Drake dodged out of the way of a large stone pillar, using his wings to shift his momentum in the air. Black Crow flew after him, sending waves of coal dust out. There wasn't much room for flight down where they were, but that didn't stop the two of them from zipping around the mini battlefield at high speeds.
"Would you sit still and just die, already?!" Black Crow yelled out at him. "After we're done here, we get to move to our new city!"
"New city?" Drake frowned and grew long black claws, which he used to tear through one of the waves of dust that came his way.
"Oh, you didn't hear? We won't be staying in this dump of a city for much longer." Black Crow announced proudly. The villain didn't stop flying, weaving in and out of the pillars, using the stones to block the waves of fire Drake sent his way. "Now that we have the new boss, we're moving onto finer fortunes! The only reason Zoo stayed here for so long was because Green Wolf loved this place. Our new boss is thinking of taking on some other heroes that are more worthy of him."
Drake snorted at that. "Sounds like Red Ape is getting a little cocky. And just where are you guys planning to move?" He questioned.
"Now, why the hell would I tell you that? No, it has to be a grand surprise!" Black Crow announced. "After all, the mighty Green Ape has even managed to tame the issue that was the Wolf!"
It didn't make sense.
No matter how much Drake thought about it, he couldn't wrap his mind around how Black Crow could be here flying before him.
Nearly one year ago, Zoo and Bad Timers had teamed up to attack the city. They attacked a charity event and a hospital known for treating Super-related incidents. At the charity event held at the mall, Polaron had launched an assault while Green Wolf attacked the hospital. The hero teams Pantheon and the Oleander Sub Enforcers had come to the defense, leading to the capture and arrests of Black Crow, Red Panda, Ghost, Ears, and Intake. It is also believed that this event led to the deaths of Polaron and Mars King, as they had no further appearances afterward.
A few months later, Zoo and Bad Timers would emerge to attack another event: A Pretty Face concert held in the Oleander Stadium. Team Pantheon and the Watch Dogs had been in place, ready for the attack, resulting in the defeat and capture of Stone Face, Saw Head, Black Shark, Red Monkey, White Cow, and White Spider. Green Wolf, Demonica, Red Ape, and White Lamb had managed to escape. This event is also what led to the destruction of the villain group, the Wandering Coin.
Whilst most heroes would have no qualms over killing villains, Boy Genius was a unique case. He had created Nightshade Prison as a means of containing prisoners. While most low-tier or weak villains were kept in simple cells, the most dangerous and resilient villains—ones that posed difficulty in permanently taking out—were sent to this place. Under normal circumstances, it would be completely impossible to escape the compound. Even powerful Supers such as Fairy Queen, one of the Emperor's four generals, and Uriel, a member of the Immortals, needed outside help in order to escape. In Fairy Queen's case, she was able to escape due to Green Wolf wielding a powerful form of teleportation once held by the Emperor, while Uriel was able to escape during the Beast's attack while every available hero was occupied with defending Oleander City.
With all that being said, it made no sense for Black Crow to be here. Either Boy Genius didn't tell them that members of Zoo had escaped, which should have been impossible with how weak they were in the grand scheme of things, or something else was happening.
"Distracted? You should pay more attention in battle, boy." Black Crow's wings unfolded and expanded, forming several jagged, black chains that swung through the station at Drake. "Try not to lose your head." Drake didn't bother dodging, simply floating in the air and letting the chains hit him, confident in his defense as red scales grew across his body.
Drake spat out, shooting a thin beam of fire that sliced through one of Black Crow's wings, causing the villain to drop out of the air. They hadn't been able to go too high, being in an underground train station, so the villain landed fairly softly, followed moments later by Drake, whose wings folded back into his body and disappeared beneath his flesh. Black Crow's outfit was made of tiny grains of coal that were being controlled by his powers. Already, the wing was reattached to his shoulder as more coal gathered and formed into a long, twisted black sword that he pointed at Drake.
"How exactly are you here?" Drake asked, his tail slapping the ground behind him.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Black Crow mocked.
