That's a Little Anti-Climactic

Gene continued typing commands into his computer as he sat strapped into the special chair. A woman appeared next to him like a ghost. It was the woman from the system screen. She began waving her hand over Gene as lights shone in her eyes.

"Otrera," Gene began. The woman stopped and looked at Gene. "Is my name Otrera?" she asked.

"Yes, you are Otrera, named after the wife of Mars, a great Queen of the Martian Amazons. You are also named after the mother of the woman I love, Pentha,"

"I even made you look like her mother. Maybe someday I'll be able to pursue her, but right now I have to stop Virtuous Crusader," he said stoically.

"You love Pentha, who is she?" Otrera asked.

"She is that woman," he said as he pointed to the screen.

On the screen, a live video of Virtuous Crusader and the Miracle Woman of Mars appeared. Gene was so focused on what he had been doing he didn't notice people falling out of the sky and dying. He was feeling too smug right now.

Feeling excited, Gene turned on the external speakers. "I must thank everyone for their contributions. Without your help, I wouldn't be able to realize my greatest plan!" Gene laughed sinisterly.

"Virtuous Crusader, wash your neck, I'll be coming for you soon," he said.

Instead of getting angry, Virtuous Crusader nearly laughed out loud. If Gene kept his mouth shut foolish things wouldn't come out of his mouth.

What Gene expected to see, the angry face of Virtuous Crusader he didn't see. What he didn't expect to see, however, was the grieving face Miracle Woman.

He was puzzled by it. While thinking about it, he flicked some switches, and Otrera walked away from Gene while counting down.

Unable to forget the look of grief on Miracle Woman's face, he pressed a few buttons and a ghostly image of himself appeared next to Miracle Woman. "Pentha," he said. Miracle Woman looked up startled at Gene.

"How could you?" she asked. Gene sighed heavily while looking at the woman he loved. "I had no choice this man next to you killed my whole family and even my friends. He doesn't care anymore,"

Miracle Woman was shocked. She looked at Virtuous Crusader who also looked surprised. "Gene, how could you say such things?

We've fought many times in the past but I've never killed any of your people much less your family. What a lame justification for all of this destruction you're causing," he said.

"Gene, I don't understand how can you accuse Virtuous Crusader of such a crime?" she asked but then she continued.

"Even if what you said is true, how can you kill so many people for your revenge. I've misjudged you.

You've always been a little wild but I never thought you were a killer. I even defended you and then you started killing my friends," she said with tears in her eyes.

Gene was completely shocked by her words. What was she talking about?

"Killing your friends, what are you talking about?" he asked. Miracle Woman pointed towards the ground instead of speaking.

Gene looked where she was pointing to and noticed all of the dead bodies on the ground. He was shocked.

"What happened to them?" he asked bewildered.

"What do you mean what happened to them, you sent out those strange objects and people lost their strength and crashed into the ground. You've killed more than a hundred heroes today, don't deny it!" Virtuous Crusader yelled.

"I..I didn't kill anyone I just scanned them," Gene responded. Miracle Woman saw the genuine look of confusion in his eyes. Before she could ask for more, Virtuous Crusader jumped in once more.

"If you didn't kill them then why are they dead? You just thanked everyone for their contributions. How can you pretend this has nothing to do with you?" Virtuous Crusader snarled at Gene.

Gene looked at Virtuous Crusader coldly, "So you took this opportunity to frame me. You used your powers to steal their cosmic energies to increase your strength while framing me? Very good, you really outsmarted me this time!

Once I have the strength to defeat you, though, everyone will know you for who you really are!" Gene looked toward Miracle Woman with a heavy heart.

The holographic image he sent out disappeared. He didn't try to explain himself, he tried so many times in the past but no one ever believed him.

Inside the Fortress, Gene was still in the chair. He looked lost and heartbroken. Virtuous Crusader was too vicious. Not only did he kill all those people; he even framed him for their deaths and convinced the woman he loved he was a crazed killer.

He almost felt like giving up, but then he beat down the doubt and self-reproach. If he finished his plan and stopped Virtuous Crusader, then he would have a chance to clear his name.

Loud sirens and red lights started flashing as this thought passed through his mind. "The spatial-temporal multi-dimensional gateway is unbalanced. A wave of destruction is heading for Earth," Otrera said.

Gene was shaken and immediately typed out commands into the computer. He was distracted by Virtuous Crusader's plot and wasn't paying attention to the STMD levels.

Reaching over to a free-hanging wire, Gene grabbed it and plugged it into its proper place.

Just as he was moving his hands further, the chair he sat in was suddenly encapsulated by a sphere. A beam of STMD energy pierced through the Crystalline Fortress hitting the sphere Gene was in.

Until this point, no one was capable of breaking through the defenses of the Crystalline Fortress. Even Virtuous Crusader found he lacked the strength to even scratch the fortress. From this, it was clear just how powerful the STMD energy beam was.

With the energy beam piercing through the Fortress, it suddenly lost its ability to float and crashed into the city below. Internal explosions set off and the heroes quickly retreated from the explosion.

An hour after the explosion, debris ceased falling and a scene of peace after a disaster appeared. The remaining heroes looked carefully at the remains of the fallen Fortress.

Flying into the remains, the heroes found the lab the Mad Genius was working in and saw a gnarled hole from the roof through the floor.

It looked as if Gene's grand plan had profoundly failed and he managed to blow himself up.

"That was anti-climactic," a hero off to the side said.