[IC] 《 H. E. R. O. 》

[Ryteb Pymeroce]

Shadow Spectre

Zane had just finished the evacuation and containment of his part of the city. All the civillians were out and the Mutations were boxed in by his hounds. It was time for phase two, fortunately there were many constructs around to be broken down and reused. Jumping down from the building, using the wings to glide like a dark angel, he prepared one of his less used techniques.

"Secret Art of the Shadows: Blooming Maidens."

The hounds melted into a sort of ichor that formed into large, flower-like, objects beneath every one of the ambleweeds. With a twist of his hand, the petals grew spikes and snapped shut over the ambleweed like a Venus Flytrap. Indeed the plant was half the inspiration for the technique, along with the execution tool known as the Iron Maiden. As he preffered not to kill his foes, the technique was shelved for use against non-human opponents. Something was definitely off though, the ambleweeds weren't nearly this numerous. Putting his hand up to his ear, he contacted Patch.

"Dreadnaut, I need you to run a search on plant based villains, there are far too many mutations for it to be natural."

Hearing an explosion nearby, he flew towards it only to find two of the Destuction Squad fighting as well. Ordinarily he'd ignore it and move on, but they were being attacked by something new, some sort of evolved version of the regular plant mutate. This might be a clue to who's controlling this madness. Flying down, he pulled the wings back into his body as he landed next to the duo.

"Much as I don't like your methods, we need to work together here. That thing was probably engineered by the person causing this mess. If we can get a sample, Ragdoll can identify it and possibly the villain if they have been logged in the database."

@Hitman@KaijuBaragon

[canaryrose]

Quake

Cooking scrambled eggs was a feat that required immense focus. At least, for Jamie Stewart, it was. She could hardly make them without burning herself and the steps often boggled her mind, but, alas, she was out of money for Egg McMuffins, and scrambled eggs would have to make do. Burnt scrambled eggs, that was. Very, very burnt scrambled eggs. Jamie was currently making scrambled eggs, even though it was noon, because she could think of nothing else to eat. She hummed a song while she stood over the stove. It was some sort of inane pop song. Probably one of Starbright's, actually- his songs tended to pop up more often than not on her playlists.

While she was stabbing the eggs into little bits with her spatula, an alarm went off on her phone. As you do, Jamie immediately dropped the spatula and wandered over to her phone, picking it up only to see Powers's face plastered across the little screen. She listened aptly, completely forgetting about her scrambled eggs and her very on stove. Ambleweeds, huh... She could help with that, right? Blast them apart, open up the ground underneath them and crush them. And, if people were being hurt... Yes. I'll go do that! She threw on her tennis shoes (without socks, of course), grabbed her car keys, and ran out the door, descending the staircase of her apartment complex like a speed demon. Boy was she glad she had been able to get her license back, or she would have had to call Rune again! And he was not happy the last time...

Jamie, like always, drove to New Athens like a fucking crazy person. She ran red lights without a care in the world, nearly ran over several old ladies, and got at least three middle fingers on the way. But... she got there fast! It only took her about ten minutes to arrive, and when she did, she pulled over in the middle of the street right in front of some Ambleweeds, the tires on her car making a screeching noise as she did so. She flung open the car door and stepped out, and then threw her hands in front of her and woosh... a blast of concussive vibrational force burst from her fingertips, shredding the Ambleweeds in mere seconds. And, of course, wrecking the street, but who cared about some street?

After she was done shredding all the Ambleweeds she could see, Jamie ditched her car, running forward towards the action that she could hear in the streets beyond where she was. She could always find her car later! After all, a car sitting square in the middle of a four-lane road wasn't inconspicuous. She ran through several waves of Ambleweeds like this- shred, move on. Shred, move on. It went on like this for a while- an efficient, but not particularly destructive strategy.

[Scarifar]

Sir E. Brum

@datadogie@KiwiTime@Jumbus

Sir was liking Phantom more and more. This virus proved capable of communicating by itself, meaning it had a form of sapience. Rumi knew he had to capture her, and hopefully unlock the secrets this virus hid. With the amount and quality of heroes present, overpowering Phantom would probably not be an issue. Instead, it would be whether or not they could prevent her escape. Judging from the lineup presented, it would be a difficult task, but possible if everyone was capable of working together. Time to work his magic.

While Ava continued to distract Phantom, Sir stepped out of hiding and slid over to Starbright on his nanobots, greeting Starbright with, "You should give up on wooing her, Starbright. You would have died if aid had not come," As Sir took out a few marble-like gadgets and began rolling them around in the palm of his hand, he continued, "Instead, let's work together to capture Phantom, shall we? It'll make great coverage to see the great Starbright leading this band of heroes to take down that wanted criminal. You might even finally earn that Rank A promotion I hear you've been keen on achieving."

[Argonaut]

_{Location: Kingsdale station}

Finally, school is canceled. and for good measure, the floral infestation is getting worst by the minute. Endangering the lives of students and those who work at the academy alike. It's like the university cares or something. that or multiple parents complained about the welfare of their kids that they are forced to comply, more likely the latter.

"I guess my shift starts early." Kristy thought to herself as everyone else was sent packing. She texted her mom saying she's gonna be home late due to her extracurricular activities as she went on the public train to New Athens.

The train was jammed pack despite the dangerous flora situation around these parts. Kristy can barely move her arms at the wall of people pining her inside the train. All was going smoothly as the passengers went on their separate ways on their designated stations. It was getting less crowded as most of the people left.

As train went by, Kristy whips out her phone and tunes in to the latest news. The Flora infestation is still at large and guess who's the headline of it all: the ever so popular pop star, Starbright. Every. Single. Livestream. It seems the villains have taken advantage of the situation and want a piece of this guy. The price of fame I supposed. Luckily there are more Heroes than villains arrived on the scene amid this botanic infestation in this live-stream broadcast. A sigh of relief was made as Kristy prepares herself for the worst.

I hope i'm not too late for my shift. Kristy thought to herself

En route to New Athens station.

