Chapter 156: Alexander Lauren
Wyvern's feet landed on the beach below. The hero was careful not to knock over any of the piles of junk, something the Victorian didn't seem to care about as the golden woman basically dropped from the sky and crashed down onto an ocean of scrap metal, using it as some sort of makeshift throne.
Hope let go of Wyvern's tail and looked up at her city. They were in the junkyard that took up most of Oleander's beach. The Giants had seemingly marked it off as not being part of the city. The massive, armored men had moved away after seeing that they weren't posing any harm, leaving her and the two Enforcer members alone. Her mind was still racing, trying to figure out what could have happened in such a short time.
Just how long had she been missing for?
"This place is a dump," the Victorian called down toward her and Wyvern. The world's strongest woman had replaced her battle-damaged uniform yet again. A new cape was tied around the woman's neck, and all the tears in the army uniform had been stitched up by Lady Time, but they were still nasty-looking, marking the entire outfit with a battle-damaged look.
"No one ever got around to figuring out where a better spot to put all this junk would be." She said awkwardly. She still didn't really understand what her relationship to this woman really was. As a kid, she adored the Victorian. The woman was her everything and her top favorite hero. Even now, she still dreamed of flying around the world with the woman fighting crime and would kill just to be her sidekick. That said, she also couldn't help but notice a lot of the mistakes and flaws the number one hero carried. "What are you doing here?" She asked slowly.
The Victorian's smile faded for a moment, and the woman awkwardly shrugged her shoulders. "Lillian had Ocean Empress, Daisy has Lady Time, Dandelion has Mister Man, Gladiolus now has my daughter, Violet is protected by Fable, and Wyvern guards Daffodil. Boy Genius and Beta are the only two heroes who don't guard any of the cities, instead focusing on their little prison. In the past, Rose used to be my city, but now..."
"You're not the number one hero anymore." She finished for the woman.
"No. I'm not."
She nodded her head, feeling a mix of emotions. Mr. Larison had somehow beaten the Victorian. She knew he was strong, but to be on that level… That likely meant he was in Rose, which meant she wouldn't be able to find him in Oleander, no matter how hard she looked. "Wyvern and Fable, both said you knew I was alive. How?"
The Victorian hopped off the pile of trash and floated down until she stood in front of the young girl before her. Slowly, the woman brought her hand up to her chest. "I felt it in here. I could tell that the Brightest Star half that exists within you hasn't moved to a new host. Though I never expected you'd be in such a small form..."
"You know about the Brightest Star?" She asked, shocked.
"I learned about it recently after speaking to Battery," the golden woman said, shrugging. "I must admit I'm a bit jealous. After all, the shard within me never once bothered to try and start a conversation with me."
"The shard within you?" She froze as she understood what the woman meant. Brightest Star was split in two. The being had claimed Full Monarch did it. She only held onto the title of Lord of the Sun. Her Cosmos half was lost.
The Victorian smiled, giving her a knowing look. "That's right. Within me is a bit of the Lord of the Cosmos."
"A bit? What do you mean by that?" She asked startled.
The woman gave a nod to Wyvern. The dragon-themed hero nodded back and grew her pair of wings once more, allowing her to fly off. It was a conversation that Wyvern didn't need to hear. Once the Enforcer member was long gone, the Victorian began to speak once again. "When I first saw you way back during that charity event, part of me had a faint idea that the power of the Lord might live within you. I'll admit, seeing how weak you were in the past ticked me off a bit. The Lords aren't anything special, in my opinion. They use cheap tricks to get as far as they could, and none were able to unlock the same level of power my father did. That was until you. In the fight with the Beast, you did the impossible."
"That wasn't me." She shook her head. "That was the Brightest Star."
"Boy Genius's drones caught the entire thing," the woman said. "Maybe in the beginning, you weren't in control, but that wasn't the case for the entire fight, was it? Toward the end, that was you. Cinder was the one who channeled the power of a Lord."
"Only half."
"Yes. Only half." The golden woman looked up at the sky, staring at the cracked moon above, which hung up there. The woman sighed softly. "During the war with the Emperor, my father had been sent away from the planet by that damn sword." Hope recalled the memory she had seen. The Emperor used his blade to teleport Full Monarch as far away from the planet as possible. "Even with his top speed, it took him a long time to return. During that time, over four years had passed on Earth. For four years, I trained my ass off to try and fight the Emperor and beat him. In the end, though, it was still my father that did it. He defeated and killed Nier. Yet Nier returned somehow due to being a Ruler. During the fight with the Emperor in his final battle, my father tore his power in two. When he died, the Lord of the Sun didn't go to me."
