All members of the Bad Timers had one thing in common. They weren’t human. They weren’t aliens, though, like the Beast from Space was.
They were created by the Emperor. Once humans, or Supers, their forms had been twisted and mutated, evolving their powers and bodies. Fifteen years ago, the Emperor used this power to forge his army and declare war on planet Earth. After his defeat and supposed death, at the hands of Full Monarch, the previous Lord of the Sun, the Emperor’s army was stuck in their twisted, broken forms, forced to commit petty crimes as they slowly lost their minds. Many went mad and mutated further, changing into the giant monsters that roam the world and attack cities, all waiting to be put out of their misery by the Victorian.
Some though managed to keep part of their sanity and kept their bodies in check. These were the ones who enjoyed being evil.
Saw Head was one such monster. The blade that formed over his face spun, and he took a single step toward them, causing the ground to shake.
She didn’t hesitate. Neither did Wasp Nest. The boy scattered into his bugs, and she took to the air, jumping up high. As she was above the monster, she slammed her hands down and fired a bolt of flame towards him.
The back of Saw Head split open, and tendrils of jagged metal forced their way out of his flesh, blocking the fire. He was tall and heavy looking, with a fat belly that stood firm when Whisper jammed her taser into it and blasted him. The girl had to jump away when he took a swipe at her.
His claws scratched her goggles and blinded Whisper for a moment, causing the girl to trip. Wasp Nest reformed into his full shape in the air and landed on Saw Head. Instantly, he wrapped his legs around the villain’s throat and tried to jam his fingers into the eyes of the bad guy.
Saw Head had an insane form of durability though, as his eyes didn’t even budge as the fingers hit them. The villain’s chest erupted with blades, and Wasp Nest was impaled on all sides but took no damage as the boy’s body simply turned back into wasps and flew away in all directions before reforming.
She landed on the ground, and Saw Head slammed his foot into the sand. The ground beneath her exploded as swords burst up, and she screamed, about to be impaled. Her scream trailed off though when the blades shattered on her skin. “Huh. Wait a second, do you just have—" Saw Head charged her and sliced his claws down her body. The knives in his fingers twisted back, unable to pierce her suit. “Yep. You just have normal blades, don’t you? Your power doesn’t make the knives sharper or stronger than basic metal, does it?”
The villain’s saw-like face began to spin, and he swiped at her with his other hand going for her throat. She cocked her head and raised her shoulder up a bit, trapping his hand in place when it hit her.
“You know.” Wasp Nest said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I didn’t really think Cinder was this strong.”
“Well, she is bulletproof.” Whisper shrugged. “Not sure why we thought the guy whose power was knives would do anything.”
Saw Head managed to rip his hand away from her, and she stepped forward, breaking all the swords around them as she rammed her fist into his gut. He didn’t budge, so she brought her hand up again, and again, and again, and- Her hand began to move like a blur, and for a moment, Saw Head began to lift off the ground, being picked up by her rapid strikes. The flesh on his stomach changed to a red color, his skin starting to burn as her speed picked up and the air began to heat up.
Right when he was fully lifted up above her, she rammed her pointer finger into his belly button and blasted her flame laser into him.
Saw Head was sent flying, his body still holding strong but smashed through dozens of trees and hit the ground hard. The face saw spun faster, and his arms shook as he tried to pick himself back up.
“Give up.” She stepped forward and ignored the pain in her palms. Her knuckles bled, and she might have broken a finger or two, but boy did that stunt look badass. “You’ve lost-”
“Cinder, look out!” Whisper screamed.
It came too late.
She felt her head jerk to the side as something hit her hard. She almost thought her neck actually broke, pain shooting through it, but she was still alive. She hit the ground and rolled across it, crashing into the shallow end of the water, a wave slamming into her back. Before she could even get back up, purple fire rammed into her stomach, pushing her further back and heating the water up to a boil. She actually screamed as the fire hit her. It burned, and she was sent back at least a hundred feet, landing in open waters away from the island.
