ManyThings

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

^{5:55 AM.
September 20th, 2029.
North Brigold suburb, Castleburg}

The atmosphere that pervaded the neighbourhood that morning was one of grim dread. Those who had survived without injuries were sent away from the scene, forced to leave their devastated homes behind in the dash for safety. Forced to leave while their friends and neighbours were loaded into ambulances, or still unaccounted for.

The heroes were doing their duty, using their supernatural power to free civilians from beneath rubble that would've otherwise been their tomb, but even being rescued seemed to do little to lift the shroud of horror that had been wrapped around their hearts. Mire's orders, shouted at a tearful mother and her injured child, sent them hurrying off to safety without so much as a thank-you.

Wireframe was not free from this treatment, either, as the couple she had rescued seemed to gaze with a measure of fear at the metallic tendrils that had temporarily unfolded from her body. Superpowers, which citizens often found so wondrous when seen on television or during parades, were suddenly just another source of confusion and discomfort in the chaotic situation. Another piece of normalcy that had been stripped away from these people, along with their homes and neighbours.

If the heroes were to find any thanks amidst this destruction, it would only have been from the professionals undertaking search & rescue duty. Even then, it was only curt nods, brief murmurs of acknowledgment when a hero moved rubble or soil that would've been impossible for a normal human. And then, a moment later, they would be back to work, lacking any energy or freedom to focus on the presence of the heroes when there were people to rescue. They had few orders or requests for the heroes assisting them, only the expectation that they would do what was needed.

Sobs and shouts continued to fill the air, but at least those voices were being heard and answered, now.

After the initial communication through the watches, Alisa was no longer making audio contact with the heroes. Now that they were working, constant updates would likely only have distracted them. If they needed updates on the situation from her, they would need to look down at their watches.

Although it might have been better for their focus and morale if they didn't look.

Despite their initial efforts, and everyone that they and the unpowered responders had rescued so far, the counter of missing persons had been climbing counter to their progress. For every family that was saved, it seemed another was quickly being declared missing. The issue was the scope of the landslide. There were houses on the fringes of the disaster, buildings that stood near the highway at the top of the hill, and vehicles that failed to arrive in the city, speculated to have been buried on the highway itself. At the very least, as the exact size and shape of the affected area began to clarify itself through eyewitness reports and visual data from drones, the number began to stabilize.

Current count of missing civilians: eighteen.

Still plenty of work to be done, or so it seemed.

As Wireframe deposited a middle-aged woman at one of the medical tents and prepared to return to the search, one survivor craned his neck to lock eyes with her from his position on a stretcher. The boy, a teenager whose blonde hair was now caked with dirt, looked at the hero, wild-eyed.

"The medics aren't listening to me! Please, tell someone! We can't- We can't stay here. It could happen again." His voice was too loud for the medics to work over, and one began rushing to calm him down. "Didn't any of you hear it? Right before the hill started crumbling, something blew up!"

---

^{5:57 AM.
September 20th, 2029.
Hills beyond North Brigold}

As the operation continued, the life-detecting coins seemed to trend towards locations further and further up the hill, with about half of them floating past the farthest house-ruins of the suburbs and beginning to travel up towards the highway, seeking the heartbeats of drivers still alive beneath the earth.

It would be a few moments more before the coins would locate those signs of life, however, as they still trailed a ways behind the hero who was making his way up the decimated slope. With the distance Terraformer had travelled on his floating cube of soil, all the heroes and civilians in the suburb at the bottom of the hill looked like nothing but small beads of colour, milling about. Even the cries for help could hardly reach him.

On the other hand, he could faintly make out the honking of car horns. To Jareth's left and right, a couple hundred feet away, the highway was packed with cars who had been forced to stop as the landslide covered the road before them. This was Jareth's only clue that he was floating over the highway at that moment--the road beneath his cube was completely obscured by debris, looking no different from the rest of the hill.

The source of the disaster appeared to be roughly where Wiseman had projected. It was near the peak of the hill that overlooked the highway and the suburb. Whether there was any visible risk of another collapse was difficult to say. There was a broken pipe jutting out of the upturned, spraying filthy water that soaked into the soil. It was conceivable, then, that the soaking of the ground could destabilize it, given enough time, and cause even more damage. The pipe had quite clearly been torn open as a result of trees falling with the landslide, however. It was not the cause of the incident.

