Alex shook her head at the offered hand. "Have no idea what you said. Deaf. Staying with Spec," she said, pointing at her friend. "Be useful, dammit. Go. Stop the King."

She shook her head again, groaning, and several of the doorways disappeared.

"Too much, too soon," Alex muttered, holding her head.

The rest of the doors stopped shimmering, disappearing.

"They're free!" One of the police yelled. "Everyone mobilize!"

Stumbling, Alex moved closer to Spectrum to help get her and the other wounded out.

@bluetommy2

It had been a while since they were dispatched and, suffice to say, they've evacuated probably everyone now so Fixer and the team situated themselves behind the line because of the appearance of the Rat King. Fixer was taking a little breather. He leaned back on the truck as he heard the Chief issuing orders. There was a helicopter flying above them - probably that news crew. There were other voices. Looked like there was some disturbance over at the ambulances.

He let out a sigh. It was too bad that he couldn't leave now. They had it under control. Sort of. There wasn't much he could do anyway. There was no way he could put an entire horde in a time lock to slow them down. No way he was going to do that. Not only was he not powerful enough to do that, he'd probably pass out if he did that.

There was an explosion at the heart of the battle - fire. Vice. So he was also in this battle.

"They're free!" One of the police yelled. "Everyone mobilize!"

He winced at the shout and he heard everyone just clambering up to reinforce the perimeter. Fixer sighed and then dismounted the truck and then climbed on a bigger vehicle. He needed to get a good look for this. He really didn't like helping out but since most of the big hitters were focused on the Rat King.

Wow, there was a lot of them. Well then, he aimed the gun and then fired - the sound ringing and it hit one of the rats dead on the head. He took a deep breath and then focused on the bullet. He tapped into its infinitely many futures and then placed some of them in the present time. The bullet began ripping through the rats - taking out some of the rats before ending with it heading towards the Rat King.

Fixer collapsed backwards on the vehicle, the world he sees spinning. Hopefully that will give them enough time to mobilize and get their bearings. He laid back on the vehicle, before rolling and then looking at one of the ambulance members. "Water. Food... Ugh..." He was in and out of consciousness but he could probably make it. This was the worse thing ever.

Alto wound the silver necklace around his arm as the floodgates opened again. The Vice Claw disappeared back into his left arm and he took a deep breath. To suppress the Vice Claw while it was shut off was kind of an odd thing to explain. There was no real 'feel' to it but he sort of just knew when it worked. There certainly were a lot of things no one could explain about Epics, and even throughout all of the years they'd been around most of those questions never got an answer. Nowadays though, those questions didn't really matter when it came to situations like this. It was a mystery how something like the Swarm could've come into existence, but if left alone they'd be done with the city block once you were finished trying to figure it out.

He released the Vice Claw once again, normal size this time. His preemptive strike was good, but he was no where near finished yet. The Vice Claw grew again, but nowhere near as large as last time. Flaming claws gripped the edge of the building, and Alto drew back catapulting himself forward. The Vice Claw's strength worked like it was completely separate from Alto. If he started pulling something rooted to the ground he'd end up pulling himself instead, which worked wonders for moving vertically. It also launched him pretty well.

He was aiming for the impact crater he had made right in the center of the swarm. It was a risky move, but with his abilities, he was pretty sure he could make enough time for the other Epics to come through or for someone to fish him out if he was too deep. Just before he landed he hit the ground with the Vice Claw, clearing out a little bit of space amongst the charred bodies.

Ash swirling up from the heat, wild snarls and shouts filling the air, he felt strangely at home. The Swarm rushed in to collapse on him, and Alto drew the Vice Claw back around his body to protect it from any projectiles coming his way. The Vice Claw grew and fireballs formed over the tip of each claw as the enemies started drawing closer. One more flame formed in the palm of the Vice Claw signalling the end of his preparation.

Just as the first Swarm Rat got close enough to jump, he unleashed his attack. In one smooth motion he swung the Vice Claw in a huge circle around him, instantly incinerating any Swarm Rat in the way of the Vice Claw, and releasing each fireball in a different direction. The flame in his palm released as the Vice Claw swung creating a large vortex of flame. It wasn't an actual vortex, as in a vortex that could actually suck people in kind of vortex, but it still put out considerable heat and the Vice Claw's speed helped it to suck the air out of everything nearby.

The fireballs exploded when they struck the Swarm, and the vortex would keep raging for another couple of seconds. With a little more work, Alto could keep it going for longer but the thing was Alto needed to breathe, and even now it was like there was only heat in the air. His attack would've destroyed a fair amount of the Swarm from the center but those on the sides and those who ran away from the center in his initial attack would be relatively unscathed. He also hadn't touched the Rat King at all, in a few seconds he'd be in a tight spot.

Now would be a perfect time for someone else to make a dramatic entrance and the fight could start for real. Otherwise he was going to have to burn his way out by himself.

"Spectrum's shield is down!" Idonia's voice echoed through through the ECPD van, and the Chief immediately turned around and began shouting orders. "The Rat King destroyed the shield, and the Swarm is now surging forward. Wait," the camera zoomed in on the woman in front. "That's Traveler! She's throwing up a gate, but that can't..." The speakers in the van burst into feedback as Phantom shouted, the horde pausing as their minds tried to sort out what was happening.

"Dear High," Idonia reappeared on camera as the crew in the helicopter reorganized. "Phantom just shouted loud enough to wake the mainland army, and... Let's see what's going on below!" In their efforts to flee, the Swarm had tangled up in a veritable wall of portals. "Traveler's tied up the Swarm! Who knew she could do that? Vice has reentered the fight, and here comes Dragon Heart again. Between the two of them, they're decimating the Swarm. But, who's taking on the Rat King?"

