Collaborative Fiction: The Twelve Little Superheroes of Christmas

    "WE MUST FIND STARMASTER," the gestalt of Futurina, Astra, and Fiona informed Highlander.  "WE WILL NOT BREAK CONTACT WITH YOU, BUT THE INTERFERENCE HAS LESSEND."  The three began to move through the vessel.  There was a lot of psychic power here, but they were more familiar with Starmaster's signature than the collectives.  
    They tried to avoid detection by the Galooine masking their energies when they saw one of the Galooine orbs.  They could sense others.  They felt the torment of friends and acquaintances.  They wanted to help, but knew the mission was more important.
    They informed Catalyst what they felt and who through their earpieces.  Finally they found Starmaster with Krystal Fae and another mind.  "WE HAVE FOUND STARMASTER, HE IS WITH KRYSTAL FAE AND SOMEONE ELSE.  HER UNBORN CHILD,"  they stated.
    "STARMASTER?"  they reached out...

        Starmaster sensed the brush of Fiona, Futurina, and Astra’s mental presence.
        Xlcior’s presence on the Mindscape was far different that in the normal world. His form resembled a cross between a radish with long tendrils dangling from it and an octopus. We steal nothing. We protect. Life is precious to us.
        Then we have something in common. The consciousness merged with Krystal Fae said. That is the foundation of an alliance, not an animosity. Stop what you are doing.
        Yes, Xlcior. Starmaster added. Nothing good will come from your current actions. 
****
        Highlander landed and rolled into a new room. Arcane Ace stepped in after him.
        The room was a large chamber with a metallic dodecahedron hovering in the middle of it. It shimmered with a sheen like liquid quicksilver. A dull hum droned throughout the chamber.
        “What do you think this is?” Highlander asked.
        Ace’s eyes sparked, indicating he had activated his Arcane Sight. “I might be wrong, but I would put this as some type of power source.” He stared at it more intently. “I think it is Morphon based.”
        “Morphon based? How is that possible?”
        “Beats me. But there are power signatures in there that resemble those of people who have morphon-enhanced gifts.”
        “Strange. I wonder what generates it?”
        “Interesting question. You know, when you think about it, Morphons changed people on earth by giving them powers. They become part of the DNA of the person exposed to them. What if Morphons could be used for other purposes?”
        “Maybe someone figured out how to do that is what you’re saying, right?”
        “And they need more Morphons to fuel whatever powers their ship.” Ace looked around the room. “We might be in the very center of the vessel right now, and this could be its engine.”

Highlander slowly circled the object, studying it closely.

“Part of me wants to just smash it, but my head says that could be a huge mistake,” the big man said. “Disabling it could shut down whatever is maintaining the atmosphere that’s keeping us alive.”

“Glad you thought that through,” Arcane Ace said. “I’d hate to be gasping for air right now.”

“So-o-o- … what do we do?”

“Concentrate. Try to make contact with Fiona, Starmaster, Astra, Krystal Fae … anyone that will respond. We need answers,” Ace replied. “And something tells me we need them fairly quickly.”

The hum began to increase in volume and the effects were beginning to become uncomfortable.

Highlander’s grimace was noticed by Ace.

“Cain, are you okay?

Highlander put his hands over his ears and dropped to one knee. Ace moved in Highlander’s direction, but only made a couple of steps before the effects began to hit him. He covered his ears and turned away from the object. His contact with the magic realm and other similar dimensions  made him a bit more sensitive to what was happening. The Master of Magic collapsed on the floor and Highlander, although hindered by the assault on his eardrums, moved toward the spellcaster, but was only able to get an arm’s length away before the noise totally overwhelmed him, also.

        Xlcior, stop this. B.A.D.G.E. has alerted the world to your presence, thanks in part to Krystal’s efforts to put a stop to you. Starmaster plead. Whatever it is you had planned won’t succeed. We will fight you if we must.
        Our goal is to bring peace to your people. Why would you fight us?
        Your goal is laudable, but your premise is flawed. The merged union of Krystal and her unborn child coalesced into a sparkling faire creature of pure white light. The luminescent wings fluttered as if were flying in the Mindscape. If I understand from what we have seen, your species developed far differently than those you seek to protect.
        Why should that matter? Peace is peace.
        What do you mean, Krys-kindt? Starmaster asked the young sentience. He had no idea what Krystal planned on naming her daughter.
        It is hard to explain. Xlcior and his people do not understand that by harvest other races, as they have been doing, they are harming life. They fear the loss of life. Endings. But if the world below is changed, they are preventing the lives of all those who have yet to be born. What they exist as is part of their evolution, but by forcing others on their journey, they are in effect destroying that very thing they seek to protect. Life. Their efforts don't destroy the life that currently exists, but denies the infinity of life that is yet to come.

