Nemesis
Faction: Hero
Archetype: Blaster
Specialty: Archery
The Obsidian Arrow
Donnia Marks walked down the dark street when a hand grabbed her and yanked her into an alley. The Hellion pulled her close and laughed at her frightened expression. He began teasing her with his knife. He reached as if to stab her, but instead cut the handle of her purse. He made a break for it, but suddenly stopped. As he fell down, Donnia saw an arrow in the thief's heart. A dark figure slowly levitated down to the dead man. Donnia thought her luck couldn't get any worse, now a super villain was attacking her! He reached down for her purse then turned to her. As he walked forward she almost cried out in fear. When he raised his hand she feared he would strike her down but instead, he gave her the purse. She opened her eyes to thank him, but the mysterious hero had disappeared.
Faction: Villain
Archetype: Stalker
Specialty: Assassination
The Ruby Blade
Donnia Marks walked through the streets once more. It had been a week since her mugging and being saved by that mysterious hero. She almost laughed when another Hellion tried to take her new purse. She stopped laughing when he told her he was a good friend of the other gangster who died mugging her. He cut her wrist and she cried out in pain. He laughed, kicking her to the ground, then ran out of the alley with the purse. At the mouth of the alley, his silhouette jerked to the side and cried out in pain. Donnia opened her eyes and saw what she though was yet another silent savior. He picked up her purse then started moving towards her. She smiled and stood up to greet him. But then she looked into his eyes and she didn't see the kindness she saw in the hero. She saw a cold hate-filled look, and she started to run away. He teleported in front of her with his sword pointed straight out. Donnia ran right into it. The killer watched her shocked expression as he yanked out his blade and she fell to the ground. He turned to walk away but then had an idea. He grabbed a black arrow from a slit in his cape and put it into the sword wound. It was time he had some fun.
Gotta keep moving. Cant stop now they're right behind me! The Obsidian Arrow thought as he flew low through the alleyways, then rising to the rooftops to hide behind air vents as his much faster pursuers passed him overhead. For some reason he was being chased by Longbow!
I need to get over to my contact and see what this is all about, he thought. He jumped down and ran into the sewer entrance and looked around and made sure there were no Vahzilok to try to take him apart... again. He kept running, trying to ignore the disgusting water. He found the right manhole and climbed up. A quick run through a back-alley and he found he who needed to see...
As The Obsidian Arrow left the sewers, he didn't notice a dark figure smirking from a nearby rooftop.
"It looks like my plan is working excellently. I'll let these Longbow fools wear him out and then he will feel my blade."
He heard the flap of a cape and made himself invisible. When he saw it was a Longbow Scrapper he decided one less pursuer wouldn't matter. He faded from sight, then reappeared a moment later atop the do-gooder. The Ruby Blade drove him towards the ground and leapt off just before the hero crashed. Blade heard a loud crunch and was satisfied... for now.
Technically his contact found him. As the knife pressed up against his throat, Obsidian tossed the weapons wielder over his shoulder into a pile of trashcans.
"Stan what are you doing?" the hero asked.
"Oh come on Arrow, you know how dangerous it is out here. Super villains are everywhere these day and, let's face it, you don't look a whole lot like a hero."
The hero looked down at his costume. It was black, except for the jagged blue around his eyes and mouth, and the lightning bolt on his arms and legs, the boots and gloves spiked. The two arm bolts were connected by a bulls-eye on his chest that seemed to complete the image somehow.
Arrow shrugged and said, "I need you to tell me who planted that arrow."
"How come they're coming after you? That coulda been anyone's arrow," Stan asked.
"Apparently you haven't seen my arrows up close." He pulled an arrowhead out of a pouch on his belt and pressed on the sides. When he did the shaft sprung out. The head was black, and the wood had a polished shine. "All of my arrowheads are made out of obsidian. I get a steady supply from a provider off shore. He has no idea why I'm buying it and he doesn't ask. I don't normally have time to retrieve the arrows so the cops have plenty of them stashed in their evidence room."
"So did you do it?"
"What do you think?"
"Your right. Ok so what do you need?
" I need names. Give me every possible lead you have."
What could he say? It was just too easy. He thought maybe he would take down just one, and then try to find where Obsidian was headed. Blade stuck his katana out into the street and watched a Longbow speedster run straight through it. He actually went a whole seven blocks before the top half slid off. The bottom stopped four blocks after that.
Another flyer? He teleported above the hero, sword pointed down, and impaled the unfortunate fighter. He watched the body fall and wondered how these amateurs could ever enter a supposedly elite group of heroes.
Back to business, he figured. He set off to find his prey, but not before putting an endurance sapper on a teleporters back.
As the teleporter fell to his death, The Obsidian Arrow was flying to a very bad part of town. Now in Paragon City, there isn't really a good side of town either. It's just that this place was worse than the rest. Why? Because it was the home of the Black Spade, a club where almost every villain hung out. From lowly Hellions to the back rooms where Malta members made deals with the Carnival of Shadows. A hero could easily get killed in there. Good thing Arrow wasn't going in as a hero.
A Skull walked in and sat down at the bar. He didn't seem very comfortable in it and kept tugging on it like it didn't fit right.
The man he had sat down next to was a Joseph Mariche, an Underboss with the Family who had some connections to the Rogue Isles. Rumor was that his cousin's best friend was Emil Marcone. Whether this is true or not, Mariche knew a lot about the going-ons of the villains in the city.
The Skull whispered the password "Statesman wets the bed" into Mariche's ear doing his best not to laugh at how crooks deal with getting beaten all the time by the hero.
Joseph looked at him and yanked off the Death's Head mask showing a face he recognized all too well.
"What the hell are you doing? We don't like you goody-goodies here!"
He gave me the wrong password! Im gonna have to remember to pay Stan back.
"I need information. And if you don't give it to me I'd be happy to tell Nemesis who's been giving Black Scorpion information on his armor improvements."
Joseph gulped and after a few seconds of thinking said, "You play dirty you know that?"
Obsidian chuckled and asked, "Someone framed me for the death of a woman last night, one who I had saved the week before. I want to know who, why, and where can I find him."
"Bu-bu-but that guy would chop me to pieces!"
"Youre a villain, so its not my problem," he said with a shrug. And as he did so he pulled out a grenade-tipped arrow.
"Are you insane? You'll blow the whole joint to pieces!"
Obsidian started to pull on the ring on the grenade and Joseph finally cracked.
"Wait! Wait hold on.... there's no need to go all suicidal. I'll.... I'll tell you what you want to know. This guy is classified as a Stalker. A sneaky guy who specializes in, literally, stabbing you in the back. He has a red sword hard as a rock. Some say it's actually carved from a huge ruby. If that's true, whoever he is, he must be loaded."
"Thanks," Obsidian said. He handed Joseph the rubber grenade and walked out doing his best not to laugh at the stream of courses coming from Joseph's mouth.
The Black Spade. I'm almost impressed, thought The Ruby Blade. He hadn't thought his prey would start off with such a good lead. And his instincts told him who gave the hero his information. He figured if the hero was smart he'd check his supergroup's base for information on the wealthy people in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. He saw him activate a teleporter on his arm and the assassin decided his guess was correct. He also saw a nervous looking man in a white suit walking out of the club. Blade took out a dagger. He concentrated on the man's chest and threw. He heard the thud and the man's surprised gasp from across the street. Satisfied, Blade went to his own lair so he could see the files Obsidian was checking and plan his next move.
The Obsidian Arrow found what he was looking for. He ran into the Base Portal at the heels of the Blyde Square statue.
Once inside the Buttkickers of the Fantastic base, he quickly turned on his Cloaking Device. Now this could get more difficult. Good thing I watched Johnny test the security system, Arrow thought. He flew over the infrared sensors and took extreme caution around the turrets.
When he finally came to the bedrooms he got nervous. He stopped to listen, trying to tell if anyone was awake. He heard snoring. Loud snoring. Ok, I know Jack's asleep. He listened harder and heard flames accompanied by thuds. Ok, Burning's doing target practice. Good. He needs it.
Figuring that noise would cover his footsteps, he kept going. At the kitchen he saw Johnny Velocity scarfing down all the food in the fridge. So thats who ate my pizza!
He kept moving and found what he needed, the Super Computer. He activated it and typed in the Supergroup password. When he was in, he had access to all of the files he'd need. Only problem was.... he had no idea where, or how, to begin.
He was about to randomly start pressing buttons when he heard someone say, "Don't move." Obsidian put his hands up and turned around seeing Hyper-Man standing with his arm aimed straight at him. He was a hero completely encased in golden armor, his black visor completely hiding his face. His arm was coursing with energy, ready to launch a blast that would blow a hole through Arrow.
"I don't want to believe that you killed that woman. I don't want to, but I will shoot if you try to make a break for it. And trust me. I don't miss often."
"Ok just calm down, Hyp. Look me in the eyes. I did not kill her."
"Alright. If you say you didn't, then I'll believe you. Now, what exactly are you doing to my computer?" asked Hyper as he lowered his arm.
"I wanna find the guy who did kill her. Problem is... I dont have a clue to what I'm doing."
"Move over"
Hyper-Man typed rapidly on the computer pulling up three programs: one with a list of all the data on the murder case, one with a search program for Paragon City residents, and another for the Rogue Isles.
"Ok what do you know?" Hyper asked.
"Not much, just that he's classified as a Stalker and has a sword made out of a large ruby."
Hyper-Man whistled as he typed in a few things on each search. "Experts thought the wound on the woman looked like a sword wound not an arrow, but the police had already filed the report and requested Longbow teams."
"Figures," said Arrow.
"For the Rogue Isles theres no records on a RICH sword wielder. Plenty in Paragon City. If it was made out of a ruby though...." Hyper typed in a few more searches then hit another button. A sheet of names began to print.
"These are jewelers who have the skill and the materials to make something like a sword from something as expensive as rubies."
"Why can't you look up what they've sold in the last few years? Be nice if we could narrow it down.
"Do you think theyd want heroes to be able to find records of their deals with murderers?" When Hyper didn't get an answer he turned around. "Arrow?"
He was gone.
Atop the head of the statue in Blyde Square, The Ruby Blade watched his enemy leave the Base Portal. He looked like he knew where he needed to go. The assassin was glad to know that the fight would be coming soon. He was ready to kill this most amusing prey. He left, but not before throwing a ticking bomb down to the heroes training with Valkyrie and getting an "important" mission from Positron.
"Geez. 16 different jewelers and I've got NOTHING!"
Obsidian Arrow sat down on the curb, in his civvies, wondering what to do. None of the jewelers had ever made a sword, or sold enough rubies to anyone for them to make their own.
He was about to walk away when a shuriken hit the wall behind him. It had a note stuck to it. He took the note and read the message. It said 'Ready to end your pain?' He flipped the note over and saw an address.
He was ready.
A menacing figure slid back into the alleys shadows. He had traps to set before the fight began. But first, he needed to pick up a special package from the Circle of Thorns.
"Well, this is the place. Time to teach this guy what happens when you mess with me."
The Obsidian Arrow opened the warehouse door revealing a large open space.
"At least he won't be able to hide."
All around him a deep, echoing voice said, "Wrong."
Obsidian noticed the voice was being amplified from a speaker system set up all over the warehouse. "Show yourself!"
When he didnt get an answer he pulled out his bow, and nocked and fired several arrows, hitting each speaker except one.
Theatrics, he muttered.
He moved forward, another arrow ready. He went several steps before stepping on a pad, setting off the first trap. A spike slammed up and The Obsidian Arrow lept to the side, only scraping his leg.
The voice in the speakers chuckled at that, making Arrow so mad he almost took out the last one.
He got up and, limping, moved on. He needed to find where the assassin was hiding. Then he got an idea.
He grabbed a flash-bang arrow and launched it up into the rafters, then quickly launched a second flaming arrow at his target.
As the arrow went off, a man fell to the ground, slightly dazed. The fire arrow set off the sprinkler system so that he wouldn't be able to speed away without slipping.
"Good, good," said Ruby. "But not good enough!"
He charged sword extended, then stopped moving, allowing himself to slide along the wet floor. Arrow dodged by a hair and kicked Blade in the back, sending him face first, to skip across the floor to the other end of the warehouse.
As the villain rose the hero slid as well, nocking another arrow. Blade looked up, ready to attack again when he saw the arrow aimed straight at his heart. He raised his hands and said, "Now, now, no need for that." Then he waved his right hand, and suddenly, he was gone."
"Show yourself!" Obsidian said.
"As you wish," the assassin said as he plunged his sword deep into the heros chest. "This game is over."
All Arrow could do was fall to the ground. The assassins strike was so sudden; he couldn't even reach his medi-porter. He was going to die...
Except that something happened no one in that warehouse had counted on.
There was a crash through the window and eight people burst into the warehouse. Hyper-Man, Jack Power, Violet Tigress, Java Juggernaut, Chris Lancelot, Burning Brawler, Johnny Velocity, and Otsob were the rescue team. When they saw their friend on the ground surrounded by a pool of blood there was fire in their eyes. Brawler surged with angry heat, turning the water on the floor to steam.
"It's a good thing I prepared for such unfair odds." Blade pulled out a blood-red gem with a streak of white through the center.
"Ooooh shiny. What are you gonna do? Chuck it at me? I'd be out of the way in a snap," challenged Johnny, a hero in a red and black spandex outfit with goggles.
"Not good, that gems magic! Itll make the user godlike!" said Burning, a hero in a green costume with black flames on his arms, legs, cape and a fireball on his chest, with a hood that covered his face except for his glowing eyes.
"God or not I can take him," said the blue and yellowed-armored Jack Power.
Really? the villain said, and hit Jack with an uppercut, knocking him up out of the window the team had come in through.
"You shouldnt' have done that, Chris warned. Just as he said that Jack came leaping through the window and brought both hands down on the villains head.
Blade didn't even flinch.
Brawler gave an I told you so shrug.
Hyper decided they needed to act fast. "Ok everyone, attack at once. Hit him with your best."
They all rushed in Burning, Hyper, and the armored Java using their most powerful moves, and Jack, Chris, and Otsob taking a stomp-clap combo while Violet created illusory heroes and Johnny rushed in, clawing with vicious speed.
He took it all with hardly a scratch. He lifted his foot and stomped it on the ground, making a crater in the floor and sending everyone flying. Some recovered by hovering and others, like Violet, landed with cat-like reflexes.
They all stood in his way but he had a specific target. The girl would be first. He knocked everyone else aside, then shoved the purple-furred Violet down onto the floor.
He bent down with an evil look in his eye. She shuddered from his gaze but before he could do anything to her a super-charged fist broke his nose
There stood Java his eyes crackling with hate.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!!!!! He screamed in rage and hammered Ruby with his fists that crackled with purple and blue lightning. He smashed his fists into the villains face and, to everyones surprise, Blade was bleeding.
The only one who wasn't moving to aid Javas rage-filled assault was Otsob. He ran over to Obsidian Arrow and hurriedly gave him a reviving pill.
Arrow coughed blood for a minute but nodded his thanks. When he stopped he noticed Java and said, "Whoa. What's up with him?"
He didn't get an answer. Otsob rushed in to help Java before Blade recovered. They all rushed in. Fire raged, fists smashed, energy and electricity crackled.
Arrow got up and pulled up his bow. He had a special arrow just for this. He had it enchanted by Burning weeks ago when he had to investigate a section of Orenbega. He pulled the arrow as far back as he could, then let it fly.
It whizzed through the air with blue sparks flying and struck the villain on the side. But it didnt stop. It went completely through and the villain howled in pain and rage.
He whirled around, fists out, to knock everyone away.
No one fell.
Wha-what have you done?
Just made this game a little more interesting.
Ruby growled and waved his hand in a wide arc. Only Burning realized he was casting a spell, but before he could warn the others, it took affect.
This was not an offensive spell though; it showed the person what they wanted the most. It was meant to distract the enemy in tough situations.
Hyper-Man was walking along the street, and he wasnt trapped inside his suit, no devices needed to keep the energies that forced him to be contained in his armor. No one was staring or cowering, no villains jumping him just because he was a hero.
Jack was watching the news at the base; they just announced that the Tsoo had finally disbanded
.
Violet was playing with the worlds largest ball of yarn.
Java had in front of him, a cup of the best coffee in the world, one that appealed to every positive taste bud on the human tongue, and even Kheldian, tongue.
Jack wasnt the only one watching the news back at the base. Chris was there to and just barely heard the next news report over Jacks cheering. The newscaster announced that there had been a large crime bust breaking down the biggest of the bad. The major players in the Rogue Isles, Paragon City, and all the dictators who sought war for profit, had gathered together to make foolproof plans for world domination (and think to themselves how to stab each other in the back.) But an elite Strike Team of heroes assaulted the meeting and took everyone prisoner, or was killed. The money in all of the meetings members bank accounts was used to help the poor, ending world hunger.
Burning Brawler was in a gigantic library, filled with books of power and lore.
Johnny Velocity had a pizza, but not just any pizza. It was so big it took him five seconds to super-speed across.
Otsob was standing in a Council base that was in flames. The leaders of the Council at his feet, blood pooling around them, his father avenged.
What Obsidian Arrow saw wasnt an illusion though, what he saw was real. He grabbed the sharpest arrow in his quiver, and pulled it further back than he has ever been able to before. He saw his target, The Ruby Blade, who was laughing at Johnnys eating Burnings cape, Jack cheering at an invisible TV, Javas drooling, and Violet rolling Hyper around.
Blade went to look at Arrow to figure out his fantasy, but it suddenly became very clear. It became very clear when he had an arrow through his head. Then nothing was clear, and finally it all went black
Three weeks later, Hypers scratch wounds had cleared up and Jack came out of denial that the Tsoo were still around. Violet gave up on re-making that yarn ball, but Java still searched for the coffees recipe. Chris continued his attempts to round up the higher level gang members, but it always ended in their escape. Burning had his cape repaired, but wouldnt tell the Tailor how it got shredded in the first place, and Otsob searched harder than he normally did for much longer than three weeks for the Council leaders, wanting to fulfill his illusion. He came close, but instead of their deaths they were sent to the Ziggurat only to be broken out a month after that.
The Obsidian Arrow was free to roam the streets without being chased, two weeks after the fight. When the police searched the warehouse the body was gone but the sword was left behind. After the investigation was closed, the Kickers took it as a trophy and hung it in the vault.
The sword mysteriously disappeared a week later
The End?
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
March 13th, 1989
A young boy walked down the sidewalk. He couldnt've been more than 12 or 13. An old building came into sight, made of brick and mortar.
The boy ran up and eagerly opened the door. The inside of the small building was dark with many bookcases and shelves of odd items. Jewels and animal body parts, to name a few.
The only lighting in the shop was 7 candles. Three on each side and one large candle in the front behind the desk.
"Oh good, James your here. I need a little help, can you grab that box over there in the corner?" said the old owner, Roger Dags.
"Sure," James Warrens ran over and picked up the box. "What's in it?" he said as he started to open the box. "NO!!!" the old man looked furious that James would open the box, and suddenly the boy was very scared.
"Sorry. I overreacted. It's just that what is in that box it VERY dangerous."
James gulped and nodded, then gave the old man the box. He put it in the cabinet behind his desk and locked it. "Now, what I DO have is," he pulled out a handkerchief that laid flat on his palm, "this!" he said and he removed the handkerchief, revealing a small Statesman figure. "Here you go James."
"Oh wow!" the boy exclaimed. He couldn't believe how real the figure looked, almost like someone made a copy of Statesman and shrunk it. "How much is it?"
"No charge," the old man said as he smiled. "Wow thanks! I gotta get home though. I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Dags!"
He left the store staring at the figure. Looking at it made him feel good.
It was the last time he'd feel "good" for a long time.
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Continued...
He was almost home, he could see it right from where he was standing. Then, his home, and all of his neighbor's homes, exploded.
James screamed as a loud roar came closer, a fleet of small hovering turrets flew overhead, blasting at the different buildings. Once the fleet passed he heard a different sound and recognized it, just before he saw them. It was a marching army. A thousand soldiers, wearing red and black, with gas masks, and rifles on their shoulders marched towards the city.
He didn't understand why they were attacking his home. They had enough robots to take out the handful of heroes in Paragon City, so what is with the extra troops?
He soon realized though, they weren't an invading force, they were an entourage. James ducked back into an alley and watched the troops march past, some firing rifles at the terrified people, just because they didn't like how loud they were being. He was so terrified he almost didn't notice the litter, and who it was they were holding up.
He couldn't see the man very well but he could hear the conversation, it's a shame he didn't understand much German. He heard the soldier say the name "Reichsman" a lot and was confused until he heard a few words he recognized: late, fight, and one name in English. That name was The Freedom Phalanx.
James couldn't believe it. It's all the heroes fault that his friends and family were murdered! They called out this army and now he had nothing! No one!
As his rage grew he heard a new sound, the sound of metal being smashed to the ground. The heroes had arrived. They made short work of the robots it seemed because the soldiers were firing their rifles soon after the sounds of battle had begun.
It wasn't long before he actually saw the heroes themselves. They attacked the soldiers fiercely and took many down in a matter of seconds. It wasn't long before James saw one hero he actually recognized. Statesman.
Statesman yelled for the Reichsman to stop hiding behind his foot soldiers and he heard the Reichsman yell back, this time in English, "Who's hiding?"
He then saw the leader, looking similar, but still very different, from the hero, fly straight at Statesman. They clashed for many minutes before a mis-thrown flash-bang grenade knocked the boy out.
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Continued...
March 14th 1989
James woke up dazed and didn't remember where he was but only for a moment. When it all came back to him he tried his best to hold back the tears.
He couldn't.
He limped out of the alley and saw the destruction. Everything was ruined. He saw where his house used to be. Everything was in flames.
He turned back to where the old magic shop was. He hurried. "No, no, no. They can't oh God please no."
He got worried. He should have seen the roof of the shop by now. He kept running then saw all that was left was the foundation. The explosions had cracked the support beams and knocked key bricks loose.
He ran onto the shop's remains and began to dig. He didn't know why, but he felt like if he dug everything would be ok. Then he found it.
It was the box Mr. Dags told him not to look into. He tried to resist it but something forced his hand to rip it open. He looked inside and saw a book. But not just any book. This was special. He could feel it.
He reached into the box to take out the book. When his hands touched it the box caught fire and was burnt away in the blink of an eye.
James tried to pull his hands away but they seemed glued to the tome. The insignia of flame on the cover glowed, and from the insignia an orange energy surged from the cover of the book, up to James' arms. He felt a heat so intense he felt like he was about to be consumed, same as the box was. The insignia began to fade, then disappeared, and when it did, a final surge of power from the book knocked him back 10 feet.
When he got up his grief was gone. All he felt... was anger. But not at the Reichsman and the 5th Column, but at another who was at the fight. He pulled the figurine out of his pocket. The legs were broken and the head was hanging on by a splinter.
This is what Warrens wanted to see, but real. This anger and hate welled up inside of him and a burst of flame flew from his hands. He jumped back in shock. Then a grin spread across his face. He threw another forty bursts of fire into the air.
Now he had a way to kill the one responsible for the loss of his family and friends. He just needed some assistance. But before he killed Statesman, he wanted him to feel loss as well. He would make sure the Freedom Phalanx paid first. But if he was going to destroy them, he would need his own army.
In Paragon City, it shouldn't be too hard to find some thugs to take down heroes.
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May 22nd, 2002
"We shall deal a crippling blow today my friends. The Freedom Phalanx will buckle under the pressure of our blazing assault!" yelled the super-villain. His costume was black with red flames leaping up the arms and legs, and one fireball on the chest. His cape blowing behind him and the fire in his eyes made him an inspiring site for his minions who were cheering loudly as their leader prepared them for the fight.
"The heroes cannot stand against us, the Legion of the Black Flame, for all of us each possess the power, the hunger, the hate, for those heroes. They shall know pain! They shall know fear! And above all..." he paused until the crowds cheers dimmed. "Above all... they will know what it is like to lose what they care about. Their friends! Their comrades! And then finally... themselves!" This brought a deafening cheer.
The super-villain left the balcony letting his minions continue their cheering. As he passed under the archway one of his lieutenants walked up beside him.
"Inspiring speech, my lord," he said.
"It's not to difficult for an occasion such as this. They have been waiting for the final assault for a long time. The day the Freedom Phalanx falls. Not just them either Heat Stroke, I also have been waiting for this day. For me, this isn't just about conquest, if it were I'd have attacked a city that wasn't full of super-powered heroes. No. This is all about revenge."
Heat Stroke almost asked why their master wanted revenge but he had soon far too many friends incinerated for asking questions about their leader's past.
As they neared the master's quarters Heat Stroke wisely turned to the right, towards the lieutenant's rooms. They both had a lot of final planning to do.
The villainous leader stepped through the doorway and felt the wards pass his skin. He walked up to a large, black book that was open on a stand. He turned the pages making sure he had memorized all the spells he needed to for the assault.
When he was satisfied he closed the book revealing the flame on the cover that returned ten years after it infused the villain with its power. Then it hit him. Tonight was the night he got his revenge. Tonight was the night that the Freedom Phalanx would pay.
Burning Brawler was ready for that.
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As the night deepened the Legion of the Black Flame marched towards Atlas Park, preparing to take City Hall's government officials as hostages. The residents in the surrounding apartment were woken by what sounded like thunder, but was the force making their steady approach.
They stopped 100 yards from the Atlas statue, and all stepped out and to the side leaving a large hole in the center. A dark figure rose from that hole and flew to the top of the globe. "My minions!" he shouted, once he got their attention he turned to City Hall. "Kill them!" he yelled pointing straight at the building.
The army rushed forwards and those who could set their hands aflame. Once they got in range the Corrupters launched their fiery assault softening up the outer walls. Then the Brutes made it up to the walls and as one, smashed through the already damaged walls.
The building would have collapsed. Should have collapsed. Except there was someone holding up the roof.
Statesman, with an army of heroes below him.
"CHAAAARRRRGGGGEEEE!!!!!" the heroic leader yelled, and all the heroes rushed at the Legion. All except one force-fielder who set up an invisible wall to keep the roof of City Hall up so Statesman could join the fray.
The forces clashed and many died in the first few seconds. Some of the Legion used an inferno to burn the heroes to death, until a Blaster used a Nova to knock them clear into the sky.
Burning Brawler watched the battle from on top of the globe, arms crossed, savoring every moment.
At least he was, until a red-gloved fist knocked him off.
Brawler recovered and menacingly hovered back up to the top of the globe. There was Statesman, challenging him to a fight.
Brawler smirked and touched a hand to the globe, then infused it with heat. When he phase shifted Statesman realized what we was doing, but was too late. The globe exploded sending shrapnel that skewered Legionnaire and hero, including Statesman.
He was cut and bleeding everywhere. As Brawler un-shifted Statesman threw a lightning bolt his way. Brawler ducked and smelt burning ozone right by his ear. He laughed at Statesman's poor shot and threw a small metallic device at the hero.
Statesman caught it and was confused until he saw a blinking red light.
It was a bomb.
He turned and threw it into the air where it exploded somewhere in the Stratosphere. He turned around and got a fireball in the face.
Statesman angrily rushed in to sock Burning in the face. Brawler got a good three or four shots in before dodging at the last second. Every couple times Statesman would land the punch or hit Brawler with a lightning bolt. The battle went on like this till the sun rose and everyone, super-villain, hero, and henchman, were exhausted.
Then one particularly loud henchman said, "Ey! What the hell is this? There be stars in the sky in the mornin'!" "Those aren't stars... In fact I think they-" the hero tried to finish but she was vaporized, not by a villain's fire, but by a laser beam.
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As the hero went from bone to ashes panic ensued. All of the minions and heroes ran in panic unsure of what to do. Brawler made his escape at this point and let Statesman get the masses under control.
Statesman tried but even he was in shock as hundreds of green lines came down. Some were more vaporizing lasers but others... they were different.
These different lines, they all soon saw, were teleportation beams. Alien soldiers in black armor came down and fired energy rifles stunning some, killing many.
Statesman forced his will upon the Freedom Phalanx, to calm them, make them more attentive to the situation, and to give them the boost in power they'd need if they were to survive the day.
They fought back against the aliens but for every one they killed two more teleported down. Statesman did his best to control the Phalanx but they were worried about the Legion, wondering how long until they switched from fighting the aliens to fighting the heroes.
The fight only got worse as the day went on. The amount of Rikti in the area seemed endless and the hero feared all was lost. Then he noticed something. Those stars were the source of all these Rikti. He flew up until he saw a large amount of clear round shapes. Thousands of them.
"Oh God we're doomed..."
Statesman didn't notice the invisible villain behind him. Brawler saw his chance. He could kill Statesman now and take his revenge before the aliens did it for him.
But he didn't want it to end like this. He wanted a fair fight. He was about to fly away when he noticed something odd about one of the ships. It was shaped differently and the other ships seemed to move with it. It had to be the mother ship.
He flew up to the hull and burnt a hole through. Aliens flew out of the hole in a line and as soon as it ended Brawler went in. The ship didn't seem to be loosing altitude from the hole so if he was to destroy it, Brawler would have to take out the engines.
He snuck through the corridors of the ship looking for what had to be the engine room. The aliens didn't see him when he walked by; he liked this kind of enemy.
He spent at least an hour walking around before he found the engine room. He walked in and closed the door.
He heard a loud vwooooooom and saw a couple dozen green lights turn on. It was a bunch of drones. Good thing these can't see me, he thought.
He was wrong.
They launched energy bolts at once that he barely dodged. He ran to the back of the room and tried to fight them off but there were too many, and he was cornered.
He couldn't believe it. He was going to die. He should've killed Statesman when he had the chance, now he won't be able to. This made him angry. Furious even. This rage built inside him, it was a familiar feeling, from back when he got his abilities. But this was more powerful. This energy wasn't released from his hands. It was from every inch of his body. A powerful explosion annihilated the robots, blew up the engine making the heat worse, and knocking the engine room off of the ship itself.
A lone hero saw a small figure fall from an exploding ship. She hit sped towards the figure and caught the man a few feet from the ground.
"Oh God," she said. His skin was burnt horribly. It was blacker than coal. She had to get him to the hospital but she didn't have time to run him there, so she attached her medi-porter to him. She hit the button and watched him disappear, saving Burning Brawler's life.
At least her death was quick when the engine room debri flattened her.
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"Uuuuughhhh my head. Where am I?" Brawler sat up groggily and it didn't take him long to realize he was in a hospital.
As the days events came rushing back to him he jumped out of the bed, or tried to. He was in restraints.
"OK no problem..." he heated his arms and the metal turned red but never melted.
"Yeah I'm screwed..."
"From the way you're talking now it seems that ordeal has knocked a bit of humor into you," said a voice in the corner. It was Statesman.
Now Brawler panicked. Here we was, unable to move a muscle, and there was Statesman who could take his sweet time beating him into a pulp. "I know what you're thinking and don't worry I'm not going to kill you. I saw what you did, it was not something a villain would do."
"Why did you let the Reichsman kill my family?" he asked, glaring at the hero.
"Oh no. I'm so sorry. But what you must understand is that the Reichsman, that was the first time he appeared. In fact it took months before we finally cryogenically froze him under the Zig."
"But he said something... something about you being late."
"Well, he was urged to come to us by a time traveler who I suppose gave him a slightly inaccurate time."
It all made sense. And worse that meant that all the years Brawler had spent plotting Statesman's death.... he had been trying to save everyone and just couldn't get there in time.
"I.... I'm not sure what...."
"Considering that your blowing up that mother ship is what gave us many important pieces of the Rikti tech, that's what the aliens are called, we were able to build a portal. It should be operational in a couple of days and we'll be sending in an elite team of heroes to close off the Rikti side of the portal, ending this invasion."
"What about the team going in?"
Statesman bowed his head.
