Poor Miguel was in dire straits. Solaristine's blast had just hit him, and his Aguila Tinta suit was the only thing cushioning his fall from twenty floors height. As he lay on the street, he struggled to catch his breath, fully aware that he had likely sustained numerous fractures and may have even broken his spine.

"Guys, are you almost here?"

Miguel urgently called for help, recognizing the severity of the situation. The new automatic Spark High-Security Prison system had been hacked, resulting in the release of dangerous criminals. Miguel wouldn't have been in such a precarious position if Solaristine hadn't ambushed him while patrolling the city.

"Well, Steel Falcon and Scrappy Crow are preoccupied with Lady Emerald. I was going to you, but the FLAME gang is now pursuing me."

Miguel was well aware of the challenges posed by Lady Emerald; her ability to penetrate Steel Falcon's armor and Scrappy Crow's leather with her projectile emerald shards was formidable. Meanwhile, Doctor Sofia, who stubbornly refused to assume the title of the Falconer, was dealing with the FLAME gang. Although she could handle them, facing six Sparks simultaneously would undoubtedly pose a challenge. As for Miguel, few knew that Aguila Tinta was a mage, but to confront a stronger opponent, he required the time to cast spells — a luxury he simply didn't have against Solaristine's rapid-fire blasts.

As he caw at the sky, he saw what looked like the sun but knew it was not. Solaristine was flowing in the air, charging a stronger blast, and Miguel, now Aguila Tinta, would not go without a fight. He auto-casted his specialty spell, and his feathers healed and wings grew. Without even standing up, he blasted vertically toward Solaristine.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Doctor Sofia Lebeuf was not impressed with the FLAME order, and she was not stopping to deal with them because there were too many civilians in the area. She hoped the Sombra squad would arrive soon, but she felt they were still not ready to handle this chaos. As soon as they arrived at a side street where it was clear of any civilians, she did a 180-degree break turn with her bike and startled the car chasing slightly behind her. The FLAME gang sped up, trying to ram her before she could do anything else. She sped up the velocity of her bike, causing smoke in the ground as she basically was jausting them. The FLAME gang thought it was a suicidal move, but they knew better than to underestimate the good doctor. Just when the vehicle and the motorcycle were about to collide just a few centimeters away, Doctor Sofia did a backflip, and thanks to her magically enhanced combat boots, the distance covered by the backflip was eight times longer than if she had just done it without them. The bike collided, and instead of an explosion, the bike turned into black, inky, and sticky slime.

Doctor Sofia Lebeuf was unimpressed by the FLAME gang, but she couldn't stop to confront them because there were too many civilians nearby. She was hoping that the Sombra squad would arrive soon, but she wasn't sure if they were ready for the chaos. When she reached a side street without any civilians, she swiftly turned her bike around, surprising the car following her. The FLAME gang accelerated, attempting to crash into her before she could react. She increased the speed of her bike, causing smoke to rise from the ground, and engaged in a dangerous pursuit with the gang. Although the FLAME gang thought it was a suicidal move, they knew better than to underestimate the resourceful doctor. Just as the vehicles were about to collide, a few centimeters apart, Doctor Sofia performed a backflip. Thanks to her magically enhanced combat boots, the distance she covered in the backflip was eight times greater than it would have been without them. Instead of an explosion, the bike turned into a black, inky, and sticky slime engulfing the car with the FLAME gang inside of it. That had taken care of the FLAME gang before they could even think of using their sparks. As she analyzed the situation to figure out how to get to Aguila Tinta, she dodged by pure instinct the arrow that was aimed at her head, the only part that was not covered by her magically enhanced tactical armor.

"Here I thought I get you? Nothing personal; usually, I would just focus on the others, but you have been a thorn in my side whenever I try to get rid of any of those freaks of nature. If you die, I am sure the others won't know how to deal with any of this without your support."