[Eviledd1984]

ℌ𝔢𝔩𝔪𝔲𝔱 𝔏𝔞𝔫𝔤

Helmut's patrol was quite boring, all day he was caught and handing petty criminals to the police. Nothing going on today was very boring, he was hoping for something exciting to happen and was lounging around on a rooftop. Listening to some music while watching the people below, while he was waiting he noticed a commotion going on below with a group of people surrounding the bank in front of him. Standing up in excitement changing the music to something more exciting (The song in question- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kcOpyM9cBg ), racing down the fire escape and onto the streets below. Running across the street into the alleyway of the bank, arriving at the shutter door of bank where the security trucks would drop off the money to the bank. He noticed that the shutter door was slightly open, which was perfect for him to squeeze though. Using his ability by detaching his arms and legs to fit though the small opening, once he was inside of the bank he reattached his bones and sneaking around the bank.

While sulking around the first floor of the bank he noted their was five robbers and noted their was three on the second floor and third floor. So all together their is eleven bank robbers inside of the bank which would make his job a hell of alot harder for him. Sneaking around on the first floor knocking out a few bank robbers which he thought was easier then he thought, he was thankful for the many years of training in capoeira that one of the staff in the orphanage suggested. Using his abilities to move though the vents and to ambush the bank robbers. "Where the fuck is Rolf? I thought he and Matt were going secure the rest of the employee's here?" Helmut overheard one of the robbers speaking to another, the costumed hero moving though the bank slowly knocking those on the second and third floor. by the time their was a few of them left, they were starting to panic which would meant Helmut would need to wrap things up.

Ode To Joy reaching it's peck which made Helmut felt energized, in one of the rooms on the first floor the last reminding group of robbers were with the hostages. Helmut sneaked though another vent and to the room where the hostages were, releasing them and leading them out another door to the shutter door. He noticed a bag filled with money on the floor, he was tempted to steal the money and no one would be the wiser for it. However he did not want to ruin his relationship with his boss who could just send him back to jail.After that he incapacitated the rest of the criminals, giving the police the signal to come in and take the criminals. Waltzing outside noticing the many journalist crowding outside walking towards them, "I'm ready for my close up, who wants the juicy details first" He pointed to a journalist in a red dress. He wanted to talk to her because he found her quite attractive.

[LukasVolkov]

Flamenco

Let me pose to you a scientific question. What happens when two hundred pounds of stupid, naïve ideals, and meat ploughs into an environment of delicate instruments and volatile chemicals? I ducked to the side. Shattered glass and burning chemicals flew through the air, hissing as it hit every surface from the ceiling to the floor.. Half put together weapons were scattered in the brute's wake. I stumbled to my feet, ripped my ruined headphones- they were my favorite pair motherfucker!- out of my ears, and stared down the bull in my china shop. Sheets of shoddy bent metal: iron scraps, sheet aluminum, some industrial steel covered his hulking body in some bastardization of a suit of armor in those fantasy stories. Every inch of him was covered, head to toe, the helmet was authentic at least.

The Knight in all his bitch-ass glory.

I couldn't help smiling despite the months of work he ruined. Running to the far side of the warehouse I skidded to a halt and started digging into the wreckage. "Round two motherfucker!?" I grinned, lifting up a crude acumination of an energy rifle. The Knight turned to face me. "I'm game. Cause I owe you for breaking my arm, cabrón."

"I owe you so much more for the trouble you've caused, the pain you've wrought."

Thick, coiled wire snaked out from the side of my rifle. The whole thing was piecemeal scrap put together from junkyard finds, jacked tech from some lab out in the mountains, and a few other wielded bits. Thing looked like something out of that post-apocalyptic game I played when bored out of my skull. Only this wasn't no fantasy toy. I grabbed the wires, found a few veins and inserted the long steel ends like I was setting up an IV. I hissed in pain but quickly forgot as the wires lit up like Las Vegas at midnight. My grin turned positively jolly when my adrenaline shot through the roof so hard I started shaking.

"This dumbass." I couldn't help but chuckle. I stood up.

"Bullets won't pierce me." His beady eyes narrowed behind his grill. "Face justice or I'll be forced to break both your arms."

"This ain't some fairytale, ese. You some kinda dumb, thinking you can roll in here!? You don't get the princess and you don't get to save the day."

He took a step forward. The ground shook under his feet. I nearly fell on my ass. "Last chance,"
Knight growled. “Come quietly.

"Tomorrow you're just gonna be another body."

The thing about firing a pressured beam at a human body wrapped in what can only be compared to treated aluminum foil, is it melts, fuses, then burns. The two millimeter beam pierced his armor covered belly like it was tissue and burned through the other side easily. He stumbled back and seemed to look down in disbelief as the metal rapidly cooled, fusing to his cauterized flesh. He looked up and for a second I thought I saw him whimper. That second I knew he never thought this could happen. I set my jaw, and knew what came next.

I peppered his bulk with beams of plasma, like I was blasting the side of a building. By the time I was done, exhausted and feeling like my arms were going to give out, he was a pile of slag and smoking flesh. I slumped to my knees and set to pulling the needles out of my arm. The metal was warped from the heat but my skin seemed alright save for the weeping pinpricks decorating my arm.

OoO

I stopped the footage and swiveled to give the tall skeleton staring down a smirk. “I don’t see how your client’s fucking up with Behemoth. The Knight was at least smart enough to cobble together some protection. Loco puta dives into hero work wearing stretched-to-hell shorts.”

Elizabeth Quelling, a seven foot tall, blonde woman with a serious stick up her ass, and more money than god just gave me a look that could cauterize an open wound. I’d seen the look enough to know she wanted to kill me, messily, but I gulped down my fear and kept my cocky grin in place. No customer was gonna rattle me. “The failings of my employees are my business. Where you and I are concerned I only want the situation to be dealt with. Kill this Behemoth, make it public- video tape if you must- but I want these so-called heroes to know that crossing Marrow Incorporated is bad for their well-being.”

