ManyThings

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg

---

Ardent had originally chosen his angle of attack to draw Holliday's sight away from Blast. Now, from what he could see from his high position, the situation at the Bench was looking a little different. Someone in plainclothes had seemingly healed Blast's wound, and now they had Bastion covering them from stray hits.

Maybe it was time for Ardent to try some of the "teamwork" stuff that organized heroes were always raving about. Or maybe he just felt like giving the other heroes a wakeup call to get them off the defensive. Either way...

By the time Holliday had cleared Ardent's blood from his vision, the flying hero was nowhere in sight. No matter where those superpowered eyes looked--ahead, up, left, right, behind--there was no sign of him. Because he was below. While Holliday still stood on the remains of his Western-themed parade float, Ardent was flying prone, his chest hardly an inch off the ground as the ledge of the float blocked line of sight between the two of them. He was a loud guy, no doubt, but his flight was absolutely silent. At least, it was silent until the impact.

Since the parade floats had stopped moving, standing on the float must have felt basically the same as standing on solid ground for Holliday, but that was about to change. As Ardent made impact and lifted the side of the float with one hand, he tipped it over. The entire surface very rapidly tilted nearly ninety degrees, and the cowboy's footing went from a completely flat platform to a completely smooth cliff. Metal and wood snapped and creaked as barrels, tumbleweeds, and likely the Doc himself were scattered off of the float and deposited unkindly on the curb.

Since Ardent had been approaching Holliday from the side of the road opposite to Blast, tipping the float sent the villain roughly towards the trio who had now gathered at the bench. It was no coincidence.

The structure of the float groaned under the strain as it slowed for a moment before beginning to tip back the way it had come. Ardent hadn't quite gotten it fully vertical. The lifted end would crash down onto the road at any moment, but in the meantime it acted as a broad wall that stood between him and everyone else.

"For a guy who can outrun a Bugatti, you sure like to take your time!" Ardent was speaking to Blast, but his voice came through both the speedster's and Bastion's watches. His tone wasn't accusing in the least. In fact, he sounded like he was in better spirits than he had been during the backstage meeting. "Ready to make a fuckin' move?!"

The plasma wound on Ardent's arm still hurt like hell. He probably wouldn't have been able to move the limb much normally, but his power let him stop any more blood from flowing out and maintain his full strength. He had called on the others for support, but that didn't mean he was going to wait for them to get it together.

Before a moment had passed, before the overturned float had even crashed back down, he was launching his next attack. The flimsy and damaged floorboards of the float snapped and shattered as the green-haired hero burst through the "wall", aiming to surprise Holliday with his assault before the Five's leader had regained his footing. Since Holliday should have been dumped right next to the float, Ardent would have cover from his view until the moment he broke through that cover and appeared in close range. One shoulder was down, and that left one to go. Lunging through the barrier, he immediately spun into a sweeping kick that came for Holliday's offhand-side, fast and forceful enough to turn the man into a wreck that would never pull another trigger in his life.

It was a risky move that involved breaking line of sight to launch a surprise attack. Or at least it would have been. Except that for Ardent, there was no uncertainty about exactly where Holliday had landed. Whether he had tumbled, or landed on his feet, or leapt some distance off the float, or even managed to hang onto the platform when it was turned nearly-vertical, Ardent was going to come directly for him. Without looking, he knew where the villain was, and even which way he was looking and aiming his gun. It was because the blood he had splashed at the cowboy a moment ago, which was now wiped on the villain's face and hand, was still subject to Ardent's power. Like any part of his body, he could psychokinetically move it at will. And as a side effect of that, he could feel its position and movement, which meant that even without being able to see Holliday through the flooring of the float, he could track him down and disarm him for good.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg

---

Minutes later, Ardent was in the air.

While he hovered over the parade and waved at the people down below, he cast his gaze over the buildings, looking up and down 5th Avenue and the immediately connecting streets. It was crowded. He could pick out Wireframe from among the pedestrians, and he presumed Bastion was somewhere among them, too, although he didn't know his face. Having opted not to perch on a building, there was no way for Ardent to rely on the support of the part-time hero's shield. It was better to have that protection near the crowd, anyway.

It was a good vantage point, but the villains probably wouldn't be approaching on foot. A car? Ardent descended a little, until he had a view of the sidestreets that let him see the faces of drivers through their windshields.

He heard the gunshot.

Instantly, Ardent whirled around and braced for a hit, his power coursing through his body. There was no impact. He had been hoping to draw some attention in the air and lure out the enemy's first attack. Apparently, someone else had that misfortune instead.

"This is Blast. Don't know if you heard, but they're here and they don't seem to be in the mood to negotiate. Cowboy Bebop is in a particularly feisty mood. I'll try to re-engage him when I get the chance- AGH, SHIT! FUCK!"

Blast. There were worse options for people who could've been shot. At least Holliday hadn't opened the fight by killing a civilian.

The scene of the battle wasn't hard to spot. There was a Wild West themed parade float (In a hero-themed parade?) that was suddenly unleashing a small army of robots, and a certain speedster was zipping around near it, scrambling for cover. Ardent took off, hurtling through the sky over 5th Avenue. He could see his target.

"Hey, Birdboy, could use that weather report at some point. I'm target practice out here."

"Careful," Ardent answered through his own watch, "Might make me rethink who I'm gonna punch when I get there."

As Ardent flew, the situation started to clarify. Lady Blade was inside, somehow. She had gotten past them, to the kid heroes and Wiseman. He felt a twinge of frustration. On the upside, they were holding their own, and Oracle's power had given them another huge advantage in intelligence. Out front, a wave of robots began making for the entrance. Thankfully, the parade crowd seemed to have the good sense to run away at the sight of the things. Ardent still didn't know Wireframe's power, but he trusted her and Bastion to be able to handle that side of the situation. He passed overhead, a blur to the naked eye, weaving between the aerial robots. Even if they fired at him in passing, they posed no threat to him. He wasn't interested.

Ardent was keeping his eyes on the prize. Holliday was standing on the remains of the deconstructed float, preparing another six shots.

The former vigilante banked in midair, curving his approach to come from the direction opposite to Blast, putting the villain between the two heroes. The damage that had clearly been done to Blast, and to the mailbox, wasn't lost on Ardent. He remained keenly aware that some of Holliday's specialized bullets might be packing deadly surprises.