"Yes, I would. That's why I asked." The draconic hero sighed. "Let's just cut to the chase. Tell me what I want to know, and I promise I'll try to break only half the bones in your body. It's the best deal someone like you will get, so I'd take it."
Black Crow raised his hands, feigning fear. "Ooh, scary. You kids are getting edgy these days. Even if I wanted to tell you how I'm here, I couldn't."
"What do you mean?" Drake asked.
"It was all sort of a blur; the last thing I remember was being in the prison. And now... well, I guess it doesn't matter anymore." Black Crow replied. "I doubt you could kill me, even if you tried. I can kill you, though." Black Crow charged forward with superhuman speed, swinging his sword out.
Drake raised his arm to block the attack, more scales jutting out of his flesh. He was confident that his defenses would hold, but as the blade neared him, he began to hear a horrible vibration sound, and sparks flew as the sword began to grind against his arm, the jagged blade cutting into the scales, spilling his blood. Along the edge of the blade, Black Crow was using his power to force the coal dust to spin, effectively turning it into a chainsaw. Drake's tail swung up, stabbing directly into Black Crow's face and hitting the villain hard enough that an average person would have their neck snapped instantly, but only managing to shove the Super back. As soon as he gained some distance, Drake jumped away, clutching his bleeding arm.
Black Crow let out a cackle and created a second sword. Along the man's back, various tendrils that were also vibrating began to slap at the air. In a way, he had become a human weed whacker. The villain slowly approached, taking his time as his tentacles sliced through the stone floor as if it were warm butter.
Drake crouched low, then leaped off the ground, using the super strength in his legs to get even further away. Black Crow began to run at him, but the hero made his escape into a tunnel, leading the villain away from the others. Drake ran until he found the way blocked by a large wall of fallen debris. He could hear Black Crow behind him, the villain slowing as he realized the hero was cornered.
"Well, well, well. There's nowhere left for you to run, now, little hero." Black Crow sneered.
Drake calmly turned around, his arms folded across his chest. "You've got really bad luck in your matchups."
Black Crow frowned as he stared at the hero. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I saw your fight with Money Tree and how he beat you. His powers completely countered yours, same as mine do; in fact, I think mine are an even worse matchup for you."
Black Crow stepped back, his whips tearing at the nearby stone as he stared at the hero. "You're just bluffing."
"My sis and I aren't just able to breathe fire. We can also control our flame, choosing who it does and doesn't burn. If it contacts a flammable or explosive substance, we decide whether we want it to react or not. For example, I could blast out a stream of fire and have it smash into an ocean of gasoline, but if I didn't want it to react, then it simply wouldn't. Now that we're far enough away from everyone, I don't have to worry about a bad reaction getting out of hand. Fun fact: did you know that coal dust is highly explosive?"
Black Crow looked down at his tendrils and clothing, realizing what was about to happen. "Ahh, fu-"
Drake breathed out a stream of flame, his face morphing into a dragon head. The fire blasted out, far thicker than it had been earlier, encompassing the entire tunnel with a massive blast. As the fire washed through, the tunnel collapsed, burying Drake and what was left of Black Crow beneath an ocean of stone.
Drake grunted, feeling himself be shoved into the ground as the tunnel came down on top of him. He could feel his form changing and morphing gradually as he got bigger, and more scales formed across his flesh, allowing him to easily dig through the concrete and begin crawling his way out.
"I hope the others can manage without me." He mumbled as his jaws bit down on several rocks, crushing them all up. "It might take me a bit to get myself out of this mess I made." He was just about to rip through more rubble when he felt part of the ground shift. His ears twitched a bit, and his tail extended, getting even longer, swatting out at the pile of debris in front of him.
His attack had already caused the mostly collapsed tunnel to further shatter and break. Just like the ways Alexander showed them, though, there were sections that had, by some miracle, remained clear. He found Black Crow's body here. A slab of stone had collapsed down on the man's lower half, pinning him down. Even if it wasn't there, though, Drake didn't think the villain would be moving around much ever again. The attack from earlier had badly burned through the Zoo member, leaving only a charred skeleton behind.
