Barely contained energy swirled around Quantum as he clenched his fists, and a gleaming bubble of light expanded outwards from his body.

Gabriel winced as the light moved through him, but nothing happened. Quickly, the sound of his blood moving and his heart beating alerted him to time moving again. The bubble of light stopped just behind him, it was a sort of time spell.

After that conversation, Gabriel wasn’t sure what to believe. Quantum claimed he was trying to end the invasion. That Zero had gotten in the way before - was he talking about Quantum’s crater?

What happened at the end of the first invasion?

His hunting trance broken - Gabriel wasted precious milliseconds thinking while Quantum aimed and pulled the trigger on the gun fueled by Photon’s body. The beam stopped abruptly between the two arcing horns and flattened out, stretching to fill the gap in the pillars. It reminded Gabriel of how the portal formed in the VNet, only slower.

Where did this portal go? To that tree Quantum mentioned?

Estimated portal completion: 300 seconds. Alfred’s voice was a comfort.

Gabriel should have moved; should have shot Quantum point-blank in the back; finish his mission - but he couldn’t. He was too conflicted - Quantum was his hero. Zero was his hero, too… and the Shield.

Gabriel’s eyes slammed shut, the confusion in his head messier than the broken bodies of the Republic’s favored protectors beside him. It felt like what little remained of his enthusiastic inner child had just finished burning in the flames of adulthood.

“What are you doing?!” Zero hollered. “You don’t know what’s on the other side of that!”

The shining figure lifted an arm, and Zero rose from the ground and slowly floated closer.

It was hard to hear Quantum over the roar of the portal forming, but his condescending expression was too loud to ignore. “If only you had a little more initiative, you’d have figured it out years ago. The Blitz are digging for these gateways. I saw it during the first invasion. They destroy these devices on sight, overloading them with energy.

Before the portals explode, they open briefly, and I’ve seen what’s on the other side - it’s Haven, our Haven. The Blitz are trying to stop us from going home, Zero. Can’t you see I’m trying to do good for once? If only you remembered it all.”

“Past lives might as well mean nothing if you doom us all on your way to a throne like a spoiled child.”

A gleaming golden hall started to show through the portal.

Quantum shook his head. “You’ll see. You’ll all see — the reason I had to be brave enough to remember our past. I was the one meant to lead us. This Superhero charade has given us nothing but grief.” He spat on the floor, unaware of the scene unfolding behind him.

A sparking black cloud oozed across the floor of the golden hall. By now, it was obvious the room was the size of a city. Dozens of hovering spacecraft filled the air above what looked to be a stadium filled with spectators. Gabriel would guess around a trillion people would fit in the seats ringing the arena from the proportions.

Meanwhile, Quantum continued. “I will wear the crown upon our return. Not that pretentious, overzealous little-”

A blistering pale explosion rocked the dark cloud and an electrified orange mouth formed to give a pained roar in response. By now, a bit of diminished sound was coming across the portal, but the sound that cloud-creature made was loud enough to shake the ground on their end.

“...Zeus?” Quantum rocked back from the portal, where a strange bald man in an oddly familiar jumpsuit gripped onto the writhing energy.

He gave Quantum a direct stare. “Nah. Name’s Lucian. Mind closing this portal?”

Lucian? Gabriel’s Lucian? He would have darted to the portal and yanked his brother back home in an instant if Quantum wasn’t in the way.

Glancing over his shoulder, Lucian looked towards the cloud. “You’re, uh, you’re doing great, honey!” His voice boomed in echo between mile-high pillars of stone like a bullhorn. “Hit him again!” The crowd cheered in agreement. Another explosion went off within the screaming monstrosity.

Lucian yanked on the portal, his eyes shone blue, and he grunted, managing a little progress. “You screwed us all if we don’t get this thing closed, shiny man.”

Quantum looked confused. “I don’t understand. My kingdom… and… you. You? Out of everyone in existence, I made you?” He let out a haunting, crazed cackle. Looking around wildly, he yelled at seemingly no one, “The cosmic joke’s on me, is it?”

