“Let’s see you get past my shield!” Cinder announced, lifting the shield up just in time to block a golden strike from Mr. Larison. Her arms shook a bit, and she felt the energy go through the shield and her arms, but she held on strong, blocking the strike and shoving the man back. “Ha! This thing is the coolest-”
Battery dropped to a crouch and kicked out with his leg, hitting her with a sweep attack, which caused her to come tumbling down back first. Before she could scramble and try to stand back up, the man planted a knee on her gut and placed his finger under her chin. “I win.” He said flatly.
“Aw man!” She shook her head and jumped back at the man. “Well then eat backpack!” She twirled her body and pulled her bag off of her, swinging it out as a makeshift weapon. Battery easily blocked the attack with his arm. “But how!” She gasped. The backpack strat always works-”
Battery lazily slapped her across the face, sending her flying back once more. “Don’t be stupid, kid.”
Off to the side Paragon let out a small snort as she watched the interaction through Destiny’s eyes. “Sometimes it shocks me seeing her like this compared to out in the field. She seemed a little more intense last time I teamed up with her.”
“That’s just how she is.” Next to the blind girl, Snowdawn stood. The boy was practicing more of his new ice-based powers, freezing the ground over and over again around him. “Sometimes she comes off like a battle genius, other times I have a hard time believing she’s actually the Lord of the Sun.” The boy snorted.
Paragon numbly nodded her head and kept watching the match between Battery and Cinder. The two got back up and had restarted. They had just finished up at Boy Genius’s prison and got the Watch Dogs to drop them back off in Oleander. Before turning in for the night, Myth wanted to do some last-minute planning, and so they all stood on the beach of OIeander, surrounded by the junkyard. Myth and Whisper were off to the side discussing the plan, while Snowdawn got some more training in, and Battery tried to teach Cinder how to use her new shield.
Paragon couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit jealous as she watched the interaction everyone was having. Team Reservoir mostly kept to themselves, and the only people she really knew or talked to from that team, besides her mother and sister, was the second in command, Fisherman, who was an odd little man.
As the blind girl watched the interactions happen, she used her power on some seaweed that had washed up, causing it to bubble up and stretch as if it were alive. She didn’t need to worry about how power going haywire on something like this. At least that was what she thought.
Off to the side, Myth rested on the hood of a car and kept his arms folded. “Can you use your Paths to try and figure out when Green Wolf will next pop his head?” The man asked.
Whisper was crouched down in the sand, the blonde girl playing with her new tonfa’s as if they were sticks, using them to draw lines in the sand. “No.” The girl shook her head. “Sorry, but you should know by now my powers don’t work that way. If I were my dad maybe, but I can only see a few moments into the future. Anything beyond five seconds, and I’ll freeze up and lose control, then I’ll likely forget about whatever it is I saw the moment it ends.” The girl shrugged.
Myth nodded his head. “I figured as much, I just thought I would ask just in case.” The man hummed. “Green Wolf was the one who took Fairy Queen out. My guess is he’s still in the group that was formed with Bad Timers.”
“Do we call them Bad Zoo, or Zoo Timers?” Snowdawn asked.
“Does it matter?” Paragon said flatly.
“Yeah! The bad guys need a cool name, so then we’re even cooler when we take them down.” The boy announced.
Myth let out a small snort. “If I had to take a guess, I’d say it’s likely Green Wolf will be acting soon. He doesn’t like sitting on the sidelines like this, and now that they busted out Fairy Queen, they’ll be getting ready to pull another job.”
Battery ducked under one of Cinder’s shield swings and smashed his palm into the girl’s stomach, sending Cinder flying through the junkyard. “If I had to take a guess as to why they’d bust out Fairy Queen, it could be to heal Golden God.” Battery grunted out.
“What do you mean?” Myth asked, frowning.
“Golden God fought the Victorian during the mall incident a while back.” Battery explained, giving a shrug. “I figure he’d have gotten pretty banged up doing something like that. Despite looking like a robot, it isn’t as simple as just fixing him up. Back in the day, the only people able to heal him were the Emperor, Hell Hound, and Fairy Queen. It’s likely Golden God is part of whatever plan they have, so they busted her out just to fix him up. If the goal had been to cause chaos, it would have been better to release someone like Uriel, but they didn’t.”
