....And the Second round begins!

Getting back onto the roof, I surveyed the scene, watching as Myrrdin cleared away the building opposite to the warehouse, exposing the basement for what was to come.

Below me Panacea healed the injured with the help of my droids and the city looked to be going in the right direction.

There were still malcontents. Alexandria had survived of course, like the cockroach she was. Legend however wasn't so lucky.

Amidst hateful glares and jeering, she had left, even before I got here, something I learnt after going through the broadcast footage as I fiddled with the time stop remote.

"So guys, how did you like this clusterfuck of a show? Don't go switching off your tvs and what not yet though!

More is still to come, including but not limited to, the death of scion, an epic final battle and another shocking reveal?!

Whatever could it be?

Keep watching and find out!

As for what I am doing right now?

I am making a device to undo the damage done by the big black endbringer.

You see this stuff?" I said, lifting the crystallized xanthenite to the camera.

"This is crystallized xanthenite. Otherwise known as a time crystal. It conducts electrons across dimensions and can in theory stop or even reverse time in localized bubbles. Bubbles like that one over there.

It won't bring back the dead, but at least I can get rid of the accelerated time bubble covering the city.

To the residents of that part of the city I only have my sympathies to give.

Whatever's left of your belongings there, whatever you can salvage is yours. That is the most I can do. I am sorry I didn't kill Eidolon earlier. If I had known he would summon more Endbringers...."

I shook my head.

"Words won't bring back those you've lost. I know that.

But I hope that the death of Eidolon and the end of the Endbringers' attacks on your cities, on innocent people, your future generations, will bring you some solace.

Perhaps, I should have killed the Triumvirate first before exposing their crimes.

I thought it wouldn't be right. That you wouldn't believe me without their verbal admissions.

But was it worth the cost in lives you've had to pay?

I.... don't know. I know I use humor to hide my feelings....but I tried my best even if it wasn't good enough. It never is."

I purposely pushed out some tears from my eyes, and sniffled wiping them away.

An oscar worthy act if there ever was any.

"I'm sorry...I didn't want ...I fuck. I wanted to make this a fun expose and .... I didn't want you to see this." I said, shaking my head.

"You know...there are an infinite versions of this same planet, the same poeple across the multiverse. There is a world out there where I stopped the Triumvirate before they could do any harm. A world where none of this ever happened. Even a world where I didn't fail to protect my wife.

And in a way, it makes no sense to grieve like this. I mean there are infinite versions of you out there. On infinite worlds. This world isn't unique or special in any way. There's probably another one just like this some ways out there, where maybe the only difference is that a window is painted a different color or a stone is left turned or unturned.

So why grieve? It's just another day in the infinite multiverse. Just another world. Just another group of people with infinite versions of them.

But....I know from personal experience, that these people. They were unique. Irreplaceable. In the hearts of the ones who cared about them.

I know that feeling firsthand.

When my wife died...I could have gone to another reality. Just jumped into it and gotten myself an identical copy of my wife and unborn daughter.

It would have made no difference in the vast scale of the multiverse.

But I didn't. Because I knew. That wouldn't be my wife. Not truly. That daughter wouldn't be my own. I would be robbing another version of me of his family.

That's when I realized, it's all ... unique. Special in it's own way. Because this one, the one you lost, is the only one you ever loved. The only one you went to the beach with. The only one who knew that little perk or habit of yours. And the only one that loved you for who you are. And nothing can replace that.

So if there is anything, anything at all that I can do to help you, whoever you are, please tell me when this is all over. When Scion is gone. When his twisted experiment on the human race has been undone.

I will be here. And I will help rebuild what was lost, as best as I can."

That oughta earn me a whole lot of brownie points with the population of this miserable dirt ball.

Ones I can use to my benefit later.

I stood up, and looked down at the sympathetic glances people were throwing my way, as well as the gratitude they spoke.

I smiled gently at them and pointed the remote at the spinning time bubble in the heart of the city, pressed a button.

A wave of pink and blue energy burst from the remote and enveloped the bubble, causing it to stop spinning, before it came to a halt, slowly dissipating over the course of a minute.

The computer alerted me as portals opened up all across the city as drines exited them, carrying the Corrosive Potion, dropping it over the crystals, undoing the damage done to the city.

Everything was falling into place.

I pulled out a multilimb potion and downed it, sprouting three new arms, covered in the brown of the suit.

