The Fall of Superheroes IC

[Enigma]

When she saw the Reptile come out wearing three fur coats, Daria wondered if they had a leak? Although what good it would do him, she didn't know since the coats themselves couldn't produce heat, only insulate him from cold. Well, maybe it would slow him down.

She'd gone shopping after their meeting - an army surplus store had a Kevlar helmet, which she'd hastily painted flat black with paint she'd gotten from a home improvement store - along with a 4 gallon backpack sprayer - which she had also sprayed the white tank black. That was now filled with a solution of water and baking soda - and heavy. But that wasn't her only find. Besides her best tactical body armor under the trench coat, she was armed with a shotgun - and her pockets filled with beanbag rounds.

Princess aimed for arms and legs - better to disable than kill, although a hit to the torso would kill easily enough. But her new boss wanted living bodies, what better place to find them? Once they were down, a beanbag round to the hand would make sure they wouldn't be using that for a long time. She kept scanning the crowd though for Melter and the Snake woman.

[Dire Hoef]

Windy Is the Gun

Claire arrived early, as Mr Abbott specifically ordered. Dressed up in a trench coat to battle the wind, and carrying a case with her, she took her position behind warehouse 49, careful to stand in a spot where the glow of the nearest florescent lamp would mark her silhouette but shed no other details. She would wait till the contact had arrived, then present him with Mr Abbott's proposal.

The dark silhouette of a feminine figure was all Jora could see. Sadly, he couldn't really pinpoint who was making such a sillhouette. This, of course, added to the urgency of such a letter.

Jora stood in the cold night air as he examined the area around him. The warehouse district was a sparse landscape. Very few lights provided the necessary sight needed to work in such an environment at night. It's understandable, at least to him, why there would be so few workers here. It would have been a dangerous event to work in such a hazardous environment.

That aside, he stood there, off to the left of the sillhouette, continuing his nonchalant examination. While, at the moment, keeping his eyes on the battle that was ensuing. He had his phone wired to Jake's eyes, so that he can watch what Jake's doing on the go.

As he was doing this, Jora spoke out to the present darkness. "I assume since you aren't showering yourself, this is an extremely delicate situation and that if I were to, say, blab to the cops, then our personal information would be leak to our adversaries, alluding them to our current location. And, you're banking on me following whatever you have planned for me and Voyager. As you've obviously got dirt on us. So, why not we cut right to the chase. What do you want with us? And can we make this quick? I've got little time to be meddling around."

Jora would constantly look at his phone as Jake had just engaged Macho in a superhuman brawl.

[Talia]

Claire watched as the tinker came into view. He seemed distracted by the events streaming on his phone, to add to the fact, he was leaping to conclusions even before she was given a chance to speak. This slightly annoyed the woman, but she decided to proceed as planned, as calm and collected as she could.

"Mister... Jora. May I call you that? Do think of this meeting as a meeting of mutual minds and goals. The fact that we have spent time studying both you and your... colleague, does not mean that we intend to abuse any of the information that we have. It only goes as far as to prove that you are indeed capable for the task we have for you. Of which, if it pleases you, we hope there may be many more of such collaborative efforts between your team and ours. I represent an organization set up long ago with the intent of the preservation of non-mutant life. Such a fact, to which both you and your colleague may relate." She paused to shift her legs. Cloud cover was moving from the moon, and the reflection of her glasses could be seen for just an instance. As though Claire could see what was on Jora's screen, she gazed upon the glow of the phone, illuminating the bottom half of Jora's face. "The mutants that your colleague has recently gotten himself involved with are going on the notion that he is just like them. These individuals are extremists towards their cause, they will not stop at eliminating anyone who might possibly pose a threat to them. Think about the moment they realize that your colleague hides a secret from them? Will they not exploit the means to disable him, and possibly even shut him down for good? As his tinker, surely this concerns you? The way I see it, we have a common goal, and your colleague once understood that. It is unfortunate that he was let down by the Russians, but he can be assured that this is not how our organization operates. I can see that you are an intelligent man, Mr Jora. You understand that pillaging the city, and evoking massacres along the streets cannot be a long term plan, nor a moral one. So why support the mutant wars, backed by more mutants, when the both of you can work to fight oppression for the weak and helpless? Is that not what convinced your colleague to go rouge in the first place? Let my proposal appeal to your conscience, and dignity as decent human beings. Join us in restoring peace to Pleasant City. We have the technology and science to back up your efforts. If your colleague decides to come on board, Mr Jora, we promise that he will have access to a wealth of upgrades, and for yourself, a generous paycheck per project." She bent down, picked up the case beside her, and walked over to Jora, handing it to him. He would be able to see her now in full. A slender woman in a grey trenchcoat, dark shoulder length hair, fair asian skin and scarlet red lips. "Let this be a taste of what is to come." Unbuckling the case, she opened it to reveal a light-weight resin, cybernetic attachment for Jake's suit providing the ability for him to speak clearly. There were also functions that would allow him to modify the tone and pitch of his voice, as well as an intercom built into the side that would allow him to communicate with Jora. "You have been improving your colleague's suit, we hope that this gift will work towards your benefit, and his."

