Alice Ward tapped her finger on the button that controlled her car door's lock, turning it on and off over again.
"Could you not do that?" Her husband asked, letting out a soft huff.
"Sorry." She didn't stop, giving a cheeky smirk that only seemed to irritate her husband more, his eye twitching with frustration.
Matthew Ward was a heavier fellow. He had given up on trying to stand out and instead became happy with his high-ranking position at the office where he worked. He was a higher-up in the Cleanup Squad, sending them out on various missions. He was even higher up than Mr. Moore, who most people agreed had the best Squad in any city. His hair was neatly combed, and he was clean-shaven, dressed in his finest suit.
By contrast, his wife was different. Alice was the kind of woman who wasn't satisfied with the position she held in the news industry. Nobody liked giving bad news. In a world like theirs, bad things happen all the time. Most people wanted to talk about the newest heroic event someone like the Victorian did. She had been the one to pull the short straw and get stuck with telling the world about every event that occurred. Good and bad.
She didn't have to worry about that tonight, though. There was nothing to report on at the moment. She could just be herself. She had ensured her skin was flawless, and her black hair had been up to fall down her back just the right way. Lastly, she wore her most expensive dress suit. All of this was done in some vague attempt to prove she and her husband were happy for Matthew's brother.
"Was Dean even at the event?" Alice sighed, brushing a strand of her hair back behind her ear.
Matthew's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel, and his teeth began to grind together. "You didn't see him either, huh? How dare he not even show himself to his own family? I'm his older brother, for God's sake!"
"Calm down." She reached out, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder. "I'm sure he's just under a lot of stress. He did just become the head of Lillian's Hero Branch, after all." That's what the event they had gotten dressed up for had been. A party celebrating Lillian's new leader. One in which the person it was created for didn't bother to show up.
Dean Ward... He was Matthew's younger brother and the reason Matthew had pretty much given up. Dean was the kind of person who seemed destined for a stressed lifestyle. He had finished schooling five years earlier than he should have and started at the bottom of the Hero Branch, working all the way to a head position. The man wasn't satisfied, though. He wouldn't stop until he was at the very top of the food chain. A position that stood even above the Enforcers, one that could order even the mighty Victorian around and use her as some sort of puppet.
A world for humans created by humans.
"He just really pisses me off," Matthew growled. "He thinks he is better than everyone he meets. He's just a-"
"Matthew, look out!"
Her husband hadn't been paying attention. His face had been getting redder and redder, and he didn't even notice that he had run a stop light. Some heavy truck rammed into their side, and glass exploded throughout the car. Their vehicle spun out of control, and she let out a scream as they rammed into a tree, part of the front of the vehicle bending and molding around it. She felt herself be rammed forward, and her seatbelt managed to catch her, but her head still hit the dashboard.
The truck had hit them but didn't stop and kept going, doing its best to ignore the accident that had just been caused and not wanting to get involved.
"M- Matthew." She groaned as the car finally stopped moving. She heard gasps and croaks, and she slowly pushed herself up and felt her eyes widen. "Matthew!"
Her husband's face had gone a dark red, and his body was shaking in the car as he grabbed at his chest. He was having a heart attack.
She managed to fish out her phone and pressed a button on the side of it, causing an alert to be sent out for help. An ambulance would be on its way, but she didn't know if they'd show up on time. Worse yet, she was smelling smoke as the front of their car began to hiss. Her husband's foot was still on the gas, causing the car to twist and grind against the tree.
She tried to open her door, but it had been indented from where the car hit them, and she couldn't get the thing to budge! "Help!" She screamed out, kicking at the door with her foot. "Please! Help!"
The smell of smoke was getting stronger, and her husband's already strained breathing was going out. Part of the car had twisted and kept him pinned down, pressing into him, and between that and the heart attack, he wasn't looking too good. She tried to smash her shoulder against the car door, doing her best to force it open. The thing didn't want to budge, though.
She began to cough as the smoke hit her in the face. Her eyes stung, and she could feel shards of glass digging into her skin. She didn't stop, though, pressing further into the weight of the door. Then it happened...
The sound of metal tearing drowned out the roaring of the engine, and Alice felt herself fall forward as the door was torn and cleaned off. A pair of arms wrapped around her and tore the seatbelt off, dragging her out. "Call an ambulance." A young voice yelled over the sound of the car.
Alice felt herself be placed down gently on the ground, and she stared up in shock at the child who had saved her life. A new Super had come to Oleander. It was a young girl. Fifteen or sixteen at the most. The girl wasn't dressed like a hero; she was wearing a basic tracksuit she had put on along with a hoodie. A red piece of cloth covered the girl's upper face, but her stunning blue eyes still stood out.
Alice shook her head, coming back to her senses. "Right." She pulled her phone out but didn't call for help. She had already done that, after all. Instead, she took a picture of the girl whose back was turned to her.
She watched the young Super silently as the girl quickly tore the door to her husband's side off. The Super was about to pull the man out but seemed to hesitate when she noticed all the jagged metal that was pressed into him. Instead, the girl walked to the front of the car and rammed her hand through it, tearing the engine to bits and killing the car instantly.
"What happened?" Alice jumped when the Super addressed her.
"He has issues with his heart." She winced, wiping at her eyes. "We were heading back home when he had a bad one, and well... You can tell the rest. Can you get him out of the car?"
"I just got my powers. I don't know how good they are yet, and I don't want to start ripping at any of the metal near him in case I cause more harm. The ambulance should be able to get him. His heart has settled down, which is lucky."
"How do you know?"
"What?"
"How do you know his heart settled?" She questioned, studying the young girl.
