There was a massive difference between your garden variety superhero and those who went to HAA.

Unlike those who went in blind, HAA students was trained in a vast array of practical skills and the majority of them were not combat related.

As such, even someone like Theo's old friend Vivi (a super pacifist) was capable of maneuvers that were cut above the ordinary Joe.

An example of this was the rapid repelling down a wall.

Using the grappling hook within his left arm, Theo took the vanguard and descended the near pitch black shaft.

The night vision function built into his cybernetic eyes was perfect for such situations.

Due to the depth of the shaft, he would stop and retract his grappling arm to renew its length.

Following Theo was Pastor Biajo using a Theo-made grappling gun.

Despite being a pervert of the highest order, Biajo was shockingly competent at repelling. One does not simply judge a book by its erotic content.

After a minute or so, they eventually arrived at the bottom where they took a short break.

Theo watched over the surroundings while Biajo equipped his night vision googles. He did not do this earlier because it got in the way of their repelling.

Once that was done, they proceeded onward in complete silence.

Normally, they would be bantering about stupid things to ease the tension. However, they both knew that this was not the time.

They were on the back foot on this mission. Every second counted.

Fortunately, the tunnel they were in was a one way street. It was as if 182 Brewmer Drive was specifically made to access this tunnel.

Speaking of the tunnel, it had the quality you'd expect from a 'Made in Jade Empire' brand. It was shoddily excavated, hardly any reinforcements and was inconsistent in size.

Theo was surprised that this thing hasn't collapsed yet.

The two moved at a fairly brisk pace for 30 minutes until they spotted the first sign that they were dealing with something larger than a bunch of entitled idiots.

"Hey kid..... Arent these jeeps from World War 2?" asked Biajo as the 2 approached the machines.

"Yep. 20 Ford GPWs. Based on how weathered the paint is, these may really have served in WW2." replied Theo before opening the front to inspect the engine. "The interior looks good though. Oil is good, fuel is nearly full, wires seem to be at most a year old, the engine itself looks like it's been TLCd a couple of times. These things have been overhauled quite a bit."

"Well, I guess a bunch of rich Broadway elites can afford this much."

"True.... But 20 vehicles that are probably not registered in an underground tunnel that no one knows about? I highly doubt it. This stinks of a large organization that's been preparing for this for a long time."

"Hmmm.... Well, whatever. We have a job to do and we better-" said Biajo before he was interrupted with a low hum from his backpack. "Well well well. Looks like we have a trail."

Biajo took out the magic detecting pitchfork and began moving about.

After 5 minutes, they arrived in an area with absolutely nothing in it. The pitchfork hummed louder but not by much.

Theo used his cybernetic eyes to analyze the area.

"There was something here. It's about 2.2 meters in length and it was heavy enough to make the soil sink 7 cm. And if you look at the tracks right beside this area, it was lifted by some small 4 wheeler. Probably a forklift. If we follow those tracks, the thing was moved 3 meters and was loaded into a larger 4 wheel vehicle. Maybe an Isuzu Elf? Either way, this is the best lead we have so far. Nice."

Though Theo was pumped, Biajo was clearly confused.

"Something wrong Biajo?" asked Theo

"Yeah.... This pitchfork was made specifically to detect divine beings and measure their power level. The louder and higher the pitch of the humming is, the more powerful the divine is. I've fought angels before so I know what to look for.... but the humming in this one is way too weak." replied Biajo.

"It could mean that this was a particularly weak angel."

"No way. The weakest angel on record made this pitchfork screech like a banshee. I was forced to turn it off before my ears bleed."

"Then we're dealing with a much weaker enemy of unknown origin.... But I guess that's exactly why you're so flustered huh."

"Correct. As long as it's an angel, I have the tools to pacify it enough to limit the damage to the city to a very large extent. Said tools are worthless against anything else."

"Well... Shit."

"Lorne, contact the Machine God ASAP. He has to launch at a moment's notice. We also have to prevent the opening of the coffin. With no countermeasures, the damage it could do may be 10 times worse than what an angel can do. If all goes well, then there wont be a need for the Machine God to make his appearance."

