Within the facility that did not officially exist, staffed by individuals who were supposedly dead, there was an archway. It was one of many artefacts that were housed in this facility, and was currently under the watchful eye of various scientists.

These scientists did not have names, as they were classed as dead. All they had on their lab coats was numbers.

The archway in question had been put to the side. The research for it had simply run its course. There were only so many times you could splash various chemicals and acids onto a material to see how it reacts, and get nothing in return.

Linguistics had proven useless, as the language was simply incomprehensible. They thought they had deciphered the language on the archway for a while, but when they tried translating a few parts it came back as gibberish.

They couldn't even power the anomaly to see what it did. It was completely impossible, or so they thought. Until one day, it simply powered itself.

"Sigh. This is 8, reporting in. Observation Log Number.... 54793. No changes to report. The anomaly remains inert and shows no signs of any activity... Hold on a second..."

Scientist 8, a grey haired woman that was currently on observation duty, frowned deeply as she saw the crystal atop the anomaly starting to glow softly. She rose to her feet, leaning on her desk and narrowing her eyes as she stared at the camera feed with a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

Her fingers danced across the keyboard in front of her, switching between the multiple feeds that monitored the archway, as well as pulling up a few different readings from the devices that constantly monitored the formally inert device. She was hoping to find that it was simply a trick of the camera, or that her eyes were deceiving her, but the readings proved wrong.

The same alien energy the subject had in their bloodstream was currently being emitted by the archway, and it was spreading. The light slowly cascaded down the arms of the archway, lighting up the intricate web of countless runes that covered it.

It was activating.

Her hand immediately slammed down on big red button that they had installed for this exact scenario, as she shouted into the mic of her recording software to complete her report.

"Scratch the previous report. The Device is activating! Repeat it is powering up!"

The report was quickly shut off as alarms started to blare in the background. Scientist 8 grabbed her coat, darting out of the room just as the lights of the corridors turned red. Doors slammed closed either side of her, bolting tight as they locked themselves automatically.

Boots thundered against the floor in the corridor alongside her, as her armed squad of a dozen men fell in beside her. They were geared up in full tactical outfits. Bullet proof vests, helmets and gas masks in case of biological weaponry.

Not to mention the automatic weapons they carried in their hands, and the pistols they held on their hips as a backup.

The armed response unit, led by scientist 8, made their way down to the Anomaly. Unlocking doors with a hand scanner as they approached, as the doors locked themselves automatically behind them.

By the time they were in position, surrounding the archway in a semi circular formation, the final letters engraved on the archway were gaining their light until-

KRAKOOOM!

With a deafening crack like thunder, space was ripped apart and a swirling vortex formed itself in the middle of the archway. The scientists eyes sparkled with wonder and amazement at the sight, but the trained guards simply hunched down into position and raised their weapons, which clacked and clicked as safeties were turned off and bullets were racked into the chamber.

The air that filled the chamber grew stagnant and still for a few minutes, the only sound being the heavy breathing of the people within the room, the shifting of their nervous feet and the swirling, gentle roar of the whirling nebula like the oceans waves. It was a stillness that was only broken when a boot thudded softly against the metallic floor, as someone stepped out of the portal.

The monster that stepped through was humanoid in appearance, but its face was twisted and horrific on one side. One of its arms was metallic, which it held up to its eyes to shield them from the blinding lights that were pointed at the archway.

Its eyes were a clear sign that it was not human, despite its outward appearance. One of them was pure white, while the other had pitch black sclera and silver iris' that seemed to glow softly under the shadow of its hand.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"

One of the soldiers shouted their orders towards the creature, first in Mandarin Chinese then repeating the order in Earth's most widely used languages. Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic.

But the creature ignored the orders, looking over their gathered force with a deep set frown as it spoke softly to itself, surprisingly in English.

"Humans... Not what I was expecting."

"IDENTIFY OR WE WILL PUT YOU DOWN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!"

