Arc 13 Battle Of Bronson City

Chapter 3 Interlude Retro Robo

Heroes gathered about in one of the many orientation rooms of the Citadel. The walls were a light blue, and the area was neatly filled with occupied chairs. In this particular room, there were twenty or so mismatched individuals in colorful costumes or dark and edgy get-ups, as was the case with a few. Among them sat a woman in a retro 80s themed space outfit, skin-tight white and red suit. Over her head was a domed helmet tinted, preventing her face from being seen. She sat attentively gloved hands in her lap as the hero on stage briefed the room.

"Now I know most of you were dragged into this matter when the free-fire zone was declared. You made the right decision reporting in for duty rather than fleeing." Said the battle-hardened man before the quiet group.

Armadillo, his heavy armor plates dented and scratched, showing the recent damage. In particular, there was a deep gouge from some sort of talon or claw going along the chest.

"You are gathered here because you have passed the preliminary tests. Those in this room will form a team to assault various Villain hideouts through the city, in conjunction with the other teams that are being dispatched. We will be sweeping out from the Citadel, clearing the city block by block. Kraken agents are to be killed on sight, if possible, capture for interrogation; however, don't go out of your way to pull punches. Kraken is vicious vile and will attack if you show any weakness. Ignore normies and do not flinch if the villains have hostages; they will use them as meat shields to make you hesitate. You are free to deal with matters as you choose, though be aware Kraken is out for blood. The city is a full-blown war zone."

A hand raised after he paused, "How many Villains are in the city?"

Armadillo gruffly rubbed his chin, "Hard to say. Kraken got reinforcements yesterday low estimates there are several hundred operatives, high estimates somewhere around a thousand counting the local gangs that were subsumed."

"Do we know what their powers are?"

"The local gangs have extensive files you are free to look through. As for Kraken mercenaries, the soldiers are mass-produced; their powers are between rank 4 and 5. However, they are augmented by military equipment and weapons so take extreme measures. There are at minimum 3 high ranking Kraken members, Molotov, Boris, and Nitro have been sighted in the city do not engage them and instead relay their position for a strike team to deal with. If need be, we can perform Hammer Strikes. However, the targets need to be properly identified in the open. It won't do to be firing blindly into the city. Collateral damage is unavoidable. Hopefully, we can end this before the whole city gets leveled like L.A."

The space-suited woman raised her hand, and he nodded to her, "What is it Retro Robo?"

She spoke up, "Speaking of L.A. are there any updates on survivors?"

There was a pause, a twinge of regret, or some other painful emotion that crossed Armadillo's face. After a long sigh, he replied, "Unfortunately, the city of L.A. is nothing more than ruins by this point. Nitro and the Diablos burned it to the ground. As far as I am aware, only those who rescued civis and or fled midway through the attack escaped."

"If they destroyed L.A., what are the odds of us not only holding out but taking them out?"

"L.A. was cut off. L.A. didn't have the Citadel, nor did it have the undivided attention of the Hero League and Hubris. They surprise attacked it, and by the time we could mount a counteroffensive, it was far too late."

Another dark hooded hero asked, "So if Hubris is so strong, why isn't he just killing all the villains? It seems to me we are risking our lives because he is being lazy."

"Hubris will be dealing with all of the higher-ranked villains. But first, they must be flushed out."

"Flushed out? I would say a city is worth three high-ranking villains, not to mention all the rank and file. If the city is infested, why bother trying to save it? Just crush it completely with the villains trapped inside."

"It is not that simple, Moonshadow. Kraken has an unnerving way of wiggling free. We have to verify high-ranking villain deaths personally. If we don't make sure they are dead, they have a tendency to crawl back out of the shadows. Molotov, for instance, has been unverified killed tens of times already but always comes back. Just when you think nobody could have lived from that, they slink back out of the shadows. Miss Universe herself smashed an entire city trying to kill Nitro. While we will not be holding back, we can't just destroy the city in hopes that we kill them in the collateral. The damned Villains like to burrow underground as such even if the city got leveled, their bases would be perfectly safe. That tactic has been used before and failed miserably. It is not effective, depending on the super. The public outcry that follows such actions is damning. With tactics like that, we are worse than the villains."

Retro Robo spoke up, "So we are bait. This is a suicide mission. Tecton and Miss Universe are already injured, and Light Fly is dead. If they got injured, that means we would have died. Most of us are Rank 4s or Rank 5s tops. If Rank 7s and 8s can't deal with them, how the hell will we? This might be our city, but we should not be expected to die over its ruins. There is heroics, and then there is stupidity."

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Armadillo nodded, "You are right. It is hard to choose between defending your city or abandoning it and letting it die. Sure, you could all run and leave it to whatever horrible fate the villains are cooking up, but how long will you run, Retro Robo?"

"How long will I run?"

"Yes. They will never stop. City after city, they will spread like a plague. How many cities will be left to rot before you run out of places to hide? They will never stop. Each city that falls, the villains grow stronger, recruiting through force and fear their numbers will swell, making it that much harder to defend the next city and the next. If we do not stop them here and now, dead in their tracks, they will gain momentum at an alarming rate. Cities will turn to countries burning. We are the Hero League. If we do not step up, no one will. Look at Russia or China to see what happens when villains take over."

