Oleander's stadium had been one of the few things the city was truly proud of. The people of Oleander were quite fond of their sports, and so the stadium was always kept in good condition. The only time it had been damaged previously was when Pretty Face held a concert in it and several groups, including Zoo, attacked. In less than a week, the stadium had been rebuilt with funding from the Milas family, another of the great Noble families.
Of course, now that the Beast had attacked, the stadium was once again destroyed. Just like Oleander, it was left mostly in ruins. The Beast had attacked Oleander with a single powerful slashing attack from the very beginning of its invasion. An attack that had instantly cleaved every structure in Oleander directly in two. The stadium was no exception. The top half of it had been perfectly sliced clean off and tumbled to the ground outside of it. Most of its stone walls were cracked, and dozens of destroyed and gutted cars were scattered in the parking lot around it.
The Cleanup Squad would have a field day fixing all the damage when they finally got their foothold in Oleander back. Either that or Battery's Giants would fix it back up. Whatever came first.
Alice followed closely behind the young hero known as Paragon. The healer had changed a lot. Something her chat was freaking out about. Most people knew Paragon as the young girl that clung to her mother's arm and remained in the hospital constantly. Now though the world was seeing the new Paragon. The hero didn't wear her mask anymore and didn't seem to care about hiding her identity. Such things were no longer important to her. It made Alice just what had happened to cause Paragon to change so much.
Her question was soon answered though when they entered the stadium. It was dark, making it hard to see, but Paragon let out a call. "I'm back! It's okay to come out."
Alice watched with wide eyes as several shadowy figures stalked out from behind the pillars and came to the center of the stadium. There were around twenty of them, give or take. Most were older people. The kind of folks who were shoved to the very back of the line when it came to the food shortage. A few were crippled folks, people who had been missing limbs for so long Paragon could no longer heal them back, and finally a few were kids who clung to their parents. They all had one thing in common, though. They were all still alive.
Alice's eyes lit up as she watched the number in her stream shoot up even higher. It was nearing ten thousand viewers as people from all over the world wanted to see what was going on in Oleander at a time like this.
"You've been keeping all of these people safe?" Alice questioned.
"I've been trying." Paragon slowly placed the orange chest down. "It was mostly thanks to him." The girl nodded her head toward a figure that approached. Alice raised an eyebrow at the man. He was frail and bald, dressed in a white shirt and black pants pulled up. Despite that, he held a smile on his face compared to the gloomy looks the others in the crowd had. "Mr. Lauren, I've returned with some supplies. Can you start handing them out to the people?"
"Of course." Alexander began to rummage through the box, getting any supplies he could hold, and slowly he began to hand them out to the other onlookers, making sure everyone got something.
Alice watched the man work on the sidelines, keeping her phone close to her chest. "Lauren? As in Alexander Lauren?" The older woman questioned.
"Yeah. You heard of him?" Paragon asked, raising an eyebrow.
Alice nodded. "I don't know a lot about him, but I know enough. He was infected by the Dead Virus. Most of the world waited to see if you could cure him. When it was revealed that you couldn't, we all figured he'd end up dead. How is someone like him walking around so casually?" Her chat was going wild, spamming out theories and conclusions. Most were claiming this as proof Paragon was the new Lord of the Land and Life.
"He was cured of the Dead Virus." Paragon said simply.
That caused the chat's growing responses to come out quicker. Alice gave a sly grin. "I noticed you aren't claiming it was you who cured him? Does that mean someone else appeared with a healing ability stronger than yours? Perhaps the new Lord of the Land and Life?" First Cinder turned out to be the Lord of the Sun, and now confirmation that a new Lord of Life was appearing. This was the greatest news Alice Ward had ever reported on. The world was entering a new age right before their very eyes. With it recently being revealed that the new hero Lightning Empress was the Lord of the Sky and Weather, that meant that for the first time in forever, all Lords were around the same age. Assuming Cinder was still alive, of course...
