Episode Twenty: A New Beginning

The Motherbird flew through the night. Solomon ordered his jets to go ahead—they were faster and needed refueling. Even if the Motherbird was attacked, it had more than enough speed and weapons to make an escape. But there were no attacks, and they reached G3 HQ by daylight. Solomon stayed in the bridge as his agents communicated to coordinate the docking.

"Permission granted," an agent on the HQ said over the radio. "Proceed to Dock Four." There was a small pause before he said, "Welcome home, Commander."

Solomon gazed outside the viewports at the massive headquarters for a moment. Its colossal size hid above the mountains of clouds, a secret city, a marvel of ingenuity thanks to his superior's design. Yes, he supposed this was the closest thing he'd ever had to a home. How ironic that he, a defender of earth, did not technically live on it.

He turned away and left the bridge, heading to retrieve Lance and Ilana. He found them both slouched on the bench, Ilana looking worried and drained while Lance appeared to have dropped whatever gentleness he'd had last night. The young male alien's gaze was back to being hard, guarded, and mistrustful. Solomon knew then that he'd have his work cut out for him to make them trust him. But he was still determined to convince them to stay.

"We're here," he said. Both of them wordlessly stood and joined his side. He waited by the door for a moment, feeling the ship land with a gentle thudbefore they disembarked and he led them through the dock. Opening a door at the end of it, he barely noticed all the agents standing at attention on the other side. "Follow me, please."

He had taken only a few steps when he realized both Lance and Ilana had frozen in alarm. Lance was suddenly in a defensive fighting stance while Ilana had scurried back behind him.

Right. Last time they had been here, they had been kidnapped, tortured, tricked, and hunted. They were probably on a hair-trigger, waiting for G3 to turn around and catch them again, especially when they were so vulnerable at the moment.

Solomon looked over his shoulder and tried to put them at ease. "You don't have to worry. We aren't your enemy." He hoped they would accept that, at least. He should of thought of this before—many times his agents awaited him like this when he returned from a mission, a greeting as well as preparation for directions and orders. He'd grown accustomed to it and hadn't thought how it might appear as a surprise attack to Lance and Ilana. He noticed that not all of his agents stood in perfect attention like usual; some were a little displaced from their perfect lines in order to get a better look at Lance and Ilana. No doubt they were curious to see what would happen now that the aliens were back here, but not prisoners this time.

Lance and Ilana skeptically looked over the agents, who did not move in the slightest. Seeing that they weren't going to attack, the young aliens exchanged unsure looks. Shied by all the attention suddenly on them, they lowered their heads and followed behind Solomon.

Solomon turned away and continued down the hall, leaving his agents behind. He tried not to look at Lance and Ilana, fearing pressuring them more. "Steel, on the other hand, is," he said next, picking up where he'd left off. They passed a platform—one that Solomon had led them through before, though disguised as Kane. Down one of the ladders was where the two had decided to leave him. "Especially after that raid you attempted last night."

"We had no choice," Lance objected. Both he and Ilana straightened up once they were away from the watchful gazes of the agents—openly, at least. Solomon knew several unseen eyes were on them even now. "Octus is vital to our protection on this planet."

"There's no way for us to form Titan without him," Ilana spoke up.

If you had come to G3 in the first place, we might have fixed Octus long ago, and this whole mess could have been avoided. You wouldn't have needed to break into that base.

But it wasn't their fault. No, it was Solomon's. If he hadn't destroyed their trust by disobeying his superior and capturing them, they might have been willing to come. If he hadn't called them and made them come help him on the space station, the creature wouldn't have killed their robot. Solomon didn't blame them for holding a grudge.

"I know," he said softly. "That's why you can stay with us, if you like." He tried his best not to press them, though he desperately wanted to demand that they stay. "We'll do our best to protect you from Steel, and…" the creatures of the past flashed before his eyes, and he tried not to imagine how much destruction there would be if one of them came to G3 HQ. "…Help you with whatever may come in the future."

Solomon saw Lance's eyes narrow, already planning a refusal. He decided to lay everything flat-out. "Look," he said bluntly, "I know we started out on the wrong foot," and he knew quite well how much of an understatement that was, but it was hard for him to admit aloud, tothe aliens, the extent of the mistake he'd made. He was paying for it now. It would be a hard, long road to forgiveness, maybe he would never earn it, but he had to try. "But believe me; we would like it if you stayed here with us."

It would certainly ease a lot of tension in G3 to have the aliens with them. Nobody liked the idea of letting them loose on earth, confused if they were allies or enemies, wondering what they were up to. It would be far easier to monitor them here, and to work with them, as G3 was meant to.

Lance and Ilana exchanged looks yet again, searching for each other's approval. Solomon's hands were in tight fists, the only sign of his nervousness and stress. Ilana obviously was more open to it, but if Lance said no, she would stay by him. Solomon had learned that when he'd been with them as Kane; these two stayed together.

Lance finally caved in, and he was the one who answered. "All right; we'll stay."

Solomon felt a genuine smile come on him, and it seemed to reassure Lance and Ilana as they smiled back.

Feeling much better about it now, Solomon opened the door behind him to the chambers G3 had prepared for them. He had commissioned these ages ago, not sure if they would ever be used, but he was glad for them now.

The three of them stepped in and Lance and Ilana looked over the bare room in confusion. "It's very, um…" Lance began skeptically.

