Hello everyone! This is a continuation of a non-canon, potential ending of Earth 2. Last post I talked a little about where I was when I wrote this, and where I’m at now, so this post I had a bit of trouble deciding what to talk about. Eventually, I settled on attempting to decipher what the hell I meant by any of this. At this point in Superzeroes, I have a few themes, and a few core messages that I hope you’ve been able to get out of my work. I think spelling them out here would dampen it in some capacity really, so I’ll leave those for you to figure out.

At this point in my writing career, however, I wasn’t really writing about much of anything. By this point, I’d decided a few things, not really evident in this post. I think the core conceipt was a mixture of “this is a reasonable intepretation of how superheroes could unfold” and “Hey isn’t this fuckin cool?”. Sometimes (like during this stage of development), those two things were at odds. I’m sure you can see the obvious influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on my writing. You build up a bunch of properties then smash them together like a bunch of unrelated action figures. I haven’t exactly moved away from that concept, but I think trying to merge two ideas as fundamentally different as “Grounded but not edgy take on superheroes” and “Badass high sci fi space pirates” was only going to lead to it being overcomplicated and not about anything.

I have admittedly gone a little overboard on adding characters (and also haven’t stopped, I have a problem), but I think those characters generally work well together as a cohesive message. In general, when reading my work, if you see a green light at the introduction, you can probably assume that it takes place in the same universe, and will tie into the main story (even if it’s just a reference) in some capacity. I hope season 3 holds some surprises in this regard.

Anyhow, this is the final part in the story. After this week, I think I might have to actually write something new to continue the hiatus (oh no, work!). I’m finally resuming writing, as of this week. I had to clean out my depression lair and get into a bit of manic productivity to get to this point, but I should be able to keep to a March release date. I’m about 2/3rds of the way done if I recall correctly, but will need to give my beta reader time to read and make notes, and then make revisions myself. Last season my beta caught a couple of big things that really muddled my message, and needed to be changed.

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Jonathon coughed up some more blood as he fell to the ground, but he saw Zoey run by and knew it was working. The creature stomped up to him, and Jonathon realized he was getting pummelled by a giant gorilla. He narrowly rolled out of the way of one punch, and tried to duck around it, but the creature was not letting him get behind it. He reached for his pistols, and realized, they were broken into pieces. Jonathon had a very bad idea, but it was better than no idea. Jonathon ran up the wall and latched onto the gorilla’s face. He was hoping it was stupid enough to fall for the bait, and sure enough it did. Jonathon’s ribs were shattered as the creature punched itself, full force, in the face. The creature toppled to the ground.

Laura gagged as she had a realization. This creature could deflect and absorb energy. She felt like she was moving through mollases as she reached in her pocket. Jonathon had always harped on what he called the number one rule of prison. Always have a shiv on you. She drove the shiv into the creature and immediately felt better. She stabbed again and again until it collapsed.

The Hunter grunted as he reached over to his side. He picked up one of the panels he had knocked off the wall and moved it between him and the man. He now felt the force distributed across his entire body. He used his shoulder and full force to slowly press towards the man. He felt the force increase, but this just made him angry. He screamed as he began to full speed run despite the blast. Eventually he heard a thunk, and the resistance ended. He moved the sheet of metal and saw the human unconscious on the ground, he proceeded to clobber the bastard with the metal. “Traitor.” he spat on the corpse of the man.

Zoey concentrated and slowly a trail of blue dust began to form and slide into the reactor. She concentrated and began to increase the flow. She felt like she was straining a muscle she didn’t even have. She concentrated and felt her nose begin to bleed. She began to feel actual pain as she finally reached the volume she needed. The salt began to react with the reactor. The entire ship began to shake. She ceased the flow and almost collapsed to the ground.

Zoey stood to her feet and ran over to the group, who seemed to be standing around Jonathon. As she approached she saw him broken and bloody on the ground.

“Jonathon!” She ran over to him.

“We need to get out of here!” He coughed. “Leave me and run.”

“No way.” Laura lifted him up, despite his cries of pain. “Come on!” She led the group out of the room as the reactor began to erupt behind them.

The four ran along the hallway and heard a loud clamoring behind them. They turned around and saw a large army gaining on them. They ran with all they had, but the army still gained. They were exhausted and carrying one of their teammates.

“Laura, drop me. I’ll hold them off. Run.” Jonathon coughed up another ounce of blood.

“No.” She stifled her tears. “There’s another way! There has to be! It’s always me and you, forever!” She could no longer stifle them.

“You’re strong, you can do this. There is no other way. Get Zoey to safety. She’s too young to die.” He coughed again. “I’m dead either way. Just go.”