"It's high noon, you old-timey fuck!!"

...But that didn't mean he was going to take a cautious approach.

Holliday had sharp eyes, and presumably drones watching his back for a surprise attack. Given the choice, Ardent preferred to have the sharpshooter look his way, to give Blast and the stranger with him a reprieve. He rocketed through the air at a downward angle, descending faster than any bullet towards Holliday.

Of all the heroes present on New Athens, Blast and Ardent were probably the only two capable of changing direction quickly enough to avoid a bullet after it had been fired. In that sense, Holliday had an unlucky matchup, but they couldn't rely on dodging alone to beat an enemy whose entire schtick was hitting impossible shots.

In Ardent's experience, when it came to long-ranged fighters, whether they used eye lasers, tossed globs of lava, telekinetically hurled cars, or shot plain-old bullets, the core idea was that the best defence was a good offence. This seemed to be applicable for Holliday. His power didn't give him any protection from attacks, so he needed to rely on the fact that either his enemy would get shot and die, or they'd be too busy avoiding his bullets to launch a proper counterattack. It had clearly worked on Blast, who was stuck running for cover instead of closing the distance to take the bastard down. If he waffled about how to avoid taking a little damage, he would never get close enough to strike. Ardent had a different approach.

Even with the warning of a battlecry, Holliday would only have a scant moment to react. Enough time to fire a shot? Possibly. Ardent was ready for that.

A fist flashed out, quick as thunder, driving furiously towards the villain's upper body as Ardent lunged down from above. It was an instinctual, practiced motion that gave no sign of the angle of attack until the moment he entered striking distance. He aimed for the shoulder on the side where Holliday was holding his gun. Even reducing his power to avoid a bloodbath, Ardent's punch carried more than enough force to obliterate bone. Forcing this cowboy to drop his weapon was the first step in crushing him.

Fate/Dark Heritage

First Night

Near the Abandoned Lot

@Letter Bee@Digmata

---

M-Master! Through the mental link, Puss' voice was mirthful, but not mocking. No, the matter was deadly serious. When you said you recognized that man, I never in a thousand years imagined that!

Assassin was still concealed, perched on the convenience store rooftop that overlooked the unfolding situation. There was a lot to consider, and they finally had a sense of which Servants had which goals, but everything else in their mind was currently taking a backseat to the latest news from Oleg-Marie.

Well, you have it on my honour as the Master Cat. Your stars will cross!

As nice as that was, there was still the matter of the Grail War. Puss had some clarity on who was who, and technically they were part of the growing alliance, but it was messy. Their own Master had an alliance with Rider's Master, but the two Servants had yet to meet one another. On the other hand, Rider had made an alliance of his own with both Shielder and, tentatively, Saber. On top of all that, here was this latest woman. At this point, it seemed like Servants were lining up to lend a hand in the quest to bring down the tainted Grail.

Assassin's vantage point had put them opposite to Caster's position, with a good view of Rider's face. Now, they began circling around, still hidden, getting nearer to the pink-haired woman who had finally made a proper appearance.

Well, well. Everyone wants a sardine from the tin, now. Does she want to get rid of the Holy Grail, too? Or is she just trying to avoid being on the receiving end of this alliance's power?

Although Assassin and Saber weren't exactly friends (they had never even properly met!), they had a lot of faith in her sharp eyes and intuition. This latest Servant didn't exactly have the honest and upright vibe of the other three who had gathered in the lot. In fact, Puss had been pretty certain that she had been moving with aggressive intent when they first detected her presence.

I'm getting in position to make a move against her... We'll have to see if she can sell a good case for herself to the others. They told their Master, slinking invisibly up the side of the building that Caster had landed atop.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Johnstone Convention Center, New Athens, Castleburg

---

It brought David a tiny bit of joy to see the Director looking so out-of-place and uncomfortable in his tight little suit. He had only met the man earlier that week, so his sense of his personality was limited to a few very irritating interactions, tainted by the regret and humiliation of his career change from vigilante to proper hero. As much as David hadn't been enjoying his time at the festival, it was nice to see that it wasn't all sunshine and roses for Powers, either.

Seems like nobody's immune to the burdens of publicity.

If David's mood had been worse, he might have said that out loud, but the matter of the metal spider had his attention. Finally, it looked like he was going to have something real to do. He was glad he had come, instead of wasting his day floating around town just to spite the Director. If somebody was going to cause trouble here, he was going to thrash them. That was a proper introduction to the city, not showing up just to look pretty at some festival.

There was a whole world full of awesome powers out there, but David had always found super-intelligence to be especially impressive. It was the sort of power that made problems simple just by existing. If a hero was able to take a glance at a busted-up robot and instantly recognize the identity of the inventor and of all the inventor's teammates, that was a hero David could respect.

Hearing Wiseman's advice for how to deal with the situation, David was a little less enthused. It was slightly overcomplicated, in his eyes. Micromanaging, even. He gave a skeptical squint as a copy of the data on the Fiendish Five was transferred to him.

"Their team lineup sucks for this," The former vigilante observed, flicking through holographic images of each of the Five, accompanied by various lines of text about their abilities and known tactics.

"There's no way jelly-boy or pasty-face are getting anywhere near this place without getting clocked as villains, and they're fucked here since there's no water and the crowd's sightlines are everywhere. Their other two fighters are stuck using conventional weapons to attack, so they don't have anything that could destroy the building or wipe out the crowd beyond popping people one-by-one, plus they can't do any real damage to Powers, who they know is gonna be here." His tone wasn't casual. He had to acknowledge how deadly these villains were, but he also couldn't ignore how weird the situation was. "So I guess they're relying on their egghead. He's the wildcard."

Again, intelligence was a super powerful thing. Whether you got it from the Hero Gene or not, David considered it a superpower, and he considered brainy bastards the worst sort of villains by far. He tried to imagine how Gholem could send the whole situation from bad to worse. Drones could drop little smoke bombs everywhere to give Albino some cover. Maybe a big hose-robot could start flooding the convention centre with water for Jellyfish to splash around in. It sounded stupid even in David's head, but who was he to say what this guy could or couldn't invent? Worst and most obvious, the Professor could have just given his teammates a bomb.

