Olympia's Team

Boomer and Burnout kept trying to blow apart or burn alive the man who had made fools of them. No matter how agile Volt was sooner or later one of the villains would get lucky and it would all be over for the lightning slinger. That is until Sonja's fireball hit Boomer in the back and made him grunt in pain, his durable skin protecting him from most of its effects. But her mentalist assault made the brainless brute swing his head around and glare at Burnout. Burnout was too focused on trying to murder Volt to notice, and didn't even see Boomer's fist until it was in his gut. The concussively powered blow flung Burnout across the room and into a nearby desk. The pyrokinetic slumped to the ground once again. Boomer returned to face Volt and continued firing his concussive blasts at the hero. Finally, he decided he had enough of this and his whole body glowed with an eerie yellow glow. Boomer yelled and the glow continued to grow brighter. He was gathering all of the potential explosive energy in his body and preparing to detonate it in one massive explosion. If he did so, everyone in the lobby of the bank save the demigod Olympia would perish. The heroes had only a few moments to act.

Pariah's Victims

Strix's plan had worked and the whole nest sucummbed to his surprise attack as on the streets all of the remaining terrorists fell back while sporadically firing their weapons. The area around the bus was surrounded by guards who had erected their own barricades and set up machine gun emplacements manned by terrorists. The area around the bus for a half-mile was choked with terrorists who were preparing for the heroes to assault them. The men who were retreating were a few hundred yards from this last defensive area, around two dozen men were falling back with another forty around the bus. Around sixty mortal men stood between the heroes and the civilians. Heavily armed and well-trained men but normal men nonetheless. The heroes felt their confidence raise tenfold.

Strix's search for traps would turn up nothing as the heroes all advanced deeper into the constructed streets, and at this point most of the illusionary civilians had dispersed though a few remained to cower. All seemed well. But the heroes intent on their forward charge did not notice the shimmering portals of light that suddenly appeared on the roofs and streets behind them, moving seemingly of their own accord and whenever they passed over an unconscious terrorist they vanished. And Strix still found no traps ahead of them. But then again, that may have been because the traps had been designed by Savant, or because most of the traps had been behind the heroes.

Suddenly and without warning, a series of massive detonations wracked the air, as hidden explosives activated in the buildings the heroes had just left. Whole buildings were torn down and completely collapsed into the streets, sending up massive clouds of dust in the air. The same occurred with the buildings to either side of the group of heroes.The heroes had been almost upon the bus and had almost no idea what was going on until it was too late. They realized they had been completely cut off on all sides. And suddenly where there had been nothing, a dozen new fighters had appeared near the terrorists who had been fleeing, who now turned back to face the heroes and assumed defensive positions. These terrorists were dressed in stylistic darkly colored costumes that could only be super-villain garb. More men appeared out of glowing portals at several points until there were now eighty normal terrorists with a dozen obvious superhumans. These reinforcements split themselves between joining the superhuman terrorists and their men and the men who guarded the bus.

The heroes now found themselves against a dozen experienced superhumans and with no way to maneuver or escape. Pariah's voice filtered over the intercom, "Third Lesson. If it looks to good to be true, it almost certainly is. And consequently, your evaluations by official League members are about to begin." The terrorists raised their weapons at the heroes as the villains activated weapons of other kinds. One man grew in size until he was even larger than Neutro. Another emitted icy wind while a woman next to him became wreathed in flame and another man crackled with electricity. One woman became like diamond while another turned into steel. And those were just the obvious villains. The steel man said, "Surrender. And we will simply imprison you."

Chris panted as she dropped off the next citizen in an alley. With her aching arms she wondered why she hadn’t been given super strength as well as super speed. But still at least she had been able to save a few of the citizens so while she wasn’t getting rid of the terrorists Chris was still doing something useful. However Chris knew she was out of her depth here and although she had been given training to deal with similar situations, she was more used to either people who had had too much to drink on a Friday night or some idiot thinking themselves ruler of everything. But this was completely different; these people were trained and knew exactly what they were doing and were pretty damn good at it too!

Chris jumped at the sound of several more things exploding. With a quick glance around the buildings Chris noted with delight that the barricade had finally come down. “Stay here.” Chris ordered the citizens before taking off to the area beyond the barricade.

When into the next Area Chris decided to stay a little behind the others that charged towards the next line of enemies. This was going to be a lot harder than she had thought. Then the buildings came crashing down to blind and deafen Chris for a few minutes before revealing the newly arrived enemies to her, but with the rubble blocking up the roads in and out the area a thought shot through Chris’ mind.

“The citizens!” She whipped around, turning her back on the bus, to the boulders crushing the barricade beneath them.

Gabriel was surprised by the sight of Locust and wondered if the beast was a demon. He used his divine senses to see if it was one of beings of other world, but his didn't pick up any signs of it being a demon. So it must have meant that this beast was some other type of creature, whatever it was it made terrible sound and Gabriel had to drop his sword to cover his ears from the ear splitting noise. Once the beast stopped, Gabriel saw that Twister had returned with a dozen more henchmen and had their guns pointed at hostages. The villain had a little boy in his grasp and made threats about killing the innocent civilians if they didn't let them go.

