Four days before, astronomers spotted a large object on a collision course with Earth. It should have been detected months beforehand, but it wasn’t, and there was very little time left.
The object was estimated to be large and fast enough to wipe out human civilization. World leaders were holed up in Cold War era bunkers, the rich had gone into compounds of their own, and the rest of the world was busy digging holes in the dirt in a feeble attempt to survive.
Fortunately, the object was projected to hit the city of Seattle, home to the marvelous Marvelous Man. In recent years, he had cleaned up the streets and stopped virtually all crime. He was super strong, super fast, and could fly. He’d been seen picking up a bus full of passengers to prevent a crash, holding up a collapsing subway tunnel so people could escape, even carrying an airliner whose engines had failed safely to the nearest airport. A video had been taken of him where he moved so fast he was merely an extended blur in every frame. To propose to his girlfriend, he had taken a fire extinguisher to the skies and written out the words, “Will you marry me?” If anyone could save Seattle, not to mention the entire Earth, it would be Marvelous Man.
The day the impact was scheduled for, the people of Seattle stood in the streets, necks craned to the surprisingly clear sky towards the growing dot that was the object of their destruction. They watched as Marvelous Man leaped off into the sky towards it. They watched as his dot joined that of the object. They cheered when someone claimed it was slowing down. Those cheers died as the dot continued to grow. Then everyone panicked.
