As Grace snored, up against the wall, Blake was on a mindless warpath. Heat poured from his body as he formed two more fireballs, one in each hand, that continued to grow in size. Blake seemed content to make them become larger and deadlier, but Tom had turned to the offensive, flinging a massive glob of safety gel directly at Blake. Though his mind was not his own, Blake's reflexes were still plenty fine, and he avoided the glob of safety gel with ease, which instead smacked the random Wing of Law that was just managing to escape his safety gel prison, keeping him pinned against the wall. "Screw this," the man grumbled. As soon as he was out of this, he was going directly to Seraph and demanding his paycheck.

"Kill," Blake droned as he lifted his hands again, ropes of fire wrapping around his forearms and palms. "Kill Tom. Burn. Melt. Dance on ashes. Haha. Very funny," Blake said with a menacing smile as the fire continued to heat up. "Kill everybody. One by one. Burn." He paused, lowering his palms for a second, biting his lip. "No...can't burn...friends..." he muttered, struggling internally. After a moment of conflict, though, the mind control won over. "BURN!" he finally managed, releasing from his hands a massive burst of fire that spread across the entire room. The flames, which spread like a shotgun shell of heat, caught onto some of the wooden objects of the room, setting them ablaze, the smell of smoke rapidly filling the room as the fire began to eat away at the furniture, carpet, everything in the room.

Nemesis, meanwhile, had miraculously disappeared, leaving only Tom, crazy Blake, and sleeping Grace together in the burning room as Blake wound up and fired another fireball directly at Tom.

@KaijuBaragon

---

---

Cora followed Rumi quietly, her arms folded over her chest as she allowed him to take the lead, quietly walking behind him as the OMNI detected booby traps. She admired the robot silently. It was certainly a cool piece of tech, with a lot of functions packed into one suit f armor. "Looks like we're all clear," she said quietly as she thought about the situation. "I don't think this hallway is booby-trapped...the mine that I stumbled into was low-power, like something that would be rapidly deployed," Cora said, stopping her forward motion and running back. She kneeled down to where the mine had exploded, her electric blue eyes examining the ground. She found what she was looking for, scooping up a small shard of dark gray, almost black metal with half a word etched into it- "VALENT." Cora shook her head. "'Valent,' huh? Short for Valentine, I bet. Valentine Industries. An organization that has been non-functional for nearly 10 years now."

She held the fragment up to the light. ”Another link to Zero. One would think that Seraph couldn't possibly stoop this low, to be working with them...but then again, this has been a day full of surprises, hasn't it?" She tossed the shard of metal to the OMNI. "Well, if Zero is here, that only makes this whole situation a lot more precarious. Let's go." She set off briskly for the elevator, stepping into the antique lift and plugging the bottom floor once Rumi's droid had made it inside as well. The elevator gave a belated ding and began to slowly descend downwards. "This is taking forever," Cora bemoaned as the rickety elevator slowly moved downwards.

As they waited, Cora looked over to the OMNI. "Also...you really think my face is pretty?" She gently placed two fingers on the cracked facial chips on her cheek. "That's...very sweet. The doctors did a good job on it, I guess."

@Scarifar

---

---

Winterfall raised his pointed nose at Alien Angel as she gave her speech. He practically yawned. "Dear, every second you waste is one more second of bleeding that your friend has to suffer through. Now, come here and make this quick," the man said as he looked towards Terra, holding up his rapier. As she launched towards him, Winterfall only pointed his rapier towards her, and Terra suddenly began to slow down, drastically, as though somebody had put her into slo-mo. Winterfall then slowly and casually sidestepped out of the way before snapping his fingers, causing Terra to resume moving and max speed and sending her careening into the wall.

Winterfall then turned his attention towards Joseph, who seemed to be removing a bunch of paper scraps from his coat. He narrowed his eyes, holding up the sword loftily as Joseph spoke. He gave a small grin as he lifted his hand up, before speaking again, "Rime." Shards of ice materialized from his palm and scattered outwards, each piece of ice skewering a rune and slicing the paper effortlessly. The ones that managed to escape being impaled by the ice needles were promptly cut to shreds by Winterfall's sword. The man moved incredibly fast, or perhaps, and more likely, everything else around him just moved comparatively much slower. Winterfall chuckled.

"I must admit, friend," Winterfall said, putting his rapier against the ground and resting both hands upon it, using it as a cane. "You don't look Egyptian. Though I suppose over time, families can disperse...ah, well. I'm afraid your parlor tricks fail to impress me much. Certainly, you can go beyond one or two folds!" Winterfall said, lifting one hand to push his glasses up his nose and lifting his sword with the other. It seems Joseph's plan had, to some extent, worked. Winterfall was now interested.

"Show me what you are made of," Winterfall said, before making a slashing motion with his sword. "Prove yourself!" he shouted, as another wave of ice needles materialized and launched directly at Joseph, pelting him in a barrage of frozen death. "Or perish!"

@rabidporcupine@canaryrose@DarkRecon

---

---

Sea Serpent snorted, disbelief in her eyes, before beginning to laugh, and one she began laughing, she did not stop. It flowed like a river of chuckles, Sea Serpent bending over, hysterical, before wiping her eyes and smiling evilly. "Starbright, your arrogance humors me. Thank you,” she said, before lifting a hand. ”Well, if you want to fight, let's fight then. I should get rid of this dead weight, though...” she said with an evil grin, before the water around Chad suddenly spread apart, like the bubble had been popped, and sent Chad careening downwards towards the Earth.

Sea Serpent laughed. ”Well, that's the end of him, now!” she said as the water that was once wrapped around Chad now rushed towards Starbright. The water, as if it was a creature of its own, pounced at him like a tiger, attempting to consume him whole. ”Now, you get to meet the same fate! Isn't that fantastic?” Sea Serpent laughed. ”Karma! You couldn't save him, and now you won't be able to save yourself!”