To Jareth's eyes, so experienced with his power, something may have appeared slightly unnatural about the damage to the earth near the source. The trail of damage grew narrower the further he followed it up the hill, as if it was a great cone of destruction that had blossomed from a single, tiny spot. Indeed, there was a clearing just above the peak of the destruction: a lovely patch of grass that appeared to have suffered no damage at all.

There, at the source of all the damage, a tent was pitched. It was open, empty, its canvas flap blowing slightly in the breeze. Just outside the tent's entrance sat three items: a pair of binoculars, an empty Thermos, and a map of the local highways.

Someone had been there.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

H.E.R.O. Sidestory 1: 「Dirty Work」

^{Three weeks earlier.
5:44 AM.
September 20th, 2029.
North Brigold suburb, Castleburg}

"Oh, God..."

"S-should we run? What if it happens again?"

"We can't! The Hacketts, the Bensons--they might still be alive under there!"

"9-1-1... Hey, has anyone called 9-1-1 yet?!"

On a normal morning, most people in the quiet neighbourhoods of North Brigold would still be in bed at this hour, or groggily pulling themselves out of sleep with cups of coffee. Today, however, as the sun was still midway through its climb over the horizon, they were on the streets. Bewildered and horrified families gathered outside their homes, many still in housecoats or pyjamas, to look upon the disaster that had befallen the northwestern edge of their suburb.

From one street to another, the sight was nearly the same. The rows of cute houses that had once stretched to the end of each block were now interrupted by a tremendous mound of earth, stone, and debris. A landslide had torn its way into the edge of town, swallowing up dozens of homes in its path.

While many citizens sheltered in their homes or ushered their children into cars to flee, more still stood stunned in the streets, gazing hopelessly through the dust clouds and trying to guess the extent of the destruction. The homes on the hill overlooking the neighbourhood? The highway beyond that? To the left and right, how widely did the destruction spread across the suburb? How much had been lost?

---

^{5:47 AM.
September 20th, 2029.
H.E.R.O. One, Savior Island, Castleburg.}

The rest of the city was enjoying the peaceful morning that North Brigold had been denied. Even on the island fortress that marked the centre of H.E.R.O.'s power in Castleburg, things were quiet. Peaceful. At least until a small Toyota screeched into the parking lot, stopping haphazardly as the driver emerged in a tense power-walk towards the door.

Assistant Director Emily Duff had taken her time getting ready that morning. She had picked out a nice outfit for the day--white pants and a creamy brown jacket that she thought went quite well together--and she was trying something new with her hair. But then, any good mood she might have been in was quickly spoiled when the bad news had turned her peaceful morning drive into white-knuckle race to get to work and coordinate the rescue effort.

"Alisa. Alert the night patrols, and activate emergency alarms for our off-duty heroes. Anyone who can get to North Brigold within twenty minutes needs to start moving right now." Duff spoke into her watch before she was even inside the building.

"Already done."

Face twisted with worry, the Assistant Director stepped inside H.E.R.O. One and rushed to her office. If lives were going to be saved today, she had her own role to play.

---

Whether they had been patrolling through the night, getting an early start on the day, or still getting some well-earned rest in their beds, the heroes of Castleburg would soon be awoken by a piercing alarm from their watches. The sound was a cruel hybrid between whistle, bell, and screeching chalkboard. For some, it may have been their first time hearing it. It was a signal that was rarely used, only activated when an urgent situation was unfolding during off-hours in the city.

"A landslide has consumed multiple homes on the northwestern edge of North Brigold. Current count of missing civilians: nineteen. Current extent of the disaster area: unknown. Report to the scene immediately to assist with search and rescue." The voice of the organization's powerful AI called out to each of them at once.

Even when heroes earn their rest, they rarely get to enjoy it for long.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Inside Flaming Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside

---

Once Ardent learned of the homing function of his enemy's fireballs, avoiding them wasn't so much trouble. He let the flames crash against wrecked furniture and pieces of recycling equipment around the plant as he aimed to maneuver closer to Torch. It wasn't going to be easy, or so it seemed.

