Calvin was not absolutely positive what had set him on this path. Was it that time he got chased by a dog when he was three? No, no, that wasn't it. When Mr.Matthews failed him in math class? Perhaps? Calvin had swung by there a few months ago and incinerated him with his trusty particle beam. Man, the look on those kid's faces was hilarious! And those stupid heroes chalked it up to the Mobius Club! Calvin wasn't even part of the Mobius Club. Back then, anyway. Well, technically, Calvin wasn't part of The Mobius Club. Xanatos was.

Calvin liked being Xanatos. It was even a cool name. Kids like 'X's, right? Not that anyone really knew who he was, yet. Oh, give it time. They'd know. Eventually. Especially once he finished laying out the details. The folks at the club were always so helpful. They even helped him improve his particle beam. Mmmmm, particle beams are nice. Calvin could just watch those faces melt all day. Oh! And then there was the matter of minions. Every successful member of the club had some minions. They went all-out! Robo-minions, thugs, and people with powers alike! They even helped him attach particle beams to the robots.

And then there was the matter of a plan. If there was one thing Xanatos was good at, it was plans. Xanatos Gambits, specifically. It was his humble opinion that you were a moron to not have a Xanatos gambit up your sleeve. It's where he got the name, after all. He wondered if the heroes would catch onto his cleverness, when he made his debut. Probably not. Those cape wearing buffoons trended towards the lower end of the IQ spectrum anyway. Nevertheless, he would swipe the heroes aside, and Archer City would become the great jewel of his Empire... Gambit Empire, maybe...? Xanatos Empire? Aw, hell. The details can be worked out later.

The somewhat short, blonde-haired girl cheerfully headed down the street. Today, it was stated, was a day set aside for her to experience a different country. After all, she would only be here for about half a month longer before returning to her home in Tokyo, at the Kimura Institute. For now, though, she was on something of a vacation, wasn't that the case? Yeah! She could make all kinds of new friends, too! It was all leading up to the expo where her function and nature would be explained to a whole bunch of people... wouldn't that be something? She could make all kinds of friends! The mere thought of this brought a smile to the blonde girl's face.

She stretched, her sleeves falling down for a moment. There were joints, exposed, at her wrists and elbows. They were at her legs as well. Kiko lowered her arms. At the moment, there didn't seem to be anything bad going on, either! That meant no-one was being foolish and trying to harm innocent people... Kiko waved at the people who gave her surprised looks. It wasn't every day you saw a robot girl! She gave them a happy grin as she made her cheerful way along.

Of course, nothing bad would happen, right? Right! Kiko was ever the optimist. But even if something bad did happen... she'd rush in and stop whatever it was! She's save all the innocent people and make sure that whoever was causing it surrendered! And then she'd make everyone ramen!

It had been a long day for Amy Jones, alias Amazon. First, a history test that she hadn't had time to study for, mostly because she'd spent a good portion of last night catching a mugger in one of the seedier parts of Downtown. Then, a quick jaunt back to her house to grab dinner with mom and dad, then go out for another round of patrolling. Thankfully, nothing had happened so far today, but she was dragging. She'd have to forgo tomorrow's circuit to get caught up on her sleep.

She stopped at a park near her house, the last spot on her checklist. A voice softly whispered in her ear, Hey, Amy. You asked me to tell you if something happened.

Amy turned, pinpointing the sound of the voice. It was an old oak tree, one of her most reliable informants, if a little slow on the uptake. Yes?

Pickpocket, about half an hour ago. Tall guy, dark-skinned with brown eyes. Lifted some woman's wallet when he bumped into her. Pretty slick, I gotta say.

Amy sighed. Not enough info to go running after him. You see him again, get word to me quick as you can. Plant communication was very short-range, only about a hundred yards or so. Still, there was seemingly always some sort of vegetation in range, allowing her to get news very efficiently through the grapevine. She shuddered at her own awful pun.

Hey, you ever going to tell me how you see things like that, what with the not having eyes and all?

Nope, the oak responded with a chuckle. We've got to keep some secrets.

Had to try.

Sparrow wasn't easily able to go outside, considering she didn't wear a mask or anything while out and about doing her thing. She sat at the top of a skyscraper, her legs dangling over the edge. She looked down, and no one seemed to be freaking out in the street. She laughed a bone chilling laugh, and wondered how fun it would be to scare these people out of their skin.

