Chapter 38: Quest for Survival

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"If you only face forward, there is something you will miss seeing."

- VASH THE STAMPEDE, (TRIGUN)

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<(Omniscient POV)> 

"At last it is happening. My years of research and hard work are taking shape right in front of us. Isn't this amazing guys? At this rate, I'll be able to conduct all my experiments successfully and be the first one to prove physicist Miguel Alcubierre's theory of faster-than-light speed travel through warps and warp drives. I told you guys that everything will be alright, didn't I? You were worrying for absolutely no reason." Reed celebrated as their space shuttle left the Earth's atmosphere. 

"Yeah, thanks to Atem," Johnny added from his seat in a low voice which his sister Susan was able to hear, and nodded her head in agreement. 

The young stuntman was initially neutral to the New God and didn't know what to feel when he found out that his sister might be having an affair with him behind Reed's back. The friendship between Johnny and Reed existed only because of Susan's crush on Reed. If his sister was no longer interested in Reed, John wouldn't try to go against his sister and warn Reed of her affair, he had no right to interfere in his sister's dating life and if he tried, he was sure that his sister would make sure that he could never try it again. So, he pretended he didn't know anything and focused on his own life instead of keeping an eye on his sister's relationships.

But that changed when his career as a stuntman and celebrity suddenly skyrocketed out of nowhere. He was not only offered multiple deals and brand endorsements with huge advantages but he was even offered some mild roles in some action movies. That was something he couldn't even dream of a few months ago but now it had become reality. But even all that couldn't compare to when Atem officially selected him as the one to cover their entire space mission in the form of a documentary. 

So, saying that he owed Atem was an understatement. At this stage, he was more than happy that his sister was dating someone like Atem and thus even naturally held a high opinion of him as well.

"We have stabilized in our predetermined orbit. I think we can begin the second phase." Ben Grimm declared as the sound of the thrusters in the shuttle became silent and the artificial gravity of the shuttle kicked in.

"I just hope that we don't get attacked by aliens or something. I have seen way too many of those horror alien movies to relax on this journey. Believe me, you do not want to see movies of the xenomorph and species franchisees just before your space shuttle launch." Johnny Storm commented as he began setting up his camera equipment to record their entire stay.

Of course, not everything was going to be included in the documentary. The documentary was only going to be about 2 to 3 hours of footage maximum but he had to shoot for the entirety of their stay here to cover every important thing that was going to happen. The cameras on the ship were already going to record almost everything happening on the shuttle and could be reviewed later for more studies but they were not the best camera angles for a documentary aimed at the general public.

No, the footage needed for the documentary was going to be shot by Johnny Storm with a specialized portable hand-held camera and he was even allowed to comment on stuff in his own words much like a YouTuber or a vlogger.

"Don't worry Johnny, cameramen always die at the end that is if they even die at all. That's the universal law." A charming voice suddenly surprised all four people sitting at the control station at which they quickly turned back in surprise to see where the voice had come from. They were supposed to be the only ones on the shuttle thus the voice had really spooked them. Reed had even fired some sort of electric charge-based energy projectile in the direction of the voice from a gun that suddenly appeared in his hands.

"Really? Firing an electric charge in the control room of a space shuttle? Really smart. I think whoever gave you that 'smartest man in the world' tag should reconsider." The familiar figure of Atem emerged from the door with a smirk as he watched the surprised expressions on their faces.

"How are you here? We are in space and this shuttle should be sealed tight. And, you never got on the shuttle. We were the only four passengers." Susan was the first one to get out of her shock as she questioned the handsome god standing before her. Although her expression seemed like that of surprise, she was actually extremely happy right now.

"I have my ways. I wasn't originally planning to come with you guys but I thought you could use the extra protection. Space may be the final frontier but it isn't exactly the safest." Atem joked.

"That's interesting. These readings are off the charts. This isn't anything like how I estimated the solar storm to be. I-I think we need to start the test phase as soon as possible. There is a treasure trove of data to be collected from this, Every second wasted dilly-dallying is a missed opportunity." Reed interrupted the conversation as he drew everyone's attention as he checked the monitors on the shuttle like a maniac while a red warning was visible on them. 

"I don't like being interrupted... but yeah, you are right. We have very little time to prepare ourselves for what is coming. So, it would be best if we complete all our individual tasks as soon as possible." The New god nodded as he took a quick peek at the cube floating beside him.

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<(Atem POV) >

"Are you absolutely certain Zoya? Because if what you say is true then we might have to make quite some changes in our space mission." I said seriously in a low voice.

Me and Zoya were currently in the meeting room of the spacecraft away from the reach of the other's ears. I didn't want the others to know what we were discussing because it would definitely result in needless panic and fear spreading among them since they still weren't the experienced superhero team that they would one day be in the future. Right now, they were still just ordinary humans.

"I am about 98.93 percent positive of it sir. The cosmic solar storm that is currently advancing towards us was initially a completely natural occurrence but its intensity has been increasing in a geometric progression due to some outside influence. Something or someone is literally meddling with its power and direction, making its radiation way more dangerous than it originally was. The way things are progressing, there is a chance that even the integrity of the shuttle's hull will be compromised if we are caught in the storm. " Zoya warned me.

"I see. But we don't need to be afraid of the solar storm itself since not only can I protect the shuttle using my magic and my abilities but also I am pretty sure that I can Boom tube everyone away from the rocket if worse comes to worst. No, what we need to be really worried about is the reason why this storm is behaving like this." I let my thoughts known to Zoya as I contemplated the hundreds of reasons that might have caused this phenomenon.

There were too many celestial beings, godly entities, or even normal metahumans and inhumans who could have been responsible for this. In a dangerous multiverse like the Marvel Multiverse, there were countless reasons for something like this to happen. So, there was almost no chance that I would even be able to know the exact reason why this happened.

[New Quest Received!]

[Quest Title: 'Survive the Planeteater']

[Quest Description: The legendary planet devourer with a weird fashion sense is tired of waiting for its herald to end his search for a lifeless planet, so it is here himself to search for tasty planets to snack on. Believe it, you don't want yourself or your planet to be among its chosen snacks. Survive Galactus and make sure that the Earth is still whole after he leaves.]

[Quest Reward: The tier of two random perks or abilities from your arsenal will be directly upgraded.]

[Quest Failure: Your death or destruction of Earth or both.]

"... I think I just found the answer to what caused the cosmic storm to suddenly go out of control and I am pretty sure I would have been much better off not knowing." 

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