The waves slammed down on the shore of the island. They were somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, far away from Oleander City. He had never actually left his city. When he had gained the title of Green after killing the previous leader of Zoo, it had almost bound him to his city.
Yet here he was now. Shivering out in the cold as the sun set. It was a mostly sunken island. One that had been nearly destroyed during a Beast attack a few years ago. Demonica and Saw Head stood near the back. Monsters, the type created by the previous Lord of Life, would be needed to try and speak to the person he was about to break out of Nightshade.
Besides those two, he was the only other person on the island. He gripped the handle of the sword Harrison Avalon had allowed him to use. A white blade covered in runes. The thing that allowed him to freely teleport to anywhere the blade had been. Luckily, wherever Avalon went, the sword went, so needless to say, there were quite a few options for the sword's teleportation.
Green Wolf took a moment to stretch his body and loosen his muscles. It was about to be time. “So. Any advice for dealing with the woman? You served on her team fifteen years ago, right?”
Demonica didn’t bother looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on the sea. They were nowhere near Nightshade; despite that, though, her eyes never stopped looking out toward where the prison would be. Or perhaps she was looking in the direction of Fairy Queen.
“Okay, good talk.” Green Wolf picked his sword up and placed it over his shoulder. Saw Head let out a buzzing noise as the saw that made up his face began to spin. “Oh yeah, I totally agree, man, Demonica’s got an ass straight out of hell.”
“I hope Fairy Queen tears you in two.” Demonica finally said.
“And I hope Myth shows up and rips your other arm clean off. Even you out a bit. We don’t always get what we want, though.” He pointed the sword out towards the island. “Wish me luck.”
“Break a leg. Seriously. Both, if you can.”
“Take me there.” Green Wolf felt a surge of force around him, and colors expanded and exploded; then, in a loud 'pop', he was gone. Everything came crashing back as he appeared.
The gate to Nightshade was placed directly in the center of the prison. Due to the fact that mental-based technology would act up around it, the room that held the door had around forty soldiers. On top of that, there were ten different cameras, and at other parts of the cube, each in their own room, were ten other men, watching the security cameras at all times. In each of their rooms was another set of cameras, all linked to one another, so even if a person tried to start with them first, the other nine camera guards would know and have time to react.
At least if they were dealing with any other villain...
A guard slouched in his chair and let out a sigh. He rubbed at the bags under his eyes and stared at the various monitors in front of him. One of them showed the room that held the sphere. The other showed the other camera guards. That was when he saw it.
It took him a moment to figure out what he was seeing. One of the cameras was just utterly red. It wasn’t just one camera, either. Nearly half had been blocked out. From his view, he watched one of the guards who had noticed the same thing. Then he watched as, in a flash, that guard's head rolled off their body.
“Oh shit-”
It was too late for him to press any alarms.
Green Wolf swung his sword, cutting another head off. Normally, he liked to play with his food, but this game was all about speed. In the middle of swinging his sword, he would teleport and appear behind one of the other guards. He’d have about five seconds to kill them all before they could trigger the alarms.
Borderline impossible, unless you happened to have a sword that was able to twist the Paths of the world and drop you off in each guard shack. The last of the camera guard’s heads rolled off, and he twirled his sword, taking a moment to catch his breath. So many back-to-back fast teleportations, and he still wasn’t even halfway done. The time was still ticking. It’d only be a matter of time until someone radioed in or a shift change happened.
“The center.” The pop echoed around him, the world swirled, and then he stood in the center of a large room. Yelling broke out around him instantly. The room was spacious and set up with dozens of tables or TVs, as well as some rafters. In the center of it was the orb that served as the gate to the actual Nightshade. All around the room, the other forty guards were making for their weapons. “Hello, everyone! Good news! You all don’t have to worry about work anymore!”
No one even had time to sound the alarm. Normally, a Super like Boy Genius or one of the other Enforcers would have been stationed here and in the room. As it stood now, though, all the heroes were too busy thanks to Golden God’s stunt, and Boy Genius was off doing something else.
Not a single gun was even drawn.
He didn’t even move like a blur. He literally just appeared in and out of existence mid-swing, beginning to cut through one guard, then finishing by cutting through another.
He twirled the sword and impaled it through the last man who had attempted to run for the exit. As the last man dropped, Green Wolf placed the blade on a sheath that rested on his back. “Am I almost done? Jumping around like this is making me sick.”
