"Do you know how lucky you are? You better god damn recognize!" The man's voice boomed through the crowd. The villain only known as "The End" hefted his anti-matter cannon as he readied for the next hero to do battle. "Come on Asyr! I'm WAITING!" The man seemed more interested at the sky then the rubble surrounding the battlefield. The bodies of several heroes littered the field. Some barely moving, scorch marks adorning their bodies. The lesser heroes weren't so lucky...

The End had come for one simple purpose, to kill Lady Asyr. The one title every villain had been itching for, he was going to do this! The police force could do nothing but set up barricades. Hopefully preventing anyone without powers from becoming another victim in the crossfire. It wasn't like the rest of the world didn't have a front row seat to the death anyways. He'd hijacked and broadcast his kills over every television, internet stream and radio in the hopes of drawing Asyr from her tower.

It worked....

There was a soft rustling, as if something too fast for most to see moved past them, before crashing down in front of the chaos. Lady Asyr, her royal blue cape fluttered in the breeze, casting a shadow across the fallen heroes as she looked over the scene.

Her hard gaze softened at the mindless violence. All this, just to get her attention...eyes turning towards The End. Her mouth clenching as she stepped towards the killer of heroes. "Why?" Her voice was soft, as she tried to believe even villains deserved to get a fair trial. She never pushed herself too hard, she never wanted to be a killer.

This man was changing the philosophy. She wanted to crush this man like he had just dispatched so many friends, allies, those who depended on her..

Her vision swept over this man, he had nothing special. Just a really large gun and some stupid armor.

She was not impressed.

There was a blink as Asyr's super-speed propelled her towards The End. Tearing the anti-matter cannon from his hands before slamming her foe into the concrete. The very ground shook as the very earth broke. Whirling the armored villain around, Asyr launched him into the closest building, the shockwave caused sent several abandoned cars skittering away from the building like leaves in the wind. Asyr felt her emotions take hold, she wanted to pummel this one into the ground, break every last bone in his miserable body,make him regret each life he stole!

He's getting back up?

The suit of armor slowly stood back up, Asyr didn't give him a chance to react. Rushing the monster again, grabbing him by the throat, both heroine and villain ascended to the heavens. Yet the recording continued as the view of the battle changed to behind the eyes of The End. Confusion turned to dread as bright red letters adorned the screen.

Self Destruct Initiated...

The explosion was a muffled pop, but to Asyr, it could have been a sun exploding. The heat was unbearable, she felt her body be thrown backwards from the robot. Falling back to the earth she willed herself to fly like she had so often before.

She kept falling...

Panic ensued as she realized her power of flight was gone! Crashing back to the earth hurt, more then she'd ever hurt before. Asyr slowly got to her feet, believing the threat was over at least, she had time to heal. A white-hot muzzle flash of the Anti-Matter cannon threw her across the battlefield. Stunned, Asyr looked about for the threat. The same suit of armor, she assumed to be the real villain chuckled as he hefted the cannon towards her.

"Bet that smarted a little more? How did losing the power of flight feel?" He discharged another round. Asyr tried to dash out of the way. The cannon blast caught her square on again. Sending her crashing to the ground. She tried to sputter a response, The End casually reloaded another round into the anti-matter gun before he replied.

"I'm sorry, you may have a little blood in your mouth. I'm guessing you're shocked about not being able to fly and your super speed down to half. You can thank my little robotic friend. I loaded him with a little something for you. A virus that is breaking down your powers, your body is no longer invulnerable..." He fired another round as Asyr got to her feet. "You no longer have super speed!" He blasted her again, the monitors displaying a morbid display as The End fired again, "Your powers are dying! Much like you! You know how long I dreamed of this!" He raised the cannon point blank to Asyr's head. Her bloodied hand raised up, begging him to stop...

"One day..."

The End tilted his head, almost interested in what she had to ask, Asyr slowly got to her feet. "Please..one day, let me be human for one day. We will meet here again in 24 hours. Then we can finish this..." Her breath was ragged, her body broken, she was barely able to stand.

The End lowered his anti-matter cannon before replying. "Fine...if you do not return here in one day. I will march across this city and I will burn it to the ground! I will not stop, I will not hesitate." He lifted Asyr by the front of her white costume, his face mere inches from the woman who the world thought was indestructible.

"One day, and then you die...." Dropping the broken body of Lady Asyr to the ground, The End walked away. Smirking before he departed, adding the insult to injury. "The virus did not just strip your powers. You will die within a day no matter what..."

Asyr said nothing as she struggled to her feet. She was quiet as she began to walk away from the fight. The crowds parted around the broken heroine. They all knew what happened, hell, the world knows what happened to her. She wanted to scream, cry, demand that this wasn't fair. She gave everything for this world!

Now they just stand by and whisper?

Pausing to breathe, Asyr realized that this wasn't fair to ask them to share this burden. They were scared, they were worried that the new heroes were on their own now. Her powers gone, her life in one day. Asyr couldn't fault them. They were human, they were weak, they were scared.

For one day, she'd be the same as those she fought so hard to protect, fragile, breakable, and human. Lady Asyr, hoping to keep some modicum of strength in front of the population, kept her poise as she walked away from the muffled crowds, she felt her steps faltering as she approached the closest alley. Finding her backpack, and civilian outfit she picked up the clothes, her hands, so strong, now trembled. For the countless times she'd saved the world, fought with every ounce of strength at her disposal, the lives she'd saved.

She will die alone...

"It's not fair." she muttered to herself.

24 HOURS REMAINING

The title of the strongest had changed hands. The strongest wasn't Lady Asyr anymore. The title was in The End's hands now. And Jaaku wanted it. She had yearned to be the strongest for ages. She had wanted the title, the power, the status, of being the strongest. But now the strongest had changed. The former was to die in twenty-four hours. And when Lady Asyr would die, The End would be vounerable. And that would be when Jaaku would kill The End.

Jaaku was prepared. She was wearing a belt that held seven decks of cards. She had cards. She always had hair, and let's just say a giant stuffed-animal would be pretty damn suspicious. So Jaaku was set to go kill The End. Not for revenge, or anything stupid like that, but for her own selfish reasons.

Skeritt's face was only illuminated by the bright LCD light of the large supercomputer that he had built. Multiple monitors stacked and stood next to each other, each showing a different image and only the three surrounding the computer Skeritt was working on mimicked his work. He was currently working on a device that would allow him to walk on the ocean floor without the pressure crushing him like a penny on the train tracks. It was almost near completion and ready for testing, but a few bugs had to be worked out before he'd send some sort of fleshy symbiote down to possible die or return to be tested on again. On the other monitors various news channels from all around the world were keeping him updated on what was going on in the world at the moment.

Something caught his ear on one of the monitors though, and its message was repeated and echoed throughout the room. Lady Asyr had been defeated, the world was in turmoil as their planet's protector was struck to the ground and depowered in front of their very eyes. Skeritt looked up from his work to pay more attention to the news reports. He felt anger well up inside him, he slammed his fist on the desk before getting up from his chair and beginning to make his way to the elevator. The elevator was built by Skeritt to propel whoever it contained up to the surface in almost no time flat. Skeritt chose to drill down to the oceans floor so he could extract more materials and whatnot that had yet to be touched by man.