Little to Yama's knowledge, Chad did not have a path of free fall directly to the ocean. Luckily for him, Cora's broken Mini-Jet, which was sticking out of the wall, in a surprising stable position, blocked his fall. It would still hurt like hell, considering he was falling a few stories onto what was, in essence, a giant metal pan, but he was most certainly alive. From his position atop the plane, Chad could smell the aroma of smoke, and see some distant ember flickering of fire below him.

@Jumbus@Duoya

---

---

Meanwhile, in Kingsdale, beneath Club 27, the group would be immediately greeted by Vinnie Gugliano. At the very least, they would be greeted by...a large image of Vinnie Gugliano's face, which was plastered up on a large bulletin board. Also featured on the bulletin board were favorable newspaper clippings about the Wings of Law, a couple of photos of Seraph, and a hitlist with the photos of all the gang, including Patricia, pinned there. Also in the room were a few antique items, such as vases and the like, scattered about, as well as some crates full of Nova. Sitting along the wall was a massively large computer screen with a large keyboard. Sitting in front of the keyboard in a large swiveling armchair was a young-looking man, thin and pale, with dark hair, wearing a combat suit and holding a handgun in his hand, dark blue eyes examining the group.

“Took you long enough," Blade said, standing from the chair and giving a small salute. “There was an exposed air vent a way's away that led in here...still, nice work. Right into the bee's nest, huh?" Even when cracking a joke, the elusive Blade still spoke with a very dull, lifeless tone of voice, like a man that had nothing left to live for. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Blade." He held out a hand for the group to shake. “No need to introduce yourselves...I know plenty about you all," he said as he sat back down in the armchair, swiveling back over to the computer. “Seraph has been up to some naughty stuff, though...he had the audacity to leave his computer unlocked, and kept an abundance of very incriminating files on here. Listen..."

Blade tapped a button on his computer, and at once the large screen became animated, with Seraph and another man's face becoming visible. Seraph looked just as annoying as ever, but he somehow seemed to be missing some of that pompous energy in the presence of this man. The man was middle-aged, with a pale face and golden eyes, and a gaunt face matched with locks of raven black hair and a raven black beard. He was wearing a sort of garb that looked like it came from the 19th century, dressed like some sort of Transylvanian vampire. Standing next to him was a girl that Patricia would certainly be familiar with- Katharine, or Malady, looking for all the world like a schoolgirl on a field trip, wearing a checkered skirt and a fluffy red cardigan, her black hair tied up in pigtails, her crimson eyes having a slightly ragged look to them. Blade looked over at Patricia. “Looks familiar to you? Seraph's been up to some meddling..." Blade spoke, listening to the somewhat older man start speaking.

The man, who did look suspiciously like Kat, had a voice that was dark and brooding. He was sitting in what looked like a dining room in a massive palace, with walls covered in art and tapestries, and the three seemed to be sitting at some sort of dinner table. Blade seemed to have started the video in the middle of the recording, with the man's speech seeming to start mid-conversation. "Mr. Seraph, I assure you, if you work for us, no harm will befall you. None whatsoever. Our organization has your back."

Seraph tapped his fingers against the table. "And why should I work with you, Commander...what is it? Commander Zero? I didn't exactly arrange for this meeting, you know. Being picked up off my luxury yacht and taken to Russia is not my version of an appointment. And as much as I hate that meddlesome singer girl...what you're proposing seems a bit extreme. And rather...ambitious. I like ambition as much as the next guy, but this...”

The Commander chuckled as Kat sat by, looking uncomfortable but remaining silent. "Commander Zero, yes. Now, put your moral qualms aside, Seraph. You stand to gain a lot for working with me. I can make all your dreams come true. Everything you've ever wanted." He gestured with his hands. "I can do things you can only imagine, Mr. Seraph. If we combine your fame and my powers...we will be unstoppable." Commander Zero held up his hand. "You have seen what I can do. Now, shake on it."

Seraph reluctantly shook the man's hand. "Fine. Deal.”

Commander Zero stood from his seat. "Excellent. Now, we have plans to make. For one, killing Hugo Powers. Oh, don't look so surprised, it'll be easy once you're prepared. Let's go."

Blade tapped his finger against the pause button, freezing the Commander mid-step. “Zero's involvement is going to make this a lot more complex," Blade said as he stood from the seat. “Still, I have some good news to report. While you were busy committing a number of federal offenses, the rest of your friends drove EAGLES out of HERO One and have now taken the fight to Elmore Island, which is where Seraph and the rest of his friends are holding out. I think it would be wise to meet them there. If Zero is truly present, then we will need every ounce of strength we can gather to take them down." Blade walked over to the tunnel. “There is a dock just north of the Club at 5th Avenue and Cohen Street. Meet me there in 5. Don't worry, there aren't any cops around. You saw to that already." Blade then vanished into the tunnel.

About 10 seconds after Blade entered the tunnel, the bruised and battered forms of Mystiko and Angelhead rolled out of the tunnel, looking as though they had been thoroughly curbstomped by somebody. Angelhead groaned before closing his eyes and passing out.

---

---

A few blocks north, Blade was waiting at a rather fancy-looking pier, with polished, clean wooden decks and an abundance of fancy-looking boats. Several yachts were floating nearby, one of which had a bunch of drunk rich people in suits just getting off. It looked like the type of place Grace would want to go to. Blade was not standing by a swanky yacht, however, instead standing nearby an unimpressive cabin cruiser. The boat looked like it was in poor condition, with peeling paint and damage marks on the bow of the ship. Blade gestured towards the boat, stepping on himself. He opened the door to the cabin, which was covered wall-to-wall in weapons. “Hopefully you know how to drive a boat. I have to run and check on Hugo- he's alive, but in shit condition- but I'll be right back." Blade pointed across the water. “Just head straight that way, and you'll see it." Blade pointed at a distant castle-looking entity/ “Be careful.""

