As time ground to a halt, the Emperor pushed through the stopping of the clock to deal a deadly blow to the front of the Outcast's peak. KRAKKK! His nose went, the fist connecting to the nostrils of the Outcast, launching him off of the cliff. Sending him to descend the abyss they were all standing above, which Ben followed his rival down, as time resumed its flow. Widening their eyes, to Ella's surprise, neither Ryder nor Ben was in front of them anymore. Instead, a tall, lean shaded man replaced the former of the duo, going to work as he dealt with each one of these so-called 'superhumans.' Nyarlathotep first caught the incoming fist of the Priestess, lifting her by her, now, broken fingers throwing her into the Justice. He was fast enough to slide under her, but not fast enough to weave out of the way of the blade that stuck itself into the chest of the eldest Rivera sibling. Luckily, though it rendered Jason unconscious from the get-go, it managed to miss through his heart. Spinning around, his eyes discharged two large beams of lasers to meet with the incoming beam of fire, clashing with the element.
The Smoldering Chariot groaned, his hands increasingly getting hotter, his heartbeat increasing rapidly until he realized his hair caught fire. Reeling back at the same time the Chaos did, Nyarlathotep wrapped a tendril, that emerged from his side, around Colon's neck. Throwing him off of the edge, knowing if he utilized his capabilities any further, he'd probably have a stroke. Halting quickly in mid-air, Madi nodded to her brother's A.I., engulfing her own body with that same fiery violet aura that had surrounded her soul 7 years ago. Tilting his head at this display of power, he also managed to multi-task and dodge out of the way of Artemis' charging at his face, who followed where the Emperor and Moon went.
Bolts of plasma flew from her hands, a throwing motion visible the way she moved her hands, the hate visible in her eyes. The way he seemingly blinked out of existence, able to predict every single one of her movements, until an energy blade of plasma surrounded her palm. Extending out to gift her with a longer attack range, she copied the same movements she did on that rooftop in 2013. And luckily... it worked. The drop of an arm hitting the floor, some sort of black blood leaking from the limb visible, her eyes examining as tentacles emerged from the socket of where the arm was once attached.
Quickly, she lifted herself from the ground, burning through most of them, heat vision, short blasts from her fingers, and even slicing some in half. However, no matter what she attempted, they all managed to crawl upon her face, one tendril sliming through her mouth and slamming her into the cliff. The top half of her body pushed into the rock, oxygen about to deplete, she only saw one remaining option. Holding her breath, covering her nose, she barely teleported out, but for what?
For his fingers to wrap around her brunette locks, and throw her face into the cliff, repeatedly, over and over. Blood leaking from every pore on her face, dripping from her nostrils, oozing from her mouth. Why did he keep on going? She was already knocked out from the amount of pressure put onto her! Pulling her skull back to see her bloodied face, the tendrils that appeared from the socket of his right arm grabbed onto his sliced-off limb on the floor behind him. Reattaching itself to his body, transforming it into a Konpeki blade ready to slice her throat open. Before a male cry came into fruition, entering his ears, causing his head to look up, the blade slowly pushing against the girl's skin,
"Morning," The Magician of Ice had appeared, a snowflake drifting from the air above, landing gently onto the shoulder of the Crawling Chaos. Dropping the young Empress' body, lifting his blade into the arm, he readied to slice the man in front of him in half. Before... he didn't. Helping Madi off the floor, taking her hand in hers, she jumped away from the chilliness his palm emitted. Through the pain she was experiencing everywhere on her face, she could see through hazy vision, his face.
"I was almost too late," Sending him a small smile of hope, for the first time, happy that he had disobeyed orders. Looking forward, she created a purple-tinted portal for them to enter, which she was thrown into. Jason, pushing the blonde's body off of herself, looked around.
"Where the fuck--" Confused on where everyone had gone, he stared around to hear that familiar audio of a portal, turning to see Matthew had come with their escape plan. Holding his head in pain, his head turned to see Artemis, who had caught the defeated Chariot. Writhing in pain, holding his heart in anguish, utilizing the jets she was given to enter the gateway with Jason who followed. All that remained was Ella, her fingers snapped back into shape, her friends at the gateway that pulsed with energy. Matt extending out his hand to the blonde for her to escape, as she turned her head away, although she was grateful for Jason putting her fingers back in place, she couldn't leave. Not now.