[Balo]

Batter up…

He didn’t need his built in night vision goggles to know what was going in front of him that was for sure. The words that Adam could use to best summarize the shouts and cries of the Family members after watching Ironclad dispatch the the baseball wielding thug would be praying. Praying and plenty of profanity. The metal clad bulk had turned the poor nobody's head into an ashtray and immediately the guns had come out. It was on in the best or worse kind of ways depending on who you asked and Bone took the opportunity of the rising chaos to duck behind an abandoned car to return fire to the two men firing pistols at them. But he had to say Ironclad’s metal-moving ability or whatever you called was more than useful in a gunfight. Still his power could only reach so far and Bone liked to return favors. He was polite that way.

While Ironclad, Princess and the others were taking the middle route toward the entrance to the warehouse meeting the main assault of the foes Bone took the wide approach toward the side of the parking lot with most of the cars lined up, firing sharp shards of boney pikes from his knuckles. His bones were harder and moved faster than the old revolvers could discharge and the two men became a solo act as Adam took one of them with a shot to the head as he leapt behind a vehicle.

The trunk of the old cadillac was filled with holes as the other man unloaded on the vehicle. Bone jumped on top of the old junker and fired a quick bone spike from his wrist launcher. It was like a frog catching a fly with it's tongue the way the sharp spike pierced into the man’s neck and slipped back into Bone's wrist. But they had the time nor the presence of mind to be impressed by the feat as the god damn circus de inferno eruption in front of them. This kid must have been new or Bone just never had seen or heard her. And who didn’t talk about a kid summoning flaming horse bombs while wearing a horse mask herself?

He grabbed his walkie talkie and yelled : ”Somebody get hands on that girl! I’m backing up Ironclad.”

They had their objectives but dodging this fire would be tricky. He had a choice take on the kid and veer away from the plan or go after Macho. Who by the way looked like he had eaten more than his fair share of wheaties tonight. That was until he saw the huge Russian juggernaut from their meeting take him on. It was masked throwdown of epic proportions. As he saw Reptile perch her/his’s body on top of a truck and leap at a downed Ironclad he made his choice. It was two on one one.

He fired his rope launcher to the much taller SUV next to them and repelled into it slamming his feet into the side door when he landed. As he yanked the cord back into the wrist holster he detached a long bayonet-like projectile from his other arm at the inbound reptile.

The man in the skull mask kept his eyes on Reptile waiting for whether or not he landed something on the leaping coat racket.

He raised his voice to Ironclad who was a few feet away from him.

“Maybe you should throw a car at that kid, huh? I’ll take Reptile, Voyager's got Macho and I can’t get close enough to the little shit to hit her!”

