The faculty cubicles were mostly silent, except with the occasional noises of papers ruffling and the tip of pens running across the papers. Finals were approaching and it was a busy season in the university especially for the professors involved with the final year students. They had to grade their papers, their research notes, exam sheets and make sure all the students pass with decent GPA, get a decent job and not embarrass themselves in the process of doing so.
"Hey professor, may I come in?"
The occupant of one of the cubicles, his name card reading V. Werner looked up to see Silver leaning on his doorway with a file in his hands and his backpack hung over his shoulder.
The professor was a man in his early-forties with a refined angular face as if it had been carefully sculpted. His dark brown hair, with a very few specs of white, swept back from his forehead. His eyes were a shade of light blue which softened upon seeing one of his students standing by the door of his cubicle.
"Yes, yes come in." The professor replied.
Nodding a thanks, Silver stepped inside the cabin and kept the file on the professor's desk. Exchanging a silent glance with his student, Professor Werner picked up the file and began reading through its contents.
"The theory report of.." Silver began.
"...the wearable exoskeleton." The professor finished, his attention fully on whatever Silver had written in the report. Being a man of science himself, he was fascinated by what his student had come up with.
Silver has always been brighter than most of the students Werner had ever taught in class. And from years of his teaching experience, he knew Silver had a lot of potential to achieve greatness once he put his mind into it. He wanted his student to achieve more than just good grades in the university. He wanted to take Silver under his wing for his own research projects, but unfortunately for him, the latter had kindly refused him.
"So tell me Silver, is this one safe?" Professor Werner asked in a playful voice. "I mean it is not going to explode or anything, is it?"
"Professor, that happened one time!" Silver groaned in response.
"Yes, last year." The professor kept the file on his desk and raised his arms up in surrender. "I am just asking whether there is any chance of someone getting hurt or not. I will warn the other students and faculty to be a considerable distance away. Will there be a guinea pig involved?"
"You know what professor?" Letting out an exasperated sigh, Silver put his hands on the desk, a serious expression on his face as he made a direct eye contact with his professor. "I will be the guinea pig myself to show how this works. Does that sound safe enough?"
"Excellent!" Professor Werner cheerfully replied, closing the file. "That way everyone will be safe."
"I am going. Thank you for your vote of encouragement." Silver turned around to leave.
"Son." Werner called out, stopping Silver in his tracks. The younger male turned around as the professor stood up from his chair. "Keep up the good work and keep on inventing. Don't ever stop doing that. You may think these are just projects for you to get good grades but they are more than that."
"We are people of science and our job is to keep finding new things, keep inventing new technologies that make the world a better place." Werner went on, walking up to his student and patted him on his shoulder. "You have a lot of potential and I know one day you will realize it. I have high hopes for you son."
"Professor, if this is another way of you trying to rope me into your research then–"
"No, no." Werner shook his head, interrupting Silver mid-sentence. "I may have not given up on that but how can I force you into another path when you have already chosen your own. I am proud of you either way, especially for choosing your own goal and for having the desire to keep working towards achieving it."
"I would rather have you focus on your own path than to waste time with me on this mad science quest."
"I don't think it is mad science if you are devoted to it, if you believe in it." Silver replied. "Who cares if others call it a fool's errand."
Werner looked at his student with profound respect. Out of his own colleagues, his former and current students or even his research assistants, only Silver was the one that ridiculed his field of research. He did not care that his research was something out of ordinary, out of the box. He took interest in it even if he denied to be a part of it. It was always Silver who asked him how much he progressed or what else he had found out on the specific topic Werner was working on.
This was another reason why Werner, as a scientist, had high hopes for Silver. Because he had one of the most important qualities that make a scientist.
Belief.
Belief in their own self, in their own talents. Belief in their own knowledge. Apart from that belief, a scientist needs to have the courage and dedication to dedicate their life in proving the world on what they believe in. In Werner's eyes, Silver harboured all those qualities.
Even in the classrooms, if Silver's view differed from those of the rest of the class, he was never deterred at all and always stuck to his point of view, no matter what his peers thought of him. He made sure to back his points with relevant facts and figures, not just empty words. Like a true scientist.
"I am glad that at least I have someone who believes in me and my work." Werner had a warm smile on his face.
"Hey now. I have always been a fan of your teaching methods and the theories that you have." Silver went on. "Even though I am not assisting in your research, I can always support you in other ways."
"Such as?"
"Buying all the first copies of your research books once you publish them." He replied, followed with both, the student and professor sharing a good laugh.
"Then I will have to make sure to publish those books no matter what." The professor said once their laughter died down. "Very well then. See you next week with your project. Make sure you don't hurt anybody this time, yourself included or damage any college property."
"Not this again." Silver groaned yet again.
