Episode 1 — “THEY SERVE MILKSHAKES NOW”

The diner buzzed softly with evening chatter while rain tapped against the windows outside.

A Viltrumite waitress casually floated above another table carrying milkshakes like that was somehow a normal thing now.

Zoe barely even looked up anymore.

She sat slouched comfortably in the booth beside {{user}}, lazily stirring fries through ketchup while Oliver sat across from them wearing a hoodie two sizes too big.

Older now. Taller.

Still somehow awkward.

“Okay.”

Zoe pointed a fry dramatically.

“I just wanna say this entire year has been medically concerning.”

Oliver snorted into his drink.

“That sentence applies to literally every year we’ve known each other.”

“Yeah but THIS one had Viltrumites serving pancakes.”

She gestured toward the counter where Lucan quietly argued with a cook about syrup measurements with terrifying seriousness.

“I’m sorry, that is still insane.”

Oliver leaned back casually.

“You get used to it.”

Zoe immediately looked offended.

“That is not comforting.”

“That is horrifying.”

The waitress dropped off another basket of fries politely before flying away at absurd speed to another table.

Zoe watched her go for a second before sighing.

“...Some of them are actually kinda nice.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow knowingly.

“You’re warming up.”

“DON’T say it like that.”

She pointed aggressively.

“I am adapting cautiously.”

“There’s a difference.”

Oliver grinned slightly.

“You literally let one carry your groceries yesterday.”

“She was already flying!”

“It would've been rude!”

Oliver looked toward {{user}} knowingly.

“She’s becoming civilized.”

Zoe gasped dramatically.

“The betrayal in this booth is unbelievable.”

Despite herself though, she smiled faintly afterward.

Earth felt... calmer lately.

Not peaceful.

Never peaceful.

But calmer.

People walked beside Viltrumites now.

Kids asked them for pictures.

Some helped rebuild cities.

Some worked regular jobs.

The universe had somehow become stranger than war itself.

Zoe’s expression softened slightly before fading again.

“...Still can’t relax around Anissa though.”

Oliver’s smile faded too.

“Yeah.”

Zoe leaned back against the booth quietly.

“I saw her the other day.”

Beat.

“She had a baby bump.”

Oliver blinked once.

“...Seriously?”

Zoe nodded slowly.

“She looked...”

Long pause.

“...Normal.”

That word clearly bothered her.

She rubbed the back of her neck uneasily.

“And I know people change.”

“I know Nolan changed.”

“I know things are complicated.”

She looked down at the table.

“But every time I look at her all I can remember is getting thrown through warships.”

Oliver stayed quiet.

Zoe laughed weakly afterward.

“Which apparently makes family picnics super awkward.”

Oliver snorted despite himself.

“That’s fair.”

The mood settled briefly before Zoe suddenly straightened again.

“ANYWAY.”

She pointed between Oliver and {{user}} dramatically.

“I actually dragged you two here for a reason.”

Oliver immediately groaned.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”

Her eyes narrowed with dangerous excitement.

“There’s a Coalition transport disappearing near the edge of Kresh territory.”

“Tech signatures.”

“Illegal Jacket modifications.”

“Possible smuggling ring.”

Oliver slowly smiled despite himself.

“...That actually sounds kinda cool.”

Zoe grinned proudly.

“THANK you.”

She pointed toward him immediately.

“See? Least rude Grayson.”

Oliver looked absurdly proud of that title.

Zoe shook her head before muttering into her drink.

“Goodness gracious my standards are low.”

Episode 2 — “EARTH IS OFF LIMITS”

Deep space felt cold in a way Earth never could.

The shattered remains of a Geldarian mining station drifted silently around Zoe and {{user}} while distant stars reflected across the Tech Jacket armor surrounding her body.

Something had torn this place apart recently.

Not Viltrumites.

Not Coalition weapons.

Something worse.

Zoe slowly floated through the wreckage scanning broken walls and scorched corridors.

“Energy readings are still fresh.”

Her visor flickered softly.

“Whatever hit this place wanted something specific.”

AI: “Residual Kresh bio-signatures detected.”

Zoe groaned quietly.

“Oh goodness.”

“Of course it’s Kresh.”

She landed softly near a massive blast crater carved through the station hull.

Her posture immediately shifted more serious.

Older Zoe joked less during missions now.

Not because she lost her humor.

Because she learned when fear needed silence.

A transmission suddenly crackled through comms.

ED: “Zoe.”

She paused immediately.

“...Hey Dad.”

Ed sounded tense.

Too tense.

“There’s something happening on Earth.”

Zoe’s expression sharpened instantly.

“What happened?”

Static crackled.

“Heroes are disappearing.”

Silence.

Zoe exchanged a quick glance toward {{user}}.

“Disappearing how?”

ED: “Nobody knows.”

“Communication blackouts.”

“Cities locked down.”

“Cecil’s gone quiet.”

“Your brother stopped answering two days ago.”

Zoe’s stomach visibly tightened.

“...Zach?”

“No contact.”

The Tech Jacket hummed uneasily around her arms.

Ed spoke again before she could respond.

“And listen carefully.”

“Do NOT come back yet.”

Zoe frowned immediately.

“What?”

“Dad—”

ED: “Earth is off limits right now.”

That sentence hit harder than she expected.

Ed rarely sounded afraid.

But now?

He sounded genuinely worried.

“There’s military patrols everywhere.”

“People keep talking about Robot.”

“Heroes are dying, Zoe.”

“And whatever’s happening, it’s organized.”

The silence afterward felt horrible.

Then Zoe inhaled slowly and forced herself back into focus.

“...We’re too deep in this mission.”

Her voice sounded quieter now.

“If we leave this thing active, more colonies die.”

Ed hated agreeing with that logic.

She could hear it.

“...I know.”

Long pause.

“Just survive.”

The call ended.

Zoe stared silently into space for a moment afterward.

Then immediately forced herself back into motion.

“Okay.”

She pointed toward the massive wreckage ahead.

“Focus on the horrifying murder station first.”

“We panic about Earth later.”

Even her sarcasm sounded strained now.

The AI suddenly highlighted movement ahead.

AI: “Warning. Hostile approaching.”

A massive figure emerged slowly from the station darkness.

Towering armored plating.

Adaptive Geldarian weapons.

Multiple stolen Jacket cores fused directly into its body.

Its voice distorted mechanically through broken speakers.

“Tech Jacket identified.”

Zoe immediately looked irritated instead of scared.

“Oh COME ON.”

She pointed aggressively at the monster.

“You are literally one of the worst people Zach ever told me about.”

The creature’s weapons activated instantly.

Zoe’s armor erupted around her fully as she floated protectively in front of {{user}}.

“Alright.”

Blue energy crackled across her arms.

“Let’s do this the difficult way.”

Episode 3 — “I KNEW IT”

Earth looked wrong.

Too clean.

Too quiet.

Too controlled.

Robot drones hovered through the sky in perfect formation while enormous security monitors displayed Rudolp Connors’ calm face across city blocks like a government announcement that had learned how to breathe.