"What are we supposed to do? We are nothing but cannon fodder. I might have a mech suit, but even with that, I am only rank 5, which means I am on par with 1, a single super-soldier, strictly power level speaking. They are probably stronger weapons and training-wise, and I am one of the higher-ranked supers in this group. We are not soldiers; most of us are either vigilantes or what remains of the local Hero League that got absolutely crushed with the Hammer Strike a few weeks back during that whole Twilight incident. How do we know Hammer Strikes are not going to be called down on us assuming we go out there?"

"For the time being, Hammer Strikes are restricted; only Hubris and Miss Universe can call them in. You will not be used as bait to get a clear shot on the villains."

"How do you know that?!"

"I am going to be out there with you. Every step of the way. Why do you think you are gathered here. I will be leading all of you into the city on scouting missions. I am putting myself out there even more so than I am asking you to. I can't do it alone, though."

"I suppose you are tougher than the others." Moonshadow said, "Fine. I am in so long as you are there with us. Armadillo is right. If we don't stop them here, it is only going to get worse."

"This is a bad idea, but we don't have options do we?" scowled Retro Robo, "So do we have any leads, or are we going in blind?"

"Well, so far, we have routed out 2 of the local gangs, the Diablos and Sixes, and Sevens. The eastern section of the city is under our control. As for locations of Villain lairs, we have nothing conclusive yet, though we have been monitoring the movements of the villains to a degree. We have located several hot spots to the west, north, and south. We will be deploying South West, checking on a few points of interest. It could just be looting, or it could be a villain lair."

"How South? Are we dealing with the Slums?" asked Moonshadow.

"No, a different team will be going into the slums."

"Good, it is a fucking hell hole down there."

"Prepare yourselves. We will deploy in two hours." Said Armadillo.

Retro Robo looked about the room, seeing the subgroups already forming. Most of the edge lord sorts were congregated together Messy Shadow, Electric Arrow, Moonshadow, The Rapid Smasher, and the Scarlet Owl. From a glance, most of them looked more like villains than heroes due to their color pallet of black and grey, with bits of red and yellow striped in.

Retro was not joining that group too much angst, and I am the night vibes.

Unfortunately for Retro, there didn't appear to be any other tech types. There was the physical group and the elemental group forming. Between the two, Retro didn't really fit in with either. At this point, she was deciding on which group would be less of a pain to deal with. The physical group was usually more meatheaded but straightforward, so less backstabby. The elemental group had a bit of an elitist vibe coming off of it, which would mean having to be careful of toe stepping.

While normally, the task force would have a split of each type for power coverage, teamwork was more important at the moment as such slapping together a hodgepodge like this would spell trouble. Fighting together a few times should build up some trust and cooperation depending on who survives the battles to come would be strong and united.

The elemental group looked stronger, which meant it would be safer to join. Most of them were not from Bronson. There were four of them. One looked like a black and purple magician, complete with a top hat. The last three were clearly from the Vatican, a masked priest, and two masked, spandex and leather-clad nuns.

Were the bondage nuns less edgy than the vigilante justice group? Hard to say.

"Retro Robo, I got a mech suit. What are your names and powers?" She asked.

The Magician replied, first being a bit dramatic with smoke and sparkles, "Doctor Voiceless Seer. I have telepathy and can cause hallucinations."

The priest introduced himself, "Father Penance, of the Advanced Missionary Order. The Lord has granted me offensive and defensive light magic. There have been rumors of demons as such his Holiness has sent us to investigate."

"Demons? Only demons I know of would be down in South America with Demonrider." Questioned Retro.

"They crop up all over. It is our God-given task to root out hell spawn wherever we might find them."

"How dangerous are demons?"

"Depends on if it is a lesser demon or a greater demon and how many many souls it has sucked dry."

"Villains are bad enough sounds like demons are a real pain."

"They can be though they are extremely vulnerable to light magic. Be sure to tell the sisters or me should you see any demonic influences."

"I certainly will." Retro looked over to the two silent nuns who bowed graciously and introduced themselves.

"Sister Merciful Raven, offensive fire and light magic."

"Sister Gentle Spirit, come to this sister should you be injured. Through the Lord's will, I can heal others."

"Father, are you more of a front liner? Or a ranged dealer?"

"Usually, with our formation, I am in the front followed by Sister Merciful Raven, and Sister Gentle Spirit supports from behind. Adding in Voiceless Seer, he could be either the middle or the back. Where would you feel comfortable, Retro?"

"Doctor Voiceless Seer!" raved the magician man.

Retro looked him up and down, "Are you a doctor?"

"I am."

"What sort of Doctor?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets."

"I thought you were a seer? You are an odd one."

"Merely labels Magician just means I have magic. They have magic too, so technically, they are magicians too if you want to get into the details."

"Do not compare our Divine blessings to your parlor tricks." Scoffed Father Penance.

"I will have you know these parlor tricks are very useful."

Seeing that this might escalate, Retro broke it up, "Let's just say you are different fields, shall we? I am he will be useful just as you will in your role."

"True. So where would you like to be positioned?"

"I will take point."

"Very well then. Prepare yourselves, and we shall convene again when called. Now, if you will excuse us, we have sacrament to perform." Said Father Penance departing with the sisters.

Retro looked at Doctor Voiceless Seer, "You are not actually a doctor are you?"

"That is just insulting. I have a Doctorate."

"In what?"

"Philosophy."

Retro sighed, "Hopefully, you will be able to reason them to death."