Todd's ex-girlfriend, Zora—the one he had been obsessing over—was currently hiding out in a rented apartment.
If she couldn't pay the rent by tomorrow, this shabby excuse for a home—barely worthy of being called an apartment—would no longer be hers.
The landlord had already come by that morning, just after sunrise.
He had pounded on her door furiously and left behind a red eviction notice—not pink like last time, or yellow like the time before that.
Zora could earn the money to pay rent, but unfortunately, she didn't have a job.
She'd been fired by Wendy's, then later by the American Gas Company—a Yemeni coworker accused her of embezzling money. It sounded like a roundabout way of calling her a thief.
Which, admittedly, she was.But wasn't everyone doing it?
That said, even if she wanted to get a job now, she knew it was impossible.
Because she knew there were people out there looking for her.
These mysterious individuals seemed determined to capture her.
She had narrowly escaped from one of them before, dodging into a crowd just in time to lose him.
Zora, frowning deeply, opened a Walmart shopping bag and plopped down onto her extendable couch—which was more like a mousetrap than a seat.
The bread in the bag was completely gone.
Just as she was fretting over how to handle lunch and dinner today, her phone suddenly rang.
That sleepy, droning ringtone—"Miami to Ibiza"—buzzed painfully in her ears.
"Hey, Alex? Why are you calling me?"
The caller was one of her ex-boyfriends.
They'd only dated for two months before she realized he was a jerk and dumped him on the spot.
"It's been a long time, Zora."
"Yeah, because I figured out you're a jerk. What do you want?"
"Are you home right now? I mean, your parents' place?"
He was fishing for her whereabouts.
"Of course not. My parents don't want me there, and I wouldn't go back to that hellhole anyway. They just sit around doing nothing all day. Everything they do feels like they're growing some kind of tumor inside me—an ugly, misshapen lipoma. It hasn't gotten bad enough to kill me, but it's definitely done its damage."
Zora sighed, her voice distant."Ugh, why am I even telling you this? What do you want?"
"Remember the money I owe you? Back at the motel—I borrowed two grand. I can pay you back now."
That sentence hit her like a blinding flash grenade. Zora was stunned, completely dazed.
"Are you serious?" she asked, breath catching.
Her teeth started chattering. Then she clenched her jaw so hard her muscles started cramping.
"You're really going to pay me back?"
It was enough to cover rent. A literal lifesaver.
"Of course I am."
"Alright. But I need the money now," she said, trying to keep calm.
"I can give it to you when we meet."
Zora didn't suspect anything."Let's meet by the bus stop near the Royal Museum, next to the statue of the archer on the riverbank."
"Got it, Zora. I'll see you in an hour."
Zora gave a thumbs-up and hung up the call.
She stood and glanced down at her stomach.
The slight roundness reminded her—she was still pregnant.
Shaking her head, she changed into something looser and headed out.
Half an hour later, Zora arrived at the statue near the museum park.
Taking a deep breath and soaking in the crisp autumn air, she instinctively wrapped her coat tighter.
Soon, she saw Alex walking toward her.
But something was off—his face was filled with unease and tension, like he was afraid of something.
"Hey, Alex! I'm over here!"
Zora waved to him.
He walked quickly toward her.
"You don't look so great, Alex. Maybe you should quit running to the bar every night," she joked."But hey, that's not my business. Did you bring the money?"
"I—"
He started to speak, but suddenly gasped for air, like something was choking him. His throat burned as if it were on fire.
It wasn't just his throat—his skin, his organs, everything felt like it was being incinerated. Agonizing pain surged through his body.
Thud.He collapsed to the ground as Zora stared in stunned disbelief.
Light began to seep from his eyes and mouth, waves of heat radiating outward.
"Ahhh!"
He screamed in pain as blinding beams of light shot out from his body.
Whoosh!Flames erupted violently from Alex's body.
Zora stumbled backward in shock.
She watched as he was engulfed by flames, then turned to flee.
But as she turned, she saw someone standing directly in front of her.
It was a young man with bronze skin and sunglasses.
"Hey, Zora. You were tough to track down."