I arched an eyebrow at that. Hero’s had a habit of acting like a hive of hornets, squash one and the whole hive’ll be out for blood. I told her as much.

“That is my concern, not yours.” She stood up, and in an instant the air turned bitter cold. “You came highly recommended, now back up your reputation Ms. Flamenco, and see to it this brute is turned to a smoking corpse.” I suggest you pack. I've set a plane to take you to Castleburg-"

"That place is goddamn hero central!" I jumped out of my seat, my veins glowing a neon rainbow as my temper flared. I enjoyed business from high paying customers but only morons did business in the middle of H.E.R.O.'s territory. "No way in hell I'm doing work there."

My body locked up, and my veins went back to normal, the air took a dip in temperature and I swore I could see my breath mist. Great bitch had ice powers. I started shivering.

"Listen, and listen well." She leaned over the desk." I do not make requests, I give orders. Do as you are told, and be handsomely rewarded. Don't." She reached a hand across to lightly touch my cheek. What happened next I could only describe as agony. I couldn't even scream as pain lanced through my skull, my limbs went limp and I fell back into my chair. I nearly choked on my tongue and when her hand drew back I stared up her. My heart hammered and icy pit formed in my belly. I weatched part horror, part fascination as her veions started glowing like mine. She looked down at her arm like she was appreciating some new jewelry.

"I don't believe you'll be needing another warning."

She left my office with a twirl of her dress and the flick of her hair. I breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind her. I didn't care how much money they were paying me, I was blacklisting that bitch from life.

[Infinite Cosmos]

The Drifter picked up his phone, the one landline that exists in the entire town most likely, can dialed out. "Here is to hoping Nova Labs isn't as snobby as I think they are. Got some genuine business to do with those folks..." He waited on the phone, bits and pieces of metal littered the space around him.

On the shelves behind him hung several pieces of hand-forged equipment. A frame of a gun that seemed entirely too large to be practical, another pistol sized weapon frame that has a barrel that is entirely too wide for any sort of pistol cartridge, and several pieces of armor that has slots and holes all over it.

@Ryteb Pymeroce

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William, being his usual self, was just minding his business. Carrying on his day without much care. He strolled the H.E.R.O. One compound, taking in the fresh air the day offered. In his ear played some smooth jazz, and he held a mug of fresh chai tea in his right hand.

His smart watch beeped. Several times. A telltale sign of an alert sent by upper management.

"Ugh. Why. Why does things go to shit when I'm trying to have an relaxing day... And plants. Why plants? What are my powers going to do to things that feed off water? What? Am I going to boil them and make tea?...Ugh."

He mumbled to himself as he went into the garage and hopped in his company-issued vehicle. Not some gaudy form of transportation, just a plain sedan that was painted all black. "On second thought..." He thought to himself, pausing before starting the vehicle. "Let's have some fun with this..." His thought continued. He hopped back out of the car and ran towards a clearing in the compound. "Never thought to use it this way but lets try it..." He thought.

He focused his mind, and gathered two orbs of water in his hands. "Here goes nothing..." He thought as he shot the water out as hard as he could, propelling himself upwards and forwards. This is surely a foolish idea that he will probably regret very soon....

[KiwiTime]

Avangaline - Exchange

@Scarifar@Jumbus@datadogie

Left, right, left, Ava shrugged at the metal woman as she slid out of the way in a set of movements reminiscent of a snake, an amusing thought involving Marcus crushing her opponent like a tin-can crossing her mind as she lowered her body and tucked her tail in closer to herself. Just in time it seemed as the woman went on the attack, Ava responding by slamming her tail against the ground like an anchor, propelling herself upwards and backwards back into the wall she first sprang from. She grunted, rubbing a pained arm from where a blow connected

"Forge is coming." A name, if she learned anything from Marcus, could do a lot in a battle if it was the right name. Ava knew Marcus was busy elsewhere, and wouldn't be here fast enough to help, but this attacker might not. Plus, she put about as much faith in her two 'teammates' as she had patience for Starbright's singing, that is to say none at all. Success or otherwise Ava kicked back off the wall, swinging her tail in a wide overhead arc, she may be surprisingly light, but nearly nine feet of prehensile tail forcefully swinging into somebody's skull could still hurt quite a bit.

[KaijuBaragon]

Thomas regarded the alley for a moment before shrugging and leaving it be. The ambleweeds were more of an immediate concern than whatever was happening in the street beyond. He retrieved the axe and took out a couple of smaller ambleweeds in the few moments before Blake made a fairly acrobatic landing nearby and walked up to him. He heard his friend speak and turned his head slightly towards him, before Tom processed his words and he craned his neck up to a nearby building to see just what it was that Blake was talking about. His eyes widened slightly.

Whatever the hell that thing was... it wasn't like any ambleweed he had seen before. It looked almost animalistic in its movements, although the sickly shade of green that practically radiated off the thing made it obvious that whatever the thing was, it was made out of plant matter. He responded to Blake. "Damn... I have no idea. Thomas scratched his head, his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the being. "You don't think it's possible for Ambleweeds to like... mutate, do you? Or evolve, or something. I mean, if they're a mutation from the beginning, then it makes sense they could do it again, and become whatever on earth that creepy looking bastard is."

However, soon their conversation was rudely interrupted by the arrival of Zane, the shadow man. Thomas had to physically stop himself rolling his eyes as he floated down to join them, hot off the communications with the rest of his team. Thomas didn't particularly have a problem with them - the rest of the Nova Force seemed cool enough, he supposed. Thomas listened as Zane spoke in a matter-of-fact manner, as he usually did. Although, he did suppose it made sense... the idea of there actually being a person behind this fit with all the mysteries that he couldn't figure out about this particular event. He sighed, but kept his eyes on the new ambleweed, which seemed to be getting closer.

"Well, me and Blake could handle it... but, I guess... Yeah, let's get a sample."

