“Hey! I can see you there!” Anya said as she spied a young man hidden in the bushes a few yards away. A few of the leaves rustled as he slowly rose to his feet. She could see that he had light brown hair that was pulled into a small ponytail. He was wearing a blue t-shirt with a brown hoodie over it, unzipped. His jeans looked bleached and were slightly torn. His sneakers were worn out as well. He had a small burst of flames escaping the center of his palm. His eyes were wide and his feet were poised to run.

Jamie, the girl Anya had just met, turned to him and put her hands on her hips.

“Wow, the gang’s all here minus one huh?”

The gargoyle on the floor took one look at the newcomer and bent lower than he had before. He was practically on his stomach now. He didn’t say a word, but his whimpering and muffled yelling were loud enough for any of them to hear. The young man spoke but didn’t get any closer.

“Look, I’m not here to start anything,” he looked at the Gargoyle, “I just want to get rid of that thing.” Jamie burst out laughing.

“Holy cow! You’ve just crossed ALL the wrong people haven’t you?” she said to the Gargoyle. “I mean, even a Pyrotanian? Any Warriors following you too?” She held her sides as laughter continued to leave her. Anya had to admit, it was pretty funny. This was not the Gargoyle’s day. She started to smile herself, but didn’t want to get distracted from what had piqued her interest before. The young Pyrotanian hadn’t inched closer.

“Well? Don’t be afraid. We’re both here for the same reason you are. Besides, this thing’s got some interesting information about what the other species have been up to,” Anya said, thumbing at the Gargoyle.

“Interesting maybe to you perhaps, but not me.” Jamie said, having gained her composure. The young man stepped up to the two girls and looked down at the Gargoyle. His eyes were big and round and he had an odd expression on his face. Like he was examining it. He bent low to sniff it.

“Eww, how can you stand the smell so close?” Jamie asked, grimacing. The Gargoyle on the other hand, had started pleading with the Pyrotanian,

“I’ll do whatever you ask of me! Please spare me!” it garbled. 

Anya had originally planned to painfully spread its molecules as far as they would go, but when it started talking about alliances between the lower species, she had gotten very curious. Nothing like that had ever happened before. It was unheard of to even think of challenging one of the Noble Four species, let alone all four. Warrior, Divinity, Chameleon, and Pyrotanian. These were the names of the Noble Four species. They were highly respected for being the four strongest species in the universe. They were also the four with the most amounts of conquered planets and solar systems. Of course there were many species that acquired many planets of their own, but only if those planets hadn’t gained any interest from the Noble Four, aka: weaker, less resourceful planets. To go up against the Noble Four was practically suicide.

Anya didn’t care much for playing Open Conquest. But she did think it was unfortunate that a beautiful planet such as Earth had been chosen. She had saved the lives of many humans like the women on the train while on her time on Earth. She enjoyed the shocked looks, the looks of gratitude, and the smiles. It always reminded her of him, the first man she saved, her best friend. He was a huge fan of comic books and always told her about how she reminded him of the superheroes he liked reading about. He was the only one she had told about her powers. He had even coined a superhero name for her: Anya Swift.

He’d tell her how great he thought she was, how safe he felt with her. He went on and on about how he was glad she was there to help people. But superheroes saved people because they were good, because they wanted to save people. She never told him that she did it purely for the attention and for the thrill. She figured he’d be disappointed. She didn’t want to be involved with Open Conquest, but she’d be sad to see the Earth he loved so much become war-torn.

Thinking about him now reminded her of the lowly being at her feet and how much she wanted to tear it apart, but it also reminded her of how happy he might’ve been if he could see the idea cooking up in her head. The way the Gargoyle reacted to the three of them towering over it, combined with the news of alliances, made her gears start turning.

The Gargoyle had given up on making eye contact. Looks like he’s realizing the situation he’s in. Pretty soon he’s going to see we have no intention of letting him live. The longer we intimidate him, the more we’ll get out of him.

The Gargoyle, without looking up, said loud and clearly,

“Many of the other species are looking to end the tyranny of the Noble Four.”

Jamie scoffed. “You mean the tyranny of the Warriors? They’re the ones you should be picking a fight with. The rest of us are just as-“

“No! You are not like us!” The Gargoyle had shouted. Jamie’s mouth quivered like she wanted to snap back, but she didn’t. “Some of us aren’t as gifted as yourselves. Some of us even—“ the Gargoyle went quiet again.