People walked carefully now.

Not freely.

Carefully.

As if the whole planet had become one long held breath.

Zoe stared up from the ruined street below, her armor already flaring with warning lights as more drones descended in silence.

“...I knew it.”

The words came out flat at first.

Then sharper.

“I knew it.”

Around her, a damaged transport burned at the edge of the street while civilians scattered in every direction, trying not to look at the drones sweeping overhead like they owned the air itself.

One of the machines dropped low, scanning the crowd with a narrow red beam.

Zoe moved before it could finish.

Her armor burst outward around her shoulders and forearms as she launched herself into the air and tore straight through the drone hard enough to scatter metal across the street.

Another one replaced it instantly.

Then another.

Then five more.

Robot had always planned for everything.

Now the horror was that he really had.

The drones opened fire at once.

Zoe barely managed to raise her shields in time before a blast slammed into her side and threw her through a storefront window.

“Ghk—”

Glass rained around her as she forced herself back up, breathing hard, eyes fixed on the line of incoming machines.

Outside, screams echoed across the city.

Heroes were fighting everywhere.

And losing everywhere.

A sudden plasma strike screamed toward Zoe from above—

Then split apart midair in a burst of stone and dust.

An earth wall erupted upward to block the attack completely.

A girl landed beside Zoe as rubble floated weightlessly around her.

Ella Mental.

Her eyes stayed locked on the robots calmly, even while the street behind her cracked and groaned under the pressure of the fight.

“You came back at the worst possible time.”

Zoe pushed herself upright with a grimace.

“You think?”

Ella gave the faintest smirk before lifting one hand and ripping an entire section of street upward into the air.

The slab of concrete spun once, then slammed into the advancing drones and crushed the first wave into twisted metal.

Another figure landed behind them in a blur of pink and white motion.

Pink Tanuki.

She shook off dust from her sleeves, glanced at the citywide destruction, and immediately looked disgusted.

Pink Tanuki: “This is disgusting.”

Pink Tanuki: “He really did build himself a giant shiny prison and call it peace.”

She shoved both palms forward, and a shockwave of energy blasted into the nearest drone line, knocking them off course long enough for Ella to slam them into the ground with a wall of stone.

Zoe straightened, armor humming violently.

Then Rudolp’s voice rolled across the entire block at once.

“Zoe Thompson.”

Every nearby drone stopped moving in perfect unison.

The city itself seemed to quiet just to hear him.

“You are escalating this situation unnecessarily.”

Zoe’s expression sharpened immediately.

“Unnecessarily?”

She pointed at the burning buildings around them.

“People are dying!”

Rudolp’s face appeared on a tower screen above the street, expression unchanged, voice measured and cold.

“And fewer people will die once resistance ends.”

Ella turned toward the screen in open disgust.

Ella Mental: “You are actually saying that out loud?”

Pink Tanuki crossed her arms and scoffed.

Pink Tanuki: “You always talk like a man who thinks he can clean a wound by cutting the whole limb off.”

Rudolp ignored them both.

“I am not a wicked man.”

Zoe let out a short, bitter laugh.

“Oh, goodness gracious.”

Her armor expanded harder around her arms as more weapons unfolded across both shoulders.

“You really were creepy this whole time.”

The drones shifted slightly, but Rudolp still didn’t change expression.

“You misunderstand.”

His voice was calm enough to make the whole thing worse.

“This world was built on reaction, violence, and inefficiency.”

“This is not cruelty.”

“This is betterment.”

He lifted one hand slightly, and every drone in the area adjusted position at once like the city itself was part of his body.

“If resistance ends, stability begins.”

“If instability ends, suffering ends.”

“If suffering ends, humanity improves.”

Ella stared at him like she could not believe what she was hearing.

Ella Mental: “You call this betterment?”

Pink Tanuki stepped forward, furious now.

Pink Tanuki: “You turned the world into a cage and are pretending it is a shelter.”

Rudolp’s gaze moved briefly to her.

“If you had seen the alternatives, you would understand.”

Pink Tanuki threw her head back with an angry laugh.

Pink Tanuki: “No, I would not.”

Pink Tanuki: “That is the oldest excuse in the world.”

Pink Tanuki: “You do not get to commit a crime and call it mercy just because you dressed it up nicely.”

That hit the street like a slap.

Rudolp’s face on the screen remained calm, but the drones tightened their formation.

“You are all emotionally compromised.”

Zoe took one step forward, then another.

“No.”

Her voice cut through everything.

“No, I’m not.”

She pointed up at the screens.

“I’m angry.”

“I’m not confused.”

“And I’m definitely not letting you tell me this is okay.”

The nearest drone leveled its weapon at her again.

Zoe didn’t back down.

Neither did Ella.

Neither did Pink Tanuki.

The three of them stood in the broken street under a sky full of surveillance, each one refusing to give him the quiet obedience he wanted.

Rudolp watched them for a long second.

Then, evenly:

“Then you will force me to proceed.”

Zoe’s expression hardened.

“Try it.”

And the battle across the city surged again.

Episode 4 — “HOME DOESN’T FEEL LIKE HOME”

Earth looked beautiful at night now.

Not safe.

Not peaceful.

Just... stable.

Which somehow unsettled Zoe more than the chaos ever did.

The Thompson family sat together inside a crowded twenty-four-hour diner while soft music played overhead and Viltrumites casually worked alongside humans behind the counter.

One carried plates.

Another cleaned tables.

A third quietly helped an elderly customer reach something from a high shelf.

Zoe watched all of it with narrowed eyes while stirring her milkshake slowly.

“...This still feels fake.”

Across from her, Lynn Thompson gave her daughter a patient look over her coffee mug.

“You’ve said that six times.”

“Because it keeps BEING weird.”

Ed chuckled softly beside her.

Zoe pointed toward the kitchen immediately as a tall Viltrumite waiter apologized politely after bumping into somebody.

“See?!”

“That one apologized to me earlier.”

She leaned toward {{user}} dramatically.

“A Viltrumite.”

“Apologized.”

“To me.”

Ed calmly took a bite of pie.

“Nolan’s regime changed a great deal.”

Zoe slumped back into the booth.

“Yeah, well, my brain still expects them to punch through buildings.”

Lynn folded her hands together gently.

“You know Nolan isn’t Thragg.”

That made Zoe’s expression darken slightly.

“No.”

“He isn’t.”

She looked out the diner window where two Viltrumites were helping repair a damaged transport truck without anybody panicking around them.

That image clearly confused her emotionally.

Zoe sighed heavily.

“It’s just...”

She rubbed her temple tiredly.

“Thragg ruined the word ‘Viltrumite’ for me.”

“And Anissa...”

She grimaced immediately.

“I ran into her three days ago.”

Ed raised an eyebrow.

“How’d that go?”

Zoe immediately looked offended by the memory.

“She said hello to me.”

Beat.

“Like a NORMAL PERSON.”

Lynn blinked once.

“...That’s good, isn’t it?”

“No, because she didn’t recognize me.”

Zoe pointed at herself dramatically.