"Oh well, I can hear it slowing." The girl suddenly stopped talking and glanced down at her hands.
Alice looked her up and down. "You're new, aren't you?"
"Duh. I mean, look at how bad my costume is-" The sound of sirens caused the Super to stop. "And that is my cue to leave, ma'am!" She crouched down and leaped up, landing on the roof of an apartment.
The Super didn't even notice as Alice took one last picture.
Alice stared down at the screen of her phone, studying the Super's face, which had stretched fabric covering her upper face with eye holes ripped into it. "What a silly disguise. I guess it'll only be a matter of time before I announce her dead as well."
And so, time would pass...
"-the villain known as Intake, after causing a massive scene, seemingly vanished after he was defeated in battle by an, as of now, unknown Super."
Alice sighed as she stood off to the side, watching the newswoman speak. She stood in the studio's office as the news of this week was read out. It was a large open room with several cameras near the back that maintenance was working on. Near the front of the room, they had a single desk, which they all rotated in and out of, using it to give either good news or bad news when it was their turn.
They weren't a very big studio, but they were very popular. They didn't have many reporters, however, as Zoo would often target them. Only fools or those with a death wish worked at her job. Currently, a pretty girl, who she thought was maybe named Emma, was giving the good news. How the villain Intake had been stopped from rampaging further. When Emma was done, it would be her turn to go up and talk after the commercial break. She had pulled the short straw today, and so she got to be the one to tell the city how a police officer was brutally murdered by Zoo.
"This isn't even good news." She muttered under her breath as she watched Emma give a fake smile to the camera and go on about how Intake lost. "We didn't even capture Intake. He got away. Likely with the help of the Bad Timers." Intake had been recently recruited by them and seemed to use that as an excuse to rampage more. The Bad Timers were hard to keep captured because they could teleport away with the help of one of their members, Ears.
"Let the people have their fun." She jumped a bit when she heard the voice. "God knows this city needs any good news it can get."
"Hey, June, it isn't good news; it's just lying." She huffed, rolling her eyes.
Standing behind her was one of her childhood friends. June, like her, was old and past his prime. He was in his fifties now. They had used to joke that they'd marry each other, but then she went and got in with Matthew. June's hair was filled with grays, and he wore a simple black business suit. He was part of the Hero Branch. Not a high-ranking member. Unlike Dean, June had hit a position and stayed there no matter how hard he tried to rise up.
Soon, he would no longer be allowed in the Branch due to how old he was getting.
"So." She folded her arms and leaned on the wall next to June. "What really happened?"
"You guys are the news, right? Shouldn't you already know?" June teased.
"God, I wish it worked that way." Alice murmured. "This place is a dump. I can hardly be called a newswoman. That's why I use my blog instead." About one year ago, she had taken to spreading actual news online in secret. Her blog had gotten really popular and was now one of the few ways a person could actually learn what was going on in Oleander. She mainly used Hero Branch drones she got from June to run it. "So, what really happened with Intake? You were one of the Branch officers tasked with keeping people out, right?"
June gave a lazy shrug. "Honestly, for once, you guys are pretty spot on. Some new Super showed up and fought him, taking him away from the battlefield. The next thing we all know, he's gone. Likely got teleported out once he lost."
"A new Super?"
"Well, first, the Pallet Boys tried to fight Intake; bless their hearts. Then, some girl showed up in a hoodie. You could hardly call her a hero due to the lack of her costume."
"Hoodie!" Alice pulled out her phone and flashed the picture she had taken to June. "This girl?"
"Yeah! Have you met her already?"
"I did." She nodded. "I swore she'd be dead by now, but from the sounds of it, she managed to beat Intake? Guess she's stronger than I first thought."
"What could it mean going forward?"
Alice slowly placed her phone back in her bag and looked up, staring out of a nearby window. She could see part of the city, watching the buildings that brushed the clouds above. "I think Oleander might have a new superhero."
June put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up. "I wouldn't be so sure," he said, letting out a puff of smoke. "You were sure Myth would be a big-shot hero as well, and now nobody knows what happened to him. Likely dead in some ditch."
Alice rolled her eyes. "I'm going to hold out hope that things will be different this time. We can't give up. Not when the people need heroes now more than ever. I believe it's only a matter of time before a savior appears. This is similar to what happened several years ago when the hero known as Full Monarch appeared. As long as humans can keep up their hope, then despair will never win."
"I guess we'll see..."
And so, time would pass...
"Have you been seeing June behind my back?"
"You know we're just friends." Alice stated, pushing her husband up the ramp. He was in a wheelchair now. He had lost the use of his legs after the crash. They had been told the Branch would try to get ahold of the newest hero, Paragon, and see if she could fix it, and finally, after weeks of waiting, the time had come.
She had tried getting ahold of Dean and telling him what happened, but he never bothered responding. Dean would have likely been able to get the issues solved in an instant. Paragon was a hero in Lillian, after all.
Her husband glared at all of the hospital staff as they were escorted through the halls of the hospital. "You bunch are lucky I don't sue! I nearly lost my job because of all of you! If she hadn't happened to be here and any more time went on, I'd be screwed!"
"They did the best they could to save your legs, dear. I'm sure Paragon is very busy as well."
"Like it bothers you! You haven't even been at the house with me! You've been sneaking behind my back with June, haven't you? Admit it!"
She didn't answer the man. Part of her hoped his paranoia was just a cause of the medication he had been placed on. Soon, they arrived at a room, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat. It wasn't every day that you got to see the mighty Ocean Empress up close. The woman was as stunning as ever, dressed in a flowing uniform of liquid that twisted and changed according to her will. She wasn't alone either. Standing next to the woman was the newest hero that had caught everyone's attention.
