“Madam Secretary, an update for you.”

“Go on.”

“Our POI is engaging with a UPT.”

“UPT? Remind me of your new terms.”

“UPT- Unidentified Potential Threat.”

“Unidentified? Why can’t you identify this one?”

“I don’t know Ma’am, they’re just not registering, and their tech is nothing we know or have seen before.”

“And what are both parties doing?”

“Our POI is leaving the house with the UPT. What do you want me to do Madam Secretary?”

“Put the G7 on standby, but I want this to play out.”

“That’s a gamble, are you sure? We have no ideas about the players in the field.”

“I know, I know and we won’t if we intercept too soon. Proceed with G7 standby protocols and we will reassess.”

“Yes Ma’am, over and out.”

***

Somewhere

“Co-ordinates locked in!”

“Thrusters are engaged, let’s go!”

“Holditholditholdit! The trajectory is changing. We have to slow it down!”

“No chance Mindy, I’m not giving up on this! We’re so close! And you shouldn’t want to either. Holt- maintain the co-ordinate lock on, I’m keeping the thrusters engaged, Mindy.”

“Check, Blane. We just shouldn’t be going there. We’ll be defying the-”

“Screw the pact right now, sis. Father will sort it, but Blane’s not wrong!”

Mindy sucked the moisture out of her mouth. “Right. Loud and clear, let’s finish this then!” she said.

“Music to my ears!”

“I’ve got a clear line… FIRING!” Mindy warned. A moment after, she announced, “it’s a hit!”

The three siblings hollered and cheered in self-congratulation. Their ship crossed into the restricted territory that bordered the universe, but for these rebels, that was a mere inconvenience. The craft they were pursing was hurtling towards a mass of crisp blue and green shapes, thick smoke now swirling from two blast holes in its structure.

Mindy, Holt and Blane began narrowing the gap, tailing from behind and with a clear goal of eliminating the pilot. The failing enemy craft continued its paralysed descent, heading towards a region of where green meets blue.

“Ease up for a moment, let’s see where it lands,” Holt instructed.

He was the oldest of the triplets by two days and growing up he took on the role of unelected leader. The green shapes below opened up into clearly defined grey sprawling metropolises and outstretched yellow shorelines. The craft hurtled towards some buildings, sadly avoiding the casualty-free areas of the mountainous green regions or vast open blue waters.

“Ok, speed up, I’m estimating vast numbers of casualties,” advised Mindy.

“In and out then,” Blane reckoned. He was the youngest of the three, born five days after Holt.

“We are in so much trouble,” whispered Mindy under her breath, appreciating the scale of the situation. The ship jolted forward, boosting closer to the estimated crash site.

“Land on the beach, we’ll make our own way up there,” Blane said.

The craft landed and immediately the three ejected from their seats in a tricolour rainbow light show of orange, purple and yellow. From where they stood on the beach, the buildings from this city spread out far and wide, and some climbed the side of mountains. As they soared up into the sky to locate the downed craft, spreading out to approach from different angles, a huge statue of a robed man loomed over the land, arms outstretched.

Mindy saw it first. The craft was strewn about a main road junction, with the main part embedded in a blazing building.

“We have people trapped in there. Mindy, can you deal?” Blane asked, using his x-ray vision to see hundreds trapped. More dead.

“I'm on it!” she confirmed, hovering in front of the main blaze. She proceeded to summon the moisture from the night sky to crystallise the raging flames. Now at a cooler temperature, Mindy pulled the wreckage out from its wound within the building and dropped it on the street below.

“Any sign?” Holt called out as he zipped past Mindy and came down next to Holt on the ground.

A targeted blast shot down and hit the ground just near to the brothers, causing them to shoot up into the air, fanning out. They reconvened together in the sky.

“It came from up there!” Blane realised, pointing to a taller building overlooking the scene. From above the building a huge figure emerged.

“That’s him alright,” signalled Holt.

Mindy flew in from behind and took her place in a fighting formation with her brothers. The figure they were hunting jumped and free-fell from a height of twenty storeys- roughly two hundred and twenty feet. The siblings watched as the hulking man landed on his two feet with not even a flinch.