The monster in question looked around, all its heads moving simultaneously as if trying to figure out the threat. Several lesser Swarm rats died as it swung its clubs at the wall of portals, and it screeched in frustration. "The Rat King's doing more damage to the Swarm than our side, but we can't hope that lasts. I can't believe I have to say this, but we need a hero!" The helicopter circled around the scene, the lighting and flames marking Dragon and Vice's movements through the horde. Other Epics stood in front of the ECPD barricades or buildings, stopping individual rats from escaping the area.

After leaving Teagan to rejoin her team Regan jogged to one of the police trucks parked behind the shield line. A small group of men and women were huddled over a map. "Sit rep guys." She demanded.

"Corporal." One of the man acknowledged her with a swift salute, which she returned. "The Chief's deploying the PART team's to take on the smaller rats, so the Epics can concentrate on the Rat King." The man reported. "The civilians are all evacuated and the SAR officers have all withdrawn." He continued. "It's just the Epics and the Swarm rats in there." He finished.

"Than it's high time we joined the fray." Regan stated with a steely glint to her grey eyes. The men and women around her agreed with excited shouts. They were all decked out in tactical battle gear and armed to the teeth. They all waited for Regan, who was wearing the lighter uniform of a search and rescue officer, to put on her PART gear and arm herself.

"You know the drill, boys and girls!" Regan began. "We pair off, but move in a loose formation. We keep an eye on our partner and we all look out for the team. We coordinate with the other teams. The rats aren't the smartest, but we cannot allow them to swarm us. The snipers are already in position to provide cover fire from above. Are we clear?" The team snapped to attention. Regan nodded. "Move out!" The team made for the line of shields.

Regan followed, but stopped when her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She fished it out and unlocked the screen. A message there read:

'I've got your number now, Murphy, so don't you do anything stupid! Teagan.'

Regan smirked, her heart beating faster in her chest. She powered off her phone, pocketed it and rejoined her team.

"We're ready to deploy." She announced and the heavy police shields parted allowing the small team to go through.

"Alright, people, the PART teams are entering the zone to engage the small fries so the Epics can concentrate on the Rat King." Chief Thomas announced. "Stay sharp and let's get this thing done!"

"Spectrum's shield is down! Monica heard. Was this lady Spectrum? Given the outfit, she assumed yes. Putting two fingers on Spectrum's neck, Monica felt for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint. Hand still in the air, she tried once more to try and heal this 'Spectrum' character. Ten seconds passed. As Monica was about to draw her hand back, Spectrum's pulse shot back up. All fixed. She couldn't really diagnose the problem seeing as how Spectrum was covered from head to toe with some suit looking thing. For all she new, there was some sort of internal bleeding. Or maybe just fatigue? Only Spectrum would know.

She looked at who was holding Spectrum. She didn't quite recognize this person, but nevertheless she looked injured too. Monica, moving her hand from Spectrum to the deaf woman, began to channel her power, any and all wounds slowly began to close. None were serious, mostly scuffs, cuts, and bruises, but the all heal the same. "I'm off, Spectrum should be fine. She'll likely get up in a minute or two." With that, Monica ran off towards the fighting, desperately hoping to assist in some way. The police seemed to be taking on most of the small fry, while they also seemed to be attacking...Portals? Whatever. That didn't matter right now.

Standing on a table being the police line, Monica remembered something. She once had been able to use her power at range. Perhaps... Pointing a finger at a wounded officer, she raised her hand to the sky. She closed her eyes and tried to put as much focus towards her power as possible. Opening her eyes, a pale yellow ray was connected to the officer from her finger. It worked! What other ways could she use her power? All it is, is transfering energy. Kind of. But did it really matter where it came from? So far she could use her own energy, her phone battery, and sunlight. But what if... She pointed her other hand at the swarm rats. Channeling her energy, not on healing, but absorbing, she observed small red rays flying from the rats as wounds opened up on them. Looking back to the officer, all the wounds on him were healed, and he was back in the fight. She could fight now!

Looking over, a woman stood next to the chief of police. Or that's who she assumed he was. The woman's vest was covered in blood, and her shoulder wasn't looking to good. Striding over, she kept her hands towards the rats, and placed a hand on the woman."Excuse me, miss, but I couldn't help but notice your shoulder. I can fix you, but this might hurt a little." there was a slight cracking and groaning sound as her shoulder magically put itself back together. "There you go. All better. I'm off! She turned around and ran off once more. She remembered her days as an EMT. This was fun!

She recalled earlier an someone with a huge fiery arm running towards the fray. She spotted him fairly quickly, being as there was fire and ash around him. And the whole fire claw thing. Running over, she stopped dead in her tracks. A horrid floating mass of flesh stood Before her. Well, floated before her. It appeared to be multie swarm rats fused together. This must be the Rat King. Okay. You can do this. The guy with the claw us a way bigger threat than she was. She'd be fine. Just don't...make eye contact. There were still a few rats left after the initial attack. She could likely use them to her advantage.

So, what did claw-man need? He was pretty roughed up. He had several cuts, and seemed to be bleeding in some places. He also seemed to have trouble breathing. It was unusually hot. Standing right in the middle of the heat probably didn't help. Alright, let's try this out one more time. She stuck her hands out. As the red rays from nearby rats flowed to her, they almost seemed to be doubling over in pain, squealing as they suddenly had lacerations all over. Her other hand then began to shoot forth a pale yellow ray like before. The wounds of the boy closed up, and with any luck, he'd be breathing better.

Finch

The heist had gone down without a hitch, much to the satisfaction of one Finch as he strode away from the vault itself. Well, to be honest he was a bit disappointed that no one had shown up to try and stop him, but that was explainable given the circumstances. Apparently he had coincidentally timed his heist with a Swarm Rat attack. He had no love for the Swarm of course, but he was not going to look down something like this when it came around.

Grinning, he spun a glass knife around like some sort of toy as he eyed the haul they were taking away from this, while his men loaded it up in the truck. "Thank you for your cooperation everyone," he called out with a grin to all those in the bank who had been rendered harmless in the course of this whole thing. Fortunately, the presence of actual heroes made the ordinary citizen a lot less likely to play hero, which worked out better for him.

