There's chaos in the streets as civilians panic, running to shelters from monsters that were pushed out of the city ten minutes ago. But they do not know it is safe. The relief sirens never rang out to let everyone know the attack was over. In their panic, almost everyone failed to notice the most obvious aspect of the attack… the power had gone out all over the city. Most of the heroes didn't notice because their equipment was charged and battery operated for portability. But the controllers and dispatchers, those responsible for the movements of resources and people, they noticed the moment it happened, and were powerless to stop or fix it. By the time the heroes and the public realized what was going on, usually because the lights in their shelter went out or the doors wouldn't open, it was too late. The damage was done. Hundreds of people across the city were trapped in powerless shelters, slowly asphyxiating as the air cyclers went out. Those outside the shelters who eventually realized were confused, assuming the reactors in the city or the power lines had been damaged, which had happened in the past. But Marcel, upon seeing the lights go out, gets a cold feeling in the depths of his stomach.
Outside the city's walls, minutes before the power goes out, Lahmi and his hordes are almost finished digging up the Apotheosis Reactor. Initially, they tried to break into it from the sides, but a strange energy killed any monsters who made it in. So they abandoned the idea of just taking the reactor, and started digging up the entire containment unit. Lahmi watches from a short distance outside the freshly dug hole as the unit is pulled out, and the power lines are severed. The monsters growl as they are electrocuted, but Lahmi ignores their pained cries, focusing on his seemingly inevitable victory. Gang members strap harnesses onto the monsters, and around the unit. They pull and claw out of the sand, freeing it entirely.
"Mount up!" One of the gang members calls out, ready to leave the area. Several other monsters are brought and harnessed, ready for the long journey back to their base. They prepared a wagon for the reactor, but it isn't big enough for the whole storage unit, so they'll be moving half as quickly, meaning they need to leave now to get enough distance between themselves and the city before they figure out what's happened.
"Finally." Lahmi says. "We have power, real tangible power." He stars at the unit. A big metal block, with a single round glass window that reveals a pulsating light inside, like an eye with a fire behind it. For a moment, Lahmi swallows hard, feeling that the light is watching him. It was that same light that had instantly killed the monsters that entered, he knows that in the core of his being. Dismissing these thoughts, he focuses on securing his victory, saying, "We're leaving."
In Hero Corp's head office, everyone is receiving updates by messenger and papers. Hundreds of people talk amongst themselves, and have been for several hours. All about one thing: the state of the city. Once Hero Corp realized the power was out across the city, heroes were dispatched to all shelters to save as many people as possible.
"Sir, we have word on shelter 12a. Nineteen dead. Seven more critical. Medics and those with healing gifts are doing what they can, but some have brain damage that will take days to fully heal, assuming they last the night." One runner says.
"Shelter 7c reporting. Maximum capacity, no survivors." Another runner says. Similar reports to these two come from all over the effected parts of the city.
At another part of the building, several people are having a conference. Among them are all leaders of every hero group in the city, as well as elected officials from each district.
"We checked the reactor, it's gone." Natile, who stood at the front of the room of people, says. Earlier in the meeting, they'd all been made aware of the reactor.
"Destroyed?" Someone asks.
"No. It's gone. Missing. Even the containment unit was dug up and dragged away." She says.
"The whole reactor was stolen?" Marcel, attending as the leader of Shepard's Court, asks, shocked.
"So, that's why they attacked in such force. To buy time." An elected official says.
"Maybe. It certainly seems likely." Natile says.
"Can't we retrofit the nuclear reactors inside the city? I know they aren't functional, but we can just turn them on, right?" Someone asks.
"We don't have any fuel for them." A man, who'd already known the truth about the reactors', says. He hadn't known about the Apotheosis Reactor, but knew that they never had any nuclear material, at least not in the fifty years he'd been in charge of them. "Am I right?"
"Yes." Natile says.
"What about the fuel for this Apotheosis Reactor? What is that? Can't we use it?" Someone in the crowd asks.
"We have no idea what the reactor uses. In all the years we've maintained it, it has never once required refueling." Natile says.
"What? Are you saying it's some kind of perpetual energy machine. That's impossible. It would break physics." A leader of a hero group chimed in.
"In truth, our best engineers have no idea how it works. The schematics we had were mostly destroyed. All we can do is plug into the city's grid and perform the daily maintenance. So, making a new one is impossible."
"So, we need to get the old one back." Marcel says. "My group would be happy to spearhead the attack."