"I'll catch up with you guys," Intending to go after his Priestess ally, Miller's foot stepped forward before Jason's hand gently placed itself on the Magician's collar. They shared a firm nod, they knew how stubborn that girl was, plus, she knew the way back home, the duo exited, the portal shutting closed. With most of them extracted, only two of the Protectors remained.
Falling through the abyss the Grand Canyon held, Ben had thrown another punch into the ribcage of the Outcast, who spat blood into the glass lenses that covered the eyes of the Emperor. Blinded by this counterattack, the Emperor swiftly attempted to rid himself of the spectacles covering his pupils, all the while, the rivals' free-falling hadn't ceased. Relieving himself of the glass covering his retinas, he was met by a painful punch, the metal fist tightened as it launched Rivera backward. Though breaking his nose, and allowing blood to drip from his bottom lip, the adrenaline pumping into his veins was enough to send him teleporting through this extra dimension of space. As his rival briefly vanished through space, Karlo had taken it upon himself to use his right arm to discharge a soundwave beneath himself. Sending him slowly toward the ground covered with rocks, his feet covered by boots slowly landed upon the natural floor.
KRAKKK! The first limb to emerge from that quick little gate in space was a leg, directed to kick right upside the head of the Moon Outcast, who suffered the blow to his jaw. Blood exiting his mouth, gore dripping down his right nostril, his ears heard the quick audio of the Emperor's boots hitting the ground. Licking the fluid from his face, Rivera's eyes beamed his signature heat vision at the Outcast's direction, who countered, clashing soundwaves with heat. A sonic scream collided with the beams of heat, with the former reaching ever so closer to burning his face off. Karlo quickly realized he was no match for Rivera's increasing capabilities, and instead, used his shoulder to take the blow. Once the heat vision hit the shoulder of the Outcast, it burnt through his skin and flesh, revealing only the collar bone. Which the elder Moon used to spin around and kick the Emperor into the wall behind them, landing gently onto his feet tumbling forward for a second.
Using his artificial limb to brush his fleshy one, he groaned as he witnessed the bone poking out of his body, his head snapping back into place gawking at his rival's back pushed into the mineral in front of him. Collapsing from the engraved position he was in, knees cracking upon impacting onto the ground, Ben groaned with an annoyed expression. Their eyes interlocked, Ryder shrugged off the stinging pain that came with the showing of his ossein,
"Why're you here?" Inquired the Outcast to his former superhuman ally, standing up straight and cracking his neck as he returned with an audible response. His fingers stretching out for the glasses that had been broken onto the ground after being thrown off of his face, setting them in his pocket.
"What sort of stupid question is that? To make sure I give you a swift painful death for everything you've done. You came to me with the hopes of destroying the remaining pieces of the Kingdom, but all along, you were that final puzzle piece I've been looking to destroy," A humored chortle emerged from the depths of Karlo's throat, standing still, he crossed his arms. Tapping his metal index finger against his temple as he responded to that revelation, how predictable, ~What a noble pathetic goal~ Thought the Outcast, his voice now soft but intimidating with layers of hatred and malice underneath it, gifting a reply to his superhuman competitor,
"Yes, well, I thought you were smart enough to acknowledge that sort of obvious revelation, Rivera. Considering you've credited yourself as one of the smartest men in the World, if only they knew what a monster you truly were. Seriously, slaughtering the Secretary of Defense, leaving children without their mothers- fathers, how are you any better than me?" The question- surprisingly, it left Ben in a state of shock, his eyes widened, the faint glow surrounding his soul, and by extension, his body dissipating slowly. That Dark Determination visible in his pupils had evaporated, as the Emperor looked at his palms. How was he any different from this asshole? They weren't anything alike, of course not..!
