Of course, all these events didn’t mean hero work was at an end. The ILS was quite busy with their projects…but the average hero had very little to contribute to building spaceships, after all. And not every villain or monster was affiliated with the AVS. Even for those that were…well let’s just say the AVS was fully committed to the success of the negotiations. And so reminding the world why it should negotiate with them should the talks reach a standstill.

Not to mention all that scattered Vophae tech that needed to be recovered.

So after as much of a vacation as could be spared them, life went on for the heroes, much as it had before. Fighting crime, stopping evil, and all the rest.

Though, perhaps some things HAD changed after all…

“DIE YOU STUPID BOT!”

“Smug Refusal: No, this unit does not believe that she will acquiesce to the noob’s request.”

“Chrono wait! Stick to the plan…and there she goes…”

Wonder Knight heaved a sigh as Chronolock zipped out of the formation, chasing after Elise. Of course the cyborg would hand her a losing streak the night before they faced each other in the field. Typical.

Aurora Legion had been assaulting a warehouse believed to be hiding smuggled Vophae tech when they encountered Nemesis. Knowing them, tilting Chronolock the night before was probably part of the plan, and they were already making off with the tech in question. Well, at least they knew there was something important here after all.

At this point Chronolock was an experienced professional, and knew how to separate her private life from her missions. But, well, that seemed to go out the window when facing Nemesis. Perhaps it was because several members of Aurora Legion and Nemesis knew each other personally and had even worked together, so there may have been a subconscious lack of tension to their fights, which may have led to a corresponding drop in discipline.

“...looks like we’re improvising, team. Rose, we’ll need you to deal with the ninjas, slow them down with a blizzard…”

“HAVE AT THEE!”

Arvid leapt into the air and tossed his blade into the center of their formation with a loud and frankly unnecessary cry, giving Aurora Legion a chance to scatter. He landed in the middle of them and tackled Icy Rose, crashing out the window and sending them both flying down towards the streets below.

The man spun in the air and landed feet first, holding the girl in his arms and shielding her from the shattered glass falling around.

“Are you all right? You are not wounded, are you?”

Icy Rose shook her head to clear it and took a deep breath.

“F-Fine, I think, um, thank you?”

Arvid gently put her down and rubbed the back of his head.

“It feels strange to be thanked when I attacked you in the first place.”

“Ah, I guess that’s true.”

The two stood in silence for a moment.

“So…um…what now?”

“Well…I’m supposed to divert your attention away from the battle. I will admit, I do find myself reluctant to harm you. Would you be willing to grant me some of your time?”

Icy Rose heaved a sigh.

“I…don’t know if I can. I…don’t really want to fight you either, but my team needs me after all.”

“Ah, but you are also distracting me, are you not? So, are you not contributing to this fight as well?”

Icy Rose furrowed her brow.

“That…doesn’t seem right…but I guess it’s true? Well, just tell me this…”

She narrowed her eyes, her gaze turning as sharp as ice.

“Your team won’t harm any of them, right?”

Arvid raised his hands and shook his head.

“We’ve not done so yet and we’ve no reason to do so today.”

Icy Rose heaved another sigh.

Just then Wonder Knight came in over Icy Rose’s comms.

“Rose come in! Are you all right?”

“I’m fine! But um, Arv…the swordsman isn’t letting me leave.”

“I got it. Will you be fine? I don’t think we can get to you right now.”

“...I’ll be fine.”

“Sorry, just hold on as best you can! We’ll be there as soon as possible.”

She dropped the call and glanced awkwardly at Arvid.

“Um…so I guess…you’re stopping me here?

“So I am!”

“Then I guess…it can’t be helped?”

Arvid grinned at her.

“Seems not! So tell me, how have you been lately, Rose?”

She gave him a sad smile.

“Well…it’s been tough. Thank you for always checking in on me.”

Turns out the two had exchanged numbers a while back. Arvid was no stranger to modern technology, after all.

Arvid nodded.

“Think nothing of it, I’m just glad I have the chance to do so in-person. The path of a hero leaves little time for grief after all…”

Icy Rose nodded and the two began to chat.

The pair ’distracted’ one another for a while after.

Until…

“I’m here for you, Rose!”

A pink dragon burst from the window, holding a piece of Vophae tech, Pink Star riding on its back.

As it landed Icy Rose and Arvid quickly took some distance. She thrust her hands forward…and a faint cone of cold shot towards the man. More a cool mist than anything. Her 'opponent' lazily swung his blade around to ‘block’ it. The two also avoided eye contact.

Pink Star landed and jumped down, then her eyes narrowed at the ‘combatants’.

“...suspicious. Something feels suspicious.”

