When he had been a kid, he used to live in a small backwater village that was technically part of the city that was near them. The protector of that city had been the hero known as Feast.
Because of that, Alexander Lauren found himself growing up constantly surrounded by Feast merchandise. Everyone back home seemed to love the constantly hungry hero; in fact, Feast was so popular nowadays that he was able to retire and instead run the various Feast Shacks scattered throughout the many different cities, each one cooking some of the unhealthiest food you could imagine.
Feast wasn't Alexander's favorite hero, though.
No, instead, that honor went to the one who had saved him. Before he had become a fisherman, before he had moved to Oleander City with his best friend Marcus, he had been drafted into some small-scale war. He had been forced to carry a gun and take up arms against his fellow man, all because of a local village that was declaring itself separated from the Hero Branch. At the age of sixteen, Alexander had fired his first gun.
It was during this war that he met him.
The one and only Golden Weaver.
In the present, Alexander was just as shocked as he was back then when he first saw his hero. Golden Weaver stood across the street, directly in front of the hero Cinder.
"I'll ask this once more. Who are you, evildoer?" Golden Weaver announced loudly.
"Evildoer? I'm a good guy." Cinder said, shaking her head.
"Yeah, right!" Golden Weaver let out a snort. "You have evil written all over you. Just look at your suit."
"What's wrong with my suit?" Cinder looked down at her new hero suit with a frown. "Hear that, Shift, he's making fun of you."
"Let's kill him!" Kevin announced.
"D- Did your clothes just talk?" Golden Weaver questioned.
Cinder shrugged. "Look. I don't want to fight you, so how about we just agree to go our separate ways?"
"No can do, evildoer." The old hero shook his head. "I was told by Ward himself to bring you in. Thanks to that bastard, Battery, Pretty Face isn't able to step foot in this city, and with Ocean Empress gone, I alone am the last protector of this city. I bet Yellow Kobold is the one that put you up to this, isn't he?"
"Yellow who?"
"Yellow Kobold!" Cinder jumped a bit when she heard her dad's voice. Alexander had rolled the window down and had his head poking out. "He's the archnemesis of Golden Weaver! The two have been rivals for over twenty years now! Even before the Hero Branch was started, they were always doing battle with each other! Hell, they still fight even to this day!"
"You seem to know a lot about that hero?" Jane muttered, still sitting inside the van next to her husband.
"Of course I do!" Alexander's smile grew. "He's my hero."
During the war he had fought in, the Hero Branch had called upon a hero to come and end it. Feast had been away on some super important secret mission, so the hero that showed up and fought alongside the rest of the soldiers was the one and only Golden Weaver. Alexander had been on the front lines, and he watched it all happen with his own two eyes.
The enemy they were fighting against had stolen a bunch of tanks and even Mental tech that had some juice left in them. Despite that, though, Golden Weaver had single-handedly taken the soldiers out, using his webs to tie everyone up and keep his teammates safe. All without taking a single life. Then he had done something no other hero had. He had helped many of the soldiers sneak away and escape the Hero Branch's clutches, allowing them to go into hiding and live normal lives. Be it enemy or foe, Golden Weaver had offered this choice to all, letting them all go and stopping the Branch from throwing the enemy soldiers into a cell to rot for the rest of their lives.
Alexander was one such soldier. He had begged the hero to take him out of this place and help him, and Golden Weaver listened. It was thanks to that man that he got to live in Oleander and eventually meet his wife.
Of course, he doubted Golden Weaver actually remembered who he was. That had been years ago, so long in fact, that Golden Weaver had still been a member of the Enforcers.
Back in the day, before even the Emperor arrived, Golden Weaver was a high-ranking member of the Enforcers. Many of those old heroes died fifteen years ago during the battle with the Emperor, but Golden Weaver was one of the few to make it out of that battle alive. Not unscratched, however. His career as a top hero had been stolen from him due to the damage he received from the Emperor.