[Dire Hoef]

The Decision to Stand Against

"Mister... Jora. May I call you that? Do think of this meeting as a meeting of mutual minds and goals. The fact that we have spent time studying both you and your... colleague, does not mean that we intend to abuse any of the information that we have. It only goes as far as to prove that you are indeed capable for the task we have for you. Of which, if it pleases you, we hope there may be many more of such collaborative efforts between your team and ours. I represent an organization set up long ago with the intent of the preservation of non-mutant life. Such a fact, to which both you and your colleague may relate."

'So this was their deal.. They were an organization set up to preserve human life. She's banking on the sympathies of Jake and I.. I guess I'll humor her for a bit..' Jora quietly observed the darkened sillohuette as she began her explanation.

"The mutants that your colleague has recently gotten himself involved with are going on the notion that he is just like them. These individuals are extremists towards their cause, they will not stop at eliminating anyone who might possibly pose a threat to them. Think about the moment they realize that your colleague hides a secret from them? Will they not exploit the means to disable him, and possibly even shut him down for good? As his tinker, surely this concerns you? The way I see it, we have a common goal, and your colleague once understood that. It is unfortunate that he was let down by the Russians, but he can be assured that this is not how our organization operates. I can see that you are an intelligent man, Mr Jora. You understand that pillaging the city, and evoking massacres along the streets cannot be a long term plan, nor a moral one. So why support the mutant wars, backed by more mutants, when the both of you can work to fight oppression for the weak and helpless? Is that not what convinced your colleague to go rouge in the first place? Let my proposal appeal to your conscience, and dignity as decent human beings. Join us in restoring peace to Pleasant City. We have the technology and science to back up your efforts. If your colleague decides to come on board, Mr Jora, we promise that he will have access to a wealth of upgrades, and for yourself, a generous paycheck per project."

'She does bring up excellent points. If the other half-baked mutants found out that Jake was a cybernetically enhanced human, then they'd look at him as a traitor. He's basically a wolf amongst the sheep. That, to me, is dangerous. However, I've been trying to keep his abilities on the down-low, but it's only a matter of time before they know of his secret. And when that happens, the situation is only going to get more cumbersome to deal with. Shit... She really did hit us with her points. Especially so, that she knows what happened to Jake with the Russians. A matter of speaking, she knows as much as I know on that situation. However, I do think if we deny this offer she'll abuse the information that she has in her arsenal. This a delicate situation for sure.'

Jora stared at the slender woman, garbed in a trenchcoat, as she handed him a buckled briefcase. His eyes occasionally glanced at the case and wondered what its contents were.

"Let this be a taste of what is to come."

When she opened the case, Jora's eyes lit up. Never before had he seen such spectacular equipment. The technology involved here could not only give Jake his voice, but it could also change the pitches of his voice and so forth. It would take some work installing the attachment, but by attaching this equipment to his vocal chords, he could potentially melt himself into society and no-one would even think twice of it!

Jora immediately began to speculate what other equipment they had in store for him.

"You have been improving your colleague's suit, we hope that this gift will work towards your benefit, and his."

Jora looked at the case and then looked her. "It certainly will." Jora closes the case and tucks it under his arm, "For now.. Let me get this straight. You want us to use our abilities to try and qualm the anti-humanist movement in order to bring peace to Pleasant City? If that's the case, if you continue to provide the necessary equipment to upgrade my 'colleague' then by all means we'd be onboard. However, if you double cross us, we will kill all who are associated with you. Got it?"

[Talia]

The woman smiled briefly. "Let's not get too excited yet, Mr Jora. This deal is a one time offer. If both you and your colleague are agreed, then I will hand you the details of your first task. As much as we would like to work with you, we should all be certain that this partnership can work out in a more concrete fashion, for the long term. Complete the task successfully, and you will meet my employer. We will see then about properly enhancing your colleague for future tasks." She motioned subtly towards the case in Jora's arms. "But one baby step at a time. Go back to your workshop, have that discussion with your partner." She pulled out a card and handed it to Jora. "When you are ready, call me. But don't take too long. Also... I don't assume it's necessary to mention that this must all be kept tightly under wraps. Your colleague can continue to attend the meetings with these mutants, he will need insider knowledge to combating the threat. But away from prying eyes, the both of you will be working directly for us. Putting in place measures to crippling these mutant gangs and ultimately restoring peace to Pleasant City."