Alice could tell right away that Paragon wasn't going to be a front-line fighter. The girl looked meek and kept her head down. She wasn't dressed in armor and just wore an average lab coat and a mask. Ocean Empress placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and nodded down at her.
"Hurry up and fix my damn legs!" Matthew barked out. Paragon took her glove off and placed a finger to his forehead. Instantly, Matthew's eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious in his wheelchair. "His spine has been badly damaged, and several of the muscles in his legs didn't heal properly," Paragon spoke in a very quiet tone. A red bird that rested on her shoulder flew off and landed on Matthew's head. "It'll take me a bit of time to fix. I'll have to go slow and rebuild his nerves."
One of the nurses assured Alice, "We'll call you when he's up and moving."
Alice nodded her head and watched as they wheeled her husband into a room, the two heroes following. She sighed and stuffed her hands in her pocket, leaving. She made her way out of the hospital and stepped out into the parking lot, raising her hand just in time to catch the soda can that was thrown at her.
"So, is he going to be okay?" June asked. He rested on the hood of his car and had already opened his can of soda.
"He has one of the greatest healers the world has ever seen treating him." She took a seat in the car next to him and listened to the traffic of Oleander slowly go through the city. It was calm days like this that she enjoyed most of all. "Has anything happened since we last spoke?"
"You were right."
"Those are words I like to hear." She smirked. "About what though?"
June reached into his pocket and pulled out a small phone chip, flicking it over to her. "Play it."
She shrugged and slid it into her phone, and the screen changed, showing off a warehouse somewhere on what she thought might have been Spider Street. "What am I looking at-"
The roof of the warehouse exploded, and a massive pillar of what might have been fire came flying out. The footage was black and white, so it was hard to tell. A few moments later, she saw the hero Ocean Empress, along with her daughters Poseidon and Paragon, come flying down on a stream of water and enter the building.
"Green Wolf got into a fight," June explained. "I did some digging and found out a camera had recorded the outside of the warehouse." He explained. "Some hero with fire-based powers fought him off and then called for Ocean Empress and the others as backup."
"Fire-based powers?" Alice frowned a bit. There were plenty of villains with fire-based powers but not a lot of heroes, and not one that would be in Oleander.
"This is the second time something like this happened." June sighed. "A few days ago, I was called to the scene when they found Red Ape. The hero had been defeated by Myth and been badly burned. I know some of Myth's forms have fire, but this was something else, I think. I did more digging, and look who entered that building. I sent one of my drones and used our voice box to pretend to be you and got some questions out."
The screen changed, and Alice felt a smirk on her lips. A young girl was outside of the warehouse dressed in a makeshift hero costume and was being handed something by some hooded guy. "It's the girl." Dozens of other drones had swarmed the area, asking the girl and the Enforcer member dozens of questions.
"Yeah. Either she has fire powers, or that guy has them. Either way, that new hero you saw is apparently connected to it somehow."
She was certain it was the girl. She didn't know how. She didn't know why. It was more instinctual. This girl. This Super. This hero... They had taken on Intake, Red Ape, and Green Wolf, all in such a short time. Just where else would they go? "Next time you hear any news on this hero, let me know."
"Sure thing. If I'm being honest, I think I've become a fan of hers." June admitted. "I'd like to see where this story goes."
"Me too."
She watched the footage as her own voice came out of the drone that was now in front of the girl. Both she and June shared the persona of 'Alice Ward'. It was her name, and each of the drones was equipped with a voice device made by some Mental-based hero that caused whoever spoke through it to sound like her. It was how she was able to get around and ask so many questions, despite being busy constantly. June was also Alice Ward, so to speak.
In the footage she watched, her question seemed to set off the fire-based girl and the man in red. "What did you ask?" She snickered when the man began to flip the camera off and spew out a wave of words that couldn't be aired.
"I asked if she was the one that burned that one hotel down." June shrugged.
"I see."
And so time would pass...
Days had turned to weeks, and during that time, her husband had finally started to walk once again. They didn't really get to spend a lot of time together, though, as he was busy catching up on all the work he had missed. At least that's what he told her. Part of her thought he might have just not wanted to spend any more time with her.
June had kept to his words and sent her more than a few files and notes. He was a field agent, always being sent to the aftermath of a battle between heroes and villains. As it turned out, this new hero she had become interested in seemed to develop a habit of appearing wherever danger might be. It was only a short amount of time since that girl had saved her, yet since then that, Super had participated in a mission alongside the Sub Enforcers where the hero Poseidon kissed her and a raid on a Wandering Coin base where she fought and seemingly defeated the villain Polaron, sending him running away, and she had stopped several high-ranking gang members as well as joined a brand-new hero team.
One of the heads for Ferros-4-U, a man named Justin Time, had apparently started a project to create the first ever Cinder toy. That same man was the one who created the Paragon action figure, and for whatever reason decided to sell the two female heroes alongside one another.
The hero Cinder, as well as the new team she was part of, was really starting to take Oleander by storm.
"Some of you may recognize me." Myth spoke in a soft yet powerful voice. He stood up on a large stage, his team behind him, with the Sub Enforcers off to the side. The mayor, Mr. Grove, stood next to him as well. "I'm the hero known as Myth for those who don't know me."
"He's the guy that was kicked out of the Sub Enforcers, isn't he?" Matthew Ward spat out. "Why the hell is he here?"