David glanced between Wiseman and Oracle. They both seemed to have pretty incredible abilities to gather information, but he wasn't sure who was going to end up being more effective in this situation. "If you figure out where The Nutty Professor is hiding, tell me right away. He spoke to both of them, with a certain edge to his voice that suggested he was very motivated to find that particular villain. "I wanna go shove that laptop somewhere painful."

Regarding the heroes' own team lineup, it seemed that he had been sorted into the 'outdoor mobility' category, along with Blast and the other woman. Wireframe? That sounded pretty familiar, but he had no idea what she could actually do. For his part, Jake seemed plenty eager to come up with some sort of game plan together, asking for David's input.

"Run around really fast." David told him dismissively, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then, he caught himself. He was supposed to be part of a team, now. It was something new. "I mean, don't bother going up high. I can handle that. You're better off going far. Run right around the building, see if the fire escapes are shut properly. Make some wild guesses about where they could be coming from. If you guess wrong, you can just come back here in like, two seconds."

Then, he looked at Wireframe and shrugged. He didn't know her power. "...You blend in really well." He observed. Maybe it was a lucky thing she had come in casual clothes.

With that advice offered, David turned his attention to himself. There was one bit of Wiseman's battle plan from a moment ago that was still on his mind.

"...Doc Holiday can and surely will shoot Ardent out of the sky to make space for Albino to attack on the ground..."

David gave the armoured hero a wry smile. "I'm new in town, so you don't put too much stock in me. I can't blame you." For a moment, his smile widened. Not the fake smile for the crowds, but something with heart and fire behind it. There was some remnant of the brazen Ardent who had taken Boston, and Twitter, by storm. "I'm not dying to gun-guy, or pasty-face, or sword-girl, or any of them. Don't sweat it."

Ardent set his gaze towards the exit from the backstage space."It'd be suspicious if we all started getting real tense and vigilant, huh?" He appeared to be ready, even eager, to head out to search for robots and villains.

"So I'm gonna go say hi to the crowds out front, do some laps around the neighbourhood, and get up nice and high. Good chance I'll see them coming from blocks away. If not, if Billy the Kid really wants to shoot me that badly, he can go ahead and try it. It'll be nice and easy to find him once he takes a shot."

Fate/Dark Heritage

Elsewhere...

---

Although Kyoto was a large city with a population of over a million people, its subway system was quite simple. There were only two lines, Tozai and Karasuma, which crossed one another North of the city's centre. As basic as it was, it was convenient enough to connect through the subway to buses and overland trains, and nearly 400 thousand citizens travelled through the Kyoto underground every weekday.

Squeezing in tight during rush hour, one subway train could hold well over 1000 people at a time. So late in the evening, the train that was running South along the Karasuma line held far fewer. Just then, as it was approaching Kuinabashi station, it was carrying just slightly over 300 people--

--Which was a small mercy.

Because not a single one survived.

The very front of the fiery crash was just barely visible to everyone waiting on the platform at Kuinabashi, as bits of twisted metal slid just shy of the mouth of the tunnel there. Emergency response was immediate. Medical and fire teams were called to the scene. The surrounding stations were evacuated due to risk of smoke inhalation as flames still flickered deep within the tunnel, where the wreckage lay.

While subway trains in Tokyo had begun to see the installation of security cameras, Kyoto was behind in this regard. The stations naturally had CCTV, but the trains themselves were a blind spot. Although people in the city scrambled to learn if their friends and family had been on board the train, it appeared that no-one had managed to get out any final text or video on their phones before their lives had been stolen away.

Because of that, no-one knew the truth. Of the more than 300 mangled bodies that lay in the crashed subway train, not a single one had been alive at the time of the crash. They had been massacred, one by one, in a matter of moments. The driver had been the last to go.

There was no real logic to it, no intention of secrecy. The people who tried to take their phones out had been prioritized, simply because they were trying to brandish something. Even crashing the train hadn't been a true plan. It was an afterthought. Instinct.

After all, the one who had slaughtered those people was--

---

First Night

Kyoto Subway Maintenance Tunnels

---

--A completely mad warrior.

Servants were inherently spiritual beings. Devouring souls was in this Berserker's nature. He knew that he needed magical energy to survive, and to have the strength to kill all the other Servants in the city. He knew he had no Master, no proper source of mana.

And so, he had come to these strange tunnels, found people trapped in a little tube, and fallen upon them like a demon wrapped in iron and shadow. He had cut them down in droves, crushed them with his hands, squeezed the life out of them. By the time he had devoured the souls of the two cars in the back, the rest had known something was wrong. Knowing hadn't changed anything.

His meal finished, he descended deeper. While the emergency operation was being carried out, Rogue Berserker was lurking in the disused and neglected maintenance tunnels of the subway system, far from prying eyes. There was no ley-line or fountain of spiritual energy for him to squat on down here, but the darkness and seclusion let him rest, and await his next move.

Having devoured a subway train full of souls, the Rogue Berserker had sufficient mana to survive for a handful of days. He had sufficient mana to unleash his true power in a few battles. But it wasn't sufficient to satisfy him. Not when he didn't know how many enemies he would have to kill.

For the rest of the month, the Southern end of the Karasuma line would need to be shut down, ending a few stations early while removal of the wreck took place, repairs were made, and blame was assigned. The crash would shake the city in some small way, and subway ridership would surely see a decline for some time.

Yet, people would still come. There were people who needed to ride the subway to reach work. There were people who would work in the tunnels, moving fragments of the destroyed train and cleaning the tunnel. There were people who would try to discover what had truly happened, down in the dark. Inevitably, more souls would come.

I'm waiting.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

Johnstone Convention Center, New Athens, Castleburg

---

Fresh off of David's decision to stand on the ground like a normal person during conversation rather than using his flight for no good reason, here was Jake, zipping around the room just to shake hands. It was tacky, and David didn't exactly offer an approving look, but he at least took the guy's hand. If he had wanted to spend his time antagonizing heroes like Jake, he would have stayed as an independent.

David held his tongue, and watched over his shoulder as a couple more heroes made their way towards the meeting spot. The two were opposites: a shorter guy who was geared up like some sort of futuristic Navy SEAL and a taller girl dressed like the absolute most unassuming convention-goer imaginable. The latter had no visible signs of being a hero, but she immediately started chatting with one of the kid heroes in a familiar way. Good enough proof, David figured.

