"Emo," Kane scoffed as he flipped his hair out of his eye to get better aim. He then paused for a moment to consider how that must've looked... Something between a grunt and an abrupt growl rolled out of his throat as the disappointment in himself set in.

That's when the first of the hechmen's barrel's lit up, followed by another and yet another still. Bullets exploded forth with a trajectory destined for Kane's midsection. He didn't move, however. Didn't even flinch. Kane knew what would happened next. He was invincible.

As expected, the bullets collided against some invisible force field just in front of him. Kane's mouth curled into a smug grin. These idiots clearly didn't know who they were messing with. As thoughts of his own badassery swam in his head, Kane's eyes slowly drifted to the ground. That's when he saw them: the talismans. His eyes immediately shot back up and over to Robin with a look of renewed awe.

I'm not invincible, Kane begrudgingly realized as his heart began to race a little faster. It's him. Him and his magic Post-Its..

As mayhem continued to erupt around him, Kane was left wondering what to do next. That's when he saw the freckled woman mount an ethereal looking spear into the ground. After a split second, the purpose clicked. He knew exactly what she was trying to do.

Kane made a dash for her location, covering himself with a wild spray of bullets toward the storm troopers, intent on riddling their legs with holes. He wasn't going to be able to rely on Post It protection forever, he realized. A passive defense against the lightening would be best, if effective.

"Hi there," he said smoothly to the young woman before turning to face the action once more. The wind was displacing some of the raindrops that were flowing in through the shattered windows. Kane had to squint to see through the watery debris. "This," he shouted through the sound of electricity and rainfall as he pointed at the rod in the ground. "Good idea!" Despite talking to her, his eyes were roaming elsewhere, trying to analyze the entire scene around them.

There, over yonder, was the fast chick that manage to get a few hits in on the big man. She would be useful for an assortment of applications. And just over there was the woman who always tried to lighten the mood with a joke. The storm troopers never seemed to appreciate them, though, but they always gave her a pass after she delivered. Kane still wasn't sure what to make of that. He scanned the room again to locate the rest of the rag tag team. Just off to the side, Post It guy arguing with his pet cat, but he had lost sight of the shadowy looking woma-

Wait...

"Is that a fucking talking cat?!" he shouted out toward Mr. Post It. He then looked back to the freckled woman beside him. "You see that? Is that a fucking talking cat?!" Kane blinked a few times, as if doing so would make the cat disappear and set the world right again. He finally had to just shake his head and put a pin in that little source of wild confusion.

Just then the rogue tire made its frontal assault. "I don't..." Kane let out a huff. "I don't even have the words."

He then traded glances between Freckles, Miss Speedy and the energy rods. "Are those safe to touch?" He finally asked. He hoped so. He would love to see that Lightning Pig stuck with a fork at super sonic speed.

Paige

---

Paige was frustrated.

She was frustrated that her hits, each enough to send a grown man sprawling, had only managed to shrink a few of the rotund villain's balls. He hadn't even noticed, hadn't even paused to wonder.

She was frustrated that the sight of a speeding cargo truck, probably full of something valuable, speeding toward him with an undeniably aggressive vibe, didn't even seem to phase him.

She was frustrated that, upon hearing that he was the main target of a dozen or so returning Storm Troopers, this Midknight character just stood there looking cocky, despite having shown no power that would suggest he could handle what was running at him aside from dumb luck.

Uh ... I guess dumb luck could actually be a power ...

The barrier that sprang into being at the same second as the barrage of gunfire kind of supported the notion, but then the man in the long coat had been pretty on-it defensively. Whatever the case, it was a bad time to stop and think about it.

Regardless, she was most frustrated by the fact that, one by one, everything they threw against Thundercloud was falling apart at the ends of his stupid greasy fingers. He tazed the two turn coats from across the lobby, stopped the oncoming truck with a raised middle finger, and even had time to diminish people with handicaps before destroying the ENTIRE lobby.

Paige crossed her arms and stood her ground with a hopeless glare on her face, standing close enough to the magic man to expect the barriers that rose to protect her and the others nearby. She still dropped down to cover herself as debris exploded all around her, but the lightning bolt with her name on it struck only force field. As the dust swirled, the whole building groaned around them, the walls struggling to take on the weight that the columns had been helping with.

Maybe a building would stop him ...

That seemed a bit reckless, but she was getting pretty done with his fluffy grey ass.

Hearing Olivia's outburst from across the lobby, she turned to see what was wrong, only to notice that the man in blue had made his way over to the huddle. The troopers, for one reason or another, were running back out to fight the cops, while Olivia just stood there staring on in horror ... and then laughing ...

To be fair, it was pretty weird seeing the tire rolling around on its own like a badass, but Paige was quickly learning not to question 100% of what she saw for the sake of her own sanity.

Actually, the tire gave her an idea. Seeing that Thundercloud's blasts had blown open all the doors off the walls in the entire room, the janitor's closet was now exposed. Time slowed around her as she dashed over, peering into the ruined little room. It was pretty sparse, but on a shelf beside the door sat a stack of rubber cleaning gloves.