Myth nodded his head and rubbed his chin. “I see. So Fairy Queen will be busy taking care of Golden God for a bit.”
“That’s right. It won’t take her long though.” Battery agreed. “With Green Wolf on the team, I’d reckon the man will get impatient and try to attack the first chance he can get. So within the next few days for sure.”
Myth folded his arms and got off of the car. "Then, in that case, I’ll try and look up the most likely spots that will be attacked. Last time the group attacked two different locations during an event. In three days, several events will be held across the city, so if what Battery said is true, it’s likely one of them will be the attack spot.”
“Last time they only split up because they were coming after me and Wish.” Paragon said quietly. The girl dug her fingers into the seaweed, her powers flaring up a bit as she stopped bothering to try and control her powers. “I still don’t know why they wanted me or why Wish looked exactly like me. It pisses me off though-”
The bit of seaweed the girl had been holding finally snapped under all the pressure it was under. Paragon’s powers had flared up a lot from the girl’s emotion. Just like how Cinder could create fire or Money Tree could create cash, Paragon was able to control cells that she touched, as well as place new cells into a living object to regrow limbs, though she couldn’t use her power on herself. In that moment, the seaweed suddenly bloated and expanded, with a wave of force getting hundreds of times bigger.
Snowdawn let out a yelp as he was thrown back by the vines, which slapped at the boy, shoving him through a wave of trash. Myth jumped up and grabbed Whisper, pulling her out of the way, and Battery formed a barrier around himself, which blocked the vines that jutted out at him.
The seaweed almost seemed alive now, growing itself around Paragon and swallowing the girl up. Its tendrils flowed like an octopus as it lashed out.
It didn’t get to survive for long, though. Battery turned his back on the thing, not even bothering to attack it. “You got this, kid.”
The pile of ash Cinder had rammed into exploded as the girl jumped out of it. Cinder spun around in the air, pointing her feet up toward the sky and unleashing a wave of fire that caused the girl to explode forward. In an instant, she blasted through the seaweed, setting it on fire, and pierced it all the way through, wrapping her arms around the trapped Paragon that was inside.
She came out the other side of the flaming seaweed, one arm under Paragon’s leg and the other under the blind girl’s back, as she softly landed on the beach floor. Behind her, the seaweed finished burning up and slowly turned to ash.
“Are you okay, Paragon? Looks like you lost control of your powers for a bit!” She looked down at the girl in her arms.
Paragon rested there stunned for a moment before suddenly shaking her head. “Idiot! If I lost control, then why would you grab onto me! It could have affected you.”
She just gave a sheepish laugh. “I just trusted you’d turn it off in time to not mess with me. Besides, in the battle with Wish, the girl tried to use her power on me, and it didn’t work, so maybe I’m immune to negative effects from powers? Polaron’s iron blood attack also didn’t harm me, so feel free to touch me as much as you want!”
“D- Don’t say it like that!”
“Is everyone okay?” Myth called out once the last of the seaweed burned away.
“Y- Yeah.” Snowdawn crawled out of the pile of trash he had been rammed into. “Just peachy.”
“Walk it off.” Battery snorted and waved his hand, using his golden light to heal the boy.
“You can put me down now.” Paragon said flatly, still in Cinder’s arms.
“Oh yeah, my bad.” She placed Paragon back onto her feet and dusted the girl off. “There you go!”
“You’re really weird sometimes.” Paragon said with a sigh.
“Sorry?”
“Don’t be. I like weird.”
As they all finished calming down, they suddenly noticed they weren’t alone now. Slowly, a bubble of water that had been above them began to float down. “Looks like you’re getting along well with my daughter, Cinder.” Ocean Empress touched down on the beach and gave a small smile.
