Two Years Ago

Washington D.C.

The Young Protectors drove down the street of D.C.. The sun was shining, without a cloud in the sky, making for a beautiful day to drive back home after a mission. The team of Young Protectors had put a stop to a supervillain team called the Dragons who operated in North Carolina. Now the trip back home was safe and sound.

Their vehicle was a medium-sized open roof all-terrain vehicle. A special car made by the Protectors for traversing the lands, and issued to teams to have transport while still in active duty in-costume. Things were going rather slowly, thanks to the traffic, and some wanted to get home to New York sooner rather than later.

"Hurry up, will you?" Shaft said.

"I'm moving with traffic." Tracer said.

"Uh, this sucks. When will you let me drive?" Brutus said.

"Never."

Tracer, the aspiring costumed ego of Jason McCoy, had only recently joined the Young Protectors after spending several years as a teenage costumed crimefighter that was part of the Street Soldiers. He was the one who drove the car, which most of the others didn't mind. Unless they wanted to harp on him over the traffic.

On the passenger seat was Brutus, the blond man with the bionic arm. The three behind them, from left to right, were Clover, Deadeye, and Shaft. Deadeye had been preoccupied with a game on his phone, Clover was looking off into the distance, while Shaft was just bored.

"Don't worry, we'll be back in New York in no time." Tracer said.

"Can't come soon enough." Brutus said. "People look at us like they've never seen Protectors driving before."

"Come on, you would be starstruck if you weren't one. That's just how awesome we are." Shaft said.

"Nice to see you guys are still humble." Tracer said.

The drive continued for another fifteen minutes. Going through D.C. wasn't so bad, there weren't skyscrapers and while traffic was bad, New York wasn't a piece of cake either. Deadeye, with his mind on a game known as Rockpopper, didn't even take his mind off the screen until now.

"These mobile games may suck you dry but they're also addicting." Deadeye said.

"Yeah, try not to get too hooked there." Clover said.

"Just gives me something to do."

Just then, the conversation was interrupted by Shaft, who noticed something off in the distance.

"What the hell is that?!" Shaft said as he pointed to the distance.

It looked like an aerial battle was going on in the distance. But no one could believe their eyes. Splisen. Tracer stopped the car to the side of the road, and they quickly exited the vehicle to get a closer look. The five of them examined the fight, and they were clearly after someone. Upon closer inspection, Tracer found they were fighting a light-purple skinned humanoid alien girl flying in the air shooting purple heat blasts. He was in awe.

"Well I'll be damned." Brutus said. "Have those Splisen bastards decided to come back for round two? I'll be sure shove this bionic cannon right up their asses!"

"And would you look at that, anyone else notice this sexy alien chick their fighting?" Shaft said. "I'm guessing we're taking her side, right?"

Tracer cleared his throat. "Ahem, yes. I don't know what they're here for, but I'm sure she has something to do with it. Roll out!"

"You only want to save her 'cause she's hot." Shaft said.

"Not the time, move out."

With that, they returned to their car and quickly drove to the fight. Once they were close enough, they stopped, creating a loud screech, and dispersed into the combat. The Splisen had successfully knocked her down through sheer overwhelming force, and were dragging her back to their ship.

Tracer would have to lie and say he wasn't scared to be facing off against them. Having grown up learning just how they had nearly driven humankind to extinction just before he was born, it wasn't an easy feeling knowing that's who he was going up against. But no matter, he's not going to let them have their way.

The armored humanoid-insectoid aliens took notice of the Young Protectors, and began shooting at them with their laser cannons. Brutus extended his bionic arm to a higher platform atop a building, and shot multiple rounds at the aliens, taking them down. Tracer dodged multiple shots, and knocked down several Splisen with his electricity-enhanced eskrimas.

"Is that all these bastards can do? I was expecting more." Brutus said.

Just then, a blast was shot at him that hit the building he was standing on, causing it to crumble beneath him. Brutus screamed for his life, until he fell on the cushion of a giant plant.