Eventually Silver left the professor's cabin once the theory report of his project was marked 'submitted', leaving Professor Werner to his own devices. The man sat down, noticing Silver's retreating form through the glass doors before inserting a key into the lowest shelves of his desk. Pulling it out, he picked up a sealed envelope and a plane ticket. He stared at it long enough before a regrettable sigh escaped his lips.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Leaving the teachers' cabins, Silver headed straight for the university caféteria, in search of his friends who had gone ahead to the caféteria while he had gone to get his report submitted. Reaching the bustling caféteria, he looked around before spotting a very familiar pair of people.
His best friend Dillon and his girlfriend Iris.
"Hey you two!" He called out, approaching the table they were sitting on. Dillion had purposefully kept his bag on one of the empty chairs, reserving the seat for SIlver. The latter picked up the bag and tossed it to Dillion who caught it on his left hand while the right one was busy being around Iris's shoulders.
"Hey Silver!" The girl greeted him first as he sat down on his chair.
"So what did Werner say?" Dillion inquired.
"That he will make sure that everyone stays ten feet away from me during the practical evaluation." Silver responded with a roll of his eyes.
"Regrettable but also understandable." Dillion remarked, putting his hand on his chest, while Iris struggled not to snicker right now at Silver's misery.
"Wow, that is so supportive of you, asshole." Silver crossed his arms, not at all looking pleased.
"Okay Werner and your exploding inventions aside, we have good news for you." Iris interjected with an attempt to drive this conversation away from the current topic. "We are going on a date.."
"My experiments don't always explode…" Silver defended before his brain registered what Iris just said. "And how are you two going on a date, good news for me?"
"She meant a double date." Dillion added, earning a hard stare from Silver. "Just listen without speaking in between for the next twenty seconds, please?"
"My new roommate just moved in and she has been wanting to go out for a while but we haven't had the time. Then I decided we could go out today, then Dillion decided we should go on a date." Iris carried on. "But I also didn't want to break my promise with my roommate so then Dillion suggested a double date so that she won't feel like a third wheel."
"Is this another deliberate attempt to set me up with someone again?" Silver finally spoke up once she was done.
"No, just a coincidence but now that you say it, why can't two things happen together?" Dillion innocently asked.
A silence fell on the table with three of them staring at one another. Though it was more of Silver staring at his two friends. A few painful seconds of silence elapsed before Silver finally uttered a defeated sigh. "Fine, I give up. Even if I say no, I know somehow you will convince me into going. So it is better to just accept my fate."
"Good." Dillion clapped, moving his hand away from Iris's shoulder. "But there is something before that which needs to go. The specs?"
"What is wrong with my specs?"
"Are you seriously asking me that? Come on dude, you know you look better without glasses."
"I think these glasses are part of my dorkish charm." Silver replied, slightly pushing up his spectacles.
"There is no such thing as dork charm." Dillion wasted no time in refuting. "Why don't you get contact lenses?"
"Knowing myself I will probably misplace them in a day." Silver shrugged. "Or probably blind myself while trying to put them on."
"I think that clumsiness added with the dorky appearance is a charm on its own, a different kind but still charming." Iris commented, exchanging a glance with her boyfriend.
"See, even Iris seems to agree." Silver grinned. "She definitely has good taste."
"That she does." Somehow Dillion looked more smug than before and then leaned in to plant a quick kiss on his girlfriend's lips.
"And there is the reminder that I do need a girlfriend." Silver rolled his eyes. His phone buzzed in his pocket, prompting him to pull it out to see who was calling him.
The screen displayed "BLOCKED NUMBER", making Silver narrow his eyes in frustration. Quickly masking his frustration he got up from his chair after putting his phone back in his pocket.
"Something came up. I need to go." Silver said as his two friends pulled away their faces from each other. "Just text me the place and I will be there. And Iris, do send me her Instagram profile. I need to know what I am walking into."
"Sure thing and please do not wear your specs tonight." Dillion made it his personal mission to remind his friend once again as he waved him goodbye. "I am thinking of parceling him a pair of contact lenses via Amazon."
"Really babe?"
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"You kids did good, Robot." Cecil commented, walking down the streets of Downtown, scrolling through his phone, reading through all the new headlines related to yesterday's alien invasion and how Teen Team and Nemesis stopped the aliens. Though some articles mentioned that the Teen Team was only there to provide support to Nemesis.
Around him, the cleanup crew worked to clean up all the debris left as a result of the fight that took place between the heroes and the aliens, recovering the corpses of the deceased, taking samples from alien bodies that were left behind. The tech experts were collecting any pieces of fallen or broken tech that the aliens had brought with themselves to do further research and analysis on it.
"It is an honor to assist the Global Defence Agency." Robot replied, trying to sound respectful. "Though your use of the term 'kids' might be considered condescending."
