"Go, go, go." The captain flung his arm out, making the hand signal that caused his soldiers to charge out of the van. They formed together into a tight group, raising their guns up as they made their way through the destroyed fence he had rammed his car into.
Rain poured down from above, and it was always night in Dandelion, so each of them had high-spec night vision goggles. There were eight of them in total, all wearing black bodysuits and carrying heavy guns that could rip through a cop car or even a Hero Branch armored van in a matter of seconds. They'd need gear this powerful for what they were about to do.
"Approach the tower." The captain barked out to his men. "We go in fast and hard before the system can reboot."
Dandelion was a rather small city. It didn't have many tall buildings. It was rather dark and gloomy, and sometimes referred to as 'the city that's always crying', because no matter what time of day it was this city always had massive black clouds that hung above it which blocked out the sun and rained upon the land.
All of the buildings were old-fashioned, and the people had long since grown used to the gloomy atmosphere. Everything was tight and packed together. In fact, the city itself only had a single skyscraper. One that hung in the middle of it. An Avalon industry building. The building itself barely saw use; Avalon had it run entirely by robots, and Dandelion was so small and lonely that the scientist never bothered to show up.
Because of this, a certain terrorist group had decided it would be best to raid it. Forgotten or not, it was still an Avalon tower, and who knows what secrets it would hold. That was why they had gathered together, the eight of them that was and rammed a stolen van they had through the tower's fences. They'd only have a few seconds to act before it let out an alarm.
The captain was the first to reach the tower, the rain pouring down hard as they reached the doors. They wasted no time and blasted through it with their gun. They wielded weapons created by a low-level tech-based villain, and the guns did their job of launching a wave of molten slag that burned through the door, allowing them to enter. He and his men stepped into the lobby, their weapons at the ready.
It was dark.
All the lights had been shut off and not a single human other then them could be found. This place was ran entirely by robots, yet as they looked around none of the machines you'd expect to see in Avalon's many towers roamed around. Instead, the entire tower was quiet.
To quiet.
The captain reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal scanner that hummed to life. They were looking for an old robotic suit that Avalon had built long ago. The man had once created armor able to go toe-to-toe with some of the best Supers in the world but had ended up scraping the suit after it got damaged. Even in a bad state, though, it'd be worth a fortune. Rumor was that Avalon had tossed the suit into this tower. The device he held lit up and began to beep, and he and his men moved out.
"What the hell?"
Instantly, as they entered the second floor, they found some of Avalon's robots. They were all shut off. Many of them were in the middle of taking a few steps but had suddenly frozen in place. Some had even fallen over. Each machine was shaped in a humanoid manner but created entirely out of a silver metal. Also scattered across the ground were several hands. They weren't attached to anything and had just fallen to the floor. Each hand was made out of white metal. Both the hands and robots were covered in a thick layer of dust as if they hadn't been moved in ages.
"How long has Avalon neglected to run this base?" One of the men asked.
"They've been shut off for a while? Did he just give up on this place?" Another of the soldiers asked.
"Who cares? We don't want to lose sight of our mission." The captain grunted. "We're getting paid big dollars from the legendary villain, Golden God, to find that suit."
"Why would he care about a suit in Dandelion, though?" Another soldier sighed. "Are we sure it was even really Golden God? I mean, he escaped planet Earth back during the war with the Emperor, right?"
"He could be a Lord for all I care. He's already paid us a heavy sum up front to come and collect this suit." The Captain moved away from one of the robots. "Mole Rats get the job done. That's our motto."
Mole Rats weren't anything special. They all lacked powers, and tried to make up for that fact by using Mental-based tech they'd 'borrow' from inventors. Usually, the tech would get fried or run out of power in a mission, though, so they were mainly used as grunts. Their team was constantly gathering new members, and they'd offer themselves up to actual threats to be used as cannon fodder. Whatever Golden God wanted them to do, it likely wasn't the machine's main goal, and he was just using them as a distraction.
This was something the Captain of the Mole Rats had accepted.
Still, though, it was a little odd to be inside of Avalon's base and see just how quiet and unused it had become. Avalon had a tower inside of every city, though the man mainly operated in Rose. Each of Avalon's towers was tasked with advancing the city it was in, and it was thanks to that man that the human race had been able to recover time and time again, even after all the world-ending disasters.
So, to see a lab such as this be covered in so much dust and show signs of having not been used in so long was a bit concerning...
"Our goal hasn't changed." The Captain turned back to look at his eight men. "We're going to keep climbing the floors until we get to the vault where Avalon's old suit is and- Wait a second..." The Captain suddenly stopped. He turned to look back at his men and began to count. This team, counting himself, consisted of eight soldiers. So why was he counting eight people? That would make nine- "Oh shit."
