---

It was a normal day in Megatropolis. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and for the first time in the history of the city, they would have gone one month without a major disaster. Such an event was surprising; the city had portions of it torn into shreds, then rebuilt. It was truly a time to celebrate. Some (note: very few) news writers said that super-crime will continue to decline. Some even called for the dismantlement of all hero-based security forces (in just one month).

Though, everything was fairly nice. Life for all citizens was good in the past 29 days. In A-District, business was booming. Trade within the city was up 47%. In B-District, it was surprising, since only 10% of the city had been damaged. In C-District, nothing really happened. Nothing really ever happens in C-District. In D-District, tourism had been steadily going up. People from other countries and cities began to come over to Megatropolis, something that almost never happens.

E-District, however, was still E-District. Petty crime was everywhere. It wasn't too good, but it was better than having half of it destroyed by a power-mad super-crazy super-villain.

As the final day of the month began, there was a rather rude awakening for every single person in the city. The earth began to shake. Luckily, due to the great skill of the Super Construction Rangers, most buildings stood solemn and near-indestructible. Well, that was until the earth split at the seams of E-District, D-District and B-District while a giant serpent rose from the hole.

Wait, what?

Well, that serpent, although large and intimidating, turned out to be but a construct of magic. The poisonous body of the snake faded, leaving behind a mountain of bones, along with a castle of quickly cooled molten rock.

---

As the dust settled, the government was quickly called into accord. Ideas were flown around on how to handle the situation, however, the mayor, the strongest person in the city, vetoed every single idea except his own. From there, two specific heroes were called. Powerlevel Man and MC Radio.

After ten minutes of organizing and the mayor signing bills, a loud broadcast was sent out to every single TV, radio, or speaker in the city.

"Attention all civilians. Please go to the nearest shelter. Attention all heroes. Please head to the border of D, B, and E-Districts and head towards the, uh, giant mound of bones. The threat level is: Big-Big City Threat. Man, we really need to actually name them."

Well. That's the end of the idea of having a peaceful month in the city.

A lone figure stood and watched some flying birds from atop a tall tower. His purple scarf swayed in the air as he stayed precariously at the edge, his arms crossed and his eyes over the city, enjoying the light of the sun as it rose above Megatropolis. He heard peculiar sounds among the usual noise, and recognized it as the call for heroes such as himself. A small hamster climbed out of the confines of his scarf, and climbed up to his shoulder. It nibbled his ear, and squaked. Yamato smiled.

"Indeed, San-D. The winds of change are singing of the crawling twilight. Destiny has chosen me to guide this world into its ultimate fate. Let us hasten our steps, and embrace the call. I smell a hunt of a fiend most foul." Without hesitating, he stepped off the building, and spread his arms as he fell down at a high speed. "Come to me, Jan-P, and spread your glorious wings! Awaken!" A hamster leaped out of his scarf, and in a flash of magical power, transformed into a beautiful giant falcon of silver. His wings shone brilliantly as they spread; Mirage Silver Falcon Jan-P caught Yamato on his back, and whisked him away across the setting sky.

Jan-P turned invisible as it approached the mound of bones. Once close enough, Yamato had him turn back into a hamster, and safely landed nearby to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention. He brushed off his jacket, and scratched the hamster under his ears. "Thank you for the swift ride today, Jan-P. You have done well," he softly spoke to the little rodent, and then nonchalantly stepped closer to the mysterious location.

It had been a rough day in E-District, but then again, every day was rough in E-District. Danielle Martin, alias Dragon's Daughter, had already knocked out a couple of muggers and petty crooks. Then, the announcement came over the loudspeakers. She sighed and flapped her wings several times, landing on a building near the bone pile. She could feel the tingling sensation of magic, but it was faint. "Hmph. Sloppy spellcasting. If you're going to go into black magic, at least have enough respect for the craft to do it right."

On the edge of D-District the sun shone down on a broken pier that led out to the rushing water of a small stream. Atop the pier with his back to one of its remaining pillars, Oliver pulled his bucket hat down further over his face to block out the sun. His fishing rod trailed its thin line from its tip into the stream, the attached floater bobbing and dipping every now and then as the current moved it about. He had caught a few good fish already today and it was looking like good chances of more on the way, if conditions kept up. The little silver radio atop his gear-box softly broadcast the radiowaves it was receiving. Music stations rarely played anything Oliver liked, but today was alright for tunes. Light piano and saxophone just as he liked it. Nice and calm.

