Kevin had spent his whole life trying to be the best. He studied three times a day: when he first woke up, during lunch, and before he went to bed. He exercised for three hours a day whenever he could and constantly read the new info on the local football players for the next game.
And on top of all of that, he was on a cocktail of drugs. Sure, his future wouldn’t be the best, but the present was the only thing he cared about. He was as good as a human could get.
But that was just the thing.
In the end, he was human.
Gunfire rang throughout the air, hitting metal and stone. The warehouse had been dark, with only a large window up top allowing moonlight in. Well, that and the many flashes of fire.
Demonica’s name was accurate, it seemed. The woman moved like a demon. The villain was fast. Most Supers were faster and stronger than your average human, but speedsters were something else. Almost like a cheat code, casually dodging gunfire and moving fast enough to cause their blows to land with devastating force.
Each goon the Bad Timer hit didn’t get back up.
“Oh God,” Kevin whispered, watching the woman dance through every person like it was nothing. They said God once created man, and it was the act of guns that made men equal. Tell that to a Super.
Demonica didn’t just run through every person that came near her. The villain utterly destroyed them. Demonica crawled, going on the ceiling and the walls, her limbs twitching and distorting like something out of a horror movie, as fire blasted off of her, scorching anyone that got too close.
“We can’t handle a Super, retreat!” Someone screamed out.
That caused Kevin to snap out of the trance. “This is our chance.” He put his arm under the man in the suit and helped the guy up. “We can get out of here if we hurry.”
“You think we can actually escape.” The man groaned, clutching at where he had been shot. “That woman is one of the cruelest people around. She won’t let us go.”
Kevin didn’t even have time to argue with the man. The warehouse he was in constantly shook, and the wooden beams had ignited with fire a while ago. There were no windows, and if not for the open door, everyone would have all been killed by the smoke a while ago. Dozens of boxes formed walls, allowing them to stay mostly out of harm’s way from the bullets. There had been at least a hundred goons in the warehouse, many up in rafters or sitting on boxes, but now less than twenty remained.
Several of the Wandering Coin members dropped their guns and made a mad dash for the exit. No one was able to get outside, though. Fire blasted out at the entrance to the warehouse, causing the front of the building to cave in, leaving them all trapped in what might become their metal tomb.
“Damn it!” Kevin cursed. He made sure he was out of sight of the villain as he set the man down. “You stay here. With all these boxes around, there’s bound to be a few crowbars to open them somewhere. I’ll try to bust through the wall.”
“Ha. You think you can get through an entire wall of wood and stone?”
“Gotta try at least.” Kevin hissed.
The man shook his head and stumbled to his feet. His eyes lingered on something that was in the center of the warehouse. The one who had invited everyone here today had been sitting on it, though now only his lower half remained. “Idiots. Of course, a gun isn’t a match for a Super. Did they forget what kind of products they had?”
“Where are you going?” Kevin asked.
The man ignored him, stumbling into the center of the room, where bullets rained as much as the hellish woman’s fire did. Kevin had been right about the crowbars. There was one next to a box, which the man in the suit picked up. He brought it down on the box and forced the lid off, ignoring how his side felt like it was about to explode.
Inside were dozens of jars of a strange orangish liquid. He picked one up and got ready to pop the top off. “Hey!”
That caused Demonica to come to a stop. She dropped one of the men she had been holding, her head twisting all the way around until it stared at the man.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Demonica didn’t even give him a chance. She was on the guy, and despite the fact it was a mere flick, the attack threw the man in the suit through the air, and he smashed back first into the metal wall.
The villain raised her hand up, charging up a bolt of hellish fire, ready to vaporize the poor suit on the spot. That was when Kevin did one of the dumbest things in his life. As a mere mortal, he leaped out from behind the box and smacked the Super upside the head with a crowbar!
The fire on Demonica seemed to freeze, just as the woman did. The attack did nothing, although it absolutely caught the woman off guard. Her eyes darted up to the tall boy who forfeited his life. Kevin stood there shaking but brought his makeshift weapon up, ready to fight.
“Super or not! I’ll fight you!” Kevin never got to try. One of the Wandering Coin goons fired his gun. The bullet hit Demonica, literally bounced off her skin, and stabbed into Kevin. He gasped and fell over, clutching at his gut wound in shock. “What just happened?”
Demonica let out a snort and brought her foot up, about to simply crush his head. Kevin closed his eyes as the limb came down! Despite having his eyes closed, he was able to see the bright flash of gold and the scream Demonica made that caused all gunfire to cease.
The boy opened his eyes and saw the mighty Super was shaking rapidly as if she had just been hit with the mother of all tasers.
“Cinder, the thugs! Snowdawn, deal with the fire.” A voice announced from up top. Kevin looked up with wide eyes. Heroes. Just like in the comic, they had arrived at the perfect moment. One was dressed in all red, and he glowed with a golden aura. He was the one barking out the orders.