Briefly taken into some sort of illusory world by Marisol's power, Ardent took a moment to parse the confusing chain of events as the blistering heat soon returned to the room. The fight was over. Was the fire fake? No, it was the water that had been fake, to confuse Torch, and Ardent himself had also been caught by that hallucination for some reason. It was good to see their government oversight finally taking action, but she then immediately decided it would be a good time to offer a critique of his moves.

"Who asked you?" Ardent bristled. Had she only gotten involved because she thought he was actually going to lose?

"You should make yourself useful and try and carry him out of here. Better you than me."

"Ohh, oops. I was totally planning to leave this guy here in the fire, because I'm either evil or an idiot. But come to think of it, you're right. Lemme get on that."

Nothing was worse than being told to do something you were already about to do. Ardent made his indignation known and tried to needle the agent a little, but the flames were getting pretty thick, even without Torch adding any more onto them. Time to go.

Ardent picked up the unconscious villain and slung him over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Then, he affixed a small, oblong device to his own mouth. His compact rebreather. State-of-the-art tech, by the standards of a vigilante, at least. With that done, he extended his free hand to Mari, offering the chance to catch a flight out with him as well. It seemed she didn't have much trouble coming and going from this place, but he wasn't going to turn his back on her without quickly making the offer.

Whether he was carrying one person or two, he took to the air, flying well above the flames. Up there, the worst problem might have been smoke inhalation, but Ardent's rebreather saved him from that issue, and his passenger's gas mask presumably did the same.

As he flew, Ardent passed above Freakshow, who seemed to be making her way back inside the building. Moving alongside her were Terrazards, ignoring her in favour of doing even more damage to the burning building. He slowed down overhead, putting himself in view of the transformed hero just to make sure she didn't think he or Torch were stuck burning to death in the depths of the plant. He offered a nod, a thumbs-up. As far as he knew, this side of the crisis was handled. Hopefully she could grasp that much.

Moments later, a fresh hole was blasted through the wall, and Ardent emerged into the sun with his cargo. The hero's face and hair were slightly marred by soot, and the green jacket around his waist was little more than a pair of sleeves, but he was basically unharmed. He plopped Torch onto the grass, beside Lab Rat and the twins. Leaning down, he pulled the tranquilizer dart out of the villain's skin and then yanked the stupid mask off of Torch's face. This annoying dickhead wasn't much of a looker, Ardent was guessing.

Then, pulling the rebreather off his face, Ardent surveyed the scene. The Terrazards were under their control, the villains were all captured, and no hero was hurt. On the other hand, they couldn't completely relax, since one of the twins was quite badly injured and there was still an inferno raging at the plant. These were issues, but not high-priority ones in Ardent's mind. They could afford to take a practical approach.

He wiped soot from his face with his forearm and took out his phone, the screen only slightly warped from the heat.

"Okay. I'm calling 9-1-1."

If there was a special line for heroes to call when they needed things cleaned up, the former vigilante didn't know anything about that. For him, this was the usual move in the aftermath of a destructive fight, with an injured villain on the scene.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Inside Flaming Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside

@Crusader Lord@Silver Carrot

Collabed with GM @Hitman

---

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.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Inside Fixeon Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside

---

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.

"I can take these guys." 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."You think you can snag it?"

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.

"Look, bro, we get the two lamest heroes. Lame Rat and...Lamedent. Sorry, didn't think of a name on time."

"Yeah, feeling's mutual, pal. I was looking forward to fighting somebody with half a brain in their skull." Ardent taunted the self-replicating villains as they began to form a small mob. "What's the point of having two guys with cloning powers, anyway? Did one of you just get hired as a package deal with the other? Out of pity?"

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.

"Anyway, how many of you does it take to screw in a lightbulb?! Huh?!"

