AN: Got a little carried away on this one. XD My bad. Please don't forget to vote or comment! I'd love to hear some feedback. 

The giant robotic Warmind Rasputin hung in a circular room, tangled in cords far above the floor. The top half of the Warmind glowed crimson, outlining its brain through a thin layer of metal. The circular structure of metal's body hung low to the floor, a blue light revealing its skeleton of technology wires and panels. The room enveloped the Warmind in bright white light, reflecting off of the plain sky blue walls and flooring. A soft whirring and clicks were the only audible sound in the cold room.

Something was wrong.

Warmind Rasputin could feel it. It could have been anything. A shift in atmosphere, a black hole in the galaxy, a civil war in the Intergalactic Empire, the Warmind couldn't figure it out. Rasputin was the head warmind and strongest defense system to protect humanity. Not knowing of an impending threat sent a surge of power through its cords, almost like a human boost of adrenaline. It scanned the galaxy searching for the answer.

Searching.

Searching.

Found it.

A swirling, pitch black force moved its way through the galaxy, heading straight towards Earth. The Darkness passed Pluto slowly and swallowed it whole. Next, Neptune. Uranus. By the time it got to Saturn, the Warmind's processors hyped into overdrive to figure out a plan of defense.

Calculating...

Calculating...

Failure.

Restart.

Warmind Rasputin worked to find a solution to the imminent threat incoming, calculating and restarting every time the situation failed. With each failure, the warmind became more and more frantic on its search for success. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes only made the wait more agonizing.

Imminent failure.

The only solution for the problem was to let it take its course and cause thousands of lives to perish. Every positive solution simulation failed.

Two messages formed in Warmind Rasputin's mind, displaying itself on the small human control monitor on the other side of the room.

V120NNI800CLS000 CLEAR MORNING OUTCRY AI-COM/RSPN: ASSETS//FORCECON//IMPERATIVE IMMEDIATE ACTION ORDER

This is an ALL ASSETS IMPERATIVE (unsecured/OUTCRY)

CAUTERIZE. DISPERSE. ESTIVATE.

Total strategic collapse imminent. FENRIR HEART reports complete operational mortality. SURTR DROWN in progress but negative effect. Forecasts unanimously predict terminal VOLUSPA failure.

As of CLS000 a HARD CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is in progress across the operational area.

I am declaring YUGA SUNDOWN effective on receipt (epoch reach/FORCECON variant). Cancel counterforce objectives. Cancel population protection objectives. Format moral structures for MIDNIGHT EXIGENT.

Execute long hold for reactivation.

AI-COM/RSPN SIGNOFF STOP STOP STOP V120NNI800CLS001

As soon as the first message ended, a new one started.

>>WHISPER NEUTRINO NEEDLE>>

V101NTS923ATS000 SECRET HADAL !!ABHOR!!

AI-COM/RPSN: ASSETS//SUBTLE//IMPERATIVE

CONTINGENT ACTION ORDER

This is a SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE (NO HUMAN REVIEW) (NO AI-COM REVIEW) (secure/ABHOR).

Stand by for DECISION POINT:

If available ISR and WARWATCH indicates imminent [O] departure >then [O] departure compromises human/neohuman survival and epoch strategy

Stand by for ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE:

Activate LOKI CROWN Perform deniable authorization: full caedometric and noetic release Prevent [O] departure by any means available

Stand by for effect assessment criteria:

Coerce pseudoaltruistic [O] defensive action. Defer civilization kill.

STOP STOP STOP V101NTS923ATS001

Of all the possibilities, of all the chances of humanity's survival, none of them seemed possible to the Warmind. It panicked in its own robotic way. The Intergalactic Empire would crumble under the Darkness and whatever was inside of it.

Rasputin rewrote the warminds' plans by canceling its defense objectives and replacing them with MIDNIGHT EXIGENT. All of the warminds would protect the information they held and collectively shut down until further notice. That could be days. Months.

Years.

Rasputin didn't care. If anything had to survive, it chose itself over humanity. Rasputin sent out the first message to the other warminds, but kept the second one for itself. Countermeasure ABHORRENT IMPERATIVE was a last resort objective that only the head warmind knew about. It would remain a secret until the event happened.

Warmind Rasputin shut down, leaving humanity to fend for itself against the Darkness.

Tanis' bright blue light eyes opened and clicked against the metal lids. He stretched his pale blue metallic limbs and sighed contently. He looked around the room and spotted a few scientists working on their projects. He didn't say anything to them and just looked into the reflective lamp next to him. His image was distorted, but he could see a metal gray horn above each eye, and a white stripe went down the middle of his pale blue face. He didn't feel any different, but somehow, he felt off.

He couldn't remember how he got to this place, but the last people he saw were Alaura and Malachi. They were on a mission, but for what? The destruction from the future hung in his mind and he couldn't shake it. Maybe their mission was to stop that from happening. It had to be something...

Tanis wobbled for a second when he started walking and steadied himself on one of the tables. He touched the metal and ran his fingers against it, creating a harsh sound. He retracted his hand and looked down at it for a minute. Nothing felt right, but he couldn't remember why.

