Ch. 8 Global Disaster

Jay flies to his room and puts his hero suit on.

Jay wants to see what the emergency was last night. There was nothing in the news besides Red Rush catching Voltro and Dark Wing capturing two would be thieves. Nothing that would warrant being summoned.

He doesn't like the way this is turning out. So he goes to the Guardian's HQ in Utah. With Jay's top speed it takes little to no time to get there.

He enters the inconspicuous looking mountains through a circular metal door that opens in a spiral.

He flies in and nothing seems off yet. Jay walks through some corridors, he's heading towards the central room of the HQ.

Jay suddenly stops when a strong scent of iron stings his nose.

He bursts forward towards where the scent is coming from and arrives above the central room.

Jay looks down and it's a bloody massacre.

He drops down and doesn't bother slowing his descent as he lands in the center of the blood filled soaked room.

Everywhere he looked there was blood. But what grabbed his attention was his bloodied and bruised father.

"Dad!" He shouts as he kneels beside him. He can hear his heart beating slowly and his breathing is shallow and forced.

Jay had seen his dad take a beating before, but to be hurt to this extent. It had to be someone stronger than he had ever faced. Especially since all the Guardians are dead around him as well.

"Who could have done this?" Jay asks himself as he stands up and looks around. It was just gore. But this didn't make his stomach turn, it's not knowing how they all died that is doing that.

Aquarus, the fish man, had his brain bashed in with War Woman's mace.

Martian Man, a beige alien, seemed to be stretched out with his scalp peeled off.

Dark Wing had his limbs broken and twisted as his brain was splattered over 5 feet away from him with bits and pieces trailing from his now open in skull.

Green Ghost had no face. Or it would be more accurate to say that she had a hole in her head where her face should have been. And a bit away from her was a shattered green crystal.

Red Rush had his hands all mangled. Like his fingers were bent the in every direction fingers should not be bent. And his wrists, they were also shattered and it looks like his arms were nearly shattered as well. Like he had punched something until he was breaking himself apart. But he didn't get that far, probably because his head was crushed like it was in a vice. And his brain, teeth, and eyeballs were nearby but not close.

War Woman had a busted nose. And while that might not sound bad. Her head was facing her ass. And her blue cape was just soaked in her own blood. Probably from her mouth, judging by the blood in her mouth.

And lastly was The Immortal. This guy had a hole in his stomach, and no head. The head was over 15 feet away like it was hot off the body.

Jay looked back to his dad. His uniform was torn apart on his chest. And his chest was heavily bruised. His left eye was swollen. His nose had a cut on the bridge of it and blood was trickled out of it. And his mouth had blood dripped from it as well. And the rest of his uniform had been basically soaked in blood. But his damn hair was near perfect, only a bang fell out of place.

And the weirdest part. The blood was still wet. Almost none had dried.

Jay suddenly turns towards an iron door. He can hear footsteps. He gets down in a fighting position, ready to fly forwards and dismember any threat that walks through the door.

*tick* *tick* *tick*

*BOOM*

Not even seconds passed from when he heard the footsteps and the door was blown open.

Jay charged forward but saw nothing. But he could hear.

He heard many footsteps and guns lock onto him. Their breath was clearly audible along with their heartbeats.

These guys were well trained.

Jay grabbed the nearest one by his throat and held him up and in front of him.

The man immediately started choking.

"Eternal! Stand down!" One of the soldiers shouts.

Jay knows these guys are from the GDA. But he wasn't sure if they were betrayed or not. But Jay doubts the GDA could do this. And they needed the Guardians, why destroy assets when they are still assets.

Jay puts the guy down on his feet but doesn't let go. "Where is Cecil!"

"He has arrived but we are securing the area! Now stand down or we will be forced to make you!" A brave soldier shouts.

"Do not disturb the area" Jay coldly says as he looks directly at the invisible soldier who shouted at him.

He releases the soldiers throat and the others walk into the room. On of them steps on an eyeball, Jay was 60% sure it was Red Rush's.

Jay wants to slap that soldier through the mountain but refrains. Instead he floats into the air and looks at the mess.

Omni-Man will live. Jay wouldn't be so calm if he wasn't sure of that. But it was close, much closer than he was comfortable with.

The soldiers uncloak after they sweep the area.

"Clear" One of them comms back to his friends.

"Go! Go! Go! Get in there! One team per casualty!" One medic staff says.

Groups of two walk in and split up. Each have unique sets of equipment.

Jay floats down to the two that went to Omni-Man. "Scan his vitals. He's alive but I want to know the extent of the damage"

The two medical staff nod and are shocked to see Eternal here. One takes out a large datapad with a holographic screen and scans Omni-Man. The screen shows his body before centering in on his heart which is softly pumping. This 100% confirms that what Jay was hearing was his father's heart. "Omni-man is alive!" She announces.