"I don't kill out of pleasure, you suck fuck! I kill to protect my family!" How pathetic, the way he cried out, trying to defend himself from any semblance of comparison between themselves. Why couldn't he just accept it? The Outcast stepped forward, arms extending out to his sides as he responded to that desperate cry,
"And I don't? Those Government Officials I murdered? All apart of a plot to manipulate superhumans for some sort of plot to control the masses of the United States. My family? As if they needed to live any longer, with Lizzy still there, and a new baby on the way. I freed that infant, I wish it wouldn't have gone the way it did, but unfortunately, it did. And those pieces of shit deserved the death they got, for torturing my sister. I'm not the bad guy in this useless little narrative you've woven up for yourself, Rivera, if anything, the person who's killed more than forty people in the name of 'protection' is. I am the one who shall free this World from the clutches of corruption, no longer will no child be ignored when they beg or cry for help from someone greater than them! I AM THE NEW WORLD ORDER! THE OUTCAST WILL REIGN ABOVE THE CORRUPT SOCIETY!!" That was the key difference between them, though at first, the Outcast made some key points, maybe they weren't so different from one another, but that last part. He spoke like a power-hungry tyrant, similar to some sort of supervillain in a comic book. While he believed himself to be right, that was the key difference between the rivals battling here- the Emperor stood himself back up straight. Blinking momentarily so his pupils could return to their glaring origin, those same eyes glowing as he spoke, with the remainder of his physical figure doing the identical motion,
"Seems like there is a key difference between you and me, after all. You'd rather rule over an entire planet because someone didn't hear you beg for your mommy and daddy not to hit you, then to take therapy or deal with the cruel reality you're faced with. You're not some noble hero in a Marvel movie, you're the formulaic villain the heroes always try so hard to stop. So, this is our battle... I'm going to beat you, here and now," Angered by that display of rebellion, Rivera smirked at his visible hatred of it, it seemed that the Superior's influence laid dormant inside of this so-called hero's soul. There was a final response that sent the Outcast flying at his opponent, his metal fist tightened, which was Ben stating,
"Let's see how pathetic you are," The fist that had been aimed at the Emperor's face had missed, the younger of the two rivals hovering to the right, levitating in the air to the Moon's dismay. Quickly reacting to his change in platform, a sonic scream croaked out of his mouth, blasting the wall of rock behind the Emperor. Who instead flew downward, in the corner of his left eye, witnessing as Karlo's scream followed his trajectory through the heated Arizona air. Ben took advantage of this yell into his face, closing his eyes, and aiming right for the nose of his opponent. So he could charge right into him, and tackle him with ease. Unfortunately, the Outcast had prepared for this and increased the output his scream let out, which destabilized the flight pattern the Emperor was taking. And let blood leak out of his eardrums, leading to Rivera tumbling onto the ground as Karlo's shadow projected onto the younger metahuman.
Panting heavily, the adolescent Ben's body vanished, so his skeleton was seen for only a brief moment, the cause of this being a shockwave that emerged from the fleshy palm of the Outcast. For small times, Ryder was able to spot where Ben would blink in and out of existence, reappearing in the sky for seconds at a time before he was close enough. Letting a leg slide out of the darkened azure energy, a kick about to attempt, and shatter the jawline of Ryder. False extremities digging into the shin of the Emperor's limb, leading to his eyes widened, he slammed her into the rocky ground beneath them. Blood spouting out of the mouth of Rivera, his vision was created hazy, his spine shaking from the impact. However, through the pain he was experiencing, Ben worked through it, to try and fight back against the enemy attempting to break him. It worked in Ryder's face, spotting Ben's head lift from the spot he was pushed into, and instead, kicking his enemy upside the head. For more blood to cover the face of his former ally, and splash onto the ocherous rugged surface.
The Outcast's fingers lifting his skull again from the rocks, he used his metal hand to repeatedly punch the cranium over and over, causing gore to navigate its way out of his enemy's face. Lips, nostrils, even some from his ears poured out more from the way it was before. Before he stopped, should he continue, his skull would shatter with the amount of pressure the metal he was using for an arm had. Instead, he pulled the brunet-tinted locks that Ben had for a mop of hair, using his skin palm to propel himself back through the air. Ella's eyes widened, witnessing her once best friend haul her ex-boyfriend upward, opposite to the way she was running down the side of the rocky platform.
"Mother--" Uttered the blonde Speedster, signature blue lightning crackling around her body, surrounding her body. Pushing through the rocks there to trip her legs, this was her purpose, she had to save him from himself..! That is what her father would've wanted, the admirable thing to do! Save her best friend. Her eyes closed for but a moment, her speed increasing to the point wherein half of a second, she'd reached the top. To see her best friend strutting away from the broken Emperor, bleeding out on the floor with a slice in his side.
"RYDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Screamed the blonde, fist crackling with blue lightning, surrounded by a lighter azure aura, the Outcast turned. For a small point in time, he saw her, although normally, she would be a blur. She was here to oppose him, too... wasn't she? Time readied itself to halt its flow, as much as he hated her for opposing him, but he couldn't hurt her, she was his best friend. But she was the opposite, though she still held love in her heart for him- he hurt her friend.
"Don't... El-!" An echoing sonic boom pushed its way from her fist connecting to the front of his skull, shattering the right half of his head sending him flying. Disappearing into the World of stopped time, to hear his voice echoing through her ears once her feet ground to a halt, blue retinas glancing around. It made sense for him to disappear, however... he didn't have the power to teleport. Did he? The Outcast didn't speak to him from wherever he was, seemingly nearby, he was gone. Tightening her fists, she sped over to her ex-boyfriend, using the heated power that lightning held. Pupils glistening with power, she cauterized the slice the Outcast had created with his artificial hand.
"Shit..." A curse slipped its way out of her lips, holding her bloodied friend giving a soft kiss on his forehead. While she held her former boyfriend, the World around them shifted, though not in front of them. Behind the scenes, strings were being pulled and so, unbeknownst to the Protectors, their world was about to change.
It had been two days since the short conflict between the Moon Outcast and the Protectors, the latter of which being beaten heavily by the Outcast's new ally. Nyarlathotep. The date on Earth was November 15th, 1:04 P.M., EST. The two new partners, the Crawling Chaos and the newly recruited Child of God were speaking with one another. The younger of the duo hearing his older partner's intimidating voice enter his ears, everything he said was so scary. Like at any point, the Outer God Messenger would scream out in anger,
"Now that we've finished discussing our plan for capturing Rivera and his peasant allies, I suppose we should talk about you. You've come intending to free yourself, though what of? I'm assuming your humanity. From the nodding of your head, I can tell I'm correct. Now, put your arm on the table," The Chaos' demand was followed, the Outcast slamming his right arm onto the wooden furniture, tears swelling in his eyes. Biting down on his lip, ready for the incoming pain, CRACKLE-SQUISH! That was the best way to describe his arm being sliced off, bone-cracking and flesh squishing, blood soaking out of the socket. Heterochromatic eyes stretched out for a split-second, then- he fell over. But that was as the Chaos predicted, watching apathetically hearing the thud of Karlo's body fall to the carpeted floor.
Eyelids rising over his miscolored eyes, he turned to see- his right arm was replaced by another cybernetic limb, entirely comprised of the Konpeki metal. Sighing, he slid his twelve artificial fingers through his light coffee-colored locks, at that point, he realized something. This was it, the day before the end, the system of manipulations they'd strung up together would create a puppet of lies, to be controlled by them. Whether it'd work or not in the first place, it never mattered,
"After we execute our debacle, you would truly free yourself of your human shackles. Whether or not you'll have the strength to complete it, it will determine the future of your... life," Their location, having not been disclosed previously, was a mansion located in Upstate New York. Parked on a hill, emerald green terrain surrounding the wooden location, their meeting was hidden in a private room. Guards with sunglasses in every corner of the chamber, a carpet below their feet, and a table in front of the duo as they spoke. There was a plate engraved on the left of the shaded gate, with the name reading, 'Smith Residence.'
Unfortunately for himself, Ben wasn't exactly a healer, yes, he did have some healing capabilities but they're not as refined as Jason's. Whose self-healing relied on how much blood he ingested each day, but the power to give life and replace the organs that had been destroyed, it wasn't perfect. You see, as much as the Emperor tried, he was still human, he wasn't exactly gifted the knowledge of how organs looked. And even looking it up on his intense HUD given to him as he stared at his glasses- still not exactly precise.
"Close enough," Stated his Empress sister, slapping her hands away from her younger brother's right side, who had been lifting his shirt to reveal some of his chests. His muscular figure once again concealed as she pulled the shirt over his exterior, and he returned to staring at the ceiling. In the living room, the two siblings sat beside one another, everyone else had been out together. Getting food so they can discuss their next move now that he'd finally recuperated,
"Remind me again why you couldn't just heal yourself as you did with the Superior?" The question was as ignorant as he believed it was when he asked himself the first day he'd been brought back, repairing skin was easy. At first glance, that's what it seemed like, just his skin had been sliced open to reveal some of his guts inside. But that wasn't the issue, the wound was open so deep that some of his intestines were about to ooze out. And some had been cut too.
