A Hero's Song (Darkest Secrets Volume 1)

Chapter 34 - The Quantum Conundrum

Barely contained energy swirled around Quantum as he clenched his fists, and a gleaming bubble of light expanded outwards from his body.

Gabriel winced as the light moved through him, but nothing happened. Quickly, the sound of his blood moving and his heart beating alerted him to time moving again. The bubble of light stopped just behind him, it was a sort of time spell.

After that conversation, Gabriel wasn't sure what to believe. Quantum claimed he was trying to end the invasion. That Zero had gotten in the way before - was he talking about Quantum's crater?

What happened at the end of the first invasion?

His hunting trance broken - Gabriel wasted precious milliseconds thinking while Quantum aimed and pulled the trigger on the gun fueled by Photon's body. The beam stopped abruptly between the two arcing horns and flattened out, stretching to fill the gap in the pillars. It reminded Gabriel of how the portal formed in the VNet, only slower.

Where did this portal go? To that tree Quantum mentioned?

Estimated portal completion: 300 seconds. Alfred's voice was a comfort.

Gabriel should have moved; should have shot Quantum point-blank in the back; finish his mission - but he couldn't. He was too conflicted - Quantum was his hero. Zero was his hero, too... and the Shield.

Gabriel's eyes slammed shut, the confusion in his head messier than the broken bodies of the Republic's favored protectors beside him. It felt like what little remained of his enthusiastic inner child had just finished burning in the flames of adulthood.

"What are you doing?!" Zero hollered. "You don't know what's on the other side of that!"

The shining figure lifted an arm, and Zero rose from the ground and slowly floated closer.

It was hard to hear Quantum over the roar of the portal forming, but his condescending expression was too loud to ignore. "If only you had a little more initiative, you'd have figured it out years ago. The Blitz are digging for these gateways. I saw it during the first invasion. They destroy these devices on sight, overloading them with energy.

Before the portals explode, they open briefly, and I've seen what's on the other side - it's Haven, our Haven. The Blitz are trying to stop us from going home, Zero. Can't you see I'm trying to do good for once? If only you remembered it all."

"Past lives might as well mean nothing if you doom us all on your way to a throne like a spoiled child."

A gleaming golden hall started to show through the portal.

Quantum shook his head. "You'll see. You'll all see — the reason I had to be brave enough to remember our past. I was the one meant to lead us. This Superhero charade has given us nothing but grief." He spat on the floor, unaware of the scene unfolding behind him.

A sparking black cloud oozed across the floor of the golden hall. By now, it was obvious the room was the size of a city. Dozens of hovering spacecraft filled the air above what looked to be a stadium filled with spectators. Gabriel would guess around a trillion people would fit in the seats ringing the arena from the proportions.

Meanwhile, Quantum continued. "I will wear the crown upon our return. Not that pretentious, overzealous little-"

A blistering pale explosion rocked the dark cloud and an electrified orange mouth formed to give a pained roar in response. By now, a bit of diminished sound was coming across the portal, but the sound that cloud-creature made was loud enough to shake the ground on their end.