"You think he put a call out just to lure us here for some publicity stunt?" David glanced between Austin and Jake, who seemed to have the same idea about what was happening. "That's basically been my whole day already. Showing my face around town, making sure everyone knows about my transfer here. The kid heroes have the right idea; if this request turns out to be something really stupid, I'm out."

There was no point in mentioning the fact that he had been stuck flying around and making public appearances because he currently wasn't cleared to do anything else as a probationary hero. That was something of a sore spot for David, and he wasn't sure which heroes even knew the truth about his situation. Most of the heroes here seemed to be on the newer side, probably not the type to be trusted with behind-the-scenes info.

Everyone seemed to be getting along pretty well. Aside from his fresh arrival to Castleburg, David got the sense that a lot of the current roster in the city was made up of heroes fresh out of training, with a year or two of work under their belt. He couldn't help but wonder what that was like, being set up to work as a hero in such a structured, comfortable way. On the other hand, developing powers always brought chaos into a kid's life, no matter what their living situation was.

"I'd say give it five minutes. If we don't hear anything by then, we dip." David idly leaned out of the backstage space, watching to see if anything was developing in the convention center. Was a crowd gathering for them?

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

「 ARDENT 」

End of 5th Avenue, New Athens, Castleburg

---

The wind was worse up high, above the buildings. David was floating, suspended in midair by his power in the sky above New Athens. He tugged on the collar of his green jacket, trying his best to ignore the slight chill that was creeping through him. Even if it was uncomfortable, it was something to take his mind off of other matters, and it was better than being down there.

David had taken up a midair viewing position near the start of the parade's route, and now that the last of the floats had passed by, the throngs of people packed onto the sidewalk had begun to take notice of him. Pointing, waving, jostling each other, taking pictures and videos on their phones... Boston's most famous bruiser had come to Castleburg, and people were excited about it.

That was the only reason he was here. David had no interest in seeing some shitty parade celebrating a bunch of glorified costumed cops, but part of his end of the bargain with HERO involved being very public about his new status as a protector of the city. There was nothing he would've liked better than to make his way to the shittiest part of town and start asking the wrong questions until some villain got nervous and came out to pick a fight, but he wasn't allowed to act on his own, yet. That being the case, this was the best way of making himself useful. If he took a good vantage point and put himself on display, there was at least a slim chance that he could find some trouble, or that some trouble could find him.

David had only been sneaking glances at the crowd of fans slowly swelling beneath him, fifty feet down. Finally, he gave them a proper look, turning his head and smiling eagerly as if he had only just noticed the gathering for the first time. For all he grumbled internally about having to make such a public display of joining the Castleburg HERO team, it was hard to stay angry when actually looking a crowd in the eyes. Their excitement was so pure and energetic, as for them today was nothing more than a day to cheer on the people who let them live safe, easygoing lives. There was even a kid in an Ardent T-shirt. Was that a custom third-party product? Or had HERO already started a full campaign of marketing and merch under David's nose?

He threw up a peace sign, trying his best to look like he had nothing on his mind. They wanted him to fly down and chat, he could tell. Maybe sign some things. Before he could decide what to do about it, there was a notification. An annoying bastard's face popped out of his new watch.

"Attention, heroes. I need a group of you to assist me at the Johnstone Convention Center. If you are available, please come and meet behind the stage. You will be rewarded for your time."

It was going to be something pointless, David had no doubt. If there had been a proper emergency, or even the suspicion of some attack from a villain or a Leftover, the message ought to have been phrased very differently. David clicked his tongue as he weighed his options.

You're the one who told me to fly around and show myself off to these people, let them known I'm in the city. You can't complain if I'm too busy to come running when you call, right?

He smiled to himself as he remembered the ankle bracelet that the Director could use to track his position. Suddenly, the dull job of making public appearances for the festival seemed like a bit of fun, only because it was an excuse to shirk another order.

I hope you check the tracker, old man. I hope you check it, so you can see that I'm sitting here, wasting time instead of flying off to help with whatever you need.

As soon as that thought passed through his head, David glanced down once again, at the gathering of fans on the street. The atmosphere had changed slightly, and they were eagerly muttering to one another. Expecting something. If David had flown down closer, he could have listened in, but he knew well enough what they were discussing just from the looks on their faces. They had all seen it: he had a mission. Ardent had been given some new, exciting task from Director Powers himself and now the civilians were speculating about what adventure awaited Castleburg's new hero.

Maybe they had a point. Whatever Powers wanted, it would be something to do. In any case, now that they were all expecting something from David, he couldn't stay here. He gave the crowd a last smile. "Duty calls!" He hollered just loud enough for the people on the street to hear before snapping into motion, flying out of sight.

☆

David had only been in Castleburg for five days, and he didn't particularly have the lay of the land. Even so, there wasn't a chance in hell he was going to spend his time sitting in on some seminar about how to integrate into the city. After all, he wasn't a new hero, and there was nothing Assistant Director Duff could tell him that he couldn't find out even quicker by just using goddamn Google Maps.

As he quickly discovered, even Google Maps may have been overkill for this particular journey. It was literally on the same street. He only needed to follow the parade's route to get to the convention centre. It make him sick, imagining Powers watching the live updates from his tracker as he left 5th Avenue, did an awkward loop around a quarter of New Athens, and then practically came back to where he started. In any case, he had arrived after only a few minutes.

David scanned the outside of the convention centre for a convenient open window he could use to enter, before giving up and flying down to the street, joining the thick crowd that slowly filtered through the main doors. As soon as he was among them, excited whispers began tittering through the clump of superhero fans. Most people in the crowd parted for David, reverently backing up and pulling out their phones to snap pictures as he passed. The boldest of them stayed in place, hoping for a greeting or a handshake as he was forced to make his way around them. Comfortable in a crowd, David wasn't surprised to find that he was turning some heads upon his arrival. For these people, catching sight of a local hero was probably a weekly or even daily occurrence, but he was a new face in town, someone these people had only seen in news reports about action in Boston. The excitement would die down within a week or two, he figured.