There was only one person she was confident could burn her with fire. She swam up through the water and used her enhanced vision to see the woman that was on the beach. Demonica stood, having rammed a fist into her face faster than she could spot the villain. The woman was back in tip-top shape ever since her battle with Battery. A black skin tight suit that looked like something you’d see in a S&M video clung to the villain’s body. It didn’t show any of the woman’s appearance, and at the very top, purple fire spilled out, forming her locks of hair.
Demonica eyed Whisper and Wasp Nest, who both froze up. Slowly though, the woman’s eyes landed on Whisper. “You were with that hero.” The woman’s voice came out like a growl. “The teammate of the man in red.”
“Well, I wouldn’t say we’re actually teammates.” Whisper said sheepishly. “At least if that’s what you want to hear-”
Purple fire swirled around Demonica’s arm, and the woman lifted it, about to burn the heroes in front of her down to ash, but she was halted when a massive wave of water came crashing down on the beach.
Over with her, she used her enhanced body to literally swim at super speed. Maybe if she was at her top speed and had been on the beach she could have run on water or something like Mr. Larison did, but already being in the water she had no choice but to swim. With her powers though, that was more than easy, and in only a second she was back at the island, moving as fast and as hard as she could.
She pulled herself out of the water, still rubbing at her neck. Demonica wasn’t just fast, but strong. She had managed to get the woman’s attention off of Whisper by hitting her with the waves she created from the force of her swimming. “Your fight is with me-”
Demonica was on her in an instant, the villain’s palm on her stomach. “Don’t care.” Purple fire blasted out, and she screamed as she felt it burn her. Even a Super would have been reduced to ash, but she thankfully had built up fire tolerance as she used her powers. She fought through the fire and threw a punch, which Demonica caught. “Actually. Maybe I do care.” The villain cocked her head to the side. “Why aren’t you ash?”
“Cinder!” Wasp Nest went to run towards her, but suddenly he was impaled from behind by a large sword that jutted from Saw Head. He reformed his body away from the sword and gritted his teeth. “You’re still standing?”
“You guys try to deal with him.” She shouted. “I’ll figure something out with Demonica!” She tried to ram her knee into the woman’s gut, but Demonica was ready for it and took the blow.
“Oh? Will you now?” The villain rammed her face forward in a headbutt, and she saw stars as she tumbled back when the woman let go of her. “It’s been a while since I’ve fought someone with fire powers. The last person was Wyvern. Now, she was fun.” Demonica brought her hands together and raised them, quickly smashing them down into Cinder’s back, causing her to gasp. “You don’t seem that fun, though.”
Battery had fought this woman one on one. Just how strong was her mentor? Come to think of it, she could have really used some of his wisdom in that moment. The battle Battery had with Demonica had been intense, and the man had literally fought until his heart gave out, and yet the villain still stood strong.
This was due to Demonica being a monster. All of the Emperor’s creations could take one hell of a beating. That meant even if she somehow was much stronger than she was and could harm Demonica, the woman would simply get back up even after getting hit with a killing blow that would end other Supers.
“What’s wrong?” Demonica hissed. “Nothing funny to say?” The front of her Super-suit tore a bit as the woman’s fingers dug into it and she was lifted up.
“Just thinking of a witty remark.” She grunted out. She hoped the other two were doing well.
Whisper ran forward and slid just in the nick of time. Saw Head’s right arm had morphed into a ten-foot-long great sword, which the villain was swinging around wildly. It soared over the hero’s head, and the girl rammed her taser into his junk and turned it on full blast. It only seemed to annoy the monster more than anything, though.
Saw Head raised his foot and knives stabbed from the bottom of it, growing so long they almost impaled Whisper, but the girl leaned her body back far enough to roll over the ground. When his foot slammed back down, Whisper did the splits and scooted back just enough to avoid the blades that came from the ground at the spot she had been sitting at. The hero rolled again and pocketed her taser, swapping it out for something else.
“Eat flare.” The girl pulled a flare gun out and fired it. The girl wasn’t sure if Saw Head had a brain or anything, but where his face was, he had a tiny hole where a person could put their fingers into the saw blade. She aimed for that, and it was perfect. The flare soared into the hole, and his flesh lit up as red smoke poured from his head.