“Ocean Empress?” Myth seemed a little taken aback. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to get Sky.” The woman said, folding her arms. “It’s very late, you know.” The sun was already starting to set, and soon it’d be night. “It’s a little past her curfew.”
Paragon rubbed her arm nervously. “Sorry mom. I just got a little distracted, was all.”
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“It’s fine.” The woman said, holding a hand up. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. We should return to Lillian. There are a bunch of people on the waiting list who still haven’t been healed by you yet.”
“R- Right.” Paragon gave a slow nod. The girl turned back to Cinder and nodded her head. “Thanks for hanging out with me today, Hope. I had fun.”
“Anytime.” She rubbed her neck awkwardly as she watched Sky walk to her mother. She felt a weird twitch in her chest, but she squashed it down and ignored it. “I had fun, too.” She said quietly. She reached into her bag for a moment and felt the Paragon doll she had bought. In Paragon’s own bag would be the Cinder doll. She wondered how the girl would react to it when she got home and saw it.
Myth cleared his throat. “We’ll be leaving as well. It’s late, and we’ll be busy in the next few days.”
She nodded and moved over to the man and Whisper, about to leave with them. Snowdawn stayed behind and shrugged. “You guys go on ahead. I have some last-second things to do.”
Battery, on the other hand, stood next to Ocean Empress and Paragon. “I’ll walk you two out of here. I had some things I’d like to discuss with you actually.” The man hummed, giving a nod to Ocean Empress.
“Really?” Ocean Empress gave a small grin. “This should be good.”
Off to the side, she watched the two adults plus Paragon leave through a different section of the beach. “I can’t tell if Mr. Larison and Ocean Empress hate each other or really like each other.” She said, letting out a hum.
“It can be both.” Whisper snorted. The girl through her arms behind her head as the three of them left out the other side of the beach, leaving Snowdawn behind. “Ocean Empress is a kind woman. She raised me, and several heroes actually.”
“She did?”
“Yeah.” Whisper nodded. “She’s a little too kind for her own good sometimes. I think she doesn’t like viewing people as evil and will go out of her way to assume they’re good people. After the war with the Emperor, she actually adopted nearly every Super that lost a parent, including the monsters. She had her own orphanage that she and her husband used to run. It closed down two years ago after the death of her husband, though.”
“Oh…” That kind of sucked. She had no idea Ocean Empress was so kind, even out of costume, though. From what she knew, most Super parents didn't tend to be the best. It was hard balancing a social life and a hero life, yet Ocean Empress had somehow done what no other Super had. The girl was a good parent and a good hero.
Not even the Victorian had been able to do that. She didn’t like thinking about it, but Lois, her friend, was the Victorian’s daughter, and the stories Lois used to tell her, none of them ever involved the golden woman. Lois had been practically discarded and abandoned. She also met the Victorian recently, and it really hadn’t gone that well.
If you wanted to be a good hero, a strong one that could handle all threats, like Boy Genius or the Victorian, did it mean giving up a part of your humanity?
Either way, Ocean Empress seemed like a good person. At least from what Whisper told her.
Speaking of which, on the other side of the beach, Battery walked alongside Ocean Empress and Paragon as they reached the edge of the beach and stepped back onto the streets of Oleander.
“So what did you want to talk about exactly?” Ocean Empress asked as the woman turned to look at the hero in red.
Battery looked down at Paragon for a moment before he looked back up at the Enforcer member. “I need your help with something?”
“And you’re asking me?”
“Well, you did tell me that I could ask for help, right?” The man said awkwardly. “You’re a hero, so it’s your job to help people.”
Ocean Empress nodded her head. “Yeah. I’m a hero. I’ll help you. What do you need me for though?”
Battery closed his eyes, seemingly thinking of his next words. After a moment, he opened them and looked the woman directly in the eyes. “I need you to get the sword that belonged to the Emperor. I know where it is.”
Meanwhile, back on the beach, Snowdawn rested there for a moment before he heard the sand crunch beneath him. “How’d you know I was here, too?” Poseidon asked curiously.
“I just had a feeling you’d show up if your mom was here.” Snowdawn shrugged and looked back up at the older girl. “After all, your sister was here, and I know you care about her a lot.”
