[b] Rainmaker's Team [/b] 

Gabriel's assault stunned most of the gunmen and took them out of the fight. Those that weren't were immediately set upon by the rest of the team including the revived Blast Girl, and they did not last very long. But their ambush had allowed Twister and Shade to vanish deeper into the mall and there was hardly any sign of the two villains. There was nothing but smears of blood on the floor and it was eerily quiet. Then the sound was broken by a faint buzzing, that grew louder and louder until it culminated in an eight-foot tall monstrosity rounding the corner. 

It had multiple eyes around two large black ones and was covered in dark green chitin. It's wings carried it above ground and it's multiple claws scraped the ground. It caught sight of the heroes and screeched an impossible sound that shattered windows and assaulted the mind with it's intensity. Locust had arrived on the scene, and next to him a dozen henchmen and Twister stood. And half of them had civilians with them, innocent men and women on the ground with rifles to their heads. Twister held a little boy of nine in one of his tentacles, the boy was sobbing for his mother. 

Twister snarled, "Let us get out of here and we'll let the hostages go. If not, you get to watch these people die before Locust eats you alive. You have a choice heroes, do you want to save these people? Or do you want your egos to get in the way and have their blood on your hands?" 

[b] Olympia's Team [/b] 

Shank reappeared and raised his knife to strike. And then he got shocked and screamed at a high-pitch intensity that was unseemly for a grown man. He shook and trembled to the floor and was out for at least the next several minutes. Wenchang's sedative slowly worked at Bouncer and she was wracked with blow after blow as she struggled to maintain a hold on Wenchang. She never let go but she eventually succumbed to the blows and the sedative and dropped to the floor. Just then a loud boom wracked the air and Boomer flew up in the air and back down. 

The villain had regained consciousness and tried to escape Graviton's hold by using his concussive blasts. He landed on the floor with a grunt but he fired a concussive burst at Graviton, sending the hero across the room. And another wave of henchmen arrived and began firing at Olympia and Sonata, forcing them to fight back. Burnout rose from the floor as well. The two had grimaces full of hate as they caught sight of the heroes, especially Volt. They both raised their hands at the group of heroes and began firing away, Boomer with his explosive bursts and Burnout with fire balls. 

[b] Pariah's victims [/b] 

Natsumi's and Changeling's targets was wiped out, the terrorists had almost no time to react. In the space of a few seconds, a few of them had knives sticking out of them, one was knocked out, and the rest were unable to move restrained by Natsumi. A few other heroes came up on the roof, including a laser beam projector known as Redeye. She and the others knocked out all of the still conscious henchmen and began using their powers to help the heroes on the ground. Redeye's heat vision wrecked havoc on the barricade. 

Shin's target was taken out quickly as well with almost no resistance. The rocket perch was almost completely taken out as the men were knocked out by the explosion. Strix's target was down to half-strength because of the mortar explosion. The rest of the overwatch positions were all overrun by other teams on heroes and the barricade was failing, until finally it broke and a massive hole was created in the barricade. The terrorists retreated firing bursts as they fell back further down the street. For several moments the fighting had died down. It was almost too good to be true for the team of heroes. 

Pariah spoke again, "You've learned the second lesson. Don't falter, keep your momentum. Eliminate the enemy's advantage. Now let's see if you can learn the third."