Space is vast. It takes the absurd to realize just how vast, such as hurtling through it at speeds that make physicists cry and still take months to reach your destination. It seems like so very long ago that we were all reminded how very small we are before it and yet it has been less than a year. All our observations and theories on it could not prepare us for something impossible coming out of the void and illuminating the planet for one minute.

Supernatural phenomena appear on out planet with a minute-long blinding flash to herald them. Cue in the flying guys in capes and underwear, right? You wish! See, humans populate less than a fifth of the planet and really inhabit only about one percent. The first time we saw a living being with superpowers, it was a squid the size of Manhattan eating an oil tanker for breakfast. Nearly a year later, things are much worse; the squid now has cults worshipping it as a herald of the end times. It has been joined by an unknown number of other animals wielding powers as varied as they are physics-defying. The only reason humanity endures is the small number of those animals that happen to be human. We humans are moderately intelligent. Those with superpowers don't try to conquer the world or fight crime; we defend our territories from monster attacks. We cooperate. We help each other so we aren't overrun. We still have flaws though; a well-raised unambitious farmboy is as likely as superhuman as a power-hungry politician or an insane murderer, and as unsuited to a war of survival as the other two.
Society defiantly endures. Some say it was due to two of Earth's greatest heroes fighting the good fight and giving the example to the rest. Others question how heroic someone with the powers of Superman could be. Conspiracy theorists point out the impossible coincidence of a real superman-analog being one of the first heroes and playing the exact same role as Superman in the same way and morality as Superman; scary, if you really consider it. And then the so-called great heroes up and vanish into space. Cue in the panic.

Hurtling through space puts things into perspective. Especially since one can see into the past due to a relativistic optical illusion. Will society endure? Will monster attacks cease? Will Blizzard MMORPGs survive the transatlantic phone lines being cut by Deep Ones? All irrelevant while hurtling through space hunting the biggest monster of all...

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New York, March 20th 2027

Sirens suddenly tear through the predawn silence. Once upon a time, such would only be heard in cases of tornado or tsunami. Not even during World War II was normal sife so frequently interrupted - not in New York. But such times are past. Citywide announcement systems inform the waking civilians of the nature of the emergency; the 1st escort Battlegroup's sensors have just picked up a massive underwater presence approaching them at nearly eighty knots. The bogey will reach them in half an hour at most, sooner if it speeds up.

Once upon a time, such information would not have been shared with civilians. But in this new war, the heroes are civilians - and most of them want to remain civilians. And it's not as if the enemy could understand communications. So to call for help and to ensure the city prepares for the potential conflict without panic, the government is forced to "play ball", as they say. They can't afford not to, not with the much-needed tanker convoy the 1st escort Battlegroup is protecting...