“spot anything yet?” I sighed in annoyance as Mary asked me the same repetitive question again. “For the 8th time no Mary still hasn't seen anything yet, just people doing their jobs”. A loud groan came from Mary “come on I thought we’d find something by now”. Leo shrugged “hey we just kinda came up with the patrol flash stake out idea. Usually these types of things take a while, didn't your parents teach you that?”.
After a bit of preparation we all decided we were going to petrol a couple of the warehouses at the edge of the Underground’s territory. Mary asked if Rachel wanted to join us but apparently she had to go watch her little sister because her older brother was out of town kinda sad I couldn’t see her in action, Wonder if all of them are mutants?
Besides that I was able to repair my kinetic gauntlets with a bit of help from Rachel hell she even used a bit of her know-how to make them have higher energy capacity that's definitely gonna come in handy. I also decided to wear something besides a hoodie, finally, we needed a new look. I was now wearing some of that high tech armor I got during that horrible train ride, a bit more tighter than I expected but not that bad.
I didn't use the helmet since I wouldn't be able to use my breath attacks with it so I’m still going with the red goggles and the plate face mask I even wore my hoodie under it, I still don’t why a lot of new heroes have hoods it's a bit overrated. Most people would probably wonder why I need armor when I have two ways of being knife and bullet proof well for one, It looks completely badass especially with the black and red. I need to activate those abilities and for two in this world you need all the protection you can get.
Leo wasn’t left out either as I gave him a less plated version of my armor he needs to stay mobile as a projector and controller combo. Besides that he was still wearing that black Balaclava and with that the 3 of us actually looked like real Heroes.
“So what's the plan if we do find anything?” Leo said as he tossed a stone into the air. “Simple we crack some skulls, destroy whatever operation and we get some noodles to celebrate afterwards” Once again Mary’s optimism shined as everyone stopped working in the warehouse. At first I was gonna note it as everyone was clocking out for the night but one of the workers walked to the end of the room and opened what looked like a hatch and climbed into it as he disappeared from my x-ray vision. “Storm herald, Karma I just saw a guy climb down a hatch into what I think is a lead lined basement”.
“Why would they need a Lead lined basement unless” Leo started “they had something to hide” Mary finished as a grin formed on her face. “As law abiding citizens I think we should do a quick inspection to make sure that what they're doing down there is completely safe” With Mary hopped off the building she was on as she silently made her way over to the building. “Finally” Leo muttered as he glowed a light purple and jumped down quickly following her.
I sighed as I realized we don’t even have a plan, guess we gotta wing it then, Winging things makes it so much more fun, I then jumped down myself and quickly followed Mary and Leo. Even with the armor Mary was pretty silent, maybe she actually knew how to be silent, wait no she was just hovering off the ground. Leo was actually being stealthy making sure not to step on any glass. You may call it unnecessary, I call it living in a world where super hearing is not uncommon.
As we got closer to the building a couple of the workers inside started going down the hatch while the rest stood guard my best bet. I started to hear murmuring as I quickly tuned my hearing and started to listen in “Hey Jake, did you hear what happened with Roger and Shadowgardin?”.
“Yeah it sucks those two were actually pretty useful” Ok that definitely confirms this is one of the Undergrounds operations hmm lets see if I can get any other information so I motion for Leo and Mary to stop as I tap my ears to show what I’m doing.
“Well we might be able to break out Shadowgardin but from what I heard Rogers a no go heard they never found body so he was probably destroyed in whatever took out that massive chunk of area”.
“Yeah……………hey tony?”
“Yeah jake?”
“Maybe it's a good thing Shadowgardin got arrested” ah my favorite part of stakeouts you get to hear all the juicy drama.
“Come again?”.
“Ok they were always kind of a nut job you know?”.
“Yeah the whole playing games gimmick kinda creeped me out”.
“And how they treated us?”.
“Yeah when I got them the wrong type of coffee they threw me into a wall and broke my arm, I had to tell my girlfriend I fell down the stairs”.
“Oh Stacey, are things going well with you two?”.
“Absolutely amazing I think she's the one but back on topic yeah Shadowgarden was a bit crazy but aren't most people who are in the super bis at least a little crazy?”.
“That's the thing they shouldn't be like especially with the bosses power but for some reasons it doesn't work on them” wait a minute the boss uses there power on there own henchmen hmmm need more info on it to make a full guess but it’s most likely a alpha type or a mentalist or a developer you never know.