"No time to waste then. Let's go."

Theo transmuted a key for one of the jeeps and gave it to Biajo, whom then took the wheel and slammed his foot down.

As the range combat specialist, Theo preferred the passenger seat so he could focus on shooting.

For the next 30 minutes, they traveled in an ascending yet near perfect straight line.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Biajo was clearly worried that they may not make it in time, but Theo had a more positive outlook of things.

If they were moving in this particular direction, they could easily track where their targets were.

Eventually they exited the tunnel and was greeted with massive amounts of scrap as far as the eyes can see.

"YES! I knew it! We got this in the bag Biajo!" exclaimed Theo.

"Huh? What? Where are we?" replied the confused Biajo.

"This is my backyard my friend. Vermillion City's Scrapyard. Though we're probably very far from my company area, there is nothing in my territory that can escape my gaze."

Theo closed his eyes and accessed his network.

First: he sent the order to prepare the Rapid Deployment System for launch.

Not 5 seconds later, an explosion could be heard from a distance. This was his Reformant units blowing up the mountains of trash to clear the area so that the door of the underground silo could be opened.

His forces also began slaughtering every non-affiliated personnel within 500 meters around the launch site. This was to insure that no pests would get in the way.

Second: he went through all the spy cams around the tunnel exit and instantly found their target.

It was a convoy of 1 Isuzu Elf and 10 fully loaded yellow school buses that left the tunnel 2 hours ago.

Owen may had a 5 hour head start but it seemed his group needed time to prepare before they could head out.

The general direction they were traveling was towards the more low end part of the city.

What he found worrying was that there was more than the initial 80 rioters inside those school buses.

They most likely found local sympathizers among the many idiots that plagued the city.

Oh well. More meat for the grinder.

Last: He contacted Agent P

"HQ, this is Lorne. Do you copy?" said Theo through the coms.

"This is HQ. Loud and clear." replied Agent P.

"Give me a quick sitrep. We have a trail but we're still playing catch up."

"Got it. First, my instincts were right on the money. The Ally of Justice group is just a pawn used by the Jade Imps for one of their many 'destabilization plots' against the Commonwealth."

"How did you figure it out?"

"They attacked us obviously. Thanks to the people you lent us, they were defeated and 'interrogated'."

"Well, I did send 20 of my best Eisenritters. A bunch of 3rd rate Imps are no match for them."

"Er... What are you talking about? There are only 3 here."

"Huh? Who?"

"Juno Saiga, that weird Vanadis girl and Himiko Yagyu."

"Hold on. I didn't send them.... But then again, you're probably safer now more than ever."

"Tell me about it. The Yagyu girl was over all above average. Vanadis good but I've seen better. Juno, on the other hand, is violence incarnate. Never have I seen someone kill with a dildo!"

"Er... Dildo?"

"A FUCKING DILDO!"

"How the hell is that physically possible?"

"I..... refuse to retell the horror that I have witnessed. Let's just move on."

Though Theo was extremely curious of the art of using a dildo as a weapon, he decided to let it go for now.

There were more pressing matters to attend to.

"Understood. On my end, we discovered a staging ground beneath the city with the exit located on the far side of Vermilion City's scrapyard."

"And you didn't know of this?"

"Of course I didn't. The scrapyard is too massive and has too many vermin infesting it. There's no way I can completely secure it so quickly."

"I see. And our targets?"

"Their heading for District 69. Cunning bastards."

"District 69? The one on the other side of the Hellhole District? If I could recall, that area mostly has low class businesses. If you think about the Ally of Justice's MO of 'sticking it to the man', this makes no sense. There's nothing there worthy of a riot target."

"That's where you're wrong. District 69 has the most corrupt and most incompetent police force in Vermilion City. Officers assigned to that area are the bottom of the barrel and no chance of promotion. Getting thrown there is the worst demotion you can possibly get as law enforcement here in Vermillion."

