When he was a young boy, he once tried to join the baseball team. There wasn’t really a reason for why he wanted on the team. It was the popular thing at the time, and he was only twelve, so that felt like a good enough excuse. He didn’t get on the team, though.
He failed.
He was born awkwardly small, and years of bullying had resulted in him becoming overweight at just twelve years of age. He wasn’t athletic. Never had been the type. That experience had opened his eyes. Later that same day that he tried out for the baseball team, he went home and began working out for the first time.
He ignored the bullying and focused solely on keeping up with his studies and improving himself. When the next year came around, baseball stopped being popular. Now, the new thing was football. He tried out, and of course, he made the team. Nearly four years later, he still played football. Could have even gone pro. Part of him still wished baseball was more popular, though.
“Something on your mind, kid?” The chief of police asked.
Kevin was taken out of his thoughts by the voice. He turned slightly, and even in the dark they were seated in, he could still see the large man. Aarush Brenner was a formidable man with light-brown skin. He had moved here recently with his son, Kyle Brenner. Kevin still cringed when he recalled how he had almost beaten Kyle and Hope. Thankfully, the officer didn’t know about that incident. He was muscular and strong, dressed in simple winter wear.
“I’m fine, sir. Just a bit lost in thought.”
“You’ll have to forgive Mr. Buckle.” The mayor spoke. He still sported his pencil-thin stash and his neatly combed hair. Sunshine was what he preferred to be called when he was doing his ‘job,’ though Kevin really didn’t like calling a grown man that. He was dressed in a typical suit and seemed casual despite what was happening. “Buckle’s body took well to the mutations and allowed him to shift into a Super, but his mind, however, was never meant for it. He can get a little-”
“I said I’m fine.” Kevin didn’t growl; he was smart enough to know how bad it would be to bite the hand that was feeding him. Still, he put some force behind his voice. For a moment, the image of that Cinder girl came to his mind. He was sure of who she was. He had been barely conscious from a bat to the head, but he had made out enough to know that Hope Lauren had gained powers. Then, low and behold, he’s suddenly saved by a female hero, around her age, that sounded exactly like her. A hero who was so strong that he knew at that moment no amount of training would ever allow him to keep up. “I can handle it.” He sighed.
He had to handle it.
The mayor gave a faint nod. “Very well.”
They weren’t in a room. Rather, they were all seated in a large limousine. The car in question drove around the city block at a slow pace. It was heavily armored, though it didn’t look like it, and had blacked-out windows. He was seated in the back with the mayor and the chief of police. The two men had been quietly talking about how the Wandering Coin was growing.
He wore his red robes. Long and flowing, they were awkward to move around in, but Sunshine insisted on it. The robes reminded him of the fact that he was basically in a cult. That in his quest for power, he had stepped a bit too far. The masks were worse. It covered his upper face and looked sort of like a skull. Two golden coins covered the sockets, and they made it impossible to see.
At the front of the vehicle, his two siblings, if you could call them that, were seated. One drove the vehicle, and the other sat quietly in the passenger seat. They never really talked all that much. There were only three of them, and he was blessed to be one of them. No one else had been able to survive the drastic change their body had to undergo in order to become a Super. Only the three of them did. Maybe they were more driven; perhaps they really were unique and this was fate, or maybe it was utter dumb luck.
It didn’t matter.
“So, do you want to tell us where the others are?” A sly voice asked, causing Kevin to look up.
Ahead of them, where he and the mayor were seated, two men were tied up in the next row. One of them was screaming his head off, though no matter how loud he yelled, it would never escape the car. His friend was gagged and made muffled screams as well. There had been three of them, but the third one had become a red puddle staining the floor of the limo.
Between the two of them, ‘she’ rested. She was in the seat the third man had been in before he was reduced to a puddle. Her arms were around both men, and she had a grin on her lips. She wasn’t dressed in the red robes like he was. She was very casually dressed in a black tank top and loose shorts. She had her legs folded, and her head was thrown back. Long white hair ran down her back, along with a set of stunning red eyes.
