JUNE 22, 2018
THE SECOND DAY OF SUMMER
9:07 AM, EDT
CLEVELAND CITY HALL

“. . .and frankly, it is a privilege and an honor to welcome such excellent representatives of the superhero community to this great city.” The voice of Mayor Stanley Kaganovich echoed across the steps of City Hall, amplified by a microphone that had proved unnecessary. No Clevelanders were here to take in his speech, just heavily armed police officers and numerous members of the world press. The journalists were decked out in flak jackets and steel helmets, like they were embedded in Baghdad rather than standing on the street of an American city.

It'd be easy to mistake the place for a warzone, though. Sandbags were being piled at key points, the National Guard shouldered rifles and grenade launchers as they manned checkpoints. None of the escapees had yet made a move, but the air was heavy with dread.

The Mayor, bleary-eyed and sweating under the weight of his Kevlar vest, still smiled gamely and carried on with his speech. “Indeed, we owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Louisville for their generosity in permitting their sons and daughters to aid us in this time of crisis.” There was a smattering of applause as the Mayor turned around, shook hands with each of the three colorful figures fidgeting awkwardly behind him. First was Damselfly, who had flown in from the state capital on the same gossamer insect wings that now caught the morning light. Next was Joe Magarac, the hulking man of living metal recently arrived from Pittsburgh. And Grand Slam, Louisville's champion, his powerful enchanted baseball bat safely holstered on his back. Photogenic, presentable, inspirational heroes- the kind any politician would want standing behind him when he appeared on national television. Not like some of the others that had been arriving in town.

The Mayor turned back to the assembled press, tried to smile again. It was clear the man had not slept at all the night before. “Indeed, I urge any and all vigilantes who wish to help out to report to duty at police headquarters. If we all work together, we can overcome this dark hour and emerge from it better and stronger. From-”

The Mayor abruptly broke off as a young aide leaned over, whispered in his ear. The pretense of a smile disappeared, and his already waxy face turned even paler. In what was clearly a well-rehearsed routine, Cleveland Police emerged, submachine guns at the ready, and quickly escorted the Mayor back inside the building.

“The Mayor will be taking no questions,” the aide said into the microphone to the bemused attendees. “We have received reports of a situation unfolding.”

BEACHWOOD PLACE MALL

Even in a time of crisis, nothing can stop the young and fearless from flocking to their favorite places. This upscale shopping mall in a quiet, well-to-do suburb was no exception. The teenagers were on summer vacation, it was hot and the place was kept at a comfortable 68 degrees, everything they desired was sold there. Besides, what did they care about supervillains? That was downtown stuff. Things like that just didn't happen in places like Beachwood.

Unnoticed among the crowds of shoppers was one young man in particular. To be fair, Arthur Rasmussen hardly looked out of the ordinary. Sure, his black hoodie and messenger bag were maybe a little too much for the summer heat, but he never attracted a second glance.

Rasmussen hadn't been anyone special at the time of the White Rain, just a 20-year-old political science student at Case Western. Like so many other college students, he flirted with radical politics- anarchism, Marxism, Maoism, a different one every week. But when Arthur Rasmussen became one of the Caught, he stopped flirting and he stopped being known as Arthur.

Now he was called Uprising.

Uprising stopped at a convenient bench, gently set down his messenger bag and peeled off his heavy sweatshirt. Underneath, he wore a black T-shirt crudely emblazoned with a letter A surrounded by a circle. Reaching into his messenger bag, he quickly tied a black bandanna around the lower half of his face as a crude mask. Nodding in satisfaction, Uprising closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated.

And then there was two of him standing there. His double appeared similar in every way- same height, build, and clothing.

Then there was four.

Then eight.

If anyone had bothered to count instead of gaping in shock, this exercise stopped in less than ten seconds when there were two hundred and fifty-six completely identical men standing in the food court of the mall.

“People of Beachwood!” 256 voices boomed, in perfect unison. “You have become weak! You have diluted your essence in your quest for material things! I and my brothers have come to show you the way! Your prison could not contain us or the truth of our message. This place, this shrine to consumerism, it has distracted you from the lies you have been forced to swallow every day of your lives. You are worth more, and we will make you realize this!”

On that note, the hundreds of duplicates broke ranks and began smashing nearby shopfronts, tearing apart the wares. The clones of Uprising worked in silent teams, none had to ask for help in lifting a bench to heave through a window or dogpile storekeepers who were foolish enough to resist. Others began to pile furniture and other fixtures in front of the exterior doors, preventing anyone from getting out- or in.

Uprising had the mall at his mercy- and with it hundreds of terrified hostages.

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO

Although the sun had long since risen, it was nearly completely blotted out over the zoo, today open only to essential staff. Above, a thick, swirling curtain of thousands of birds and flying insects maintained a vigil, too thick for for any aircraft or many flying heroes to penetrate.

On the ground below, Jessica Schlesinger stepped over the body of yet another dead zookeeper, his throat crushed by her powerful hands. That sort of task was trivially easy when, like her, you were 6'6” and muscled like an Olympian. That was at least part of the reason they called her Mama Bear.

“Alright, babies, you're free now,” she said as she used the keys taken from dead keepers to open the enclosure for the zoo's two prized Siberian tigers. Vicious cats, the world's largest, with claws that can slice through the sides of commercial cars, they bounded out and glared directly at Mama Bear.

But instead of tearing her to bits, the two tigers instead gently rubbed their heads against her like common housecats, then prowled by her side like watchful bodyguards. Mama Bear smiled, then began the walk to the next enclosure, leading a growing parade of newly released animals- buffalo, lions, giraffes, African elephants, wolves, kangaroos, and more. They walked in harmony, the herbivores unafraid of the carnivores and the predators doing nothing to their usual prey.

The White Rain had given Jessica Schlesinger a unique ability- the ability to telepathically influence animal life. Intense, exhausting hours of focus had even allowed her to communicate with her own cells, willing herself to grow much taller and stronger (and yes, bustier as well, she had not conquered her own vanity). With her new insight into the minds of animals, she had found them superior to humans in many ways and began striking out accordingly. A city detective investigating her had been bitten to death by his own dog, a dairy farmer had been trampled by his cows. Her greatest triumph, and the victory she had been sent to prison for, had been the kidnap of several hunting enthusiasts and releasing them naked into the forest. One by one, guided by watchful animals, Mama Bear had hunted them down and killed them with a high-powered rifle.

But now the time had come to truly strike a blow, to release these poor prisoners and make this city safe from predatory humans.

“Oh, this will come in handy,” she noted to herself as she came across the body of yet another keeper. This one had had the presence of mind to grab one of the zoo's stockpile of firearms, evidently to protect himself from Mama Bear. It might have worked if her friends the mice and squirrels hadn't swarmed the man and tore at him with their sharp teeth.

She admired the rifle. An elephant gun, a Winchester .460. That round would stop a charging rhino in its tracks- or give an armored superhuman food for thought if they tried to interfere.

Mama Bear continued her deliberate freeing of prisoners, a long chain of enthralled animals in her wake.

