Filled with new determination, the interns reserved a simulation room for Friday. They still had plenty of time to practice, as the small-scale combat situations in their assigned galactic sector were not escalating to hero-level intervention. The same attendant from their last visit saluted them on the way in.
Lunai gave him a thumbs up and a confident grin. “You know the drill, but this time, tell the machine we know the ship’s layout from the beginning. Security cameras have also been disabled already.”
“Wow, you sure you wanna make it that much easier?” He leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head.
She looked flustered. “N-no! We’re trying to make the simulation more realistic. Bliss told us we virtually never enter a situation without existing information.”
He laughed. “Just messing with you. To be honest, I was confused about what you were trying to do. The mission was extremely difficult without intel, but you also put it on easy mode.”
Once more into the machine, the walls melted away to expose the void of space. Lunai and Argalax were suddenly filled with the knowledge of a small ship’s layout. They also knew the location of an entrance to the ship that would be easily accessible. They looked around and saw the target vessel flying nearby. The simulation started with the flight setting activated on their suits and they closed the space between them and the ship. Luna carefully weaved around the hull, trying to avoid any windows. She located the entryway and beckoned Argalax to follow her.
When they entered the halls, they were met with silence. Lunai stretched her arms to reach the ceiling, pulling herself up and flattening her body to hide from wandering patrols. Argalax melted into the wall and waited for groups of crew members to pass by. Lunai slithered along the ceiling to reach the control room, slithering through the cracks in the door. She held a safe spot on the ceiling in the back of the room. Argalax extended a puddle of his own body to encircle the legs of passing patrols. When they fell over, he would use his body to manipulate the metal flooring, pulling it over their bodies to trap them in place. Once the halls were clear, he went for the captured humans. Four guards stood around the large room, where several groups of humans huddled together on the floor. They pulled the children present closer as Argalax busted through the door.
The closest guard raised his blaster. “Raiders on the ship! Take him down, don’t hit the assets!”
Bullets started racing towards him. The humans screamed at the sound of them hitting metal; the children covered their ears. Argalax shielded himself with his arms, limiting the damage to his distal limbs. He separated the left arm from his body and hurled it at the furthest guard in the room. It knocked the man over and his weapon pointed at the ceiling, firing a shot off into the roof. Argalax cursed under his breath, knowing he needed to be more careful. One shot to the hull of the ship would be okay, but it could be damaged if enough bullets hit it at once. He flew above the humans to reach the downed guard and once again used the metal floor to trap him.
The remaining guards seemed hesitant to fire while he was so close to the humans. Even so, he knew it was not becoming of a hero to use them as human shields. He decided to ascend to the ceiling, proceeding to melt into it. The guards stared up in confusion with their weapons ready. Thin lines of metal descended from the ceiling and wrapped around the weapons of the three remaining guards. Argalax pulled up with great force and fixed the guns to the roof with a metal seal. He separated his body from the roof and returned to the ground. All three guards put their hands up in surrender, no longer able to defend themselves. Argalax calmly restrained them to the wall.
“Is everyone in here alright?” he asked the humans.
They looked around at each other, and one nervously replied. “Yes, none of us are hurt.”
“Excellent. Do not be afraid, I am a hero sent from the Galactic Security Agency. I’ve boarded this ship with my colleague, and we are here to rescue all of you.”
The humans murmured amongst themselves. Many sounded happy and optimistic, but there were some skeptics in the crowd. They were afraid of the infiltration going wrong and leading to more harm than good for them. Argalax opened his CellPulse and sent an agreed upon signal to Lunai.
Still hiding on the ceiling, Lunai felt three soft taps on her wrist. The device was transmitting the signal from Argalax that meant he secured the human captives. She smiled and began her assault. She decided to go for the captain of the ship first, as he posed the greatest combat threat. Taking him out could lead to the surrender of everyone else in the room, especially since they would not want to leave the ship’s controls to fight. She crawled forward until she was just behind him, then slowly lowered herself to the floor.