As the group eventually moved towards Elmore Island, they would note that there was a fire burning from one of the towers of the building, a flickering amber light glowing from the windows. They also noticed a few holes in the side of the castle, with a jet (and a very small Chad) sticking out the side of one of the towers. And lastly, they also noticed that the ground level of the castle was surrounded by fences, with several turrets pointed directly at the boat. One of the men manning the turrets yelled out, "CEASE! CEASE! STOP MOVING, DAMNIT!"

Obviously, everything was going just fine.

@canaryrose@Zoey Boey@DClassified@DarkRecon

---

Starbright's heart sank as he saw his sort of apprentice fall to his death. Starbright also had no clue about the jet beneath The Bullet. She had actually done it, she just went and killed someone in front of him. Starbright couldn't remember the last time he truly lost his cool, but this was the first time in years that was for sure. His demeanor changed quite drastically to one of anger and his voice lacked any control. If he didn't still look that exact same, one could mistake him for a completely different person. Was it Starbright? No, it was Noah. He was returning from an act that had gone on for far too many years. As if the state of his real emotions made him a completely different person. Starbright hadn't been in touch with that side of himself in a long while. "You bitch!"

This wasn't any time to hurl insults though. A tidal wave was quickly approaching him and Noah needed to act fast. Pulling out the sponge Christina gave him, he defended himself for the oncoming torrent. It absorbed just about everything, growing tremendously in size. Eventually the weight and size of it crashed into Noah, it hurt so much he released his grip on it and stumbled back. Luckily he could regain his footing and the sponge soaked up the remainder of the blast. Noah looked directly at Sea Serpent and charged. Enough of the talking, enough of the silly little light blasts, it wouldn't work on someone like her. He just needed to hurt Sea Serpent bad. Both for treating an innocent life so carelessly and for the countless others she had probably taken. But most importantly, for killing someone Noah had actually begun to like. That was something rare for him.

Sea Serpent couldn't get anymore water to her side before the full force on Noah crashed into her. He didn't pull any punches, and with his force it only took two for her to be out cold. The look of shock and terror on her face when he did it etched itself into his mind, but it didn't stop him. He was uncontrollably angry and he wasn't going to be stopped.

Two punches, only two punches. But such a small amount was a whirlwind of violence and hate for Noah to depart on someone. He hadn't been in a fist fight before, hell he's had never really hit a punch on someone. But here someone was, unconscious on the ground. All because of him. Was this the person he really was?

Noah stood up from the horror he just caused and leaned backwards onto a nearby wall. He felt weak, defeated. He looked back at Sea Serpent's unconscious body and the tears started flowing. The guilt felt like a hole in his chest and his legs eventually gave out as he slowly slid down the wall down to a sitting position. Head hidden in his knees he just cried. Was this who he really was? She killed Chad, she deserved it! But was he any better? Would he be doomed into a cycle of violence where he became like her? His words, all the flash and glamour, it didn't mean shit in the end and it got one of the few people he actually cared for killed. He was worthless and in the end he was no better than her. But what could he do about it? So Noah just sat there, crying, dwelling in regret, guilt and misery.

---

15 minutes later

Starbright wiped his eyes and was quickly back to his feet. It was as if nothing happened as if Noah retreated. More accurately, as if Noah conceded to the man called Starbright. He didn't want to feel those things anymore, it hurt too much. He didn't need all that now, both himself and others were in danger. He needed to be Starbright, not Noah. No one needed Noah.

Starbright walked over to Sea Serpent, who was still out cold. Someone really did a number on her. He gently slapped her face to see if see would wake up, not so much as a twitch. He then held his fingers under her nose to check her breath, still going and steady if maybe a bit slow. Realizing he had given his belt to his late friend, The Bullet, Starbright instead ripped off the lower bit of his shirt. He really should have done that earlier instead of giving away his belt. That belt looked so good and frankly this torn crop top look was kind of stylish. At least, he could make it work. He got out his phone to check himself out in the reflection, just to make sure. Oh yeah, that was going in the summer catalogue for sure. Oh dear, he was getting distracted. He tied the piece of torn fabric, holding Sea Serpent's hands behind her back. He had hoped she would listen to reason, disregarding him at every turn like that was very rude. Did she not know that a star like him never lies? Never the less, Starbright wasn't about to take the chance that Sea Serpent's friends were more reasonable than her. He needed a bargaining chip so this could all end without more people getting hurt. That bargaining chip was lying right in front of him.

Deciding to take Sea Serpent as a hostage, Starbright descended the stairs of the roof until he saw the first guard. "Hold it, you can put the gun down thank you. Its not a good look on you anyway. I would like you to take me to Seraph now. As you can see, I have someone who he may want to see." He begun approaching the armed guard. "Oh and get someone to bring snacks into the room as well. Crackers and some nice cheese, you know the sort. I know Seraph at least has the class to have those hidden somewhere."

Of course, Starbright had no intention of harming Sea Serpent in any way. He was just going to hope the look that he would was enough to have EAGLES see reason.

Then in a flash of reason for himself, he untied Sea Serpent and draped one of her arms over his shoulder. If there were any cameras around, he would want to be seen like he was saving her. The restraints hardly seemed necessary with the state she is in, and it wasn't worth the risk of unsavory footage getting out.

Blake grumbled as he was pinned against the wall, his eyes livid with pure anger as he shook his head, as though Tom’s words were some type of ghost that was haunting him. The intense heat that filled the room only continued to intensify as Blake’s eyes began to sparkle with pure energy. The raw heat became overwhelming, like the room was some sort of oven, as Blake pushed against Tom’s powers and released one more burst of scorching fire from his hands. This blast, unlike the others, was concentrated into a single sphere about the size of an exercise ball, white-hot in the center, and the massive fireball zoomed towards Tom before veering downwards, blasting into the ground in front of Tom. Red-hot embers scattered throughout the room as Blake’s attack caused the floor to give way, the wooden flooring and stone terrazzo crumbling like a cookie and dropping Tom into the floor below.