CLEVELAND DIVISION OF POLICE HEADQUARTERS

“Well, it's started,” Police Chief John McCullough said to himself as he hung up the phone, massaging his temples. He reached into his desk drawer, felt around for the bottle of Bushmills, and helped himself to a generous slug despite the early hour.

“God help us now.”

June 20, 2018
A Small fuel station in the middle of nowhere

Henry sat on the bonnet of his Plymouth Barracuda. The car was his prized possession, he had spent just about every paycheck he had gotten repairing the old thing and when it was finally done he had almost nowhere to go. That is until the whole mess in Cleveland started up. Silver linings as they say. His head turned with the jingle of bells as a young guy probably in his late teens came out with a receipt, three packets of cigarettes and a can of coke. Henry couldn't have gone into that station, not in this heat, he'd sweat himself to death before he burned to it. He nodded to the boy before staring up into the sky. He'd always thought cowboys hats were stupid, he realized now that a makeshift fan with a wide brim to keep the sun out of his eyes was just about the smartest invention known to man. Or so he thought under his hot stupor. He got in his car and began his long journey over to Cleveland.

June 21, 2018
Doyles apartment for the time being
Henry twisted the door handle and let himself into the apartment the Court had assigned to him. Say what you will about the Court of the Arcane, but they did care for you if you were on a mission. If you weren't, however they'd probably tell you to bugger off and find a nice cardboard box to live in for the night. The apartment was spacious enough, but was also rather baron. The walls were an off white and there were little to no decorations around the apartment, save for a few ornaments and clocks here and there. Henry set down a box he had been carrying under his arm on the table and took the cigarette from his mouth before dropping it into the small bin that sat in the corner of his kitchen/living room. He hoped that Cleveland would be more exciting than his apartment.

June 22, 2018
Beachwood Place Mall
Harry sat just outside the mall on a wooden bench, smoking a cigarette and pondering life. Well, not life really, he was actually wondering why Americans called a shopping centre a mall and why Britons called a mall a shopping centre. At what point did the translation change? He pondered. If he cared enough he'd probably have looked it up on his phone, but alas he didn't. He flicked his cigarette into a nearby bin before making his way into the mall.

He took a quick tour around the mall, checking any stores he saw that were of interest on his route. Nothing was really all that interesting, but he did have a bit of fun testing out an RC car in a gadget shop, he'd always wanted one of them as a kid, but realized now as an adult that he would have probably gotten bored of it after about five minutes of playing with it. Stunned at the lack of interesting shops, Harry settled on purchasing what he thought was food, but realized after receiving it that it looked more like what would happen if you put raw fat through a grinder. And, the patron selling it had the cheek to call it a 'quality hot-dog'. Harry sat down on a stylized marble bench before action kicked off. Some flash mob or something began shouting and yelling and throwing shit around. Harry's anger stemmed more from the fact that something in the vein of this always had to happen during his free time, never when he was working rather than the fact that they were committing an actual crime. He pushed himself up from his seat and readied a fighting stance. He had to be smart about this, using fire wasn't an option, it could end up in him hitting a civilian or burning down the mall itself. He'd have to do this the hard way.

Harry swung at one of the clones, catching him by the neck and sending him tumbling to the ground. This seemed to have caught the clone and the rest by surprise as many in the surrounding area of Harry turned and began at least considering attacking him. A bottle quickly flew in an arc towards Harry which he blocked by casting a small force field around his wrist and swiping the bottle away.
"Are you lot going to just stand there and throw shit at me or are we going to have a fucken fight?" He asked, almost at yelling volume. His question was answered when one of the clones threw a punch at Harry's face, catching him by surprise and sending him stumbling backwards into the wall behind him. Harry grinned, at least it would be a fight. A rift quickly opened behind the small crowd of clones trapping Harry against the wall. Harry fell through a rift opening behind him and appeared through the rift behind the group. He flew at them, sending a flurry of punches into their backs whilst dodging any clumsy swings sent backwards towards him. He ducked under a punch sent his way and quickly shot his arm upwards like a bullet towards the elbow that threw it, breaking the clones arm. He grabbed the broken arm and swung the clone into two others, sending them falling into a bin. Harry quickly turned and sent a haymaker to the face of another clone, breaking its nose and taking it out of the fight. One of the clones came from behind Harry and sent a punch square in his back, causing Harry to yell out in pain. He growled under his breath, turning and sending a jab straight to the stomach of the clone that threw the punch before ramming his knee into its jaw. The final clone he took out by simply sending a swift kick straight up into his....more sensitive regions before throwing him against the hard wall. Seven down, a lot more to go.

BEACHWOOD PLACE MALL, JUNE 22, 2018, THE SECOND DAY OF SUMMER, 9:00 AM, EDT

A woman, with only one natural arm, the other robotic, garnered much sympathy from the crowd as she passed by strangers on her way to her destination. Entering the store, she felt silly- Rose Smith was not one to indulge in frivolities. However, she had just received a check, so she felt she could spend a bit of money on the fancier things. It would be a shock to her boyfriend when she showed him what she bought, and that look of dopey surprise on such a serious person's face made her laugh more than anything else.

The Phoenix, her vigilante alter-ego, had been called into the city to aid in their time of need; Rose Smith and her boyfriend, the well renowned Victor Knight, had moved into the city already, establishing themselves in a rather nice home. The luxurious life was new to Rose, as was the freedom it gave her. It was hard, but she was gradually adjusting to life back in the states- though three years had passed, she was still affected by her time as a Marine, and still wore beneath her shirt a kevlar vest.

9:10 AM, EDT

"It's okay. Shhh, you'll be alright."

Rose Smith cradled the head of an elderly woman in her arms, calming her as she shivered in fear. Around her, people were screaming in fear- men and women, young and old, from all walks of life. The woman's gaze hardened as it traveled from person to person, concerned with the well-being of each one. Surrounded by the men in the black shirts, Rose set the elderly woman down against a wall, moving a potted plant to hide her from view. Her eyes glanced down at the woman, and a small smile broke out on her pretty face, a spark of determination appearing in her eyes.

She grabbed a shopping bag she had dropped to take care of the woman, the label of a lingerie boutique on the front of it, and looked up at the sky roof in the ceiling, through which one could see the sunlight rising. Angelic wings sprouting from her back, ripping through the back of her kevlar vest and shirt, Rose gave one flap of them, to take off into the air. Soaring upwards, as if a bullet, she shot towards one of the small sections of the window in the ceiling, and escaped. The shards of glass fell onto an out-of-order escalator.

9:16 AM, EDT

A figure, reminiscent of the Valkyrie of ancient Norse mythology, emerged from that same spot, hovering above the chaos. Her face was masked, hidden by a steel helmet, as she descended upon the crowd, wings brandished in fury. Seeing no options for diplomacy, the Phoenix began to fight. Plummeting towards one of the boys in black, she threw a fist into his face, knocking the boy backwards, into a shop window, incapacitating him. He seemed to show no emotional reaction to being hurt.

