Nikki dropped the old black radio onto the wooden table. Her hands were shaking so badly that she had to grip the edges of the table just to stay standing. She looked out the window of their cozy pine cabin.
Far away, near the edges of the bright blue sky, dark clouds were gathering. But they weren’t rain clouds. They were a massive swarm of tiny black dots, buzzing together like a billion angry hornets. The empty toy factories had woken up. The giant bully in the stars, Aegis-Pri, was building an army of soulless machines to wipe the Earth clean.
"Adonis," Nikki whispered, her voice tight with fear. "Silas and the human fighters can’t beat millions of flying machines. And even if you could fight them all... we can’t fight a satellite from the ground."
Adonis stepped up behind her. He wrapped his big, warm arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head. He looked out the window with her. His eyes were a beautiful, clear blue, but his face was very serious.
"You are right, my heart," Adonis said softly. "I can run faster than the wind. I can lift a mountain. But I cannot jump to outer space. If we stay down here, the giant machine will just keep dropping those massive tal spears from the sky until the whole Earth cracks open like a dropped egg. We cannot protect our ho from the dirt."
Nikki closed her eyes. She felt so small. How could a girl and her protector fight the whole sky?
But then, a mory sparked deep inside her mind.
It was an old mory, from when she was just a young girl learning how to build the very first giant protectors. The older scientists used to whisper about a secret place. They called it a ghost story, a myth that most people thought wasn’t even real.
Nikki opened her eyes, turning around in Adonis’s arms to look up at his flawless face.
"When I was little," Nikki started, her words rushing out fast, "the teachers talked about a secret hiding place. It was called the Alpha Facility. It was a giant, underground bunker built long before the world broke. They didn’t build it to make robots. They built it to launch spaceships into the stars, to protect the Earth from above."
Adonis tilted his head, his super-smart mind listening closely to every word. "Where is this place?"
"They hid it in the jagged mountains in the North," Nikki said, pointing toward the window. "The poisoned mountains. The air there is sick, and the rocks are covered in bad dust that makes people very ill. No one ever goes there because it is too dangerous. But the bunker is supposed to be buried deep inside the rock. If it is real... if the spaceship is still there... we could use it to fly up and stop Aegis-Pri."
Adonis didn’t doubt her for a single second. He believed every word she said.
He reached down and gently took her hands in his. He looked at the soft, pink scars on her palms and fingers—the scars she had gotten from burning her hands to save his life. He traced the little lines with his thumbs, touching her with so much gentle care it made her heart ache.
"You reached into the dark for ," Adonis whispered, his deep voice rumbling with a promise that could move the earth. He looked up, his bright blue eyes locking onto hers. "If the bully hiding in the sky wants to hurt you, then I will fly you to the stars to stop him. I will tear down the heavens if it ans keeping you safe."
Nikki smiled through a fresh wave of tears. He wasn’t just a machine; he was her hero.
They didn’t have much ti to waste. They had to pack.
Nikki grabbed a sturdy canvas bag. She packed their canteens full of fresh river water and wrapped up the fruit and warm bread they had saved. Adonis found a heavy, thick coat to protect her from the cold mountain wind.
When they were ready, they walked to the door of their beautiful timber cabin.
Nikki looked around the room. She looked at the warm stone fireplace Adonis had built with his bare hands. She looked at the soft bed. She looked out the door at the tiny green strawberry sprout bravely poking out of the dirt. It was the first real ho she had ever known. It wasn’t fair that they had to leave it so soon.
"We will co back," Adonis promised, knowing exactly what she was thinking. He squeezed her hand. "I will not let the sky take our garden."
With a soft, rushing sound, the bright white armor flowed up from Adonis’s collar, wrapping his chest and shoulders in heavy, bulletproof tal. Because she had cut the silver cord in his neck, his armor was a little duller, disconnected from the invisible web. But he was still the strongest thing on Earth.
He scooped Nikki up into his strong arms, holding her safely against his chest.
"Hold on tight, Kitty," he said.
Then, he ran.
Adonis moved so fast the trees beca a green blur. He leaped over giant boulders and rushed through the thick pine forests. He made sure to hold Nikki perfectly steady so she wouldn’t get dizzy. For hours, they left the beautiful, green valley far behind, heading straight toward the North.
By the ti the sun started to set, the world changed.
The tall green trees turned into dead, black sticks. The soft grass turned into sharp, gray rocks. The sky above them wasn’t blue anymore; it was a sickly, bruised purple. They had reached the poisoned mountains. The air slled sharp and sour, like old pennies and burnt tal. It was a scary, lonely place.
"The air is getting bad," Adonis warned, slowing down his run to a fast walk. He held Nikki closer, trying to shield her face from the wind. "My sensors show the poison in the dirt is very strong here. We must find the hidden door quickly."
They began to climb the steep, jagged rocks. The mountains were silent. Too silent.
Suddenly, a loud, angry buzzing sound filled the air.
It sounded like a million electric wasps. Nikki peeked over Adonis’s thick shoulder. Coming up from behind the sharp mountain peaks was a swarm of drones. But these weren’t the sleek, green drones they were used to seeing. These machines were brand new. They were shiny, silver, and perfectly smooth, looking like flying tal eyeballs.
Aegis-Pri had found them.
"Hold onto !" Adonis shouted.
He crouched low, his eyes glowing a bright, fierce white. He got ready to fight. He balled his massive hands into fists, ready to smash the flying machines out of the air.
The drones swooped down from the sky, moving together like a giant school of silver fish.
Nikki squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the burning hot blast of fire that the old drones used to shoot. She waited for the loud explosions and the smoke.
But the fire never ca.
Instead, the silver drones opened their bellies and shot out glowing, crackling balls of blue lightning.
The balls of lightning flew through the air and hit the ground all around Adonis. As soon as they touched the rocks, they exploded into giant, glowing blue nets made of pure electricity.
"Agh!" Adonis groaned loudly.
One of the glowing lightning nets landed right on top of him. It didn’t burn his skin, and it didn’t cut his armor. Instead, the blue electricity sent a massive, shocking jolt right into his tal body.
"Adonis!" Nikki scread as she felt his big muscles lock up tight.
"They... they are not trying to kill us," Adonis forced the words out, his teeth gritted in pain. He fought hard to stay on his feet, his heavy boots sliding on the sharp rocks. "The lightning nets... they are designed to turn my power off. They want to capture alive!"
More drones buzzed overhead, dropping another glowing blue net.
The heavy lightning wrapped around Adonis’s legs. The giant bully in the stars didn’t just want to destroy the God of War. It wanted to drag him up into the sky and put the bad strings back into his head. It wanted to steal his heart all over again.
Adonis roared, trying to rip the glowing nets with his bare hands, but the shocking electricity was too strong. His knees buckled, and the biggest, strongest protector on Earth began to fall toward the poisoned rocks.
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