In the operations command, General Baslo was giving out orders furiously, the calm facade falling away as the true inability began to reveal itself. Every screen on the T'Tachi warship only showed the choice, and once a choice was selected the screen switched to the count. Any attempts to break into the system seemed futile, even shutting everything down completely and turning it back on did nothing. Even objects that were off the overall network had the message appearing on the screens, and General Baslo was starting to lose his cool.

Queen approached him after conversing with others and asked, "Has the disaster been averted?"

General Baslo grabbed Queen roughly by the arm and forcibly dragged her away. "We need to get off of this ship immediately," said the General, sweat forming across his body. His skin was becoming a flushed white as he rushed through the crowds of T'Tachi with Queen in hand.

"General Baslo, stop and explain this to me," said Queen as the general pulled her into a room with nobody in it. Her voice was lost to the general as he pulled her further across a series of portals. The words 'Emergency Escape Pods' were written across in T'Tachi lettering, but Queen had no idea how to read T'Tachi. "General Baslo, this is an order," shouted Queen as the general tried to type something onto a panel, "tell me what you're doing!"

"Shut up," the enraged general shouted back, "I'm trying to save our lives!" Queen looked at the portals again, forming an idea for what they might be for.

"We're running away?" Queen guessed in outrage.

"I can not let a newly found queen be killed," said the general quickly. "It is my duty to escort you off of this ship!"

"The pods don't work," said a voice, and five grunts appeared through the door lock carrying large blunt objects. "We tried, but the panel won't show anything but that stupid counter. Though I must admit, seein' the mighty general and queen trying to run away really makes me lose hope for a good future." The five boys casually swung their weapons back and forth, eyeing the queen in her royal robes. "You're awfully pretty," said the grunt to the queen. "Seems a shame to me that you don't experience what a real T'Tachi man is like."

A shot rang out in the small room and the lead guy fell back from a high velocity bullet tearing through his chest. General Baslo stood behind the queen with a smoking gun in his hand, which he then pointed at the rest of the grunts. "Get back or I shoot," said the general, but his desperation was so thick the grunts could practically smell it. They charged all at once, and Queen closed her eyes as the general fired shots repeatedly.

Queen opened her eyes to see the five grunts shot dead around the small pod area, with General Baslo sweating bullets and a gun in his hand. "Damnit," he said to himself, "this wasn't supposed to happen." The general suddenly looked up at Queen, dressed to perfection with make-up applied professionally. General Baslo chuckled to himself, then slowly pointed the gun at Queen. "Might as well go down happy," he said to himself. Queen tried to use her mind to take the gun from Baslo's hands, but the general just laughed maliciously. "The toxin from the collar still hasn't worn off yet. You can't use your powers!"

"NO," screamed Queen as General Baslo forced himself onto her. Grabbing her arms and pushing them down, the general ground his crotch against Queen's in an effort to stimulate himself. When she struggled enough, General Baslo brought his hand down and punched her in the face as hard as he could. Her mind became fuzzy and her vision suddenly filled with stars, her resistance waning giving the general enough time to force his way through her dress and loosen his own clothes. He pulled out a rigid penis about three inches long and an inch thick with veins pulsating across.

He aimed the tip of it at Queen's pussy before she knew what was happening, then a sudden force picked him up and tossed him to the side with his pants down. The black mechanical suit bent down and closed Queen's dress to cover her intimate parts, then stood up and moved to the panel showing the counter. He placed a hand on it and then one of the pod doors opened as if by magic. General Baslo sat up against the wall with an apparent injury on his left side, when he saw the open portal door and the black mech suit.

"What are you here for," the general asked sourly. "Are you going to kill me too?"

"I'm going to offer you redemption," said the electronic voice. "You can either run like a coward, or you can command your ship the way a true general should and give up your seat to the queen. At least then you could die with some respect." General Baslo stood up slowly, looking carefully at the black mech as he limped towards the escape pod.

"I'm going to take my leave," said the general cautiously. He stepped through the portal and Samson closed it from behind. Samson set the coordinates specifically, then the escape pod launched with the general inside. There was weak sobbing on the floor as Queen broked down, her blue hands covering her face to hide the tears. The sobbing grew until Queen was crying with full force and quite loudly right at the black mech's feet.

"What are you going to do now?" the electronic voice asked.

"What... can I... do?" Queen cried dramatically. "Everyone... I love... is going to die... and I can't... stop it!"

"You could try to kill me," suggested the electronic voice.

"I don't have my powers," said Queen with a sniffle. "I can't do anything anymore." There was a long, heavy silence as neither of the two moved, the only sound was Queen's occasional sniffling.

"There is something you can do," said the electronic voice.

"What," asked Queen in a snotty manner.