Paragon didn't bother responding to Alice instead moved closer to Alexander once he was finished handing out all the supplies. "How's she doing?" She asked quietly.
Alexander's smile faltered for a moment. "Jane still isn't moving around much. I placed her in the underground parking lot with a few other people. I managed to feed her a bit, but... Well, you know how she is right now."
Paragon nodded softly. "And you, sir?"
"Ah, no need to call me sir! Just Alex is fine! And I'm doing fine-"
Paragon ignored the man and placed her hand on his stomach. "Your body is still falling apart." They were far enough away from Alice Ward and the others, so she didn't have to worry about anything being overheard. Just in case, she spoke in a soft tone, keeping her voice down.
Alexander flinched a bit, but his smile didn't fade. "Yeah... I guess it is. Still. I'm glad I can move around so much. I was a goner before, but now I have some time left. And thanks to you, you've kept my wife and me safe. I seriously can't begin to pay you back, you know, Paragon. You're the best."
Paragon blushed a bit and looked down, shaking her head. "I'm far from the best. I wasn't able to cure you and can't do anything for you now. You've been damaged by the Dead Virus for way too long. I can just slow it down a bit. Besides, you're the amazing one. After the battle with the Beast, you've been taking care of your wife and were the one who had the idea of moving everyone to this location. You even helped gather most of the people that's here right now." She lightly punched the older man on the shoulder. "I can see where Hope got her good nature from."
Alexander's smile faded for a moment at the mention of his daughter. "You really think it's possible she'll be coming back, right?"
Paragon nodded. "I do. I don't think she's the kind of person who would let her story end like this. She'll be back for sure."
"In that case, I got nothing to complain about." Alexander stretched and gave a wide grin. "I'll just keep on pushing forward until my daughter shows up. I got some time left, time I'm going to spend reaching my own happy ending. One that benefits everyone I care about. We should start by finding a better location."
"What do you mean?" Paragon asked, frowning.
"I mean, this place is good and all, but it's obvious and out in the opening. The only reason we haven't been attacked yet is because all the gangs are fighting amongst themselves. All it takes is one serious villain or group looking at us though, and it's over."
Paragon's frown grew, and she placed her hand on the handle of her sword. "If something like that happens, I'll keep everyone safe."
"You can do that?" Alexander folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "No offense, but you're not a fighter, right? You've only had your enhanced body for about twelve days or so, correct?"
"I'll manage." The girl shrugged. "Somehow."
Over with Alice, the older woman watched all the people sorting through their supplies while her phone caught all of it. "As you can see, Oleander's people haven't given up yet. I know Lillian and the other cities were debating what they should do with the city, but the people are still living here and managing. Make sure to share this video with friends and family. The world needs to see the state of Oleander and witness the fact that we are still pushing forward-" Her stream suddenly shut off. "Damn it." Alice let out a sigh and pocketed her phone. "Looks like little Dean caught on to what I was doing and banned my account again. Hopefully some people clipped it before it got taken down."
That was the tenth time her account had been taken down this week. Every time she got access to the internet, she would make a new streamer account and go live and show off what she could before her brother-in-law ordered for it to be shut down. She still had the internet box Boy Genius made tucked away in her pocket, so she was able to access the internet anytime she wanted now. She could head back to where Battery was and record as she pleased so long as she kept making accounts. She'd have to keep the box secret, though. The Hero Branch soldiers had been ordered to smash all of them in Battery's area when they saw her streaming, which was why the hero's zone was blank and had no access to the internet.
Alice calmly folded her arms and gave a sly smirk. Dean wasn't the type to sit by and let her keep doing as she pleased. Sooner or later, he'd up his game. She looked forward to beating whatever else he tried to throw at her. It didn't matter if he was the beloved member of the Ward family, while she was just a commoner who married into it. She didn't plan to lose the game the other Nobles played. The story she wanted to tell was one that she would witness herself and show to the whole world. Even if they killed her.