Sparrow heard someone walking up the steps of the rooftop entrance, a security guard exited and said "Eeeh... Miss, you can't be up here." Sparrow turned around and the guard jumped "Sparrow Wolfe?!" her name had already been plastered on news websites and shows in the city.
She giggled "You just tickled my funny bone, I like you." she threw a wall of bones at the door and pushed it against it, keeping it shut. She leapt off the edge of the building, back onto the rooftop.

"You truly are a numbskull" the Bone Mage said to the fearing man, he was on his knees praying for his life.
"Sorry dude." she threw him over the edge by moving the wall of bones on the door and wrapping it around him, instead. She wasn't actually sorry of course, at this point she was truly remorseless.

Ken was on the roof of the Sports building, practicing his golf game to be a better sales rep. He has 100 golf balls lined up and was trying to chip them over into the next buildings roof. after thr 57th chip he heard a screaming sound and looked up to see someone trying to fly but failing. Looking around, he was the only person he could see so he snapped his fingers and fired.. a golf club?

"Ah hell." Is all he said as the goflclub arrow struck the poor security guard and knocked him out. Next came the grappling hook arrow but since the guy was not awake to grab it, he just kind of bounced off the line. The bouncing gave him an idea as archer fired off six more arrows, each one catching the guy and slowing his fall some until he hit the pavement. from only ten feet up and covered in seven long thin bruises.

Dismissing the bow, he started for the roof entrance when someone came out to see what the screaming was about. "Some guy tried to fly. It scared me so bad I threw my chipper off the roof!" The klutzy response was good enough as they claped their hand on his shoulders as he limped to the door. "Ah ken, kenny, kenster, golf is about relaxing. You don't get to throw $3000 dollar clubs until you are in the PGA and buy them yourself. I'll let you off this time, but you got to work through lunch, got it? Good, now go get it, fetch boy!"

Ken came out of the building bristling with embarrassment as he got the graphite and titanium sports tool from a tree it was stuck in as the crowd was gathered around the would be suicidal man. "W-w-wolf." Was all the guard cold get out before fainting again. THis made Ken look u to the roof and sigh. One art of him wanted to go after the villain... but now he had to work through lunch instead.

"...Spectacular."

Goth Sulkman

Archer City. The crown jewel of New York City, and the pinnacle of the United States of America. All across the cityscape, gleaming towers and skyscrapers reached up to caress the heavens, their glass surfaces brilliantly reflecting the sun’s beams to the rest of the metropolis. There was nowhere that the light didn’t reach. Thanks to a multitude of engineering firms dedicated to environmentally-friendly technologies, the layer of thick smog that purveyed so many other major burgs was absent from beautiful Archer City. This city is prospering.

This city is suffering.

Over in Uptown, a lone figure stands atop one of the district’s many high risers. On each corner jutted out a sculpted eagle, ornate patterns decorating its detailed wings. The symbol of freedom and patriotism watched over the streets of Archer City, an eternal sentinel, just like the man crouched on the statue.

Fluttering in the winds was a blue and yellow butterfly, outlined with hard, black lines. This was a completely carefree creature, not a care in the world. Deciding to take a break from its frolicking, it glided down to a black surface, similar to spandex, or maybe polyester. Then it was crushed under the spectacular, black fist of justice.

Goth brought his clenched hand in front of him, opening it to examine the little miscreant that landed on him. On his palm lay the crushed, mangled remains of an insect from the suborder of Rhopalocera. Its wings were crumpled like designer origami paper.

The masked face, concealed entirely in black, save for white eye-slits, looked down at the dead butterfly. From his mouth came a gravel-y voice, a man with a permanent sore throat: “I ended your pain...before you could feel it.”

Down below in streets of the city, a shriek rang out. Goth Sulkman, the Brooder, perked up from his crouch. Someone was in trouble.

He turned his gaze in the direction the cry for help came from. Downtown.

“Justice never sleeps,” growled Goth. He leaps from his perch, headfirst. Wind whips around him, his black trenchcoat flapping wildly. In his descent, he whips out his trusty grapple gun from his belt, aiming at an overhanging gargoyle on the next building. All of the factors run through his mind: wind speed and air resistance, the velocity of his fall, the weight, speed, and angle of the grapple...everything. Goth’s finger squeezes the trigger, letting loose the hook with a loud thunk, cable trailing behind it.

The grapple lands true, latching onto the head of the gargoyle. Goth is pulled into a sudden change of direction, , sloping his fall into a smooth landing, breaking straight into a run.

The sound of static crackles in Goth’s ear; his butler, Tuffmeister, was radioing in. ”It’s the middle of the day, justice wouldn’t be asleep in the first place.”