Balling up a few pairs in her fists, she pushed herself against the back wall before slowing time. Pushing herself off, she built up a bit of speed, clumsily shouldering Thundercloud in the side to stop herself at the same time as the tire hit him in the front. Dialing back her speed to allow safe handling of the gloves, she was partly counting on the all-season distraction to give her an extra moment or two to enact her plan.

Releasing the rubber gloves from her grip, they fell slowly toward the floor as she took hold of the first. It billowed out as she moved it toward Thundercloud's hand, sliding easily over his meaty paw.

The second one she caught and slipped onto his other hand with equal ease. She layered both hands twice before running out of gloves, praying her high-school-science level plan would have some kind of dampening effect on his thrown lightning, if only for a few moments. Springing up into the air, she planted her foot against his exposed face to push herself back toward the group, landing a few feet away from the summoning circle and its feline occupant, just beside his protectors.

As time returned to normal speed around her, the man who had announced himself as Midknight was asking about touching the spears poking out of the ground. The woman in the grey jacket, seemingly the one responsible for the glimmering objects, must have been like magic man ... who seemed ... busy ...

Did it just ... ask for fish ... like right now?

Well things just went from chaotic and bad to chaotic and very bad.

Rosaria sighed as she lied prone on the ground, both hands holding her head. Freaking luck shot... At least the pain from the fall got muted thanks to this form... She half complained as she slowly got up to a crouching posture. This always happened whenever she got forcefully thrown out of the shadows she were merged with, getting disoriented with severe vertigo for several seconds. The first time it happened was a stupid fiasco with that curtain in her apartment being blown by the wind and letting lights in and such... But at least thanks to that one this wasn't an entirely unexpected thing anymore. Still, she's going to have to work on this, though it's not like she had any idea on where to even start...

Rosaria had became visible thanks to all of this mess. To anyone that might look her way, they will find a half-transparent dark figure clad in black clothing crouched in one of the corners of the room. Of course, with her face in this form being that of a dark ghastly skull, they wouldn't be able to see that she was actually grimacing as she struggled with the vertigo. They can't be blamed either if they thought of her as some kind of a bogey man, or a villain, considering her appearance...

The few seconds passed slowly. For Rosaria, it felt way too long regardless of how short it actually was. And in these few seconds, she was blind and deaf to everything around her. She didn't notice the self-moving tire going for Thundercloud at a breakneck pace. She didn't notice Olivia's mental breakdown or the other heroes gathering and working together. Alright, I got this... I got this... She breathed deep in and out, the vertigo slowly fading away as her mind slowly gathered back its clarity. Then, she sighed one more time before standing back up, spectral eyes focused on one and one target only.

Then quickly and suddenly, she disappeared once more, merged into the shadows. Mere seconds later, she reappeared behind Thundercloud from within his own shadows. As the saying goes... Cut off the head of the snake! She thought to herself as her knife flashed, headed straight for the middle of Thundercloud's neck from behind. Whether it will work or not, she had no idea. One thing she did knew for sure however, was that she had no qualm about fatally wounding a villain or two if that's what it takes to stop them.

Thundercloud was exceedingly confused. No, not by Robin summoning a cat girl. That entirely fit with his Otaku personality. Could he be any more of a stereotype? Whatever; meow mix wasn’t doing much, so she could be ignored.

More confusing, however, was how the weaboo’s girlfriend was smart enough and able to create those “lightning rods” while still being with the Chink. Sure, they didn’t deflect all of the electricity, but they did enough to hamper his plans. Maybe that’s why the other girl was laughing? Also confusing was that he thought he heard metal hit the ground…but somehow his hands had rubber gloves on top of them? And his face somehow got stunned for a moment? Just what the fuck was going on here?

There wasn’t much time to think about it though; suddenly, some kind of black girl appeared from the shadows. And right after that, both of them got hit by a tire! The momentum pushed both of them towards one of the corners of the lobby. The “cotton balls” had shielded Thundercloud from most of the damage, though they were gone now, and the fat man had shielded Rosaria in turn.

Thundercloud was startled to see the shadow girl next to him though, so out of instinct more than anything, he kicked her away. And in the midst of all this nonsense, the villain just now realized his men went outside to fight the police. Sure, killing cops was always funny, but this wasn’t really the time for that.

Now was the time to kill these fuckers once and for all! So he charged up his power, putting a great deal of energy into creating a much stronger wave of electricity than before, and sent it straight at the heroes. At the same time, a burst of real lightning from the sky surged towards them from behind!

Thundercloud grinned; there was no way they could survive all of that.

A tire. Out of all things possible, a tire. Oh are you freaking kidding me?? Rosaria internally groaned as she along with Thundercloud were pushed back towards a corner by the surprise tire. At least the villain had inadvertently acted as a shield and absorbed most of the impact of the tire. Together with Rosaria's partial corporeality, it made her pretty much barely harmed by the tire and the momentum. That'll teach me to rush ahead without taking stock of the situation first... She thought to herself, and then before she can really do anything else as she was still trying to get her bearing, Thundercloud kicked her away from himself out of reflex.