“Soon.” The voice of Harrison Avalon echoed around him. It wasn’t actually there, more in his mind. “Get ready, though. The real challenge is about to begin.”
“Fun.” He moved toward the orb and cocked his head at it. “So, this is the thing that messes with tech? How’d they even make something like this?”
“Emperor.”
“Always comes back to him, doesn’t it...”
“By touching it, you will be transported into another realm. The real Nightshade is in there. It’s quite similar to the prison out here but flipped. There will be other guards as well that you’ll need to deal with. Some could even be Supers. There are twenty-six sections in total in the prison. You’ll need to head to Section Z. I’ve never been there myself, so you’ll have to actually walk there.”
Green Wolf didn’t bother replying. He poked his hand out and touched the orb. He didn’t even have time to jerk his hand back. It pulled him in, and his body crashed through the other side. He stumbled out and managed to keep his balance with some effort.
Instantly, a loud siren pierced the air. His one saving grace was that it was impossible to get in contact with anyone outside of a realm, so being spotted here meant the others in the real world wouldn’t know. It did, however, mean that he couldn’t afford to let a single person get through the gate and into the real world until he was done.
Bullets rang out and dinged off of him as he took a moment to gather the scene around him. There was no sun, but he was able to see thanks to the cube. The one here was smaller than the one in the real world but still quite big. It hung high in the sky above him and was made out of a glowing silver metal that worked almost like a mini-sun. It spun softly and had a layer of fire around it.
Unlike the cube in the real world, this one was made out of only twenty-six smaller cubes, each about a mile big. All the cubes were stacked on one another, and the cube he’d be after would be in the dead center, so he’d need to go through the other outer layers first. Besides having the same weird gravity as the one outside, this cube was super-heated, so standing on its layer would kill most people, making it nearly impossible for a Super on the inside to get out.
Even if they did get out of all the layers, they would then have to deal with the second set of defenses. The gate he had stepped through had placed him under the cube. This realm stretching out for miles was nothing more than a vast sea. The only thing in the realm, besides the cube, was the platform he stood on now.
It was almost like a large oil rig. A massive, towering structure that had dozens of smaller buildings that all worked as bases for the guards on the inside. The orb that would return him to the real world was directly behind him, smack dab in the center of this rig, where every guard could see him and take shots at him.
They were normal human guards with normal guns. Tech didn’t work too well in here due to how close to the gate it was. Green Wolf lazily swung his sword, and an invisible wave of kinetic force cut most of them down. One, however, managed to survive.
“Oh? It looks like they got a full-on superhero guarding this place. You’re one of the members of that smarty pants kids' team, right?” Green Wolf called out.
Across from him, a few meters away, a large man stood. The man was dressed in bulky silver knight-like armor. It wasn’t like the Pallet Boy’s, where it was high-tech or anything. This was actual armor. Like the kind a real medieval knight would wear. The helmet was shaped in the image of a dragon's head, and fins ran along the arms and back. The hero had his arms held out in him in an effort to block the attack Green Wolf had sent.
Blood flowed down the man’s arms, and a massive crack was formed along the part of his armor that had blocked the strike. Despite that, though, he remained in one piece.
Silver Dragon. A member of the team known as The-Future-Is-Now! Ran by Boy Genius. T-fin for short. “I’m actually kind of glad you’re here.” Green Wolf called out. “All the other people are just squishy humans that die way too easily.” As if to prove his point, he swung out again and tore through the remaining guards, splitting the entire platform in two and killing all but the Super. “See. Such trash mobs, not even worth some EXP.”
Silver Dragon’s teeth gritted. The armor he wore began to hiss and crack as the man’s form grew. He bulked up, nearly reaching ten feet in height, and from the broken bits of his armor, a silver scaly skin could be seen. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ve made a big mistake in coming here-”
Green Wolf swung the sword up again, and a massive gash cut into Silver Dragon’s chest, spilling more of the man’s blood, which was black. Silver Dragon was a monster. Despite the wound being great, the hero fought through it and took a step forward. The entire rig shook, and Green Wolf actually almost lost his balance. Silver Dragon was fast, despite being so big, and threw out an insanely powerful right hook.