That was until the very earth upheaved in a cacophony startling enough to send the city spiralling into panic and chaos. Being right on the edge of D-District meant that while Oliver wasn't in the blast-zone, his fishing spot for the day was pretty much ruined. The castle on the mountain of bones was blocking the nice sun, the fish had fled with the shaking and more than likely his music was about to-

"Emergency broadcast, folks," the cool-headed radio announcer cut in with a voice so calm and flat he might as well have been in a sauna as he was broadcasting. "Looks like we've got a warning from City Hall. All civvies are to make their way to shelter, while heroes are to get up 'n' at'em. Stay safe folks."

The smooth jazz resumed as Oliver huffed. He had already finished packing his fishing gear and his catch for the day all into a ragged little backpack. All this commotion and he still had to walk home and home was in the direction of the commotion.

The Iron Halo behind his head rotated slowly as its blades hummed softly in the wind.

"Just one day. One day away from a peaceful month," he grumbled as he began walking. He could feel The Iron Halo keeping up with him and staying close to his back. It had started humming.

Interacting with: @shagranoz Danielle,

---

---

Levi was out and about, a scowl ever-present on his face. E-District was the worst district of them all, run down and dangerous were the two keywords here. Petty crimes like robberies or mugging was everywhere. One would think that these would disappear, or hell, lower with the presence of these 'heroes', but they didn't. Levi was in a supermarket store, getting his daily essentials, as he was picking out what was own his list, a voice echoed throughout the market.

"PUT THE MONEY IN THE BAG!" said the tall, intimidating man, a hint of fear in his voice. Levi was put into rather cliche situation, and with a grimace he watched the man. "HURRY IT UP, ELSE I'LL SHOOT!" he continued, pointing a gun squarely at the cashier's terrified face. Levi did not want to deal with this right now, and debated whether to leave it to these 'heroes', but none were around, while in his thoughts the robber had collected his 'dues' and began to leave and bumped into Levi, "Hey, asshole, watch it, or i'll shoot you instead." he said, a hint of pride and superiority permeating his voice.

Levi simply looked up, no change in his face, his scowl and dead-amber eyes locked with the robbers, the robber winced and stepped back, whilst his hands were shaking he then pointed his gun at Levi. Lightning began to form and crackle around Levi, and his face somehow became more shadowy and darker, the lightning shot at the gun pointing at Levi, it stemmed into the gun and into the man's body. His body quickly convulsed, wreathing and screaming in agony. he was soon knocked out. Levi kicked the gun away from his reach.

Levi then got up to the clerk/cashier, who had a look of fear, yet gratitude. He was half scared of this person, but also felt slightly indebted. Levi then placed his items on the table and it was checked out, but when Levi placed the money on the counter, the clerk said that it was free, as paying back a favor. Levi's scowl grew deeper, but soon relaxed a little and he walked out, groceries in hand. A slight sigh of relief from the clerk who was now collecting the money from the unconscious robber, and calling the police- or something.

Such is life in E-district, then the announcement loomed overhead. Something about civilians making it back home, but 'heroes' investigating these mound of bones, Levi scoffed at their lack of discretion. He was sure to go, even if he had to carry his bag of groceries with him. As soon as he arrived, a faint hint of magic vibrated throughout the area nearby the bones, it hummed in accordance. Though, a hero was already there, Levi stood a little surprised as he used Thunder's gait to get here, but whatever.

As he got closer, the silhouette could be properly seen. It was the 'Crimson Flame' or 'Dragon's daughter', whichever, Levi didn't care. What he did pay heed to was the amount of collateral damage that followed her wake after every 'victory'. Levi's scowl and glare deepened, he'd didn't want to deal with any heroes at the current moment, especially one like her. "Back off Crimson Dragon. Let me deal with this, your lack of awareness to your surroundings when fighting is bothersome." Levi called out in a soft, yet harsh and coerce tone, hands in pocket with his groceries, this made him look less intimidating that he wanted to, What's this person's motive to being here... Levi cynically thought to himself.

---

"Damn it… At this rate, these flowers are gonna rot before they even get to their destination!"

Just like every other (early) morning in B-District, Masako Mizushima had her hands full. With customer requests beginning to pile on as the weeks flew by, the woman was in and out of her sister's flower shop like a five-year-old having a life threatening sugar rush. With the almost one month of peace putting the civilians in positive spirits, Gaia's Garden had become busier and more upbeat than ever before. At least now Masako had less trouble to deal with this past month, so juggling her job as a delivery woman and a superheroine was a little easier.

"This person just has to live all the way on E-District… If some group tries spraying shitty graffiti designs on this van then they're getting more than a kick to the stomach from me."

Large lines of traffic weren't all that rare in B-District, but this whole morning rush thing was getting out of hand. It had already been ten minutes and Masako still hadn't made it to the district's border. It wouldn't be long before the twenty-two-year-old woman would start screaming her lungs out at the drivers in front of her. Masako slammed her hand down on the steering wheel's horn, sticking her head out of the window. At least she didn't activate the airbags this time.