"Because I can't heal organ matter, I healed the skin part but your healing is more advanced than mine is... I wonder why," Their tiny banter was a distraction, one he needed desperately as his eyes gazed at the ceiling. So boring, so lifeless- so dull. His brain raced with thoughts, Madi's head on her sibling's shoulder, she looked at her phone for a split second. The purple background flashing violet light onto her face for a split second and illuminating her before she turned the left of her young relative.
"What happened between you and Ry-Karlo on Wednesday? You've been like this for a while, and I don't mean injured. Even when you woke up, you seemed... quiet," Quiet wasn't a word to describe Ben, maybe before the Spread, yeah, but after, it was like he was a motormouth. Sarcasm flying out the flaps of his lips, going on about 'protection', she could never tell what was coursing through that brain of his. Neither could Mom back in the day, he was so... unique. Compared to all of their other relatives, Ben was something special, so much more intelligent and mature. The Moon's voice rang out, bouncing off the walls his mind held, layers of questioning himself audible to himself, with his sister's words ricocheting off of him, "How are you any better than me?" The question was something he'd never thought to ask, was he the true villain after all?
"After Mom died, I devoted my life to protect my family, no matter the cost. I wouldn't allow anyone else like my doppelganger or The Empress to hurt any of you again. Now, though? I guess it's just- fucked. How am I any better from them? From Ryder. He's killed fewer people than me, and I'm supposed to be the one that protects everyone..." Even without the Superior, remembering it turn into a possibility ad infinitum, he feared the worst. Continuing to go down this path, of murder, deceit, blackmail- all in the name of some self-righteous 'protection.' Maybe he was destined to become the Superior, after all. No matter what Universe he was apart of. However, friends, siblings, they exist for a reason. A tie back to the Rivera family even without their mother, to help their relatives whenever in need of the aid.
"Well, I think you're nothing like him. The fact that you're even thinking this way, it proves you're nothing like Karlo. You show remorse and doubt yourself, Benny, but for him... I loved him, once. Ella and I talked about it, how we hate ourselves for not being able to save him- before he was too far gone. And, it hurts," Her voice started to croak out a soft sob, with tears forming in the edge of her eyelids, causing the Emperor to bring her closer to his shoulder. Rubbing her right arm, which did, in turn, calm her down from her abrupt saddened state, but she continued to speak through the sobbing,
"H-how am I supposed to be better than my Mom if I can't even save my boyfriend from himself?" As he held his sister in his arms, the audio of her cries entering his chest, his lips pressed against her brown hair. No matter what, they had to win this. He had to prove to himself... no, he had to make his mother proud. One way or another, that way- he could finally be at peace with himself. A new goal arose in his soul,
"Alright, loser, quit the crybaby act. We can either do something about this or we can sit and whine like children. So, are you gonna help me?" The determination visible in his eyes, glistening as bright as the sun, with hope burning within the depths of his soul. She knew immediately, that even if they would fail in the end, he tried. And that is what mattered. Feeling his fingers wipe away the tears that had strived to stream down her cheeks, she nodded firmly. They would save their former friend, making up for their failure before, that was their new goal.
"Can we have ice cream now?"
"Sure..."
Bags loaded in her hands, food hidden within the paper, Artemis walked carefully tailing her creator's friends. She had been assigned an important mission to keep watch of her human allies composed of flesh and bone, while she carried the bags like a maid in a mansion. There were no complaints that spouted themselves out of the depth of her throat, she wasn't programmed to do such things, that was her purpose in the first place. Thud! Her shoulder was checked, collarbone colliding with the civilian's for a brief second before she continued to walk, her pink hair flowing in the wind. At first glance, to an ordinary pedestrian trying to reach their ordinary destination, it was normal. People shoulder check one another accidentally every day, what point was there in complaining about it? However, Artie turned, her pink pupil's scanning analyzing the very body the stranger was given at birth. To her surprise, the body temperature of the woman was about -48 Celsius. Falling in line with Matthew Miller's, who is in complete control of his capabilities, and has his body at a normal temperature corresponding with the weather. Time had seemingly slowed down, Artemis' reflexes were increased as she had realized before everyone else, dropping the bag with food to the cement floor.
