Outside war still raged, they could hear it thrumming through the walls and into the air , but for now they were safe, no more creatures scuttled from the walls, and the body of the void mother had already begun to dissolve, crumbling to ash at the feat of the massive, armored warrior carrying its shining spear.

The townsfolk huddled together, children and mothers at the middle, teenagers surrounding them, mixed evenly with the elderly population while strong, young, or experienced adults held the outer line . They were a grizzled and bedraggled lot despite their ideal having lasted less than seventy two hours , but the hollow eyes of the children was enough.

The figure turned to look at them a soft glow emanating from its body, and despite its size and imposing nature there was something soft and reassuring about the way it moved. As it walked towards them the air was filled with a sudden sense of calm. Children stopped whimpering, bodies relaxed, grips while still firm, no longer shook.

"Who are you?" Someone asked, an anonymous voice in a sea of faces.

In response the visor and helmet retracted backwards over the face, and what remained of the city crowd gasped in shock and surprise.

"You!"

"How, why are you... here?"

"That is a bit complicated."

***

The surgical room was dead silent for a single moment as the heart monitor went flat, an entire team of doctors standing in a wide circle and staring at the monitor as Krill stood at the head of the room. Up in the observation windows a hundred, students family and others stood in shock and concern. Krill's usually steady hands shook as he stepped away from the body.

He had killed him.

He had killed his best friend.

The other doctors surged forward, finally breaking the silence, reaching out to touch the waiting body. Lord Celex held out a hand, "Wait!" but it was too late, one of the doctors reached out to place a hand on Adam's arm and suddenly yelped in pain, drawing his hand back in shock and confusion.

Another doctor did the same hand going red from the heat.

It was just then that Adam's body began to glow, the skin on his face and hands most visible. ON his body the clothing he wore began to smoke. With shock one of the doctors raced out of the room searing for a fire extinguisher while the others drew back in confusion. Behind him, the heart machine flickered beeped, and then began to shed sparks. All around them light began to flicker, and then with a sharp pop and a sudden shedding of sparks the room went dark.

Dark accept for the figure sitting I the middle of the room.

Voices rose in confusion, the doctors backed themselves into the walls as the body began to seize. First it was the fists and the leg both flexing violently. Golden light spilled from his skin past the dark shadow of veins now prominent in his forearms which strained against the restraints that bound him in place. The surgical chair groaned, and then his upper arm restraint sapped, followed closely by the others.

His hands gripped the seat now, back arching while his head was held in place.

Where his hands gripped the seat metal deformed and bent under his hands .

All the lights had gone out but the room was lit as if by mid-day.

Krill was the only one who hadn't yet backed away. Even Celex had taken a minute step back.

Krill reached forward hands flailing in confusion as he tried to figure out what to do. He didn't dare touch Adam, but the cranial vice was beginning to moan with the effort of holding him in place. If he were to tear those pins out, he could break or fracture his skull. Just as he thought this, Krill watched in shock and surprise as the cranial pins holding the vice in place, dropped one by one to the floor, pushed out of the head by some inexplicable force.

The room continued to brighten.

Krill was rooted to his spot.

"Krill!"

He was almost blinded.

And then soemthing cut in front of him, grabbing him around the chest and forcing him back against the wall.

That is when the explosion happened.

Luckily it was small, a discharge of light and force powerful enough only to knock them back a pace or two. The body between krill and the force grunted in surprise, but bore the brunt of the pressure change for Krill, who was grateful. The room was filled with noise as surgical tools and treys flew a foot forward before tipping over spilling their contents all over the ground.

And then the light went out.

The room muttered in confusion, someone choked off the first of a burgeoning scream.

And then

The hospital generator took over.

The room's main lights had exploded but, machines began to blink on, and up on the viewing platform, the lights were returned to a dim sort of glow which filtered down into the surgical suite. Shattered glass littered the floor around where the surgical lamp had stood , and at the center, illuminated in the soft light from above.

Sat Adam.

Alive and breathing.

The room leaned forward in anticipation.

Krill pushed Lord Celex aside and stood.

"Adam?"

The man lifted his head slowly as if recovering from a daze, and when he did his single eye glowed faintly in the dim light. The once glowing orange pathways cut through his veins by the void sickness had been replaced by delicate golden light. When he spoke, he didn't exactly speak, and the entire room thrummed with the mental wave as he said, "hurry, we don't have much time."

***

Ramirez had taken the bridge of the Empyrian, Simon and Koslov and others had their ships, all poised above the glittering blue curvature of earth. Even from here they could see the influence of the void spreading across the face of the planet, marked by swaths of sickly glittering red and white, like an infected wound. Inside, in the Empyrean Airlock a thousand men and women readied themselves for battle in suits of glittering armor gold with Maker energy.

They stood in neat orderly lines, waiting They were nervous, some even scared, but none of them thought about backing down. Each one was equipped with a jetpack, each one had a full facemask, and each one was ready to die if that's what it took.

Orbital Assault Troops ready to deploy for the first time in history.

The door at the far end of the cargo hold opened, and the entire room straightened as Adam vir stepped onto the deck. His boots thudded hard against the metal under the weight of his Massive SE armor, which glowed continually with maker light. The once mat black paintjob had been stripped clean and bleached white causing him to glow like a beacon as he stepped onto the deck. In the SE armor he stood nearly a foot above everyone else, and behind him walked his entourage.