Natile nods, "Anyone else?" Several leaders volunteered their groups as well. The conversation drifted to the city's defense. "With the power out, the wall is at half strength. No auto-turrets, no electric barbs, no opening the gates, even. Meaning if anyone wanted to come into the city from outside, not that many were even left outside the walls since the start of the war, they will have to scale it. But trying to gather resources by scaling the walls is nearly impossible. Or at least, extremely difficult. The wall is now little more than a large slab of concrete and steel, which will hold for a long time… hopefully."
"Speaking of the wall, we have to plug the hole. Now." The district official who was responsible for the area closest to the collapse says.
"You are correct. I am officially issuing an order to all districts to mobilize any individuals with gifts that have been deemed construction based toward fixing the wall." Natile says.
"You're drafting people? That's outrageous!"
"What's outrageous is that our city has had a giant gaping hole in its first line of defense for the last, what, three months now? And we still haven't fixed it. All because a bunch of elected officials wanted to play politics." One of the leaders of a hero group says.
"Please, Solsane, that's enough." Natile says, raising an open hand to calm him down. "But I do not disagree. That is why I am exercising my authority to force it though. Any district official found not in compliance will be arrested for treason."
"Insanity!" The man from earlier says.
"In times of great strife, insanity often becomes the only choice." Natile says.
Soon, a force of twenty groups are getting organized, led by Marcel and Shepard's Court. Meanwhile, an order to every district is sent out: all gifts useful in construction are to report to the collapse immediately to aid construction efforts.
A week later, the collapse was sealed. Not as strongly as before, but that could be fixed in time now that the bulk of the threat was taken care of.
Three months later, at Lahmi's base camp. He sits on his bed, knees pressed to his chest, muttering to himself. "It did this, I know it did. It all started when I brought it here. All his fault. That man who found the schematics. It's his fault! Not mine! I wouldn't have cared about that stupid reactor if it weren't for him! None of this would have happened! Everything's ruined! His fault, not mine!"
Over the last three months, calamity after calamity had fallen upon Lahmi's camp and everyone inside. It started when a mysterious illness spread through the camp. Suddenly, almost everyone developed tumors growing out of their skin that had to be cut off. Sometimes, their health spiraled, getting sick with fever and boils and lesions. Many died. In order to maintain their strength, Lahmi ordered an attack against nearby gang outposts they hadn't moved on yet. They did what they always do, show up, demand obedience, and take everything. If the people refuse, they die. This time, they refused. But that was were the next calamity happened. During the attack, without warning, some of the monsters somehow broke free from Lahmi's control, and turned on his gang. They killed so many of his monsters and gang members. This meant, for the first time, Lahmi's forces lost and were pushed out of territory. This was a crushing blow to moral. Then the next, attacks from the city's forces began. While they managed to push them back, the losses were catastrophic. So much so, that Lahmi had to take his personal guard and retreat.
Now, after all this, Lahmi still has one personal calamity he has yet to overcome. He feels… he knows that the reactor is responsible for it all… and that it is watching him.
"Sire?" A woman says, entering his tent. She is wearing little more than rags, and is a personal attendant of Lahmi. Lately, her job has been to keep him calm so he doesn't kill the few gang members they have left. She lays on the bed next to him, caressing his back and shoulders. "What's wrong, sire?"
"There's something in there. I know it! I know it! It did this! It's watching me!"
"I think… I think you're right." She says. "It's hurting us. All of this started when it arrived."
"Yes. Yes, I know. I knew it!" Lahmi spots a tumor starting to form on his hand. Without warning, he grabs a knife and slices it off. Blood spills on the ground, and he stares at the lump of mutant flesh in the dirt. "It's like a tumor. It's growing, choking the life out of us."
"If it stays here, will it ever stop?" The woman asks.
"No… No… It won't. We have to get rid of it." Lahmi says, standing up and storming out of the camp. He approaches a man. "You! Send word to everyone. We're leaving."
"I'll start preparing the reactor."
"No. Leave it. It's responsible for all of this. Forget it. We won't have anything else to do with it." Lahmi says. The man, confused, nods and looks relieved.
The woman on the bed slowly stands up. She picks up a piece of paper and a shard of charcoal, quickly scribbles and update, and hides it in what little clothes she has. Then, she leaves the tent and makes her way to the wall. She is one of the few spies left in Lahmi's camp. Almost everyone else was caught or killed during the last attack. She throws the message over the makeshift wall. It lands in the sands, and then vanishes as it is picked up by a messenger with the gift of invisibility.
The message simply reads: Reactor in Triclops. Lahmi's forces fleeing. Reactor left behind.