"It went into the pod that created me, right?" She asked, looking down at her hands. "And I'm guessing the Cosmos half went into you?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"The truth is the Cosmos half is lost forever." The Victorian let out another tired sigh and shook her head. "The reason I assumed you'd never reach my father's level is because most of his true power came from the Cosmos half. It held the power to alter the universe itself. Yet, in the battle with the Emperor, he faced a mighty monster. One that could shake the heavens. After he split his power in two, he sacrificed the Lord of the Cosmos half, using it to lay a finishing blow on the Emperor, who had grown even stronger over the four years my father was gone. I believe it is also this same power that might have once saved Battery's life and made the man think he was no longer a Ruler. My father was somehow able to cut off the connection they held, to whatever it was that kept bringing them back."
She felt a hollow pit forming in her gut at the number one hero's words. That was why Battery was constantly dying? She remembered the memories once more. That second Emperor, the one who possessed that blue and black light… Full Monarch had done something to the villain in that fight?
If that was the case though, and Full Monarch did save Mr. Larison from the title of Ruler, why did it come back when Battery died in his fight with the Beast?
She was pretty sure she knew why…
Nier had brought Lucifer back. The man had used the power the energy gave off to force Lucifer to come back even after the villain died at the hands of Full Monarch's Cosmos half. Come to think of it, Battery didn't come back until after the battle with the Beast… After a new Calamity should have been born. Had she been the one that turned him back into a Ruler? Was it her fault he was now the way that he was?
"All that's left of the Lord of the Cosmos is less than embers. Perhaps that's why I never heard the Ego speak to me." The Victorian hummed. "Less than ten percent of that power is still living within me, which is why I am able to use the Galaxy Dress and control sunlight. It was my father's last gift. And I'm truly glad he gave it to me. It was thanks to that power I was so sure you were still alive despite Boy Genius finding what was left of your corpse in space."
She felt a little queasy at the mention of her own corpse but brushed past it. A lot of what the woman was saying made some sense. After all, Ruby Admiral seemed to have completely different powers compared to the Victorian. "And it was because you knew I was alive that you let the Hero Branch expose who I was?"
"I didn't know they were going to take it that far."
"You didn't stop them though."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because. I made a promise to my father." The woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I promised him that as long as I could, I would stand in his former place and do his job. I made a vow with the Hero Branch to obey them and stay on the line of justice. I wasn't the hero that this world needed; that hero has long since been dead, but I could at least stand in that spot until his rightful heir returned."
"Are you talking about Mr. Larison?" She frowned.
"No." The woman shook her head and let out a soft snort. "After the battle with the Beast, Jack Larison was taken into custody by Boy Genius. There, the two of us asked him a series of questions. I wanted to make sure he was still on humanity's side. It was during this point he told me his plan."
"You mean what's going on now, right?" She looked toward the Giants that roamed Oleander. "I heard he kicked out all the heroes."
"Not all of them, and it wasn't so much as he kicked them out." The woman cracked a small smile. "I told you; I made a vow to obey the Hero Branch as long as I remained as the number one hero. I was their ultimate weapon. Jack knew this. That's why he told me about his idea. We would engage in combat, and if he was able to beat me, I'd allow him to take my place and lend him Rose City. The only other person who could possibly take him out besides me would be Boy Genius, and even then, it would take him time to come up with a plan. Time the Hero Branch wouldn't have. Once they learned I lost, they'd have two choices. Either try to cover it up and get rid of Battery, which they would only be able to do with the help of Boy Genius, or they'd have to try and strike the same deal they made with me, with Battery. He never gave them a chance, though. In one night, his Giants marched forward, appearing in every city, and kicked the Enforcer member out of it. The other heroes, such as the Enforcers teams, or the Sub Enforcers, were left alone and allowed to stay in the city. He did this before the Hero Branch could come up with a choice."
"Wouldn't they just make it look like he was a bad guy and try to get the Enforcers to team up against him?"