"Hey! I haven't got all day so just hurry up and move the shitty clump of metal you're driving in! These flowers aren't gonna deliver themselves y'know."

---

After what seemed like ten hours on the busy toad, Masako had reached E-District with her van still intact. No crazy graffiti sprayers or rock pelting teens to be seen as of yet.

As of yet.

Of course, Masako kept an eye out for anything lurking behind the trash cans or lingering in the shadows as she drove through the litter filled streets. Whether it was just a pesky little rat or some troublesome villain plotting out loud in a stinking alleyway, Masako had to be careful. Despite her rather 'fiery' past, E-District was no place for a girl who had spent a majority of her life living in one of the quietest districts in Megatropolis.

As soon as she took one step out of the delivery van, a shake knocked Masako off her feet. A random earthquake at this time of day? And a big ass snake rising from the ground to go with it? What a great start to the morning. First Masako had gone to work without even a sip of coffee and now there was a pile of bones rising from the supposed pits of hell.

"Attention all civilians. Please go to the nearest shelter. Attention all heroes. Please head to the border of D, B, and E-Districts and head towards the, uh, giant mound of bones. The threat level is: Big-Big City Threat. Man, we really need to actually name them."

"Big-Big City Threat. Huh."

Well, looks like that was her call. Screw the flowers and the van, saving the city came first. Unzipping her jacket, the violet eyed woman revealed her signature dark red tie wrapped around her white collar. As she loosened it, the drastic changes to Masako's regular appearance had been done. Clad in a tailored black suit and blood red heels, superhero-sensei leapt from the ground at an impossible height, jumping from filthy rooftop to filthy rooftop.

"Looks like Principal Scarlett's got some ass kicking to attend to today."

---

---

". . . Just a little further mister Strongman!" A young child, clad in rags indicative of her impoverished life, clung a soft grip around the gigantic in comparison hand of a much larger man who hurried along swiftly to keep up with the child's skipping pace. "What is it Susie? What is the dilemma now" The man bellowed, the words escaping his dry parted lips, calling towards the girl as she rushed him along with an unshakable will. "No time to explain!" The child called back in a quick response as the pair ducked through the dank back alleys of E-District. All along the way, multiple scrupulous individuals broke the first impression of their dingy appearance and amaibly greeted the hurrying man, to which he would hastily respond calling each passing soul by name as if he had known them all deeply.

At last the two reach a Cul-de-sac-like clearing and the young girl skids to a halt, nearly sending the bulky man headfirst into a great wall of bark. "Whiskers is stuck in a tree again!" she pouted and crossed her arms as if totally defeated. Adjusting his suspenders, the elder man gazed about and finally spoke, his words addled by the thick Germanic accent he held, "Which tree then? It is this one, no?" The heavily-muscled man meandered towards a modest plant, thickly obscured by its own foliage to which he began shaking gently, leaves drifting downwards from its plume. "That one!" The girl excitedly called out, following her puny finger, the strongman's squinted eyes gazed upwards from the base of the mightiest oak in the world, reaching up and tearing a hole through the drifting clouds in the sky.

"Ahh, that tree." He spoke with a hint of meekness resonating within his voice. Casually finding his way toward the base of the oaken pillar, with a twirl of his thick mustache and a wish of luck from the child he outstretched his mighty arms and gripped the obstacle before him. With stupendous form his callused hands embedded themselves into the tree's bark. The powerful arms bulged and threatened to tear at the threads of his rolled up sleeves as he began his vigor filled ascent into the heavens. Only one thought passed through his mind as he focused all of his power on moving upwards, if only for the sake of a young girl and her pet, I really regret planting this super tree.

Eventually the mustachioed man broke through the smog adrift E-District's skys and lifted himself onto a mighty limb of the gargantuan oak, taking a short rest as the distant sounds of splitting earth piqued his ears. Nevertheless, he continued his climb, the pure grandeur of him manliness splaying about, such a sight to see. At some point he began calling out for this pet, bellowing for Whiskers all the while until suddenly a great squeal pierced his mind. His right hand gripped tightly around what he assumed was a branch, and yet fluffy and covered in fur. It nearly shook the muscled man from his climb, and yet he still struck another mighty hand through the bark to keep himself stable as an intrigued head popped out from a small hollow in the massive tree.