“W- We don’t know where the boss is! It’s the truth. They never tell us anything!” The man that wasn’t gagged up spoke in a fearful tone. Both of the men were dressed for the streets. The only notable thing about them were the letters ‘BT’ carved onto a fine leather belt they wore.
“He’s probably telling the truth,” Aarush spoke up, causing the girl between the two men to frown. “Threatening them won’t make them suddenly know where Polaron’s warriors are hiding. Bad Timer’s inner circle is only made up of monsters. Of course, since most beasts are driven mad by their powers or shatter their unstable bodies, they’re forced to recruit random riff raff like these two, but those men are mostly used as random servants. I doubt they’re kept in the loop.”
“T—That’s true!” The goon said quickly. “We don’t know anything, I swear.”
“Really.” The white-haired girl rolled her eyes. “So, we picked them up for nothing?”
“Well, you said you were bored. I figure it would be a good way to kill time.” The mayor shrugged.
“That’s true.” The girl let out a giggle and poked the side of the Bad Timer goon who had been speaking. Kevin turned his head just in time and squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t able to cover his ears, though forced to hear the sickening ‘pop’ noise once more. When he finally turned back, the puddle of red on the floor had grown larger, and now only one Bad Timer goon remained. One who thrashed around and tried to scream through his gag. “Still, it’s no fun doing this to normal people.” The girl complained. “It’s way too easy to make their cells come undone.”
“Well, then stop doing it,” Aarush said in a deadpan voice. “You’re making a mess.”
“Yeah, I guess.” The girl huffed, fell back onto the open seat, and threw her legs over the third Bad Timer member. “There’s got to be something we can do, though. I never get to have fun. You’re always making the boring no-names do everything.”
A loud buzzing suddenly filled the limousine. The mayor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose when he checked his phone. “Well, Wish, you might get to have some fun after all.”
Wish sat up and raised an eyebrow, another sly grin on her lips. “Go on?”
“A nearby base was attacked by some heroes.” The limo pulled to a stop. “It isn’t anything too important, but one of the heroes that attacked it is a tech-based hero. Metal Ronin. I assume you know what to do.” The girl was already out of the limo, giggling like a child as she headed toward the base in question. “Kevin, go with her.”
“Huh?” Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, okay, sir.” He slowly climbed out of the limo, and it quickly sped off, leaving him alone, left to follow after the Wandering Coin’s biggest monster. He stared at Wish, who was practically skipping down the road. He glanced down at his hand and balled it into a fist.
***
“That bastard actually tried to blow this place up!” Metal Ronin yelled. “Does he not care about his own people? They’re trapped down here, too!”
Wasp Nest had never feared cramped places, but as everything came crashing down around him, he was sure he just developed a new phobia. Gold shimmered out in all directions right as the explosion started. Battery had been fast, throwing his arms out and using his power.
A sort of barrier-like thing covered the walls of the vault and the roof as everything shook.
“Get the knocked-out guys out of here.” Battery barked. He still held his arms up, threads of gold seeping from his fingers and forming his walls, as well as pillars of shimmering light, as he attempted to hold the place together for as long as he could.
“What about you?” Wasp Nest questioned. He didn’t know Battery too well, but he also didn’t want the older hero to pull some sort of sacrifice move and go out in a blaze of glory. He had seen enough heroes do the same exact thing.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve had a whole lot of worse things try and crush me to death. I can take it. Just get these guys out of here.” The red hero ordered.
Metal Ronin grabbed as many as he could hold. His suit allowed him to easily lift up nearly ten tons, so he had no issue throwing a bunch of the knocked-out Wandering Coin goons over his arm. Wasp Nest followed his lead.