The one in blue, a young girl with a metal helmet, dropped from the roof and tried to land a superhero pose. She fumbled a bit but managed to stay on her feet. Her hands flew out in awkward slapping motions, and any poor goon that got hit by her attack was smashed into the ground, knocked out, and most sporting a broken jaw.
After her was a strange snowman thing, it was covered head to toe in frost, and as it dropped, it held its hands down, creating layers of water and snow that formed into a cushion as it landed. It instantly got to work, blasting snow at the many sets of pillars that had ignited, putting them out.
The man in red was the last to drop down, doing so just as Demonica recovered. The villain threw out a punch at lightning-like speeds, but the hero caught her fist. Demonica stared in shock as the lower half of the man’s face twisted into a smirk. “Let’s take this fight outside.” And with that, Battery rammed his fist into the woman’s face as fast as he could, blasting her to the other side of the room and through the wall, sending her flying out of the warehouse and creating a hole that allowed all the smoke and the people to escape through.
Kevin stared up in shock at the man in red. “Did you come to save me?”
Battery didn’t answer, pointing his hand at the villain, who was already getting back up. “Bang.” A blast of golden light exploded out, causing all the goons and the villain to scream as the brilliant light burned into their retinas.
Cinder smacked goon after goon, moving through the horde of enemies. Her arms came up as she blocked a large man wielding some kind of automatic rifle. The bullets caused her to wince and shake at the thudding impacts, but they didn’t pierce her costume. It hurt way less than the stab she got from Red Scorpion. She gave a small smirk and punched the man in the gut, causing him to drop instantly.
“You know, fighting normal guys is a lot more fun than Supers.” She said happily.
“You’ve fought a Super before?” The voice of Whisper asked, going through the communication device she wore.
“Yep. A few now!” She bragged. She decided to leave out the part about how she almost died each time.
Up above, a drone flew through the air, keeping close to her. Whisper wasn’t in the building. The girl remained outside in a van, monitoring everything. “On your left,' the girl calmly stated.
One of the goons tried to sneak attack her with a bat, but she dodged the strike, thanks to Whisper’s warning. “You know I don’t need a babysitter, right? Snowdawn could use your warning more. He’s not as durable as me.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like him,” Whisper explained bluntly.
“Ouch.” Snowdawn’s voice came through the earpiece, causing the girl to giggle.
“There appears to be two civilians near the front, both in critical condition,” Whisper said as her drone finished flying through the room.
“I’ve put out most of the fires,” Snowdawn called out. “Cinder, you grab the two and bring them to Whisper. I’ll take out the rest of these guys and back you up!”
“Got it.” She threw one of the goons through a box and began to rip her way past the wood to where the downed people were.
Whisper had been the one to text her and Mr. Larison when they were patrolling around the city. The girl had also tried to call Myth. Wherever he was, their leader wasn’t picking up. That meant they currently didn’t have the best heavy hitter for their team at the moment.
The Sub Enforcers were busy with something else also, likely Green Wolf-related since they pissed his group off, and no one was able to get a hold of Watch Dogs still. Ocean Empress could show up to help, but it was fifty-fifty at best since the woman was jumping between Oleander and Lillian. That left just them.
Battery had used his super speed to get them all here. The man was stupidly fast, and so strong he had picked up the van and carried it with them inside. This was their first actual mission as Pantheon. And of course, thanks to her rotten luck, they were dealing with a member of the Bad Timers.
She came to a sliding stop in front of the downed boy and was a little shocked when she saw who it was. “Kevin! You, okay?”
Kevin groaned, fading in and out of consciousness. “Lauren?”
“No.” She quickly put on her best, not Hope Lauren voice. “I’m Cinder! I’m here to save you!”
Kevin’s eyes closed, and his breathing slowed. “There was another guy. He was hit by the villain. He had something on him too. One of the drugs.” The boy croaked out.
“The drugs?” Her eyes widened. “Uh oh. Battery, we might have an issue.”
“Little busy kid.” Battery’s voice crackled through the earpiece. “Sit still, ya damn Demon, I’m gonna show ya the light of God! Bang! Bang!” The oldest member of their team had moved the battle outside and was now giving chase to Demonica, who ran at insane speeds on the beach, kicking up a wave of sand.
“At least someone is having a good time.” She set Kevin down and made for the corner the other man was at. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw him. He was in bad condition. Very, very bad condition, but the drug remained unused. It seemed he got knocked out before he used it. He also hadn’t opened the thing all the way.
She took the jar out of his hands slowly and took her backpack off. She was glad she brought it because she had no pockets on her costume. She opened the bag up and set the jar into it gently, then closed it back up. Slipping it back on, she grabbed the man and gently carried him over to where Kevin was still sprawled out on the ground. All the while, Whisper’s drone followed her.