Two jumped onto the Phoenix, but she fended them off with a swipe of her wings, throwing them against the wall. Each hurtled to the ground with force, as six turned their attention towards this new armored arrival. Two swung a bench at her, while the other four simply came at her with their bare fists. She grasped the bench, and pushed it into the two holding it, knocking them backwards. Swinging it around in a circle, spinning on the heels of her feet, she hit each of the other four, and they hit the ground. Despite the speed at which Phoenix took out the men, she was unable to match their duplication speed, or the rate at which they recovered from injury.

She noticed, though, that none of them seemed to have independent thought- rather, they were codependent, working together as a cohesive unit. Some one of them, though, must be the original. As she fought off the incoming boys, the Phoenix began to deduce a plan. The original Uprising must be the one who has all of the plans in his head. He is the only one capable of independent thought, and with that, he is the only one who might have a normal, human reaction to being temporarily incapacitated. She guessed that by taking out the original, he would be unable to uphold the strength to maintain his duplicates. Therefore, rather than continuing to fend off the monstrous horde of identical fighters, she took off, up into the air once more, and began to examine them from above, trying to locate the original.

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO

"This is just...I don't...look at this, this is unbelievable." A deep baritone echoed through the building. "I mean, look at their little suits!"

The penguin exhibit was enclosed, of course, to keep the little guys cool. Guests could come right in to a the building to observe the most famous denizens of Antarctica from behind a pane of glass, allowing a view of them both above and below the water. Danny was crouched down eagerly watching them jet about, tapping the glass and letting out an excited gasp ever time he got one of their attention.

He'd been disappointed when he got here. For some reason everything in the city was closed. Luckily for him, unlike a lot of buildings he wanted to visit, this place just had an easily scaled wall. He'd figured there was really no harm just taking a quick look if he was going to come back and pay anyway, and he'd even found a nice person willing to give him a tour. "What're those little ones huddled on the rocks?" He asked her suddenly, causing her to yelp.

"A-a-a-adelie." She stammered. Susan Margo was a 33 year old vet that had, in the face of a hulking blue man covered in scars and bits of metal, concluded quite correctly that she was in the presence of some sort of monster. And when a monster called out "Hey, show me the way to the reptile house" you didn't exactly say no. They'd been at this for an hour now, and every time she thought she might break away from him while he was engaged with some animal he had some question. She was at the point where she wished that, whatever he was planning on doing, he would do it already just because she couldn't bear the tension of waiting.

"Adelie." he repeated, looking back at the birds. He smiled. "Cute little boogers, aren't they? OH NO THAT ONE FELL IN!" He yelled suddenly, and heard a scream that trailed off into a choking gurgle. Followed by a thump. He turned around to find his guide laying against the wall, eyes rolled up into the back of her head, having fainted dead away. "No, no, no," Danny said, panicky looking back and forth between the woman and the pen. "He's okay, I just didn't know those ones could swim too! Lady?" He tentatively got up, scrabbling over and putting his finger on her neck. "You scared me." He said, with a sigh of relief. "I thought you might have died. Aww man, I've got to get you somewhere. You might have hit your head or something."

Gently as he could he picked her up, carrying her laid across both arms, he exited the penguin house. He thought they had passed a map or something when they came in, something he could use to find the zoo hospital, but when he opened the door he couldn't see it on account of the animal parade. Yeah, it was really cool that all these animals were marching through the zoo, but this might be an emergency. He didn't have time to wait for the animals to clear the wa- wait.

Something didn't seem right about this scenario.

Why would they be having an animal parade if the Zoo was closed?

"Hey animals!" He called out. "Why are you having a parade with no one around to see it?"

((You might want to count how many clones are dead. "6 bitches down, 250 more to go!"))

Fighting and chaos isn't anything new and Roger knew it. Instead of going out to fight, he stayed in his fancy hotel, sipping on some cheap, sugar-free lemonade. That was until 2 simultaneous roars were heard outside. One roar on its own would be silent but then add another and you can hear a whisper. Anyway, Roger ran downstairs, past the conspicuous couple guarding the place and out on his red Honda VFR800F he "borrowed" from a motorcycle enthusiast. A helmet of an equal colour was worn too for reasons of safety.

Roger was still new to Cleveland. It was his first time in America after all. Lots of his friends lived nearby but their fates are best left unmentioned. Soon, Roger realized that tigers weren't the only problem. He could hear elephants communicating to each other and wolves howling. However, they were not in his vision and walking, it would probably take 5 minutes to get there. He revved the bike's engine and made his way closer to where he thought the animals were while playing oldish music from 2012.

1 minute later, the heads of giraffes were poking up over the lesser buildings and all the animals were talking. It sounded as if they were all communicating to each other. There was just one thing wrong with this. Why are these animals so synchronized? There must be 1 singular animal that is controlling them all. BANG! A shot from a powerful rifle echoed in the streets and soon the cries of 2 people bellowed in the air. Roger leaped of the bike with style, pulled out his trusty revolver and got a better vantage point via a ladder.

It was exactly how he pictured it, Noah's Ark but more blood and savage looks. In the middle was the woman holding the rifle. She had 2 large tigers by her side who would look cute if they didn't have the piercing teeth and stabbing eyes. Roger could make a shot at the person causing the ruckus but instead he decided to learn about her past. He pictured the location she was currently in and kept a lock on her while moving rapidly back through time. Months passed by like nothing. Her name was Jessica Schlesinger. She loved animals and had previously worked as a Veterinarian. It may seem like a coincidence for someone to get a power that helps them show their beliefs but in theory, it happens all the time. It's just like winning the lottery, it's very rare to win but someone always does. Jessica was caught in the rain when running to the veterinary to perform an important surgery on her friend's cats. She always treated animals like people and licked their fur and ate cooked chicken like a caveman would. It was slightly disturbing but Roger felt sorry for her. She had strong views for animals and wanted them to be free like humans are. Now she could make that true. Roger simply watched with his revolver aimed for her head.

"Maybe she deserves to live? I don't want to test the luck of the revolver this time."

((OH WOW YOU POSTED BEFORE ME! >:C I hate getting ninja'd))

BEACHWOOD PLACE MALL

Summer. The glorious time where students no longer had to attend the long, boring days of school. They were free to do whatever they pleased. Not only was it the beginning of summer, but Gwen's father was celebrating his 48th 40th birthday.

Tess shrugged her backpack strap back over her left shoulder, admiring the bustling atmosphere of the Beachwood Mall. "So damn cool." She grinned, glancing at various different kiosks and mini-stores. There was an infinite amount of different presents they could get Gwen's father. "What does he like?" Tess asked her friend. "I mean, like where should we look to get his birthday present?"

Gwen followed Tess's gaze at the numerous stores within the mall. She grinned at her friend's adorable excitement. It had been a month since Gwen moved to Cleveland but she too still couldn't believe how many shops someone could shove inside one place. Malls didn't exist in Gwen's small town back home. Where would they find her dad a gift?

"Well, whatever we get him, I'm sure he'll love it. Seriously. We could buy him a pair of black socks and he'd be happy," Gwen laughed before an agonizing pain filled her head. Dropping to her knees, she clutched her aching head. To most, it might seem like Gwen was suffering from a severe headache. However, a small message was slowly venturing to her mind. Someone with supernatural gifts had entered the mall.