Lucian barked back a laugh. “You want to rule the Bastion? Get in line, kid. And what? Made me? You must be jo-” Quantum’s head morphed for an instant, and Lucian’s eyes glinted with amazement. “No… way, Holmes? Man, the things I’d have given to get you alone in a room. Hey, wait, are you Quantum, too? Jesus man, you must be pretty fucked up. Is Gabe around?”

That is your brother? Alfred’s words failed to register through Gabriel’s uncertainty.

Justice, Janus, Quantum, and now Holmes?

Gabriel’s stomach turned over. Was he just a pawn in some sort of long con? He felt unwell at the prospect. Antimatter gauntlets slowly rose once more; all the anger he’d hidden, the frustration, and now the shame of looking up to Professor Holmes - even as Quantum - was too much to bear.

Alfred stopped him. What if you hit Lucian?

Gabriel sent the mental command to fire, but Alfred canceled it.

What if you hit Lucian? Gabriel!

The rage faded.

Lucian grasped the other side of the portal with a synthetic metal arm and tugged. Blue energy sparked around his body, and the doorway gave a few more inches. Pain wracked his face at the effort, but he clenched his jaw, and the lighting intensified.

Quantum gawked, dumbfounded, at the scene behind Lucian. “What is happening in my Haven?”

“You mean the Bastion? Shitshow, Prof, shitshow. I can see you aren’t going to help me close this portal.” He tapped the side of his head. “Telepathy, remember? Now, would you kindly go back to, eh, whatever victory monologue you were doing? I think your friend over there is almost done waiting.” He nodded towards Zero.

Zero was watching their exchange with interest, and he tilted his head in greeting. “You know, Lucian? You aged nicely. He’s right, Janus. I am almost done waiting - and you were wrong, I’m not too weak. It just takes me longer to get the old motor runnin’ nowadays.” His body sank into space in a blur of pixels and popped into existence behind Quantum.

Quantum’s eyes widened for a moment before he scoffed, giving Zero a swift once-over. “Your atoms will fall apart in five minutes.”

“Meh, you got me. I bluffed - lucky for me, I can make five minutes seem like forever.” Zero smiled from ear to ear and headbutted Quantum into the cavern wall.

The rock explosion stopped the moment it started, leaving cracks along the rock and a bulge that looked like it would ripple out the moment time started again. Zero’s power held everything in place - except Quantum.

Zero looked over at Grizzly’s body. She was still breathing. He moved to her instantly, leaving a slight distortion in the air between them.

Before he could help her, Quantum appeared with a flash of light and a peel of thunder, kicking Zero in the side of the face. The concussive force powdered the cavern wall and floor, but Zero didn’t move an inch. His shadows had converged into a form Gabriel hadn’t seen or read about before, hugging Zero’s frame so tightly it looked like he was made of black metal.

As Gabriel watched, the shadows coiled tighter - until Zero stood around 4 feet tall. Zero snatched Quantum’s leg and threw him aside, but Quantum disappeared in smoke and reappeared behind Zero - fist shining with concentrated power.

This blow sent the Sentinel skipping across the ground, a pebble over water.

Quantum took a deep breath, and his glow brightened. Shining rays multiplied until Gabriel’s visor couldn’t offset the light anymore. Heat alerts pinged on multiple parts of his HUD. He resorted to blocking the beams with his gauntlets until the light, and pain, dissipated. A muffled boom from elsewhere told him the coast was clear, for now.

Darting to the wall as fast as he could, Gabriel knelt beside Grizzly. She was a mess; her face was all torn up. A river of tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

“Liberty. I’m so sorry. Liberty.” She croaked, over and over.

She wasn’t going to move for a while. With no sign of any accelerated healing, Grizzly’s life was at risk. Bones stuck through her legs, one of her eyes looked like it would never work again, and her arm was shattered. An evac team would probably be best, but Gabriel had a second option.

QUERY -- Check connection to Spire network

--- Connection Confirmed

Breathing a sigh of relief, he reached behind him and took out the teleportation crystal he’d used to reach Brazil. It fit snuggly in Grizzly’s thick fur vest.

Sending EVAC request.

The crystal flashed once, twice, then zapped through space - Grizzly in tow. Since she was the only survivor, he could check the only box in the ‘Obvious things to handle’ list.

Next up, the ‘What the *&^% is going on?’ list.

First off, what does one say to a long-lost brother?