"Cozy?" Ilana offered, seemingly unable to be impolite or ungrateful.

Solomon didn't comment on their forced manners but quickly explained the mechanics of the chambers. "This room is fully equipped to accommodate your every need." He waved a hand and the motion sensors followed his directions. Furniture flickered in and out of the walls as he showed the room's capabilities. "There's a television, food, bathroom, a ping-pong table for your recreational activities, sleeping quarters," the room became bare again as it cleared itself, "and there's a soda fountain down the hall."

Lance and Ilana both stared at him with wide eyes. Solomon realized this was probably overwhelming, and a complete on-eighty on G3's past treatment of them. He hoped to erase the memories of before and start fresh. The would get proper treatment this time, certainly not a cell.

"You should get some rest," he suggested.

For the third time, Lance and Ilana exchanged looks. The two of them seemed to be depending on each other even more in this strange situation. Solomon made a mental note to not even try to separate them right now, not that he had planned to. They only had each other, and for them to lose that would be catastrophic for both of them.

"Uh, thank you," Ilana said awkwardly. She managed a smile. "We will."

But before that, however, Solomon wanted to try something else. He knew he was already pushing his luck by having them here, but if he at least suggested the idea now, perhaps they would ease up to it in time. "Why don't you let our scientists take a look at your friend? See if they can do something." He gestured to the old sack Lance carried.

Lance immediately tensed up, his hand tightening on the strap. His gaze lowered as he stared at nothing. "I'm not sure about that."

Solomon kept his patience. He knew Lance and Ilana didn't trust G3, but it was foolish to refuse to let the G3 scientists try. Otherwise, the remains of the robot would just be sitting around uselessly when it could be fixed. Yet at the same time, Lance and Ilana's confidence of G3 only extended a short distance. The robot was their friend—family, as Lance had saidand Solomon could understand their reluctance to hand him over to just anyone. For all they knew these scientists might do more harm than good, and they probably didn't like the idea of the remains of their robot being carelessly prodded at.

Solomon would not let that happen; his scientists would treat it with the utmost care. No doubt they would treat the alien technology with almost reverence. They were always fascinated when G3 retrieval teams brought in technological remains of an alien monster Titan had defeated. To get their hands on a key component of the mechanical marvel, Titan itself…well, they might just cry.

Ilana stepped up to Lance, looking worried but kept her tone soothing. "It's okay, Lance. Let them try. We've done all we can."

Lance dropped his shoulders in defeat and the straps fell from them. He clung to the backpack for a moment longer, giving it up obviously difficult for him. Solomon stayed completely still, letting the young alien take his time, doing his best not to rush him. Ilana stayed by his side, holding her hands together in sympathy. Finally, keeping his head down, Lance held out his robot, his family.

Solomon took the bag gently and held it both at the bottom and by the straps. He didn't want to give them false hope, but he tried to offer them some encouragement. "We do have some pretty advanced science here."

He turned away and left, leaving the two to their loss.

Walking down the corridors, his hands felt like electricity was running through them—he was holding the alien robot. He had done so before, right when it had been drained of energy, but he had had no time to focus on it in the panic. It seemed unbelievable that he was holding something that was so unimaginably more advanced than anything on earth, in an old, tattered, backpack. People of earth had dreamed of artificial intelligence, and Solomon was holding it right now—if inactive.

Rather than turn to head for the labs, however, he took a separate route. He was careful to keep his grip on the robot secure as he climbed down the ladder to his superior. He knew his superior would absolutely refuse to let Lance and Ilana know of his existence—the man didn't even trust his own G3 agents with that information—but since Lance and Ilana had allowed G3 to work on the robot, unsupervised, Solomon's superior could easily work on it anonymously. It was the perfect opportunity. This was the best chance there was of fixing the robot, of bringing back Titan, of protecting the earth. He tried not to get his hopes too high, tried to be practical, but anticipation thrummed in his veins.

Solomon entered his superior's quarters and was taken aback however when he saw the man looking at a screen. Quite clearly, Solomon could see it was the video feed from Lance and Ilana's room.

Solomon's mind stuttered with confusion. "I ordered those cameras turned off," he questioned. In hopes of building trust between Lance and Ilana, he'd ordered his agents to lock down those cameras. He didn't want to invade their privacy, and he knew they wouldn't do anything wrong. They didn't need to be supervised like prisoners.

"I countermanded the orders." Solomon's superior's raspy voice was casual as it could be, and didn't even seem to be paying full attention to him. He watched as Ilana placed her hand on Lance's shoulder in comfort.

Solomon was still confused but gave his superior his reasons for his orders. "I thought it would be best if we allowed our gueststo keep their privacy." Surely his superior had to understand that the Lunises weren't prisoners this time.

"Ididn't invite them," his superior said simply, his attention still on the screen.

Solomon was silent for a moment, unsure how to convince his superior to be polite and leave Lance and Ilana alone. "After our…handling, of the Lunises last time they were here, I am trying to treat them best I can. They would be uneasedif they realized they were being watched. I've ordered no one to spy on them."

His superior flicked the screen away, turning his full attention to Solomon, but it was still there, still active. "You can stop the agents from watching them. But I will be either way." His superior drew in a hard breath, and his voice turned darker and more serious. "You should not have brought them here, Solomon."