A couple of bystanders took note of the occurrence and weren't sure what to make of it. Tess knew what was going on, though. Gwen's headache meant there was another super powered being nearby. Tess dropped down to her friend's side in worry. She couldn't exactly relate to the pain that Gwen was going through, since it seemed like a pretty unique experience, all she knew was that those headaches sucked. Tess opened her mouth to mouth to ask if she was alright but was cut off when a booming voice came from all around the mall. “People of Beachwood!” It sounded like hundreds of voices were screaming at them. "You have become weak! You have diluted your essence in your quest for material things! I and my brothers have come to show you the way! Your prison could not contain us or the truth of our message..." Tess stopped listening to whatever the voices were saying, and she honestly didn't even know some of the words they were chanting existed. "Gwen, I'm sorry, but I think your dad's present might have to wait..." Tess was grateful that the outside voices had taken all the attention away from them. Her green eyes lit up when a particular idea popped up in her head. "This is our chance. To be real heroes," Tess looked at Gwen and hoped she agreed.

Gwen shook her head as the painful ache slowly disappeared from her mind. "There's more. Not just us or that villain wannabe shouting random nonsense. Oh by the way, he can multiply himself. Be prepared. Dang that was painful," Gwen said and looked around the once energized mall to find multiple versions of the man scattered everywhere destroying property faster than her eyes could keep up.
"Who does this guy think he is?" Gwen asked aloud, "but you're right. We can finally step up to the plate and show that these two teenage girls are heroes not to be reckoned with."
It wasn't long before the copies began blocking all doors, windows and any other exits available. They were locked in. Customers screamed and fled, running in all directions. It was complete chaos. Gwen closed her eyes and sensed someone with the gift of simple magic nearby. They needed to deal with these civilians before anything though.
"Tess?" She asked "I think this is something that'll go down in history for a long time. Let's make the most of it. We need to calm these people down... Any ideas?"

Tess pumped her fist in the air in triumph when Gwen agreed with her about being heroes. She looked up to the ceiling, there were windows. She needed a good outlet to the fresh air outside to boost her powers a whole lot more, but she could still hold her own without one. Some of those clones started racing towards them, a little too quickly. Tess instinctively reached for her backpack to pull out a pistol, but it was a futile action. She'd forgotten that she had ditched the weapon a few days ago after she starting feeling truly comfortable in the presence and company of Gwen and her dad, something she hadn't experienced in years. And besides, what kind of hero was she carrying a gun around?

Tess gulped but took a deep, concentrated, inhalation of the air around her. Taking control of the surrounding air. The air belonged to everybody, but especially her. She owned it. And with that final thought she leapt in the air and performed a drop kick in the air. The motion caused a gust of powerful winds to shoot from where she extended her feet for the kick, blasting back a few clones that were coming up the stairs. "That was awesome," she showed her teeth in a wide grin to Gwen before continuing, "but I don't really have a plan." She stood back to her feet and tried to formulate some sort of plan. "Uhhmm... Maybe we should try unblocking all these exits so the civilians could get out first? Make sure to blurt out a one liner or something cool, that's what heroes do. And you definitely have to say your codename!" Tess was letting her geeky hero perfection requirements from comics slow them down. That was only a minor problem, though, they had to start opening up exits before those duplicates overwhelmed them.

Gwen smiled and laughed "Look at you go Tess, you're already a superhero. Alrighty! I'll go break open an exit, cover me, okay?" Gwen walked toward a nearby window covered in random store materials. Trusting Tess had her back, Gwen threw the materials out of the way and smashed open the window with her bare hand. Biting her teeth, she waited for her hand to quickly heal. Just like that. Gwen still felt the pain of injuries, but it was over within a matter of seconds. With nothing cooler to say than her name, Gwen blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"The White Guardian at your service," She moaned silently to herself. How lame... Once everyone was aware of a giant exit, a stampede of people rushed toward it. Of course, they weren't the only ones that noticed it. Clones of the boy raced right for Tess and Gwen.
"Umm... Think fast... Fight? You can do that right? I just have to... uhh.. punch them," Gwen rubbed her hair and stepped in front of the escaping civilians. She was a superhero and she would protect them, no matter how frightened she was. "Alright! I can do thi-" A clone kicked her right in the face, sending her flying into a nearby store. Civilians gasped in shock, but continued scrambling to freedom. Any normal person wouldn't have survived the crash, but Gwen obviously wasn't normal. Rubbing off the dust of her fall, Gwen rose from the ground, covered in blood, but fully healed.
"You little-." Gwen said.

Tess absolutely forgot about the fact that she could control wind and instead just sprinted and tackled the clone that had just kicked her best friend into a store. She started throwing punches at his face repeatedly. "Don't. Ever. Touch-" before she could finish her threat was easily overpowered as another clone joined his fellow duplicate in forcing her to the ground. "Get off of me!" she struggled to get a clean blast of wind off as she fought to escape their grasp.

Out of nowhere, Gwen appeared and smashed the clone's, holding Tess down, head off with a metal baseball bat. The store she had been sent flying in just so happened to be a used sports store. Glowing with pride, Gwen stuck her hand out for Tess.
Tess gladly accepted the hand that Gwen reached out to her. Several more clones burst into the area but Tess had to get one thing certain before anything else. "Please tell me you said something cool."

6:00am
Xeaforge Industries Lab Four-Bravo

It was tiring to be up this early in the morning, however someone had to do the job and Pearl was one of the only ones free. She had a feeling that this buyer, according to their current sales rating and other statistics, would come back to them for more products if they managed to sell some good ones, so she decided to take this for herself. To support the advertising of how advanced Xeaforge Industries actually was, she wore the only suit of Mark V Xeaforge armour, combined with it's only pulse cannon.

Of course, with these as well as other advertisement methods, Pearl managed to sell some 'Heat-Inducing-Tactical-System's, HATS for short, and several boxes of standard quality surveillance cameras. Once the customer had left, Pearl wrote a message to the shipping and financial departments with the details of the agreement, and then left them to do their own work. She was up already so she decided she may as well take a walk.

8:15am
Xeaforge Industries Testing Lab Nine-Echo

Pearl had done many things in the past two hours. She had spectated engineers trying to work on a new mech design, one more efficient than the old five legged military project. That one had been so slow that they had modified it to be a mobile artillery platform rather than an actual warfare mech. The reason they had done this instead of scrapping the project was that the thing was able to hold a cargo of ammo as well as support four one-hundred-twenty-five millimeter artillery cannons, as well as several anti-air cannons. For such a thing, Xeaforge Industries has charged a massive cost, around several hundred million for each, or fifty million for the mech platform without any additional attachments. This time, the engineer in charge of the product had managed to use weights to stabilize the mech so it wouldn't topple over, and he had made sure every part was up to scratch.

As well as checking out these schematics and watching the crew plan out the mech some more, Pearl had checked out some of the lesser products of Xeaforge; the gaming sets. Xeaforge didn't just make money off of military-like projects, they developed new computers, mice, keyboards, you name it. The gaming community frequently bought products from them, which granted them a fair amount of money over time. Military projects costed a lot of money, so the lesser projects such as the gaming sets and computers got them enough money to pay lesser things in Xeaforge, such as wages, bills, taxes, biscuits in the tea-room.