Alice watched the kids try and get the energy to play, but most were still exhausted or depressed. It had been less than two weeks since the Beast attack after all. No one had gotten over the horror quite yet. It was while she was watching the kids play though that she heard it. She wasn't the only one either. The entire stadium went silent for a moment, and they all stopped to listen as a new sound filled the quiet air. Paragon's hand rested back on her wooden sword, and the girl raised an eyebrow.
"Buzzing?"
A low buzzing had filled the air around them, followed by a series of clicks. It was the middle of the day, and the ruins of the stadium were cast in a series of shadows from the many torn-down buildings, so it was hard to truly see what was coming, but directly in the entrance leading to where they were something squirmed. It stayed low to the ground and skittered about. One of the people pulled out a phone and turned on the screen, facing it toward the darkness. An inky black mass stared back at them, causing everyone to let out loud yelps and jump backwards.
It was buzzing and humming and squirmed in ways that showed it wasn't human. It was shaped like a large ball and had various dark tendrils coming off of it. The thing stalked out of the darkness, but it barely took another step before Paragon ran forward. The hero moved at her top speed, and to all the people around her, it looked as if she teleported from how fast she was. She wasted no time and spun, swinging her sword around. The wooden blade grew sharp and thin and, in a single motion, sliced through the mass. Instantly, Paragon knew something was wrong. She had seen something like this before. Whatever this thing was, it didn't actually have a solid body. Actually, that wasn't true. It was made up of dozens of solid bodies. The same way Wasp Nest would turn into millions of wasps and have them form together into a shape; this thing was doing that. What she just cut into wasn't a body; instead, it was millions of cockroaches.
The bug sworn exploded, and Paragon felt a wave of pain course through her when something rammed into her gut. The bugs had grouped themselves together into the shape of a fist and rammed into her as hard as they could. Whoever this person was, they were way stronger than Wasp Nest because their bugs seemed to have inhuman strength, each one hitting the hero hard enough to bruise her skin. Collectively, the bugs' strength was strong enough to shove her back and send Paragon ramming into a wall near the back of the stadium.
That caused widespread panic, and everyone let out a loud scream when they saw their hero be flung back. Alexander stepped forward, letting out a yell. "The underground parking lot! Go!" He screamed out. Several of the adults grabbed the kids and began to run for the area the man told them to. One, however, stayed behind. Alice had her phone out and was quickly trying to make a new account so she could go live and show off the battle. "What the hell are you doing? That thing is going to kill you!" Alexander yelled.
"Who cares!" Alice managed to get to the login page, her eyes filling with joy. "I bet little Dean would love to see how well Paragon is doing. He always hated her after all!"
Alexander was just about to grab the woman and force her to come with him, but he stopped when he noticed the swarm blow past both of them. The bugs crawled forward at inhuman speed, taking shapes once more as they headed directly for Paragon. Whoever this villain was, it seemed Paragon was their main target.
Paragon groaned and tried to sit up but wasn't able to properly move her body up. Her right arm had gone straight through the stone wall of the stadium from how hard she had been thrown into it, and despite her efforts, she was having a hard time yanking it out. She pressed her feet to the wall and tugged, but she wasn't quick enough. The massive swarm reached her and forced itself together into a long-jagged blade. The bugs buzzed louder and hummed as they swung out as hard as they could-
A wave of cold smashed into the swarm, causing the bugs shape to fall apart. Alexander stood behind them, wielding a fire extinguisher he had gotten from the orange box. It sprayed over the bugs and disrupted them just enough to buy Paragon the time she needed. Paragon used all her new strength and ripped her arm out of the wall. She swung her sword out once more directly into the swarm and buried it in the mass of black. As soon as it was in, she cocked her hand to the side and flared her power through her blade. The wooden sword suddenly expanded, and millions of tiny twisting branches grew out of it at insane speeds. The growth was so fast and so intense that every bug was instantly impaled and torn apart in a single instant, killing them all easily.