Thin roots emerged from her fingers and slowly reached for the captain’s head. They started to circle around the back of his head to reach his forehead, gently landing on his skin. He felt the light tapping on his face and lifted his hand to feel what was there. Before he could register the rough bark he touched, the roots pierced into his skull. They penetrated deeper until they reached his brain.
At this point, Lunai realized that she had no idea what species the ship’s crew was. She always targeted the reticular activating system, the part of the brain that keeps an animal awake. This was typically located in the brain stem, but it could vary between species. The location of the brain stem varied as well, so she was essentially going in blind. She needed to act fast, so she decided to do the most general thing she could that typically didn’t result in death for the target. Using her suit for a jolt of energy, she zapped his brain and caused a generalized seizure. The captain fell to the ground and started convulsing. Lunai turned him on his side for safety as the two crew members at the controls turned to look at the commotion.
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Still holding the captain on his side, Lunai addressed them. “Don’t worry about him, he will most likely be just fine. I’m going to take control of this ship, so I suggest everyone here just continues with business as usual to get us where we need to go. Is that alright will you?”
The workers nodded fearfully and turned back to their controls. Lunai ordered the navigator to put in new coordinates to one of the rescue hubs for the GSA. She had the ship set to use burst speed to get as far away from the current area as they could. The ship accelerated and there was a quick jolt as they jumped to a new area. They weren’t far from the rescue hub now and they reached their destination in ten minutes.
The ship landed on a small metal planet. They entered a shipyard built by the GSA. When they stopped, the ship was boarded by more agents. They escorted the humans as well as the apprehended crew members out of the ship. Lunai and Argalax were greeted by a simulated agent who thanked them for their work.
A familiar voice returned to them. “You have successfully completed the human trafficking rescue mission. When you exit the simulation area, your attendant will provide you with the grade calculated for this mission. Thank you for using the Standardized Situation Station, we hope you return soon.”
They opened their eyes and found themselves back in the metal cylinder. The doors slid open and they returned to the attendant.
He looked at his screen while talking. “Looks like you guys scored a B for this one. Not bad for your first success. Says here the biggest thing to work on is the safety of the civilians.”
“Yes, that is my fault. My fight with the guards in the cargo room put the humans in danger.” He hung his head in shame.
Lunai put her hand on his shoulder. “You heard him, we did good for our first mission! I think you had the harder job after all.”
“Thanks for coming back, you two. You’re always welcome to return to my station. By the way, my name is Uvolti. If you want to reserve a room in advance you can find my name on the website.”
They thanked him for his work and returned to the resident room. Bliss was sleeping at his desk.
“I think he’s been having trouble sleeping lately, we should let him rest,” she whispered to Argalax.
She carefully leaned over him to check his computer, just in case he received any important notifications. CheetahChat was free of new consults or mission updates for him. If anything new came in she could wake him up, but she thought he deserved some rest for the time being. The interns got back on their computers and started monitoring active situations by themselves. An hour passed before they started hearing movement coming from Bliss’s desk. They looked over and saw him twitching in his sleep and wincing his eyes as if he were in pain. He started scratching at his skin, digging his nails deeper until he managed to start peeling a chunk of it away. Lunai immediately ran over and started shaking him awake.
“Bliss, stop it! Wake up!”
He opened his eyes and saw the two interns by his side. Lunai looked terrified. He sat up and noticed a sting coming from his arm. His opposite hand moved to cover the wound, and he quickly switched forms to heal the damage.
He stood up and addressed the interns. “Sorry about that, did you guys just get back?”
Lunai shook her head. “No, we got back an hour ago. We didn’t want to bother you, so we let you sleep.”
“What?” His face went pale. “You just… You just sat here and watched me sleep?”
Lunai could tell he was upset. “Um… I wouldn’t say we watched or anything. We just left you alone while we monitored active situations. I made sure you didn’t miss anything important!”
“You looked at my computer?!”
She looked down at her feet. “Uh… Yes. Just as much as I needed to check for alerts.”
He put his palm to his forehead. “Ok look, I don’t know what ideas you have about our relationship, but I am your senior. I am your mentor. I am responsible for you. We are not friends casually hanging out. Falling asleep at work is my own fault, but that is a completely inappropriate reaction.”