Soon enough, he was on the top of the small island that the government had provided for Skeritt, not everyone had forgiven Skeritt for his past life just yet and if he lived anywhere near mainland the death threats would start to pile in. He broke into a run as he got to the surface, quickly accelerating towards the beach before he leaped into the air and took to the skies. In a few minutes he was at the battleground where Asyr and the end had fought. A few members of the crowd were still around, flabbergasted at what had happened, and of course the memorabilia searchers were scouring the area for anything that they might keep or sell on ebay. The police quickly arrived on scene and made the crowd along with those who had found minor shards of armour or whatnot. They had read enough in the papers to know about Skeritt and while some of them didn't like it, they allowed him to stay on the scene.

Skeritt began to search the crime scene in order to find anything that could give him an idea of what was going on inside Asyr's body that was making her die so quickly. Luck seemed to shine upon him, when she had hit the floor some blood had come with her. He quickly reached into one of the pouches on his belt, pulled out a small vial and scooped it in before sealing it shut and putting it back into the pouch. Still, this may not have been enough to work with, he set about scouring the area once more.

Scorn sat alone, spinning in her chair, looking intently into the sockets of a skull, a rare frown on her face. Her henchmen were now celebrating the news, that within a day Asyr would be dead. Scorn though felt depressed, a rare emotion from her, a brief moment of normality on her face as she sat in silence and seclusion. Her foe was dying, she should of been thrilled and jumping with joy but instead here she was annoyed and depressed. Despite all the fights that she and Asyr had, Scorn saw Asyr as not only a foe but a dear friend. It was always Scorn's goal to grab the hero's attention with her schemes to have her fight her. No other hero could match Asyr with the personal enjoyment Scorn had for fighting her foe. Scorn didn't see many as equal to her, Asyr was the only exception. A hero who was the best of the best indeed yet didn't let it go all to her head all the time. She was the only hero to outwit her at every turn, even on her most sensational of plans that seemed to have no loopholes.

Thinking back on their past battles she gave a small smile."Ah remember the time where I made you choose who would die: you if you didn't defeat my strongest henchmen, the henchmen in order to prevent my death, or me with a heart monitor attached to the henchmen you were fighting each beat of his heart charging an electric chair where I sat. In the end one of us would die but you found the small loophole and no one died. Putting the henchmen into a cardiac arrest, making me think he was dead and smiling with satisfaction. Only I thought he was dead and once I was gone you made his heart start beating again. Oh how I was mad yet thrilled to meet someone to match my wits," Scorn said to the skull, reminiscing on one of their first fights ",That's when I knew we would be destined to be intertwined. Two sides of the same coin, I'm the ying to your yang. Imagine what we could of done together. But we were fated to battle for eternity, you pouting as I prattled. I wonder if you ever got tired of our game? I know I never got tired."

Scorn stood up Skull still in hand as she walked around the room that was hers, ignoring the loud racket outside the walls of the celebration going on. She went to a wall where her schemes were planned. Most of the stuff on the bored was random gibberish, no sane mind would understand it but to Scorn it was all organized and perfect."Oh how I was looking for this coming winter, I had a special plan. But now it seems that won't happen. I won't be the one to give you an honorable death. I won't be the last thing you see as the life drains for your eyes and I tell you how I felt for you. If only we weren't on opposite sides." A picture of Asyr hung on the wall and Scorn gave the image a slight kiss.

"If only you could know how I felt. Oh we might be foes but you are also a dear friend," she continued looking at the wall ",Now though you shall never know because of that coward." Her smile turned to a face of disgust, her clawed hand holding the skull suddenly turned to a fist and crushed the skull.

"He turned you into one of them. A normal being because he was weak, a coward. He knew he couldn't beat you like you were so he turned you from a god to a mortal. I would of killed you as you were, an honorable warrior and hero death to die in a battle to the death but now you won't ever have that chance because of that snake. Once you are gone his head will be mine as a new play toy. Oh I hate you and want you dead but I also respected you and even loved you. No hero will ever compare to you and it will be a bore once you are gone and my plans are set in motion. Who could ever mach the might and wit of Asyr? Who can match the wit and might of me?" A blood red tear dripped down Scorn's face, as a smile came back on it.

"I might not be able to kill you Asyr but The End should of realized by killing you, he has painted a lovely target on his head like any hero has on theirs. I know I won't be the only one gunning for his head but as I go after his, any hero or villian in my path shall be crushed. That I promise you my dear love Asyr."

Electron watched from the screens in his hideout as Lady Asyr fought with the Villain who called himself The End. His jaw dropped in shock and horror as he saw what had happened. It couldn't be true. She represented the best of humanity, she was an inspiration to nearly an entire generation of heroes and in Electron's opinion, a world without her wouldn't turn out well for anyone. It would most likely be a world in chaos.

"Activate all Medical databanks. Set DNA profile: Lady Asyr. Display all medical records." The screens began to flash for a few moments as genetic samples began to appear on the screens all around him began to fill with genetic information.

"Twenty fours hours. I can save her. I just need a sample of the infected DNA." He muttered to himself as he began to work. He was good with problems like this. Well, not exactly problems like this but he did work well under pressure and trying to save the world's mightiest hero and the woman who had inspired him to become a hero in twenty fours hours was quite a bit of pressure.

He activated a communicator that was tied to the Police HQ. The police knew him and they knew he wasn't some crazy costumed freak who killed criminals and as such he was on relatively good terms with them. "This is Electron. I assume you have seen what just happened. I need a sample of Lady Asyr's blood as quickly as possible. I will head to Police HQ in one hour." He muttered as he cut off the connection and looked at the screens as a plan began to take shape in his mind.

Noelle Vandread/Empress

Let no crisis go to waste, that's what Noelle thought. It was only going to be a matter of time before criminals all over the wood works would come out to tear up her beloved city, so Noelle was going to crush those notions quickly. Suddenly, all the plain uniformed officers were replaced with something more akin to stormtroopers; utterly terrifying mechanical police men with enough firepower to match a platoon of soldiers. And these were just her basic men with new equipment. Because of how militarized she made them, she's had a hell of a time convincing the local politicians to allow her to deploy the troops, but with Lady Asyr out of the way, they needed these men to hold the city before the place turns into total anarchy.

Though despite how tricked out her men were, Noelle herself kept with her modest police uniform. Her only weapon was a Browning Hi-Power, the "Standard" sidearm for her officers. But if she really needed to head into danger, she could easily acquisition heavier weaponry. Which is exactly what she was going to do, despite orders from her higher ups. As the Chief of Police she was told that she is suppose to command her men from the HQ, but she knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before some super villain cuts off the communication throughout the city. She had fairly archaic ways to ensure that her orders get relayed to her officers, but she needed to be on the ground to make it happen. But before Noelle could get herself armed and ready one of her secretaries came in. One of the "heroes" named Electron. Not the worse heroes she had to admit, but Noelle couldn't fathom why he wanted a sample of Asyr's blood, and it's not like they keep her phylactery at the headquarters. They didn't have a blood sample for him to take. They could order one, but it'll take at least a day before it arrived, and Asyr only has a day before her demise. "When Electron arrives, tell him that you cannot give him a blood sample because we don't have one. Besides that we cannot risk anyone trying to tamper with Asyr any further without figuring out how to save her. The last thing we need is for someone else to have Asyr's powers, but without her morals."