---------

Goth assumed he found the source of the sound: a crowd had gathered around a man crumpled on the ground. He pushed his way past gasps and excited whispering, crouching down beside man. He wasn’t dead, but he was banged up alright. Goth lifted up his shirt, finding several thin bruises. Perhaps from getting hit by a metal pipe some punk wielded as an impromptu weapon? Not likely…

Looking around, Goth noticed several thin shadows projected onto the buildings, like spindly spider legs spread across a web. He looked around to find the source; there. Cables were stretched out between the buildings on either side of the street. Those would explain the bruising...He fell from this building.

A civilian from the crowd cautiously approached Goth, nervously asking, “Uh, M-Mr. Brooder...what’re you gonna do?”

Goth stood up straight, and looked up. “Every waterfall has a spring.”

“...uh, what?”

Without responding, Goth extended his arm straight up, aiming his grapple gun at the roof of the building. The hook caught hold, and he zipped away.

“What did he say?”

Caesar was lazily lounging on a cloud hovering high over the busy city streets of Archer City in full dragon form with not a care in the world, just letting the cloud he was floating on just whisk him away to wherever the wind blows. With the sun's rays basking him in its warmth and looking above to a brilliant blue sky, it was enough to make him dose into a truly peaceful nap.

His nap was abruptly interrupted, unfortunately, by the sounds of a human screaming. Now alert, he looked toward the nearest building, only to see someone falling from it! Caesar flapped his great wings and started to dive towards the falling human in a bid to catch him. As he was diving though, he saw the poor man get hit by a golf club in midair. After that an arrow hit the side of the skyscraper that was attached to some sort of wire, which the man bounced right off of. Unfortunately it looked like his cloudy platform was too high from the ground, and despite his speed, it seemed that Caesar wouldn't be able to reach him in time. Just when all hope seemed lost, a plethora of arrows shot out of a nearby building and aimed seemingly to slow the man's descent into a safe landing.

Caesar was relieved knowing that the man received a soft landing by a mysterious hero, but now he was fast approaching the ground. With great speed and grace, he swooped upwards and reversed his direction. But has he was soaring next to the building where the man fell, mere feet away, a strange caped humanoid figure was ascending the building at breakneck speed. While not knowing who this stranger was, it was unlikely the same person who fired those life saving arrows. Not knowing if he was friend or foe, he decided to keep his distance and observe the stranger's actions atop a nearby building.

Seeing to make sure to see that nobody saw him, including the masked stranger, he took on his human disguise as to look inconspicuous and continued to watch the masked man with his draconian eyes to see his next move.

Danny, in full costume, sat in a booths towards the of back of a local dinner. I was his favorite place to have lunch. Not to many people normally a very quiet place. He picked at his fries as he read the paper. The headline that caught his eye read "Villainous Activity on the Raise. This made him raise an eyebrow as it seemed to list a few events that seemed to be caused by normal criminals. One or two he had been the hero to of them he had been there to stop the crime. Danny frowned as he realized the paper didn't even have a mention of him. Maybe I don't have a good enough pose, he shook his head at the thought, no my poses are the best.

PUT THE MONEY IN THE BAG

Danny put his paper down to see a man pointing a gun at the waitress behind the counter. Danny stood from his and moved to the gunman until he was only a yard away from him. "Don't you know guns are dangerous," he's words held a heavy tone of sarcasm. As the gunman turned Danny quickly stepped forward and landed a kicked on his hand. Now he moved to grab the now gunless gunman's shirt with his left hand. Bringing the man's face to his own, "This might be striking to you, but this is going to hurt you more than it's going to hurt me." Balling his right hand into a fist, Danny struck the man using a bit of electricity to make sure he stays down.

A few moments later the police showed, and he gave the man to them. The owner of the dinner thanked him, and told him that for now on his meals where on the house. Danny stayed around for a few pictures then headed off to start on a patrol.

The Chameleon walked down the street like any other person with little fear that anyone would recognize him. Only a handful of people in the entire city knew what his real form looked like and they were all villains who he knew wouldn't sell him out. Besides he had a hood over his head so even if people got a look at his face they would have to be right in front of him to see what he looked like. He had been getting twitchy lately as there had been nothing for him to steal or anyone to mess with. Those villains over at the Mobius Club seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder at the moment, that was probably because he wasn't an official member of their little group.

"God, I need to steal something soon or I will be going mad." A muttered to himself as he walked down the street toward his apartment.

