A blanket of darkness was not what any citizen of the famous city of Lagos expected to experience 2 hours past noon. They also hadn't expected it to be their final moments as they stared up at the black sky in surprise and panic.
Not two seconds later, a loud yell echoed across the towns, "TO THE UNDERGROUND SHELTERS!!! NOW!!! HURRY!!!"
Rocks began to rain down, bringing dust with them, though their sizes were comparable to sand. It seemed as though the darkness that enveloped the city was actually a large object in the sky.
Panic, screams, fear. It was pure chaos as people ran, leaving their things behind. The markets had been torn apart by the confusion, the estates were in flurries of panic, and the streets were a complete disaster as everyone rushed to the underground shelters."
"WHAT IS HAPPENING?"
"WHERE ARE THE HEROES??!!"
~~~
"SIR! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
"Jay, what have I said about storming into my office unannounced?"
Jay, a man in his early twenties, stood barely leaning against the entrance to the CEO's office as he tried to catch his breath. He waved his hand midair, "Not now, sir! SOMETHING'S HAPPENING IN LAGOS!!"
"What do you mean?" The CEO asked, sudden worry in his voice. He watched his employee gasp for air from running, concluding he must've used his ability. The situation must be really serious, he surmised, but how serious could it be? I haven't heard anything about it.
"SIR, A LARGE UFO IS FLOATING OVER THE CITY."
"WHAT???" The man rose from his chair without a thought.
"It happened so suddenly!" Jay said, finally standing upright. The young head of the field operations department quickly collected himself. "The manager of the Lagos branch called, saying it showed up only five minutes ago as if by magic!"
"What's the situation like?"
"It's a complete mess, sir! People are rushing to the underground shelter in case the strange object suddenly falls. Heroes have been dispatched to help, but for some reason, there are only about twenty in the state."
"TWENTY??? How are twenty heroes supposed to evacuate over 20 million people??!!!!"
"Sir-"
"Last I checked, Lagos has the highest record of heroes in the country."
"Well, sir, multiple reports came in as I was on the call … almost thirty heroes were found dead in their homes this morning."
Silence filled the room, understandable horror appearing on the CEO's face. The stubby fifty-year-old stumbled back in his seat in despair.
"Dead…"
"Yes, sir… fifty are said to be missing as well," Jay took out a tissue from the stash in his trouser pocket, wiping away the sweat that formed on his almond-coloured skin.
The CEO pinched the bridge of his nose, trying his hardest to digest the news. "What's the situation with those on the scene?"
"Among the twenty out on the field, only 13 are evacuating the people, four are investigating the unexplained deaths, and the remaining three are looking into the object. The count is still ongoing for more heroes, but as we speak, heroes from Ogun and Oyo state are making their way to Lagos to offer aid."
"Is the federal government aware?"
"Seeing as we, the Abuja branch, only just got this info, they are probably being informed as we speak."
"Send out some of our heroes to aid as well," The CEO said, rubbing his temples frantically.
"Yes, sir," Jay turned to leave, his hand swiftly typing on his phone.
"Wait."
"Yes, sir?"
"Is the prototype ready?"
Jay shook his head. "The teleportation machine that the R&D team has been working on still has complications. If we were teleporting to a neighbouring state, we would have almost no issues. However, Lagos is too far. It would be impossible to use it in this situation."
"Have the teleportation machine turned on."
"Sorry?"
"The high-speed train in Niger can get the heroes to Lagos in almost 10 minutes, much faster than they can fly there. Have the team teleport a number of our force members over there."
Jay's face brightened at the plan, and he nodded in agreement before rushing out of the office. With his phone in hand, he typed out an alert message to the R&D team in seconds. Needing to brief the heroes, he used his ability and sped to the hero force's base.
Arriving there in less than a minute, he was greeted by the captain of the heroes.
"Jay, what's the rush?"
"Mr. Israel, have you seen the latest incident in Lagos?"
"No. Did something happen?" Israel Adesola stood tall with a burly figure, his arms crossed against his chest. This older man's expression hinted at concern as it wasn't every day Jay rushed into his department with a worrying look on his face.