Green Wolf’s finger stopped the punch. “Aw. A for effort, big guy.” Silver Dragon struck out again, and his fist bounced off of the villain's body. He kept swinging, hitting the man over and over again. “Things like this just don’t work on me.” Green Wolf calmly explained. He began stretching again casually as the punches were deflected by his kinetic absorbing barrier. “Oh, but don’t let me stop you. You’re doing a good job-”
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Silver Dragon’s helmet cracked and split open. The man’s body grew even larger, and jagged claws jutted out from his fingers. From the crack in his armor, his mouth had grown larger and filled with fanged teeth. He opened his jaws as wide as he could, a mass of silver light blasting out as he unleashed his silver dragon breath!
Green Wolf was lifted off of his feet and sent flying back. He crashed into one of the buildings and broke through it, landing on the other side. “Maybe you shouldn’t have taunted him.” Avalon’s voice teased.
Green Wolf jumped back to his feet and dusted himself off—energy attacks bypassed some of his barriers. Key word was ‘some’. He still blocked and absorbed a majority of that energy, keeping him safe. Though now his jacket was slightly singed and smelt of smoke.
The back of Silver Dragon’s armor tore apart as a long tail jutted out of his rear. His boots also began to break, becoming talon-like feet, and horns were forming out of the top of his head, breaking through the rest of his armor. Slowly but surely, he was transforming into an actual dragon.
“You should have never come here.” Silver Dragon’s voice boomed out and even shook the air. “Prisoners of Nightshade are placed in this prison simply due to how hard it is to kill most Supers or put them down for good. Every person in there is someone who would require a great number of resources to keep put down permanently. Not you, though.”
“That doesn’t sound very hero-like. Oh my, what if your fans heard?” Green Wolf snorted. “That is if you even got any. A no-named scrub like you. Sorry to say you’re just going to be another mob count for me.”
Silver Dragon’s mouth opened again, and he blasted out an even stronger beam of bright silver energy. Green Wolf swung his white blade out as hard as he could and cut through the energy, causing Silver Dragon to gasp and wince as a gash was torn out of his throat. Still, the hero didn’t falter and charged forward. Silver energy danced across his body, and he swung out with his tail.
Green Wolf’s arm came up to block it, and he absorbed most of the attack. He was lifted off his feet and flung through the air. Then, in a quiet popping sound, he vanished. Silver Dragon’s eyes went wide, and blood flowed down his body as, from behind him, Green Wolf rammed his sword through the man’s back.
The hero gasped and gripped the sword, craning his neck back to glare at Green Wolf. “Is that all you got?” Green Wolf vanished again and reappeared on the other side of the rig, stabbing the sword into the ground. “I’ll make it fair and not use this bad boy since it’s too much for you. Sounds like a fun game, right?” He reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of knives, gripping them tightly between his fingers. “These should do the trick.”
“Whatever your reasons are, I won’t let you get past me.” Silver Dragon announced. “You’ve already made a huge mistake. In less than ten minutes, there will be a shift change. Someone is bound to notice all the bodies you left, and other heroes will show up. In other words, I don’t need to beat you; I just need to stall you out!”
“Yeah, but you’re so weak. Think you can do that?”
“I’ll do whatever it takes!” Silver Dragon dropped to his knees and placed his hands on the ground. The rest of his armor broke away, and massive wings formed out of his back. His neck grew longer, and his muscles expanded. His arms twisted into front legs, and his waist evened out with his torso molding together. Silver Dragon stood at his full height, towering over the villain.
“Okay. Now that shit is pretty cool.” Green Wolf smirked from beneath his mask. “Maybe this will be a fun boss fight, after all.” He brought his other arm out and held it away from him. Kinetic energy crackled across his body, and the palm of his hand glowed. He slammed it down into the rig, and the energy expanded and flowed, taking shape. “While I take this guy out, you go do the mission I was tasked with. Got that, pup?”
It stood nearly as tall as a horse. Made out of glowing green kinetic energy, a wolf howled. The energy wolf jumped into the air. It didn’t fall and was able to easily walk on the wind. Silver Dragon tried taking a swipe at it, but fingers were sliced off by Green Wolf’s blade.
“Sorry, big guy. I’m the only thing you need to focus on!”