[Jumbus]

Starbright

"Well as a matter of fact sometimes it doe..." Starbright replied flirtatiously to Phantom's quip, before get jabbed hard in the stomach sending him to the ground writhing in pain. That blow got him good, but he couldn't stay down long cameras were watching he had no choice but to struggle through the pain back to his feet. Posing in confidence he noticed his two fellow heroes who joined the fight to save him. "Good to see you Ava, and you... uh... fellow hero ha ha!" Of course when you say something with enough confidence even the viewers at home forget a fumble. "Of course, I didn't need much saving but any help is much appreciated." That line served two purposes, aggravate his robotic opponent and making good television. He hoped it didn't come off as two arrogant for his allies.

As Starbright looked over toward the cameras he noticed they weren't even on him. Instead the 'metallic prima donna' who was attacking him, what was so special about it. There was only one thing to do, defeat it and get the publicity. "Lets take this thing down." Starbright posed creating a strong beam and blasted it toward Phantom. During the process he whispered over to nanobot riding savior "did you make those things? They look sick, hit me up if you ever need some work." With a business card between his fingered he flicked it over to Sir E Brum.

[Rabidporcupine]

Joseph and Brie

@Jumbus@KiwiTime@Scarifar@datadogie

Brie stepped outside the bar, groaning inwardly at the bright sunlight. It was far too early to be awake, especially in her state. Most people would see the dingy alley she had stepped into and fear for their safety, but Brie simply glared at the patrons who were stumbling into the bar for their first drink. She sipped on her coffee, contemplating how best to make her way over to New Athens. Normally she could gather a decent amount of speed while running, enough at least to get over there fairly quickly, but there was no way she was doing that today. Tapping in a number, she waited impatiently for the call to go through. "I need a lift." She pronounced suddenly, without even a 'hi' or 'how you doing?'. "Can you get to Brookside?"

”Huuuuuuh?” Joseph grumbled into the phone. ”The hell is that, telling me to come get you without so much as a ‘Hey Joseph my dear, badass pal, you up?’ How the hell am I meant to get my beauty sleep when everyone keeps trying to wake me up? It’s only…”

He glanced up to look at the cheap, digital clock, which told him that it was in fact the early hour of nearly 12:30.

”Motherfu-... Fine…” He sighed, getting off the cheap hammock he called a bed to try and find a shirt that didn’t bear the scent of whiskey. Unfortunately, all three did, so he decided to just settle with the one that stank the least, chucked on his jacket, some jeans and his helmet. ”Hag! I’m heading out!”

“Don’t come back until you can afford rent!” The old hag in question shouted back from somewhere in her workshop, and he promptly sped off on his moped to get the young hag who’d called him out.

It only took a few minutes for him to reach the bar, sending Brie a lazy wave as he slowly drove up to the sidewalk.

”Heeey.” He said, chucking her a spare helmet. ”So I guess we got called out or something?”

Brie managed to catch the helmet just before it hit her square in the face, eyebrows raised at the moped Joseph had arrived on. “That’s your ride? Looks like a gentle breeze would topple it over.” She continued to eye it warily for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders and hopping onto the back. There were worse way to die, she supposed.

“Mm yeah, something about Ambleweeds. Not sure why HERO insists on sending those alerts so early in the morning.” She continued, ignoring the fact that it was about noon at this point. “Powers is going to kill me if I don’t get more credits this month, so figured they’d be an easy job.”

”I’m sorry, did you just say we’re out here because of a few ambleweeds? Joseph asked incredulously. ”Why the hell did we get a big alert for that?”

As he drove, he started looking at his phone to find the closest group. When he was what it was, he smiled to himself. Today might not be so annoying after all…

Well, not for him, at least.

“Hey, guess who just so happens to be not too far from us at this very moment?” He asked Brie, before shaking his head and shoving his phone back into his pocket. “Actually no, don’t. It’ll be funner as a surprise. But in the interest of keeping to my personal motto of ‘Always be prepared’, if you have any jokes about light, get them ready now.”

He paused for a moment, before adding something that was probably more important.

“Also hold on.”

And then he pushed the moped to it’s top speed, which thanks to some tinkering from his horrifying landlady, was far beyond what a vehicle of it’s type should normally be capable of. Hell, maybe more than a motorcycle should be capable of.

Brie frowned as she tried to figure out where he was taking them, “Aw come on...do we really have to…” She groaned as it dawned on her where he was going. It was her fault really...she should have known better.

“Didn’t know you were such a fan of his.” Brianna said with a smirk, holding onto the back of the Moped to stop herself from flying off, “You know that you’ll probably have to line up behind all the other teenage girls, right?”

“I mean, we don’t have to do anything. We could just turn around and go back to the bar if you’re really that opposed to it.” He said, before his voice turned deadly serious. “But the thing is that I heard there’s a camera crew there, so everything we say goes out to the world. Considering that, I’d say it’s our duty to go there and send out the rallying cry for all the people who think they’re making fun of the idiot alone. We’re not just doing this for fun, we’re doing this for a cause!”

He took a hand off the handlebars to place it over his chest as he said this, before quickly putting it down to stop the scooter from swerving around, giving a quick shrug.

“Besides, I wanna get his autograph so I can forge his signature. Big celebrity like him gives me a lotta options, you know?”
Finally, after about ten minutes, he caught sight of… Well, no ambleweeds, but they were fighting something that looked kind of familiar…

“Hey everyone, I made it.” He called out to the group. “Please, please, hold your applause, I’m just here to do my job, which is apparently playing taxi for this alcoholic here.”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Brie as he parked, before looking over at their opponent.

“So, it’s you again...” He said, deciding not to clarify whether or not he actually knew who she was. “Listen, I know he’s a big celebrity so he’d probably be too worried about his PR to outright say no to you, but I don’t think he’s into robots, right… Joestar?”

Ignoring the fact that he’d just casually said something he was absolutely not meant to say, he looked back to Skylar once more.

“Besides, are you sure you want someone like him? Have you not heard all the gross rumours about this weirdo?”

[Jumbus]

Starbright furrowed his brow as two more heroes came to his aid, he had seen the before. Was it in person? No, but he had certainly seen them. "Those rumors must be quite underground considering I haven't heard any of them. Do I know you?"