Black Crow was dead.
At least he should have been.
Drake raised both his arms up, entering a defensive stance as soon as he saw the burned fingers twitch. His own body had changed a lot as well. Most of his clothing was gone as more and more of him changed into the image of a dragon you would see in an old fantasy novel. He had always held some hate for Zoo, especially Green Wolf, after what they did to his older brother, yet now the only thing he could feel was the flickers of fear.
A low chuckle bounced around the enclosed space they were in, and despite the skull not having eyes, Drake was sure that Black Crow was staring right at him. Small bits of flesh began to cling their way to the bones and grow as Black Crow's body began to heal and put itself back together. The villain’s mask had disintegrated, and Drake could clearly see a threaded silver circlet wrapped around the villain’s skull. As he watched, he saw the circlet twitch and writhe, almost as if it were alive. Even as the flesh started to gather and reform, Drake could faintly see the circlet almost wriggling under the skin.
"What the hell did Red Ape do to you?" Drake asked in horror.
"It wasn't the Ape that did this to us." Black Crow's skeletal hand pushed up off of the ground, tearing himself in two and freeing himself from the pile of rocks that pinned him down. "No... He didn't do this to us. It was the man in the prison. He brought us back."
"Brought you back?"
"Haven't you realized it yet?" A snarky smile somehow twisted onto the skull's face, and then it suddenly dawned on Drake. It wasn't flesh. "I'm already dead." It was paper. Paper was forming over the villain's flesh, piecing him back together.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the underground station, standing outside of the other tunnel, Wasp Nest, Metal Ronin, and Oxide watched as Paragon began to activate her power.
All around Paragon, in a ten-meter radius, the area shifted from the subway station to a field of flowers. The girl walked forward slowly, and the field seemed to move with her. The back part of the field changed back into stone as she walked, while the station in front of her changed into her field with every step she took.
She entered the tunnel and walked until she was sure she would have triggered one of White Spider's webs, yet nothing happened. "You were right!" She called back to Metal Ronin. "It doesn't matter if she covered this whole planet in traps; I can walk over them all by forcing my world to layer itself over the ground. And no matter how strong White Spider might be, she'll never be able to change my planet."
"I'm glad it worked!" Metal Ronin announced, giving a thumbs-up. He had changed back into his circuit bodysuit, ditching his armor. "I wasn't sure if it would or not!" That caused them all to make a face at him. "Well, we should get going!"
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"You're coming with us? What about Myth, though?" Wasp Nest questioned. "Weren't you helping him fight Green Wolf?"
Metal Ronin just gave a sheepish shrug. "I think he'll be fine without me. If anything, I'll just get in his way."
"We need to hurry," Paragon said impatiently. "I won't let them hurt Mr. Lauren!"
"Right. We'll need to move fast and stay close to you so we don't trigger White Spider's webs." Oxide spoke up and lifted her hand, about to make another metal disk that Wasp Nest could carry, but she stopped when Metal Ronin held his hand up, stopping her.
The tech-themed hero gave a sly grin and shook his head. "Allow me." He reached up and placed a hand over his chest, causing his costume to light up and change as he swapped out his suit. "This costume was created using some of Techcoat's gear and the remains of Avalon's supplies. It holds not just my old suits but a few new ones I've been working on as well. If speed is the name of the game, then I'm your man! Behold; the Motor Suit!"
Metal Ronin's costume changed and shifted once more. The circuits along it glowed and lit up as the hologram of an outfit molded over him before it became solid. It was a red and gold suit that looked almost like what you would see a racecar driver wear, complete with hundreds of sponsor tags and a biker helmet that covered his head. He did a pose for a moment before jumping into the air as he summoned his support gear.
Beneath him, another hologram appeared that rapidly grew in size and became solid. Metal Ronin landed on it, revealing a massive three-wheeled motorcycle. The thing was red and gold and extremely long, reaching nearly twelve feet in length. It had a massive engine that stabbed out the front of it and dozens of thick pipes that unleashed actual flames. Metal Ronin gripped two massive handlebars that served as the steering and caused the bike to roar, sending out a deafening echo through the tunnel.