Once he had passed through the doors and into the large space being used for the festival, David was able to fly again, passing over the crowds and booths, and even over the stage itself, to reach the meeting spot in mere moments. As soon as he was backstage, away from the crowds, he landed. Passively floating was a stylish look when you were in front of fans, but he had always felt that hovering in the air during proper conversations just made him look like a dickhead.

There were two kid heroes who he didn't recognize, and one hero who he definitely did. At a glance, it was pretty clear none of them knew anything more about the situation than David did. Since they seemed to be in the middle of introductions, he waited just a moment before stepping forwards. Flight was noiseless, so it was only when his boots were on the floor that they would have any sign of his presence.

He offered a nod to the heroes. "Hey. I'm Ardent. New here, from Boston."

If they kept up with hero trends at all, that would be enough for them to recall who he was. Really, just his face might have been enough. Unlike the kid heroes, he wore no mask, and his tight-fitting black-and-orange costume was also pretty recognizable. For all that, though, his expression wasn't exactly approachable. The two guys seemed to be interested in chatting, whereas the girl was isolating herself a bit. Maybe she had the right idea. If they didn't bother with small talk, they could probably finish this task up quicker, whatever it was.

"What kind of sick power play is this? He tells us to meet him here to help him out, but he isn't actually here?" David hissed. He was more talking to himself than anything, internally questioning why he had actually bothered to show up.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

Ardent

ARDENT

"Let's try and make it look like you stood a chance. For the cameras."

---

---

[ NAME ]

David Schwartz

[ HERO IDENTITY ]

Ardent

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

@ArdentOfficial on Twitter.

[ AGE ]

23

[ GENDER ]

M

[ AFFILIATION ]

Probationary member of H.E.R.O., formerly an independent vigilante.

[ APPEARANCE ]

Meathead-type hero. David is tall and powerfully athletic, with a certain brutish charm to his looks. Aside from his stature and intense expression, the most striking part of his look is his bright green hair in an undercut style. He is not someone interested in hiding, and he prefers to make an impression. David has some grasp on fashion and aims to look good in public, but prefers to dress casually in loose clothes or athletic wear whenever he feels he can privately get away with it.

For hero work David wears a dark grey sleeveless costume with an orange pattern and a green jacket. He has goggles occasionally worn for eye protection, but no mask. Concealing his identity is not a priority.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Self-Possessed: David is not a team player by nature. He makes his own judgments and often commits to them in the extreme. He dislikes overcomplicated situations and generally aims to bulldoze to a solution without regard for the feelings of others.

Media-Savvy: Public image is key. David tends to be very mindful of the possibility that anything he does might be recorded or publicized. Originally, this meant he was very vocal about his views on justice. Now, it means he must pretend to be happy with his position at H.E.R.O.

Rebellious: David is not accustomed to taking orders. Any H.E.R.O. paper-pusher who spends a few minutes in a room with him becomes very aware of just how much he chafes under authority. He is staying in line, for now, but orders should be worded carefully.

Sense of Justice: As David puts it, "Cowards always have a hundred reasons why you shouldn't hit them." His simple policy is to give a beating to anybody who's asking for one, and not to let anything slide. For all that talk, though, innocent lives do come first. Hostage situations are his least favourite situations, by far.

Ashamed: For all his fire and pride, David has been beaten. He can only remain content by convincing himself that giving up his crusade and joining H.E.R.O. was the right thing to do. Beneath that excuse is an inescapable sense of failure and loss of purpose.

[ BIO ]

David grew up to have something of a negative outlook on the state of the world. Two foster families tried and failed to fix this, and when his powers began to manifest in late childhood he came to be called a lost cause. By sixteen, David was a local menace in suburban Boston, clobbering local gangs, Child Protective Services, and anyone else who he felt was asking for it. He was on the radar of local heroes, who determined that it was better to just perform weekly wellness checks on the superpowered youth rather than to try taking him into captivity. Perhaps they could have saved themselves some trouble by grabbing him back then.

Confused and angered by the state of the world around him, young David resolved to become an independent hero. In his eyes, what the world needed was somebody who was willing to rip through all the red tape and beat the hell out of anyone who deserved it, consequences be damned. Soon enough, the hero Ardent had become notorious on the East coast as an enemy of the corrupt and powerful. His online popularity skyrocketed after a particularly bold incident during which he tore apart the German embassy in Boston to drag out a foreign villain who had been seeking shelter there. The video of this, recorded by a passerby, garnered views in the tens of millions online. As much as this drew criticism and caused headaches for proper superhero organizations, it was working, and Ardent was making a name for himself.

David's fame grew, and he began to attract a very vocal audience of those who felt that organizations like H.E.R.O. were too corrupt and broken to make real change in the world. He leaned into this image, creating a powerful social media presence and amplifying his message even further. While his vigilante career soared, though, his own life began to slide downhill. For all his fame, he had little actual income, and he was evicted from his apartment after posting an open invite to his address for "any villain who needs some teeth knocked out".

The final straw was when David finally began to get direct attention from proper heroes. It started with little conflicts, arguments about how to handle delicate situations like hostages and bomb threats. There were accusations that David was too rough, that he was too often targeting white-collar criminals who needed to be investigated and convicted rather than just beaten black and blue. Eventually, H.E.R.O.'s Boston team had to draw the line. David was given a choice: be branded a criminal and spend his days battling against the government's heroes, or come into the fold and do some real good under the organization's watch. He told himself he didn't want to hurt his fellow heroes, even if they were misguided. He told himself he could make change from the inside of H.E.R.O. Whatever the excuse, he gave in.

Getting Ardent on their side was a big win for H.E.R.O., as his stamp of approval silenced a very noisy community of online critics. Publicly, Ardent acknowledged that he had gone too far as a vigilante and that H.E.R.O. was a trustworthy organization that he would be happy to work alongside. In truth, he is still only a probationary member and must be kept under supervision while operating as a hero, although this fact is not public. Thinking it better to keep Ardent away from the city where he had already done so much damage, the Boston team washed their hands of him and sent him to the one man hard-headed enough to keep the unruly hero in line: Hugo Powers. For the past five days, David has played the role of Castleburg's latest superhero under this man's careful watch.