Once her message was relayed to her officers Noelle donned her riot armor, took her Hawking Auto Shotgun, and rode out with another convoy of officers into the city.

---

Damon/Darkmatter

Damon saw it all. The End, Lady Asyr, their fight, her defeat. He was actually near by, just by chance. He was just doing a business deal with a local gang selling them some firepower when he saw the fight. He couldn't believe it. Lady Asyr, champion of the world, defeated by some chump with a fancy weapon? Damon wasn't sure what he thought about it. After he finished his deal with the gang, for a while he was just wandering around. The police presence was gone, and in it's place it looked like a army of cyborg freaks have taken over the city. Either some villains have already moved in to occupy the place or the local law has some new toys to play with. Either way, Damon didn't care about that. He could always move to a new city. But somehow... Somehow he didn't want Asyr to die. It was strange, he was created to kill her, but he doesn't want her to die. Probably because he has nothing against her personally. She kept the peace, because it was certain that no one else was interested in peace keeping. It looked more like everyone was ready for an all out war. War was all fun and good to Damon, but it'd leave a bad taste in his mouth knowing that it could only happen because Lady Asyr had to die. So he decided that she shouldn't die.

Now the hard part was to find her. Even though she was a well known global figure, Damon was almost certain no one actually knew who Asyr was outside her hero persona. However, given that she's severely underpowered, she couldn't have gotten far from her last fight. Damon began to move around the area looking for Asyr, or at least a person who might be her. She's either in disguise or hiding, but Damon would know it when he finds her. Powers or no powers, she was still the Lady Asyr.

Elsie Detchkiss/The C.E.

Downtown Urban City sprinted down Gotham Boulevard like one of those endless corridors only found in dreams. Skyscrapers moved aside near the end of the boulevard to make way for Metropolis Square, still cordoned off from Lady Asyr's fight. Elsie was sweating beneath the bulky white hardsuit, trying not to think about the state of her hair. Helmet hair was bad enough when she didn't have to lug the damn suit over half of Urban City chasing after an arms deal. Her specially-modified (i.e. doorless) Saab convertible (white, of course) lay blocks away.

"Should've stayed in the frelling car," she muttered, clomping her way down yet another random alley. The White Text had pointed her in this direction half an hour ago, but there wasn't anything here. "Frelling White Text. Frelling job. At least you knew when things were going to Nar-Sie on the space station." The energy gun and plasma cutter whapped against the hard suit with every step she took. Elsie was very near the panicked crowd now. Their dull murmur was cut through by mechanically augmented police voices, insisting everyone remain calm.

The alley ended in an intersection. Trash piled up high in the dirt-covered asphalt near the corner. Deep ruts ran the length of the cross-street; clearly the garbage truck ran through this alley. It must not have had a chance to get here yet; not surprising with the crowd. The fight had made Elsie concerned, but at this point, she just wanted to find the alley where the arms deal was supposed to be taking place. To the right, the alley opened straight into Metropolis Square. All Elsie could see was the back of a police cyborg. It reminded her of the space station's cyborgs, of watching halves of researchers getting dragged along a corridor to medical bay by efficient hovering white machines, of seeing ropes of alien green through her mesons, hearing nothing but her own breath as she hacked gooey holes into the blob with the plasma cutter-

{"Oh, Nar-Sie,"} she said. She wasn't sure when the hallucination had turned from flashback into the clean white text boxes. Right now, she didn't care, she just had to leave the intersection before the buildings closed in like corridor walls. {"Come on, just stop it! I don't need this right now!"} she shouted into the alley. The White Text stayed in front of her vision. Elsie ran blindly forward, trying to make out the wireframe in the back of her mind.

At this point, Elsie felt a sudden urge to stop. She really did feel like taking a rest, and maybe collapsing against the wall in a heap.

But Elsie kept running anyway, despite the White Text's best efforts to keep her from- the hallucination stopped abruptly, and a concrete wall filled her vision. With a plastic smack, she ran straight into the wall, stumbled back, and sat dazed. On the wall opposite, a woman was fumbling to zip up a backpack, hands trembling. It took a moment for the scene to come into focus. Elsie checked her watch. It had been a full two hours since she'd first started looking for the gun deal. Clearly it was too late for her to do anything about it.

And damnit, she didn't care any more, her face was dying and some annoying stray piece of hair kept finding its way into her mouth, so she took off her helmet. It wasn't like the other occupant of the alley would recognize her, or even care, probably. She pushed up the Mesons, revealing her violet eyes. She could tell that her face was a mess; even though the suit internals had an atmos cooler built in, it was still a lot of work to move around in.

"Sorry," she said, "It's just I couldn't really breathe anymore and..."

That's when she looked at the woman across from her properly and saw the bruises and cuts. Elsie shut her mouth. Whoever the woman was, she'd been beaten. Recently. Elsie suddenly felt inadequate. If Lady Asyr were here, she wouldn't be complaining. Lady Asyr probably would have immediately seen and helped this poor woman, gun dealers be damned. Even so, Elsie wasn't sure what to say. She could try and find the (husband? boyfriend? lover?) person who'd done it, but that didn't seem like it would help. Elsie just wanted to take the woman back to her crowded little apartment (smaller, crowded quarters felt more like home to Elsie) and make her some tea.

"Listen," Elsie started, "I, um, have a..." (but what if the woman was some deranged junkie?) "...thing about my face, so don't tell anyone what I look like, hey?" she finished lamely. How did Lady Asyr make this look so easy? Well, she couldn't just leave the woman like this. Elsie grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen from a pouch on her suit. "I don't know what happened, or whatever," (come on, just spit it out!) "but if you need... something, I guess you can call me. Uh, Elsie. That's my name, I mean. Oh! Don't tell anyone my name's Elsie." She left the scrap of paper with her number under a rock. "Damnit," she mumbled. This was hard.

She sighed in defeat, clambered to her feet, and started the long trek back to her car, equipment still whapping her with every step. It had been a very bad day. She remembered to don her helmet, hiding her identity again, at the last second.

A beady, black eyed crow watched the fall of the Lady Asyr to the ground. It observed her humiliation, her despair. Unblinking, it watched the affair between the two humans with indifference – and when it was all over - it nonchalantly took off into a quick low flight.

Meanwhile, many miles away across the ocean, the Witch of the South sat in her castle, vexed. It was a dark place with very little light, and clustered with décor of animal pelts, human skins and vials upon vials of poisons; most of them her own. But yet, inside here, perfect sense of it all. Here was the only “home” she knew. The throne was her favourite part – the arm rests were embedded in spikes, and it was here that Marissa kept the wounds on her fingers fresh and open. In a sense, the constant pain gave a sobering effect that could counter the constant exposure to her own power, and balanced out her personality[ies] to some degree.

“The black feathered crow is supposed to foretell the death and destruction of a person, or a city… Tell me why then, that you couldn’t foretell this?????” As her anger grew, the crow continued to fly at a dangerous speed until it collided with a hard armoured rusty metallic suit. ”What? Ah… I’m so sorry. Come back to me, my child… I need you, I love you…” Marissa had a brief second to realise that she had never actually seen this type of armoury before, before her vision on the foreign state turned black. (...What was that? A hero messing around with his powers? Government Protocol?...) No matter what that was, the crow’s broken neck had already taken it’s toll.