This was a very difficult situation and Gabriel tried to think up any sort of solution that wouldn't end with ether the criminals escaping or the hostages dying. If he or any of his teammates tried attack them with a ranged attack then Twister's henchmen would kill the hostages before their attacks hit them and if they tried to take them down physically then they would only be able to take a few of them and that's if they had speed on their side. He kept thinking of solutions and then he found one, it was a risk but he had to take if they wanted to save the hostages and apprehend the criminals. He sheathed his sword and looked at the thugs and their boss.

"I have a question for you, tell me what was the first thing God said in the bible?" he asked Twister with a smile, and he waited for the villain to answer. He prayed to God that his plan worked, he didn't how it would effect the creature but he would rather deal with the beast then having any of the hostages shot.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Twister responded, and Gabriel smiled. Before he replied, he quickly told his team to shield their eyes and then said to the villain.

"Let there be light!" And with those words, Gabriel created an extremely bright flash of light that was almost like the brightness of the sun. The henchmen and their boss shielded their eyes in shock and were blinded temporarily from the bright flash. Now was Gabriel's chance and he flew straight at Twister with amazing speed. First he grabbed the child and pulled him away from the villain's grasp, and he punched Twister right in the chest right after he let the boy go to get away from the fight. The force of the punch sent the villain flying for several feet, and Gabriel the focused his attention on the henchmen and started attacking them as quick as he could in order to save the civilians. He hoped that his teammates hadn't been stunned by his flash of bright light and could assist in getting henchmen away from the hostages.

Shin had no time to rest as explosions sounded behind him. Acting on reflex, he leaped off of the building he had been standing atop, not even bothering to look back at the detonating buildings. As the building that he had been standing on erupted into flame and debris, he wasn't totally stunned senseless by it, as he was somewhat prepared for the sudden sensory assault. Landing with a roll, he was basically fine, aside from a slight ringing in his ears. The dust clouded his sight, but he could still smell well enough over the smoke and ash. There were some fresh bodies dropped into the scenario. Twenty-some-odd normal humans, and about half as many that were distinctly not normal.

The dust cleared some, and Shin was able to catch sight of the newcomers. Reinforcements for the mooks, and some leadership material to make them actually put up a fight. Their costumes made it pretty obvious what they were supposed to represent; "super-villains," deluded individuals that Shin considered just pathetic enough to be worth putting out of their misery. Up until now, the threat presented by the mock-terrorists had bored Shin, but maybe now things would be getting interesting. Time to cut loose a little, he figured.

For the first time, Shin's face broke away from his carefully-crafted mask of stoic indifference. A fanged smile broke across his face, his lengthy canines poking out over his lips like the tusks of an Oni, his namesake. His normally smoldering eyes were now brightly burning; the malevolence in his gaze practically palpable. In fact, his entire body seemed to radiate a predatory killer intent. He strode toward the villain team, his stance far more loose and relaxed, almost like a loping beast. His fists clenched, nails now sharpened into hard, black talons.

In response to the steel man's threat, Oni issued one of his own, "If you surrender, I'll try to stop myself at just a taste."

Oh, that awful noise... sure, it had hurt. It was really awful and so was the huge bug man that had showed up... Locust. But nothing was as bad as seeing all the innocent people with guns to their heads... and Twister holding a little boy in his tentacles, demanding for their surrender. No way! ... But what could they do? There was no way to act quickly enough, not when they could see them so easily... but she couldn't give up. She would never give in to evil! Blast Girl never, ever would let the bad guys win! There had to be something, she had to be able to do... something...

... And then, there was a brilliant flash of light. That angel guy, he'd did... something, and sent up a flare to blind the bad guys! Not wasting a second, Blast Girl surged forward, aiming a punch squarely at Twister's face. That sick bastard... just because she never killed didn't mean she wouldn't hurt him so bad he wished he was dead! The first punch was aimed at his chin, accompanied by a blast of energy. If that first punch hit, she would hit him again, lower, in the stomach, firing another blast of energy. And then she would hit him again. And again. And again.

“Jeez Volt, this is the dumbest thing you've ever done!” The Lightning-Slinger was starting to seriously consider ending his partnership with Silvertongue, the man just wasn't adding anything constructive to the relationship any more. Fireballs and explosions were starting to get perilously close to the Scotsman now, so close he was pretty sure that his hair had been singed a time or too. Thanks to his super-charged stamina he wasn't going to tire any time soon, but it wouldn't be long till one of those bank-robbing radge's got lucky and managed to tag him.