"Ah. Now I get it. It's the perfect place to riot because nothing of value in District 69."

"Well, there are people there though the police wont lift a finger to protect them."

"I see.... Crap.... The rioters probably paid them off. Conflict with the 69th will probably be inevitable. This complicates things."

"Hahahaha! I beg to differ! This make things a hell lot easier! Remember that these guys are not only bottom feeders, they are also scum. The city would probably thank us for freeing up the payroll."

"Why do they even maintain such criminals in their rosters."

"Said scum have connections with the many criminal organizations in the city. One cannot have too many sacrificial pawns."

"Very well. You're the expert on the madness of Vermilion City here. Good Hunting."

"Roger that. Time to have some fun!"

-:-

30 minutes later

District 69 had many similarities with the infamous Hellhole District.

There were barely any buildings that exceeded 5 stories, the streets were relatively crowded and was generally unclean.

Though temporarily, the 2 districts now shared a new similarity.... Chaos.

Even while Theo and Biajo were still on the freeway, they could already hear the festivities.

As they took the exit and passed through the toll booths, they were met with 8 police officers in riot gear.

They were blocking the road with 3 police cars and were positioned to prevent anyone from getting out of the district.

There were a few potential escapees that have already fell victim to this.

They were armed with the standard law enforcement weapons namely 2 Colt M4 Carbines, 3 Remington 870 Shotguns, 2 AK-47s and a M1 Garand.

"Sorry sir. It's 'dangerous' to travel inside the District." said the cocky M1 Garand guy as he approached Theo.

Very good.

Theo wanted to 'borrow' said weapon from the man's future corpse. The man just made it much easier for Theo to take what was rightfully not his.

"What's wrong officer?" asked Theo with the innocence of a snake readying to strike at its prey.

"You don't know? There's a riot in progress. We wont stop you from entering, but we wont allow you to leave. It's to keep the rioters from getting away. I hope you understand."

"Of course officer. I understand perfectly. You guys were paid to not do anything while innocent people died. As expected of the most worthless police officers in the world."

"You gut some mouth on you punk! Do you have any idea what your situation is?!" roared the M1 police officer as he grabbed Theo by the collar.

This was the last action the poor soul before Theo's left arm flattened the man's head with a hammer fist.

Without missing a beat, he drew his pistol and shot the 2 M4 wielders right between the eyes.

At the same time, Biajo's mace connected with the side of an AK47 wielder's face, essentially obliterating that side of the head from the face of existence.

In one fluid motion, the pervert sunk his mace into the hips of a shotgun wielder, sending the upper half of the body 10 meters away from its lower half.

And as you'd expected from the most incompetent police force in Vermilion City, it was only after they lost more than half of their manpower did the officers realize that they were under attack.

One of the AK47 wielders tried to open fire, but both his arms and the gun itself were cleaved off by Biajo's mace.

A shotgun wielder was able to open fire at Theo, but the M1 Garand wielder's corpse heroically protected him.

Theo honored his new found meatshield by stealing the M1 and shot his opponent in the balls.

"Lorne! That's just plain cruel! No man deserves to suffer such a fate!" said Biajo as he ended no balls man suffering.

"Said the man who's letting someone bleed out." replied Theo as he pointed to no arms man who was losing a lot of blood through his arms.

While the 2 were bantering, the last of the welcoming committee dropped his weapon ran like his life depended on it.

Naturally, Theo had no intention of letting him go.

He launched the grappling gun on his left arm and grabbed the fleeing opponent by the leg.

"GET OVER HERE!"

The poor man was kicking and screaming as he was dragged to meet his executioner.

Theo couldn't help but admit that watching a fully grown man in tears was quite entertaining.

"What are you waiting for? Finish him." said Biajo.

Theo lets go of the man, raised the heat of his left arm to terrifying levels and whipped the man in one violent stroke.

It went through the man, 2 cars and the ground like a hot knife through butter.

As Theo observed the result of his actions, he couldn't help but pat himself on the back.

"It isn't as tough as the Adamantium arm but it's just as cool. Flawless victory."