Hey there! How's it goin'? How have you been? Happy Christmas. Merry new year. Happy Hanukah. Happy any-other-holiday.
Now let me tell you a story, the story of someone who had a great idea for certain intro of a story. But for some reason, that person's brain decided to have writer's block for two weeks. For Two.Whole.Weeks. Two weeks without any good ideas, and thus, that person had nothing to write. Let me tell ya, that is not a fun story at all. Writers block suck, man.

But let's move on to lighter news, like this one for example: Second chapter!
Yeah, so a lot of things happened y'know. Things like school, family stuff, and basic first world problems. But! It's here, and it's a lot better than the first chapter. Like, seriously. Posting my second draft was a terrible idea. My glob, the sheer amount of errors and typos...

I have to admit, it's way better than the first chapter. Probably since I put more effort into it, but eh.   I'm gonna change scenery for now, instead of continuing with Skyler, I'll give the whole invasion some background. Basically when it happened, how it happened, and who discovered it in the first place. Thankfully, it's not nearly as long as the first one. Still, I feel like the first part lacked in something. I'm not sure what but I feel like it needed a little more "oomph". The second half, however is a part I'm really proud of. It came out just as I wanted it.

This chapter's going to start with Dexter, though keep in mind that he will not be one of the main characters, I'm just going to explain things from his perspective for now. I'll try to clear up some things in the next upcoming chapter's. 

Anyway, enjoy!

   




















"Analysis complete" a female voice said. Dexter was pacing back and forth near a desk inside one of the testing rooms, he had just completed one of his hour-long investigations and was now analyzing his results, again. A small piece of paper printed out of a big and bulky machine. Dexter quickly took it and began to read, without even bothering to thank computress, his robotic personal assistant.



His eyes squinted as he read along the paper, he mouthed the words silently while he gently pressed his finger upon the lines. His eyes opened wide.



"Again...?" Dexter said in distress. He scratched his head and gazed over at his work desk. Laying upon it was a large microscope, a pair of large test tubes containing a strange green substance and a strange looking rock that rested on top of the microscope's base.



"Unstable...Radiation...Highly toxic" Dexter recited the words in frustration, obviously tired of reading the same results over and over again.



"Will nothing neutralize this thing? How do they expect me to handle this?" Dexter lowered his hands onto the table and sighed. He had been in that room for nearly five hours now. Attempting to break down the dangerous substances that were inside his rock sample, but nothing seemed to work. Highly radioactive chemicals, Gamma rays, congelation, DNA transfusion, more highly radioactive chemicals. Nothing would work. The rock would either be unaffected or it would literally combine with each new environment. With each test the rock appeared to increase in size. Dexter was growing worried.



"No, no, there's got to be something I haven't tried yet. I just know there is." Dexter said mashing the paper into a ball and tossing it over his head.



The small paper ball hit against something metallic, surprised by the sudden noise, Dexter gazed over his shoulder and spotted a bundle of circuit wires next to the object he had tossed.



"Perhaps I could try a different approach..." he said expectantly



Dexter carried the wires back to his desk and latched the head of the wires onto the rock. He connected the other end to a large battery charger at the far end of the room.



"I just hope this thing doesn't blow" Dexter whispered to himself.



Deep down, Dexter knew that the idea was as simple as it was stupid. But he really had no where else to turn. He had already tried every scientific procedure he could think of. Now all that was left to try was something stupidly uncomplicated. But the sense of danger still lingered in the back of his head. Had he really gotten that desperate?



But his mind was made up. Dexter took a deep breath and pulled the lever, a move he felt he would soon regret



Nothing happened at first. The meteorite remained lifeless and unchanged while the battery charger vigorously hummed away. In a strange combination of disappointment and sudden relief, he reached toward the switch, but stopped midway when he saw the strange mineral jump backwards and knock the microscope to the ground.



Dexter flinched and watched the meteorite shake violently toward the line of test tubes. Dexter snapped out of his daze and quickly switched the charger off, but it was too late.



The meteorite smashed against the tubes and sent the green matter airborne. The green ooze flew from the desk and splattered all over the cold floor, landing with a loud, sizzling splash.