”I’m sorry… I couldn’t prevent your death, I…” Marissa peeled herself away from her stone throne. She could just about vaguely, intuitively feel the dead crow’s feathers ruffling in the slow breeze; far, far away. ”I… don’t leave me…” As she peeled her fingers away from the arm rests, blood slushed through the throne before landing on cold marble floor – and part of it got mopped up by her cascading hair. A thick mist fumed from her hands, then later calmed down like a quiet candle flame. Slowly, and for the first time in years, the Witch of the South was about to make her way out of the black palace.

[I]”24 hours was it? Give me 24 hours to fall in love with you, I promise. I will love you like no other.”[I]
On unspoken command, 3 heavily suited guards in brown and grey turned to follow her lead, whilst the rest of her kingdom stirred – Marissa herself ignored the commotion, whilst her subconscious orchestrated it all. Wild dogs howled and big cats roared in cacophony at her arrival (or was it an animalistic requiem for the fallen superhero?) Whilst sentries of men in varying degrees of armour hailed attention.
Wincing, Marissa stepped out into the sunset. Long, Long time since that happened last – even this low level of light in the open air was almost unbearable. At least this way, she had the cool darkness of the night to look forward to. It must still be mid-afternoon in the West? And how does a villain make her way into New York without, say, the whole nation noting her arrival?

A few more soldiers stood vigil outside a whirring helicopter. Marissa smiled slightly – it seemed that her subconscious was able to organise something right after all. It was quite clearly a foreign machine – probably European. Or American. In a world where advances in technology seems to whizz straight past Marissa, it was hard to tell anymore. 24 hours. She had to find and fall in love with Lady Asyr in 24 hours. A difficult task no less, but the witch was certain she could find a way.

"Look daddy! There she is, there's Lady Asyr!"

Connor looked in the direction his adoptive daughter was pointing. "Yes, Ellie-girl, I see her." Ellie's beautiful blue eyes reflected the sight and her blonde hair waved in the wind. Lady Asyr was her role model, and she always imagined what it would be like to soar through the skies. Ellie was happy... and safe... that's all that mattered to him. Playfully speaking, Connor told her "if only we could fly, then we could be heroes too, huh?"

Ellie just looked at her dad and smiled with her perfect grin. "It's not about flying or being strong daddy. It's what you do that makes you a hero."

A shudder of pride echoed throughout Connor's body. "Oh? And who told you that?"

"No one told me that daddy," she replied, "you can't fly, but you're my hero."

-_-<0>-_-

Plow!

Connor hopped off the dirty couch, reaching for his pistol, as the basement door burst open. "Oh," he said, once he realized the 'intruder' was Miranda, his confidant, "it's just you." Connor fell back on the couch, tossing the pistol back on the table and burying his head into his hands. His dream made him happy, it let him relive his past. Waking up was the worst part - watching the memories of his deceased baby-girl vanish.

Miranda walked in and slammed the door behind her, "I've been trying to call you for the past six hours, Connor, why didn't you answer? I thought something happened to you."

"Uh, I've been sleeping," Connor replied, "remember: I had a rough night." Indeed it was a rough night, but the thought of mutilated and beheaded kidnappers brought a maniacal grin to Connor's face; he needed the rest. "Killing folks is busy work."

Miranda sighed before replying, "well, turn on the TV, there's something you need to see." Connor slowly extended his arm, reaching for the remote and flipped on the ancient TV. It was on the news channel, as it always was. Images of destruction and battle was shown within a city. The headline read: "Lady Asyr - Defeated?" A surprised Conno turned the TV up loudly:

"...after being defeated by the villain calling himself 'The End'. Authorities and heroes alike, including Skeritt, scour the scene for more details. We are all standing by, awaiting what many believe will be the inevitable death of our beloved Lady Asyr-"

The TV flicked off. Connor's breathing had picked up and his blood began to boil. "Damn it!" Connor chucked the remote across the room, causing it to break apart as it hit the concrete wall. He and Asyr would have never gotten along, and both had two very different moralities, but knowing that Ellie's role model would die somehow made him feel responsible.

"Connor..." started Miranda, trying to calm him down, "don't get worked up about it-"

"Damn it, Miranda, you don't know-"

"I do know!" Miranda had raised her voice. "Now I have something back at the lab that you need to see," she continued. "Will you come with me? It's urgent."

"Sure," Connor said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Let's go."

Laying on a operation table with a hologram of the news playing before him Cain had his eyes closed a block of Titanium, and Tungsten hovering above him. His eyes closed in concentration as he focused on the metals targeting the molecule structures that gave them their forms and abilities. Slowly changing the structures from a crystal type structure into one similar to glass the metals started to deform turning into little grains of sand sized particles of metal that then began to flow downwards to Cain's robotic body. The chest cavity lay open with his power core open to the air. The small cylinder that had been created using a form of cold fusion but used on a micro level. So far only his chest cavity had been completed. Over three days he spent building it and the new reactor to power his body now he was on the final leg of his race. The particles slowly started to form together creating a layer of metal that covered his chest and began to spread towards his legs first building the skeletal frame for the legs. "Our hero Asyr has finally met her match." A reporter said which caused Cain's eyes to shoot open and breaking his concentration all the grains of metal falling onto his body and spreading across the floor beneath his feet. He stared at the headlines pushing himself up and walking towards the hologram limping with every step as a replay of Aysr's battle with The End was replayed. Cain couldn't believe it, his one true chance at vengeance was being taken away from him.

"No! Noooo!" Cain screamed loosing control of his temper the metal table he had just been laying on lifted up into the air along with every particle of metal he had been working with then in a instant the fell to the ground. The particles then slithered across the ground to Cain's body before forming around him creating the rest of his armor starting from the legs. To anyone looking at the process it would seem impossible but Cain has passed the limits of human science due to his power. What would take them years to accomplish he could do in days. His body now complete with a metallic black sheen he looked at his new arm opening and closing the fist imagining The End's throat was around it. The only one who had a right to kill Aysr was him and The End was trying to take that. So in return Cain had to stop The End he was eventually going to have to do it anyway if he wanted peace for the next generation so why not do it now.

Cain walked to a nearby wall that opened into a doorway that shut behind him leaving the man in the sewers beneath Urban City. This wasn't his base of course it belonged to the old nightmare. The villain that Cain had killed when his powers came into effect. Claiming the name Nightmare Cain would now set out to do something completely opposite of what he had been planning. He was going to save Asyr, and then he would kill her. Exiting the sewers through a manhole Cain came out on Gotham Boulevard and walked towards Metropolis square his metallic body clancking with every step that made contact with the concrete.

Scorn continued her endless torment in her office, now having a gun out and playing a rather intense game of Russian Roulette with herself.

"Do I put the gun to my head and pull the trigger or not?" she asked herself while she pondered on what she would do now. The End was the primary target now yet unless he was stupid, he would have his guard up during this time so it was not going to be a good time to strike at him. No she would have to be patient. She took the gun she had in hand and put it to her head.

"Shall I live or shall I die? Let's find out," she giggled to herself as she pulled the trigger. The gun responded with a click to which Scorn smiled ",Now that's three, now three more to go but I think this time I shall shoot the wall." She pointed the gun at the wall and pulled the trigger again this time though the gun fired with a loud bang, the bullet piercing the wall she was aiming at.