[datadogie]

Phantom

Mentions: @KiwiTime@Jumbus@Scarifar@Rabidporcupine@Danvers

Skylar felt boosted by the fact that she had forced Ava to retreat, however her feeling of triumph evaporated upon the mutant's words. Both Skylar and Phantom wanted to believe that he wasn't, but the evidence forced a high probability that Ava was telling the truth. With several Heroes already, it could be a lie, including Starbright who was on an equal Power Potential tier than her, however Skylar also knew she was a target, and that perhaps more Heroes than just Forge were coming to attempt to subdue her. It didn't look to be a good situation, unless she dispatched these three quick enough to make an escape.

Fall back.
No, not yet.
If what she said is true-
Find me a target.

There was a slight delay in Phantom's answer, long enough for Ava to kick back off of her wall. The move was obvious enough to dodge, though Starbright's beam blasting at her nicked her enough to hurt.

Target Exchange.

Skylar obliged. The reasoning was simple: She had already managed to connect a blow with Ava, and they were at close range already. Plus, it helped cover her from Starbright; a close range duel would mean he would have as much chance as hitting Ava as he did hitting Skylar. The armoured woman leapt forward again, thrusting her staff like a spear and then proceeding to follow up with more strikes in an attempt to get another hit on Ava. She was confident that she would, given enough time, land enough hits to weaken Ava to the point where the girl wouldn't even be able to defend herself or dodge. Phantom watched her back, making sure the other two weren't committing themselves to some kind of sneaky action that would present a threat. They had grown used to watching eachother's backs, and for good reason; they didn't fail eachother.

H.E.R.O reinforcements incoming. Disengagement advised.
I'll be fine.
Disengage, Skylar.
A hit or two more.

Skylar twists the middle of the staff, which separates into two halves. She continues her barrage of attacks at a faster rate against Ava, determined to beat the girl down, or at least exhaust her. She didn't want to leave having accomplished nothing but a few measly hits. She watched the two other Heroes arriving through the vision that Phantom granted her, trying to work out when exactly would be the best moment to bail out, and noting the familiar faces she saw. However, another threat then presented itself.

Break imminent. Disengage immediately.
I can feel it. I'm submitting, take over quickly, do everything you can to keep us on the controls, and get us out.
Acknowledged.

The fighting style of the Heroes' foe was quickly noticeable. Instead of the zeal and rapid strikes before, their opponent became calculating. One of his arms shot up in fist as if going for a punch, before a grapple hook fired, impacting the wall behind Ava. Phantom leapt forward, the pull of the grapple resulting in him flying just past Ava, trying to catch Ava with both of the staff's ends on the way past. It was then that it went wrong.

Instead of landing gracefully as he had calculated and was projected to do, Phantom's control was suddenly grabbed and pulled away. He would have strangled Skylar if he could, and if it meant he wouldn't be strangling himself in the process. They couldn't predict when mental breaks happened, but Phantom had advised her to disengage sooner. A mental break in front of Heroes was not good at all for them. Phantom wrestled to shorten the length of the break as Skylar fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

"They don't stop, they never stop!" The young woman screams. Her hands move up, practically ripping the helmet off of her head to reveal her pale face. She kicks off the ground, just to fall to the ground once more. "Leave me the fuck alone! Get out of my head! Let me die or let me go!" Skylar screams. She grabs at her helmet again, forcefully shoving it onto her head, before launching herself at Ava, the closest target, her staff swinging. "Why won't you help me! Why are you letting them kill me!?"

The screaming suddenly stopped. A set of ports open up around Skylar's body, and there is a sudden explosion of white smoke, a cloud large enough to conceal Skylar's actual position, and probably catch Ava inside some of it. Phantom, having managed to reassert control, bolts into the nearest alleyway to get away from the Heroes. They weren't staying any longer.

[Hitman]

"Sample, huh?" Blake said as the Shadow Man descended to join them. Blake wasn't sure how or why Zane got there, but now he was asking them to collect a sample of this new creature for analysis or something? Well, first off, Blake wasn't sure what gave The Babadook over here permission to tell him and Tom what to do, and second off, Blake did not enjoy having to collect samples, because that meant he had to hold back in order to avoid absolutely obliterating whatever he was up against. Still, Blake did have to admit that Shadow Spectrometer or whatever his name was had a point here. That lion thing was not a normal Ambleweed, and Blake did not know what else it could be if it was not a normal Ambleweed. Furthermore, after Tom decided to take the deal, it would look quite stupid for Blake to be like, "uh-huh" and not do it.

"Alright, Shady Speckle, we'll get you your sample," Blake said as the plant lion bounded quite near them. He could see now it was definitely made of plants, but the way that its figure was sculpted and almost designed, unlike the disorderly, haphazard build of Ambleweeds, clearly made it stand out. The lion made one last leap forwards and then gave a loud roar. Blake began to accumulate flames around his hands. "Alright, if you can yank it- OH LORD!"

The lion, with a flick of its mane, send a rain of sharp needles flying down on the three of them. Instinctively, Blake jumped in front of Tom and released a wide barrage of fire, turning all the needles flying towards them into ash. Blake did not bother consulting Zane on this one- he was a big ol' shadow man, he could figure it out. "You're welcome," he added with a wink to Tom before returning his attention to the mutant plant beast that they were supposed to be fighting, which seemed to be prawling across the rooftops for some odd reason.

After a few moments atop the rooftop, lingering, the lion then leaped down, landing on the ground softly, and gave another roar which somehow felt even louder with the lion close by. Blake lifted his arms defensively as the lion seemed to prepare its next attack- something Ambleweeds sure as hell did not do. "Any ideas on how to get this thing to stay down? he shouted out as he began to heat up again, ready to fight this beast to submission. Even if it wasn't an Ambleweed, it was a plant, and plants, as a rule of thumb, did not like fire. And wouldn'tcha know it, Blake had a lot of that up his sleeve, and a lot of that ready to go.