    The Gestalt of Futurina, Astra and Fiona had found Starmaster in a telepathic conversation with Xlcior.  They heard the conversation being a psionic gestalt.  They reached out, "PLEASE UNDERSTAND, XLCIOR, IN TRUTH WE ARE ALL ENERGY.  OUR PHYSICAL FORMS ARE OUR VESSLES THROUGH LIFE.  IT ALLOWS US TO GROW, LEARN, AND UNDERSTAND THE UNIVERSE AROUND US.  TO ALTER US TOO SOON IS TO INVITE CHAOS."
    "We did not invite you," Xlcior stated.  "How did you come here against our will?"
    "WE ARE A WIFE AND FRIENDS OF THOSE YOU HAVE TAKEN," they replied.  "WE BROKE THROUGH BY OUR WILL AND LOVE.  YOU SAY YOU WANT TO BRING US PEACE, BUT WE MUST FIND PEACE OURSELVES."
    Starmaster nodded in agreement.  
    "WE RECOGNIZE YOU.  YOU WERE THERE WHEN KEVIN WAS ALTERED AND BECAME ASTRA," they claimed.  "WE SHOULD BE ANGRY, BUT WE CHOOSE TO FORGIVE.  WE ASK THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE MUST EVOLVE TO THE POINT YOU ARE BY OURSELVES.  WE MUST BECOME THE BEST WE CAN BE."

Jenna Firemage magically teleported back to Ice Ray Academy where she learned Aphrael was gone. Immediately, she presented herself to the Ice Ray Academy High Council of Teachers/professors and Sephrenia Darklighter who served as Aphrael's voice when she was physically not present at the Academy and used her thoughts to relate to them instantaneously everything she had seen and heard at BADGE.

"This is a very serious issue," the council said before they temporarily dismissed her to converse among themselves. "Ever since the EA Wave we have had a policy of helping out BADGE and Earth but never interfering in issues involving how people are ruled unless the peace and tranquility of non powered civilians has become threatened. This will be our first conflict with this policy to date. Please state if you support Aphrael on peace or those who do not want peace on this matter and why you state this position. Then we shall vote privately and silently."

"Peace by means of rule by the few over the many and without equality for all is a forced peace and not a true one at all. This has been shown by dictators and tyrant leaders time and time again on every version of Earth and other planets we have lived on or visited. Only when all involved in rule and in being ruled can agree peacefully can true peace be achieved." This was the argument for those advocating peace while not having their names revealed.

"Conflict of ideas is how it begins and at it's worst it ends in war but conflict in and of itself is not something anyone wants ever, but something every known world and society where sentient beings live has had to experience. Whether for good as in self defense or bad as in the Legion, conflict forces those involved to see themselves as they truly are. We support conflict in this case only so that those involved not of their own choice can decide for themselves how they want their future to be."
.
The council voted and in the end one person had to break the stalemate because both sides were evenly divided which was why the council was always odd numbered. Those for war won but only after agreeing it was only if peaceful negotiations to free those trapped and missing failed and if BADGE chooses the same path too. Otherwise peace would be the path to follow."

Upon telling Jenna this, she teleported back to BADGE and had an assistant there give Director Nova the decision of the High Council of Ice Ray Academy.

        The strange shape that was Xlcior shimmered with new colors, all shades of red. I see what it is that is going on here. Your attempt to distract me while your companion attempts to destroy our ship. It will not be allowed.
        Xlcior vanished from the Mindscape.
        What is he talking about? Starmaster thought to the triad of minds of Futurina’s gestalt.
        HIGHLANDER AND ARCANE ACE WERE ENTERING A NEW CHAMBER, SEARCHING FOR OTHERS THAT HAD BEEN TAKEN.
        We had better find out before this goes sideways.
        Starmaster returned his perceptions to the physical world and hoisted Krystal Fae’s body into his arms. “Fiona, focus on where Highlander is right now so I can teleport there. We need to keep this from getting further out of control.”

The teleport, guided by the Futurina gestalt, brought Starmaster to the chamber Arcane Ace and Highlander laid unconscious on the floor of. A large dodecahedron glowed in the center of the room and hummed with an insidious pitch.

Starmaster engaged to sound-canceling technology built into his battlesuit as he knelt down beside Highlander. "Old man, wake up!"