"Oh. Sorry."
When Statesman lifted his head he said, "Anyway, because of what you did we're going to place you on a sort of parole. If you become a hero and leave the ways of villainy, we'll be happy to pardon you of today's events. Even you're assault on Atlas Park."
Brawler stared open-mouthed. Become a hero? But why not? He has gifts and he has no more grudge against the Phalanx so why be a villain anymore?
Statesman watched him patiently and Burning Brawler accepted.
Statesman shook his hand and said, "Good to have you aboard. Now, there is a small issue of the fact that others won't be so quick to trust and forgive you as I. Be ready for the many to still accuse you of being a villain. I really don't want to tell it to you like this but... well you already have a disguise on you."
Brawler was confused. A disguise? Statesman showed him a hand mirror and he saw what the hero meant. He saw his skin was darker than night most likely because of the engine's explosion.
"Well I... I guess that means all I have to do is change my costume and they won't recognize me..."
"And your name?"
Brawler thought it over for a little bit. "I'll keep it. And I'll prove to the whole city I'm on the right side from now on."
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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! "Uuuuugggggghhhhh" Burning Brawler reached over to hit the snooze button on his alarm and ended up melting it. That was the sixth one this week.
He lay there for a while before getting up. When Java turned on his Deluxe Coffee Maker XG he couldn't get back to sleep. The smell was too enticing. He wasn't a caffeine fiend like Java but he liked a cup in the morning.
He walked out of the hallway and was almost run over by JV. "Don't you know what time it is?" Brawler said, almost too soft to be heard. Almost. JV came back and said "Yeah it's 3, what were you doing last night?"
"Nothing I just had a dream. It wasn't something I like to remember but I just couldnt wake myself out of it."
"Oh ok. Well I need to go find Jack. He walked into a convention hall full of Tsoo fans. He's out by the arena in Peregrine sucking his thumb in the feeble position." Johnny shook his head and sped off.
Brawler went back into his room to change into his costume. The hood did a nice job covering the scars he got 3 years ago.
When he came back out he decided he'd go straight out into the streets for some warm-ups before teaching Ice Minstrel how ice turns to steam.
He took his time toying with Hellions and then eventually working some Malta titans.
He felt pretty secure so he headed down to a boat that would take him into the Rogue Isles and drop him off not far from where Minstrel was making a deal with Ghost Widow to stop the Fortunatas and the Mu Mystics from attacking each other. The hottest women in Arachnos and Brawler was the one who got to take em down. Now if only Silver Mantis was there, then we could have a party! Maybe Brawler should have brought back up, but he figured he could make it seem like a betrayal and have the two, or hopefully three, fight each other than take em out when they're weak.
He ran into the warehouse and was surprised that there were no henchman to stop him. He flew to the back of the warehouse expecting to find the arch-villains but there was no one there. This warehouse was completely deserted.
"Don't tell me I'm in the wrong place! That's the last time I ask directions from a guy I just gave 3rd degree burns..."
"Oh you're in the right place. I'm just not who you're expecting," said an unknown person. It wasn't a girl either.
Brawler whirled around and saw a face that, if Brawler's hadn't been burnt like it was, could have turned his own a ghostly white.
He didn't see a "face" though. It was a mask. A mask he knew all too well.
"Heat Seeker! But you were nothing but ashes!"
"Correction, all you saw was ashes. And in the hero, or even villain, business: 'They aren't really dead if you don't see a body.'"
"Well I guess I'll just have to finish what you started!" he yelled as he launched a bolt of fire, the same one that killed, or he thought killed, Project Heat Seeker.
The villain held up his hand, palm out, and absorbed the bolt, the heat didn't even make him flinch.
"What the-" BAM the villain threw the bolt back at him like a spear. It cut through Brawler searing him with a power he'd only felt once before. He screamed in rage and pain as he fell to the floor. He struggled to get to his belt. He pressed two buttons, one was his medi-porter, the other was the 'Kickers High Alert.
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Burning Brawler materialized in the med-lab of the 'Kickers base and began to collapse on the floor except Java caught him. "BB what happened to-" he saw the wound that could let you, literally, look right through Brawler. Java ran him over to the regeneration tank, a holding place for the mortally wounded that Brawler had designed. It used arcane rays to heal and dull the pain from the potentially fatal wounds.
When the tank released Brawler felt well enough that he was able to make his way to the teleportation room to explain the situation.
They all came in one group after another. Hyp, Noc, and Jack all looked like they'd been practicing in the arena while Vi and Chris came in from the store where Vi was buying more yarn for the ball she was trying to recreate from her fantasy given by The Ruby Blade almost three months ago. JV, Phantom, and Shard all came in holding money in their hands cheering.
When they realized they'd been teleported and recovered from the dizziness of having your particles taken apart and reassembled in another location, they waited for an explanation.
"We heard the alarm go off BB. What happened?" Jack asked.
"We have a problem, a very bad problem. See the burn marks on my costume? Look closely Hyp."
Hyper leaned close and saw the scorch marks on the costume, "Char? I thought we took care of him last week."
"Not Char. Look closer at the burns.
He stared for a few seconds then said, "These look much more focused. Definitely more powerful than the burns on Shard. This can't be good."
"It isn't. There was something I never told you guys.... I used to be an... an Arch-Villain."
Some apparently knew but how Brawler didn't know, most were shocked, the rest were wary.
"BB I think we'd all feel better if you explained a little," Jack said.
"Well.... during the Rikti War something... happened. I thought Statesman was the cause of a great wrong in my life, but it was all a misunderstanding. A horrible mistake that Statesman thought I might be able to rectify if given a second chance. Some of you may have heard of the battle called 'Flaming Rage'?"
A few nodded and others looked completely confused. "Well I was the leader of that attack...."
"No! I looked at your records and saw your record but I never thought...." Hyper was a little worried by this revelation and BB was worried that he might be put in restraints.
"The thing is, I helped turn a battle in the War and because of it Statesman thought I had a chance for redemption."
"What does this have to do with the alert though?" Shard asked.
"Well... a little more than a year ago Crey Industries was under a lot of scrutiny and they needed a way to convince the public they were on the right side. Some people still thought I was a villain and I had messed with Crey's plans recently so I was the perfect target for their plan. They made this... robot, called Project Heat Seeker. It was created using some of my genetic tissue and it was programmed for a single objective. Kill me."
"What happened to the robot?" Noc asked, already guessing where this was going.
"He found me after I was leaving a Family smuggling warehouse. We fought for hours and he was destroying everything around him trying to kill me. His assault finally hurt a civilian. A small boy who reminded me of myself during the Reichsman's attack on my neighborhood, alone and scared. Seeing the kid afraid like that made me so.... angry I... I burnt him to ashes. Or so I thought. That warehouse was a trap, and he's much more powerful. I doubt that any emotional burst in strength will help me this time."
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The 'Kickers split into three teams, Noc, Jack, and Chris would search Independence Port, Striga Isle, and Talos Island. Brawler, Shard, and Hyp would search Brickstown, Eden, and Crey's Folly. Java, Vi, JV, and Phantom would all search Kings Row, Atlas Park, Galaxy City, and Perez Park.
As JV's team beat down Hellions in every area and were told that lately, many of their gang's Damned left the gang without even telling a higher official.
As Jack's team jumped through their assigned areas they began questioning, against Jack's wishes, Tsoo. They spent hours pounding on them until they found one with some information on a place where recently many different thugs had been seen to gather at.
Hyp's team attacked the Crey since they were the ones who had created Heat Seeker. Apparently the Countess assumed him dead to because none of the scientists they interrogated knew anything about the robot. During it's first fight against Burning Brawler it must have taken off its GPS locater because Crey claimed that's all they found.
When they all regrouped back at the base they discussed what they discovered.
"Well the most of the Damned are deserting the Hellions and I don't think it's a moral issue," Java said.
"From rumors I heard my followers either joined with the Hellions or left the country," Brawler replied.
"Our team found a potential meeting area and this better be it because that was a lot of Tsoo," said Jack.
"All right, we found out that Crey doesn't seem to have any knowledge of Seeker even still being alive. If that warehouse is where Heat is remaking the Legion we can attack fast and end it before it gets too bad," Hyp said.
Then Brawler said, "We'll head out tomorrow night when they should be having a meeting, that way we can get the majority of them fast and easy. Spend tonight getting ready because tomorrow will be hell."
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Nine men and women wearing black jeans and full-sleeve shirts with red flames and low hanging hoods walked up to the warehouse. The security guard looked them over and let them inside.
When the figures entered they walked to the back of the room waiting for this meeting to begin. They looked at the unbelievably large amount of people in the room and noticed that when a robotic villain took the stage everything went silent.
"Friends, allies, and stranger. We have all come together tonight to put in place the final steps of revenge against the one who abandoned us, left us all to die and became what we all despised. We come here tonight to finalize our plans of revenge against Burning Brawler."
Eight of the figures looked to the one standing in their center and swear they heard him chuckle.
"As you remember from our last meeting I said that our enemy and his comrades would deliver themselves to us. I was right."
Suddenly Seeker disappeared and the 'Kickers prepared for a fight. When they looked to Brawler to make sure he had started reading the scroll that would send most of the thugs in the room to jail they noticed he had disappeared as well.
"Where'd they go?" Vi asked as she deactivated her holo-disguise, realizing there was no point in it now.
"Not sure but before we can figure that out we have a problem of our own," said Jack deactivating his disguise as well.
The rest of the 'Kickers present: Hyper, Noc, Phantom, Java, Chris, and Shard deactivated their disguises and prepared for the fight.
"Ok, I'll Nova in the center, Java you take the back. Shard make an ice storm in front and Jack, you, Noc, Chris, and Vi and Phant's illusions keep them busy and try to keep them off their feet," said Hyp. This would have been much easier if Brawler was here with his scroll but they'd just have to do their best.
The enemies ran forward eagerly and were suddenly chilled to the bone. In the back massive explosions were heard and Legionnaires went flying. The tanks and pets ran in to make sure the villains' focus wasn't on the recovering Blasters.
As Jack stomped the tiles on the warehouse floor rose into the air knocking all of the Legion members in a twenty foot radius off their feet and making the rest sick to their stomach.
Noc was quickly smashing the enemies' skulls in and doing her best to keep them occupied while Chris did the same.
Phantom's decoys were made to look like Hyper and Java and confused their enemies greatly when the should-be-dying Blasters weren't even flinching.
When Vi saw some of the villains had seen through the trick she hurriedly covered them in such intense radiation all their hair fell out. She quickly sent out some phantasms to mop up the vomiting villains.
Once Hyp and Java had recovered they lept back into the fray. The villains were mopped up in a matter of minutes. Most of the ones who could wield fire in the days before the organization's crumble were either killed in the Rikti War or didn't think this organization's resurrection would work.
Elsewhere...
"Ugghhhh where am I?" Brawler struggled to get up and noticed his holo-disguise was gone. He thought hard but didn't remember how he got there and that worried him greatly. He seemed to be in an old building with tan brick walls and.... then it hit him. He was inside the old Legion of the Black Flame main base.
He jumped to his feet and wildly looked around expecting to be ambushed but nothing happened. He looked around and decided if he was going to get out of here he'd have to... then he remembered. He remembered Project Heat Seeker delivering a speech and then revealing he knew the 'Kickers were there and... and he teleported Brawler to this base. The only question was: how on earth did he even know where it was?
He started walking and saw the security corridor. "I'm sure the defenses' magic has expired by now." He figured better safe than sorry though and turned himself invisible and flew into the air. The runes were placed on the ground and the weapons were only able to see visible objects. They were enchanted to attack anyone who walked by them except Burning Brawler but he didn't want to take any chances.
He flew past the corridor and looked at his old room. It was larger than the Meeting Hall in the 'Kickers base. Brawler almost smiled seeing his old possessions, except that he remembered some of the horrible things they contained. When he became a hero he returned to the Legion base to recover some of his old items but some of them were so dark he couldn't bear to touch them. He was about to leave and search somewhere else until he noticed a room that was very important to Brawler as a villain.
Large stone doors blocked off a room with a seal on it that, to be opened, required intense temperatures only a master fire wielder would be able to unleash. Brawler was, and still is, powerful enough to open the seal to this most important room. He concentrated and breathed a powerful flame hot enough to melt off certain areas of even Hyper's armor.
The doors turned bright red and slowly opened revealing a long, narrow hallway lined with pillars. At the end of this hallway on a raised dais sat a ball. This was no ordinary ball though. It was covered with eldritch runes of power and rage and emanated a dark power that you could feel invading your very thoughts.
Brawler squinted and saw something near the item. He flew ahead and realized the thing was actually the last person he wanted near the item.
There was Project Heat Seeker, his hand on the item, the item's energy infusing into the villain, and Seeker laughed maniacally at his assumed triumph.
Brawler knew that that item was powerful. He also knew that it was a dangerous thing. Finally, he knew that he was in for the fight of his life.
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"Oh good you're awake. I considered killing you in your sleep but watching your pain is more," taunted the villain.
"Step away from that; it's too powerful for anyone to use like that. I can't do it without my essence-"
"Separating itself from the rest of my form?" said the villain as his skin began to melt away revealing an evil malice exactly like what was emanating from the orb. It moved like flame but was much more sinister and much more powerful. "But that's exactly what I wanted it to do!"
"But you're not human! How could you have-"
"Oh I am, was, very human. Now I'm something more! I used to be your lackey now I will be your destroyer!"
"Lackey? What do you mean my... Heat Stroke?!"
"I see you remember. Yes it is I. After you abandoned me and all of your other loyal followers how could you not be expecting something like this to happen."
"But Crey said they-"
"They said they found a way to deal with you and they were right. When I heard they were looking for a way to look good in the public eye I was all too eager to offer my services."
"You aren't getting out of here one way or another. Incorporeal forms can't pass through this base. The wards I placed here will last hundreds of years."
"Oh I'm quite corporeal," he said as he threw a blaze of fury at Brawler.
He barely dodged it and launched his own fiery bolt, but when it hit Heat Stroke his spirit form absorbed it.
"You can't hurt me hero. Your attack will only strengthen me, and once I've killed you I'll come and kill each and every one of your friends. I think I'll kill them slowly, make them suffer, feel the heat slowly melt their skin away."
Brawler's glowing eyes flared into flames at that and charged forward his hands enveloped in flames. He punched and kicked and clawed at the essence but to no avail. The spirit just mocked him. Until one of Burning's fists turned blue and touched the spirit's form, freezing him in place.
Brawler smirked and said, "The fire may make you more powerful but ice is handy for making a spirit prison."
As he turned to walk away he heard a rumbling. He turned back to the ice block and saw it shaking violently. When the spirit moved he tried to fly away but couldn't get far enough away. The crystal exploded sending shards everywhere and one large icicle, which impaled Burning Brawler in the chest.
Brawler looked at the point through his chest in shock and fell to the ground. As blackness clouded his vision he saw a gooey red liquid pool around him.
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Groggily, the prisoner looked at his surroundings.
"Oh good you're awake," said a cold, cruel voice. A voice the prisoner recognized and immediately set him on the alert.
"Stroke! Get me out of.... wherever I am!"
"You are in the torture room of the base," said the villain and Burning tried to throw a blast of fire at him but as soon as he summoned it, it dissipated, "complete with nullifying runes," he said chuckling.
"Why are you doing this? I was dying, why put me in here?"
"So I can bring you to the brink of death, then heal you, then do it all again, giving me the satisfying pleasure of listening to you scream for mercy and death. Then I will give you an offer, the offer to become my second-in-command in the Black Phoenix, a new organization rising from the ashes of your pathetic gang."
"No torture will make me fall. You might as well kill me now."
"You'll be very surprised how differently you see things when in agony."
In the 'Kickers base...
"Hyper do you have a location on him?" said a woman who was pacing nervously.
"Not yet Danica, don't worry I'm sure he'll be fine. For all we know he's trying to find a way back to us."
Danica wanted to believe him but she felt like there was something very wrong with her husband at the moment.
She had no idea how right she was.
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There was a knock on the door and Danica hurried over and opened it. Hyp was standing in the doorway and said, "We have his location, are you ready to leave right now?"
"Yes I just need to grab a few things."
She ran to the back of the apartment and heard a boy say, "They found dad?"
She looked over at him and nodded.
"Then I'm coming with you," he said. The boy was 14 and wore a costume that seemed a mix between his father's and a Void Hunter Mercenary. It was all black except for the pure white flames leaping from the boots and gloves. He had a cowl over his mouth and black sunglasses to hide his identity.
"It's too dangerous," she said as Danica left her room in a plain, brown leather costume with a red cloth belt.
"But-" then Danica left to follow Hyper back to the base.
Inside the 'Kicker Control Room...
"Ok we have BB's location. It's an underground area that used to be part of Orenbega," several groaned at this.
"I swear he knew this would happen and chose Orenbega for his base just to tick me off," said Shard.
"I've configured the teleporter so it'll take us right to the center of the base where we'll all stick together, yes I said stick together, and search for any signs of BB or Heat Seeker," said Hyp.
After he typed the coordinates on the mission computer they all walked to the teleporter, and didn't notice an extra sneaking in behind Jack.
The center of the Legion of the Black Flame base...
Once they were all inside: Jack, Hyp, Danica, Java, Vi, Chris, Noc, JV, Phantom, and Shard, they began debating which way to go until finally Jack picked up most of them and started carrying them left. With two-thirds of the group now going one way the rest had no choice but to follow.
They walked down a long hallway and didn't stop until they saw blood.
"That's not-" Noc began to say.
Danica bent down and rubbed her fingers on it. "No it's dry, but that's just as bad."
They all realized what she meant by this but moved on without comment.
When they saw a large stone door with iron bars across it's front they stopped. "Ok I can break this in," said Jack. He pulled his fist far back and launched it like a bullet at the iron. Everyone heard a loud crack but it was from Jack's knuckles not the door.
"Tough stuff," he said massaging his hand.
"Here, let me try," said Danica and she began feeling along the door.
"I dunno that you can-" Jack began to say but Danica found the spot she was looking for and side-kicked it, breaking the door in half and causing the halves and the iron bars to fall to the ground.
"Never mind...."
They looked at the large room that was filled with jars of organs and body parts and bloody swords and other devices. As they came to the racks and thumbscrews they saw a person chained to the wall high enough that his feet dangled.
"James!" Danica yelled and she ran forward. There was Burning Brawler, hanging there, limp, seeming lifeless. Danica began to panic until she noticed his chest moving faintly. "He's still breathing. Chris can you help me get these shackles off?" She looked up at Brawler's face and he was staring back, but it wasn't a kind expression. "Why-" then Brawler ripped the shackles out of the wall.
Danica backed up suddenly fearful, something was very wrong here. Brawler grabbed her and threw her back towards the 'Kickers.
"What the hell's wrong with you man?" said Shard and dodged a bolt of fire aimed his way.
"Everybody get ready to fire...." Hyp said almost choking on the words. The Blasters raised their arms to aim and some of the Tanks focused, ready to launch lasers, and Phantom and Vi were ready to assault with Nightmares. The only one not preparing to attack was Danica who was hurt badly behind the 'Kickers line.
"Three.... two..."
"WAAAIIT!" yelled a voice and they all turned to look. There they saw Void Brawler who sped through the line and stood between them and Brawler.
"Dad... it's me. C'mon snap out of it.... Dad?" Burning's eyes began to flare with heat and Void tried to run but wouldn't be able to in time. Void turned and closed his eyes. He felt a searing heat but didn't feel it on him. He opened his eyes and looked down. There was Jack on the floor, smoking, motionless.
"NO!" Noc lept forward and pinned down Burning while Chris ran up to help. Hyp and Java ran up and aimed their arms at Burning's head. The rest were still in shock.
Brawler didn't try to struggle at all. He just lay there calmly. Then they all felt a boiling heat under their feet and Hyper quick-thinkingly activated his flight pack, lifting the whole group up from the floor. When that failed Brawler snarled and began thrashing. An unearthly voice came out of his mouth with words like "Treason and Betrayal"
All of the 'Kickers holding him down flew backwards from the inferno that came and saw not one, but two bodies in the mass of flames.
The first they recognized as Burning Brawler but the other was new. He looked like one of the Legion but he had a black cape with red flames and a golden comet brooch.
"What have you done? Why am I back like this?!" he yelled almost spitting the last word.
Brawler didn't answer. Instead he grabbed the other and pushed down with all his might until the second was on his knees. Then Brawler's hands lit with white fire. He squeezed the second man's shoulders and he to caught fire, but his fire was not a pure white. It was black, blacker than shadows. The black fire grew as Burning squeezed harder. Arms popped out of their sockets, eyes began to bulge. Then the black-fire rose into the air in the shape of a skull, mouth opened wide. The skull came down and consumed the screaming man, and the villain was no more.
While the 'Kickers ran to Jack and tried to find his medi-porter for the base Danica and Void ran to see Burning.
"Mom is he okay?"
Danica put her ear to Burning's chest. "He's breathing... but it's very faint. I need you to do a transfer."
"Mom that could kill you!"
"I'll be fine just do it!" she yelled afraid there may not be enough time.
Void grabbed his mother and father's hand and felt their life forces. He took some from his mother but mostly from himself to give Burning just enough that he could survive.
Burning coughed and looked up at the two of them. "He's gone?" they both nodded. "Everyone is safe?" The two looked back and watched Jack fade to the base's med-lab and nodded again. "Good," he said and fell unconscious.
Three days later...
Brawler explained to them how the second man was his former lackey Heat Stroke who was also Seeker and how he had turned into an essence of hate. He then told them how through torture Heat was unable to convince him to join him willingly so he possessed him and when Stroke tried to turn the floor to magma he had concentrated too hard on the feat and gave Brawler the opening to regain control and force him out. As to why he came back in his human form is still unknown.
"What about the white and black flames? And the skull?" asked Void.
"They represented good and evil, how when there is good evil always shows. The skulls was the evil manifesting itself, and then consuming the one who had stayed so close to it."
"So is he gone?" asked Danica, the question all of the 'Kickers were wanting to ask.
Brawler concentrated very hard before he spoke. "Yeah.... he's gone."
The End...
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Ok, since the last one was so late, I'm posting this next one a bit early to "catch up."))
Nemesis 3: When the Sun Sets
"All right 'Kickers, you all know why Jack and I called this meeting here. I understand that you're all concerned about Noc's recent.... behavior," said Hyp.
A few months ago Nocturnal Sun came back to the base from a mission in a Circle of Thorns cave and seemed dazed. The next few weeks she seemed even more out of focus and would only come into the base when she was taking something from her room or worse, at least in JV's opinion, half the food in the fridge.
"We had BB run some rituals and there's no ghostly possession from her Circle of Thorns mission so we're looking for other reasons why she'd be like this," said Jack.
"Maybe she's being controlled psionically? I had to fight some Family that the Circle was controlling."
"That still would fall under my possession detection spell. I searched her mind and body for anything that shouldn't be there and I couldn't find a thing," said Brawler.
Brawler felt something touch the back of his mind and opened himself to it. He heard the familiar voice of Cosmic in his head asking, Were there any fantasies about me in there?
Only about beating you for that time you tried to fly down her shirt he replied and tried not to laugh at the disappointment he felt emanating from Cosmic as he broke their link.
"Well I think we should perform an interven-" Chris started to say but stopped when Noc entered through the base portal.
"Hi guys! Why's everybody staring at me like that? Are you guys throwing a party or something?" Noc asked.
"No we were just discussing a new look for the base is all," said Hyp.
"Oh well... I won't be much help for that..." she replied.
"Why's that Noc?" asked Jack.
"Well... I'm um... I'm leaving..."
"WHAT?!" They all said in unison.
"Wait if this has anything to do with-" Cosmic started but she quickly cut him off.
"No it's not that it's just... well I just feel like it's time I moved on."
She hurriedly walked to her room to grab what was left of her things.
"Noc's leaving? I can't believe it..." said Vi.
"This makes no sense, I didn't know her very well but I could tell she's not one who'd leave just because she felt like it," said Obsidian.
"Maybe there's more to it but she feels like we don't need to know," said Java.
.... Guys.... did she seem.... I dunno.... different?" asked Brawler
"Maybe it's just because that's the first time we've heard her speak in a while," said Jack.
"Hold on maybe we can convince her to stay, c'mon everyone," said Hyp.
They ran to Noc's room, knocked, and opened the door, but no one was in there.
"Did any of you see her leave?" asked Cosmic.
They all shook their heads and turned around walking away, upset that they didn't give her a proper good-bye.
The only one left was Cosmic whose eyes were beginning to form tears. He walked into Noc's room with all her posters and trophies and costumes gone. He bent down and picked something up off the floor, it was Noc's 'Kicker Emergency Alert beacon. He sniffed and turned it around in his hands.
He started to pocket it but stopped when he noticed something on the back. He stared hard at it and then dropped the beacon in shock and ran out of the room to gather the others. On the back deep scratches made the words: Help Me.
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"Johnny, have you found anything?" JV looked at the communicator on his wrist and skidded to a stop. "Sorry Hyp nothing. I've been to every base portal and no one says they ever saw her walk out of one. How's BB's scrying going?"
"Not good. Every time he tries to get it to focus the water turns completely black. I'm attempting to locate her with the tracer installed in her medi-porter but I keep getting some interference."
Another voice joined the conversation that JV and Hyp both recognized as Super Shard's. "For something to interfere with a medi-porter's signal it'd have to be deep underground and there'd have to be a ton of electric interference."
Hyper thought about Shard's words and quickly said, "JV I need you to meet me down at the tram in Talos. I'll be there soon. Shard meet me in the control room."
JV wasn't sure what was in Talos but didn't question Hyp.
Inside the 'Kickers control room..."
"Ok people, we've tried tracking Noc but we can't get a signal. Shard suggested that wherever she was had to be underground and there'd have to be a lot of interference. That's why I have reason to believe she's in one of the underground cave networks. Since there are so many we'll have to beat down on every cave-dwelling villain, looking for information.
"JV and I are hitting Talos to look into Circle of Thorns. Jack and Chris, you'll be hitting the Tsoo." Jack groaned. "I'm kidding! You guys will take care of Trolls while Brawler and Shard attack the Tsoo. Java, I want you to lead Phantom, Violet, Cosmic, and Arrow against the Council."
Each group took their turns running through the base portal and teleporters and each had the same fear haunting their thoughts.
What if they couldn't find her in time?
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Johnny Velocity was literally running on the water; Hyper-man was flying just a little bit behind. The Circle of Thorn's isle was nearing view and soon they had reached their destination.
"Alright JV, we just need to take out their lead mages, they're the ones who will have the information we need."
JV nodded and quickly sped around the island, once, twice, three times and each time there were more colors added to the blur. On the fourth time around JV dropped ten mages on the floor, each looking like they were about to hurl.
"Release.... ugh.. us you... *burp* imbeciles!" cried one bold Soul Mage.
"We'll let you go, right after you tell us everything you know about recent kidnappings," said Hyp as he attached wires from his arm to the necks of each mage. He interrogated each one but they all said that they didn't know about any kidnappings, even worse the lie detector said they were telling the truth.
"Alright JV lets get some teleporter cuffs on these guys."
"But you said you'd... *gag*... let us go!" protested the Soul Mage.
"We said we'd let you go just not where to," replied JV.
In the caverns under the Hollows...
"God it stinks down here! Do these Trolls ever take a bath? Jack complained.
"Better than Tsoo isn't it?" Chris replied.
"Yeah I guess," said Jack as he mashed another Gardvord into the dust.
They were talking casually but they had a good 100 Trolls on them. Normally the Trolls would have been all taken care of by now but they had to stop to figure out which ones to just cuff now and which to leave in the pile they had growing in the corner for interrogation.
"You getting tired of these guys Chris?" replied Jack as he smashed his hands together creating a wave of pain for the Trolls that were futilely trying to smash him with sledges."
A Caliban hit Chris in the stomach but all he felt was a tickle. "Yeah these guys aren't giving up anytime soon."
They both lifted one foot up and the more human trolls realized what they were about to do and began to make a break for... to late. They stomped down with enough force to cave in part of the caverns and knock the Trolls that weren't crushed by rocks senseless.
"Alright we have a lot of work to do on these. There's a good sixty Trolls that we can interrogate. You take the pile in the corner and I'll get these scattered ones," said Jack.
The next two hours was spent questioning and cuffing Trolls but not one had heard about some heroine getting kidnapped.
In a cave under Steel Canyon..."
"Ow! Careful that thing's in there deep," yelled Burning Brawler.
"I'm doing the best I can, now hold still; this arrow is in really deep."
Brawler was sitting against the cave wall with an arrow completely through his left arm. Every time Shard tried to take it out sent a wave of agony up and down his entire body.
"Hold on, wait," said Brawler. He grabbed the arrowhead and snapped it off. "Ok now.... pull on three... one... two..." Brawler shut his eyes tight, bracing himself for the pain, "three-AAGGHHHH!"
"Here put this bandage on it and let's keep moving."
Brawler nodded and tied on the piece of cloth Shard offered him. "I can start to see why Jack can't stand these Tsoo..."
They walked slowly, careful not to step in one of the many puddles on the cave floor. The last thing they wanted was to lose their element of surprise.
They continued until they found an exceptionally large cavern and in it's center was one of the large statues that the Tsoo seemed to use to make the ink that gave a few their powers. But it wasn't the statue they were concentrating on; it was the twenty Lightning Blades and Death Moons kowtowing to it.
"Ok Shard, what's the plan?"
"Why do I have to come up with the plan?!"
"Because I think I just crapped myself...."
Shard took a small step away from Brawler and began to think. "Alright I have a plan.... we'll go invisible and you go around to the back of the statue while I stand in front of it. I want you to super-heat it, then I'll break it so the hot pieces hit the Tsoo-"
"And the panic and giant pieces of hot rock will scatter them!"
"Yep, and we'll be able to pick 'em off one by one."
They each turned themselves invisible and began to carry out the plan. Brawler placed his hands on the statue's back and let the heat in his hands flow into the statue. One Death Moon screamed in joy at the sight of the statue turning red thinking it to be a sign that their god was hearing them. Man could they have been more wrong. Shard appeared and smashed the statue to bits, sending ink spraying everywhere along with the super-heated rubble.
The Tsoo that weren't squashed completely were badly burnt, on the ground crying out in pain. Brawler and Shard gathered up the few who were uninjured and froze them in a corner. The ones that were.... unable to be arrested were cuffed and sent to the hospital ward in the Zig.
Brawler thawed out the villains they froze in the corner and began they began their interrogation using their ability to create extreme temperatures to persuade the villains to talk.
They spent a good hour on their interrogation but none of the Tsoo had even heard of a "Nocturnal Sun."
In a Council base under Independence Port...
Java Juggernaut, Cosmic Energy, Violet Tigress, Phantom, and the Obsidian Arrow all wandered through the Council base, expecting a fight. Strange enough, the base seemed completely deserted.
"I don't like this, it feels like a trap," said Java.
"Now how could it be a trap if they don't know we're coming? C'mon there's a computer over there. Arrow will hack it, we'll search their database, and we'll be outta here," said Phantom.
The five of them stepped up on the platform and walked to the gigantic computer against the back wall. Obsidian walked up to the keyboard and began his search. He loaded the prisoner files and was asked for a password. "These prisoners are normally under Arankh's dominion," Cosmic shuddered at the name, "I'm sure I know her password." He typed in a simple sentence 'Death to the Peacebringers' and heard the computer say "Access Granted."
Arrow smiled and began searching the files. Violet started to feel a little bored and looked around. She saw a small mouse in the corner and tried to look away but she could feel those cat instincts urging her to pounce. She went into a crouch and stalked over to the mouse hungrily licking her lips. Java turned around and saw her and said, "Vi know is not a good time," but was too late. Vi pounced on the mouse and her leg hit a trip-wire that sounded a blaring alarm through the base.