"Move outta the way!" Two more medical staff run up to Omni-Man with a high-tech stretcher.

This advanced stretcher is a rectangle with nothing in the center, just a frame.

The staff put the frame around Omni-Man's body and click a button.

The frame humms to life as it starts floating with Omni-Man ontop of a solid looking blue hologram.

All the other bodies of the Guardians also get put on stretchers.

The Immortal is the only one with special treatment. His head was put in a device after a woman throws up looking at it. And a collar like device was put on the bloody neck of his body. When it activated the body reacted and punched the two medical staff to the ground before collapsing for good. It only reacted to the collar attaching to his spine.

Everyone was looking at the massacre and talking about what could have done this and how they looked up to these people growing up.

Jay listened to all their talks and watched as the bodies got carried away.

And as they left, he noticed the air had more H2O in it that it should. Most likely Aquarus' doing.

Jay looks at Green Gohst's body as it's moved out and noticed that it was more broken than he had initially thought. Her limbs were all dislocated but held closely to their joints. And the bones were broken or cracked.

As War Woman is moved past Jay he looks at her shocked eyes and open mouth. Her neck was completely broken, so he wonders why their being so gentle with her body.

Jay hears two sets of footsteps approaching him. He turns around and notices a cart with medical equipment on it.

He sees an old balding man with white hair, and a scar around the right side of his mouth. in a navy blue suit. Following behind him is an inconspicuous looking man with short, nearly bald, hair. This guy is wearing a gray suit.

The first man is government agent in charge of the Global Defense Agency, his name is Cecil Stedman.

The second guy is Cecil's personal assistant, Guardians of the Globe's contact, and an Agent of the Global Defense Agency. His name is Donald Ferguson, he takes his job very seriously.

Cecil stops next to the cart and shakes with anger and frustration. "Haah" He sighs as he tries to calm down. He looks at all the blood on the ground and on the walls.

"God Damn It!" He furiously shouts as he slams his right fist onto the cart.

A few bottles get knocked over and on falls to the ground.

Before it can get blood on it, and mess with the scene, Jay catches it.

"What the fuck happened here Cecil?" Jay asks in a flat and cold tone.

Cecil rubs the bottom of his hand that he slammed. "Kid, I've got nothing right now. Now what are you doing here?" He grumbles out as he looks at the brain, skull fragments, and blood, lots and lots of blood, around the room.

"I got an alert last night. I had some personal matters to tie up and figured if it was important they would call. There wasn't a second call so I deemed it unimportant, especially since you weren't up my ass" Jay looks around the room.

"Apparently it was pretty fuckin important! Next time you want to spill your beans, do it after you save the fucking world. Or help save the Guardians, but I guess it's better you missed this one considering…." Cecil looks at the guards and medical staff. "Everyone out!" He says loudly.

Nobody moves.

Donald steps forward. "You heard him! Out! Everybody get out!" He motions for everyone to leave.

Once everyone left Cecil looks at Jay. "Look, I ain't happy you skipped the alert. But as far as I know we didn't make that one. I've got nothing, and you were here maybe 5 minutes before us. What do you think?" Cecil rubs his forehead.

"This doesn't make any sense to me" Jay says.

"Same to me, but let's hear your reason" Cecil looks at Jay who floats over the blood.

"The blood" Jay points at the floor and wall. "It's not all dry. I got called in sometime after…" He thinks. "….11pm to 12am last night. And it's what, not even 5 yet?"

Donald looks at his watch. "4:15am" He says.

"Exactly. So shouldn't the blood have dried, or be more dried if they got called in and killed right away? And they all died together. Mainly because War Woman's mace clubbed the fish, and Green Ghost's body could have been power washed by the fish to get that way. That's just two examples that make me think somebody waited until everyone joined the party before they attacked. Or controlled everyone to attack eachother" Jay goes through his thoughts.

"Alright. Now go back home. We will deal with this. You need to go to Deborah and Mark. I've already got agents on the way to your house, you should be there with them when they hear about Nolan" Cecil motions for him to leave.

"Keep me updated Cecil. I wanna know the bastard who did this and deal with him personally" Jay flies into the air.

"You and me both Jayden, you and me both" Cecil shakes his head.

——————

Jay flies through the sky towards his house at great speeds. He wonders what could have done that to the Guardians, or what made them do it to themselves.

But Jay is just glad his dad is relatively alright. He's not 'alright' but, he will make it... eventually. It's just a matter of time before he wakes up. But it won't be today or tomorrow.

He quickly arrives at his house and sees two men in black suits walking to his door.

The men look up at Eternal and nod as he lands behind them.