"Get on, losers!" The seat was long enough to fit three people, and Metal Ronin was ready to test drive his new ride. Wasp Nest's eyes filled with stars, and the young man eagerly took a step forward but was stopped when Metal Ronin held his palm out. "Whoa, sorry, bro, but this thing can only carry three people, and I'm not about to have a naked guy wrap his arms around my waist."
"What! Then what am I supposed to do?" Wasp Nest demanded.
Oxide climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around Metal Ronin. "Guess you're walking."
"I can't! The webs will stop me!"
"Then just sit here and look pretty," Paragon said casually, getting on behind Oxide and wrapping her arms around the metal-themed girl. "Hit it, Metal Ronin!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Metal Ronin flicked a switch, and the back of the bike fired a stream of hot fire as it blasted down the tunnel, riding through Paragon's realm faster than a jet.
"Wait, I can turn into my bug form and-" It was too late, though. The trio were gone, leaving Wasp Nest behind. The boy stomped his foot down and let out an angry yell. "Oh, this is so bullshit! It's because you guys don't like bugs, isn't it? Wait until HR hears about this-"
Instantly, he felt something slam into him from behind as an unseen slash split him in two. Before the pain could even register, though, he exploded into a stream of pissed-off wasps, which floated up to the roof and reformed into his body, fully healed and uninjured.
He dropped back to the ground and found himself staring at the middle of the station where Green Wolf and Myth were still fighting.
"Wow, looks like those two are really going at it." Wasp Nest muttered. "Glad that's not me."
Green Wolf let out a mad laugh, seemingly having the greatest time of her life. All the while, she dodged in and out of all of Myth's attacks. The fiery hound roared and charged at his foe with inhuman speed and strength, biting through stone pillars as if they weren't even there. Fire gushed out of the hands that were where his hands should have been, crackling and melting the rocks around them.
The villain swung her sword out, sending out another devastating slash that tore through more of the pillars, nearly bringing the rest of the station down on top of them. Not that she would care, though. She was having the time of her life. "Who knew that you were this fun!" She called out to the hound of fire.
Myth felt the slash ram into him, but his flesh had grown far tougher than it used to be, covered in compressed ash and smoke. This form was made to fight heroes of old legends, warriors that were said to rival even forgotten gods. He had grown stronger, faster, and better. He was tired of being weak. Tired of failing again and again. Tired of watching those he cared for die. This was his story now.
His tale.
His Myth.
He wasn’t ever going to lose again.
The three-headed hound howled, the scream coming out like a blast, which shattered more of the stone and actually caused Green Wolf to wince and nearly drop her sword as she scrambled to cover her ears. She barely had time to create a large bubble of her energy, which swirled around her just in time to block another wave of fire that Myth launched out of his mouths. Smoke covered most of the area in front of the villain, and she felt her barrier crack and break as Myth charged it and stabbed into it with his arms, tearing past the defensive wall that she had created. This power negated durability and instead attacked the soul itself. The only thing immune to it would be those with very powerful souls or machines that lacked them.
Green Wolf found herself staring down at the maws of one of the hounds as Myth’s arm came at her face in a punch. The dog’s maw was opened so wide it’d swallow her head. She dropped to the ground below, dodging the bite at the last second. She could feel the intense heat hot against her skin, but luckily for her, this body was highly fireproof now. In the beginning, Cinder might have had a weak body, but constant battles and exposure to intense heat had caused the girl's flesh to harden and become so tough it had even been able to withstand an attack or two from the Beast. And now that blessed body that was loved by the powers was under the control of Green Wolf!
The former leader of Zoo punched out with her arm, ramming it into Myth's stomach so hard he was blown back. The hero slammed straight through a stone pillar, but it wasn't even a second later before he pushed himself out of it, using one of the hounds heads, to bite into a stone pillar, ripping into it and throwing it at the villain in front of him. Green Wolf lazily swung her sword up, slicing the pillar in two before it could reach her.