The hero wore a gold and white, skintight body suit that had the symbol of a spider on the front of it. Where Golden Weaver's legs should have been were thick wooden pegs, both from the kneecap down. He was also missing an arm now. He had lost the arm in the battle with the Beast, the entire limb having been torn clean off, leaving the sleeve totally empty.
Golden Weaver had been one of the heroes who tried to stall the Beast for as long as he could, though he obviously wasn't successful. He had been knocked out in one attack, destroying his already damaged body even more and losing what was left of his legs and arm. He hadn't been able to get healing from Paragon since he had been buried deep beneath the ground, and by the time anyone found him, his body's own natural healing had sealed his wounds shut, scarring them and stopping Paragon's healing from restoring his lost limbs.
That wouldn't stop Golden Weaver, though.
He was a hero. One who would move to save people, even if his body was totally destroyed.
"I won't say it again. Come quietly. Please." Golden Weaver asked once more.
"I'm the hero Cinder."
Silence hung in the air from that response. The golden bug-themed hero just stared at her, seemingly studying her. "You look nothing like her."
"Really?" Cinder waved her hand in front of her face, then raised her half-face mask up. "Because I'm sure we have the same face."
"Your costume is wrong. Also, Cinder's hair is longer and golden."
"Oh my God." Cinder sighed and slapped at her face. "Seriously. I'm Cinder! Call Myth or something!"
"Show me your flames."
Once more, silence hung in the air, only this time it was her turn to not say anything. She awkwardly stood there. "About that..." She barely raised her hand up as something came flying at her face. It moved at fast speeds, coming at her as soon as Golden Weaver's leg twitched. Despite that, though, she managed to catch whatever it was and stared down at it. "What the hell am I holding?" It was a wooden block. One shaped like Golden Weaver's peg leg. That was when she looked back up, and her jaw nearly dropped.
Golden Weaver's left leg was raised up, and the wooden leg that had been attached to him wasn't on anymore. That was what she was holding. Instead, where his leg should have been, from the kneecap down, was a long metal blade. The golden hero brought his sword leg down and stabbed it into the ground. Then he lifted his right leg up, and once more, it twitched, or actually, it kicked out at fast speeds. The wooden pegs worked as a sheath, one that came flying off of him at high speeds, revealing the sword beneath.
With the loss of both of his legs, instead of trying to get clunky Mental-based tech to work, Golden Weaved had decided to attach swords to his body.
"He's so cool." Both Alexander and Cinder said at the same time.
Golden Weaver tested both of his bladed legs, bringing them down on the road as he awkwardly seemed to stretch. "Cinder or not, I was still told by director Ward to bring you in. You're quite popular, Miss. Maybe you really are Cinder, though I doubt it. In actuality, I think I know who you are." It was impossible to see his eyes due to the mask he wore, but Cinder knew in that moment he was glaring at her. "You're Skin Walker! The shapeshifter who used to serve the Emperor!"
"What! No!" Cinder let out a bit of a whine and flailed her arms. "You got it wrong! Seriously! She's the imposter! I'm not the sus one!"
"Now I know you're a faker! No sane person would ever use the word sus!" Golden Weaver's entire body twisted forward, and he brought his remaining arm up. It was missing most of its fingers, but he still had his pointer and pinky. They lifted, and from his wrist, his costume split open, firing out a golden thread. "Get ready, villain! I'm bringing you in!"
Cinder cursed and stepped back as Golden Weaver took off. It was just like when she fought Red Ape. They weren't surrounded by giant buildings, but many of the manors were tall, and there were still dozens of street lamps that hung around. Watching Golden Weaver move caused her eyes to burn. He wasn't in his prime, far from it, yet he became a golden blur as he seemed to literally bounce between the rooftops at high speeds, moving with his threading, which twisted and pulled any way it needed to. He kept building up speed, going around her, and sending out waves of sparks as his sword legs sliced into the ground.