He threw himself forward, narrowly dodging a glowing fireball that had his name on it, hitting the ground and rolling to his feet. Disaster struck though, as his foot slipped on an uneven tile, the Lightning-slinger stumbling awkwardlyThis is it then, a quick blast in the back and it's time to check out. Sorry Daniel, I tried. Lord knows I tried. The expected blast never hit though. Volt couldn't believe his luck, swinging around to see what had happened to his aggressors. He was just in time to see the b-e-autiful sight of Boomer slugging Burnout across the room. He wasn't quite sure what had happened between the two, but he was damn thankful for whatever it was. His reprieve was short lived though, as Boomer sent a couple more desultory blasts his way, then started glowing yellow. In my experience, glowing villains are bad

The Lightning-Slinger quickly realised that Boomer was building himself up for an explosion, and if his concussive blasts were anything to go by then this was gonna be one powerful kaboom. Panic 's greasy tendrils nearly grasped Tommy then, his eyes shooting to the door and the one exit. He took one faltering step towards salvation before he managed to catch himself. Yes, he might be able to run, and yes he would probably live, but then he what would happen to everyone still in the bank? Nothing good, he guessed. One death on his conscience was heavy enough weight for him.

Hi-Voltage began to 'fire up' as well, blue arks of lightning crackling around his arms and chest, his eyes turning a bright blue as the power welled up inside of him. He had no time to keep his power in check, he just knew that he had to put Boomer down quick. He raised his arms, taking careful aim at Boomer's centre mass.

One Shot. Make it count, Tommy-Boy

He fired. And prayed.

Rainmaker's Team

Gabriel's blinding light elicited screams of pain from all of the villains and civilians in the area, though Locust's scream was more of a cacophonic shriek than anything. Twister had still been shaking off the effects when he felt his hostage escape his grasp and was shoved back by a hearty punch. He was similarly disadvantaged when Blast Girl struck him in the chin and then the gut. The villain slumped to the ground and barely blocked one of Blast Girl's hits with a tentacle before he was punched again. He was on his last legs when he managed to grab one of Blast Girl's wrists and wrenched it to the side aiming to slam her into a wall. He followed it up with a wild lunge with another tentacle to try and pin her to the wall. The villain was groaning and barely able to stand but still had fight in him.

Gabriel's assault wreaked havoc on the henchmen who were caught entirely off-guard men were thrown aside or knocked out by the hero and civilians ran off to escape the fighting. Locust recovered and roared before he went for Gabriel, his insectoid mandibles clacking as his claws slashed down at the angel-like hero, attempting to slash his shoulder while another swiped at Gabriel's abdomen in an effort to almost eviscerate the hero. Locust's multiple black eyes seemed to glean as he pressed forward his brutal assault.

Olympia's Team

Sonata had fallen back to attend to Graviton who stirred weakly on the floor leaving Olympia to handle the henchmen, the demigod whirling about in a furious frenzy sending henchmen flying into walls or to the ground. Boomer kept building energy in his attempt to blow up the whole building. He roared in rage as he kept getting brighter and brighter. Right as he reached the critical point he cackled in delight and prepared to destroy everything in sight. Until Volt's bolt hit him right in the chest and the surge of energy locked up his muscles. Boomer could not release the energy but neither was he able to stop it. The energy exploded inside the villain with massive force, Boomer's physiology had made him adapted to his own explosive energy but the force of the blast within his own body combined with the electrical strike knocked him into oblivion as the yellow energy pulsed brightly and suddenly abated and with it Boomer's consciousness. The man fell over onto the floor and the bank was saved.

Olympia kicked the last henchmen into a wall as Sonata helped Graviton onto his feet. The demigod smiled and sheathed her blade, "Good work everyone. We saved the hostages and knocked out the villains in a quick and decisive manner with minimal collateral damage. I'd say this had been a pretty successful first mission for all of you. Round up the villains and let's call it a day." Sarin was still trapped in the vacuum cleaner and most of the villains were out for the count, but suddenly Bouncer sprang up on her feet and front-flipped over the floor and landed nimbly next to Shank. She scooped him up in her arms and jumped over a desk. She leaped all the way to the bottom of the stairs and nimbly dodged a sonic strike from Sonata and Olympia's attempt to grab her. The villain started running up the stairs in a bid to escape.

Pariah's victims

The steel man shook his head, "A pity your arrogance has doomed you and your compatriots to defeat. Very well," He gestured to his fellow villains and their henchmen, "Take them." The henchmen raised their weapons and started firing. The lightning-slinger, flamethrower, and ice-shooter started flinging their signature attacks along with a water-blaster who suddenly manifested great gushing streams of water. A man raised his hands and several chunks of debris lifted from the ground and flew forward. The giant remained in front of the bus as a fifteen-foot tall sentinel. Another man stretched and elongated himself into impossible lengths and formed a human net behind the giant.One woman behind them encircled herself in a glowing sphere and pointed her hand at the bus which was suddenly surrounded by a similarly glowing azure sphere. One of the villains simply disappeared, no doubt the one responsible for hiding the villains until now. The steel villain rushed forward at the heroes along with the diamond woman who changed her arms into long spears and a man who charged next to them with a large hammer. Up until now the trainees had been fighting robots and regular henchmen, no more. Now they faced a real challenge.

