The plane ride was long, silent, and awkward. Ishwada had sent word ahead so Pitch could get into the Oval Office to see President Merrow, but he was still worried he wouldn't get in or that there would be some sort of complication. It was always something. Whenever it was actually important, things never went smoothly. Once the crew had landed, everyone took some time to stretch before departing. Once done stretching the group left the plane to get into vehicles that were prepared for them by the local Black Eagle division thanks to Ishwada. “Ah, Ishwada really did come through for us.” Pich commented before getting in the driver's seat.

  The drive itself took as long if not longer than the flight as traffic was hell and moved at a pace to where it might have been faster to just walk to the Whitehouse. After several hours the group finally arrived and we're led into a parking area. Once in the parking area a group of secret service members escorted Pitch and his small team to the Oval Office. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, almost too smoothly. There weren't any tours or field trip groups going through, the building was oddly empty minus the security. “Something isn't right here, during the day there's almost always a civilian presence or something inside the public areas.”

  Pitch nodded at Fae’s observation, it was almost like the area was closed off to the public in response to a crisis, but there wasn't really one going on that would warrant this sort of action. “You'd think he was expecting a riot or something.” Once led to the door to the Oval Office, the group was asked to wait while President Merrow was informed they had arrived. After several minutes of waiting a guard came back out. “The President will see you now, but for security reasons only three may enter the room and all of you need to undergo blood scans.”

  Pitch rolled his eyes. “You couldn't have done the blood scans before we entered the building?” The man opens a briefcase with several blood extraction devices that look like guns with needles instead of barrels. “We could have, maybe we should have, but we're doing it now. These things work quickly so it's not like you'll be sitting for several days waiting on a lab result.” Pitch sighed as they all had their blood scanned, it seemed the scanner was only checking if anyone was a Cryptid or not. Once scanned each Cryptid member was asked to disclose their species.

  Pitch's blood, however, came through as only being slightly anomalous because it was a re-creation of his blood before the transformation. Pitch suddenly remembers he could simply lie on his identification paperwork when the time came. Once scanned Pitch took Fae and one other person into the office with him. Once inside they saw Marrow sitting at the desk doing paperwork. He seemed to have quite the pile. “You know one thing they never tell you about the president, is how much paperwork he has to do.” Pitch let out a huff. “You know full well that's not what we're here for.”

  Marrow adjusts himself. “Right, I was told you had some sort of important report on the increase of Cryptid activity. Go on then.” Pitch took a few breaths out of habit. “Alright, so you may or may not know this but there's one or more other worlds layered on ours, these worlds absorb residual emotional energy. There's a world of fear and anger tied to the Cryptids and some Cryptids are made there instead of here. The reason there has been an increase of activity is because the barrier between the worlds has gotten weaker. This has resulted in small incursion events where things slip through.”

  Merrow stopped working on the papers to look up, giving Pitch his full attention. Pitch continued. “With everyone more scared than normal during this sensitive time there is a distinct possibility of an imminent mass incursion event. Letting the ruler of the fear realm to enter ours. This entity has been feeding off the fear pollution and even has an avatar it uses to gather more fear energy. This entity we've come to call Phobos is essentially fear given form, the closest thing to a god of fear in this world.” Marrow sat back in his chair before rubbing his eyes and temples.

  Merrow let out a long sigh, one filled with frustration and exhaustion. “I definitely didn't see that coming. I expected consequences and backlash, but this is something else.” He then let out a groan. “I didn't work this hard for this long just for some literal Eldritch nightmare to screw everything up. I've known about the otherworld for a long time, Phobos too, but I really wasn't expecting it to be a problem.” Pitch blinked a few times. “We only confirmed the existence of Phobos a while ago, like a year at most. It's hard to track time when everything blurs together.”

  Merrow sat leaned forward with his elbows on the desk with his hand up and placed together loosely. “Do you know of my ancestor Bonaparte Merrow? He was active during the war for independence, a French immigrant.” Pitch shook his head. “If it was mentioned I definitely don't recall it so it must not have stood out as a detail to me.” Merrow pinched the bridge of his nose. “Damn it, the reveal doesn't have any impact if you don't at least have an awareness beforehand.” Pitch gestured. “Let's try and focus on the task at hand, how you knew about Phobos isn't important right now, let's not get sidetracked”

  Pitch did an airchop. “Now, let's focus on why I'm really here. Why are you doing any of this? Even if you weren't aware of the barrier weakening you're still making life more difficult for your own people. Doppelgangers, succubi, and other sentient Cryptids are facing down the barrel of hate crimes and lunching as you literally put targets on their backs. You're a few steps short of creating a second hand Holocaust where your own people are forced to literally wear markers on their shirts.” Merrow laughed lightly. “You're serious? You really don't get it. … No, I shouldn't laugh, of course you wouldn't. You haven't seen what I have.”