"Oof..." Rosaria let out as she were pushed away by the kick. She'd probably be a wreck at this point if now for her powers significantly reducing the effect of any physical impact. One side of her was grateful of her powers. But the other side promptly pointed out that she wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if she haven't gotten these powers. But no matter, there's no time for internal debate right now. Not with the villain now aware of her existence... And definitely not when the villain seemed like he's charging power for something big!

Okay, that looks really really bad... As fast as she can, Rosaria immediately put her mind to work. It didn't take a genius to know that anytime a super powered individual "charged up" their powers, it was basically prelude to something that will be really bad for their enemies. So Rosaria's course of action seemed very very clear. After all, there will be no point in any of this if she doesn't survive whatever big thing was coming from the villain. Not to mention that it will just not do to die when she was just getting started with this whole "being a hero" thing. As if she'll just give up and die when she had just obtained this chance to actually be someone that mattered...

Yes. She was very sure that she will have to run. Those who lived after all, will be able to went on and fight another day. There was no point in trying to be reckless and getting herself killed like a stereotypical overly eager newbie. And so Rosaria didn't even bother to wait around for Thundercloud to finish charging up. She immediately merged once more into the shadows and then moved as rapidly as she could within the shadows to go out of the building through the way she came in from, making sure to remain within the shadows while gaining as much distance away as possible.

As for the other "heroes"? Well one, Rosaria's power will be of no use in protecting them. She knew that she couldn't even take other people into the shadows with her. Two, they probably had their own ways of surviving and protecting themselves, what's with also being super powered individuals and such. And if they somehow unfortunately don't? Well... That's a shame, but Rosaria wasn't about to cry over the possible death of complete strangers that she knew practically nothing about.

"You see that? Is that a fucking talking cat?!" Kestrel heard the large man's words but couldn't quite process them. Between trying to maintain her two ethereal spears and witnessing a tire assault Thundercloud and the shadowy figure that appeared behind him, she was starting to doubt if this wasn't just another one of the dreams like the ones she had shortly after the meteor fell. The fact that she kept seeing another woman zip from place to place didn't help either. There was simply too much happening.

Her initial plan was to redirect Thundercloud's attacks outside, to throw one spear outside and try to channel the energy absorbed by the other into it but the glances Kane was giving her and the racist electrician suggested he had another idea. "Are those safe to touch?" His question shook her out of it somewhat. Redirecting the lightning would protect them, yes, but Thundercloud kept responding to their attempts at survival with increasing force and none of them were entirely sure how much he was capable of. It was time to respond with force.

Her mind wandered again. Kestrel was never violent. All her life she was kept away from danger and coddled by her parents to the point of being terrified of risk. She went against them, of course, as much as she could. Time and time again she tried and often failed to leave her bubble and do something new. And yet here she was, feeling as though her life was moments from being over be it via dangerous jolt of electricity or from the weight of the building burying all of them as it slowly fell apart.

She was pretty sure she saved a few of the strangers after the initial attack and she protected Robin just as he requested, and yet what would it all be for if she failed now? Was she really expecting to accomplish something grand when she barged out of her dorm and ran for the Tower? The crackling that began to emanate from the embedded spear snapped her out of it.

With the gunfire amplifying outside, Thundercloud began charging another attack. A big one. There was no time left.

"They're still absorbing the energy from his previous attack, but I don't know how much more they can hold." She uttered. "If I let go of it I don't know how long it will last, but you can throw it harder than I can." Kestrel tightened her grip on the spear embedded in the floor and reached out with the other towards Kane just as Thundercloud unleashed his newest attack. It seemed as though even the weather had turned against them as another flood lightning came from behind. She manifested a set of waist high barriers for herself, Kane and Robin to in a desperate attempt to give them some degree of protection if worst came to worst.

There really was no time left.

"If I let go of it I don't know how long it will last, but you can throw it harder than I can." As the freckled woman offered up the ethereal spear, Kane's brow lowered, determination creeping up upon his face. He grabbed hold and shifted his gaze over to the infamous Thundercloud. The loosely bound team was losing. Some were fleeing, others were panicking. Any possibility of victory was quickly dissipating. They were going to lose.

Can't give up now, Kane thought, fighting passed his own doubt.

Teeth clenched, lips curled, Kane took a leading step and heaved the spear with all of his might just as the villain had launched his frontal electric assault. The spear cleaved through the arcs of lightning as it soared towards its target.

That's when the already chaotically lit room got even brighter. It seemed Mother Nature, herself, wanted in on this skirmish. A bolt from the heavens came down from behind the motley crew. Kane never even saw it when it hit. He didn't even feel it when it made contact with his vest. He hardly believed it when he looked down to witness his feet no longer touching the floor. The sight of the lobby wall became bigger and closer in what felt like slow motion, but was truly a fraction of a second.

