Act One: Houston

Gregor knew the signs, he'd lived through an invasion from Hell before. Usually holed up in the deserts of the American southwest, it didn't take very long for Gregor to make it to Houston after he had heard the Emergency Broadcast signals over his radio. The suburban areas around Houston, at least the ones Gregor had gotten to seemed all but abandoned, the people here probably had more time to evacuate after the city itself had been attacked.

Even as he made his way towards the city, towards more heavily populated areas where all logic would tell him he'd start seeing bodies, there was a strange lack of any death he could see. Was it a false alarm? There was plenty of destruction, but that could just be a riot gone overboard, well below his pay grade as far as Gregor was concerned.

No, this felt different than a riot. It also felt different from the first invasion but similar at the same time. Was there a different goal in mind this time? Gregor continued his way into the city, doing his best to avoid contact with anyone and everyone he could, trying to formulate a plan to deal with whatever was going on. He still had to figure out what that was, though.

Houston wasn't Athena's favorite city she'd been to. She didn't actually have any specific complaints against the city, but something she couldn't put her finger on just made her feel out of place.  People stared more. She tried to tell herself it was only her imagination, but she couldn't help but take notice of exactly how many people were staring, and remember exaclty what their faces looked like. Her abilities of observation were second nature to her. She had come to Houston to do more PR work which she normally resented, but she had actually really enjoyed it for once. She had come to do presentations for classes at River Oaks Elementary School alongside the local police department. virtually all the children thought her cyborg additions were the coolest thing ever and asked all sorts of silly questions and she actually enjoyed talking about her body for once.  Athena was starting to get that being a real hero meant more than saving people from disasters or fighting villains.  "Today was a good day." she thought to herself as she laid down under the heavy comforter of a 4-star hotel bed. She tuned out the relatively quiet police scanner and enjoyed a rare moment of silence before closing her eyes to rest.

Athena's eyes snapped open as her room violently shook and was filled with the eerie sound of a building's structural integrity  being put to the test. She patched in to the local emergency channels only to be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of frantic and conflicting information rushed to fill the silence of her mind. Earthquakes, fires, monsters. The city was in a panic.  It was unlike anything she had experienced before. "What the hell is going on?" She asked herself as she threw off her covers and leaped to her metal feet.  With no time to worry about her own insecurity Athena threw on a pair of black denim pants and a white tank top before affixing her sidearm and collapsed batons to her belt. She rushed out the door to as the building was still shaking, a few confused travelers standing nervously in the hallway in various stages of undress. Athena knew that there were no available emergency personell coming, but she didn't know how long the Houston Hilton was going to be standing.She let off a short blast of the siren built into her new limbs. "Don't panic citizens! Let's head for the stairs in calm and orderly fashion!" She said in a commanding tone, scanning the numerous rooms with her x-ray vision . Evacuating the hotel was a daunting task, with the city's panic growing rapidly.

Though she was able to recruit a number of able-bodied citizens to assist her, Evacuating the hotel had still taken quite some time. As she walked to the street an ashy haze filled the air and She could see fires and smoke rising from downtown. The situation had only escalated, even the military had been called in and had failed to get a hold of the situation. Athena stood in disbelief at the destruction, the blue irides of her eyes widening as she tried unsuccesfuly to see exactly what was going on. Antennae-like white ears poked out amidst short brown hair still messy from laying in bed. The white tank top didn't hide her dull white and black robotic arms at all, but no one was staring at her. Amidst the many thoughts racing through her upgraded brain for a split second a feeling of guilt at all the time she had wished for a chance to prove herself as a hero surfaced before being pushed down. "No time for second guessing, time for Protocol." She said aloud sternly as she raced towards the center of the chaos on foot.