Solomon was taken by surprise. He'd been working tirelessly to get them to come here, and he did not regret giving them shelter one bit. "They needed us."

"Yes, you were right to rescue them from Steel," his superior consented, "but you should not have brought them here. It is too dangerous." There was a terrible cough from the man as he struggled to breath.

"Isn't it G3's purpose to handle aliens?" Solomon argued. "They needed us to protect them."

"Their best protection has always been to hide, to blend in with the populace. It has kept them out of Steel's reach, and away from the alien creatures. If you had let them go back to the way they were before, anonymous everyday humans on earth, they would be safe from Steel, but now…now he will come for them here."

"He'll complain to his superiors, but he can't come here," Solomon said softly. Steel would argue to whoever he could that G3 was a threat after the events of last night. "He would have hunted them relentlessly after seeing them near his precious robot."

"He wouldn't have found them. And it will be worse for us when he does find the aliens in our care. We might have been able to talk our way out of it before, but not now."

"I had to do somethingto save them." Solomon felt this argument circle back.

"You did save them. But then you should have left them. They didn't need our protection, they had anonymity."

"It's not just our protection they need," Solomon shook his head and brought his mind back to the reason he had come here in the first place. "They need our help." He opened the sack and held out the robot's dead core to his superior. "You have to fix this."

There was a long, long, pause, punctuated only by his superior's labored breathing. The energy in the air seemed to heighten with intensity as his superior stared at the robot's core.

"There is nothing I can do."

Solomon stared at him. "You are the greatest mind on earth. Without you, there would beno G3. You have to try."

"No."

Solomon resisted the urge to throw Octus's core at his superior. "The Lunises need their robot. Earth needs Titan. You are our best hope to fix this." Solomon's grip tightened on the backpack's fabric. "You have to help in someway."

"No. And that is final, Solomon."

"But—"

"I said," his superior's tone turned threatening. "That is final."

Solomon stood there silently fuming for a few moments, before he whirled around and stormed away. He leapt up the ladder and stalked through the G3 halls until he reached the labs. He dropped off the robot's core to the very frightened-looking scientists before he headed to the control room.

OOO

"Report," Solomon ordered harshly.

"Sir," a scientist's voice came in soft, "I regret to inform you that…we are completely lost as to how to fix this robot. None of its makeup is like anything we've seen before."

Solomon was silent, his hand still on his communicator. He couldn't say that he was surprised. But he was angry. He still believed that there was a chance his superior could fix the alien's robot, yet he wouldn't even try.

"Very well," Solomon said finally. "Continue to work on it. Make sure you don't miss anything."

"Yes, sir," was the regretful reply.

OOO

Ping. Not long after that, Solomon's communicator alerted him to a high-priority message from his superior. For a few seconds he debated ignoring it, but the idea of the slim possibility that his superior had decided to help after all won out. He checked it.

"They're awake."

That was it. Of course, his superior was still watching them despite Solomon's objections. But he still refused to help them. Solomon pursed his lips in frustration, which grew even more when he found himself grateful for this alert. He wanted to talk to Lance and Ilana as soon as possible and tell them the hard truth about their robot. But at the same time, he knew they were exhausted and hadn't wanted to interrupt their well-needed rest. Yet by his orders to his agents not to monitor them, he had no way of telling when they were awake. His plan had been just to wait a few more hours. But thanks to this report, he knew it was safe to go now.

Holding back a sigh, Solomon left the control room and headed for Lance and Ilana's quarters. They hadn't slept for long; just a handful of hours. He hoped it wasn't because they didn't feel safe enough in G3 to rest.

When he opened the door, the lights of the room were off and the beds were out, but the two aliens were seated before the window, staring out onto the mountainous clouds. Solomon never grew tired of that sight; up here, the sun and stars and the rest of the universe were always visible. And there were so many different textures and ever-so-slight shades of the blindingly bright clouds, as ever-changing as the sea.

"Lance," Solomon said, drawing their attention, "Ilana." They both turned their heads to him. "I'm sorry," and he truly was. "We tried everything we could, but…" he hesitated, aware of how this would destroy them. G3 was the most advanced organization on earth; if they couldn't fix the robot, no one could. Both Lance and Ilana stood up, waiting for him to continue. Solomon lowered his head and forced the words out. "His technology is beyond our capability."

"No," whispered Ilana, collapsing back into the chair. Her voice was a trembling whisper. Tears welled up in her bright eyes and she put her face in her hands. Beside her, Lance's fists tightened in anguished rage. "We've lost him…"

The tears poured down Ilana's face, and she didn't even flinch or look up as Lance roared in anger, swung around, and punched the glass of the window. Whether she expected his outburst or was too distraught to even notice it, Solomon didn't know. The glass was far too thick and strong for Lance to do any damage, and he stood there vibrating with rage before it collapsed on itself, and he thudded his head against the window.

"What do we do now?" Ilana whispered in loss.

Solomon remained still, allowing them to mourn. He let their emotions run their course. He couldn't help the sympathy inside him; these two were too young, too innocent to face such a loss. Solomon didn't want to feed into their rage or anguish by overstepping his boundaries to try and comfort them, but in truth his own mind faced the same turmoil. Why wouldn't his superior even try to work on the robot? Why was he allowing these two children to suffer, and earth along with them?