[.Karma.]

Logan had stayed far back, not following along with the rest of the group. She would definitely have to get with the program as everyone seemed to have armor, and still here she was with just her shorts and tank top. Shrugging, she watched as Ironman stormed in, the others not far behind.

She watched and waited, calculating. The snakes, they would be coming soon. It wasn't long until she spotted them, her eyes traced the direction they were coming from, as her eyes looked closer and closer to the warehouse there seemed to be more. Welp, it seemed she would have to go into the warehouse and have a look.

Maybe she should have mentioned to Ironguy that she could only hold the forms for so long. It was almost exciting to think that she might not be able to hold her snake form long enough. Shivers ran up her arms as she thought about it, a smile crossing her face. She did not regret joining the Sharpers now that she saw all the chaos in front of her. It was delightful.

Without further ado, she took a deep breath and changed into her snake form. Her form gaining scales and a beautiful white snake with blue eyes was where she once stood.

Some of her animals were not fun at all, the snake was not one of those. Everyone was terrified of snakes, and there was a something mysterious and exhilarating. She made her way toward the warehouse, slithering her tongue out of her mouth just for fun.

Hopefully there was enough chaos that no one would notice she was heading the opposite way of the other snakes, she did not move in a straight line, rather side to side so it was less obvious. She followed the flow of snakes, going to where there were more dense and she was having to nearly swim through other snakes bodies as she entered the warehouse.

There were several rooms inside, and like their own warehouse it had an underground area. She was on her own in here, so she couldn't do anything crazy, for although she liked adrenaline... She quite liked living. Which way to go first, preferably somewhere that she didn't have to change forms to get there, as that would most definitely cause some alarm.

[Dire Hoef]

The Decision to Stand Against

"Let's not get too excited yet, Mr Jora. This deal is a one time offer. If both you and your colleague are agreed, then I will hand you the details of your first task. As much as we would like to work with you, we should all be certain that this partnership can work out in a more concrete fashion, for the long term. Complete the task successfully, and you will meet my employer. We will see then about properly enhancing your colleague for future tasks."

Jora nodded respectfully as he examined the woman closer. Her words were almost inviting, but were of warning for certain. He almost was pulled away from the gravity of the situation. But, since his analytical mind was stepping into the emotions that were flaring at this point, his face nor his body language showed any clear contempt with what he was given. He merely stood there with idle expressionlessness.

"But one baby step at a time. Go back to your workshop, have that discussion with your partner."

When Jora was handed the card, he slid it into his back pocket and returned his eyes back to the woman.

"When you are ready, call me. But don't take too long. Also... I don't assume it's necessary to mention that this must all be kept tightly under wraps. Your colleague can continue to attend the meetings with these mutants, he will need insider knowledge to combating the threat. But away from prying eyes, the both of you will be working directly for us. Putting in place measures to crippling these mutant gangs and ultimately restoring peace to Pleasant City."

Jora stared at the woman for a few moments before turning and beginning to walk away. However, he stopped, mid-stride; recently gathering a thought. He pivoted on his heels and looked straight at the woman standing in the light. "So if we get found out by the Russian government, as I'm sure they're still looking for us, what makes you so sure you can provide our safety? Are you saying you have connections with those snot-nose imbeciles up at the league? Or are you saying you kind our faces, because I'm sure the Russian government would love that." Jora turned away from the woman and began walking.

He threw up at hand as he departed, "Save the answers for when we meet again."

[Low-Budget Man]

Ironclad/Lucas Cardona

Melter slimed his way out of a manhole near Princess. He was a burning tidal wave of acid. He held a rough humanoid shape as he maneuvered his way to Princess, hoping to get an easy pick off the team. Melter’s footsteps burned into the ground and steam rose off him.His bright green arms darted at Princess in an equivalent of a punch. Except, even the slightest contact would burn her flesh off.