As Kane collided with the wall, the natural lightning bolt tethered to his vest, the raindrops upon his clothes and skin began to erupt in vaporous explosions. His shirt almost instantly disintegrated into shreds. The vest was quick to fall off as the fabrics melted away. Kane's exposed skin was completely singed. You could see patches of raw, bloody musculature across his back.

The natural lightning retreated as quickly as it came, leaving Kane in a steaming, crumpled mess on the ground. An odor of burnt flesh permeated the air as a grotesque croaking moan escaped Kane's mouth. He couldn't move... couldn't even feel. All he could do was lay there helpless and confused. Nevertheless, he was conscious, his eyes open conveying a trapped sense of utter horror.

Why, he asked himself, tears welling up in his eyes. Why did I even bother? How was any of this worth it? He could feel the sting of sorrow as his scleras became pink. He traded his life to live out a childhood fantasy for a single evening. A collage of fading faces began to swim in his mind. His mother, his father, his sister, his friends... He wouldn't even get to say goodbye. He wouldn't get to apologize for acting so rash. Why did he do this? What was it all for?

Slowly he closed his eyes, the built up tears finally falling. He stopped moaning and simply exhaled. His once tense body eased into limpness. And then... utter stillness.



"It's too hard!" Spencer shouted with frustration as he swung the baseball bat into the ground in a temper tantrum.

"Spence, it's not supposed to be easy!" his father scolded from the pitcher's mound. "If everyone could do everything with ease, there'd be no such thing as 'special'. You, kid- you have what it takes to be special, but you can't give up just because something isn't easy. You've got to work at it, practice. You're going to fail now and again, but you've got to keep trying, you hear me?"

Spencer grimaced as he stood at home plate in his little league uniform. With a huff, he adjusted his baseball helmet and pulled the bat back up to his shoulder before getting in his ready stance. His father gave a solemn nod of approval before he started to wind up the ball.

And then, he threw it. It was fast. Spencer made the mistake of swinging too early before. That was not a mistake he planned on repeating. In his mind, he noted when he felt like he should swing and then gave it another mental beat before finally pulling the trigger. The crack of the collision set off endorphins in Spencer's entire body. His father's eyes went wide as he watch the baseball take off skyward, arching well passed the back fences. He turned around and looked at his son with a sense of pride and glee.

"A home run?! Are you kidding me! And here you were ready to quit, boy!" Spencer's beaming grin went from ear to ear as his dad approached him and knelt. "You see, that's what I'm talking about. You can't just quit when things get hard. You've got to rise above it. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. When you fall down..."



You get your ass back up.

Kane's eyes flew open. His irises were gone. In their place was a spiraling kaleidoscope of iridescent color shining out. Even the steam around Kane's body began to reflect and illuminate an almost living palette of every hue imaginable. Humid particles in the air refracted light from a source unseen and shined out as if he was in a spacious cloud of glitter. His entire aura was composed of a twisting, swirling, shimmering rainbow.

A thud echoed through the lobby as Kane's right fist punched the floor, soon followed by his left. In a bare knuckle pushup, he elevated his body to his knees. He still couldn't feel his injuries, yet. His nervous system was in absolute shock. Slowly, he pulled one foot out from under him and soon the other until he was finally standing upright, facing the wall into which he had recently crashed. He looked over his shoulder before pivoting his entire body, his complete focus directed at Thundercloud. His naked torso was bloody, parts of his pants in burnt tatters and portions of his shoes had melted and malformed. But he was up. For now, that's all that mattered.

His hands trembled uncontrollably as they awkwardly closed into fists. He raised each of them up towards his chin like a boxer who had just entered the ring. His thumb flicked his nose and Kane bellowed out, "Alright. No more fucking around." As his fists squeezed, they seemed to glow even brighter with that constantly changing spectrum of colors. "Let's get sparkly."

Paige

---

Paige cocked an eyebrow at Kane as he asked about touching the lightning rods. It didn't seem like the best idea to her. She didn't understand that he intended to throw the shimmering thing, a little slow for a speedster. It wasn't until Kestrel said as much that she realized what the plan was, her brow peaking in surprise and uncertainty. Isn't is a ... a bit pointy? she felt her stomach turn and knot at the thought of it piercing Thundercloud, even killing him. For all the enthusiasm she'd had getting here, she hadn't thought much about what she was going to do to Thundercloud to make him stop.

Hadn't thought about the fact that heroes were actually pretty violent.

She tried to swallow the dry feeling in her throat. Thundercloud hadn't had a second thought in any of his attempts to kill them. He didn't seem like a second thought kind of guy, and to be honest it was questionable whether he bothered having FIRST thoughts. Did that mean they would have to kill him to stop him? That's probably one of those big hero-y questions that I'm fully qualified even to be asking ...