They heard a whirring sound as parts of the wall turned to reveal turrets; as if that wasn't bad enough, Mek-Men and giant MKs began falling to the floor from hidden ceiling panels.
They all turned around in alarm and Phantom and Vi quickly placed decoys and a Phantasm to slow the robots. Java lept into the robots midst to try to blow a few apart while Obsidian quickly sent an arrow at the small turrets. Cosmic was in his "crab form" trying to wrestle some of the MKs off of him.
The Phantasms and Decoys didn't have a heat signature and therefore were invisible to the robots, however Java was very visible.
They all turned on him not seeing or feeling any rocks thrown or energy blasts from the Decoys and the two Phantasms were invisible to them. The Phantasm attacks, their logic program assumed, must be coming from the man in the middle scrunched up like he's constipated.
They each aimed an arm that was morphing into a blaster at him. Vi quickly laid radiation on them trying to cause a distraction while Obsidian, having finished the last turret, sent a rain of arrows at the robots. The radiation messed with their targeting and they ended up blasting each other while the arrows slid in between the plating and hit vital devices such as energy packs and AI units. Cosmic had had enough and burst from the MKs in a bright light turning the robots into projectiles that dented and shredded some of the little Mek-Men. Phantom was quickly buffing Java realizing what he was about to do to finish this fight.
Java released a blast of intense energy that not only broke the remaining robots but also knocked all the "spare parts" up against the walls, out of the heroes' way.
Vi looked down a little embarrassed she triggered the trap but no one mentioned it. They just watched Arrow type quickly on the keyboard looking for prisoner files.
"Uh guys.... I found something."
They all leaned over his shoulder and looked at the screen in shock, then ran for the base door in a hurry to return to the 'Kickers base.
This would not be easy to tell the others.
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Java's team rushed into the base each hoping what they found was some other lady who could take a lot of damage and land a good hit. They had to have found something, anything!
"You guys find anything?" asked Cosmic, his voice hopeful.
The other teams were standing around the meeting room all looking disappointed until the others walked in and seeing the other team looking so troubled they thought that they hadn't found anything either.
They're news was much worse.
"No, did you?" asked Hyper.
Java, Vi, Cosmic, and Phantom all went silent, Obsidian Arrow looked over at them hoping one of the others would give them the bad news but they stayed silent and eerily still, practically mourning. Arrow gulped and looked Hyp straight in the eyes, or where he assumed they were anyway. "This.... um this isn't easy to.... to tell you guys but.... Java?"
Java looked at Obsidian and was not happy with having the buck passed like that. "Well she's... she was captured by.... by he Council and-"
"The Council? Of course! Those bases are pumping so much juice that it could fry almost any signal," Shard said.
"So she's in a cell then? Where?" said Jack beginning to look hopeful, so much so that Java could not bear to tell him the rest.
So he nudged Vi.
Vi was going to leave a dead mouse in under his pillow for that. "Well we also kinda found out why she was acting... strange. She was, um, well she's not herself she's... she's a Nictus."
This caused so much confusion in the room between asking if this was some kind of horrible joke, if they were sure, or just sounds of complete disbelief until everyone just went silent trying to wrap their minds around the idea that one of their best friends was being controlled in such an awful way.
Finally Cosmic broke the silence. "Her files said they had been targeting her for months... First they... " Cosmic had to fight down the urge to throw up, "they drugged her to make her more... easily possessed. The Nictus was controlling her.... how didn't I sense it?! Anyway the Nictus was ordered very clearly by Arakhn and the Center not to make direct contact with us."
"And what I used was to detect any ectoplasm on her! Kheldian energy signatures would be invisible to that kind spell," said Burning, feeling very stupid.
"Alright so where is she now?" asked Jack.
Phantom created an illusory map of Founder's Falls and marked the spot where the cave entrance was located.
"Ok 'Kickers we have a location, is everyone ready to go now?" asked Hyp.
"But... what'll we do about the Nictus in her?" asked Chris
"Leave that to me," said Cosmic.
They weren't entirely sure what that meant but they sincerely hoped Cosmic's human half said that and not the Peacebringer.
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"There's the entrance everybody ready?" asked Hyper.
"Wait, there are guards at the door," said Cosmic.
"Guards? I don't see any-"
BAM! Cosmic launched a burst of light and two Nictus fell to the ground, dead.
"Oh, ok then. Alright 'Kickers let's move."
They all walked into the base: Hyp, Jack, Vi, Chris, Java, Phantom, Cosmic, Brawler, Shard, JV, and Arrow. The sliding rock door slammed behind them creating an echo that would work just as well as an alarm.
They hurried and met little resistance as they made their way into the heart of the base. There were sometimes a few soldiers on patrol but were no match for a team of eleven well-trained heroes.
When they hit a dead end they felt along the walls looking for another door but couldn't find one. "Hold on a sec," said Hyp and he began tapping on the floor while looking at the readings flashing across his helmet. He nodded to himself and raised a fist that was pulsing with red energy. He smashed it into the floor creating a hole to the next level.
Hyp shrugged and jumped into the hole with the other 'Kickers right behind him. They looked at the room they had entered with wide eyes. Metal coffins, hundreds of them, filled the room.
They all formed a tight back-to-back circle eyeing the coffins warily. "Brawler, Java, Arrow, do you guys think if we snipe them the rest won't open?" Hyp asked nervously, already aiming his arm at the largest coffin.
"I see a pipe up there, I think I can pierce it with an arrow and it may shut them all down," replied Obsidian.
Hyp nodded and Obsidian took aim. The arrow he shot pulsed with electric energy and hit it's target perfectly.
To bad the plan didn't work the same way.
The coffin doors opened with a cloud of smoke and out of each stepped a Vampyr in their goggles and green leather pants.
Once they became aware of their surroundings they quickly assaulted the 'Kickers with a blast of mental force too strong for any of them to take. They all fell to their knees holding their heads in agony.
Then they all suddenly lost consciousness.
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'BB? Brawler wake up!' a loud voice said inside Burning's head. He looked around the tiny room and realized he was once again in a Council holding cell.
'Is that you Cos?' he asked as he got up off the disgusting floor.
'He's got us all mentally linked. The walls here are soundproof,' "said" Hyp.
'Hold on guys I'm gonna break down my door,' said Chris. From three cells over he heard what sounded like steel hitting steel, then he heard Chris cursing to himself, forgetting the mental link. He apologized, embarrassed, and said, 'We've been given nullifiers. I put a small dent in the door so it must be wearing off but it may be another half hour.'
Just as Chris completed his sentence the doors unlocked themselves and slid open to reveal a large stone maze.
They not only saw that it was a maze, but they were all separated into two teams. With the space between the twenty-foot walls and the ceiling there was no need for the mental link. The teammates: Hyp and Shard, Vi and Java, BB and Cosmic, Arrow and Phantom, and Chris and JV, looked around and noticed they were missing someone.
"Anyone see Jack?" Hyp asked. Everyone said that he wasn't with them and Hyp worried. "Ok, hold on while I teleport everyone to me." Hyp pressed a button on his wrist but nothing happened. "BB, port us to you?"
Brawler searched his mind for the spell, knew it was there, even knew the words, but as soon as he tried to say them his brain lost them. "Something's messed with my mind I can't get the incantation. Here, I'll just fly everyone to you."
Brawler lept into the air and began to... fall. On his face. Hard.
Muttering to himself he heard the familiar sound of JV about to run at super speeds and heard him trip over himself. Some of the others tried to leap but only were able to rise a few more inches than normal people.
"Ok the nullifiers seem to be keeping all of our travel powers down," Hyp fired an explosive blast at the ceiling causing dust to rain down on the others, "but our attacks seem fine now. Ok 'Kickers meet at the center of the maze, and keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious."
The teams set out, many trying their travel powers to see if they were working yet, a half hour of going in what seemed like circles and still nothing.
At a four-way intersection, Arrow and Phantom kept moving until they saw Chris and JV walking up towards them. "Over here guys!" called Phantom, waving. Then Chris lunged at Phantom and smashed him to the ground. Obsidian stabbed him with an electric arrow that sent him to the ground in convulsions. He pulled out a second to aim at JV but for some reason the Scrapper's super speed was working and in the blink of an eye JV had taken out his claws and plunged them deep into Obsidian's chest. As Arrow began to fall JV yanked out the claws, retracted them, and helped Chris to his feet.
Vi and Java ran into the intersection, Java launched a quick bolt of energy at JV that knocked him into a wall; when he made contact he vanished in a puff of purple smoke. Vi ran up to revive Arrow and try to heal Phantom's head wound. Java raised energy fists and smashed the still twitching "Chris" and he to vanished just like JV when smashed.
"What happened?!" asked Arrow.
"We're not sure," said Vi looking around to be sure it was safe. "A few minutes ago some... things that looked like Hyp and Shard attacked us. We just barely got away."
Ahead of them they heard someone scream in agony. They ran in the direction of the sound and saw Cosmic leaning over a Brawler that was clutching his chest rocking on the floor in pain. The "Cosmic" raised gleaming fists high in the air and came down. The fists would have contacted, except that the fake was frozen in ice. Once encased the imposter disappeared in a puff of the strange purple smoke just like the others. Shard and Hyper walked up their arms pointed at Vi and Java suspiciously and vice-versa.
"Don't worry, it's actually them," said Phantom as he ran over to heal Brawler. Once he was healed Hyp asked him, "Where's the real Cosmic?" Brawler pointed behind him saying, "Some clown that's dressed up like me attacked him. He tried to draw... me... away so I didn't... hurt... my... self?"
"Told you he was slow," said Shard. Brawler angrily said, "This is pretty confusing okay?"
Shard laughed and walked over to where Brawler said Cosmic was and saw the ending of the fight. Crab-form Cosmic had the fake Brawler by the neck and had his fist pulled back. Like a cannon, his arm shot forward snapping the fake Brawler's neck back and making it.... not disappear. It fell to the ground and Cosmic grinned at Shard... hungrily.
Cosmic lept forward and grabbed Shard's neck and ankles before he could react. Cosmic went into a kneel position with Shard still high above his head. Shard tried to breath ice onto Cosmic but the tight grip on his throat was making it impossible. Cosmic brought Shard down onto his knee making a snapping sound like a gunshot that sent the other 'Kickers over, except one who was on the ground.
Shard was on the ground coughing blood while Cosmic had his giant foot on his head, slowly applying pressure. Shard screamed and Hyper and Java sent bolts flying into Cosmic knocking him up into the air to hit the floor with that eerie smoke. Phantom and Violet hurried to Shard, if they could work fast enough he wouldn't be paralyzed. He may be unable to walk for a day or two though.
Java looked over at the body in the corner and gasped. He ran over and called Phantom to come help. Shard was starting to get to his feet but was having a hard time of it. Phantom went to work fixing Brawler's neck when a thought occurred to him. "If that's Brawler there then who's...?" Java turned around to see the actual fake with his hands rose above his head, covered in white-hot flames, but before he brought them down a rock hit Brawler's back. Looking through the smoke he saw Chris and JV go over to the other 'Kickers.
All of them were finally back together. After everyone was sure that everyone was themselves they moved forward through the maze.
They found the center and were staring in disbelief at this newest sight.
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Inside the cavern were clones, hundreds of them of all the 'Kickers present.
"Ok don't panic everyone... these things can only take one or two hits, we can take them. I want us to fight our own clones, that way we're not killing each other," said Hyp.
They each felt fear well up inside them. Phantom turned them all invisible and they ran out to begin.
Hyper ran to his clone group and quickly buffed up for a Nova. He exploded and sent Hyper-Mans flying everywhere to burst into those purple clouds. Some of them flew up at the last second and turned to launch powerful bursts. The real Hyp flew into the air and the blasts hit the clones opposite the ones that fired, turning a large group of them into smoke. Hyper threw an explosive blast into the middle of the remaining ten and watched with satisfaction as they too disappeared.
Vi was happy to see that her clones were currently acting more cat than human, playing with thread from their costumes, cleaning themselves, and rolling around with each other. She quickly called some Phantasms to take them out while they weren't paying attention. She infected one of the Violet's that was playing with stray threads on her costume. The Vi fell over and began to throw up while infecting the other clones and making them do the same. The Phantasms quickly took care of the vomiting Violets without a problem.
Chris snuck into the center of his clone group, laughing, and stomped as hard as he could, sending clones up into the air. Some landed on their backs and burst but many landed on their feet. Some ripped up the floor and threw the boulder at him while others stomped and smashed. He jumped into the air making the smashers hit each other on the head to make them burst while the stompers launched shockwaves to burst the boulder-throwers, the boulders launched hit stompers in the back and made them vanish. Chris surveyed his work and thought it was a pretty good job.
Java started out the same as Hyp, gathering his strength and knocking the clones of himself clear across the room with a Nova. Same as before some of them halted their progress through the air before they hit a wall and flew back at Java. The ones that remained lifted their hands, crackling with electricity, high into the air. Java rolled out of the center of the group as the hands came down. When the hands all connected they created an electrical force so great it destroyed all the clones, not just the ones in the circle.
Phantom ran in and saw his group was anxiously waiting for him. He formed his decoys and Phantasm and buffed the Phantasm for the fight. He threw a horror into the group causing many to hold their heads in agony at the horrible wailing while others froze in terror at the sight. Some Phantom clones saw the terror for what it was and turned began to make their own wall of protective pets. They were just a little too slow as the Phantasm threw large boulders at them, making the clones and their pets dissipate. The decoys and Phantasm quickly cleaned up the terrorized Phantoms without a problem.
Cosmic ran in front of his group and tried to decide which side to attack first. On the left were human form clones, the center was the squids, and the right was the crab-forms. He decided to try to take out the humans and squids at once. He, still invisible, stood in the center of the two groups and launched a searing white light that made all the squids and most of the humans and crabs turn into smoke. The remaining humans lobbed blasts at him as he turned into his crab form. The other crabs ran in and began to pummel him with fists of light and energy. Cosmic gathered his strength and, with a burst of force, sent them all flying off of him and into the walls. All that remained were the human-forms who stayed at range. He lept at them and tore through them like toilet paper in this form. Cosmic reverted to his human form and sat down to rest, weary from the strain the fight had put on him.
Burning Brawler saw his clones and began his assault. He created a rain of fire that pelted the clones and put their costumes in flames. As they struggled to get out of the rain the real Brawler appeared. He launched a fireball into the center that exploded on contact with a clone. He then blew a line of flame that turned purple smoke into steam. To finish off the last of the confused clones, he leapt into their center and built the anger inside of him, unleashing it as a fiery inferno turning the last of the clones into vapor.
Shard looked at his own clones and started to consider a new costume. He quickly threw at an ice storm that was shredding the clones and already making some vanish. He then began freezing many of them so that the pressure from the ice would make those also disappear. The remaining group he quickly smashed, bashed, and tossed into others making them go poof like the others. He found one last clone preparing to freeze him. He quickly threw an ice bolt that impaled the clone through its stomach, making it dissipate, the icicle falling to the floor.
JV saw his group was sitting down and had somehow gotten their hands on some pizza. He stared hungrily at the food suddenly remembering he hadn't eaten in the last twelve hours, maybe longer. He licked his lips and almost forgot about the clones. Hearing the sounds of lightning from somewhere behind him quickly brought him back to reality. He concentrated and sped all around the outside of the group, arm out, claws extended. He ran in a vicious circle that shredded the clones, taking JV right down to the gooey center. When the clones had all vanished he saw the pizza. He hungrily ran over to it and took a slice. He began to bite down on it but as soon as his teeth connected the slice turned into smoke. Practically crying JV kicked the pizza box in frustration.
Arrow looked around at the other 'Kickers finishing up their clones. He knew he had to prove he was able to keep up with them, that he was ready to leave the KiT. He saw his enemies and cloaked himself, feeling Phantom's invisibility wearing off. He flew into the air and launched a rain of arrows down at the group that pierced and dissipated many clones. He grabbed another handful of arrows and launched it down at a group that was preparing to super-speed out of the confusion. They fell to the ground and vanished as arrow reached in his belt and pulled out a trip mine. He dropped down and placed several of these before speeding out of there. Some tried to follow but hit the trip mines and were sent flipping into a wall to disappear. Arrow saw the other 'Kickers gathering at the other side of the room and hurried over to them.
"Ok Brawler, is everyone here themselves?" asked Hyper.
Brawler shut his eyes and felt that everyone was who they were supposed to be. He nodded then grunted as something smashed his head. He got up from the floor and looked at a grinning Shard. "Just makin' sure you're you," he said.
Brawler would just have to pay him back later. The others were already on their way to a portal in the center, obviously the maze exit. As they each stepped through and appeared in a large stone cavern similar to the one they had found the hundred clones. But the center was raised and on that altar made the 'Kickers eyes go wide.
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On top of the altar was Nocturnal Sun, meditating. Her closed eyes gave her a calm appearance that made it seem like she was perfectly alright.
"This is obviously a trap," said Hyper. Shard pulled out a scanner and waved it around the room.
"There's no one here besides us and Noc," Shard said.
"Hold on, she doesn't seem... right," Cosmic said.
"You feel it to?" asked Brawler.
"Yeah, it's weird. Whatever it is, it feels-,"
"Familiar?"
Cosmic looked at Brawler, curious. "Yeah."
"Look! Back there! Up against the wall... is that... Jack?!" said Chris.
"Cosmic grab Noc, I'll get Jack while you guys keep your eyes open for the ambush," Hyp said.
Just as Hyp began to run towards Jack but as soon as he took his first step, Noc's eyes opened. Her sockets emitted a purple essence that everyone was sure was bad news. "Noc?" asked Cosmic, arm out, as if to take her hand.
Suddenly she was on her feet and blasted Cosmic back into the 'Kickers.
Cosmic rubbed his head and got to his feet. His Peacebringer side took control and he morphed into the crab-man. He lept at her, knocking her off the altar and pinning her to the ground. Growling, he raised a glowing fist to smash her before any of the other 'Kickers could calm him, but they weren't needed.
Noc turned into the same creature Cosmic had become, only an inky purple that seemed to absorb all light. In fact, that's exactly what she began to do. She gripped Cosmic's arm and throat and began to strangle him as the light emanating from his body was slowly sucked into Noc's crab-form.
"She's... she's killing him! 'Kickers, move! Try to subdue her!" yelled Hyper as he ran to grab Jack.
The others leapt at Noc and Chris managed to break her hold on Cosmic, who fell to the ground as he returned to his human form, his energy too drained for him to continue.
They tried to hold her down with icy cold and stunning blasts. Sun and Chris were fighting hand to hand with each blow sapping Chris's strength like Cosmic. Hyper was almost at Jack until Nocturnal turned away from Chris and threw a purple shadow-ball towards him. He was hit in the back and instantly lost all control over his arms and legs. He fell to the ground, suddenly unable to breathe. Gasping, he fought to keep consciousness until the darkness claimed his vision.
She turned back to Chris in time to get a fist in the face, snapping her head back. She gripped Chris's throat and screamed an unearthly roar. Chris's concentration suddenly left him as Noc's fist tightened around his neck. He saw her raise an open palm and was confused, then he was unconscious.
The other 'Kickers kept up their assault on Nocturnal, still unable to subdue her. Brawler backed up and pulled out a scroll he had brought just in case this happened.
He read the incantation, the words disappearing as he said them. A red smoke circled Nocturnal Sun and as it dissipated she reverted to her human form. If she was surprised, she didn't show it. The other 'Kickers ran up to hold her down as she got in a crouch. As they grabbed her arms, a large blast of Nicti energy sapped their strength and knocked them out.
Brawler looked around the room and saw he was the only one still standing. The scroll wore off and she quickly turned into the squid-like creature her kind was infamous for. She rushed him and in the blink of an eye, her tentacles were gripping his arms.
A blinding light engulfed his vision as a memory surfaced through the pain and shock of Nocturnal's ferocious assault...
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Almost two years ago...
A depressed hero walked through the street, filled with despairing citizens. The heroes tried their best, but some areas of the city seemed almost beyond saving. Faultline and the Boomtown were the first to come to mind.
A flash of images of that last mission swept through the heroes mind. Nemesis was trying to steal plans from an office to improve his Warhulks. There were so many people to save, and time was limited. Nemesis had rigged the office to explode and the hero had assumed he had gotten all of the bombs.
He was in the process of escorting out the workers when he heard an explosion upstairs. He flew up into the smoking window and saw the damage. One small red bomb, hidden in the dirt of a plant, had caused all this.
He was about to leave when he heard a cry. A woman was cradling her child in her arms, sobbing. He rushed to help her and her child but it was quickly obvious the boy was beyond help. He tried to help the woman to her feet but she wouldn't move from the spot. He tried to convince her to go before the roof collapsed, but she was in no condition to listen to reason.
All of a sudden she handed the dead child to the hero and lept out the window...
Days like this, when the smallest mistake causes the largest tragedies, where days that made the hero wonder why he let himself enter these situations.
Through the distortion from his anger at himself and his inability to save those two people he saw a sewer entrance. He ran inside and began making a journey deep into the sewers center.
He burned all of the enemies in the Heart of the Sewers, leaving to witnesses to what was about to happen. He raised a flaming hand into the air, ready to incinerate himself in a grief-induced suicide attempt.
Burning Brawler was going to kill himself...
He began to bring the hand down but someone... something, stopped him. He looked up and saw a purple.... thing. It was some sort of squid with tentacles on its back. A tentacle was what was restraining his arm, and a voice began to speak to him inside his head.
It spoke of power, of the ability to save everyone, every time. Of how, by merging with this creature, Burning Brawler could become the ultimate champion of justice.
Burning Brawler agreed to this merging, thinking of the boy and the woman. The alien's tentacles gripped all of Burning's arms and began to bring itself into Brawler. Its body entered the hero and all Brawler saw was darkness.
He woke up in the hospital three days later, and the green of his costume died purple. He left the hospital and went to inform his contact of the last mission's failure, but the contact said he had no idea who he was.
Confused, Brawler ran to the nearest enemy and attempted to throw a fireball, instead he threw some sort of purple energy that seemed more to weaken the villains than hurt them. He went to the Representative and she said he was registered as a Nictus Brawler.
Then he remembered the sewers.
Weeks of successful missions bolstered his confidence. He felt like he could take Statesman down in a duel. A duel to the death! "What?" said Nictus Brawler, his alien side had never spoken since the merging and this outburst was not a good sign of the alien's reasons for the merge.
We work well together, I feared I would have to take full control and consume you. Now that we have practiced on these pathetic lowlifes, it is time we concentrate our efforts on controlling this city.
Painful flashbacks of the last time Brawler had fought against the city's heroes flew through his mind. A valiant effort, but not good enough. With you and I fighting side by side, however, the heroes will be glad to sacrifice themselves for our cause.
"There's no way I'm doing this, this partnership is over!" Brawler concentrated all his will-power to force the being out of his mind but the creature was rooted deep, it had been busy as well over the last few weeks. He pushed as hard as he could but the alien's defenses were resisting, then retaliating. It felt like his entire head was on fire.
A pity, but it seems you aren't destined for greatness. I hope the fact that you held on to your pathetic morals keeps you comforted in oblivion. The Nictus used its full power, attempting to annihilate the hero's mind. Brawler could feel his consciousness and his sanity, slipping. Suddenly, he learned a new tactic. He let his portion of his mind drop. The Nictus sent an unearthly howl through Brawler's mind as all of it still pushed, right until it all literally fell out of his head.
There was the squid-like creature from the sewers, it's eyes filled with hatred. The tentacles came back again, attempting a re-entry. Without the Nictus inside him, his old abilities returned. He launched a massive blaze that made the Nictus disappear on contact.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
"YOU!" Brawler yelled in rage. As he saw Nocturnal Sun fall away from the squid that was hungrily reaching for its old host. Brawler covered his arms in flames that burnt the tentacles, making the Nictus flinch. This time, Brawler grabbed the creature. His hand tightened on the alien's skull, making its eyes bulge. He made a patch of flame at his feet, and willed it to travel up his body so the Nictus could see its doom approach.
It let out a howl of terror that shook the cave walls violently as the fire reached the hero's shoulders. The hero willed the flame to stop there and the Nictus stopped its cry and began to breathe rapidly. "You shouldn't have come back, you should have stayed in your hole." In the blink of an eye, the fire had grabbed the Nictus. It thrashed in the hero's hand uttering that horrible wail.
Brawler squeezed harder and heard the pop as the thing's skull exploded.
He fell to the ground, weary, and remembered Noc. She was still breathing. With a sigh of relief he fell asleep.
A few hours later...
With the Nictus gone Jack was able to regain consciousness. He looked at the shackles on his arms. "Chains? Now that's just insulting." With a shrug he ripped them out of the wall and noticed the 'Kickers scattered around the room. He hurried to activate their base medi-porters. He saw Noc and Burning in the corner. He activated Brawler's and stopped when he remembered why he woke up in chains. He picked her up and slung Noc over his shoulder as he activated his porter taking them both to the base.
Everyone was revived, including Noc who was sitting in what looked like a dentist chair that was covered with equipment with the 'Kickers gathered around. As they ran tests and scans and rituals they asked Noc about what happened to her.
She said she met the Nictus right before she entered her mission. It said it would help her complete the mission as a proof of its power and intent. Noc accepted and they merged. The mission was completed easily but still left human Noc weary. Taking advantage of this, the Nictus gained control of her mind. The odd way she was acting was because of the continuing struggle of their wills and she had been taking things from her room because the Nictus wanted to keep their room in the Council base furnished.
"Okay, just one more question," said JV. "Why did you take my food?!"
"Girl's gotta eat, and Nictus have big appetites."
Hyp looked at the monitor screens behind them. "No traces of abnormalities in her thought patterns."
"All the energy inside her system is hers," said Brawler.
"I don't sense a Nictus for miles," said Cosmic.
Everyone cheered and helped Noc out of the chair. "Her Noc, you dropped this." Cosmic held out her base medi-porter but she didn't take it.
"I know you guys say it's gone but... after what it did to you, I, did to you... I can't trust myself right now to be around anyone. That thing could still be controlling me in a way that the scanners aren't showing... I'm not coming back until I'm sure that it's gone."
With that she left the base. The 'Kickers hoped that whenever she was sure was soon.
The End...
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Putting in two this week, as one is more of a short character bio than a story.))
When Blight Begins
A loud siren sounded. The prisoner sat up on his cot, and looked around his cramped cell. He got up and peered through the slit in the door. His eyes grew wide at the sight. Costumed villains and men in shiny, green armor were running around and actually taking out the guards!
He watched the armored men bash guards and some weirdoes in red and white spandex with spiked clubs, then point the tip and fire some kind of laser!
He sat back on his cot, disappointed. He didn't have any powers; he wasn't getting out of here. Heck, he was sent here for the third time this month by an old lady when he tried to rob a jewelry store!
He heard some shouting outside his cell and then, without warning, a hero was tossed so hard it knocked the door in! The hero wasn't moving but that wasn't the prisoner's problem. He stepped over the unconscious man and followed the nearest villain he found.
The prisoner jumped into a large hole leading to the sewers that seemed to have been made by explosives. The man went outside the sewer and heard the sound of powerful, bone crunching slams.
The prisoner new he wasn't quick enough to survive out there. He looked around and saw that he could follow the sewer to the left and maybe avoid any fighting outside.
He walked that way for maybe an hour, doing his best to ignore the sewage that was soaking his ankles. As he moved ahead he noticed the water gradually change from a sickly green to a dark black.
"What is this stuff?" he asked aloud as he pulled up his foot making the goop create a sucking sound.
'It is The Muck,' he heard.
"Who said that?" asked the prisoner turning around, but no one was there.
'We said that, the ancient substance which you are currently tainting with your presence,' said the body-less voice.
The prisoner realized this voice was coming from inside his own head and began to panic. He just got beaten up by an old lady! How was he supposed to take on a super-powered pile of goo? The black muck held his legs still as he tried to run and began to slowly crawl up him. "Let me go! I'm just trying to get out of here! I don't want a fight!"
'We aren't going to fight you, just make you an offer. Accept us, and you will become more than a man. You can become a master of forces beyond this world. You will be able to control the forces of rot and decay and use them to make yourself a being more powerful than any other.'
"Powerful? Me, a super-villain? Yeah, yeah I like the sound of that. We could be partners! You have the power and I have the... stuff!" he said, The Muck was already up to his neck.
'This isn't a partnership,' said The Muck as it covered the prisoner's horrified face. Then a new voice, now his voice, came forth. "It's a possession!" The goo hardened into a red and black armor of bloodied bone and death that would inspire terror in the hearts of the bravest heroes.
"I think a new name for myself is in order." He gave life to a rotting corpse of a hero who had apparently failed his mission. "Blightlord," he said, a chuckle coming from beneath his helmet. He walked back towards the exit where the other villain had gone. He was very capable now.
The Beginning...
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Vengeance: Rotting Flames
A man in a cape looked around for potential enemies. In a city of villains it never hurt to look before you leap. The base portal in sight, the figure quickly flew into it.
"Blightlord! It's about time you got here, the base is about to be attacked in only five minutes and you just now show up?!"
"Yes, Elitist, I know about the raid, but unlike those of you who are reliant on the more technological advances of society, my mystic abilities allowed me to teleport a few deadly concoctions as my slaves bashed in that meddlesome Sea Witch's skull," replied the group's master of death.
"Impossible, I configured this base to resist any attempts of teleportation inside anywhere except the entrance which I covered in turrets just for our friends," replied Techno Tyrant, the robotics master of the Masters of Mayhem. Very intelligent when it comes to technology but such an inferior mind when it comes to the arcane.
"Yes you made sure to stop device-induced teleportation but not mystical."
"Like this?!" yelled a hero as he and somewhere near ten others appeared in the base.
"Yes like that," Blightlord smirked at the heroes' confusion at their inability to move. "I placed a special poison that causes your muscles to become stiff. You will regain movement once you are returned to Paragon City via your medi-porters. Another thing you forgot, Tyrant, was that they can still teleport out with technology, making your nice prison area, Knave, a waste."
A sinister man appeared behind the heroes who looked like he was about to strike the one with a tail in the back. "Now why did you have to go ahead and give me away like that? I was just about to send this little beauty home." He smirked and patted her head till she hissed at him. "Feisty for one in your position aren't you kitty."
"No she's just waiting for me to give the order to have you all pummeled," said a hero completely encased in armor. All the heroes prepared themselves for the fight.
"But my potion!" protested Blightlord.
"Yeah I had Hyper-Man look up your file and felt like a good ol' antidote spell would take care of any poisons you had ready for us," said a hero wearing a hood, his costume with flame signs everywhere.
"Doesn't matter, there are more ways to take out heroes than tricks and stealth" said Elitist as he charged forward and began to attack a big man with blue and yellow armor.
"Yeah just cause we can't cut you from behind doesn't mean we won't fight in front," said a second Stalker, AphexTwin, as he materialized next to Knave of Spades. They both went to different targets. Knave to attack some goofball with goggles and claws while Aphex went to fight a guy with a hood who kept making Smashing Pumpkin scream in fear at some horror only he seemed to be able to see.
Editor ran at this one Tank with a beard and spiky hair who had started to help the guy in blue and yellow armor fight off Elitist. Editor got a few shots in but both Tanks turned on him at once and smashed him straight into the base recclaimator, damaging it beyond repair by the bases fabricators. If any villains were seriously wounded in this fight they'd have to stay in the hospital for a while.
The girl with a tail and cat ears was making some kind of weird heroes to join the fight, or so they thought. She ordered the phantasms to attack the base interior, blowing up generators and such.
"Hey! It took me hours to get that room to look right!" yelled a furious woman with pink hair just before she assaulted her mind.
