Close Nemesis

Chapter Thirty-Five: Helping A Broken Hero

LAIVA:

Secretly, I followed Rotcetorp into space, keeping my distance as I watch him hover above Garbatrak. He then sped into space, and I recognise the constellation he travelled towards. This constellation is where Teglyo is situated. It is the location of a program designed to stop super powered individuals from being vigilantes.

As I soar through space, travelling directly behind Rotcetorp, I notice as a piece of debris knocks him down towards a planet that blinks away from the corner of my eye. I stop when this happens, and then, notice a bunch of interstellar debris flying towards me, having been spat out by a dark object in the horizon that distorts the stars around it.

A white hole.

I'm protected by an energy forcefield I've recently generated from the palms of my hands, burning the debris that is sent towards the planet. I turn to stare towards the green sand surface of the planet. Unlike my hair, the surface is an emerald green, indicating that the sand is made of tiny emeralds.

I glide towards the planet, which has a ring of debris within its gravitational field. I travel towards the planet surface, roughly where I watched Rotcetorp pummel toward.

Once I enter the planet's purple atmosphere, I allow myself to drop through the blankets of acidic cloud cover until I slow my descent using the air. When I finally land on the ground, I look towards the local "U" shaped cacti situated within the desert. By one of the cacti stand a silhouette I believe belongs to Rotcetorp, as evidenced by their curved beak.

This place feels like home. The purple sky reminds me of the indigo sky that hung over Entrek City on Occos II.

I kneel on the ground, picking up a pile of sparkling green sand made of miniscule emeralds. Then, I open my hand, allowing sand to fall away from my armour-plated gloves.

The light from the white hole accompanies the light of the nearby suns. I stare at the ominous ring of distorted light.

Then, I tilt my head back towards the silhouette. The figure in the distant hobbles as they trudge along the sand towards me, and I lift off the ground, hovering to them.

When I reach Rotcetorp, who trudges painfully along the ground, I sigh.

"You've obviously broken some bones!"

"Since when do you know so much about medicine?" Rotcetorp sarcastically grumbles.

"I don't," I reply, offering a hand to help them up.

"I've got superhuman strength! I can walk it off!"

"So do I," I reply. "But, you don't have to be a martyr, Rotcetorp!"

Rotcetorp stares at me. "I just need to get back to Teglyo!"

"Let me go in your place."

"No!" Rotcetorp snarls. "You don't know why I'm going there?"

"Tell me, then!"

Rotcetorp sighs painfully.

"Silveagak, the head of the Hero Complex Management Program, may be in danger! TeleVisore may have uncovered her secret plan to cease the induction of superpowered individuals into the program!"

"I'm glad you told me, because you're in no shape to fight TeleVisore! I'm in better shape than you, and I am clearly the most powerful out of the two of us!"

"I still hate you," Rotcetorp gripes weakly.

"Good. Call your friend to pick us up! Or I'll call mine!"

Rotcetorp grumbles. "Call yours! Get them to take me to a hospital on the edge of the galaxy. Using the time dilation, I can return to my family in no time, fresh as new, without them even noticing."