"GET DOWN!!!" She cried, quick enough for Ella and Jason to hide Artemis. And Matt to leap over her, spreading her arms out while Henry heated himself. His hair lighting aflame, regular fiery illumination apparent around his body and eyes, breathing out behind the Justice. With the A.I.'s arm raised in front of her, and the other Protectors shrouding behind her, they were protected from the apparent blizzard that exited the tips of the seemingly normal woman. Something went awry, though, signaling that something sinister was happening behind them.
The Magician had used his power of flight to momentarily jump over Artemis, and extend his arms to block out the cold force that would reach out to them. He could sense her abilities due to them being linked and having similar ones, however, nothing happened. Instead, for a slow moment in time, the neighborhood was engulfed in snow, where only white was visible as the snowflakes harshly attached the invisible field around the Tarot Correspondents. And suddenly... the snow halted its natural flow, Artemis safely shed her arm from covering her front. But as she did so, she collapsed onto the white ground and deactivated her programming. The same happened to Jason and Ella, as their lightning still crackled around their figures hitting the floor, they had been knocked unconscious by something else. That was when he quickly spotted what had happened. An occurrence that had passed so swiftly that neither of them could see it, and so silent that neither the Priestess nor the Justice could hear it. With their faces splat flat onto the ground, blood leaking out from their noses due to their snapping upon the concrete, there were two fingernails. One engraved in his neck and the other in Ella's. Turning around, he could see the sneaker for a male superhuman fleeing the scene before his face could be seen. This turning of his head left himself upon for the female superhuman that had frozen half of his friends to deck him across the face, the ice surrounding her fingers. Launching him backward for a moment, feet skidding through the bed of slow beneath him, spitting out onto the road to his right.
She held the same design the fallen Samuel had, a paper tag on her right breast holding her name, which was, 'Angelina,' the name of his sister. She had left so long ago. The memory of her once-beautiful face faded from his memory, tears swelling up and then burning up as they fell. The only reason she'd left was because of everything surrounding him, the heat that resonated off of his soul, scared of what she thought he'd become... but he was more than that. He conquered his sexuality, that much he knew, and now- this was his final test. Tightening his fists, up to his forearm, a long flame surrounded his left limb, gazing into the dejected eyes of the Corrupted Angelina.
"You should be embarrassed, the only one remaining is your greatest threat to gifting Karlo his conquest. Make no mistake, I will defeat you, and in the end, if I don't kill you... I'll make you wish you were dead," Those words sent her into a murderous trance, blowing cold winds at his direction, discharging from her fingertips, numbing the store behind him into a chilling below zero temperature. He'd dodged it by blasting the ground with his left palm, which sent him flying into the right. Soles arriving to touch the shaded cement, his eyes widened, using his right arm to create a line of fire. That spread itself into a blazing hot shield, blocking the gust of frosted wind, then spat out a croak of fire onto the right sleeve of the element-controlling Angelina. Losing control, the crackling element burnt through her skin gradually, this was his moment. Her palm reaching to hold her burnt skin, inching through her flesh slowly reaching her bone and charring her blood until it shifted to a shaded black, her eyes looked up from her sleeve. To see him, kicking her in the ribcage, sending her flying back into a net of fire, burning through the grey short-sleeved outfit she wore over her skin. Seeping into her body casually, however, most importantly, bouncing her back so she'd be grabbed by his fingers.
That slowly seeped through her skin, burning her flesh at a languid pace, heated wings popping out of his back. She was thrown into the clouds, creating a hole in one of the wool-like mass, then given a fiery right hook. Breaking through her skin, revealing her skeleton, semi-charred, then a left hook. His knuckles burning through her flesh, pieces of her jaw launching through the azure sky, blood splattering momentarily before evaporating into steam.