“Cinder here.” She said, speaking into her earpiece. “I’m taking the two civilians to you now, Whisper. Get ready to transport them to a hospital.”
“Copy that,” Whisper responded.
She did her best to lift Kevin up carefully. Her strength made it more than easy. Next up was the man in the suit. She used one arm to lift him up, throwing both men over a different shoulder. “Good thing he got knocked out when he did. If he took that drug, things would have gotten bad.”
“Yeah-” A loud buzzing caused her to wince as several alarms went off on Whisper’s end.
“Shit! Cinder behind you!”
Whisper’s warning came a second too late. A literal metal beam flew through the air and smashed into the back of her head. She stumbled forward, gritting her teeth as she kept her grip on the two civilians.
“Ow!” She screamed. “That freaking hurt!”
“How curious. I tried to take your entire head off.” She froze when she heard the voice. It was one she still remembered even now. One she had heard before she had her powers. “It seems you are durable. Yes, I’d say you’re at least a little tough.”
It was a villain. One dressed in black knight-like armor, with a long cape flowing behind him as all the metal in the room was lifted up. Polaron, leader of the Bad Timers, strolled forward with his arms casually behind his back and took note of her.
“I have bad luck.”
“That you do.” The villain looked up towards the drone that was above him. He lazily cocked his head to the side, and the machine let out a mechanical cry as it was crushed into a ball. “Still. It’s a little odd.” The man hummed. The ball landed on his finger and began to spin. “I tried to crush your skull into a fine paste, but it seems that the helmet you have isn’t normal metal. Ah, it’s one of Avalon's, isn’t it? I heard he had come here. He likely used the metal from the pod.”
She ignored him as she gently set the two civilians down. She was able to get a single step forward before the man struck. The metal ball blasted forward and tried to ram her. She dodged the strike at the last second and managed to jump toward him and wrap her arms around the man’s waist. Twisting her body, she turned and threw him across the room and into one of the boxes. His armor rose up as he used his powers to float above the air, all the nails ripping their way out of the wood. The air buzzed as his knight-like helmet once more cocked to the side.
The warehouse began to fall apart around them as the villain collapsed the building. She punched away some of the debris, but it was coming down fast. At the last second before the roof could fully cave in, though, the walls and floors became covered in a thin layer of frost, and pillars of snow rose up to hold the roof.
“Sorry, but I’ll be putting you on ice!” Snowdawn called out as he stopped the building from fully collapsing. It wouldn’t last forever, though. “Let’s take this loser out, Cinder!”
“You think we can beat him?” She asked, looking up at the man in armor. She was glad her best friend stood by her side, but that didn’t boost her confidence up that much. Polaron, like Green Wolf, was the leader of a villain gang. In this case, the Bad Timers. The man was basically as strong, maybe even stronger, than Green Wolf, and a threat that would normally require an Enforcer to take on.
“Oh no, we’re going to die.” Snowdawn announced casually, making her worry grow worse. “But it’ll be a cool death! Cool? Eh? Get it? I made another ice pun earlier also.”
She snorted and shrugged. “Whisper, come and get Kevin out of here! Snowdawn and I will hold this guy off!”
“Right!” Whisper called back. “I’ll be there as soon as I can!”
All she had to do now was battle one of the strongest people in Oleander City. Man, her luck was bad.
Over with Battery, he heard everything that was happening from over his earpiece. He gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles, the black lines on his outfit turning gold as the energy began to rumble. “I don’t have time to play around anymore. The kids need me, so you’re gonna have to go ahead and stay down, ‘kay?”
“I’ll feast on your soul!” Demonica roared. They had moved the battle to the water. As in both of them were running across the ocean standing on water as they threw lasers and purple fire at one another.
“Ain’t got a soul.” Battery weaved in and out of the flames, and shoulder bashed his way through a wave that was kicked up. Gold and black streaks rippled through the ocean as he battled the villain. “You can have this knuckle sandwich instead though.”
Every second he fought, he got faster, and in an instant he appeared in front of Demonica, moving so fast that even she was starting to look slow to him. Golden lightning crackled out of Battery’s fist, and he rammed it directly into the face of Demonica, hitting the woman so hard he blew her through the water and sent her deep into the ocean.
He came to a sliding stop on the water and created a barrier of gold beneath his feet that allowed him to still stand. He searched the water with his eyes, but it was almost pitch black due to the night sky. Luckily, he didn’t need to look very hard.
The water began to bubble, and steam started to rise off of the ocean around Battery. A bright purple glow started to expand out. Demonica was like him in a way. The woman built up power. Every second, the fire on her body grew in size and heat, and she got faster. He gained his power by absorbing and building up energy his body created, but Demonica’s power source was different. She gained power from pure hatred and rage.
And she was really pissed off!