Blast Girl had to act quickly. She didn't really have time to gain much awareness of what was behind, her, but knew hitting it with gravity fully effecting her would be a bad idea, to say the least. And so, in the scant moments before she hit the wall, she managed to lower the effects of gravity on herself, just enough so that she had more time. She shifted her position, bringing her legs up sharply so that the bottoms of her boots faced the wall. With a clang, she hit the wall, then used it as a springboard to leap off the wall, propelling herself right at Twister! However, her gravity manipulation did not let her change direction, and she took the villain's tentacle to the chest she grunted as she felt it slam her chestplate backwards. That really, really hurt... just another reason to take this bastard down! The armor managed to protect her from serious harm, thankfully... and this hit didn't send her back as hard, allowing her to land with her boots down as she was pushed back towards the wall.

Now she just had to get him close again... Blast Girl had been in enough fights since she became a superheroine to tell that Twister was on his last legs. One more solid hit and he'd be down for the count and for the authorities to pick up! That meant that he wasn't going to be too good at balance... wrapping her fingers around the tentacle that had struck her, Blast Girl yanked backwards and raised her fist! If it worked this time, she would discharge all her remaining cartridges right into his face with a single punch! That'd knock him out for sure!

Strix almost smacked a gloved hand to his forehead as the explosives went off behind him. Of course, things were never that simple with this sort of thing. He would have to make some adjustments to the Echo System and his suit's scanning capabilities when this was all over to avoid being so easily tricked like that again, but for now it was time to focus.

Several layers of defense had sprung up around the bus that was their objective, so most likely they would need a well-planned assault to push through it and seize the day. Considering he'd already boxed himself in as a de-facto 'leader' to some of these people without thinking about it he figured he might as well keep going in that vein, so he started moving into a position for the people he immediately needed to hear and see him.

"I need Magnetar to help our steel friend over there throw his weight around. If you want targets I'd suggest the one throwing electricity around. If it's done right he could be a lightning rod for a lot of incoming fire before he crashes. After that use him to bludgeon whomever you want. The Diamond lady seems durable, but try not to hit her with him too hard, we don't want to strike a vulnerability and shatter her.. Apogee, go in hard and fast to take down the giant at the front. He's doubtlessly one of those big, takes-hits-like-a-mountain types but I'm thinking you're just as strong and durable and twice as fast. If you finish up with him or the opportunity presents itself, see if you can do that ice breath trick Zenith does to freeze up the elastic man who turned himself into a net. Elasticity decreases when exposed to cold, he'll become brittle, slow and ineffective Morph, if you're one of those shapeless slime-beings who gets stronger from contact with water then I recommend taking on the one sending out waves of the stuff, but if you might get washed away then target the one throwing chunks of the sidewalk. Physical trauma doesn't seem like it will be an issue for you. Plasmus, the heat from condensed blasts of plasma should counteract the ice shooters attacks nicely, but keep it non-lethal. Bullseye and Red Eye, either help with crowd control on these henchmen or help with the human flamethrower! Now Move!"

Strix was going to have to have a very serious talk about authority with Pariah later.

"How many goddamn times do we have to knock you people out?" Sonja swore before going to work. It would take a few tricks strung together, which would wear her out. The sheer amount of mojo passing through her body would take a toll. But that was nothing that couldn't be fixed by a shower, a hot meal, and some sleep. An escaped villain wasn't so easily solved.

Sonja flourished again, an ethereal glow seeming to come from behind her designer sunglasses. Every door in Bouncer's stairwell simultaneously slammed shut, followed by a chorus of clicks as the deadbolt on each door locked automatically. They were good steel fire doors with excellent locks, they'd at least slow Bouncer down. That was merely a starter, though. The magician was just getting warmed up, even as sweat started to run down her face.

Inside the stairwell, a thick choking fog seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, reducing visibility to mere inches. Once in a while, at completely unpredictable intervals, a blue spark dancing through the fog, disorienting and frightening.

A little bit of theater goes a long way. Using her mentalist abilities, Sonja spoke directly into the fugitive's mind, hoping now she was at least a little spooked.

Hey. It's Bouncer, right? Like a club. No one can hear me but you. So listen close. You aren't going to win. You don't get to win. That's not an option. We've brought people up from Miami, London, Shanghai, and Saint Louis for the express purpose of kicking your scrawny ass. Not to mention this place is surrounded by Chicago's Finest, who know exactly how to handle people like you. So there are two ways this can go. Option Number One. You can come back to the lobby and give up peacefully, hands up. You get a fair trial, your Constitutional rights, three hots and a cot at Marion. Or, Option Number Two, you can go ahead and escape. In which case you get to deal with me. Be it today, be it tomorrow, be it ten years from now, I will find you. Doesn't matter if you go two blocks down or to Timbuktu, I will find you. And you won't get any of those things. You will just deal with a sorcerer who has all the power of our nation's murder capital and every reason to hear you scream. So, Bouncer, what will it be? Number One or Number Two?

There was another click as the bolt to the stairwell door in the lobby slid back open. Sonja awaited a response.

The thrill of success, the relief that he was going to live, the dread that Boomer may be dead, the utter exhaustion after the fight. All these feelings and more jockeyed within Volt for dominance as the last foe fell. Eventful first day. Reckon this wee league is gonna have it's hands full if they all turn our like this. The Lightning-Slinger stepped warily over to Boomers inert form, praying that the exploding crook was still breathing. At least Graviton was getting up, that was something to be thankful for. He heard Olympia congratulating them on a job well done, praise well earned in Volt's opinion.