Before any of the soldiers could even react, a cloaked figure jumped out of the darkness and grabbed one of the men. The man screamed out as he crashed to the ground, and then he kept falling. As in, he fell directly through the floor along with the cloaked figure and dropped to the floor below. The other seven soldiers all stared in shock as they watched one of their teammates be taken out instantly.
"We got a Super!" The Captain yelled out. "Go, go, go!"
They all took off running, going as fast as they could through the hall, ignoring the robots and other machines. Right when they were about the round the corner, the cloaked figure suddenly reappearing, literally jumping through the floor directly at them. The Captain managed to dodge out of the way, but two of his men weren't lucky. The cloaked figure rammed into two soldiers, and just like the last guy, the three of them sank through the floor as the cloaked figure placed his hand on either side of the soldier's chest.
In only a couple of seconds, three of them had been taken out. It didn't stop there, either. The Captain kept running, and again and again, that cloaked figure would come out of nowhere and snatch one of the soldiers away, dragging them into the floor. Finally, all that was left was the Captain, and he nearly collapsed to his knees, out of breath when he reached the top of the tower, where a massive metal door was placed directly on the wall. The place where the vault was supposed to be. It should hold a majority of Avalon's scrapped and abandoned projects.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
With a cry, the Captain of the Mole Rats raised his gun and fired. The molten slag ignited and set off a fire alarm causing red lights and water to come pouring down from the roof above. The slag smashed into the vault door and rapidly burned through it, creating a hole big enough for the Captain to step through. He did so and then froze at what he saw.
It was empty.
There was nothing in the vault. Everything had been picked clean a while ago.
"Did you think you'd find something of value here?" The Captain let out a loud squeak and stumbled back. He turned around and raised his gun. "I hate to break it to you, but Avalon doesn't use this lab anymore."
He finally got to see the one responsible for hunting them down. The cloaked man stepped forward, and the red flashing lights made it possible to take a look at him. He wore a long silver trench coat as well as a silver-looking cowboy hat. In his hands, he twirled a simple revolver and walked forward slowly. This was the hero known as Mister Man. Leader of team Mercy and a member of the Enforcers.
"S- Stay back!" The Mole Rat's Captain raised his gun and fired, the slag launching out. Mister Man didn't bother to dodge or move at all. Instead, the hero casually walked forward, and the slag went directly through him, as if he wasn't even there. "N- No." The Captain swung his gun out, using it as a melee weapon, but again his attack went straight through Mister Man.
Mister Man, literally, walked through the Mole Rat member and appeared on the other side of him casually placing his gun to the back of the man's head. "Boom." He pulled the trigger.
The Captain cried out as the gun went off. A second later, though, the man's eyes opened, and he saw that the bullet had phased directly through his body and hadn't actually hurt him. "I'm still alive-"
Mister Man smashed his gun into the back of the villain's head, knocking the Captain out instantly.
Meanwhile, down below, the seven other Mole Rat members weren't having a good time either. Each of them had been phased back down to the first floor, and they were facing off against a different Super. Two in fact.
The first was a man, dressed up sort of like an archer, wearing a tight red tunic and a small hat. He wielded a long bow, and was launching arrows out so fast that he was taking the bullets out midair that the other Mole Rat members were firing at him. His name was Slinger. The second hero was a young woman with fiery red hair dressed in a long green dress. Despite how hard it would be to not trip, she managed to keep walking straight, and the bullets kept missing her. Her name was Shamrock.
The Mole Rat members kept firing their guns, but Shamrock kept getting missed, being extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time, while Slinger just fired out his arrows so fast that he was sniping the bullets out midair. The Mole Rats tried to fall back, but they had no time. Slinger launched another arrow, and then he activated his power. As the arrow flew forward, it glowed, and then, in a flash, Slinger appeared where his arrow landed, appearing directly behind the seven Mole Rat grunts.
In a flash, Slinger used his bow as some sort of club, moving between the men fast and hitting them hard. He had to hold back his super strength so he didn't accidentally kill any of them. Each smack of his bow was hard enough to crack the men's helmets and left them face down on the floor, ensuring that they likely wouldn't be getting back up any time soon.
One of the soldiers managed to slip away while he did that and made for the door but stopped when they found themselves face-to-face with Shamrock.
"Out of my way!"
"Nah." The girl poked her tongue out and winked. "I'll take my chances."
The man growled and raised his gun, pulling the trigger. It jammed.
"Guess I got lucky." Shamrock giggled. A second later a floor tile from up above cracked and broke off smashing down onto the head of the man, knocking him out. "Or maybe you're just really unlucky?"
"Is that the last of them?" Slinger asked, pulling out some handcuffs and getting to work cuffing the men.