Pearl had began training with her armour a long time ago, and she trained every so often. Fighting with the armour wasn't hard, yet it was far from easy. The armour had many cooling systems to prevent overheating, however the pulse cannon could still overload the reactor. In order to use the suit efficiently, you had to keep it under control, and stop power overloads. Pearl had gotten used to the systems of the armour, with special thanks to her artificial intelligence, ANAI.

After all of this, Pearl decided she needed a major break. She detached the pulse cannon and put it in a backpack (along with the armour's helmet) before slipping on a jumper and trousers over her armour, keeping an earpiece on her ear in case she needed to be called. She headed out of the building, planning to walk around until an idea of where to actually go popped into her head.

9:01am
Outside Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Popping a piece of candy into her mouth and tossing the wrapper into a nearby bin, she munched on it as she passed the exterior wall of the zoo. Pearl had decided that she was going to head to one of Xeaforge's customers to see what they were up to, as it would be quite interesting to see them in action. However, she was suddenly stopped.

There was a scream. She had just heard it, it sounded like it came from within the zoo. As if to correct her, a voice spoke in her ear. "Audio detected scream within the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Zoo schedule states the zoo is currently closed. Non-normality." Pearl frowned. If ANAI was right, which she definitely was, it meant something was happening in the zoo. Perhaps an animal escaped, or someone had snuck in and broken their leg by falling off of something. Quickly, Pearl stripped her jumper and trousers off, putting them into her backpack before tossing it over the wall. "Up and over, ANAI," she says, before jumping. The jetpack activated, and pushed her over the wall. She landed on two feet next to her backpack, and let out a gasp.

This was definitely something more than an animal escaping. It might have been something worth watching if it was clearly something criminal. As animals were freed, they joined into the parade instead of murdering eachother, all lead by one woman. "Woman clearly identified as affected by White Rain." ANAI states, to which Pearl rolls her eyes at. "Yeah, I didn't see that at all, ANAI." She says, before taking a fast look around. There appeared to be additional people here, which was ridiculous. If someone saw this, they would be running. However, despite the dangerous weapon in the woman's hands combined with the might of her army, Pearl decided that she would put an end to this. Behold, the great start to the Xeaforge Industries Security Division, she thinks to herself with a chuckle. "Set modules for attachment," she says, withdrawing her helmet from the backpack and slipping it on. The helmet connected with the rest of the armour via the modular connectors on it and the armour itself. A second grab from the bag and out slipped the pulse cannon, which she slapped onto her right hand. It connected, the hand going into the rear of the weapon and attaching via modular connection. "Set for pulse, ANAI, and turn on the broadcast speakers. Cut them on my gesture." She orders, squeezing her fist so that ANAI knew what gesture she meant. "Pulse armed, speakers on. You're live."

Pearl's mind went blank. What should she say? Stop in the name of the law? Halt? Shaking her head, she called out loudly, the speakers on her armour broadcasting her voice.
"Cease your actions, or I will be forced to call backup! Drop your weapon and put your hands up!" She shouts loudly. With a squeeze of her fist, the speakers cut off. "ANAI, call the police department, or call some security units from Xeaforge. Preferably the police. Prep the jetpack to dodge right if the woman aims at me."
"Would you like coffee with that?"
Pearl can't help but grin.

3840 Pearl Road, 9:30 AM EDT

Not too far from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, another rather nasty incident was taking place. The Steel Valley Credit Union wasn't the most prestigious bank, nor was it the richest. But it had cash within its vaults, and that was the important bit, eh? With the chaos striking the streets, it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the police running amok and liberate some cash from one of the more out-of-the-way establishments in the city. Just slip in while everybody's busy with the real supervillains, grab a few bags of cash, and get the hell out as fast as you can.

And speed's one of the things that The Rocket was good at. The unassuming doors to the SVCU burst open as he ran out, throwing the small bag over a shoulder and bolting across the parking lot. Besides the metal helmet obscuring his face, The Rocket was covered in a patchwork of metal plates and thrusters thrown about in all kinds of odd positions about his body. The three security guards ran out the door and raised their firearms, pulling off a handful of shots at the retreating villain. He stopped at the curb and teetered for a second, trying not to topple into the morning traffic on Pearl Road. He bent his knees as the guards started their pursuit, looking for all the world like he was about to take a dump right there and then as he pounded at the soldered metal plates strapped to his chest with a fist.

"Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit shit. Come on you fucking worthless pieces of JUNK." More bullets, more close misses. He grimaced, then gave a sigh of relief as the engines finally kicked on. His hip jets gave a roar and the large turbine on his back fired up and threw the man rather unceremoniously upward and forward, launching him right over the traffic and across the road...only for him to smack face-first into the wall of the pizzeria he was aiming towards.

“Ow.” He backed up, only for the engines to sputter to life again, slamming him straight back into the brick wall. “Ow.” Okay, get your bea-no, into the wall again? Sure, why not. A-and a third time. Really should work on that.

After he shook the ringing sound out of his head, The Rocket turned left, and made another leap as he started running. A roar, and his hip thrusters and back turbine threw him forward and northward on Pearl Road, each leaping bound easily ten feet long as he left the security officers in his proverbial dust and skimmed down the road. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong as he makes good his escape. But what's the worst that could happen?

8:47 am
Outside Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Back home in Brooklyn, things were much more calm. Despite the occasional shooting and angry arguments over the remaining of the city. Although Lee was one of the few people who wanted to change the name, he never engaged in any of the fights. All and all, Cleveland and Brooklyn were two very different places. Lee was on his couch, in his newly furnished apartment. His parents had finally kicked him out, but they were still babying him. He could not get a job, although he had graduated from college, and had a job offer still pending.

Lee sighed, for 2 weeks now, his parents had been paying his rent, electricity, groceries, and everything else. He basically sat on his couch watching TV all day. Who could blame him, with what he could do, working with people in such a setting would be...dangerous.

"We are bringing you a live conference from The Cleveland City Hall on the current crisis, the correspondent will join us in a few minutes." Lee glanced at his TV, this was what he was talking about, Cleveland was just crazy. He stood up and walked over to his bedroom. On his bed was his leather jacket, Lee grabbed it and walked out the door. If he was gonna be a hero, he was gonna have to go were the action was.

9:07 am
Outside Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Lee landed on a fairly tall skyscraper not to far from the zoo. It had taken him about 20 minutes or so to get here, transforming back and forth between human and Ifrit. He hated that about this power, he had only a few minutes to use it, he would have to think of a way to bypass it.

On the ground bellow though was the real problem. The animals from the zoo had been let out, but there was woman leading them, real talk one, as if she was their queen. The fact the animals were attacking people that passed by, was the problem. There were already many "heros" here, or so it seemed. There was one lady with a cannon, it seemed, and some armor, it was all together pretty cool. There was also a tall, pale looking guy with a revolver.

Lee was not sure what to do, the one lady had already confronted the criminal. It was hero code not to interrupt a hero during negotions, he had watched enough TV shows to know that. Hopefully the other hero's in the area would realize that also, and stay back, provide back up for her if necessary. It felt good to play it smart for a change, although that is what he did, most of the time.