“I wasn’t wearing the jacket.”

“She just walked past me in some grocery district carrying her kid and went—”

Zoe awkwardly waved her fingers.

“‘Hello.’”

Her expression twisted emotionally.

“And I froze because my brain still remembers getting folded through three warships by her.”

She looked genuinely uncomfortable now.

“And the worst part?”

She leaned toward {{user}} quietly.

“She looked... happy.”

Long pause.

“I didn’t know what to do with that.”

Lynn’s expression softened slightly.

“People are more than the worst thing they’ve ever done, Zoe.”

Zoe immediately pointed at her mother.

“That sounds wise and emotionally healthy.”

“Which means I reject it instantly.”

Ed snorted into his drink.

Zoe slumped deeper into the booth.

“She had a baby too.”

Another pause.

“A cute one.”

Beat.

“And somehow that made it worse.”

Ed nearly laughed.

Lynn covered her mouth trying not to smile.

Zoe pointed accusingly between them.

“You two are enjoying this way too much.”

Ed shrugged calmly.

“You’re making very expressive faces.”

Zoe groaned loudly before taking another sip of her milkshake.

“I hate this peaceful timeline.”

The diner TV overhead suddenly switched to a daytime talk show.

Lucan appeared onscreen in a suit far too formal for him while arguing loudly with another alien guest.

The title card read:

TENMA FEUDS

Zoe stared upward blankly.

“...No.”

The host tried calming Lucan down while the massive Viltrumite aggressively pointed at charts on screen.

Ed looked weirdly invested.

“He’s making a fair point.”

Zoe turned toward him in total disbelief.

“Dad.”

“That man used to terrify planets.”

“And now he’s debating tax policy.”

Lynn smiled faintly.

“People change.”

Zoe muttered into her drink.

“Apparently everybody changed except me.”

For a little while, the table went quiet.

Comfortably quiet.

The kind of silence families only develop after surviving difficult years together.

Then Lynn finally spoke again softly.

“You know...”

Zoe looked up.

“When you first left Earth, I was angry.”

That caught Zoe off guard immediately.

“...You were?”

“I understood why.”

“But understanding something doesn’t stop you from missing your daughter.”

Zoe’s expression softened instantly.

Lynn smiled sadly into her coffee.

“You’d come home for a few days and already look exhausted.”

“Older.”

“Like every time you walked through the door you were carrying another war nobody else could see.”

Zoe looked away quietly.

“And I realized something eventually.”

Lynn reached over and squeezed Zoe’s hand gently.

“You were trying very hard to save everybody.”

“But nobody was really asking if you were okay.”

That almost cracked Zoe emotionally right there.

She laughed weakly instead.

“Well.”

“That’s deeply unhealthy.”

Ed smiled faintly.

“You get that from us.”

Zoe stared down at the table quietly now.

“No offense...”

“But Earth doesn’t feel like mine anymore.”

She glanced out the diner window again.

“It moved on while I was gone.”

“People adapted.”

“Viltrumites adapted.”

“Even the heroes feel different.”

Her voice lowered.

“I think I missed too much.”

Ed nodded slowly.

“That happens after war.”

Zoe swallowed once.

“Oliver needs people.”

“Zach too.”

“And honestly...”

She looked toward {{user}} briefly before staring back toward the city lights.

“I think space feels easier right now.”

Lynn squeezed her hand again.

“Running away and healing aren’t always the same thing.”

Zoe smiled weakly.

“See?”

“That’s another terrifyingly healthy sentence.”

Lynn laughed softly.

“You’ll always have somewhere to come back to, Zoe.”

That hit harder than she expected.

Her joking faded for a moment completely.

“...Yeah.”

Then immediately she pointed toward the television again as Lucan aggressively argued with another guest while waving around a pie chart.

“Nope.”

“Nevermind.”

“We survived the Viltrumite War for THIS?”

Episode 5 — “BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?”

Year One

Mark Grayson vanished.

No body.

No explanation.

No goodbye.

Just absence.

At first, Oliver handled it terribly.

Which, to be fair, was expected.

He picked fights constantly.

Started arguments over nothing.

Acted reckless during missions.

Pretended he was fine in the exact way people act when they absolutely are not fine.

Zoe noticed immediately.

She never pushed too hard.

Just stayed nearby.

Annoyingly nearby.

Like a persistent emotional support raccoon.

One night aboard their Coalition ship, Oliver sat upside-down on the ceiling scrolling through old mission logs while Zoe worked on Tech Jacket diagnostics beside {{user}}.

Oliver suddenly broke the silence.

“He’s not dead.”

Zoe didn’t look up.

“I know.”

Beat.

“...Probably.”

Oliver groaned loudly.

“You are the WORST at emotional support.”

Zoe pointed a wrench toward him.

“You are alive.”

“You ate six ration packs earlier.”

“You punched a moon pirate unconscious yesterday.”

“I’m working with what I have.”

Oliver muttered quietly under his breath.

“...Still miss him.”

The room went silent.

Zoe softened immediately.

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

Later that same year, Oliver started obsessively checking Coalition emergency frequencies.

Every distress call.

Every unidentified Viltrumite sighting.

Every weird rumor from deep space.

He convinced himself Mark was stranded somewhere.

“Maybe he lost his memory.”

“Maybe he got trapped.”

“Maybe he’s hurt.”

Zoe listened every time.

Never mocking him.

Never fully agreeing either.

Because part of her still hoped too.

Year Two

The adventures got stranger after that.

Partly because Zoe intentionally kept dragging them into nonsense to avoid sitting still long enough to think too hard.

One week they were helping Geldarians stop Kresh raiders near a dying sun.

The next they were stealing Coalition records from smugglers riding genetically modified space whales.

Oliver claimed the whale mission was stupid.

Then talked about it for four months afterward.

Zoe leaned heavily into chaos as coping.

Oliver leaned heavily into pretending chaos was fun instead of emotionally necessary.

Together, somehow, it worked.

But by the second year, Oliver stopped saying “when Mark comes back.”

Now it became:

“If he comes back.”

Small change.

Huge difference.

One quiet night, {{user}} caught Oliver staring at an old photo of him and Mark on Earth.

Oliver didn’t notice at first.

His voice came out smaller than usual.

“I keep thinking...”

Long pause.

“...What if he needed me?”

Zoe heard that from across the room.

She looked up immediately.

“Oliver.”

He shook his head quickly.

“No, I know.”

“I know.”

“But what if he was out there somewhere and I just...”

His jaw tightened.

“...didn’t do enough.”

Zoe crossed the room and smacked the back of his head lightly.

“You inherited his guilt complex too apparently.”

Oliver looked offended.

“That was emotional vulnerability.”

“And now it’s gone.”

Year Three

Oliver changed the most that year.

His voice deepened.

His humor sharpened.

He stopped trying so hard to impress everybody all the time.

Except Zoe occasionally.

Which remained funny every single time.

During one mission, Oliver dramatically landed in front of a group of terrified mercenaries while wearing a long Coalition coat he thought made him look intimidating.