“That reminds me, what is a Gargoyle even doing here? Weren’t your people banned because your eating habits are too unpredictable?” Anya asked. The Gargoyle said nothing.

“It was a mistake,” he grumbled, more to himself than to the rest of them. “Anyway! I can tell you the names of the species that have joined! But only if you promise to spare me!”

“Deal.” Anya said quickly.

“Wha-“

“Hold on!”

The other two exclaimed in confusion. Anya habitually held up her hand to silence them.

“You don’t order me around.” Jamie said antagonistically.

“The hell with this.” The Pyrotanian opened his hand wider and faced it towards the Gargoyle, ready to burn it.

Aw damn. Forgot. I can’t deal with them like the others.

“Wait! I apologize. I only meant for you to calm down.” Anya said.

“What does it matter? He’s not even a Gargoyle! He’s probably making everything up!” He yelled.

Not a Gargoyle? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Anya looked back and forth between the Gargoyle and the young man. It looked like one, smelled like one, what was he saying?

The Pyrotanian was getting anxious. She could see his fingers twitching and his chest heaving. He glared at the Gargoyle, his eyes getting wider and wider. The Gargoyle scrambled back against the tree and cowered. It continued crying and pleading for mercy.

“She’s lying anyway. She won’t spare you even if you tell her what she wants.” Jamie said to the Gargoyle. Anya whipped her head to look at Jamie, Why would she say that?

“He may be scum, but just because you’re of higher status, it doesn’t give you the right to say things like that when you don’t mean it.” She turned to the Pyrotanian, “Just do it already.”

“Wai-“

The Gargoyle suddenly leapt at Anya with its claws out as a last ditch effort to attack and defend itself. The Pyrotanian let loose his flames and waves of oranges and reds lit up the forest. The Gargoyle screamed a guttural scream as he writhed along the floor. The three of them watched as the creature’s skin slowly melted off of him little by little. The bones that began to peek out burned off into the air immediately. Soon it was silent and the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of burnt flesh and wood. The Pyrotanian sucked up the last bits of fire that remained into his palm. Jamie stood there staring at the dead mass of matter. Tears began forming as she sighed.

“Goodbye, Lacie,” she whispered. Jamie turned on her heel and started to walk away. The Pyrotanian took a deep breath and smiled in relief. Anya couldn’t believe what had just happened, it had happened so fast. How did she lose control of the situation that fast?

Wait, they can’t leave. Not till I’ve had my say. Anya turned and grabbed Jamie’s arm before she could get away.

“Get off me!” Jamie tried to wrestle away from her grip, but her grip was strong. The Pyrotanian behind her started speed walking back into the bushes. Anya focused really hard on the space around her. She closed her eyes, furrowed her brow and imagined the two of them frozen in space. She released Jamie for just a moment. Long enough for her to clench both of her hands and then spread her fingers. Jamie let out a small gasp before completely freezing in place. Her black hair had spread out around her and her dress flapped up slightly. Anya turned to look at the Pyrotanian boy and was glad to see that he too was frozen. His ponytail flew upwards, his sweater flayed opened, and a look of panic shone on his face as his eyes darted around.

“Ok,” Anya said. “I don’t mean to do this, but I really want you guys to hear me out. I have an idea.” She looked back at Jamie, whose eyes were wide and glaring. “I know our species don’t have much experience dealing with each other. I know you might be afraid or angry. But I promise you, I’m not going to hurt either of you.” Anya imagined a zipper on both of their mouths; “I’m going to open the space around your mouths so you can talk.” She imagined the zippers opening slowly and traced her fingers in the air. All at once, the forest exploded with angry, panicked voices.

Jamie started yelling how dare yous and slurs that Anya wasn’t familiar with. The Pyrotanian started begging to be let go, but then changed his mind and chose to sling slurs as well. Anya waited and listened until the two of them ran out of breath. She needed to get them to calm down fast. She wasn’t going to be able to keep the two of them suspended for long.

“We’ve all lost someone, correct?” Anya said once they were quiet enough to hear her. “That’s why you’re here. That’s why you hunted it down, same as me.” It was a guess but judging by how they fell silent, she must’ve hit the mark. “It was just one Gargoyle, what if there’s more?”

“How is that our problem?” Jamie said through gritted teeth.