The man was around seven feet tall and of the skin that was on show, it was a rich, deep orange. Its face was chiselled, with the right eye and that part of the face completely mechanical with a square panel affixing it in place. The hair, a bright white was swept towards the left. He wore a pastel green sleeveless over shirt that had SUBJECT 45 written over the chest. The right arm ended with a metallic cone but the left remained as a hand in a recognisable human form. He had a robotic left leg- the thigh was a metallic socket and below the knee system was the pylon comprising of multiple reinforcing branches. Slung over his shoulder was a four foot long sword, something that the three had to be mindful of.

He stood and briefly stared at the three, before raising his right arm. The pointed end became illuminated. Not a good sign, noted Holt. Anticipating the worst, the three starburst in different directions. The blast hit the point where they all stood milliseconds before. Instantly the three fired back with their own beams, originating organically from their eyes. Holt fired his orange solar beam, Mindy a purple lunar beam and Blane his yellow stardust beam. Their beams were close to target, but their foe had picked up part of his ship’s wreckage and was using it as a shield, the beams damaging just the metallic junk. He then threw it, towards Mindy, who was one beat ahead of him and dodged it. He was outnumbered. Surely they could over power this over powered being.

A loud whoosh sound announced the arrival of a new craft, taking a swing as it came to land. The orange figure took a shot at it, hitting part of its landing system before then scaling the building he had initially emerged from. Due to the force he used to do so, it was like he was grabbing hold of concrete like it was fabric. The three siblings took this brief pause in battle to turn their attention to the newly arrived craft. Out climbed two people, one in a suit of radical black, gold and deep blue, and another in black trousers and a grey hooded top.

“Hold your fire!” shouted the armoured figure authoritatively, as he boldly walked out into the open. The woman with him followed behind, but was nervously looking around.

“Is that who I think it is?” the suit called out, pointing towards the building the orange one retreated into.

The three siblings came in to land, albeit conscious of their vulnerability from the now hidden ongoing threat and the relative calmness in battle they found themselves in.

“I don’t know who he is, but don’t think about stopping us. We’re not leaving until we have our revenge!” Holt called out.

The calmness was interrupted as laser beams rained down from the top of the building, but they were deflected by a forcefield that the new guy had activated around them. Holt nodded in appreciation.

“You know you lot shouldn’t be here. You don’t know what you’re up against,” the suited new guy advised.

“And from the looks of it neither should you- so we’re both in violation of the Pact? Screw it, we’ll deal with that later!” Mindy explained loudly, over the din of the deflected lasers.

“We let him get away once, we won’t do that again,” Blane added.

“Let me out and at him. I’m done hiding here!” Mindy growled.

“You’re able to leave the forcefield, just nothing gets in,” and with that, she charged out, leaping high into the air, circling the building and firing her beams as she elevated. The firing on the force field eased as the new target became emerged.

“Good plan, Mind. I’m right behind ya,” Blane muttered, following his sister out. Holt remained with the suit and the girl, keen to establish quickly if friends or foes.

“As grateful as we are for the shielding, what’s your deal?”

“I’m the Astral Sheriff, from Earthgrë and this is a new acquaintance of mine, Agwé from this planet.” Holt noticed the girl blush at her introduction. He was less than impressed to hear where the Astral Sheriff was from though.

“Earthgrë? Oh that's great, you’ve got all this kit and you can do nothing with it?”

“Believe me, it’s going to be more than just the Pact that I’m going to be breaking today. That guy up there is known as The 45th. A murderous test subject gone wrong. My job is to ensure that he is no longer a threat and to rescue an infant from him.”

“Fine, happy to hear it. But just leave the dirty work to us. You go grab some fire power from our craft down on the shore and provide some cover for us. I have to go back out there,” and without waiting for a response, he flew off into the sky.

“Fetching and carrying? Is he for real?” the Astral Sheriff muttered, turning to Agwé. “Wait here Kimona, I’ll go and get those guns. I’ll be able to give my suit its first flight attempt. Wish me luck,” and with that he flew off, tiny bursts erupting from his back.

“Jesus! And what shall I d-?” she started to say to herself, before being interrupted by Mindy landing next to her.

“You can fight right?” she asked, grabbing her hand.

“Um, I think so,” Agwé responded, not really sure if her one fight last night counted as being able to fight.