"I'm truly sorry," Solomon said, keeping a tight restraint on his own feelings. On impulse, he turned his gaze up to the camera in the room. Only his superior would be watching. Neither Lance nor Ilana would notice, too overwhelmed to pay attention to what he did. "I was surethere was something we could do to help."

He tried to convey his anger with the man, but the lifeless camera revealed nothing. Surely after seeing these two alien children in their loss, their sorrow, their pain, he would do something?

Solomon shook his head and turned away from the camera. His superior would do as he pleased, and Solomon knew he couldn't change the man's mind no matter how hard he tried. He returned his gaze to Lance and Ilana and his insides twisted with guilt to see them like this. It was his fault they had been on the space station. It was his fault they had lost their family.

"We need to talk," Solomon said softly, "But I understand you need time. I will come back in one hour." With that, he turned away and left them.

OOO

Solomon watched the minutes tick by and arrived punctually one hour later. When he entered, Lance and Ilana were waiting for him, both dressed now and almost all signs of their sorrow gone. They had probably been facing the loss of their robot all of these past weeks—Solomon's news had simply been the final closure. They were strong children, but children nonetheless. Determination was on both of their faces.

Solomon went right into it, knowing that despite their brave faces, a reminder of their loss could tear them apart again. "We need to discuss your stay here," he began formally. Lance's eyes narrowed and Solomon hurried on. "You are welcome to stay on our base indefinitely. G3 will care for you and help however we can. But we need to consider Steel, and any future creatures that may come."

"We can't go against another one of those creatures again," Ilana said, eyes widening in fear as memories flashed through her eyes.

"I know," Solomon said, his tone soft. They had barely escaped the last one with their lives. "I don't expect you to. But they seem to be attracted to you…am I wrong?"

He waited, tense, as Ilana bit her lip slightly and Lance's face hardened with suspicion. Their hesitation answered Solomon's question in wordless confirmation. He had already been almost completely sure, but to see it on their faces made it certain.

He waited, and finally Ilana reluctantly admitted, "Yes. Many of them are."

Some deep part of Solomon relaxed. They weren't being completely secretive. Until now, the two had never admitted to Solomon where they were from or even openly said that they were aliens. Compared to that, this was a tremendous step forward.

He took the briefest of moments to let amazement come over him. Here, standing right before him, were two alien life forms.And they were intelligent and nonthreatening.How many people dreamed of that? What secrets must Lance and Ilana know? G3 and humanity itself had peered into space, walked off the earth, and sent probes into the sky, scouring for anything else. And now, here were two.

Solomon's tension slowly eased.

"How do they find you?" Solomon asked, still ever-so-careful not to push too hard or too quick. He was ready to back off if they tried to shut him out again. The very last thing he wanted was for them to decide to leave.

Lance looked like he would rather eat nails than answer Solomon's questions. Solomon bleakly remembered how Lance had endured brutal torture to hide this information. Ilana looked unsurely at her companion and put a hand on his shoulder. She stayed silent this time, no doubt unwilling to reveal anything Lance wished to keep secret.

Finally Lance sighed and responded. "It depends." He waved vaguely. "Some of them are capable of detecting us whenever we activate our armor. Some merely see us and know to pursue us."

"Know? Why would they know?" Solomon repeated before he could think better of it.

Abruptly, the alarm started going off. Both Lance and Ilana turned to face the blinking red light in the corner of their room. Solomon stared for a moment as well, snapping out of his questioning thoughts. He yearned to ask them more but there must be some kind of emergency—he hoped they could get back to this later.

He lifted his wrist as he felt the alert from his communicator. "Report!" he demanded.

"Multiple bogies inbound, sir," was the immediate response.

"What?" Solomon said, surprised. Flight crafts were heading for G3?

"We're under attack from a large squadron of fighters," the agent elaborated.

Then it hit him. "Steel," Solomon hissed. His superior had been right. Solomon hadn't expected for the general to attack this way. He had thought Steel would tattle and whine to the higher-ups of the US, not come here with his army and attack. "Is the robot with him?" Solomon asked.

"Yes, sir," the agent replied, his voice softening before he cleared his throat and continued. "And closing fast."

"Battle stations," Solomon ordered, before switching it off. G3 would not go down without a fight. Solomon turned his attention to Lance and Ilana. He remembered what his superior had said about putting them in danger—if Solomon hadn't insisted they stay, they would be far away and safe right now. He had wanted to protect them, but he hadn't known Steel would go this far. His plan had backfired, badly.

"I knew Steel was stupid," Solomon hissed, "but this is a whole new level." Either way, he would protect them just as he had said. He turned away, about to head to the control room, before Lance called out to him.

"Let us help!" the young alien demanded.

Solomon paused, looking back over his shoulder at them. Once again, the fact that they werechildrenswept over him. They'd shouldn't be anywhere near such a battle. Hadn't they almost died at the hands of Steel's robot only last night? Yet now they were ready to go against it yet again. Solomon didn't want to send them into battle when he'd promised to protect them, he didn't want to face what might happen to them.

Ilana stepped forward. "You'll need all the firepower you can get to defeat his robot," she reasoned.

Both of them were hard and resolute on this. And Solomon remembered how they had both refused to stand aside when others needed their help; they had done so with Titan, and even with him on the space station. They knew the risks, but they both fought anyway. And they had to power to do so. If anything could help G3 take on Steel, it would be them.