Now you too have come to our power generator to enact violence upon my people. Xlcior said from a point unknown. Depart this area immediately or I will be forced to--

"Forced to what, Xlcior?" Starmaster shouted out as he stood back up. He tapped a few controls on the side of his mask, cycling the visual sensors through a variety of frequencies in an attempt to find the alien leader.

We may have misjudged your little planet. Perhaps you are not worth the effort of saving. Xlcior said, still unobserved by the heroes. Violence is all your kind seem to understand.

*"And what makes you certain you and you alone of your race know everything there is to know about peace Xlcior?" asked a very serious Sehanine Moonbow as she emerged from behind her illusionary magic in the same room. "Are you the leader appointed by most of your race or only by you and/or your followers who advocate for a forced peace upon all?"

"My name is Sehanine Moonbow and I am what is termed a goddess among the race of Fae beings known as elves and have lived on many worlds/planes and seen violence and peace both inflicted upon the inhabitants of these worlds. Whether they realized it or not at the time, most wanted peace even if on the outside they wanted violence. All beings deserve what on Earth is called free agency or free will. It is the term used when beings are given choices and each choice has a positive or negative serious of actions as a result of that choice. The choices are best received when they are not forced upon others but when they are made by individuals themselves."

*"I am one of two goddesses who are neutral good observers from the league of Ice Ray Academy, but who have come in response to not only the mental and emotional distress you have put our Academy student Corrine Daniels into, but to also help end the distress of the beyond comprehension number of others in distress here too. I offer you the choice of peace through peace or peace forced through violent means."*

WE HAVE BEEN INVADED, Xlcior's panic echoed in the generator chamber. NON-CONCURRENT ENTITIES HAVE BREACHED OUR DEFENSES. PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE DEPARTURE.

The large dodecahedron began to flare with pulses of yellow light, increasing with a measured pace.

"What's going on?" Starmaster shouted over the incessant humming. "Xlcior, we aren't here to threaten you?"

A wave of energy washed over the room. Panels on the walls reflected the energy back toward the geometric shape at the core of the vessel.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING, STARMASTER?" The gestalt minds of Futurina, Fiona, and Astra asked.

"Someone just showed up from an Ice Ray Academy and has Xlcior in a panic. I think they've activated something that takes a lot of power."

"CATALYST HAS TOLD US THAT THE CRYSTAL SHELL PROTECTING THE VESSEL HAS SHATTERED. THERE ARE LARGE FRAGMENTS HEADING TOWARDS THE PLANET."

"Keep in contact. I need to find Crossroads. She's the only one who can get us all off of here."

My fellow travelers. We must depart with expedience. Xlcior communicated to his fellow members of the Continuum of Galooine. We must abandon our home and take refuge elsewhere.

What of our great work and those we have harvested and only wait for to become like us? They are not yet ready.Verdant said.

What choice do we have. Destructive beings threaten us from beyond this dimension. One appeared in the core of our vessel. Xlcior explained his experience in the power generation room. We have arrived here too late. The path of violence they are on is too embedded in them. This extra-dimensional being accuses us of doing harm to one of her students.

The images they summon are from their own experiences. We do not cause them any harm.

Begin the evacuation. We can take refuge in the star at the center of this system until the danger has passed. Their own destructive nature will bring their undoing. When the interference they have done to the power chamber reaches its critical state, the vessels destruction will take the planet below with it.

Very well, Xlcior. We shall begin immediately.

Prysmatica awakened slowly, disturbed by a fury of activity. She realized quickly that she was photonic energy, not flesh and blood as she typically would be.

What's going on? I've never been able to maintain this body when I'm asleep before.

She shuddered. Last thing she remembered was being in a fight back in Greece against a Redd Capp that killed her family. Was she captured once again like she had been by Morganna?

Hurling her light-form body against the wall of the sphere surrounding her, she burst forth in a corridor aboard Xlcior's vessel. I'm still aboard the ship. Maybe it was just a dream. Please, let it have been a dream!

Other photonic beings, crew of Xlcior's ship, moved through the walls around her. The memory of returning to the vessel after she traveled outside returned. Somehow Xlcior and others of his kind knocked her out.

That didn't explain the speed to which these light-forms seemed to be moving around her. They blipped past her as if in distress. Hey. Where are you going?

We have been ordered to evacuate to this system's sun. The vessel is under attack. A violet light-form replied. I don't know you. How did you come to be here?

I was in one of these bubbles.

Amazing. You are the first of those harvested to join us. Stay by my side. I will lead you to safety. Violet responded.

I need to find my friends first. If there is trouble, they can help. Prysmatica said. She went full steam, streaking around the vessel in search of Starmaster and the others.