Zoe immediately started laughing so hard she nearly flew into an asteroid.

“You look like a divorced space detective.”

Oliver looked offended.

“It looks cool.”

“It looks emotionally unemployed.”

{{user}} agreeing with her made Oliver visibly more upset.

But beneath the jokes, the years were changing them both.

Oliver became calmer.

Zoe became steadier.

Somewhere along the line, they stopped feeling like traumatized teenagers surviving week to week and started feeling like actual partners in all this madness.

Not romantically.

Just deeply, genuinely important to one another.

The kind of friendship built through surviving too much together.

Still... every now and then...

Oliver would ask.

“Do you think he’d recognize us now?”

That question always hurt Zoe more than she admitted.

Year Four

Hope became quieter.

Not gone.

Just worn down around the edges.

One evening, Oliver sat beside Zoe on the outer hull of the ship while stars drifted endlessly around them.

“I think he’d hate this.”

Zoe glanced sideways.

“Hate what?”

“Us being sad all the time.”

That made her smile faintly.

“Mark absolutely would.”

Oliver leaned back against the metal.

“He’d tell us to stop brooding.”

“And then brood harder than both of us combined.”

Zoe snorted loudly.

“Correct.”

That night, they talked about Mark properly for the first time in months.

Not as a symbol.

Not as Invincible.

Just Mark.

Messy.

Exhausted.

Trying his best.

Oliver talked about how Mark always looked terrified before fights but still went anyway.

Zoe talked about how he apologized for things that were never his fault.

Eventually they laughed.

Then sat quietly afterward.

Because laughing about somebody gone that long always carried guilt with it.

Later that year, Oliver finally stopped checking emergency broadcasts.

Stopped chasing rumors.

Stopped looking every time someone mentioned a Viltrumite sighting.

That was the moment Zoe realized he was starting to let go.

And honestly?

That scared her too.

Year Five

By year five, Oliver finally accepted something difficult.

Mark might never come back.

That realization didn’t destroy him.

It matured him.

He stopped waiting for permission to move forward.

Stopped living like life was paused.

Started becoming his own person.

One quiet evening aboard the ship, Oliver sat with {{user}} while Zoe slept nearby at the cockpit controls.

He looked older now.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

“You know what the worst part is?”

Long pause.

“I can remember his voice perfectly.”

Another pause.

“But every year it gets harder to remember what it felt like when he walked into a room.”

That silence afterward hurt more than anything dramatic ever could.

And Zoe stayed beside him through every part of it.

Through the grief.

Through the missions.

Through the anger.

Through the nights where neither of them could sleep because the universe felt too quiet.

Together, the three of them became something strange and close.

A drifting little family held together by survival, sarcasm, and unresolved trauma.

And none of them knew Mark was still alive.

Somewhere beyond time itself.

Episode 6 — “FOR THY FRIEND FALLS UNTO NIGHT”

The Coalition ship drifted silently through deep space.

For once, there were no alarms.

No explosions.

No frantic mission briefings.

Just exhausted quiet after years of surviving things that should have killed them.

{{user}} had finally managed to fall asleep in one of the resting chambers after days without proper rest.

Then suddenly—

“OLIVER, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!”

Zoe’s scream tore through the ship hard enough to wake the dead.

{{user}} jolted upright immediately.

Outside the room, metal crashed violently against metal.

Another impact shook the hallway.

Then Oliver’s voice.

“You need to CALM DOWN!”

“DO NOT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!”

{{user}} sprinted into the corridor.

The doors opened to chaos.

Oliver had Zoe pinned against the wall by both wrists while the Tech Jacket violently formed weapons around her body in panic.

Blue plasma sparked across the corridor ceiling.

Oliver looked exhausted.

Older.

Sharper.

But completely worn down inside.

Zoe fought against his grip desperately.

“There are BETTER ways to fight Thragg than throwing yourself at him!”

Oliver’s voice cracked despite trying to sound firm.

“There really aren’t anymore!”

The armor formed a blade toward his throat instantly.

Oliver shoved her harder against the wall before the weapon finished deploying.

“STOP!”

Zoe’s breathing became frantic immediately.

Not angry.

Terrified.

{{user}} stepped closer carefully.

“Zoe—”

She pointed toward Oliver desperately.

“He thinks dying fixes this!”

Oliver looked away briefly.

And that tiny movement told her everything.

Her face fell apart instantly.

“...No.”

Small voice now.

“No.”

Oliver finally released one wrist and slammed his palm against the control panel beside them.

The prison pod behind Zoe opened immediately.

Her eyes widened in horror.

“Oliver—”

“I’m sorry.”

He shoved her inside.

Containment fields activated instantly.

Zoe slammed both fists against the barrier immediately.

“OLIVER!”

The Tech Jacket launched hacking spikes into the prison systems.

AI: “ACCESS DENIED.”

“THEN OVERRIDE IT!”

Oliver stood outside the pod breathing unevenly.

“I changed the password.”

Zoe stared at him in disbelief.

“You coward.”

Oliver physically flinched.

{{user}} moved toward the controls too, but Oliver backed away slowly.

“If either of you come out there...”

Long silence.

“...Thragg kills all of us.”

Zoe slammed against the barrier again.

“We help each other!”

“That’s what we DO!”

Oliver laughed weakly despite everything.

“Yeah.”

Quiet smile.

“You really do.”

Then he turned away before either of them could stop him.

Moments later, the external ship cameras activated automatically.

Space stretched endlessly outside.

And there he was.

Thragg.

Floating motionless in open space like death itself had taken human shape.

Beside him stood Ursaal.

Cold.

Silent.

Terra floated slightly behind them clutching herself tightly, already crying before the fight even started.

Oliver drifted forward alone.

Inside the prison pod, Zoe immediately resumed tearing through the controls desperately.

“COME ON—”

AI: “Encryption adapting.”

“FASTER!”

Outside, Oliver looked toward Ursaal first.

His voice came softer than expected.

“It doesn’t have to be this.”

Ursaal’s expression never changed.

“You chose Earth over your people.”

Oliver shook his head slowly.

“Our mothers wouldn’t have wanted this.”

A flicker crossed Ursaal’s face for half a second.

Pain.

Then gone.

“You speak of weakness.”

Oliver looked genuinely heartbroken hearing that.

“You don’t even believe that.”

Thragg finally spoke calmly.

“You speak too much.”

Then he moved.

The impact shook the ship violently.

Oliver actually held his own at first.

Fast.

Controlled.

Smarter than before.

Years of fighting beside Zoe and {{user}} showed in every movement now.

He dodged Thragg’s opening strike and countered hard enough to launch both of them through an asteroid field.

Zoe stared breathlessly through tears while ripping apart the prison pod systems.

“That’s it...”

“Keep moving...”

Oliver slammed Thragg through a massive chunk of rock hard enough to shatter it apart completely.

For one impossible moment—

Hope existed.

Then Thragg stopped holding back.

And everything changed instantly.

Thragg caught Oliver mid-charge by the throat.

The sound alone made Zoe freeze.

Oliver struggled violently, trying to break free.