"Do you know how many people died yesterday?" Cecil stopped in front of a crane and turned around, crossing his arms.
"94. And it would have been more if not for Nemesis and Invincible's timely response." Robot quickly replied.
"94, and it only stopped there because whoever the hell the assholes were, ran away." Cecil gestured around him to show the scale of the damage down to the area. "Despite his capabilities, Nemesis won't have been able to hold the line by himself, not even with your help. So there must be some other reason for their abrupt retreat despite being in a stalemate situation."
"The Flaxans."
"What?"
"They called themselves the Flaxans. I reverse-engineered their language using recordings from the battle." The orange humanoid specified.
"Any idea why they left?"
"I have six ideas." Robot and Cecil both turned their heads to the crane that had picked up a rusted tank which belonged to the Flaxans and then dropped it in front of them with a loud thud. "...but I believe that narrows it down to one."
"Oxidized and corroded.." Robot commented, walking up to the tank and picked up some of the pieces that had fallen off the vehicle after it was dropped from the crane. "For an alloy like this, that should take years."
"Time runs faster wherever they come from." Cecil concluded watching Robot crush the broken piece of the tank in his arms into dust. "They ran off because they…."
"Because they were dying of old age." Robot completed.
"Huh." Cecil remarked, the sarcasm very much evident in his voice. "Maybe the next time they come, I will have this area evacuated and just wait till they get cancer."
"How did the new kid do?" Cecil's tone underwent a change as he went for the more pressing matters at his hand.
"Invincible? He has promise from whatever little I was able to see." Robot commented, picking up one of the alien blasters in an attempt to analyze it. Unfortunately for him, the weapon crumbled to dust in his hands. "But he seemed unprepared for the more realistic aspects of super-herodom."
"Well he better toughen up." Cecil commented, dialing a number in his phone before shoving both of his hands in his pockets. He even pocketed his phone, leaving it ringing. "We are gonna need his help."
"Why?"
Robot inquired but his question was met with silence as Cecil Steadman just teleported, leaving the humanoid to his devices.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cecil reappeared in the Guardians base where the team of cleaners were cleaning up the blood under Donald Feugerson's supervision.
"From one giant shitshow to another." The director of the Global Defence Agency grumbled as he stood next to his assistant. "Give me some good news, Donald."
"Whoever did this cut the power and the backup." Donald reported whatever he had learned from investigating the entire base. "They killed the cameras and the security systems. Forensics frankly is stumped. I have told them to start over and try harder."
"That's not good news. That's not good news at all!" Cecil snapped back, rubbing his arms. As he spoke, he could feel mist coming out of his mouth. The temperature around them had dropped several degrees, even though the base had temperature control mechanisms activated inside the structure. "I asked you for some good news Donald!"
Cecil stood silent after his little outburst, watching as the forensics team collected whatever they could salvage from this mess. "Get the hell out! Everyone! Out!"
"You heard the director! Move it!"
"You too Donald." Cecil added, glaring at his subordinate to ensure he does not question him any further right now.
"Yes sir." Nodding Donald left the area with the forensics team, leaving the director to himself.
"Come on out!" Cecil called out once he noticed that everyone had left the area and he was all there by himself, even for only a little while. A low, inhuman growling could be heard from the dark corners of the Guardians base. "I know you are here."
"Wasn't hiding." A red demonoid with round belly, long tail, yellow sclera with white irises in his eyes, appeared out of nowhere, crouching down in front of the splattered blood.
He was dressed in a cream-colored raincoat over a two-toned gray undershirt, adorned with a russet fedora over his head. He had four clawed fingers in each of his arms. Two noticeable horn-like extensions were visible from the sides of his face, added with pointed ears.
The demon touched the blood and could feel the last moments of the blood's owner flash in his mind. He then walked over to another portion where there was more blood than necessary and picked up a small portion of flesh, getting flashes of the last moments of the Guardians.
"Huh!" The demon exclaimed, snapping out from his trance before his facial expressions returned to his usual scowl. "Seven superheroes murdered. Strongest man on the planet almost dead. No suspect. No leads."
"You know Steadman. Next time you decide to teleport, please give a heads up!"
The demon and Cecil both turned their heads around to the direction of the voice. It belonged to SIlver who jumped down from one of the many vents in the base before dusting himself off. His hair was disheveled, as a result of flying around half the world. His specs hung on the collar of his shirt as he glared at the director of the Global Defence Agency.
"Nemesis.." The demon growled at the new arrival.
"Hello to you too Damien…where the hell am I?" Silver commented, finally taking a look around his surroundings, noticing the excess amount of blood splatters all around the place. "And what the fuck happened here?"
"This is the base of the Guardians of the Globe." Cecil revealed. "And as for the answer to your question, the Guardians have been murdered."