"Hush." She silenced her husband. They were at a fundraiser event, one held every year in a mall built by the late Mr. Sini. Myth and his team had seemingly been invited by the mayor. Soon, the heroes would be allowed to wander around, sign things, and take pictures for fans, but before that, the mayor had insisted on allowing Myth to speak since several of his team members were being seen by the public for the first time.
"I'm the leader of team Pantheon." The former Sub Enforcer member stated in a blunt tone. "It is a new team that I have created. Currently, we lack sponsors. I'm actually hoping that maybe some of you might be interested in that..." An awkward silence filled the mall, and the man cleared his throat. "I'd like to take a moment to say some things. Two years ago, I was at the top. I was a member of the Sub Enforcers and a shoe-in for being the leader. Due to... Circumstances, I've since moved on from that position. I know that most of you are looking at my team members and wondering who they are. You're wondering how strong they are. How heroic they are. I can't promise that Pantheon will be able to save this city. I don't like lying, particularly. That's also why I wouldn't try and tell you that we'll be there to save you when something goes wrong. The fact is, we might not. We live in such a strange and dangerous world where disaster is moments away. I will promise you one thing, though. When something does endanger this city or its people, Pantheon will be there to take it on. We might not win. We'll try, though. We'll try harder than any other team in this city because we care. I know that every one of my teammates would give it their all when faced with danger. So... I can't promise we'll save you, but we'll damn sure try our best to."
He took a moment for his words to register over the crowd, and flashes of cameras lit the area up as reporters spouted off questions. Myth ignored them and quietly handed the microphone over to the hero in red, who stood next to him. "I'm Battery. Don't bother me." The man then handed it over to a hero covered in snow.
The hero gave a pose and blasted out a wave of snowflakes that began to rain down. "I'm Snowdawn! I'm the cool one! Get it? Cool? Cause I'm-"
A girl in black yanked the microphone out of his hand. "I'm Whisper. Don't expect to see me a lot." Her face was hidden, but it was clear she had a sly smirk on it. She twirled the microphone and held it to the last hero.
Alice stared up at the stage, her eyes taking in the young girl and her costume. The girl's hands shook a bit, but slowly, she took the microphone and brought it up. "I- I'm Cinder! I- I'll do my best!"
Alice quietly folded her arms and couldn't help but crack a smile. "Cinder, huh?" She hummed. She glanced down at her phone, staring at the wallpaper she had on it. It was a picture she had taken nearly fifteen years ago.
It was a picture of Full Monarch. A rare one in which the man wasn't cloaked in hot blue fire. He wore a gold and white costume with the symbol of a butterfly on it. His hair was the color of sunshine, and his eyes glowed with a fiery red tone to them. He was covered in a bit of dirt and scratches as he had been in the middle of an intense battle. Despite that, though, he had still gone out of his way to stop a bus from rolling off the cliff and had waved.
It had been in the middle of waving as he started to take off into the air that she had snapped the picture. Since then, no matter what phone she was on, she always made sure that it was her wallpaper. He had saved her life that day, then went on to die at the hands of the Emperor hours later.
It was maybe the last picture of Full Monarch smiling...
"What are you grinning about?" Her husband barked and whacked her over the head.
"Nothing. I think it's just good that I finally got to meet her."
And so, even more time would pass. Weeks would turn to months, and the hero known as Cinder hadn't slowed down. Pantheon would go on to battle both Zoo and the Bad Timers when the villains attacked the mall. Cinder herself would defeat Intake with the help of Paragon. Afterward, Polaron would vanish, never to be seen again. Later, it would then be revealed by Cinder herself through a drone June controlled that the young girl had been the one to kill Polaron.
Forums and chat boxes rained across the internet, all wanting to figure out who this new hero was that had apparently killed the leader of the Bad Timers. They all only have one place they could turn to. The only place that any of this information was available. Alice Ward's blog. Oleander was learning who Cinder was.
It didn't stop there, though.
Pantheon would go on to team up with Oleander's Sub Enforcers and reclaim a realm that had been stolen by the Wandering Coin. They would also learn secrets of the Wandering Coin and band together with stronger heroes such as the famed Boy Genius getting new costumes. Live on camera Alice Ward would issue a challenge to them to take out a villain group called the Wet Bandits.
Her drones were set up all throughout her base and recorded the entire thing, posting the full fight Cinder got into, alongside her teammate Snowdawn. Oleander City watched those two kids take down the villain Cybercroc, feared to be on the same level as Polaron or Green Wolf.
Pantheon even managed to defeat Zoo seemingly for good when they fought them during a concert that was held in the city. Sadly, that was the last she was able to hear. The stories all dried up after that. June wasn't a high enough ranking member to learn the secrets the Branch wanted to keep hidden. Pantheon hadn't appeared in the light since then. Not at least in Oleander City. Lillian did get a small taste though when the hero Cinder appeared alongside Poseidon and Paragon and fought off Yellow Kobold.
And so time would yet again pass, and the present would soon arrive.
When the sirens started, her husband was at work. She had raced over to his office, and they had wanted to escape through the bridges, but they got too clogged up. Instead, they had gone the opposite way and had to leave their car behind when the streets got too full. Near the edge of Oleander city, somewhere in Spider Street, was a large, fortified bunker that the former mayor, Mayor Grove, had built in case of a situation like this. Only a few of the elite knew it existed.
The knowledge of this bunker was the last nice thing Dean had done for them before he blocked them entirely out of his life. Now Dean Ward was in Lillian, where it was nice and safe, while they came to the horrific conclusion that they had been too late.