Roger looks at the girl in armour currently shouting. It was foolish of him to think he'd be alone. There was probably a couple more wannabe heroes and maybe 1 or 2 villains. He was completely empty with ideas on what to do. He could either work with this person or shoot them which wouldn't be the best idea. So he slid down the ladder, got on his motorbike and rode it up behind Pearl.

Roger jumped off, readied his revolver and aimed it at her. But instead of shooting her, he noted her location and current time and started to look into her recent past. He learned her age, her real name as Pearl Rameses. He learned most things about her but the most important was that she wasn't a bad person. However, she wouldn't be described as a hero/heroine since Roger noticed how her family have sold their products to both sides. It was called Xeoforge Industries. From what he could tell, they worked on both computers and weapons. A great combination for either world domination or achieving all the worlds money. "Maybe I can get something useful from her," Roger thought to himself.

"You in the armour!" He took a deep breath of air. "Step aside and don't intervene."

If things did go haywire, Roger could escape on his Honda.

JUNE 22, 2018
8:27 AM, EDT
GRACE HUNTER'S APARTMENT

Grace Hunter was asleep, buried in a mountain of pillows and blankets, trying to ignore the phone buzzing on her nightstand. After a few blind gropes for it, she managed to grab it and drag it under the covers to answer it. The darkness allowed her to at least pretend that she could sleep in for a little bit longer.

"Grace?" a female voice asked.

"This is she, on her day off, answering a call from the police department," Grace answered, pulling the covers off and revealing her brown hair with natural blonde highlights and blue eyes the looked like she'd been up for longer than one would have thought. "Care to tell me why I should bother? I worked the late shift last night and then went out to fight crime so I've spent," Grace looked at her alarm clock, "all of three hours asleep."

"Unfortunately, you're at the top of supers we need to stabilize the city, and we need you to report in." The voice answered.

Grace groaned for a long time. "Why don't you just hire me and get it over with?"

"We told you, you have to undergo training and with the emergency the city is suffering, this counts as police force training. Once the emergency's done we'll put you in the force with a pay raise, if you're lucky."

"In other words, I'm working for free while the police department sits on it's ass." Grace said, putting on socks and dressing.

"Your rent will be footed by the police department during this time as part of the emergency fund given to use by the mayor," the voice said, growing more irritated.

Grace rolled her eyes, but didn't say much else as she was already busy putting on her 'vigilante' outfit. It required more focus which meant that she couldn't come up with a snarky remark for the secretary on the phone. So instead she finished dressing while the woman continued to yell at Grace.

"I'm sure someone like you can find a part time job in the meantime to keep you from starving."

"Well, sure it's not hard, but the thing is most people don't call me back anymore since I have to put almost all my job experiences down in the history section. Most people don't like seeing a person with jobs that lasted a month, all of which make me look like I got fired," Grace added. She was already to the door, and was currently sliding on her shoes. "All right, I'm heading out now, Amelia. Talk to you soon."

"Try not to level the city," Amelia said, "and call me if something happens."

"All right, Mom," Grace drew out the word 'mom' as sarcastically as possible, "I'll try. Text me, not call, that way I can read it and whatever."

With a click, Grace hung up the phone and started her way downtown to the department. She'd been thinking about joining them for a while, though more to operate the phones than actually be an officer. However, seeing that there weren't many supers left in Cleveland, Grace had to step up and start at least trying to keep things from spinning wildly out of control. Didn't mean that she enjoyed getting shot at, bit -yes there were supervillians that bit her-, and forced to endure supervillian monologues everyday. Not to mention that it put a strained relationship on her with her boss. Yes, there was the 'I have to leave early because I've been called by the police to take care of this' excuse, but that didn't mean that Grace enjoyed using it.

At least the walk took her by the zoo, which was usually filled with various animal noises and the like. She could even drop by on an inspection in case 'Mama Bear' or her ilk tried to take it over. It was closed today, probably because of the latest break out of supervillians. Grace didn't mean to linger, but she stared at the locked gate for some time. Grace known all the superheroes to a point, they all spent time wherever Grace had been working most recently and tried to help set things right again. Now they were all gone. Lit on fire by an unknown assailant while she'd been out visiting her sister in California.

That was when she saw Mama Bear emerge from an enclosure. Grace was climbing the fence when two other heroes jumped out, the woman calling for Mama Bear to cease and then the other saying that the one in the armor couldn't intervene. Grace rolled her eyes and finished climbing the fence. They didn't have time for this, she thought.

With a quick motion of her hand, Grace levitated a few gravel pieces up and threw them at high speed at the hollow of Mama Bear's throat. Hopefully. it would stun the woman long enough to let the other two pull their heads out of their butts and do something other than bicker. "You heard the lady, so let's get you to jail so I can go back to watching my morning cartoons."

BEACHWOOD PLACE MALL, JUNE 22, 2018, 9:23 AM, EDT

There.

Two girls fighting the clones below had stumbled onto Uprising Prime, without even realizing it, and the Phoenix saw it. The tell was slight, but it was there nonetheless. Upon being blown back into the sports store, rather than simply getting back up again and continuing with the fight despite his injuries, the young man groaned with pain, and stood with the aid of the countertop. His eyesight was directed towards the two girls, and suddenly, she saw that more clones began to turn their attention to the two. This one, who showed weakness, and independent thought, must be the original. Phoenix dove in.

Her wings were too large to fit through the shop window, so she landed outside of the store. Folding her wings in front of her as a shield, she walked forward. The Prime saw her, and sent several clones to attack her. Three jumped onto her wings, and another one latched onto her leg. Throwing open her wings to their full span, she threw off the three weighing her down, into the crowd behind her. Reaching down, she grabbed the one on her leg by the arm, and ripped it out of its socket as she pulled him up to eye level. As the clone did not seem to have a reaction, Phoenix rammed her head onto his forehead. The force of her steel helmet knocked him out, cracking his skull. Dropping the limp body, she closed her wings again, and walked into the store, into which the Prime was cornered.

As her sword had not been unsheathed yet, she was so far unbloodied, clean. Her steel armor still looked dull beneath the fluorescent lights of the store. Proud and tall, the Phoenix approached Uprising Prime, and stopped a few feet before him, and spoke. Her accent was strange, and memorable. If he had ever heard her speak before, he would know who she was, what she was- that is, if he did not already know by her Valkyrie appearance, what with the wings, and the armor, and the sword sheathed at her hip.

"You are one of the escaped convicts, from the Ohio Penitentiary, am I correct?"

She stepped forward, and offered him one hand- her right hand.

"Please, stop this madness, and come with me. I will take you to a facility where you will be safe, and treated with respect. No harm will come to you if you comply. You can trust me."

"9:34 AM, reports of self-labelled 'Rocket-Man' has stolen cash and on his way through or around Pearl Road. We have lost contact. I repeat, we have lost contact."