Ironclad saw that out of the corner of his eye, but ignored it. Nothing he could do to help her and she had the equipment to deal with it. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to find new help so soon.

“Have fun with the lizard, Bone.” Ironclad diverted his attention away from the Reptile to Trailblazer.

Ironclad awkwardly stood up in his metal armor, his bulky pieces stabbing him in uncomfortable places.
His suit offered decent protection, but was still a pile of metal and junk stuck together. Ironclad lightly jogged toward Trailblazer, his body immune from gunfire due to his telekeinsis.

Most of the henchman had ran or been taken out of action. A metahuman brawl would break anyone. Snakes crawled from underneath trucks and vehicles courtesy of Snake Charmer. As Ironclad moved, he stomped on as many snakes as possible with his iron boots. Ironclad was well-protected, but his companions were in a much more precarious position.

From behind him Reptile’s roared in pain. Bone was certainly earning his paycheck. The horses stampeded at Ironclad every few seconds, forcing him slow down to smash his hammer into the speeding horse. Everytime he struck he horse, he would awkwardly dodge away from the small fire storm that followed.

Ironclad dropped his hammer on the ground and lifted a nearby car. Ice picks were shoved into his brain at the strain of it. Both his hands grabbed at the underside of the car as he struggled to lift it. A horse leaped onto the roof and barreled straight at Ironclad before he could properly lift it.

A toss of his metal weight turned the horse into a hurricane of fire. He couldn’t lift the car fast enough without the horses interrupting him. Ironclad grabbed his hammer and raced after Trailblazer, intending to end her the old fashion way.

The metal suit was still susceptible to heat and being cooked alive was not on Ironclad’s bucket list. Everytime Ironclad made progress toward Trailblazer, she would simply ride away to new cover and summon more horses to slow him down. She’d clambered ontop one of her horses that wasn’t on fire and was simply riding rings around Ironclad’s sluggish approach.

“Someone get that girl! I can’t hit her with the weights, she’s moving too fast!

Ironclad halted to see Macho fly across the parking lot to slam into the side of a truck. The muscular man had made a heavy indention the U-Haul truck and bounced off it to smack into the ground. Blood spilled from his face like a water fall. His muscles grew larger and he grew taller and bigger. Veins popped out of his bulging arms like snakes. He looked almost look a comical drawing of a wrestler instead of an actual wrestler.

However, his size made him slower and off balanced as he struggled to stand upright. His legs were tiny compared to his tree trunk arms. He also looked confused at the situation, like his brain isn’t working properly. Macho blinked over and over again to try to clear his head.

Stronger, but not smarter it seems. Or perhaps, it was stronger and dumber? Whatever the case, Ironclad chucked two weights at Macho’s legs like a Frisbee. The last of his solid weights and range potiential.
The two heavy weights smacked into his legs with a resounding crack knocking him to the ground once again. Bullseye! Right in the kneecap.

Macho struggled to stand up properly to get back to fighting condition. A single punch from Macho looked like it would floor anyone if he could manage to get a good hit in.

“Take him down Voyager!”

Ironclad turned his attention back to Trailblazer and her horses. Another swing of his hammer sent turned another horse into embers. He can’t catch her, but he sure as hell can distract her.

Aeronaut/Christopher North

Aeronaut pursed his lips as he poked at his flight-pack. It consisted of two primary parts, jet pack and a set of brown wings. The wingspan extended from wing to wing was sixteen feet, but when folded took up only a fraction of that space. Glass shards embedded themselves into the wings. A kind parting gift from Mary.

Aeronaut was sat in the workshop in Hero League Towers. It was previously his personal workspace until Pandemonium moved in Hero League Towers. Now the two of them had to share the workspace. A thin tape strip was placed across the center of the workshop. The room was cleanly divided into two equal parts.

His gloved fingers gingerly pulled out the dozen of shards out of the wing. Aeronaut’s flight pack laid flat on the workshop table with only one wing partially unfurled. A mess of wrenches and screwdrivers were piled on the corner of his desk. Wires and metal scraps were sprawled across the entire table. A neat little hill of glass shards accumulated on a small patch nearby. After every few seconds, another piece of glass was added to the growing hill.