Now, they were stuck outside the bunker, the doors sealed shut. It was almost like a massive metal vault built underground with a large set of stairs leading to it. An enormous crowd stood outside of it, some people uselessly banging on the metal and screaming to be let in.
It was far too late for any of them to try and make it to the bridge now. Besides, that was the direction the Beast had last been seen. Some accepted their fates, others cried, and some made a run for it. Alice simply pulled her phone out and watched the footage from the various drones or cameras that were left standing. Some people had managed to go live, and all around the world, planet Earth would be watching it. She watched as the heroes tried to fight the Beast. As the hero Cinder had her stomach ripped clean out.
"Surely there is something you can do!" Matthew screamed. His face was red, and he hadn't stopped shaking since all of this had started. It was only a matter of time before his heart gave out. "There are children and the injured here!"
"The vault is sealed." June sighed. "I can't get it open. A few Hero Branch members entered it, along with some of Oleander's rich. I saw Pretty Face among them, too. He was the last to enter, and then they sealed the damn thing shut. I doubt they plan on opening it until the Victorian herself personally comes to tell them the Beast is gone."
"If you were here before it closed, why didn't you go in?" Alice asked, looking up from her phone.
June gave a lazy shrug. "I'm old. I'm going to be sixty in less than five years. I figured I should stay out and let someone else take my spot. Besides, you weren't here. I'd never leave a friend behind."
"Well, now we're all going to die!" Matthew growled. "Nice going. At least if you had gone inside, you could have opened the doors up!"
"Sorry."
"You should be, you useless ass!"
Their crowd was made up of a few Hero Branch soldiers who hadn't been able to escape into the vault in time, along with some cops and medical workers. They also had a few dozen kids as well as several men and women who were barely clinging to life. The Beast might not have been here, but that didn't mean this part of the city was safe.
Buildings still rumbled and rained down debris, and pools of lava were randomly scattered about every which way. Large chunks of the ground had been torn away, causing some people to fall to the sewers below and either die from the fall or drown.
Up above them, a battle raged on as well. A literal UFO flew through the skies, and the heroes fought it. They were winning, but it was causing more towers to come crashing down, and a never-ending stream of earthquakes flooded their city.
Flying after the UFO was a screeching, roaring, twisted bat and spider hybrid creature, Bat-Spider, the mad dog of the Hero Branch. It landed on the UFO, crawling across the metal, clawing and biting at anything it could. As it was trying to bite into the barrel of the UFO's beam cannon, a single shot blew apart Bat-Spider's head, and the poor, insane abomination fell to the ground.
Wyvern was injured but still managed to fly through the air. Her arms were wrapped around Mister Man, and she was carrying him over the massive metal spaceship. His power allowed him to phase his bullets, negating their durability, and with the help of Roulette, he had a never-ending stream of shots.
Roulette flew on a wave of bullets following after them and used his ability to spawn rounds into Mister Man's revolvers. Mister Man, in turn, didn't stop pulling the trigger, his gun going off over and over again. The bullets dug into the metal of the ship and phased into it, ripping it apart. As he did that down below, Duplicity managed to merge into her adult form and used her power to control metal. Whatever this ship was made out of, it ignored her control, but the metal bullets Mister Man phased into it didn't, and she caused them to twist and bend, digging them in deeper. And even if they missed, a shot would ring out, and another bullet would intercept Mister Man's, ricocheting the Super's bullet into the UFO. On the ground, a man in a hunting jacket, Guy With Gun, held an old-fashioned rifle with a scope, the world's greatest non-Super marksman.
They weren't the only ones, either. Drake had flown back when he noticed the situation and bombarded the ship with fire, while down below, Lancelot swung his sword out, sending sharp blades of wind that cut into the underside.
Also, Fisherman was there, and he kept sending sharks into it, but they just sort of splattered and died instantly, so he wasn't really helping...
He tried, though.
The ship kept firing at Wyvern and Drake, but the two-winged siblings were too fast, easily dodging out of the way. Slowly but surely, the ship was coming down, the damage proving to be too much. While they all did that, other heroes put out the lava pits and destroyed the raining debris before it could hurt more people. When they were finally done with the ship, they'd be able to go and help the others out with the Beast. Flying around was a woman in long robes with wings sprouting from her back. Wherever Halo flew, she let out an aura of healing, helping the injured and the people suffering from radiation sickness. A stray beam from the UFO clipped one of the woman's wings, and she slammed to the ground, but she struggled back to her feet and continued to walk around and heal, despite several red spots that bloomed across her robe.
"When are they going to take that damn thing down!" Matthew demanded.
"They're trying their best," June argued.
"Well, their best isn't good enough!" The Ward family member yelled. "This is what we're paying for? We send our money to a bunch of idiots that have already failed to save this city! Look around! Look at the state of Oleander! It's gone!"
"The Cleanup Squad can-"
"Can they? How many cities have been left behind after a Beast attack? Why would this one be any different?" Matthew hissed.
In a way, he had a point. His words caused the crowd to stir more, and people continued to beat on the metal of the vault door, begging for it to open. Oleander wasn't in a good shape. It was doubtful if it could be fixed. Chances were they lost everything.
Alice numbly stared down at her phone, watching a livestream one of the drones that had managed to not blow up, was filming. The chat box was filled with millions of texts going by too fast to read as over four million people watched the hero Ocean Empress die in the arms of a hero in red. The world had just lost an Enforcer member live on camera.
She felt her stomach twist. She looked up though when she heard June speak up once more. "You should take a seat, Matthew." June said, placing a hand on Matthew's shoulder.
"I'm fine!" His face had somehow turned redder, and he wouldn't stop clutching at his chest. "I'm... I'm-" He fell back, and June rushed forward, catching the man.