Just as they were about to knock on the door it opens and Debbie is looking at the living room where Mark is. "Don't be late for school". After saying that she is about to walk out of her house but notices the two agents and her son.

The agents step forward but Jay grabs their shoulders to make room for himself as he pushes them apart.

Jay looks at his mom. "We're gonna be a little late to school today"

——————

At the Pentagon.

Jay, Mark, Debbie, and Donald are going down an elevator in the medical section of the underground building.

"Nolan is receiving the absolute pinnacle of care" Donald explains as the elevator comes to a stop via future tech magnets.

Debbi has her arms holding eachother. Mark is on one side with his arm around her while Jay walks on her other side holding her jacket.

Debbie looks pissed and Mark looks concerned and interested about the new place he is seeing. But mostly hoping to see his father. Jay shoves his emotions down. Letting them out will only make this situation worse, he needs to be here for his mom and brother.

Donald is the first to walk out. "As the Global Defense Agency, we have access to medical technology far beyond any 'normal' hospital" He opens his arms to emphasize how much more advanced they are. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all shiny metal with some glass windows. And guards with full armor and big guns stationed in the hallway.

They walk down the hallway and one of the windows show an aircraft hanger bay with an advanced carrier taking off. It floats straight up instead of needing space to build up speed.

"Whoa" Mark says under his breath. Trying to take his mind off of the anxious feeling he has.

Donald doesn't need to look. "That's one of our threat response teams. They're able to get anywhe-"

"We are not in the mood!…" Debbie says loudly before quietly finishing. "…. for a tour, Donald" Debbie looks even more pissed and upset somehow.

Jay knows that Donald was just trying to 'lighten the mood' a bit. He has a hard time with most social interactions.

Donald continues walking but turns to glance back at Debbie. "Sorry. Debbie" He goes back to facing down the hallway.

Mark looks from Jay to Donald. "My dad and brother never mentioned you guys"

"That's the idea" Donald says. "We work with superheroes, like you father and brother, to keep the world safe" Donald turns around and looks at Mark. "Who knows, maybe some day we will work with Invincible"

Not much else is said on the way to the room where Nolan is.

Debbie feels a pit in her stomach and something griping her heart. She doesn't know why Jayden is keeping his mouth nearly shut. He only gets like this when something is majorly bad. She hasn't seen him like this since he was young, which only makes her more worried.

The awkward silence between Donald, Jay, Mark, and Debbie doesn't last long as an automatic glass door opens on its own. The glass was opaque, but was the kind that can change to transparent.

The door opened and the lights turned on inside to reveal Nolan Grayson on his back in a bed. Behind him were various screens showing a wealth of information that would hurt a persons head to try and decipher if they didn't know what was what.

Nolan's right cheek was bandaged. His right arm was in an arm cast. His left eye was still heavily bruised and is swollen shut. And his chin had some small bruises. There was also a circular metallic device over his heart. Lastly, there was something around his forehead to monitor his brain waves.

"Oh my god" Debbie is the first inside the room and sees her husband. "Nolan" She says as she quickly makes her way to Nolan's side. She hovers her hands over him, unsure if she would hurt him just by touching him in this state.

"Dad!" Mark exclaims as he goes to Debbie's side.

Jay and Donald walk in and stand on the opposite side of Debbie and Mark.

Mark looks over at Donald. "He's gonna be ok right?" He asks.

Donald's glasses block anyone from seeing his eyes, but his facial expression shows that he is sad. "We….. hope so…" He straightens up a bit to at least give them more hope. "…and the doctors are doing their best. But we don't get a lot of Viltrumites in here"

Mark frustratedly looks to the side and sighs. "Haaaaah" Then he looks over to Donald and Jay with an angry expression. "Who did this?" He demands.

"We have no idea"

Mark and Debbie quickly turn to the new voice in the room. And they see Cecil Stedman leaning against the wall next to the open glass door.

"Not yet anyway" He stands up and puts his arms behind his back. "But we will find out. And when we do they're gonna look hell of a lot worse than your dad right over there" He walks over to Mark and steps into the light of the room. He holds his hand out to Mark, and even smiles a tiny bit at the corners of his mouth. "Cecil Stedman, Director of the GDA"

Mark takes his hand and shakes it.

Cecil looks past Mark. "Debrah. I'm so sor-"

Debbie was kneeling next to her unconscious husband and had her eyes closed. But when she heard Cecil talk to her she opens her eyes and glares at him. "Cecil. You've got a lot of nerv-" She stands up and crosses her arms.

"Someone murdered the Giardians of the Globe last night" Cecil drops the bomb in a firm no-nonsense tone.

Debbie shocks and Mark says: "Oh my god"

"All of them. Tore 'em limb from limb. And we tried like hell to bring them back. But Nolan was the only survivor" Cecil says looking at the injured Nolan.