The wings themselves were made out of a light metal alloy. They allowed for speed and maneuverability at the severe cost of durability. Aeronaut’s mind strained as he figured out the work needed to be done. Installing new wiring. Welding parts. Troubleshooting. Several hours of work sat in front of him.

Aeronaut rolled his chair over to the radio sitting atop the work station next to his. It took a several seconds of rolling before he left his own workplace and entered Pandemonium’s. Band names and album art covered the wall of the workstation. Unlike his workshop, his neighbor was neat and orderly with her tinker work. All the tools sat in color coded boxes with neat labels on them designating their specific properties. The I’s were dotted with little hearts and smiley-faces ended every name tag.

Aeronaut smiled at himself before he poked at the radio and was rewarded with a burst of loud pulsing music. Aeronaut winced at the beats and the chaos of the sounds before he began turning the dial. How Pandemonium found that to be music pleasing was astounding.

“A terrorist has-“

“Hundreds of peo-“

“The mayor has announced-“

“We should put the city under-“

Aeronaut ignored the chattering of news channels until he found the perfect sweet spot. 99.7. Sweet singing violins and thrumming bass flowed through the massive workshop. It was a soft melody that seemed to mimic a babbling brook. They were gentle sounds that smoothed the soul and put the events of yesterday out of his mind.

A sigh of content escaped Aeronaut as he closed his eyes for a brief moment as he let the music flow through him. Hours of repairs laid ahead of him and hours of paperwork would soon be next. It would then be followed by reports and public appearances reassuring the civilians. Aeronaut leaned back in his chair and hummed the familiar melody to himself. A serene peace after a day of chao.

“HEY DAD!” Pandemonium’s voice echoed off the walls and seemed to shake the very building.

“What Pan?” Aeronaut turned in his chair to face his daughter. That was nice for the ten seconds it lasted.

“Mama bear calling everyone in for a meeting.” Pandemonium explained while leaning against the door frame.

She was dressed in a short skirt and a glittery shirt. While Aeronaut knew nothing of the latest fashions, he could easily tell she was the opposite to him in that regard. Her hair was a blend of bubble-gum pink and light teal. Her clothes were patterned in a way he had heard her teenaged friends might call, “cute”. A pair of thick headphones hung around her neck with a little icon of her face and hair.

“Who? Radiant?” Aeronaut moved to turn down the radio with a solid smack of his palm.

“Yeah dad. Who else?”

“Well, do I have to come?”

“No dad, she said call everyone except the dude who fought the terrorist.”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Aeronaut sprang up the chair and jogged to Pandemonium’s lazy lean by the door. She idly blew a bubble out of her gum and noisily popped it as Aeronaut approached her.

The two of them traveled through Hero League Tower’s lengthy corridors for a few minutes. UDF officers gave respectful nods as they passed the duo. Pandemonium glanced inside each door as they walked pass. Bustling offices and paper printing filled the lower floors of the Hero League Tower. A separate building nearby contained an armory and a barracks for UDF soldiers. The upper levels were where heroes made their bunk, ate their meal, and trained if they lived inside the tower. Some people preferred to live off site out of costume.

“How’s your music shows going? Going to pay for your college tuition?” Aeronaut inquired.

“Naw, I’m plan on buying heroin instead. I heard its good for the skin.” Pandemonium said.

“Think you heard wrong, its cocaine that’s good for the skin. Cocaine frees our pores and cures acne. How do you think I look so youthful?”

“If you look like that after taking cocaine, I’m swearing off drugs.”

Pandemonium struggled to maintain a grin off her face while Aeronaut feigned a shocked and wounded expression. She took a few seconds to recollect herself before the two of them entered the meeting room.

Radiant in her polished silver armor sat at the head of the round table. She reminded Aeronaut of a shining knight in fairy tales with the armor’s beautiful designs. Her helmet sat atop the table, exposing her head. Curly brown hair hung down to her shoulders. A splash of freckles was sprinkled across her porcelain white face. Her eyes betrayed a hint of Asian heritage as she gave a steel stare at Aeronaut.