It appeared as though the floor below Tom was some sort of workshop, with several large devices such as buzzsaws, cabinets, tables, iron presses, and more scattered about. There were several wooden objects on display, but these objects had been very quickly gobbled up in flames, and now burned like torches, a reminder of Blake’s prowess with fire.

Blake soon followed, landing on the ground in front of Tom clumsily, before unrelentingly moving into another string of attacks. Fireballs launched towards Tom one by one in rapid succession as Blake barraged his (former?) best friend with a flurry of attacks, each fireball hotter than the next. Blake quickly began to tire out, though, and after throwing about 10 or so high speed fireballs began to stumble backwards, as though he was intoxicated. He made a swishing movement with his arm, releasing one last attack, a crest of fire that sliced towards Tom’s sides, before moaning sleepily.

"I’m tiiiiired," Blake said in a way that was somehow both very Blake and also very creepy, before he fell onto his back, his eyes closed. He snored loudly as his merciless onslaught of attacks ended with him falling asleep. However, whether or not his attacks on Tom made contact or not was irrelevant, as Blake had certainly done his damage. Fire was everywhere, with both rooms having become absolutely consumed in fire. Hawthorne, while having walls of stone, did have wooden floors and a lot of wooden supports, and as such all these pieces of architecture were ablaze, the smell of smoke filling both rooms (and indeed much of the building), and thick clouds of gray smoke were rising upwards, making it harder to see. With the walls, floor, and furniture in flames, it seemed as though the only things that were not on fire were Blake himself, the Wings of Law goon that was still stuck on the wall, and the airplane with Grace snoring inside.

Grace, however, would not be snoring for much longer, as only a moment after Blake had fallen asleep, Grace had woken up, as if the two were somehow connected by a switch. She looked down at herself, covered in goop, and groaned, before she looked up and saw the burning room and screamed. "Oh fuck," she whispered, clambering out of the pilot seat frantically, dripping with green goop. The gravity of the situation had for once distracted her from her materialism. This was serious. "Tom? Tom!" she cried, somewhere between a shout and a squeak, as she clambered over to the hole in the ground, looking into it. "Tom, are you OK? Please say you’re OK!,"

@KaijuBaragon

---

---

Meanwhile, Winterfall was having an absolute field day. He stood, his rapier raised, ready to parry, as Joseph did his preparations. However, as he stood in a guard position, he heard a voice speak to him again. That same Leftover lady. None of these so-called heroes respected a 1v1 fight, then. "Can’t you see I’m busy? My time is infinitely more valuable than yours," Winterfall said demeaningly as Terra zoomed towards him. She moved to the left to catch him off guard, which might have worked on somebody whose reaction time wasn’t so uncanny, Osberg simply stepped back to avoid the clawing, before bringing his rapier back into position and swiftly striking at Terra. He swiped left and right, with two clean strikes to the abdomen. Not fatal if they did connect, but certainly enough to draw blood. He didn’t wait and find out, though, as he quickly brought his left arm around, blasting Alien Angel with a large mass of ice, the size of a bowling ball, with easily enough force to blast her into the wall.

Winterfall re-affixed his attention just in time to Joseph calling out something involving a Shatter, and he didn’t have much time to react before an array of runes landed around him, and then an explosion resonated above him, dropping pieces of floor on the villain, and then sending a burst of flames from the ground up at him. When the smoke and fire cleared, however, Winterfall was entirely unharmed. He had encased himself inside a large, thick cube of ice, which was only slightly cracked from all that damage. The ice cube quickly melted away, revealing a perfectly safe Winterfall, and as he was just about to parry Joseph’s pathetic knife attack when he felt something. A shift. A change in the air. Winterfall trusted his gut instinct, and so he leaped backwards, just in time to avoid a massive red streak of energy from the ceiling that bored into the ground like an orbital laser, sending a concussive boom throughout the now-destroyed atrium. Winterfall scoffed.

"A valiant attempt on my life, but a failure nonetheless," Winterfall said, holding one hand up into the air. ”Allow me to demonstrate how to properly end the life of your opponent."

In the air, a baton made of ice, with the properties of a police nightstick, formed in Winterfall’s hand, before the man quickly lashed out at Joseph, lunging forwards and winding him with a blow to the gut. Winterfall then went to work, striking at Joseph with precise and deliberate blows, a craftsman of violence at work on his finest creation. First, he struck low at the inside of Joseph’s knees, taking him off his feet, before barraging him swiftly yet brutally with a set of blows, striking him rapidly on the torso, face, everywhere, in a rapid beatdown. After sufficiently beating the life out of Joseph, Winterfall held up his baton, which began to morph into a frozen dagger. He held the blade back and was a split second away from plunging it directly into Joseph’s forehead right before...

---

"You know, my face is not real. It’s synthetic. Just like everything else," Cora said bitterly, but she attempted not to let it all out on poor Rumi. She looked over at him as he offered to fix up her arm before they arrived. "Oh, sure thing! It looks like you know what you’re doing, at any rate,." she said, holding up her damaged forearm, but the sound of the elevator’s ‘ding’ put that idea to bed. "Well, cancel that," she said as the elevator doors opened, a rush of cold instantly filling the elevator. "Oh no,” Cora said knowingly, moving forwards swiftly. ”Stand back. I’ll deal with this. Cover me,” she commanded, charging directly at Winterfall.

Winterfall heard the footsteps and turned, throwing the blade directly at Cora, who in turn promptly smashed the blade of ice into the ground with her palm. The two glared at each other in silent contemplation. Two S-tiers competing in mortal combat was a rare occurrence to say the least, and usually resulted in a lot of damage and somebody kicking the can.