The water exploded as the woman came blasting out like a jet. Fire gushed out of the bottom of Demonica’s feet, allowing her to literally fly, and she twisted through the air and came down so fast that a massive crack exploded through the air and the water was kicked up. Battery held his hand up, and several golden orbs of energy appeared around him, all firing their own lasers. The lasers rained through the air, but Demonica dodged and weaved out of the way as she kept flying above him.
“She’s dodging my lasers? She is fast.” Battery grunted. The villain was moving at speeds that most Supers wouldn’t be able to keep up with anymore. He must have really made her mad. She came down hard, still unleashing a stream of fire out of her feet, and Demonica went through the water like some sort of jet ski flying over the top of the ocean.
Fire formed around Demonica’s claws, and she slashed down, trying to cut Battery into ribbons. Battery managed to dodge the strike, but the ocean around him was literally split in two, stretching out for at least a mile.
Before Battery had a chance to fire anymore of his attacks, Demonica’s fist met his gut, and he had to wince. It was like a volcano had decided to punch him. The fire literally blasted out of her elbow, boosting the punch as if it were some kind of jet. It actually caused Battery to nearly vomit as she shoved him back several feet, no doubt breaking some ribs.
Battery was sent flying back, and this time it was his turn to drop beneath the water as the ocean began to mold itself back together after Demonica’s attack. Battery felt the heavy water ram down into him, and it knocked more of the wind out of his lungs as he began to sink into the water.
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He felt his lungs start to flood with water, but he wasn’t too concerned. He had been in space before, so the chances of him drowning weren’t that high. What did worry him though was his heart. It was beating faster and faster and started to burn. But as the pain got worse, so did something else. The power within him was growing.
Just like with Cinder, Battery was getting stronger at an alarming rate. His heart was settling around the pain and adapting to it. He was growing used to it and pushing himself further and further than he used to.
Demonica floated just above the water and narrowed her eyes when several golden beams of energy blasted out. She dodged in and out of their way with ease and growled. Slowly, Battery rose out of the water, standing on a golden platform. He had a sly smirk on his lips and wiped some of the blood off of him.
“You know, we seem to have a lot in common.” He stated casually.
“What? Is this the part where you ask me out?” The villain spat.
“Nah. I already went through the dance of romance. Not interested in a repeat. Especially with a freak like you.”
Demonica howled and charged forward, being carried by her purple flame. It boosted the villain forward like a rocket, creating another massive boom, and she dodged all of the rapid lasers that came at her. More fire coated her claws as she came head-on at Battery and rammed her hand forward.
Her arm stabbed directly through the man’s stomach and came out his back. Battery gasped out and spat up some of his blood but then smirked. Demonica had been way too fast for him to hit normally. Now though…
Golden lightning zapped through Battery’s body as the energy created inside of him escaped through the hole in his gut. Demonica twitched and began to spasm as the woman’s body was hit with waves of lightning. Battery rammed his hand forward and shoved it through Demonica’s stomach, impaling her with his fist. Black blood poured down her gut.
Both hero and villain glared at one another as they dug their arms deeper into their opponent. “Die!” Demonica hissed out and blasted a wave of her purple flame out.
“You first.” Battery’s body ignited with more golden lightning, and suddenly a shimmer of blue appeared in his aura. Demonica’s eyes went wide when she saw it. The fire that began to burn Battery stopped and flickered out as the man’s aura devoured it. With a twist of his arm, Battery kicked up a powerful tornado by spinning the limb as fast as he could. It blew Demonica off of his arm and sent the woman crashing back across the water.
Like most Supers that had enhanced bodies, Demonica could take a beating, and even with her gut split open, she clung to life and glared up at Battery. The fire flowing from her feet picked her up, and she screamed out, throwing her arms out and sending jagged shards of purple fire out in every direction. “I know that power! You’re-”
“Battery.” Battery clasped his hands together, and the blue took shape as he expanded them and held a claymore forged out of blue lightning. It was jagged and looked like a bolt had been pulled from the clouds themselves. “I’m just Battery.” With a single swing, a wave of blue energy blasted out of the blade, meeting Demonica’s fire head on.
Meanwhile, outside of the warehouse, Whisper said a quick prayer and then hit the gas. The van roared to life and shot forward, as the girl used it to literally ram through the wall. Normally it would be a very bad idea; now, however, the building had taken so much damage that it was already falling apart, so it was just a stupid idea now.
Whisper winced as the van came to a crashing stop when she broke into the warehouse. A gasp escaped her lips when she saw what was going on inside. Smoke was piling up quickly, and there were almost as many unconscious bodies as there were dead. The members of Wandering Coin, who were still alive and conscious, had either given up, stayed low to the ground, or ran off. There were hundreds of large boxes, many of which had been smashed, spilling their orange liquid everywhere. Whisper couldn’t see her teammates, but she did hear yelling through the falling apart building.
