An Exception

Chapter One

Author's Note: Cover image was commissioned from lera_channn on Twitter.  Do not repost this image.

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Click, click, click. The sound of Hearts' boots echoed off the walls as he made his way down the hall toward the kitchen. It had been a long day and he could use a drink to relax before plotting their next move. They had a heavy goal on their hands and it took careful planning and calculation to avoid making a mistake and ending it all prematurely.

Approaching from the other end of the hall was Fu, which was pretty rare. Fu was usually in his lab all day, watching footage on his computers or testing one thing or another. Hearts honestly didn't know what all he was up to and never really bothered to ask. What did it matter? Fu was the one who had gathered several of his powerful allies thus far, so he knew better than to question him. As long as Fu continued to help him achieve his goal, then he wouldn't mind whatever he did in his free time.

"Yo!" Fu grinned at Hearts as he got closer. Normally he would wave, but his hands were preoccupied with something he had thrown over his shoulder.

"What have you got there?" Hearts arched a brow as he stopped walking to inspect the suspicious cargo. "Some kind of . . . monster?" It certainly looked like one. He couldn't see the face at all, but the massive, violet mess of a right arm suggested it was something he really didn't want any part of. "Is that for one of your experiments?" Hopefully it wouldn't cause the rest of them any trouble, whatever it was.

"Hahaha! Don't let him hear you say that!" Fu continued to grin as he shifted the weight a bit on his shoulder, "This guy will probably be your most powerful ally in your mission. Buuuuuut I might want to run an experiment or two on him first." His grin became a smirk as he resumed his journey down the hall toward his lab.

Hearts watched him disappear for a moment, taking note of the being he was carrying with him. He could see a bit of the face from this angle. That purple goo or whatever it was seemed to be covering half his body. Well, no matter. If this creature would help him in his journey to kill the Omni King, he didn't really care what he looked like. The only factors that mattered were strength and loyalty. "My most powerful ally, huh?" Shrugging, Hearts turned and continued on to the kitchen as he originally intended.

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Days went by without anything more mentioned about the creature Fu had brought back. Everyone went about their business as usual. They harvested energy from a few smaller planets to avoid detection by the Gods of Destruction and the angels, but not much more aside from that. Until they had the manpower to take on higher-energy planets and, if need be, to fight a God of Destruction, they had to lay low.

"Most powerful ally . . ." Hearts sat in the lounge of their hideout, swirling the last bit of whiskey around in his glass as he remembered that brief encounter with Fu. He'd seen the man in passing a few times since then, but they hadn't really exchanged anything outside of pleasantries. Had he failed in his experiments and accidentally killed the creature? "How annoying." As patient as he had been up until this point, that patience was now wearing thin. He needed to quickly gather more powerful allies, otherwise they'd never get this mission off the ground.

Drinking the last bit in his glass, he left the lounge and placed the empty glass in the kitchen sink before making his way down toward Fu's lab. He'd only ever seen the inside of it from the doorway, though he'd never really asked to go inside either. Fu was an absolute mystery to him. What was his goal? He'd only joined forces with Hearts because he said his mission was 'interesting' and 'sounded fun'. Sounded fun? Trying to kill the gods and the Omni King to free all mortal life sounded fun? It was strange for certain.