Abilities

[ RANKING ]

Β (Beta Class)

[ POWERS ]

Full-Body Flight: David has forceful and precise psychokinetic control over his entire body. He can freely impart movement to all his limbs, flesh, fluids, severed parts, etc. in 3D space, although the power is not precise enough to operate on a cellular level, to reshape his tissue, or to otherwise change his natural form. There are plenty of potentially bizarre uses, but David's power is generally expressed in the style of the quintessential super human: he can propel himself in flight, move his limbs with super strength, and brace his body to prevent injury.

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■■■■■■■■■□

Using his power to move his body, David can output incredible force. He can quite handily toss a truck, crush a cinderblock in his hand, send a villain flying with a kick, and so on. The nature of his power means he needs no support nor leverage to perform these feats, so even an odd-looking attack from a finger or flailing limb can potentially deal tremendous damage to a foe. David's strength is incredible, but he has no special power to properly support something very large, like a building, without having it collapse due to resting its entire weight on his comparatively small form.

Powers aside, David happens to be extremely strong, but not supernaturally so.

[ AGILITY ]
■■■■■■■■■□

The technique that put Ardent on the map: flight. He can psychokinetically hoist himself into the air and move around at speeds that match the finest modern aircraft. Factoring in both his raw speed and the fact that he can avoid all sorts of terrain by simply passing overhead, David is an ace when it comes to quickly reaching a situation anywhere in the city or beyond.

As far as small-scale agility is concerned, David's power remains incredibly useful. His psychokinetic movement does not rely on the impulses of the nervous system, and he can freely reposition in three dimensions to avoid attacks and strike from surprising angles. When it comes to chaotic situations, he considers himself an expert in evasive maneuvers.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
■■□□□□□□□□

Not quite as foolish as he seems. David's instincts are sharp enough, and he has no shortage of life experience or situational awareness. Still, his mind is not his greatest asset.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
■■■■■■■□□□

David's attacks are powerful enough to rip through steel and concrete, and a heavy blow could even release a shockwave, but his power is close-ranged and does not directly deal in destruction over a broad area. Still, there is something to be said for the terrifying combination of high-speed flight and super strength as a set of tools for demolition. If David flies headlong at an eighteen-wheeler, the truck will be torn apart. With a couple quick loops through a parking garage or skyscraper, he could surely fly through enough pillars and walls to collapse the structure.

[ LETHALITY ]
■■■■□□□□□□

With his power, David should be able to kill a normal human pretty easily with a single blow to the head or torso. Thankfully, there are no records of this ever happening. He generally fights bare-handed and with restraint, so his foe will only suffer bruises and broken bones in a normal engagement. If he were on a murderous rampage, he would have no special means of causing mass death beyond individually smashing people to bits or tossing something big and heavy at a crowd.

[ ENDURANCE ]
■■■■■■■■□□

In principle, David's power is the psychokinetic movement of his body, so he does not have a special ability to become properly invulnerable. Instead, he basically uses fine and forceful control to hold his skin, bones, and organs in place (and in one piece), preventing them from registering damage from physical trauma. If a bullet is fired that should pierce his flesh, he simply forces his skin to remain in place, preventing a wound from opening up at the point of impact. This is remarkably effective for guarding against cutting, crushing, blunt force, and so forth, but has no use against more unusual forms of damage, such as heat and cold, which directly harm the cells. It is critical to note that David's actual body only has the durability of a normal human's, so if he fails to notice or otherwise fails to brace against an attack, he lacks any solid defence.

Fine control of his power means David can perform a rough sort of healing on himself. He can force broken bones into their proper shape, squeeze wounds shut, send lost blood back into his body, etc. He does not have the ability to actually fuse tissue back together, though, so this is really more of a stopgap measure.

[ STAMINA ]
■■■■■■■■■■

Secretly David's strongest point! His power controls his body, but does not rely on his body's own strength. Even if he is wracked with wounds that place him on the verge of death, sapped of all his energy, exhausted from hours of work, overcome with sickness, or in some similar state, his power can be used to move his body at nearly full capacity. This is possible as long as David can remain conscious. In the past, he was known to have operated as a vigilante for periods of nearly 36 hours without a proper break, as unwise as that might have been.

[ EFFICACY ]
■■■■■■□□□□

David is very adept with the basic uses of his power. He exhibits fine control when flying around and using his strength, and has very good reaction time. As a side effect of his power, he has constant awareness of the position and movement of all parts of his body. Compared to how much he has explored the most forceful uses of his power, David is less experienced with small-scale uses of the power on things like his spit and hair.

[ SURVEILLANCE LEVEL ]
■■■■■■□□□□

David is only on probationary membership and is considered to be at moderate risk of turning his back on H.E.R.O. It is probably safe to rely on him to fight evil and rescue civilians, but his adherence to other mission parameters is suspect.

[ SKILLS ]

- Possesses the charisma and talent to operate an online presence and maintain a very large following.

- Extremely adept at bare-knuckle fighting and use of improvised weapons. Although he is not properly trained, he considers his wealth of experience and strong instinct to be more valuable than any technique.

- A good cook within the context of his spartan lifestyle. Can make a little food go a long way.

- A gym bro, meticulous when it comes to diet and healthy routine.

- Took a first aid class at the YMCA. Experienced with patching up his own injuries.

- Sewing master! Considers it a matter of pride to be able to completely erase damage to his clothing as if it never happened. His original hero costume was made on his own.

- Animal whisperer. Extremely high affinity for stray animals.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

- Smartphone. David carries out both personal and heroic business on the same phone. The camera is top-of-the-line, and he has a mechanism for sticking it to surfaces and leaving it to record his fights.

- Zip ties, for quick and easy capture.

- Bandages and disinfectant.

- Goggles.

- Rebreather.

- Hidden beneath his clothes, a very small but durable ankle bracelet with a tracker, keeping Director Powers apprised of his movements. Removing this would be a violation of David's probationary hero status.

《 Super H.E.R.O. 》

The government doesn't want you to know this but the supervillains on the street are free, you can just pick them up and take them to jail.

Ardent

ARDENT

"Let's try and make it look like you stood a chance. For the cameras."

---

---

[ NAME ]

David Schwartz

[ HERO IDENTITY ]

Ardent

[ NICKNAME/ALIAS ]

@ArdentOfficial on Twitter.

[ AGE ]

23

[ GENDER ]

M

[ AFFILIATION ]

Probationary member of H.E.R.O., formerly an independent vigilante.