Cora raised her fists into a fighting position, but before the two could lock into combat again, the sounds of a roaring motor filled the room.

---

Meanwhile, out on the bay, it soon became very apparent that Blade had not afforded them the best boat that he could. It might’ve been because of Patricia’s mishandling, or perhaps Alpha, or just wear and tear in general, but as soon as Alpha so much as laid his hand on the controls, the lever controlling the speed of the boat snapped and dropped down to the maximum setting. The boat’s engine quickly began to roar, and it began to speed at maximum velocity in the direction it was currently heading, which was directly towards Elmore Island.

The boat barreled forwards, throwing its occupants into the wall as it moved uncontrollably towards the building. The men inside the turret towers quickly reacted, giving the order to fire, but their machine guns only just started to rev up before sputtering out. The boat launched forwards, smashing directly through the gates surrounding the island and launched majestically through the front doors (well, really, just the front) of Hawthorne Correctional Facility, like a dolphin leaping out of the water.

The boat luckily had accrued a ridiculous amount of speed while it was mid-acceleration, and it soared over the downed jet that protected Jamie and towards Winterfall in the center of the room. Winterfall quickly made a slashing motion with his hand, briefly slowing down the boat midair and giving him an opportunity to make a break for it, dashing out of the path of Cora’s punch and towards the elevator. Cora would have pursued after him, but there were other issues of far greater concern at the moment.

The great flying boat, meanwhile, landed softly on the ground thanks to Osberg’s slowing superpowers, with the passengers inside hardly feeling a jolt upon landing. Cora looked inside at the occupants. "Perfect timing with the boat. That was an incredible stunt,” she said with a smile, having no clue of the series of events that had taken place moments earlier. "Come on out and help. Jamie and Joseph look like they’re in bad shape. Winterfall really did a number on them. See if there’s any other first-aid on there and give me a hand. I know a little comprehensive first aid, and I’m sure Rumi has some sort of wonder packed inside that robot of his...”

@rabidporcupine@canaryrose@DarkRecon@Scarifar@canaryrose@Zoey Boey@DClassified@DarkRecon

---

---

"I’m fucked. I’m royally fucked. Royally, royally fucked!”

Seraph was in his private chambers at the top of Hawthorne, at the top of the tower that adorned the building. He was sitting in his ornate gold desk, his head buried in his hands, sobbing gently. He was set for his lifelong goal, and had everything laid out so perfectly. He could attain his ambitions and destroy his enemies in one fell swoop. But now, he was crushed. His two loyal lieutenants and all the other heroes and villains he had hired were now defeated, and almost all of the support that Zero had provided him had abandoned ship once Seraph started losing. Now, he was alone in the room, alone to suffer a defeat at the hands of his enemies. HERO, somehow, had managed to triumph.

As he sat there, engulfed in his despondency, he heard the sound of his study door opening, and he quickly turned to face the intruder, only to see Nemesis walking in, his cloak swishing behind him, towering over Seraph. Seraph glared at him, his eyes red with tears. ”You guys...you guys all screwed me! You left me to fail!”

"Your order is incorrect. We did not leave you to fail. You failed, and so we have left."

”Same difference! Now, what the hell am I going to do? Fight the entire crew off on my own? I may be the greatest hero that ever lived, but...I’m fucked! They’re gonna rip me apart, throw me in prison...oh, everything has just been so FUCKED!”

Nemesis’ tone of voice didn’t change remotely. "It seems your proverbial 15 minutes has come and gone, yes. However, there is still a way for you to get revenge on your enemies and fell those that have wronged you, and perhaps leave you a chance to escape and start anew."

Seraph cringed upon hearing ‘start anew,’ but he did stop crying. ”I’m listening.”

Nemesis shifted his cloak, revealing underneath what appeared like an ornate bottle of wine. "A parting gift from the Commander," he said, placing the bottle on the table. It was a beautiful bottle, with gold leaf adorning the sides of the glass, and a strange, murky, dark burgundy liquid sloshing around inside, looking as though it had the consistency of molasses.

Seraph squinted. ”You want me to get wasted?”

Nemesis pointed a clawed finger at the bottle. "That is neither wine nor spirit," he explained. "That is some of the Commander’s finest Leftover blood. Harvested from some of the world’s deadliest Leftovers, mixed with honey for sweetness, though the taste is irrelevant compared to the power it bestows. Even the weakest metahuman can take on the strongest with a sip. You will feel power like you have never felt it before with just a gulp, but be warned that the price for such power is your humanity.,"

As Seraph stared at the bottle, Nemesis turned towards the door. "The choice is yours," he said, before walking out and vanishing as quickly as he had arrived.

Seraph continued to stare at the bottle, contemplating his decision for a few moments, before acting, reaching across the table and grabbing a wine glass. He opened the top of the bottle and was prepared to pour it into the glass, before slamming the bottle onto the desk and grabbing the glass. He chucked the glass across the room, shattering it on the wall, before grabbing the bottle, putting it to his lips, and beginning to chug.

---

---

---

The guard followed Starbright's demands and was leading him to Seraph's upper room at the top of the tower. It had been a hell of a day, but it was coming to an end. He kept trying to hide the limp he had gotten from the Shocker to less and less success. Would the guard in front of him realize that he could simply turn around with his gun and have the upper hand? Starbright had to hope that wasn't on his mind. "You say Seraph is just upstairs, right? We have been walking a while, why haven't we gotten to the stairs? I am getting impatient." "It's just up ahead. Don't worry about, the architecture was just a bit weird.