Poseidon nodded her head, and for a moment the girl looked Snowdawn up and down. “So, is this it? Is this part of your new power?”
Snowdawn gave a grin and flexed his arms. He was decked out in his ice armor now. “Yep! After training with you and figuring out how to use my ice better, I was able to form this new and improved armor. It’s way more durable than my snowcloak had been, and I get these cool-looking claws! Get it? Cool?” He held his hand up, showing the ice claws that jutted out of his fingers.
Poseidon folded her arms and smiled softly. “I’m glad you got stronger.”
“It’s thanks to you.” Snowdawn nodded. “You took time out of your schedule to help improve me.”
“I really didn’t.” The girl shook her head. “A lot of your power is your own. I just showed you how to invert your power is all. You unlocked it all on your own.” The girl began to walk toward the water and turned back to him. “Let’s take a walk.”
“Okay?”
The two of them began to walk across the water. It was a form of training she had taught him when he first began to unlock his power. Using the power of cold, he was able to create snow. Creating ice should have been the next step, yet he always struggled with it. He could get the snow or water to freeze if he really tried, but shaping things out of it was too hard for him.
That was until Poseidon showed him a trick to it. Instead of trying to make constructs out of ice, it would be easier to make them out of snow, then further cool that snow off until it was forced to become ice. He had to focus his power and get the coldness of it to drop down even further. Using that method, he was able to walk alongside Poseidon as the two of them froze the surface of the water on the ocean and began to walk across it.
The sun had mostly set by now, casting everything in an orange glow. He trailed after the girl slowly, carefully freezing the water beneath his foot so that he wouldn’t fall through.
“Have you practiced more of your Inverting yet?” The girl questioned.
“I’ve tried, but I still haven’t gotten it down fully.” The boy noted looking down at his palm. Snow swirled into his palm into the shape of a ball, and then he flared his power up more, changing that snow to ice. He was getting faster at it, able to do one after the other so quickly it looked like he skipped past snow and went straight to ice. “My Inverting is something I’m still struggling a bit with.”
The ice was not his Inversion. That was just something he unlocked after pulling off an actual Inverting in his fight with Poseidon. As Metal Ronin had said, his Inversion wasn’t a fire- or water-based ability. Instead, it was more like an evolution of what his power was. His ability was cold control, so his Inverting went beyond cold and would reach the point of zero, something that was actually impossible naturally, yet powers being powers, they ignored the laws of the universe, creating absolute zero temperatures.
It was due to how cold this ability would get that he was finally able to create ice naturally. After all, making something as hot as ice was way easier than trying to do anything at absolute zero temperatures. Not even he was immune to something that cold.
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Poseidon asked as they kept walking out across the water.
“Go ahead?” The boy shrugged.
“Why did you pick the name Snowdawn?”
Snowdawn sheepishly rubbed his chin. “Well, it’s kind of stupid.”
“It is?”
“If you say the word Snowdawn quickly, it sort of sounds like you’re saying Snow’d on. Like get snow’d on. So Snowdawn was basically another ice pun, because I’d go around covering people up in snow.”
Poseidon let out a snort and giggled softly at his explanation. “Seriously?”
“Yep. Seriously.” He grinned. “Though now I think it has a different meaning.” He looked back down at his hand. “It’s almost scary how much the meaning changed. I don’t really believe in destiny or fate, yet things like this make me wonder. After all, dawn is something connected to the sun, and Cinder is the Lord of the Sun.”
“I thought she was.” Poseidon frowned softly as the image of the raven-haired girl came to her mind. “Sometimes I don’t know how to feel about her.”
“She can have that effect on people.” Snowdawn shrugged. “What about you? Why’d you pick the name Poseidon?”
Poseidon glanced down at her own palm and curled her fingers. Her eyes could almost spot the black blood that coated her hand from where her nails dug into her palm. It had happened when she watched Cinder holding onto her sister. “I got the name from Myth.” She finally said.
“You did?”
