It was a short while after sunset when lights first appeared on the horizon. A simple fisherman's boat had been the one to respond to Ironbolt's signal. Its spotlights searched over the rolling waters of the open ocean as it drew closer, eventually catching sight of the three people left treading water. The leader and his wards weren't much more than a trio of soggy, stranded fugitives now. Albeit still in costume.

After the rope ladder was tossed over they came gladly up onto the deck. There, they were met with two men in yellow coats. Innocuous looking people, apparently without Powers or importance. Only Ironbolt suspected differently. As the two wards wrung themselves out, he sized up the two men.

Unless they were going for shock and awe, vigilantes rarely dressed in a costume. These were no exception. Their facade as sun-dried Italian fisherman was certainly convincing, however. No doubt an effect of Avenger's resident Illusionist. The man had always had a taste for the covert.

"Appreciated," Ironbolt said, still dripping wet head to toe. His handshake was received awkwardly. "So, what's our ETA to the base from here? I take it Avenger briefed you on our potential tail," he spoke.

This prompted confused stares from the two men. They turned to each other and spoke briefly in Italian. "Sounds like American English?" the first one said, perplexed.

Slowly, Ironbolt's inner enthusiasm faded. It was reasonable that the explosion over the water had attracted a set of actual normal people, not cleverly disguised Supers. He held in a sigh. It was inconvenient, but it was all they had to work with. "I see..." Straining to recall some rusty Italian, Ironbolt went on to explain. "We need a ride back to the mainland. It is... important Hero business."

This, the men understood. With a few quick nods they hurried back into the cabin to set their course.

Europe was ravaged with war in its Eastern half, and the population had largely come to live with it. It wasn't so uncommon to see Heroes roving all around on secret special missions. It also helped that support for the war effort was pushed hard among the people, here. Even harder than it was in America.

It had been more than forty years since the Lich King toppled Russia and established his Barony. The war had since run longer than any other in the 20th and 21st centuries. A nonstop conflict where the dead would go to join the enemy's side.

"What's-" Dupe stopped to wretch, almost vomiting over the ship's deck. He was not such a good swimmer, it turned out. He was nauseous from the waves and from swallowed saltwater. "What... going on?"

Fortitude had figured it out. "We're on some random boat, Dopey. Avenger must be running late or something. Right, Ironbolt? He is coming?"

"Yes," Ironbolt reassured, though inwardly, he was unsure himself. The two of them had not had any contact in years. Not since they both went quiet after the events with Phoenix in London. It had ended badly, to say the least, but it had provided a good opportunity to cut ties. Ironbolt could only hope they hadn't been too thoroughly cut.

Dupe was shivering as he complained. "So what if they send another Chimera after us, then? We don't exactly have another plane to explode."

Ironbolt turned to look out over the boat's rail as it swayed with the waves, buying time to think. If the worst-case scenario was true, then this would be far harder than he thought. He had sent out their distress signal on an encrypted channel, but it wouldn't be long before Seraph had their coordinates regardless. Nothing was secure.

It didn't help, either, that Seraph would have undoubtedly honed in on their not-so-subtle explosion with the Chimera. Already, he thought he saw a glint of fire several miles off in the sky. Some kind of flying Super or an intense jet-engine. Whatever it was, all that mattered now was that they had missed their timing and the cavalry was already arriving.

It's too soon, he thought, head swirling. Had he already been en route? Is he here to finish the job? 

Ironbolt let out a breath, watching the waves break against the hull. "None of this is ideal," he said, grimacing deeply. It was a major understatement.

Catching sight of this new threat looming closer, Fortitude finally began to doubt out loud. "Either that's a Seraph Hero or it's another of the Lich's thralls... But I don't think that's Avenger."

"Just stay calm," Ironbolt advised. "There are two ways this goes. One: they've been alerted to our defection and that light is here to kill us. Or two, they haven't, and we're both lucky and unlucky. It's just a random Hero from the nearby mainland. If that's the case, they've just come to help and investigate the explosion. These are not bad people. We just need to advise them we're on a classified mission and that we've commandeered this ship. They'll leave us alone after that. Hopefully."

"I can help with that," Dupe said. With his Power finally showing a use, he gained a little more confidence.

Ironbolt nodded. "Exactly. So it's all in hand. We just stay calm."

As the light grew closer, they could make out just one Hero riding on a pillar of flame. He was coming towards them fast, dressed in dark blue and orange, head covered by a heavy iron helmet with no eye-holes or face.

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Being careful not to scorch the boat, the Hero stepped off their fiery ride as if it were a vehicle, hopping down onto the deck. In a muffled voice, he announced himself to the three defectors in a heavy German accent. "Greetings! I am Flammenwerfer." He gestured to the trio with a broad sweep of his arms, "I see you are with Seraph. I even recognize you, Ironbolt! Is everyone okay here? What is the situation?"

Dupe jumped straight into their con as it had been planned, eager to send this guy off and prove his worth at the same time. "We're all good. Our ship just experienced a malfunction so we had to bail out."

It wasn't the deceit Ironbolt would have gone for. He would have been honest about the Chimera. But in this case, Dupe didn't actually have to be such a good liar. His Power took care of the rest, picking up with a supernatural suspension of disbelief.

"Oh no!" the friendly Hero exclaimed. "That is very terrible. But I'm glad that I saw you. The flash of light was visible from over the city, fifteen kilometers north."