At first, he had planned on heading to the mall, mainly to take care of this 'Uprising' criminal that had found the need to take everyone in the mall hostage...but once a quick glance into the mall's camera systems revealed multiple heroes taking care of it, the young man decided not to intervene, as it would only create chaos and allow the villain to escape. A similar thing was going on at the zoo, and so he allowed the other heroes to take care of it. His time would come in the approaching dusk. He sat in a deep leather chair, underneath the temporary Knight Mansion, sharpening his trench-knives, all in anticipation of the nightly extermination. Most people assumed that Crisis enjoyed a sick pleasure out of the death of corrupt criminals...and in some ways, they'd be right. While it wasn't a pleasure, it was, in fact, a grim satisfaction that yet another criminal was off of the streets. As the small steel dagger slid across the trench-knife's razor-sharp edge, the sound of a woman's panting voice over-took the police scanners, describing some sort of 'rocket-man'. That would work.

He smoothly stood, his body automatically moving towards the sealed, metallic case that held his prized Crisis suit. "Knight Enterprises." He breathed into the speaker, and as one clasp unlocked, Victor pressed his palm and finger-tips against the scanner, all the while allowing the retina scanner to survey his irises. With a hiss of steam, the case opened, revealing the suit in all of it's dark, intimidating glory. Now was not the time to observe it's appearance, however. Victor swiftly equipped the armored suit, and with a few sturdy locks and clasps, tightened the armored fabric across his body. The last article of crime-fighting was his helmet, and as he dropped it on his head, it automatically clasped to the rest of the suit, the visor lighting up with a blue glow, whilst the frequency on the inside of the helmet automatically began searching for police scanners and radio dialogue.

"Pearl Road, hm?" He muttered, walking towards his equipment table, whilst his right hand automatically began typing coordinates on his left wrist device. He quickly began unsheathing throwing blades, and holstering them along both sides of his torso. His utility belt followed, being magnetized and clasped to both sides of his waists. On his upper thighs, dark black holsters were strapped and magnetized to the titanium underlay, where his prized trench knives were smoothly holstered. Finished, Crisis turned around, heading towards a sloping ramp made of a smooth, dark blue metal. A ping sounded on his wrist-honer, and the Vigilante allowed a small quirk of his lips to go unnoticed, even as a loud revving began to get closer, and closer, and closer. He abruptly twisted on his feet, pivoting and leaping into the air, just as a sleek, dark motorcycle blasted in his previous position. His leap landed him, mid-air, on the revving vehicle, and he pressed the gas all the way down, the bullet-proof tires blazing a trail of sparks on the metal, as it blasted up the ramp. He leaned forward against wind-resistance, and as he began to get closer to the deep black spikes that acted as the base's ceiling, Crisis pressed a button on his left wrist, once more.

A spike disappeared from the ceiling, exposing an opening. Crisis blasted through that opening, the pure speed from his revving motorcycle leaving him to be a blur of motion. Behind him, the spike reappeared, closing off the entrance.

______________

Crisis ignored the yelling civilians as he blazed a path of Hell down Martin Street, body lowered against the dark leather seat of his motorcycle. He smoothly hit the breaks, while revving the gas even harder, performing an expert drift around a sharp corner, before letting go of the breaks and leaning backwards. The motorcycle leaned backwards in a dangerous-looking wheelie, as Crisis caught a fleeting figure of a rocket-covered humanoid blasting down the street. Well...more like skidding. Did he seriously have to come out as Crisis...to chase such a raggedy-equipped villain? No...not a villain. Most-likely a two-bit thief. Regardless, underestimating an opponent was fool-hardy, no matter how much his mind tried to make him do the underestimating. His motorcycle fell back onto two wheels, and Crisis increased the speed, deciding not to initiate nitrous, since the rocket-propelling man wasn't moving at a speed that required the use of turbo.

Within seconds, he had caught up to the rocket-propelling man, pulling up right beside him. His glowing-blue visor staired emptily at the man, even as Crisis instinctively jerked the motorcycle left and right to avoid any civilians riding in cars, or simply walking down the sidewalks and road. After a second of surveying, Crisis narrowed his eyes and suddenly whipped forward on the cycle. His left arm gripped the motorcycle's handlebars harder, as the vigilante's right arm began to blur, two dark black, gleaming throwing knives, blasting forward, towards the hip thrusters, while an explosion pellet was suddenly flicked forward, blurring towards the rocket man's back turbine. Stop the mobility, and exterminate the criminal.

June 22, 2018
9:30 AM,EST
Wyoming Street

Edward,AKA Acid Striker, had heard of the chaos starting to take over the city so of course it was the perfect time to strike. His target, was a Dunbar armored car transporting over a million dollars to Steel Valley Credit Union on the other side of town. The Acid Striker along with a driver and three other goons have been tracking the car for over 3 miles and now were stopped at a red light with their van right behind the shiny red vehicle.

"Lets do it!" Edward said jumping out of the passenger side of the van with his hands already dripping with acid. He acted quickly before the car could speed away and griped both of the back wheels melting the rubber and making it stick to the cement. The car squealed trying to move but couldn't then he moved to the backdoor where the prize was waiting. The acid easily melted away the door and inside two shocked guards stood with pistols pointing at the intruder.

"F-Fire!!" One of them said and both of their pistols rang out. Edward moved to the side of the car while his goons distracted the two guards with returning gun fire. His plan was to melt the side of the car to surpise the guards but the driver got out fiddling trying to get his pistol out of the holster. Edward rushed him and with one hand grabbed his arm burning it then with the other hand punched the driver in the gut dropping him instantly.

"We need to hurry up a hero could get here at any minute!!" One of the goons says taking cover behind the van. "I am on it!" Edward yelled back and melted a giant hole into the side of the armored car and grabbing both of the guards throwing them into the streets. "Now hurry and load the money." He said to his men and like that they started grabbing chunks of the cash and putting it into the van.

"ANAI, run a quick analysis on systems." Demands the wearer of the Xeaforge armour. ANAI immediately replies; "Pulse online. Pulse-Overcharge operational. Overflux on ready status. Essence-warp enabled." Not even a second after ANAI finishes, she gives out another loud warning. "Warning! Immediate threat detected!"

Pearl follows the red marker on the side of her visor, seeing someone with a revolver. You've gotta be kidding me. Woman playing real life animal queen simulator, or woman trying to stop her from her actions. Out of those two, you choose me!? She shakes her head. "ANAI, over-" Pearl blinks as a ring sounds in her ears, and a small phone and camera icon appear in the upper-left corner of her vision. "Recieving call from Xeaforge Industries, security department. Answering."

The face of a brown, long haired, innocent looking man appeared to replace the camera and phone icons. Sod off, Faret. Pearl thinks to herself. "Lady Rameses," He speaks, referring to her as if she was some noble in the medieval times. "ANAI sent a message. Do you require assistance?" He asks, clearly not noticing the glare of Pearl. She guessed that he'd use this as an excuse to ask her on a date again, which she did not want. "Faret, transfer this call to Johnson. Head of department." Pearl says, to which she gets a look like a puppy from Faret. The video and audio snapped off, before a new image appeared, a man who was clearly the complete opposite of Faret. Red hair, sharp eyes and a seriously looking face looked handsome to Pearl, however he seemed to be taken by surprise at the sudden appearance. "Johnson, get a team ready. I'm dealing with a situation in Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I may need backup." Pearl says to him quickly. Johnson gives her a nod. "Will do, ma'am." He says, snapping off the call. He had served in the military, and worked with her for quite a while. He'd know when she needed him.