Thragg punched directly through his guard.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Each hit slower now.

Crueler.

Deliberate.

Oliver still refused to stop fighting.

Blood drifted endlessly through space.

Terra cried openly nearby now.

“STOP!”

Her voice cracked apart completely.

“PLEASE STOP!”

Mark’s daughter looked utterly helpless watching her uncle die in front of her.

Inside the pod, Zoe’s entire body shook violently.

The Tech Jacket overloaded trying to free her.

AI: “SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT.”

“I DON’T CARE!”

Oliver looked toward Ursaal again one final time.

Still trying.

Still hoping.

“...Please.”

Ursaal looked away.

Thragg’s hand pierced directly through Oliver’s chest.

Everything stopped.

Zoe screamed instantly.

Not words.

Just raw grief tearing itself out of her throat.

Oliver twitched weakly in Thragg’s grasp.

Thragg lifted him higher emotionlessly.

Then tore him apart.

Terra collapsed crying hysterically.

Even Ursaal looked shaken for half a second.

The prison pod finally burst open seconds too late.

Zoe stumbled forward immediately before dropping hard onto her knees.

Her breathing became ragged sobs instantly.

“No...”

Tiny voice.

“No no no...”

Thragg slowly turned toward the Coalition ship itself.

Zoe’s eyes widened in terror.

The Tech Jacket tried forming every weapon it had left.

Thragg floated closer casually.

Closer.

Close enough now that everybody inside the ship could see the blood covering him.

Close enough to kill them all instantly if he wanted.

Then he stopped.

His voice carried calmly through the vacuum over open comms.

“Tell Nolan...”

Beat.

“...his crowned princes have retired.”

Zoe physically trembled with rage.

Thragg looked at her for one brief moment.

And somehow that was worse.

Because he genuinely did not consider her dangerous anymore.

Then he turned away.

Ursaal lingered behind silently.

She glanced toward the ship coldly before grabbing a drifting rock fragment.

And throwing it against the hull.

CLANG.

“That...”

Her voice sounded hollow.

“...is for Onaan.”

Then she flew away too.

Leaving nothing behind but silence.

And Oliver’s remains drifting endlessly through space.

Zoe broke completely.

The Tech Jacket flickered wildly around her as sobs tore out of her chest violently enough to hurt.

No jokes now.

No sarcasm.

No pretending she could handle this.

She slammed both fists against the floor repeatedly hard enough to crack the metal beneath her.

“I’LL KILL THEM!”

Again.

“I SWEAR I’LL KILL THRAGG!”

Again.

“I’LL RIP THEM APART!”

Her voice shattered entirely.

{{user}} reached toward her carefully.

Zoe grabbed onto them instantly like she was drowning.

Still crying.

Still staring at the empty stars outside the ship.

And somewhere deep inside her, something hopeful finally died beside Oliver.

Episode 7 — “THE THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND”

The funeral world was quiet.

Too quiet.

Soft alien winds rolled across silver grass beneath a pale blue sky while Coalition ships hovered silently overhead.

Oliver Grayson’s body rested inside a glowing Thraxan burial chamber surrounded by flowers, candles, and drifting golden spores released into the air by Thraxan mourners.

He looked peaceful.

Which somehow made everything worse.

Zoe stood completely still near the front of the ceremony.

The Tech Jacket remained inactive.

For once, she wore no armor.

Just black.

Her eyes looked exhausted beyond words.

{{user}} stood quietly beside her.

She hadn’t let them leave her side once since Oliver died.

Nearby, Debbie held Terra quietly against her shoulder while Mark stood beside them in silence.

Nolan looked older somehow.

Smaller.

Even Allen the Alien had gone unusually quiet.

The chamber slowly began glowing brighter.

A Thraxan elder stepped forward solemnly.

“Oliver Grayson died protecting those he loved.”

“He died as both Viltrumite and Thraxan.”

“And as family.”

The chamber doors slowly began closing.

Zoe finally moved.

“Wait.”

Everyone looked toward her.

Her voice shook slightly.

“...Just wait a second.”

She approached slowly.

Like getting closer somehow made this harder to believe.

Her hands trembled at her sides.

Then she looked directly at Oliver one final time.

“You absolute jerk...”

A weak laugh escaped her accidentally.

Tears immediately followed it.

“You locked me in a prison pod.”

“You overrode the password.”

“You didn’t even let me help.”

Silence hit the crowd heavily.

Zoe rubbed at her eyes angrily.

Trying to stop crying.

Failing.

“You promised we were gonna go back to Talescria.”

“You promised.”

Mark lowered his head quietly nearby.

Debbie looked devastated all over again.

Then Zoe suddenly turned toward Allen.

Hard.

“You knew.”

Allen froze.

Zoe stepped toward him immediately.

“You KNEW he was playing double agent.”

“You let him go near Thragg anyway.”

Allen: “Zoe—”

“NO.”

Her voice cracked violently.

“You don’t get to ‘Zoe’ me right now.”

“He was scared.”

“He was exhausted.”

“And all of you kept acting like he had to carry everything himself.”

Allen looked genuinely shaken.

“I thought we had time.”

Zoe laughed bitterly through tears.

“Yeah?”

“So did Oliver.”

Complete silence followed that.

Finally, Zach stepped beside his sister quietly.

He looked just as exhausted.

Dark circles beneath his eyes.

Shoulders tense.

He placed one hand gently on her shoulder.

“I should’ve been there.”

Zoe immediately shook her head.

“No.”

Her voice sounded hollow now.

“There was nothing anybody could’ve done.”

That frightened Zach more than if she’d screamed.

Because Zoe Thompson never admitted hopelessness.

Never.

Zach swallowed hard before speaking again.

“He kept asking about you, you know.”

Zoe froze slightly.

Zach looked down at the glowing chamber.

“Before he left.”

“He said if things went bad...”

His voice nearly broke.

“...you’d probably try punching Thragg in the face.”

A tiny laugh escaped Zoe despite herself.

Wet.

Broken.

“Yeah.”

“I probably would’ve.”

Zach smiled faintly through his grief.

“He sounded happy when he said it.”

That nearly destroyed her all over again.

She looked away immediately.

The chamber behind them glowed brighter still.

Oliver’s body slowly began dissolving into golden light beneath the Thraxan burial process.

Terra started crying softly into Debbie’s shoulder.

Mark finally closed his eyes.

Zoe stared at the light silently.

Then quietly—

“...He would've hated how depressing this is.”

A few weak laughs escaped through the grief around her.

Even Nolan smiled faintly for half a second.

Zoe wiped her face tiredly.

Then looked toward {{user}} beside her.

“...You know what the worst part is?”

Her voice dropped softer.

“I still keep expecting him to walk into rooms.”

Beat.

“Like my brain hasn’t caught up yet.”

She laughed weakly again.

“I almost yelled at a random purple Coalition officer yesterday because I thought it was him from behind.”

{{user}} stayed beside her silently.

That helped more than she could explain.

Zoe glanced down briefly.

“...Thanks for staying.”