"An unidentified object is hovering over the state of Lagos. It's extremely massive, covering almost 80% of the entire state." Jay stated as he skimmed through the report on his phone. "A number of your team is to be dispatched immediately."
"Wait, wait, wait? Is this true? You're saying an object large enough to cover an area that big is just hovering over the place??"
"Yes, and we need to hurry. We don't know what might happen. Please get ready your best people, and you all should meet me at the R&D department as soon as possible. I'll brief you better over there."
Before the captain could ask any questions, Jay had left with lightning speed. He stood puzzled for a moment but quickly sprang into action, gathering those from his team who were available. Within five minutes, the Captain had rushed himself and his team to the R&D department.
Awaiting them in the lab stood a 3-meter door-like machine, with multiple people in lab coats operating various systems. The loud and scattered chatter from the scientists was enough to put one in a state of disarray, but the Captain kept his focus and searched for Jay.
"Mr. Israel!"
He spotted a hand waving amidst the crowd. Before he could make a move, Jay had appeared in front of him.
"You're here just in time, captain. Thank you for answering my sudden request."
"It's fine. This seems like a serious situation after all. I could only get 15 of my people within such a short time frame. I hope that will do."
"Well, we'll just have to see.
The heroes who stood behind their Captain exchanged confused looks. They spoke amongst themselves, wondering how big an emergency the situation could possibly be, that they'd been dragged out of their training in the middle of the day. 15 of them at that, most incidents required at the very least two people and at the most 8 to 10 people.
"If you could all come with me right this way," Jay gestured to the tall door-like machine at the centre of the lab. "I will explain everything once we get there."
The heroes exchanged confused glances once again, but still followed after Jay at the Captain's nudge.
"Excuse me, Dr. Ahmadu, is everything set?"
A petite woman appeared from the other side of a large monitor at the mention of her name. She walked over, adjusting her lab coat. "Yes, we're ready to turn it on. Our contact in Niger is also ready on the phone. They've been able to get a train booking that leaves in less than five minutes."
The woman handed Jay a large tablet. On the screen was a woman in standard office attire.
"You must be Mr Jayamma Michaels. We've booked the train under your name as you requested and are set to depart in about four minutes." The woman looked at her watch as she spoke. "We're ready for your arrival."
"Thank you."
Jay turned to the captain and the team of heroes.
"I apologise for the sudden mission, but we have a crisis on hand," he started. "A large UFO which appeared some minutes ago is hovering over the state of Lagos. The heroes who are part of the Lagos branch are few, as many have either gone missing or been found dead."
"Dead?" Most asked in shock. Heroes were known to be extremely powerful, and it wasn't easy to defeat one. The idea of some villain appearing was also unheard of, so this came as a surprise to the heroes on the team.
"More hands are needed, and we're dispatching you as those hands. This matter is extremely urgent as it is unprecedented, and we don't know what the strange object is."
"You say it's urgent, but if we took the jet from Abuja to Lagos, we would get there in an hour, minimum. That's a lot of lost time." The Captain stated. "I would say we should trust in those of the neighbouring states, but their hero branches are still new with inexperienced members."
"You are right, captain," Jay answered. "However, we've got that covered. Dr. Ahmadu, can you turn on the machine?"
Dr Ahmadu nodded and turned to her assistant, who held a control device in his hand. The man quickly pressed some controls, and the door-like device in the middle of the room began to vibrate.
The ground felt like a minor earthquake was happening, and the scientists held onto their tables, holding down any system that could fall as a result of the vibrations.
Suddenly, a light burst through from the door, startling everyone.
"Coordinates have been set and the device is operational. Sending in the first subject."
The assistant handed the Dr the control device and stretched out his arms. A human-sized dummy started to float in the air and suddenly darted into the light emitted by the door. The assistant, after successfully levitating the test subject within the machine, had to ask, "Did it work?"
"Yes," the woman on the tablet answered. "A light appeared, and then the human-sized dummy flew right out."
"So, we've confirmed success," Jay stated. He looked at the heroes, an inviting smile on his face. "You're next."