A squirrel of some sort, fuzzy and brown, yet as plump as a super-melon, its beady black eyes listlessly peered at the man as he hung from the grand oak, numerous stories high with thin air to whisk about him. A small pink collar with a small crest and a poorly etched, "Whiskers" with the 'r' backwards, wrapped its way around the creature's neck, luckily it did not fear the invading large man, instead scampering along his mighty arm and perching its heavy body upon his shiny dome. The man smiled warmly and chuckled, "Let us get you home mister squirrel." And with that, the strongman began his cautious descent towards Earth.

After what seemed like ages of mild one-sided small talk with a thick squirrel, the strongman's arms had begun to ache slightly as his brown boots at last touched upon the ground, wobbly at first as it had been seemingly hours before that had felt solid land. The first sight his ancient eyes adjusted to was the face of a pouting young girl, being dragged along by a darker skinned woman, "It isn't safe here! You have to leave!" She exclaimed, clearly in some sort of terror. "What is the problem?" The thickly muscled man spoke, his words enveloped by the thick Germanic accent he bore, as the plump creature atop his head hurried towards its owner who squealed in delight.

"There's some crazy stuff going on at the border of E-District Mister Brandt! You better get down there and see if anyone needs help!" The woman spouted, her word full of relief to lend responsibility to their locally known man of heroism. With a simple nod and flick of the mustache, the man bounded off with a certain determination towards the direction of chaos, before turning towards the young girl and remarking, "Now, run home little one, don't let go of Whiskers again, you know he is frightened of heights." With a smile he was off, unlikely to arrive in any expedient frame of time.

Danielle shook her head, not even deeming it worth her time to correct the new guy about her moniker. "Listen, whoever you are. I may not know subtlety, but I know magic. Whoever summoned this snake had a lot of mystical horsepower, even if he couldn't keep it animated. Do you really think the cops can handle somebody like that? Do you think that they can build a cell that will hold him? No. Mark my words, we're going to have to fight him, it's going to be ugly, and there will a whole lot of collateral damage by the time we're through."

She paused, letting her words sink in. "And it will still be better than letting a lunatic with that kind of power loose on the streets."

Taiichi lived in the A-District, the center of commerce and the proper home for men like him. The broadcast triggered a round of selling at the stock exchange, but that was merely a return to business as usual for the city. Although it was tempting, Taiichi’s skills were required elsewhere. His mission statement as Master of Business Administration included protecting all of the city, and equal protection was one of the business goals he set for himself. His personal brand would suffer if the public did not see MBA on the scene. He ducked under a desk and donned his mask before leaving for the scene of the incident.

He stood in by himself in a deserted intersection surveying the scene without showing emotion in his face. The sight of the pile of bones was worrying. He had an extensive knowledge of case studies, but he could think of none that dealt with this issue. If he had more time he would look at Miskatonic’s output, they usually covered some more esoteric scenarios. The castle was a little more clear as a bad omen, but he remembered cases of conflicts between real estate companies and local incorporeal stakeholders, which gave him hope that he could apply the same conflict resolutions techniques.

Taiichi also realized that there would be other heroes around. Teamwork was his greatest strength, but all great teamwork required communication. He pulled out his smartphone, held it high in the air and chanted arcane terms to cast the spell “Mailing List”, sending short message to people in the vicinity. Inevitably, some anti-magic spam filters would stop the email from entering people's minds, and others would ignore it entirely. The message, full of jargon, read:

“Hi everyone, my name’s Master of Business Administration. I’m reaching out to ask if anyone would like to hold a quick stand-up meeting so that we can discuss our strategic vision for ensuring the safety of our community in the present scenario. I understand if you would like to go at it on your own, but I believe we have a world-class team the can leverage our synergies together. Dial-in if you want to, especially if you have any actionable data that we can utilize during the solutioning process.”

He was at the border of B-District, but the spell should reach far enough for at least someone to hear it. If they accepted, Taiichi would be ready to open a “Conference Call” spell for further communications

In the folds of existence widdershins of realspace, there lies Dimension W. Past the x-axis, under the y-axis and just a bit behind the z-axis, there lies Dimension W. Infinitely wide and infinitely thin, Dimension W is as comprehensible to the human mind as the smell of left or the sound of dog's knees.



Sailing like a cinderblock doesn't, The Albatross cut through seas of dark matter and quantum foam. Above and below the attentions of the googols of life forms technically right there alongside it, The Albatross was unnoticeable to all but those who were already on it.



A pair of heavy boots, their owner heavy and terrible, sent a mighty, ringing stomp across The Albatross' barracks. Twisted forms and hideous faces frantically scrambled out of their respective beds and stood to attention.

"WAKE UP, YE STINKIN' WHARF RATS!" cried Captain Pierrot, his voice crackling with the ravages of whiskey and tinged with impatience. "WE BE HEADED WORLDSIDE IN FIVE MINUTES! READY YERSELVES FER BRIEFIN'... AND MAKE YERSELF PRESENTABLE! WE'RE DOIN' THE WHEEL!"