She had gone straight for the kill simply because of how close this power was to Wasp Nest. Wasp Nest was able to change back into his human form as long as enough of his bugs survived to form a humanoid shape. Changing back would fully heal him, and then turning back into his bug form would give him all his bugs back. That meant the only way to take him out was to either instantly kill him in his human form, kill enough of his bugs where he couldn't reform, or do what Wish did and disrupt his body's cells so much he couldn't change. Even if there were a few cockroaches that got away, it wouldn't be enough for whoever this was to reform, so this method meant she basically won the fight instantly.
"Are you okay, Paragon!" Alexander shouted out in a worried tone.
"Yeah." Paragon winced and rubbed at her stomach, which was a bit bruised. She still hadn't figured out how to heal herself even after absorbing Wish. Nor could she change her own body the way Wish had been able to. She wasn't mad about that, though. She didn't want to be a copy of that bitch.
"Is it over?" Alice called out. The woman had managed to go live on @TheRealAlice#16 and was once again streaming to a small audience that was rapidly growing.
"I think it's over." Paragon nodded. "I took him out instantly."
"You hear that, folks!" Alice announced. "The amazing Paragon took out a full-fledged villain on her own! She even kept this entire place safe! Be sure to share this with everything! Speaking of being alone, Paragon, you used to be on a team with your sister Poseidon, right? Are you planning on forming or creating your own new team?"
Paragon gave a lazy shrug and focused mainly on looking the dead cockroaches over. "Maybe when my girlfriend gets back I will, but until then I'm going to focus on keeping these people safe and waiting for Oleander to return to normal."
"Girlfriend? Who in the world managed to claim your heart!" Alice's chat had instantly exploded with more popularity and theories.
Paragon went back to ignoring the woman and dropped the bugs' corpses. "They aren't normal insects. They're Super. Each bug has the strength of a human being. If enough gathers, they could seriously do some damage."
Alexander nodded and frowned. "Well, then it's a good thing you stopped it when you did-"
"Who stopped who now?" Paragon's eyes went wide when she heard the voice, and she spun around, swinging her sword out just in time. Something appeared behind the girl moving with insane speed and instantly punched through the wooden blade. The force of the punch rammed into Paragon's face and made the girl cry out as she was blasted through the walls of the stadium and rolled across the parking lot. "Don't think you've gone and beaten Enlightened Cockroach just because you killed a few of my babies!"
"Paragon!" Alexander stared at the hole in the stadium in shock. "You bastard!" He glared back at the villain who had struck his daughter's friend.
Enlightened Cockroach was a member of the Skull Boys Gang. One who had joined around the time Green Wolf became the leader of Zoo. He had actually tried out for Zoo but had been turned down since Zoo already had a bug person in the form of White Spider. The real truth was, though, that not even Green Wolf was strong enough to keep Enlightened Cockroach in check. Enlightened Cockroach was just too strong.
The villain stood at seven feet tall and was covered in bulging muscles. He had a stern-looking face, and he was dressed in a brown skintight suit that was shaped like a cockroach. A pair of long, jagged black wings stabbed out of his back, and the man stalked forward, shoving past Alexander. His eyes never left the hole Paragon had been sent through. "I liked Drill Man, you know." Enlightened Cockroach's look grew angry. "I could do with or without Chainsaw Hand, but for you to kill Drill Man! That seriously pisses me off!"
"Who the hell is Drill Man?" Paragon pushed herself back up to her feet and rubbed at her forehead, which was trickling a bit of blood down her face. She was a little dizzy, but she fought through the pain and instead kept her senses sharp and focused on the villain that stood before her. A low fog hung in the air, growing thicker with every moment, and Enlightened Cockroach used it to his advantage, stalking her in the parking lot, going in and out of the mist.