"Matthew!" She screamed out. "Someone help! He's having a heart attack!"
One of the doctors that were in the crowd hurried over and crouched down. He looked Matthew over and winced. "We- We don't have any proper equipment... I was in an ambulance, but it got swallowed by a pitfall."
"There's got to be something you can do!"
From up above, the UFO fired out another beam of energy in the direction of Drake, who dodged out of the way. Unfortunately, directly behind the young hero was a giant skyscraper, which was blown to bits, the stone raining down. An entire section of it snapped off and began to fall directly toward the crowd standing out of the vault. It was too big for any of the other heroes to get rid of, and those who could have were too distracted with the UFO or not fast enough.
"Alice!" June threw himself in front of her as if that would somehow help.
It was pointless, though. It was a massive chunk of stone that was raining down their way. She closed her eyes and held her husband's hand. Her eyes then instantly snapped open when a harsh golden light flew out. Bright orange fire rammed into the falling building, and with an incredible amount of force, the thing was shattered to bits. Most of the rubble raining down below was reduced to harmless, tiny chunks that didn't hurt that much.
The roar of a lion echoed out around them, and they found themselves staring in shock as a three-legged beast came hobbling over, carrying a young hero on its back. Alice felt her eyes go wide when she saw the hero in question.
"Are you guys okay?" Cinder asked. She didn't wait for a response from the crowd and instead quickly climbed off of Myth's back. She wobbled a bit, and many of the citizens gasped when they saw the chunk that was missing from her side. By now, all of Ocean Empress's ice had melted, and the bleeding had restarted. She was growing lightheaded, but that didn't matter. "Stand back, everyone."
Cinder pulled both of her arms back, and instantly, an intense heat gushed out of her palms. Myth grew into a massive snake-like form and wrapped himself around the crowd, doing his best to shield them from the heat. She wasn't holding anything back. By far, her most potent and most tiring attack was one over which she had no control. Full Monarch had been able to coat himself in so much fire that he had been as hot as the sun, giving him the ultimate defense and offense at the same time. Her control was nowhere near as good as his, and she couldn't even begin to reach that level, but she did have something close.
She called it her supernova. It was only a single moment, and it always drained her, but for a brief second, she could cloak herself in so much fire she would reach those temperatures. Full Monarch had been able to cause his fire to not burn anyone he didn't want to hurt, but she couldn't do that. When going supernova, everything around her would be hit by the force of the sun's heat for a single moment. She was tapping into that tremendous destructive force but channeled all of it into her hands.
"Drake!" Wyvern seemed to notice what she was about to do as heat rose up. "The giant snake! Freeze it!"
"You got it!"
Both Drake and Wyvern shimmered, and their red scales suddenly changed into a pale white. When they opened their mouths, they fired out a wave of thick snow and ice that poured out and covered Myth's giant snake form and the crowd, shielding them.
The ship seemed to also notice what was happening. Its massive barrel pointed down toward Cinder and fired out a beam of harsh energy. Cinder stepped forward and thrust her arms out as hard as she could, forcing the power of her supernova to fire out in the form of a massive beam of energy. The full heat of the sun blasted out, melting the street around her, and it slammed into the beam of the ship. For a second, both beams seemed to clash, the air around them screaming out and ripping apart.
She grunted and felt her arms and legs shake a bit. "T- This is one of the coolest things I've ever done!" She let it all out. She didn't care about reserving strength or the damaged state her body was in. She had long since accepted her death as a possibility. At that moment, the only thing she focused on was letting every drop of her power out.
The ship's beam began to grow weaker as her fire overtook it and blasted right through the energy and the gun. It didn't stop there, though. It kept going, and the ship's metal began to drip down it as it started to melt, and the fire beam split it in two. It exploded in the air, lighting the sky up for miles. Her attack finished cleaving through it and kept going well into space.
If the Beast hadn't been pissed at her before, then it'd likely be mad now that she basically destroyed his car.
The sleeves of her costume had been burned and cleaned off, and the flesh around her arms was a nasty red. That didn't matter, though, as she felt her legs give out and an ocean of blood poured out of her gut wound. "Cinder!" Myth screamed out.
She felt herself fall forward, but a pair of arms caught her at the last second. Her eyes were heavy, and she struggled to keep them open. She was dying. She could feel it. Despite that, though, she made out the face of the woman that held onto her.
"You did really well," Alice spoke softly, gently setting Cinder onto the ground. "You can rest now. You've done enough."
"I- I can't." Cinder tried to push herself up. "My job isn't done."
"Yes, it is. You're about to die."
"No, I'm not."
"What?"
"She would never let me die. She's more stubborn than I am."
"What are you talking about-" Alice saw something drift past her—a large feather from a red bird.
Cinder hesitantly reached up and caught it, and the effect was instant. The color came back to her face, and the redness in her arms faded. Steam gushed out of her side wound, and when it cleared up, the flesh was back. Cinder breathed heavily, clutching the feather as most of her serious wounds faded. "Took her long enough." The girl huffed out.
Alice stared up with wide eyes as more feathers rained down. She held her hand and caught one and felt all the bruises and cuts she had taken vanish. One landed on her husband, and he gasped as his chest pain faded. Hundreds of them rained down, and people grabbed them, rapidly being healed.
"My arm's back!" Fisherman said in joy as he caught one. He waved his new arm up in the air.
"It was already growing back!" Lancelot yelled.