It wasn’t just the outside of the vault they had to deal with. The crazy bastards had basically rigged their base to be completely buried beneath the city. The vault was built into a system of underground railroads that were no longer in use. Thankfully, they already knew the path they had to take, so they hurried their way to a hole in the wall they had carved out and were able to head up a set of stone stairs that led out of the underground, emerging through the entrance of an abandoned building.
“I feel so useless.” Wasp Nest growled. He didn’t bother dropping the Wandering Coin grunts gently. He practically threw them onto the floor of the building and gritted his teeth.
“Not a whole lot we can do.” Metal Ronin sighed. “My suit has its limits, and you are either a normal human or a bunch of bugs. Pretty sure an entire room collapsing in on itself is something neither of us can really handle.”
“I know that.” Wasp Nest clenched his fist as his friend set down the small dozens of goons he had managed to get. “I just feel so useless. This is just like the Calamity all over again.”
“Let’s just focus on saving these guys, okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.”
They had to go back and make the same trip nearly five more times, dropping off more and more grunts each round they went into the vault. On each return trip down, they watched Battery’s struggles grow worse and worse, larger cracks forming along and starting to seep out of the vault. The floor grew unstable and crooked, and it became hard to even properly walk straight down there.
Still, though, they did start to make good progress carrying the grunts of the drug gang out. “That’s almost all of them. You radio Money Tree’s team. I’m going back in for the last few guys.” Metal Ronin yelled, heading back into the ruined tunnels.
Wasp Nest tried to get in contact with his leader, but the signal never went through. Even if the man was busy fighting in another hidden base, the signal should have gone through, but it was as if the hero was no longer on Earth.
“Damn it.” Wasp Nest felt his body separate, and he flew back down into the hole, catching up with Metal Ronin, who had just arrived back at the vault entrance. “No use. Either the base they found has jammers, or they’re in a pocket realm; I can’t get in contact at all.”
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“Seriously? Okay, we’ll hurry over to where he told us to meet then.” Metal Ronin entered the vault. There were only three people left besides Battery, who was still managing to hold the entire building together. The walls had practically caved in, same for the roof, his barriers now sporting dozens of cracks as they held back an ocean of rubble that must have been well over a thousand tons. “We’re almost done, Battery. Are you going to be able to get out of here yourself?” Metal Ronin called out.
Sweat poured down Battery’s face, and his arms were shaking a bit as he gritted his teeth. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Said it already. Just get these three out. My heart feels like it’s about to blow.”
Wasp Nest grabbed one of the men, while Metal Ronin grabbed the last two. They raised them up and turned back towards the exit, about to leave. That was when they saw them. “Uh oh. Looks like we’ve got trouble.” Wasp Nest groaned. “Why do they always show up at the worst time?”
“What’s happening?” Battery grunted. When the blast had begun, he had his back to the vault. He was stuck like that now, facing away from everyone, unable to move due to the golden threads he was emitting out of his fingers.
“Two villains.” Metal Ronin explained. His arms were full with two of the people he held; same with Wasp Nest. This wasn’t a very good place to be getting into a fight.
Two figures stood in their way. The first wore an odd set of red robes, as well as a skull-like mask. The second was a young-looking girl, sixteen or seventeen at the most. If not for her strangely colored hair and eyes, she would have looked normal. She had a large grin on her face, and her eyes roamed over Metal Ronin, causing the tech-based hero to shiver a bit.
“We just need him, right? That’s what Sunny said? So, I can do whatever I want with the others?” She asked, shooting a look towards her partner.
The one in the red robes just shrugged. “I don’t know. I was told to just come babysit you. Do whatever you want, I guess. I’ll just back you up-” He suddenly stopped speaking when he noticed the hero that stood in the back. He hadn’t really taken notice of Wasp Nest or Metal Ronin. The one in red, however, caught his eye. “You’re Battery.” He trailed off, his thoughts going back to that damn warehouse that led him to the situation he was in.
“You know him?” The white-haired girl asked.
“Yeah. Don’t hurt him. You can do whatever you want to the other one, though.” The red figure stated. “Just please don’t hurt the adult hero, okay?”