“Jesus I’m surprised the boss didn’t just kill them, guess they were that useful”.
“Yeah”.
“.....”.
“.....”.
“.....”.
“So do you think Shadowgarden was a dude or chick?”.
“Hmmm kinda hard to tell they kinda got the whole androgynes thing down to a t but my best bet is there a boy”.
“You're kidding, obviously there a girl, have you looked at them?”.
“Hey in this modern age anything can happen”
“Yeah”
“.....”
“.....”
“.....”
“So who would you rather sleep with Shadowgarden or” thankfully the two were interrupted as a third came over “hey you two knuckleheads we need you downstairs our product isn’t gonna make itself” yeah I kinda expected it to be drugs, when is it never?
“So what are you dealing with here?” I felt Mary lean on me a bit as I quickly nudged her off me.
“Well this is definitely an underground base not only that but a place where they make their product, probably drugs and”.
“Nice lets go bust them” I stopped Mary before she could continue forward “I wasn’t finished”.
Mary sat back down “now as I was saying I also heard a couple of the grunts talking about the boss and I got a clue on what the bosses”.
Leo sighed “here comes the butt”.
“But from what the grunts said about how the boss couldn’t use their power to keep one of their members in line and that narrowed it down to them either being an Alpha type or a mentalist I’m leaning more on the ladder”.
“Aren’t those types of powers that are the most terrifying to fight” Well we beat the ever living crap out of two so far hell we bit nice big chunks out of both of them so we’d probably win.
“Yeah I was told to stay away from those two types unless you know what you're dealing with” Developers are dangerous too, Quiet.
“Well if we're smart about this we won’t even have to deal with the boss, the police or some other heroes can take care of them”, oh they won’t they never do.
With that we made our way over to the warehouse Mary apparently had a plan. “Ok Leo you're a controller projector combo we need you somewhere you can stay at long range” Mary glanced at the roof “hey Karma you got something that can go through walls in that toolkit of yours?”.
Leo snapped his head towards Mary as once again he was busy messing around with his necklace “uh oh uhm yeah well actually I’ve been wanting to try out a new trick”. Mary grinned as she grabbed him “use that energy sight of yours to keep an eye on us and you’ll know when to fire”. “Ok that won’t be that hard but why you” Mary pulled her arm back and with a burst of air she tossed Leo “shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” air around Leo let him gently lad and when he got up he gave Mary a very specific bird.
“You know the guys in there heard that right?”.
“Yep” Mary said as she removed her hammer from her belt and it extended to its full 5 foot length “while there focused on the rood will give them quite the surprises now” air the swirled around her feet as she leaned forward and with a blast of compressed air she flew forward “let’s crack some skulls!”. I sighed as I saw Mary smashed through the brick wall turning it to powder as I felt my frame become more wiry and light as a feather as I entered dex mode and in an instant I blurred into the Warehouse.
As soon as I stepped into the dusty warehouse there were already 3 goons on the ground covered in burns as Mary was in the process of throwing another into 3 more smashing them into a crate full of dolls?
I turned to see 5 more goons slowly making their way towards the hatch. The kinetic gauntlets glowed with raw force and in a flash all 5 of the goons were slowly falling backwards unconscious, a jab to the bottom of the chin faster than the eye can track can do that to you.
“That was anticlimactic” Mary said as she shocked a goon she was holding by the face “you know you just jinxed us” I could tell Mary was smiling even under a mask “yeah that's the point”. And as if mistress luck herself was listening as the hatch at the end of the room flew open and several goons with a variety of guns and some body armor.
“Huh I expected more”.
I shrugged “better than nothing I guess”.
We both shot forward running towards a hail of bullets as Mary simply ran through them unfazed as I used my kinetic shields to deflect any bullets I couldn’t dodge. I reached the group of goons first as I made sure each one got a jab to the chin, make sure everyone gets one before anyone asks for seconds. It's only fair. I heard the crackle of electricity behind me so I quickly leaped into the air and dug my claws into the ceiling as the crowd was struck with a blast of electricity causing them to cease up and fall onto each other.
“wow this is” Mary let out a yawn “still boring”.
“What did you expect, these guys are goons didn’t mom teach you that they are kinda I don’t know cannon fodder”.
“Yeah maybe there’ll be something more interesting down” before Mary could continue several loud groans filled the air as all of the goons slowly started to rise to their feet again.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Second wind?” Mary said as she held her hammer up as it crackled with lightning. As all the goons were now on their feet, some cracking their necks or stretching I noticed something. Their eyes were glowing a familiar neon blue and several small syringes laying on the ground “of course they would be manufacturing giant blood” I groaned.