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.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Outside Fixeon Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside

---

While some of the heroes seemed to be bothered that the situation was slipping out of their control, or that they didn't have the rapport to execute seamless teamwork, Ardent was doing better than ever. Unexpected changes mid-battle, and having to play things by ear... it was more his style than making a plan and sticking to it from start to finish. Since they didn't know each other that well, that meant they all knew themselves better than anyone else here, so he was content to just assume that his fellow heroes were finding roles in the fight that suited them. Building walls, melting things with acid, or whatever.

The original handful of Terrazards that had tried to outflank the heroes on the left had been dealt with, sliced up and smashed by Ardent's makeshift polearm. However, as he hovered and waited for another group of lizards to come towards his edge of the perimeter, he observed just how many more were on the way. With those sorts of numbers, the Terrazards were more than just a half-assed security system. Someone had clearly put real work into gathering up an absolutely massive crowd of the creepy things.

He imagined some smug bastard sitting inside, thinking they could dump all their problems onto their lizard army and call it a day. It awakened an itch in his head that had been dormant since the encounter with the Five. Someone in the recycling plant needed to get hit, badly.

Ardent broke from his original position and rocketed towards Freakshow before she had even finished calling out to the team. With a thunderous crack, he shattered two Terrazards with a midair golf-swing from his parking sign before landing alongside her and setting to work. Here, he was able to take out the things much more efficiently. It wasn't because he was ramping up his power at all, but rather because they were approaching the hole from which the dense mass of enemies was emerging. When they didn't have time to spread out, he was able to clear two or three with each swing, even as the metal sign grew battered and the concrete base began to chip.

"Morons inside have lost their minds, and splitting up for interceptin' these things won't do squat to help unless we stop the source of em' comin' out from the inside!"

"You're right, but--" He thrust the signpost into another lizard's chest as he spoke, repelling enemies from Freakshow's left flank while she spearheaded the charge, "--We can't just leave the lizards out here, either. Rushing to the heart of the plant all together is the strongest play, but it's not the right play."

Looking at the bone-spurred scorpion-centaur form Freakshow had taken, he was starting to understand her hero name. To his eye, it was a goddamn badass transformation. However, he couldn't agree with what she was saying. He appreciated her prime experience as a leftover hunter, but he was beginning to feel that her extreme caution around these leftovers, making her deeply resistant to the idea of splitting up, was going to put them in a bad position. With this many lizards going berserk, they couldn't just pierce through their formation and leave the remaining beasts alone on the plant's front lawn. Not when they didn't know how the creatures would behave afterwards.

He looked to Luna, his face lightly splattered with scales and reptile blood. He grinned.

"You're worried about what these things can do. Fine. But it's time to show some trust. These things are dangerous, but so are we!"

With himself, Freakshow, and Terraformer mowing down Terrazards in a bee-line for the breach, it wouldn't take long before they could reach it. But when they charged forwards like this, it meant they couldn't really prevent enemies from passing alongside them and getting at the rest of the group. He looked over his shoulder.

"We're going in, but a few should stay here!" He called out to the team, "We can't let them run wild behind us, and we definitely can't let them spill out into Brookside!"

Ardent didn't have any particular training in regards to protecting civilians, but he had plenty of rough experience with it. Enough to know that leaving monsters unattended outdoors was bad. Which heroes were best at eliminating large numbers of lizards? He didn't really have a precise plan of who should go inside and who should take on the 'zard mob, but there was one person here who he knew would do their best work in the yard with the mass of creatures.

"Mire! If that was so easy for you, then do it again! But bigger! Wipe out everything that gets past us! If I can breathe through my nose without choking on the smell, you haven't melted enough!"

Moving quickly and tearing apart any lizard in their way, the charging group of heroes wouldn't have to wait long before they were through the hole in the wall. It was up to the remaining heroes outside to choose whether they would join the charge or focus on culling the horde.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Outside Fixeon Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside

---

David was going to have to put some trust in the new hero transferred from ICOSA, it seemed. As long as she didn't start writing up critiques of their battle performance, he could live with that. Probably.