The guard continued along the hallway until stopping at the end. The was no stairway in sight, Starbright's fears came to reality as the guard pulled his rifle and aimed it square at Starbright's head. Was he trying to play hero or just recklessly chasing a reward? "You know, Seraph offered a good bit of money to the person who killed you. Do you really think I would help you, you stupid annoying prick." It was the latter. Frankly, Starbright would have been bored by it all if his life wasn't actively being threatened, and even that was getting a little old. "You really want to do this?" Was that all the quips he could muster? It really had been a long day. All Starbright did was close his eyes, hoping it wouldn't hurt too much.

WHACK!

That wasn't the sound of a gun, and his head hurt... well... not at all. What the hell was happening. Starbright was afraid to open his eyes. It felt like eternity before he did, but in reality it was only a second or two. Who else stood before him but the specter of a friend he thought dead. Only, it wasn't a specter at all. Alive and in the flesh, it was The Bullet!

"You had to go and beat the guard up. I obviously had it under control. Honestly, it..."

Starbright continued the tirade for a bit about how the situation was under control. But as he continued the speech, he grew visibly and audibly emotional. Although his response may have come off as cold before, it was almost immediately apparent that this was a front. This built up until he outright pulled Chad in for a hug. "I'm just glad you're alive." A teary Starbright said holding the hug before releasing it after a while. His gaze turned to Sea Serpent who he had just let slump down onto the ground. "Oh, right, I probably shouldn't let her drop like that huh?" Wiping away the tears he picked her back up then returned back to The Bullet. "We have one more to take down, Seraph. He's at the top of this tower, we take him down and it will all start crumbling." Almost as if by comedic timing the tower shook from whatever the hell was happening downstairs. "If it isn't going down already, we need to hurry."

The duo proceeded on to find some stairs, Starbright had noticed The Bullet lagging behind at this point. It was then he fully noticed the state of his leg and stopped in his tracks. "You smashed it pretty hard in the fall then? Not to worry, I have three words for you, privatized HERO healthcare. I have the best medic in HERO on speed dial, he can patch that up good as new. We just..." Starbright paused as he heaved Sea Serpent around to continue forward "have to finish this first."

The two had found the stairs and started ascending. Battered and bruised, the two were not ready for a full on fight with a healthy Seraph. It was a gamble. Starbright had Sea Serpent, maybe they could negotiate or, at the very least, manage a getaway in time if things went wrong. But there was something he needed to address first. "Bullet, I'm not going to force you into this. I'm going up these stairs to confront Seraph and it may not turn out well. I'm giving you an out here, you can take it or you can stay. But that decision rests only on your shoulders alone." This was perhaps the first time in his life that Starbright made a decision that could place some else's life above the safety of his own. He wasn't sure how to feel about that.

---

Starbright reached the peak, not even looking behind him to see if The Bullet stayed with him or not. "Aha, I see you are drinking away your sorrows fine enough Seraph. Honestly I feel bad for you, but at least you can see when you've lost unlike Sea Serpent here. I also know you are too smart for me to try and trick you with promises of getting out of this without consequences. I'll give it to you straight, it is mere moments until you are locked away in Coldwater. Before I would have been happy, thought 'good riddance to him'. But now I see that sending you there would be a death sentence, wouldn't it." Starbright's whole tone resembled someone who was concerned, but with how tired he was it came off as extremely fake. "I don't want the blood of a fellow star on my hands now do I? I was thinking you can surrender now and I'll negotiate a house arrest or something right? It isn't the best I know, but after what you've done it must sound pretty good. Think about it, you could be home in your mansion with Sea Serpent here living out a good life." As if to indicate his point Starbright begun ballroom dancing with the unconscious Sea Serpent. "La da da, la da de. Sounds good right?" Starbright brow furrowed as he saw Seraph was still just downing the wine. "I know alcohol might sound good or whatever, I don't care. But have you at least considered what I'm saying?" Starbright was very oblivious to the darker nature of the bottle.

---

[@ZoeyBoey]

Grace picked some slime out of her hair as she floated back to the cramped plane. "I hardly do, but I guess I have no choice," she said to him, tugging at the neck of her shirt, drenched in rainwater, slime, and sweat. The entire room was absolutely baking right now, which made sense, considering that it was on fire, and the inside of the airplane was also incredibly, incredibly hot. It seemed as though even when evil and knocked unconscious, Blake always exuded some sort of heat. A human space heater would've been an excellent asset to have in the winter, but in the already flaming room, it was seriously messing with Grace's attention. She was a very temperature-sensitive person, and the events of the day, combined with the heat, was taking a significant toll on her mental state. "Focus," she whispered to herself, before making a waving motion with her hand, and sucking the occupants of the plane out of the vehicle and directly into the lobby.

Grace's calculus was on point, and the two conscious individuals were deposited safely on the tiles of the now-destroyed lobby area. Blake's arrival was less elegant, with him falling clumsily on the ground and flopping like a flounder. It wasn't an ideal landing, but hey, when you betray your friends, it's what you get. And on the subject of betraying your friends, Grace then remembered that she was now holding hands with what many of them probably thought was still a traitor, which wasn't exactly a good look. She quickly squawked (mostly at Patti, who had a temper when it came to this type of thing), "Good news! Tom didn't sell us all out to Seraph!" She gave his hand a squeeze. "He was just trying to go undercover on Seraph..." Her attention quickly transitioned elsewhere, though, towards the downed figures of Jamie and Joseph. She gasped. "Holy shit, that's a lot of blood," she said, kneeling next to Joseph and adjusting the crystalline device on his chest. "Stay still, and take deep breaths. Deep breaths. Also, when this is all over, take a shower while you're at it. You smell." She sniffed the air. "Or maybe I smell. I hate this goo stuff..." Grace wiped her sleeve before standing, when she heard the sounds of footsteps. Lots of footsteps.