Starmaster realized that something needed to be done quickly to avert a disaster. He also realized it may need to involve drastic, violent and distasteful action.

Highlander was beginning to stir, despite the ear-drum piercing sound that had disabled Ace and the big man. Starmaster realized that despite the fact the big man had been subdued, his temper and disposition could push him to an enraged state that could overcome the pain and trigger a violent and catastrophic reaction that could kill everyone aboard by destroying the ship and the planet they called home.

“No, NO!” Starmaster marshaled his abilities and powers, and knew that what he needed to do was necessary to preserve billions of lives.

“Big man, if you survive this – and I sincerely hope you do – please don’t hold it against me. If you don’t survive it, God forgive me … and I hope you’ll forgive me also,” Starmaster said. “But I have no choice.”

Starmaster delivered the most powerful blast of power he could summon to subdue the giant he considered a good friend. Highlander stiffened, emitted a blood-curdling bellow and still tried to push himself up to his hands and knees. Starmaster tried to tap into Arcane Ace’s aura of power for added energy and the three were engulfed in a blinding blast of brilliant white light. The room and the object in the center shook from the force of the power and, at another location in the ship, Fiona screamed in pain as she collapsed on the floor.

    Gerri could hear commotion around her.  She couldn't see, but she could hear.  She felt wrong, like she wasn't whole.  She could hear Highlander and Arcane Ace and later she heard Starmaster.  Something was missing.  What was missing?  For that matter where was she?
    The last thing she remembered was fighting Redd Capp and an army of red caps.  She was with her boyfriend, James.  They were running out of power fast.  That was it.  She tried to move but was stopped by some kind of barrier.  That's when she noticed her ring wasn't on her.
    She decided to summon her ring to her.  It flew from where the Galooine had stored it Highlander barely dodged it.  "Was that The Sword of Gerraxia's ring?" Arcane Ace asked.
    Gerri's powers always came from within her.  The ring was just a conduit and focus.  The ring broke through the barrier and slid onto a tendril of photons.  Gerri was finally able to move from the barrier.  "The old powers" from within her began to reconstruct her body.  It started with her skeleton, drawing form the crystal her body had become.  Next her organs and muscles reformed around the skeleton.  Then her skin formed and hair.  Her clothes then magically appeared.  She did a quick glamour to hide her elf ears.  She collapsed to the ground.
    "What happened to me?" she asked to the three heroes in the room.

"Where Fiona?" Catalyst asked as Futurina and Astra were jolted out of their gestalt.

Astra gasped for breath. "I felt a wave of pain. We were helping on the vessel and--"

"Highlander suffered an injury. I think Fiona responded subconsciously to what she sensed from him and willed herself to him." Futurina seemed less distressed than Astra and crawled over to her adopted daughter. "Give it time, sweetheart. Find your center. We were torn out of the melding. You need to regain your sense of self."

"I've never imagined loving someone as much as Fiona feels for Highlander. It is still with me. I feel it. His passion for life. The attraction to it and... to his strength to survive despite what he has been through. It is intoxicating." Astra's chest heaved as she coped with the psionic residue from the joining of their minds.

"Put those aside, Astra. They don't belong to you." Futurina pulled back her hand as struck Astra hard against her face. "Let them go. Think about yourself. What did you have for breakfast today?"

    Astra rubbed her cheek.  Futurina may be small, but she knows what she's doing.  She thought for a moment, "I had a bowl of oatmeal, and honey buttered toast."  She then thought of what to do next.
    "We know where they are," she began.  "We could teleport there and rescue the others or try to talk down Xlcior."
    "Who that?" Catalyst questioned.
    "The alien in charge," Futurina replied.  "My power is stronger.  I'll teleport us."
    "You also don't risk us teleporting into the hull of the ship," Astra agreed.  Futurina smiled.  
    "You'll get there one day," Futurina assured her.
    "Where shall we go?" Astra wondered.  "I felt Chaz hadn't been altered yet.  Should we start there?"
    "Sounds like a good place to start," Futurina agreed.  She took her daughter's hand and in a flash of silver blue energy they were gone.  Catalyst noted they left the monitoring device on.  He continued to watch the readings.
***
    Chaz was restrained but nothing was happening to him.  The aliens all had left when the alarm sounded.  "Hello?  This isn't funny, guys.  Just let me go, please?"

Excruciating pain that seared its way through Fiona’s mind rendered her unconscious. That was the lesser of the impacts that affected her. What those near her didn’t notice was that the shock took away the breath of life, the pulse, the heartbeat. Fiona’s lifeless form lay prone and alone amidst the frenzy of activity aboard the ship.