By the time Athena reached downtown most of the people had either been evacuated or were beyond help. "Oh god no..." She exclaimed as she ran past  the body of a woman slain by some unknown and horrific means. "This is insane, this is horrible this is..." She took a deep breath and found her nerve. "This is just like training. I've trained for this." There was no time to stop as she scanned her surroundings for any survivors. She didn't look for long before her attention was captured by a baby crawling through the damaged street, completely nude and somehow unscathed by the chaos and surprisingly calm. Athena thought that was surely a miracle, but there was no chance to dwell on it now.  "Hey little buddy don't worry, Protocol is gonna get you somewhere safe...wherever that is." She bent down and  gently scooped the infant in her arms, who remained so calm Athena was worried he had an injury she couldn't see.  Athena had barely straightened her knees before she heard a call for help from down the street. There was so much smoke in the air it was hard for even her to see far in front of her, but as she raced toward the cry for help's origin she saw  a man that couldn't have been older than thirty laying on his stomach in the street. His left leg was pinned under a steel sign post that had fallen over, completely pulverizing the section of leg it  had fallen on. "Don't worry sir, help has arrived! remain calm." Athena shifted the infant so that it was cradled in her left arm as she slipped her right hand under the heavy solid steel post, straining as she lifted the it with one arm enough that the man was no longer trapped. "I know it hurts, but you have to crawl out." As the man wordlessly used his arms to drag himself out from under the sign post the infant she was no longer paying attention to underwent a sudden and terrible transformation. Its eyes became a solid red color, and claws sprouted from it's tiny fingers as it opened its mouth to reveal a seemingly endless rows of dagger like teeth unevenly set into pale white gums which it greedily sank into Athena's chest.  She cried out in pain and surprise as pain shot through her body and she struggled to keep the sign post lifted and keep hold of the baby, though if she knew better she would have thrown the fledlgling demon far away from her.  Even as she tried to make sense of what was happening her eyes widened as a bizarre figure emerged from the nearest corner.  Plump hairy spider legs carried the body of a giant alligator, maw hanging open.  Where a tail would be there was the bulbous croaking head of a frog. from the center of the alligator's back rose the malformed body of a man, open wounds bleeding noxious fluids from his corpulent body. Where a right arm would be there was only smooth flesh, and his left arm  was lacking any skin at all. The bundle of muscles and bone gripped the corner of a building as it peered around the corner, staring with beady black eyes that were set into the face of an old man with mangy hair hanging haphazardly off his scalp. His face was dominated by a huge mouth that parted in a wicked smile filled with sharp putrid yellow teeth riddled with holes that hissed from passing air as the demon let out a squeal of perverse pleasure. All told the creature stood  at least 7 meters high, and in his frightful presence Athena momentarily forgot about the strange child biting at her flesh and clawing at her metal arms.

Texas did not know how to deal with Danny. The California girl with a bracelet capable of building constructs larger than her Instagram following turned heads upon her arrival. She kept her hair pulled back with a pair of sunglasses, tucking her hair back behind her ears and letting the rest fall about her back. She remained relatively plain in her plaid button down shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. But, plain for Danny still managed to get looks. "Maybe I need a cowboy hat. I can be like- oh what was her name?"

A voice came through her bracelet. Not one she could understand, but the tone pulled upon her. It filled her with a vision. A future sight of the skyline before her cast in flames. A sense of turmoil sweeping through the streets, immolating more than mere thoughts. A deep pit opened within Danny's gut.

Nothing came.

Hours passed and Danny found her way to the museum, executing her responsibility to complete the exhibit before the opening the next day. The time managed to grind away as the steady flow of work found its way to meet the criteria Danny wanted to see. It would be the last thing Danny wanted to see for quite some time.

The vision from the day before stayed with her as she strode through the streets of Houston looking for a good spot for lunch. The burned skylines, the calamity ringing from the screams of the innocent, and the blaring sirens all played out in her head. Or, at least the first two only remained in her head. Actually, make that only the first one.

Sirens and screams filled the air. Danny looked down to her bracelet knowing what she needed to do, but not knowing where or to whom. Those details would answer themselves soon enough. She raced towards the heart of trouble, keeping her eyes on a heavenly figure with pink skin blasting monsters covered in darkness. "Go time."

Danny's clothing wore away into the tunic and battle skirt of her bracelet's form, her cape waving behind her as she made her move towards the middle of the melee. A four foot turquoise box rose in front of her. She bounded it. An eight foot box just beyond the first box. It was no problem for her. More boxes appeared, giving Danny a literal foot up on the demons making their pass to attack Uzma.

Two crossbows emerged on Danny's arms. She glanced at two demons tearing through the skies to take Uzma by the flank. "Watch out!" Danny leaped from her final box, shooting four bolts into each of the demons. Her foot landed on Uzma's head, letting Danny pivot in air to fire a shot just to the side of Uzma's head, catching a demon in the brow as it tried to skewer Uzma from behind.

Falling from thirty feet would not let the ground present Danny with a greet procession, but it would fill her up with some extra energy as she fell. Both of her crossbows shifted into two blades mounted on her forearms. Danny flipped in the air, curling into a ball with both arms outstretched. It tore through the flesh of one demon, but her blade caught awkwardly on the way out. Her form would begin a freefall, no longer aided by the graceful moves brought on by years of cheerleading. This was going to hurt.

