Inside Flaming Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside
Ardent felt a little embarrassed for Thing One and Thing Two as the pair immediately folded after his first attack. Resting the signpost on one shoulder, he grabbed the phone he had mounted on the wall to record the fight. If he ever posted that one, it would be a pretty damn short video. Then again, maybe short-form content was the way to go these days. More digestible.
"Hey. Quit whining. You're the ones who picked a fight with me." He talked down to the twins, but he was mindful of the injured one's condition.
In Ardent's career as a vigilante, he had managed to avoid killing anyone, accidentally or otherwise. This poor fucker wasn't in a good state, but if he was left to lie there he would probably live. Maybe with some brain damage.
If he was left lying in a burning building, though, it would be a different story. And funnily enough...
"Ah, fuck."Freakshow's old enemy (or old comrade?) was apparently taking his vendetta a bit too seriously. The drug that had enhanced The Menace's transformation into a gigantic form was now enhancing Torch's fire-tossing power into a searing inferno. Any dreams the HERO team had of being able to present a gloriously pristine and lizard-free recycling plant to the higher-ups were quickly going up in smoke. Literally. Ardent's first consideration was making sure the cloning villains didn't burn to death in the confusion, but Freakshow seemed to be on top of that matter. She had tried using her power to endure the enemy's fire attacks, but seemingly had changed her mind and was choosing this moment to grab what she could carry and retreat out of the blazing deathtrap. Not a bad idea, as far as Ardent was concerned. There was just one more person who needed to be pulled out of the flames.
Ardent discarded his parking sign and began to move quickly, darting between the whips of flame that were twisting across the indoor space. Torch was going wild, and his frenzied attacks weren't precise enough to hit Ardent amidst the chaos, but the sheer heat and the smoke that had begun to cloud the plant were still enough to make the flying hero grit his teeth and squint. Rather than shy away from the fresh patches of burning debris though, he donned his goggles and stuck close to them as he took a roundabout flightpath towards the villain, letting the damaged property provide him with cover to mask his approach. It was Lab Rat who had reached Torch first, though, aiming to surprise him from behind.
The laughing villain casually sidestepped out of the way of Lab Rat’s attack. He didn’t even need to turn to face her to do so; it was as if he had sensed or heard her in some way, perhaps. Something about the man was certainly changed, if that even needed more explanation. The crazy person that was hurling a few fireballs was not the same crazy person that stood before them now. His senses were sharper, and his powers were much, much more devastating. The fire-retardant mucus and bone spikes that Freakshow had just tried to hit him with were burnt into cinders by a white-hot flash of fire, evaporated like they were nothing.
Whatever the cause of this newfound strength and ability was, it allowed Torch to jolt quickly out of the way of Lab Rat’s attempted grab, allowing her to harmlessly pass by him. Torch then pointed a hand towards the rodent-like hero, firing a concentrated stream of fire from his hand directly at the location she landed.
He didn’t seem to be bothered or even interested in whether or not he hit his target; he was enjoying his enhanced pyrokinesis (and, consequently, his enriched pyromania, it seemed) way too much. In fact, he didn’t even seem bothered by his original target, Freakshow, any more, or by the fact that she had easily pilfered his device and was commanding the Terrazards return back to the recycling plant, or that she was now running out of the building with multiple people in tow. He simply raised his hands, sending twin streams of fire from his palms at the Terrazards, which were now frantically running into the building. Torch lifted his masked head in the general direction of Ardent.
"I see you up there, hero. Come down and join the pyre!" Five large fireballs formed behind Torch’s head, and then promptly began to chase after Ardent, honing in on him like heat-seeking missiles.
Ardent weaved between the flaming spheres that came his way, but cursed under his breath when they changed direction to follow after him. Whether Lab Rat was going to retreat with Freakshow or stay to fight by his side, Ardent wanted to take this annoying bastard out. He needed a clear shot at him, but apparently the masked villain had gained more than just enhanced firepower from the drug. Whether he was using some fire-based trick to detect the heroes’ body heat or if he had simply gained enhanced senses, it was apparently impossible to sneak up on him.
Using his power, Ardent plunged straight downwards, no longer heading directly for Torch. He picked up speed, and for a moment it looked like he was trying to outmaneuver the fireballs by changing direction just before he would hit the ground. But before he put any distance between them, the barrage of flame came crashing down. There was a brilliant flash, and the stench in the plant worsened as a pile of plastics were incinerated.
Whether Torch was detecting sound, or heat, or movement, the massive explosion of his five fireballs hitting the floor at once was sure to be quite the spectacle. Enough to make him lose track of Ardent’s position? Hopefully. After all, it looked as though the hero had been burned up on impact.
That was until a split second later, when the concrete flooring a few feet ahead of the explosion burst open and Ardent rocketed out, hands pointed in front of him like a diver’s. His boots were slightly singed, but he hadn’t been hit by the fire. Not quite. It seemed that he had pierced through the floor and tunneled underground briefly to shield himself from the attack. Now, he had unearthed himself not far from Torch, and rapidly closed in on him.
”Close call!” In truth, that wasn’t something Ardent had ever tried before, and he hadn’t known if it would save his life. But he hadn’t doubted himself either. Improvised tactics in the midst of chaos were his bread and butter.
Maybe Torch was surprised, maybe he wasn’t. Ardent was going for him either way. Flora had been on the right track with grappling the villain, he thought, but they would need to match the guy’s newfound agility. Ardent could do that, he was certain. Moving at blinding speed, he aimed to tackle and grab hold of Torch at a low angle. If he could lift him, he could get him out of here.
Torch might have been surprised by this clever maneuver. It was hard to tell, what with the full-face mask and the insane chuckling. Either way, though, he certainly didn’t
act like the attack phased him. In fact, quite the contrary. The average person would have been completely caught off-guard by Ardent emerging from the concrete ground with the grace and poise of a dolphin leaping from the sea, and likely would have been easily crushed. But somehow, some way, Torch was not going to be taken down by this attempt.
With shocking reaction time, Torch faced down Ardent and, as the hero barreled towards him at breakneck speed, blasted the oncoming hero with a searing beam of fire, attempting to stop him mid-flight and take him down. The enhanced villain laughed all the while as he channeled the pulse of fire directly at Ardent. He was enjoying himself; that was clear.
Ardent had been here before. Darting around, repelled by ranged attacks whenever he tried to get in close. It wasn’t so different from his fight against that annoying cowboy. But as quick and as deadly as Torch was, he was no cowboy, and Ardent was getting tired of listening to that laugh.
I’ve played this stupid game already!As he flew headlong at Torch, Ardent used the building to his advantage once again, dipping both hands down to break off a section of the flooring, longer and thicker than his own body. In a normal fire, the concrete skeleton of the building would be the only thing not burned up. Against Torch’s flame, even that much was optimistic. Used as a shield, the flat face of the massive slab quickly warped and glistened like melted candy. Torch was too sharp to fool, even with his attention split between Lab Rat and Ardent. No more tricks. Feeling his shield begin to reach its melting point, Ardent continued to press forwards to his target. At the last moment, he struck the backside of the slab with his elbow, letting chunks of half-melted concrete scatter forwards over Torch. Amidst that shower of debris, whirling just beyond the beam’s line of fire, was Ardent, fury on his face, finally finished closing the gap.
Clenching his teeth, Ardent brushed off tiny pieces of superheated shrapnel. He reached out towards the pyrokinetic, intent on grabbing hold of him while maintaining his own momentum, to send himself and Torch flying through a window on the backside of the building, away from everything.
