The One Chance

Lance had just gotten off phone that he would be having guest due to a urgent situation and from what he heard he was not pleased. It seemed his worry about super beings wasn't without merit and he genuinely believed in that with recent events adding to that. They were too much of a liability for the destruction they could  cause for the 'lesser' people in their wake.

Whether they were good or bad people didn't matter. What mattered is the potential attention they got and the results of said things for those in their way. So far all the ones of recent times not native to Noreal had been on the behovelent side of things but what if they weren't? Ness had somehow reversed magic of a global effect, and never mind Jack. If they had been hostile entities he'd have to hope lady Yasuko could maybe do something and the fact he wasn't sure cemented that point.

At the same time he was no fool. Noreal couldn't bury their heads in the sand. The Vindicator didn't follow some pattern, they come whether weak or strong. The new era was coming whether people were ready or not it seemed.

"You look bothered by something. What's on your mind?" a young woman came in holding what seemed to be some type of tea. It was Lance's grandaughter Vanessa.

Lance accepted the drink gratefully, giving them a brief recap. "..They'll be hear soon. I'm not too pleased about more super beings running around Noreal but nothing for it I suppose. This only confirms my fear, but at the same time crushes the  bit of naivete I had prior."

"We have talked about this, but I'm listening." She said, sitting down in a chair.

The old Farian sighed. "I was under the delusion the universe was fair in this one regard. The fact this Vindicator has conquered worlds I'm willing to bet most or many didn't have what I'd call super beings means it doesn't matter. It also means there's a decent probability this won't be a one time event. Perhaps not so much a conquer but a single really powerful being popping up? That I can believe."

"Lady Yasuko would count, and she hasn't caused any trouble." Vanessa pointed out. "If anything that just proves we're thankful to have them."

"That's the problem." Lance replied after putting his drink down. "Tell me something; why did the people of Noreal develop better weapons?"

This got a bit of confusion from the young woman. "To get better chances against their enemies, the same as any growing civilization would. Protecting themselves from hostile fauna, etc..." She paused and it clicked. "Are you trying to compare that to a arms race?"

"Yes and no." He admitted. "At least with a arms race there is more concrete rules. What we have at the moment is chance and luck. As in you have to hope you're fortunate enough your resident demi god is strong enough to beat the hostile one and that is if you even have any in the first place. At least with oppressive or corrupt governments the people can more likely handle it.  Against thing like these? Not a chance. I can't speak for you, but the idea of leaving it to the whims of essentially physical Gods and demi gods doesn't appeal to me much."


"That may be true, but as you said it doesn't matter you have to adapt. So what now?"

"Now?" He repeated. "Truthfully, I don't know. I have thought of them and each have their own issues. If for hypothetical sake there were weapons that could hurt such monsters there be a chance they get in the wrong hands. What I said earlier speaks for itself. It's damned if you do and damned if you don't. But I suppose if I was given a choice at the very least some people who consider Noreal their home. Slim chance of that." He turned back to his computer. "The two guest will be here shortly, but I'll be here for now."

_________

Aurora arrived in the front of a large city with Cadmus and Jack in tow. People were going about their business not paying the three all that much mind as they continued on their day.  In front was a large building that stood out that was impressive in its own right, but nothing Jack hadn't seen before.

She led them inside and there was a front desk with a young woman with red hair behind it. "What I can I help you three with? Are you here for a appointment?" They asked politely and professionally.

Aurora didn't want to waste time and got to the point. "These two are here to see Raine. Cadmus and Jack are their names, Caleb sent word so there should be something about them already since its urgent."

"One moment." There was a slight pause as she typed a few things down on the computer. "All right it checks out. Sorry for the delay."

"You aren't all knowing, don't worry about it." Cadmus assured. "Where do we go to?"

"I can help you with that." A young woman came into view. "You're here to see Raine correct? I'm Vanessa Vamir, second CEO of Vertex Industries. Raine is slightly pre occupied but I can take you two right to them as not to waste your gentleman's time."

Jack flashes a winning smile "That would be superb. Thank you." he says as one could swear there was a twinkle from his shining smile.

Things were going quite smoothly and it was at that point that Jack expected things to go sideways and while he hoped for the best, he always prepared for the worst.