@KaijuBaragon @Ryteb Pymeroce

[LukasVolkov]

Flamenco

The problem with setting up shop in a new city, halfway across the country, is real-estate problems. Castleburg had a huge population of superheroes, so finding and setting up a new workshop tended to rouse suspicion- especially anything centering around big ticket items in my inventory. On the bright side, my employer- frosty bitch she is- set me up with a rental home to work out of in the heart of East Flank. Nothing too big, I had to steal a good amount of electronics to get my usual set up going- I wasn't about to hook my home system to Castleburg's infrastructure. I was a brash balled bitch, but I wasn't stupid. Tech savvy hero's surveyed the city's systems regularly, a few illegal technically, but the threat was much too high.

My target- this Behemoth- I found wasn't a prolific hero, kept to himself and a schedule. His hero work was only situations her could help with, train crashes, rescue work. One instance I watched him only intervein in a burglary when the dumbass's car nearly ran down a crowd on the sidewalk. Other than that he didn't patrol and only responded when he was in the area to a crisis he could help with. Needless to say, I couldn't for the life of me understand why my boss wanted this dude dead, and publicly.

Far as I could tell all this would do is piss of H.E.R.O. but who was I to pass up the fat check it came with.

It took me a week to a get a plan together to get this guy out in the open. A construction accident in East Flank seemed the ticket, near his route on Friday errands. It went like this.

Noon, lunch rush in East Flank, meant traffic, eyes, there was a threat but this was the way to go about it. Across from a small construction site, some building getting a face lift. I was in an office building across the way. The office I'd commandeered was an empty rental. Wrappers, soda cans, and a case sat on the floor by me while I looked out over the street. I'd set a couple of charges on the east end of the construction site, enough to start the building in crumbling. Behemoth's powers were perfect to hold up the building. I glanced at my watch.

12:14

Perfect. I pulled a makeshift detonator out of my satchel, flipped the arming key and set off the explosives. Below people passing the building turned to look as the sound of a rumble issued from the ground. The kind of event I needed to make Behemoth vulnerable was a slow fall, not carnage. I smiled a toothy grin when screams shot up. The building's foundation began to crack and before long scaffolding started falling.

The police response was immediate and a few heroes arrived too. I started cursing under my breathe until I saw my lumbering target ample on scene. Eight feet tall with board shorts and a tank top, Behemoth looked a fucking tree in the crowd when he came forward.

"Lets put a fire under that magnificent ass."

I flipped the second arming key and set off another set of explosives. below the blast ripped the bottom floor to pieces and the building's momentum jumped. Like I'd hoped Behemoth took action, jumping over to hold the building in place as a set of heroes started reestablishing the building's foundation. One funnily enough manipulating the earth to hold it in place.

Out of my mag came the parts for a laser rifle, crud bits of scrap to the untrained eye. It pieced together quickly and I set the IV wires. Seting the scope, I perched it on the window. I watched as they managed to save the workers on site and secure the building. Behemoth pulled himself out from under the weight and the crowd cheered for the heroes. He turned- probably to offer some words or something- when I got him in my crosshairs I fired.

The thing about powered beings like Behemoth and Knight, their super strength often diarized from very dense muscular mass and skeletons. Hell its what made them so damn durable, when you're muscle is denser on a molecular level than most industrial metals it made sense. The key was to either drown them- not an option if you wanted an audience- or fire a beam of concentrated plasma, melting their flesh like you would a plate of steel. Like the Knight, Behemoth fell to his knees, a half-inch hole in his chest. The crowd went silent, suddenly backing away from the flash the beam caused. I could see him look up in confusion. I knew that wouldn't do it alone, powered people like him had tough hearts- damn things could still beat with a hole in them. Silence reigned down below, I took aim and fired a second shot right through his skull, melting bone, muscle, and brain tissue. He fell and finally people screamed. Heroes and police started shouting orders. I gathered up my shit- trash and all- and left the room.

All the way on the north end of the floor I was on, a little building sat across from it over an alley way. More than enough to jump over. I pushed the window open, and took a deep breath- hated this part. I leapt across and booked it to the roof access door. I'd jimmied it open a few hours prior, and vaulted through it and down the stairs like a bat out of hell. My veins glowed like neon lights, as I poured energy into my legs. By the fourteenth floor I was sweating and tired.

Falling against a wall- I didn't have time to stop!- I pulled a grenade from my pocket and popped the pin. A few seconds later it went off in my hands, flash of fire, flying metal, met my skin and was instantly absorbed. In an instant I felt energized, like I'd taken a shot of adrenaline. The rest of the stairs were a breeze.

[Jumbus]

Starbright

The reality of the situation hit Starbright like a truck. I'm going to kill you, I'll destroy you, these are just thing villains say but he never expected one to go through with it. As he saw the savage attack on Ava that had been meant for him, the mask dropped. He was no longer Starbright the strong and confident hero, he was just Noah and he had witnessed a terrible assault. Wasting no time after it was clear he rushed over to Ava, "are you alright? Do you need some medical attention?" He turned back to the others "someone get a medic, there's a sanctuary from the Ambleweeds not to far here, should be plenty there." He had said this before even getting a response or even good look at the state Ava was in. Starbright... no Noah was panicked and the guilt could be seen on his face.

[Scarifar]

Sir E. Brum

@datadogie@KiwiTime@Jumbus@Rabidporcupine@Danvers

"Heh, thanks, but I already have plenty of work," Sir said, catching the card and placing it into his belt. While doing so, he carefully observed Phantom, trying to predict her next action as well as where her escape route would be. Sir knew that if he was in her position, the time to make that decision was not long now. As soon as a pair of new heroes arrived on the scene, the decision to flee was practically guaranteed.

What Sir was NOT expecting, however, was Phantom's sudden breakdown, as she seemed to be struggling with herself. Apparently, she was in a constant struggle to regain control of her own body. A fact that Sir had been hypothesizing, but was both glad that it was true and the sudden horror the actual sight made Sir feel upon witnessing it. He resolved to make Phantom's case his number one priority, to capture her and develop a proper antivirus software to free her mind and allow her to finally retake control.