"The comrades from your Hero Squad, they're probably still in the holding cells. If I were you, I'd want to reconcile any differences so I die with no regrets." Queen blinked her eyes a few times, and she thought about what the robot just said.

"Who are you really," Queen asked, getting up a little to look at the black mech.

"Someone who believes in never having regrets," said the black mech. "I'll take you down there, make sure you get there safely." Holding a hand out to Queen, the black mech helped her up with a suspicious glance to his mask. He walked calmly out of the room. Once he stepped outside, a hail of bullets instantly tried to pulverize him, all of which ricocheted somewhere else.

"Stay close, or the bullets will get to you," informed the black mech.

The walk was perilous, with a near continuous stream of gunfire constantly assailing the black mech from all every direction possible. Once they got into the corridors, the ricocheted bullets more often bounced back and hit the people who were firing, but that didn't stop them from firing. Even laser guns proved ineffective, bouncing off of the invisible barrier that surrounded him.

Once they entered an elevator, Queen gathered the courage to ask, "How do you keep the bullets from hitting us?"

"Anti-gravity field," said the black mech. "I set a perimeter for sensor detection, then once an object enters that perimeter the shield activates just long enough to bounce the projectile."

"Well, wouldn't objects within the field also be bounced back," Queen pointed out.

"They would be, if there wasn't also a velocity setting," explained the black mech. "If something was moving at a slow enough velocity, it would be able to pass through the anti-grav field without being rebounded. That's how I can keep and move things inside of the field without them being automatically repelled each time the field activates." There was a strange silence as the elevator whirred them both down to the containment area. It was oddly comfortable, the way a cold bed feels after some time is spent under the covers.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a militia of men with laser rifles, but the black mech simply blew them aside with a single beam from his chest. Queen followed as they made their way through steel grey corridors illuminated by bright white lights, they could hear something in the distance. It sounded like a riot, so Queen picked up the pace of her walk until she reached a pair of large hangar doors. There was a lot of banging on those doors, but there was a smaller personal one near the split between the hanger doors.

The black mech walked over to a panel and he touched it, then the small door opened and someone fell through. It was like a tidal wave of people suddenly pouring out of the door, so the black mech just let the hangar doors open to reveal a massive grey room filled with Hero Squad members in their skin tight uniforms. On the wall was a massive screen with the counter still active, and it wasn't looking good for the station. The counter had three billion for blowing up the station and one billion against.

Once the counter reached 3.5 billion, it would officially be a death sentence.

Queen stood there a short distance away as people wearing colors came rushing out to freedom. They ran in all directions, apparently grateful for their freedom. A few people stopped around the black mechanical suit, looking at it in pure hatred. Queen wasn't any better, people were crowding around her shouting at how she had betrayed the Hero Squad until a group of people wearing stained white clothes stepped forward and surrounded her. The black mech left, going back to the elevator and throwing people out that tried to get on. The elevator doors closed, but the people didn't stop trying to tear the doors down.

Queen suddenly found herself surrounded by a protective circle of friends, including Lighthouse and Warpath as well as some of the founding members. Lighthouse was the first to speak, gushing over Queen as though she was her own child. "Did they hurt you anywhere," Lighthouse asked, checking everywhere around Queen to find any scratches. Queen just started crying, the feeling of hopelessness she had during the escape pod fiasco returned with a vengeance.

"No crying now," said Warpath calmly, "there's nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm sorry," cried Queen, "I was trying to save everyone, but it was all a lie!" They all hugged deeply and let Queen cry as a handsome man in white approached, who then surrounded them all in a big hug. "Dad," Queen said helplessly, and then the tears began anew.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this somehow," said Big Man comfortingly.

"Queen, the guy in that black suit," said Lighthouse urgently, but she was cut off by Big Man.

"Don't worry," said Big Man quickly, "he's one of ours."

"What," said Lighthouse in surprise.

"Let me explain," said Big Man calmly. "A long time ago, when superheroes were first becoming a thing, a paper was published called 'The Savior' that damned heros and explained why only a villain could be trusted. After reading that simple article, Poseidon came up with the idea of the 'Anti-Hero'. A person who identifies and acts like a supervillain, but in the moments that truly count they will become a savior. By cutting ties with all heroes and becoming a supervillain, the people who directly come after people like us will never prepare a defense against the Anti-Hero."

"At the time, the idea was rejected because the hardships that come with being a villain, it would be impossible to think someone would ever share the burden of a hero and a villain."

"So this guy... the bombs are all a sham," said Warpath hopefully.

"I don't think so," said Big Man, "but I'm fairly certain that there's something behind them. There's a plan that he's not telling anyone."

"So you don't know for sure," said Queen, wiping her eyes.

"I have faith," said Big Man with a weak smile. "And in this situation, faith is the only thing we truly have."

"Not to the people of earth," said Lighthouse, who glanced at the counter on the wall.