Solomon found a second smile that day briefly cross his lips. Now, of course, was no time for joy, but he couldn't stop how much it meant to him that they were willing to fight alongside G3. It was a full change from their complete mistrust previously.

He dropped the smile and focused back on the task ahead. "Let's go." And the three of them ran from the room.

OOO

Solomon entered the control room with Lance and Ilana at his sides. The agents were already hard at work, typing away on computers and giving and receiving directions. "Patch me through to Steel," Solomon demanded the moment he walked in. He took his place at the center of the room while Lance and Ilana quickly backed up, out of the way, not wanting to be seen when the transmission to Steel came through.

The huge screen came on with Steel's face, blocking the view of the clouds the control room normally gave. The general was leaning forward, peering accusingly through the screen.

"Steel," Solomon hissed darkly.

"Well look who it is," was Steel's casual, careless response.

"Have you lost your mind!?" Solomon demanded. Perhaps the general had gone mad with arrogance and the power of his robot. He believed himself unstoppable. Solomon would like more than anything to prove him wrong, but he had his doubts G3 could take his robot down. While his agents were far better skilled in piloting and armed with more advanced weapons on their jets, the robot was a whole other matter. It had too many guns, it was too big, and that alien metal made it far more difficult to penetrate.

Steel ignored the valid question on his sanity completely. "I always knew you were a traitor, Solomon…aiding and abetting those aliens," he spat. "You and your Galactic Guardian Group are finished!"

"You don't understand what you're doing," Solomon said, trying to reason with him.

"I understand, alright!" Steel barked. "I understand that those Titan people broke into mybase to steal the Hammer, and you helped them escape! End of story!"

Solomon put his hands on his hips in authority. "I think you forget, general, that our jurisdiction gives us control over alien involvement. Including the materials you used to build your robot." Solomon could probably get Steel in a lot of trouble if he revealed Steel's violation of contract. The only thing holding him back from doing so was endangering G3's secrecy. And even if he did do so right now, the information wouldn't be used fast enough to save them.

"Nawh, don't try and change the subject!" Steel scoffed. "I know you're harboring them! You've got to be! They're probably there right now, all of you, happy together!Thick as thieves!" A mad look grew in the general's eyes.

Solomon neither confirmed nor denied. Steel had obviously latched on to that insane idea, and whether it was true or not, the general was going to attack. "Don't do this, General!" Solomon tried to scare him off, "I'm warning you!"

"And I'm warning you!" barked Steel, pound his fist down on his seat.

"We're the ones you want, General!" Lance shouted. Solomon froze and steeled his face from any emotion as Steel lurched forward, as if he could stick his head through the screen and peek around its corner.

"Huh? Whazzat? What? That's them, isn't it?" Solomon did not respond, and resisted the strong temptation to turn to Lance. What did he think he was doing, revealing himself like this? The nearby agents swung their heads to stare at him. What if Steel recognized his voice? Highly unlikely, but still possible. "Show yourselves, you cowards!"

"Your fight is with us, not G3!" Lance glared at the screen. "Leave them out of this!"

That was not happening. The last thing Solomon was going to do was let Lance and Ilana fight Steel on their own. He might as well just hand them over to the crazed general, and after Steel's rotten treatment of anything alien, there was no way Solomon was going to stand by and let that happen. He appreciated that Lance was offering G3 an out, but they weren't going to take it.

"That's where you're wrong, alien!" Steel spat the word like an insult. He got up from his chair and began yelling orders to his men."All units! Begin attack formation Omega! Drop the Hammer! Drop the Hammer!"

The screen went blank and Solomon immediately swung his head to face Lance and Ilana. "Get to the launch bay! We'll need you out there." Both of them nodded before running off, joining the flow of agents already headed in that direction.

Solomon then turned his attention to the agents stationed in the control room. "All units; launch assault!"

G3 HQ was meant to fend off an invasion force if necessary and had more than enough weapons to bring to a fight. As Steel's fighters shot their missiles at the HQ and began to attack its belly, agents in laser-firing red jet planes launched out to attack. Dogfights broke out, and soon the pearl-white clouds and pure blue sky was filled with the dark smoke of explosions. Solomon watched the number of fighters began to drop, the signals go dead. He had Lance and Ilana on his monitors too; thankfully they had connected themselves to G3 communicators.

He absorbed reports of the action, watched dozens of feeds at a time, and shouted orders of where to defend, who needed support the most, what to look out for. Lance and Ilana tore through enemy jets, their invincible armor slicing through metal like butter. But they were careful to avoid the cockpit where the soldiers were, and didn't use any attacks that caused immediate explosions. Most of their targets were able to eject and escape with their lives. Solomon couldn't say he completely agreed with such limits of their attacks, yet at the same time he respected their restraint, even against such odds. He wasn't going to force them to kill. If he hadn't been so distracted by this battle, he would have been amazed of their value on the lives of their enemies, of the lives of a race that wasn't even theirs.

Steel's slow robot was catching up with the fighters and approaching the HQ. Solomon had kept careful track of it and now it was in range. He ordered his fighters to strike against it and they dive-bombed it with missiles. Yet their attacks appeared to do no damage as the smoke quickly blew away with the intense wind. The robot lifted its iron fist and opened its guns, quickly taking the attacking fighters out as they were caught in the raining bullets.