The kinetic wolf made it all the way up to the cube. The gravity didn’t affect it since it was made purely of energy and could fly. The same went for the superheat. It was immune to it. Its claws struck out against the side of the cube, and in only a few blows, it blasted a hole in the side of it and dropped through.
It took a moment to look around. It wasn’t alone. There were dozens of people all around it. They all stared at it in shock. Some screamed in pain as the heat from outside got through the metal walls thanks to the hole, setting many people on fire and killing them.
All the men wore jumpsuits and had metal collars around their necks. The space was large in this cube. The letter ‘D’ was carved into the ceiling above, and there were many walls and sections. It was a mile-wide square room, and a few sections had makeshift walls that the prisoners likely created for themselves. A makeshift gym was scattered around, as well as a bathroom and a sleeping area. They also had a stand in the back where they could eat.
It seemed like the villains had almost made a civilization of sorts with one another.
The wall the wolf had come into began to slowly close up, the metal fixing itself and plugging the damage up before anyone could even think of escaping.
The prisoners were all saying something, but the wolf didn’t understand them. It began walking towards one of the walls in the back, and a man got the bright idea to try and grab the wolf. He screamed out as a wave of kinetic energy blasted from the fur of the beast and split him in two. Everyone left the wolf alone after that.
It tore past the makeshift walls the prisoners had created and broke the wall that would connect this cube to another one. Like before, when it stepped through, the wall behind it closed shut. This cube was filled with dozens of female villains. They all stared at the wolf in shock or some other form of emotion. Up on the roof, the letter ‘E’ was carved in. Like the room before it, the prisoners had seemingly set up their own living space and had done their best to turn the room into a place they could all stay.
The wolf sprinted past the women, weaving in and out around them, and clawed at the wall. It forced its way through and didn’t bother looking around this room. The letters kept changing, and each section was a little different. Some had men, some had women. Some had hundreds. Some had less than ten. The letters above kept changing, and more than once, the wolf accidentally ended back up in a section it already visited.
Luckily for it, those who were actually strong in Nightshade didn’t bother taking note of the wolf, nor did they attempt to go after it. Either because they knew it wouldn’t help them escape, or they were content to remain in place for the time being. Those not strong were either smart enough to leave it alone or so weak they didn’t make it far after they tried to grab the wolf.
Finally, though, after going through nearly fifteen different walls, the wolf shattered a section of metal and stumbled into a new cube. Instantly, it knew it was in the right place. Every other cube had been set up by the prisoners to be at least semi-livable. Not this one, though... There was neither a section for beds nor a section for the bathroom or kitchen. The floor was covered in a layer of bones.
Garbs of prisoner clothes scattered about randomly. Any prisoner sent to Section Z never made it for longer than a day.
Some of the bones had been gathered into a makeshift chair. It didn’t look comfortable, but she rested in it. Fairy Queen was an older woman slumped down on her back. Dozens of prisoner jumpsuits had been sown together, which she wore like a cloak. She lazily stared up at the roof above where the letter ‘Z’ was carved in. Slowly, though, those eyes trained on the wolf.
It approached softly. This wouldn’t be a threat it could handle. When it reached her, it began to shake, and then its maws opened. Slowly, the kinetic beast vomited something out. Fairy Queen frowned when she saw what it was.
Nearly the size of an arm, it was a small piece of one of Golden God’s fingers. “He has the audacity to call for help after leaving me trapped in this place for nearly fifteen years.” Her hair stood up on the end, and her expression was filled with venom. She managed to calm her nerves down and took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll bite.” She stood up, and her cloak tore as her wings expanded out. Massive in size, they were multicolored butterfly-looking and radiated a sense of wealth and importance. “Lead the way, I suppose.”
The wolf took off toward one of the walls and began to carve into it. She had the power to break through the walls herself. Most of the cube residents were strong enough to break out if they wanted to. Or at least the leader of every cube section could. None of them ever bothered escaping, though. It wasn’t because it was impossible. A good portion of them could fly, so they could simply break out and fly off the cube. Getting past all the soldiers and the on-duty Super wouldn’t be an issue either. Neither would getting through all the main layers of the cube in the real world.
There were only two things that truly kept them in there. Boy Genius didn’t have a city of his own. That meant he was almost always guarding the cube himself. While escape was possible once you truly made it to the real world and got past all of his guards, you would face the small child and would then very likely find yourself up against a massive force of giant mech suits.