Paige tensed as a sudden flash of light from Thundercloud's direction drew her attention. A crackling wave of lightning tore through the lobby toward the various would-be heroes. She still wasn't sure if it was a good idea, watching in increasingly slow motion, as Kane took the spear from Kestrel, her barriers already shimmering into being around them.

Across the lobby, Olivia looked pretty exposed without barriers or bodies to protect her. [i]Wait is that ... the actual shadow of death?![i] She wondered as she caught momentary sight of Rosaria disappearing into a shadow. The tire would probably be fine, and Robin ... well, she still wasn't sure what was happening there.

Paige couldn't actually help anyone as she was. Pushing someone out of the way could easily break their neck. She had to worry about herself for now. Turning to flee, she could see the exit blocked by the lightning from outside, her jaw clenching as she realized she had nowhere to run. She would have to figure out something else.

Problem was, she couldn't get any momentum as fast as she was moving. She was stuck, while the lightning inched toward her. Jaw clenched, she had one last idea. Pushing off from the ground, she floated upward and out of the path of the converging walls of lightning. She didn't go very high, and began to fall back toward the ground while the lightning was still underneath her.

She watched, unable to do anything, as her feet drew closer and closer to the electricity. Clamping her eyes shut, she risked one last stupid idea and returned to normal time.

Paige touched the lightning, albeit the back side of the wave. Her suit was rubberized, protecting her from the most serious burns, but it sent her shooting out the front doors, smoking lightly as she rolled to a stop on the wet pavement and took a moment to stare up into the rain wondering if she was actually still alive.

The rainbow dance party of light that erupted from inside just moments later had her convinced she was dead. Sitting up, the pain in her body quickly changed her mind, and with a groan she climbed to her feet. All around, storm troopers lay prone, some smoking, some openly flaming. The police, thankfully, had been relatively far from the source, and while their vehicles were damaged, their bodies weren't strewn about the place.

Squinting into the strangely lit lobby, Paige was surprised to see Kane glowing up.

... What?!

Taking a few steps forward, a sharp pain in her side made her hesitate, another pinch following the surprised gasp she issued. She must have broken a rib in the fall, she'd felt this kind of thing before. Lips tight in a frown, she wondered if she was just being stupid at this point ...

Before Thundercloud executed his electrical execution, he noticed the shadow girl he kicked disappear. Whatever, that wasn’t surprising; the darkie was just being useless like all black people were. More importantly, the Otaku’s girlfriend and grunge guy were working on some kind of plan, which was to apparently throw the spear his way while getting hit by lightning! Thundercloud supposed this shouldn’t be that surprising; emos enjoy killing themselves, after all.

The spear was easy enough to counter; thanks to the electricity it had absorbed, Thundercloud could simply move it in mid-air away from him. Interestingly, the spear dissolved shortly after that. Maybe that was part of the girl’s power?

More difficult to counter, however, would be the tire charging at him again. He had to assume the rubber had protected it from too much damage. This was just tedious now; it’s not like he’d fall for the same trick twice. Thundercloud created small “cotton balls” in his palms and the bottom of his feet, allowing him to catch the tire head-on even as he was pushed back a bit.

Though the “cotton balls” had disappeared, the fat man had the tire thing right where he wanted it. Taking a deep breath, he used all his strength to toss it towards one of the now glassless windows, then shot a beam of electricity at it, sending it blasting off in the sky like Team Rocket after they failed to steal Pikachu. Whoever or whatever was controlling the tire would not be helping these wannabe super heroes again any time soon.



Thundercloud was more serious than ever, unlike Narumi. Didn’t she see that people were in danger here? Still, there was no use dwelling on it, not when the racist electric user was charging up an attack. And whatever attack this was, it was going to hurt. Robin was even more alarmed to discover that he didn’t have enough barrier talismans to protect everyone.

He was determined to do what he could, though. Deciding to repay the favor for the protection earlier, Robin used all of his talismans to create a shield around Kestrel, protecting her from Thundercloud’s front and rear strikes. He then hid behind Narumi, hoping she would protect them both, at least out of self-interest. Instead, said one word and disappeared, leaving Robin to be killed by Thundercloud’s attack.

The last thing Robin heard before dying was the word “fish.”



The villain examined the results of his lightning strike as the rain started to clear. The results were more mixed than he’d have liked; while the Jap was dead and one girl in the fetal position was going to be dead, the Chinaman’s girlfriend was still alive and-

"Alright. No more fucking around. Let's get sparkly."

“How the fuck is he still alive? He took a lightning bolt to the back,” Thundercloud thought.

And was there another girl near the lobby? That’d have to be something to deal with later though; right now the fat man had a very colorful target to destroy.

“Okay, you fruity knock-off Super Saiyan,” he declared, breathing heavily as he did so “as the dead gook would tell you, imitating Asians won’t help you win.” Thundercloud then started charging another attack. Though there was no real lightning to accompany this one, the villain was able to send another burst of electricity towards Kain and Kestrel.