"Guess I get to live," she said with a laugh putting the smoking gun down and spinning in her chair once more, thinking on what to do indeed. Perhaps she could find Asyr herself and kill her. She threw that thought aside, she dare not kill the hero as a mortal it would make her no better then The End. Yet the idea of finding Asyr intrigued her. Maybe now showing her the truth, the truth that she was no different then the one and only Scorn. The world now had their back to her when Asyr needed help the most. All the lives she saved and all they did was let her walk away. How the world didn't seem to care now, and left her to live her final day alone.

"Now you know how sweet Chloe felt," she whispered to herself ",I was the only one there for her, her only friend. Everyone shrugged the sweet girl away despite all her kindness. No one took noticed of her until what her family did to her and I had to protect her." Her voice became a growl remembering that faithful day.

"So you see Asyr, you are both alone yet you aren't for I know the pain of being alone which has made me strong. This is why you can never trust mortals. They will turn their back on you once you are seen of no use or have nothing they want," she said. If someone knew her past they might find it odd how she treated Chloe like another being, when she was Chloe herself. Yet now she called herself Scorn she was still born Chloe. Chloe had been the sweet innocent girl who grew up with an abusive family. With no friends to ask to play with she created Scorn unknowingly, a dark part of her. Some would call Scorn an imaginary friend back then but in truth she was as much of Chloe as Chloe was as much of Scorn. Scorn was more then an imaginary friend but also her powers manifesting their own form within Chloe. When Chloe's will and spirit was shattered that cruel night, was when Scorn picked up the pieces and vowed to always keep Chloe safe and punish the mortal world for what they did to them, how they swept Chloe aside as nothing. Chloe disappeared that day and only Scorn remained.

Asyr groaned softly as she pulled the longsleeve shirt over her head. Most of her injuries were sort of hidden from view. Her gauntlets, and the remaining tatters of her cape were the only parts that were difficult to hide under her civilian clothes. Several dark sticky patches of blood leaked through, her injuries were not healing as they should.

Injuries, they were strange to see. All her life, she had seen innocents, heroes, villains, broken, injured, bleeding. She'd never actually bled before. A flashback of a foiled bank robbery flashed through her memory...

A new hero had taken to stopping a bank robbery, and gotten in over their head. He'd been pinned down by several gunman and a chemically altered strongman. He could manipulate electricity, it was interesting to watch. Yet he didn't have her invulnerability, he could be hurt. he could push himself too hard and kill one of the robbers.

As soon as she appeared, the bank robbers changed their tactics. Instead focusing all their gunfire on her. Folding her arms across her chest as she waited for them to run out of ammunition. She smirked as the familiar clicking began, symbolizing the exhaustion of their ammunition. Of course the new hero came out of hiding to launch his counterattack, Asyr watched as he dispatched two thugs before a grenade was lobbed in his direction.

He did allright until that point, he fell backwards to try and evade the explosive device. Asyr was beside him in a flash, the grenade clenched in her hands. She held the device tightly until there was a small flash. Opening her hands, all that fell out was some dust, and a few debris. Shocked, the hero looked towards Asyr. "How the hell, are you allright?"

Asyr nodded nonchalantly. "Of course, are you?"

The hero was stunned for only a second before they returned to foiling the bank robbery. Of course once the dust was cleared, Lady Asyr was already gone. She knew the new hero needed to be recognized. He was the star of the day, she was simply there to make sure nothing bad happened.



Now, she understood why he was so shocked by her inability to be hurt. Pain made you human, considering her broken body, right now she felt quite human. Watching meekly from the sidelines as news of her impending demise began to shake forces loose on both sides.

The police force was mobilizing in preparation for what was going to be one heck of a battle, assuming the villains she'd thwarted were probably readying their own. Looking to the alley, she saw her last remaining pieces of costume laying discarded. She wondered if she approached the chief, could she offer any assistance?

They still needed to see something to believe in. Even if she was human, there had to be something she could do, right? Scooping up the parts of her costume, she stashed them into her backpack before stepping onto the streets.

As Asyr limped through the streets, she watched how the world began to react to her impending death. Some were selling tickets to the "fight of the century," her nose wrinkled at the thought of someone profiting off her final moments. She had to be above that, the idea that people are good, they're just frightened.

Of the world without Lady Asyr to protect them.

The C.E./Elsie Detchkiss

Elsie turned out into the broad daylight of Gotham Boulevard. Urban City (what everyone was calling New York City these days, not that anyone knew where the nickname came from) was slowly starting to get on with its life. Lady Asyr was nowhere to be found. Her heroine was missing, and Elsie didn't have the first idea what to do about it. Some gang just sold some guns to a "shady character" despiter her best efforts, and now she'd revealed herself to a random person in an alley. She didn't feel very robust. If the blob fell from the sky in front of her, Elsie was certain that it would win.

Crossing the street toward her car, people ignored her. Most of them, anyway. A little boy took a picture with his phone before being dragged off by his mother. The light turned red, and Elsie took a ste-

owever, given that she's severely underpowered, she couldn't have gotten far from her last fight. Damon began to move around the area looking for Asyr, or at least a person who might b-

er clawed hand holding the skull suddenly turned to a fist and crushed the sku-

rned to follow her lead, whilst the rest of her kingdom stirred–

Wild dogs howled and big cats roared in cacophony at her arrival (or was it an animalistic requiem for the fallen superhero?) Whilst sentries of men in varying degrees of armour hailed attention.
Wincing, Marissa stepped out into the suns-

oooo!" Cain screamed loosing control of his temper the metal table he had just been laying on lifted up into the air along with every particle of metal he had been working with then in a instant the fell to the ground. The particl-

ame out on Gotham Boulevar-

-p. The light had turned back to green by now, so she hastily stepped back onto the curb.

Exactly none of that was a good sign, Elsie decided. And given how slow she was, she definitely needed some hel-

keritt began to search the crime sc-
going on inside Asyr's body-

n save her. I just need a sample of the infected DNA." He mutter-
-is is Electron. I assume you-

ficers Noelle donned her riot armor, took her Hawki-

"Connor..." started Miranda, trying to calm him down, "don't get worked up about it-"
ave something back at the lab that you need to see," she contin-

-p. "Damnit, White Text, now you're helpful? Where were you an hour ago!" Elsie complained loudly. The mother of the boy (now across Gotham Boulevard) glared at The C.E.

'Wait a minute,' Elsie thought, 'Wasn't one of those people coming down Gotham Boulevard?' She turned in the clunky white hardsuit. Gotham was perfectly normal in that direction, away from the crime scene. Which meant that the nanotech horror would be on the other side of Metropolis square, coming from uptown. Not to mention that Skeritt was in Metropolis Square at this very moment. Elsie still didn't trust that damn xeno. The Zenoth war had been The C.E.'s first real test of true heroism. It had helped that her costume was a space-worthy hardsuit. Fine, maybe she could salvage something from this day after all. Elsie hurried to get into her car.

---

Elsie pulled the doorless Saab to a stop near the police 'borgs. One of the newer police vehicles, a six-wheeled behemoth, blocked immediate access to the crime scene. The Head of Police [even if Elsie could substitute "police" for "security", the leader of the organization would always be a "Head" to her] was surveying the scene. Obviously she was the one in charge, and Elsie did not want to get brigged.