The order was relayed again, in English this time since that seemed to be the language it responded with. However, still it ignored them. Instead it lowered its hand and let out a deep sigh, taking a few steps forwards.

"Listen, There's no need for that. Let's just put down the guns and-"

BLAM!

Without a hint of hesitation, the soldier that had barked the orders squeezed the trigger on his rifle, letting a shot ring out in the room. But soon his gun was lowered and his eyes bulged out in horror, at what happened next.

***

Seth narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly as he gazed curiously at the object he held pinched between his fingers. The bullet still hissed slightly from the heat, but since he held it in his right hand, there was no need to worry about burning himself.

He gazed at it with a mixture of curiosity, confusion and a hint of amusement. To think that his reflexes had grown to the point that he could do this, simply by flinching alone, was marvellous.

It was always hard to gauge his progress, since he was surrounded by extraordinary people. But this... one of the most feared weapons of old mankind, was now something he could catch as easily as catching a ball thrown at him.

However what had him confused was why bullets and why humans? As he rolled the bullet between his fingers, he didn't see anything odd about it. It was definitely human materials, with human guns fired by scared humans.

Where had the Heaven's Gate sent him? And why were there people already here?

These were questions he never got a chance to answer since, as soon as they got over the shock of a man capable of catching bullets, the soldiers immediately raised their trembling rifles once more and let out an order, their voice quivering as they shouted.

"OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE!"

Dozens of lights flashed hundreds of times a minute and cracks of miniature explosions rang out as the soldiers let loose a hail of bullets, hundreds more than Seth could possibly hope to catch even with increased reactions.

So he didn't bother.

Letting the bullet in his hand drop to the floor, Seth outstretched his hand as the rune carved into his metallic palm glowed. The portal had taken a lot of his energy, but he still had more than enough to power this simple enchantment.

A dome of pure mana formed in front of him, as bullets ricocheted and bounced off of the surface of his mystical shield like torrential rain against an umbrella.

The hail was endless, the soldiers timing their reloads so that there was never a gap in their firing pattern, and each bullet pelting his shield took a little bit of his energy. But he designed this shield to withstand attacks like that of the Lightbringer, at least a few of them.

The bullets still ate away at his energy levels gradually, but it was at a slow enough pace that Seth didn't have to worry about it too much.

Footsteps sounded from behind him as someone else stepped through the portal, bringing with them a flowery and enchanting scent, mixed with a hint of ozone, into the sterile room that tickled Seth's nose. He didn't even have to turn to know it was Astra.

When she spoke with a dry, unamused tone, it only confirmed it.

"Not a very warm welcome. Hmm... Normal rifles. Not what I was expecting."

"Me neither. Can you relieve them of their weapons?"

"Not if you want them to keep their fingers. If I grab them, I'll blow all the bullets in the mag at once. It will be worse if they have grenades."

"Noted. Take up the defence then, I'll take care of it."

Astra nodded softly, casually raising her hand as Seth lowered his. The mystical bubble shield that had appeared before him faded as soon as he lowered his hand, the bullets streaking through the air they had previously bounced off it. But they did't fly for much longer, as before the soldiers very eyes, the bullets slowed in their flight path before stopping in midair.

None of them dared to go any further, as they were all halted by the commanding hand of the newly appeared woman, who had sparks crackling around her blackened fingers.

The man who had been hiding behind a shield raised his other hand, his flesh hand, and spread his fingers wide as he thrust the hand towards them. He twisted his hand, curled his fingers into a tight fist and yanked the outstretched arm towards him.

With that simple motion, the guns were ripped from their hands before they spun in the air. Their own weapons hovered before them, as the barrels that had once spewed an endless hail of bullets, were suddenly turned towards themselves.

The woman lowered her hand, the veil of bullets clattering to the ground, as the man stepped forwards with a deep set scowl.

"Now... Are we finally ready to have that talk?"

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