"You just had to ask, didn't you?" Clover said.

"Shut up."

"Your welcome."

Clover summoned two giant fly traps to take on more of the Splisen. The plant-controlling Protector utilized the green to combat the aliens, the fly traps lunging at them and taking a couple out. Shaft took out his trusty bow and arrow, shooting an explosive shot at a Splisen that was flying in the air, taking it down. Deadeye shot several of them with his twin pistols, specifically aiming for their eyes.

Tracer approached the alien girl as she was on the ground, extending his hand forward. He wanted to do his best to show that he wasn't a threat. She was large, well over six feet, and her yellow eyes served a good compliment to her abnormal skin. Tracer didn't want to stare, but it was hard not to when she looked so sexy, especially in such revealing clothing.

"Don't worry, Earth will help you."

She started speaking an alien language that he couldn't understand, but got the tone and implication that something was wrong. She was point behind him, and to his horror there were more Splisen that vacated the ship. It was a large blue ship that looked like it could fit a large number of them. He didn't like the sound of that.

Tracer grabbed the alien, trying not to feel aroused by the touch of her skin, and ran with her towards the others. They stood, looking onward to the Splisen that were ready to attack.

"So, what do we do now?" Brutus said.

"We fight." Tracer said.

Everyone prepared for combat. Fighting an alien race that hadn't been to Earth in two decades wasn't on anyone's schedule, but they weren't going to back down now. Tracer took out his smoke pellets and threw them at the Splisen, hoping it would impair their vision.

"Attack!"

Tracer ran forward with his eskrimas, fighting the Splisen while dodging both the projectiles and their strikes. Shaft shot some more with his bow. Deadeye took out his assault rifle and began to opening fire on them. Brutus extended his bionic arm to punch several with his powerful strikes. Clover used vines from the ground to attack.

However, all of this was only slowing them down. They keep blocking their attacks or getting up seemingly unscathed. They weren't easy, that's for sure. A Splisen flew towards Deadeye, and hit him with a powerful bash. He flew backwards from the force, and hit the ground.

"Deadeye!" Clover said.

He mustered the will to stand again. Clearly he was hurt, but wasn't going to back down. From the looks of it, he was about to unleashed his powered on them. He gripped his fists, and his pistols and assault rifle floated in the air, along with debris. This was his last ditch effort to take them down.

"Look ma..." Deadeye said as he prepared to attack. "No hands!"

He unleashed a volley of bullets and explosives on the aliens in front of him, and crushed them with the debris. It worked, as those ones were down. Brutus knocked down a Splisen and transformed his arm into a rocket configuration. He was angry, ready to blow him up.

"Time to explode!"

Just then, Tracer grabbed his arm before he could finish the task.

"Not at this distance, you're not."

"Ugh... fine."

Instead he formed a sword, and stabbed the Splisen to kill it. There were still at least seven more to go. One of which has a forcefield that he knew would be a problem. Tracer turned to Shaft and yelled to get his attention.

"Shaft, got something useful for us?"

"I think so."

He took out an arrow, and shot it at the enemy. The arrow then split into a bunch of smaller arrows and tracked the alien projecting the forcefield. It curved around him, and exploded upon hitting its back. With that out of commission, that left the rest for them to fight.

Tracer was feeling the exhaustion setting it. This fight wasn't a cakewalk, and clearly the others were feeling tired as well. But they could rest when the fight was over. He took out several of his boomerangs, and threw them at the remainder. They exploded, however they dodged the attacks and started flying towards them while blasting blue lasers from their guns.

A Splisen kept blasting at Tracer. He made his best efforts to dodge the attacks, but one grazed the side of his white light armored top. He fell to the ground, screaming in agony as it burned.

"Tracer!" Shaft said.

"We got to stop them now!" Deadeye said.