[ APPEARANCE ]

Meathead-type hero. David is tall and powerfully athletic, with a certain brutish charm to his looks. Aside from his stature and intense expression, the most striking part of his look is his bright green hair in an undercut style. He is not someone interested in hiding, and he prefers to make an impression. David has some grasp on fashion and aims to look good in public, but prefers to dress casually in loose clothes or athletic wear whenever he feels he can privately get away with it.

For hero work David wears a dark grey sleeveless costume with an orange pattern and a green jacket. He has goggles occasionally worn for eye protection, but no mask. Concealing his identity is not a priority.

[ PERSONALITY TRAITS ]

Self-Possessed: David is not a team player by nature. He makes his own judgments and often commits to them in the extreme. He dislikes overcomplicated situations and generally aims to bulldoze to a solution without regard for the feelings of others.

Media-Savvy: Public image is key. David tends to be very mindful of the possibility that anything he does might be recorded or publicized. Originally, this meant he was very vocal about his views on justice. Now, it means he must pretend to be happy with his position at H.E.R.O.

Rebellious: David is not accustomed to taking orders. Any H.E.R.O. paper-pusher who spends a few minutes in a room with him becomes very aware of just how much he chafes under authority. He is staying in line, for now, but orders should be worded carefully.

Sense of Justice: As David puts it, "Cowards always have a hundred reasons why you shouldn't hit them." His simple policy is to give a beating to anybody who's asking for one, and not to let anything slide. For all that talk, though, innocent lives do come first. Hostage situations are his least favourite situations, by far.

Ashamed: For all his fire and pride, David has been beaten. He can only remain content by convincing himself that giving up his crusade and joining H.E.R.O. was the right thing to do. Beneath that excuse is an inescapable sense of failure and loss of purpose.

[ BIO ]

David grew up to have something of a negative outlook on the state of the world. Two foster families tried and failed to fix this, and when his powers began to manifest in late childhood he came to be called a lost cause. By sixteen, David was a local menace in suburban Boston, clobbering local gangs, Child Protective Services, and anyone else who he felt was asking for it. He was on the radar of local heroes, who determined that it was better to just perform weekly wellness checks on the superpowered youth rather than to try taking him into captivity. Perhaps they could have saved themselves some trouble by grabbing him back then.

Confused and angered by the state of the world around him, young David resolved to become an independent hero. In his eyes, what the world needed was somebody who was willing to rip through all the red tape and beat the hell out of anyone who deserved it, consequences be damned. Soon enough, the hero Ardent had become notorious on the East coast as an enemy of the corrupt and powerful. His online popularity skyrocketed after a particularly bold incident during which he tore apart the German embassy in Boston to drag out a foreign villain who had been seeking shelter there. The video of this, recorded by a passerby, garnered views in the tens of millions online. As much as this drew criticism and caused headaches for proper superhero organizations, it was working, and Ardent was making a name for himself.

David's fame grew, and he began to attract a very vocal audience of those who felt that organizations like H.E.R.O. were too corrupt and broken to make real change in the world. He leaned into this image, creating a powerful social media presence and amplifying his message even further. While his vigilante career soared, though, his own life began to slide downhill. For all his fame, he had little actual income, and he was evicted from his apartment after posting an open invite to his address for "any villain who needs some teeth knocked out".

The final straw was when David finally began to get direct attention from proper heroes. It started with little conflicts, arguments about how to handle delicate situations like hostages and bomb threats. There were accusations that David was too rough, that he was too often targeting white-collar criminals who needed to be investigated and convicted rather than just beaten black and blue. Eventually, H.E.R.O.'s Boston team had to draw the line. David was given a choice: be branded a criminal and spend his days battling against the government's heroes, or come into the fold and do some real good under the organization's watch. He told himself he didn't want to hurt his fellow heroes, even if they were misguided. He told himself he could make change from the inside of H.E.R.O. Whatever the excuse, he gave in.

Getting Ardent on their side was a big win for H.E.R.O., as his stamp of approval silenced a very noisy community of online critics. Publicly, Ardent acknowledged that he had gone too far as a vigilante and that H.E.R.O. was a trustworthy organization that he would be happy to work alongside. In truth, he is still only a probationary member and must be kept under supervision while operating as a hero, although this fact is not public. Thinking it better to keep Ardent away from the city where he had already done so much damage, the Boston team washed their hands of him and sent him to the one man hard-headed enough to keep the unruly hero in line: Hugo Powers. For the past five days, David has played the role of Castleburg's latest superhero under this man's careful watch.

Abilities

[ RANKING ]

Β (Beta Class)

[ POWERS ]

Full-Body Flight: David has forceful and precise psychokinetic control over his entire body. He can freely impart movement to all his limbs, flesh, fluids, severed parts, etc. in 3D space, although the power is not precise enough to operate on a cellular level, to reshape his tissue, or to otherwise change his natural form. There are plenty of potentially bizarre uses, but David's power is generally expressed in the style of the quintessential super human: he can propel himself in flight, move his limbs with super strength, and brace his body to prevent injury.

[ PHYSICAL STRENGTH ]
■■■■■■■■■□

Using his power to move his body, David can output incredible force. He can quite handily toss a truck, crush a cinderblock in his hand, send a villain flying with a kick, and so on. The nature of his power means he needs no support nor leverage to perform these feats, so even an odd-looking attack from a finger or flailing limb can potentially deal tremendous damage to a foe. David's strength is incredible, but he has no special power to properly support something very large, like a building, without having it collapse due to resting its entire weight on his comparatively small form.

Powers aside, David happens to be extremely strong, but not supernaturally so.

[ AGILITY ]
■■■■■■■■■□

The technique that put Ardent on the map: flight. He can psychokinetically hoist himself into the air and move around at speeds that match the finest modern aircraft. Factoring in both his raw speed and the fact that he can avoid all sorts of terrain by simply passing overhead, David is an ace when it comes to quickly reaching a situation anywhere in the city or beyond.

As far as small-scale agility is concerned, David's power remains incredibly useful. His psychokinetic movement does not rely on the impulses of the nervous system, and he can freely reposition in three dimensions to avoid attacks and strike from surprising angles. When it comes to chaotic situations, he considers himself an expert in evasive maneuvers.