“That’s good enough for me. Hold on,” and Mindy returned to the skies, flying towards the roof of the building where The 45th was, now with a startled Agwé in tow, held on only by a hand.

“When we get up there!” she yelled down, “you and I will beat on the big guy whilst my brothers provide aerial assault. Do your best and…” Mindy let go as they reached the roof. “…trust my brothers not to shoot you!” And with that she charged courageously to go hand to hand with The 45th. Agwé felt that instinct rise sharply within her and she charged in to help.

The 45th fought with effortless grace and sheer strength. Mindy absorbed the blows and Agwé was able to dodge, retaliating with distraction blows to the legs. Holt and Blane zipped around in the skies like angry hornets swooping in with occasional kicks between well timed, targeted blasts.

This well co-ordinated and synchronised attack was working well but one mis-step caused a rookie Agwé to tumble and land face first. The 45th, without hesitation, swept his mechanical foot underneath her and booted her square in the gut and sending her flying over the edge of the roof. Blane, the nearest airborne brother dropped out of combat to fly after her. This just left Mindy and Holt to fight on with The 45th, something that worked to his advantage.

A vulnerable Mindy took a slash of something sharp across her front, the shock and pain causing her to stagger backwards. She looked in horror at a blade protruding from The 45th’s arm dripping in her blood. Holt flew in, aiming for a sweeping kick but The 45th was now free to catch Holt and close line him onto the flat roof. Winded, Holt watched as the sharp spike that cut Mindy retracted back into his right hand and begin to now illuminate with the same red glow from earlier.

Blane placed a stunned Agwé onto the safety of the ground. “There, we’re down. You did well up there.”

“I’m way out of my depth. I am not ready for this,” she said with a sense of guilt, sounding and looking deflated.

“Well, you stepped up when it counted!” They both turned to see Astral Sheriff return with two rifle looking guns that Agwé was not sure were from her planet or time, but anything was likely now.

“You sure you’re ready for that thing, Sheriff?” Blane sarcastically asked the passivist. He nodded in confirmation. “In that case, Agwé, can you do something with that building? Mindy was able to take the burning wreck out of it, but there are still people in there trapped by pockets of fire.”

Agwé glanced over and smiled to herself. Maybe this was something she can do well. She acknowledged the Sheriff and Blane, and ran off.

“Where is he keeping the infant, do you think?” Astral asked.

“What infant?” Blane’s eyes widened in concern.

“I was telling your brother, this brute abducted an infant male from the family he murdered back on Earthgrë.”

“Give me a chance to get up in the air and I’ll use my x-ray sight to try and locate him. Get yourself up there and help my siblings.”

Holt shuffled back, in an attempt to get out of The 45th’s range. The 45th raised his modified arm, a satanic grin over his face. At the last moment, Holt watched as he began rising into the sky, the smile disappearing.

Holt glanced over at Mindy, her hands raised using her gravity defiance targeted at the killer. Her hands were dictating how high The 45th was going. Once he realised she was behind his elevated status, he started shooting. This gave Holt the chance he needed to muster the strength to get up, for when she let go, he was going to make a mess on impact. Holt flew up to The 45th’s height, whizzing and zipping around him, delivering dozens of rapid fire distraction shots.

“NOW!” cried Holt when they were high enough. Mindy used her gravity manipulation to send him falling back down. The flailing brute tumbled and smashed through the roof, embedding himself in the wreckage that followed behind him.

Holt flew down to his sister and quickly assessed her wound. Not that deep, he noted. He placed his hand on her forehead and summoned the solar energy stored within to heal her. Very quickly, her wound closed up. The Astral Sheriff appeared, weapon aimed towards the hole in the roof.

“Where’s Blane?” panted Mindy.

“Trying to locate the infant I need to find. I’m your back up,” he responded. From beneath them, a faint rumbling could be felt, before suddenly the whole surface of the roof fell in on itself, taking the surprised trio with it.

Agwé ran towards the crowd of evacuated residents who had already made it out. There were foreign shouts for help coming from the highest parts of the building not yet accessed by the emergency crews who were cautiously working around the battleground that was their suburb.

A huge crashing sound gave the milling onlookers and newly homeless residents the push they needed to move further away. The firefighters gave in as well and fled, ditching their hoses on the street. Perfect!