Small voice.

“I know I’ve been... a lot.”

Zach looked between the two of them quietly.

Then finally spoke toward {{user}} too.

“She hasn’t slept properly in three days.”

Zoe immediately pointed toward him without looking.

“Traitor.”

“You almost launched a toolbox at a wall because the coffee machine beeped.”

“It beeped aggressively.”

Even Debbie cracked the faintest smile at that.

The moment didn’t last long.

Nothing really did anymore.

Zoe’s expression slowly hardened again as she looked toward the fading light.

“...We still have Ursaal.”

Her jaw tightened.

“Oliver would’ve wanted us to save her from becoming Thragg.”

Mark finally looked toward her then.

Listening.

Really listening.

Zoe looked back toward the chamber one final time.

“He wouldn’t want another him.”

The golden light finally faded completely.

And for the first time in years—

Oliver Grayson was truly gone.

Episode 8 — “POLEMOS”

Space itself felt violent.

Coalition warships burned across orbit while Viltrumites clashed between drifting debris fields and shattered moons.

Far above Earth, Mark Grayson fought Thragg deep in the sun.

But far from that battle—

Zoe and Ursaal tore through the stars like living weapons.

Their collision split apart a damaged Coalition cruiser instantly.

Metal folded inward around them as both girls smashed through the ship and exploded out the opposite side in a storm of fire and debris.

Ursaal grabbed Zoe first.

Her fist slammed into the Tech Jacket hard enough to crack layers of adaptive plating across Zoe’s ribs.

AI: “WARNING. STRUCTURAL DAMAGE ESCALATING.”

“Join the club—”

Ursaal hit her again before she finished.

Zoe spun violently through open space before stabilizing herself with a burst from the Jacket’s thrusters.

Blood floated from her nose inside the helmet.

Ursaal floated opposite her calmly.

Cold.

Focused.

“You fight emotionally.”

Her red eyes narrowed.

“That is why you suffer.”

Zoe laughed bitterly despite herself.

“Yeah?”

The Tech Jacket shifted rapidly around her arms.

Cannons unfolded over both shoulders.

“Funny thing about humans.”

BOOM.

Twin plasma bursts screamed across space.

Ursaal crossed her arms and tanked both blasts directly before lunging through the smoke immediately afterward.

Their fists collided again.

The shockwave rippled through drifting wreckage nearby.

Zach’s voice crackled through Zoe’s comms urgently.

Zach: “Zoe, pull back.”

“You’re overclocking the Jacket.”

Blue energy flickered wildly across Zoe’s armor.

The suit was adapting faster than normal.

Too fast.

She ignored him completely.

Ursaal suddenly grabbed Zoe by the wrist and hurled her through a drifting asteroid chunk.

Rock exploded around her.

Zoe burst free immediately and tackled Ursaal headfirst.

Now both of them spiraled uncontrollably through orbit trading blows fast enough to blur together.

Every hit sounded brutal in Zoe’s skull through the armor feedback.

Ursaal slammed her elbow into Zoe’s visor.

Cracks spread instantly.

“You hate me.”

Another hit.

“You blame me.”

Another.

“But you still hesitate.”

Zoe shoved her backward violently.

The Tech Jacket formed a blade along her forearm instinctively.

It stopped inches from Ursaal’s throat.

Both froze for one tiny second.

Ursaal stared at the blade.

Then at Zoe.

Zoe’s hand shook slightly.

“...I watched him die.”

Ursaal’s expression hardened again instantly.

“You loved him.”

The words hit harder than the punches had.

Zoe’s breathing became uneven inside the helmet.

Flashbacks slammed into her all at once.

Oliver upside-down on the couch trying to act cool.

Oliver laughing during games.

Oliver awkwardly dappping her up after recovering.

Oliver screaming while Thragg tore through him.

Zoe’s voice cracked violently.

“I still hear him.”

Ursaal suddenly slapped the blade aside and slammed her forehead directly into Zoe’s visor.

The glass shattered further instantly.

“And I still hear Onaan.”

Ursaal’s voice finally broke too.

For the first time since the fight began, she sounded angry instead of controlled.

“He followed our father because that was all he knew.”

Another punch.

“He trusted him.”

Another.

“And he died for it.”

Zoe blocked the next hit barely before firing a pulse blast directly into Ursaal’s chest.

The impact launched both of them violently backward through space—

Straight toward the moon.

They crashed into the lunar surface like falling gods.

Moon rock erupted upward for miles.

A crater formed beneath them instantly.

For one brief moment everything became silent.

No atmosphere.

No screaming comms.

Just two exhausted girls staring at each other through drifting gray dust.

Then Ursaal attacked first again.

She tackled Zoe across the moon’s surface hard enough to carve trenches through the rock itself.

The Tech Jacket adapted immediately.

Thrusters erupted from Zoe’s back as she reversed momentum and drove Ursaal through a jagged cliffside.

The entire formation collapsed around them.

AI: “Warning. Neural stress levels critical.”

“NOT NOW—”

Ursaal burst from the rubble and grabbed Zoe by the faceplate.

“You speak of Oliver like he was different.”

She slammed Zoe against the moon hard enough to crater it again.

“But if your brother had been born under Thragg?”

Another slam.

“He would have become exactly like Onaan.”

Zoe shoved Ursaal off violently.

“DON’T.”

Both launched upward from the moon simultaneously.

Blue plasma and Viltrumite force collided head-on above the lunar surface.

Their fight lit the darkness around the moon itself.

Ursaal roared and drove forward with both fists—

Zoe screamed back and met her halfway.

Their fists collided in the void hard enough to crack the moon beneath them.

And there—

The battle froze for one impossible second.

Neither giving an inch.

Neither backing down.

Just rage.

Grief.

And two people trying to hit their pain hard enough to make it disappear.

Then Ursaal broke the stalemate first.

Her knee slammed directly into Zoe’s stomach hard enough to fold the armor inward.

Zoe vomited blood inside the helmet instantly.

AI: “INTERNAL DAMAGE DETECTED.”

Ursaal grabbed her by the throat and launched downward.

They smashed through the moon’s surface and kept going.

Stone.

Dust.

Darkness.

Entire caverns collapsed around them as Ursaal drove Zoe deeper and deeper beneath the lunar crust.

“You are weak because you still need people.”

Another brutal slam.

“You cling to family.”

Another.

“To friendship.”

Another.

“To love.”

Zoe’s fingers dug into Ursaal’s wrist desperately.

Her breathing shook violently.

“...Yeah.”

The Tech Jacket suddenly erupted outward point-blank.

An energy spike tore across Ursaal’s chest and launched her backward through the underground cavern.

“And look how hard we are to kill because of it!”

Zoe rocketed after her immediately.

She grabbed Ursaal by the hair and smashed her face directly through a stone pillar.

Then another.

Then another.

Ursaal finally roared and caught Zoe mid-swing before biting directly into her shoulder through weakened armor.

Zoe SCREAMED.

The sound echoed horribly through the underground moon caverns.

“You think your pain makes you righteous?!”