This would hopefully kill those two. Then he could finish off the rest of them and have a nice meal from the vending machine. He deserved a nice break after working so hard to kill these retards.

Rosaria had managed to get out of the building unharmed, retreating quickly to the roof of a nearby building. She reappeared out of the shadow, crouched on one of the edges of the flat-shaped rooftop, having full view of the front entrance area of the Lafayette Financial Tower. Of course, she couldn't really see into the lobby itself from where she was, and thus had no knowledge that one of her fellow "heroes" had fallen to the villain's powerful attack. She took a moment to reorient herself, taking deep breaths in and out to calm her nerves. Her heart was still beating rapidly from the intense situation she had been in just moments earlier, and she was having cold sweats despite the cool weather.

In her mind, she knew that she might have been killed if she took that big charged attack that Thundercloud unleashed. Then again, it's not like that was unexpected... After all, she already knew that being a "hero" was a highly risky thing to do when she decided on it.

Before she could contemplate things even further however, Rosaria saw a particular figure standing there at the front entrance of the tower, among the fallen henchmen of the villain. She had seen this person before, the one that seemingly teleported from place to place just like Rosaria herself were able to do, although something felt different with the way that this person did it. Rosaria took a moment to observe the figure, quickly noticing that she seemed to be in pain. It seemed that the young woman had not been able to escape outside unscathed.

Huh..... Rosaria took a few more seconds contemplating things in her mind. She hesitated, wondering if she should remain where she was or to approach the wounded woman. She wondered if it was even safe to do so, as she knew nothing at all about this person. Then, as she were thinking, a voice sounded out in her head. "I know that you know what to do, daughter. You're going to be a hero after all!" It was the voice of her father. She immediately realized it as a typical instance of the auditory hallucination she had now gotten very used to. Yet regardless of that, it made Rosaria let out a long sigh before then shaking her head, making just the lightest of smile. Right. I'm playing this whole "hero" thing after all... Might as well try to act more like one.

And thus her hesitation faded away. Rosaria quickly melded back into the shadows, and just mere moments later came out of it again from the shadows some distance away from where Paige was standing. "Uhh... Don't freak out but... You okay? You looks like you're in pain." She started talking to Paige, still keeping her guard up out of habit. Not to mention she was still in her shadow form, so to Paige it would seemed like a dark skull-faced creature was talking to her... She'd rather not be attacked by another super powered individual that got freaked out by her appearance. "You were inside too, were you not? Trying to take out Thundercloud and his goons?... Well, me too."

@Guccicorn

His body was rigid, his muscles throbbed. The sense of pain had not quite made it to his brain, but the body felt it all the same. There was an altogether new sensation, however. Kane couldn't decide if the feeling was born from his powers manifesting or simply one of the aftereffects of the shock. Regardless, it felt like a surge of adrenaline spiked through him and, with surprising speed, Kane strafed in an attempt to dodge the erratic electrical attack, turning his body in the process to minimize his frontal exposure to Thundercloud.

Breathing heavy, Kane raised his hand, palm out, toward the villain until his line of sight had the distance fat man settled square between his index finger and thumb. This was it.

"'Thundercloud'," he called out with a rough, gravely voice. "Maybe it should be 'Skittles'... cuz you're about to taste the rainbow." And with that, Kane's entire face clenched and an audible grunt could be heard.

And that was it...

"Wait a minute, hold on," Kane insisted, unable to hide the panic creeping up into his voice. He pivoted , moving his shoulders square to Thundercloud as he lifted a second palm directed at the villain. "Thundercloud, yadda yadda, Skittles, yadda yadda... Taste the rainbow! HRRMMMPP!" And again, he clenched even harder. The colorful aura that had been enveloping him was starting to fade as his eyes grew wide with fear. This isn't happening, this isn't happening. Not fucking now!.

Utterly distraught, Kane began shaking his hands violently as one might to with an old battery to get the last bit of juice out of it. Forcing out two abrupt exhales, Kane quickly muttered, "TastetherainbowmotherfuckerHRRRMMP!" Nothing. Still nothing.

Kane defeatedly belched out whatever air was in his lungs and looked at his hands as if they had betrayed him. The glow was nearly completely extinguished. "What the hell am I doing wrong," he asked in a whisper. Don't lose focus. Don't delay. Reach inward. Pull it out of you. Let it burst through. You already know you can do this. Things are scary, but hope is not lost. Do it. Don't be scared. He's not unbeatable. Thundercloud is just a big, fat idiot and the bigger the storm...

"The bigger the storm..." he audibly repeated, his voice taking in a new, very calm cadence. Both hands shot straight up. The glowing aura seemed reignited. His hands were getting warm. "...the brigHTER THE RAINBOWWW!" Twins streams of swirling light rocketed out of Kane's palms headed straight for Thundercoud's retinas. Kane's aura was nearly twice as brilliant as before. As he let the light free, all he could do was hope that it'd make a difference.