As the robot drew ceaselessly closer, it opened ports on its back and fired waves of missiles. G3 fighters spiraled in the air to avoid them, but soon the sky was filled with the rockets, and it was only the skilled and the lucky who survived. Steel's careless firing even hit some of his own fighters, and as Ilana flew to use her shields against the missiles, she saved some. Her energy shields took on at least ten of the missiles and she tried to prevent the attack. But Steel's destruction wiped out most of the jets, even his own.

Lance drew his sword and began to slice at the missiles, batting side to side as he advanced on the robot. Ilana soon followed as they both tried their own attacks against the much bigger foe. But Lance's sword and Ilana's lasers only scratched its surface.

"There's no effect," Ilana's voice came over Solomon's com. "That Mutradi armor is too thick."Was that what the metal was called? Solomon didn't have time to ask.

Flying through the no-man's-land in the sky like it meant nothing, Steel's robot began to land on G3 HQ. The whole ship shook with the weight and Solomon stumbled as he felt it. He regained his footing and ordered the nearest agent. "Deck guns: fire!"

All across the surface of the HQ, laser-guns surfaced and took automatic aim at Steel's robot. There were hundreds of these and they all began their assault. The huge robot stomped on a few, before Steel seemed to realize there were too many to attack that way. The robot's fists opened up again and fired back at the deck guns. The deck guns exploded in excess energy and tore up the HQ's surface.

"Is there no stopping this thing?"Ilana cried.

"Go for its guns! They're not armored!"Lance tried.

Solomon turned his attention to them briefly, trying to see how that idea worked. Lance landed beside a gun on the robot's stomach and managed to slice it off, but then dozens more guns revealed themselves. At such close range, they all fired and blew Lance back onto the HQ's surface. Lance crashed against it and Ilana cried out, immediately going to cover him. Her shield protected him against the bullets, but the robot narrowed down its attack on them.

While Ilana held it off, two planes flew out of Steel's robot and soldiers began to dive out of them, using parachutes to land on the HQ's surface, looking for a way to infiltrate it.

"Deploy the agents!" Solomon ordered.

A battle erupted on the surface of G3, right above Solomon's head, he knew. There was no cover on the surface, no protection for either side from the bullets. Bodies on both sides fell.

"Solomon!"Ilana called to him, horror evident in her voice. "This slaughter must stop!"

Solomon, sickened by the sight of his agents dying before him, lost control and snapped at her. "Tell him that!" He didn't blame her or Lance, but Steel. Steel wanted to wipe them all out, destroy G3. The general reveled in this bloodshed while G3 was now fighting for survival. No attack seemed to be effective against Steel's robot, and if they couldn't beat it, they were all going to be killed.

"Sir!" barked an agent. "An unidentified object has just appeared in earth's atmosphere!"

Said object popped up on one of their screens. Solomon was completely distracted for a moment. "What?!"

This high up in the atmosphere, everyone could see the new alien…or aliens. Gunfire stopped above as those outside saw the form split apart in the sky and roll through the air, flaming as they fell down to earth. Screens appeared all around Solomon as new reports rolled in, cities showing breaking-news of the new monsters.

Lance's shocked voice came over the com. "Threeof them?!"

"Patch me through to Steel! Now!" Solomon demanded his agents.

"We're joining you!" Ilana called. Solomon wasn't sure how, but moments later three screens appeared before him. On one side, Lance and Ilana's armor, but on the other, an infuriated-looking Steel.

"Steel," Solomon began, scrambling to form an argument in his mind to convince the mad general. G3, Steel's robot, and Lance and Ilana were the best forces against these creatures. With them in battle with each other, the people of earth had no protectors. Somehow, Solomon had to convince him to stop. "You have to stop attacking. It's pointless of us to be fighting like this, when there are creatures running loose below."

Ilana came to his support. "There are people down there who need all of our help!"

Steel pointed an accusing finger at her. "It's your fault they're here!"

That may be one of Solomon's own theories as well, but it wasn't entirely confirmed. Lance and Ilana had admitted that the creatures targeted them, but not that the creatures came to earth specifically for them.

There was no point in trying to convince Steel otherwise anyway, he wouldn't believe anything they told him. The general had to be redirected. "That isn't important right now," Solomon tried.

"Stopping those creatures is," Lance jumped in.

Steel lowered his finger and glowered for a moment, fists clenched at his sides. Finally, he caved. "What do you have in mind?"

Solomon didn't hesitate. "Each of us takes one on."

Neither Lance nor Ilana jumped in this time. They were both silent at that idea.

Steel scoffed in confidence. "Heck, the Hammer can take them all out!"

Solomon didn't comment on the general's cockiness but took leadership while he could. "We'll take the creature farthest away," G3 forces were certainly the fastest of the three groups here, and these people needed help as soon as possible. "You'll take the one that landed in San Francisco," he said to Steel. He then turned to Lance and Ilana. "You two will deal with the one in Sherman." He expected the two to nod or say something,but yet again they were quiet. Something was up, but Solomon couldn't ask at the moment. He stared, trying to puzzle it out.

Steel turned away from the screen. "All units, stand down! Redeploy the Hammer!" But then he turned his attention back to Solomon. "Solomon," he growled, and Solomon drew his gaze from Lance and Ilana to face the general. "Don't think for one minute that this is finished."

Solomon remained still at the threat as Steel's screen went out. No, not for one seconddid he think Steel would leave this be. The general would be back to finish the job…if Solomon let him.