Wasp Nest raised his arms up and shot his friend a look. “There’s no need to hurt anyone. Look, this area is coming down. We have some of your friends. You guys are with the Wandering Coin, right? Battery can’t hold this place together for much longer. Let us at least get these people out of here.”
The girl rubbed her chin as if she were thinking about it. Then she grinned and pointed at him. “Nah.” Wasp Nest barely had time to scatter. His body exploded into a hail of bugs just in time. Something fired out of the girl’s finger and went through where his head had been. The body he held collapsed to the ground, and he flew away, reforming himself closer to Battery. “Oh wow, you can scatter your body like me!” The girl said excitedly.
“Like you?” His eyes widened when he saw her hand. The one she had pointed at him with. It was missing a finger. She had fired her- Wasp Nest felt a surge of pain, and he yelled as he collapsed. He stared down at his leg and felt sick at what he saw. Her finger had jammed into his ankle, stabbing it like it was some sort of bullet.
“Wasp!” Metal Ronin dropped the two bodies he was holding and lifted his arm. The wrist slid open, the barrel of a long gun folding out. Energy began to emit from the barrel as he got ready to fire a beam cannon. It never had time to aim, though. The goon in red threw his arm out, and a sick crack echoed through the vault. The villain’s arm grew in size, stretching out across the room and reaching Metal Ronin. It grabbed his wrist, forcing his arm to point up just in time.
The energy fired out toward the roof and away from everyone. Battery twitched his finger, and the barrier around the roof glowed, and a shape suddenly grew out of it, forming into a curved tube-like state. The beam of energy reached the tube, and the thing twisted around, pointing down towards the direction of the bad guys, the tube opening and firing the beam right at them.
The cloaked figure pulled his arm back and jumped away. The girl, on the other hand, didn’t move fast enough. The energy sliced through the air, slicing out wildly, and in a single heartbeat, her head was severed from her body. Silence echoed through the room, followed shortly by the sound of her body hitting the floor with a sickening plop sound, and then seconds later, her head rolled off her body.
Metal Ronin felt his blood run cold as he turned the laser off. “She didn’t have any enhanced durability. I- I just- I thought her body would be durable, but it cut right through her-” He grabbed his arm, the barrel pulling back in as he stumbled back.
“It’s fine.” Wasp Nest yelled. “You had no way of knowing. Don’t let your guard down. There’s still a second one.” He tried to break away into wasps, but it didn’t work. The pain in his foot grew worse, and he couldn’t feel his leg. His power was refusing to obey him, denying him. He was stuck in place next to Battery.
“He’s right.” Battery yelled. “Besides, I was the one that caused it to hit her. Blame it on me. We can tell the Branch I did it later; right now, you need to focus, Metal Ronin! It’s up to you.”
Metal Ronin shook his head and glared at the remaining villain. “Look. Just give up. You’re outnumbered, okay?”
The figure in red shrugged. “I mean, it is three on two, but I’m not too scared. You’re like the Pallet Boys. I took down both of them by myself.”
“Took them down?” Metal Ronin felt his blood begin to boil, and he took a step forward. “So, it was you!” He screamed, and his leg opened up, allowing him to draw his weapon. “You’re why the Wandering Coin has their armor! I swear if anything happened to them, I’ll-”
As he passed by the corpse of the woman, it suddenly sprung up, throwing its leg out toward him. The leg smashed into him with so much force it cracked and dented his armor, breaking several of his ribs. He was sent flying back so fast he was sure his spine would have snapped in two when he crashed into the wall. Thankfully Battery was quick and caused the barrier Metal Ronin was about to hit to change into the shape of a massive pillow that cushioned the fall.
“Ha! That trick never gets old.” The girl chuckled, her severed head giggling. The body began to pick itself up and grabbed her head, pulling it back onto the neck. Tendrils pulled it together, and a wave of steam blew off of the cut as her head reattached itself and the damage healed. Even her hand regrew its finger. “Did you see his shocked face, Kevin?” She clapped her hands, and her grin grew larger.