A resounding cheer sounded across the barracks, and Pierrot grinned sinisterly as he stomped back up to the top decks.



A sizable mob of humans, humanoids, and inhumans shifted impatiently on the wet, salty wood of The Albatross' deck. Atop the fo'c'sle, Captain Pierrot and his most trusted Mates looked down on the assorted Lubbers and Mates below. With a lilting, cheery tone, Pierrot addressed his troops.

"We got conf'mation of a piece o' t'Black Map down on Earth, one of me old stomping grounds! T'piece 'as shown up in a crummy little city t'locals call Megatropolis! Arr... t'place we're takin' it from ain't much defended, as'd be to me likin', but that be a valuable lesson t'teach these planet-huggin' simpletons!"

Pierrot whirled around to face a gaunt-looking skeleton of a man. "SKIPPER," Pierrot barked. "BRING US ROUND T'FACE BROADSIDE! SOON AS WE LEAVE BLACKSPACE, I WANT A HOLE BLASTED IN OUR TARGET!"



In the center of A-District, The Albatross materialized out of thin air. The ship's starboard cannon ports flared up in a gorgeous flash of fluorescent light, reducing a sizable portion of the Kazuma Building's fifth floor exterior to radioactive steam. Before the light had even faded from the cannons, they fired another round, sending a hail of man-shaped figures into the wreckage. As the last of the figures screeched to a halt, they unfolded. Clad in a crude black uniform and wearing a facsimile of a black bandana, six faceless Lubbers stood ready for battle.

Roaring triumphantly, Pierrot hurled his cutlass overboard, and called to his men. "SPIN T'WHEEL! WHOSOEVER GETS PICKED GETS THEIR JOLLIES ALONGSIDE ME AN' T"LUBBERS!" As the cutlass dug into the burnt floor of the Kazuma Building, Pierrot appeared alongside it. "THEM'S THAT DIES BE THE LUCKY ONES," Pierrot called out. "AND THAR BE PLENTY LUCK GOIN' ROUND TODAY!!!"

Domino

"AHHHH YEAH!!!"

A figure rocked out from behind a large console.

That figure was DJ DOMINO, and she was in the middle of slaying the turntable as she threw down epic tunes for the club-goers of A-District to grind dance to. It was a Trance Marathon, and DJ DOMINO (also known by her real and singer name, Mai) was loving it. Truth be told, nobody could hear her exclamation because of how loud the music was, but that's how she liked it. It was going great, until the ground suddenly shook. "Aww, come on!" she yelled as everyone in the club ran out of it. It looked like the game was up and she was going to have to check it out. As she shut off the console and went outside, she was just in time to hear the mayor's announcement.

"Looks like HEROINE DOMINO is on the case!" she exclaimed out loud as she ran to her sports car parked in front of the club. As she got in and started the engine, the car's AI came to life. "Hello Mai, where would you like to-" "We've got hero duty today!" interrupted Mai. "To the pile of bones! I'll drive - just don't let me get lost!" And with that, she dumped the E-brake and roared off in a cloud of tire smoke.

Mai weaved in and out of traffic, drifting around corners and generally going as fast as it was possible to go. Duty called, after all, and Mai wasn't about to let all the other heroes have the fun. She tried to think of who might beat her there...it wouldn't be hard, seeing as she had to come from A-District. Still, she made short work of the journey and saw only a handful of heroes already there when she skidded to a stop in a glorious handbrake turn next to the bone pile.

Getting out, she surveyed the scene and walked over to the small clump of heroes standing close to the pile. "Ahhh, I haven't seen some of you in a while!" she chirped with a smile. Her "Super Eurobeat" T-shirt and knee-length skirt didn't draw too much attention to her hero status, but she was known as far more than just a discohead. "Anyone got any ideas?" she said, and at that moment as if on cue a psychic E-mail from a familiar address entered her mind. She mentally decided to respond to it later.

Mai absentmindedly looked back towards A-District, and saw something she really didn't expect to see: a pirate ship on top of a quite destroyed Kazuma Building. The magical girl threw up her hands in annoyance. "Oh come on, I just came from there!" she exclaimed. Looking back towards the group of heroes in front of her, she continued, "So uh...I know this pile of bones is interesting and all, but does anybody want to come help me deal with the pirates wrecking A-District? My car seats four!"

Professor Neuro toyed with a scalpel as he watched the announcement. He sighed as the screen cut to a technical difficulties message and glared at the freshly-painted ceiling of his lab.

"Just when I'd finished remodeling, too. I suppose it can't be helped."