He reached Boomer's side, but before he could check the rogue was still breathing there was a commotion behind him. What now!Bouncer had somehow made it back to her feet, and was making good her escape with Shank in toe. Volt couldn't believe his eyes, these people just wouldn't stay down. He grit his teeth, determined that he'd put her down one last time. Besides, after all the effort I had to go to to knock Shank out, there's no bloody way I'm letting him go now!

“Sounds like they're getting away Blondie,” came Szymon's dry observation.

“We'll see!” returned Tommy through grit teeth.

The Lightning-Slinger fired a quick blast at the escaping pair, narrowly missing and almost hitting Olympia. Oop's, that coulda been troublesome! Bouncer was through the open door to the stairwell now, breaking Volt's line of sight. The hero gave chase, wincing whenever his weight came down on his wounded leg. The exertion had reopened the wound, slowing him some, but he'd be damned if that stopped him getting the fleeing crooks.

. . . The heavy steel fire door that slammed in his face stopped him though. Surprise was the first thing he felt, at least in that moment between having his nose crushed and registering the pain.

“GAAAAWWDDD DAAAAMMMIT!” howledHi-Voltage, hands flying up to his face to slow the flow blood that was now streaming from his hooter. I'm gonna kill em, I don't care who see's, but I'm gonna kill Bouncer and Shank! It was an empty threat, he wasn't that cold-blooded, but it sure made him feel better.

Chris thanked her speedy abilities many, many, many times of the course of a few seconds as her body snapped into autopilot dragging her in a shock induced daze around the area. Multiple times she ran into her allies only to be roughly shoved away before a cloud of bullet came raining down on where she had just been standing, a few rude words chasing after her as she sped away.

The voice of someone, she thought it might’ve been the owl person, shouting out orders to everyone pushed her mind back into action. She had to get her actions under control. She bounced off of someone sending them into someone else’s fists with a crunch. At the current moment in time she was running purely off instinct leaving her actions dangerously sloppy. With her hands on the ground Chris brought herself into a skidding stop before taking off again as fire fell down onto the concrete, the heat of which chased happily behind her. So far she had been extremely lucky but she was causing more trouble for her allies than she was actually helping them.

A wall of water snapped her head back and her feet flew into the sky bring her crashing down, head first, onto the cracked road. Thankfully her helmet protected her from the impact leaving her only to deal with the slight headache and streams of water still forcing their way down her throat. With ugly coughs and splutters Chris was able to dredge up the water from her lungs, just in time for another stream to crash into her and scraping over the road. Twisting and turning over again and again Chris finally managed to grip the road with the pads of her gloves and toes of her shoes, holding her steady against the waters constant cold barrage.

The barrage quickly let up as the water slinger paused for a moment to bring another round of water into being, but of course by then Chris had already talked the poor person to ground before curling up and promptly rolling over their face. Rolling Girl continued to spin away knocking the legs of many, she hoped most of them were foes, out from under them.

Rainmaker's Team

Blast Girl's move worked and Twister was yanked forward toward's the heroine's fist. The tentacled villain knew what came next and gritted his teeth as he was hit full in the face by Blast Girl's gauntlet. The villain was knocked back on his feet until his tentacle pulled him taut against Blast Girl and he was down for the count. Meanwhile, Locust continued to screech and slash at Gabriel with an animal blood lust. Suddenly Blast Girl felt a hand slip around her waist and an invisible pressure clench against her neck. A voice whispered to her, "You're getting me out of here Hero, otherwise they'll have to mop your blood off the floor after I open an artery."

Olympia's Team

Olympia twisted to the side to dodge Volt's lightning bolt and arched her eyebrow at the hero but she followed Volt to the door and kicked it open. The pair ran up the stairs and found Bouncer slamming her body against a heavy door again and again, Shank groaning next to her while propped up against a wall. The previously cold and collected Bouncer now looked quite flustered as she struggled to ignore Sonja's mental message. She turned back to face the pair of heroes and Olympia raised her sword, "Stop right there Bouncer. There's no escape."

Bouncer let her hands fall to the side and she seemed to lose all will to fight. She didn't say anything as she slowly raised her hands. Until suddenly her eyes widened and she screamed in pain and fell to the floor. Olympia rushed forward to her before she stopped short at the sight of Bouncer's eyes now glowing red. Bouncer spoke but in a voice that was distinctly male with a slight rasp. The voice even reached across to Sonja through her mental link and projected itself into her mind, "Heroes. You may have won this day with your new League of self-declared protectors. But you have not won the war. For make no mistake, you and all your self-righteous cohorts are at war. You are at war with us. The ones who will rid the world of your kind. All of our enemies will fall before our might. It is inevitable."