“Oh shh you baby it’s not that bad”.
“Yeah unless you turn these guys into giant monsters too”.
Mary rolled her eyes “well I’ll take the ones on the left side of the room you take rest” I nodded as we were both already moving.
I sped forward as I quickly switched out of dex mode and used that momentum to slam that my elbow into the first goon. I felt little resistance as a burst of blood shot from his now broken nose. I then grabbed his collar and judo threw him into a goon behind. Spinning around I was met with a haymaker so I slowed my perception and quickly moved under the strike and grabbed the goon and tackled him.
He was strong but not by that much since these guys only took one dose so it wasn’t that hard to use the goon as a makeshift battering ram knocking several other goons aside. When I got to the end of the room I could already hear the bullets flying. I spun on my feet and the bullets hit the goon causing him to roar in pain. The bullets kept coming so I took a deep breath and let out a torrent of water sending the hole filled goon into my shooters.
After a couple seconds I closed my mouth as one of the goons gave me a confused look “really water? Do we look like witches?”. I sighed “I wonder why I shot water?” I then took another breath as I let out a blast of freezing cold air.
By the time the goons realized what was happening they were already stuck to the ground. “We still have guns shoot the fuck!” I swapped to dex mode as I weaved through each of the goons touching their guns and sending them to my inventory. “With what guns?” The looks of fear on their faces nearly made me crack a smirk, I miss that look.
I cracked my knuckles as I stopped forward as most of the goons had already freed themselves but before I or them could do anything a hail of ethereal purple bullets? Flew down from the ceiling. The second the bullets made contact with goons they instantly slammed into the ground. I glanced up and looked through the ceiling to see Leo kneeling down and holding his fingers in the same motion he did when he used the charge shot. He’d seemed to notice me and gave me a small wave.
“Huh gotta admit gravity manipulation is pretty fucking cool” I turned to see Mary sitting on a chunk of hail as she laid her feet on a pile of soak, wet, burned, bruised and cut up goons.
“Gotta agree that was pretty cool trick” kinda wish I had something like that but hey I’m fine being mostly a bruiser.
“Ok” Mary hopped onto her feet causing a set of groans as she put her full weight onto the goons “time to check what these guys got cooking”.
Mary walked over to the hatch as I turn to the ceiling and mix a bit of my wind breath into my voice “HEY KARMA STAY ON THE ROOF SINCE SINCE TO PROVIDE ANY COVER FIRE ALSO DO YOU SEE ANYTHING IN THE ROOM BELOW US?”.
“Uh there's a group of guys that might be packing something also there's definitely an evolved down there and a pretty big one at that” Leo said in a regular tone.
“THANKS” I said as I walked over to Mary.
“They're probably packing up since they definitely heard us” We were the opposite of stealthy.
“There's also an evolved down that's probably gonna try to keep us occupied while everyone else makes there get away with the goods” A basic but classic strategy.
“So one of us is gonna have to fight the villain while the other chases after the guys driving away”.
“Pretty much”
“.....”
“.....”
“Wanna play rock paper scissors to see who fights the villain”
“Sure”
We both held our hands up “ok here we go”
“Rock”
“Paper”
“Scissers”
“Shoot!” I held my hand outwards flat while Mary kept her fist.
“Aw dang it best 2 out of 3?”
“You have to say that before we start”
“Shit I wanted to fight the villain” She somehow pouted with her mask on.
“Well it's been decided now come on we got criminals to beat”.
I ripped the hatch from the floor tossing to the side as I hopped down to the floor below Mary quickly following after me. The room we landed was filled with fluorescent lights and boxes filled with dolls or vials of titan, oh there probably hiding the vials in the dolls. It's the oldest trick in the book. The concrete floor was stained with a mix of blood, soda and sauce stains, ew. At the end of the room there was a tunnel, there was a truck filled with crates as several goons carried more into it and finally there was the villain.
He stood about a foot and a half taller than me so about 8 foot 4 even if he was a bit hunched and his width was about nearly 4 feet. His skin was a thick hide like skin that was a greyish color. He had a barrel shaped torso and trunk like arms and legs and massive muscled hands. His head made it really obvious what type of mutant he was since he was basically a humanoid hippo in overalls and his eyes also only had iris no pupils, there is something going on with those eyes I keep seeing.