Saw Head cocked his neck and the saw blade spun, and he swung his greatsword again, now cloaked in billowing smoke. Before the attack could hit her, thousands of wasps latched onto her suit and raised her up just in time.
“All you did was make him look cooler.” Wasp Nest yelled.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that would happen?”
“You see the future!”
“It doesn’t work like that!” Wasp Nest dropped her, and Whisper broke her fall with a roll. She grabbed something from out of her pocket and tossed it to the swarm, which caught it. “Use that!”
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Saw Head’s back tore open again, and his bladed tendrils came out, swatting at the mass of bugs. It didn’t matter though. Wasp Nest would simply break himself up into even smaller hordes, and whatever parts of him were killed would simply be recreated and fixed the moment he entered his human form. As long as one bug lived, he could always return to his human form, and as long as his human form survived, he could always return to his swarm form. On top of that, each time he changed, he always got fully healed.
In other words, he was basically impossible to kill. A fact Saw Head was starting to learn.
Wasp Nest’s bugs landed on the monster and began to bite and sting the man, tearing at the creature’s flesh, but it didn’t seem bothered by the damage and instead caused razor-sharp blades to fire out of every part of its skin. It impaled many of the bugs, but a few still escaped and formed together back into Wasp Nest. The boy gave a smirk and wave and took off running.
Saw Head was about to attack but stopped when he noticed something. Sitting on the floor directly at his feet was a grenade with the pin missing. The saw spun, and then the explosive went off. Wasp Nest high-fived Whisper as he caught up to her. “Think that took him down?”
From the smoking crater, Saw Head stomped out coated in metal, his blades twisted around his body like armor. “You just had to say something, didn’t you?” Whisper sighed. First rule you learned as a hero: never ask if the bad guy is out for the count, they won’t be.
“My bad.”
Back on the other end of the beach, she managed to raise her arms up just in time to block a punch from Demonica. The woman moved around the beach with blinding speeds, loud cracks echoing behind her, and a streak of flame following closely. Fire poured from the villain's feet and palms, boosting her further. Every time Demonica was about to strike, the woman would create fire on her elbow and ram the limb forward. These were all things she took note of as she received what might have very well been the biggest ass beating of her life.
Demonica’s fist slammed into her face, and before she could even think about throwing a strike of her own, the villain was gone and behind her. An elbow rammed into her neck, and once more the villain was in front of her, this time smashing a knee up. With every strike, she was thrown further and further back, crashing through dozens of the trees as the woman shoved her deeper into the forest.
It seemed to give Demonica a further edge as the woman used the trees to boost her speed by jumping among them like springboards. She hadn’t even been able to land a single hit on the monster as she was beaten around the island over and over again.
Despite that, though, she kept getting back up. She wasn’t a monster, nor did she have a weird body like Mr. Larison, but she could still take one hell of a beating. She wiped some blood from her face and grinned.
“Wipe that smile off your face.” Demonica’s voice bounced around the forest as the villain moved like a blur through all the trees. “The only reason you live is because I allow you to. I want to cause you pain. I want to make you suffer. To watch you beg. To see that you stand no chance.”
“With the outfit you’re in, I would have thought you were more of a masochist than a sadist.” She said sheepishly.
“Die.”
Demonica charged her again, but this time she didn’t bother defending herself. Instead, she wrapped her arms around a tree and ripped it out of the ground with ease. It didn’t matter how fast Demonica might have been; the woman was still in motion, and with how big the tree was, she had no way of missing. She swung it out with everything she had, using it as some sort of bat.
Dozens of other trees were knocked over and torn down by her attack and Demonica shoulder bashed through the palm tree, shattering it, but it did the trick. It stopped the woman moving for a moment. She leapt toward Demonica with her inhuman speed. Fire swirled around her arm, and he struck out with a powerful punch. It never reached though, as with one hand Demonica caught her wrist.
She wasn’t done, though. She opened her mouth wide, charging up her fire, but right as her beam blasted out, Demonica used her other hand and grabbed Cinder’s chin, tilting her head up and causing her other beam to fire into the air, where it kept going until it split the clouds above them. Both of Demonica’s hands were busy gripping her now, though, so the woman had no way of defending as Cinder brought her foot back and jammed it into the villain’s stomach. Demonica didn’t budge from the kick, but that was okay. She had learned something new by watching the woman in action. She didn’t just need to create fire in her arms.