"Alright guys, load it up and let's get out of here," he said with a grin, shifting his knife into a thin cane that he tapped along the ground as he called out to his men. They had everything they could fit on to their transport, and with that in mind there wasn't really any reason for him to stick around and wait for someone to show up and ruin his fun even with the Swarm to distract everyone.

His people were quick to exit the building, and he followed after them with a spring in his step. He had almost walked out the door when he stopped in thought for a few moments. He then shrugged to himself, and the cane shifted into a glass rose with tinted glass that almost looked red and green like an actual rose. He walked over to the nearest female customer, bowing and handing her the rose. "Here you are. Hold on to it, it could be worth something someday." With that h took his leave, exiting the building with a wave over his shoulder.

Once outside the group loaded up, Finch riding shotgun as he let one of his people take the job of driving. "Take us to the place on the West Side," he instructed. It was a smaller safehouse, and a place where they could deal with the vehicle and the logistics of offloading their score. The sound of the engine and spinning rubber filled the air as they took off, headed on their way. Another successful caper from the Finch, and he could not be happier.

Headache. Spectrum had almost never woke up with a migraine this bad. It was usually Alex' fault. Sitting up to press palms against head, Spectrum noticed her. However, the headache faded quickly, and other thoughts took its place. The Swarm had attacked, a shield to hold them back, the Rat King attacked and... Spectrum grabbed Traveler's hand and excitedly gestured, Dragon asked me out!

Alex smiled. "Toldja he was into girls," She said, her smugness only slightly ruined by the bruise across her neck the healing had somehow missed. "And that you're amazing." She blew off Spectrum's hasty waving of hands with a prompt, "Bullshit." Laughing, she added, "We really need to work on your confidence."

But what am I going to do? Spectrum gestured, completing the question with a wave across the front of the helmet and hands sliding down to resemble a skirt. Her armour emitted a dull white glow as a hand cut through the middle of a repeat of the skirt gesture.

"We go shopping, obviously," Traveler replied with a raised eyebrow. "Like I would leave you to do that yourself. Please." Spectrum flipped a pointer finger between both of them. "Yes, you and me. We'll get you something that'll knock his socks, and other clothes, right off." Spectrum's eyes widened at the thought, a dull red glow spreading over her armour. "I know a place that's pretty nice. You'll have your own room to try stuff on and everything."

A mental image of Dragon Heart naked locked up Spectrum's thought processes, and though Alex kept talking, not a word of it got through until, "reenter the fight, even after that healer got to us." Spectrum punched one hand into the other. Fight? Traveler gave Spectrum a flat look. "I know you're excited, but I didn't expect you to forget the rats."

A bolt of lightning shot upwards through the Swarm, and Spectrum looked across to where Dragon Heart was single-handedly (at least so it seemed) stopping the Swarm from heading in this direction. Raising a hand to her temple and tapping the helmet's side, I remember, I'm just... The same hand waved uncertainly.

"Floating," Alex supplied. "I understand. He stuck around a bit before I chased him off. I assume he'd fighting all the harder because he doesn't know if you're okay."

Spectrum kept looking at Dragon. The spoken words "I think I should go help," were accompanied by the proper gestures for Alex to understand.

"I think we must," Traveler said, standing back up. Spectrum's helmet deliberately shook side to side, one hand on Alex' shoulder and the other pointing then twirling around the side of Spectrum's head. "I'll be fine. I just can't swap things for a while, I think." Putting a hand on Spectrum's shoulder, she added, "Someone has to watch over you to make sure you get to your date in one piece."

The thought sent a pulse of bright blue though Spectrum's suit. She hardly needed Alex' encouragement to head back and start wading in alongside Dragon. "Nice to see you," He shouted over the thunder he unintentionally generated with another strike.

Spectrum flared red, throwing bright pulses the size of baseballs through the Swarm rats. "I'm going to try stop the big one." Launched into the air on a wave of blue, Spectrum's attempt to hit the Rat King on the back of the head was cut short when another head noticed and swung a club as if the armoured hero was a annoying wasp. Darting back out of range, Spectrum settled back down next to Dragon. "Somebody's got to be able to get in the middle!" The advice was shouted, as Dragon used more lightning to plug the gaps in the portal wall.

What?

Things were moving too fast for Comet at the moment. The girl was deaf, Dragon and Spectrum were back in the fight, somebody was tearing a swath through the hordes with some sort of fire weapon, and he still hadn't even touched a rat.

Watching as both the armored hero and the electric man dashed forwards, he noticed the number of heads on the monster was enough to cover most any angle, as demonstrated by Spectrum's failed attack. But his reflexes were well within the human normal, at least that was how it looked.

Well, I'll never know unless I try.

Looking at the beast, he crossed his fingers and removed his hair-tie.

"Clear a path! It's time for the Chris Brown special!" he made sure to yell, as loud as he could. With a crack like the sound of a whip, he took off.

In the opposite direction.

He ended up at the other side of the city, sliding to a stop and knocking a car into the air with the shock wave that formed in front.

God I hope I don't run down the wrong street, he whispered to himself, placing his hands to the ground and lifting his hips.

Hopefully this was more than enough room, at the speed he was planning to go, nothing with legs or a pulse would survive being struck by him, unless they could survive with a fourth of what originally constituted their mass.

He stretched his back and then his neck, and with a deep breath he shot forth at what was probably around one hundred times the speed of sound.

May be overkill, but I just have to make sure, you can never be too careful as a superhero.

He closed with the corner in a matter of seconds, everything looking like a statue as his speed continued to climb. He crashed into what was left of the rats, the shock wave enough to snap their spines and send them flying away like a ragdoll. He leaped into the air, the ground beneath him shattering like glass as he did. His body was lit up with sparks due to friction dragging on him, he'd have to get a new outfit after this.