She wasn’t particularly beautiful or ugly. Nothing particularly stood out except her hard eyes. If Aeronaut had met this woman on the street, his eyes would have glazed right over. She was for better or worse, average looking.

Rewind sat in the chair to her right with his legs atop the table. He was putting away a pair of nail clippers at their arrival. His armor was a dull black with a white rewind symbol in the center of his chest. His helmet was also off and placed on the table. His dark skinned face looked like someone had stomped on him repeatedly on the right side of his face. The right side of his face had broken structure and was permanently damaged from a long ago fight.

He had a head of braided dreadlocks. The dreadlocks were all pulled together into a neat pony-tail. A whisper of a goatee clung to his chin. Patches of stubble were dabbed onto his face and avoided the damaged area.

Juggler was the final member in the meeting. She sat to Radiant’s left and looked to be previously chatting to Radiant before Aeronaut’s arrival. Her flamboyant costume formed a stark contrast with Rewind’s costume. A jester’s hat with bells sat atop her head and a few bells hung off the cuff of her sleeves. Her clothes were like a jester’s clothe with a neck piece and a short skirt. Her clothes were diamond patterned alternating purple and yellow.

Her face-mask was a drama smiley face with purple lipstick. It didn’t hide her long blonde hair that fell down to her back. The mask laid facedown on the table as she turned her attention to Aeronaut’s arrival. Her ocean blue eyes betrayed a hint of mischief and excitement as she looked at Aeronaut.

A smile lit up on her face at the sight of Aeronaut. It was an attractive sight that reminded him of the cute girl next door type look. Aeronaut smiled back at her and took a seat right by her while ignoring Radiant’s stare. Pandemonium followed Aeronaut and sat down next to Aeronaut.

“Where’s all the sidekicks?” Aeronaut asked while glancing around.

“Off doing what they can to help fix public perception.” Radiant said while pointedly looking at Pandemonium.

“I’m on break. I’m just a sidekick so I need break.” Pandemonium said whilst copying Rewind’s example of positioning both feet on the table. She loudly blew another bubble with her gum and popped it with a resounding smack.

“Alright then. Let’s talk Radiant.” Aeronaut said whilst pushing Pandemonium’s feet off the table.

“Are you going to even ask about Riptide?” Rewind pipped up.

“Naw. We all know what fish-boy is doing. Off chasing salmon or something.” Aeronaut said casually.

“Don’t disrespect Riptide. He’s one of the oldest members of the Hero League and the Pleasant City Team. He-“ Radiant interjected defensively.

“Doesn’t give a fuck. He said it himself. He does not give a single shit about the city or anyone.” Rewind announced.

“That doesn’t mean you can disrespect him.” Radiant exasperated.

“Why? He’s disrespects us by not helping us and disrespects the “Hero” League with his attitude. Maybe its because of my so called “criminal affiliations” that I feel this way, but fuck that guy. He’s an asshole.” Rewind said.

“Riptide may have made some…..choice words about the situation he’s in and about his head space, but he is still a member of this team. He has sworn his vows to fight for the League and continues his job.” Radiant retorted in defense.

“Oh, coming out of the water every month to bust a small time robber or stop a mugging qualifies as helping now? He keeps up appearances but he clearly doesn’t want to help. He’s not acting like a Hero at all. I don’t like this gig. I never wanted to be a hero. Yet, here I am doing my duty and my shit because I’m not a fucker. If he wants to swim circles in the water for the rest of his life, then at least let us get another teammate. We can’t win this war with dead weight on our team. Some fucking hero he is. I used to be a criminal and I’m still a better hero than the son of Hydro-drake. “ Rewind finished with angry dismissive wave of his hand.

Aeronaut gave a nod of assent to Rewind’s statement. Pandemonium had put on her headphones and was flicking through her phone making a playlist. Juggler looked uncomfortable at Rewind’s harsh words.