“Uh, no, I didn’t,” Kevin said sheepishly. “He’s wearing a helmet.”
“Oh yeah, I guess you don’t have X-ray vision like me.” She noted. “Well, the look on his face was funny. They’re always so off guard when they see me do stuff like that.” Metal Ronin slid off of the barrier and collapsed to his knees. He was making a horrible coughing sound, and blood trailed out of his helmet. He didn’t look too good.
“Her head reattached.” Wasp Nest said in horror.
Battery gritted his teeth, still not seeing the battle. “Damn it. Listen Wasp. My belt has a phone in it. I need you to call a number listed as Sword-man. Tell the guy who answers that the Giant needs his sword.”
“What-”
“Just do it!”
“Oh no, you don’t.” The woman giggled, and her legs suddenly twisted and changed. They grew longer and curved slightly like a grasshopper’s. “I won’t let you!” She literally jumped forward, blasting through the air. Battery’s back glowed, and a wave of golden chains suddenly fired from it, stabbing throughout the room. Both Wasp Nest and Metal Ronin were either next to him or in front of him, so he was free to go wild in the direction he wasn’t facing.
Kevin’s body twisted and seemed to literally go flat as he dropped to the floor like a piece of paper, all the chains passing him. The girl, however, was ripped apart and impaled by them. She didn’t let that stop her, though, as she reached for her head and ripped it off. Next, she threw her severed head as hard as she could through the air. It opened its mouth wide, and its teeth grew massive, forming into blades.
Metal Ronin’s suit managed to move, and it fired another beam of energy, blowing the head to pieces. It seemed he got over his guilt fairly quickly once he realized just how dangerous of a threat these two were. Not missing a beat, Battery’s chains suddenly ignited and began to wrap around the headless body. It squeezed down as golden flames poured off of them, and the body was consumed, burning away to ash. The parts of the head also caught on fire, and soon, the woman was nothing more than dust.
“Let’s see her recover from that.” Wasp Nest said, feeling a little sick at his stomach. He was pretty sure they really did just kill someone.
Kevin’s body twisted and morphed, becoming a weird worm-like shape, and it quickly slithered toward them. It was forced to dodge when blades erupted from the chain. The villain’s body twisted in bizarre ways, and slowly, he pulled himself back up to his standard form. “Look. I’ll make this quick now that Wish is gone. You two are part of Oxide’s team, right? I’d rather not hurt you, but I was told to come get that suit. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“You say that now that you’re all alone.” Wasp Nest smirked. “Even if I can’t stand, Metal Ronin is back on his feet. He can easily beat you. Plus, Battery here is basically a mini version of the Victorian. I’d be scared if I were you.”
Kevin rubbed the back of his head. “Alone? What are you talking about? Wish already ensured we would win the moment she hit you.”
“Huh-” Utter hell. That was the only way Wasp Nest could describe what he felt. He screamed out as he was assaulted by white-hot pain. All of it came from his foot, and in an instant, the side of it seemed to literally explode. There was still one piece of Wish left after all. His entire right foot was utterly gone as the finger that had impaled it regrew into the girl. Her clothing was completely gone, and she managed to give a wide grin, her palm easily pierced through Wasp Nest’s stomach and came out his back as she casually impaled the shocked boy, whose powers still weren’t working.
“No!” Metal Ronin screamed and jumped to his feet, but the girl waved her arm at him, the entire limb firing off of her body. The fist smashed into his helmet hard enough to shatter it. His face was revealed, blood trailing down as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he dropped.
The arm pulled itself back through the air and reattached to Wish’s body, and with her other arm, the one she had in Wasp Nest’s gut, she pulled it out, and the hero collapsed to the floor, gurgling. The blood on her hands flowed off as if it were alive, rushing off of her flesh and leaving her spotless as she stood up fully and finally allowed Battery to see her.