"But how is that even possible?" Mark asks.

Cecil shakes his head. "We don't know yet"

Debbie checks Nolan's head for any missed injuries. And just to touch her husband. She feels relief, and it leaves a bitter trench.

Sure her husband survived. But all the Guardians are dead. She was friends with some of them, and their wives. They were all dead. But at least her husband was alive. Bittersweet relief.

"Hah. We also! don't know why your dad was at Guardian HQ. Working theory is: Whoever killed the Giardians lured him there. Tried to wipe them all out at once" Cecil explains.

"Why?! And what about Jay? He also isn't part of the Giardians but he's closer to them than Omni-Man?" Mark asks, his mind spinning. But he is glad his brother isn't hurt as well.

Cecil looks at Jay. "Your brother was also contacted to go to the Guardians HQ. While not an official member, Eternal does, or did, work closely with the Guardian. Enough so that he had his own alert watch. Granted in recent years he's branched off and done his own things, he still helps the Guardians if they request it. But yesterday Jay luckily didn't answer that call. And so he also only found out earlier today"

Cecil closes his eyes and when he opens them he looks to Mark. "As for why? That's the easy part" He walks to the center of the foot of the bed. "There isn't a supervillain alive who doesn't want Omni-Man, Eternal, and the Giardians 6 feet under" Cecil then walks to the drawer along the side of the room. The drawers are along the wall behind Jay and Donald. "And we're keeping this all hush-hush for now" He turns to Debbie and Mark. "but news will break" Cecil let's put an exhausted sigh. "I wanted you and Mark to know first"

Jay already knew so Cecil didn't include him.

Debbi sheds some tears but quickly wipes the 3 that fell away. She regains her composure immediately and enters 'Super-Wife' mode. "Cold towels and ice water. And have a cot brought in here for me" She demands.

"Debrah" Cecil says. "We've got the best trai-"

Debbie walks around the bed and stands in front of Cecil. "I've patched Nolan AND Jayden up for YEARS! Nolan for 20! Cecil, I am NOT leaving"

Donald lowers his head and Cecil narrows his eyes at the distraught and angry wife.

Cecil nods.

"Yeah. o-of course Debbie" Donald stammers.

Debbie walks to her husbands side on next to Jay.

Donald holds his finger to his ear as his communications earpiece feeds him updates "Sir, there's some kind of attack happening downtown it seems."

Donald and Cecil begin walking out.

Donal continues. "Numerous contacts. Heavy weaponry. Multiple casualt-"

"Now?!" Cecil exclaims as he walks out. "We're a little understaffed in the Hero department"

Mark's face gets serious as he grabs his dads hand. He looks to Jay.

The brothers don't say anything as they walk out of the room.

Jay can feel his limit being reached for his patience. He's glad that there is an enemy he can slap around to relieve some stress.

The music begins picking up as they leave the Pentagon through the Hangar.

——————

Mark and Jay fly over the city with smoke billowing up into the sky.

Mark dips down and goes underneath a bridge as he flies back up. He still needs to tense the muscle then relax it to fly. Otherwise he will wear himself out before he even gets to the fight.

Jay doesn't have that problem. He can fly without issue.

Once fully above the city the brothers see people fleeing.

In the center of the biggest street is a giant circular black portal with orange energy around and sprinkled inside it.

Exiting from the portal are green aliens in metal suits holding energy rifles that are shooting people and evaporating them. And there are even alien tanks as well.

"Oh….. holy shit" Mark says under his breath.

There are other portals as well near the main big portal.

"Let's get to work Invincible" Eternal says as he drops down.

Laser rifle shot are tearing through the civilians. And while they do evaporate portions of their body, it mostly leaves a bigger than normal bullet wound for the blood to escape from.

Police hide behind their police cars and fire their tiny pistols that don't do anything but bounce off the invader's metal armor. But their heads aren't covered so a few well placed shots do take down a few. But there are too many for that to matter.

Limbs get shot off. Mothers fall ontop of their kids and crush them. Old men get decapitated. Cars explode with families inside. People trample over eachother to try and run or crawl to safety.

The aliens put up a futuristic metal barricade to secure their advancement forward. It was going great for them. Just like it has in the past against other planets.

The tank fires a shot at the police cars and a cop dodges out of the way. But the giant energy blast liquifies the cop behind him and sends the police car flying back into the fleeing civilians.

Just as it's about to crush a few people Jay catches it in one hand. He spins and whips it back at the tank and destroys its barrel in an explosion.

"Everybody run for your liiiiives!" "Thank god!" "You saved us" "Ahhhh!" People begin shouting random things. Most is just incoherent screaming. But then there's one lady who points at Jayden. "Look! It's-"

ETERNAL