With one flaming fist, he punched forwards towards the multi-headed rat beast.

When all you've got is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail.

Alto's difficulty in breathing was because of being too close to fire. At least the Vice Claw didn't usually make too much smoke, but it still burned the oxygen he needed to breathe. He didn't even know why it did that, it burned fine without air or oxygen for that matter. The healing was welcome though. He shot a look backwards, but the person who had healed him seemed to be fine. Wounds kept appearing on all of the Swarm approaching her so they were hesitating. Swarm Rats continued to run at him as well. He needed a vantage point right now.

Alto slammed the ground to launch himself into the air. While above, he saw the Rat King. If the Rat King died, it wasn't exactly a guarantee that the Swarm would stop their attack. Regardless Alto didn't have many other options. He hit the ground running, the Vice Claw blazing at his side. The Swarm surged to meet this new threat. He swung up from below decimating the crowd in front of him and sending rats flying. What Alto couldn't see right now was Comet coming at the Rat King from the other direction.

Alto raised his arm like a lance as the Vice Claw grew. He jumped as Comet's super-sonic punch connected, aiming to spear the Rat King with the Vice Claw.
@Lord Orgasmo@bluetommy2

Edward Storm heard something about a bank robbery on his police scanner just moments before the High Clairvoyant alerted everyone in the city to an attack by the Swarm Rats. In the next instant, the police scanner was abuzz with chatter coordinating a perimeter and dealing with the rats, and it seemed everyone had forgotten about the bank robbery. Edward wasn't the best fighter, but he was good at stopping small-time criminals and bank robbers and the like, so while he wouldn't be much use against the swarm, he could certainly do something about the bank robbery. He had just closed the shop when the alert had come on the scanner, so all he had to do was throw his coat on, grab his staff, and Magus was off running to the bank, using the wind to speed him on his way.

Magus arrived at the bank just in time to see the getaway car peel away down the street. "Oh no you don't," he muttered, summoning the strongest wind he could manage. He launched himself into the air and the wind propelled him forward after the car. Just before it turned down a side street, Magus landed on the roof with a loud crunch. Well, now the robbers knew someone was here. Hopefully Magus could handle them.@Flamelord

The ENTV feed, in actuality the ECPD feed that ENTV got to livestream, picked up the return of Spectrum to the fight, provoking another gender discussion on the feed; "After that intimate little moment, poll numbers on Spectrum being male have risen by three points," Idonia reported, "With that discussion seeming passionate at the very least, others are arguing that the fact Spectrum returned to and is staying at Dragon Heart's side is evidence of some connection between the two. Ship-to-ship combat on the ENTV.com forums, people, sign up and log in to follow the whole discussion and contribute!

"And ironically, for a speedster, Comet shows up late to the party! Surely the Sharp-Tongued Speedster heard the warning? Or perhaps he took the long way around!" Idonia remarked. "Spectrum makes a brave attempt to hit the Rat King, but the monster sees it coming! The portal wall is back up, which must mean Traveler is as well. Let's recap for those of you just tuning in; Spectrum and Dragon Heart fighting back to back northward on Ninth, while both Stark Crusader, living up to his name, and Vice are absolutely destroying any rats in their way. A woman healer, who we're told is named Yag... Yaegna-" She gives up, "Stargazer, is keeping the two men uninjured and somehow avoiding the worst of the Swarm; just because they make it look easy, don't try it at home; and the ECPD has sealed off the intersection! Were it not for the Rat King, a four-bodied monster, I'd say this would be all over but for the cleanup."

It happened in a split second, and the camera only caught it by being in the right place. As Vice jumped into the air, the Rat King rocked backwards. The fiery claw immolated the nearest body a second later, leaving the other three burned and screaming. The impact sent up a wave of dust and shattered windows nearby. "What?! What just- A powerful strike from Vice just destroyed one of the Rat King's bodies!" Idonia shouted, "We can't see what's going on! As soon as the smoke clears, we will let you know."

---

The air itself shook visibly as someone, or something, collided with the Rat King. Spectrum couldn't be sure, not with the Swarm and the follow-up by Vice in the way. "Spectrum!" Dragon called, stepping in front as a wave; really the only word that came to mind; of dust and ash billowed in their direction. On instinct, Spectrum spread out a shield over them, and the cloud billowed past them. Dragon looked up, seeming a little perturbed. "I forgot you can do that."

"I can do lots of things," was the reply. Was that flirting? Spectrum hoped it was cute flirting. They stood together in the little bubble, and Spectrum suddenly noticed how close he was. Alex' comments from earlier came back and the inside of the armour was suddenly uncomfortably hot.

Dragon Heart laughed. "So, the Hero's Bistro, Friday, about seven?" After a moment of trying to say something, Spectrum eventually managed to nod. The bistro was really popular, and there'd probably be a lot of people there. They could sit near the back, and she wouldn't have to see out the window. It'd also hopefully be dark enough that the window would just be a mirror and the restaurant would be a lot smaller. "Ah, shit." The expletive broke that line of thought, and Spectrum dropped the shield just as the Rat King stood up.

Well, most of it. Three bodies were badly burned across their left, back and right halves, and the fourth hung limply from the knot in the middle. Screeching in pain and rage, the Rat King turned and immediately began swinging its clubs at anything in reach. Swarm, epic, building... It was rampaging. Spectrum shot into the air to get a better look. Dragon began shouting to the nearby Epics, trying to coordinate. The rest of the Swarm fled, disappearing back underground.

@bluetommy2@RoflsMazoy

Alex had stepped away as soon as the dust began to blow, using a building as partial protection.

When she stepped back out, the Rat King was rampaging, and the swarm was otherwise retreating.

Seeing the beast clearly, without any swarm in the way, Alex raised an eyebrow in shock.

One body dead, the others injured, but the thing kept going.