Vanessa lead them deeper into the building while the person who had teleported Cadmus and Jack had opted to stay behind for the time being. She pressed her hand on a scanner of some kind from two large doors before it opened for the three of them.

Inside was Raine sitting down in some advanced looking room of some kind. There were a few other people sitting down typing away or talking among themselves.

Raine looked up to see who entered and instantly seemed happy when Cadmus was there, giving them a hug. "Cadmus! It's been too long how have you been?"

Cadmus was happy to see them to, but it wasn't just a friendly visit. "A lot actually, we'll have to talk later. More to the point, Alice needs your help. She's in a coma from a illness and needs you there to wake her up."

This got a pause. "Well, all right if you say it will help them. I just want to head back to make sure the children are all right."

"Realistically, it'll probably be a bit longer before we can wake them up safely and make sure there aren't any negative effects." Vanessa said after a moment. "So you can help your friend, they'll be fine."

Jack had expected it to take much longer to find Raine then this, but now that they had her here "Greetings. My name is Jack Winters, leader of the Unknown Heroes..." he says holding out a hand "If I can, I suggest we head to Earth as quickly as we can. Sinister forces are already working against both Earth and Noreal." he points out "We shall explain along the way, should you choose to join us."

Raine shook her head a bit. "No, its ok I'll go."

"You don't need to pack or bring anything?" Cadmus asked.

"I have this." Raine indicated towards her bracelet. "It has the things I need and I really don't need too much. Besides it sounds urgent."

As the three of them start out, Jack holds a small hand monitor over to Raine, which shows the encounter with the Vindicator Prime and how badly things went for Jack and his team, despite having heavy hitters like Ramona, David, Mondo, and Jack himself.

"That's the Vindicator Prime. He's an evil robot with domination on his mind." Jack says as they head out "He is a conqueror of worlds, make no mistake about that, and he has his sights set on Earth and most likely the connected worlds like Elysium, Hyrule, and Noreal." he explains.

"As you've seen, we, meaning my team, got crushed by this bot." he points out "We need all of our biggest guns if we're to have Any real chance at even slowing down this titan and that means getting our main support back, amd that's where you come in." he continues.

"It's been Heavily suggested by someone who knows everything, that you are the only one who can wake Alice up." he states as he stops and looks at Raine "And so we've come to Noreal to bring you and Alice together so we cam stop the threat of the Vindicator Prime."

Raine watched the whole thing quietly, truthfully wasn't sure what to say or think but it was a serious matter. She knew of the Unknown Heroes Very vaguely as she hadn't really kept up with matters concerning earth unless she had to.

"We can just use one of my portals then instead of going." Raine said afterwards. "If that's urgent to get to and out for a emergency. I don't really like doing that instead of leaving to and from properly but it sounds like we don't have a lot of time. What do I have to do to wake them up?"

Jack shakes his head "No. Me amd Cadmus came here through official means and it's best that we leave that way." he says "I can only imagine what certain people might think, having two high profile heroes come to their world and just suddenly vanish." he points out.

As for Raine's question, Jack shrugs "Jason, the guy who told me about you, failed to mention how you would wake her. He just said he would meet us there." he says.

"I see.." Raine didn't have much to say after that.

"You three are in a awful hurry, I was going drop you off." Aurora said as she came from behind. ""It's good to see you again Raine but said to see you go."

"Noreal is my home, I'll be back but someone needs me right now." Raine said after shaking her head.

"Regardless, I'll wish you luck whatever you decide." The Ralphlim turned towards the two men. "While I can't directly just take you out of Noreal, I can take you where you can get squared away faster then the long way. Is that all right with you two?"

"We're trying to do this as fast as we can, so I don't see why not." Cadmus had no issue, and if Jack didn't then they get this over with faster.

Jack shakes his head "We'll find our own way back. But thank you for offering." he looks to the Heartless "Shall we be off?" he asks.

Raine wondered why that was but shrugged mentally and decided to take them to the airport. Since this was a floating island the only way to get anywhere else was flying or teleporting, not everyone had the former and the later wasn't common at all. Inventions were often the result of nesscity so if not for those who couldn't naturally fly let alone really long distances it probably would have taken longer for such things to be invented.

There was always at least a few flights going to part of the main lands so getting a ride wasn't too much of a burden and with Raine there some of the things would be easier as well.

(The characters are out)