Paige

---

(OMG I keep typing rosalia instead of rosaria, I'm so sorry >,<)

Paige was still deciding whether walking back into the fight was basically suicide when Rosaria addressed her from nearby. While the strange tone of her shadow-form voice was cause for only slight alarm, turning to see her skeletal visage peering out from the shadows was enough to put the little speedster's guard up.

Of course Paige felt immediate regret for a few reasons. First was the pain the move caused in her side, which earned another, immediate wince and a groan. The second was her sudden recollection of having caught a glimpse of Rosaria when they both made a run at Thundercloud.

A lot had been going on, and it would probably take a few days for her to really process everything she'd seen and been through tonight.

Paige offered a little nod in response to the first question, taking the opportunity to size the shadowy figure up.

"Y-yeah I uh ... I think I broke a rib." Something about seeing her keeping her guard up was comforting, like knowing spiders are also scared of you. Swallowing hard, she peered back toward the decimated building when the other heroine spoke again.

Paige clenched a fist at her side and dropped her stare to the ground. Thundercloud. He wasn't even worried about their pathetic little attempts to stop him.

"I was. I-I keep hitting him and he doesn't even notice, I-I think it's those stupid grey fuzzballs he's wearing. I saw you get behind him ..." Paige tried to sound like she knew what she was talking about, but the fear was apparent in the tremble she was trying to keep out of her voice. They had both tried and failed to make a mark on the man.

"We need to get the others out of there." her mind turned back to the heroes left inside, "W-we need to regroup, and get some kind of plan going ..." She offered, hoping the other heroine would be onboard. To be honest, she wasn't sure if she was brave enough to run back in and try to get the others out if she didn't have a little help, superpowers or not.

Another surge of light from inside lent a sudden urgency to their plans, rainbow from one side, and the white blue of lightning from the other. "I-I think I can distract him if ... if you can get people out of there."

Kestrel felt as though she was watching the spectacle unfolding in front of her in third person. As if she wasn't truly there. No, the person that watched helplessly as the talisman slinging hero sacrificed the last of his power to shield her from Thundercloud's attack couldn't have been her. She felt as though she was up above in the lobby, unsinged by the lightning, not truly experiencing the absurdity of the goth-looking man turning himself into a more extravagant light show than Thundercloud himself.

She was frozen. Evaluating but not acting. There were less of them inside the lobby now, she knew this was hardly an astute observation but the information had only just caught up to her. One hero dead. The rogue tire sent flying out towards the sky. The teleporting woman and the strange shadow being nowhere to be seen. That left just...

"...the brigHTER THE RAINBOWWW!"

The light that filled the lobby nearly blinded her and she felt herself stumbling. The mix of sensory overload and exhaustion were not doing her any favors. She turned herself away from the light-powered beatdown she hoped Thundercloud would receive and scanned the room. She had not seen a single dead body before this night, now she was certain she was seeing many. Several of Thundercloud's goons were sprawled on the ground and yet the ringing of the gunshots from outside continued since...

Movement! Someone was okay, or at least somewhat okay. Kestrel quickly realised it was the funny woman, and she was clutching her head.

A round disc of swirling energy materialised on Kestrel's back. A sort of shield, attachment strap included, to keep her from getting herself zapped in the back while she traversed the lobby. Olivia wasn't far from her at all but the lobby felt far larger to her now than it was since she arrived. She dashed between the rubble of a pillar and more than a few broken desks to get to her.

"Are...Are you okay?" She uttered. Olivia looked to be in pain, as if she was experiencing the migraine of a lifetime, Kestrel wanted to nudge her gently to get her attention when it hit her. The only reason they weren't all being peppered with bullets right now was because of Olivia. Her unusual humor always coincided with Thundercloud's goons behaving unusually. Kestrel wasn't certain how or if that's how the woman's power worked, she had a choice to make and neither felt optimal.

"If you can hear me and if you need help please just...Thump me on the back or something, I'll try to keep you safe in the meantime. " Kestrel knew that all confidence was sapped from her voice. Her knees barely held her up as she crouched by Olivia and removed the shield from her back, expecting only the worst.

Rosaria slowly relaxed as Paige seemed to accept her presence well enough. It seemed like there was no worry of any misunderstanding happening and causing a case of friendly fire out of panic.

"Right..." Rosaria said simply in response to Paige. At least it doesn't seems like she's in danger of suddenly keeling over... Rosaria did also noticed Paige's fear. It made sense after all, the young woman managed to escape and yet still broke a rib. Considering how intense the situation was and how painful it would be for her to even move, Rosaria couldn't blame her for being unnerved. Regardless, she listened to Paige's words as the other woman told her of a plan to get the others out of the building.

Rosaria didn't immediately respond, pausing for a few seconds to quickly think about the plan and how viable it would be. As she finished mulling it over, she turned her gaze back to the entrance to the lobby while replying to Paige. "Well... I suppose it's a good enough plan for what it is. Just one thing though..." She turned her ethereal skeletal visage back to Paige. "My powers are pretty much useless when it comes to helping people get away from danger. Not to mention I don't know how those other... "heroes", would react to my appearance...." She sighed lightly at the thought. It's true enough in her own mind, she was far from the most suitable for such a task.