There's a week spot somewhere, Alex thought, studying the thing. Four heads kept it from being ambushed it otherwise surprised. Levitation keeps it mobile. Singular entity, really, with multiple bodies. So they'd have to communicate, and while mentally is possible, I'm going to be​t that the tail connection is the most important aspect.

Alex opened a doorway on the edge of the battlefield, and it's companion opened above the Rat King.

"Use the portal! Hit the tails from the blind spot, it's got to be the weak spot!" She yelled to the assembly of heroes.

The chaos of battle washed over James, fellow epics falling in and out of sight as the fight raged on, the display of powers a truly spectacular sight, or horrifying based on which side you were on. A woman approached him part way through, ducking and weaving through the remnants of the swarm, he mistook her for a civilian at first with the way she was dressed.

"You have to get out of here, it's not sa..." He half got out before she cut him off with her introduction, laying hands on him before he could object, they gave off a strange heat that seemed to sink into his flesh, quite unnerving really. The warmth flourished within his core sending tendrils of this heat to flow throughout his body culminating in his fingertips, this was quickly followed by a sense of refreshment, and he noticed the tiny nicks and cuts on his body slowly started to fade as the flesh knitted itself back together. I feel strangely violated. He thought to himself, looking up to give the lady his thanks, only to find she had already buggered off elsewhere.

"Seems about right." He muttered to himself, flexing his finger in front of his face, adjusting to the strange floating sensation that now took a hold of him. Rolling his shoulders, James stepped back into the fray, but he had only taken a couple of steps forward when his fellow Epic Traveler, whom he didn't know by name, but instead recognized from the party, briefly materialized into view, giving a little wave before disappearing once more. She looked a little worse for wear, hope she's alright. Was the brief thought of concern, he gave a quick look around for her, biting the inside of his cheek with worry til he realized there was little he could do. Just gotta hope she can look out for herself. His eyes flickered forward coming to rest on the Rat king itself, the grotesque mutant screeched orders at what remained of the swarm, some seemed to heed it and return to the fight, but even more fled from the carnage the Epics had sowed here tonight.

From the corner of his eye he noticed a figure launch free from the dying inferno to his left, a swirl of flame that had left many a charred body in its wake. The wind turned and James was met with the smell of cooked flesh and burned hair, a rather unpleasant mix that strangely left his mouth watering. I am definitely grabbing a kebab after this. The figures arm burst into an intense claw of fire, swelling in size as he descended upon the swarm, he made quick work of them before he charged at the Rat king, leaping heroically to spear the beast with his power. Ka-Rack! Was the burst of sound that followed, he wasn't sure if his eyes were deceiving him, but it had looked liked the Rat king had been hit from two sides with the way it's body snapped about like that. Either that, or that kid packs one hell of a punch. The one body that had been struck, flailed about limply, still attached to its fellows. The other three let out blood curdling screams that sent a shiver down his spine, swinging their clubs wildly as they charged at whatever was in sight.

"Use the portal! Hit the tails from the blind spot, it's got to be the weak spot!" Someone shouted from the back lines, he had barely picked up on it but connected the disjointed words when he saw the portal at the edge of the battlefield, it opened up above the rampaging creature that was caught in a blinding fury, the perfect flank. Wordlessly he charged toward the portal, steeling himself for the job ahead as he dived head first into the gateway. There was a shift in his equilibrium as he dove through, the ground rising up fast to meet him as he fell atop the Rat king, gripping onto the first thing he could to stop him from crashing into the ground. Unluckily for him, he had missed the mess of tails connecting the creatures and now hung instead from the neck of one of them. Shit shit shit shit.... Raced through his mind at the realization of were he had landed, gritting his teeth as he begun to tighten his grip around the surprised beasts neck. The creature tore about more violently as he choked it for air, for a moment he believed he could make a good go of this until another of the heads snapped around and swung his massive club toward him. The club splintered into a thousand pieces over his body, James grunted from the force of it, his world spinning in front of him as he lost his grip and went cartwheeling to the dirt.

The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth as he found his feet, glaring at the Rat king that now charged toward him. He gingerly ran his fingers over his chest where he had been struck, wincing from the pain. That's definitely a cracked rib. He reflected bitterly as the Rat king closed in, the one that faced him held a club over its head, a malicious look in its beady little eyes as it prepared to strike.

"Fuck you too buddy" Was his reply to the charge, biting his lip til he drew blood, the only thing that kept him from screaming out in agony as he bent down to slide of his boxers. The Rat king swiped wide with its club in an attempt to detach his head from his shoulder, James ducked down in just the nick of time, feeling the wind off the club as it swung past him. Bugger me. He thought wide eyed as he watched it swing past, it seemed to travel over him forever, like time had slowed down. His eyes flickered to the mess of tails that sailed ever nearer as the Rat kings momentum carried it over the top of James, with both hands he reached up to grab hold, the adrenaline flooding his body to wash away all pain, if but for a moment. They felt scaly beneath his hands, with the occasional bristly hair tickling the inside of his palms, with a roar of determination James set about tearing the tails apart. His muscles felt like they were on fire and he grunted from the strain as he pulled, a cacophony of squeals rose up from the remaining heads, piercing his mind like sharp knives. The harder he pulled the more intense the pain from the squealing was, his brain was on fire. James let out a final yell of anguish as he gave it his all, a ripping sound, like the tearing of paper accompanied his efforts. The Rat king lay dead on the ground.

James had little chance to savor his victory, his vision blurred and blood ran from his nose as he collapsed along side his foe, his consciousness fading.

Monica watched as the fighting went on. Claw-guy just ripped the Rat King a new one, and now it was starting to go berserk. Not good. Uhhh... yeah, no. She started backpedaling away from the monstrosity as it swung its arms around violently.

"Use the portal! Hit its tails from its blind spot!"