She started fidgeting with her hands. “I understand, I’m sorry. I just thought… You seemed tired, I thought you needed to rest and it wasn’t worth waking you up.”
Her genuine words didn’t land the way she thought they would. Bliss’s face turned from exasperation to something darker. He looked haunted and furious at the same time.
“Lunai, I am not your project. My life is mine and mine alone. You are not my mother, my big sister, or my caretaker. If I were someone else, if I were Surfrista, you would never have done this.”
“That’s not true! I’m always trying to be considerate, if Argalax fell asleep I wouldn’t wake him unless it was necessary!”
“I’M NOT! I’m not talking about Argalax.” His voice started in a yell but quieted through the sentence. “A senior hero, your senior. You would not let your senior ignore you.”
He walked to the door and opened it.
“I think you two should leave for the day.” He gestured for the door.
Lunai wanted to protest, but she figured she had said enough already. She felt bad about getting Argalax getting kicked out too, but saying more would likely just further upset Bliss. The two of them quietly left the room. Silence hung over them as they both walked to the exit of the building.
Honestly, I think I have overstepped my bounds. From the beginning I’ve felt somewhat protective towards him. He looks so young even compared to the interns. He’s right that I feel like a big sister. Most people in the galaxy tower over him in size, he must be used to being looked down on, even by people who want the best for him.
She turned to Argalax once outside. “I’m so sorry about that, I should’ve just apologized and shut my mouth. I can definitely see why he was unnerved that we didn’t wake him up, he is human after all.”
He put his hands up in assurance. “No, no. I don’t blame you at all. I just hope this won’t affect our mission on Monday. Maybe Sir Jelly can help mediate a discussion once we succeed.”
“I think Bliss is professional enough that it won’t be an issue, at least not during the mission. It would be nice to have Sir Jelly’s help repairing the work relationship.”
They tried to take their minds off Bliss’s outburst as they walked home. Lunai started talking about Cromble and showing Argalax various pictures of her. She went straight for her computer when she returned home, opening Legend remotely to monitor active situations. If anything happened and Bliss decided he needed help with a situation, she’d be prepared. Unfortunately for her, the rest of the day went by without incident. There was a whole weekend in front of her before she would face Bliss again.
He’s probably just going to act like nothing happened on Monday. That’s probably not healthy, but I think it’s best to wait on actually talking about anything until the mission is done. I don’t want to risk making things worse.
Lunai spent her weekend neurotically obsessing over going to work on Monday. She bounced between worrying about the mission and worrying about Bliss hating her, then she started worrying about how Bliss hating her would affect the mission. It took her hours to fall asleep Saturday night, so she worried about being sleep-deprived on Monday. She had to inject herself with sleeping medicine on Sunday to ensure she got enough sleep.
She woke up on Monday hearing her heart pounding in her chest. Cromble chirped at the foot of her bed and nuzzled her feet. She got up and started her morning routine in a trance, barely comprehending the world around her.
One foot after another, she approached the office building and resident room. Bliss sat at his computer as usual, looking unbothered by Lunai’s entrance. She sat next to him, uncharacteristically quiet. Her computer booted up, and she opened the current report on the infiltration mission. It was now time to excessively review the notes about the ship and all the pointers Dr. Crux gave her. Within the hour, her team would be infiltrating an enemy armada.
I am not ready, I am so not ready, I am going to fuck this all up!
She was ready.
Superhero ? Action ? Drama
ARK — Volume 1
Who does an old soldier follow when he's left without direction?
What does the world's first superhero do when his biggest obstacle is his own family?
Where can a boy be safe when there's nowhere left to hide?
Earth has always been a nexus of incredible power—dormant too long. Devils, aliens, superpowers, and energies beyond comprehension: the world is overdue, and it's about to become everyone's problem.
Series focus
ARK Volume 1 follows the origins of a diverse cast fighting to grow, learn, and survive as an expansive superhero universe erupts around—and because of—them.
Readers can expect
- Multiple POVs destined to collide
- Drama, tragedy, action, comedy, and slice-of-life
- A steady burn of ever-escalating conflict as the mundane becomes extraordinary