He was ready for action, but Freakshow had a pretty long-winded battle plan for the group, first. As a former solo vigilante, David found himself growing disinterested with the details of the plan. Too complicated. Too rigid in its structure. He preferred to improvise. Not to mention, it seemed excessive. Based on the reading he had done on these creatures and the report of how quickly Jellyfish and Albino had folded to the fresh recruits, David was pretty sure that just Mire and Ting Feng working together would be enough to clear out the two-dozen-odd Terrazards running towards them, leaving the rest of the heroes free to rush inside the plant before the Skulls had time to prepare.

Still, listening to Luna's tone, he got the sense she wasn't speaking just from some desire to boss the group around, but because these Leftovers had left a serious impression on her from previous encounters. He didn't want to be a dick and run off on his own after she had just asked for backup and support to watch the group's flanks. The plan wasn't David's style, but that didn't mean it was a bad idea, necessarily. He took issue with one bit, however.

"Don't follow them? Are you serious? If they stop coming to us, we're gonna have to go to them. The mission is to clear out the whole place, which means we're gonna have to go in there and get our feet wet a little. If you don't feel safe doing that, you can wait outside. I'm gonna-"

The rumbling of reptilian footfalls alerted him moments before the gunshot. They were coming.

"Hah! At least we can forget about the bait!"

Hearing Freakshow go on and on about the dangers of Terrazards and the strategy for killing them had begun to irritateDavid and stress him out a little, but that stress was gone now that he could just focus on taking action. He flew low, rocketing forwards alongside Freakshow towards the mob of Leftovers. "That was a lot of yapping just to say 'let's watch each other's backs while we fight some lizards'! Better hope it works!"

As he flew, Ardent snatched up a metal sign in one hand. He twirled it experimentally, getting a sense of its heft. Almost automatically without thinking, he had improvised a weapon. The 'EMPLOYEE PARKING ONLY' sign on the top end would make a fine axe, and the hefty concrete weight that served as the sign's base was a solid hammer. Satisfied, he gave a confident grin as he watched Freakshow lunge for the spearhead of the formation, darting off to the left at the same time.

Luna had seemed pretty surprised by the formation of the enemy, but as far as Ardent could tell things were going exactly as she had guessed. A bunch of 'zards were running at the group while a few tried to outflank them on each side. He flew low towards the pincer group of lizards that were aiming to wrap around the HERO team's left side. With his speed, he could reach them while they were still basically in front of the group, not yet wrapped around their position. At the last second, he flew higher, and then came crashing down into the reptiles' frontline, sending up a spray of dirt and dust.

Based on the Leftover data for Terrazards, what Freakshow had just told everyone about them, and the fact that one had just died to a sniper rifle, it seemed like they were tough enough to survive small firepower, but nothing beyond that. Since he didn't have to worry about their lives like he would with a human enemy, Ardent had plenty of freedom to use the strength required. With 20-25 Leftovers in the whole formation and the bulk of them charging in the centre, there must have been under ten of the creatures on the flank he was attacking. Light work.

His first attack carried his landing momentum forwards to skewer the foremost Terrazard on the sign-blade. Immediately, he pulled it out and set to work. At the speed he was swinging the sign, 'EMPLOYEE PARKING ONLY' was no longer readable to spectators, it was a complete blur. With the length of the weapon, Ardent could keep the lizards beyond arm's reach as they fought. He slashed one's throat with the sign, then spun it around to splatter the next one with a crushing blow from the concrete base. With his power and his expertise in using random crap as weaponry, he was a whirlwind, deadly and impassable.

However, he didn't advance into the enemy flank, even as he cleaved through the foremost of them. He maintained his position and awaited their approach. As much as he had gotten tired of listening to Freakshow, it seemed he had grasped the basics of her plan after all. With wide-area attacks from the likes of Mire and Terraformer, the core group of heroes surely had the ability to wipe out the numerous monsters charging their way, and the only thing that could really disrupt their rhythm would be a surprise attack from the side or behind. Ardent's eyes darted to the edges of the Leftover formation, making sure none got past him as he fought. As long as someone could do the same thing on the right flank and someone kept an eye on their backsides, the group would only have to worry about the enemy's frontal assault.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Outside Fixeon Municipal Recycling Plant, Brookside

---

David flew low through Brookside, following along with the HERO transport vehicles. He was once again outfitted in his costume, with the green jacket tied around his waist, and any minor damage to the fabric from his combat with Doc Holliday since mended. On that matter, the damage to his arm had also healed up nicely, mainly thanks to Alpha's power. He was ready for action.