There wasn't much to look at him Hathoway's apartment as he kept any connections to his villain lifestyle in his secret hideout. All that was in his small apartment of importance was a wall taken over by three large televisions each linked to a separate high end computer. As soon as he walked inside and fired up the computers, a message popped up on the middle screen giving a report of a man falling off of a building and somehow surviving. "Stupid heroes ruin everything. What does a villain have to do to have some fun in this city."

After sometime he decided to contact the Mobius Club to see if they had any upcoming jobs that needed some more crew. He hated having to rely on them sometimes, but it was tough being a solo villain in a town full of heroes sometimes.

---

Simon was simply walking down the streets of Archer city in costume and waving at random civilians. He made candy appear in his hands and handed them out to random children passing by and they all cheered. Simon smiled and took in all of the cheers and praise.

"The King is here and he loves giving charity!" he shouted as he waved around his hands and torrents of candy poured out. This was his favorite part about being a hero, making others feel all happy and good inside while rotting the crime out of bad guys. Simon's attention was drawn to a tv in the windows of a shop and there was a news flash with the words 'armed robbery' on it. Simon almost immediately created a large candy disc and hopped onto it. He took off into the sky and headed towards the robbery.

After about a few minutes of quick flying, he spotted the store that was the scene of the robbery and quickly went into a large dive. The door to the building was coming up at high speed and Simon was close to colliding with it. At the last moment he changed his body into a rock hard jawbreaker and smashed through the door. He changed back and landed quickly behind a desk for cover. He heard guys shouting and guns fire in the direction he had come and at the desk he was hiding behind.

Simon reacted quickly and created two large gummy worms floating in the air above him. He flung them out in the direction of the gunfire and the large pieces of candy took down several of the thugs. Simon then unleashed a torrent of gumballs at the other criminals' feet and they were soon slipping on each others' feet. He proceeded to release a bunch of gooey gum and encased them in the sticky goop.

"Yeah! Score one for the king!" he cheered and after checking to make sure that the criminals were properly restrained, Simon quickly left the store and listened to the cheers thrown at him for his latest acts of heroics. Simon gave a wave and then took off before the authorities arrived. Another job well done for the King and now it was time to move on to the next quest.

The roar of whirling blades pierced the usual ambiance of Archer City as a sleek, red and black helicopter dropped into view of one of the tallest skyscrapers, hovering ominously between it and the rooftop of a nearby, lesser skyscraper. Suddenly, with a bang and an explosion of glass, a motorcycle driven by a mysterious figure clad in black protective gear erupted from the side of the building, inches ahead of a deadly plume of fire and broken glass. Trailing flame and soot as it went, the motorcycle arced gracefully over the blades of the helicopter and landed hard on the opposite roof as the helicopter tilted away from the conflagration. The shock of the landing flung the rider from her seat directly into another glass skylight over a twenty story drop, only to grab hold of one end of a banner strung across the empty area and swing on it like a rope onto the balcony and landing upside down in a conveniently placed recliner.

"CUT!" the director barked out as the scene drew to a close. Slightly dazed but mostly euphoric, the black-clad Rider removed her helmet, letting her wild brown locks flop out as she sat upside down in the recliner, breathing heavily.

"God, I love my job," Skye Ryder said blissfully, catching her breath as she relived the dangerous and deadly stunt in her head.

"Ryder, excellent as usual," interjected the director, a man by the name of Marty Melberg. A tall lanky figure in a polo shirt and khakis, Melberg looked more like a golf instructor then a director, much less the man in the chair behind the action-packed thrill ride that was Maximum Vengeance 3: Resurrection of Revenge. Still, the guy knew his stuff, and he knew exactly how to get the best out of everyone on his watch. "The producers are going to flip when they see the test footage of that maneuver," Marty continued excitedly. "If this doesn't become a smash hit I'll eat my shirt. You alright down there?" Ryder, who just realized the position she was in, quickly did a backwards somersault out of the chair and rose gracefully to her feet, dusting herself off in the process.

"Couldn't be better," she said cheerfully. "What's the next scene then? The rooftop chase?"

"Eventually yes, but we need to get some of the slower scenes shot before we can knock out the rest of the action scenes," Marty explained, flipping through the notes on his clipboard. "Schedule says the next scene we need you for will start shooting in two weeks, but I think if we can get a lot done I can meet with you and the coordinators to plan the next chase sequence by the end of the week. Unless you need some time to recover of course, that was one hell of a fall you just took."