Polaron was likely using one of his powers to cut off communication as the earpieces had stopped working.
Whisper focused her power and shivered as she felt the light bend and twist around her form. The girl became unseen, even to herself. Normally invisibility wouldn’t be as cool as it sounds, as even a person’s eyes would need to be visible in order for them to receive light, letting you see. Her power, however, like many superpowers, just didn’t make sense, and so she could still see just fine. In fact, she could see even better like this.
The line lit up with an unseen trail of light. Whisper got out of the van and followed it. Bullets still rained, and by now, the building was falling apart, so debris threatened to crush many. Not her, though.
Whisper quietly followed her little line, always outside of the danger of the bullets or debris. Soon she arrived at the boy that Cinder had called Kevin. She twisted her head a little, a bullet flying past, barely missing her. Not skipping a beat, she grabbed the boy by his foot and began to drag him.
Whisper struggled to do so but forced him to come anyway. She didn’t have super strength or anything crazy like that, but she was still a hero.
“Are you still alive, big guy?”
“What?” Kevin’s eyes opened slightly, but he saw no one dragging him. “Who?”
“Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t know my name even if you saw me. I’m not one of the important people. I’m a side character like you.”
“What?”
“I said don’t worry about it.” Whisper followed her line, dodging the bullets and falling debris, all the while dragging the boy across the floor as she got closer to the van. “We have some supplies in the van; I’ll patch you up, and hopefully you won’t die. Still got to say, coming here was a stupid idea. You’re going to have a hard time explaining to a judge why you were in a drug den.”
“Just get me out of here.” Kevin groaned.
“Will do.”
Whisper struggled to lift the boy up, and he let out a stream of curses as his bullet wound ached, but eventually she managed to throw him into the back of the van. “Where are you going?” Kevin grunted. The hero didn’t get in with him. He couldn’t see her, but he could still hear the sounds of her footsteps as she began to walk away.
“There were two of you. I’m grabbing him, too. Then I’m going to help my team out of this mess you brought them into.”
Kevin sighed and looked up at the roof of the van as he was left alone. “Damn Supers. They're so strong.” He reached into his pocket and fished out something that had rolled near him after he had been shot. It was a small jar of orange liquid.
The wooden pillar collapsed as Cinder was literally smashed through it and came crashing out on the other side. She tried to break her fall, but she failed and rolled brutally across the floor. Snowdawn created a cushion of snow for her, but it came too late.
She was happy to have an enhanced body. She was also glad she got her costume when she did. The thing was staying together no matter how many nails tried to impale her.
She quickly pushed herself up to her feet and ran at a wall. She kicked off of the wall, lifting up into the air and grabbing onto one of the wooden rafters. The nails in it began to rip their way out, and the thing broke, but she wrapped her arms around it and chucked it at Polaron. A large metal buzzsaw floated in front of the flying man and spun fast enough to cut the wooden beam she threw in two.
Snowdawn skated across the ground and threw his hand out, causing a massive arm of snow to form on the ground and lift up. The hand tried to wrap around Polaron, but large metal rods appeared on either side of the leader and began to spin so fast they glowed red hot and melted the snow.
She crashed back down onto the ground, huffing. The villain was staying out of her melee range and simply throwing fast and strong attacks at her and Snowdawn. It was more annoying than painful, her enhanced skin tanking them, and Snowdawn’s snow armor keeping him safe.
“Why don’t you get down here and fight me like a man?” She called out. “One v one me, coward!”
“No thanks. I find physical combat beneath me.” Polaron hummed.
“Are you scared?” Snowdawn taunted.
“You two are truly annoying.” Polaron’s finger twitched, and an iron sword that was at his side unsheathed itself, and with another small gesture, the blade flew forward with blinding speed.
She blocked the strike with her arms, wincing as she felt it cut into the costume and part of her wrists. It didn’t get far, though, as she flexed and shattered the blade! Those shattered pieces then flew up and pelted her stomach, making her hiss. It was too weak to stab, but it would leave a bruise. The buzzsaw flew next, and she ducked it, but it then curved back through the air; she dodged it again, and it once again came back at her.
She punched down on it before it could reach her, but then the thing folded and bent around her hand and then caused her hand to smack into her face and nearly break her nose again. Her hand kept hitting her over and over again as she tried to rip the metal off of it.
“Ow! You’re being so annoying!”
Snowdawn created a pillar of snow beneath him, which blasted the boy forward toward Polaron. “Take this!” He shouted about to hit the villain, only for Polaron to lazily float out of the way. “Aw man, I hate flyers." Snowdawn went through the roof, unable to stop himself as he crashed out of the building.