Sunny walked at his right hand, King James at his left followed closely by Maverick and an assortment of other SE soldiers.

Sunny glanced at Adam every now and again her concern for him evident but unvocalized. The rest of the room leaned forward in a similar curiosity. He walked with a purpose strides long and even.

"Earth's surface has seen a corruption rate of approximately 36 percent. The rate is estimated to start increasing exponentially within an hour if the spread is to hit major cities along the easter seaboard. "

Adam stopped, watching as the blast doors began to open. Before them, nothing but a thin barrier of energy separated him from the vacuum of space. Light crept up from the floor to shine off their visors as the sun began to rise behind earth's curve.

Sunny turned her head to look at Adam, a question written across her face.

Did he want to say something?

Adam thought about it for a moment then simply reached up and snapped his visor shut, "Lets not keep them waiting."

And so began an Iron storm.

Ramirez dropped the ship low into upper atmosphere, and Adam was the first to move branching himself against the ground he leapt through the waiting opening. For a moment he hung suspended, caught between atmosphere and void with the whole earth splayed out before him. A beam of sunlight burst over earth's curve brightening him with a flash of blinding light that dominated the night sky.

But then gravity took him, with that he locked his feet together down below him, pencil straight, and crossed his arms over his chest. His stomach lurched into his throat as he began to fall accelerating like a meteorite straight into the upper atmosphere. Behind him others began to jump and together they blazed a trail of fire across the sky as their bodies hit first wind resistance.

Adam felt the jolt an the sudden pressure rolling up through his body, and watched as fire licked across his torso. The outside metal of his armor began to heat glowing a cheery cherry red as friction slowed his fall. Inside his very bones rattled. Adam kept his jaw clenched tight, maneuvering himself down towards the greatest red patch of spreading void infection. The patch so small when seen from above, began to blossom in his vision, a horrid landscape of death and decay spreading out across the face of earth like a growing ulcer.

And at its epicenter.

Orion Mericanda.

His childhood home.

The fire had died away now, and he rolled forward, straightening himself into a headfirst dive towards the ground. Inside his armor the Fealty AI finally awoke, alive and hungry powered by Maker energy to the point where it was hardly an AI any longer. Little red dots flashed in his vision, as fealty began marking them,

They would not avoid resistance as it seemed.

The first Void Kree didn't know what hit exploding in a burst of feathers and icor as Adam sliced straight through it.

And then all hell broke loose, he was knocked to the side as two Kree came slamming into him from the left, and he was knocked partially off his trajectory. He spun and twisted in mid air before raising his arm, body thrumming with energy as Maker energy fired from his forearm cannon, vaporizing two kree. The air around him was rocked with explosions, thousands of them popping and erupting with thunderous waves of sound and pressure.

The Void was not without tis defenses.

Bodies flailed as they fell from the sky caught in the explosions thrown like ragdolls through the air. Inside his helmet fealty lit up his screen in red, before Adam knew what he was doing, he raised his hands. He felt the energy course through him in a wave as Adam and void missile collided. The burst of energy was so powerful it knocked everything back a hundred feet or more with an eruption of white light that lit up the sky just as dawn was beginning to break over the mountains. Adam continued to fall flipping onto his back and letting off a barrage of energy back and up towards his companions. Missiles and kree alike erupted before they could hit their targets.

Another Kree latched onto Adam's helmet, and the two spun together in a careening circle through the air until Adam threw the Kree headlong into the path of another, snapping both their spines in the process. Ordinance continued to rattle in the air, somewhere he prayed Sunny had made it.

"Hold you fire, friendlies incoming."

Adam heard the roar before he saw them, six jets in formation streaked below him painting the sky and waiting Kree in an cloud of bullets. One of the jets was not so lucky, impacting a kree along the right wing which broke off. In less than a second the jet tore itself apart and erupted in a ball of flame just as the ejection seat deployed the pilot.

He was safe for only a moment before an explosion rocked him sideways and his parachute shredded.

The man began to fall.

Adam sharpened himself into a dive as the remaining jets took another round.

The ejection chair spun and began to rotate violently.

Adam blew another missile out of the sky before intercepting the chair knocking them into a tight spin which he ignored as he ripped the pilot from his seat. The man was half passed out with the strain of the G forces. Adam slowed and the chair spun below them.

With pilot tucked under one arm Adam rolled to the side to avoid another Kree before blasting it to piece .

Below them the sickly red landscape was all consuming. Fire and debris rained from above.

All across the globe similar scenes would be unfolding.

And then

Adam turned, feet facing towards the ground and sharply igniting his jetpack engine, There was a sudden jolt, a sudden slowing, and he impacted the ground at speeds that would have broken the average human's legs. Below him the asphalt on what remained of town square cracked and fractured as he trove his knee into the concrete. A shock wave rolled up through his legs. Dust and smoke rose u p around him as Adam slowly stood rom his kneeling position, to set the dazed pilot gently on his feet.

As soon as the man was out of his arms, Adam reached back and pulled out his spear, which snicked into place with a satisfying click.

This wasn't over yet.