“If you’re done Rewind, we have a pressing matter to attend to.” Radiant concluded.

Rewind scoffed in response.

“Glass manipulation is the clearly Bloody Mary’s power and that attack on downtown was made by glass explosions. Aeronaut now that you’re here, explain what happened. Rewind didn’t have a very good vantage point and you actually spoke to her.”

“She kicked our asses is what happened. I came up to her said ‘hello stop killing people’. She blew up my goggles and blinded me until Rewind saved me. She said I insulted her or something like that. I couldn’t get near her without her blowing up my goggles. The only reason I still have eyes is Rewind rewinded her before she could blind me again. Thanks man.” Aeronaut gave Rewind a thumbs up.

Rewind shrugged. “Don’t mention it.”

The meeting lasted an hour and like most meetings Aeronaut zoned out for a majority of the talks. It was boring things he had heard on the news for hours. Sharpers have arrived. Hundreds dead. Etc. While taking care of the problem was certainly in the books, Aeronaut couldn’t fathom taking on the Sharpers and winning. He had no leadership ability. No brilliant plan to win the day. He wasn’t a strategist. People pointed and he followed.

“Rewind, you were right in the fact that we need help.” Aeronaut snapped to attention at Radiant’s words. Rewind also looked similarly surprised. Even Pandemonium took out her headphones to look at Radiant to see if she heard right.

“Earth mightiest heroes, The Five, have agreed to come to Pleasant”

[Dire Hoef]

Cometh to the End

Ironclad halted to see Macho fly across the parking lot to slam into the side of a truck. The muscular man had made a heavy indention the U-Haul truck and bounced off it to smack into the ground. Blood spilled from his face like a water fall. His muscles grew larger and he grew taller and bigger. Veins popped out of his bulging arms like snakes. He looked almost look a comical drawing of a wrestler instead of an actual wrestler.

However, his size made him slower and off balanced as he struggled to stand upright. His legs were tiny compared to his tree trunk arms. He also looked confused at the situation, like his brain isn’t working properly. Macho blinked over and over again to try to clear his head.

Stronger, but not smarter it seems. Or perhaps, it was stronger and dumber? Whatever the case, Ironclad chucked two weights at Macho’s legs like a Frisbee. The last of his solid weights and range potiential.

The two heavy weights smacked into his legs with a resounding crack knocking him to the ground once again. Bullseye! Right in the kneecap.

Macho struggled to stand up properly to get back to fighting condition. A single punch from Macho looked like it would floor anyone if he could manage to get a good hit in.

“Take him down Voyager!”

Beyond the mask of Jake, one would see that his scorched eyes are filled with the intent to kill. One would see, if they were paying attention, Jake's body increase mass and muscle by another 25%, doubling the maximum output that he usually dished out. As he did this, a cerebral alarm went off warning Jake that the input was overbearing the output and that shutdown was imminent. So Jake had to make sure this kill was clean or else he would suffer total shutdown, and that could be bad fighting in a battle filled with superhumans.

Jake planted his right foot into the cement of the parking lot as he pivoted his heels towards the incapacitated Macho. Jake lowered his head as his caffs pulsated wildly; same goes for the rest of his legs. He prepared himself, as though he were about engage in an Olympic foot-race. Once his body was fully ready for this exchange of bodily harm, Jake lifted off his feet and zoomed across the parking lot at around 80 to 100 mph. He easily cleared the parking lot in under fifteen seconds. Once he reached Macho, he grabbed the overly buff superhuman by the face and slammed him straight into the U-Haul truck. The force behind the slam, as well as the speed, caused the overly buff superhuman to be sent through the U-Haul truck and onto the other side.

After that, Jake would've leapt through the U-Haul truck and kneed Macho's head into the cement causing crater of about a meter deep. Jake stood over the, supposedly lifeless, corpse of Macho as he stared down at the body. However, Jake wanted to make sure he was truly dead. So, his form of doubletap was repeatedly, with all of his strength poured into it, stomp the upper body of the superhuman to crush his organs. As he did this, a crater around the body would begin to form.