[ INTELLIGENCE ]
■■□□□□□□□□

Not quite as foolish as he seems. David's instincts are sharp enough, and he has no shortage of life experience or situational awareness. Still, his mind is not his greatest asset.

[ DESTRUCTIVENESS ]
■■■■■■■□□□

David's attacks are powerful enough to rip through steel and concrete, and a heavy blow could even release a shockwave, but his power is close-ranged and does not directly deal in destruction over a broad area. Still, there is something to be said for the terrifying combination of high-speed flight and super strength as a set of tools for demolition. If David flies headlong at an eighteen-wheeler, the truck will be torn apart. With a couple quick loops through a parking garage or skyscraper, he could surely fly through enough pillars and walls to collapse the structure.

[ LETHALITY ]
■■■■□□□□□□

With his power, David should be able to kill a normal human pretty easily with a single blow to the head or torso. Thankfully, there are no records of this ever happening. He generally fights bare-handed and with restraint, so his foe will only suffer bruises and broken bones in a normal engagement. If he were on a murderous rampage, he would have no special means of causing mass death beyond individually smashing people to bits or tossing something big and heavy at a crowd.

[ ENDURANCE ]
■■■■■■■■□□

In principle, David's power is the psychokinetic movement of his body, so he does not have a special ability to become properly invulnerable. Instead, he basically uses fine and forceful control to hold his skin, bones, and organs in place (and in one piece), preventing them from registering damage from physical trauma. If a bullet is fired that should pierce his flesh, he simply forces his skin to remain in place, preventing a wound from opening up at the point of impact. This is remarkably effective for guarding against cutting, crushing, blunt force, and so forth, but has no use against more unusual forms of damage, such as heat and cold, which directly harm the cells. It is critical to note that David's actual body only has the durability of a normal human's, so if he fails to notice or otherwise fails to brace against an attack, he lacks any solid defence.

Fine control of his power means David can perform a rough sort of healing on himself. He can force broken bones into their proper shape, squeeze wounds shut, send lost blood back into his body, etc. He does not have the ability to actually fuse tissue back together, though, so this is really more of a stopgap measure.

[ STAMINA ]
■■■■■■■■■■

Secretly David's strongest point! His power controls his body, but does not rely on his body's own strength. Even if he is wracked with wounds that place him on the verge of death, sapped of all his energy, exhausted from hours of work, overcome with sickness, or in some similar state, his power can be used to move his body at nearly full capacity. This is possible as long as David can remain conscious. In the past, he was known to have operated as a vigilante for periods of nearly 36 hours without a proper break, as unwise as that might have been.

[ EFFICACY ]
■■■■■■□□□□

David is very adept with the basic uses of his power. He exhibits fine control when flying around and using his strength, and has very good reaction time. As a side effect of his power, he has constant awareness of the position and movement of all parts of his body. Compared to how much he has explored the most forceful uses of his power, David is less experienced with small-scale uses of the power on things like his spit and hair.

[ SURVEILLANCE LEVEL ]
■■■■■■□□□□

David is only on probationary membership and is considered to be at moderate risk of turning his back on H.E.R.O. It is probably safe to rely on him to fight evil and rescue civilians, but his adherence to other mission parameters is suspect.

[ SKILLS ]

- Possesses the charisma and talent to operate an online presence and maintain a very large following.

- Extremely adept at bare-knuckle fighting and use of improvised weapons. Although he is not properly trained, he considers his wealth of experience and strong instinct to be more valuable than any technique.

- A good cook within the context of his spartan lifestyle. Can make a little food go a long way.

- A gym bro, meticulous when it comes to diet and healthy routine.

- Took a first aid class at the YMCA. Experienced with patching up his own injuries.

- Sewing master! Considers it a matter of pride to be able to completely erase damage to his clothing as if it never happened. His original hero costume was made on his own.

- Animal whisperer. Extremely high affinity for stray animals.

[ EQUIPMENT ]

- Smartphone. David carries out both personal and heroic business on the same phone. The camera is top-of-the-line, and he has a mechanism for sticking it to surfaces and leaving it to record his fights.

- Zip ties, for quick and easy capture.

- Bandages and disinfectant.

- Goggles.

- Rebreather.

- Hidden beneath his clothes, a very small but durable ankle bracelet with a tracker, keeping Director Powers apprised of his movements. Removing this would be a violation of David's probationary hero status.

Fate/Dark Heritage

First Night

Near the Abandoned Lot

---

On the roof of a shoddy little convenience store, concealed by their class skill and their spirit form, Assassin was in an excellent position to hear and see all that unfolded between the Servants who had gathered down below. And there was a lot to take in. Defenders of Christendom, a stray Servant offering his talents to the strongest contender, a blackened Holy Grail...

All the heroes gathered in the lot seemed to be of a similar mind about what should be done to a corrupted Grail, even if they weren't willing to immediately all band together as allies to accomplish the task. How much did this affect Assassin's plans? As Puss in Boots, they were honour-bound to grant all their Master's wishes and bring them the finest things in life, but the structure of the war was beginning to break down before it had even begun. If there was no magical wish granter to be won, it meant they would have to grant Oleg-Marie's wishes with nothing but the point of their sword.

An easy task for the Master Cat!

That's good judgment, Master. Puss responded through the telepathic bond. Indeed, a sharp-eyed Saber was probably the most annoying sort of Servant to have running around when you were an Assassin. I'll give it my very best effort at the first opportunity.

Puss' words dripped with false conviction and energy, uncharacteristic of the loyal Assassin. Perhaps Oleg-Marie could read into the message that lay within that sarcastic tone. Puss in Boots would grant all their Master's wishes, but if he didn't truly want Lorenzo killed, it wasn't going to happen. For Puss, the Master's orders came second, after the wishes in the Master's heart.

Anyway, if you've made an alliance with a Master, the next thing you should ask about is whether their Servant is one of the ones gathered here. Puss chimed into their Master's head again, eyeing the Shielder and Rider. There's a guy with a little bicycle who's been making an awful fool of himself, and a kid who's looking to team up with somebody. They're probably going to try and destroy the Grail, if they can reach it.

They sensed one more, a moment later, swinging over the streets to loom over the gathering, not so different from what they themselves were doing. And another Servant's shown up. I'm not sure how long things will stay peaceful for... So just let me know whose side I should be on, 'kay?

@Letter Bee