“Ha! I got it off!” She managed to rip the metal glove that the villain attached to her off and began to stomp down on it. “Take that you jerk-”
Dozens of metal rods and poles smacked into her, bending and twisting around her body, trying to bind her. She was raised off of the ground by the villain and sent smashing through the window, going high up into the air. The metal then untwisted around her and let go. She fell and screamed as she crashed through the roof and face-first into the floor.
“You’re durable.” Polaron huffed, sounding annoyed. She huffed and ripped all the metal off of her. Then she punched the ground as hard as she could, ripping out a huge chunk of stone. She pulled her arm back and threw it, just like her dad taught her! The stone softball hurled through the air, and Polaron lazily floated to the side, dodging the attack. He turned, watching it fly off. “Did you really think that would work? Did you not see your friend-”
Her hand wrapped around his foot as she jumped up as high as she could while he was off guard. She twisted her body and forced him down, smashing him into the ground. She landed next to him, and as he stood back up, she lifted both her arms, doing the same stance she had seen Mr. Larison use earlier. Faster than Polaron could react, she hit him with the one-two combo!
“Take this!” She put all her strength into the punch and hit the Super as hard as she could in the gut. Enhanced durability or not, Supers were still humans, and that meant if one took enough damage, they’d go down. As she finished the first jab, she followed it up with a powerful right hook and hit Polaron with a strike that sent a shock wave out.
The sound of metal ripping filled the air, and then, much to her horror, Polaron’s upper half was torn clean off his legs. Black blood poured out of the villain's waist, flowing out and soaking her as the upper body crashed to the ground. She stumbled back, shaking and stared down at her hands, feeling sick.
She had thought he was more durable than that. That he could take a beating yet in only a few attacks she had killed him-
Polaron’s leg smashed into her stomach, downing her and causing her to gasp. The villain’s upper body floated up into the air and growled. “That hurt you, brat.”
She stared at him in shock as he landed on his legs and the metal connected itself back together. “What? How?” Healing factor or not, people couldn’t survive being torn in two, and with how much blood he lost, he should have been dead. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Super with godlike powers; your body is still semi-mortal. “How are you alive?”
“To a Super, it must seem mind-boggling. I gave up mortal flesh long ago, though. My kind are no longer human. My kind are no longer Supers. My kind are stronger. Better. Evolved. We won’t go down easily to what you hit us with. We can take a beating. We were made for war!”
“Your kind-” His fist rammed into her face, and she began to see stars. He began to unleash several brutal punches and kicks; all the while, nails and rods smashed into her back. He threw another punch, but she caught it this time. She was bruised and battered, but she smirked. “I thought you didn’t engage in physical combat.”
“You will die a painful death-” A wave of snow smashed into Polaron’s back, causing the man to stumble.
“Chill out, bro.” Snowdawn announced, having run back into the building after his crash landing. “Now Cinder!”
She opened her mouth and blasted Polaron with fire at point-blank range. The villain screamed, his armor bursting into flames, and he tried to jump away. Metal formed into a solid ball around him, forming some kind of shield, and she let up her attack, wiping at her mouth. She had been sure to hold back so as not to knock herself out, but already she was starting to feel very tired and dizzy.
Polaron’s barrier broke apart, and he took a moment to check himself. His armor had changed a little. Melted slightly. It didn’t seem to bother him, though, despite the fact that he would have been cooked alive if he was a normal human. The man was also the first person she faced to not be taken out by her fire attack instantly. He was tough, without a doubt.
“That was close. You almost broke through my armor.” Polaron let out a breath, softly landing on the ground.
“Was kind of hoping that would hurt you more.” She winced.
Polaron raised his hand up, lifting more of the metal in the room. “You’re more trouble than you’re worth. We came to deal with the members of the Wandering Coin. Leave now, and we’ll finish killing them off, and none of you heroes have to get hurt.”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that.” She said, shaking her head.
“Why does it matter? You plan on throwing them all in prison, right? They will be locked away for life for their crimes. Dead or in jail, does it matter what happens to low lives like these?”
“If you really think they will be heading to prison, then you have no reason to kill them.” She countered. “They won’t be able to bother you ever again. This entire battle is pointless. Call your goon off, and no one else has to get hurt or die.”
“I have a lesson to teach. One that shows why I am said to rival Green Wolf. Bad Timers must keep their reputation.” Polaron raised his hand and threw more metal towards her. She did her best to dodge, but every time one of the shards hit her, her entire body vibrated and twitched. “I would never expect a foolish girl like you to understand it.” The metal began to wrap around her, trying to bind her.
“I don’t need to understand it!” She flexed her body and broke out. As soon as she hit the floor, she used her momentum to fire forward like a bullet. “I’m going to beat you!”
Polaron blocked her strike with ease, though the metal along his arm cracked and dented, causing him to hiss. “You’re not strong enough!”