Myth let out a sigh and slowly changed back into his human form. One landed on him, and his guts pulled their way back into his body, and a new arm formed out as mist poured out of his wounds. "Don't get cocky, everyone." He called out. He flexed his shoulders, feeling them ease up. "It isn't a full heal. It got rid of the worst pains, but we're still battered up."
Things like severe bruises or even a few broken bones hadn't recovered. "We stand a better chance than we did a moment ago, though," Lancelot called out.
From up above, Mister Man stayed in Wyvern's arms as they quickly flew toward the ground. His eyes never left Cinder's. "What was her name, again?"
"Cinder? Why? You interested in her now?"
"I guess I'm realizing that I might have misjudged her, is all..."
"How did you know this was going to happen?" Alice stared up at Cinder as the hero shakily stood back up. Cinder rubbed at her side a bit but gave a grin.
"She told me she'd save me if I was ever in trouble. I figured I couldn't get any closer than my death. Besides, she isn't the kind to stay out of something like this. I knew it was only a matter of time before she showed up. There's a reason the Cinder action figure is sold alongside the Paragon action figure, you know!"
"I knew it!" In the back Justin Time fist bumped the air. "I freaking knew it! I was a genius for making both those toys! I need to make a new model now that she has her new costume! One for that hero in red also who is about to fight the Beast all by himself! I think his name was Battery or something?"
"I don't think now is the time." June said flatly.
Cinder turned away and gave a half-wave, still smiling. "You guys stay safe. If Paragon is here, then our chances just shot up! We can beat the Beast for sure, now! She and I make a perfect team!"
Instantly, Alice found herself facing an old memory—one in which Full Monarch said something similar as he smiled and waved. Her phone lit up as she took a picture of the hero. "Wait..."
"Huh?" Cinder turned back to look at her.
"Just... Try to come back still alive. Okay, hero?"
"Well, that was sort of my plan?"
Cinder cringed a bit when Myth clapped her on the back, as most of her organs were still a mess. She looked up as the man shifted back into his lion form. "Let's go. The others need us."
"Right."
And with that, Cinder got back on his back, and they charged back into the fray...
Meanwhile, a few moments earlier, near the bridge to Lillian, something else was happening...
Battery dodged out of the way of a swipe from the Beast just in time. A black claymore of energy formed into existence in his hands, and he swung it out, but the Beast dodged the strike, flying into the air. As soon as it was gone, Battery jumped back and held his other hand out.
The black lightning that was around him hummed out, and invisible signals were sent flying out in all directions like a radar. It crossed the entire city in an instant and painted a clear picture in his head of where everyone was. So far, they had lost Max Lightning and Ocean Empress. Lady Time was still alive, but barely. The other heroes were severely injured. He himself didn't have much time left either now that his heart was gone.
He was basically a walking corpse. One who would die for real once his power stopped fueling his body.
Several people, as well as the other heroes, all stared at him and the Beast. Some were recording this. The whole world was watching. Normally he'd care about what he said, but he really didn't.
"Can you speak the language of man?" Battery questioned. The Beast landed a few meters away from him and simply stared at him in silence. "I guess not. I wanted to tell you a story if you could understand me. It would have turned out better if you were asking questions. See, a long time ago, there was this monster, right? And this monster decided to adopt a child and teach it how to use the strength of a Giant-"
The Beast was on him in an instant, swinging down with enough force to shatter through skyscrapers. Gravity twisted and altered around it, obeying its whim and weighing Battery down. At least it should have, but the black lightning around Battery zapped out in all directions, allowing him to move at insane speeds and block the strike with his blade.
"-bottom line to the story! I prefer fighting in all-out brawls like this!" Battery twisted around the Beast and sliced out with his blade, trying to cut the creature in two, but his weapon only bounced off of it. "See, you actually made me really mad. You took something I cared about-"
The Beast rammed a fist into Battery's face so hard it snapped the man's head all the way around and blew the street they were on up. Battery stumbled back, and his free hand grabbed his head and forcefully snapped it back in place. Black energy formed around everyone around him, shielding them all from the blast as well.
"Y- You can do it!" Some people were cheering. Some were begging. Some hoped that he would be the one. He was the first person they had seen who had simply shrugged off an attack after all. For Battery, though, he just kept focusing on the battle and his speech.
"-you're just some mindless machine that doesn't even know what it's doing, right-" One of his arms was torn clean off by a swipe from the Beast, and the black lightning around him spilled out, wrapping around the limb and pulling it back in place. A second sword appeared in his hand, and he swung out with it in an 'X' shape, but they still couldn't cut the Beast's fiery form. "-who made you? Why do you exist? Why are you always in the way of human progression?"
So far, during this entire battle, the Beast hadn't been hurt since it shed its armor. All the blows from the Victorian hadn't so much as left a dent, and now Battery was realizing that his blades just weren't doing the trick. An unstoppable force of pure power. As if all four Lords had been rolled into one. A true monster.
But he was the man who killed Full Monarch, right? He was Battery. The weapon honed by the Emperor. If Full Monarch could beat the Beast and he could beat Full Monarch, then he should be able to beat this thing, right?
No.
That is incorrect.
The Beast slammed another hand out, the force of an exploding bomb following it and sending Battery crashing through several buildings and rubble. He spun around and swung his black blade up just in time, splitting the attack the Beast launched at him in two, along with using his energy to shield all the civilians as he crashed onto a different city block miles away.
That golden light was no longer within him. The power of the Victorian was gone fully when he ripped his heart out. Instead, he had his true power. His blue energy. It was known as Imaginary Energy. A blue light that could take any form he needed it to. So then... What was this black lightning that twisted around him...
'You're losing this battle.'