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

As Melina Van Edusberg reached for an arrow from her back quiver and prepared to place it on her bow, Doctor Sofia ran to stop her. Would she be fast enough? If not, could her reflexes save her from being hit? She did not know and did not want to find out. Melina was just as skilled in combat and even better with ranged weapons than she was.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

In another part of the city, Steel Eagle was doing his best to capture Lady Emerald. However, things were going terrible for him. His AR lenses showed that he could no longer fly because one of the emerald spears she had thrown had hit his flying module between the wings. Despite this, he could still move his metal wings. He was attempting to shield his body and face every time Lady Emerald slashed at him with her energy-infused Emerald swords. It was incredible that these swords were cutting into parts of his wings. It was difficult to block all of her swings, even with the AI-assisted combat module, as he could not predict all of the attacks. At one point, he tried to use his right wing to block a swing, but she manifested a knife-sized shard and landed a piercing stroke at his face. Luckily, the beak of his bird helmet took the blow for him. While it was a relief to be alive, he knew that she had done that on purpose, as his sonic cry would not work if his helmet was dysfunctional. Steel Falcon observed the damage to the suit through his lens UI and realized that the armor was 78 percent compromised. It was giving him a warning that automatic shutdown for self-repair would begin at 85 percent. He could feel the mechanized joint parts shutting down. This was one of the few downsides of exoskeletal power armor - if they get too damaged, you're basically like a sitting duck in heavy armor.

"Hey, did you forget about me?"

Both of them looked up and saw Scrappy Crow flying swiftly towards them. At first, they were confident that they could take on Lady Emerald. Steel Falcon had his energy gun and power armor to absorb damage, while Scrappy Crow had incredible speed and a tail lasso. They both felt quite confident. They began attacking Lady Emerald, with Steel Falcon using his energy gun and Scrappy Crow using magically appearing sharp needle-like feather projectiles.

Lady Emerald created an emerald dome to protect herself from their attacks. Despite their continuous firing, the dome only cracked, and she had to reinforce it. Their plan was to weaken her and then capture her. She was still a formidable opponent even without her spark ability and physically exhausted from using it. However, as they shattered the third Emerald dome, a noise startled them, and Steel Falcon saw Scrappy Crow vanish into thin air.

He suspected that four different sparks could have taken Scrappy Crow, but he had to fight Lady Emerald by himself. He attempted their original plan, but he was immediately struck down, as close combat was never his forte. There was a reason he wore the carbon metalloid steel power suit and not a magically infused leather suit like the others.

Just like in the beginning of their fight, Lady Emerald tried to shoot Scrappy Crow down, but she was unable to hit him unlike when she took down Steel Falcon with a single emerald spear. Lady Emerald was shooting hundreds of mini-shards per minute in a machine gun style, trying to land a hit on Crow, but he was too fast and could control his flying with optimal maneuvers. Just as Crow pirouetted a volley of emerald shards, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"It's over, Lady Emerald; I have the high ground!" which caused Falcon to groan out of cringe. It really wasn't the time for it.

They were dealing with Lady Emerald, a trained assassin who even gave Doctor Sofia a hard time during their fights. The Doctor Sofia, despite being normal, still beat all of them, including him in his power suit, to a pulp during training. It seemed that Crow not only began to shoot back with his feathers but also took out his snaring whip. It was a bold move, as he needed to get close to her, and unlike him, Crow was very susceptible to stabs by regular blades. He sacrificed resilience for speed with that type of magical suit, and if Lady Emerald got to him, he would not survive one slash or pierce. When he fell from the sky, his energy gun malfunctioned, but now he tapped his left leg, and a superheated large blade was ejected from an internal compartment in his thigh armored part. He hoped she somehow would not steal his blade during the brawl, but he needed to act as a distraction so Crow could use his whip on her.

"Here goes nothing!" Steel Falcon shrugged and ran towards what he hoped was not his doom.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

As all of them began to take charge of their enemies, they all wondered how things got so wild to begin with.

Three years earlier....