"Beat it clown!" yelled a man who seemed more hyper than a child who just ate a bag of sugar. His hands covered in electricity, he jumped with his fists, crackling with electricity, in the air and came down hard on the woman. She screamed and covered her eyes but didn't feel the blow. She looked to see the hero on the ground and struggling to get up. She was confused until she saw a small group of robots leap over her head and begin pummeling the hero. She grinned at Tyrant and resumed her mental assault on the one who smashed her hard work.
Blightlord quickly raised his undead slaves and imbued them with dark power. He searched the battle for the one who had countered his poison. That one would become his living-dead slave. "Where did that one go..."
"Right behind ya!" Brawler said as he let himself become visible and froze the villain in place. He knocked on the ice and laughed. "You're not so dangerous without those potions are you?"
Brawler was going to continue his taunting but got a sword slash on his chest. He looked up in surprise at the zombie horde attacking him. He quickly launched fire bolts to burn them up while keeping their master "cool."
Jack Power and Chris Lancelot fought their opponents almost as fiercely as they fought back. They were getting nowhere alone so they attacked Editor together. He tried to dodge but got himself hit in the head instead of the stomach. The concussion from the blows activated his medi-porter as he fell to the floor. The heroes grinned and began to try the same on Elitist until they heard a scream of pain that they recognized as Phantom's.
Smashing quickly recovered from his ordeal and took Editor's place while Aphex hurried over to fight the hero that was covered with armor who was about to help the claw guy take out Knave
Super Shard looked left and right as he snuck through the compound. He had heard Phantom's scream and almost turned back but Hyper's orders were clear. He had to get to the villain base's main control room. Without control the base's items would all be unable to function and many of them would explode.
He hurried along, invisible, and there he saw it. Wall-to-wall databases made him whistle in appreciation; just cause these were made and used by villains didn't mean the tech-freak didn't appreciate good quality devices like these. He was pretty sorry his mission was to destroy them.
"Oh well, time to get to work," he said and he began encasing a database in ice to make it easier to smash with his energy fists.
Or at least he tried to; he fell to the floor with smoking laser holes in his back.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," said a robot. He kicked the hero over with his foot and looked at his face.
It was smiling.
Shard lept up and smashed the robot against a wall. "Laser proof armor, a Blaster's best friend."
"No one can smash the mighty Retro Bot!" cried the mad machine.
Shard proved him wrong and watched the villain fade away to the hospital.
Shard resumed his work freezing the databanks, then smashed them for good measure.
A red alarm sounded and Hyper yelled, "Mission accomplished! Let's get out of here!" and he and the other 'Kickers grouped around Burning Brawler, who had just finished off the last of the zombies, and Brawler cast the spell to leave the base.
The villains who weren't in the hospital looked around at the smoking machines in their base. Techno sent a stream of curses at the site, now wanting to think about having to rebuild everything and Harley was equally furious at the damage to the details she had placed so carefully.
Then they looked over to a slowly thawing villain in the corner. "Hahahaha! Looky here, the big master of decay is a popsicle!" Smashing grinned as he placed a hand on the ice and melted it.
Blightlord raised his arm and launched a ball of guck that covered Smashing's body than hardened, freezing him in place. "I don't take kindly to being mocked."
He stormed off to his room, which was still intact being the only room without items that use control or even energy. He had much planning to do if he was to exact revenge on these heroes.
Especially that fool Burning Brawler....
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Blightlord was hunched over his Alchemy table, muttering to himself as he looked through his "recipe book" trying to find the proper potion ingredients for scrying without a personal item.
"Let's see... eye of newt? Gods can that be any more cliché'? No, no, must find something more powerful." He turned pages rapidly until he found a page with a picture of a mirror, the ingredients and measurements on its glass. He smiled at this potion that would enchant any mirror for several hours.
He walked over to the rotting shelf on the other side of his room. On the shelf were hundreds of jars, each containing different ingredients from garlic to pickled eyes to things that would sicken you to know how they were acquired.
He grabbed some jars and moved back towards his table, which was covered with vials and tubes and a complicated system of clear rubber wires and oddly shaped glasses for mixing and heating potion ingredients.
He pulled out a wooden bowl and what looked like a small club. He opened one of the dirty, old jars and hand in his hand some roots. He counted out a few and tossed them into the bowl, then he started to mash the roots into a fine powder.
He grabbed another jar and reached inside. He took out a small plant that one would have sworn where daisies, except these "daises" were black with purple pollen in the center. He picked off the black petals and threw them in then filled a vial with water and rubbed the pollen, careful not to get any on his fingers, into the vial. When the pollen hit the water it created a puff of smoke in the shape of a skull. Blightlord grabbed the last jar and ripped off the rubber seal, trying not to gag on the awful stench. Inside was a rotten egg, the egg of a gryphon to be exact. He cracked it open and green goop fell into the bowl. He took the vial he had put the water and pollen in and dumped that in next.
He grabbed a spoon and began to mix the ingredients. Satisfied he lifted the bowl and took the cap off of one of the beakers connected to the rubber wires.
He poured the liquid and watched it separate to different wires and travel through the network. As it twisted and turned the potion went black, then blue, now purple, then finally a sickly green as the concoction all regrouped in the last glass.
Blightlord took the glass and walked over to a grand mirror, taller than he, and poured the liquid over it. He sat down in the stone gargoyle chair and muttered an incantation. It would be a few minutes before what he wanted to see was clear enough for him to glean anything important from it, but he knew he had time because he heard footsteps coming to his door.
The door was kicked in and there stood that brute Smashing Pumpkin, obviously angry, but this was nothing new when he was speaking to Blightlord.
"All right I wanna know, and I wanna know now. What the hell did you put in that guck?! I musta washed this suit a dozen times and I still can't get the freakin' stench out!"
"Maybe it's not the potion. You are getting close to your yearly bath."
"Oh ha-ha rot boy. I need to get this crap off my suit I have a date tonight!"
Blightlord knew this was a lie but decided to humor Pumpkin.
"If you really want to know what is inside that potion I will tell you. I used a dash of wolfsbane, a touch of powdered emerald."
"So why the hell do I stink!"
"Now let me finish! I also added some of Techno Tyrant's hair, that grease adds to the range of the mechanism by a whole ten feet!"
Smashing's eyes began to go wide and his mouth began to open in disgust, but Blightlord didn't stop there.
"I also used some of the cesspool water in Mercy Isle for the green coloring and it's unusual ability to strengthen the hold of the concoction. Then there was some snake venom to help make sure that even if the victim resisted the affects, he'd still be finally ill. Finally I added cat urine, for the smell and the way it seems to make the drying of the potion instant."
"Son of a-" Pumpkin ran out of the room yelling curses at Blightlord as he hurried to burn the suit and take his yearly bath.
"That last one was a bit over don't you think? I know he's easy but still... that's just disgusting, and I stab people in the back."
"Of course not Knave," replied Blightlord as the Stalker appeared. "Anyone who fools themselves into thinking they can speak to me like that deserves a little trauma."
"So what are you doing with this mirror?" asked Knave.
"I want that hero from the fight yesterday to suffer but before I can capture him I need to know where to find him."
"Revenge eh? Gonna have him ruffed up?" Blightlord nodded. "Well, if it was me, I wouldn't hurt the person who humiliated me." Blightlord turned and looked at the Stalker, a little surprised by the statement. "I'd attack his family," Knave finished and a devilish grin spread across his face. Blightlord smiled as well under his helmet and yelled "Familia!" at the mirror. Knave left as Blightlord patiently waited for the mirror to change views from the hero to a woman and a boy who, to Blightlord's surprise, were actually fighting a group of Warriors, and winning!
This will be a most interesting game.
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"Tyrant! I need information."
"What for Blight?"
"Revenge," said Blightlord.
"Revenge huh? Yeah I can help with that, for a price of course."
"I'll make you a deal, you give me the information I want and you won't end up as my next slave."
Techno Tyrant shuddered at the thought of being a slave, especially Blightlord's. He turned around to his computer and began pulling up files. "I just got this thing fixed yesterday so I hope you're not looking for much. Those heroes did a number on this place, what I wouldn't give to get back at them."
"Maybe you'll get the chance if you give me what I need. I'm looking for information on two heroes, aliases Danica and Void Brawler."
"Hmmmm.... mother and son? What are you planning here Blight?"
"Keep looking at their information, I'm sure you'll see."
"Ah I see. These are that fire dude's family. The one who turned you into a rotten popsicle. I think I see where this is going but just to be sure, what are you planning?"
"I want to kidnap them, torment the hero, and finally kill all three. The usual villain vengeance plan."
"Uh huh... well only one problem... hard as I try I can't get their address. Looks like you'll have to get them to come to you.... how though I don't know."
"Group affiliations. Now."
"Let's see.... this Danica girl is a member of some group called 'Kickers in Training, looks like a reserve group for the clowns who attacked last week."
"And the boy?"
"'Kickers Kids... looks like a super-powered boy scouts deal. Mostly younger relatives but a few offspring. That seems like a prime target."
"Attacking a group of children? You are trying to ruin my reputation aren't you? No I think I'll organize a raid for this reserve group. Danica will hear of the raid and come searching for me with her son sneaking behind. I'll swoop down and take them."
"So how are you going to let the hero know you have them? ...Blight?"
Tyrant swiveled around in his chair but Blightlord was nowhere to be found.
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Nine villains walked up to the raid teleporters. One walked over to the keyboard and configured it for their destination.
They all reappeared inside what looked more like a mansion than a base. "I can't wait to smash this place in," said Pumpkin, grinning ear to ear.
Elitist and Editor were thinking the same thing he was but were more interested in waking up some of these heroes to the sounds of their bedroom walls falling in on them.
Harley was doing her best to keep her insanity in check but it was quickly becoming a one-sided battle with the mayhem about to begin.
Aphex and Knave were watching some heroes on their way to bed and chuckled at what they imagined their expressions would be at being cut in their sleep.
Retro, Blightlord, and Techno Tyrant began calling in their henchman and equipping them for the fight.
A hero was heading to the base portal but stopped when he saw a group of super-villains standing there. He turned to run and tried to cry out a warning to the others but Harley quickly silenced him with a mental dart. Knave ran up to finish the hero but the medi-porter took him before he had the chance. Cursing he rejoined the group.
Elitist looked at the others and nodded. They ran into the hallway and in the first few seconds of destruction sent five heroes to the hospital.
Harley seized a group of heroes and forced them to see their worst memories causing many to fall to their knees. Aphex and Knave took advantage of this and sent them each one by one to the emergency room.
Smashing would knock over pillars onto unsuspecting Blasters and Controllers who were trying to keep everyone under control, taking half of the people who could have organized a retaliation far from the base.
Elitist and Editor decided that breaking into rooms by making new "doors" would be a fun idea. The heroes that weren't immediately sent to the hospital by the wall coming in on them were taken out quick enough.
Retro and Techno began taking revenge for the destruction of the base's hardware by their lead group. They destroyed anything they deemed important and destroyed the small statues of the 'Kickers leaders with glee.
Blightlord had a different plan. One woman saw that the heroes would not win this battle, so instead of letting people die she organized a retreat. She herded the heroes over to a secret exit in the meeting room, doing her best to keep some of the newer recruits from panicking.
Blightlord moved slowly, menacingly, behind the heroes, his eyes dimming to the black of his soul. With a flick of his wrist, he called his undead minions to his side and commanded zombies to fire vomit at the escaping heroes. Some were sent to the hospital from acid burns but many kept moving past the pain that was eating through their flesh.
The heroine finally got the group into the meeting room and opened the escape tunnel. As the heroes fled through the opening she began to barricade the door to slow the rotting man's approach. As she shoved the meeting table up against the other furniture she had placed she heard the hacking sounds. She feared there might not be enough time to get the others to safety.
She rushed the last couple heroes into the passage and was about to climb in herself but knew there was not enough time. She quickly closed the door and heated her hands to weld the door shut, then walked to the front of the opening, standing defiantly with an aura of flames around her.
The undead broke through and immediately charged the heroine. She sidestepped with her hands aflame and lit the zombies on fire. The villain, Blightlord, smirked as one of the zombies fell down, dead for the second time. He raised both of his hands to the sky, invoking the power of the Muck that coursed through his veins. The body rose in a pillar of shadow and its spirit separated from the body, which was thrown to the floor.
The ghost's gleaming red eyes looked at it's second killer, Draconus Spirit, with a hate so intense that it could freeze any lesser hero in their tracks.
As Blightlord commanded another zombie to take the limp one's place Spirit began to create a bonfire around herself in an attempt to ward the henchman off. The zombies ran in with a stupid grin on their face while the Grave Knights and Lich assaulted her with shadow-magic.
The darkness entered her body and she could feel it squeezing her organs, clouding her thoughts. Fighting to regain consciousness she turned the zombies assaulting her to ashes and moved to attack Blightlord.
She lept across the room at him but a smoky tendril grabbed her leg, causing her to fall face-first to the floor. She looked back at the Lich that was grinning hungrily at her. She tried to burn the tentacle but the fire just passed right through it. She tried to pull herself to the villain; if she could just grab his ankle she could send him to a fiery death.
The ghost came at her moaning horrible and threw ectoplasmic nightmares at her. The ghost's aim was poor and hit a mirror, causing the attack to reverse onto it sending it to its final resting place.
She pulled towards the cackling villain but was his by a forceful burst of darkness that sent her further back.
She sat up in a daze and felt something constrict one of her arms, then the other, and finally her remaining leg. She looked over at the remaining undead until a final tentacle wrapped around her neck, slamming her head to the floor.
Blightlord walked next to her and breathed a horrible poison that made her feel weaker, to weak to hold onto the flaming aura.
He aimed his arm at her to launch a glob to temporarily contain her so she would not cause any more trouble the rest of the raid. He was about to launch it when he thought, what if they only saw this as a retaliation? No he would have to make sure that those heroes saw it as a message. Danica may not seek revenge if all they died was wreck their place.
Blightlord called his Grave Knights over to him and pointed at the girl, the eyes behind her helmet wide in fear. The undead soldiers stood on each side of her and raised their swords, point down. Spirit tried to scream but could not make a sound. The blades fell and she never made a sound again...
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Blightlord sat alone in his room watching the mirror, listening to the conversation. It was much better than any of the drivel Smashing watched on television. There was the hero who had encased him in ice, despite his name, and the one who seemed to be one of their leaders, the one wearing full body-armor and a helmet.
The one in the helmet came up to Burning Brawler and began talking to him, the sound was faint but just loud enough that Blightlord could hear the conversation.
"Brawler, did Danica go the KiT base at all last night?"
"No, ever since we got that apartment we haven't needed our rooms at the bases for much except places to keep any items we need. She was supposed to go this afternoon though, it's her friend Draconus Spirit's birthday."
Hyper had always thought it was good at certain times that people couldn't see his expression. He felt that way more now than ever.
"There was a... a raid on it last night by the villains we sabotaged."
"Is everyone ok?!" Brawlers asked. The base was made more as a lodging area than a defensive building, not to mention none of the heroes there were ready for that kind of fight.
"The base is in ruins and there are a few in intensive care. Some will be getting out of the hospital this week and there are a couple who are already back in the base with some other 'Kickers working on repairs. There was also a group that was able to escape. Spirit led a group to the escape tunnel in the meeting room, thanks to her we have about ten or twelve who made it out fine."
"That's great! For something like this I think we should have her promoted to the main 'Kickers."
"Normally I'd agree, BB, but we have a problem."
"What is it?"
"She stayed behind to make sure the others got away. She sealed the passage with her still inside the base so the villain wouldn't be able to follow the others. From what we can tell she fought him as best she could but she... she's dead."
Brawler looked at Hyper-Man in shock. He had met Draconus Spirit before with Danica. She was one of the nicest heroes she had ever met and now she's dead. He put his head in his hands doing his best to fight back the emotions inside him. But then he remembered Danica.
He bolted from his room leaving Hyper behind and ran for the telepads. He gave the coordinates for the apartment.
When he appeared inside the only person he saw was Matt sitting on the couch watching TV. "Where's your mother?" Brawler asked.
"She just left a few minutes ago. What happened at the base? She got a phone call and I heard something about a raid, then she ran out of here. What happened? ...Dad?" Matt got off the couch and looked at where his dad had been standing but he was gone already.
If something's happening, Matt thought, I wanna help. So he ran into his room and put on his costume.
Brawler materialized in the KiT base and was shocked at the amount of damage done. Not one wall had been left untouched, it was a miracle the building was still standing. There was a group of Trainees and a few 'Kickers cleaning up the mess with Jack and Chris doing most of the heavy lifting.
Brawler ran for the meeting room as fast as he could. He came to opening and skidded to a stop at the sight inside.
There were signs of a fight all over the walls and floor but that's not what he saw. In the center of the room he saw Danica, her head in her hands looking at the floor sobbing at the horrible scene.
No one had taken the body away yet. There was Spirit, her arms, legs, and neck held down by now lifeless inky black tentacles. The villain didn't order his minions to remove the swords, they were still pinning her to the floor. Worse yet he had removed her helmet so that everyone could see her expression of terror, of pain.
Brawler put his hand on Danica's shoulder and tried to lead her away from the awful sight but she wouldn't budge. All of a sudden her head snapped up and she concentrated deeply, becoming invisible. Brawler could still hear her footsteps as she ran out of the room. Brawler thought she was leaving to find a quiet place to grieve and Brawler almost went with her but thought maybe she maybe just wanted to be alone right now.
He'd wish he had followed her soon.
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Danica held in her hand a crumpled note. She had found it pinned to the door of the room where her friend had died. It said 'If you want revenge meet me in the cemetery.'
She knew it was a trap but she didn't really care. All she thought about right now was planting her heels in his neck. She was so furious she didn't see her son following her in the shadows.
She saw the large iron gates and thought how fitting a place this would be to kill this villain.
She walked through the courtyard; the dark night and eerie fog making it seem like a horror movie. She saw a large a mausoleum in the distance and flew over to it.
She kicked the large stone door and broke it in. She looked inside, if a villain was going to try to ambush her it would be here. She saw a large stone coffin in the center of the room. She ran towards it and didn't see Void behind her, flying up to conceal himself in the shadows of the top corner.
Void felt a rough hand grab him and cover his mouth and as he tried to struggle he gagged on the smell of the hand just below his nose. It turned him around to face it and the sight made Void's eyes go wide and he fainted at the sight of a grinning, rotting face.
The undead knight jumped down from the corner and the thud made Danica turn around. She saw her son in its arms and she ran forward to save him. She would have if the lid on the coffin hadn't flown off, revealing a Lich that used the same tentacles to hold her in place that it had used on Spirit. She turned back at the Lich just as a third figure came down from the roof shadows.
"Hello, Danica. And the famous Void Brawler," he said mocking them both just with his tone.
"Let me go now! Only a coward would kill someone like this," she said reminding him of the way he had killed her friend.
"Oh I have no intentions of letting you go, or even fighting you. No my dear, you are bait."
"Bait? What do you mean bait? You killed Spirit!"
"She was merely a tool for drawing you out for an even bigger prize," Blightlord wished she could see the dark grin on his face, "your husband."
Danica had never felt so foolish. She knew she was walking into a trap but didn't know it wasn't set for her. "You're a monster! If you're keeping me hostage at least let Void go."
"No, I think having you both will make my plan all the more perfect. Now hold still, this will not be pleasant... for you anyway."
He inhaled deeply and blew out a large green spray that covered Danica and Void. Danica felt her legs go limp and she began to fall to the floor.
As she fell she felt her consciousness slip and she fell into a deep sleep...
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Burning Brawler was sitting on the couch at their apartment staring at the clock. Matt and Danica were both gone. He assumed Danica was venting her frustration on some Council, you had to feel bad for them, but Void was past curfew. He did normally get an extra hour when on special missions but his contacts said they hadn't seen him since yesterday.
He walked into his and Danica's bedroom and grabbed the locater. "They're both together, that's good. Wait a minute... their in the cemetery?" He suddenly had flashbacks to all those movies where people would get buried alive by plotting villains, but there's no way they'd be able to do that to Danica. But then there's Void...
Brawler left the apartment in a hurry.
As he flew over the cemetery he checked the locater. He looked up and saw they were inside a mausoleum. He saw the destroyed door and was sure he found the right place.
He saw three stone coffins, and the one in the center was open. But it wasn't that one he was concerned about; it was the other two with "Danica" and "Void Brawler" engraved on their lids.
He rushed over to break them out but couldn't move his legs. He looked down and saw some black tentacles gripping his legs. He tried to pull out of them but they just squeezed tighter. "So you finally came. For a moment I was worried you wouldn't take the bait." The villain from the base, Blightlord, left the shadows with his Grave Knights behind him.
"Let them go. I'm here so there's no reason for you to keep them."
"Actually, I planned on just killing all three of you, if you'll read the center coffin." Brawler did and saw he had his own name engraved on it.
"The only person who's going to die in here is you!" Brawler dropped a patch of flame that shriveled the tentacles.
"I think not," said a voice behind him. A black-hooded zombie raised a shadowy hand that darkened the hero's vision. "You guys are as dumb as you smell," said Brawler. He lit a hand and the shadows disappeared at the light.
"Charge!" commanded the villain and his Grave Knights ran in a hungry rush. They drew their swords and hacked at the hero. Brawler flew out from the "x" their swords formed and launched quick bursts of fire. The Grave Knights lifted their swords to deflect the blasts but the flame heated the metal to a temperature so intense, the zombie's hands caught fire which spread through their entire body, turning them to ash.
"No matter," Blightlord said. He closed his eyes in concentration and a large rumbling could be heard outside. "There was a reason I decided to lure you into a graveyard," he said. Suddenly some things appeared in the doorway. "Because here," he continued as dozens joined them, "I have complete control!" he said. Suddenly the things rushed into the room, a horde of zombies each with a hungry expression on its face.
Brawler turned to face them and raised his hands to the ceiling. He called down a fiery rain that set many of the zombies on fire and created a small domino affect thanks to the close quarters.
A small group almost reached him until he threw a patch of fire around himself that would take off the zombies feet, making them lose balance. Suddenly he heard a large inhale behind him; he turned to face the villain behind him but was too late to do anything. Blightlord blew out that horrible green breath of his and Brawler suddenly felt his legs go weak.
The villain raised an arm to fire something at him. When Burning tried to fly out of the way he felt sluggish and the stuff hit one of his legs, stiffening it instantly. Brawler saw him prepare to fire again but his leg was firmly stuck to the floor. The second fire hit his other leg locking it down like the other one. He was about to melt it off when he realized he was no longer in the fire patch.
He turned just in time to get a zombie smack in the face and a bite on his arm. He struggled to get out of the guck that the villain had fired before the other zombies overwhelmed him. He started to create another fire patch when a group of zombies tackled him to the floor, snapping his feet out of the goo.
They began to pummel him until he covered himself in fire, burning the zombies and warding the others off. He threw an explosive fireball at the minions incinerating many and setting fire to some which would spread to others.
Blightlord began calling more zombies to his aid when suddenly a loud crack was heard. They both turned to the stone coffin with the broken lid. In the blink of an eye Danica lept out and heel kicked Blightlord's helmet, splitting it instantly in half.
He covered his face and ran down the stairwell behind him, into the catacombs. Danica almost chased after him until she heard her husband fighting the remaining zombies behind her.
She turned around as he flung another explosive blast. She lept into the middle of them and quickly swept their feet out from under them. As they fell to the floor she palm-struck a few, snapping their heads off of their rotted necks.
As the zombies' attention turned to her Brawler quickly threw a few bursts to take out the outer ones.
With only a few zombies left Danica flew up into the air so they would all crash together in the center. She quickly slammed down with her stiletto heels, impaling two of the zombies skulls while crushing the other two with her palms.
She ran over to Brawler and hugged him deeply, apologizing for going to the trap. They heard a muffled yell and quickly turned to the third coffin. Danica smashed the lid open and Brawler pulled Void out.
"This is why we tell you to stay home when we're fighting bigger threats," he said.
Void didn't reply, just followed them as they ran down the stairs to take down Blightlord.
As they entered the catacombs the smell of the rotting bodies assaulted them. They moved on and followed the footprints in the dust Blightlord had left behind.
"Wait a minute, doesn't this guy fly?" asked Void.
"Now that you mention it yeah he did. So why wouldn't he?" asked Burning.
"Because its a trap," said Danica.
Suddenly the entire room's occupants rose from their resting places. Skeletons and zombies and some dead heroes rose.
"Hold on," said Brawler. Danica and Void grabbed his hands as Brawler flew up to the wooden beams holding up the ceiling. "Ok we should be safe up here," he said.
A low, gravelly voice behind him said, "I think not."
They turned to see a former hero, his cape and costume tattered flying up to attack them. The dead man launched himself at them like a rocket. Danica ducked and grabbed the man's outstretched arm, then flung him back the other direction, sending the body into the wall and leaving Danica with a weapon.
Brawler lit the fist of the arm and Danica threw it down into the crowd of zombies attempting to get at them. As they began to catch fire many began to climb the bookcase-like indents in the walls where they were laid and suddenly saw a way to get at the family.
Burning threw exploding fireballs in an attempt to get rid of the ones hungrily clambering to the top while Danica and Void Brawler quickly knocked out the ones who made it to the top.
"I don't get it, for every four we take out ten seem to take their place," said Void as he used a shadowy fist to turn a skeleton into pick-up sticks.
"That's because we're fighting the wrong enemies," said Brawler. He looked at the exit on the far side of the room and saw the flickering red light of a ritual being performed. "Grab my hands," he said and he flew them over to the door. Danica quickly kicked the sides of the entrance bringing the stone down to barricade them from the horde.
They heard chanting in the room ahead and a loud, explosive sound as the re-animation ritual progressed. The peeked their heads around the corner and saw the villain Blightlord reading from a tome while holding a sacrificial knife in his hand. As his minions banged drums and danced around the cauldron emitting red smoke, Blightlord held his arm over it. He took the knife and slashed his wrist but instead of blood, dark ooze fell in.
The smoke turned a sinister shade of purple and a large moaning came from the cauldron.
"On three," said Burning. "One.... two.... go!" They charged into the room, Void sped at high speeds, smashing the zombies, while Burning and Danica ran at Blightlord.
Blightlord quickly reacted by first freezing Void in his tracks with one of his toxins while leaping out of the way of his parents. They turned and lept at him as Blightlord attempted to reload his toxin launcher.
Blightlord knew if he was going to get his revenge and complete this ritual he would need to act fast. He launched another blast of the toxin and froze Danica in place. He let Burning pin him against the wall, letting him see his scarred, rotted face.
"Good job, you've found me, escaped my minions, seemingly foiled my ritual and now have me in the perfect position for annihilation," he said.
Brawler's hand covered itself in flame as he formed a fist, ready to incinerate the man who'd tried to kill his family.
"But the thing is, if you kill me here, I'll only return. And when I return I will find your wife and son and I will kill them, and if you manage to stop me again I will only keep returning. You will never be rid of me. No matter how many times you win, you will, eventually, lose. And when you do.... you'll lose it all," Blightlord said, his grin almost insane.
The flame on Brawler's hand disappeared for a moment and Blightlord took that as a sign that he was getting to him. "You might as well let me go," he said as he injected a serum into Brawler.
Suddenly Brawler's eyes went blank as he said, "Might as well," and set the villain down.
"In fact, you might as well just throw yourself and your family into that cauldron over there. It would be so much easier to do than live with the fear of my next return."
"You might be right," said the hero. He turned to his wife and son just starting to regain control of their body, and winked. Suddenly they were paralyzed again, including Burning, by the toxin.
"You honestly think I don't know when my serums didn't work? I am a master of the powers of death and decay, and you insult me this way?" His audience unable to do anything else, Blightlord turned his back to them and continued. "I'll sacrifice you and your blood will finish my true revenge! It will grant me more power than that ridiculous Recluse and I will finally be able to crush those insufferable oafs I have needed for far too long! I'll wipe the grin off of Smashing's face and put Elitist into his proper place, at my feet. And best of all, I will have eliminated the one who thought he could humiliate me and never see me again."
During his monologue Blightlord didn't notice the three heroes regaining control of their bodies. He turned around in time to get a shadow-fist in the face. Blightlord lept back as Danica attempted to do the same and got a blast of fire hitting his stomach.
As the fire burnt him he didn't have enough time to dodge Danica's next kick that knocked his feet out from under him. Void quickly placed a net of shadows over Blightlord to keep him from rising. Burning stood over him, ready to launch a killing fire.
Insane with rage Blightlord did his best to buy time, "You can't kill me. You'll never kill me. The only way you'll ever be rid of me is if die, and I will hunt you until I make sure that happens. I'll kill you the way I killed that pathetic Draconus Spirit!"
Danica screamed in rage and stabbed her stiletto heel into the villain's throat. Murky, black goo came from the wound and Blightlord grinned. "Until next time," he said as his body melted into the stuff and disappeared into the floor. All that remained was the armor that Danica smashed relentlessly till her knuckles bled and the armor was flattened. She sobbed at the loss of her friend, letting her rage turned to grief.
Burning and Void helped her to her feet and carried her to the door on the other side of the room.
The opened it and their eyes stung from the sudden light of sunshine.
Two weeks later...
'Kickers and Trainees in black tux and dresses gathered around a grave covered in flowers as the pastor read the eulogy. The heroes knew that the final battle had been won but they couldn't help feeling it was all a loss. The pastor finished and they each said their goodbyes.
Hyper-Man, wearing his watch so he could come in something other than his costume, laid a medal down on the flowers. "For your bravery in a crises you are promoted to the Buttkickers of the Fantastic. We just wish that you were alive to know it."
Danica, James, and Matt were the last ones left. They read the inscription on the grave, 'Hero, 'Kicker, Friend to the end.'
They left with the others remembering the inscription and never forgetting.
The End...
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Ok, this time we have another very short story followed by a full one. This one I entered for the "love" theme story contest a while back. I could have picked a better pairing but at the time I was highly obsessed with a certain character from a certain video game and his certain way of speaking...))
Love Hurts
A white-haired man in a lab coat stood at the podium facing the crowd of press members, government agents, and curious onlookers. Friends, family, people who can help me boost my career, I have assembled you here today to present the newest addition to the city of heroes.
As you all know, Sirens Call is a dangerous area that we are desperately trying to keep control of. The villains are ruthless and have sent many heroes to the hospitals repeatedly with stab wounds, burns, and many other various boo-boos. Well, no more! With this new android I have created, we will push the villains back into their hole! I present to you, The Sonic Call!
The crowd cheered as the scientist whipped off the sheet covering the android next to him. Her armor shined in the sun as she activated and began to perform actions the scientist commanded. She gave the man layers of protection and demonstrated how difficult they were to break.
She will be sent to Sirens Call this afternoon for her first patrol, and dont worry, I dont need to be thereto give her orders. The scientist opened her back and pressed a button. Her artificial intelligence is now activated. She will help take back Sirens Call and send many villains home crying in the process! The crowd cheered more as the android activated her rocket boots and sped off to do what she was built for.
Sonic Call landed in front of the security chief who briefed her on hotspots and the bounty awarded for victories and what would happen should she be defeated. She wasted no time heading to the nearest hotspot where men and women in red and white were desperately fighting off a large group of monstrous spider like men.
Command: Halt in the name of the law! Threat: Ill destroy you if you do not comply! said the android. The spiders looked up at her and laughed as they threw various energies and psionic assaults at her. She quickly dodged them saying, Warning: I am about to retaliate, brace yourself for the trip home.
She dropped down into the midst of the Arachnos troops and uttered a high-pitched wail that shook the ground and assaulted the soldiers. The Arachnos members fell to the ground, clutching their heads in agony as they disappeared. The Longbow thanked her and ran off to the next battle.