Shank opened his eyes and they were the same deep shade of red as Bouncers. He stood and the two raised their hands at Olympia and Volt. Olympia slid in front of Volt with her shield raised as the villains fired twin beams of red energy at them. The beams struck the shield and Olympia gritted her teeth as she blocked them. The beams stopped and Olympia lowered her shield as Shank touched Bouncer's arm and the two popped out of the Bank, Olympia stowed her shield and said, "Well, you don't see that everyday."

Olympia strode forward and started kicking in each door, her demigod strength opening each one. She found several hostages huddled in different rooms as Sonata radioed that they had found another group inside the vault. Olympia kicked in the last door and grimaced. She gestured at Volt and strode inside. Inside was one man who was barely alive. The remains of his formerly well-tailored suit had been burnt to a crisp along with much of his torso. The rest of his body was a ruin of cuts and bruises, obviously the work of Shank and Bouncer. On the wall behind him one word had been burned clearly into the wall. It read, Legion.

Olympia stood next to the man and said, "I think I recognize him. Money man for the Outfit here in Chicago. Damn, let's get him out of here. Zenith is not going to like this." She touched her commlink and said over the line, "Let's get the rest of the villains wrapped up for the boys in blue and let's head back to the Hall. Pariah is going to have a field day." Olympia gently picked up the man and carried him out the door, her mind racing as the implications of what just occurred.

Pariah's victims

The heroes all confirmed Strix's orders and they sprung into action. Redeye began firing her lasers to melt weapons or throw henchmen back with low-level bursts. Bullseye fired arrows with multiple special properties, some stunning with electricity, others exploding with concussive force, and one that exploded into a large ball of foam that covered the flamethrower and temporarily extinguished her flames. Ember, the pyrokinetic would overcome the fire-retardant foam in quick order but the heroes had a few moments to take advantage of her temporary weakness.

Magnetar raised his hands and the steel villain was picked up off his feet, Magnetar flung him around and at the lightning controller. Several lightning strikes were absorbed into the man of steel which saved a few heroes from being shocked into unconsciousness though one hero had already been brought down by foam bullets and another by flung debris. Shocker planted his feet and suddenly Chrome stopped flying around the air, surrounded by a flickering sphere of electricity. Shocker's minor electromagnetic control began struggling against Magnetar's power. Suddenly the struggle ceased as Chrome reverted to organic flesh and he hit the ground. Shocker flung a bolt at Magnetar which he barely dodged and pinned the hero down, not allowing him to regain his concentration as Chrome turned back to steel and he locked eyes with Strix and started sprinting to Strix's position, intent on taking out the enemy leader.

Bulwark, the man holding the hammer and Adamant the diamond woman worked their way into the main group and closed to hand-to-hand range, aiming to knock out their opposition. Rolling Girl had managed to stun Aquamarine with her assault and knocked down rows of henchmen but the hydrokinetic sent out a stream of water in front of the speedster with the intent of causing Rolling Girl to lose control and slam into the wall of a building. Morph advanced on Aquamarine and the hydrokinetic's water attacks only seemed to increase Morph's size but suddenly the blob's movement was stopped as Frost began freezing his body, and the amorphous hero had only moments before he was fully encased. Suddenly Plasmus fired a stream of blue energy at Frost. Frost erected an ice sphere around him but it was melted by Plasmus's attack. Plasmus fired another blast which knocked Frost to the ground. Morph slithered out of his icy trap and fired a blob of goo at Aquamarine which stuck her to a wall and nearly unable to move. Phantasm the invisible man was still unaccounted for.

Apogee flew forward at Colossus and dodged a giant fist and punched him in the gut. The giant only staggered a little but it allowed Apogee a second to use her freeze-breath on Extrusion whose elastic form became more rigid as he struggled to reform himself. Colossus increased his size even more and lashed out catching Apogee in the back and eliciting a grunt of pain as the two began a titanic clash. They were equal in strength but Apogee was much faster and landed several hits on Colossus, who began to falter. Until Apogee's movement was arrested by the telekinetic Sentinel who held the struggling heroine in place as Colossus swung her into the ground with a massive fist. Colossus turned his attention back to guarding his position but he was obviously in pain. Apogee struggled to get out of a crater in the ground as Sentinel raised a car above her and was about to fling it downward into her. The attack was faltering and quick coordination between the heroes was needed.

Upon the successful destruction of the sniper nests, changeling leapt back to the street, rejoining his fellow potential teammates in their charge. "That wasn't so bad!" he said, momentarily proud. Only momentarily.

He was brought back to reality when the buildings had exploded, and new combatants had appeared, these "terrorists" garbed in clothes that screamed stereotypical villain. Beneath his mask, Changeling rolled his eyes at Pariah's dramatic statements, and then sighed as a steel man joined in on the melodrama. It was like they thought this was a cartoon!

When the fighting broke out once more, Changeling stayed back for a while, carefully firing shots at "terrorists" he caught getting too close, although his shots were now far more conservative, as even his full supply of arrows wouldn't have been enough to take all the henchmen. For the mean time, he would let the rest of the group pull some weight.

Then, he saw the steel man charge Strix. Quickly, he put his bow away, and unsheathed his daggers, racing to intercept the steel man. Changeling jumped, attempting to land on top of him, using the weight of his armor combined with his invulnerability to hold the "villain" down. If he was successful, Changeling would attempt to attack, although if such a thing were to prove pointless, the vigilante would be quick to return to simply holding Chrome down.

