Bitter Sojourn/Arrival

The portal hummed, a deep thrumming sound that vibrated the metal plates and panels near it. The room was nearly empty and quiet otherwise. Only a few technicians spoke quietly in the corner waiting for the deployed team to return from studying the strange data they had received from the probe for this particular world. They were scheduled for a routine length deployment, so the techs had some time yet.

Murphy’s law and Reality conspired to change the schedule.

The portal suddenly began to spark and then erupted with noise and light as figures began to spill from it. The techs could only stand and stare in shock, cups of steaming coffee grasped forgotten in their hands, as what appeared to be the remnants of the Recon team and some unfamiliar superheroes staggered into the room chased by armored beings and energy blasts. Alarm klaxons went off almost immediately, causing one of the techs to start, spilling his coffee as he stared around, eyes wide.

The Recon team looked like they had been decimated. The few survivors were trying to limp away, helping wounded struggle to safety, and aiding the strange heroes battling against the armored figures. The armored figures were armed with bladed weapons and what looked like energy blasters. As return fire or blows struck them, invisible shields surrounding them would pulse into view to absorb the damage, weathering an inordinate amount of damage before failing. The Recon team lead, dark hair in a short pony-tail who may have been off-duty Vanguard from their uniform, ran to the frozen Techs; the one who had dropped his coffee fell backwards in fear, scrabbling against the wall. She reached out and grabbed the Tech who had remained on station and shook him as she screamed at him, causing him to spill his coffee, “WE NEED TO SHUT DOWN THE PORTAL!”

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When Jack Bauer woke up this morning, he had no idea how his day would end. What he did know was that life was getting complicated. His shifts at Portal Corp were getting longer. Portal Corp was suffering something of a budget crisis and from the scuttlebutt, it was due to the support Vanguard was getting from the City. His Masters’ program was getting into full swing and he had more work to do than ever before. And then there was Mellia. Mellia was the kind of girl that a nerd like him would never expect to be able to land. She was beautiful, fun, a superheroine, and part imp! The only problem was she was smothering him. She’d be waiting for him when he got off work. She would whine audibly while he worked at his Masters’ homework. When he wasn’t at work, she was –always- around. She –had- warned him that she was possessive due to her imp-side and he had assured her he could deal with it. This had been true at first but now, nearly a month later he was having some serious second thoughts. He couldn’t get on his PS3 or his Xbox or his computer. He couldn’t even get 5 minutes to unwind by himself without running to the bathroom!

---

Jack Bauer wasn’t thinking about any of that however as the Recon team lead screamed at him, “WE NEED TO SHUT DOWN THE PORTAL!” His mouth slack, it was all he could do to focus on the enormous armored figure that had taken aim at them with its weapon.

He managed to protest quietly, “I’m supposed to meet Mellia tonight,” as he turned to meet the Recon team lead’s coal black eyes.

The Recon team lead turned her head to the side to look behind her, her eyes widening just before the plasma blast incinerated her upper torso from just below her breasts up. The same blast incinerated Jack from the middle of his biceps up. Their bodies fell to their knees and in a macabre imitation of a tender moment, leaned against each other for a long moment before falling to the side.

Finally, the Portal Corp’s SRTs (Special Response Teams) showed up, adding their formidable firepower to those of the heroes already here. Still, even then, it took some time to get the situation under control. The invaders never paused nor responded to shouts for them to surrender. They fought until their shields failed and when their armor quickly gave way, they erupted like grapes. Some sort of acidic liquid exploded from the ruptured suits, melting everything within reach, leaving nothing but a concave pitted depression behind.

As soon as the sounds of battle faded the SRTs surrounded the strange heroes and heroines. Shouts filled the air, demands for them to give up their weapons, put their hands in the air. The foreign heroes and heroines, obviously a team, faced outward with all of them reacting differently. The situation was very confused, emotions and tempers high on both sides. Serina felt them losing control, her own hands half raised in surrender, were slowly lowering even as the SRT members continued to yell, pointing their weapons threateningly at them. All of them were marked by the combat and breathing hard but none of those here were down. One of them, an enormous fellow with a ruined helmet, one wild eye and part of his jaw showing, some of his orange-red hair sticking out of a hole in that side of the helmet, was clearly struggling to stay in control.

Serina quickly turned to stare at one of the slimmer but male members of the team, Silent, as he sub vocalized across their comms, “Buy me time Crush.”

She saw a few glance in as well, unwilling to turn away from the SRTs when the male figure leapt up and past them all to the railing high above. The SRTs predictably shifted aim and opened fire. Serina immediately turned and yelled, “Crush! No!” as he roared and charged those attacking his teammate. He bowled into a group of them, knocking them aside, crushing weapons and whatever else he could get into his namesake grip. The air quickly filled again with the cries of pain and shouts and the rest of the team exploded into action except for Serina, who watched the unfolding situation in disbelief, dumbstruck. She slid to the ground, her arms wrapping about her as it all came apart.

“No… We were safe… It was over.”