“Jonathon…” She sobbed, her breath heaved as she ran.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” 

“We die arm in arm pirate. I will not have someone rob me of my revenge, without dying to stop it.” The Klax-On took Jonathon from Laura and stood him up. “Here’s a gun.” He handed Jonathon an invader gun. 

“Didn’t think I’d die alongside the man who tortured me so.” Jonathon chuckled, between coughs of blood.

“Just shut up and shoot.” The Hunter roared and opened up fire.

“Dorian, fire up the ship, plot a course to Earth.” Laura shouted through her sobbing and panting.

“Captain, I’m not sure if our systems can take it.”

“I don’t care! We’re out of options.” Laura jumped through the hole onto the ship, pulling Zoey behind her.

“Captain, the engines have completely failed.” 

Laura stood silent for a moment. “Dorian, is there an Evac pod intact?”

“Only one.”

“Zoey, get in the pod.” Laura opened up the lid to what looked like a futuristic coffin, it could fit one person max.

“What? No way!” Zoey backed away from the pod, wiping away her own tears. She had never had a mission go like this before. She hadn’t ever experienced a loss like this on the field.

“Zoey, my world just died back there. Your world still lives down there. Get. In. The. Fucking. Pod.” Laura held back her tears to look stern.

Zoey embraced Laura for a moment. “You’re all heroes.” She laid down in the pod.

“No, honey. We’re pirates.” Laura closed the lid. “Goodbye, kid.” She pressed a button and the pod fired off towards earth.

She took a seat in her chair. “Dorian, play Let it Be.” 

“Yes, captain.” The sound of the beatles drowned out the incoming explosion.

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Hello everyone! This is a continuation of a non-canon, potential ending of Earth 2. Last post I talked about the basic information needed to understand this, so this time I’m going to put this in perspective with the rest of my writing. I wrote this approximately some time in the mid/late part of Origins, which if you’ve read, is not exactly high quality prose. I’m still happy with it so to speak, but it’s obviously quite different from my current writing, in both quality and theme, as are a lot of my attitudes and views.

This, however, holds up very nicely in my opinion. This is really nearly unedited, so it honestly stands out for my work at the time. I know it’s weird to think about an ending to the story as being an archived old piece of writing, but this is really what it is to me. While I chose not to go with this direction, in an attempt to keep the series more grounded, I still sometimes think about what might’ve been.

If I find myself needing to add time to the hiatus (during which I’ve definitely started writing again, and haven’t just been working on an album), I will probably come back to Super Turbo Space Pirates. I’ve moved past thinking deadpool/han solo style edgy pirate asshole is cool, I think I can easily move Jonathon into more of a simply happy, still sarcastic, person, and had a lot of cool ideas going on (like thiol).

Anyways, I’m rambling a little, so thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

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Jonathon ran along the rows of cells, eventually he found the symbols he was looking for. He looked inside and sure enough, an unconscious Laura hung upon the wall by some confusing apparatus of metal latches and glowing coils. She was behind another translucent door that was difficult to see through. “Oh I’m gonna kill these guys…” He tapped at the keypad, but saw that it required some kind of key.

He looked around and saw the nearest guard happened to be coming right for him. He dove and kicked its legs out from under it, before breaking its neck. He grabbed a device that looked like it would fit the hole and shoved it in.

The door whooshed open and Jonathon stepped into the cell. 

“Greetings Jonathon.” An all too familiar voice said from his right.

He looked over and saw The Hunter chained in the same cell as Laura. “How did you get captured?”

“I believe a better question is how you weren’t.”

Jonathon turned his attention back to his wife. He ran over to her and woke her up. “Are you okay?”

“Jonathon? What the hell are you doing here? You shouldn’t have come here!” She looked terrified. Jonathon had heard they can break people, but they would pay for this.

“I’m getting you out of here. Can you walk?” He released her shackles with the same key and she stood to her feet.

“Evidently.” She stretched her arms.

“Alright let’s go.” He starts out the door.

“I imagine you’re quite pleased with this outcome.” The Hunter growled. “Congratulations on your victory over me. However short lived that victory may be.”

Jonathon looked around for a moment and ran over to The Hunter. He undid his shackles and helped him to his feet. “Nobody deserves a fate like this.”

“This will not buy you mercy.”

“This isn’t a purchase, it’s an act of kindness. Now come on.” He led Laura and The Hunter out of the cell.

“Oh my god, is that an alien?” Zoey asked as Jonathon and company joined her at the door. She stood over a pile of invaders.

“To me you are the alien.” The Hunter growled.

“Stop brooding. We need to get to the reactor.” Jonathon picked up two guns from dead invaders and handed one to both Laura and The Hunter.

“You are a fool, space pirate.” The Hunter flicked the weapon into action and took a test shot at the cells. “This is a fine piece.”

