When Superheroes Rule the Earth

Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, arrogance is.

　　--Three Bodies

　　Sylia was drifting off to sleep.

　　When she was asleep, she always fell into a world of salty gloom. There were times when she felt as if she were a boat caught in the middle of a stormy sea, with the churning waves ready to engulf her at any moment. There were times when she felt as if she were sitting on a grassy field, with a low gray-blue sky, heavy rain dampening her hair, wet clothes wrapped around her body, and she was cold, so cold that she could barely feel her legs.

　　In these cold dreams she always had a sense of suffocation, as if the water had spread up to her neck and prevented her from breathing.

　　...... Hilia ......

　　Just then, a pale voice suddenly sounded alone in the infinite rain and mist, breaking the chaotic brain of Hilia in her dream.

　　[Hiria ...... Hiria ......]

　　Now she was at sea again, her little boat rocking violently. And a younger, nearer voice rang out.

　　"Hiria ----"

　　-- As the voice grew closer, Shyria's eyes snapped open.

　　A dark room with rusty tin walls, a somewhat dim light on the iron ceiling - and a woman sitting on the edge of her bed, a woman who looked to be around twenty-seven or eighteen, with green skin and dark curly hair that went past her shoulders and ended in fuchsia. The black uniform outlined a slender figure.

　　Celia's chest was still heaving, she hadn't slowed down yet, as if she was still in the middle of a heavy rainstorm. And the woman's green fingers gently stroked her cheek, and she felt the rough calluses belonging to a warrior gravel across her skin.

　　"You don't look well, Shelia." Gamora, the green-skinned warrior woman, said softly, "Did you dream of that sea and rain again?"

　　Shelia's sanity finally returned to her brain and she nodded softly, reaching up to run a hand through her hair, the wet feeling still fresh from her head, while the smell of rust from the massive and ancient airship was on the tip of her nose. Gamora sighed softly. She seemed like the type of woman not to be messed with, but she spoke softly as she reached over to Shelia and patted her back gently.

　　"Maybe that's where you're from, sister." Gamora said softly, "You were too young to remember your hometown when the exterminator plundered you, and he refused to reveal it. But I'm sure you'll always remember something. Wait until later ...... I will help you find your hometown later."

　　Shelia leaned against Gamora's shoulder as she said in a fuzzy tone, "I don't see much need for that. It's good enough for now."

　　Gamora didn't say anything, she just gently touched Shelia's head. So Shelia didn't see, either, Gamora's complicated, far-away gaze over her head.

　　Shelia had grown up on this airship, and the Exterminator was the most personally charismatic and appealing person Gamora had ever met; even she herself had been compelled by the words and will of the Exterminator after the revenge of the extermination of her family, not to mention Shelia, who had grown up in an environment in which it was impossible for her to remain unaffected by the Exterminator's thinking. Gamora was more than willing to talk through all of this, but right now, on the Exterminator's ship, Gamora had to hold her tongue.

　　Just as Gamora was thinking about it, bang - bang, the iron door of Shelia's room was violently pushed open bouncing off the wall with a loud noise, and Gamora, who was alert at every moment, had already drawn her dagger with her backhand. Then they saw another person slowly walk in, it was Nebula, the first thing she saw was the dagger held in Gamora's hand and she grunted.

　　"Take it easy, Gamora. We have plenty of time to compete in the arena." The blue-skinned girl said coldly, "Darkness Neighborhood sent me to call you, the Exterminator is summoning everyone to gather, Ebony Throat is back."

　　"What?" Both of them froze, and Gamora said, "Aren't they not coming back for another half a month?"

　　Nebula wrapped her arms around her chest and answered Gamora's question by skimming her head, disdainful of Gamora and Shelia, who were still embracing each other, she gave a deep look at Shelia and then turned away.

　　Gamora felt her adopted sister in her arms inhale deeply, she let go of Shelia and said warily, "Shelia-"

　　Before she could finish her sentence, Shelia had already rolled out of bed and was headed outside with light, cheerful steps. Gamora inexorably got out of bed as well and followed her.

　　The corridors of this airship were built of the same patched tin walls as the bedrooms, and because the airship was so old, the entire air of the airship was filled with the smell of rust and a whiff of mildew, as well as the faint smell of blood. Gamora hated the smell as much as she hated the perpetually dim and yellowed lights of the place.

　　Gamora walked into the washroom, and sure enough, Shelia was happily humming and washing her face under the faucet. Gamora leaned against the door, her arms wrapped around her chest and she raised her chin.

　　"Shelia, is what you promised me still true?"

　　The clattering of water stopped, and as Shelia tightened the rusty faucet, she looked up, and the delicate face of a young girl was reflected in the mirror - she didn't look very big, just young, in her early twenties. Shelia had long, dark hair down to her back, as curly as Gamora's. Her features were three-dimensional and straight, her skin was fair, and she possessed light blue eyes that were equally as crystalline as the Tesseract's.

