Archangel

Chapter 5

"So are you happy I agreed to your brother's proposal?" Victor asked as he wrapped his arms around Nyx.

            Nyx started to turn a faint shade of red before realizing how safe he made her feel. Idiot, everyone told you Victor doesn't care for anyone; he's just playing you. "Of course I am. He talked nonstop about this and now he can finally do something good for humanity."

            Victor nodded absentmindedly and pressed a button, the outer windows opened and they looked at the Earth. Nyx looked at the Earth beneath them in wonder, not even noticing Victor taking out a small box and joining her.

            "I know you probably will be shocked by what I'm about to ask of you but this just feels right..." Nyx gave him an uneasy look. "Every man dreams he'll meet some woman he can give the world too... will you be her?"

            Nyx realized she was seeing a side of Victor he kept hidden, the look on his face was hopeful and he wasn't acting as superior as before, in fact now he looked nervous as he waited for her answer.

            "I..." Nyx hesitated before realizing how this could help her brother. "Yes..."

            "I understand if you don-" Victor realized what she said and tried to hide the shock by taking her into an embrace.

            "Victor... getting squashed." Nyx said.

            He released her and slid the ring onto her finger. "So will you tell your brother or will I?"

            At that moment there was a beeping sound and Nyx looked at the message on her communicator. "Looks like I have the chance to. Reed and Johnny need me for something."

            He let go of her hand and let her leave, Nyx quickly found Johnny and Reed looking out a window. When they heard her come in they looked up, Sue, who was on the other side of the hall, sent a glare before ignoring her completely.

            "What's going on?" Nyx asked.

            Reed turned the data screen towards her. "The storm is coming faster than we thought."

            "Well what do you plan to do about it Richards?" Victor's voice spoke up as he walked towards them.

            "We've got minutes until the storm hits, not hours...that storm is deadly and the radiation is lethal. We have to abort."

            "We didn't come this far to quit!" Nyx looked at him in shock.

            "Ben is out there. What would happen if he were to be hit?" Reed glared at her.

            Nyx didn't want to think about that so she went silent.

            "Reel him in." Victor ordered before going back to the control center.

            Reed took out his radio and they all turned to look outside. "Ben, we need you back inside."

            Ben turned and looked at him. "I'm not done arranging your flowers, egghead."

            "Ben this is serious turn around."

            He hesitated for a moment and Johnny motioned for him too, Nyx could imagine Ben rolling his eyes but they saw him turn and see the cosmic storm heading towards him quickly.

            "Roger that, I'm on my way." Ben stopped what he was doing and immediately started to head towards them.

            Nyx let out a laugh at how Ben acted but stopped when Sue scowled at her. "This isn't funny. Ben could die if he doesn't get back inside."

            Nyx glared back but didn't respond because Victor radioed her, "We're running out of time."

            "Ben's almost here just a few minutes." She told him.

            They watched as tendrils caught up with Ben as he continued to struggle to get inside. Suddenly the corridor rumbled and lights started flickering around them, not a good sign.

            Victor got a worried expression as he watched from the control center and got over the intercom so they could all hear him. "You need to get up here so we can close the shields, now!"

            "Not until Ben is back inside!" Reed radioed.

            "It's too late for him, and soon it will be too late for all of us!" Victor caught a glance of Nyx and Johnny trying to reason with Reed before going over to some other controls to raise the shields.

            Reed sighed and gave up. "Johnny go with the others and tell Victor to raise the shields."

            "What about you?" Johnny asked. Reed just shook his head, and that was all they needed to see. He turned to look back out at Ben. "Come on big guy..."

            "He won't make it... the storm's too fast." Nyx backed towards the control room. "I'm making Victor close the shields."

            Reed's eyes flashed with betrayal for a brief second before focusing back on Ben. Nyx ran into the control room and found Victor passed out under sparking equipment, cursing under her breath she tried to find the button to lower the shields. An automated voice came over the speaker saying they had ten seconds left, glancing at the monitor Nyx saw Ben being pulled inside, now all she could do was hope they ran here before the Storm hit. She ran back to the controls and didn't see what happened next, Johnny being burned as a control panel broke, Sue being engulfed in vapor, or Ben passing out as a sand partial ripped through his suit while Reed was helping him get farther away from the door. Another tremor shook the station and Nyx yelped in shock as she flew into a wall before she could hit the button, groaning she struggled to get back up but red and black dots danced across her vision. She rubbed the back of her head and blood came away, that was the last thing she saw before everything started getting dark, Nyx could faintly hear the automated voice counting down at four.

            So this is how we're all going to die... Nyx thought before everything went dark.