"You don't even know their names?" Enlightened Cockroach hissed out. "You sliced them apart, yet you didn't even bother to remember them? That seriously pisses me off, you cold-hearted bitch!"
Paragon's frown grew. "I think you have me mistaken with someone else."
"Are you saying you've never killed before? Lies. I can smell it on you. Blood has been on your hands. I see the sins crawling across your back. How many lives have you taken, hero?"
"How many lives have you taken, villain?" She glanced back and forth through the fog, but it just kept growing.
Enlightened Cockroach let out a low chuckle. "You want to know? Three hundred and forty-five. I keep track of every person I've ever killed. I make sure to remember their faces, the way they speak, and the look in their eyes. It's the least I can do for taking their life after all."
"You say that as if it's a noble thing."
"Can you recall the people you murdered?" Enlightened Cockroach demanded. "Their faces and their looks?"
"I can't. But I don't want to either." Paragon shrugged. "I'm not a good hero. I'm someone who will do anything to protect the people I care about. Even if that means taking the life of someone else. If I kill someone, it's because they're scum. Anyone that kills should be able to be killed. That goes for myself as well. I'll fight to save myself, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't cry or be sad if my own life was taken from me because otherwise, I'd be a selfish person that has no right to kill. We can debate our morals all day, but I'd rather just get this over with. So why don't you come at me?"
"You're quite cocky." Enlightened Cockroach stepped out of the fog, standing a few meters before her. Slowly he pulled down a skull mask that covered his face. "I'll break you in one punch."
She took a deep breath and readied her sword. It didn't matter how strong he was, nor did it matter how scary he wanted to be. She had faced Wish and the Beast. She had fought alongside Cinder and had even wounded the Tallest Wave. Nothing this guy could throw at her could compare to the horrors she had gone through. She would defeat him. She had to defeat him.
Enlightened Cockroach was on her in an instant. His wings clicked together, and suddenly, in a flash, he appeared directly in front of her, moving so fast that the street around them shattered. The man was like a fully realized Wasp Nest. Even in his human state, he was strong and fast. Blocking would also be useless since he had punched straight through her sword earlier. He was not just faster than her but stronger as well. So, instead, Paragon focused fully on offense. She stepped forward and swung her broken sword out as soon as Enlightened Cockroach appeared in front of her. The wooden blade expanded and grew back to its full length, and she used all her might to slash it into the villain. The blade, however, was instantly blocked as Enlightened Cockroach's arm came up. Her sword dug into his flesh but only got a few inches in before it stopped. Red blood poured down the villain's arm, but he barely slowed and instead swung his fist out as hard as he could.
Once again, Paragon felt herself be blasted back as the force of the strike hit her head on. It nearly caused her neck to snap and broke her nose. She was flung through the parking lot and smashed through several cars, causing her to gasp out. She finally stopped flying back and was buried halfway into a bus. Enlightened Cockroach didn't stop there though and lifted his right hand up. Suddenly the air around him swirled and changed as it instantly filled with thousands of angry roaches that buzzed in the air. The bugs all formed together into a sharp whip that slashed down and split the bus in two, barely missing Paragon, who jumped out of it just in time. The bus, however, exploded from the strike, burning up a lot of the bugs, but Enlightened Cockroach just created more.
Paragon came to a sliding stop and held her sword down at her side, biting her lip. She had gotten it all wrong. The man wasn't like Wasp Nest. He didn't turn into his swarm. He wasn't a person with a transformation ability; instead, he was someone with a creation ability. Like how elemental users could create and control their element, he was creating enhanced roaches that he controlled. On top of that, he was like Golden Weaver, as Enlightened Cockroach had the powers of a roach himself, being blessed with insane durability, speed, strength, and flight. Without a doubt, he was stronger than Mars King, Intake, and even Black Crow. She was lucky he had never joined Zoo, because it would have meant all their previous battles with the group would have likely resulted in a loss.