At first, she thought it was Seraph's army, ready to wipe them all out, but thankfully, it wasn't. Rather, it was a large number of people from a variety of professions, entering almost in waves. The first wave was paramedics, who quickly ran over to help Joseph and Jamie, who were in the most perilous state. They were thankfully very professional, working post-haste to apply whatever first-aid was still needed and loading them onto stretchers. Blake was also loaded onto a stretcher, though they made sure to strap him down once he began to snarl at the paramedics in his sleep. Everybody else, as miserable as they were, were pretty much given the cold shoulder by the emergency workers, who quickly took the most severely injured out of the area.

Not too long after the paramedics had arrived, the police entered the area, looking a combination of stunned and pissed. The latter sentiment quickly won out, though, as the cops spotted Patricia, and a high-pitched buzz quickly filled the room as their weapons became trained on the teen. They then began to bark orders at her, though it was clear there was no uniformity in their commands. Some of them demanded Patti to sit down, others demanded her to stand, and others yelled at her to kneel, while officers told her to both put her hands above her head, on her head, and at her side. In the midst of the chaos, though, a single, bold, powerful, and very loud voice pierced through the combined sound of the entire lobby.

”PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN AND STEP AWAY FROM MY EMPLOYEE!”

Powers had entered the lobby, flanked by two Division X footsoldiers and Christina, who gave her usual glare at Pandora. Powers looked slightly worse for wear- some bandages were visible at his wrists and neck from underneath his jacket, and most notably, he was walking with a thick wooden cane in hand. He was, however, definitely alive, and still definitely scary enough to send the cops running for the hills. This situation was already far too complicated for the police officers to handle, and Powers' presence meant that this entire state of affairs was well above their pay grade.

Powers limped over to the group, using his cane to support himself, as the last wave of people- Division X members- moved in to secure the area, a swarm of Division X agents in jet black uniforms moving across the room, speaking into their radios, as Powers stood, looking over the group. ”Good work. Certainly an unanticipated coarse of events, one whose blame rests on my shoulders for sure,” Powers said. ”But you guys pulled through, as excellently as usual. I can't help but feel just the slightest bit proud.” He looked at them coolly, the moonlight reflecting onto his face as the smell of extinguished fires filled the room. ”There's a reason I consider HERO the best group of heroes on Earth...nowhere else would any other team of heroes have the moral compass, the drive, and the skill not only to avoid being caught after an entire god damn coup d'etat, but upend a system that was designed exclusively to defeat them. Good work.” Powers leaned on his cane. ”Of course, there'll be inquiries, and lots of paperwork, but you should consider yourselves...off the hook. For the more serious charges, at any rate. Obviously, with Seraph out of the picture, his pathetic EAgLES project is out the window, too, which means you should be back to normal in no time flat. I'm going to head back to HERO One in a second and make sure everything is in order, and then you'll be back in business. I would suggest myself getting some of those cuts and scrapes checked out. Spacewalker, those burns look like second-degree; you might want to get those checked out.”

Cora interjected, raising a metal finger.. "Director? Quick question. What happened to Seraph when you say that he's 'out of the picture,' quote un-quote?"

Powers nodded. ”Well, a quick summary...”

---

"Yes...yes...yes....the POWER!”

Seraph was hardly listening to Starbright or CHad or anybody, instead panting heavily, the Leftover blood dripping down his chin and forming a small pool on the table. "I can feel it! The limitless power! It's...it's overwhelming! Yes! Yes! ARRRGH!”

Seraph spread his arms, and much to Starbright's likely discomfort, his figure began to change instantly. He grew taller, his hair growing out instantly, and two extra pairs of wings sprouted from his back, giving him a grand total of six. His body grew vastly out of proportion, his upper torso becoming a monstrous Hulk-sized form, and his eyes looked like they were about to burst from his eyelids.

”Now, let me unleash the power upon my enemies!” Seraph roared, but instead of turning Starbright into a pulp, Seraph grasped his mosntrously deformedf head, howling, as it stumbled across the room. Little to his knowledge, Leftover blood was indeed an amplifier of power, but there was one caveat. In order for it to truly turn one into an unkillable beast, the drinker had to have zero sense of remorse or guilt for their actions. Seraph was close to totally apathetic to the suffering of others, and his transformation was very nearly complete, but there was a small pang of remorse in his heart, a small sliver of heroism back in the glory days when Seraph was truly an agent of justice, and that miniscule bit of guilt at what he had become, which Seraph thought he had done away with, was now preventing him from becoming all-powerful.

Seraph thrashed wildly around the room, his giant wings smashing all the furniture as he swung around the room, clutching his head, crazily staggering every which way. ”Stop! Stop! Let me kill! LET ME OBLITERATE!” he howled and screeched as he stumbled to every corner of the room, unable to release his powers onto the world that was now finally moving on from him. In his wild thrashings, he stumbled towards a window, one of his wings clumsily smashing in the glass as one of his legs slipped through the open space. He lost his balance and, as his wings were non-fuctional at this time, fell through.

”NOOO!” he screamed as he plummeted, falling rapidly towards the Earth, but he had gone too far to be saved, and his body fell into the cold blue ocean with a spectacular splash.

---

”...and so, we have a crew dredging out his body out of the bay as we speak.”

"...wow."

Powers chuckled good-naturedly. ”'Wow' is something that you could say, yes. It certainly does match the spectacle of it all, doesn't it? In any case, it would be best you all get going. Our ER should be functional again soon if you'd like to be examined. We do give you medical for good reason.” He turned towards the doorway, resting his cane on the ground, before looking back at the group. ”Oh, one more thing.”

He reached into his jacket pocket, removing a small scrap of paper that he handed to Grace. ”The community at large is going to need somebody to re-affirm the authenticity and virtue of superheroes in Castleburg, after this whole mess. Seeing what the rich, famous, bourgeois heroes have become will hurt the image of heroes. And, of course, they need somebody else to obsess over and write about in their freaky magazines. You lot seem to have the...wholesome attitude that I think Castleburg needs. Just remember that, years ago, Seraph, Mr. Impressive, and Sea Serpent were in your shoes. Young, hot, famous, bold...and they let that get to their heads. Look where that got them.” Powers shook his head. ”Make sure you never become them. But, that being said, I think some of you could use a little more positive attention. They say any publicity is good publicity, but I'll be damned if that's the case.” Powers chuckled at his own statement. "Take care.”