Her foot that rested on Demonica’s gut ignited with red hot fire, and she blasted a beam directly out of it straight into Demonica’s stomach. Demonica was sent crashing back, being shoved through dozens of trees as the beam of fire carried the villain.
Demonica was so busy dodging the falling trees and lasers that she didn’t even notice Cinder raise her foot up. It wasn’t just her mouth or hands she could use her fire out of. An orb of fire formed, and Cinder kicked it as hard as she could, pretending it was a soccer ball. The ball rammed into Demonica’s face, throwing the woman’s head back and causing the purple fire in her hair to go out for a moment. This time, it was the villain’s turn to crash into the water.
Her fire died out, and she crouched low to the ground. Using her enhanced strength, she jumped into the air and then further boosted herself up as high as she could by exploding a wave of fire out of her palms, which blasted her so high that she nearly reached the clouds above.
A pillar of fire stabbed out of the water, and Demonica came crashing out of it. The villain looked around, trying to spot where she had gone before suddenly glaring up into the air at where she was just in time to see her charging up another attack.
Fire swirled around both her arms, and she formed it above her head. “I always wanted to do something like this. Armin would be proud of me.” She was quickly dropping from the sky, but her attack was ready to go. It was a massive orb of fire around the size of a car. “Cinder casts fireball!” She announced throwing her arms out as hard as she could and causing the massive ball of flame to soar out toward the ground below.
Demonica eyed the slow-moving attack up with an almost bored look. The villain snorted and folded her arms. “Such a slow-moving attack. You think something like that will ever reach me-”
“I’m not aiming for you!” She shouted. Demonica seemed taken aback; the woman hadn’t actually been talking to her, but thanks to her enhanced hearing, she had heard every word the villain was saying. “I know you’re too much for someone like me to beat as I am! There was a reason I blasted myself this high into the air! I needed to see my target!”
As high up as she was, she had been able to see the whole island thanks to her eyes. That allowed her to see the true person this attack was made for. “What!” The woman’s eyes went wide, and she turned around, but it was too late.
Saw Head noticed the attack coming at the last second. The massive fireball came from above, heading straight toward the villain, who wasn’t ready for it. The monster tried to block it and threw his arms out in some sort of effort, but he never stood a chance. The metal on him easily melted to a fine puddle, and his flesh already began to turn a nasty black. The attack hit him head-on, and the Bad Timer member was smashed into the floor. The heat was so strong that Whisper and Wasp Nest had to jump away and avert their eyes.
The sand beneath Saw Head started to bubble and turn into molten glass, which the villain sank into as the fire pushed down on him from above. It was as if the fire somehow had some sort of physical form. It wasn’t normal fire, but the villain wasn’t able to figure out what it was. Instead, all the villain could focus on was the massive amount of pain as his exposed flesh turned black.
Finally, Saw Head was shoved all the way into the ground, and as if sensing that it was ready, the fireball exploded with a massive force that shook the entire island and rained more of the glass down below. Saw Head’s body was buried in liquid glass, his flesh a nasty black, and his metal dripping off his form. This time he didn’t get back up. Smoke rolled off of his unconscious body, and his melted saw face slowly stopped spinning.
As cool as the moment might have been, it was broken seconds later as she awkwardly slammed into the ground, breaking through some trees that broke her fall and came flat on her rear. She winced a bit but shook her head.
“Let’s try this again, Demonica.” She punched her palm and gave a smirk as fire burst from her hand, and she stood back up. “I can’t beat you by myself, so why not just team up on you?” Wasp Nest pulled himself together, landing next to her, and from behind Demonica, Whisper stood twirling her taser.
Demonica growled and stayed low to the ground. She almost looked like a cornered animal for a moment. The woman practically got on all fours, ready to sprint at a moment’s notice. “So what? Three children are still just kids at the end of the day. I’m faster. Stronger. I’m better! I don’t care what you try to do! I’ll beat you all-”
It happened in a flash. The sky up above changed into a nasty black color, and everything began to shake. She nearly tripped, and even Demonica seemed caught off guard. From up above, in the inky black void the sky had changed into, cracks began to appear.