“It’s a good thing she’s not alone then!” A fist coated in snow rammed into the other side of Polaron’s head. Snowdawn grinned and blasted out a wave of snow into Polaron, but the man easily shattered it by heating his own armor up. Polaron’s fist rammed into Snowdawn, throwing her friend back, but it did the trick. It gave her enough time to act.
She dropped to the ground, falling back, and rammed her leg up, kicking Polaron in the chin. She hit the villain as hard as she could, the shock wave of the attack blowing most of the roof off and sending Polaron lifting into the air. The villain took control of his flight though and spun around, shaking his head. Even after all of that, she had barely harmed him. He truly was as tough as Green Wolf.
“I’ll put my all into this.” Flickers of fire began to drip out of her mouth, and she puffed up her chest. “Here I go-”
“Cinder.” A voice snapped her out of it, and she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She felt her body relax when she saw Myth had finally arrived.
“Myth?”
“It’s fine. You did well. I’ll take it from here.” Myth adjusted his robes as he stepped forward, his eyes glaring into Polaron. “Sorry that I’m so late. I was busy drinking tea with an old friend.”
“Huh?” She said, a little dumbfounded.
Polaron was silently staring back at the newly arrived hero. Myth had been part of the Sub Enforcers when Red Iron ran it. The man had gone on dozens of missions and had likely faced Polaron hundreds of times in combat. The fact he was still alive showed he was stronger than the average hero.
“Stay back, Cinder.” Myth stated. His body began to transform, but it wasn’t that of a bull. Not this time. He would need more power. Myth grew golden fur, and a large mane began to wrap around his neck. Massive black claws jutted from his fingers, and he let out a loud roar that caused her to gasp and clutch at her ears. Her boss almost looked like a lion, but one far bigger with near-unbreakable fur and a set of claws able to slice through nearly anything. Myth stood on two legs and took a step forward with thundering might, shaking the warehouse.
The hero took off at inhuman speeds. Polaron blasted dozens of shards of broken metal, but none of it could harm Myth, his hide bouncing them all off. The leader of Pantheon jumped high into the air, chasing after Polaron, who attempted to fly away. Myth’s claws came down, leaving a large gash across the front of the villain and ripping the armor open.
The broken shards began to seep out of the gash and stab into Myth, but he ignored it, sinking his fangs into Polaron as the villain tumbled to the ground, screaming. The two rolled across the floor, clawing and punching at one another. As shrapnel blasted wildly in all directions, she had to drop to the ground to avoid a stray bullet that shattered another wall.
“If he could do something like this, why didn’t he do it in the fight with Red Ape?” She yelled with wide eyes.
“He has his reasons.” The voice of Whisper caused her to jump. She looked around but didn’t see the girl. She heard her voice and felt the girl’s hand on her shoulder, though. “Myth inherited his powers from his family. You remember the story I told you of the Four Lords? Those four people were the first Supers, and they’re so strong that their power and title pass down to people.”
“Are you saying Myth is a Lord?” She asked in shock.
“No.” Whisper shook her head. “He is a descendent of one, though. People like him and the Victorain can trace their bloodline back to some of the earliest Lords that were said to have existed. Myth is gifted with the ability to take on the form of powerful beasts from ancient tales. If he isn’t careful, though, he could lose himself. The bull is hard to control; filled with wrath and anger, it takes everything he has to not destroy his enemies. The Lion, though. That only comes out when someone needs to die.”
She felt her face pale and watched as the Lion began to rip its way into Polaron’s armor, even as wave after wave of pure magnetic force shattered against his hide. Polaron shoved the beast off of him and flew up with breakneck speeds, causing a sonic boom to go off as he easily broke the sound barrier.
The villain got up higher and higher until he was nothing more than a small dot up in the sky. At first she thought he was running away, but then she heard his voice. “I’m done playing. You will face an end.” Polaron announced, his voice booming inside of his helmet. All the metal began to rise off of the floor and blast through the roof and pillars, destroying more of the building. All of it pulled its way toward the dot that had become Polaron.
“He’s doing something!” She yelled.
The metal twisted around Polaron’s arm, forming into a massive barrel. Thanks to her enhanced eyes, she watched as Polaron aimed the newly created weapon down toward them, and a massive amount of white hot energy began to bubble out. The man was compressing waves of magnetic force and chunks of metal that were spinning around and compressing down into the size of a small bullet. The villain was creating a railgun. The energy began to spill out, and in an instant it fired.
Myth puffed up his chest, and his form seemed to rise in height. For a moment, his muscles twitched and grew as the beam came down toward them, screeching through the air. The lion took in a deep breath and then roared as loud as he could right as the beam reached him.
It was just like the same attack White Lamb used, only this one was on another level. The thundering roar literally exploded out of Myth’s mouth and rammed into the compressed beam that Polaron fired at them. The sound wave tore through the beam traveling through the air as Myth’s lion form activated a power it had. Each of his forms had a unique ability, and in this case, his lion could unleash a roar so powerful it could tear down entire buildings.