But for now, he had a different foe to face. He turned to the agent at his side. "Recall the squadrons; we leave immediately." As his agents got to work on that, Solomon turned his attention back to Lance and Ilana. "What's wrong?" For it was quite obvious that something was bothering them. They had been backing him up against Steel, but now they were completely quiet.

"It's just—" Lance began as Ilana's armored form lowered its head. "—without Titan we can't defeat something like this. We tried before and it nearly got us killed."

Solomon had gotten so used to Lance and Ilana's bravery that he'd forgotten yet again how they were children. He had seen the footage of them fighting the last monster, and Ilana had been forced out of her armor. The creature had been moments away from crushing her. Taking on Steel's robot a second time with G3 as backup was different then going against another monster alone, especially considering that it would specifically target them.

Solomon hated to offer encouragement in a battle they stood no chance in, but he knew that if the two of them didn't fight now to defend earth, they wouldn't forgive themselves. If they could distract the creature to save one more life, they would. They were hesitating out of fear, but even they knew they had to fight.

"I know that losing your friend has been a big blow," Solomon said softly. "But you're both powerful. And highly skilled." He stared at them. "And these people need you." That was what would make them go. Someone needed help, and Lance and Ilana could give it. So they would, no matter the risks. Solomon knew that better than anyone.

Ilana's head turned up to look at Lance. Solomon wondered if they could somehow see each other's expressions beyond the indifferent masks of their armors.

Ilana turned back to look at him. "Thank you, Solomon," she said to him. "For everything."

Solomon didn't like how final that sounded, and he realized how deadly this all was. Both G3 and the two aliens would likely die in a hopeless attack against these monsters. In a way, this could be the end.

He swallowed hard and merely nodded. Both their screens turned off and he saw their armors through the window, diving down the earth together.

"Sir, we're ready," an agent softly said beside him. Solomon turned and joined his agents, heading for the Motherbird. They and the remainder of the jets would take out the creature…or die trying.

OOO

Solomon sat tense in the head of the Motherbird as his ships entered Paris and flew straight at the creature. It was crushing down on buildings with curved claws. It had no eyes, but only a large mouth on its head with misshapen teeth.

"Fire Wave-Motion Cannon!" Solomon ordered. The bright green laser fired from the belly of the Motherbird, causing the creature to stumble back. Its skin smoked but otherwise there was no effect. G3 fighters moved in and tried to attack, but the creature swung its arm in a wide arc, instantly destroying them. The arm came at the Motherbird, but the ship's skilled pilot narrowly swerved around it. As they swooped around the arm, towards the head, the ship fired other weapons close-range. The monster tried to snap its jaws around them, but they swiftly gained altitude to get out of its reach.

Once high, the Motherbird curved back around and dive-bombed the creature. Its black color camouflaged it in with the night sky. The monster didn't even see them coming as they struck it from above. Now swooping low, they stayed closer to the ground as the creature swung its arms at the sky, obviously expecting more attacks from that direction.

G3 jets swarmed the monster like a hoard of angry bees, firing missiles and lasers at it. The creature shook its head in rage before swinging another attack. G3 was trying its best to attack but it was a struggle merely to avoid crashing into the creature. The creature swiped its claws back and forth, destroying jets with each attack.

One strike came at them and Solomon was certain it would hit, and the Motherbird would be destroyed, with everyone inside with it.

But just before it hit, a huge hand grabbed the monster's wrist, halting the strike. There was a flurry of movement, a swipe through the air, and then the creature roared in pain as its arm was sliced clean off.

Solomon leapt out of his chair at the sight before him. "Titan!"

His agents all looked up in shock and surprise, as they all stared at what they had thought was gone forever. Solomon almost couldn't believe his eyes, but he was certain of what he was seeing. The alien monster turned to face Titan in rage, but Titan didn't even bother to face it. The alien mech swung its sword around before plunging it back through the creature's chest. The monster made one last guttural cry at life before Titan twisted the sword and pulled it out, severing the creature in half. Its body collapsed back onto the ground, leaking purple blood onto the streets.

"Lower the ship to it," Solomon instructed as he ran from the bridge. In no time he was opening the Motherbird's doors, wind grabbing at him, facing Titan once again.

It was truly them—fully formed and just as strong. Earth's defender had returned. A new beginning.

Titan lifted its head to look directly at Solomon, and he smiled, overjoyed to see it back. In this moment, he didn't even care how the robot had returned, but it was a huge relief that it had.

Titan gave him a nod, and then it blasted off into the night. Solomon watched it, leaning out of the Motherbird probably more than what would be considered safe, until the giant robot was out of sight. Still staring into the starry night sky for a few stolen moments longer, Solomon withdrew and shut the door. But he didn't head back to the bridge. He backed up against the wall and breathed a sigh of tremendous relief. Titan was back. Octus had been fixed. Lance and Ilana had their robot back, there was a power on earth that could take on the creatures hopefully indefinitely, and even handle Steel's robot if the general got too out of hand. Steel had tried to kill them all, but if he came for G3 again, Solomon knew he could count on Titan to help next time. Thank goodness the robot was back.

Ping. A high-priority message. Solomon looked down at his communicator, not opening the message at first as he considered it. Had his superior finally decided to fix the robot? Or had G3 scientists miraculously figured it out on their own? If it was them, they deserved a raise.

"Return to base immediately," was the message.

Solomon stared at it for a moment before deciding, yes, he wanted to go home. Home with no insane general beating at his door. He needed rest, he needed answers…and he needed to count his losses. He began to head back to the bridge.

OOO

On the way back, another message came; "The moment you land, come see me." It further confirmed Solomon's belief that his superior was the one to fix Octus. Other than that, Solomon spent the trip trying to find out precisely what happened. He viewed all the new reports, that were clamoring with glee at the return of Titan. They barely seemed to notice that their precious 'Hammer' was gone.

Yes indeed, Steel's robot had been demolished by the alien creature it had faced. This one showed more immunity to Steel's laser cannon, and had torn through the robot's vulnerable joints. Much of San Francisco had been destroyed in the fight between them, as Steel had apparently decided to, quote, "fire everything." But Titan had arrived and taken out the creature just before it could crush Steel himself (pity).

There was not as much documentation on the fight beforeTitan had shown up in Sherman, much to Solomon's displeasure. He supposed he could simply ask Lance and Ilana later. The two of them had moved too quick for the cameras to track, and no one had caught what had happened that had led to the appearance of Titan. But Titan's return was captured in glorious detail. Its movements as fluid as Solomon remembered, its strikes just as quick, its attacks just as clever. It even fired a laser from its hand, and later, its foot, that Solomon hadn't seen before…a new trick?

As instructed, Solomon hurried to his superior's quarters immediately after the Motherbird docked. He was eager to confirm that it was his superior who had fixed Octus, and how. He nimbly jumped down the ladder and headed straight for his superior, daring to get closer than he ever had before. The dark room did nothing to dampen his positivity.

"Sir," Solomon began immediately, "Am I correct in assuming you decided to work on the robot after all?"

"…You are, Solomon. I did." But his superior did not sound nearly as happy as he should be about it. He sounded almost…resigned.

Solomon tilted his head, the mood to smile draining from him at his superior's tone. "You fixed it. Titan is back now, earth is protected again. We survived Steel's attack, saved the aliens, and brought back their robot. And I believe that the Lunises will be far more trusting of us now."

"…And what do you plan to do with that trust, Solomon." The man's voice turned monotone. Blank.

Solomon blinked in confusion. "Ask if they will finally give us the answers we need. Perhaps they will trust us with what their mission is, why these monsters are—"

"We won't be asking them that."

Solomon was quiet for a little while. Finally, he said, "I don't understand."

"We must move," his superior said suddenly. "Move the HQ to a different location and recloak it. We must hide from Steel before he comes after us again."

It Solomon a moment to keep up with the change of subject. "Of course," he said slowly. "I will start that immediately. And we can send Lance and Ilana our coordinates once—"

"No." His superior gave a fit of coughing before continuing."You will do no such thing."

"But then how will they find us?" Solomon asked.

"They won't."

Solomon tried to figure this out, but his only theory was completely ridiculous. Still, he tried. "You don't wantto interact with them again?"

"No."

Solomon stared. "But we have finally achieved a relationship with them! They could be ourallies—"

"No. We have done enough, as have they. Move the headquarters, hide it, and stay away from the Lunises, just as before."

Solomon just stared at his superior, at a loss. "I don't understand," he repeated.

"Solomon," his superior breathed, "these aliens…they are hiding things from us. Things they won't tell us, no matter how we helped them. Until we figure it out on our own, we must be cautious and careful. So…we will watch."

Solomon pondered that for a moment. He didn't agree. But as he had learned the hard way from his previous interactions with the aliens, his superior tended to be correct in these seemingly far-fetched theories. As much as it pained him to give up answers when they seemed so close, he would do so. He was his superior's agent, the leader of the Galactic Guardian Group, and as his superior had instructed, they would wait. They would watch.

And in the proper moment, they would act.

Author's Notes: Thank you, you few readers who still remember Sym-Bionic Titan! I hope you enjoyed my story. Solomon has always been my favorite character, and it was such a blast to look deeper into his mysterious and indifferent appearances in the show. Whenever watching SBT, I always felt like so much was going on in the background, G3 hiding and watching. I wish we could have learned what, but alas…merchandise. I don't know what they mean by girl toys not being popular, have they not noticed My Little Pony and Miraculous Ladybug? And there are plenty of boy toys in SBT. Phft.

Now, some of you may have heard the theory that Solomon's superior might just be Lance's father, Edward, from Shaman of Fear, the greatest mind Galaluna ever knew and the creator of the Manus armor and Rift Gate. After all, he did'die' in a Rift Gate experiment. This would explain why G3's technology is similar to Galalunian, how the superior knew how to fix Octus, etc. I didn't want to go overboard with that in this fic in case it's not true, so I tried to imply it in subtle ways. Edward could not understand why his son and the princess were hiding out on earth, or why giant monsters were raining from the sky. He wanted more information, which is why he instructed Solomon to 'watch,' why he avoided the Lunises, and how he knew things Solomon didn't.

The problem is with this theory is that I can't really think of any reason why Edward would stay secret when he saw Lance. Or exactly why he would refuse to fix Octus at first. So, again, I left that open.

That all being said, please, leave a review. With so few SBT fans out there, I'm eager to hear more. I have my doubts the show will ever come back, but that doesn't mean the fandom should die or we can't still enjoy it. Thanks for reading!