Speechless, Dexter watched as the meteorite, still having the wire latched onto it, suddenly doubled, then tripled in size as the ooze around it was absorbed into it's vessel. Determined not to waste time, he darted after the door, stumbling over some wrenches that were scattered across the ground. Dexter picked himself up and quickly exited the room. He slammed a large button beside the door, causing it to close shut.



"The elevator..." Dexter said under his breath "I...I have to get to main floor."



He pushed his legs forward, running with all the strength his body could provide. His body felt under attack, the sudden burst of adrenaline was causing him to sweat and hyperventilate. He stopped every so often to catch his breath. Dexter kept scouting across the halls, blankly darting his head left and right searching for any sign of the elevator. However, he was only paying half attention to his surroundings, his mind was somewhere else.



Three failures... Dexter thought. Three Failures in just one week... Could this get any worse?



Of course, he already knew the answer to his own question. There wasn't an easy way to explain Dexter's situation, but to put it simply: This was not his best week.



Just a few days ago, his time travel experiment -one of his most important operations until now- ended in complete disaster. All because his meddlesome sister, Dee Dee, pressed a button that sent multiple of his test volunteers flying through time. Unable to control his anger, Dexter yelled at her, saying every last thing he had on his mind. In the end, Dee Dee left the room in tears, leaving Dexter with a pit in his stomach and one huge problem. Ten to be exact.



Then, on the following day, it happened to an exosuit. While Dexter was busy with his own work in the exonaut labs one of the newest prototypes burst open from it's chamber and began blasting at it's own will. Many of his workers attempted to stop it, but no avail. The renegade suit broke out of the facility and rampaged throughout tech square for nearly an hour until a squad of S.A.C.T agents took it down. Inevitably, the suit was destroyed, along with Dexter's hard work. When the suits remnants were recovered, one of Dexter's workers found a green goo-ish substance splashed all over of what used to be the exonaut's motherboard. Under suspicions that his arch-rival Mandark may had have something to do with it, he took the substance in for analyzing. His intentions changed, of course, when he found out about the real threat two days later.



And finally this, After a gruesome discovery, Dexter was given the assignment of neutralizing the substance found in the suit. But to his disappointment, nothing would work. As the heroes council, a group of the most powerful heroes and heroines that protected the earth, pressured Dexter onto continuing the investigation, he and professor Utonium discovered the actual source of the strange matter. The bottom line: It wasn't a pretty sight. He and the professor received strict orders from the council to keep it a secret until further notice. The council stated that they would tell them "when" and "if" the information were to be released to the public.



But clearly, the "keep it a secret" plan wasn't working as they had expected.



Before Dexter came to realize, he had ran through six different halls and gone up a tall flight of stairs. As his mind slowly descended from the clouds, a bright light appeared at the corner of his eye. Dexter skidded to a stop and spun around to face it.



A small grin wreathed the corners of his mouth. A sign beamed above a pair of double doors like a stage light, it's brightness felt powerful, yet controlled at the same time. Dexter walked toward it and let out a sigh of relief. As Dexter's eyes, seeing that he had been in a dark room for a long period of time, adjusted better to the light, two words became clear: FACULTY ELEVATOR.



"Finally" Dexter muttered to himself. As he reached out for the control panel an earthshaking BOOM toppled him over. Dexter held himself against the wall and shielded his head with his arms, hoping it would protect him in case any debris fell from above. He could only imagine if a building like this, a monstrous ten story construction, came crashing down on him and everyone else in it. Turning it into an instant graveyard for hundreds. He shuddered in thought of it.



As the shock weakened, a high pitched screech engulfed the air, the sound hovered through the hall as it intensified by the second. A red light sparked up from the ceiling, casting an erie shadow over Dexter. The emergency alarm.



It was like a thousand horns playing a single, uprising note in unison. Loud and obnoxious, but with that hint of uneasiness that made you feel like something was wrong.