His eyes traced her body, and instantly, two people came to his mind. “I guess it was only a matter of time before I saw you again.” The first person was Sky. This girl was the spitting image of Paragon. If her hair color and eye color were different, he might have even thought he was staring at the blind girl. The other person she looked like was someone he had known long ago. The Princess of Life. One of the four warriors in the Emperor’s army. Just younger. “Who are you?”
“Oh, come on.” The girl giggled and placed her hands on her hips, looking Battery up and down. “I would have thought you, of all people, would recognize me.”
“Princess of Life died. You aren’t her. That would make who you are obvious. You’re the Lord of Life. And if you’re here, then it means the Emperor is dead.”
“The Doc was right. You do know a lot.” The girl snickered. “Hey Kevin, I know I told you I would let this one live, but I think it would be more fun if I made his insides pop.” She reached down and placed her hand on his stomach, giving the hero a wide grin. “I am the current Lord of Life, born anew after the Emperor died at the hands of Full Monarch. As for why I look like this… It’s a little complicated. You wanted it to be Sky, didn’t you? You assumed that because she was the daughter, the power would have passed down to her. Sorry, but that’s not the case.”
“Ah. Is that why you made yourself look like this? You’re jealous of her.” Battery snorted.
“I’m going to make you blow up.” She said cheerfully, cocking her head to the side. Her power flared up but stopped when it met a thin golden barrier that clung to Battery’s body, keeping him safe. “Hey? What’s this.”
It was the very same barrier that had gone up around himself when Paragon had tried to heal him after he blacked out. The barrier that would ensure no power could save his heart. Despite that, though, cracks began to appear across it. In only a few moments, Wish was ready to bring it all crashing down with her power.
“Even if you do kill me, there is someone else that will stop you.” His mind raced over to Hope. He was sure she wasn’t ready yet, but she was close enough. He turned his head slightly, finding Kevin had walked closer. “You were the boy in the warehouse. I was sure you weren’t a Super then. Was I wrong?”
“No, you were right.” Kevin shrugged. “I was saved by the Wandering Coin. With the help of Wish and Doc, they were able to turn me into a Super. That drug isn’t fully ready yet, though. Around ninety percent of people die when they ingest it. Soon, though, it will be. Soon, everyone will be a Super. Soon, the world won’t be as unfair.”
“That’s a stupid goal.” Battery retorted. He turned back to look at Wish. “If you’re the Lord of Life or not, it really doesn’t matter. Either way, I’m sure this building falling on you will hurt.”
“Well yeah, but I have time to kill you and escape-”
Battery flicked his hands, and suddenly, the barriers changed from holding the place back to erupting in a golden flame. The room shook and instantly began to cave in. With another flick, a golden bubble appeared around Wasp Nest and Metal Ronin, keeping them safe, while the entrance to the vault was covered with a golden barrier trapping him and the two villains in.
Wish didn’t even have time to move as Battery wrapped his arms around her tightly, snapping her spine. “Oh, go to hell, you annoying bastard.” She groaned.
“You first.”
And with that, the room collapsed entirely, the walls shattering, the floor breaking, and the roof falling. An ocean of stone and a sea of dirt rushed in, the golden blasts getting even bigger. The city block shook, and the sewers above them, as well as the railroad systems, were pulled in as well.
The bubbles around Wasp Nest and Metal Ronin held strong and were lifted by an unseen force, carrying them to the top and breaking past stone until it forced its way out of the ground, breaking the road above and dropping them off on the side of the street. Sirens roared in the distance, hearing the collapse. Help would come soon.
The building they had used to get down to the vault had been pulled in, a massive sinkhole being the only thing that remained. Wasp Nest felt his body begin to grow cold as his eyes started to flutter close. “B- Battery.”
And with that, the heroes had gotten their first glimpse of the villain known as Wish—the newest Lord of the Land and Life.