For a moment, he sped past her in the air, before a flaming whip wrapped around her neck, sizzling through her skin once more to show her burnt crimson epidermis layer. Using the whip, hearing it crackle as he changed its trajectory, snapping it above him so she'd be thrown above his head. Though she wasn't dead, she was technically already defeated. However, she needed to pay her price- for attacking those who he held dear to his heart. Screaming out in anger, his body was engulfed by a series of continuous flames, burning off the clothing surrounding his body, to where only his skeleton was visible. Raising his arms into the air, he cried out through the painful sizzling of his flesh as it attempted to regrow,
"GO BEYOND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PHOENIX RISING: HELLISH FLAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The amalgamation of power that he unleashed from the very depths of his soul was so heated, so sizzling and hot, that it burnt up the air for but a moment. An explosion detonating itself over the Manhattan skyline, visible from New Jersey, the smoke had cleared moments later. Flicking the nail out of the back of his neck, Matt stood himself up, pointing at Artemis after the duo of speedsters awakened, Ella's fingers sparking on the back of Artie's neck. Stepping into the road, the Magician's hand radiating with an icy blue hue surrounding his palm, he moved through the thick negroid smoke. To see his best friend, regaining his flesh and skin as he sat on the floor gradually as it reattached itself to his bones, with their encased female opponent pushed into magma. Her skin burnt off, only remants of her scorched skeleton and clothing remained. Spinning to see his icy best friend, all the Chariot had to say was,
"You're welcome... ow,"
20 minutes after the battle between the now deceased Angelina and the Chariot, buttoning his orange shirt upon appearing in the Rivera Penthouse, everyone had returned. Matt leaned over Madisyn's shoulder to give her the order she'd placed, then doing the same with Ben, who spent no time ripping apart the container and throwing chicken nuggets into his mouth. Everyone spent their time wisely, together, eating, spitting out jokes at one another. A brief moment of levity before the inevitable... occurrence.
"All I'm sayin' is, H., we can always get you a job at Rivera Manufacturing. We could always use a new renewable energy source, and your powers are just right for the job," Suggested the Emperor, watching his messy-haired Chariot ally sip on the chilly beverage, sinking into the comfy bean bag chair. Causing Ella to cover her mouth with the side of her palm, preventing her from laughing while Jason just shook his head with a soft chortle,
"Heh," Then chomping on his burger with full force, fangs sinking into the juicy meat of the patty. Removing his lips from the plastic straw, the loud sipping that came from his sucking of the liquid through the small tube ceasing, he gave a response to his best friend. Professional work like that bothered him for some reason, he liked being smalltime but still being appreciated, it's why becoming a firefighter was such an easy choice for him.
"I'll think about--" Interrupting their leisurely laid back conversation, Artemis stood behind those who sat on the sofa, and projected a holographic screen that displayed the news, Twitter, Instagram, every social media outlet and website. What Ben had feared had come to pass, his food crashing onto the wooden floor in a splatter of salt and pieces of chicken. Camera footage of that fateful night on September 27th, 2018 had been displayed from outside of Club Souden, where it was bright as day, the Emperor using his heat vision. To slice in half multiple FBI agents doing their job, and that wasn't to count what had happened inside the club either. Not to mention the recorded fight between Matthew Miller and the recently released Samuel, although the younger of the rivals remained alive, what was most important from the footage and emphasized mostly were the superhumans seen watching from the air watching the fight. All identified as the Protectors. Their reputation was ruined.
"El," Muttered the Emperor, where a flash of blue lightning was visible in the sky, the shattering of glass echoing through the Penthouse. As the door was barged open, riflemen aiming their assault rifles, revolvers, pistols, shotguns at the recently revealed metahumans. Raising their hands in the air, the Protectors submitted to the FBI's dominant invasion of the Rivera Household. Until they all fell unconscious seconds later, with their throats slit open, the Justice sealing a knife in his boots extending his arm out to the Chariot and Matt. Placing their arms on the right and left shoulders, Jason leaped out the same hole made by his blonde speedster ally, while the Emperor disappeared from his once-safe abode.
They'd did it, they'd won... the Outcast had now taken Earth, with the Protectors fleeing New York. There was no question about it. The World would never be the same, and before Ben could fully disappear, on the TV screen, there was a flash in between broadcasts of the news channel covering the story. A flash of his rival, the green-eyed Outcast wearing a hooded suit with a green tie and a grey surrounding suit. Sleeves rolled up to reveal his prosthetics, at the bottom, the words were displayed for about half a second. But without question, they read,
We'll Meet Again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
'Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away
So will you please say hello
To the folks that I know
Tell them I won't be long
They'll be happy to know
That as you saw me go
I was singing this song
We'll Meet Again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day
To be continued in Emancipation Part 2: The World Taken - Chapter Six.