Portal? There were more? Looking around, she looked up to see a shimmering circle in the sky. Well, where's the other one? Before she could find out, someone had dive bombed the King from the portal. Flying down he grabbed on to the heads and gripped tightly. Or at least, that's what she thought. She couldn't see to well with all the smoke and distance. Speaking of distance, falling that far probably hurt. Eh. He'd probably be fine. She started to close the distance ever so slightly in an attempt to see just what was going on. There was a loud cracking sound as the King brought down a club and shattered it on the man. Ok, now he probably wouldn't be fine. That's when she noticed it was the same young man she saw earlier, who was wearing only his boxers. And now he was taking them off. Uhhh... was this his fetish?

Apparently it wasn't, as the man grabbed hold of the tails. The Rat King started screeching as its tails were pulled out. Monica doubled over and covered her ears. Dear God, the screeching was in her mind! What was this thing. At last the screeching stopped, and the king was slumped over, dead.

Opening her eyes, she viewed the aftermath. The King was probably dead, and the naked man lay on the floor. Well, here's hoping he wasn't dead. Being one of the first to arrive, she was already doing her thing. She felt like she was in back at work, in a trance, almost. First, his pulse. Faint, but there. Hand to the sky, she started the healing process.

Teagan was waiting anxiously by Chief Thomas' side. There was constant radio chatter in the tech van as PART teams engaged the Rat King's swarm rats. They were some ways away from the epicenter of the battle, but still close enough for Teagan to hear sporadic gun fire, the thunder of lightning, the whir of the helicopter witnessing it all from above.

The ex firefighter felt so out of place here, behind the perimeter. She remembered how exhilarated she'd felt when sweeping the blocks with Regan, looking for civilians to evacuate. Even more so when that rat thing had jumped them from above. How she'd felt something almost caress her cheek and than without even knowing she was moving she was suddenly shoving Regan to the side as the foul creature had landed on the floor of the store. The young mother had screamed than, clutching her baby to her chest even tighter. And for the second time in seconds Teagan's body had moved on its own, propelling her towards the swarm rat. Crashing with it into the wall, using the momentum to bring her baton and bash his rodent skull in.

Oh, she'd felt such exhilaration once in her life. When she'd saved Megan all those years back. As a wilderness firefighter Teagan did't often have to rescue people from danger. Her job entailed preventing disasters on a major scale. And she'd loved every minute of it. After all, she'd dedicated most of her adult life to it. And sure, she'd saved enough people as part of search and rescue parties. But that was most often than not due to peoples' own foolishness, carelessness and general unpreparedness for the hardships of trekking, camping, mountain climbing and the such. But when she'd saved Megan she'd felt like she had literally pulled her from the clutches of a vicious enemy. The fire'd wanted to devour the little girl whole, without leaving any evidence of her existence. And Teagan had prevented it. She'd snatched her from its hungry claws.

It was exactly how she'd felt after pushing Regan aside and taking out that swarm rat. Not that Regan couldn't have done it her self. She was PART! She was most certainly ways better than her in dispatching with Freaks and even Epics. But still. Teagan'd felt so alive in that moment. All her senses were on high alert and her muscles were primed for action. A state she would get into only before jumping in the fire. And than everything had exploded into action. They were running, the rat things were chasing them. The wall of shields. The extermination of the rats chasing them.

She'd felt the pain from her reopened shoulder wound only when Regan'd bumped it in salute for job well done.

Regan with the stormy grey eyes. With the gentle husky voice and compassionate words assuring the young mother they'd help.

Teagan was pulled out of her thoughts by the radio coming to life with the words: "The Rat King is dead!" There was a moment of complete and utter silence and than everything erupted in shouting cheers. People were highfiving, pumping fist in the air in victory. The more stern folk were allowing smiles to adorn their faces. "The rest of the rats are dead or fleeing." The PART teams started reporting in one by one. Chief Thomas nodded in approval. In the flurry of unfamiliar voices over the radio Teagan heard the smoky alto of Corporal Murphy and her heart lifted a bit.

The Chief exited the tech van. "Allright, lets get our PART teams back and start cleaning up this mess!"

Teagan also stepped out of the van and was scanning the streets when her phone vibrated. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered.

"Hello."

"Teagan, honey." Her mothers trembling voice came through the speaker.

"Ma, I'm all right." The firefighter hurried to assure her mother who was probably worried that her daughter had run straight into the fire as was her nature.

"Thank the Gods for that." The woman acknowledged. "We heard the Epics got that monstrosity." Martha referred to the Rat King's demise. "We were worried, but we know you can take care of yourself." There was a disturbing pause. "Sweetheart, that's not why I'm calling."

"Ma, what's wrong?" Teagan demanded, her voice shaking just a bit. She didn't notice Regan approaching her all bloodied and glorious in her battle gear. "Ye're startin' to worry me, Ma! Is Da alright? You?"

"We're fine, honey." Her mother hastened to assure her. "You need to come home. It's Megan. She's here."

Teagan was confused. Megan was with her parents? Was she visiting? She finally noticed Regan who was peering into her eyes questioningly. And why did her mother sound so morbid?!?

"Is she visiting with her parents?" Teagan asked hopefully, dread slowly starting to take over. She felt Regan clasp her free hand.

Silence.

"Sara and Jorge are dead. Teagan, you need to come home." Her mother whispered brokenly.

Teagan froze. She couldn't move, couldn't breath, couldn't hear or see. Dead. Sara and Jorge Robinson dead! Megan's parents were dead!!!

"Megan..." She whispered her green eyes swarmed with pain and sadness. "I'm on my way." She croaked and exploded into sudden movement only to be restrained by steady hands.

"Wow, hey. What's going on?" The gentleness in Regan's husky voice almost did the older woman in.

"Family emergency." She managed to rasp out not daring to look in Regan's grey eyes fearing the compassion and understanding she knew she would find there. If she allowed herself to look she would want to fold. To let her sooth the pain away. And she needed to feel it. Needed it to make her strong. She had to be strong for Megan. Now more than ever. "I need to go to Megan!" She barked desperately more to herself than to Regan, who was still holding her in place, and tried once again to brake free.