"I'd probably be more effective as the distraction instead honestly... How about you? You think you can get the others out while I distract that villain?"

What's the worse that can happen with asking a wounded, frightened young woman to help evacuate a bunch of struggling super powered people out of an extremely dangerous situation, right? Gosh, it seemed like there was just simply no good options no matter which way Rosaria and Paige were going to do this. And what on earth was that flash of very colorful light that just appeared inside?...

Unbelievable. Not only did the rainbow fag dodge his most recent hit, some leftover weaboo shields had protected the other girl. At least they were gone now.

“'Thundercloud. "Maybe it should be 'Skittles'... cuz you're about to taste the rainbow."

Wow, just when Hot Topic couldn’t get any lamer, he went ahead and said that. Not only that, but nothing happened! Some Skittles sounded good right now though. Did the vending machine have any of those?

Oh, right. Gotta focus. The guy with homo rainbow powers was trying to do something, though Thundercloud wasn’t sure what. His glowy powerup showed a little promise, but apparently all this fruit could do is talk. Not that he minded, of course. This shit got old an hour ago. While the dead man’s girlfriend talked to the woman on the ground, Thundercloud started charging another attack. He’d kill the queer first, then focus on-

"...the brigHTER THE RAINBOWWW!"

Wait, what was-

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” the villain yelled, letting his electricity loose at random targets out of figurative shock. Thundercloud put his hands on his eyes, rubbing them desperately in an attempt to reduce the pain.

“I’LL KILL ALL YOU SUPERS! FUCK!”

In his rage and blindness, the fat man was unable to see what any of the heroes were doing, but he did decide to power up yet another attack for when things returned to normal. He also didn’t see that one of his random strikes was heading straight for Kestrel.



Meanwhile, outside near the Lafayette Financial Building, the police were having a difficult time with things. Though a few of the Storm Troopers had uncharacteristically surrendered, more than enough had arrived to take their place. It was a bloody battle; many cops had fallen and more likely would as time passed. But the weather-themed soldiers were going down as well.

And then, suddenly, the remaining ones stopped fighting. The cops could hear their conversation briefly:

“Why are we out here?”

“Weren’t we supposed to be inside?”

“What’s going on?”

And other questions of that nature.

The police weren’t really interested in the nature of their enemy’s orders though; whether it was the execution of a proper strategy or the desire to see their fallen avenged, they took advantage of the momentary lull to strike, shooting the storm troopers with a surge of bullets. Now, with only three members left, the electric-themed adversaries decided enough was enough.

“We surrender,” one said as they all put their hands in the air and dropped their weapons.

Kestrel almost jumped when she felt Olivia's hand touch her back. She tightened the grip around her pseudo-shield and was ready to swing when she realised what had happened. "No no no, no..." She uttered and frantically placed the shield on her back once more. Ignorant of Thundercloud's tantrum in the background.

The woman's eyes had turned a ghostly white and between that and the trace of blood on her face, Kestrel wasn't sure what concerned her more. "Hey, you're going to be okay, I'm gonna-" What was she going to do? She vaguely remembered basic first aid but surprisingly enough superhero first aid wasn't in any of her classes.

With the chaos of Thundercloud's lightning rampage far in the back of her mind, Kestrel checked the woman's pulse and breathing. Both appeared to be in order though possibly irregular. Her own shaking and the wind billowing in from outside made it far more difficult to tell for sure. It took much of her remaining strength to gently roll Olivia over to her side, a side effect of her own intensifying exhaustion.

She wasn't sure if she had helped the woman at all, but there was little else she could do. And even if there had been...A bolt of rogue lightning from Thundercloud's barrage had hit her directly in the back. The shield absorbed as much as it could before shattering and vanishing and the residual force of the attack sent her flying towards the entrance of the lobby.

It worked, Kane thought to himself as he witnessed Thundercloud reel back. Now was the time, maybe even the last chance. Kane's eyes didn't budge from his vision of Thundercloud. Like twin lasers, his stare was precise and penetrating. Everything else around him might as well have been a blur. In Kane's world, at this moment, there was just he and the fat man.

The agony and pain that his body was enduring was beginning to truly creep up and make itself known. It wouldn't be long before his shock and adrenaline wore off and, once that happened, Kane wasn't sure in what kind of shape that'd leave him in. The clock was ticking.

"Alright," he shouted out to the others, strain in his voice. "Everyone! ALL IN!"

Oblivious to their situations and predicaments, he made the call and followed through with his own order. What should have been a sprint became a hurried, hobbled limp as Kane forced his damaged body to move forward as quickly as possible. His knuckles cracked as his fists tightened into bludgeoning instruments. Once he had closed the distance, he forced himself to leap up, arching his fist back and attempting to bring it down like a sledge hammer upon Thundercloud's skull.