"Looks like it." Shamrock chuckled and pulled out her phone, calling the Hero Branch. "What were they even trying to do?"
"Beats me." Slinger shrugged.
From up above, Mister Man suddenly phased through the roof, carrying the unconscious leader of the Mole Rats with him. He casually dropped the man down next to Slinger and landed on the ground. "This is the last one." The member of the Enforcers grunted out. "Go ahead and gather them all up, Slinger."
"Yeah, yeah." Slinger finished cuffing the men and put them all into a pile, and placed an arrow down next to them. "Why is this place all dark anyways? Isn't this Avalon's lab?"
"Not anymore." Mister Man shook his head. "Avalon didn't like the view, so he decided to begin building a completely separate lab on the other side of the city and is transferring all his tech in here to there."
"Rich people." Shamrock snorted and let out a small giggle as the three of them headed for the door and left the lab. "So how did it go keeping the area under control!" She called out.
Three other heroes stood near the destroyed gate that the Mole Rats had driven into and were doing their best to block off the public area. The first two wore matching costumes, both wearing silver armor. One suit was light and thin, and the other was heavy and bulky. They were young teens, only nineteen years old, and soon to graduate from being part of the Sub Enforcers of Dandelion. Light Iron, and his twin brother Heavy Iron.
"It's so boring!" Light Iron complained. Thanks to his power he had caused a wave of chains to rise up and form a parameter around the destroyed gate.
"Yeah." Heavy Iron nodded and placed a large sledgehammer down on the ground in front of him. "We're adults now and not going to be part of the Sub Enforcers for much longer. Soon, we're going to be part of Team Mercy; when do we get a turn at fighting actual crime?"
Mister Man's eye twitched a bit, and he grunted. "Theifer, keep your boys in check."
The third hero was an older man who wore a black business-like suit with a red tie. He had dark purple skin, as well as purple hair and even purple eyes. Thiefer kept his arms casually folded behind his back and managed a faint smile as he nodded. "Light Iron, Heavy Iron, the two of you will get your time to shine eventually. You both just came of age, so be a bit more patient." Theifer was the current leader of the Dandelion Sub Enforcers. He wasn't suited for combat, and so usually stayed behind and stopped civilians from entering the battlefield.
Light Iron just grumbled while Heavy Iron nodded. In the distance the sound of sirens approached as a large Hero Branch van pulled up in front of them. "Slinger." Mister Man nodded his head, and the bow-themed hero stepped forward.
Slinger aimed an arrow at the back of the Hero Branch van, and Light Iron and Heavy Iron opened the doors to the van for him. He launched his arrow inside of the van, and before it could hit the walls, it glowed and vanished. In its place all the unconscious members of Mole Rats appeared, falling into a pile inside of the van.
Theifer got to work sorting the men out and placing them all side by side on the ground so they'd be a bit more comfortable. Light Iron and Heavy Iron both joined him. "You know you don't gotta do that right?" Shamrock snorted. "I mean, they're bad guys. Who cares if they're comfortable."
"They're still people," Theifer replied casually.
"And that right there is why you've never graduated from being on the Sub Enforcers." Slinger chuckled. "Keep acting like a goody two shoes, and you'll remain as a teacher to children."
"Is that bad?" Theifer shrugged. "I like helping the new up-and-coming heroes. I'm happy I got to teach Light Iron and Heavy Iron." The two brothers muttered agreements and nodded happily. When they were done with the Mole Rats, they closed the van's doors.
"Theifer, you and those two follow the van." Mister Man grunted out. "Make sure it gets to the prison and there aren't any issues."
Theifer nodded. "Of course." He climbed up on top of the van and helped pull Light Iron and Heavy Iron up. "We'll call you once we've arrived."
"Be sure you do." Mister Man nodded and then watched as the van drove off carrying the Mole Rats and the three heroes.
"So what now?" Shamrock asked.
"Now we wait for some other thing to go wrong. God knows something's always happening in this shit hole." Mister Man grunted out and began to walk down the street.
"Hopefully, it'll be something as easy as this was." Slinger nodded.
Dandelion wasn't a very big city. It was mainly tight and closed in together. It always rained, and it kind stunk. All the buildings were made out of cold stone and kept low to the ground. People walked the street, all wearing heavy coats and carrying umbrellas. They all looked tired and depressed, yet life moved on. It wasn't the best city, but it was his city. Mister Man's eyes roamed over all the different buildings and it's people. It was his job to keep it safe and protected.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a loud buzzing noise. He reached through his jacket and phased his phone out of it, looking down at the screen.
"What is it?" Shamrock asked, peaking over his shoulder.
Mister Man let out a sigh and looked up to the sky, feeling the rain pour down onto his face. "I'm being summoned to Rose. Looks like the Enforcers are having a meeting."