"Hey, hey, hey..." Regan cooed. "I don't know what's going on. But I don't feel good leaving you like this." She desperately tried to make Teagan look at her, but to no avail. The tiny rejection hurt, much to her surprise, but Teagan was obviously suffering and she couldn't just stand by and do nothing. "Let me at least give you a ride."

Teagan allowed herself a tiny look. It was as she feared. Compassion and understanding and something else. Something surprising. She swallowed hard and nodded.

"Okay." Regan whispered. "Wait here. I'll take this off and come get you." She disappeared quickly and Teagan was left alone to struggle with her churning emotions. The loss of Megan's parents, which still hadn't hit her in full and the mystifying euphoria she was feeling under Regan's care. She didn't have much time to process as the PART officer was next to her in a flash in civilian wear. She'd cleaned up most of the blood and gore. She lead Teagan to a sturdy looking Chevy cruiser. "Where to?" She asked when both of them were inside the cab.

Teagan mumbled the address and receded into the welcoming leather interior.

They rode in tense silence for a couple of minutes. Regan respecting the firefighter's need for privacy.

"My goddaughter's parents are dead. My mother just called to tell me Megan's home." Teagan announced to no one in particular. She just couldn't stand the silence anymore. It was deafening. A tear dislodged from her eyelid and sploshed on her thigh. Her shoulders shook once.

Regan squeezed the steering wheel. "Jesus, Teagan. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you." Teagan whispered.

Regan glanced at her. "For what?"

Teagan shrugged. "For being here." She raised her head and stared long and hard at Regan's profile. "You can stop here." She announced when they'd arrived at her mother and father's apartment building.

Regan parked and twisted to look at Teagan. She was pale and troubled, but there was a fire burning in her jade eyes. "Megan is lucky to have you." She stated simply.

Teagan swallowed hard, the implications of that statement finally hitting her hard. Megan was under her care now! A strong hand clasped her own and squeezed. She stared at her hand entwined with Regan's.

"May I..." Her voice betrayed her. She cleared her throat, dismayed. "May I call you... sometimes?" She sounded almost like a small child looking for someone to help it feel safe.

Regan wrestled the lump in her throat down, swallowing. "Anytime." She assured without hesitation.

Teagan nodded, squeezed the hand holding her own tightly, than let go, exited the cruiser and disappeared into the building.

The PART Corporal sat still in her truck for another minute or two, before she finally rested her forehead on the wheel and sighed. "Oh, man, I'm in big trouble." She commiserated, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest.

After his punch, Comet slid to a stop with the aid of a nearby building, crashing into it and smashing through the front windows. He growled as the glass cut into his arm, if he had been going faster it would have been worse, but at the speed he was going it was more like a paper cut than anything else.

He finally came to a stop by careening through a counter and tripping over a chair.

Normally he was more graceful, but the fact that he couldn't see through the giant-ass rat was a big factor.

He had suffered a few light bruises, but the little wounds that he had still managed to hurt like hell. He sat there in a pile of rubble for a moment before slowly climbing to his feet. Much to his pleasure, he noticed that he had managed to do quite a bit of damage, though the flames showed that he had received a little help. He'd have to give his thanks.

"Use the portals, hit its tail from the blind spot!"

Comet rotated his wrist as he heard someone yell. It was pretty sore after that punch, he'd rather not get back into the fight immediately. Thankfully, there was no need to, as Stark Crusader quickly took care of the rat-beast.

Comet smiled and jumped out of the room.

"Yes! What a rush, eh?" He yelled to no-one in particular. A moment later he appeared beside Dragon Heart with phone in hand. "Smile!" He said just as the camera flashed.

Looking over at the Rat King's corpse, he felt a sense of unease, he never knew rats to be extremely resilient, but he couldn't be certain until the body was out of sight and mind. Grabbing it in his hands, he took off in the direction of the ocean. It took a minute or two, but before long he was there, Atlantic Ocean, hopefully dropping it off here would be enough to insure the Rat King never returned.

With a groan, he heaved the beast over his head, made much easier by the speed he was travelling at, and tossed it straight down, into the depths of the ocean. With a nod, he slid along the surface of the ocean as he turned, kicking up a large wall of water.

Hopefully no-one minded this action all that much, it was the only way to be entirely sure that the thing didn't come back. If it did, well, then god didn't exist.

Comet reappeared around seven minutes after he had left, only now beginning to sweat from the large amount of running he had done. He walked over to be in the center of the group of heroes.

"God that was fun, who was that who was slinging fire around? I need to give you a possibly sexually-charged hug."

@RoflsMazoy

The Rat King was down. Alto had to thank the Vice Claw for that at least. Somehow or another the Epics of the city would've taken care of it, but the Vice Claw was amazing at collateral damage. Even with the Rat King gone there was going to be a lot of stray Swarm Rats. Destroying so many earlier would help lessen that number. They needed to be taken care of as soon as possible, or else there cou-

"God that was fun, who was that who was slinging fire around? I need to give you a possibly sexually-charged hug."

@RoflsMazoy

Alto quickly wrapped the silver necklace around his arm and then he started walking backwards at a brisk pace. He'd left his suit jacket on the roof and Jerry might get mad if Alto was still missing it.
@bluetommy2

Previously...

By the time David had made his way down the stairs, he had pulled up the ENTV livestream on his phone. He knew that they always ran one when Epic things were happening. He would have preferred to keep in the fight, but Phantom had...surprised him. Maybe he hadn't been pushing himself enough, because he had never been surprised before.

He'd...woken himself up? That had never happened. Then again, he'd never gotten that big before, either. Phantom had been huge. His voice had shattered glass and set the horde of rats on the run. His physical body had heard his own voice, and David had a theory that the weird feedback of recognizing his own voice from blocks away had shaken him out of sleep.

Not that he'd really mattered, in the grand scheme of things. He was basically just a giant distraction, more than anything. "Fucking kill me," he mumbled, running a hand down his face.