Temporarily unable to attack, Sonic Call flew to a rooftop to recharge some of her energy. As she did so her infrared scanners detected someone coming towards her. She shifted to a normal view but did not see the person. Confused she reverted to infrared just in time to see the figure draw out something long and cold to attack her. She dived out of the way just in time to avoid being stabbed by a man in a black and red costume.
Command: Halt in the name of the law! The man didnt listen. He turned and flew as fast as he could before she fought back. Sonic activated her rocket boots and took up the chase, following the man through twists and turns until they reached an area that looked like it had suffered from some sort of explosion.
The man looked at her and with a wave of his hand disabled her vision. By the time she regained sight he was gone.
She switched to normal vision and zoomed in on a large structure ahead of her. She saw what seemed to be a lighthouse and many people rushing about in what seemed to be a small base.
She flew closer to this structure and saw that the people were more of those Arachnos troops. She quickly turned herself invisible and moved in for a closer look.
The villain who had attacked her was talking to a man near a helicopter and before she could get at him he had hopped inside. She ducked as it rose into the sky, carrying her assailant with it.
She almost left to find another hotspot but she saw something as she turned to leave. There by the heli-pad was a robot that she couldnt tear her eyes away from. Question: Who is that?
With his compact, round, hovering body, blue eyes, and dangling legs she felt him irresistible. She flew down in front of him saying, Introduction: I am Sonic Sire- she was cut off as he used a laser blast that disintegrated her, sending her to wake up in the hospital.
Question: Why did he do that? A nearby doctor, obviously unaware the question wasnt directed at him, said, That was an Arbiter Drone. Those things will take out anything that isnt one of Recluses boys or a super-villain.
Question: So he cant feel anything for a hero?
The doctor laughed, He is a robot, kid. Robots cant love anything. He looked up from his clipboard and saw what he was talking to. Oh! Im
. Im sorry miss I had no idea. She didnt listen to him, she just ran straight for the door and back to the villains base.
She watched the drone she convinced herself she loved as he zapped heroes who attempted to sneak into the bases hospital. She gave out the robotic equivalent of a sigh when she heard the familiar sound of a sword being drawn. She turned to face the one who had attacked her earlier and just barely deflected the blow with her arm.
Im not flying away this time, he said as he struck again. This time the sword cut into her armor sending electrical shockwaves to her core systems. Enough of those could shut her down permanently. He hacked again and she rolled away, making the villains sword get stuck in the earth. As he attempted to free it, Sonic lept to her feet and blasted the villain with a wave of sound.
The force of the sound knocked him, sword in hand, back a few yards. Sonic quickly rushed to attack but the villain kicked her as he stood, sending her into the villain base. He lept in after her and stood with one foot on her chest, and his sword aimed at her head.
One less hero in Paragon City, he said. He raised the sword as she looked pleadingly to the watching Arbiter Drone. As the sword fell a beam of light struck the villain and disintegrated him, same as Sonic had been before.
She looked over at the drone she loved and saw his ray emitter smoking from the blast. She jumped to her feet and embraced him. I knew he was wrong, I just knew it. She carried him out of the base and took him home to live with her in her lab for as long as they were both functional.
In a lab in Peregrine Island Sonic Calls creator watched another scientist finish typing commands while they watched everything Sonic was doing on another monitor. Sir, should we inform her that we hacked into the drone network for that to happen?
The creator thought for a moment before saying, No, of course not. Shes as happy as anyone can be.
The End
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Nemesis 4: Recurring Nightmares/Vengeance 2: Fiend or Foe
"As you all know," began Hyper-Man, addressing the 'Kickers, "one of our own was recently taken. We have been waiting for some more Intel before we take revenge for this horrible act. I'm happy to tell you that we have more than enough information to send every last one of those villains to a maximum security section of the Zig!"
The 'Kickers, Kids, and Trainees cheered at this, even though most of them knew that the maximum security section was where many of the villains had been broken out of.
"I've gained access to their new base coordinates and have been sending in micro-drones to examine the base to formulate an attack plan."
"And we wanted to thank you for your interest personally." The heroes turned and saw the Masters of Mayhem, smugly standing behind their leader, Elitist.
The one named Techno-Tyrant spoke next, "My sensors found your pathetic drones, and I placed tracers on them."
"Wait, wheres that one fella with the goofy grin," said Jack."
"And I have made my own attack plan," said Elitist. The 'Kickers heard loud cackling, then an explosion, and then the lights went out. "Everyone, turn on your IR goggles."
"Brawler, lights!!" yelled Hyper. Burning quickly followed the order and lit the emergency torches while asking himself when they would just switch to arcane power sources. Destroying those would have knocked that brute miles away.
"Not bad, Elitist should have taken your fiery friend into account while creating this 'master attack plan,'" said Blightlord, very eager to make his teammates seem like the idiots he considered them to be.
"Nice face, couldn't afford a new helmet?" said Danica, the one who had destroyed his last one. His rotting face and the ventilator he now depended on exposed, Blightlord was unable to express the rage this comment created in him. The only indication that the heroes had that this comment bothered him was that suddenly a group of undead enemies fell into their midst.
The other villains followed the attack. More henchmen appeared while the others quickly assaulted the heroes. Hidden enemies appeared with brutal slashes while other opponents who preferred to get up close smashed at the nearest target. From a safe distance the rest did their best to contain the heroes while firing powerful blasts and aiding their allies.
Hyper-Man quickly flipped a hatch on his arm and entered a quick command. Suddenly all the heroes were at the other end of the room. "Vi, heal!" as she sent out a soothing blast of radiation Hyper-Man yelled, "Scatter!"
Not questioning his judgment, the heroes split up into small groups running to a room they could defend.
Yelling in rage Elitist ordered, "After them!" sending the villains in hot pursuit. "Kill anyone you find, except their leader! Leave him to me!"
Those who preferred stealth snuck off after the heroes who had gone into the power rooms, hoping the noise would cover their approach, while the bigger more confrontational villains went after the ones who ran in the direction of the base defense network. Those who had others to do their bidding went towards the heroes bedrooms, expecting there to be many attempting to seal themselves safely away until they were given new orders.
Violet, Java, and Shard led a small group of Trainees into the energy control room in an attempt to fix and guard the energy units. Brawler had only lit the meeting room. As Shard quickly opened up the bashed unit he saw the circuitry was toast. "No way am I gonna be able to fix this thing, not without some spare parts." Vi looked around with a guilty look on her face. "I kinda took these during one of my... less resistant moments. I liked the way they jingled..." She handed Shard a bag filled with spare parts, which he hurriedly used to replace anything damaged beyond repair. With a few quick adjustments the lights quickly returned, just in time for them to see the last Trainee medi-port to the hospital.
"It seems they finally saw us," said Aphex. With a wave of their hands the Stalker Unit pacified the heroes. Unable to focus on the villains the 'Kickers were forced to run until the effects of... whatever they did wore off.
As the lights returned to the base, so did power return to the control room's defense network. Hyper-Man typed in quick commands and activated the turrets, sending some of the villains back to their base where they belonged. Cosmic ran over to a communicator, quickly giving Hyper's new order saying, "All Trainees and Kids return to your own bases and shut off all teleportation networks immediately! You will be contacted when it is safe."
The instruments in the control room showed that the order had been followed. Jack heard a pounding on the door and viewed the security camera screens. "That big guy wants to talk to us Hyp." Johnny pulled out his claws as he saw the grinning villain walk up to the rest of the group in front of that door. "He has my pizza! Why does every villain always go for the pizza?!"
Jack just barely stopped JV from opening the door when Smashing pulled out a slice to eat.
The hall was crowded with henchman as doors were broken down and rooms were searched. A group of mercenaries ran into one room and didn't return when Cobalt Commander ordered their return. Grumbling he looked into the room and watched the unconscious men disappear. "What the-" "Surprise!" yelled a hero, Branch, as he kicked the villain in his face.
He peeked his head outside the door and saw a greasy-haired guy order some robots into Super Shard's room, apparently to steal the gadgets he had been working on. Seeing his chance, Branch did a flying kick to the back of the villain's skull. When the villain faded to the hospital Branch watched his minions disappear as well.
"Man these guys can't fight if their lives depended on it!"
"I hope you can," said a voice behind Branch, who was suddenly frozen in place by a paralytic toxin. "Because those are the stakes I like to play for." Blightlord walked in front of the hero, allowing him to see the man who had rendered him helpless.
Branch wished he could see the smirk disappear from the villains face when he quickly broke free of the poison to drop kick the fiend. The hit to his head was enough to trigger the medi-porter and cancel the order for an undead soldier to cut Branch in half. Whistling, Branch left the corridor to find his friends.
The Obsidian Arrow followed Burning Brawler and Danica as they ran down the hallway to the recreational room where Burning had left a spell book he had been viewing earlier that may expel the villains.
They had almost reached the room when they heard a woman laugh behind them. Thats the clown. You two keep going, Ill take her down, said Danica. Hold on, said Arrow. You can guard Brawler against one of the bigger guys better than I can while he casts the spell. Ill set up some traps and wait for her; she wont get past me.
Danica nodded and followed Brawler as he ran down the hallway. Arrow turned to the floor and began placing mines, laying caltrops, and finally rendering himself to near perfect invisibility. The mad woman ran down the hall laughing at the sight of heroes on the run. She thought they were fleeing from her and didnt think to look down at the trap set for her.
As her foot neared them, the mines exploded, making her fly through the air and attempt to dodge the spiky objects that were being flung by the blast. She landed on her feet and felt an arrow press against her back. Her spine stiffened as she turned to him with a frown. Something about the way her eyes looked, that sad expression, made Obsidian drop the arrow. Harlequin merrily skipped the rest of the way to the other heroes as Obsidian Arrow stood there in his daze.
Super Shard, Java, and Violet ran quickly with a group of Kickers they had found evading the exact same unit the three had been looking for. Suddenly they appeared. Swords, claws, spines, and energy-wrapped fists launched taking down many without warning.
As Violet radiated one, making him violently ill, Java quickly blasted the comrades that were slowly being infected. Shard lept at the one with the energy hands and bashed his head with his own. As Java blasted the last fleeing member of the Stalker Unit they rushed off to find anyone remaining in the base.
The control room door began to buckle under the assault of the brutish Elitist. Hey Hyp, why dont we just let him in? Not like theyre gonna win or anything, Jack said.
I think Im ready now, said Hyp as he pressed the release button. The door flew off its hinges as Elitist, Smashing Pumpkin, Editor, and other members of the Brute Squad charged into the room. Jack stomped on the floor, knocking a few off their feet. He lept into the middle and pummeled the ones who fell, causing their medi-porters to activate.
Johnny saw the one who dared to eat his pizza. He charged furiously at him, slashing away at his abdomen, ignoring the searing heat of the villains shielding flames. He just laughed and grabbed Johnny by the throat. Youre gonna fry, hope you like it extra-crispy, he laughed again. At least, until an energy blast knocked the wind out of him. Smashing dropped Johnny as he fell to the floor, unconscious.
Elitist ran at Hyper-Man at full force as Jack and Johnny did their best to clean up the remaining villains in the room. Elitist smashed at Hyper-Man and missed by a hair. Hyper turned and launched a powerful blast that stunned Elitist while Hyp ran up with an energy fist blow that knocked him into a wall. Shaking off the effects of the punch, the villain leapt at Hyper and pinned him to the ground. He raised a fist to smash his helmet in, and was about to until Jack forcefully ripped him off.
Jack grabbed him by the throat and threw him into a wall. Before activating his medi-porter, the villain whispered, This isnt over. As he disappeared Hyper-Man viewed the monitors and saw the only remaining threat was a single villain that was skipping down the hall towards the recreation room. Hyp said, Lets move, and they hurried to catch her.
Burning Brawler found his spell book. He flipped through the pages frantically trying to find the spell. Danica heard the voice of Harlequin and readied herself to fight. Harley peaked her head into the door and almost lost it as Danica snapped her palm at it.
Thats no way to treat a guest, said Harley as she mentally lifted the heroine off her feet and threw her into a wall. Brawler began reading the spell as Danica leapt back towards the villain. Harley just laughed and played tricks with her head, making her think there were ten of her and things like that. As Brawler picked up the speed in his incantation Harley lost interest in the game and sent Danica into a deep sleep.
She walked forward, reaching to grab the heros head to see what exactly he was muttering about. She almost reached him until a speeding hero, Obsidian Arrow, ran between them. He nocked an arrow causing her to pause. She was about to comment on rudeness when suddenly she felt it. That wave of madness that just wouldnt, couldnt, leave her alone. As it came over her, she fell onto Burning Brawler right as he finished the incantation. A blinding light appeared as the remaining Kickers ran into the room.
They saw something most of them had believed was impossible, yet there they were. They thought maybe the light was playing tricks on them but the spots had cleared, they couldnt convince themselves of it anymore.
It wasnt the fainted Harlequin they were staring at. It was The Ruby Blade, Project Heat Seeker, Nictus Brawler, and the helmeted Blightlord
-----------------
"That's impossible... those two are dead!" said Brawler.
"Yeah but Ruby isn't," said Obsidian. He whipped out an arrow and aimed it quickly at the villain's head. Ruby Blade noticed Harlequin reaching for her medi-porter and quickly grabbed her hand. All of the newly appeared villains grabbed Harley as she disappeared, leaving with her.
"They're... they're dead though... I.... I saw them die," Brawler said again, still unable to understand how two of his greatest enemies could come back from the dead right in front of his very own eyes.
"Why did Blightlord appear? And he had a costume change," said Danica. "Something's not right here."
"Are the three of you all right?" asked Hyper.
"Yeah, she didn't get a chance to do anything before you guys came," said Brawler.
"You guys gonna get the kid off the roof? I don't want to have to start giving mop duty for the ceiling to," Jack said.
The three were confused until they looked up and saw Void Brawler hiding up above.
"You were supposed to leave with the other Kids, Void," said Danica.
"That reminds me, I need to send them the message that it's safe," Hyp said as he ran back towards the control room.
The others followed him as Void apologized as he ran to the teleporter room to go back to the base.
Danica, Burning Brawler, and Obsidian Arrow all stood together trying to figure out why the villains appeared, where they would be, and one of the most important things, how.
"They didn't teleport in because we saw two of them die, well you both saw one," said Brawler.
"Blade didn't have any teleportation powers, unless he recently acquired something," said Arrow, thinking of his own experience in the Terra Volta Reactor where his flight mysteriously disappeared and was replaced with incredible speed.
"Well, Blightlord has used teleportation spells before hasn't he? But it still doesn't explain the new costume," said Danica.
"Wait, we're forgetting one of the villains," said Brawler.
"What, the clown? Remember, she was there before they appeared," Danica said.
"No, that's not what I mean."
"You think she had something to do with what happened?" asked Arrow.
"Yes, remember how she always gets that weird look, like she's trying to fight something off, then all of a sudden she hits us with something huge."
"So what are we going to do? Capture her and tell her to give us answers?" asked Danica.
"That's exactly what we're gonna do."
--------------
Harley appeared inside the base, along with four passengers.
"Hey, Blightlord, you got your old suit fixed. After it got trashed by those heroes," said Smashing. Even in defeat he couldn't resist a chance to remind him of that failed attempt.
This Blightlord said nothing; he just stared into the room across the hall. There was a man with a rotted face, a ventilator he required to live, and a suit revealing the dark green veins that contained the poison that coursed through his body and soul.
The real Blightlord turned and saw his "clone." He came up to the slightly dazed Harley and asked, "Who is this?" he asked.
Harley, barely able to stand, wearily looked at the helmeted Blightlord. An insane grin spread on her face as she said, "Why he's you," she said. Suddenly she collapsed, unable to stand anymore.
Their eyes met and the real Blightlord's narrowed. He snapped and a Grave Knight descended, cutting the clone in half. "I do not care for imposters," he said as he walked to his room.
"What does he mean 'imposter'?" asked Project Heat Seeker.
"I'm not sure. This energy signature is my own, and I am me, therefore I cannot be another," replied Nictus Brawler.
"You Kheldians can never speak English correctly without being confusing can you, said Heat Seeker. "Hey, where'd that guy with the sword go? He was right next to me a second ago."
-----------------
It was simple enough. I wanted to understand what that villain meant by "imposter." Ruby Blade did a little researching and found that first he had supposedly died, but his sword, which had been taken as a trophy, mysteriously disappeared not too long after. There had been nothing on him after that so Ruby assumed he must be in hiding. So he asked himself, where would he go if he was trying to disappear for a while?
That is what brought him to this small cave network. In here was the ideal place to hide. The clone Ruby Blade became invisible, and quietly searched the entrance. Seeing to traps he continued. He noticed that this cave was not bare. There was a little furniture and some machinery, apparently to keep the place lit and for information gathering.
He continued to the heart of the network. There was nothing to stop- FWAM! Poison darts shot from the walls. Ruby bent backwards far enough that it would impress a limbo champion.
Well there are the traps I would lay, he thought. He heard someone typing on a keyboard ahead. He hurried forward and saw a large chair in front of a huge screen.
The clone stalked up to the figure and seeing the black and red glove resting on the keyboard proved to him it was... well himself.
He drew his blade. His eyes narrowed and he walked deathly silent to the figure. He crouched down behind the chair. He stabbed through the back if the seat but didn't feel any resistance beyond that. Confused he peered around it and saw there was no one sitting in it! He had been tricked, the gloves were filled with... he picked them up. Cotton balls?! But if he wasn't here then...
"I'm right behind you," said the original as he stabbed out. The clone leapt to the side just barely dodging the strike. He turned to view himself. Their eyes narrowed as they circled each other. Suddenly, the clone struck but the original quickly deflected the strike.
They jumped back from each other, once again watching each other, waiting to see who would make the next move.
This time the original attacked, thrusting at the clones abdomen. The clone jumped back, sucking his stomach in. The blade nearly connected. The clone swept the sword aside with his own and quickly countered. His opponent dodged the thrust but fell to the ground in the process.
The clone rushed forward and placed his foot on the original's neck. He kicked away his sword and put the tip of his own on the original's forehead.
As fear welled up in the unarmed villain the clone said, "There can be only one." He pushed the sword through killing the man instantly. As liquids oozed from the wound creating a puddle around the dead man's head, the now one and only Ruby Blade left the cave. If memory served, he had one more enemy that he wanted to die, but before he formulated a new plan it may be wise to ally himself with these "Masters of Mayhem."
---------------
Three heroes stood outside a warehouse in St. Martial. If Super Shard hadn't put together more cloaking devices for Burning Brawler and Danica they would have been caught by now for sure, and have the entire Arachnos force on them.
Arrow checked his watch; "She'll be out any minute now."
Brawler nodded and got ready to jump her. Danica flew up into the air, putting herself in the perfect position for a tackle.
The door opened and Harlequin emerged, humming a happy tune about her latest mission success. Brawler yelled, "NOW!" and as Harley leapt in surprise the others leapt at her. Brawler grabbed her waist as Arrow got her feet. Danica dropped down, putting a sack over her head. Arrow pulled open his watch and yelled, "Go!" Suddenly the heroes, and villain, disappeared in a flash of light.
They reappeared in the base prison. They quickly threw Harley into a suppression cell. When the bag was removed from her head, Harley looked at her surroundings. It wasn't as dirty as her prison cell and there was even a nicer cot.
Before she could comment on it Brawler asked, "How did you make those four appear?" She looked at him, more than a little confused, until she realized who he was talking about.
"Them? Not a clue. For all I know you could have called them in."
Arrow had been wondering this a while and decided to ask, "Why do you always get that weird look in your eyes?"
She looked at him and her pleasantly smiling face grew dark. "Why would I tell you how I use my powers?"
"For one thing your in a cell, for another, you have no choice," said Danica.
"I don't know why that sometimes happens. I just throw my emotions at whatever is bothering me."
"This helping at all Brawler?" asked Arrow.
"I... I think I'm starting to get it," he said as he flipped through one of his spell books. "If I'm right, this isn't really her fault at all, except that she was helping what made me use the spell in the first place. See this rune here? The one with the curved top and wavy bottom?"
Arrow and Danica looked over Brawler's shoulder. Harley tried to but the other two were in the way.
"That's a... a mental symbol, not physical like I should have used. And this with the straight line and the curves horizontal from it? That's a symbol for projection. What I can't understand is, if I think I'm right, I don't have the kind of power to make those four corporeal."
"What do you think you did?" asked Danica.
"I... I think this spell takes something from your head, and puts it out for all to see. You were both really close, maybe touching me when I cast the spell so it must have done the same with you."
"Why would it make... them?" asked Arrow.
Brawler scanned the pages of the book while Harley sat there, more than a little annoyed that she was being ignored. Suddenly a "hole" opened up in the cell. Harley saw Retro Bot's waiting hand. She took it and was sucked into the portal without the heroes even hearing, or seeing, a thing.
"Aha! Here it is. This skull-like rune means fear. All these runes basically mean, 'Mind's greatest fears to be revealed for all to see.' Our greatest fears are our greatest enemies. I have to admit Heat Seeker and Nictus can really worry me. And I suppose Ruby is your fear Arrow, but Danica, I didn't know you were afraid of Blightlord."
"I'm not though. Wait a minute... Void was there to! He was hiding above us."
"That's right... but we still don't know how those four are corporeal."
"Wait a minute... the clown... she fell on you! Maybe as she attacked it boosted the power of your spell and-"
They turned to the villain's cell and saw that she had disappeared. "Where is she? Did either of you see her disappear?"
Danica and Arrow shook their heads, but she wasn't important anymore for this. They had their how and why, now they just needed to know where to find them and take them out.
--------------
Three villains kneeled before the man known as Elitist. They had never submitted to another before and some of them were already plotting revenge for being forced to do so.
The thoughts of vengeance did not show through their masks though as Elitist gave them a test of strength. "Anyone who wishes to join us must prove themselves. Anyone who will object to my orders and command will not be tolerated and most likely eliminated."
Nictus Brawler had scanned both Blightlords' thoughts and almost told of the plots he had made to overthrow the villainous leader but decided to save that black-mail for later.
"To prove your worth I will give you a small task. Our enemies are many and our allies are few that can be trusted. That is why I want you to thin the numbers of our foes, especially the Buttkickers of the Fantastic."
The three looked up from the floor remembering the last time they had each encountered the group.
It was a painful and infuriating memory.
"I don't care who it is you kill, just bring me their group communicator as proof of the deed."
They rose and nodded.
"One named Danica is in Bloody Bay," said Elitist. Heat Seeker took the tracking device from Elitist and, grinning fiendishly under his helmet, ran to catch her. "We managed to get a lock on Obsidian Arrow inside Siren's Call." Ruby Blade took the tracker and disappeared. "Burning Brawler will be in Warburg. You can normally find him close to the villain base and in the WEB network." Nictus Brawler took the tracker and left the room.
As he walked down the long hallway a hand grabbed his shoulder. He turned ready to blast the foe until he saw it was the villain from earlier, Blightlord.
"I know you don't understand all the words I'm saying but I know you can sense my intentions. Burning Brawler is investigating the Warburg Rocket and I want to know why. Also if you do rob me the pleasure of ripping that hero limb from limb I will make sure you are locked away in a dimension from which you cannot escape."
Nictus obviously understood as he left in a hurry. From behind Blightlord, Smashing Pumpkin spoke, "Can you really do that?"
"Not really, but it does make a good threat."
--------------
Danica saw it, the last meteor she needed to take a sample from. She flew in close then darted up quickly. She knew some of the Shivans would rise to protect the meteor. She dropped down, impaling one immediately. She did a spin kick, cutting the one behind her in half. She leapt on top of the meteor and quickly took a sample. The remaining Shivans launched radioactive blasts. She leapt over them and flew away to one of the many firebases in the area.
She was told the turrets had to be disabled before she could use the computer to change the samples into something useful. The firebase turrets saw her before she saw them and she was quickly knocked out of the sky. The gas one of the turrets had launched had taken her ability to fly away and she was stuck running to them.
She pulled herself up onto the wall and quickly hammered the turret that had made her temporarily unable to fly. The armor was thick and at first she only made dents. When she finally broke through the armor she was able to use its gas bombs on the other turrets. She chucked them one by one at the weaker turrets, the minor explosion doing just enough damage to take them offline. She kicked the gas launcher one last time to fully take it out. She ran into the firebase and began following the instructions the scientist had given her on how to convert the samples.
She placed the shards of the meteors in a tray and quickly typed in the commands. She thought to herself, I don't know why James thinks this'll help us find them but he says he needs these shards.
She watched the shards as they melted into a light green liquid. She placed them in a special thermos and left the firebase. She saw the turrets were almost finished repairing themselves and quickly flew up to a nearby rooftop.
As she placed the thermos on her belt she pulled out her communicator to call Brawler and tell him she had the melted shards. Suddenly it was taken from her hand. She saw it floating in the middle of the air and realized it was an invisible enemy. She concentrated and was able to see a thin outline of the man who had taken it. "Heat Seeker!" she yelled. She jumped up and grabbed at his ankles as he attempted to flee. She climbed up his legs attempting to smash his head and knock him out of the air.
He tried to choke her with a cloud of ash but the rush of air as they flew along kept it from working. He saw a large cluster of buildings up ahead and had an idea.
He flew through the middle of the buildings shaking his legs wildly in an attempt to make Danica lose balance. As she focused on clinging on tight she didn't see Heat Seeker slam his legs into a building until she was hit.
She heard a loud crack and wasn't sure if it was her spine or the villain's legs. Either way the pain of the impact caused her to lose her hold. As she fell to the ground she did her best to shield the melted shards. She hit the street and was instantly teleported to the hospital while Project Heat Seeker quickly flew away with her communicator, the assumed proof of her death.
Inside Siren's Call Obsidian Arrow waited in an alley. There was a battle raging between Arachnos and Longbow on the street in front of him but that wasn't why he was here. He saw his target land in the middle of the fray. This villain had gained his powers through a mutation in his genetics and Arrow's assignment was to get a blood sample.
He nocked an arrow and aimed it at the villain who was oblivious to the hero as he smashed Longbow agents effortlessly. As the villain raised his arms to bash a warden's skull he let the arrow fly and watched it pierce the mutants side, maybe between his ribs.
The villain fell, gasping in pain. Just before he medi-ported away Obsidian quickly ripped the arrow out. He took a sterile cloth and wiped the blood off the tip. He placed the cloth in a bag and quickly sped away from the Arachnos agents.
He stopped under a bridge near one of the war walls to rest. He didn't hear and definitely could not see the approach of the Ruby Blade. The villain stood behind the hero, blade drawn, ready to fall. Unlike Heat Seeker who was content to just steal the communicator, Blade had a score to settle even if he wasn't the Ruby Blade that received the beating he had the memories of the experience.
As he turned his blade to aim the point down onto the hero's skull, the sword made a humming sound as it cut through the air. Obsidian leapt to the side and quickly let an arrow fly. Ruby became visible as he deflected it with his sword. His eyes filled with hatred he sped forward, sword extended.
Arrow threw caltrops at the villain's face, shredding his mask and cutting his skin as he sped into them. His face and chest bleeding from the sharp objects, Ruby became even angrier. He caught a handful of arrows that were released almost effortlessly. He broke them in half and continued chasing Obsidian Arrow, determined to kill him.
Suddenly he realized that this chase wasn't necessary. He teleported himself in front of the hero, getting him to make eye contact. With a wave of his hand he caused Obsidian Arrow to forget why he was running, and so he stopped.
Grinning, Ruby Blade walked up to the dazed hero. He ripped off the communicator and stood behind Arrow. He put his sword tip on the small of the hero's back and paused to remember this moment.
He was about to push the weapon through until he was bashed by an oversized hero. The big man yelled in triumph as Ruby Blade's medi-porter activated. The big man yelled, "WOOHOO!!! That guy was worth enough for me to afford another one of those enhancements!" The big man jumped away as Arrow regained control of his actions. He glanced around in confusion. When he saw he was no longer in danger he reached for his belt to tell the others he had been attacked. When he couldn't find it he knew who was to blame. He would have gone after Blade but he had to get the blood sample back to the base for Burning.
In the Siren's Call villain base Ruby Blade stepped out of the recclaimator. What ever happened to one on one duels of honor?, he asked himself. He would have gone after Arrow but he knew he would seem him soon. And besides, he had the communicator. Elitist would not know the hero was still alive before Ruby killed one of them.
Burning Brawler grabbed the scientist's hand and led her to the nearby Arachnos bunker. "This is the place," he said. "Good, here's part of the code, get-" "I already have the other two parts but thanks for the info," he said.
"So you can launch the rocket? Well wherever you send it I hope it is not near me," she said.
"You don't have to worry about that. I'm not using it on a Longbow holding cell."
The scientist looked at him confused until he cuffed her. "You bas-" she was cut off as the cuffs sent her to her new place of residence for the next few years.
Brawler quickly made his way to the launching computer. He had to be extra careful here, some of the heroes were paranoid about what the rocket would be used for. He found the computer and quickly entered his codes.
"Now to launch this thing. With the payload and the others ingredients I'll be able to bring the villains to us."
You already have said a menacing, familiar mental voice. He turned and saw a squid-like creature hovering in the air. It fired a blast of Nicti energy that knocked Burning over the keyboard. As he felled his leg hit the red launch button sending the missile into the air. Nictus flew above him and sent blast after blast of furious energy.
Burning finally managed to roll away from the assault and sent his own fiery revenge. Nictus tried to dodge but his tentacles flew out behind him and fell victim to the heat of the blasts. The squid howled in fury and quickly transformed into its crab-like form.
It kicked Burning back onto the ground as he tried to rise. He placed a foot on the hero's chest and raised his arms to strike. Suddenly, he remembered Blightlord's threat and paused momentarily. That pause was just long enough for the hero to say the incantation that made him suddenly intangible.
The creature's foot fell through as Brawler rolled away. He willed himself back to normal and quickly launched blast after blast of melting heat.
The blasts hit Nictus hard and fast, causing him to stagger. He fell to the ground and reverted to the human form he had appeared in at the base, the copy of Burning Brawler's costume with the green died purple.
Burning was about to finish him off when he was hit in the back with an icy cold blast. It froze him in place, allowing Nictus to steal the communicator from his wrist and teleport away to safety. He searched the other two's minds and saw he was not the only one to cheat their new leader. Almost smiling the villain made his way back to the base as he thought of the reaction Elitist would have when he saw those three were still alive after all.
Burning Brawler thawed out enough to look behind him and see the hero's energy wrapped fist smash his face in. He reappeared in the hospital and said to himself, "Stupid Twilight Avengers. Can't see when I'm in the middle of something important. They gave him a chance to escape now who knows what he might be up to?" He pressed where a button should be on his wrist so he could send a message through his communicator warning the others to stick together when coming to Warburg. Single heroes can have trouble fighting against full groups. When he realized the communicator was gone it didn't take him long to realize who took it.
He looked up at the sky and saw the rocket disappear into the clouds. "At least I finished what I came to do here first."
---------------
Burning Brawler walked into his room and saw the other two were already waiting for him. He noticed the looks on their faces and asked, "You were attacked to?"
They nodded. Danica said, "Hyper-Man will give us new communicators but we have to change frequencies so we aren't spied on. If the villains had killed us..."
"I'm starting to think this Elitist person isn't as dumb as most of his type," Arrow said.
"We'll have to worry about him later as a group. Ok we have all three components I was missing." Burning Brawler walked into his closet at the base and pulled out some jars and vials. "The three ingredients we collected will help sharpen the search."
He grabbed a basin filled with steaming water and began adding the ingredients. He threw in the items from the jars and the liquids from the vials first. Last he added the three special ingredients. The meteor liquid made the water turn violet and hiss and bubble. He dropped in the rag covered in the villain's mutant blood, calming the mixture. Last he dropped in the payload making the water turn an angry red and rise like a geyser.
Arrow and Danica scooted back, afraid of what the potion might do if it sprayed on them. From the top of the geyser an image appeared, almost like a hologram. The three were kneeling in front of Elitist. Even though the image was faded you could see the rage submitting like this filled them with.