The railgun’s beam and the roar cancelled each other out and exploded in the air, sending a wave of force out that blasted her back. She managed to catch Whisper, who clung to her as the wind around them was kicked up. When it finally ended, Myth stood panting and breathing heavily. Polaron’s metal gun was totally melted and broke away, causing the villain to wince.
Both had used a lot of power in that attack, but both still had more to show. She wondered briefly why Myth had lost so badly to Red Ape if he was able to show off power on this level. Had the man been holding back?
Polaron came down from the sky and rammed into the ground so hard he shook the ground. “That’s it. I’m done. I can’t stay here any longer.” The villain said in a dry tone. “At this rate, someone like the Victorian will show up again. I won’t have bad luck like that again! I’ll finish this with my strongest move!”
“Stronger than the railgun! That thing could have blown this whole beach up if Myth didn’t stop it!” She muttered.
Polaron lifted his hand up, and it flared with energy as the villain activated his power. Nothing seemed to happen. No metal lifted, no big guns or weapons formed. It was just nothing… Myth went to ignore it but stopped and gasped. He wasn’t the only one. She stared with wide eyes as everyone aside from her and Polaron suddenly crashed to the floor.
Whisper’s power wore off, and the girl became visible, scratching at her wrist and gasping.
She realized what was happening a second later. The iron in their body. Polaron was literally trying to rip everyone apart from the inside out.
Myth’s lion-like body struggled up and faltered as he roared in pain. Polaron raised his arms up and brought them down, using his power to form several jagged blades that launched toward the struggling Myth. They never reached the man though, as a second later a blur of red appeared and Battery stood in front of his new boss.
The blades stabbed into Battery, impaling the man several times over. Not only that, though, now that he was in Polaron’s radius, the metal inside of his body began to act, causing Battery to gasp and drop to his knees.
“B- Battery!” Myth said through gritted teeth. “W- Why did you-”
“I’m a hero, ain’t I?" Battery panted and stood his ground as more swords stabbed into his body.
“How cute.” Polaron taunted. “You can die first, then-” The villain stopped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Polaron was twisted around by the hand that was on his shoulder, and he came face-to-face with her. “What! Why isn’t the iron in your body responding-”
This time she didn’t hold back. She unleashed everything she had, blasting him with as much fire as she could. It didn’t just pour out of her mouth this time. For a split second, her entire body ignited in white-hot fire, and with a scream, she literally exploded, blasting through Polaron’s shield and his armor! She used everything she had! All of it. Like a mini-sun going supernova, the armor was turned to literal ash, as was the floor beneath her, the building finally giving out and falling apart.
Myth was able to survive only thanks to his near-unbreakable fur, and even with his eyes closed, he began to see white as the fire washed over him. Battery meanwhile created a quick barrier for himself and the others as her powers flared to their max height.
When the attack finally died down, she dropped to her knees, grabbing at her stomach. Her costume was thankfully mostly unharmed, all things considered. Whoever made it was smart enough to make it fire-resistant. It would need a good wash though, covered in black ash. She didn’t really care, though, unable to stop herself from vomiting onto the ground.
The screaming of Polaron filled the room. Even that final attack hadn’t been enough. It wasn’t a scream of anger or pain but rather one of pure fear. His armor was utterly gone, and as the dust settled, everyone was finally able to see the man who hid beneath the knight-like armor.
Just like Demonica and Mars King, Polaron wasn’t a human. He never had been. He looked like he should have been dead. There was no muscle, skin, or organs. He was all bone. Literally. A walking, talking skeleton. However, as she stared, she realized his bones were made out of a solid metal and hummed.
His head was tilted as he stared down at his hands, screaming louder. “Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me! Don’t!” Metal began to fly through the room and crash into him, stabbing into his bones and fusing with him. More and more, he began to gurgle and gasp. “Demonica!” He screamed.
A wave of purple fire blasted out, causing Battery’s eyes to go wide. “No way! That woman is still alive?”
Demonica came flying in; quite literally, purple fire gushed from her feet. Her body was a destroyed mess and looked as if it should be dead, but like Battery, she seemed to be able to still function. The woman swooped down and grabbed Polaron. At this point, he had almost turned into a solid ball as more and more metal began to fuse into him. Demonica wrapped her arms around him and nearly dropped from the weight, but with a grunt, she kept flying, fire blasting out of her feet and boosting her as if she were some kind of rocket. Myth gave chase, dropping down to all fours, and Snowdawn, as well as Battery, also tried to take a few potshots, but neither of them were able to catch up in time.
Demonica was high in the air, and in only a few seconds, she became a spec on the horizon. “Well.” She nearly jumped when she heard the voice of Whisper, the hero reappearing next to her a few moments later. “All things considered, I think things went well!”
There was a loud crash as the rest of the building came down around them.