"That's likely what they would have tried, but there were two issues with this." The number one hero held up two fingers. "The first is that he brought Poseidon with him to the battlefield he fought me at. She recorded our fight and uploaded it already. Most of the world already knows he's bested me and is thus stronger than me. Power doesn't exactly make you the number one hero alone, though, which is why he also went ahead and defeated most of the gang villains that were in every city almost at the same time with his army. Due to his actions in the fight with the Beast, he's quickly risen in popularity. The only heroes besides myself who are more popular than him at the moment are Pretty Face and yourself. The second issue that stops the Hero Branch from messing with him is due to how destructive it would truly be. See, not every Hero Branch member is corrupt. Some are seeing how much his Giants are improving the places he touches. They stop crime whenever they appear and have also been quick to fix up cities. Places that were thought to be closed forever are being reworked and used by them. If every Enforcer member other than me were to fight Battery, they'd likely win. Especially since they would have Boy Genius and Beta, but the destruction wouldn't be worth it in the eyes of the Branch."
"I still don't understand why he kicked all you guys out of the city, though, but left the other hero teams behind."
"To give the rest of the world the help they've been needing."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Have you seen the outside world?" The Victorian looked out at the vast sea, watching the waves rise and crash. "There are so many towns, villages, and even other cities that have been built. All without the help of the Hero Branch. Yet many of these places are small still due to how hard it is to advance." She couldn't help but think of Coral Island. The Anti-Matter Gang wasn't that big of a threat compared to some other groups, yet it alone had almost wiped out an entire village of people in seconds. "The Emperor tried to give powers to normal humans but failed and created his Monster army. Many of them went mindless and kept growing. He even used numbers from Lucifer's army. These creatures still roam the world, living beneath the ocean or the Earth, and breed like rabbits, making more monsters. They attack villages on the daily. Not to mention all the other evil Supers that live outside of the cities and cause untold chaos in these lone places. I'm not enough. Neither was my father. That's the root of all of this. Staying inside of these cities might allow us to protect those people, but it leaves the other humans open to attacks. By taking over all the cities, he's showing the Branch that he can protect them all. It's still a work in progress, and only time will tell if his plan is actually smart or not, but it's forced the other Enforcers to leave and look at this world. To look at all the places that still need help."
She said nothing for several moments and processed the woman's words. Many of these places didn't join the Branch due to fear of Supers. On the other hand, she had to admit it would be easy for even a low-tier villain like Intake or Red Ape to take one of these places down on their own. Helping them out if they needed it wasn't bad, but what if they didn't want it? However, if a person were to find themselves in trouble, she'd likely try and save them even if she knew they didn't want her help.
And for that matter, would the Hero Branch really sit on the sidelines like this and be okay with what Mr. Larison was doing? Even if he had a good cause, she didn't fully agree with it. It would have been better to speak about this plan to the other heroes and not just the Victorian, who seemed a little too eager to get rid of her position as the number one hero.
"Are you still going to be a hero?" She asked slowly.
"As long as this world still needs me." The woman nodded. "When I was a kid, I wanted more than nothing to spend time with my father. I acted out and did what I thought would get his attention. Now that he's gone, though, I want nothing more than to make sure this world meets the standards that he held. I'll take Oleander under my wing and protect it while Battery takes Rose. Even if he's kicked us out of the cities, they're still ours to protect. And now that I'm no longer the number one hero, I don't have to worry about that silly vow I made!" The woman announced smugly and placed her hands on her hips, channeling her inner Ruby Admiral.
She let out a relieved sigh at the fact the Victorian was going to stay a good guy. She didn't know if her heart would be able to handle having to fight her idol. "One more question then, if you don't mind me asking."
"Go ahead."
"Earlier, you said Battery wasn't the one that was meant to take your father's spot."
"That's right. He isn't. That said, he still bested me in combat. Now it is his turn to hold onto that title until the rightful owner claims it."
"So, who's the rightful owner then?"
"Are you dense?"
"What?" She asked.
The Victorian looked her in the eyes and raised her finger, pressing it down on Hope's nose. "Obviously it's you."
"What!"
The golden woman cleared her throat and gave a sly smile. "And now that you're back, I think it's time I make it official. Cinder, from this day on, I've decided that you're going to be my sidekick."
"Bu wah!"
***
He clutched his stomach as he vomited. It took him a second to calm himself as it poured out, but once his stomach had nothing left to give and his gagging stopped, Alexander allowed himself to slouch down. He stared numbly at the bucket he had used, his eyes tracing the pool of red liquid that was filling it up.
"More blood, huh? That ain't good." He slapped himself on the face and wiped some of the blood away from his mouth, forcing on a grin. "Hold on a little more, Alex. You're a cured man, remember? Don't go dying too soon. You still have a lot of work to do!"