Starmaster’s actions had accomplished its purpose. He had subdued Highlander, saving billions on the planet, and those on the ship. As with any action, there are potential consequences. This was a consequence,

The question that arose from this was – what would Highlander’s reaction be?

Sehanine introduced herself to The Sword of Gerraxia and the other heroes in the room. "Xlcior has determined that the inhabitants of Earth are too dangerous to coexist with and plans to destroy Earth. I am afraid I am partly to blame as I came in here to help those of you he was confronting and he saw my power as a magical goddess to be overwhelming compared to his own. Parts of the hybrid magic and technological armor 'shell' of this ship have begun breaking off into the size of comets and meteors and headed towards Earth. I came here with AphraeltheFaeChildGoddessofInnocenceversion3 to help rescue those who were taken from Earth to here and now I am going to help you rescue everyone who was changed into light energy by him and his race."

"I apologize for having to do this but with permission can I show you all mentally what is happening that you might not be individually aware of? If not it will take longer to explain and we do not have as much time as we did originally."*

The big man stirred ever so slightly. The tremendous force Starmaster was forced to use to subdue Highlander had been sufficient to do the job. The Scotsman was not going anywhere for a period of time. To a casual observer, Highlander was simply asleep. The disturbing noise had been reduced to a level that wasn’t painful to anyone nearby. Arcane Ace was now in a seated position, and just nodded to Starmaster when queried as to his condition.

“Uhhhh,” groaned Ace as he pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to relieve the pain. Starmaster checked on the Master of Magic and determined there was no apparent outward physical damage.

Starmaster used his powers to lift the unconscious form of Highlander and helped Ace to his feet. He made mental contact with Futurina and she, with Krystal Fae's and Astra’s assistance, led a teleport effort that brought the three heroes to to her location. Catalyst reacted quickly to assist Ace, who was still wobbly from the ordeal.

Krystal Fae was examining Fiona.

“I can sense activity in her mind, even though there seems to be no life in her body,” she said. “I’ve never encountered anything like that. Astra, Futurina, what is happening?”

Futurina responded, “Her mind is elsewhere. She’s ... I don’t believe it ... she’s trying to protect Highlander.

“I can sense life within her form. But, she’s sent her mind out to assist her husband. She’s far more powerful, far more psychically advanced, than I thought possible. That’s a power, an ability, I never knew existed. She’s much stronger – and more dangerous perhaps – than we can imagine.”

"You take care of him." Starmaster said as he moved away from the group tending to Highlander and Fiona. "There are too many still up there unaccounted for. I'm heading back."

"Need help?" Catalyst asked as he grabbed for a satchel of tools off a nearby shelf.

"You'd better stay here. Group teleports aren't my strong suit. See what you can do to get me their locations."

With that, Starmaster disappeared as he entered the Mindscape once more.

He reappeared near where Catalyst identified Chaz had been located.

"What's going on?" The reporter asked.

"We need to get out of here. Things are going south fast."

A orange humanoid-shaped light from entered the room. A violet cloud of light appeared beside Prysmatica. "Good. I've found you. I think I've missed a lot of what's been going on."

"What are you doing here. I thought all of your kind were abandoning the vessel with Xlcior." Starmaster shouted at the violet light.

I cannot abandon the first of those to awaked after being harvested. Violet said. I must see that she arrives safely with the rest of us after the attacks made by you physical beings on our power generator.

"We did no such thing. Highlander and Ace stumbled into the room, but they never attacked it" Starmaster said.

"Harvested. What do you mean harvested?" Prysmatica asked. "Is that why I can't turn solid again?"

"We can fill you in when we get out of here. We need to find Gar, Crossroads, Corrine, and Agent Leslie." Starmaster took a step closer to Violet. "We are only trying to leave. We weren't the aggressors here."

Xlcior said we had been invaded by extra-dimensional beings.

"Someone did show up in the generator room, but they were professing a desire for peace, not violence against you." Starmaster said. "I think there has been a huge miscommunication here. Can't we simply talk this out?"

Your kind is not to be trusted.

Starmaster stewed for a moment, frustrated by the refusal. He looked at Chaz and the orange, glowing shape of Prysmatica. "Then how about talking with her. You said you were concerned for her safety. She can assure you that we mean no threat to you. Prysmatica?"

"I don't know what's been going on, but if Starmaster says there isn't any reason for us to fight, he's telling the truth." Prysmatica said. "I can vouch for them. They won't harm me. They won't harm you either."