"Hey, HoP! Um, I mean, Chief!" she shouted. "Bad guys incoming! I gotta get through to tell that xeno bastard Skeritt! Nar-Sie, there's a whole lotta bad guys incoming! This is shaping up to be a major crisis, hey? Like, Zenoth War-big! One's practically right on top of us, on the other side of Metropolis Square! C'mon, let me through!"

Jaaku walked through the streets, messing with her own hair. Most of the time she kept it short, but if she wanted Jaaku could change hair length and color. As she walked, Jaaku payed no attention to street names, the signs themselves were too high up. She had to crane her neck to see them. It was one of the downsides to being 6 1/2 forever. But that wasn't going to stop Jaaku from killing The End and becoming the strongest in the world.

Noelle Vandread/Empress

It was going to be a busy day.

Good thing that Noelle took the initiative and sent out her men, because by the time she arrived on the streets there was already an attack in Metropolis Square. Lunatic Nero and his cult the Gorgom Plot had just popped out from hiding and began to attack the citizens. And if that wasn't bad enough, it seemed that the Gorgom Plot have gained an army of new minions in the form of undead creatures, currently classified as "Dead Masks". If Noelle had to guess, Lunatic Nero must have done something with all the corpses from the people he's killed in the past, and created himself a zombie army. "Let the dead rest! Marksmen at the back, Shields front!" Noelle barked orders to her men as the horde of Dead Masks approached. The Marksmen opened fired, and when one marksmen emptied his magazine another would continue firing as he reloaded. The Shield wall would ensure that the Dead Masks didn't get to the Marksmen, and using their Gravity Mauls they made short work of the Dead Masks. But they were severely outnumbered at least ten-to-one, not including whatever power houses the Gorgom Plot had or what would occur if Lunatic Nero took the field. Only by positioning her men to a spot where they could choke point the Dead Masks did Noelle ensure her men wouldn't get blindsided, but for how long?

Noelle fired into the horde of Dead Masks alongside her marksmen when one of her communication operators informed her of other attacks. The creature known as Guts Man has recently made an appearance in Starkton. He hasn't attacked anyone, but it was only a matter of time before he catches someone. There are currently officers in the area, however they are plain uniformed and not Noelle's strike force, who would be arriving within five minutes. But that wasn't the only one that the operator told her about. There was another villain by the name of Morde has entered the city's subway systems and is holding a train and it's occupants hostage. Noelle cursed to herself quietly and returned to the APC to position her men. That's when she noticed Elsie.

Noelle had vaguely remembered hearing about some sort of "Astronaut Hero" by the name "C.E.", though that's where the memory ends. As far as she cared, all she saw was some person in a white spacesuit trying to get past the blockage.

"Bad guys incoming! I gotta get through to tell that xeno bastard Skeritt! Nar-Sie, there's a whole lotta bad guys incoming! This is shaping up to be a major crisis, hey? Like, Zenoth War-big! One's practically right on top of us, on the other side of Metropolis Square! C'mon, let me through!"

Noelle just gave her a hard glare, which wasn't easy to see since her riot armor covered her face. "I'm quite aware of Lunatic Nero and his minions, C.E. And I'm not going to let any civilians get pasted until we ensure this area is secured!" Just as she said that she heard a blood curdling scream from her men. Noelle scrambled back on top of her APC to see what happened and saw that one of her men got pulled away from the shield wall and was getting torn limb from limb. He died quickly, but it was unnerving to see. The Shield was was holding for now, but she knew that it wouldn't last. It didn't look like they were putting much of a dent into the Dead Masks, even with all the bullets they were throwing. They'd need something that would clear the crowd. Like explosives.

Noelle returned to C.E. carrying a mortar and a couple of bombs. "If you want to be a hero, help us clear out these Dead Masks. My men will hold the line but we need to thin out the horde. Once we take out the leader of this bunch you're free to go where you need to. Otherwise turn the other way and don't cause any more trouble for me or the police."

In the mean time, Noelle's strike force operatives were heading to the location of Guts Man at Starkton, and to deal with Morde at the subway tunnel in Barry Allen Station. A little known criminal by the name of Death Claw was also taking advantage of the chaos and broke into a few stores, robbing them of whatever she could fit into her sack and leaving just a few minutes after breaking in. However it would take them a few minutes to arrive, which may be too late for some.

---

Damon/Darkmatter

Damon arrived to the scene where Lady Asyr battled The End. There were a lot of people around taking advantage of the situation by scamming suckers with tickets to Asyr's death or trying to profit from it in other ways. Somehow this angered Damon, even though he'd likely do the same if he didn't want to save Lady Asyr. Speaking of which, finding her was going to be difficult with this crowd. He figured he just look for whoever seemed to be injured or limping, but it was hard to see with so many bodies and a lot of people seem to be hurt in some way. Still, he knew what her face looked like, so he just had to be careful and find her personally. Taking on the guise of a normal look guy Damon was walking though the crowd to find Lady Asyr.

It was slow going to say the least. Everyone was a mix of hurt and sad, which was likely what Asyr was feeling right now. He looked for anyone with her features, but without her costume there wasn't really a lot to go by. A lot of people looked like Lady Asyr, at least to him. Damon was about to give up searching and simply cal out to her when he bumped into a woman. "Ah, sorr- Wait... Asyr?" Damon might have been mistake. But this woman looked beaten and battered, had the same hair color as lady Asyr, and was holding a vary large bag. A bag large enough to say, hide her costume. "Asyr, is that you?"

Scorn finally stood from her chair deciding on what her next move would be. For now she couldn't be bothered with finding Lady Asyr as much as part of he rwished to do so. She would be patient and wait for that moment. She would let others find Lady Asyr for her and when she got the chance, she would snatch Asyr and bring her back to her humble abode. Despite Scorn's psychotic and insane nature, her mind was a rather calculative one.

A grin was on her face as she burst through the doors of her room and came out upon her gang of merry henchmen who were still celebrating."All right boys and girls, enough celebrating we have work to do and I don't mean petty thievery and bank robberies. Oh no with Asyr out of the picture I'll need things done swiftly for my little bash on the town and everything must be perfect. Yes it will be duller without the heroine trying to save the town for who else can stop the one called Scorn, the one who makes even the devil cringe with fear and does not want her. So stop your drinking and get to working or I'll show you why I'm the meanest one of them all."

Without even a blink of hesitation her gang disbanded and got to work as fast as possible, knowing that it was best to remain on Scorn's good side unless they wanted to meet an early end in life. Scorn watched with satisfaction before letting out a sigh."Tis a shame Asyr you might not be here around the holiday season but fear not for I'm going to give you my dear gift early. I'm sure you love it, it is quite a bang!" Scorn said to herself laughing hysterically and walking down the tunnels that were her gang's private home. She imagined it as a mansion but in truth they were nothing more then the abandoned tunnels of old subway and train lines. They had kicked out all the squatters and made it home, now only they knew all the twists and turns to reach the lair of Scorn that resided in the labyrinth of old tunnels.

Asyr quietly moved through the crowd, her intent of blending into the background seemed to be doing well enough until she felt a hand brush against her arm.

"Asyr, is that you?"

