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

[sup][center]Inside Fixeon Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside[/center][/sup]
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After a bloody slog through the waves of Terrazards, the forerunners of the HERO team had made it through the breach. With Freakshow fully on board to try Ardent's style of approach, the former vigilante's mood was only improving. He wasn't exactly a genius, but the scene inside was basically just what he had been expecting: a bunch of villains laughing it up about how they controlled a Leftover army and how nobody could stop them. Typical.

Well, the mysterious gaping abyss beneath Brookside was sort of a surprise, but that was something to worry about later.

Apparently, the bad guys had two secret weapons. The first one was used to power-up a guy who immediately booked it outside. The backline team was going to have to handle it. The second secret weapon was the source of the problem they had been sent here to fix.

More immediately, two dorky villains were looking to face off. Ardent stuck his cam to the wall behind him. This was going to be good.

[color=35902B]"I can take these guys."[/color] Ardent muttered to the hero by his side. Lab Rat. The ICOSA transfer. A moment ago, he had been talking big about how Freakshow needed to trust her team. He probably needed to do the same thing.[color=35902B]"You think you can snag it?"[/color]

He didn't want to be too obvious. He only inclined his head slightly and threw a glance across the room in Torch's direction. If Flora had paid attention to that villainous monologue just now, she would hopefully be able to guess what he had in mind. They needed to keep their eyes on the prize, and if any hero was going to be able to quickly work out the controls of that device, it would be her.

[quote][color=lightgray]"Look, bro, we get the two lamest heroes. Lame Rat and...Lamedent. Sorry, didn't think of a name on time."[/color][/quote]
[color=35902B]"Yeah, feeling's mutual, pal. I was looking forward to fighting somebody with half a brain in their skull."[/color] Ardent taunted the self-replicating villains as they began to form a small mob. [color=35902B]"What's the point of having [i]two[/i] guys with cloning powers, anyway? Did one of you just get hired as a package deal with the other? Out of pity?"[/color]

The enemy team's plan clearly centred around keeping the bulk of the heroes occupied while Torch settled his score in a one-on-one clash with Luna. However, it wasn't in the business of heroes to let villains have things the way they wanted. Ardent didn't feel like letting Torch dictate who fought who. These brothers had abilities that probably made them excellent nuisances, skilled in wasting time. Devoting multiple heroes to fighting them was stupid when there were more important things going on. Luna was making headway against Torch, but if the creep was so eager for an isolated battle with her, he probably had a strategy for winning against her transformations.

[color=35902B]"Anyway, how many of you does it take to screw in a lightbulb?! Huh?!"[/color]

He taunted the twins again as he flew forwards to meet their charge. If he was gonna draw the full attention of these two, he was going to need to strike a nerve. That was something he was good at. Expert villains like Doc Holliday may have been able to see through him, but he had a feeling these two weren't quite so bright.

Cloning villains could be annoying. Left unchecked, Ardent imagined Thing One and Thing Two could go from eight, to sixteen, to thirty-two, to sixty-four. Big trouble. If he wanted to shut them down, he needed to work fast, faster than they could multiply. From eight, back to two, down to zero.

And if there was one downside to the Azure Skulls' Leftover security system, it was that the lizard army had already primed Ardent to fight against a crowd.

He swung the parking sign once again. The sheer length of the improvised weapon gave him a massive reach advantage, letting him hit the clones long before he was in range of their pipes or tasers. And with his strength, he could sweep through a whole group of them at once, crushing as many as he could catch in a single arc of the signpost. Compared to when he had fought against the lizards, he reduced his power a little, but it was still enough to inflict shattered ribcages and concussions. Maybe worse. Ardent was counting on these two having "original" bodies that would stay out of trouble, making it okay to deliver fatal wounds to all the replicas. If every clone was a full, living person... they were going to need a lot of coffins.