“HEY GET EVERYTHING INTO THE TRUCK WE NEED TO GET THIS TO ONE OF THE OTHER BASES OR THE BOSS WILL TAKE OUR HEADS!!” Jesus christ he's loud.
The big guy kept yelling as me and Mary just stood waiting for them to notice us as Mary rapidly tapped her foot against the ground.
It took the hippo a couple seconds to notice us and when he did he sighed “drive off with what we got now I’ll kill these two and burn this place down afterwards” With that the goons closed the back of the truck and hopped in as the hippo started walking towards us.
“So look what we have here, two wannabe heroes who think they can mess with the underground Huh?” I summoned 2 objects into my hands. “Well I’m honored to be one to give you the reality check of a lifetime because I'm going to bea” I tossed the objects as they landed in front of him. “What? Did you throw rocks at me?” He squinted as he tried to figure out what I had just thrown. I decided to help him by holding up two fingers as his eyes widened as he saw two pins “oh fucBOOM!”.
Mr hippo flew into the ceiling and then quickly slammed back into the ground splintering the concert from his weight “when did you get grenades?”
I shrugged “long story but uh you should start running the goons are getting away” I point towards the now moving truck.
“Shit yeah well I hope you have fun” She gave me a fist bump before Mary got into a sprinters position. I could see lighting spark from eyes as it quickly went through her armors causing the blue circuit lines to crackle with energy and with a small boom Mary was already heading down the tunnel looking like a living lighting bolt, we need to work with that Rachel girl. The tech she makes is seriously impressive.
“Unnnnnnngh” Hippo was slowly getting up as he was completely fine as I could notice he was completely covered in scars and that meant two things one he has a decent amount of combat experience and his durability isn't too high.
“Well that was a cheap trick you little shit” hippo cracked his neck as I made my way towards him.
“Well I gotta give it to you, your pretty smart, most of the new heroes I have encountered let me finish talking before we fight” He started walking towards me.
“Names roundabout used to be something else but I decided to change it due to recent events” he smiled well I think he smiled kinda hard to tell with the hippo head “what's yours?”
That's a good question, what is my hero name? Definitely not nobody that’s stupid, how about black drake?, no no marauder is much cooler, I think i got a great one especially with what we can do, “call me Apex”.
“Huh not that bad well I'm the only one who will know it” Roundabout towered over me as I squeezed my hands popping my knuckles staring up at him.
“I guess so I’m still working on the whole name thing might change it in the future” I had already jumped out of the way as he made a small crater where I was just standing.
He was pretty slow but he definitely extremely strong but even if he’s a mutant he’s still human. I hit with a hook right to the liver, nearly knocking him over as he stumbled to the side. I raced forward, not giving him a second to breathe as I turned my kinetic gloves to max level and started hammering them right into his jaw.
He stepped back as he tried to go for a hook of his own but I stepped forward avoiding the striking and hit him with a heavy cross knocking his head to the left. I then strike him in the calf resulting in him crumbling to the ground with a grunt of pain as I switch to dex mode and unleash a bombardment of jabs to his face and finishing it with a roundhouse kick sending him flying.
When he landed I immediately froze him with a blast of cold. I turned my feet to steel as I flew past him slamming into the wall. A yellow aura surrounded me as I shot towards him just as he broke out of the ice slamming him into a wall. Before he could recover I started hammering into his side full force over and over again, BEAT HIS ASS!
For some reason he wasn't even attempting to fight back he just stood there as I realized something he didn’t even have a single scratch on him. “hahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA they fall for it every time seriously I should get into acting” I jumped back as he gave me that weird grin again.
“You probably already know this but when someone master's there power they unlock a new similar one but this applies to all evolved including mutants and it’s pretty easy for us mutants to master our powers just gotta train to our physical peak and when we get this power its different but compliments our unique physiology in my case I was already strong and durable but” he nearly became translucent as he glowed with a bright purple energy “I can now absorb kinetic energy”.
“Fuck me” the stone exploded beneath his feat as he was already in front of me aiming for a hook to the gut. I barely was able to put up my kinetic shields as the blow sent me flying smashing into the wall fragmenting the concrete. Before I could recover, roundabout was already trying to drill his knee into the ribcage. Luckily enough my shields were already up so I only got further embedded into the wall.