He slid the bucket down onto the railing and reburied it with the piles of rubble around him. Once it was hidden, he turned around and began to head back up the tracks to where the rest of their little community was. Whenever he felt himself getting a bit sick, he'd always duck down into one of the rubble-filled train tunnels when no one was looking and do his business out of sight, so no one would have to worry.
There was no need to stress anyone else out after all. Not after all the things they had to go through.
As he exited the tunnel, his eyes adjusted to all the lights that had been hung up, and he heard the chatter of people. It still blew his mind that Hope's friend had been able to cause all of this. Tents and blanket forts had been placed around the underground platform, which he climbed back onto. A few people were cutting up one of the creatures they hunted, some mutated bears, and the smell of the cooking caused his stomach to growl a bit. Children ran around playing while the adults continued to work. Even despite the bad situation, they all somehow thrived. All thanks to the hero known as Paragon.
"Yo, Lauren!" Someone called out to him. "Why are you coming back from that tunnel? That one's been blocked off for weeks now."
"I just wanted to check it out for myself!" He lied. "Never know, it could be cleared out any day from Zoo poking around, and I just wanted to be careful."
"Mr. Lauren, Mr. Lauren!" One of the kids ran up to him, and he laughed, opening his arms. The child leaped into them, and he spun them around a bit. "Guess what!"
"What?" He asked the laughing child.
"Ms. Paragon said she was bringing back strong people!"
"Did she now?" Paragon still hadn't returned after leaving for the surface. She and that Kyle kid had gone to find the Sub Enforcers. From what he knew, many of the members of that team had all been friends of his daughter. It made him a bit happy to know that she had so many kind people in her life. He placed the child down and folded his arms. "You know, the heroes back in my day were way cooler."
"They were?"
"Yep! We had some real badas- Er badbutts." He rubbed his chin, thinking back. "I lived up near a village in Daisy when I was your age. It was a beautiful place with lots of open fields and plenty of places to fish. Our city was protected by a hero named Golden Weaver. He was one of my favorites, back in the day!"
"Really!"
"Yeah! Even got him to sign a T-shirt! Though Hope tore it up when she was a baby." He snorted. He gave a sad smile for a moment and ruffled the child's hair. "Hard to believe she used to be as small as you."
"Hey! I'm not small!"
"Yeah, you're right! You're growing bigger every day!"
"Hey, Lauren!" One of the men near the second tunnel called out to him. "A couple of us were planning to go hunting again tomorrow. Do you want to come?"
He didn't get a chance to speak as someone else yelled at the hunter. "He can't! He's agreed to help us fashion more spears and armor!" Their local woodsmen hollered.
"What! He promised he'd help us set up more tents!" A group of women huffed out.
Alexander let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Guys, don't worry, I can help all of you out!"
"But you already do so much of the work?"
"That's just because I'm in the tippest-toppest shape of my life." He boxed the air a bit, flexing his muscles. "I never felt better! Now that I'm out of that stupid hospital, I feel like I can do anything!"
"Just don't push yourself too far." Someone in the back called out to him.
"Don't worry! I won't." He waved at all the people as he made his way through the crowd. Eventually he reached his tent and ducked inside of it, closing it off. It didn't block out all of the chatter outside, but he had long grown used to it. He stopped though when he saw his wife. "Jane... We've been over this. You need to eat."
Jane Lauren rested on top of the mattress they had laid out. Her arms were wrapped tightly around the orb of twitching metal, which moved in response to her wrapping itself around her tighter. A bowl of soup rested on the ground untouched and had turned cold. Alexander took a seat and grabbed it, taking the spoon and bringing it up to his wife's lips. She refused to open her mouth and just sat there, not moving an inch. Her eyes were dull, and she stared off into space.
"Jane..."
"It's my fault." The woman's voice croaked and sounded stressed due to how long she had gone without speaking. "She died because of me."
"She's not dead." Alexander shook his head and reached up to brush some of his wife's hair out of her face. "That Paragon girl insisted Hope is still alive. That Kyle kid even claimed he saw her."
"She's hurt then," Jane mumbled out. "Badly. And it's all my fault."
"It's not your fault."
"It is."
"It isn't."
"It is-"
"No, it's not, Jane."