"Seriously though, man, I have to tell you, you've leveled up like crazy. What's your secret? Come on; you can tell me how you grinded so hard, right?" Green Wolf asked, letting out a low whistle as her eyes studied the Sub Enforcer's leader that stood before her. "You're way stronger than that Money Tree guy. He was always boring. Never kept me entertained. I only fought him once before, and it sucked. I always knew he was a coward, though-"
"Shut up."
Myth's voice shook the station, coming out in a thick growl that actually managed to make Green Wolf pause for a moment. It didn't last long, though. The girl was already running her new mouth off once more. "I guess I never actually bothered to look at you, now that I think about it. After all, that team you used to be on had some big people who caused you to hide in their shadows. To think now those people are all gone-"
"Shut. Up."
"Battery and that Whisper girl both left you, didn't they? Oh, and in a way, I guess Cinder and Snow Boy, too! How does it feel to be the last member left standing? You know, I kept trying to get most of my team TPK'd yet never managed it; think you could give me some advice since you're so good at letting your friends die-"
"I said shut up!" Myth roared and stomped forward in a pure rage, ripping the ground around him apart. Green Wolf only smirked and swung her sword out at the hero, who was wide open. Her attack landed true, slamming directly into Myth's eyes and slicing into them, spilling blood down the hound’s face. The villain's smug smirk, however, quickly faded when Myth didn't even slow down, seeing through the other four eyes he had on his remaining heads.
Green Wolf went to jump back and dodge his attack but felt something grab onto her, and she looked down just in time to see that the hero's tail had expanded and grown out like a snake, wrapping itself around the young girl's waist, keeping her trapped. Her eyes went wide, and she looked up just in time to see all three heads staring her down, all opened wide.
"You talk way too much!" Myth grunted out as he glared at her through bloodied, wrath-filled eyes.
Green Wolf wasn't even given a moment to try and come up with a clever or witty remark as Myth’s three heads charged up. The fire compressed together into a thick ball, all three about to unleash their strongest attack directly into Green Wolf’s face. The villain was about to be bathed in fire so strong it would burn the soul directly to ash. Myth won-
"M- Myth! P- Please don't hurt me, sir!"
Instantly, his fire went out. The mask around the Zoo member's face fully broke away, and he found himself face-to-face with her once more. Familiar eyes stared at him, filled with emotion, pleading with him. He was holding Cinder. He was hurting Cinder.
"Man, you're too easy." Instantly, that innocent and scared look vanished, and it was replaced with one of Green Wolf's twisted grins. Myth felt white-hot pain as the girl's sword found its way deep into his gut. "I can't believe you actually stopped! Are you stupid or something!" Her energy went right through the blade and blasted through his stomach, causing him to spit up a wave of blood and drop the girl. "You heroes really are-"
"I told you; you talk too much. Never speak to me again." Despite the pain he was in, Myth stabbed out with his maws, shutting them directly into Green Wolf's throat. He pulled back and ripped the girl’s neck open. Green Wolf’s eyes filled with horror, and she kicked off of the hound, launching herself back.
Slowly, the villain managed to push herself back up and glared at the hero in front of her. The cartoon wolf mask had been reduced to small embers, which rained down her face, and blood was dripping down her chin. She tried to speak, but it only came out as a series of gurgles. Her hand shot up and clutched at her throat, which was gushing blood from the chunk that had been ripped out. Myth had burned her vocal cords right out of her throat. This body would never speak again.
She gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with hate as she brought her sword up. More of her kinetic energy began to spill out, compressing along the blade and flowing out like water, becoming visible. It was pure green energy that began to compress itself into a thin line. She got ready to fire out in an attempt to split the hero straight in two. She was on a time limit now, already getting lightheaded from the blood loss, so she decided she’d at least drag Myth to hell with her.
Green Wolf swung down as hard as she could, sending her attack flying out directly at the hero.
Myth countered with his own finishing move. All three heads once again opened, and he carried where he left off from earlier; all the fire compressed down between them, forming a thick ball that blasted out like a laser beam. It met the wave of green energy head-on, and for a moment, red and green swirled around each other, crashing back and forth as a chaotic storm. The powers clashed wildly, seemingly evenly matched, and the entire station around them began to crumble and burn up, falling apart.