With that, Powers walked off, limping, and using his cane for support. Grace watched him go, and then looked down at the paper. Grace was a fast reader, and before anybody else could sneak a peak, she crumpled it up and shoved it in her pocket.

---

---

"Why did you invite me of all people?"

"You're the only one that's not doing anything right now. Also, you're not that judge-y."

Blake had just been released from the hospital, having recovered very swimmingly from having his brain been hijacked. When he first awoke, he had attempted to melt one of the nurses, but some tender loving care (and medication) had brought him back to normal, for the most part. Blake did still have a craving for very, very red meat and was having disturbingly violent dreams, but outside of that, he was pretty much normal Blake. Blake was granted a week of 'administrative leave' from doing hero work to recover, though, which was something that he gladly took.

"Anyway, this is the place. 11 Liberty Avenue," Grace said, pointing at the location.

Blake blinked as he looked at the location- a location called Neko Tengoku. It was a Climber Cat Café- a cat café but with the fad Leftover breed of cats- and it was adorable. The entire cafe was literally crawling with Climber Cats, the oversized, plush-like kittens snuggling up with smiling and laughing patrons. "You're gonna buy us all cats, or something? I mean, that's really cool of you to do, don't get me wrong, but I already have a pet to take care of. His name is Biscuit, and he's a-"

"I know about your stupid rat already, and this isn't the place! Right next to this place, you dumbass!"

"Real sweet girl. I'm not sure what Tom sees in you," Blake muttered as he looked to the location due east of the cat café. It wasn't exactly an impressive piece of real-estate- instead, a stone, drab building with a heavy, rusting steel door and the letters C, E, W, and R spray-painted in white paint on the front of the building. "This is the place? It looks kind of...what's the word? Dilapapated?"

"Dilapaditated, and yes, this is the place. Watch," Grace said, walking up to the steel door and rapping her fist on it a few times. The sound of fist on metal echoed through the premises, before a metal slit opened up, a pair of eyes looking in. The person behind the door looked at the two, before the door swung open. Grace stood aside, allowing Blake to enter first, and the red-haired young adult walked in just to be utterly amazed. The interiors of the building were entirely unlike the unimpressive exterior. Blake had expected some type of warehouse, similar to the one the Guglianos took his friends captive in, but what he found was a super, super cool retro speakeasy. It was awesome. The entire interior room was black and white, with one entire wall being a marble-constructed bar that was lined with every sort of drink imaginable. Much of the rest of the room was composed of cushiony black chairs and glowing white tables. It was an impeccably designed room; cozy but not cramped. At the other end of the room was a sleek black wiry spiral staircase, leading up to a mysterious upper level.

"There are some rooms and stuff upstairs," Grace explained to Blake, whose jaw was currently on the floor. "Offices, too. We have a part-time secretary now. She's just some college kid I recruited out of Tom's fan club, but she's very good at staying organized. Also gave another girl a gig as a PR manager. I figured this would be a nice spot to meet up, you know, after a long day of work, maybe unwind a little bit...it's a good step towards the future." Grace looked at Blake tentatively. "You think it's a good idea? This is gonna cost a lot of money, but I can back out now if you think it's stupid..."

"No, no, it's great! Really. Super cool. Thanks so much." Blake smiled. "Woohoo! The Castleburg Really Epic Warriors are in business! When are we gonna let everybody else know about this?"

"First, please call it by the acronym. I hate this name. Second, I'm texting them now." Grace held out her brand-new phone, texting in the group chat. "A new chapter for us, I hope."

"Yep!" Blake said with a goofy grin as he looked around the beautiful mini-pub. "Things can only go up from here!"

Little did he know just how wrong he would be.

---

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. What the hell happened to Seraph? In Starbright's mind he was just drinking some wine, and then this happened. What had Seraph become? Some disgusting monstrosity that only spelt one thing for Starbright, death. Screaming in panic he sprinted for the door, but couldn't get a hold of the handle. Putting his back to the wall, he fell down into a sit, closed his eyes, put Sea Serpent in front of him, and hoped it all went away. But much like the guard, nothing happened. It was all a bunch of scary noises. When he heard the glass shatter, he opened his eyes. And saw the monster of Seraph plummeting to his death.

"Oh... right, yes. I knew that was going to happen." Starbright stood up and tried gaining his composure. He placed Sea Serpent down to the side. "Sorry about that Sea." But the apology wasn't about using her body as a shield. "If a someone turned into a hideous monster just to not be with me I'd be devastated too." Not like she could respond. "Well at least we got one for Coldwater, right Bullet? That's something." He walked over to share a victory with the guy. But his gaze quick set back to the hole Seraph left. It was a little too close to him, he took a step back.

"This though, this just won't do. We can't have Seraph just die from going ghoul. Wheres the drama in that? Wheres the pizazz? There is no value in any of this."

"Lesson 2 Bullet, this ones important. Do you know the value of a story? What happened today will be remembered in history. We can't have it ruined by, well this." He gestured over to the hole. "Looking like a hero can be just as important as being one. Think about this, what criminal is going to want to fight the two who destroyed that monster in seconds? No conflict, no casualties, no collateral damage."

Starbright turned to face the Bullet directly and looked him straight in the eyes. "You and I are the only ones who saw what happened here. We did this. We pulled out and new, never before seen, combo that finished Seraph in seconds. Who in their right mind would go up against something like that?"

Gazing back at the hole, Starbright continued. "I won't go through with saying that if you aren't on board with it. But if you do, I think there's going to be a big future for you coming up."

---