  Merrow sat back in his chair with a sigh. “That's the entire point kid.” Pitch blinked hard, clearly confused. “Come again?” Fae finally pitched into the conversation, her voice raised and full of anger. “Are you insane?! Why would you do that intentionally, to your own people?!” Merrow leaned forward. “Simple; evolution. A trial by fire. The ability Doppelgangers have to mimic humans has been stagnant for centuries, we simply didn't need to adapt any further. By scaring them into hiding more they'll be forced to further perfect the mimicry, to become even more human. To become more human than human.”

  Pitch still looked confused so Merrow continued. “Doppelgangers have been living in the shadow of humanity for tens of thousands of years, since the time of the pyramids or even longer despite being so much more. We are everything they are and more. Our ability to shape shifts and less rigid ideas on gender identity puts us a step above them. By forcing them out of stagnation and giving them no choice but to fight they will have little options but to wrest control just to survive. Humans are outdated, the previous model, it's time for the next stage to take over and for them to go the way of the dinosaurs.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Fae blinked in shock for a moment before gesturing to Merrow. “You basically just stole a monologue from fucking Magneto. How the hell do you still think you're the good guy here?” Merrow sat forward, his voice stern. “The only reason Magneto is portrayed as a villain in comics is because they were written with human bias.” Pitch rolled his eyes extra hard. “And there it is, the classic “genocidal maniac actually did nothing wrong” cliche. Seriously, could you be any more cartoonishly evil? You're literally advocating for genocide against your own people?” Marrow shrugged. “What could be more human than that?”

  Pitch shuffled through expressions of shock and befuddlement. “You're insane. A straight up nut-case. Whatever happened to building a better tomorrow, today?” Marrow chuckled. “I never said who the better tomorrow was for, now did I? I'm building a better tomorrow for a new race, a superior race.” Pitch groaned. “Maybe I shouldn't have put you on the back burner, maybe then we'd have had more time. I'm not going to let you genocide either Cryptids or humans. I don't know how yet but I will find a way to stop you and create a better tomorrow for everyone.”

  Merrow let out a long sigh. “That's a damned shame James Holden, or should I call you Pitch Black? Yeah, that's right, I know all about you. And it's too bad you couldn't side with me. Can't you see? You are the pinnacle of what I'm trying to achieve. Able to blend in so seamlessly that scans can't even tell you're a Cryptid and also able to do things well beyond any human and even most Cryptids. The ultimate lifeform, the apex predator. You are exactly what I desire to make, to mold the people of earth into something closer to a god.”

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Pitch felt an odd sensation. It was similar to when he felt a storm coming, an odd staticky high energy feeling of the air becoming ionized. But this wasn't that. There was something in the air, an energy, but it wasn't electrical. And yet, it caused the hairs on his fake body, the mask he wore, to stand on end as his skin firmed goosebumps as a reaction to some primal and instinctual stimulus.

  It took Pitch a moment to recognize this feeling, as he wasn't used to feeling it from himself anymore. This primal, instinctual anxiety had a name. That name… was fear. Pitch looked out of the window, looking around to try and figure out what his body was reacting to and why it seemed Fae and Merrow were the only other ones that looked uneasy. Then it hit him, like a truck or a train, the realization struck him and everything around him seemed to slow to a stop before he poked his head out of the window and looked at the sky.

  Fae, the only other Black Eagle who seemed to feel it, looked at Pitch with a mix of worry and other emotions. “What is it? What's going on?” Pitch felt a shiver down his spine. “It's the beginning, Fae. The beginning of the end.” Slowly, the sky started to warp, the fabric of reality seemed to split open as small rips started slowly opening in the clear night sky. Inside the tares, Pitch could see stormclouds, thick, dark, and rolling with a yellow lightning that felt unnatural. The increase in fear and anxiety around the world had finally reached a tipping point after the public reveal of Cryptids, and now it was here, phobiophobia, the fear of fears, the king of the sickly yellow light. Phobos, the boogieman’s true form.