If only he had more physical stuff going for him. Like, well, like...if he could make people afraid by looking at them or something. He knew that as he passed through people, they got scared. That was simple. But he couldn't direct that fear in any way, and it drove him nuts. He should be able to do that, right? He was an Epic. He could fly, turn invisible, and terrify people. He was a god damn horror movie waiting to be written.

Instead, he felt like Casper, a little weird goober who sometimes was recognized on the fringes of society. Not that he wanted to be recognized or anything. He just wanted to be useful. It was always fun to be a hero, and it felt good too. That was more than his childhood had going for it.

He mulled all this over while he ran as fast as he could toward the danger zone. It was only when he nearly tumbled into the middle of the scene that he realized his blunder. Nobody knew who the fuck he was, except that he played the violin. If he came rushing into the scene, still clad in the tux, it was going to raise some serious eyebrows--Groucho Marx levels.

Nobody had seen him yet, so he surreptitiously slid off the sidewalk, joining with a small crowd around the outskirts. He had to be doubly careful, he realized: he was super fucking vulnerable. Any trace of remaining danger could result in him dead. No Phantom to save him here.

"Fuckin' wild shit, man," came a voice next to him. "Haven't seen this much chaos since Lancelot and Camero wiped each other out. That was a wild time, let me tell you."

David glanced over and met eyes with a tired-looking woman. She was average height, covered head to toe in swathes of dark fabric, and had a backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Yeah," David said. It would have been rude to ignore her.

Besides, he had been there for Lancelot and Camero. Originally, they'd been a criminal Epic superduo. Camero could turn anything she touched into a bomb, and Lancelot had been able to turn any physical material into smoke. When they worked together, they had almost required the High to step in. Tons of carnage, terror, and robberies.

But then they'd turned on each other for some reason. Rumor was that the Clairvoyant had actually gotten involved. No one could say. Camero had turned Lancelot's gun into a bomb, and when he shot her in the back, it blew up in his face. Camero had still gotten shot, though.

"Worst part is, I'm gonna be locked out of my place for at least a few hours, now." She huffed, switching the backpack to her other shoulder. "Been itching to write a few riffs down before my muse deserts me again."

"You're a musician?" he asked. That caught him off guard, and piqued his interest.

"Sort of," she said, flashing a quick, almost feral smile. "I play the piano a bit, but really I'm just in the scene. A DJ, I mean. Why, you play something, tux-guy?"

David laughed--more of a chuckle, really, and looked down. "Yeah, actually. Violin. My parents..." he shook his head. "I make some stuff too, but I'm not good. Not really a DJ, more a producer."

"Oh yeah?" the woman tilted her head at him. "Violin, huh...got any good samples I could bum off you?" She stopped and stuck out a hand. "Uh, sorry. Kenny. Kendra, really, but...Kenny."

David took her hand. It was firm, tough. He liked this woman. "David. Just David. Unless you're fluent in Mandarin."

She shook her head. "Nah, dude, I took Spanish in high school. Music's my second language."

He could relate to that. "No worries, there. It's not something for everyone. Besides, I wasn't ever given a choice."

Kenny laughed, a short, hearty bark that he almost felt in his chest. "True, true. Good shit. Hey," she said, raising a hand to point at him. "You doing anything, 'just-David'? You might like my backup home. Oh, don't worry," she said quickly, as they both realized how that sounded. "No, man, it's totally public. Good people there. Trust me, I'm not that kinda gal."

What a chill woman. David appreciated that. "It's fine, Kenny, I'm game. Lead the way."

He turned away, but then glanced to look at the carnage behind him. He'd just been a part of that, and now he was dashing away to the...underworld or something. Oh well. He shrugged and started walking. Then jogging. Damn, why the hell did she have to move so fast?

"And it's over!" Idonia shouted, as the camera filmed the Rat King's demise. "After that massive strike from Vice, leaving the monster hurt, the combination of Traveler's portal and Stark Crusader's strength and toughness destroyed the beast." The camera switched back to her, leaning back in her chair with her white-blond hair almost but not quite obscuring her Greek-goddess looks. "That's it for this battle, our Epics triumphant once again! Remember to stay tuned for an after-action analysis with Gecko and Jason, and our update of the ENTV Epic Points Table for this year. Tomorrow, ENTV's Annabelle and Jason host an exclusive interview with the Teleporting Trickster, Traveler, tomorrow on our Spotlight interviews, exclusively on ENTV.com!" She did some movement that drew the eye down into her blouse without actually changing position, somehow highlighting the fact that one or more buttons had come undone during the stream. "Until the next Field Day, this is Idonia!"

---

Spectrum's legs folded, and the emotional and physical exhaustion left the armoured hero lying face-up on the street as the ECPD moved in for clean up. A few medics stopped nearby, only to be waved away. Stark Crusader had been the one to finally take the Rat King down, after Traveler'd finally figured the monster out. She was smart like that, and Spectrum was happy to count her a friend. It helped Spectrum to get used to the city, having a friend like Alex. And maybe a boyfriend like Dragon, the thought made a smile appear behind the helmet.

After a minute or two of getting breath back, Spectrum sat up and looked around for Traveler or Dragon Heart. The latter knelt next to Spectrum, asking. "Need some help?"

"You could take me to bed," Spectrum replied without thinking. When what was actually said sank in, Spectrum blushed a bright red and the suit went white brightly enough to make Dragon Heart shade his eyes. "Sorry, not like that."

He laughed, helping Spectrum to her feet. "Don't worry about it," he said, and Spectrum felt a rush of relief. "I might do it anyway, but date first. Friday, seven o'clock at Hero's Bistro. Don't forget." He leaned over and kissed near the cheek. Despite the armour, it felt to Spectrum like he'd left a mark there just with that touch. A hand put over the spot, to protect it, Spectrum flared bright blue, and shot six stories up into the air just on sheer joy.