Agwé turned her attention to these hoses and worked her magic. She was able to take control of the three hoses and raise them, aiming at the fires that needed putting out. She manipulated the hoses as high as they could reach, and then manipulated the water coming from them to go further than the hoses could cope with. The inexperienced hose-charmer was just ensuring the final blaze was out when she sensed a presence behind her.

A garbled, non-English shout from above came too late as a warning. Something incredibly hard hit her in the back of the head. Again. Her heightened reflexes meant that the force of the impact could have completely K-Oed her if it wasn’t for the fact that she had ever so slightly started to dodge. She lost control of the hoses, and they dropped to the ground, continuing to snake under the water pressure surging through them. Agwé landed hard on her back. It was The 45th. Where were the others? she thought.

Agwé embraced the soaking she was receiving from the rogue hoses, taking strength from the fresh water, yet her head pounded furiously. The 45th approached and crouched down to study her. With the same manic grin, he extracted a spike from his right hand and dug it straight into Agwé’s stomach. She winced in terror, however, much to The 45th’s surprise, Agwé’s water soaked body parted, allowing the blade to tunnel through without having any physical consequence to her. Taking advantage of the moment, Agwé pushed with all her might, sending the orange maniac onto his back. Seeing the wet wonder get up, he shot his arm beam at a part of the building above her, causing it to break and tumble down onto Agwé below.

Blane kept his distance, torn between the wreckage Holt, Mindy and the Astral Sheriff were buried under, helping Agwé who was now under a blanket of building debris, or the young infant he was now holding onto- having found him in part of The 45th’s stolen craft wreck.

“I count one left!” The 45th boomed from the street. “And I know you’re out there,” he dared, looking up and around at the different potential hiding spaces.

Now what? thought Blane. The 45th paced in the middle of the junction and started taking random shots at buildings. Blane was a sitting duck. The firing ceased and he peered out from behind some wreckage to find out why. He could see The 45th stride over to where Agwé was lying under rubble. He effortlessly dug her out and threw her over his shoulder.

“It’s fine,” The 45th continued to shout, “I’ll just go ahead and kill your friends!” Blane wasn’t one to hide in the shadows, but he now had an infant to protect. Blane’s gaze followed The 45th and watched as he chucked Agwé on a people pile of the Sheriff and his siblings. Enough is enough! But at least he got them out of the collapsed building. Blane put the infant down gently and hid him in the closet of the room they were hiding in.

“I’ll be back for you little one,” he whispered to him, hoping it was reassuring enough. He crept to the exposed, open wall of the building and jumped down, landing perfectly silent on the road. The 45th had arranged the fallen ones slumped against an upturned vehicle.

“So what’s the plan, big guy?” Blane called out, causing The 45th to turn and face him.

“Ah well, isn’t this great? You coward came out of hiding.”

“I think of it more as ‘tactically-relocating’ myself. Hiding suggests I’m afraid. Something I am not,” Blane threw back.

“Pity. It’s more fun when a little fear is involved,” The 45th suggested, shifting the strap that held the sword to his back. “Your brother was afraid.”

Blane tensed, his jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything. His brother’s agonising scream reverberated through his mind.

The 45th took the lack of a comeback as the chance to continue himself, revelling in the limelight. His audience of one, now hooked in. “So your chaotic revenge mission backfired, clearly. You’ll all perish and I… I will settle into my new home,” he held his arms out as if to admire his new home, on this planet.

“Nonsense, if it’s not us, there’ll be others that come to avenge our loss. To punish you!”

“Now that is nonsense!” scoffed the brute! “Remember, idiot, that this planet falls out of the Cross Galaxial Multi-Planetary Alliance? These poor bastards fend for themselves here and no one is going to risk everything coming here. Nothing I ever do will be worth coming here. My mere existence in this form goes against everything my creators supposedly stand for and they hope I will be a bad dream that will just go away. Here though, I can do just that. No one is going to stop me. I’m going to make this runt of a planet great. I’m going to make this home. I’m completely unstoppable!” he declared, finishing with that grin again.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

Still to come in The Astral Sheriff #3, Batalha Pela Cidade…

Agwé, the siblings and The Astral Sheriff continue the fight on the streets of Rio De Janiro. But what will it take to defeat the science-experiment-turned-bad, and at what cost?