“Not a Gargoyle.” The Pyrotanian mumbled at the same time. Anya turned to him,

“What do you call yourself?”

He hesitated for a moment and said, “Ryan.”

“Ryan, what do you mean it wasn’t a Gargoyle?” she asked.

“It’s only a hunch I have, but does it really matter anymore?” he asked.

“It does if they’re one of the species that are planning to take us down.”

“Take you down, you mean. I’ve already decided I want nothing to do with Open Conquest. I’m going back to my home planet. There's no point in me being here anymore.” Jamie said; she still had tears streaming down her face.

“It doesn’t matter whether we’re participating or not. If they’re serious and win Earth, it’ll jeopardize our positions as the Noble Four,” Anya said.

“Maybe they should take it then,” Jamie said with a solemn look. “Besides, I give it another week before Warrior catches on to what they’re doing, if this is even true. So don’t worry, they love being at the top just as much as you do. They’ll deal with them.”

She’s probably right. I’d be surprised if they even lasted a week against the Warriors. But that still doesn’t change anything. If Warrior conquers Earth, what’ll that mean for the humans who already inhabit it?

“We can’t let Warrior take Earth,” Anya suddenly said.

“It’ll happen whether we want it to or not.” Ryan said.

“Even if they don’t stand a chance, they had the right idea.” Anya’s head was starting to ache. I’m going to have to let them go soon. “I had a friend; that Gargoyle took him from me. He told me one time that he was glad that I was here. He took me to a lot of places, introduced me to his friends, and called me a superhero-“

“You told him about you?” Jamie asked, incredulously.

“Only a little. He didn’t know I was from a different planet. He thought I was a human who had undergone experiments. My point is…this was his home. He had friends here; family, people he cared about. We all know what’ll happen to them if Warrior conquers Earth. It’ll just be another tick on their scoreboard. Earth will be another planet to drain resources from. The people you lost, wasn’t this their home too?” Anya waited to see if they were resonating with anything she was saying. Ryan stayed quiet, but she could tell he was listening and thinking intently.

“Humans are so fragile. Earth hasn’t even been around that long, they’ve barely been given a chance.” Anya continued. She almost laughed at herself. It wasn’t too long ago that she had been belittling humans and their lifespan. Although she thought them beneath her, she thought they deserved at least a chance. Jordan had deserved a chance.

“They’ll do more than drain resources.” Jamie’s tears had stopped.

“Right, so shouldn’t we do something about it?” Anya said.

“What is there to do?” Jamie asked.

“Did you see how much power just our presence had over that Gargoyle? Like I said, they have the right idea. I say…we create an alliance of our own. Right here.” That’s all the energy I have. Don’t bail on me. Don't bail on me.

Anya let go and Ryan and Jamie stumbled as they unfroze. They didn’t move or say a word. They looked to be deep in thought. It wasn’t like Anya had a plan if they were to move forward with it. It was an idea that she came up with on the spot. It was risky, and almost made no sense. But she wanted to try it; she was excited to try it. It would be historic.

“This was Lacie’s home. I think…she would’ve wanted me to…maybe.” Jamie shook her head, as if to shake the rest of her thought out of her head. “You know if we do this, it’ll mark us as traitors right? To our species?” she asked.

“Ehhh we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Anya said, beginning to smile.

“We’ve already crossed it if we’ve deserted the companions we originally came with.” Ryan added. “I’ve uh…” He looked at his feet. “There’s a little boy I promised I’d take care of. He kind of hates me now though.” He paused. “If there’s a chance he’ll forgive me…” He paused again. “I don’t know if I want a huge part in this,” he finished. He was playing around with his fingers.

“If you want to be a symbolic member, I guess that works. For now.” Anya said, not wanting to deter him away.

“Alright! I’m in!” Jamie suddenly perked up and put her hands on her hips. “It just occurred to me that this’ll give me a great opportunity to knock Warrior down a peg and I’ve been waiting AGES for that to happen.” Anya smiled bigger and bigger.

“So how are we going to go about this?” Jamie asked. She seemed to have forgotten how angry she was at Anya minutes ago.

“Well, we'll have to do a lot of preparing and thinking before we do anything. But I'm thinking we’re going to have to participate again.” Anya said. Jamie and Ryan looked at each other in confusion.

“In Open Conquest? I thought we were going to save Earth?”

“We are. By taking it ourselves.” Anya said with a grin.