"Don't go messing with the team player here, friend. I think he's probably pretty useful."

There was a click as the shells ejected from Blast Girl's gauntlet, as the blast smashed into Twister's face and he was down and out. The girl flung her hands back, and new shells automatically loaded themselves as she allowed the unconscious villain to fall to the ground. That bastard... he was down and out! Great, now they just needed to clean up the rest and the authorities could handle it for good! Blast Girl took a step forward... and then suddenly felt a hand slip around her waist... and a pressure on her neck. It was that invisible bastard! Shade... Blast Girl gritted her teeth as she heard the villain lay out his plan. Get him out of there or die? Like that'd work out! This was a bad situation... but she'd get out of it no sweat!

The girl took a deep breath, lowering her hands, and focusing. The effects of gravity lowered on her... She'd have to act quickly, he could be fast too, and he had her at a disadvantage... but they were close to the wall, and her gravity adjustment only took a moment of focus for her to be able to be lighter or heavier...Blast Girl raised both hands and discharged her gauntlets as fast she she could. The recoil was strong enough to lift her lighter form up and backwards, into the one attempting to take her hostage... and then she brought the effects of gravity back to normal, then beyond. Even if this didn't work, she'd be out of his grasp... and if it did, she'd slam him right into the wall!

Gabriel was glad that his plan had worked and gotten the hostages to safety. But the creature Locust now stood in his way and slashed its sharp claws at him. The beast was fast and managed to slash its claws on Gabriel's shoulders. Gabriel could feel the warm liquid that was his blood, running down his arm and then the extremely painful stinging pain of his slash wound.

Despite the terrible pain, Gabriel quickly retaliated with his Damnation ability and sent a white bolt of lightning right at the monster. The bolt of divine energy knocked Locust back several feet and then Gabriel drew his sword again and flew straight for the beast at great speeds. He came up to the monster and slashed at the creature's chest with his flaming sword, its blade slicing into the monster's flesh. He then followed up with a blast of fire and brimstone right at Locust's head.

"I could use some backup" He said to his teammates.

There was the sound of a multitude of flapping wings. The grating calling of dozens of crows. It had taken some time to call up this many, which is why she had been staying back to build up a good number of them... after all, this was one of the most easily-directed offensive options she had and there were a lot of allies to avoid. That didn't require a little sacrifice at least.

Small shadows hurtled above the crowd as a set of ten crows suddenly hurtled through the air, directly towards the car that was about to slam down on the unfortunate Apogee. The moment each of the black birds made contact, they erupted into brilliant purple explosions. While individually they were not very powerful, ten of them together would certainly be plenty. At the very least, they were sure to knock the car off-course and potentially do enough damage to render it useless as a weapon.

It was now that she stepped out into the light. She was possibly one of the most inoffensive-looking people out of the group, appearing simply as a ten-year-old girl wearing a witch outfit. However, the crows behind her said something more. There were twelve more remaining, and each of the birds would follow her every order. They were magical constructs, after all. Corvid Murder was a useful spell, to say the least. It had some intimidation factor and could be used for spying or blasting your enemies off their feet. Of course, it was currently a matter of selecting a target... she had prevented Apogee from being in a very uncomfortable place for the moment, at least.

Charlotte strode forward, the crows following behind her. She could not go out to the front line of this fight, at least not too noticeably. It wasn't as big an issue in most fights, but in this case there were so many super-powered enemies that she had to be more careful.

"Jeez, heroes fighting heroes," Charlotte began, scanning the area and arraying her crows forward, "If it was for real it'd be the most counterproductive fight ever."

She spotted another situation she could help with, quickly. Magnetar was pinned down, Shocker hurling bolts of electricity at him. While sending them after Shocker was an exercise in futility given that he could shoot them down(Midnight Ripper was a more useful spell here but she wasn't in a position to use it), there was another technique that Charlotte would try now...

A pair of crows blurred, swooping forward to slam into the ground ahead of the magnetism-based hero. They erupted into purple flames, tossing dust and debris up. It would cover Magnetar getting out of there, Charlotte was sure.

Sonja shook her head as she led a CPD HAZMAT team to where she had left Sarin. They had won this fight, but it seemed like it was the opening shots in a larger war. The Mafia was mixed up in this somehow, but that just seemed like a minor aside compared to whatever dark power had spoken to her. Was it magic, or psionics, or something else? Sonja didn't know. But she knew a great evil was behind that. Maybe worse than anything she had encountered.

But, she reflected as she looked over her new companions, the situation wasn't hopeless. She knew now she could trust at least a few of these people, and she was sure the most competent of the others would get through the other missions. There was strength in numbers, and Sonja took comfort in that. She should really get to know the other Leaguers.

Especially that one, she thought as she spied Hi-Voltage. Walking over with a smile, she gave the younger man a clap on the shoulder. "Hey, man, good work back there. That lightning stuff is pretty cool." She looked around, unsure of whether Olympia would approve of the next part. "How about you and I grab dinner and a drink tonight?"