When David was assigned to this mission instead of being sent for ICOSA evaluation, he had been thanking his lucky stars. No doubt the nosey bastards were interested in a psychological profile of him because of his background and probationary status, but apparently there were some even more concerning heroes on the local roster, and he was safe for now. It was also possible, David considered, that Powers had given him this mission in order to put off what would very likely be a disaster of an evaluation. In truth, David had no idea how he was going to sit down and chat with the ICOSA representatives without giving them a piece of his mind. He had gone legit precisely to avoid having these sorts of people breathing down his neck. Back then, it had been the Boston HERO team on his ass until he joined them. But as the saying went, there was always a bigger fish. A fucking annoying fish. A magical British one.

For sure, Ardent was much better off out here, on a simple errand. Flying beside the truck meant he could keep Crane company during the journey, keeping pace with her platform. Still, he wasn't sure the two of them would have much to talk about. Did he really have anything in common with someone who couldn't step inside any building smaller than an aircraft hangar?

If anything, they at least had a common problem in the oversight of the mission. Randolph's minion was apparently gonna be watching the whole mission, and the new addition to the team was apparently also from ICOSA. "Don't like this. I don't trust them." David spoke to Crane as they passed through town and under the imposing shadows of the Brookside prisons.

Although David was very happy not to be getting psychologically evaluated, he wasn't exactly in love with the mission he was on. As a vigilante, he had mainly gone after criminals and villains rather than Leftovers, and he didn't have much experience with exterminating them. He wasn't even sure he wanted to.

"...And on top of that, the whole mission feels like some sort of sick test. If taking out these things is actually important, the ICOSA crony should be fighting, too. She's going to be there, anyway. But no, she's just going to watch us."

As he travelled with Crane, Ardent's face and tone told a story of someone who was unhappily resigned to doing stupid, useless work.

Soon enough, they had arrived. Ardent saw Perez on the tower nearby, and followed her sightline to spot the bulk of the Terrazard group. He landed near the truck, boots touching down on dead grass. He eyed the large hole in the wall, then glanced at some of the broken windows. He wasn't really a big pre-planner, but the watchful eye of ICOSA made him slightly conscious of the need for strategy. If they made some dumb misplay with Perez watching, they'd probably never hear the end of it.

"Before we start." He glared at Lab Rat, who had emerged from Crane's truck. "I wanna know. Are you actually with us?"

He tilted his head up towards the tower.

"Or with her?"

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg

---

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 SLAM 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.

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

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.

"Wait, it's you..!" Ardent's eyebrows went up. The name took him a second. "Alpha?"

The glowing had 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. "Why are you..? No, nevermind. It's good to have you here." 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.

"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." 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. "But can you use your power on me, first? This hurts like hell."

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 definitely feeling it, now that the adrenaline was settling down.

Fate/Dark Heritage

First Night

Near the Abandoned Lot

@GOATPlumber@Letter Bee

---

Caster's motivations were more or less what Assassin had been expecting. An alliance of convenience? It was weak a foundation for trust, but the choice wasn't theirs to make. Nor was it their Master's, really. They were technically part of this alliance by association, but had no interest in directly fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Servants here if they could help it.

The announcement rang out, being heard by Servant and Master alike. The Assassin's whiskers twitched.

Well, Master, They spoke through the psychic link, If you want to to keep spying on this little meeting, you'll have to use your magecraft, or ask your new ally what his Rider is up to.

They were already on the move, hopping away from the abandoned lot in spirit form. This new threat, whoever precisely they were, was something that nearly every participant of the war would be going up against. So, if their Master's promised husband was going to be putting his life on the line, Puss wanted to stay one step ahead of him.

If the Ghost Liners were as powerful as all that, it wouldn't be too difficult to detect their presences with a bit of scouting. And with Presence Concealment, it ought to be possible to get a good look at them without too much danger, and see what they were made of.

With that in mind, Puss set off, searching for the corruption that threatened his Master's wish.