate," I say watching the changes on the swarm, we aren't moving forward anymore.

"Let's change strategy, they have activated a kind of force field that is making your plasma shield useless to go through," I say, noticing that they have activated a light blue energy that surrounds them protecting them from the heat and piercing of Jimmy's shield, "transform the shield in a sphere to protect us." 

"Yes, working on it." 

He moves closer to me. With some hand movements he changes the shield into a sphere. 

The swarm that is completely surrounding us leaves no way to escape squeezing the shield.

"What do you think if I change it to electric energy or throw some lighting rays?" He says, doing his best sustaining his concentration, the hit to the shield spends his energy faster, and now more, the swarm is covering the sunlight.

"Change it to lighting rays and let see if they work against their shield."

"Alright!" he exclaims with a grin on his face, "Lighting! Expelled!" he shouts as if summoning the lightning from him. 

That's exactly how it looks, from him can be seen the energy in lighting form spreading inside the shield as if it was a plasmasphere. I had to cover from one of the rays with my bracelets, so I turn into a fetal position to avoid the other ones. 

"Careful. Mom!" He says in between grunts.

"Don't worry, son, do your thing!" I exclaim. The determination in his face is something that makes me proud. 

"AHHHH!" He shouts as burst the lighting rays out of the sphere colliding with every ship creating a chain reaction that disabled their shields and at the same time disrupting their connection, making them fall on the ocean crumbling like Lego pieces.

I caught him from falling off after the outburst, he drained most of his energy in the attack, the sunlight now reaching shall do its work of replenishing his energy back.

"Well done son!" I caress his hair, "thank you" I smile and kiss his forehead.

"Don't embarrass me, I am a grown man now. It is my duty to protect my family," he says, embarrassed by my action. He releases from my hold and flies next to me.

I give a little laugh before stating, "Let's not waste more time, they for sure will bring more reinforcement, so, Let's go!" 

"Alright, off we go!" He shouts with a side to side grin.

We again set course to the mothership. I hope not to encounter other obstacles on our way there.