Suddenly, someone spoke from behind her, and she turned her head to see a woman flinging gravel at Mama Bear. Though, it wasn't exactly flinging. The woman had made the pieces levitate before launching them at the woman. Well, at least I have backup. She thought, before her thoughts returned to the guy with the revolver. He was a threat, however he still was not a huge one. She wanted this over without hurting him. "Broadcast on, directional, to him." Pearl says. Once it was on, she called out to him. "I'll intervene if I want! She is breaking the law!" Pearl calls out. "Don't make me hurt you. I'll do what I must."

Danny heard the order to lay down his arms, but couldn't see the speaker due to the wall of animals. He put his hands up, realized he was playing into a very negative stereotype of his people by holding an unconscious woman over his head, then quickly brought her back down. "Wait, this isn't what it looks like. I know how it looks but that's not it!"

Then he heard the other voice, from the front of the animal line.

"You heard the lady, so let's get you to jail so I can go back to watching my morning cartoons."

"Wait, I just scared her about the penguins! That's all! She just fainted over penguin worries!"

Oh god, this was going to end with torches and pitchforks.

BEACHWOOD PLACE MALL

Despite the efforts of the heroes, more than two hundred clones were still standing. But not all of them were continuing to press the attack, not at once.

Some had found a home and garden store and began to pass out axes, shovels, crowbars, hammers, rakes and other improvised weapons among the Uprisings. Now armed with more than just naked fists, they advanced menacingly on Doyle, Tess, and Gwen.

Other had chased down and grabbed whatever shoppers hadn't managed to flee. The Uprising clones worked methodically and silently, making sure that Phoenix and the other heroes could see what they were doing. Some crying, begging hostages were forced into a kneeling position, weapons raised menacingly over their exposed heads. Others were grabbed by two clones and dangled precariously over balconies. In all, the corridor in which the bulk of the fighting had taken place now had about sixty hostages in immediate danger. None were harmed beyond being manhandled slightly, but the message was clear.

Maybe it was courage or just fanaticism, but Uprising Prime had no difficulty in meeting Phoenix' stare. “Your move, folks,” he said, his remaining clones speaking in unison with him. “My brothers and I truly do not wish to hurt these people, but you've given us very little alternative. Sit down and surrender, and we give you our word that you will be released unharmed once that demagogue Kaganovich meets our demands.”

The young anarchist winked, an action repeated by hundreds of other eyes. “Check and mate.”

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO

Mama Bear seemed nonplussed by what was occurring in front of her, particularly once the first person to confront her turned his gun on the second, but she did very gently set down her elephant gun. One of her Siberian tigers growled at Pulsecat, but Mama Bear soothed the animal with a gentle stroke of her fur.

“Alright, look, let's talk here,” the tall woman said calmly. “I'll concede that I am breaking the laws of man, but I'm concerned more with the laws of nature and basic morality.” She gestured to her train of animals. “These poor babies were being held against their will, they've committed no crime. It's my responsibility to look after them, alright? If you had been around, you would've busted prisoners out of Dachau-”

Her self-justifications were interrupted by Quake's launched gravel. The throw was dead on, catching Mama Bear dead in the throat. She stumbled backwards, stunned, clutching at her throat.

But what Quake hadn't counted on was Mama Bear's link to her “babies”.

The animals didn't like it when someone hurt their mom.

The sound of hundreds of creatures, even normally quiet ones, roaring in berserk rage all at once was deafening. The bolder of the enraged animals attacked. An African bull elephant, trumpeting madly, rushed directly at Frankenstein. Dozens of smaller birds flew at Roger Sharp, blinding him with their wings and pecking at him, while a larger bald eagle attempted to snatch his revolver in its talons. Six snarling gray wolves began to circle Pulsecat, methodically watching for the best moment to strike. And Quake, the one who had actually attacked, received special attention. Mama Bear's personal bodyguards, the two Siberian tigers, rushed at her.

The other animals hung back, roaring their disapproval. Mama Bear regained her breath and began scrabbling for her rifle once more.

WYOMING STREET

One of Acid Striker's thugs laughed in triumph as he held up a particularly large bag stuffed with cash. This haul was exactly as promised, one million dollars in new bills. A respectable take awaited each of them.

The bag abruptly disappeared out of the goon's hand, to reappear pinned to a doorway across the street. A fiberglass arrow shaft held it in place, still vibrating from the impact.

“Alright, that's far enough,” a strident voice called from down the street.

“Somebody worked damn hard for that money. Put it back,” a second, deeper voice added.

Two men stood in the middle of the street, both dressed in stylized light armor, like Ancient Greek hoplites. One was small and wiry, armed with a longbow that was nocked and pointed at Striker. The other was broad and muscular, holding a massive, body-length shield made from space-age plastics, easily able to deflect bullets.

The Vlachos brothers, Teucer and Ajax, had no Caught or magical abilities. They did, however, both have multiple gold medals from the 2016 Olympics in Rio- Teucer in archery, Ajax in wrestling. Born in the heavily Greek community of Campbell, Ohio, they had taken their skills to nearby Youngstown to do something about the mid-sized city's epidemic gangsterism and violent crime. It was a sense of duty that had brought them to Cleveland, and a hunch that someone might try to crack this Dunbar that had brought them to this street.

Teucer pulled back his bowstring, as Ajax began a cautious advance with his shield raised. “What's it going to be, malaka?” Ajax called. “The easy way or the hard way?”

Doyle watched the situation unfold. The two young heroes fighting off the clones with what he'd consider more ferocity than himself. Along with Phoenix breaking through the glass roof and swooping down upon the actual villain and asking him to actually turn himself in. He'd never seen something so generous in all his life. If it were Doyle he would have just shot him on the spot.

Doyle never understand those kind of heroics. The type to try and get the villain to put themselves in prison. If Doyle were a villain he'd always thought that he'd rather go down fighting rather than look like some coward and turn himself in. His eyes flickered around, it was a hopeless battle, if they gained any advantage in the fight the hostages would be killed. There was no winning this. He sent a look to Phoenix and the two young heroes he didn't know the name of. He then raised his hands in the air as a sort of surrender to the clones. This was a sticky situation if he had ever seen one. The villain didn't seem too insane, he was at least reasonable enough not to harm the civilians if he was just left alone.

"WHOA!" Danny shouted, jumping straight up as a ton of angry mammal rammed the doors of the penguin house open. He landed on top of the building, finally getting a good look at the scene. So that was it. There was no parade, this was some sort of supervillain thing. He laid his erstwhile tourguide down on the roof with a subdued "wait here" before grabbing the chain looped around his arm and unraveling it.

He didn't want to hurt any animals, but on the other hand this was a chance to be involved in something really, really cool.

He gave the chain one final twirl to get the chain to the length he wanted it and jumped onto the elephants back, throwing the chain under the things neck and catching the end as it came back up. Then he pulled. Not as hard as he could, but hard enough.

"Go to sleep, Dumbo. Go to sleep!"