[center][img]http://imageshack.com/i/pnZVpkj9p[/img][/center]
[center][color=35902B][h1][b]「 ARDENT 」[/b][/h1][/color][/center]

[sup][center]5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg[/center][/sup]
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Through the blood splattered on Holliday, Ardent felt the cowboy pre-aim his shot at the float. He knew he was coming, but since Ardent also knew the angle and direction of the prepared counterattack, he still had a shot at landing a hit without having to take one in return. He burst through the float a bit higher than the Doc had guessed, forcing him to adjust his aim at the last moment. Much like the opening move of the fight, it would come down to a contest of speed and endurance. A gamble, without knowing what kind of bullet was coming next. Ardent locked eyes with Holliday as he prepared to kick him.

Then, he saw movement over the villain's shoulder. He smirked. He didn't need to do anything.

Instead of spinning into a kick, Ardent aborted his assault and twisted his body and hurled himself downwards, letting the enemy's final shots whistle over his head. He landed in a crouch, only inches from the hole he had broken in the float. It would've been a terribly vulnerable position, if Doc Holliday hadn't just been shoulder-slammed into next week by a certain super-fast hero.

Amid the small cloud of debris, Ardent rose to his feet. This was immediately followed by a resounding [i]SLAM[/i] as the parade float, which he had tipped nearly vertical, fell back the way it had come and landed right-side-up once again, albeit no longer in drivable condition.

[color=35902B]"Thought maybe you were catching a nap over there."[/color] Ardent stopped flying, putting his weight on the ground. He stepped away from the float, picking up Holliday's first gun from the road. [color=35902B]"But you actually did something. Solid."[/color]

He flicked out the cylinder of the revolver and removed the remaining plasma bullets. As he did, flecks of blood continued to hover around him and drift towards the wound on his arm, which was being squeezed shut into a thin line by his power.

Blast had Holliday pretty firmly under control. It sounded like Wiseman and the kid heroes had turned the tables on Lady Blade's ambush. That only left the drones to take care of, but as Ardent prepared to fly and looked down the street, he saw them all dropping like flies. Wireframe, who had looked like she might have been struggling to hold off the army of robots, was being carried in the float's direction by someone very pink. The brightly-coloured leftover immediately rang a bell in Ardent's head, and he looked sharply back towards the man in civilian clothes by the bench.

[color=35902B]"Wait, it's you..!"[/color] Ardent's eyebrows went up. The name took him a second. [color=35902B]"Alpha?"[/color]

The glowing [i]had[/i] looked familiar. Ardent vaguely remembered running into this strange pair not far outside of Boston during his vigilante days, although he recalled this guy having some type of super-strength, not healing powers. He definitely hadn't been expecting to see the two of them again after switching careers. [color=35902B]"Why are you..? No, nevermind. It's good to have you here."[/color] He cut himself off, not wanting to ask anything that would put the duo in an uncomfortable position with HERO.

He only hoped that Alpha was just trying to blend in, and hadn't actually become a Blast fan.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ardent could see frightened civilians emerging from behind cover and peeking out the windows of the buildings overhead. Some held phones, and were very obviously taking videos. Good. A Blast-Ardent teamup with a tipping parade float was going to make some waves online, no doubt.

[color=35902B]"There's still a lotta shit to do. We gotta make sure the trainees at Hero One are safe, and I wanna know where that fucker who made the robots is hiding out."[/color] Ardent looked to the other heroes there, then at Alpha in particular. He held up his arm, which had been badly grazed by a bullet of superheated plasma. In his sleeveless costume, the damage was pretty evident. [color=35902B]"But can you use your power on me, first? This hurts like hell."[/color]

There was nothing in his body language that suggested he was hurt or hampered by the minor injury, but something in the back of his voice suggested he was [i]definitely[/i] feeling it, now that the adrenaline was settling down.