"So its what we were worried about. They're joining with the Masters of Mayhem," said Danica.
"We knew they would. Question is, how long before someone tries to overthrow Elitist," asked Arrow.
"They won't. They know if they do the others won't follow them. They're either loyal enough to him they'll hunt them down for it or they'll try to take the position before the others can."
"So now that we know, what are we gonna do about them?" asked Danica.
"Well, we can either have Hyper organize a raid or we can track them down ourselves," said Brawler.
The three nodded and left the room. They had some hunting to do.
---------------
Ruby Blade, Project Heat Seeker, and Nictus Brawler knelt before Elitist. Words cannot describe the rage within them at this but they held their anger in check, knowing that this alliance could be very profitable.
"Blightlord!" Elitist barked. "Have they stopped watching us yet?"
The villain emerged from the shadows and nodded.
"Good. They're going to try to find and kill you before you can become of any real use to us. You are to find them first and eliminate them. The less heroes opposing us the better."
Nictus Brawler looked at Blightlord and saw the warning in his eyes. He returned his focus to Elitist as he outlined a plan to leave obvious clues to lead the heroes into a trap.
"Before you can take them out you'll need to learn what happened that caused your death. It's one thing to die and lose, another to die the same way twice. Heroes aren't as smart as most assume. Trust me, they will try the same tactics again."
The three nodded and stood to leave. "One last thing." They turned back to face him. "Once you leave, you are not to set foot in this base until all three heroes are dead."
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
In the Rogue Isles everything was deathly quiet. The heroes could practically feel the evil around them. Whispering they decided on a plan to track the villains they had been seeking and remain unnoticed.
Burning Brawler pointed at a sewer entrance and the others nodded, though a little unhappy that no matter where they went it always involved sewage. They hopped down the manhole; Burning Brawler and Danica hovered above the water as Obsidian Arrow swung to the wall, avoiding the disgusting green liquid.
Covering their noses with the neck of their suits they ran through the network. After a while they saw St. Martial written in big white letters above one of the entrances. They climbed through and found themselves in the restroom of a very large casino.
Hearing the slot machines Burning said, "Well this place is interesting. Never knew villains liked to gamble so much."
"Whatever way they can get their greedy hands on some money," said Danica.
"Anyone notice that we aren't under attack yet?" said Obsidian as they exited the restroom. Looking behind them and seeing the Gigantic sign they were relieved no one had been in there while they were.
"That's because I'll be the only one necessary to take care of you."
They looked down the hallway and saw Ice Minstral, her hands wrapped in ice while frozen shards danced around her arms.
"Sorry lady, fire melts ice. Leave us alone and we'll just have your memory erased for the last few minutes," said Brawler.
"We'll see," she said. Minstral launched the shards at the three. They fell down on the floor, the shards narrowly avoiding them. The heroes jumped up and ran to get a little closer.
Obsidian kneeled as he nocked an arrow. Burning turned just long enough to light the tip. Nodding his thanks Arrow took aim as Brawler stopped to launch a concentrated bolt of fire. Danica saw the two attacks whiz by her, the heat reddening her cheeks, as she reached the screaming woman. Danica leapt into the air and placed a solid kick onto the woman's chest. She fell to the floor gasping in pain.
They gathered around her and Brawler reached for a spell book when he remembered. "Damn! That was the book the clown stole!"
Ice Minstral glared at them as she said, "Scirroco will have your heads for this. Be afraid little heroes." She faded to the hospital.
"We'll get her for what she did to Void but... I can't believe I'm saying this but we have something we need to take care of first," said Danica.
Arrow remembered what happened and it chilled him to think the entire base had been manipulated so easily.
Trying to refocus on the task at hand the party moved on. They found a way out of the casino. They wondered where to go next when they saw a villain pass by them. The froze as he wandered by, oblivious to their presence.
"Wasn't that-"
"Yeah I think that was Scirocco. Let's go before he comes back this way. Any higher on the Arachnos radar and Recluse may come after us," said Brawler. They shuddered at the thought but moved on.
They found the woman they had been looking for. "Isabel the Knife?" asked Brawler.
"Ah some fresh villains. Ok kiddies, here's the scoop there's a-"
She was quickly silenced as Danica slammed her against the wall. She held her by the throat and had another fist pulled back, ready for the punch. "We're not villains, and we're not going to kill you. Just tell us where," she almost said Harlequin, "Ruby Blade, Project Heat Seeker, and Nictus Brawler are."
The broker's eye gleamed as she told them, "I sent them to a warehouse down the street to steal a gem from the Circle of Thorns. They should be done by now though. You had better hurry."
Danica released her and the three ran to confront their enemies.
-----------------------
A ring came from Heat Seekers wrist. He flipped up a panel and saw Isabel's face on the vid-phone. "They're going to the warehouse now." He nodded and shut the screen. He informed his two companions then walked back to where he had been trying to figure out how Elitist knew they were lying. Did he keep vital scans on these heroes or something? It confused him until he thought of the one called Blightlord. He must keep tabs on those heroes and then he tells Elitist. But why? What benefit would he have from keeping us outside of the group? Does he want revenge on them? He must if a copy of him was created when we were. Or maybe he's just doing it for fun the smug little ba-
"They're here," said Ruby Blade. It was almost shocking to hear him speak. Seeker was beginning to think he was mute.
He readied himself and saw the forms of the heroes as well. The villains had set up an ambush at the door but the heroes didn't use it. Instead they landed on the roof. The villains waited in confused silence until it suddenly became clear. A piece of melted roof fell and they narrowly avoided being hit. The heroes fell through ready to strike.
Obsidian saw Blade and quickly launched a stream of arrows at the dodging villain. Burning Brawler ran at Nictus and began throwing flame after flame at the dodging squid. That left Danica with Heat Seeker. He charged at him but was quickly stopped with a cloud of ashes.
She choked and was nearing helplessness as the villain began encasing her in flames. "I think I may have found the right sacrifice," he said. Danica had no idea why he needed a sacrifice but she knew that he wasn't going to get one. She broke through the ashes and used her arms to cover his face. She leapt through the flames to tackle the villain.
Obsidian launched a few more arrows but he knew it was useless. The villain had disappeared again. He threw down some caltrops around him and grabbed a metal cube from a pouch on his belt. He pressed the lens and it expanded. Electricity crackling, it rose into the air and sent a thin red beam to held Arrow aim.
When that beam didn't go as far then... there! He knocked an arrow and let go it fly. The head pierced the villains arm and he hissed in pain. He broke the shaft and pulled the head out from the back of his arm. This wasn't good, he thought. His arm went limp. If he lands another shot like that... he didn't want to continue this train of thought.
Brawler finally landed a large blaze at the creature. It screamed a horrible wail that turned into a roar when it became that massive crab creature. Burning found himself pinned to the floor, a massive hand on his chest, and unable to fight back. The weight of the creature began to suffocate him and the more he struggled the harder it was to breathe. Nictus placed his other hand over the hero's face and began to press.
Danica threw Heat Seeker into a wall and turned as she heard her husband yell in pain. She leapt across the room and tried to kick the oversized crab over but a ring of fire around her feet kept her from moving. "I'm not out of this fight yet," said the villain behind her. She turned in time to get a fiery fist in her face. The punch was weak but the heat... her face burned as she broke through the ring to smash Seeker's helmet.
The shards from the visor scratched his face and eyes. He fell to the ground, yelling in pain, then yelling harder as the heroine ripped his helmet from his head revealing his bloody face. "Under all that armor you're just a wannabe," she said. "You could never get to the top on your own so you use this suit to hide it."
The rage was clear on Seeker's face but he did not move to stop her as she planted her heel on his chest. "This is the second time you've tried to kill us, and once your gone there will be no way for you to come back." All the rage at Harlequin was being focused at this one. Danica had always been aggressive but this was starting to turn to something deeper. Seeker wondered why he had to be the one she was letting this all out on.
She lifted her foot to use the stiletto heel to impale the villain when she heard Burning yell again. She cursed and turned to free her husband.
Not questioning his good fortune, Heat Seeker medi-ported away from this fight. His companions could handle this.
Ruby Blade distracted Arrow with a quick thought manipulation. As Arrow's eyes glazed over Blade ran in to strike. He kicked the hero to the ground and raised his blood-red sword high. He let the blade fall. The sword stopped but he didn't feel the familiar connection with flesh. He looked to see the hero had stopped the sword, holding it with his palms. Ruby pushed harder but without his right arm he wasn't strong enough. Arrow knocked him over and suddenly the hero was the one on top.
Arrow pulled the sword down, setting it over the villain's throat. Fear welled up inside Ruby as Arrow pressed, letting it cut a thin line on his neck. He had to get out of here before the hero decapitated him. He grasped his sword firmly as he medi-ported to safety.
Arrow saw Danica as she leapt to tackle the crab formed Nictus. She hit him forcefully and set him off balance but not enough to fully knock him over. Obsidian set a grenade tipped arrow and yelled for Danica to back away. He let it loose and the explosion from the grenade toppled the creature over.
Brawler shakily got to his feet as arrows flew by, striking the villain. He couldn't think straight. The lack of oxygen and the pressure on his head... he fell to the ground and saw Danica's face as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.
------------------------------
Burning Brawler woke up on a bed in the 'Kicker medical room back at their base. Danica was standing by his bed while Void was getting the back of his head looked at from earlier.
The medical droid gave the ok for Void to go to his father. Hyp and Shard did a good job building that thing.
Danica asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. How are you two?" Brawler asked.
"The droid says Matt will be fine and I'm ok as well."
Brawler sat up on the bed. "Where's Arrow?"
"Void aren't you late for something?" asked Danica.
"I was supposed to go see Danny!" He ran out the room leaving his parents alone for a moment.
"Nictus took him," said Danica, looking at something on the floor. "I tried to stop him but... he clubbed me in the back of the head and it knocked me out. When I woke up I was here but there was no sign of Arrow. Hyp said he hadn't seen him today."
Brawler couldn't believe it. They had actually lost. And even more confusing, why did Nictus let Danica and he live?
Burning attempted to get out of the bed but was quickly forced down by the droid. "Let go of me you stupid machine!" but the robot held him down. He decided to take back his earlier comment.
Danica pressed one of the many buttons underneath the lid of the droid's head, making it release her husband and return to its corner by the medicine cabinets.
"Hyp's preparing a raid. We're getting Arrow back and we're going to destroy those three when we do."
------------------------------
Nictus Brawler knelt before Elitist, listening to the congratulatory words on his live capture of one of the heroes. Elitist ended the conversation by giving him Obsidian Arrow's modified communicator; now set to respond to the Masters of Mayhem. "Retro Bot made the adjustments last week," he explained.
Nictus attached it to his belt and left the room, happy with his achievement. Now that they had a live 'Kicker they could interrogate him... maybe through torture. He continued down the hallway until three forms grabbed his shoulders and ankles to hold him against the wall. He recognized them instantly as Blightlord's undead servants which was confirmed when their master also came out of the shadows.
"I interrogated the prisoner," he said. The twinkle in Blightlord's dead eyes made Nictus wonder if Arrow still lived. "He said you did try to kill Burning Brawler. But that is impossible isn't it? You told me you would not touch him or I would destroy you." Blightlord found it difficult to speak to this one. The resemblance to Burning Brawler's costume and the eerie silence of Nictus made it hard for Blightlord not to just kill him then.
An invading force in his mind suddenly said, I do not fear you, and I will destroy you.
Suddenly Blightlord's head burned with a pain so intense he found himself having trouble breathing. He felt the Nictus probing his mind, seeing his deepest secrets and thoughts. Watching memories of the time before the Muck had taken control, when he was pathetic... weak. "NO!" he shouted. He forced the other villain out and the pain receded.
Nictus launched a blast of energy that destroyed the zombies and smashed Blightlord against the wall. He tried to stand but felt the force of the blow cause everything to disappear as he fell into unconsciousness.
--------------------------
An armored figure snuck into the base as the villains slept.
He knew he had to act fast to copy what he needed and get out without Elitist knowing he had come in the first place.
Project Heat Seeker wasn't allowed in the base until he killed the heroes after all.
He saw the many doors of the Masters of Mayhem's bedrooms and quickly switched the view on his new helmet to infrared. It was difficult but he found the form of a woman lying on what must be a bed.
He crept up to the door and gently pushed it open, wincing at the creaking noise from the hinges. The room was... indescribable. When he switched back to normal vision he almost fell over at the sight of her room.
He looked at the peculiar nightstand and saw what he was looking for. He snuck around the softly snoring clown and opened a large tome she had "borrowed." Suddenly a hand slammed on his own and he looked to see she had been faking her sleep all along.
"You are not allowed in here, M'sieu Seeker," she said. "And you most definitely should not be touching my book."
"I'm not here to take anything. I just need to copy down a spell or two then I was never here."
She titled her head, deciding whether or not to let him get what he needed.
He said, "It may help me kill Danica and Burning Brawler."
That convinced her. She withdrew her hand and let him turn the pages. "What are you going to do?"
"Memory spell... then a sort of resurrection."
Even more curious she watched as he laid the book flat and pressed a button on his wrist. There was a clicking noise as the camera on Seeker's visor took pictures of the spell. He quickly flipped through towards the back of the book, the more dangerous and darker spells.
He took a few more pictures of the spell he needed then shut the book and walked away, ignoring Harlequin like she was still asleep.
He shut the door and ran for the exit. He was turning down the hallway leading to the portal when he heard footsteps from that direction. Cursing, he headed backs towards then past the living quarters.
As he progressed the building seemed to get... older somehow. Finally he realized where he was: the prison.
Shackled and in a cell was a very familiar hero who was looking very helpless right about then.
--------------------------
Obsidian Arrow was dazed, between being held up only by the shackles on his wrists and the torture he had endured, he thought it was a miracle he was still breathing. Blightlord had done... something. Injected him with some foul smelling ooze that made him fell weaker than he already had. He didn't want to think of the possible things it could be.
Suddenly the hero heard footsteps. Someone was coming this way. Arrow's head fell when he thought of the possibility of more torture, or worse, execution.
He was able to see just enough to tell that it was either a robot or a man in armor. He squinted and thought it was Retro Bot until he saw the figure light the torches.
Heat Seeker.
As the villain approached him he knew whatever he was planning wasn't good. "I didn't think I'd find a sacrifice here. This is a most fortunate coincidence wouldn't you saw?"
Arrow did his best to kick out at the villain but his legs wouldn't respond.
Seeker felt something in his mind... a warning that someone was coming. But from who?
Heeding the warning Seeker quickly melted the shackle locks and slung the hero over his shoulders. He saw an alternate route to the exit and took it. As he exited the alarm began to sound, but they were too late. Seeker had escaped, taking their prisoner with him.
---------------------
All was quiet in Warburg. The Rogue Arachnos patrols not disturbing the tranquility of the moment.
The sounds of fighting erupted fast and hard. Without warning the heroes had attacked, taking the villains completely by surprise. Or so they had thought.
Defenses had been prepared. Techno Tyrant grabbed a remote and activated a series of turrets that rapidly fired at the rushing heroes.
"Group A go left, B head right," ordered Hyper-Man. The heroes quickly split up, attacking their targets head on.
Hyper-Man turned to direct A's assault when he got a firm fist against his helmet. His head spun and injured his neck. He looked back in time to see a second punch coming from Elitist. Hyper ducked low and fired an energy blast into the villain's stomach, knocking him back.
Jack saw his target. A strange man in a top hat called Editor. Jack swung a left hook at the other man's face and received a blow to the ribs in return. In response he grabbed the villain's arm to swing him but he wouldn't budge. Instead Jack himself was flipped over.
Harlequin watched as two headed for her. The one with cat ears placed a greenish glow around here. "Zis is not Christmas time 'zilly girl," she said and suddenly realized what it was as she began to feel ill. Anger showed in her eyes and she mentally flung the approaching heroine back.
Java launched a burst of energy that was quickly intercepted by Smashing Pumpkin. He took the blast with an insane smile on his face. He leapt at the hero and knocking him to the ground raising a shadowy fist.
"Oh no ya don't!" yelled a red blur the knocked the grinning villain off. Johnny drew his claws and attacked, cutting hard and fast. The blows didn't seem to affect the villain as he grabbed both of the hero's wrists and head-butted him.
As Violet rushed back in her Phantasm and fake heroes running in front of her, Harlequin saw Blightlord as he began attacking Burning Brawler. The hero threw flaming blasts that he quickly snuffed out with a concoction. He saw her wink at him and was confused long enough to get a heel in the face. Staggering back he saw Danica in time for a palm to the face. Scowling, he called in his undead minions to hold them off while he grabbed the potions.
Super Shard dodged the laser blasts of robots, then quickly froze two of the smaller ones. With an energetic fist he launched the third into one of the bigger ones. The last robot seemed to 'malfunction' as he approached and quickly returned to the base. He saw the villain fumble with a remote. Shard threw an ice bolt at it, deactivating the turrets. "C'mon, where's the challenge?" A refrigerator fell from the sky. No, not a refrigerator. It unfolded into a large robot. "Ah... there it is."
Java was about to help Violet when he saw something in the corner of his eye. "What..." he leapt in the air in time to avoid the strikes of two villains. AphexTwin and Knave of Spades looked up in surprise that he had escaped. Java set down on the ground and fell into a crouch. Knave's eyes went wide and he jumped backward to avoid the blast of energy. Aphex was sent flying into a wall, teleported back to the base.
Phantom and Phantom, their names suiting them but for different reasons. The hero sent a Phantasm to attack the hiding villain. It quickly found him and attacked. The villain dodged nimbly and quickly struck. The Phantasm wasn't wounded but it appeared to be. Suddenly the villain saw himself surrounded by three more heroes... not heroes. Something was wrong with them. They each threw fire and he realized it didn't really hurt... he just thought it did. He walked through the wall of 'ghosts' to get at their controller.
Hyper-Man threw another blast which Elitist took as he ran forward. The villain raised both hand over his head to smash the hero. Hyper blocked it with his forearm, his armor giving him the necessary strength. Elitist looked down in surprise as a glowing hand sent him flying against a nearby building.
Jack jumped off of the ground with an uppercut the snapped the villain's head back. Grabbing his sore jaw Editor returned with a kick to stomach and received another blow to the face. The two combatants hands locked, the two testing each other's strength.
Suddenly they broke apart as Johnny crashed between them. Rubbing his head, he quickly picked himself up and ran at Pumpkin at incredible speeds. The bigger man reached out to grab him but was caught surprised when the hero slid under him, slashing at the back of his legs. The villain fell in pain and Johnny quickly attempted to place handcuffs on him when he suddenly vanished, the medi-porter taking him away.
Chris caught Violet as another psychic blast sent her backwards. "You ok?" She nodded and quickly commanded her Phantasm to blast her. She sent a few more waves of radiation to weaken her but they didn't seem to do as much as they had been. Chris rushed forward to hold her down. "Two against one? 'Zis is hardly fair," said Harley, pouting. She shot a mental blast at Chris that made him fall, clutching his head in pain.
Knave watched Java carefully. The hero was looking hard for any signs of movement. As the hero turned his back Knave struck. Java fell and was instantly teleported. Violet saw him fall and gave the Phantasm a new target. Knave was too busy celebrating his new victory to see the blast of energy that sent him into a wall. He too teleported like the hero.
Zombies rushed in first just to be turned to ashes by a ball of flame. Danica grabbed one Grave Knight's sword as it came down and ripped off the rotting arm. Not feeling pain, the warrior sent a blast of shadow that weakened Danica long enough for his counterpart to take a swing. She turned and kicked, sending the thing's head flying and its body to slump to the ground. She quickly turned and did the same with an open palm strike to the other. One of the heads his Blightlord who was working furiously on a potion. Brawler yelled "GOAL!" as he threw blast after blast at the Lich. It seemed to suck the life out of the hero and feed itself and Brawler thought he was getting nowhere.
Danica turned and saw Harlequin. She began to make a move for her until Brawler yelled "STOP!" But he was too late. Blightlord threw the potion and Danica fell to the ground, twitching as if in a seizure. Rage filled Brawler as he threw a blast through the Lich's middle. The undead wizard fell leaving Brawler a clear path to Blightlord. Brawler readied a massive blast. The villain held up a hand and in his other he waved a vial. "This is an antidote," he said. "I'll leave here and it will be all yours, providing you don't blast me as I do." Brawler nodded, the anger clear in his glowing eyes. Blightlord smiled and set the antidote down, then threw a potion at the ground. Then he was gone. Brawler quickly gave the antidote to his wife, praying it wasn't a trick. Danica quickly recovered and she looked around for her target.
As the groups fought some of the heroes cornered Harlequin, the only obvious leader left. "Where is Obsidian Arrow?" He asked. Harley wondered whether she should tell them or make him take a much-needed nap. She decided the first was more in her interests. "We do not 'ave him."
"What?" said Hyper. "He was taken by zat Seeker. If you want to find 'im I can help for a price."
"Fine," said Hyper, although it killed him to agree to bargain with her. Harley imprinted the directions on his mind and suddenly all the villains were gone.
----------------------
As the spells scrolled down his visor Project Heat Seeker read the incantations. Suddenly a flush of memories, his memories, came to him. He saw himself, his real self exposed. And a flashing of light, a battle of wills. He watched as he was killed... no not killed. He searched through the pictures of resurrection spells. He had planned on resurrecting himself then stealing the power of the original. Then again, who said he still couldn't do that? He might even become stronger this way!
But this was different. He wasn't killed he was... banished. He scrolled down the spells. He found one that looked promising. "Looks like we have what I need," he said, turning to a figure strapped onto an altar. Obsidian Arrow struggled against the thick ropes binding his wrists and ankles. The harder he pulled the tighter the knots seemed to get. If only I had an arrowhead, he thought. A wave of nausea passed over him and he thought he might faint.
"Hmmm this is interesting," said Seeker. "This spell doesn't require me to kill you, just draw blood. But I will anyways. That way, even if this plan fails I can still join the Masters of Mayhem."
Seeker chanted and drew a long, slender knife. He approached the hero who was now struggling more fiercely, fear in his eyes. His voice began to grow louder and he raised the sacrificial blade. His volume reached its peak and he plunged the dagger.
Blood spilled from the wound and touched the altar. A hissing noise began and smoky tendrils came from the ground. The seemed to reach, no they did reach towards Seeker. He began to walk back, fearing what he had done. He was about to flee when they stopped, then rose. And slowly they formed into what was recognizable as human, yet something more.
This person was more shadow than man, and he seemed to steal the energy around him. The tentacles remained, flowing around his body and spreading from his feet. "H-heat Seeker?" asked its summoner.
The man looked at the one who had freed it. In a rough voice it said, "No. No longer am I so weak. So power took me, so I use it to take those who destroyed me. I am no longer man. I am the Consumed."
Almost confused by the change it... he had from his banishment to the abyss, Heat Seeker found it difficult to speak. "I-I have summoned you and I c-c-control you. You are bound by-"
"Bound by what mortal? There is no binding circle, no pentagram to hold me. You have no power here. I could tear you limb from limb with little effort. No, I do not serve you. You are my servant."
Heat Seeker found himself without words. This... this can't be happening, he thought. All my best laid plans, gone in an instant. He looked around in panic. There's no way out of this. I can't kill him by myself.
I'm... I'm doomed.
----------------------
The heroes, regrouped, moved quickly. They followed Hyper's directions, following the route Harlequin had set in his mind left a line, only visible to him, leading them to their destination. Suddenly that line split in two.
"What the-"
"Something wrong Hyp?" asked Jack.
"There's a fork in the path."
"As in she double-crossed us?"
"Or they lead to two important things we need to take care of."
Hyper flew up into the air and pressed a button on the side of his helmet. His view extended to one of the destinations. He landed next to Jack and said, "Ok I'm going to give you the directions to one point and we'll all split up into two groups."
Jack nodded and went down the path Hyper pointed out with Burning, Danica, Chris, and Shard. Hyper took Violet, Java, and JV. The rest of the 'Kickers were told to watch the base to make sure they weren't attacked and be ready in case the others were seriously injured.
Hyper's group rushed forward with JV scouting ahead for an ambush. They then saw the Arena in front of them. "Why would she send us here..." wondered Hyper.
They walked in and he saw the line continued to one of the dusty terminals. He activated it and saw the line highlight a match that contained two participants. He entered his and his teammate's names into the list and they were instantly transported to a virtual recreation of the area around City Hall.
"So why are we in a match?" asked JV.
"I guess we're here to fight some heroes," said Hyper.
"Not quite," said Ruby Blade, striking at Violet.
Java turned and threw a blast at the villain but he was gone. He quickly ran up to Violet who was clutching her bleeding leg. "Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded and placed her open palm on her leg, sending a wave of healing radiation to close the wound.
"Well there's one of them, but where's the second?" JV asked.
They were answered by a sudden assault of Nicti energy. Hyper and Java quickly blasted the shadowy balls to disperse them. The villain transformed into the crab-like form and grabbed Hyper-Man's head. With energetic fists Hyper grabbed the villain's arms and threw him into the statue of Atlas.
As the other hurried to take down Nictus JV saw a shimmer behind him. He extended his claws and caught the sword. "Gotta be faster than that," he said, locking the blade between both. He swung his arms around and flung the sword from the villain's grasp.
Ruby scowled and threw a flurry of punches with JV, who was caught off guard by the attack. He frantically tried to block them and still received a few blows. Blade reached into a pouch on his belt and threw a ball on the ground, setting off a puff of smoke. When it cleared he and the sword had disappeared.
Nictus quickly ran up to the City Hall door and ran inside. "Um, does it do that?" said JV as he walked up beside the others.
"No," Hyp responded as he followed.
"This seems like a trap," said Java.
"I know, but we still need to catch them."
They entered the door and found themselves in the control room of a laboratory. "What's going on? I thought we went in City Hall?" asked Vi.
"The Arena Server must be malfunctioning."
"Or it's being hacked to make this more interesting for the observer," Java said.
They walked forward, watching for signs of either villain. Silently, they crept along the walls and watched the ceiling.
Suddenly a loud roar echoed through the building as Nictus teleported in their midst. He pulled in the energy of his foes, strengthening himself as he smashed at them. Hyper and Java leapt back while blasting, ignoring the affects of the energy drain. Violet threw a circle of radiation around him, making the villain feel the same weakness. JV ran around him in circles, slashing out as he passed.
Violet saw the radiation cover and invisible object and yelled a warning to Johnny. As he turned to look at her and arm knocked him to his back and sent him sliding into a wall.
Violet tried to reach him but an angry Nictus swung at her, forcing Violet to back away. She summoned decoy heroes to distract the villains but they were not fooled. As the dodged swinging arms and sword slashes Hyper and Java prepared to attack.
They stood side-by-side and put their hands together. A massive blast that rocked the building sent the villains flying through a wall.
The three conscious heroes chased after them and saw they were in a section of Perez Park. "Hurry, cuff them," ordered Hyper. The two placed special teleportation cuffs on the villains and watched them fade.
Violet ran back to help JV who was sitting up rubbing his head. "Anybody get the license on that truck?"
--------------------
"There's no reason either of us should be a slave. We could be partners! Me and myself! We must still think alike. How much can banishment change a person?" said a panicking Heat Seeker.
"You'd be surprised," responded his more powerful self.
With an energy-wrapped fist he launched the lesser villain into a wall and conjured shackles to hold him there. He then noticed the hero on the altar. "Interesting... this one seems... familiar."
"He should, he's one of the ones who helped kill you last time!"
Consumed turned, his eyes filled with rage. "Err me! I meant me...," he paused to swallow the bile, "master." It looked like it almost killed Seeker to say the word.
Consumed's angry glare turned to what could have been mistaken as a smile as he turned to the hero. "So, this is one of the mortals who helped that fool Burning Brawler destroy me. His death shall be most painful."
"Erm... I already killed him to-to free you."
"Not true. If you had paid closer attention you would see he is still breathing." The villain touched a hand to the hero's chest and dark energy surged into him. Obsidian Arrow woke up and jerked in surprised at the sight of this foe.
Consumed took the sacrificial knife and cut the ropes binding the hero. "Where is his bow?" asked the villain.
Heat Seeker managed to point in the direction of the weapon lying in the corner. The villain picked it and the quiver up and threw it to Arrow. "My revenge will start with you, archer. Prepare yourself for death."
Not entirely sure what had transpired in his unconsciousness, Obsidian slowly nocked an arrow.
The shadows around Consumed's feet grew longer and moved quickly. The villain rushed at Obsidian with his fists of energy. The hero let an arrow fly that should have hit the villain, did hit him, but seemed just to pass through. In his confusion he didn't have a chance to block the hand that sent him into a wall.
Wiping the blood off his mouth, Obsidian took a handful of arrows and let them fly. Again they passed through and he was hit fiercely.
His head began to hurt to his limit. He clutched his bleeding skull in agony.
"Pathetic," said the villain, bringing both hands together for the killing blow.
"No, what's pathetic is you didn't see us right behind ya'" said Jack as he smashed the villain against the altar. Chris quickly helped Arrow to his feet and gave him something to stop the headache and slow the bleeding.
Danica leapt into the air with a heel kick and passed through the villain, the shadowy mass chilling her to the bone. As she hit the wall she flipped back and spun with another kick, this time connecting. She leapt back to her husband who was quickly casting a spell. "I don't get it, I miss him one time then the next hits. He's not even dodging!"
Shard threw icy bolts and watched as Jack attacked Consumed. "I think I get it. He can only be hit when he's attacking! Wait for the fists to glow." Shard demonstrated by connecting an icy blast.
Brawler finished casting his spell and the room glowed green. "That should weaken him. I think Shard's right, Seeker must not have summoned him correctly so he's not fully here, just when he's attacking."
"Oh sure it's always gotta be when they CAN hit you that you can be hit back. It's never you who's watching blows pass straight through yourself," Danica said, waiting for the villain to attack again. She saw the glow and leapt again as Brawler and Shard threw blasts at the villain.
Jack kept the villain's attention as Chris came up behind with a powerful swing.
Consumed growled in frustration and yelled for Seeker to assist him. Everyone in the room turned for a second to where the villain had called but Seeker was gone, the shackles melted. Arrow rejoined the fight as Consumed hit Chris with a powerful blow to the stomach.
"Arrow, find Seeker!" yelled Jack as he grabbed the villain for another blow.
He nodded and ran out of the room.
Consumed was angry now. "I will not be defeated again! You all will pay for your insolence! I am The Consumed! No one can destroy me now!"
As he yelled in rage he didn't see Brawler casting more spells on him. Shard slowed down the villain, making him an easier target. Jack and Chris grunted as the blows became more intense and more frequent.
Consumed saw his anger increased the strength of his blows but felt himself tiring. It showed as the shadows around his form began to slow and draw back until finally they disappeared. No longer was he partially in a realm of darkness, he was fully corporeal now.
And completely touchable.
"What is this?!" yelled the villain in rage.
Brawler just smiled as he joined Shard in throwing powerful blasts at Consumed. With new strength Jack and Chris attacked the weakened villain. Danica leapt over the villain while reaching out with her palms and legs to deal powerful head blows.
His rage was intense but he could not get more than a few blows in the forceful attack the heroes let loose. He felt himself fall but no longer felt the pain. He simply hit the floor then vanished.
---------------------------------
Heat Seeker thought in his mind, how could this happen? How did they find me?!
'Ello, monsieur, said a voice in his head. "You!" He yelled, turning around expecting to see her hiding in the shadows.
It was a very good plan. Thank you for showing me more of what zhat book can do!
"You planned on this?!" He found it unbelievable that the clown could pull something like this off.
Well, ze 'ero is coming so, good luck Monsieur 'Eat Seekair!