Until someone grabbed her, refocused her energy and tossed her to the ground in a way she could tumble to safety. Danny looked up as three demons made a mad dash for her. Her head tilted and shifted a little as her eyes tried to refocus. Two more demons joined the offensive. Danny conjured up a shield and took a breath.

A sword flew towards the demon. A curvature similar to a katana, but not covered in explosives that failed to obstruct the flight curvature, impacted square in the demon leading the wedge. A short fuse finished its trek and covered the area in a bright explosion. Debris and demon matter flew from the epicenter, splashing against Danny's well placed shield.

"Oh hey Danny, what's up. Didn't see you there." The Micheal Jordan of being hot stepped forth. Like, if the entire cast of all the Avengers movies all had a kid with George Clooney, that kid would cry over getting beat 'Are You Hot' in 2002 to this guy. Because that was a fucking show. Fuck. "I was just out doing my thing. I guess you saw that throw and how impressive it was."

"Tengo. Don't. Just. I don't know." Danny stood to her full posture, looking up to the pink alien. "Hey! Sorry for vaulting off of you, but I think I can help you with the energy thing you are doing!" Turquoise constructs would begin to form barriers to corral the demons in more orderly to give Uzma a straight direct shot. "Okami, stop doing the weird thing where you try to flex while standing so it looks like you aren't flexing and help!"

Houston was one hell of a town.

Bars, men, women, anything you can imagine at your beck and call. And Elaine, well … she had a vast imagination. Currently she imagining having more beer in her glass, and look, the answer to her dreams! The bartender filled up her glass, laughing off her grateful cheer. She was a common site here; hell, everytime she visits you can bet she’ll buy enough to booze to pay rent on this place for a month. It was almost worth the repair costs. She, and by extension her parents, were always kind about it, paying for the damage, but the fact of the matter was nearly half the men in town had been hurt by her in some way. And Houston was by no means a small town. As the bartender cleaned the glass, he made damn sure to keep an eye on anyone approaching the drunken blond.

Elaine was completely unaware of the direction of the bartenders, focused on looking out over the crowd. Lots of hot, sweaty bodies- and it was pretty warm too! She giggled drunkenly to herself. Okay … you know, maybe she’s had a little bit too much to drink. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to leave. A shame too, she was lookin’ hot. Her hair was done, falling in fancy curls around her shoulders, a sleek tube of a dress, sparkling black and green, clung to her body, heels on her feet; she had really gotten dressed up for this. Oh, well. Seemed a real shame to go home without a little somethin’ somethin’, but really, the world was spinning. She did not want to experience waking up with two ugly guys in her bed. Not again.

So she stumbled outside - and really stumbled, she accidentally dented their door and the bartender sighed - and flopped out onto the street, skidding on her butt onto the sidewalk. It didn’t hurt, not really, but the line waiting outside laughing at her. And for a second, she was really tempted to throw them all into the sun, but she decided against it. She was a cop, and besides there were witnesses. Several of them … huh, who knew there were this many twins in town? Maybe there was a convention town? … huh, no posters up and- she fell again. Yup, they were laughing. Completely her fucking fault though, so she couldn’t do anything but walk off with her cheeks flushing.

God, these shoes were killer. Even when you have bulletproof skin, heels hurt to walk in. It had only been ten minutes and she had to duck into an alleyway to take them off and rub her heels. It was quiet, secluded, the perfect place to catch her breath. She was feeling nauseous anyway. It took several deep breaths to stabilize her nausea, and even then she wasn’t sure she’d make it home. It was still several miles away! Now, her running could get her there in just a couple minutes, but honestly moving that fast right now would throw her completely off. There was nothing for it, she was going to have to call him. God. She could only imagine the words she’d have for him. Honestly she’d rather face the end of the world than her father one more time.

Suddenly, the world shook, and Elaine was tossed on her ass again.

”Well, this dress is done for …”

She stood up and with a grimace looked around her. Good, she wasn’t the only one who felt it. Or, well, not good, but at least she wasn’t so drunk she was hallucinating. That always sucks. Nope, this was something very different, and then in that second there was … was a pulse, of something, and it shook her to her very core. Fear, something she was definitely not used to feeling, trickled in and in that second a cascade of sparks surrounded her, briefly lighting up the dark alley, and when it cleared she was in a suit of armor, the helmet held under her arm. A sword was sheathed on her hip, and a shield was on her back. She was ready for … for … oh, gods be damned, were those demons?!