"Haha, yeah, so..." With a wave of his hand, Dupe cut to the chase. He might have been pushing his Power, but nerves got the better of him. "We're fine. We've commandeered this boat, so we've got a ride. Please leave and don't mention this anyone, of course. Because, you know, we're on a secret mission for Seraph."

Dupe's words made all the sense in the world to this patriotic Hero. Flammenwerfer was ecstatic to cooperate with Seraph. He was young by the sound of his voice. Part of the newer, well-indoctrinated generation. "I'll leave you all to it, then," he nodded. "Stay safe!"

Just as Ironbolt was about to offer him a hearty 'you too', he stopped. Something had caught this German Hero's eye just beyond the bow of the ship. Something enormous.

Following his line of sight, everyone came to see the same monolithic structure. Towering above their tiny fishing boat was a great black vessel. A catamaran and stealth ship, sharply angled and windowless, sat atop two sleek pontoons, each one the size of their own boat.

The monolith simply waited in silence until finally, Ironbolt raised up his hands and shouted with relief. Though many upgrades had been done, he recognized this vessel. It was all he had been hoping for. "You had me worried!" And, he couldn't have been happier.

A figure appeared then on ship's edge and looked down at them all with their hands on their hips. The silhouette was barely visible against the dark sky, wearing a thick black getup with a kind of ballistic mask over the face that glint in the deck lights. Long dark hair flowed in the wind.

With a single step, the man dropped from his ship and landed onto their deck below with a heavy thud. All of them could see then the knives lining his suit. In a raspy voice tinged by the slightest Brittish accent, Avenger introduced himself to these new additions he did not recognize. "Nice to meet you, everyone," he said. Then to Ironbolt, he chided. "Ballsy move for a bootlicker such as yourself to come begging for my help. You really pushed your luck this time."

For a moment, everyone was tense. The Flammenwerfer Hero started to raise his hand, but Ironbolt preempted it by extending his arms to receive a hug from his friend. "It's been far too long," he said, ignoring the criticism. "For a moment there, I thought you'd finally been put down."

"Not yet," Avenger grumbled with a touch of pride. "It certainly took you long enough to get sick of wading through Seraph's shit, but I was waiting. Knew you would stop prancing around eventually and join the fight."

"I must ask you all to raise your hands in the air! This man is a known terrorist!" The German Hero went on giving orders, his entire body suddenly igniting to be covered in flame.

But Avenger only found his threat a nuisance. In one fluid motion, he swept a hand over his chest and swung it lazily in their direction. The aftermath yielded a knife lodged in Flammenwerfer's neck, causing the bleeding man to stumble back in pain, falling doomed and choking into the waters below.

Ironbolt's was frozen in mid-reach, inches from stopping the knife. But despite all his speed, he'd reacted too slow. He shot avenger a glare. "And you wonder why I wouldn't come work with you after you went rogue..." If only he hadn't been distracted, he might have caught the move.

"Oh my God!" Fortitude had jumped in surprise as the events transpired in front of her in a flash. Her entire life, costumed Heroes had been untouchable figures of good. Now she was standing beside one's murderer.

"Jesus Christ..." Dupe whispered.

"We're here to save the fucking world," Avenger told them, brash and factual about it. "From now on, everyone in Seraph is your bloody mortal enemy. Don't forget that. Because he would have lit us all up in another second. Probably your fishermen too, for good measure. I've got kill on sight orders and you lot just stood there."

"How bad is it?" Ironbolt asked him, trying to distract his Wards by changing the subject. There was nothing to do about the dead man now. "Is there some new intel?"

"It's worse than you could possibly imagine." Avenger did a short hand-signal and suddenly, he was surrounded by further soldiers in paramilitary gear jumping down from above. They swept over the deck and poured into the cabin. Some of them had guns, some didn't. It was normals and Supers alike, and Avenger was their commander. "Find the boat crew and give them an amnesiac. There's no time to linger about. We're on the move."

Light shined out from a compartment that opened beneath the underbelly of Avenger's ship. As it pulled over the smaller fishing vessel, they were able to step directly up this ramp and inside and into the greater craft.

Seeing all this, Ironbolt voiced his concerns. "You've had help from someone. This is twice the amount of equipment you used to have. Twice the amount of men, too. Where are the rest holed up?"

Avenger pointed quickly over the ship's interior. "Showers, bunks, food. The base has moved from where you last saw it, so you're damn lucky that we were in the area. We're operating in Europe, but we're working out of the Southeast, now. So yeah, you called it right. We're cooperating with someone big. Anything to stop Seraph, really."

Ironbolt halted the tour and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. Earnestly, he begged for the bad news. He merely wanted the truth. "What don't I know, Avenger?"

"It's the Seventh King," the vigilante explained. "He's getting ready to make his play. He's going to gather everyone. Every single fucker under his command. And then? They're going to Seige the North and kill the Iron Tyrant. It's going to be one big bloodbath. An army against one bloody bastard."

Ironbolt simply nodded. "With the Crystal supply gone, he won't be able to stop them, either. They'll take the North pole."

"What's so important about the North Pole?" Fortitude asked.

Honestly, Ironbolt answered. "We don't know. But we have to stop them regardless." Turning to Avenger, he repeated his purpose. "That's why we're here."

"Good. Good... Because it's about to be an all-out fight. The war to end all wars. Right between heaven and bloody hell. It's Armageddon, my friend, and I'm fucking glad to have you."