Skye repressed a devious little giggle at Marty's concern for her safety. A few years ago she would have probably broken several bones after a stunt like that, even if she had pulled off the complicated stunt routine perfectly. But now? She would have been surprised if she even got a bruise afterwards, thanks to the egotistical alien scientist who so desperately needed a rival to vanquish. Sure she may have looked the same as she did before her devastating accident and "miraculous recovery", but she was so much stronger and faster then she was after the alien played Tetris with her DNA that she was surprised that she had fooled people into thinking otherwise. It had certainly made Skye's day job a lot more fun, to the point where she had almost forgotten how much she had to take a trip to the hospital after nearly every stunt she performed for the cameras.

"So, next week we'll meet with the coordinators, then?" Marty finally asked her.

"Make it so," Skye said with a friendly wink and double finger-pistols in his direction as she spun on her heel to leave.

"Excellent, I'll pencil it in. That's a wrap, people, we're done for the day!" Marty directed his last words at the filming crew, who all began the slow routine of packing up and heading out. Skye grabbed her gear and backpack and headed towards the elevators, where she found herself riding down with a couple of the camera men, who talked at length about the amazing stunt she just performed. Glowing, Skye took in all the praise with her usual charm and grace, even signing an autograph for one starstruck young man.

"Aw, nuts!" Skye exclaimed, feigning exasperation like the professional she was. "I left my keys back upstairs!"

"I can call someone to bring them down," the cameraman who she gave an autograph to suggested helpfully.

"No no, I'd better go and get it myself," Skye responded with a smile, stopping the elevator at the empty twelfth floor of the building. "See you guys, around, hope you're here for the big chase sequence!" The cameramen said their goodbyes and immediately began discussing with excited whispers what the amazing chase scene could be as the doors closed between them and Skye. Glancing left and right, Skye walked briskly towards an under-construction area of the building, exposed to the open air of the city via a partially built wall, and chucked her backpack on the ground in preparation. After a day of filming, the old Skye would have headed home and collapsed from exhaustion, mesmerized by all the excitement she had that day. But to the new and improved Skye Ryder, she was hungry for more action and excitement then ever.

And she couldn't just get it as Skye Ryder.

Discarding her jacket, boots, and gloves, she deposited them all in her backpack and reached inside her bag, taking out a different pair of gloves and pulling them on. She flexed her fingers as the sleek metallic alien alloy in the gauntlets tensed and fight more securely around her fingers. She tapped a control knob on the side of them, which beeped in response. "Hypercomet, rendezvous at my coordinates, just outside of the Baxter Complex," she said clearly and confidently. An electronic series of tones and beeps sounded in response as Skye pulled a pair of boots made from the same alloy and stepped into them. With a shudder, the alien alloy began to expand mechanically from her boots and gauntlets, extending up her arms and legs and fusing together at the torso, creating a purple and dark-blue armored suit slowly reaching her neck. Reaching into the bag one last time, Skye pulled out a purple scarf and a helmet, wrapping the scarf around her neck and finally putting on her helmet, which fused to the expanding armor and sealed her inside. She stood confidently with her hands on her hips as purple lights blinked to life on the black face mask of the shield.

"Captain Hyperdrive, here to save the day!"

The first phase of the plan was, of course, elimination of high value targets. If Xanatos could take the opposing queens and rooks and bishops off the board, it would be quite the easy match. Additionally, Xanatos had need of a.. Test. He'd been assured of the capability of the Robots and Androids and such, but he needed a... Test.

The perfect selection for this test would be one Caesar Paladin. Archer City's local dragon. Fast, powerful, and durable. A flying tank. It would be quite interesting, indeed, to see what his foot soldiers could do against such a creature. It hadn't been difficult to keep track of the dragon. It spent stupid amounts of time lounging around in clouds- Xanatos wondered if it knew what a satellite was. Hah, probably not. Stupid dragons.
---

The X-242 Assault Unit was a marvel of modern engineering. Co-built by the highups of the Mobius Club and the local mechromancer, Techmaturge. Virtually invulnerable to small caliber rounds, in most places, magnetic disruption arrays for dissipation of plasma-based attacks, EMP shielded. Xanatos had requested the EMP shielding specifically- he might need to drop a few power armored nutjobs or two with a quick EMP grenades.
In terms of armament, Xanatos had gone the full nine yards. An arm that doubled as a grenade launcher, shoulder mounted Microwave Lasers, wrist mounted 30mm bolters, and a chest-mounted plasma beam. And that was before you counted all the equipment.