  The event they had been dreading was finally here, the realm of fear was seeping into the world of humans like it did in ancient times. The only difference was back then Phobos didn't reach into the world themselves. Pitch grabbed his radio right away. “This is Black Eagle civilian consultant James Holden, broadcasting to all open channels. A.P.B. We have a mass incursion event. I repeat, all points bulletin, we have a mass incursion event. Order an immediate curfew for any and all non-combatants. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. The eyes of Phobos are upon us.”

  Shortly after Pitch finished on the radio, the air raid slash storm sirens blared. Every radio and television station declared a state of emergency and curfew across America. It was possible this was a global event, but Pitch wasn't going to check his phone to confirm. He didn't have the time. Every cop, soldier, and well armed civilian got ready to throw down with the extra dimensional entities that were about to flood in.

  Strange yellow ribbons of light started gently hitting the ground as yellow lightning struck areas with force. Cryptids started coming through the tares and some even started forming on the spot. Wild Cryptids already present became agitated and more active, creating even more chaos. Weapons fired, personal weapons, canons, turrets, anything and everything available lethal or not was fired off and the invaders.

  The sounds of warfare echoed through the area as Pitch and his team watched in awe. Some of them started spreading out to fight, meanwhile Pitch hung around in the room with only Fae staying back with him. “You're still deciding on what to do, aren't you? You could go out there in uniform, shoot guns like the others. But you and I both know you'll be able to kill more of them faster in your true form.” Pitch nodded. “I'm also worried about Anderson and Hammer, they are each or somewhere in New Arkham without me.”

  Pitch took a breath, despite not needing to. “But I'm also worried about Kathryn and my unborn child. I'm miles away and can't be in two places at once.” Fae chuckled and shook her head. “Kathryn has guards at the lab. Anderson and Hammer can handle themselves, they are both high ranking members. Besides, even if they die, they know what they signed up for. Same for General Ishwada at headquarters. Every single one of us is aware that every mission can be our last.” Pitch looked outside, at the chaos in front of him. Cryptids of this world and the fear dimension were all gathering in a frenzy as people did their best to fight back.

  Pitch let out a growl as he clenched his fist, still hesitant to take his true form so he could kill the invaders faster. Fae looked at him and sighed. “Everyone that's looking already knows Pitch, pull a Clark Kent. This can wait.” Pitch looked at Fae, eyebrow raised. Then after a moment he offered a determined nod before running off out of sight somewhere. Then Pitch went outside with Fae close behind using his true form to start ripping apart rouge Cryptids en masse and even ate some of them. A few people took pot shots at him, but normal bullets didn't affect him.

  Since the Black Eagle soldiers knew who he was, none of them shot at him with electric weapons, one of them even shouted for the civilians to ignore him since he wasn't attacking people and couldn't be harmed by traditional weapons. “Focus your efforts elsewhere, that thing clearly isn't taking damage and it only seems to be after other monsters.” Pitch would frown if he could right now, but he understands why the person worded it that way. He simply focused on the task of keeping people safe. He simply continued to dispatch Cryptid after Cryptid.

  He made it as quick as he could with each new victim, he'd wrap around them with tendrils and simply twist or tear them in half before sinking the remains into his body to be crushed into nothing or simply throwing it to the side. There wasn't much reason he was eating some and not others outside time, he could only eat so fast but was killing them faster. He didn't really need to eat them, he wasn't even hungry, but he continued to do so. Bodies and blood went everywhere as Pitch quickly killed more Cryptids than the combined armed forces of the area.

  Fae would occasionally look over at Pitch as she fired her weapon, she couldn't help but smile. The regular people didn't understand, they just saw a monster, but she knew. In her eyes, Pitch was a hero. One that was finally out of the shadows and saving people, allowed to metaphorically spread his wings and fly in his true form. He could finally be himself again, after what felt like a month of only being able to use his true form at home. Fae wondered if Pitch ever felt cooped up or trapped in that fake body of his.

  As Pitch continued to move, it started to almost look like a morbid gory dance of death, with blood and viscera going everywhere. Fae couldn't help but feel a strange sense of awe at the dark display, a performance unlike any other. “Wow…” was the only word that could escape her lips as she realized how lucky Black Eagle was that Pitch was on their side. “Keep pushing, hold the line!” Orders echoed from somewhere on the battlefield. They were doing well, but the Cryptids just kept coming. Pitch was the only thing keeping them from being overwhelmed right now. Fae couldn't help but worry about the other teams.

  There was little she could do for them in the here and now though, all she could do was focus on protecting the people here. However, she couldn't help but feel like Pitch was doing most of the protecting with how quickly he was dispatching Cryptids.