Then Myth uttered a single word. "Die." The red flame broke through the green, shattering it and launching its way to Green Wolf, whose eyes went wide. The girl reached out, holding her hand up in an effort to block the attack, but no barrier would have been able to withstand something like this.
The station they were in rocked as it was hit by a mighty explosion. Just like with Drake, everything began to break and come crashing down as the roof above shattered. Green Wolf somehow managed to redirect some of the blast, which went crashing up wildly, blasting a hole through the roof above and traveling into the city, where it tore right through a building, bringing it down. Debris fell around them, and Myth gasped out, nearly falling to his knees as the fire around him went out. Steam poured off of his body, and he grunted, feeling his heart beating a mile a second. He was starting to understand how Battery used to feel. This power was still hard to control.
His form began to change back into his human mode, and he let out a soft grunt. It was over. There was no way Green Wolf would still be alive. At least that’s what he hoped.
His ears twitched, though, when he heard the faint gurgling sound of a body that was barely clinging to life. He looked up as the dust fell, and he found Green Wolf still standing on her feet. At least what was left of them. The entire left side of her body was basically gone, and the right side was still a burned mess. Somehow, though, she was still glaring at him and managed to lift her melting sword. He tried to move his legs, but they felt like they were made of jelly. He wasn't able to dodge as the villain brought her sword down.
At least she would have, but she suddenly stopped as a shadow appeared above her.
Green Wolf looked up and found a massive black armored figure staring down into the hole above she created. Their fighting had alerted one of the roaming Giants, who normally weren't able to interfere with the crime that went on beneath the city. The villain seemed to let out a sigh and simply accept her fate as the Giant's pointer finger came down directly on top of her head; it simply poked down into the hole and, in an instant, crushed the body it saw as if it were a bug.
Myth flinched and felt sick to his stomach as he heard the horrible crunching sound. Then he found himself staring face-to-face with the Giant before him as it seemed to study him. Once it was sure he wasn't a villain, it turned away, and before he could even process what was happening next, the hole began to get blocked off as the Giant grabbed a massive shovel and began to fix the damage.
He was seriously going to need to have a long conversation with Battery one of these days…
That day was not today though.
Myth gasped out, clutching at his chest. He collapsed forward as his veins began to burn. It was like hot magma was gushing through his body, and the pounding in his chest was growing faster. Despite how hot he felt, it was also strangely cold, his lungs aching as if they were filled with frost. Perhaps this was the revenge of Cinder and Snowdawn. The justice he deserved for allowing them to die. His reward for turning a blind eye to the dangers of child heroes. He had practically let those two march to their deaths after all.
Once more, he failed.
Then again, he always failed.
The last thing Myth heard before he blacked out was the panicked screaming of Wasp Nest, who landed down next to him. Everything went dark after that.
Meanwhile, outside of Oleander, there were many other cities that existed, and within each of these cities, Harrison Avalon had owned a building made to house his genius inventions. What most of the world didn't know, however, was that each city also held a hidden base that Avalon had built. One in which he allowed himself to live as the weapon he truly was. These were the same bases he had used to fool both Zoo and the Bad Timers into thinking that he was on their side.
Now that the Emperor had returned, there was no way that any of them could be used anymore by Avalon, as the moment he poked his head in any city, he would surely be jumped by every hero on Earth. In other words, that meant the bases were now free to be used by those he had betrayed. And it was within one of these places that Green Wolf's eyes slowly opened.
"Damn. Guess he beat me." The girl sat up on the metal table she was on and covered herself with the sheets of the hospital bed. It was extremely cold, and all she had was a hospital gown. "It's to be expected I lost, though. After all, that body only had about ten or twenty percent of my built-up kinetic energy. I'll get him next time."
The girl allowed her eyes to roam around the room as the sounds of beeping filled the air. Hundreds of beds were scattered around, each containing a very familiar body.
"After all, unlike last time, I still have so many extra lives to get it right."