He wandered outside of his room and shook his head when he saw his teammates sleeping. They appeared so peaceful, but extremely uncomfortable in the chairs they were sitting in. "Sleeping on the job now, guys?" Tanis questioned, the metal piece behind his mouth glowed blue as he spoke.

"Hey, man. Good to see you awake." Malachi's insides twisted at those words. He had convinced himself earlier to not get close to these two scrubs, but something told him to care about them. It kept pecking at his brain like a woodpecker to a tree. All he could do was remind himself of his surname to clear his mind. Hartwell's don't care. Not anymore. Not since... Malachi rubbed his eyes tiredly and stood up to stretch his limbs out. He set his jacket with the ghosts inside down onto the chair. "We've been waiting a while."

Malachi pushed Alaura lightly to wake her up and she grumbled to herself sleepily. He snorted, "Never pegged you as the grouchy type when you woke up. You're grouchy enough as is when you're awake." Alaura punched his leg and Malachi knelt down to caress the wounded muscle. "Ow! See what I mean?"

"I didn't even punch you that hard..." She covered her mouth as she yawned. Her eyes drooped and she groaned from muscle aches surging throughout her body. That was their first time sleeping since the road trip a few days ago. A little energy boost helped, but it didn't stop the soreness.

Tanis straightened himself and looked around the place. Students holding backpacks walked around to find their classes. Some had bright shining eyes, eager to learn. Then there were the others who appeared dead tired with dark circles around their eyes. The buildings were tall and had giant glass windows on each floor. Jungle surrounded them; vines crept up on the side of the buildings and other life covered the ground. He couldn't smell anything, but he did feel a cool breeze from the air conditioning wash up against his metal face. Tanis narrowed his eyes and glanced back at his teammates. "Where are we?"

"Ishtar Academy, Venus. We're on Venus. Can you believe it?" Alaura smiled in excitement, flashing her white teeth for a short second. Even though the bad news from earlier stuck around in her mind, she tried to cover it up and move onto more positive things.

Alaura was...smiling. Tanis knew what smiling was, but he couldn't form one. He attempted to move his cheeks, but they were made of a flat metal. He could only move his mouth up and down. He thought it was odd how different he was from his comrades, but he shook the feeling off and continued the conversation normally. "Where were we before?"

Malachi peered at Alaura for a second. She glanced back at him with tired eyes, but her emotionless expression didn't give him any help. She watched him for his reaction, almost as if she were testing him to see if he was loyal to the team. What were they supposed to tell him? The truth? Some little white lie? The gears in his head turned quickly. He was about to answer until he heard screaming from outside of the building.

Tanis eyed Malachi's shifty behavior, but electricity surged through the cords in his brain. It seemed to give him a boost of energy and he seemed to panic, "What's happening?"

Security guards ran towards one side of campus near a huge angel statue in the middle of the quad. The angel had one foot forward and held a horseshoe to the sky. Whatever the meaning, it appeared to be a powerful symbol. "We're going to find out."

The three of them ran out to see a big projector use the side of the building as a screen. Urgent news messages popped up in flashing red text that the trio couldn't read. A newscaster came on and the text fell to the bottom of the screen. " There...there is a dark entity making its way through the solar system." It cut to a live feed of The Darkness swirling through the galaxy, devouring planets in darkness. It moved slowly, but it spread itself out thin enough to cover more space. The newscaster continued, "Everyone stay calm. Evacuations have already started on Jupiter and its moons. Updates will continue as we learn more about what's happening."

All the people in the quad ignored the rest of the news and flipped into panic mode. They all took off running towards the buildings or their vehicles. Things that looked like hover bikes, or Sparrows, as the ghosts called them, zoomed by the trio and the big mob of people. The three of them looked at each other in slight worry and asked simultaneously, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

The ghosts wrestled out of Malachi's jacket and got a breath of fresh air. They peered around and whispered to each other. Most of it was analysis, but some of it was about the situation. Macey and Jarvis exchanged some possibilities. Dinklebot got straight to the point and questioned, "That lady said you have a friend stationed on Mars. We need to get there now."

Alaura's expression dulled and she paled. She wasn't expecting to confront her old team so quickly. She thought she'd have more time to adjust to this new time period and think of something intelligent to say to them. She nodded to the little ghost.

"The first line of defense is going to be stationed at Mars. They don't have enough time to set up one on Jupiter. If we get there early enough, we can try to stop the attack," Jarvis explained and looked around. Macey pointed to one of the big orange jumpships nearby. The ship could go into space and use its hyper-drive to get to the destination quicker. It was one of the newer models that could fit five people rather than one. "Ah, perfect."

Tanis walked to the jumpship after the ghosts rushed over to examine it. A blue light appeared from their eyes and scanned the ship in a grid-like pattern. They talked amongst themselves in excitement until the scan was complete. They couldn't believe the prototype schematics that they had when they arrived at Earth for the first time had been tinkered and evolved into something magnificent. Tanis touched the ship and rubbed his metal fingers along the steel ship. He felt the light running through it, almost like The Traveler blessed it itself. He could now sense the light The Traveler bestowed upon everything, and a sweep of emotions ran through him.