"Yes. It. Is." Jane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I let her go out. I should have put my foot down. I should have said no. I should have done everything in my power to stop it. But I didn't even when I saw her come back bruised. Even when I saw how it affected her emotionally, I bit my tongue. I didn't say anything. I didn't stop her from putting that costume on. I never got onto her. Because... Because she looked so happy. For the first time in years since you were put in the hospital, I saw her laughing and smiling. She was talking to more people besides Armin. She was going out of the house and speaking more. I didn't do anything, though. I stayed up all night constantly worrying, but I never bothered to call her. I never got as mad as I should have been when she'd come home late or ditch school. I just did nothing."
Alexander sighed and shook his head. "We knew something like this could happen when we first saw her blast a hole in our roof with laser eyes." He smiled fondly as the memory came back to him. "Both of us knew she had powers and that she'd likely want to grow up and be a hero. It was always the cool and popular thing to do. It was my choice to hide it from her, though. I didn't want her to get herself hurt, so we hid her powers away and didn't tell her the truth. Maybe if we had been open with her, maybe if from the beginning she knew, and we were honest with her from the start, something like this would have never happened. If you want to say it's your fault, then that means it has to be my fault as well. Since it was my idea, the one who is really responsible is me. So, if you want to hate anyone, then hate me."
"It's not your fault, though. You were sick."
"And if it's not my fault, then it's not your fault either."
"But-"
He cut his wife off by shoveling the spoonful of soup into her mouth. "Now eat up. You should be a hundred—no, a thousand times healthier than me!" He kept bringing the soup up to her mouth, and she quietly ate it.
"It's cold..."
"Well, maybe next time you eat it when it's good and hot!" He placed the bowl down and wrapped his arms around the woman. He felt the pod brush up against him as it seemed to debate what to do with him, but eventually, one of its tendrils wrapped around him as if it were also hugging him. "It's going to be okay." He said quietly. "Hope's a strong girl. I know that she's going to come back one day. And the first thing she and I are going to do is drag you out of this bed and go to one of the biggest theme parks in the city. We never got to go to one together as a family."
"Are any of the theme parks even open?" Jane asked quietly as she placed her head on her husband's shoulder.
"If there aren't any, then I'll make them open up!" He declared.
"You're so silly."
"I prefer cool."
He didn't get to say anything else to his wife, and a second later, the tent opened up as one of the hunters poked their head in. "Mr. Lauren! Come quickly! Paragon has returned, and she's brought a whole group of strong Supers!"
He pulled away from his wife, smiling down at her as he placed his hand on top of her head. "I have to get back to work."
Jane clutched onto him but eventually let go. "Do… Do you really think things can go back to the way they were?"
Alexander frowned for a moment before he finally gave a soft shrug. "Do they need to?" He turned his back on his wife and got ready to leave. "I think it would be just fine to keep pushing forward where we are now, just as long as we can still go on to be a family."
"That would be nice…" That was the last thing he heard his wife say as he shut the curtain and stepped out.
Alexander turned and found most of their group were facing the stairs that led up to the surface above. "It's about time she's returned. She's been gone the whole day. However, I can't blame her. After all, it looks like she brought some strong-looking people." The man noted, rubbing his chin.
Footsteps echoed throughout their tunnel as Paragon slowly walked down the stone steps. Her hair was pure white and fell down her back, reaching slightly past her waist. Her eyes were a fiery red color and blazed with determination. She wore her white lab coat and carried a long wooden sword that hung from her belt. Behind her, five other Supers followed.
The first Super looked more like a monster than a man. A tall, bull-looking person, they walked on curved legs and wore ancient-looking metal armor that bent from the force of their bulging muscles. Next to him, a young man in an orange jumpsuit stood. He had messy red hair and a long-scaled tail that jutted out behind him, flexing back and forth. A girl stood next to him. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, and a metal mask covered her upper face. She wore a long, elegant silver dress that seemed to almost be alive, swirling back and forth softly. The final two people were a man in heavy-looking armor, resembling a set worn by ancient eastern warriors, letting out a series of robotic clicks as he walked, and a massive swarm of wasps that twisted and formed into a vaguely humanoid shape.
Myth, Drake, Oxide, Metal Ronin, and Wasp Nest. The new Oleander Sub Enforcers were here. Kyle wasn't allowed to come and was left back at the base...
"So, is this everyone?" Alexander asked when Paragon finally reached the bottom of the stairs.