“Why are you so weird?” Jonathon shook his head. “Alright reactor time.” Jonathon took off down the halls.

The lower deck of the ship seemed to be largely empty, but Jonathon just hoped he was finally getting a break. They reached the reactor room, and found three figures standing between them and it. Jonathon took a shot at one, but it was deflected. He had to duck to avoid being hit.

“We need to make an opening for Zoey.” He turned to Zoey. “This is one of those moments. You shut down the reactor. Don’t worry about us, you still have a full life ahead of you.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Alright, Hunter, you take the guy on the left, Laura dead center, and I’ll go right. Zoey, you stay back and try to get to the reactor.” Jonathon kissed Laura and took a deep breath. “Go!” 

The three charged their respective targets, while Zoey stayed back.

Jonathon charged the figure on the right. As he got closer, he saw the figure was big and hairy. He narrowly dodged a fist, as he looked back, he saw the fist had left a dent in the metal. He drew his guns and opened fire. The creature appeared to be irritated by the shots, but not critically injured. Jonathon slid under its legs, narrowly avoiding being stepped on. He looked at its back and saw an opening along its spine. He took aim and failed to notice the hand grabbing his leg. Jonathon flew through the air and smacked into the wall.

Laura ran forwards towards her adversary, she noticed she was simply humanoid with purple skin, but this wasn’t a race she had seen before… She wondered if it was extragalactic, then remembered she probably shouldn’t be wondering about the hometown of her opponent. She took a few shots, but they were deflected easily, one knocking her to the ground. The creature moved extremely fast, and wrapped its hand around her throat. Laura felt worse than the time she almost died from the flu all of a sudden. She tried to shoot again, but it was deflected.

The Hunter charged his adversary, but was quickly blasted into a wall. There was no visible force pushing him, but he was pressed up against the wall. The figure drew near, and he realized it was human. He had always hated humans, but this human was also a traitor. There was nothing worse than a traitor, but a traitor human, that might just do it. He tried to push off the wall, but failed. He felt his bones beginning to strain, and knew he must act fast.

Zoey snuck around the brawl, she tried to look away as much as possible. She knew Mr. Jonathon had given her instructions and she had to follow them. She ran along, catching occasional glimpses, and it appeared that he was doing okay. She turned back to running, and narrowly avoided being knocked over by something, she chose not to look, but to keep running. She reached the reactor and took a deep breath. Jude had asked her to study a new compound and he said this would shut off the reactor. It was chemically a salt, so she should be able to make it. She had been able to make some before, but it was hard. She concentrated with all her might, and… Nothing happened.

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Photo Credit: Pexels Free Photos

(Sorry for shifting formatting shenanigans, wordpress is giving me grief)

Hello everyone! As promised, here is an alternate timeline, that I decided not to pursue, as I wanted to keep this more grounded. If you’ve not read any of my Super Turbo Space Pirates entries, this will not make as much sense to you. If you still don’t want to read that, but want to keep reading this, Jonathon is a sarcastic space pirate, husband of Laura, who is his sarcastic space pirate wife, and nemesis of the Hunter, who is a big buff alien dude.

The general premise to this ending was that Jonathon would crash land on earth, heralding the introduction of aliens to the series. The aliens from outside the galaxy would make a brief appearance and be fought off, then would eventually come back. This culminated in a finale where most people died. There was actually a bit written about a battle that was a distraction while this was going on, but I didn’t think it worked as well as a standalone alternate ending (also would’ve made this like 6 parts). I was going to go in a direction similar to supergirl, mixed with the arc of Star Wars where aliens invaded the galaxy and were super hard to kill and there were a lot of them.

I’ll add notes in line where I feel they are needed, but other than that the characters should all be fairly similar. Enjoy!

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Zoey stepped slowly onto the Nautilus. She took in all of the future technology around her… She had seen sci-fi, but this was something else… Something better! “Whoa, this is amazing!”

“Yeah, try not to break anything.” Jonathon pointed at her and paused. “Ah who am I kidding, I’m probably about to total this ship, knock yourself out.” He turned to Jude. “Hey can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure.” Jude followed him into a side room, and Jonathon shut the door behind them. “What’s up?”

“Why is there a kid on this ship? You know this mission is basically suicide, right?” 

“She’s the key to any of this working. I’m not happy about this, but you need to get her on that ship. She’s the key.” Jude sighed. “Look, I know what I’m asking her, and you, to do, and I know it’s not pretty… But I really don’t see another way.”

“Jude, with me, it’s one thing. I’m seasoned, and they’ve got Laura, but this girl? She doesn’t know what she’s getting into!”

“I told her the risks.”

“You told her the risks?! Jude, she’s a kid! She doesn’t understand the risk! She’s fifteen! A teenager could stare certain death in the face, and not blink.” 