He glanced at the nearest Neurone and snapped his fingers. The creature, standing at exactly six feet tall and clad in maroon spandex with what appeared to be an outdated gas mask covering the entirety of the head, stood at attention. Neuro pointed to a nearby closet.

"My coat, if you would be so kind."

Standing, Neuro snatched the freshly-retrieved labcoat from his minion, shrugging it on as he strolled towards an access lift. Twenty or so Neurones fell into step behind him, prepared to serve their master come hell or high water. After his minions had entered the lift, Neuro turned to face them.

"Now then, since our heroes are, at the moment, preoccupied, I propose we all take this time to gather some raw materials. Any objections?"
"EEE!"
"Excellent."

Neuro flipped a series of levers on a nearby control panel, and the lift began to ascend.

"To the orphanage, then."

Another day in E-District. Petty crime filled the streets, and on vigilant duty to keep it in check was the one and only Collider. A weapon at the hip and a look of determination in the eyes accompanied her visage as she made her way around the streets of E-District, looking around for any signs of trouble. Most days, there was plenty of trouble to stop around here. Lately, one particular band of thugs had been a real thorn in her side, and she made a point of being a thorn in theirs in return. Whether they were mugging a helpless citizen, holding up a convenience store, or worse, Nadia was there at every opportunity she had to stop them. They'd been very quiet these last couple days. That bothered her a bit...

It was as she was walking across the street that she heard it. A rumbling sound from the earth, a shaking beneath her feet, and the engine of a very large vehicle. One of these things was not like the rest. Looking toward the engine sound, Nadia saw a large semi truck speeding in her direction. Too late to get out of the way, one thought crossed her mind. So this is what they were up to. Switching on her powers just as the truck got within range that she could smell the engine, Nadia took the impact, sending her reeling at least four blocks down the street. It may have knocked her a long way, but she was uninjured. A few seconds later, as she lay still in the street, she heard the truck come to a stop near her, and the doors open and close. There were two voices this time.

"That had to kill her!"

"No way cuz, we're dealing with Collider man. We gotta lock her up somewhere, man."

"Put her in the truck and let's go!"

"Attention all civilians. Please go to the nearest shelter. Attention all heroes. Please head to the border of D, B, and E-Districts and head towards the, uh, giant mound of bones. The threat level is: Big-Big City Threat. Man, we really need to actually name them."

That was not one of the gang members. That was the news. Trouble at the border of E-District, was it? That was Nadia's cue to action. Getting up and looking at the two men that had so kindly run her over with a semi truck, Nadia said "No, I'm not dead, yes you'd have to lock me up somewhere, and sorry, but I have bigger fish to fry than some street goons right now." With that, she ran to the truck, jumped up onto the hood, and activated her powers once more, leaping off the hood of the truck with all her might to land on a nearby rooftop. This hero was on the job once again.

It was as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop that she saw someone else. Another hero she'd recognize easily. Anyone who had seen him probably would. He had a very distinct appearance, after all, and was a pretty big guy to boot. Kristof Brandt, otherwise known as Strongman. He was strong, but not very fast. Nadia, on the other hand, could go really fast. She had an idea.

Leaping down and landing not far to the man's side, Nadia went straight to the point with "If you're heading for that mound of bones, I can give you a lift. Not for long, but it should get you pretty far."
@Unraveller

The mound of bones was truly a spectacle. There must have been a couple hundred thousand of the dead people. But, upon getting closer, it seemed like these bones weren't normal. While the upper half of each skeleton were quite similar to a normal skeleton, the bottom half had been rather... connected? Instead of connecting to a pelvis, their spine seemed to extend into a large secondary set of ribs, as if it was a snake skeleton (which it probably was, to be honest).

Without much of a warning, several of these skeletons began to rise on their own. Well, not really. A faint outline of magic surrounded them, but to most eyes, it would appear as though they were rising from the dead. A thick layer of purple and ethereal magic draped them, becoming armour for the lamia-like figures. Some of them gained ethereal-like weapons. Others would just pick up another nearby set of bones and would swing that around them like a morning star. It was actual comical, in a morbid and macabre kind of way.

The ethereal snakemen traversed the mound of bones down, attacking everything in the way of them. Despite their menacing appearance, they didn't appear quite like a large threat. Most of them were uncoordinated. Most of them also seemed to be strong and quick. Sadly, that quickness was quite detrimental. A few of the ethereal snakemen fell over and accidentally killed themselves in such a way.

It appeared like the only way up to the volcanic castle's entrance was through these snakemen. The mooks, if you will.

"Ugh. Snakes. Of all the clichéd critters... why couldn't it be scorpions, or crabs, or something that's actually original??" Danielle drew her rapier, which caught fire the second she drew it. No, caught fire was the wrong term; it became solid flame, from hilt to point. She pointed the blade at the snakemen, then turned to the other hero.