The sound of stamping feet suddenly invaded the hall, dozens of people were running out of the rooms and heading toward the exits. Their expressions overthrown with confusion and fear. Dexter quickly jumped to his feet and entered the elevator as fast as he could. As the doors closed behind him, he heard the sound of thundering feet pass the elevator and cross toward the stairs. Dexter dismissed the sounds and quickly pushed the button that led to the lobby. As if by que, the machine roared to life. The metal edges detached from their position and lifted gently into the air. A green light gleamed on the head of the entrance, indicating that it was clear for movement.



Dexter felt the pressure of his body slowly descend the ground as the sound of moving gears whirred above him . He let out a small sigh; he had made it. He slumped against the wall as the elevator bypassed several rooms. Dexter adjusted his glasses and fixed his gaze toward the ceiling, trying to relax his body the best he could.



"It'll be alright" he comforted himself. "It's trapped in the room, there's no way someone can see it... I just hope I get to the others in time" His tone was nervous and weak. It was like he was trying to convince himself that the worse had passed. But he knew what was coming, he'd known since the first second he took responsibility for the project. Now all that was left for him to ask was: How long would it be until this secret became public?



He didn't need to wait long for an answer.



An explosion, louder than anything Dexter had ever heard, erupted from above his feet, shaking him out of his thoughts. The elevator came to a violent stop, sending Dexter plummeting to his knees. The contraption shook uncontrollably as the green light above him switched to a blood red. As the shaking settled, Dexter struggled back to his feet, his expression stricken with terror.



It was horrible. Like if the simple fact of something exploding wasn't enough, a stillness like the inside of a grave ensued as if the elevator had been lowered into a coffin. The darkness around Dexter wrapped around him like a jacket. A chilling sensation breached down from his neck and toward his back, grinding his spine and giving the sensation of helplessness and guilt.



Dexter grasped at the rail, attempting to grab hold of it. His old fear of claustrophobia was reaching back at him now, his hands started to sweat, and his head felt heavy, almost as if someone had roped an anchor around his neck. As he managed to crawl over to the railings, a screech-like sound invaded the air around him, passing through the shaft and through Dexter like a sharp knife.



Dexter hoisted himself up on the rail and began to listen, the sound bobbed from one tone to another, the sounds were high and low pitched, but completely unrecognizable. As the alien-like screeches continued, Dexter's face turned cold. Then, a sudden realization washed over him like a raging wave, hitting his mind with such force that it almost knocked him back down.



"Unbreakable matter...Combining with environment...Fusion" Dexter repeated his last word in a weak, quavering tone. His head shook in disbelief.



"All those experiments only made it stronger...It was waiting for this to happen. And I gave it the last spark it needed" Dexter said, his voice tightened.



He pounded his fist on the cold steel wall, making a small echo uplift within the sea of noises. Dexter felt the sensation of pain travel from his hand to his brain, but payed no attention to it. All he felt now was frustration. He felt the urge to yell, to scream, even to punch the wall again, anything that would extinguish his flaming anger.



That meteorite wasn't a meteorite, it was a living, breathing creature. It fused with everything it came in contact with, but it needed something solid to make it's body.



And that's what Dexter gave it. Solid wires and a full battery charger. Once it fused with that, it was only a matter of time before it combined with other things and turned into something else. Something more deadly. How could've he'd not seen this?



Dexter groaned in annoyance, his gaze lowered to the floor, flushing away all hopes he may have had in the plan. He gave the floor a cold, hard stare and stood there, motionless, for the longest time.



When he finally came out of his thoughts, he mashed the lobby button again. The elevators gears turned slowly, grinding the sides of the walls, but continued nonetheless. While the elevator scraped the lower parts of the shaft, causing a bumpy, and uncomfortable descent, Dexter finally spoke.



"I have no choice" He remarked. "I've lied to everyone long enough. The protocol must end he-"



Then, before he had a chance to finish, a blood curling scream flooded the small room, Dexter shifted his body sideways, eyes opened wide. It was a female's voice. Dexter heard a tone in her voice that took him a while to identify, and when he named it, the recognition carried enough suprise that made him grit his teeth in anger.



It was pain.

*claps* beautiful, beautiful, just beautiful. I liked when gave it the word fusion. Precious amazing chapter.