"Do you just get a kick out of tormenting me?" He growled out as the voice of Full Monarch appeared in his head. He could feel the eyes of the man were on him, but as usual, he wouldn't be able to turn around and see him.
'Yes.'
The Beast shattered through another building and came out swinging a chunk of a skyscraper so hard it kicked up a tornado. Battery willed himself to not be dragged away by the wind and swung his sword out, sending a wave of black energy in the direction of the Beast that tore the tower it held apart. The Beast flew at him faster, and more of the black energy swirled around his fist.
'Ah. You're using the power of the Giants, right? I would have thought you'd refuse to use that gift. After all, that is the proof that you belong to the Emperor as his monster, is it not?'
"Seriously, shut up! I don't need a backseat commentator!" He punched out with his arm, and above him, his energy took shape, forming into a twenty-foot-long arm forged from the black lightning. The lightning balled itself up into a fist and rammed itself directly into the stomach of the Beast, slamming it into the ground and shattering the road, causing them to fall down below into a series of underground railways. "I liked you better when you were using your real voice."
'When I was using my real voice, you couldn't understand me. I bet you imagined it as a series of black boxes or something. Now though you hear me loud and clear. We're becoming one. Soon I'll be in control.'
As Battery landed in the subway station, he threw his hand out, and once again his energy rippled out. It formed into a massive black arm that wrapped itself around a train that had been abandoned. He surged forward with godlike speed, dragging the train with him so fast it caught fire. As he reached the Beast, his arm struck out and rammed the massive train into the monster, exploding with a great force and blowing them further through the ground as the walls around them came tumbling down. This time they found themselves crashing down in the sewer system.
Battery landed in the water below, feeling it rise to his ankles. Seconds later, the water expanded as the Beast called forth a tidal wave, summoning more of the liquid. The sewers were flooded, and Battery felt himself be swept away by the current. Lightning danced off of the Beast as it shocked all the water it created. Despite also having what looked like black lightning, it did nothing to the water and, in fact, shielded Battery from the onslaught of energy.
More of his power swirled around his foot, and he tapped into the power that had been drilled into him once more. A forty-foot-tall leg suddenly appeared in the space around him created by the black energy, which kicked out, shattering the sewers apart even further and blowing a hole in the roof. A massive hand then appeared under him, which slowly lifted him up out of the water, allowing him to gasp for breath.
'Your body won't last much longer. Especially with how much you're using that ability.'
"I never needed to win. I just needed to buy time."
'For what?'
"Like I'd tell you."
The entire city had seemingly gone silent. Not just it but the whole world. They were watching. Staring. All pleading for the hero surrounded by black energy to create a miracle. They watched as he stood on a massive hand formed out of his energy and stared into the enormous crater in the middle of Oleander that had been formed.
The name Battery had just become the number one searched hero name for that week.
The floor beneath him shattered as the Beast came flying out. It fired another orb of fire at him, but another giant hand appeared in front of him, clutching a sword the size of a tower, which it swung out, flattening the attack and ripping through half the city. No one was in danger though, as more barriers of black energy shielded them.
This energy that he wielded... This cursed power. The one that the Emperor had spent years crafting up for him. This was the ability that allowed him to fight Full Monarch. In the end, he actually lost that battle. So, just how did Full Monarch die...
Well, that's a story for another time.
Inverse is something a few Supers have mastered. It allows them to switch the dial on their ability. All Super's are primarily in control of their powers and keep it in check with their powerful egos, but for some they discovered a way to draw out more of their latent abilities, changing how they work and altering them. This, however, brings with it a significant risk. It can allow the power to overpower the ego held within and take over the Super's body.
At this moment, Battery had inverted his power. His energy was Imaginary Energy. Energy that did not actually exist and could be shaped how he willed it. A child's imagination come to life. This is what allowed him to imagine himself as having the power and the body of a Giant. It allowed him to grow his limbs or expand his form just as he had done in his battle with Green Wolf. So, then what happens when that is Inverted? This black energy was the Inversion. It was no longer pure imagination brought on by some childish mind.
No...
This was real. This was existence. This was Unimaginable Force.
"To me, my soldier."
Battery took a deep breath as the Beast broke past the giant sword that had rammed down on it. His entire body hummed with his lightning, and something began to appear behind him. It stood at nearly one hundred meters tall, forged from pitch-black energy. It was in the shape of an armored man and wielded a long sword able to cleave mountains in half. Battery jumped up and twisted through the air, spinning around, and softly landed on the head of the giant... He no longer took on the shape of some imaginary monster. Instead, he had created that which now existed. An actual Giant of legend.
Before the Shadow, before Supers, Giants were said to exist in stories and fairy tales, told by humans of old times. In almost every myth about them, it was agreed that the Giants were against mankind. They always stood as enemies to Gods, Kings, and even Lords.
In other words, this power was an enemy of the four Lords. The power of the Giants. Rulers in their own right. Said to be masters of creation and destruction, they could build and they could tear down. All that power, all his power—it all came spilling out.
Battery pointed his sword down at the Beast, and the giant he stood on followed his movement, shattering more of the buildings around them as it did so. "I felt it when I sent my pulse out. We're close." Battery explained, his eyes never leaving the Beast's.
'Felt what? What are we close to?'
"Close to the end of this story." He held his hand out as a red feather rained from the sky. He didn't catch it, though. Instead, his black lightning burned it to ash. He didn't want to be healed...
The Beast growled and charged the Giant before it, ready to take it and its ruler down.
At that exact moment, near the bridge, Destiny finally landed.
Paragon arrived on the battlefield.
The entire planet was frozen, watching what could very well be the final battle.