The X-242's first ever deployment was going well. It was en route to one of Archer City's many high rises, adjacent to the Sports Building. Incognito approach protocols had been activated- this model wore a trench coat and black hat to conceal it's more robotic features. Despite their expertise, the Mobius Club has not been able to get over the uncanny valley- but they had gotten the human gait down.

The robot easily pushed its way through the crowd. Simply by walking ahead, it was able to force its way through. As it walked, sensors on its eyes scanned.
"SCANNING. James Schofield, 39, takes heart pills twice daily. NON-MATCH.
SCANNING. Rebecca Wattson, 15, tumblr posts about hating her father. NON-MATCH.
ADJUST SCAN HEIGHT. Subject on rooftop.
SCANNING. Caesar Paladin, AGE UNKNOWN, can transform into a dragon. MATCH."
X-242's shoulder cannons ascended silently. No one in the crowd seemed to noticed- they were transfixed by a man's crumbled form on the ground. The robot's cannons would feel like concentrated flamethrowers- eradicating flesh and bone through an impossibly fast boil.

Ken was waiting for the cross traffic to die down so he could jay-walk back to work when he got bumped by something strong and heavy. turning around to expect a linebacker, he instead saw someone more his size in a trench and black hat, but there was something about the guy that made his gut tingle. He limped after him for a moment when he saw the shoulders seems to shift or ripple under the coat. Strike two. He looked to see where the guy was looking at another guy on a roof looking up at another building. Spies spying on spies, spyception?

Suddenly two jets of (heat? light? rippling air molecules) fired from the man in a trench as he burned holes in his clothes. Too late to stop the shot. He did his next best thing and tried to 'help' the attacker. "Look out buddy, your coat's on fire!" He reached up and yanked hard on the collar back towards him, this should but by no means guarantee he throw the asaassins aim off. He'd push and pull to get the guy out of his coat as fast as he could, hopefully revealing who he was as anonymity is the spy's greatest treasure.

As Caesar had his gaze fixed on the masked vigilante assailing a nearby building, he did not see a blast of pure fire approach him until it was too late. Caesar was hit and was engulfed by the flames. Caesar was screaming in pain, parts of his flesh melting in the inferno. Despite the pain, Caesar had to act quickly or, in a matter of seconds, be roasted to the point were he couldn't move. Immediately he proceeded to stop, drop, and roll while using his signature Ice Breath to extinguish the flames. The flames were quickly removed, but the damage was done. He was scorched to the point that trying to transform and fly was far too risky. Had he been in dragon form, his scales, while they would have partially melted from the attack, would cushion him from the intense heat. But since he was in human form he had no such protection, exposed to the full blast of pure hell.

Knowing the shot came from below and being unable to fly, his options of retreat were limited. If he took the stairs or elevator down the building, his assailant would certainly be waiting for him and be ready to attack again. Being left with little other choice and barely able to stand, he decided to call for help from the Brooding hero.

Goth Sulkman

“BROODER!!!”

Even over the roar of wind whipping against his face, Brooder recognized a distressed citizen calling him by his moniker. Immediately, Brooder detached his grapple from the top of the building. His momentum continued to carry him upwards for a second or two, giving Brooder time to quickly analyze the situation from high above the street.

The cry came from the top of a nearby building, but he could only make out the slight shape of a human on one of the adjacent roofs. Down below though, two figures were tussling amongst the crowd. One was a normal looking adolescent or young adult that appeared to try to be stripping a well-dressed man in a trenchcoat. Brooder had a soft spot for others with sensible fashion choices.

However, upon closer inspection, the well attired man had a lump on his shoulder. This man wasn’t a man at all: he was an android!

Brooder adjusted his posture just as his ascent reached its zenith, pointing both heels diagonally away from the ground. With his body positioned with his head pointed straight at the robotic assailant, Brooder activated his leg-mounted jump-jets. He rocketed headfirst to his new target, steeling himself against the sudden change in motion. Mid-flight, Brooder pulled out a metal baton, pressing a button with his thumb to cause it to extend into a staff.

Brooder smashed into the android with his staff, causing it to be knocked to the ground and have its trench coat ripped off by the grip of the helpful young man in the crowd. Brooder smoothly swung his waist and legs underneath his torso, allowing him to land right on top of the android’s chest. The force and momentum of the tackle caused Brooder to “surf” on the android for a few meters, sparks flying in every direction from underneath the android's scraping back.

”The night reveals everyone’s true nature.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. And it’s not nighttime, the sun’s still out,” some snot-nosed punk yelled out from the crowd.

@knighthawk@Nightknight@DocTachyon