Roundabout with an annoyed look grabbed me by face, dragged my head against and spun around at such high speeds I could see a small twister form as I started to get nauseous, we’re gonna hurl! With a boom I was launched through the air as the room blurred past me. I felt my shoulder nearly get dislocated as I slid across the ground as I used my claws to stop my momentum. I didn’t waste a single second as I was already unleashing a blast of lighting but it was more like a hose since the fucker ran right through it and charge right into me cracking my chest cavity and sending me into a another wall.
“Damn you are one tough son of a bitch I have to give you that so” I had to open my mask as I vomited a bucket of blood “how does it feel to be hit with your own force?” I gently ran hand across the dented chest plate and slowly felt my chest cavity slowly piece itself back together “it fucking sucks”.
I stood up as I closed my mask as it seemed that Roundabouts' kinetic rush had just ended. Great I can’t hit him unless I want to be flung around again I gotta improvise.
Well I wanted to do something but Roundabout was already trying to hit me with a hook. I stepped back barely dodging the strike as I had to dodge another and another as I noticed his attacks were deliberately slow and full of openings, he wants me to hit him. “Come on! where was that” I sidestep and resist the urge to kick his liver “ferocity you had before!?”.
His strikes were starting to pick up speed and momentum as I was able to still keep dodging his strikes but I needed some way to hurt him without charging him, wait a minute. I switched out my kinetic gauntlets for different pairs as I turned my feet to still as my clawed feet stabbed into the ground and I caught his arm.
“Finally you actually, wait when did switch gloFUUUUUUUUUUUU!” I activate the heat function of the commander's gauntlets as I could already smell the sizzling flesh as I squeeze with all my ripping the burned flesh earning a howl from roundabout. He yanked his arm back, tearing his skin off in the process leaving his arm bloody and raw as I could see fear in his eyes for the first time since we started this encounter and made it smile as I opened my mask and licked the blood off my hands, MORE GIVE US MORE!.
I grinned under my mask as I could slowly start to see his body's inner workings as my grin grew as he went for another heavy swing. With a step at the right moment his swing went wild as I grabbed his arm and dragged my hands across his arms leaving trails of burns. He tried to kick me but I twisted his arm behind his back tightening my grip drawing more blood and howls of pain.
“You see how easily I beat you when like an idiot you told me how your ability works seriously, isn't that the oldest trick in the book?”. I let go of his arm and kicked him away as I let the blood coating my hands pour into my mouth as it tasted like heaven.
“Your a fucking freak!” I leaned forward as a haymaker flew by the back of head and with that same motion I pivoted and swiped forward as I felt a small bit of blood coat my fingers no claws. I looked to see the gauntlets were now a dark silver, were covered in scales and the fingers had shifted in blades and the best part was they were still glowing with heat. Guess I can coat my clothes in the metal too.
“Hey Roundabout my sister should be here soon and this has already lasted long enough so” I felt my teeth lengthen and everything got tinted red “wanna see me cut loose?”. I could see his heartbeat quicken as I sped past slashing him across the chest. I switched to dex mode as I jumped onto a wall and shot forward slashing roundabout again and when I landed onto another wall I leaped off that one two slashing him again and again and again as an orange aura surrounded me as I started to blur across the room leaving dozens of orange lines.
Blood coated my claws as roundabout was barely still standing so I turned my right arm into metal as I shot forward at full speed towards roundabout and before I hit him I switch to strength mode and drove my fist into him full force sending a large shockwave through the room as he flew into the wall shattering as the building shook, ULTRA COMBOOOOOOOO!!!!!
I fell onto my ass as I took several deep breaths as I started to hear slow clapping “damn mole rat if you’ve definitely improved”.
I could see the truck behind Mary and the unconscious goons inside it “how long have you been standing there?”.
“Oh when he slammed you into the wall I wanted to help but I knew you wouldn’t need it”.
“Fuck you”
“I was right wasn’t I?”
“True”
“So successful drug bust?” I slowly got up and walked over to Roundabout, summoned Chaos and shot him with a sticky shot.
“Where did you get the gun?” Mary said as she leaned against the truck.
“Another long story”.
“What the hell do you get up in your off time”.
“I don’t feel like talking abboom!” I groaned in annoyance as Roundabout was back up glowing with kinetic energy.
“Is that……is that a purple hippo?”
“Wow kid you almost” with a grunt of effort Roundabout ripped through his green confines “got me”.
“But the thing is newbies you need to learn it's not over until someone's di” before he could finish I could hear a cracking noise as the ceiling slammed onto him.
There wasn't just one ceiling there were two ceilings and on top of them stood Leo “uuhhhh I think I might have just that killed guy”.