"Talking to yourself?" said a voice behind the villain. Already enraged the villain threw a blast of flame at Obsidian. He hadn't expected the attack already and was hit fully by it. Arrow was more surprised than Heat Seeker when he showed no signs of injury. His mind raced for a reason why. "The injection!" he yelled. "Is that what Blightlord was testing?"
The anger that Seeker felt was shown as he furiously launched blast after blast at the hero. Not wishing to test the potion's limits, Obsidian made an effort to dodge as many as he could. He pulled an arrow with a blue box tip and set it. As he let it fly it opened and clamped onto the villain's face and sent electric waves along Seeker's body.
Seeker shook as the energy coursed through him and fell to the ground, smoke rising from his body.
Arrow ran up and placed the cuffs on him, then watched with satisfaction as the villain teleported to prison.
He medi-ported back to the base for some still much needed medical attention where the rest of the 'Kickers had already returned. They filled each other in on what had happened and their successes.
"It looks like we won't need to worry about those four for a long time," said JV.
The room looked at him and even though they nodded, they definitely didn't believe it.
------------------------
Techno Tyrant quickly covered the evidence of his hacking the Arena Server. "That good enough for you?" he asked the figure behind him, Blightlord. He nodded and placed a suitcase of money, identical to the one Harlequin received, in his lap. "Perfect."
***
The next day at the Zig the prisoners received their mail. Three received a single note stamped with a green smoke behind an undead shadow. They opened their notes and each said the same thing: "There can be only one."
End
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Ok, this week is another 2 story post. The first is real short.))
Breakout
A long line of men in orange prison uniforms sat at tables eating their lunch. Three were left completely alone with their own table. The three didn't really care for each other, but they knew that together they could own this place. Maybe even escape.
"We can't keep calling each other our villain names in here. I don't know about you two but I prefer not to let these punks know how far I've fallen here," said one, outside known as Project Heat Seeker.
"You are thought dead. This is only slightly worse is it not?" asked a pitch-black skinned man wearing two metallic bracelets. Ones specially designed to keep someone of his kind from morphing to a stronger, prison wall smashing, form.
"Kheldians do not understand that on this planet, to those of our moral standards, it is better to die fighting your enemies than to be trapped by them," said Ruby Blade. "And let them know who I am. I am deadly enough without my sword and empowering items."
"Whatever you say Blade. It's just you're taken less seriously when sent to prison."
Humans are such vain fools, thought Nictus Brawler. If there is any true reason to loathe being here it is that we are not destroying our enemies. To feed on the energy they emit would be-, and so he went on into day dreams of draining the life forces of his foes.
"Although there is one reason I wish to leave this place," said Ruby.
"Revenge on Blightlord," they said in unison. "He not only aided the heroes with information, then he sent us the notes telling us so with that cryptic message," said Seeker.
"It was not cryptic."
"What was that, Nictus?"
"He meant there can only be one true enemy of Burning Brawler and that there can be only one who will kill him. The less competition the better."
"That is why we are leaving this place. Tonight," said Ruby.
"Um, how? Arachnos just 'visited' last month. It'll be a little while before they break out more villains," said Seeker.
"It is simple. When we are returned to our cells, the guard will come to us with our food and then he will have an 'accident'," Ruby explained.
"Will he not simply drop it into the slot?" asked Nictus.
"You will see later. For now let us return to our cell."
****
Heat Seeker sat on his cot and watched as Ruby went over the plan with Nictus. When they went to either end of his cot he waited for his explanation. It was after midnight. Their dinner had already been dropped through the slot, they couldn't be planning for tonight.
"Well? How are we getting the guard in here?"
"You," answered Ruby.
"Wh-" a fist launched into Seeker's stomach. He fell on the floor, gasping for air. He rose to get up but felt a boot press down on his back. Softly, then a sudden stomp. He was sure that crack he heard was a rib.
Seeker rolled and swung his leg around. He felt it connect with a leg and saw Nictus fall. Heat was bent backwards on his hands and feet, then pushed himself off the ground. His momentum was quickly stopped when a fist connected with his face. He fell back down, clutching his bloody nose.
He yelled for the guards as Nictus rose and placed his boot on his chest. He was losing the ability to breathe when a guard finally came running to the door. "What the hell is going on in here?!"
"A friendly discussion," said Nictus, as he pressed harder. The guard ripped open the door and attempted to taser Nictus. Ruby Blade grabbed the guard's arm and broke it in one quick movement. The guard's cry of pain was drowned out by the prisoner's cheering.
Seeker got up off the floor and wiped his nose. "You could have told me the damn plan beforehand!" he yelled.
"We did not because you are not part of the plan," said Nictus.
"What do you mean by 'not part of the plan'?"
Ruby grabbed Seeker's head with both hands and a spine-chilling snap was heard over the cheers. Two men left the cell and escaped the prison while one lay on the floor, unmoving.
-------------------------
"I thought you said we would be able to escape unnoticed!" yelled an angry Nictus Brawler over the blaring alarm.
"The guard found the body, but they won't be expecting us to retrieve our equipment now MOVE!"
They ran down the hallway and heard footsteps coming towards them. Ruby Blade turned and saw a door. He threw it open and pulled his companion inside.
They listened at the door as the guards ran passed and turned to see the equipment room. Lockers filled with items, all waiting to be taken. "Why would the humans not lock this place? Even I did not take them for fools this great!"
"It's because I unlocked it."
The two looked up to see Heat Seeker hovering above them, fully armored and ready to fight. "All you've got is your suit back! You can't amplify your powers if you're still drugged! Now get down here before you hurt yourself," said Seeker.
"How DARE you!" he yelled. "I will teach you to double-cross me!" His hands were covered in flames now.
"That impossible! I watched them give you the- ... Nictus... tell me, is Seeker putting off an energy signal?"
"No... he isn't."
Ruby Blade turned to a giggling figure in the corner. "Why the head games clown?"
"They are no fun back at ze base. I thought you might have a better sense of humor."
"As long as you're here to help us escape I am," replied Blade.
"Zen let us go!" She waved a hand and the lockers sprang open. "Take what you want. I will take what I need."
Nictus and Ruby suited up. Ruby cut the energy draining cuffs off of Nictus's wrists and they followed Harlequin outside. "Is there a reason, human, why we have not encountered any guards?"
"Ze are so overworked, no? I thought zey could use a little nap."
The two shook their heads and breathed the fresh air. Longbow arrived and with a poof they were gone.
End.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((And here we are! We've finally reached the point where I'm somewhat proud of my fanfics. For those of you who've been RPing with me and met my characters, this is the story that explains what happened to Void Brawler, why he thinks his parents are dead, why he's so intent on killing his own sister and doesn't even know who she really is. Enjoy!))
The Void
A young hero sped through the busy street of Atlas Park. He couldn't believe he had almost forgotten he was supposed to go meet his friend by the statue of Atlas.
Void Brawler had almost completely memorized the flow of mid-afternoon traffic here. He could zip between the moving cars and rarely had to dodge out of the way. He didn't even cause any accidents.
He would take the sidewalk but its more difficult to maneuver between people than cars. He didn't know why, it just was.
Before he could even see the statue clearly he saw the long line of yet another costume contest. In a matter of seconds he closed the distance and saw one of the participants was the friend he had come to meet, Danny Stones.
Danny was here because of some family mission. Danny's family for generations used their inherited powers of incredible strength and the ability to use the earth as a shield from harm to try to clean up their hometown. His father had finally done it, leaving him with no city to clean up. Thats why Danny was in Paragon City. A place that really needed some cleaning up and would definitely make him more famous than his father if he succeeded.
As the winners were announced Void grabbed his friends collar and pulled, yanking him off the platform. "Hey! I had a shot at winning that thing!" he protested. Void looked at his costume, black pants, a white shirt, and an open suit jacket with a black mask... yeah he definitely would have won...
"Sure ya would. Sorry I'm late. I had... something I had to do."
"Mission took longer than you thought?"
"Uh, yeah sure."
A group of heroes walked by and as they did Void's eyes followed one in particular. "You alright?" asked Danny. "Dude they noticed you're staring." Void's head snapped back. "Lilac?"
"What? No! I just thought I saw someone stealing something... from the Magi vault..."
"Isn't that in Galaxy City?"
Void had started to look behind him again. "Hey, what's that lump on your head?"
He looked back at his friend again. "It's nothing. Just... I don't wanna talk about it right now. So weren't we gonna go bust up some Skulls?"
Danny nodded and they hurried over to a supposedly abandoned warehouse in Kings Row.
---------------------------
The two boys walked into the "abandoned" and run-down warehouse. They walked slowly, looking left and right for signs of an ambush. Suddenly they heard footsteps. A Skull was running across the hallway and stopped in fear when he saw the heroes.
Taking a few nervous steps back, the gang member attempted to pull his weapon. Void Brawler felt a tingle on the back of his neck and instinctively jumped aside as a chemical vat fell from above the two.
The Skull had been a distraction for his comrades.
Void managed to avoid being crushed but his friend wasn't so lucky. Skulls appeared from around the corner and leapt down from above, wielding bats, knives, and even sledges.
"Hehe, c'mon, all of you against me? You guys don't stand a chance." A knife whizzed by his head, almost piercing his ear. "Uh huh... NOW!"
The vat tipped over and trapped the Skulls. The empty bowl becoming a temporary holding cell. From the dust raised, a person made of rock stood. The rock slowly fell away, and there stood Danny unharmed. He quickly grabbed some large crates to add weight to the top, keeping the gangsters from breaking free.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yeah."
They moved on, this time looking above them as well. They saw a small group of Skulls talking to each other. "I'll take the one leaning against the wall and the guy on the top shelf, you get the two playing cards," said Void. His friend nodded and moved into position, his body slowly being encased in rock.
Void hovered near the guy on the shelf, sticking to the shadows as Danny readied himself to leap at the two playing cards. Void held up three fingers, two, one. The both launched themselves at their targets. Void grabbed the Skull above's jacket and threw him at the one against the wall. He leapt down after the two as his friend jumped at his own enemies.
Danny landed on the table, splintering it with the rock weight. He grabbed one's shirt collar and threw him against the wall. He grabbed the second and carried the screaming man over to a window, his heavy-footed stomps shaking the room. The hero punched out the glass and sent the man flying.
Void fell down on top of the two, teasing them as he put on their teleportation cuffs.
They continued on, uninterrupted until they came to a large room filled with more chemical vats, only these weren't empty. The smell of the Superadyne was overpowering. Danny leaned over a vat with a vial, taking a sample for the researchers at DATA.
They heard loud laughter in the side room. They peeked around the corner and saw a Bone Daddy and his crew telling stories of recent hero blunders. "-and the little idiot tries to fight her off! She completely NAILS the punk." Void didn't listen to the rest, that was all he had to hear.
"I got the leader," said Void. Without waiting for a nod from his friend Void launched himself into the room. He tackled the Bone Daddy and sent the others falling back in surprise.
Danny came in after him, quickly grabbing the nearest Skull to use as a projectile against his rising comrades. The man protested then yelled as he was flung into three gang members, sending them to crash against the crates of weapons and drugs.
Void had the leader but one of the other Skulls pulled a knife and charged. Void grabbed his outstretched arm and fiercely punched the back of the man's head, sending him to the ground.
Two more attacked. Void nimbly dodged the shots fired and quickly grabbed the bat of the second. He sent shadow energy along the wooden weapon. The man's face went white as he felt his energy leave him. As he collapsed Danny jumped on top of the pistol wielder.
Void was about to call out to his friend when he was struck in the back. He turned to face the smirking Bone Daddy. Void quickly wiped that smile away with a fierce uppercut. He placed the handcuffs on the Skull and turned.
Another Skull was behind him, recognition creeping into his eyes. "Hey! You're that kid he was talkin' about! Hah, you [censored] don't you know how to pick fights?" Void stood stiff, his feet planted on the ground. The gangster pushed him over and into a pile of crates. "Oh so now you don't wanna fight anymore? Don't wanna play hero anymore now that you've gotten hurt?" The Death Head pulled him back to his feet and shoved him down again. "C'mon punk, aren't you even gonna take a swing at me?" The Skull punched Void in the face, blood flowing freely from his nose.
Void stood back up, his arms encasing themselves in shadows. The grinning gangster lost his smile as he saw the look in Void's eyes. Something told him he's crossed a line. He dropped his gun and raised his fists in the air, surrendering.
Void's eyes turned a deep red. He bent low and jumped at the man. He forced him to the ground, his knees holding down the gangsters shoulders. His shadow-wrapped fist smashed with lightning fast speed. All the rage, the frustration, vented on the him. He smashed relentlessly, ignoring the man's cries for him to stop. Eyes wide, Danny quickly shed the rocks and pulled his friend off the screaming Skull.
Void turned to do the same to his interrupter until he saw who it was. The red disappeared and shock replaced it when he saw what was the gangsters face. He looked back between Danny and looked down at the gang member and saw the life leave his eyes. "I... I didn't... I mean..." He put his open, shadow-covered palm on his friend's face, momentarily blinding him as Void fled the building.
Danny's vision returned quickly and his friend was nowhere to be found. He didn't know what just happened, but he was worried that this was just the beginning.
--------------------------
Void walked alone down the street. It was dark out and he wasn't in the best part of town. He saw eyes peeking from windows in run-down houses and heard cries of panic that he couldn't trust himself to follow.
"What have I done?" he asked himself. The man may have been a villain but he didn't deserve to die, not like that.
"You came onto our turf thats what."
Void looked up at a group of Outcasts. "Normally I'd have you guys in jail in an instant but right now it'd be best if I was left alone."
"Izzat so, kid? Your wearing a costume that means your spose to be a hero. You know what we do to heroes here? Or are you gonna tell us you thought it was Halloween."
"I don't need this." Void pushed past the group of thugs and walked on, until he got a lightning bolt in the back.
He fell to the ground and turned back to the laughing thugs. He rose to his feet and his hands encased themselves in shadow. Using the techniques his mom taught him, he felt his awareness grow.
"Looky here, now he wants to fight." The Shocker readied another blast but didn't even have time to blink before he found a fist in his face. The others pulled weapons of their own and were assaulted quickly.
Practically a blur, Void Brawler leapt from opponent to opponent, punching, smashing, kicking and draining them of their strength. The group fell to the ground, unable to fight back. Void felt the urge to kill but suppressed it in panic.
He turned to run but found a wall of more Outcasts blocking his way. He turned back and saw he was trapped.
"Listen... you guys attacked me first and..."
They all drew weapons, mostly guns.
"I don't want to fight. Seriously!" They took aim. Void felt his eyes grow red again. He pressed his palms to his face to attempt to fight it off.
"Hehe, little kiddy's scared now." Suddenly the street was chaos. Void Brawler launched into the air as Outcasts fired, bullets striking allies on the opposite side. Void zipped down, planting his feet on the shoulders of this group's leader and pummeling him viciously. He sprung off in a back flip and grabbed the head of another as he came down. He brought the face to his knee and felt the nose connect.
He rolled and knocked the legs out from under several others and quickly took them out with a fast punch. The men on the other said took aim again and fired. He dodged left and right; the bullets seemed to slow as they passed him. He ran forward but did so too soon. A bullet struck his shoulder and knocked him to the ground, the red of his eyes fading.
He felt the pain and watched Outcasts with bats and hammers draw close. He choked back the pain of the shot wound. They formed a circle around him and closed in. He managed to stand as they raised their weapons. Suddenly the anger returned and he gripped two men's skulls. He sucked out their life force and healed his wound; the two fell to the ground.
Seeing those two drop so suddenly the others turned back. "We... err we don't want any trouble."
A smile spread across Void's face, but not one they wished to see.
In fact, it was the last thing they would see.
--------------------------------
He heard the sounds of Longbow Chasers behind him. He kept running in panic. They found the bodies of the Outcasts last week. The memory of what he had done haunted him, the fact that he did not have control over himself even more.
A Longbow agent dropped down in front of him with an outstretched hand. "Come with me so we can sort this all out kid."
"Back away!" yelled Void Brawler, his fists becoming lost in shadow. "GET AWAY NOW!!!" he yelled.
"Listen kid. I don't want to have to detain a child but I will."
He felt the change inside him. In a panic he knocked the officer out and flew into the shadows. He created a pocket of deep darkness that he could hide in. Longbow ran past and shouted orders to spread out and find Void.
"What's happening? What's wrong with me?"
****
Danica sat by the phone in Brawler's room at the 'Kicker's base. It rang and she leapt to it. "H-hello?"
"We um... we sort of found your son, except we don't have him."
"Where?" she asked.
"He was sighted by one of our Officers just outside of Paragon City. Then he... well knocked her out."
"I- send me the coordinates where you found him!"
The fax machine spat out a series of numbers. Danica hung up the phone then used her communicator to send the numbers to Burning, who was searching the city.
She should have included the fight in the message. She would have, but she couldn't. It was impossible; no way he would do that. Could he?
She cleared her head of such thoughts and ran to join her husband to find their son.
-----------------------
Void Brawler laid there in the darkness he had created. His own protective shield against the people who were looking for him, people he didn't want to hurt.
Or did he? "No!" he told himself.
"I heard something this way!" yelled another Longbow member. Oh no, he thought. I said that out loud. Void turned and ran, ran right into their waiting hands. "Let go of me!" he yelled. He flipped over one's arm and placed a solid punch to the side of his head. The second attempted to grab him but Void flipped over his shoulders to strike at the man's back.
He ran but as he did so he heard one of the officer's say, "That kid's insane!"
"Insane?" he said. Then memories came back to him. The break-in, the clown, the way her mind touched his when she attacked him, then the darkness. "Is... is that why I'm like this?"
Of course not 'zilly boy. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" Void yelled, panic welling up within him.
"Matt? Matt is that you?!" Burning Brawler dropped down beside him. "What are you doing out here? Why are there Longbow everywhere? You didn't have anything to do with that Outcast fight did you?"
Void watched as his father's face slowly seemed to change and his vision tainted to a bloody red. "No..."
"Thank, God. There's nothing we could have done to sto-OOF!"
Void planted a solid punch and leapt back from his father. The red grew deeper and he struggled to fight it off. Burning stood back up looking at his son confused. "What is the matter with-" Burning had to move fast to grab Void's flailing fists.
"STOP THIS NOW!" he yelled, his confusion barely holding off his anger. Void did not. He planted a kick to his father's stomach and ran.
As he did Danica grabbed his wrist. "What's wrong with your eyes?" she said. She just barely dodged a punch. "Matt!" she yelled as he broke free of her grasp. She leapt at him but he was gone.
"Bonjour M'sieu Void Brawler," said a very familiar face.
"It is you!" he yelled and prepared himself to fight.
"'Zilly boy, we are on a rooftop! Remember what 'appened in ze room? How do you think zat would work up here?"
Void's fist became visible again and he looked over the edge at his parent's who were making their way to him.
"Get away from me!" he yelled and was about to leap over the edge.
"You will not come with moi? Fine! Zen I will 'ave to force you." She touched a finger to Void's forehead and he instantly fell asleep. She caught him as he almost fell over the edge.
She watched Danica and Burning Brawler rise over the rooftop and stayed just long enough to see their faces before disappearing with their son.
------------------------------
"Time to wake up."
"M-mom?"
"No 'zilly boy!"
Void Brawler snapped awake and leapt to his feet. He raised his fists and snapped out. Harlequin raised her arm and suddenly he couldn't move his own. She flicked her finger and he smacked himself in the face. She did it a few more times before another villain walked down the stairs and yelled, "Stop! This isn't how we treat our... 'guests'." Elitist watched Harley walk back towards her room, disappointed that her fun had been interrupted so soon.
"You've been asleep for three days. I was almost worried she had put you in a coma."
"What do you want?" Void Brawler tried to sound brave but... well Elitist was so much bigger than he was, and he didn't doubt that he was stronger.
"I want you to listen to your new teacher. Your mother did a decent job with evasion and martial arts and your fathers... temporary gifts, but there is more for you to learn."
"And that's where I come in, kid," said Smashing Pumpkin, coming around from behind the corner.
"Actually I had Harlequin 'acquire' a tutor."
"What? Who could teach that brat how to use that red eyed crazy better than me?"
"We're not looking for destructive power Pumpkin."
"He's looking for finesse." Ruby Blade appeared behind Smashing and almost made him jump in surprise.
"No... no way. This kid could do some real damage to Longbow. There is no way you can let this guy just ruin that!"
"That's not rage, Smashing. That is just a sadistic nature finally emerging."
"Pft. Whatever, you wanna ruin this kid's potential? Go right ahead." Smashing went down a hallway and slammed the door, splintering it.
"Do I get a say in this?" Void felt his courage rise now.
"No," the two said in unison.
And there went the courage.
"Well... what if I don't let you teach me! You can't force me to do anything!" Void thought in his head how much better this would sound if his voice wasn't quivering, and he was sure it squeaked at least once.
"We told you. You have no choice."
"Then-then-then you'll have to-to-to kill me! ..."
"Ruby, would you please?"
The villain walked up to Void and drew his sword.
Void gulped. He raised his arms and readied himself. He pushed all thoughts of fear out of his mind like his mom taught him. He- he felt Ruby dig a finger into his shoulder, then he felt himself fall asleep.
----------------------------
Void Brawler jumped to his feet... or tried to. He looked at his unmoving arms and legs to see he was strapped to a table. He looked around at the lab. Parts, tools, and robots in tubes all lined the walls.
"I still say I don't like you examining him in my lab. If your plain fails and he should escape-"
"He will not escape Tyrant. And my plan will not fail. Nictus! Now that he is awake I would like you to test him."
Nictus Brawler walked over to Void who struggled vainly at the metallic bars.
"No use. I use those to hold down malfunctioning robots, there is no possible way for you to break free," said Tyrant.
Nictus Brawler walked over to Void and placed a hand on his forehead. A purple and black energy surged up and down his arm and Void cried out in pain.
"Yes," said Nictus.
"Yes?" said Tyrant. "What does 'Yes' mean? I demand to know what is going on!"
"A simple test proved positive. And it explains much," said Elitist.
"If you won't tell me what you mean I will have my creations remove you."
"We have what we came for now, human. That is not necessary."
Elitist unlatched the restraints and led Void Brawler to the room's exit.
They walked down the hallways and the fear in Void's eyes grew as he passed the rooms of glaring villains.
They came to a gray room filled with target dummies and weapons. "This is where you will learn how to master your power," said Elitist.
"I-I think I've got a good handle on it, thanks."
Elitist chuckled as he grabbed the boy's collar and threw him into the room. He slammed the door and locked it tight.
Void picked himself up off the ground and looked for an exit. There was a door at the end. He eagerly ran to it but was quickly stopped by a sudden blow to the back of his head. Ruby Blade drew his sword and slashed quickly.
Void rolled back, then forward and leapt into a double-fisted punch. Ruby brought the flat of his blade down to deflect the blow, then used the pummel to hit the boy's skull.
Void shook his aching head and threw rapid punches, but every last one was blocked.
Ruby kicked the hero to the floor and placed the tip of his blade on the boy's throat. He pressed softly, just enough to draw a little blood. Void's eyes began to change again. He grabbed the sword between open palms and threw Ruby off of him.
The punches came quicker now, and the villain's eyes were wide with surprise. When a few blows got through and he began to bleed Blade raised a hand and suddenly Void didn't feel like fighting anymore.
"And this is what Elitist was looking for?" asked Ruby.
"Yes," said Nictus, descending from the ceiling. Elitist re-entered the room.
"The child has inherited Nicti qualities," he told Elitist.
"Good. Unlock them."
----------------------------
"C'mon, sis. I'm not letting you go through that portal!"
The girl hurriedly punched in the last few numbers. She turned back in surprise as the man landed behind her. She jumped over the console and rushed to the roaring ball of energy.
"You're coming with me!" The man ran and grabbed her arm as the girl reached for the portal. He began to pull her away and she yelled in frustration. That yell became a word of power that sent a powerful gust to knock the man flying.
She jumped into the ball of light and disappeared in a blink. The man cursed as his wrist beeped. He rolled up a sleeve to see the video communicator, his leader's face in the screen.
"Did you capture her?"
"No, sir. She's been training since last time."
The other man bared his teeth and snarled in rage, then the screen turned to static, most likely because he had ripped the monitor off in his anger.
This was the dream that ran through Void Brawler's mind, until he awoke, once again, strapped to a table.
Nictus Brawler stood over him and placed a cool hand on his forehead. Suddenly that cold turned to a searing heat as he felt his mind slowly twist. Rushing images of wars against darker beings and creatures of light flashed through his mind, the dream he witnessed slowly blurring into these visions.
An intense pain began to overwhelm the boy as he slowly fell into darkness.
--------------------
Burning Brawler received a call on his communicator. "Ok she's in. Here are her coordinates. You sure you won't need back-up?"
"No thanks, Hyp."
Burning Brawler flew off from the Siren's Call gate and found what he was looking for. Arachnos and Longbow agents were in a heated battle. Something wasn't right though... The Longbow were also fighting themselves!
Then he saw the cause. A woman in black and white with bright pink hair was giggling at the chaos she was creating. Brawler focused his power into a beam of fire that shocked the villain. She looked up in surprise as a second assault came. She sent waves of pain through the hero's mind and teleported to safety.
"Hey! Hey you!" cried another hero. He sped towards Brawler, anger on his face. "She was MINE! I saw her first."
As Brawler's head cleared he turned to the hero. "Who are you?"
"Z1-1. Why did you-"
"No time to explain. Come with me."
Brawler flew into the air following the tracker, Z right behind him. He found her giggling on a ledge at the encounter. Brawler attempted to surprise her but was unable to concentrate. She giggled and said, "Careful. It iz a long drop."
"Where's Void?!"
"Ahh M'sieu Brawler. I... do not 'ave your zon." Brawler's hands lit in anger. "But I do know who does."
"Tell me!"
She cackled and teleported. Brawler began to follow but she faded into the distance. "NO!"
Z1 came bounding onto the rooftop. "There she is! Follow me!"
As Z slid down the building to speed away on the ground, Brawler followed. They turned quickly as she zipped from place to place, obviously toying with them.
She finally stopped on another ledge and watched them catch up to her. "Your little one is zafe... for ze moment anyway."
"Tell me where he is NOW!"
"And if I say no?"
"Then I'll let Z help me take you out."
"Did I miss something?" asked Z.
Harlequin laughed insanely as Brawler attacked. Z quickly followed his fires with fierce slashes of his own. Harlequin stumbled backwards. "Where... is... he?!"
She chuckled and disappeared.
"No!" Where..., he thought to himself. Poor poor little 'ero... Wherever could I be?
You know what happened to this place. I could do the same thing..., he 'said.'
He landed on a crane and scanned the ground. "Careful, zat is a long drop," said the villain behind him. She laughed again as Brawler turned. He tried to freeze her in place but she had disappeared.
OOOoooo 'zis is awfully high up. He looked around but could not see her. Fantastic view 'zo. Don't you zink? He turned to see her on a building ledge.
He flew fast and hard, leaving Z behind. Harlequin lost sight of him as he flew up against the building. He rose at lightning speeds with both arms stretched forward.
Harlequin peeked over the edge and gasped in surpise as she was lifted off the roof. She came back down on the ground with Burning Brawler standing over her. She mentally lifted him off the ground and tossed him over the edge.
Brawler quickly flew back to the villain who was already celebrating. She pouted as he flew and interrupted her. She tried to control his mind but every attempt was blotted out by the rage.
She yelled in surprise as flaming blasts assaulted her. She ducked behind a statue but it was quickly melted by another blast. The hero pinned her to the ground, his teeth gritted in anger. "Where?"
"Why at 'ze base of course!"
"WHERE IS YOUR BASE NOW?!"
Brawler saw something reflected in her eyes. A falling hero, sword raised. "STOP!"
Too late. Z had hit Harlequin and she was already fading to the hospital.
"You IDIOT!"
"What? I thought that was what we were trying to do!"
Brawler froze the other man in place before leaving Call.
-----------------------------
A girl ran down crowded streets. It was all so... wonderful here. Things were bright and living, not the dead streets she had known.
She turned and saw gang members threatening an older woman in the park. She had never seen these men before. She began to help the woman when a larger hero knocked them flat. He waved at her before bounding off into the distance. Everything really was different.
She looked at the things everyone was wearing and noticed that no one thought her look odd. Her torn, black and red jumpsuit seemed to fit in here. She saw several heroes fly overhead and realized she was actually better dressed than most at the moment.
She saw a cylinder of light ahead of her and eagerly rushed forward. She keyed in the familiar code and instantly materialized in a small base.
A boy walked by with an armful of snacks. "V-Velocity?" she said.
He dropped them in surprise and ran at super speeds yelling "WE'RE BEING RAIDED!!!"
Pstorm waved her hands in protest and tried to explain but was pinned down before she even had a chance to explain. A girl in armor asked her, "Why are you here? How come you're able to get in?"
Another boy said, "She might be a villain. Should we ask for some he-"
"Nah we got this," said Kid Velocity. "So why are you here?"
"I'm-I'm Burning Brawler's daughter."
---------------------------------
"Void Brawler, can you hear me?" His dream began to blur and turn from the inquisitive faces of his Kids teammates to that of the Masters of Mayhem.
"Y-yes."
"Do you feel any different?"
"Not really."
"Who is your leader?"
"Elitist."
The villain leader smiled as he pulled the boy to his feet. "And why are you here?"
"To be trained to further your plans, sir."
"Good. Ruby! Take him back to the training room."
Ruby Blade gripped Void Brawler's shoulder and led him out of the room. "What exactly did you have Nictus do to him to make such a complete change?" asked Blightlord. "Obviously something you couldn't have ordered the clown to do."
"I've just had him unlock the inherent evil of the Nictus. The power was already there, but his upbringing kept his nature buried by the heroes' 'morals'."
"What about all the Nicti that turn good?" asked Pumpkin.
"This will not happen. I have erased all their damage," said Nictus.
"What about ze red eyes?" asked Harlequin.
"It should no longer be a problem," answered Nictus.
"That was some rage. Not this controlled junk stealthy types do. Still say you're gonna ruin him," said Pumpkin.
Inside the training room, Ruby Blade was shifting dummies and wooden poles. "To truly unlock your potential, you must learn to hide yourself from all who would see it."
"This makes no sense."
Ruby Blade slowly disappeared before Void's eyes. "Does it? Now concentrate! Feel yourself fade away. Let that darkness you use to fight become your shielding from the vision of your foes."
Void concentrated. He felt a tingling in his limbs and through his chest. He was sure he had done it.
Until a sword pommel hit his head. "No! You aren't doing it correctly! Only your arms disappeared. It's a disadvantage to your enemy but he will still see you coming. Try it again."
Void began to feel the tingling and he let the feeling become more intense. The sensation ran up and down his spine as he let himself fall into a darkness deeper than he had ever known before.
"There... that is what you needed to do. Now to learn to surprise your foes. Take them out quickly and effectively."
--------------------------------
"I really didn't wanna have to do this. We can't go to them every time we have a problem," said Velocity.
"Yeah but this is serious whether she's lying or not," said Hyper-Girl.
Stevie Power and Hyper-Girl led the girl by the shoulders to the base teleporters.
Velocity punched in the code for the 'Kickers base and the four each stepped inside.
They reappeared in the 'Kickers base, jealously looking at its much larger size. They led her to the Control Room where Hyper-Man busily typed on a computer.
"Hyper-Man we have a-"
"Not right now, KV. I'm really busy here."
"We have a girl here who says she's Burning's daughter."
Hyper-Man turned to the girl in the red and black uniform. Hyper never took his eyes from her face as he pressed a button on his wrist.
An automatic door on the side of the room opened and Burning Brawler stepped through. "You call, Hyp?"
"This girl here says she's your daughter."
Brawler looked in surprise from Hyper-Man to the girl.