They came pouring out of holes in the sky itself, creatures that could only be described as monstrous. They had a plan, a modus operandi, killing everyone the came across, scattering blood and entrails across the ground like a Jackson Pollock painting. Screaming, buildings collapsing, cars on fire screaming down the ride like the highway to hell- it was chaos, and Elaine hated chaos. She was torn, she should get home, protect her parents, but then so many people needed her help. She was the only one here, the only one who could help them, the only who could prevent his rampage. The body of a man was thrown into the dumpster next to her and she was galvanized into action.

Really, there was no other choice.

Suddenly green light poured from her, Lostitae Molior pouring it’s energy forth. The glowing green gauntlet flared and three blasts of energy took the heads off three demons, freeing the humans they were terrorizing. She didn’t have time to ensure their safety; with a metallic hiss, she freed her blade from the scabbard, the arming blade gleaming with purpose. The helmet flashed green for a second, and then it was on her head and while the green sparks were still falling in front of her face, she ran forward, two quick strokes ending the life of a particularly ugly demon. NO time for words, she spun and unleashed a barrage of energy to tear apart a flying demon. It crashed into the ground, leaving a huge gouge in the immaculate streets, but no time to worry about that. Another barrage ensured it would stay down, and then she focused her attention towards the other demons. Another trio of blasts took out three more, but they kept coming.

She had to find the source.

Platforms rose in the air; every second she killed three more, but they kept coming, for every one she killed two more replaced it, and she climbed higher, the platforms disappearing and appearing as quickly as thought. Soon she was above the city, and then saw it; a towering mass of flesh pinning a- she was off, landing with a roll on the rooftop and then she jumped again, flipping and landing with crouched knees. The cape fanned out behind her, the symbol of her mother glistening with silk. The metal armor, green and black, shined with the blood of demons and the horned helmet jutted proudly towards the sky. Slowly, she sheathed the sword.

”You okay, there?”

She glanced back at the- at the holy shit, was she a robot? No, not the time, time for questions later. The visor hid her shocked reaction, but she was quickly back on. Three blasts of energy slammed into the knee- er, at least where a knee should be - and with that destruction, she yanked the cyborg up onto her feet.

”No time for pain. Run or fight, your choice, but make yourself target.”

Then ignoring her, she jumped in the air, aiming straight for the maw of the demon. She was aiming to punch it in the face, but then, it might have other plans ...

Gregor, Uzma, Danny/Okami

Punches. Energy beams. Dynamite swords. They all tore through demons in unique and special ways. And, they would continue to tear through them as wave after wave of demon would descend upon the quadruple holding themselves in the city center. While the pawns moved into their position to fall, their bishop swung in to take stage.

Sunlight still cascaded off the side of the commerce quarter skyscrapers, aiding the solar powered heroine and her super hot best friend. But, it began to fade. The sun began to lose its place in the sky behind a massive blackening. All light began to fade from the city center. Echoing the arrival of a creature fade of pure darkness, standing fifty feet tall with eight giant legs and a two arms crafting a web between its fingers.

It began to sling its black webs towards each of the heroes while a host of spiders ran from the tubules within the demon's legs.

Athena and Elaine

The sun began to disappear. And with it, arose the darkest of demons.

A sprawling creature seeping an oily substance made its way towards the duo. Broken lamp posts shot out jolted sparks, igniting small trails behind the creature. The fires burned, but only with an intensity allowed by the trivial size of their pool.

In the wake of the giant, three flying demons with the body of twenty foot long hornets made their way towards Elaine and Athena. They maintained a safe distance from the battle while spraying the field with a dense sap to ensnare those below.

Suddenly Athena felt the weight of the light post disappear as a blur of green and black got the injured man to relative safety.  She dropped it to the ground before tearing the creature that no longer resembled a human child off her chest, orange-tinted blood staining her top as she frustratedly threw the toothy creature away from her, white hot pain sending jagged signals through her nerves.   She had panicked.  Her cybernetic brain was capable of performing processes faster than any human and she had used it to panic faster. She stood frozen as the shining hero rushed past.   "Run or Fight" She said simply as she continued with no hesitation. Like a hero, Athena thought to herself.  Something she thought of herself as until this very moment.

Athena was afraid. So much information was streaming in. An entire nation was panicking. Her mind allowed her to think of so many things in the single moment as she watched the armored hero's fist collide with the large demon.  That image was superimposed over every frightening thought, a hero's first colliding with a monster cape flowing behind. She didn't know where her father was. She wanted to know he was okay. She didn't know what these monsters were. She had already failed to help so many people. So many voices were in her head.  The military was mobilizing. This was something terrible. Something like what happened in New York City, that they held memorials for every year. Athena couldn't remember that tragedy but she remembered the look in her father's e yes every time it was on the television. A look of such sadness, that somehow frightened Athena though she'd never understood why.  This was war.  The city of Houston didn't need a young police officer. "No time for pain." Athena's facial muscles tightened up as she squeezed the quiet words through her once quivering lips. "No more fear." her voice picking up, no longer I whishper.  Houston didn't need Athena. "My name is Protocol!" She yelled out at the armor-clad hero as her fist collided with the monster's face, sending it flying back and to the ground as Protocol whipped around to face the new arrivals.  From the base of her ears beneath her messy hair dark-tinted translucent material sprang forth , each meating in the middle to form a thin visor in front of her eyes.  This was part of being a hero too. There was a reason for the weapons built into her body. "I will fight!" She yelled as she raised her right arm in the air, her hand disassembling itself into thin pieces that dissapeared into her expanding wrist. The metal prosthetic split apart into plates and widened, becoming a cannon rested on the palm of her left hand.

A faint blue light glowed behing the tinted visor as Athena's cybernetic eyes zoomed in on the grotesque giant wasps  flying through the sky. A much brighter blue glow filled the chamber of her arm cannon as she prepared to fire three shots each using a third of a powercell.  Their flight was erratic, but Protocol quickly predicted their most likely paths through the air and fired three succesive shots of pulsating blue energy through the air. Two of the imsects were struck dead-on and flew apart in pieces, but the third hadn't taken the most likely flight path and flew out of Protocol's line of sight as the energy blast blew past it in the air. She had no time to look for it, as the pulsating oily monstronsity close the distance between them surprisingly quickly. She truly felt no fear as she lowered her arm-cannon in front of an expressionless face to point at the beast and began charging a powerful blast.

Okami left.

"Okay, first we need to- oh wow, you're really pretty. You have great cheeks and your eyes really sparkle. You can do way better than- oh wait, where did Okami go!" Before Danny could get an answer, she saw Uzma lift into the sky and rain down another bolt towards a giant wolf spider. No, wait demon spider. It just had a wolf going to attack it. "I got your front if you got my back alien uh- I really need to learn names!"

"I'm going to go out and try and stab the spider in the head. I think I can ride the lion dog, um, dire wolf? Is that a dire wol- I'm going to ride that, and you two just shoot everything that tries to get in my way. Got it?"

The chattering of spiders would begin to try and accost the shield put up by Uzma, but instead of running blindly into it, they began to weave a web around it to trap the heroes inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okami came back.

Diving from a hundred yards in the air, Okami put the business end of his sword out in this best prediction of an interception path he could come up with. "This is!" Fifty more yards and Okami was dropping like a rock. "Going to be!" Twenty five yards and everything looked just fine. "Is she charging up a blue thing for like- oh, I get it now."

Okami tore right through the demon a split second before the pulse from the energy beam would shoot out to tear through the remaining demon hornet. Okami stood up and brushed himself off with one hand. Then he looked down and saw his other arm on the ground ten meters away. He turned his head to look over to the partially severed arm still attached to his shoulder. "Hey there little guy!" He waved to his stump and then wiggled his stump as a show of solidarity.

Trudging through the oil, Okami grabbed his detached arm and walked over to Athena, holding out his severed arm to shake her hand. "I'm Okami. Tengo Okami. Space Pirate. From another dimension." He sniffed the air for a moment. "Glad I didn't use the dynamite sword. That probably would have- hey, how charged is that energy gun you got, because you just fired it at a field full of oil."

Uzma, Danny/Miri

The walls would only protect the heroes inside for so long. While the mass of insects would begin seeing their numbers die as the shield remained in tact, they would opt for a different strategy, creating a cocoon around the heroes inside, cutting them off from the fight.

Athena/Okami

The oil around the field would begin to burn, but the turmoil created in the wake would not poise as large of a threat as a massive flying hive making its way for the center of the district. Hundreds of small drones began to pour from the sides of the ship as the drones began to descend upon a building pulsing with a purple hue.