Even if somehow it was possible for them to get past the second strongest Super in the world, facing Boy Genius at all meant that it was known you were escaping. And if it was known you were escaping, that meant the Victorian would be on her way.
Unless you had the ability to teleport, there was no reason to try to escape. Even then, your ability to teleport would have to be on the same level as the Emperor's, since the whole prison and even an area of a dozen or so miles around the prison were peppered with anti-teleportation devices. It’d be possible to get on the outside, but if Boy Genius didn’t stop you, the Victorian absolutely would. This was the only thing keeping Fairy Queen put.
However, if Golden God was trying to bust her out, that meant one thing. The heroes were distracted. This could be the only time it would be possible to try and escape.
“Are you really about to leave?” A voice questioned, and Fairy Queen stopped in her tracks and turned to look back at the person that had dared to speak to her. She was in section ‘A’ now, so close to escaping. That was when she saw him...
Section A was almost the total opposite of hers. It was filled with a mix of men and women. It had various bleachers and rows of chairs. Music constantly bounced around the walls, and everyone wore handmade church robes. This was the place no villain wanted to end up in. Otherwise, they would become one of ‘his’ pets.
He wore long, flowing white robes, as well as a red cloak that draped gracefully over his body. He gripped a book closely to his chest. He was the total reverse of his master. Long flowing golden locks, tanned skin, despite the years of no sunlight, and an elegant beauty to him. Uriel, member of the Immortals, and Lucifer’s left hand.
Fairy Queen felt her eyes narrow. “My, my, so hostile.” The beautiful man raised his palm. “No need to be concerned. After all, my Virus doesn’t work on you. Not like it does to all of these people I’ve made mine.”
The singing in the room got louder. Like a choir, all directed by Uriel’s will. All the villains in this block kept their heads low and their hands clasped together. They never had an issue with food or space. Here, it was peaceful. Here, Uriel was in charge.
Fairy Queen turned her back on the blonde man. “Are you wanting to come with me?” She asked slyly.
“No, thank you.” His hand reached out, and he stroked the face of one of his people. He allowed his thumb to roam over their lips. “I have much more fun staying here. My day to escape will come when my master needs me. I suspect it’ll be soon. I am shocked that you’re making a getaway though, Queen of Fairies.”
“Why’s that?”
“It isn’t like you to fight against the inevitable end of fate. Your kind already lost. Your master was slain and is long gone. Nothing remains for you on the outside. Not your children, your family, your lover, or your friends. Honestly, someone like you belongs in here. You should just roll over and die.” Another trait that made Uriel different from Lucifer was his way of speaking. The man spoke in a kind and gentle way, even with the harshest of words. His smile was enough to lighten up a room. “The world would be better off without your kind, after all, you disgusting genetic monster.”
“You might be right. Someone from my past needs my help, though.” She flicked her finger, and the man next to Uriel exploded. No one even flinched as the blood splashed onto them. They just kept their chants going. Uriel was spotless, not being touched by the filth. “Next time you try to bother me, it’ll be you I will do that to.”
“Oh, that won’t kill me.”
“It’ll hurt, though.”
“Maybe.” Some of his followers began to clean up the remains of the man. “When you end back up here, do visit me again. I’d love to see how this little escape attempt went.”
“One day, when the Emperor returns, I’ll ask him to eat you first.” She smiled, cocking her head to the side. With another flick of her finger, the wall behind her exploded. Heat rushed into the room, and Uriel’s people were set ablaze. None of them bothered to put themselves out, though. They just kept praying even as the fire ate away at them. “Till next time, sicko.”
Her and the wolf dropped past the cube. The wall closed behind her, and she felt the gravity attempt to pull her back. By now, guards would likely know there was an escape attempt. She’d only have a few moments to get away.
“Yo!” A voice called out.
The wolf sprinted back to its master. Green Wolf had his boot on the remains of a slain dragon. The beast was covered in gashes, and chunks had been torn out of it. The man had carved its horns off and was playing with them, juggling briefly before he tossed them to the endless seas beneath the prison.
“Who the hell are you?” Fairy Queen sighed.
“Damn. Guess I’m not that big, yet.” The man in the wolf mask cocked his head to the side and held his hand out, blood still dripping from the fingers. “Well. To put it bluntly, I’m the guy that’s going to get you out of here.”