"Looks like our little evil wizard just rolled out the welcome mat, so it would be rude to refuse his invitation. I'll take the left, you take the right. Oh, and do try to keep up."

A brief leap into the air and a few flaps of her wings, and Danielle descended on the snakemen's right flank, with a devilish grin on her face. She loved protecting her city, and if these scaly freaks were going to make it a challenge, why so much the better.

In the B-District of Megatropolis, Larson General Motors was in a bit of an uproar today, no doubt because of the earthquake that rudely jolted them all awake. As much as they would have loved to get a few more winks, something like that is just not something you go back to sleep from, and they all scrambled to make sure everything was alright. By the time they managed to get themselves dressed properly, the announcement was going off and all eyes were on the first son of the family, who was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing. “Do I reeeeeeally gotta go fight bones?" he whined, "I mean, bones are hardly scary, and they did call for all the heroes to go for it, so in a huge crowd like that I’m not gonna stand out at all— BWAGH!”

Victor’s “get out of work” excuse was promptly cut off by his irate sister kicking him out the door. He stumbled out and looked back inside with a groan and complained, “C’mon Charlotte it’s way too early in the morning to fight giant monsters…” None of this seemed to breach the serious-faced, arm crossed young lady standing in the doorway. “It’s too early to go to an evacuation shelter too, but look at what we’re doing now!” she threw her hands in the air, exasperated, to drive her point home, and then folded them again. “You’re the one who wanted to be the hero, Vic, are you even taking this seriously?” Her expression softened a bit as she spoke, apparently meaning it as an actual question instead of simply being annoyed at his less than heroic attitude.

Apparently her question hit a little too hard at home for him, shifting his expression from “pathetic” to “slightly offended.” Taking her words to heart, Victor simply stood up straight with a sigh, his hands finding his way to his belt whereupon he pressed all four of the buttons at once. The lights on his bracelets blinked on and the young man turned to his sister with a renewed smirk of confidence. “Please, of course I’m serious,” he held his right arm out diagonally in front of him while the other rested bent up a little at his side, “Like I said, I just don’t like sharing the stage if I’m not the lead role. But if you insist…” His arm shifted its way across as he spoke, and following that he thrust his right arm up and across to complete the pose.

“Henshin!”

The light on his belt flashed on and his suit quickly phased in over him, transforming him into Common Rider V. Immediately after doing so, he headed for his bike and started it up. Apparently satisfied with his brother’s change of heart, Charlotte gave him some words of encouragement as he sped off towards the border.

As the mountain of bones and walking snake skeletons (sneletons?) eventually became visible, a sense of relief washed over him. “Oh thank god, it really is just bones.” he thought aloud, “...Can't just be bones, though, right? They're probably weak, but we can spend all day fighting them...” And just as that thought occurred to him, Taiichi's magic email popped into his head. May as well give it mind read, he figured.

…From what he could tell, it was talking about working together to form a plan. As much as Victor loathed the concept of losing potential headline status, he wasn’t so stubborn as to deny that there was simply too many sneletons to handle on his own. Plus, somebody had to be controlling them all somehow. If they could crack the earth and move a literal mountain of skeletons into action, Victor feared he wouldn’t be able to take them for long in a fight. Succumbing to the logic of the situation, Victor dialed in to the Master of Business Administration.
@tanderbolt

Smoldering plaster and disintegrated upholstery hung in the air like confetti at an extremely poorly-planned funeral. Johnathan Pierrot casually ambled across the glowing cinders of the stricken office building, filled with purpose. With immense care, he delicately plucked a miraculously intact stapler from the wreckage of a desk, and held it up to the light. The stapler glinted strangely, like a piece of polished glass in a pool of murky water. Grinning widely, Pierrot placed the stapler in his pocket.

"YAR HAR, LADS!" Cap'n Pierrot cried. "WE GOT OUR FIRST TREASURE!" Cries went up across The Albatross' top deck, and were answered with a chorus of pirate munitions being fired into the air.



Cap'n Pierrot materialized back on deck in a flash of fluorescent light. He showed the stapler to the crowd of pirates triumphantly, eliciting another round of applause.
"We're off to a great start, me boys! The day them land-huggin' savages'll regret ever sealin' Cap'm Flint away is almost here! In just a few sweeps o' the pendulum, we'll be free t'savage the land-lubbers as much we please! Yarr harr harr harr harr!"

Pierrot whirled to face his faithful Skipper, greed burning in his eyes. "Skipper! Where be our next o'jective?"