　　Probably because of the light color of her eyes, it appeared that her elongated pupils were very pronounced.

　　Shelia looked in the mirror at Gamora behind her with her arms wrapped around her chest, and the corners of her mouth hooked in a very attached smile.

　　"Of course I remember." She said.

　　It was obvious that Shelia wasn't going anywhere, and Gamora saw the excitement and unconcealable joy that leapt into her eyes as she lowered her head to wash her face again.

　　"You are not allowed to like Ebonythroat! And no fawning over him, promise me." Gamora said forcefully and without refusal, "In a moment you will follow me closely and stay away from him."

　　"Why?" Shelia turned off the faucet, she twisted her face to look at Gamora and said in confusion, "Gamora, I think you're prejudiced against him. He's so powerful and graceful, and Father trusts him, and he's so good-"

　　"Stop it, stop it!"

　　Gamora saw the running water dampen the ends of Shelia's hair, and the crystals rolled down her cheeks. She was so young, innocent, and good-looking, like a beaded, crystallized peach, and she didn't even look like one of the Exterminator's ships, and now in the most beautiful years of her life. Gamora thought of Ebony Throat again - of his pale, wrinkled, inhuman face - and she couldn't imagine them actually being together.

　　Everyone around the exterminator was mentally ill and ugly, and she wasn't going to stay here for the rest of her life herself, much less let Shelia get into this mess.

　　Gamora was deeply aware of the time crunch, as Shelia seemed to be getting mentally unhinged as well - she thought Ebonythroat and the Exterminator were both handsome, and wiping out half the population was a noble ideal, and oh god, her poor adopted sister, she had to get a hold of her and get her out of this hellhole.

　　"Ebony Throat looks like an octopus on duct tape, what's so handsome about him anyway?" Gamora said, "You've never left the ship, if you could get out of here you'd realize that there are more handsome and perfect men than him out there in the world."

　　"But they aren't always as powerful as father and Ebony Throat." Shelia said longingly.

　　Gamora couldn't twist Shelia's tripe, so she had to say from another entry point, "You can't think otherwise of him, he's your adopted brother!"

　　Of course, the fact that Shelia had a crush on Ebony Throat mustn't be known to the exterminator, and Gamora was sure that the exterminator, in order to solidify the loyalty of his adopted sons and daughters, would do what he could to set the two of them up.

　　With that mentioned, Shelia seemed to finally calm down a bit as she wiped her face, slumped her shoulders, and walked slowly over to Gamora.

　　"Come on." She said listlessly.

　　"You swore you wouldn't find a chance to talk to him today." Gamora said. Shelia lowered her head and Gamora picked her chin up with her finger, "Look at me." She said.

　　Reluctantly, Celia raised her eyes and she said sadly, "I promise I won't look for a chance to talk to him or think about him."

　　As soon as her words left her mouth, she saw her originally light blue eyes slowly fade to green as if they were glass balls reflecting sunlight.

　　Gamora was helpless. While some planets' people would blush when they lied, this race of Hylia's would have eyes that changed color when they said things that were not from their hearts. She thought that Shelia's people might have some way of managing their emotions, but Shelia didn't have any elders of her own race to teach her, there was no way for her to hide what was in her heart, and from a young age whatever she did to make her heart grow fonder, it would be seen in her eyes.

　　This made Gamora not tell Shelia about her escape plan, she believed that Shelia wouldn't betray her, but when the exterminator inquired about it, a simple question could make Shelia, who was hiding her secrets, reveal everything.

　　They arrived at the center of the ship, in front of the Exterminator's massive throne. It looked like they were a little late, the other five generals and Nebula had already arrived. They saw the Exterminator sitting on his throne, Ebony Throat's mission seemed to have gone well, and the Exterminator seemed to be in a peaceful mood, chatting with them.

　　Dark Bebop saw them, and she immediately came over angrily.

　　"Gamora, how dare you be late again when father is here! Do I have to teach you a lesson for you to remember the importance of punctuality?"

　　Gamora glared back without weakness and with murderous intent. These five foster brothers and sisters of hers were all forceful psychopaths, and it wouldn't surprise her if they suddenly turned against her one day.

　　"Do you really think of yourself as the boss?" Gamora said coldly, "You're in charge too broadly, it should be father's decision whether to chastise me or not, what business is it of yours?"

　　"You--"

　　"Don't be like this, Bijin." A feminine voice rang out.

　　Then, Gamora saw Ebony Throat's ugly face, which looked as if Brother Octopus was standing on his features with duct tape, appear in front of them. Ebony Throat was dressed in black robes, and his movements were indeed graceful and gentle, but with his face, there was an eerie and frightening feeling.

　　Ebony Throat looked towards Hylia as he said softly, "Long time no see, Hylia, have you been training seriously lately?"

　　Shelia sucked in a breath and a blush rose on her face.

　　Gamora: ......

　　Go, must go, within a week, she must take Shelia out of this hellhole!