"That-that's impossible."
"It isn't," said the girl. "I'm... not exactly from here."
"Then where are you from?" asked Burning.
"The future."
---------------------------
Two villains walked side by side down the hallway of the Masters of Mayhem base. "He's learned everything I can teach him but he is resisting his assignment, Elitist. I believe we'll need to encourage him with something... dramatic."
"What do you have in mind, Blade?"
"We cause some minor chaos in an office building, fill it with Nemesis and Malta operatives maybe, then his father attempts to clean everything up and we destroy the complex and blame it on Nemesis. I'll take the body to Void Brawler. That should break him quite well. We push the attack back a few days and then send him on his mission."
"Interesting... yes that should work well. Take Pumpkin with you to help start the fight."
***
"I'm sorry. We shouldn't have taken her here. I'll escort her to the hospital," said Velocity.
"No! I'm not crazy! I can prove it!"
"How?" said Hyper.
"In-in the future... well... all of you are... dead... and the Masters of Mayhem are in charge."
"That would explain the uniform but we're still not buying this," said Hyper.
At that moment Danica walked into the room carrying a tray of many different odd combinations of foods. "Mom?" said the girl.
Danica looked at her curiously. "Excuse me?"
"Danica what is all that?" said Burning looking at the food.
"Pickles, chips, some chocolate chip cookies, a piece of pizza... why is everyone looking at me strange?"
"Um, lets say we believe you... whats your name?" said Hyper-Man.
"Rachel."
"Right. Ok let's say we believe you, Rachel. When were you born?"
"November 6th, this year. I was trying to come before all the trouble started."
Some of the heroes in the room did the math in their head then looked back at Danica who was starting to piece the conversation together. She looked at the tray and back at the others with wide eyes. "No... no I couldn't be!"
"I'll run a blood test on you Rachel and it seems a pregnancy test on Danica but... if the Masters did rule how would you get here?"
"Well it's not like I don't have any powers of my own." She reached in her pocket and pulled out an I.D. card with the alias Pstorm.
"Pstorm?" asked Hyper-Girl as Johnny Velocity walked in the room. "Why the p?"
Pstorm shut her eyes tightly and suddenly Johnny began acting like a chimp. He started curiously knocking on Hyper's visor and was climbing the computer console when he finally snapped out of it.
"Ummm... how did I get up here? And... can someone please get me down?!"
The room laughed until Brawler had a beep on his wrist. The fuzzy image of a man said, "There is a fight in an office building outside Steel Canyon. I need you to go calm things down."
Pstorm's eyes widened. "No wait! That's a trap! That... that's how you died..."
"I... well I can't let the fight continue, it could spill into the streets."
"It's an old abandoned building... give me your cape."
Confused, Brawler handed it to Pstorm. The girl immediately began tearing it to shreds. "What are you doing?!"
"Now take this, leave them in the building, and let it implode. They'll get what they want and you can still help fight them."
The room was silent for a moment. Brawler left the room, ruined cape in hand. "We... we'd better get started on those tests," said Hyper-Man.
Rachel and Danica, who still didn't put the tray down, followed him into the lab.
"I missed a lot didn't I?" Johnny said in confusion.
Velocity just nodded, still thinking about what had just happened.
------------------------------
Burning Brawler entered the medical building in the 'Kickers base. "So?"
"Both tests are positive."
Brawler's eyes lit up. "So you're-"
Danica nodded happily, happier than he had seen her in a while. "That's great! But... you know you can't do hero work for a while right?"
"Don't worry, I can live without it for a few months."
"What I mean is... you can't come with me to find Void now."
Danica's head dropped a bit. Burning walked over to her and laid his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, the rest of us can find him. And I'm sure Rachel will know something about where they're keeping him."
Pstorm shook her head. "Technically I'm not even born yet. I just know what you know, that he's with the Masters, and right now he's probably being shown the cape."
***
Ruby Blade triumphantly clutched the shredded cloth in his hands. If this doesn't break him, he thought, nothing will.
He entered a key code and the automatic doors opened. "Void Brawler? Are you-"
Ruby leapt to the side, dodging the quick strike. "You learned well. Will you leave for your mission?"
"I don't know why but... I can't. It's like something is holding me back."
"That would have been this," said Ruby as he threw the tattered cape at Void's feet.
"Your mother and father are gone. This was all we could find of either of them."
"H-how?" said Void, his eyes wide and his hands trembling as he lifted the cape from the ground.
"Betrayal by their own teammates, their friends. Those fools thought your parents were responsible for your... changes, and they destroyed them fearing they would turn on them as well soon enough."
"N-no... No! I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!" Void tore at what was left of the cape and let the tears flow freely.
Ruby Blade couldn't help but crack a smile as he turned and left the room.
-------------------------
"Agh." Burning Brawler gripped his head.
"Something wrong?" asked Danica.
"I just got this... sudden pain."
"You to?"
"You mean you felt it?"
"This must have something to do with Void," said Hyper-Man. "I'll start organizing a search. I'll call in a few favors; maybe we'll be able to get the location of their base. But before I go..." Hyper man flicked up the panel on his wrist and whispered something to the communicator.
After a few seconds Kid Velocity walked into the room. "You sure?"
Hyper nodded.
"Okay." Velocity turned to Pstorm and said, "We want you to join the 'Kickers Kids."
"R-really? Yeah! Yeah of course I will!" she said. They did believe her! They trusted her too! Things were better than she thought they'd be.
"Congratulations. I've got some work to do if we're gonna find him."
"I'll head to my room and see if I can't maybe scry the location."
"I'll go back to the base and tell the others about your joining. Why don't you come with me so you can learn how to access the teleporters inside."
The two left the room, leaving Danica.
She sat with her head in her hands, the joy of learning about the baby being replaced with the full realization that she really couldn't do anything to help find Void. She couldn't even help get him back or else risk hurting the baby.
She got up off the chair and decided she could at least watch.
--------------------------
"Are you prepared?" asked Ruby Blade.
"Yes, sir."
"Do you know what you are to do?" questioned Elitist.
"Of course."
"Do you know how to use what I gave you?" inquired Blightlord.
"Very well."
"He's ready."
Elitist held Void Brawler's shoulder firmly as they walked to the base teleporter. "Should you lose in this test, do not expect any help from us."
Void nodded as he faded away.
Ruby Blade walked down the hallway, satisfied with the job he had done. He knew he couldn't take all the credit but he had taught the boy the essential skills well.
A flash went across his vision as an arm blocked his way.
"That would have been my job. Why would they break you out when they had others who weren't so incompetent as to be thrown in jail."
"You know as well as I do, Knave, that I was betrayed," said Ruby Blade, trying to keep his anger checked. He put a hand to the hilt of his blade just in case.
"A truly clever villain wouldn't fall into a trap. You're not slipping are you?"
Knave of Spades stepped in front of Ruby. Ruby stepped backwards as he drew his sword. He leveled it at his chest, eyeing the energy-wrapped hands.
"You seem to be more careless than I, openly challenging me."
"Who said it was a challenge? Maybe I asked a question."
Knave struck at Blade's midsection and was deflected. Ruby began to back into the larger training room, the other villain closely following.
"Then let's talk."
Ruby feinted striking high then swung his blade low. This fight could not result in a death. The victor would become the ultimate loser in the end. Knave didn't fall for the trick and blocked the strike to his knees. He sidestepped to strike at Ruby's chest who was forced to drop and roll.
He tried to rise but Knave was too close. He swung his legs around, knocking the other villain's out from under him. As Ruby spun to his feet, Knave got down in a crouch, holding an arm defensively over his head.
Ruby circled the other villain, waiting for the attack. Knave feinted then somersaulted back into a fighting stance. The two leapt at each other fiercely. Low, high, low, they fought furiously, beginning to sweat from the effort.
Ruby came across hard and was deflected, the force starting to turn him. He followed through with the movement and back-slashed at the other villain. Knave ducked quickly and rose again with a fierce strike.
Turning back to Knave, he didn't have time to block the attack. Knave's fists hit him full force and sent him to the ground. "Give up?" asked Knave.
Ruby smirked as he rose to his feet. "Not yet."
They both leapt apart and circled each other, warily watching for an attack. Ruby spun and swung in an arc, forcing Knave to kneel and block the strike by holding his arms over his head, his armor stopping the blow.
Ruby began to push down and was surprised at Knave's firm resistance. He was even more surprised as Knave pushed him off and he began stumbling backwards. Knave swung as hard and fast as he could and Ruby's blade flew across the room.
Ruby stood calmly as Knave crouched for a potentially finishing blow. "They should have picked me to teach him. You obviously wouldn't last in a one on one fight without your tricks."
Ruby's fists blurred as he punched hard and fast. Knave was caught off-guard and didn't have time to stop the blows.
The other villain began to feel sick under the assault and when it was finished he didn't see Ruby running to the side for his blade.
The red stone of the ruby blade flashed, its blood red color undiminished from years of fighting. Their eyes narrowed and they charged. Ruby held his blade low and Knave brought his fists high. They were about to clash when suddenly their limbs stopped responding.
"I will not tolerate this!" yelled Elitist, Harlequin right beside him. "If we are to survive there can be no more infighting! If there is a problem between you then come to me! Do not fight each other. Save your strength for the real enemy, and the task at hand."
"Void Brawler should be returning in the next hour. We should be waiting to see if he passed the test."
----------------------------
"Guys, I'd like you to meet our newest member," said Kid Velocity, as he led Pstorm inside.
"That's great!" said Hyper-Girl. "But you can't walk around in those clothes; you look like a villain! Come on!"
Hyper grabbed the other girl's arm before she could respond and was off to Icon.
As soon as they left an alarm sounded. "Intruder guys! Get ready for anything!"
Stevie Power rushed over to warn the others but fell to the ground, then mediporting away.
"What on-" Grey started to say. He turned in time to see a shadow flit into the back of the room.
"Is that..."
"Lock down the base," said KV. "I'll call Pstorm and Hyper-Girl back."
Void Brawler ran down the hall. He had to get to the room before the others knew what he was doing.
There was his target: the database. According to Techno Tyrant the 'Kicker's files were all on a shared drive and the information may help him get revenge for what happened to his parents.
He pulled out a spider-like device from his back pocket. He placed it behind the machine and watched it begin copying the information to transmit to the Masters. He pulled out Blightlord's potion next, and threw it on the ground.
Its corrosive properties should dissolve some of the Control Room's computer systems. He turned in time to see Koffee Kid run in. "I thought I smelt co- VOID!"
He ran up to greet him. "You're back! Where have you been? Everyone's been saying... these... odd... stories. Something wrong?"
Void winced a little as he knocked Kid to the floor and ripped off a piece of his costume. He was starting to not like this mission. These guys were once his friends. And they weren't the murderers.
Void shoved the thought from his mind. To pass the test he had to send one more hero to the hospital.
At that moment Hyper-Girl and Pstorm re-entered the base. "V, what happened?" asked HG.
"The base is being attacked. We need to find who they are."
"You mean you need to find him," said Pstorm.
"What?"
"Oh no. This is how it all started!" Pstorm pressed her hands to her temples and concentrated. She found the brain-wave pattern she was looking for and headed to the Control Room. She saw a shimmer of light and blew heavy winds at it. She heard an "Oof," as the intruder, her brother, collided with the wall and fell to the ground.
He looked up in anger at this new member. They replaced him already! He stared at her bright pink and light blue armor. He rose shakily to his feet.
He snapped a quick punch. Pstorm's head snapped to the side. She returned the blow in the form of a psionic burst. Void clawed at the side of his head in pain.
Suddenly the room grew very cold. Pstorm was making it snow inside.
"Don't!" cried Void. "If the potion freezes-" suddenly there was an explosion in the control room, and all of the lights went out. Void groaned.
He quickly struck at the new girl and snapped off a piece of her swept shoulder pads before she faded. With a nod he ran back to the base teleporters in case the mixture had spread.
He reappeared inside the Masters of Mayhem, shaking and his lips starting to turn blue.
Techno Tyrant ran into the room. "What happened? I was receiving the data then nothing!"
"Blightlord's potion... froze..."
"That rotting-"
"Enough!" said Elitist. "Did you at least accomplish your other objective?"
Void Brawler nodded and handed Elitist the three costume pieces. He examined the pink shoulder pad point. "Who is this from?"
"Some new girl."
"Interesting. You did manage to get the data receiver in place and sent two of your former comrades to the hospital and the new member... welcome."
"I passed?"
"Barely. I won't tolerate failure again. Now go."
----------------------------
Five bowls of water were placed on the points of a chalk drawing in the shape of a pentagram, mystic lines and ancient runes connecting them. Burning Brawler sat in its center, legs crossed and eyes shut, the candlelight casting an eerie glow.
Danica watched from the back of the room, not daring to make a sound. Suddenly, Brawler's hand twitched and she thought he might be returning. She glanced into one of the scrying bowls and saw Void and Pstorm, then an explosion.
Hyper-Man came in and said, "The Kids are being attacked!" He looked into the bowls and saw Void leaving the base. Suddenly the water turned a murky black and Burning was flung across the room. He grunted as he hit the wall and fell to the floor.
Danica ran to him and turned him on his back. "He's unconscious," she said. She picked him up and set him on his bed as Hyper-Man watched the face of a smirking Blightlord appear.
"The scrying didn't work and Shard is working to clear our systems from viruses after I attempted to hack the Masters computers. I'm working with my contacts to gather information. So far nothing has turned up but I'm positive they'll find something."
Danica didn't take her eyes from Burning's face as she nodded. She didn't want Hyper to see the water filling her eyes. "I-I know everyone is doing the best they can," she said. "And I should be to."
Danica ran out of the room.
----------------------------------
"Void Brawler!" shouted Elitist. Seconds later the boy came running into the room. "Is it time?" he asked.
"I want to test your loyalty to me further."
"But you said I pa-"
"I said, 'Do not fail me again'!"
Void Brawler's head hung low. Revenge would have to wait it seemed. "What do you want me to do?"
"Mole was doing his usual work in Bloody Bay when an upstart hero defeated him. We sent the hero a message that Mole wanted a rematch at the barge, right outside the hero base. Instead we are sending you. This will also prove your assassination skills.
Void Brawler nodded and left the room. One last job before he could take his revenge.
He used the base teleporter to enter Cap Au Diable and flew to the waiting helicopter. Without a word to the pilot he entered.
The downside to a fight at the barge was that, while the hero could easily escape to the safety of polices drones and hundreds of Longbow, the villains were forced to flee through dangerous forests should they face trouble. Still it was the official spot for the duel ring where heroes and villains fought 'fair' duels that were always interrupted at one point or another by the same-
His line of though broke as the copter landed at the base.
He hopped out, the wind from the rotors blowing his hair back. Immediately he towards the barge.
As he saw the hero base he quickly disappeared into shadow, dark energies concealing him from sight. As he landed his jaw dropped.
There was Danny Stones checking his watch and muttering, "Where is he?" as he searched the sky for Da Mole.
Void Brawler couldn't believe he was asked to do this! He was his best friend! He silently cursed and Elitist and punched the container.
Danny turned. "Who's there?" Void's eyes widened and he hid behind the box.
Danny walked towards where the sound had come from. No, no, no! thought Void.
As he let the shadows re-conceal him he heard the sound of rock shifting, his friend preparing for a fight. His wrist vibrated from the communicator and he put it to his ear. "Accomplish this, and we will avenge your parents."
Elitist ended the communication and Void swore that once he got his revenge, he would leave these sadistic monsters forever.
In his angry thoughts he didn't feel the shadows leave him. "Void?" asked Danny.
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a month! The news said you were leaving the city or something," The rocks crumbled away.
Void said softly, "I'm sorry."
"Huh? Oh no problem, just was curious where you were. Whatever happened with that bu-"
Suddenly Danny forgot what he was saying, in fact, he forgot he was talking to Void. He remembered when two dark fists hit him in the stomach.
He kneeled on the ground, gasping for air. "Wh-what the hell? What was that for!"
Void hit him with an uppercut that sent him into the air and onto his back.
Danny got up and rocks formed around him. "I dunno what's gotten into you, but you need to stop before I have to beat it out."
Void leapt forward and tried to topple his former friend, but could only plant himself on Danny's shoulders. He began to pummel the rock face and his knuckles bled.
Danny grabbed Void's collar and flung him into the building behind them. Void hit it hard and landed on the floor, seemingly unconscious.
Danny shed the stone and walked to him. He turned him over to see Void's face.
Suddenly the villains eyes snapped open and he delivered a quick punch to Danny's face. He held his bleeding nose as he stumbled backwards.
Void began to yell a warning and grabbed Danny's jacket. His friend tripped over the edge and his head smashed against the edge of the barge; he fell into the water. The pink ripples made Void cry out in alarm. He dropped Danny's jacket and dove in to save the sinking hero.
With all the speed he could he kicked towards the falling Danny, following the light trail of blood. He grabbed his arms and pulled him up to the surface, gasping for air.
Void climbed onto the barge and pulled Danny up with him. He looked at the back of the hero's head; it was bleeding badly.
"C'mon... c'mon wake up... wake up!" Danny faded away, the hospital system returning him to the base. Void sat down with his head in his hands, hoping they'd be able to help his friend in time. His wrist buzzed and he looked at it in disgust as Elitist's voice came over the speaker.
"Impressive," he said. "Faking unconsciousness to catch your enemy off guard? Ruby Blade taught you well. You didn't have to kill the hero, however. But that did earn you extra points to balance out your attempts to save the fool. Hero morals are what make them weak, hesitant. You should have learned that lesson today. Had he listened to the rumors and attacked you while you weren't paying attention he may have lived."
The communication ended. He's not dead, Void told himself. He can't be.
---------------------------
Danica spun as she kicked hard and fast. The Arachnos agent flew and slammed against a wall. She ran up to him and lifted him by his neck. "Are you going to tell me now?"
"Ungh... Never! Whatever you do to me wouldn't be half as bad as what the Arbiters will do."
Danica began to set him gently down.
Then she slammed his against the wall.
"Where is their base? You're a Huntsman, I know you have access to those files!"
He spat in her face.
"Bad move," she said. She gripped his shoulders and flung him across the room. He crashed into the pipes and burst them, they began leaking liquids.
"This stuff is flammable isn't it?" she said. She reached behind her, pretending to grab something.
"You wouldn't."
"Did you hear what I asked you? 'Where is the Masters of Mayhem's base! I want my son back!' I'm desperate right now and there is a much better chance I could come out of this alive than you will. Especially since you're soaked in the stuff."
She pretended to draw out the 'thing' behind her back.
"No, no! Wait! Ok... I'll give you the coordinates."
***
Void Brawler sat with his head in his hands, worry and guilt filling his every thought.
His mind kept screaming 'murderer' at him again and again and again.
Elitist walked into the room. "It's time."
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
"If we destroy them here today then nothing will stop us from our ultimate plans. I know some of you are in this simply for revenge," Elitist looked at Void, "and do not care about the Masters coming supremacy, but you will still be rewarded for your aid."
Elitist stepped down from the platform and proceeded to the base teleporters.
"There's a problem," said Techno Tyrant.
"Yes?"
"I 'accidentally' accessed some Arachnos files and it seems the boy's mother attacked one of their bases. What are we going to do when he finds out we tricked him? He knows too much about our base now for us to let him go."
"Trust me when I say this is not an issue."
***
In a hospital in Peregrine Island a boy was hooked up to machinery that was closely monitoring his health.
A nurse walked in with the doctor who was telling her the young hero's current situation. "He suffered serious head wounds. He shouldn't be out for at least another week and not doing hero work for a few months. I need you to get some prescriptions for head ache-"
The boy's eyes snapped open. He looked at the two adults conversing in the corner and saw the wires pumping fluids into his arm. He saw his costume in the corner on a chair.
"-and he'll be alright doctor?"
"He should as long as-"
They heard the sound of breaking glass.
The doctor sighed. "Doesn't do something like that. Quick, call security and get the police on the phone. He needs to be brought back here immediately.
***
Hyper-Man called the 'Kickers to the control room.
"Listen everyone; Danica did some work and found The Masters of Mayhem's current base coordinates. I've already got the teleporter set to take us th-"
An alarm blared.
"Everyone, get into defensive positions! Move!"
-------------------------------
The 'Kickers moved to their locations ready to defend the base and send the attackers back to their base.
As the Masters of Mayhem attacked Pstorm ran to the back of the base, meditating in the silence the arcane workroom provided.
Elitist led the charge into the base. He ordered the Masters to split in three directions to find and destroy the heroes.
As Burning Brawler stood by the arcane teleporters he watched Danica tense. "You should get out of here."
"I'm not leaving until we get Matt back."
Burning watched as Harlequin ran towards them. She stopped when she saw the heroes guarding her target. Danica rushed forward and leapt into the air as Burning threw fire blasts behind her.
Harlequin jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but Danica clipped her shoulder and sent her spinning into the wall. As the first blasts of fire missed Burning ran in to get closer.
The villain gripped his mind and sent waves of agony through him. Danica punched furiously and caught the Harley's jaw. She grabbed the heroine's head and sent painful waves of psionic energy through her.
Johnny sped through the hallway by the bedrooms, waiting for an attack. He saw a shimmer and waited for a second. When Knave struck Johnny was ready. He stepped over and stabbed with his claws but only hit the floor. As he tried to pull them loose Knave struck again.
GeoWatt and Smashing Pumpkin were running through the base towards the control room. Suddenly bursts of energy sent them on their backs. Violet Tigress and Java Juggernaut became visible and quickly hammered the two.
Geo rose first and shrugged off the force of the blasts, Smashing right behind him. Violet reacted quickly and covered Pumpkin in a radiation. He clutched his chest and charged forward. Geo fell behind as he became infected as well.
Smashing punched hard but became sluggish from Vi's attack. Java smashed his fist into the fiery villain's face and sent him staggering backward into Geo. Seeing they would not be able to win like this the two quickly took a detour until the radiation wore off.
Jack Power gripped Elitist's arm as it swung down. The hero landed a solid punch to the villain leader's stomach. Elitist grunted as he broke free of Jack's grip. He turned and grabbed a nearby desk and threw it into the hero.
Jack caught it but did not see the villain's next strike. The hero went flying into the wall while Elitist ran in for another attack.
Hyper-Man watched Blightlord's undead charge him. As the Lich stopped to fire a blast of dark energy Hyper launched his own attack. As dark tentacles gripped him the Lich flew backwards into the stumbling zombies.
The Grave Knights closed in, swords drawn, and pulled back to swing. The hero punched with an energetic fist that sent one flying as the second cut across. He was about to send it with the other when sprays suddenly covered him. He felt limbs weaken and he became sluggish in his movements. Blightlord waited for the hero to spot him before walking forward.
He walked forward and looked into the hero's visor, making sure that there was no mistake who was attacking him.
Suddenly the villain was in the air, Chris Lancelot having landed a solid uppercut. Blightlord fell on the ground and ordered his minions to attack.
Techno Tyrant and Super Shard fought quickly. The robotic master sent in his smaller robots first to take the heavier blows before he sent in the others. As Shard sent the last drone flying the Assault Bot fired. He tried to dodge but was hit with a strong blast. Clutching his chest, he fired icy bolts that froze gears and messed with the thing's targeting computer.
Ruby Blade and Nictus Brawler stealthed through the base, bringing Void Brawler with them, who was eager to take revenge.
They entered the arcane workroom and saw the girl on the table who seemed as if she was sleeping as she sat there. Ruby Blade drew his sword and closed in. Void followed him and readied to pay the girl back who had almost beaten him.
Suddenly the heroine's eyes snapped open and winds surged through the room. Nictus covered his eyes as dust and dirt were flying through the air. Ruby grabbed a smoke bomb and threw it at Pstorm.
She coughed and for a second the winds died down. The villains took the chance to attack her and moved fast. Ruby leapt onto the table and swung at her midsection as Void waited, fading out of sight.
As Nictus became a squid-like monster as Pstorm recovered. She quickly confused him to think she was Ruby. He began to blast at his comrade he swore as he dodged. "Get out of here, Void!" If Void Brawler didn't take care of the energy room the villain's victory would come less easily.
As Void ran down the hallway Harlequin did not notice Burning had stopped shaking in pain. He sent attacked with a searing blaze that seriously hurt the villain from so close. She cried out and released Danica who wasted no time spinning into a kick.
Harlequin smiled as the medi-porter took her to safety.
Smashing and Geo were moving quickly down the hallway with Violet and Java close behind. Java fell as Phantom struck. The hero Phantom saw this and commanded his Phantasm to take down the enemy, Obsidian firing arrows close behind. Violet turned to help Java but he had already ported.
Burning and Danica tried to stop the two but did not succeed, instead the turned to help the others. Violet turned and helped take down the one who had hurt Java. Under the five heroes' assault he fell quickly.
Violet ran past Burning and Danica as Arrow and Phantom ran the other way. She made to the end of the hall when she leapt back in surprise. Void Brawler ran down the hallway and stopped when he saw his parents.
Knave and Johnny fought close together, claws and hands swinging and slashing in a blur of movement. As Knave swung down Johnny cut under. Both of their blows connected and each collapsed onto the floor, medi-porters taking them away.
As Hyper-Man's limbs began to respond normally again he turned to where Chris was fending off undead. Hyper turned to help when two fists came down on his back. Blightlord stood over him as the hero fell to the ground. The villain pointed his arm at the hero and readied a deadly toxin.
Chris grabbed one zombie and used it as a bat to beat down the others. The Lich blasted him and the shadows made it difficult to see. A Grave Knight swung low as Chris stumbled backwards. He tripped and crushed the Lich while knocking both Knights off their feet.
He rose quickly and struck hard at Blightlord, knocking him off Hyper-Man and forcing him to medi-port.
Techno Tyrant watched as Super Shard collapsed and smirked at how well built his creations seemed to be. As Editor came walking by, correcting papers he had found in one of the bedrooms Tyrant followed him.
Nictus snapped out of the confusion and blasted at Pstorm. She jumped behind the platform and mentally blasted the approaching Ruby. She filled the room with cold air that slowed Nictus.
She sent wave after wave of psionic blasts at Ruby and he was eventually forced to medi-port, the agony in his head too much to bear.
The heroine turned to Nictus who had reverted to human form and was running for the energy room. Pstorm headed for the control room, knowing she had people that needed to be stopped.
Hyper-Man and Chris ran to a terminal and activated the base defenses, power boosts temporarily being given to the 'Kickers in the base.
Jack laughed as he got to his feet. "You're in trouble now."
"Any second now your control and energy systems will be offline. You should learn to appreciate your last minutes."
With that Elitist ran to make sure the rest of the attack plan was working. He found Void Brawler staring at his parents and cursed, fearing he may be too late. He was pleased to see he was not.
"Matt! It's us! Please don't do this, everything's been cleared up with Longbow."
"Don't listen to them," said Elitist. "That isn't your parents, it's an illusion!" Elitist pointed at the watching Violet.
Void turned and screamed in rage. Ignoring his parents' cries for him to stop, he ran at a surprised Violet who didn't have time to stop the blows. Shadowy energy seemed to cover her the boy moved so fast. As Violet was medi-ported away Elitist charged in behind Burning and Danica.
He grabbed Danica and threw her into the teleporter, she instantly disappeared and the arcane device exploded. Burning blasted at Elitist and threw chilling blasts. The villain grabbed Burning's arms and held them high.
"Interesting you saw our trap for what it was. It doesn't matter. I have something better now. Void! Strike down this illusion so it will no longer haunt you. Use the skills you were taught."
"No!" Burning struggled but the villain's grip was too strong. Void nodded and faded from vision.
Pstorm found the scene and cried out. As she saw Void rear back to strike she sent a mental bolt of energy that sent Void to the floor. Elitist swung Burning into a wall and moved to deal with this new threat.
Pstorm hammered him with psionic blows and made him stagger. He grabbed a piece of the broken teleporter and hurled it at her. She dodged and sent a blast of wind that knocked Elitist off his feet.
Void Brawler rose to strike the tormenting 'image.' Suddenly a strong hand smashed into him.
Danny stood over him, bandages covering his head and face. "You're alive!" shouted Void.
"No thanks to you," said the hero. He lifted Void to his feet and knocked him down again.
"I didn't mean for you to fall! I didn't want to fight you!"
"Sure," said the hero as grabbed Void's collar and swung him into the air. Void didn't fight back as he tried to convince his friend. When Void landed Pstorm became aware of what was happening. She gripped Elitist's mind and began to control him. He growled as his hand was forced to his medi-porter, sending him away.
Hurriedly Pstorm gripped her brother's head and stretched her open palm at Danny. She relayed all of the events that had happened, starting with Harlequin's raid on the base.
Void fell back and medi-ported, no strength left in him after the mind tap.
Burning rose slowly and saw the two. "Where's Matt?!"
They looked at him. He sighed sorrowfully. "There are two villains heading for the control room, we have to hurry!" said Pstorm.
They followed her.
Chris, Hyper, Jack, Arrow and Phantom ran together to find Tyrant and Editor in the computer room. "And now our base coordinates are erased from their hard drive." Tyrant turned to see the heroes. With a snarl he sent his remaining three bots to attack as Editor dropped the papers and charged.
Hyper blasted a Protector apart as Arrow and the Phantasm took down another. The Assault Bot swung its arm and Chris caught it quickly. He turned and swung around, smashing it into the ground.
As Editor charged Jack grappled his hands. The struggled until Arrow and Hyper each aimed at him. Letting go the villain looked at the two. With a sigh he pressed an emergency escape. When the heroes turned around Tyrant was already gone.
Hyper bent down to the papers. "Oh no! This was my welcoming speech to the new 'Kickers! Look at this he took out whole pages!" Jack laughed at this. Hyper stood up and read some of it. "Hey, some of these changes aren't bad."
Burning, Pstorm, and Danny saw Pumpkin and GeoWatt as they walked into the control room. The heroes ran in, Danny slamming a fist into Pumpkin as Pstorm and Brawler blasted Geo. Smashing turned and saw the bandages on Danny's head. "Grrr.... I can't hit a kid like that. Geo! Switch?"
Geo laughed and grabbed the young hero. Smashing turned and swung his arms fast at Burning. He tried to dodge but was hit by most of the attacks. Pstorm turned to Geo and grabbed his mind.
The villain dropped Stones and clutched his aching head. Pstorm sent wave after wave of psionic pulses, battering the villain into submission. As he faded to the hospital she turned to Danny. "You should get back to the hospital."
He nodded and turned to go. The heroine looked back at where Burning was desperately trying to get shots in between Smashing's assault. Pstorm created intense winds around her and sent the villain flying into a group of canisters. He looked down at the flammable sign on them and looked as Burning lit a hand.
"Don't gotta tell me twice." With that he left.
***
Hyper stood in front of the 'Kickers and gave a speech on the events. Everyone had returned from the hospital, or the Shadow Shard in Danica's case, and listened as he spoke. "Void may seem to be lost to us, but we know he still can be shown he was lied to. If today feels like a defeat, even though we sent the Masters of Mayhem back to their hole. I also want to thank Pstorm. Without her help our defensive systems would have come offline and we might not have won."
He turned to the heroine. "Thank you." She smiled under her helmet.
The 'Kickers had averted a fatal disaster. Though they had lost one of their own, the future now held something it didnt before: hope.
The End
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
((Alright, so I seem to have lost my old thread to the great Lighthouse cleansing. Therefore, a new one is in order!
A bit of an explanation, these first few stories are old. As in, three years old, back when I had never written a story before old. This means they show that, how little I'd written I mean. So try not to judge them too harshly on the grammar, wording, etc. as I've improved those a teensy weeny bit since then (Or so I'd like to think).
I'll post the next story once a week so people can actually read them, rather than feeling bombarded by me putting all of em on at once. Comments appreciated very much. So... enjoy? Yeah, let's go with that...))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell