Damn that slippery bastard!

	Cricket did his best to fly in that awkward space between treetops and the fresh undergrowth, but he was hardly precise enough of a flier to do so successfully. Instead, he crashed into the undergrowth and stumbled to his feet. The plant cover lessened his embarrassment.

	Branches and vines clawed at Cricket’s carapace as he ran. He was thankful for its protection. His face twisted into a grimace at the familiar burn of running stung his legs. This was the worst part about fighting crime early in the morning. It was honestly a big part of why he did his workout so early. Most villains had the courtesy to wait until a more reasonable time.

	Gamma-Burn was not one of those villains.

	Cricket caught a glimpse of his enemy taking a pause… but the tree cover made it impossible to see why. He willed his burning limbs to go faster. Then a wave of radioactive heat crashed into him. Cricket stumbled and leaned heavily on a tree. His face twisted into a grimace. Gamma-Burn was close but there was little Cricket could do about it with that heat between them.

The figure of Gamma-Burn disappeared a minute later and it took much of the heat with it. Cricket pushed forward, though sweat bubbled up under his carapace. When he came into the clearing, he stopped at the splatter of blood on the ground. Odd. There should not have been anyone out here to lose this blood. It was not as if Cricket had harmed Gamma-Burn. His gaze darted about, looking for signs of the victim… but whoever it was must have been vaporized or otherwise disposed of by the heat. Heat that Cricket decidedly did not want to stay around–

[center][h2][color=#ec8634][b]CLONG[/b][/color][/h2][/center]

Cricket jumped and looked towards the source of the noise. [color=#9d9751]”What the fuck?!”[/color]

Cricket’s gaze trailed around the rooftops. Maybe Gamma-Burn had ended up on one of those and had thrown something as a distraction? That seemed a bit odd for him though. Not to mention, Cricket was unsure if Gamma-Burn was strong enough for that. Then he spotted the man who had thrown it.

[center][h3][color=#f39d14]7:22 AM: Save the idiot who came in here.[/color][/h3][/center]

Time moved in slow motion as Cricket’s wings unfolded. He leapt into the air and drove forward with reckless abandon. He knew damn well it would be hard to slow himself down but he did not have the time to worry about it. Cricket’s eyes narrowed and his lips pulled back into a frustrated scowl. Whoever the hell was here was a real dumbass. It was a miracle that whoever it was had not melted from the radiation heat, nor collapsed from the radiation itself.

Cricket met the goat-eared man halfway down the slowly melting building. He wrapped his arms around the stranger to protect him as much as possible from the impact. Cricket only had seconds to turn himself midair as he smashed into the building. Luckily, he had mostly hit a window, but stone joined the shards of glass that sprayed into the floor inside. Cricket ate most of the impact with his shoulder and back, protecting the little reporter. 

There was no time to stop. He could feel the building warping around them both.

[color=#9d9751]”Hold on tight!”[/color]

Cricket dashed forward, smashing through or leaping over desks and office equipment. His gaze darted to the poor fools who had not been able to make it out of the building before being thoroughly radiation cooked. The building started to bend, making his dash all the more slippery. With one mighty leap, Cricket drove his shoulder through the opposite window. Glass sprayed outwards as he flew into the air. He hoped and prayed that his body had protected the small goat man from harm.