“W-What happened to the sky?” She yelled. Had she done that back accident?
“It’s not really the sky.” Wasp Nest shouted. “We’re not on Earth anymore, remember. We’re in another realm. That’s more like the ceiling to this world, and it looks like someone is trying to break in forcefully.”
“Could it be the others?” She asked.
“I don’t think so.” Whisper frowned. The hero wasn’t bothered by the shaking. Demoncia glared up to the sky, not paying attention to them anymore. “If the others knew where we were, they’d just come through the doorway and end up on the beach like us. This is something else. Someone is-” The girl’s eyes narrowed slightly as she saw hundreds of twisting lines that only she could see. The Paths of the world. “Oh crap!”
The crack grew larger, and the sky broke apart. It really was like it was a roof, shards of black raining down like glass. Past it was simply nothing. A black void. It hurt her head just looking at it, but from the void something was dropping down. A howl filled the beach. Not one belonging to any animal, but rather a person trying to make the sound a wolf might make.
Her eyes filled with fear when she saw the cartoon wolf mask the man wore. He dropped from above and came crashing down. Green Wolf had arrived. He didn’t land anywhere near them, though, instead crashing on the roof of the stone building. All it took was one swipe of his blade to tear the building in two.
“Polaron!” Demonica screamed like a banshee and took off running as fast as she could in the direction of the building.
The cracks above grew larger and began to expand. The ocean behind them began to break apart as well, and the air seemed to freeze. “The world’s breaking.” Wasp Nest yelled.
“Is that bad?”
“Not really.” The boy seemed calmer now. “When it breaks, everyone here will be spat out. That means we’ll appear back where we started, and we’ll have all the knocked-out goons. We just need to wait it out, and we’ll be fine.”
She nodded as the world shook more. Despite how easy it sounded, a strange feeling in her gut told her something was wrong. Something bad was about to happen. “Go, Cinder!” Whisper yelled. “You can make it in time if you go.” The girl had seemed something that agreed with her bad feeling.
That was all she needed. She took off running at full speed, leaving the other two behind. She jumped over the wood and dodged the branches. Up ahead, she could hear the sound of battle. The forest soon opened, and she came to a sliding stop, standing behind Demonica, who looked to the center of the building. It had been sliced apart and carved away, leaving it as a large square-shaped arena-like platform.
Standing in the center of it with his arms behind his back was Polaron, metal rising and twisting around him. In front of him, only a few feet away, Green Wolf stood swinging his knives out and shooting invisible slices through the air. It didn’t matter how durable you were; Green Wolf’s attacks were pure kinetic energy, so only the best of the best, like the Victorian, could survive getting hit by it.
Polaron raised himself up with his power, dodging the strike. While in the air, more of his metal stabbed out of the stone building, which broke away further, revealing hundreds of swords, shields, suits of armor, and anything else that was medieval and made out of iron. He tried to yank Green Wolf’s knives out of the man’s hands but they didn’t respond.
“Bone.” Green Wolf tossed one of his blades in the air, showing it off. It was milky white and looked to have been carved and stitched together. “Got it from fusing the bones of a bear together. Pretty cool, right? Made sure not to bring any metal with me. Oh, and don’t bother with the iron inside of me. I have a kinetic barrier around me-”
A massive car slammed into Green Wolf and exploded. The man just walked out of it and dusted himself off, clicking his tongue.
“Rude.”
“I don’t know why you’ve come here, but you’ve made a big mistake.” Polaron hissed. His armor had been rebuilt since she last saw him. It was cleaner also. “Then again, I have always wondered who would win between the two of us.”
“Oh, that’s easy.” Green Wolf raised his knife, pointing it towards the leader of the Bad Timers. The boss of Zoo cocked his head to the side. “I would, of course.”
“Is that a fact?” Polaron placed his hand on the sword that rested at his side. His knight armor seemed to crackle with a spark of energy as he softly landed on the ground in front of Green Wolf. “Let us see, then.”
Zoo versus the Bad Timers. Things were about to get a whole lot worse for everybody present.