“Yeah.” The girl nodded. “Growing up, he spent a lot of time around Whisper, who was basically raised by my mom, so I got to talk to him a lot when I was a kid. He was sort of like an older brother for a lot of us that were raised by Ocean Empress. I’m my mother's only biological child, yet in a way, I consider all the children I grew up with to be my siblings. Especially Sky. Myth would visit a lot, and he told me stories. His power was one that was shared by a lot of members of his family. One that was passed down through an entire bloodline. See, he can trace his family back to some of the earliest signs of Supers, coming from some of the first Lords. The blood of both the Lord of Life and the Lord of the Sun flows through his veins.”
“That’s seriously cool.” Snowdawn said with wide eyes. “I guess that explains why Myth is so powerful, but what does that have to do with your name?”
“It’s from the stories he would tell me.” The girl hummed and looked up at the night sky, which formed as the sun finally faded out of view. “His power is based around a concept. One that existed before the Lords. Before Supers, before the Shadow, and before the Lords, humans still lived on this planet. They told stories, many of which were based off of gods, or monsters, that were believed to have existed at one time. I don’t know how, but the Thaddeus clan became a clan that can embody these old stories and tales. Maybe they used to be part of it, or were the creators, not even Myth knows, but his power allows him to take on the form of monsters from some of these old stories. He was also able to somehow learn about the past through his ability. It was almost like he was able to talk to his power. Poseidon was a god that people used to worship. I’m not sure if they were ever real or just a story, but they were said to be a God of the Sea.”
Snowdawn listened and nodded his head. “That’s pretty cool. I never actually considered what the world was like before the Lords. I knew that it was ruled entirely by humans, and there were no Supers, but still. I wonder what the people were like back then or what they did about crime.”
“Who knows.” The girl giggled a bit and shrugged. “Why did you become a hero?”
Snowdawn’s smile faded. Poseidon turned to look back at him, sensing she said something wrong. It took him a moment, but Snowdawn spoke. “I want to stop the next Calamity that appears.”
“That’s kind of a lofty goal, ain’t it?” The girl said, a little shocked.
Snowdawn nodded his head. “I know that. I get that it’s stupid, but still! I want to make some sort of difference. I lost my mother to a Calamity. I just… Even if I don’t make it through, I’d like to do something.”
Poseidon flicked the boy on the nose, causing him to tumble back and fall into the water as he lost his focus and shattered through his ice. The girl placed her hands on her hips and stared down at the boy. “None of this talk about not making it through. You’re Snowdawn, someone trained by me.”
Snowdawn poked his head out of the water and stared back up at the girl. “Yeah, well, I’m still not that strong.”
“Maybe not now, but keep pushing forward. Keep growing. Keep getting stronger.” Poseidon held a hand out for the child. “I think you can do it. I think you can be a hero.”
“How come?” He took the offered hand and allowed her to lower his body's gravity, lifting him out of the water.
“Because.” The girl turned away and shrugged. “I just like to think you can.”
“That’s not a really good reason.” Snowdawn snorted.
“Maybe.” Poseidon giggled. “Either way, let’s head back. It’s late.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Snowdawn stopped when he felt something hit his shoulder. He looked back at Poseidon, who lightly punched him. “When there is a Calamity, you won’t be facing it alone. I’ll be there as well. I’m a Lord. It’s my job to make sure people like you can keep living in this world. That Supers like you can keep growing stronger. I’d like for you to surpass me if you’re able. It’d be better if nice people like you were able to reach a level beyond the Lords.”
“I think you’re giving me a little too much credit.” Snowdawn said sheepishly. “I don’t know if I’d be able to do something like that.”
“Maybe not.” Poseidon lifted them both up into the air, lowering their gravity. She gave a sly smile. “Still. That’s the kind of world I’d like to live in. One where kind people like you or my sister can live a long life filled with joy.”
“I don’t know about a long life, but I’ve lived one filled with joy, that’s for sure.” The boy said as they slowly floated through the air. “I’m the hero Snowdawn, and I’m lucky that I got to tell my story. Even if it’s one that might not be as interesting as others.”