As Sir hesitated, however, Phantom had unleashed a smoke cloud from her suit, presumably using it make her escape. "Ah shit!" Sir said, turning on the thermal vision function in his visor. He went after Phantom, holding his breath as he rushed through it, and tried to follow her, but she proved to be too fast for him and his nanobots as she disappeared around a corner. "Damn," Sir sighed. A woman was suffering, and he did nothing. He had only brought enough gear to handle some simple Ambleweeds and the occasional human assailant, and that was his failure: being unprepared to deal with an unexpected situation. Sir would learn from this mistake, but for now, he simply regrouped with Ava and Starbright. "Phantom's gone," Sir reported. "How's Ava doing?"

[Danvers]

It took everything in Brie not to zap Joseph where he stood when he called her an alcoholic. What an idiot. And what were they even doing here? This was such a waste of time. She didn’t realise that Joseph had driven all the way over to Starbright just to start insulting him. And there was a damn villain as well!

She stood there, hand crackling with the buzz of electricity as she followed Skylars movements. Now she was going to have to actually put effort into fighting today. All she wanted to do was nap...

Brie raised her hand to attack when the woman began screaming, not at the heros, but seemingly at herself. She paused, unsure what to do, when suddenly the villain disappeared in a flash of smoke. Glancing around, she waited for a few moments to see if it was a trap, before deciding that the coast was clear.

“Thanks for the lift.” Brie shouted over to Joseph as she begun to walk away from the small group of heroes, figuring that Ava was in safe hands. “I’m off to find some Ambleweeds.”

Brie wandered around, following the path of destruction and plant matter, until she eventually spotted some Ambleweeds in the distance. “Finally.” She muttered to herself as she rubbed her hands together, sparks cracking in the air around here. That was one good thing about her power...it did really help her feel more awake.

An ambleweed approached her, launching a nearby trash can into the air. Brie held out her hands in front of her, the currents of electricity quickly forming a shield that surrounded her, the can crashing into it with a loud buzz. Feeding off the streetlights around her, she shot a bolt of electricity towards a couple of the overgrown plants, frying the things instantly. Easy enough.

“Where to next...” She pondered as she looked around the now empty and slightly eery street. She supposed all of the civilians must have run away by this point, and she hadn’t come across any more of her fellow heros. Speeding up her pace, she began to follow the overgrowth as it became denser, figuring that it was likely to lead her to more Ambleweeds. Or maybe she could go back to HERO one early...

[Hitman]

A Reflection

"Sir, I don't think you fully understand the situation-"

"Quiet down, Hugo."

Two men were standing in the Director's Office that day. One of them, standing on front of the desk, was a familiar tall, dark-skinned, bald-headed man with a wide-shouldered, robust, and very brawny build- Hugo Powers. He was wearing normal Hugo Powers attire, a forest-green jacket and trousers, with a pair of goggles hanging over his neck. Though he seemed younger then- maybe in his thirties, perhaps- he still had that same, battle-worn expression on his face, and his tense, readied figure and steely eyes corroborated that. On his chest was pinned a fancy golden lapel.

The other man, sitting down at the Director's desk, was a slightly older man with well-kept silver hair and warmer features. He had cornflower blue eyes and was dressed in a white, button-down shirt, a blazer, a pair of jeans, and loafers- a strange mix to be sure, but one that offered the best of both worlds, with a blend of professional wit and resolution along with casual simplicity and receptiveness. He had lighter skin and, though he was older physically, he seemed younger mentally. He had a joyful, loose look to him and a wide smile plastered on his face.

"Sir, with all due respect, I think you're not taking this situation seriously enough," Hugo said sternly, with the first 5 words of his sentence clearly forced out. He seemed quite cross at something, and was frustrated as well, that much was clear as day.

"I've taken this situation plenty seriously. I've consulted with the authorities, I've contacted the repair teams, I've arranged for a meeting with the individuals in quesiton-"

"Again, sir, I still don't think this is serious enough. They destroyed a whole apartment building! The fire department had to haul people out!"

"And we've already moved to re-compensate the individuals, we're moving them to new apartments, and we've already-"

Hugo made a braying noise, much like that a donkey would make when attacked by a fly. "Sir, these people are supposed to be heroes! But the damage they've caused is immense! All to take down one villain!"

"They did take down that one villain, Hugo. Professional Proximo is currently being transferred to Coldwater for detention as we speak."

Hugo grew increasingly annoyed as this suave individual kept talking. "By not punishing these individuals more harshly we are setting a bad example for the entire organization! The news media is going to have a field day about this!"

The older director chuckled. "Firstly, the news media could mean less than nothing to me. But I'd like to hear your input. What type of punishment would you administer these people if you were sitting in this chair?"

"They'd be fired. Suspended, at the very least."

"That seems a bit silly to me. What good would they do to the Organization suspended, or fired?"

"It would be a sign to the rest of the heroes to get their sh-"

The director quickly shushed the man. "Let me show you a photo," the older man said as he took a photo from his desk and showed it to Powers. It depicted a group of young heroes, perhaps in their early 20s or even their late teens, all posing together for the camera. "What do you see here, Hugo?"

"Group of heroes."

"You're not wrong. They are a group of heroes. Bonfire, Wildebeest, Clock Man, Electric Whiz, and Galactic Gargoyle. But what's more important is that they're young human beings that are trying to do the right thing. Do they make mistakes? Of course! Are they perfect? Hell no! Are they the most accountable, reliable heroes? No! But you know what I can tell you about each of these individuals?"

"They do more than a billion dollars of property damage annually?"

"No. What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that each of these people have hearts. They have massive hearts. Sometimes it needs to be coaxed out, and sometimes their hearts are a little too big for them to see what they're doing, but they all have hearts. You have a heart. I have a heart. And a lot of these heroes you want to suspend or fire have hearts too." The man smiled brightly, a profound look on his calm face. "Someday, you're going to be behind this desk, Hugo, and I hope you realize that while you can train precision and you can train damage control and power and all that, you can't train having a heart. You're born with a passion for doing the right thing. And through the thick and the thin, that passion lives on."