Jude bowed his head and wiped his eyes. “I know.” He turned away from Jonathon, took a deep breath and left the room. He hugged Zoey tight. “You’re the real hero.”

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Note: Jude was also going off on a suicide mission at this point, not Just sending a child to die for him. Also did totally send a child though.

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“Don’t worry Mr. Dayspring, it’ll be fine.” She patted him on the shoulder and went off with Jonathon.

Jude watched her walk all the way off, then stepped off the ship. He cried as he watched it fly away.

Zoey followed Jonathon onto the bridge. She stopped after she entered. “So, I’ve seen you around but I haven’t really met you. I’m Zoey.”

“Yeah, I’m Jonathon.” He sat down in his seat and set about to flicking a load of switches. After a while, he placed his hand on a lever, he paused and turned to her. “You gonna strap in?”

“Sorry.” Zoey ran over to the nearest chair and strapped in.

“Dorian, hit the boom drive.” Jonathon said with a hidden smirk.

“Yes, captain.” Dorian replied

“Whoa! You have-” Zoeys observation was cut short by a massive boom. She was pressed up against her seat, she felt like this is probably what astronauts feel. She looked around and saw the head ship in front of them. “Is that the ship?” Her heart was pounding as she saw this hulking starship.

Jonathon hesitated for a moment before turning to her. “Zoey… Has Jude told you just how dangerous this mission is?” 

“Yeah, but I mean, everything we do is dangerous.” 

“This… This is different.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “Honestly, it is more likely that you will die than it is that you will live. We are probably not going to make it home.”

Zoey hadn’t quite considered it like that. She thought about her father, and how heartbroken he would be if his little girl didn’t make it home. She thought about how her town needed her… But she had heard them talking, she knew she was the only way… So she had to, right? “I know.”

Jonathon shook his head and turned back around. “So, the fate of the world rests in the hands of an accountant and a teenage girl. What could go wrong.” He flicked some switches and began to slowly maneuver the ship around the head ship. “Dorian, please highlight the mark.” 

A quarter sized red dot appeared on the glass, highlighting a portion of the head ship. Jonathon wiped sweat from his face and slowly adjusted a few knobs. “Kid, you were briefed on the plan, right?”

Zoey was so busy worrying that she almost didn’t hear him. “Remind me?”

“I’m going to hit the boom drive, and we’re going to ram the ship. We rescue my wife, then you neutralize the reactor, then we get out of there, or die trying.”

“Okay…” Zoey’s heart was pounding, and she had a weird headache. She had never had these kinds of stakes before. She had faced threats, but this was facing death… She didn’t want to die.

“And kid?”

“Yeah?”

“Do exactly what I say when we get there. If it’s a possible outcome, you are coming out alive, but you need to do exactly what I say.”

“Okay.” Zoey took a deep breath and braced herself for impact.

“By the way, this is going to make a car crash feel like it tickles.”

“Wha-” Zoey heard a boom and a horrific scraping of metal on metal. She felt like she had just been hit by a train. She undid the harness and slowly stood to her feet. Everything was sore, but she could manage.

Jonathon coughed up some blood and wiped it on his pants. “Never gets old, ruining my ships. Looks like she might be flyable, though.” Jonathon paused and looked around. “Alright, follow me, double time. They know we’re here now.”

Jonathon ran through a hole in the side of the ship and Zoey did her best to follow. They stepped onto the head ship and saw the interior was black with a green walkway. Numerous panels displaying cryptic symbols lined the walls. Zoey was captivated, but Jonathon was wasting no time, so she followed.

Jonathon raced through the corridors and came to a sudden stop, Zoey almost ran into him. “Why’d you s-” 

Jonathon cupped his hand over her mouth. “Okay, this is our destination. We’re about to have a really big fight.” 

“First off-” Zoey was annoyed that he still treated her like a child, despite them being assigned the same mission, but was interrupted by him stepping out and opening fire. She followed him and saw two dead invaders in front of a doorway. 

Jonathon stepped into the doorway and saw several levels of prison cells with a walkway around each. It was dark and odious. Jonathon saw there were at least two guards on every level. “Alright, kid, it’s time to prove you’re worth your salt. Kill some aliens while I search the cells.” 

“Stop calling me kid!” She called after him as he took off. She began to throw balls of molten salt at the guards. She was able to take out about four before they started shooting back. She threw up a wall of salt as their shots came towards her, absorbing the blow of each one. She looked to the side and saw guards coming down the stairs straight at her.

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(No navigation links due to wordpress shenanigans. Blocks suck and I hate them)

Photo Credit: Pexels Free Photos

(Sorry for misc changes, wordpress is giving me grief)