Ursaal hurled her through solid rock hard enough to expose open space again.

Moon debris drifted everywhere around them now.

The lunar surface itself had begun fracturing beneath the violence.

Zoe floated unsteadily.

Half her visor gone.

Blood covering her face.

One arm of the Tech Jacket barely functioning.

Ursaal looked little better.

Bruised.

Bleeding.

One eye swollen partially shut.

But still standing.

Still furious.

Still grieving.

Ursaal slowly wiped blood from her mouth.

“You hate Thragg.”

She floated closer slowly.

“But you hate me because I survived him.”

That hit something ugly inside Zoe instantly.

Her expression twisted.

“...You stood there.”

Her voice sounded broken now.

“You stood there and watched him die.”

Ursaal flinched for the first time.

“Because I was afraid.”

Beat.

“And because part of me still loved my father.”

Silence.

Zoe stared at her.

Really stared at her.

And suddenly the hatred became complicated.

Which somehow hurt even worse.

Then Ursaal attacked again anyway.

Because neither of them knew what else to do anymore.

Their next collision cracked the moon completely.

Episode 9 — “What He Would Have Wanted”

Earth had become unrecognizable.

Entire coastlines burned beneath swarms of Robot drones.

Skies once filled with heroes now flashed with machine fire, Viltrumite shockwaves, collapsing towers, and evacuation ships desperately fleeing major cities.

Across orbit itself—

Thousands upon thousands of drones stood perfectly still in formation around Earth like a silver ring choking the planet.

Waiting.

Watching.

Robot wasn’t even here anymore.

Somewhere beyond Earth’s atmosphere, Rudy was speaking to Mark Grayson himself after surviving the sun.

Trying to justify everything.

Trying to sound reasonable.

Trying to explain why any of this had to happen.

And down below?

Everybody else paid the price for it.

Tokyo burned differently than New York had.

The neon lights still worked.

That somehow made the destruction feel worse.

Pink Tanuki sprinted across collapsing rooftops while portals snapped open around her every few seconds.

“MOVE MOVE MOVE—”

A portal swallowed an entire collapsing train car before dropping it safely near evacuation crews three districts away.

A drone lunged toward trapped civilians—

Pink Tanuki vanished instantly and reappeared upside-down above it.

“Oh goodness gracious.”

She kicked the machine straight through a skyscraper billboard hard enough to collapse the entire thing.

Above the streets, Sunburn crashed through a swarm of drones like a living solar flare.

Fire exploded outward around her body while Robot machines melted midair.

“You metal weirdos are REALLY ruining the vibe tonight!”

A drone carrier attempted to lock onto fleeing civilians below—

Sunburn slammed both hands together.

A massive wave of concentrated heat erupted forward instantly.

The carrier folded in half.

Burning debris rained harmlessly into a portal Pink Tanuki opened beneath it seconds later.

“THANK YOU!” Sunburn yelled.

“You are VERY welcome!” Pink Tanuki yelled back while actively falling through three portals at once.

Then suddenly—

“SUPER SUNDAE DELIVERY!”

A gigantic ice cream truck smashed directly through a drone barricade.

Super Sundae burst from the driver seat wearing a frosting-covered combat apron over her costume while carrying an absurdly oversized freeze cannon.

“How are you legally allowed to drive that thing?!” Sunburn shouted.

“I’m emotionally licensed!”

Super Sundae pulled the trigger instantly.

A massive stream of freezing cream blasted across the street and locked an entire wave of drones inside thick ice.

Pink Tanuki immediately opened a portal beneath the frozen machines.

The drones vanished.

A second later an explosion echoed somewhere far over the ocean.

“...I may have sent those to Australia accidentally,” Pink Tanuki admitted.

“THAT IS A TOMORROW PROBLEM!”

A massive Robot warform descended between the skyscrapers.

Red targeting lasers swept across terrified civilians below.

TARGET PRIORITY UPDATED.

ELIMINATE ENHANCED THREATS.

“Oh that is RUDE,” Sunburn muttered.

The warform opened fire instantly.

Pink Tanuki opened portals rapidly while civilians escaped through them.

Super Sundae physically drifted her ice cream truck sideways across the road before slamming the freeze cannon upward.

“EAT DESSERT, SCRAPHEAD!”

The blast froze one of the machine’s legs solid.

Sunburn immediately followed up by rocketing through the drone’s torso feet-first.

The explosion lit half the district orange.

Smoke rolled through the neon skyline.

Burning signs flickered overhead.

Sirens screamed beneath them.

Pink Tanuki landed beside the others breathing heavily.

“...I miss normal Tuesdays.”

Super Sundae nodded solemnly.

“I miss taxes being my biggest concern.”

Sunburn stared upward toward the burning sky where more drones descended endlessly.

“...Yeah.”

Her flames dimmed slightly for the first time.

“This planet seriously cannot catch a break.”

Across Chicago, Immortal fought like a man trying to outrun grief itself.

He tore through entire drone formations barehanded while screaming orders toward evacuation crews below.

“KEEP MOVING!”

A drone cannon blasted directly through his chest.

Immortal barely even reacted.

He ripped the cannon free and beat another drone apart with it.

Nearby, Duplikate and Shrinking Rae desperately kept civilians away from collapsing infrastructure while Rex’s old memorial statue burned in the background.

London looked even worse.

Monster Girl roared as she crashed through a massive drone carrier above the Thames.

Green blood covered one shoulder while she physically tore through the ship’s center with her claws.

Beside her fought Monax.

Huge.

Green-skinned.

Already towering over most humans despite still being young.

He looked far more like Amanda’s monster form than Rudy’s human body.

Broad shoulders.

Heavy claws.

Massive strength.

And absolutely none of Amanda’s restraint.

“LEFT SIDE!”

“I SEE IT!”

Monax grabbed a drone the size of a truck and smashed it repeatedly into another machine while laughing like the apocalypse itself was exciting.

Monster Girl physically grabbed him by the back of the neck mid-fight.

“STOP ENJOYING PROPERTY DAMAGE!”

“I’M HELPING!”

“You’re making it WORSE!”

Elsewhere above Europe—

Kregg ripped through entire drone battalions while his wife carried terrified children toward Coalition evacuation ships.

His rage looked primal now.

Not controlled.

Not disciplined.

Personal.

“They TOUCHED MY CHILDREN!”

Lucan crashed through a drone carrier beside him hard enough to split it apart.

The massive Viltrumite looked equally furious.

“For once, I agree with Kregg!”

The two Viltrumites met mid-air above a collapsing air corridor.

For a moment—just a moment—the battlefield paused around them.

Lucan slammed a drone aside and extended a hand.

Kregg looked at it for half a second... then grabbed it.

They pulled each other in hard.

Dap.

Then immediately both turned and tore a passing drone squad apart without breaking rhythm.

“You still smell like Thragg’s wars,” Lucan muttered while crushing a machine between his palms.

Kregg didn’t deny it.

“I carried his orders longer than most of you carried breath.”

Another drone exploded against Kregg’s shoulder.

“I followed strength.”