Zora backed up again, eyes wide in fear.
"Wh-who are you?" she asked, terrified.
She could sense the terrifying aura of the man in front of her.
His entire presence radiated an unapproachable energy that sent chills down her spine and made her tremble with fear.
"Who I am isn't important. What matters is that you're in my hands now," the man in sunglasses said. "My brothers and sisters won't have much to say about it either. What a shame… neither they nor I will allow the child in your womb to live."
As he spoke in a tone of regret, he reached out to grab Zora's hand.
But the moment he touched her—whoosh—a searing beam of heat shot toward him.
The man in sunglasses didn't have time to react before—boom—he was blasted backward by the heat vision.
BANG!
His body slammed hard into the ground with a deafening crash.
The solid marble floor beneath him shattered instantly into jagged fragments.
Zora turned her dazed gaze toward the direction the laser had come from—only to see someone she hadn't seen in a long time: her other ex-boyfriend, Todd, accompanied by three strangers.
"This is...?"
Uncertain of what was going on, she immediately darted to the side, hoping to slip away in the chaos.
Everything was happening so fast and so strangely that her mind went blank. The only thing she could think to do was run.
"Hey, Zora, don't go!" Todd shouted after his strong-willed ex.
Peter, having arrived just in time thanks to Todd's lead, took a moment to study the short-haired girl before him.
She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she had a striking, wild energy about her.
Meanwhile, the man in sunglasses who had been knocked down by John's heat vision climbed back to his feet, his face twisted in rage. The refined air he'd carried moments ago had completely vanished.
"Who are you people?"
"Who are you?" John asked, his gaze sharp and unfriendly.
Anyone who could take a hit from his heat vision and still stand clearly wasn't ordinary.
"Who am I? You pathetic mortals… you have no idea the kind of god you've provoked. I'll rain down my wrath and burn you all to ash!"
The man roared, veins bulging on his forehead, fury surging through him.
As a god, he had never endured such humiliation—especially not at the hands of mortals.
A golden sword appeared in his hand, and his whole body radiated a fierce, divine aura. He raised the blade, ready to strike.
"God?" Peter blinked at the claim.
He looked again at the man's bronzed skin, the hairstyle, the golden sword… and recalled what Todd had said the night before about "the sun."
Wait a second—could this guy be the Sun God Apollo?
Apollo, god of light, prophecy, music, and healing among the Olympians. Son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis.
He was also related to Diana—Wonder Woman—as a half-brother.
Could he have been sent by Diana?
No… that didn't seem right. Diana and this guy were clearly not the same kind of person.
This guy was too volatile and arrogant. He didn't seem like someone Wonder Woman would ever team up with.
As Peter mulled over the possibilities, the man in sunglasses swung his sword, flames erupting from the golden blade.
"You lowly mortals—die!"
With a roar, he slashed at John with the flaming sword.
BOOM!
A surge of fire exploded from the blade with tremendous force.
The ground cracked and splintered in its wake.
The divine pressure of the slash forced John to retreat.
Star-Lord quickly jumped back to create distance and began firing with his elemental gun.
Seizing the opening, Peter launched a rune from his gauntlet—"Frame 0 cast"—a bolt of lightning shot from a Lune rune.
Caught completely off guard, the man in sunglasses was struck with a thunderous blast, knocking him away from John.
CRASH!His body slammed into the ground, forming a deep crater.
The impact shook the earth like an earthquake, dirt and pebbles bouncing violently.
John, not wasting the chance, immediately followed up with another blast of heat vision.
KRAKOOM!
The man in sunglasses was blasted away once again.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He crashed into the debris pile near a collapsed statue, bounced three times, then was grabbed mid-air by Peter, who slammed him back down into the rubble.
BOOOOM!
The sound exploded like a bomb falling from the sky.
A deep, resonating blast tore through the air, sending a shockwave through the entire park.
Ancient bricks shattered into fragments, scattering in every direction.
Dust filled the entire park.
The once-terrifying god lay on the ground, covered in dirt and debris, disheveled and broken. The golden sword in his hand had been reduced to just the hilt.
His mind was blank.
What… what just happened?