And a pink Wonder Knight appeared and punched Arvid into the distance. Icy Rose gasped and reached her hand out…before catching herself and shaking her head.

“U-Um…thanks Pink, I…um…owe you one.”

“Uh huh. Well, we made off with at least some of the stuff, Wonder wants us to get this back. Help me escort it to the jet.”

“On it.”

The end result of the engagement was a draw. With Aurora Legion scattered, Wonder Knight made the call to just steal as much of the tech as they could, instead of trying to win the fight as a whole. The genie-ninja trio held the line at first…until Nana accidentally got caught in the crossfire of the Chronolock-Elise fight and had to withdraw. As such, the prize ended up split between the two teams.

Or perhaps someone was specifically trying to balance the distribution of Vophae tech? It is uncharacteristic of Elise and Nana to allow simulation performance to affect real world missions after all.

Chronolock did not manage to defeat Elise in real life either, as the cyborg girl led her into a previously prepared trap. She was not in a good mood that day.

And for some reason, Pink Star felt a dark suspicion grow in her heart. As if her only comrade on the team, the last member she could feel safe around…had begun to betray her too.

Especially when Icy Rose kept glancing at her phone and smiling…

News of High Admiral Siendir’s death shook the Vophae Imperium. Even his worst detractors could not deny his winning record. And he had the notorious Captain Sildeth under his command.

Not to mention the destruction of the Emperor’s Word. The Imperium was still trying to investigate how that was even possible.

Nonetheless, no matter how much or how little love they had for the High Admiral himself, every Vophae agreed this was a slap in the face of the Imperium. That, they could not let pass. And so a truly grand fleet gathered within the former Siendir Dominion, intent on wiping out whatever insolent race had dared to defy them.

It was then that cracks of white light appeared in space, and something like a blazing star shot out of it, directly towards the fleet.

It was a human girl.

And she was covering her face in her hands and screaming.

Which unfortunately due to her qi could in fact be heard in space. The problem of intent for an emotion cultivator.

Xiong Huang wanted to die.

All that...everything she had said…and then she had run away. Like a coward.

How would she go back?

How could she face her sect?

How could she face the world?

How could she face him?

This was the absolute worst.

She would rather go through a thousand of her father’s training sessions than what she felt at that moment.

Well, at least these stupid aliens had gathered something upon which to vent her feelings.

And vent them she did.

She did not waste time or indulge herself in battling them with her fists, shutting down their attacks and demonstrating her superiority.

No, she had learned her lesson. They had caught her off guard once already. And though she had corrected that particular weakness, she would not underestimate them again.

And she would not allow them any chance to touch the Earth behind her.

She gathered her qi around her fist, a new star shining in the void of space.

She would instead annihilate them with extreme prejudice.

She swung her fist…

And the grand fleet of the Imperium vanished.

As time went on, word spread across the stars of a new scourge. A terrifying monster in the shape of some small ape-like creature that could wipe out entire fleets in an instant. A monster wreaking havoc and destruction upon the Imperium. Every fleet, every warrior sent against it perished without a trace. Entire worlds were ravaged.

And as the monster moved and fleets vanished and world after world experienced its wrath, the auxiliary races began to think.

Soon, their fear of the monster outweighed their fear of their masters.

Revolts broke out across the Imperium.

And, to their surprise, began to succeed.

For neither the Vophae nor their fleets were endless. Everything they had was being poured into defeating the new threat.

And even better…

The monster turned out to be surprisingly reasonable. She did not ravage worlds where the Vophae had been overturned. Her wrath was reserved for the Imperium alone.

Once the auxiliary races realized that…

The entire galaxy rose up in revolt. The Vophae simply did not have the power to keep them all under control any longer.

The Vophae found themselves alone, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

With the Murderous Bloody Fist moving ever closer to their homeworld.

But the Fall of the Vophae Imperium and the Galactic Revolution are tales for another time. For events were in motion on a single, primitive world that would overshadow even these things in importance, though no one was yet aware of them...

A man sat in a dimly lit room. A television reported on recent events in the background as he pored over his desk. He had a computer hooked up to several monitors. His desk was littered with reports. His walls were covered in cork boards with all sorts of photos and documents pinned to them, connected by strings.

The man focused in on a picture displayed in the center monitor, of Xiong Huang facing an armored suit at the end of the Battle for Earth.

He made a large grin, showing his teeth.

“Bob was it? So you’re the one behind it all. I’ve finally found you. And now everything has fallen into place.”

He pulled back his sleeve. Some sort of sleek metal device was wrapped around his wrist. The device lit up, projecting a holographic display showing some sort of wavy line with branches veering off it.

He slapped his other hand on the device.

And he disappeared with a flash of light.