Rainmaker's Team

Unfortunately for Shade, Blast Girl's plan worked perfectly and the Invisible Man barely even knew what was going on before he was slammed into a wall with her crushing weight on him. He reappeared as his power deactivated along with his conscious mind. He slid down the wall and lay limp against it. At this point in time most of the henchmen had been incapacitated as well.

The only one left was Locust. He took the hit from Gabriel and skittered back several feet, with his enemy's sword catching him in his chitinous carapace, lightly piercing it and drawing more fury than pain. Locust ducked under the blaze of heat faster than one would have thought and sliced at Gabriel's belly, scoring more blood. Locust made to tackle the Angelic hero to the floor and once he was pinned there he snapped at his face in a bestial attempt to bite and slash him.

Pariah's Victims

Chrome's forward advance was suddenly halted by Changeling and the man didn't reply as he used his metallic strength to rip Changeling from his shoulders and slam him to the ground with enough force to crack the concrete. He then stomped in the vicinity of the heroe's chest, attempting to knock him out of commission.

Charlotte's crows detonated and the car was blown up in a fairly dramatic explosion. Apogee used the momentary distraction to zoom up and punch Sentinel in the chest making him double over in pain. She inhaled and exhaled her breath in a gale of wind that blew Sentinel through a nearby window and temporarily out of the fight. Then she zoomed at Colossus, dodged a sluggish fist and hit him with a solid hit on the jaw. The giant fell over the brittle net that Extrusion made with his body. Colossus rapidly shrunk and bounced off of the net while Apogee continued to freeze Extrusion and slow him down. She was blocked by Bastion who expanded her shield to cover Extrusion which stopped Apogee's assault cold. Apogee banged on the sphere with hit after hit but Bastion simply stood her ground and the barrier held firm.

Charlotte's diversion allowed Magnetar to slip cover and throw a car at Shocker, who nimbly dodged to the side in a roll. The next car was stopped in mid-air by a ball of electricity that held it in place and settled it to the ground. Magnetar reached into his pockets and flung several small steel balls at Shocker who destroyed them with pinpoint tendrils of lightning. Magnetar was no longer on the defensive but he was making no headway either as the two metahumans countered eachother's attacks. Outside intervention was needed.

Aquamarine and Frost were still out of the fight for a few moments, but the Hydrokinetic had formed a thin razor edge of water and started cutting through the goop. She would be out within the net several seconds. Ember had escaped the foam and saw Charlotte interfere with her magic she snarled and unleashed a torrent of flame in her direction. Many of the henchmen had been knocked out but Bulwark and Adamant pressed their attack and had already knocked out a couple of heroes. They engaged Redeye and Bullseye in a fight that the heroes were losing. Redeye sent beam after beam of energy into Adamant's diamond form which kept reflecting the blasts while Bullseye's arrows mostly bounced off of Bulwark's high durability form. Finally Adamant was temporarily stopped when Redeye melted the street around her feet and Bullseye fired an arrow at Bulwark that ignited into sparks and set him rigid to the floor, but they were only temporary solutions and they both needed help.

Blast Girl

Returning to her normal weight, Blast Girl stepped away from the wall and briefly looked over her shoulder at the unconscious villain. Well, he got what was coming to him, that was for sure! The energetic girl cracked her knuckles and looked ahead. That angel guy, he wasn't doing so good against the big bug person.Triggering the reload for her gauntlets, there was a satisfying click as the cartridges loaded. She wanted to get in fast, and hit hard... swinging her arms back, pointing both fists behind her, Blast Girl fired a cartridge from each, launching towards the monstrous criminal!

She swung one fist forwards, intend on bringing it crashing down on the distracted insect man's exoskeleton and firing off two cartridges in a single punch on impact!

---

Charlotte

Oh, damn, someone had noticed. And it was the fire girl, too, hadn't she been foamed up or something? Oh well, looks like she got out... And now Charlotte had to deal with it. Such a pain, really. As the fiery blast tore towards her, she swung one foot back and raised her right arm. She could do this quickly, and hopefully, widely enough to shield herself from the flame. "May the darkness of night be my shield!"

And with that, she swung her arm in a large arc, a circle extending from the ground to slightly above her head as quickly as she could. The small girl needed it to protect her completely, after all. A line of blackness followed her finger as she traced the shape in the air... and the second it was completely, more black energy appeared inside of it. It assembled a pattern of intricate symbols and smaller circles, rotating elegantly in the air. Midnight Shield was an intensely useful spell. It required no sacrifice and could be cast with her finger, the main issue was making sure it protected her body entirely. As the flames crashed down on the shield, Charlotte simply remained still even as she watched the fire slam into it. It wouldn't penetrate, she was certain.

And so she sent her response. Four crows suddenly rose and soared over the flames, heading right for the pyrokinetic. It was a simple, and yet hopefully effective attack. They were hardly lethal, aiming lethal damage at someone in a training mission would be impossibly stupid. No, the blast would simply knock the target off their feet and hopefully senseless, even with four of them at once.