Taking charge of the nano swarm I began to instruct it to strip the newly sprouted arms of their armor and restitch it onto my uncovered hands.

The nano swarm buzzed around, ripping through the new arms, before the extra hands disappeared, and the nanobots went to town.

I looked down at my hands and found the suit covering them again as the nanobots had restitched it to completion from the excess around the body.

"Good. Now for the final touch."

I looked at the distant sky, and surveilled the planet with my contacts, tracking Scion's movements. He was currently flying over Cambodia, headed straight here.

Alright then. Time for action.

My orginal plan was now moot.

Queen and Gavel were dead. Noelle and Oliver were remanded to the ship.

But thankfully, I had come here with a back up ready. Someone strong enough to hold Scion down for a moment. Someone immortal enough to take his blows without flinching.

Someone who could deal back a little of what was dealt.

I pulled out four rings from my labcoat's pocket and put them on in full view of the camera.

"Now my dear viewers, is the time of this show that I most enjoy because it means I can go all out." I said, projecting a map of Scion's traced path.

"Scion is headed here any minute now, and earth just lost it's best defenders. So here's my best shot at a replacement."

I turned to the sky and raised my jewelled hand high.

"Fire! Earth! Water! Air! With their powers combined, I summon you, Guardian Of Earth!"

Four elemental beams burst from the rings merging in the air with a blinding flash.

A ball of light unfurled before the world's eyes.

And from within, came what the world needed most right now.

A little hope.

"There's only one solution, to Earth's pollution!" She said, rising into the air, her hair flowing in the breeze.

"Planetina!"

"Huh? Where are my kids?!" She asked confused.

"There's no time Planetina. An alien god is threatening to destroy the Earth. We need your help in fighting him off. All you need to do is hold him in place for a few seconds and we will deal with him. The world depends on you, Planetina! Can you do it?!" I explained.

"Yes I Can!" She smiled resplendent, as she surveyed the surroundings, eyes sharp.

"Good. Everyone who can fight! Get ready!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention.

"Scion is going to be here in one minute and 45 seconds. Now I wish I had an epic speech prepared for this, but I don't. Not that we have the time for it anyway! So let me just present to you all our accompaniment for the fight.

A song near and dear to my heart.

And one chosen specifically for ironic reasons, the best reasons!

Because if I am going to risk my life fighting an alien god, I will die as I lived - spitting in the face of fate, destiny and the very firmament the nonexistent asshole of a god made.

Are you with me?! For the fight of our lives. The fight for the future of the planet and the human race?!" I asked.

"Yes!"

"Hell Yeah!"

"You know it!"

"Aye aye captain!"

"Computer, do it!" I said.

"Playing Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles." It's voice resounded from the speaker on the Gigatron's remains.

"Nice choice!" Clockblocker shouted.

"Thank you!" I replied.

I pulled at the Ragnarok lapel pin on my chest and used my technokinesis to turn it on.

A blue forcefield covered me from head to toe simmering with great power.

But that wasn't all.

I pulled out the empty syringe and stabbed it into my neck, spurting blood onto the floor, as I threw the purple potion to the floor.

The potion reacted to my blood as a fleshy biomass began to grow in my likeness, groaning happily.

A stream of golden energy ran from it's body to mine, forming a blazing halo around me.

Then, I threw the ferro nanite capsule at the floor shattering it, as a mass of black oily tendrils crawled all over me forming another layer of power on me, turning into a poncho around my shoulders at my beckoning.

I clapped my hands and looked around to see the rest of the heroes looking up at me.

I smiled at them, and pulled off the gravity gun from it's holster.

"Computer, get the aiming systems ready." I said.

"They have been ready for the past ten hours sir." The computer reported.

"Alright then." I said.

The sky on the horizon burned with a golden power, the winds rippled across the clouds like curtains in the storm, and the waves crashed heavy against the shore, flooding the streets.

I took a swig of the mega seed juice, gulping it all down in one go, as my cognition broadened and the world dissolved into maths again.

Before my emotions slipped away again though, I gave the computer one last command, mostly for the optics and PR, but somewhat also because I really did care.

"If something happens to me, take good care of Star for me. Raise him to be better. Tell him.....Papa loves you." I said, choking up as the logical side of me took over completely.

Finally, I turned to the people assembled below and smiled with serenity.

"It is my honor to face the apocalypse with all of you. Let's begin."

Then a blinding light filled my vision and the world itself shook in Scion's wake.

And so began the Golden Morning.