The depowered heroine nearly jumped out of her skin, dropping her bag containing the remains of her tattered costume on the ground. One of her gauntlet's lazily rolled onto the pavement. Asyr looked towards the man who somehow identified her, if she had her powered she'd be able to look through her target. Now she had to rely on instinct...

If this man knew who she was, the armor did nothing to change the idea. Sighing, Asyr quickly picked up the bag. "Please don't make a scene, how did you know.." She asked quietly.

Damon shrugged. "It was a hunch. I mean, it's not like your face is a secret or anything. But... This place is too crowded, I think. Let's head over there, shall we?" Damon motioned towards a small convinence store that didn't look too busy. Damon wanted to talk to Asyr, but this place was too crowded and who knows what could happen while they're out here. "I'm Damon by the way. Please, come with me."

Asyr realized the name sounded familiar, but the form was...different. Of course she realized that if Damon wanted to make her follow, she really had no choice in the matter. Nodding as she swung her bag across her shoulder. "I'll follow, please don't hurt anyone..."

Damon nodded his head and the two walked to the store. It really wasn't all that busy despite the crowd outside. The clerk said hello to them both as they walked in, but he seemed more interested on the movie than Damon and Asyr. Leading her out of the clerk's earshot, Damon turned to Asyr. "I'll get strait to the point. I want to help you Asyr. The world... It's not ready to be without you. And you deserve a better end than this. I want to help you and I have a few ideas of how to help you. But first I want to know what you plan to do to when, or if, you face The End." Damon knew that he didn't have much time, so he couldn't waste it trying to chat with Asyr. He also didn't really "have" an idea of how to save Asyr, aside from some wild schemes.

Asyr was more then stunned by Damon's offer. He wanted to help her? She thought quietly for a moment as she grabbed a paper cup and began to pour a cup of coffee. Her hands trembled as she tried to keep her composure. He wanted to know what she'd do to deal with The End.

Asyr thought to herself for a moment, before she would have said she'd stop him. Neutralize whatever technology he owned to ensure he, nor any other would use it to hurt innocent lives. Now, she wanted to smash him into the ground, break him, and ensure that any villain who dared to stand against Lady Asyr knew to fear her. Sighing as she took a small sip of the coffee before replying.

"I want to make sure he never has a chance to hurt another living soul, that if he found a way to kill me. That he may or will do this to another hero, or a city...in a day I will be gone and they're selling tickets to my death!" Realizing she was losing her composure, Asyr took a breath as she looked at the bag containing her costume. "I am supposed to be above that, an icon, something the rest of the world can look towards...to inspire. I will stop him, I will show everyone out there that there's still hope..." She tried to hide the idea she could be saved, that part of her worried that maybe this Damon would take her powers for himself, but she needed to take this chance. The End still needed to be stopped, and if this was her last shot, she needed to try.

Damon shook his head. "That's all well and good Lady Asyr, but how are you going to stop him? I know why you want to, but when you face him, what will you do? You're powerless." Damon put his hand to his month and pondered the next course of action. They'd have to find out some way to restore Asyr's powers. Or failing that, find The End and see if they could reverse what he did to her. "Lady Asyr, you're not ready to face down The End. You're going to need help. My help, and anyone else who is willing. But before this happens, I want to know if you can trust me to help you. I know it's a tall order after all things considered, but I promise that I only want to see your best interest in this. Mostly that you don't die. Do you trust me?"

Lady Asyr thought at the what Damon had said. She'd be putting her life in the hands of someone who in the past had proven less then honorable. "Powers or no powers, I have to fight him. He will hurt a lot of people if I don't show.." At the mention of trusting him, and anyone willing to help her fight against him.

In all honesty, she'd need any help that came her way. "You have to understand, I am not used to needing help...before today I couldn't be hurt. However, I do understand that times change. The End is something far worse then what I've ever faced before, he did something I never expected. I trust you, please don't make me regret my last day." Giving a hopeful smile, "if I get lucky, maybe I'll see tomorrow." She said, the spark of hope beginning to bolster her courage.

Damon smiled and gave Asyr a thumb's up. "Of course. I want to make sure you live the rest of your possibly immortal live in relative comfort. Now than, let's get out of here. I think I know a few people who would have reason to help you, but from the looks of things it's about to get real nasty in the neighborhood."

Not too far away was gunshots and screaming from Noelle's battle against Lunatic Nero and his Dead Masks. This caught the clerk's attention as well, as he put on his jacket and came up to Damon and Asyr. "I have to close up shop, there's a fight coming near! We have to get out of here!" Damon looked to Asyr and nodded in agreement. "Let's go out the back."

The three people left the store through the back door. The clerk got into his car and drove off without so much as a good bye, but Damon didn't need him anyways. "I know you may want to throw yourself into the next battle Lady Asyr, but time is of the essence. First stop; the Police Head Quarters. With any luck there should be some heroes around there looking to get some awnsers. Are you ready to fly?" Damon extended his hand out to Asyr.

Asyr looked cautiously at Damon, no vehicle, how were they going to get to the station? As she reached out, a spasm of pain wrackled her body. Asyr fell to her knee's, grasping her sides, her face scrunched up. The experience of what was destroying her was new, it was, if her entire body tried to tear itself apart. Looking weakly up to Damon, she slowly got to her feet. A thin layer of sweat betraying Asyr's attempt to remain stoic.

"It's starting...for what it's worth...if this ends badly. Thank you..." Asyr took Damon's hand, unsure of what to expect.

Damon didn't like that the poison was already taking it's affect on Asyr. But all this did was increase his drive to safe her before it was too late. "Thank me tommorow. Let's go." Damon grasp Asyr's hand and his body transformed. His flesh colored skin melted away to reveal the pitch black tar-like substance that was his true form. His humanoid shape also melted into something more blob like, which began to slither up Asyr's arm and onto her back. He attached himself like a backpack onto Asyr. "Brace yourself Asyr. We take to the skies!"

From her back, Damon began a pair of black bat like wings, with small bone protrusions. On his own he began to flap the wings so that Asyr was airborn. It only took a few flaps before they were flying over the store, and than Damon flew them towards the Police HQ. "First we'll need to get a small team together to help you out. Diversity will be nice, but just about anyone who's willing to lend a hand would be immesly useful. Once we get a good sized group, we should find out where The End is. Whatever he did to you, I'm sure there's a way to reverse it. If we find his lair we could find the solution we need to save you."

Asyr was shocked to see Damon transform, her reaction was withdrawn as he became a pair of wings for her. Within seconds, she became airborne. For one glorious moment, she had flight once more...

"Thank you. There is a number of another heroine we may need to reach out to. If all else fails, give her my armor. If I fall, I want my image, that heroes still remain to help..." Asyr didn't speak any further as she enjoyed the sensation of the wind whipping around her.

Exiting into Metropolis Square Cain stumbled upon the carnage that was happening between the strike force and the Dead masks. He stood back a few minutes his mechanical eye scanning and calculating the numbers of both forces and the chances of the strike force winning which at that point seemed like a low chance. Shaking his head maybe if he offered his assistance they'd let him pass. All Cain wanted was to collect whatever shards from The End's armor that he could and some blood samples that Asyr could've left behind. Or he could just kill them all and get the job over with but that would make to big a commotion then his presence would be known by all. He hadn't spent years in hiding to loose it all now. Best to pose as a hero.