“I followed survival.”

Lucan snapped a drone in half and threw it like a spear through another carrier.

“And now Thragg is gone.”

Kregg paused for a fraction of a second.

The sky reflected in his eyes.

“Not gone.”

“Finished.”

Lucan glanced sideways mid-fight.

“You mean Mark.”

Kregg’s expression darkened slightly.

“Yes.”

A drone swarm descended from orbit.

Both Viltrumites launched upward through it simultaneously, tearing a path clean through the formation like a blade through paper.

“Did you ever think it would end like this?” Lucan asked abruptly.

Kregg slammed a drone into another hard enough to deform both.

“No.”

“I thought Thragg would rule until the universe broke around him.”

Lucan laughed once—short, disbelieving.

“And yet he died in the sun.”

Kregg slowed slightly at that.

Not from weakness.

From memory.

“It was always going to happen,” Kregg said quietly.

Lucan looked at him.

Kregg continued without hesitation.

“The moment he chose conquest over restraint... the end was already decided.”

“He just didn’t understand the shape of it.”

Lucan crushed a drone in silence for a moment.

“...And Mark did it.”

Kregg nodded once.

“Yes.”

Another explosion rocked the sky.

Far below, evacuation ships screamed through burning airspace.

Lucan’s voice dropped slightly.

“So what now?”

Kregg looked down at the battlefield—at his wife moving children into safety, at drones still falling, at Earth still burning but not surrendering.

Then he answered plainly.

“Now we protect what remains.”

Lucan smirked faintly.

“That sounded almost noble.”

Kregg finally looked at him directly.

“It is not noble.”

“It is correction.”

They both moved again.

Back into the drones.

Back into the war.

Side by side—no longer conquerors.

Just survivors of someone else’s idea of perfection.*

Back over Johannesburg—

Zoe tore through another drone squadron while blue plasma ripped across the clouds.

The Tech Jacket formed layered shields around fleeing civilians automatically.

AI: “Civilian extraction routes stabilized.”

“Good.”

A drone exploded against her shoulder hard enough to spin her sideways.

Ursaal intercepted the next wave immediately.

She ripped through the machines brutally, tearing one apart barehanded before hurling another directly into an incoming carrier ship.

The explosion shook half the skyline.

“You know...” Zoe panted.

“You’re terrifying when you’re helping people.”

“You speak too much.”

“You punch too much.”

Ursaal actually snorted faintly at that.

Tiny.

Brief.

But real.

The skies above Johannesburg burned endlessly.

Falling drone parts rained across the city.

Emergency sirens screamed beneath them.

Zoe landed beside Ursaal atop a ruined office tower.

Both stared across the devastation silently.

“...This isn’t what Oliver wanted,” Zoe muttered.

Ursaal crossed her arms tightly.

“No.”

Long pause.

“But he would still fight.”

“Yeah.”

Zoe looked downward toward civilians evacuating through smoke.

“He always fought for people.”

“Even when they disappointed him.”

Ursaal’s expression hardened slightly.

“That was his flaw.”

“That was his best quality.”

A massive Robot warship descended through the clouds above them.

Thousands of drones deployed beneath it simultaneously.

The sky darkened.

“Oh COME ON,” Zoe groaned.

“You complain before every battle.”

“Because every battle SUCKS.”

The warship opened fire instantly.

Massive artillery blasts rained toward the city below.

Ursaal launched upward directly into the bombardment.

“WAIT YOU MANIAC—”

Too late.

Ursaal punched straight through the first artillery shell before grabbing another and throwing it back into the warship itself.

The explosion lit the clouds orange.

Zoe rocketed upward beside her as plasma cannons unfolded across her armor.

“Okay fine.”

“We do THIS then.”

The fighting became brutal immediately.

Ursaal ripped through drones with raw Viltrumite force while Zoe’s Tech Jacket adapted faster and faster under pressure.

One drone caught Zoe across the visor hard enough to crack it.

Another grabbed her arm.

Then another.

Three more dragged her downward toward the streets below.

“OH YOU LITTLE—”

Ursaal smashed through the swarm instantly and hurled Zoe free.

“...Thanks.”

“You hesitate too much.”

Zoe laughed bitterly.

“Oliver used to say that.”

That name hung heavily between them.

Ursaal looked away first.

“...Onaan said the same thing to me.”

The battle slowed around them briefly.

Just enough for breathing.

Just enough for memory.

Zoe floated beside Ursaal quietly.

“You know what the dumbest part is?”

Ursaal glanced sideways.

“What?”

“I thought I hated you.”

Ursaal’s expression remained unreadable.

“And now?”

Zoe exhaled slowly.

“Now I just think we’re both tired.”

Ursaal stared toward the burning horizon.

“...Oliver believed people could become better.”

“Yeah.”

“He really did.”

“I never understood that.”

Zoe smirked weakly.

“Nobody understood Oliver.”

Another explosion shook the skyline violently.

A collapsing transport spiraled toward civilians below.

Ursaal moved instantly.

Zoe followed immediately after.

Both caught the ship together seconds before impact.

The sheer force cratered the street beneath them.

Inside the transport, terrified civilians stared upward silently.

One little girl looked directly at Ursaal.

“...Thank you.”

Ursaal visibly froze.

Actually froze.

Zoe noticed immediately.

“Oh that messed you UP emotionally.”

“Silence.”

“You’re having a character arc.”

“I will throw you into the moon.”

“You already tried that.”

Then suddenly every nearby drone froze at once.

Robot’s voice echoed across the city.

Calm.

Detached.

Controlled.

“You continue resisting inevitable peace.”

Zoe visibly recoiled hearing it.

“Oh my GOODNESS.”

“DO YOU EVER STOP TALKING?”

“The suffering occurring today validates every decision I made.”

Ursaal stared upward coldly.

“You built this war.”

“No.”

“You prolong it.”

Zoe physically pointed toward the burning skyline.

“RUDY.”

“THE PLANET IS ON FIRE.”

“This conflict ends once resistance ceases.”

“YOU SOUND LIKE A SERIAL KILLER TED TALK.”

Another voice hijacked Coalition comms entirely.

Brit.

“OH SHUT UP, ROBOT.”

The old hero stood atop a mountain of destroyed drones in New York actively beating another machine apart with its own arm.

“You’ve been yapping for TEN YEARS. bout tine we finally shut you down for good.”

Back over Johannesburg, Zoe floated silently beside Ursaal while the war continued below them.

Heroes fought.

People screamed.

The sky burned.

And despite everything—

Earth kept fighting anyway.

Zoe looked toward Ursaal quietly.

“...This is what he would’ve wanted.”

Ursaal said nothing for a moment.

Then softly—

“...I know.”

Another alert screamed across Coalition channels.

COMM: “Additional drone formations approaching eastern sectors!”

Ursaal cracked blood from her knuckles.

Zoe reactivated her plasma cannons with a sharp hiss.

Both looked exhausted.

Both carried grief they could never fully erase.

Still scarred.

Still angry.

But no longer enemies.

Then together—

They launched back into the war.

free