THE MOMENT
"What?!" Ozone felt a slight panic flutter in his gut. The heavyset man sat alone on a chaise in the middle of a desert. The air was chilly and he had a moment to admire the Milky Way without any light pollution. That was until he was informed about the missiles. "Say that again?" he asked the person on the other end of the shortwave radio.
"You didn't think we would do it, did you?" the voice cackled. "THIS IS WHAT YOU ASKED FOR!" Ozone knew better than to lose his cool; it would ruin the Earth he was trying to conquer. He took a moment to breathe, then he spoke into the radio again to try and clarify what he meant.
"I didn't ask for a barrage of non-," he began his explanation; but, he was interrupted.
"What's the matter tough guy??" the voice came back. "Feeling a little scared of our weak weaponry? You're the one that wanted to prove to the world that we couldn't harm you. You can't just take one missile to the face and expect the world to roll over for you; there are Supers that can do that." Ozone took a few deep breaths to try and stay calm. He generally wasn't a patient man, but he was trying. Not that anyone was making it easy for him.
"Did you say, 'barrage of non-nuclear ICBMs?" Ozone asked the question directly.
"Obviously, you knew no one would agree to use nuclear weapons on you; but, we called your bluff anyway," the voice giggled.
"That's not the-," he was interrupted again.
"Impact in 5," the voice said. Ozone looked up and saw the missiles overhead. "4, 3,"
"Oh hell," Ozone crumpled himself into a ball to protect the radio.
"2, 1, Impact."
The explosion on Ozone's back felt like someone threw a beachball at him. The heat that burned off his clothes was only mildly warm. And, the gentle breeze of a dozen explosions going off around him messed his hair up. He remained balled up until he was sure that they'd all gone off, then he looked around. The desert was charred and burning with black smoke polluting the sky.
"Ruining my view...," he mumbled. Ozone pushed out with both of his arms and gusts of wind buried the fire with sand and pushed the smoke away. Within seconds, he could see the galaxy again. He appreciated it for a few moments; mostly to try and calm down. He was frustrated that they couldn't follow directions; but, he wasn't surprised. They never did. His only hope was that the next interaction didn't play out like most of his other attempts. Sometimes they went smoothly. If nothing else, Ozone was proud of himself for keeping his cool so far. In the past, he destroyed Earths for less frustration than he had now.
"Hey," he spoke into the radio. "I'm still here."
"WHAT-" the man's surprise was cut off and the radio went silent.
"So, no one can stop me, and I'm in charge of the Earth now, right?" he asked. He waited, rather impatiently, for almost five minutes before anyone replied. It wasn't the same voice anymore. He sounded older, and spoke with a calmer tone.
"After some discussion, we've concluded that there are Supers that can withstand the payload we delivered. Please standby as we arrange the nuclear option you requested." Ozone shook his head.
If the first voice had told him about the change in plans, Ozone might have let it slide this time. He was starting to like the insecure stranger; but, this new voice sounded like he was patronizing Ozone. It did not sit well with his surging frustration. He threw the radio off his lap and stood up.
"DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!" He yelled at no one as his fist began to glow with golden light. He smashed the ground and it cracked open. Then, the Earth started to tremble. He sighed with faint disappointment. "Well, at least I can still get some voidsteel out of this."