Hugo nodded slowly, still a bit irate but subdued significantly. "I understand, Director Hart."

"Good. Glad you can see what I'm seeing what it comes to heroism. Hopefully you can take this to Hart...haha....take this to heart just a little bit when you end up in this chair, behind this desk. Now, I do have something more important I wanted to talk about."

"What is it, Director?" Hugo asked, his seriousness returning to his features, the pensiveness that was previously there vanishing once more and replaced by his usual cold stare. Even the other man seemed to get a bit more serious himself as he procured a manila file from his desk.

"Zero."

"Should've known. What about them?"

"I have gathered some information on them that I think will be essential. Take a look here."

[ TRANSMISSION END. ]

[ Ńͮ̚͏͖̭̰͈̥̪͉̹̥I̡̟͕͖̮ͣ͊̎Č̶̴̤͖̰̠̺͈ͥ̍̉̉̈̏Ę̞̟̣̹ͬ̾̌͂ͨ̇̈͗ͥ ̧̨͍̱͚̻͉̦̄̀́́T̄̃̎̿҉̵̨̭R̡̜̣͎̹̓̑Y̹̞͖ͭ̍͢ͅͅ.̺͍̖̝͚̞͕͕̔͊̂ͭ̍͋ ̢̛̼̞͈̍͋̑̑̋̏̈̄́Y̵̩͚̏̈́̓̑͌O̮̭̙͈͎̓ͮ̇̂̐͞Ų̻̟̄̔̕͝ ͎͔͐ͫͭ̕͡T̵͎͍̪͕̈ͩͮͨͮͮ̑͂͢ͅH̷̜̖͗̔͐̐ͨͦO̷̭̜̬̥̝ͫ͑̈̓́͢ͅͅͅṲ̵̬̳̲̲̜̮̳̏̃̕͟ͅG̢̪̳̭͉̞̘̪̳̀̎ͬͤH͓̜̦̦̮̦̙̥̒̿̌T̛̝̬̞̮͓͂̌͐͂ͥ ̐̏ͮ҉̫͓̘͡Y̷̹̻̪̪͈̯̌ͫ̽́́̚̚O̵̦̭̬̞̜̺͔ͯU̯̠̘͈̣͙̖̠ͥͦͥ̊ ͎͙͓̠̗̤̼̼͍̽̿͂͑̏ͩ͊͡H̩̰͚͔̳͈̜̱͌̏ͧ̋ͥ͢Ā̟ͧͤ͘͠D̴̻̯̮̗̼̹͕̰͕̄͗̓ͮ̀͊̿̊́ ̶̨̭̩̥̯̬̠̓̅Ù̪̦̣͈̲̭̿S̿ͫͦͯ҉̵̬̞͙͎̮ ͚̋̒̓ͩ̓ͮ͑̔͘F̦͎͉̫̺̗̊͋͑ͅO͇͉̻͉̻̻̾͛ͮR̨͖ͪ̆̚͜ ̮͙̤̼̲͇͉̟̺̏͞Á͖̺̲͔̪̞̻ ͩ̊ͥͬͪ͏̧̬͚̩̯̮́S͑̐͋́͠҉̫̥̼̲̦E̷̝͉̞͛͐̄̓͗̅̏ͥͣC̡̮̙͎̞̭͑ͨͯͣͦ͊̔ͥͅO̹̞̫̒̉̈́͛̆̌͠N̵̢͈̬̊ͧͫ͞D̢̮̫̰͖̮ͯͧͬ̈́̀ͬ̕,̷̨̼̗͉̺̽̓̓̉ ͍͕̮͉͎̖͚̑͌ͣ̉ͪͭͯD̜͓ͤ̅̉́ͦ̚̕̕Į̴̲͕̩͉̳̯̳͒͆̊̓̌̃͑ͦD̡͉̙̯ͫ̌͐̊͗̀͟N̞̙͇̖͚͚̟͙͒̒ͧ͒ͬͩ̃ͥ'̨̞̫̮̹̗̹͎̎̓ͣͬ́T͉͙̫͍̯͈͎̲͊͂ͬ̓ ̙̺̻̫͔͂̇̋̐̆͝ͅY̳͕̳̹͖̌ͧ͟͞Ǫ̯͉̥̺̰ͤ̊͋̀̒U̵̧̦͚͉̩̥͆̀ͦͯ̒?̶̻̠͍͉͈͉̜̖̃̊̄ ̬̠͇̙ͧͧ̒ͭ̇ͣ͟H͚̭̩̰̼̱̭̩ͨ̇͢A̡̰̹͕͓̔̍̉̚̕H̹̬̱̩̜̳̻̤̖ͧ͂ͨͩ̽ͣA͌͑͏̯͓̩H̜̪̬̮̟̚͜A̜̞ͧ̂̐́H̗̭̳̫͚̻͆͌̎̕͟͞A̰͎̣̤̰͉ͦ̈̓ͅḨ̙͈̝̣̰̌ͩ̈́̏͜A̠̾ͯͥ͌͢͜H̛͎̟̦̤͔̝̜͑͋̅̄̂̃̚͠A̮̥̜̖͖̝̳̞͂͆ͦ̌͌͊H͈̲͚̯͙̝̪ͫ̌̽ͧ̾̈ͬ̚͡A͇͈̐̍ͥ̽ͮ͜͠ͅ.̤̺̟͚ͦͧ͐̚͘͜ ̡̛̝͐̅ͦ͗͆ͧ̾̄ ]

[Ryteb Pymeroce]

Shadow Spectre

Zane allowed the needles to pass harmlessly through him, and began his analysis of the creature. Highly mobile, moreso than most organics, with a ranged attack that could be deadly to a human, especially if it was poisonous. Zane shifted his arm into a sword blade.

"Just keep the thing from moving around until I can get a trimming, then you can go full ham on it. I'd help, but it's hard to control constructs while moving."

@Hitman@KaijuBaragon