Due to how the strikeforce was positioned Cain couldn't risk hitting them so his attacks would have to be precise. Beginning to walk again Cain crossed Metropolis Square the ground beneath his feet shaking. Then suddenly all the copper wires being used to power the blocks of the city were yanked out of the ground snapping. At the exact same time everyone within five blocks of Metropolis Square loss their power. "Sorry to interrupt But you are all in my way." Cain said to the dead Masks as he swung one of his arms causing the wires to follow the motion and cutting through three Dead Masks with incredible ease. Swinging his arm once again he'd cut through more of their numbers pushing his way to the strike force.

The C.E./Elsie Detchkiss

Elsie grabbed one of the bombs. She was used to repairing bomb damage, not causing it. The device was a chunky metal box with terrifying cylindrical caps sticking out of the side. A small LCD said "Armed". Beneath the display was a simple three-button control pad: "Disarm", "Arm", and "Det. Seq.". Obviously the HoP wasn't concerned about collateral damage any more. Looking at the mob of undead things assaulting the shield line of cyborgs, that didn't particularly surprise Elsie. She ignited the plasma cutter, quickly dialling back the power to minimum. The heat that it gave off could easily burn nearby unshielded people, and Elsie needed to get through the army of police 'borgs first. Then she shoved the bomb into an auxiliary suit compartment, dumping out one of the power cells used to recharge her energy gun. It didn't seem like ranged weapons would be terribly useful here.

"Let me through, 'borg," Elsie shouted above the gunfire. Cyborgs back on the station were bound to Asimov's three laws; orders were followed or else the cyborg's circuits fried. The police line shuffled a bit around the edges, and Elsie squeezed through underneath a withering glare from the police cyborg. She was, in fact, shoved into the mass of death. "Wonderful," Elsie muttered, "Zombies."

The Dead Masks took advantage of the shove, and began to swarm over Elsie's hardsuit. Recovering from the stumble, she turned up the plasma cutter to full. The Dead Mask that had been tugging at the device had its arm liquified. Several of the others surrounding her were burned enough to at least stun them for a few moments. She swung the plasma cutter in a wide arc, cutting herself some breathing room. Gunfire came suspiciously close to hitting her suit, and she felt at least one of the Dead Masks slam inanimatedly against the back of her hardsuit. Mortar shells began whistling overhead, exploding violently somewhere to her right.

As Elsie settled into the familiar routine of exchanging blows with a horrific enemy, she was silently thankful for the internal air supply. Corpses smelled bad enough, but burning corpses were another story altogether. Rumors of zombie infections on other space stations and the unusual plethora of zombie literature on this Earth probably outlined the best course of action, but all Elsie could really remember were two things: 1. Don't get surrounded (she'd purposefully done so) and 2. Use ranged weapons.

"Damnit," she muttered. Hindsight told her that she'd had no choice; if she wanted to use the bomb, she had to do it somewhere away from collateral targets (i.e. the police 'borgs). Thunk! went another mortar shell. It screamed through its arc and exploded violoently. At least they weren't hitting her. Yet. Without warning, the power cut out from all the nearby buildings. The wireframing goggles displayed snaking fissures in the pavement in bright green polygons. Apparently the zombies were smart enough to cut the power.

Connor watched as the speed gauge shot above 50. Miranda only drove this fast when something serious was going down. She whipped around a few cars, passed over lanes, and ignored the red lights, drawing the ire of many pedestrians and drivers alike. She was one of the best drivers Connor had ever seen, and he could say that without a doubt, recalling all the times she got them out of tight situations. "Easy, woman, what's the rush," Connor asked, you gonna try to save Asyr yourself?"

"No, of course not," she replied, "I don't have the tools or skills to save Asyr from... whatever is affecting her. It's better to leave that up to the real heroes, like Skeritt, or Electron."

"Ha! Electron: the living power line? Skeritt: the alien invader-turned-superhero? The government should have executed Skeritt as soon as they had the chance." Connor didn't necessarily hold a lot of respect for superheroes, believing most of them were to 'soft'.

"You're one to judge," Miranda barked. She held great respect for all heroes and didn't take to kindly to Connor's constant depreciation of them. "Just shut your mouth and wait till we get to the lab."

-_-<0>-_-

Every other time Connor had driven to Miranda's lab it was always at the local police precinct. But not this time. This time she pulled into some sort of apartment. It required some sort of special security check at the gates, and the security itself was pretty tight. Connor spotted at least seven snipers on the way in. It was like some sort of... police apartment. Miranda parked the car and led Connor into the building where they passed through a security checkpoint. Connor had to leave his pistol in the car so as to not set off the alarm, while Miranda casually laid hers on a conveyor belt beside the checkpoint, holstering it once more when she was through.

"This way," she said as Connor stepped through. She led him down the hall, into an elevator, and up to one of the top floors. "This is where I stay when I'm not on some escapade with you."

"Oh? You're finally inviting me to your private quarters," Connor playfully said. He knew that sort of speech annoyed Miranda and was not surprised when she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Finally, the doors opened back up and she led Connor down another hall and into a room. It was... white. White carpet, white walls, white furniture, white... everything. Everything except the slick black suit in the corner, propped up on a mannequin of some sort. "And this," she began, "is what I've been working on in my free time." She ran her hand down the arm of the suit. It was well-crafted, and Connor could not help but appreciate the sleekness of it. It was... beautiful? No, it was badass! "This is the Warlord-M1, my own version of the Warlord-V2 developed by the ACRD nearly ten years ago. The The joints contain synthetic braces that augment the wearers speed and strength. It was developed for warfare but the cell was shut down before it finished completion. It took a good while but I finally managed to order all of the necessary components using off-shore addresses."

Connor didn't know what to say. Was it his? "Can... am I suppose to wear this or something?"

Miranda giggled, "that is why I brought you here. But before I give it to you, you need to promise me something."

"And what's that?"

"You have to change. Connor, I know what you've been through. That stuff with Ellie is... it's heart-wrenching, and I know it. That stuff you did in the Middle East with Jagar was... I know it couldn't have been easy Connor. But I know that somewhere, deep down inside of you, there's a shred of your true self still embedded in your soul. You were a good man, Connor - a good father, and you know that. All I ask is that you dig as deep as you can, find that shred, and let it take hold once again. If not for me, then do it for Ellie's sake."

Connor just laughed, a bit annoyed at everything Miranda just told him. "You... you want me to be some kind of hero? Come on Miranda, we know that's not going to happen. I'm not a hero, you know that. A real hero would have saved Ellie that night, not get beaten to a pulp and left for dead. If I was really the hero Ellie mad me out to be, she'd still be here. That's just the cold hard truth Miranda, we both know that."

"Heroes don't always win, Connor. Look at what's happening with Asyr. Asyr is one of - no, she is the greatest hero this world has ever seen, and look what's happened to her. All I'm asking is that you at least try to be the hero Ellie saw you as."

Connor closed his eyes to hold back tears. He hated what happened to Ellie. Hated the world for what it had done. He hated it all. If only he had the power he'd massacre every last person on the planet, just to bring back his dear Ellie. But what Miranda said was true: Ellie always looked at Connor as a hero... and what was he now? A murderer? "Alright," he finally replied, "I'll do what I can." He reached up to the suit's mask, pulled it off the mannequin and looked into its eyes. "Let's show the world what Vigil is capable of."