Off to the side, in what used to be Ocean Empress's home, all the construction crew had stopped what they were doing and simply watched. They weren't the only ones either. Many of the rich people in the manner had left their homes and were watching the fight that was about to begin. At either end of the street, dozens of Hero Branch vans also pulled in, each one letting out dozens of armed soldiers that stood on standby while Golden Weaver got ready to take out the threat.
"Stop! You two don't have to fight!" Alexander called out from the van in horror. He really didn't want to see his daughter and his favorite hero try to beat one another to death.
"I agree with my dad! We can seriously talk this out!" Cinder called out to the golden blur.
Golden Weaver somehow got even faster. He kept flicking his arm out, causing the string to blast out, which would then work like a rubber band, stretching out before rapidly shrinking back down on itself, tugging him along. He used his sword legs to kick off of buildings as he flew further, boosting his speed as he got ready for his attack.
"Sorry! Orders are orders!" The hero said through clenched teeth. "Trust me, I'm not usually one for following them, but with all the chaos going on in our world in this moment, someone needs to step up! Someone needs to do something! And it just so happens, that person is me!"
Hope took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing her senses. She could still hear the man bouncing around above her. After a few moments, Cinder reopened her eyes and got ready for combat. "Okay then. Just remember I tried talking."
In a flash, Golden Weaver struck out. He came blasting down, using his elastic threading to launch himself down toward his foe. He twirled his body out, bringing his legs down hard, but thanks to her enhanced senses, Cinder dodged out of the way, stepping back just in time. The ground in front of her utterly exploded from the sheer force of Golden Weaver's strike, his blow kicking up rubble. The hero didn't stop, though, using his arm to support himself as he raised both his legs up and twisted with them like some sort of dancer. She was still in the middle of dodging the first attack, so she wasn't able to stop the blades as they both came slicing toward her and rammed into her side.
Golden Weaver let out a sudden grunt, and his entire body was forced to a total stop as his blades failed to pierce Kevin's hide. "D- Damn, you're sturdy-" The hero stopped when he saw a shadow loom over him, and he looked up just in time to see Cinder's fist flying toward his face at fast speeds.
No fire powers. She couldn't create a spark of flame, fly, or do anything like that. That meant she really just had one method for winning.
All-out offense.
She put all her trust in Kevin, tanking the sword blows he had done, and pushed herself forward on the heels of her feet. She twisted her body and struck out with a super fast, super strong jab, using the same punch Mr. Larison had taught her. It was a simple right-left combo, but it would do the trick. Her first fist rammed into Golden Weaver's head and hit him so hard she tore part of his mask away and rammed him into the ground. He wasn't out yet, though, and struck out with his own hand, smashing it into her face, but she didn't falter as she struck out with her second fist.
Before it could land, though, Golden Weaver managed to twist his entire body, showing insane flexibility, as he somehow brought one of his legs up. Her fist rammed into the sword that was attached to him, totally shattering it, but it bought him the time he needed. The hero's wrist fired out the thread, and it rammed into her face like a rocket, blowing her head back. It was hard and solid, nearly cracking her jaw. It clung to her face as well, briefly blinding her as she stumbled back.
Golden Weaver didn't stop there, either. He flung his hand out again, firing off more webs that wrapped around her arms and forced them back as the end of the golden thread attached itself to two different fences that stood in front of the many manors around them.
She was now blind and bound.
Golden Weaver remained on the ground due to one of his legs being destroyed and forced himself forward with his webs, causing it to yank him toward the girl as he sliced out with his remaining sword, this time going for a fast puncture attack instead of a broad stroke, so he could try to pierce the armor she wore. His blade impacted her gut, but the Kevin suit stayed strong. Or at least it tried to. The threading around her arms began to pull her toward Golden Weaver, while his own webbing pulled him toward her. So not only was he being pressed into her, she was being forced further onto his blade.