The Skipper merely glanced at his wheel-shaped console, and returned with a definite answer.
"Navigator's pointin' us due souf, Cap'm! Der Jee Pee Ess says dat's roight where da yoomens made a whorehouse! Floogle says it's der 'Akiyama Hostess Club'! Yer gonna be lookin' fer a bottle'a Platinumschlager!"

There was an excited whisper among the gathered mates. Though very few of them had sexual features at all and an even fewer portion of those had a functioning libido, there was always fun to be had at a whorehouse. The future winner of the Wheel Of The Week clenched his fists excitedly.

"Yarr, no better place to be than a house o' earthly delights! Set a course for the Akiyama Host Club! We'll take their lager, an' we'll take t'rest o' their booze while we're at it! Cannoneer Rocket, soon as yer finished with t'going-away present we've got for the Kazuma Building, we'll be off! Fire at will!"

A raucous cry went up around the ship. Cannoneer Rocket, a vibrant blue amorphous creature cheerily loaded an enormous cannon with what appeared to be a cartoonishly oversized sword. With a mighty BANG, the enormous cannon fired directly at the Kazuma Building. There was a sudden ghastly noise, and the Kazuma Building was no more. It was by sheer luck that everyone had been safely evacuated and that the building was completely unoccupied for its ultimate destruction.

With a noise not unlike the unzipping of someone's fly, The Albatross disappeared. About a mile down the road, at the Akiyama Hostess Club, it reappeared. Same as before, a squad of Lubbers and Pierrot's cutlass were launched below. Same as before, Pierrot and the Lubbers appeared where they landed, right at the club's doorway. With one thrust of his mighty boot, Pierrot bashed the club's doors in and strode through.

"YARRR! THIS BE A MILITARY OPERATION, YE LANDLUBBERS! SURRENDER YER VALUABLES, OR IT'S THE HOLD FER YE!"

Interacting with: @shagranoz Danielle,

---

---

Levi stood there, silently analyzing the situation. Of course he knew normal, mundane cops are trained nor equipped to handle this damned situation. What he was talking about was her in particular, and how District E is already deteriorated enough that it doesn't need more destruction. Though, Levi knew the merit of working together, and it was true he wasn't well versed in magic, but he knew enough. With a reluctant sigh, he unconsciously accepted the situation and kept his mouth shut.

The bone mound was of course pretty odd, while it looked like normal bones, it really wasn't. Levi dropped his groceries at the sidewalk, and began closer inspection. Well, until the bone creatures turned snakemen began rising. Honestly though, they didn't look difficult to defeat at all, but there were a multitude of them. He debated with himself whether to help or not, but with the Dragon's daughter's taunt he had to join, this person severely underestimated his speed. Though, it was odd that this person didn't even know his Moniker, but Levi wasn't one for fame nor prestige so he didn't really care.
"What are you after..." he trailed off to himself, looking at the 'welcome mat.'

Levi upholstered his Kukris from his holster that were behind him. Lightning appeared and crackled all around him, his amber eyes glowing a dark shade of yellow. Maybe they could give Levi the warm up round that he needed. He activated 'Thunder's gait' and sped forward, passing by the Crimson Flame. In his stride he stabbed one of them risen snakemen, and the bones fell downwards. He took another step and appeared behind two snakemen, and stabbed them with his lightning-infused Kukris, they again became lifeless bones once again.

Slow, these things are slow.

Meanwhile, at St. Jude's Home for the Parentally Disadvantaged in C-District, the children were packing their meagre belongings for what looked to be an overnight stay at the emergency shelter under the watchful eye of Sister Rosaline Seaver. A cheerful, rosy-cheeked woman in her early 40's, Seaver had taken over the orphanage when her predecessor had died in a supervillain attack three years prior, and did her level best to care for her charges. It wasn't always easy- the roof was wearing out, the thermostat was on the fritz, and expenses seemed to rise by the month, but somehow things held together.

There came a knock at the door. Visitors, during an evacuation? Or perhaps it was someone checking in to make sure they heard the notice? Whoever it was, it wouldn't be polite to keep them waiting. Sister Seaver shuffled to the door, throwing it wide and putting on her best smile.

"Terribly sorry, but I'm afraid the children are packing up at the-"

Sister Rosalind Seaver collapsed into Professor Neuro's arms.

"Worry not, mein leibchen-", the professor said as he he plucked a dart from the woman's neck, passing her off to one of his Neurones, "-Your children will be plenty safe in my lab. Until I've need of them, at least."

"Neurones!", the professor barked, "Find and capture all sapient lifeforms within the building and return to me. Sensors detect eleven in total."

Their mission clear, the Neurones marched into the building in pairs, cattle prods and tranquilizer guns at ready.