"There. Get in the ship. It's unlocked," Dinklebot declared as the door opened.

Malachi laughed for a short second at the little ghost bossing them around. "You forget that none of us know how to fly this thing. A helicopter is one thing, but not even She Hulk over here can fly this new tech."

Alaura glared at him before stepping foot into the ship. The inside lit up in a white light that glossed over the tan leather upholstery. The console buttons glowed different colors and twinkled on and off. Jarvis came to her defense, "This is our technology. We know how to operate it. We will fly it for you."

They had no other choice but to trust the ghosts. The team needed to get to Mars or lives would be lost. They were the only ones that knew a tiny bit about what was going on, so it was their unofficial duty to help. Sitting back and waiting for the end was an unacceptable fate, and they knew it. They all strapped in and their stomachs churned as the ship took off. The air pressure made their ears pop and they leaned back against their seats, almost like the same experience on a plane. Only this time, they reached for the stars. Literally.

"Well, I'll be damned. You must've walked right out of my dreams because you haven't aged a day," Xavier Jules stated with a slight smirk. His light brown eyes looked Alaura over a few times as if he were puzzled. He creased his forehead and more wrinkles appeared on his dark skin. Alaura could tell he had aged, but whatever treatments he took did wonders to cover up the massive aging.

Alaura snorted and went in for a hug. Xavier opened his arms and welcomed her in, hugging her tightly. She almost laughed, "Xavier, you still say the most sappy lines. I'm glad you didn't change."

"We thought you ditched us for some black ops or something. Clearly you have a new team." Sheyla Yan narrowed her eyes at her previous commanding officer and the two men standing behind her. Her hair appeared freshly dyed brown and seemed to bring life to her pale, aged face. She carefully watched Alaura with her dark eyes. A sense of betrayal hung in them.

Xavier added to that on a lighter note, ignoring the blatant rudeness his teammate displayed, "Yeah. We were pretty lost without you, Petrovich. Martinez isn't half as good as a CO than you were."

Sheyla hit Xavier in the arm. She furrowed her eyebrows and scolded him, "Don't say that about Martinez. At least he's not a deserter."

Alaura hung back when Sheyla didn't greet her with open arms. She completely understood why, but it still hurt her to see a teammate do something like that. They used to be close. Alaura responded with slight sarcasm, "Thanks for the warm welcome, guys." It was just the other day that she saw them. For the team, it had been hundreds of years. "Where's Leroy?"

Xavier glanced away and the smirk disappeared. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight to the other leg. "He...he passed away some time ago."

Alaura's expression fell and she nodded. Not the first time she's had to deal with death. All she could do was compartmentalize and move on, as harsh as that sounded. She couldn't deal with this right now when lives were about to be at stake. "I'm sorry for leaving. Guys...I really am. I can't begin to explain what I've seen..." She trailed off when she spotted Kai Martinez walking towards them with a smile plastered on his face. When they made eye contact, he stopped walking and immediately turned around. Damn. He hasn't aged a whole lot either. Just a few white strands and age lines that I can bug him about.

"Whatever. Tell that to Martinez and he'll tell you what we all think," Sheyla spouted out. She huffed and tried to hide the fact that she was upset. Alaura left all of them in a time of need. Nothing could fix that sort of abandonment. Sheyla walked out and dragged Xavier with her.

Alaura took giant strides to get to Kai, her best friend. His reaction didn't make sense in her mind; she thought he would be the one to run up to her first before anyone else had the chance to. The thought of him losing his mind with grief hung in her mind and the corners of her lips dropped into a frown. "Kai...I'm sorry."

Kai took a deep breath before turning around to face her. His eyes stuck on her as a cold expression swept over his features. His brow furrowed and his cheeks flared red with frustration. He burst out by saying, "Really? You have the audacity to show up now? Hundreds of years have passed since you just up and left. I thought you were dead. I visited your grave thousands of times..."

Kai inhaled sharply and held it for a second before exhaling. He dragged one hand down his cheeks and chin to regain his composure. His eyes screamed of sorrows beyond belief, but his anger and grief got the best of his tongue. "And that's the first thing you're going to say to me? You're sorry? No explanation on why you abandoned your team? Why you abandoned your family? Why you abandoned me?"

None of this was her fault. She didn't plan any of this. She did nothing wrong. The last time she saw him was when he was in the hospital. If it were up to her, she would never have these powers to begin with. Alaura still felt bad, nonetheless. "I'm sorry. I can explain, but it's a little crazy..."

"Sure." Kai huffed and shrugged. His cheeks twitched as he winced and declared with a broken tone, "Why not? I only had to wait hundreds of years in agony just wondering where you were. If you were alive. If you missed me as much as I missed you. You broke my heart and..."

An explosion boomed outside and debris hit the walls. People screamed and shots were fired, the sound echoing against all of the hills in the Mars terrain.