Before any of them could act, a purple blast of energy shot at all six of them. The blasts were powerful, causing explosions that killed them instantly. Everyone turned their attention. It was the alien they were rescuing. She screamed at the Splisen in anger, unable for the others to understand her. Then, she shot a concentrated energy blast at their ship, blowing it to smithereens.

She yelled even more, clearly maddened by what happened. The others approached her, trying their best to calm her down.

"Hey, relax. It's over now." Shaft said.

"Yeah, careful you don't blow any of the good guys up." Brutus said.

Tracer mustered the will to stand. It wasn't easy, given how much pain he was in from that one attack, but he wanted to be sure she wouldn't cause unnecessary danger. Just when he was about to speak, the alien grabbed him and kissed Tracer passionately in the lips. It was weird, but he didn't mind it.

"Whoa." Deadeye said.

"Guess she has a soft spot." Brutus said.

She let go, and spoke again in a much calmer voice. This time, she was speaking English.

"Thank you for rescuing me." She said. "I am Aereas vie Koveas from the planet Xylo, but you can call me Aera."

"Alright... Aera." Tracer said. "Can you tell me what our friends wanted to do with you?"

"They fought our planet in a hopeless war, and the Royal King, my own father, decided to make a peace treaty with me as part of the negotiations. I was to be used as the mistress of the Splisen King. He said it was a small price to pay, for the billions of live he was saving."

"I have my experience with bad fathers... anyways, how did you get here?"

"I took a ship and fled. I heard the Splisen say that this planet was off limits, because Earth had defeated them and would be prepared for any future attack. I thought they wouldn't chase me here, but I was wrong."

Brutus stepped in, with a clearly satisfied smile on his face.

"Well, well. Off limits they say? We're such badasses that they know not to mess with us. I can dig that."

"That's one way of putting it." Tracer said. "Oh, and I get your gratitude, but you didn't have to kiss me for it. It wasn't a big deal."

"First, it was a big deal. Second, Xylons can learn different languages through physical contact, so in a way, I did have to kiss you for it."

"Oh, that's strange, but what's normal anyways."

"I still haven't gotten your names." Aera said.

Tracer blushed, and cleared his throat. After all this, he wanted to make sure she was at home here on Earth. The rest gathered in front of her, happy to introduce themselves.

"Ah, yes. I'm Jason McCoy, or Tracer."

"Jack Austin, but you can call me Brutus. Pleased to meet you."

"Eddie Flint, or Deadeye as I'm known."

"Clover, but if you want me real name, Grace Porter."

"And I'm Shaft, or Tony Lucas."

"We're part of this organization called the Protectors. Essentially the group responsible for defeating the Splisen. They would love to have you." Tracer said.

Aera smiled. She already liked them, having risked their lives to save someone from another planet, because it was the right thing to do. Perhaps Earth could do well as her new home.

Just then, several police cars were heard with their sirens buzzing. Tracer felt nervous, as he knew the police would most certainly be interested in taking Aera the alien into custody, and would accuse her of leading the Splisen to their planet. The last thing he wanted was for an incident to start over this.

"Let's get the hell out of here before they see us." Brutus said. "Oh, and this time I'm driving."

Everyone nodded. They fled to the car, and drove off just before the police arrived. While there was no way he could hide Aera's existence, Tracer knew he could get the Protectors to make her a legal resident once the situation was made clear. If anything, they'll be happy to have her along with them.

"We're going to place called New York City. It'll be a few hours." Tracer said.

"I look forward to what comes next, I think this will be better than my previous situation with the Splisen."

"Yeah, I think so too."

With that, Tracer would find the newest member of the Protectors with Aera. On the way back, she shared her experiences in the cosmos with them, which Tracer found fascinating. However, he just loved to hear her speak, her voice was angelic to him. It wouldn't be long before they reached New York, and the Washington D.C. incident was explained the main Protectors branch, who granted her a right to stay due to her circumstance.

Aera would join the Young Protectors that night.