Enlightened Cockroach formed another whip and swung it out at her once again, but Paragon thrust her sword up, meeting the whip. Once more, her power flared up, and her blade expanded, shredding all of the bugs and killing them instantly. The wooden spikes kept coming and tried to stab into the bug man, but they shattered on his hard shell-like body. Enlightened Cockroach took to the air, gliding up as his black wings rapidly moved. He blasted back down toward Paragon as fast as he could. Once again, the girl swung her sword out, but his hard body blocked the strike, and his fist rammed into her gut, blasting her back.
"How many more do you think you can take!" Enlightened Cockroach yelled out. His strike was fast and hard, blowing Paragon across the lot and hitting the girl so hard she was sent flying back into the stadium. Paragon rolled through several of the seats and groaned, coughing up a bit of blood. "Just give up. You can't hurt me as much as I can hurt you. Your body is going to give up long before mine does!"
Paragon spat out a bloody tooth and shook her head. She wasn't used to pain. She wasn't the one who was always getting hit and injured. That honor belonged to people like her sister or Cinder. Those were the real heroes. Heroes that never gave up and would without a doubt beat this villain. Heroes that she looked up to and wanted to be like. Her mother never whined about the pain, and the woman always got back up even when facing something like the Beast. As the daughter of Ocean Empress, she had no choice but to stand.
"I'm not done." Paragon readied her sword, which shrank back down to its blade form. "I'm going to take you out in one attack." She promised.
"You can't even properly cut me." Enlightened Cockroach flew above the stadium and glared down at the girl. "You're just like all the other heroes. A foolish Super who bit off more than they could chew. I'm going to cave your head in with this next strike!" The Skull Boys member announced.
Down below, Alexander and Alice watched the two with wide eyes. Alice held her phone up, still live. Her audience was massive and watched the battle with eagerness. Most were filled with support for Paragon, while others just wanted to see blood and cheered Enlightened Cockroach on. They were all watching her stream, though. Watching Oleander's newest hero perform her duty. The hero Paragon was making her true debut today.
Alice gave a soft grin. "Beat him. Show Ward how strong you've become."
Enlightened Cockroach let out a loud battle cry and blasted down as hard as he could. The villain pulled both his arms back and rocketed forward so fast he caused a loud sonic boom to go off. In a flash the villain appeared in front of Paragon, and he got ready for her strike, tensing his body up. Only something was wrong. He could tell right at the last second that he made some sort of mistake. Paragon let out a breath she had been holding as she drew her sword and swung out. A single image was in her mind. There was a reason she was using a sword now. A reason she was trying so hard to make it work. Part of it was selfish. Part of her was doing it to just show 'him' up. Because the person that was stuck in her mind every time she swung her sword out was none other than Battery. His form, his battle with the Beast, every swing he unleashed—all of it went through her mind. Again and again, she had watched it, and again and again she had practiced it. A perfect swing. All she lacked was the power.
So...
She simply gained the power. She used her Inverted ability.
As her swing came out, the area around her and Enlightened Cockroach changed and shifted. The bleachers they stood in were replaced with grass in a ten-foot radius around her, and in an instant Paragon felt her power skyrocket and jump up. Her swing picked up speed, holding even more power behind it. Enlightened Cockroach gritted his teeth and stabbed out with both of his arms stomping forward, but with her realm being beneath her, she had gained the power boost she normally had when she was in it. In an instant, her sword cut through Enlightened Cockroach. His shell didn't keep him safe this time. Paragon stepped past him with inhuman speed, gripping her sword. Slowly she spun it around and sheathed it.
"I told you I'd end it in one strike."
"Y- You bitch-" Red poured down Enlightened Cockroach's mouth as slowly his upper half slid off of his lower half, and he was sliced cleanly in two.
"Don't worry." Paragon looked back down at the pissed-off villain. "I'll remember your face and that look in your eyes. Your death is one I'll hold with me. The hero Paragon beat you."