The Kevin suit twitched and shook as the blade began to stab into it, and with a loud growl, Kevin struck out himself. "That's enough!" From her back, a massive fist formed out of the red muscles that made up Kevin's body. It grew out like a tendril and came smashing down on the head of Golden Weaver, who was caught off guard. The strike sent the hero flying back, and Kevin pulled the tendril back into himself. "No one stabs Shift and gets away with it!"
"You almost seem like you're more into this than I am..." Cinder muttureed. She forced her arms past her body using all her strength and snapped the threading that bound them. Once that was done, she quickly ripped off the bit that clung to her face. "Still, thanks for the save. Your powers are actually crazy useful!"
"S- Seriously, is your suit alive or something?" Golden Weaver tried to sit up and spat out a few broken teeth. The right side of his mask had been badly torn from the strikes he took, showing messy brown hair filled with grays and wrinkled dark skin.
"Something like that." Cinder rubbed at her jaw from where his attack had landed. "You're down a leg, and I can break your threads. Let's just call it here, k'ay?"
"Don't get cocky. I'm nowhere near my prime."
"Me either."
"Huh?"
"I used to be way cooler." The flame-based hero pointed a thumb at herself. "I don't want to brag, but I did kind of solo the Beast, you know. I might not have my fire anymore, but I'm still a crazy strong girl."
Golden Weaver's eyes narrowed a bit. "You really aren't acting like how I thought a villain would be."
"That's because I'm not a villain." The younger hero poked her tongue out.
Golden Weaver let out another weak snort and struggled to stand on one leg, digging the sword into the ground. "Maybe. This fight isn't over yet, though!"
Cinder let out another sigh. "Seriously. I don't want to do this."
"Neither do I."
"Then why are you? Why are you listening to the Hero Branch? I really am Cinder, you know. I'm not kidding. I'm a hero."
"Maybe..." Golden Weaver trailed off for a moment. "When I was younger, I constantly ignored them, defied them, and did whatever I wanted. I always got away with it also because Full Monarch had been the one to personally put me onto the team. I fought alongside him every chance I had and tried to help him beat the Emperor. That action cost me my career, but I didn't care. Because, at that moment, I had helped the greatest hero alive. He died, though. Even after my help, even after all our help, the Emperor still killed him. And now, now I'm watching this all happen again. That man, Battery, reminds me so much of the Emperor. He's trouble. And the only one I can think of right now who can do anything is the hero, Boy Genius. That kid has already done so much, and I think he can even be the one to take the mantle of number one over when he is older. I know it's selfish and wrong to put all this hope into a kid, but I don't know what else to do other than follow after him. And he believes in the Hero Branch, so I will do the same!"
Mental tech was clunky. It always broke down and would need to be charged, or it could literally explode.
It was for that reason Golden Weaver never bothered to get any that could replace his missing limbs. He preferred the ordinary peg legs instead of metal that could explode. That said, he was still a famous hero. Even if he never asked for it, even if he didn't want to use it, he had still been gifted something. Something created to help put him back to the way he used to be.
Golden Weaver raised his mask up, showing his jaw beneath it, and he used his teeth to dig into the sleeve of his costume, ripping it away. A small wristwatch rested under his suit. With his tongue, he pressed down on the button that resided in the watch.
"You called yourself Cinder. You claim you're the Lord of the Sun. The very same hero who beat the Beast? For a moment, I was actually on the verge of believing you. It'd be so amazing if Full Monarch returned to us. I don't think you are him, though. You're nothing like him."
"You're right. I'm not Full Monarch." Cinder tried to say more, but the older hero cut her off.
"Exactly." A glow began to spread through Golden Weaver's body as the watch activated. "That's why I'll instead put all my eggs into the next best basket. I'm backing Boy Genius up all the way!"
As the glow ended, Cinder found herself taking a nervous step back. She wasn't the only one who was shocked. The people in the crowd all stared on with wide eyes, and Alexander's jaw was hanging wide open as he saw his idol dressed in an updated suit.
Golden Weaver now wore a black and silver costume. It looked close to his old one, being a body suit that was black with various silver lines that took on the shape of a spider. The sword leg he once had dropped to the ground, and instead, two mechanical, robotic legs took its place. His missing arm was also back, also made out of slick-looking silver metal. He was decked out in heavy Mental tech.
"Black Weaver, online."
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me-" She never got to finish that sentence.
If Golden Weaver had been fast before, then Black Weaver was simply in another league. His good arm fired out a golden thread that flew past her, while his robotic arm sliced out with a super thin black line that sliced the fence behind her to bits as she barely ducked under the attack. His golden line tugged, and in an instant, he rocketed forward, ramming feet first into her gut. She grunted and tried to take the blow head-on, gripping down on his legs and bending the metal, but he swung out with his metal limb once more, slicing out with the thin-bladed line.
Kevin screamed out as the line sliced into him, and even she winced as it went through the entire suit and cut into her side. She dropped the legs and stumbled back, grabbing at her bleeding side, and once more was forced to dodge as he kicked out with his legs. With gritted teeth, she used all her strength, as well as Kevin's, and rammed her arm into Black Weaver's gut. It barely caused him to flinch, though, as his suit absorbed the force of the blow and dispersed it into the space around him.
"This suit was made by Boy Genius and Beta." The dark hero announced. "It basically has dozens of powers already built into it." He twisted his body and punched out with his good arm, but she easily blocked the strike and struck out with several red tendrils that Kevin launched. Black Weaver was too fast now, though, and he easily dodged them all and jumped away from her. "Just give up." In a flash, he was up on the roof of one of the manners and folded his arms. "You can't win."
The people who were watching the fight all cheered and clapped, many of them screaming for Golden Weaver, or rather Black Weaver, to win. Cinder wiped some of the blood from her lips and frowned. She was starting to feel a bit ticked off. The people were treating her as if she were some villain.
"You do have one weakness, and it's a pretty big one." She called out casually. "If this suit was really so good, you'd have used it on the Beast or something, right?"
"It was built after the Beast fight."
"Still." She shook her head. "You would have used it earlier in the fight or just run around in it at all times, but you don't. See, I happen to be friends with another hero who uses tech, and I know that those things have short battery life. Tech this good runs out, especially with how much you have to push it in order to keep up with you. You aren't like Boy Genius either, so you can't recharge it. All I have to do is wait for that battery to die, and that suit stops working, no matter how cool it might be."
"Spoken like a true villain!" Black Weaver launched toward her again at fast speeds and struck out with his fist as he appeared in front of her. She met his blow with her own strike, her hand denting the metal one as they clashed. His other arm rammed into her face, but it barely tickled, his super strength dwarfed by her enhanced durability. She pushed down with her fist and tried to break his metal arm, but he pulled back and kicked her in the gut with his leg. She sucked in her gut and slapped out at the air as hard as she could, doing the trick Wyvern taught her during the Enforcers test, causing the wind to compress and be launched out.
The attack rammed into Black Weaver but didn't blow him back, as he used his golden threading to stay put, the thing stopping him from going too far. It tugged once more and snapped forward, launching him off of the ground, and he rammed a knee into her gut, causing her to crash to the ground with a gasp.
Black Weaver lifted his robotic arm up and fired out the thin line, bringing it down-
"Wait!" Cinder felt her eyes go wide as someone jumped in front of her. Alexander stood with both his arms out, his eyes wide as he got ready to take the attack. Thankfully, at the last second, Black Weaver managed to pull his arm back up, the threading reeling back into the metal arm, missing Alexander by an inch. Alexander let out a relieved gasp and dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. "I thought I was dead for sure!"
"Dad! Why would you do that!" Cinder gasped, trying to catch her breath. She had almost just watched her father die. It would have been a needless death, much like this entire battle was, as she had a means of getting out of the way. She also doubted Black Weaver would have killed her since he seemed to want her alive for that Ward guy.
"Dad?" Black Weaver had backed away as soon as Alexander jumped into the fray. The hero had a frown on his face as he stared at the man before him. "Why did you call him dad?"
"Because he's my father, jackass! You almost killed him!" Her eyes were filled with anger now as she stood up.
Black Weaver's frown only grew larger as he stared at her and Alexander. "This man is your dad?" Black Weaver studied Alexander's face for a moment. "Wait a second... I know you."
"Y- You do?" Alexander asked. The man's body kept shaking as he stared at his cyborgized hero. "Really?"
"Alexander Lauren. The man who escaped the Dead Virus." Black Weaver nodded his head. "I heard about you making it out of that hell alive. I've seen plenty of people who took the same thing you did and didn't come back from it. Tamer was a powerful member of the Enforcers, but it was able to still claim her life. Yet you, a mere human, resisted it for so long and came back from the brink of death perfectly healthy."
Alexander winced a bit. "Yeah... Perfectly healthy... Right..."
"If you're Alexander, though..." Black Weaver's eyes trailed back over to the person he had been fighting. "You're his daughter, and Cinder's real name is Hope Lauren, so then you're-"
"I'm Cinder." She stated in a blunt tone. "A hero. You know, the thing I've been saying since before this fight started!"
Black Weaver awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and didn't say anything. Even with the mask he had on, she could tell he held a guilty expression. Finally, he looked like he was about to say something, but then he stopped all of a sudden. His head snapped up, and he looked around. He likely had enhanced senses. She took a guess about that but was pretty confident she was right because she was doing the same thing he was. Her head also snapped back, and she stared toward the city.
"What is it, H- Cinder?" Alexander asked.
"I- I think I just heard-" Her enhanced senses went off once more, and she heard it again. Louder this time. A deep rumbling.
Something had just exploded on the other side of the city. Something big. Even from where they were, they could see it. A constant stream of black smoke began to rise up.
Black Weaver didn't say anything and took off. He swung out with his threading and began to swing toward where the danger was. He was followed a second later by Cinder, who tried copying him. With the help of Kevin, she was able to create several long red tendrils that jutted out and stabbed into the sides of the building, allowing her to also swing forward. It didn't take long for them to get out of the manor part of the city and reach the many different skyscrapers that were scattered throughout Lillian, allowing them to swing even faster and easier.
Back where she left her parents, Alexander jumped into the van and stared it up, chasing after his daughter and hero, who were miles away already. Thankfully, due to all the smoke, he didn't have to wonder where she was.
"What's going on?" Jane questioned with wide eyes.
"I don't know, but I think I might have a good idea of who's causing it," Alexander muttered.
"Who?"
"The one guy who's always involved anytime the hero Golden Weaver does anything..."
Black Weaver was the first to arrive on the scene. He came swinging down and clung to the side of a building. His eyes narrowed at what he saw. The street was full of fire, and a massive bank had a large hole blown into the side of it. People were screaming, and firefighters were trying to put out the flame. One building had even come down completely when one of Battery's giants had been rammed into it. The construct rested on the ground, heavily cracked and torn to bits.
"What could have done this?" Black Weaver didn't even flinch as the hero, Cinder, landed next to him. Instead, the older man stared up at the sky, where something floated.
"My nemesis." That was all he said.
"Your nemesis?"
She looked up at what he was staring at and also saw it. Someone hovered in the air, standing on what looked like a large silver board. They were dressed in a tight yellow outfit that was covered in scales and wore a half mask that was shaped like a lizard that covered their upper face. Their lower face was twisted into a grin, and they had a large white beard.
Yellow Kobold, the enemy of Golden Weaver, met her eyes slowly, though they shifted over to Black Weaver.
"Hello. Old friend." Then Yellow Kobold said something else. "Boom."
And in a flash, everything exploded.