Sky nodded and gave a slight grin. "Yep. These are some of my friends. We're going to put a stop to Zoo once and for all since those Giants up top haven't done anything yet." Even with Battery's might, the underground beneath a city was a place his forces couldn't reach, and so crime was slowly sinking beneath the cities.
Alexander turned and motioned to the tunnel the hunters would use. "In that case, I'll lead you guys there."
"You're coming with us?" Myth asked, letting out a snort. "Is that safe? Red Ape might not be a serious threat, but he is still a Super."
"Mr. Lauren knows these tunnels better than anyone." Sky explained. "He was one of the first people that explored them. If anyone can stop us from getting lost down there, then it's him."
Myth nodded his head as he stared at Alexander. For a moment, the former leader of Pantheon was reminded of the time he first met Hope. She had insisted on coming with him to hunt down Red Ape, and it had been thanks to her that he was able to navigate the tunnels at all. Like father, like daughter...
"You have nothing to fear with me around." Alexander grabbed one of the wooden spears the men used to hunt and casually placed it over his shoulder. "I can handle myself pretty well. And by that, I mean I'm totally going to hide behind you guys when the fighting starts!"
"And here I thought he was going to reveal the fact he was secretly a Super or something." Metal Ronin snorted.
"I wish! If I was a Super, life would be so much easier!" Alexander said with wide eyes. "I'd love to have powers like Golden Weaver or something! That'd be cool!"
"He's Cinder's dad, alright." Oxide giggled.
Alexander turned away and gave a sly grin as he pointed his spear toward the tunnel. "Now. Let's stop stalling. It's go time!" He announced proudly.
Sky drew her own sword and pointed it up. "Get ready, Red Ape. We're coming for you."
"Yeah!" The others cheered.
Meanwhile, deep beneath Oleander City, a young girl lazily rested on an old train. "Man, am I bored." She slowly brought the green wolf mask down over her face and grabbed the katana that was at her side. "Can't something cool happen? Maybe I should pay a visit to Rose. I hear you've moved over there, Battery." Green Wolf let out a low giggle before she fell back onto the train and waited for something fun to happen.
Little did she know, she was about to get her wish.
Chapter 157: The One And Only Green Wolf?
It had been easier with Cinder.
Myth couldn't help but think back to the first time he had met the girl. Back then, he didn't even have his team fully planned out. He had only just found Snowdawn and got Lois to agree to join him. The day he had met Cinder had been just like any other. He worked with a group of the police force to track where all the missing animals had been taken and discovered the villain known as Red Ape had been hiding out in the sewers.
In a way, this was almost exactly like that, but now the stakes were much higher. Instead of the sewers, which had over a hundred different paths, they were going deep into the subway, which had over one thousand ways to go. Other cities had reported that their animals were going missing, and most knew it must have been the work of Red Ape. The madman was most certainly copying what he had done the first time. The most significant change this time around, though, was that there was no Battery or Cinder to save the day.
"You guys will need to be careful," Alexander called back to the heroes who had followed him through the station. "Some of these places can be a tight squeeze."
"No kidding..." Oxide winced and did her best to suck in her gut and chest as she awkwardly squeezed through a gap. She was jealous of not being flat for the first time in her life.
Oleander had taken quite the beating in the fight with the Beast. Most of the train stations had been from an older point in the city's history, and nowadays, they weren't used. Many had collapsed in on themselves, and rubble was piled all around them. Alexander navigated through it, though, by ducking under pillars of stone or going through cracks in the wall that led to other tracks.
It was sort of like cave diving in a way. Only somehow worse.
Paragon weaved in and out of the rubble right behind the man. She was followed closely by Wasp Nest and Oxide. Directly behind them, covering the rear, was the newest member of Oleander's Sub Enforcers, Drake. His tail slapped at falling debris, and he shoved his way through walls, brute forcing his way. He kept getting nasty looks from the others for almost bringing the place down, but that didn't seem to stop him. Finally, in the very back, Metal Ronin and Myth walked together.
Myth had shrunk back to his human form, and Metal Ronin had switched his armor to a leaner and more skintight suit. It was sort of like Snowdawn's own gear—a silver skintight bodysuit that covered him from the neck down. A few blue dots were scattered across it, forming circuit lines that sparked slightly.
"Have you field-tested that new suit yet?" Myth questioned.
Metal Ronin looked down at his hands, flexing them open and closed. He didn't have his helmet on but did wear a blue visor that covered his eyes and nose. It brought up various scans and information about his new suit. "No. This will be the first time I try using something like this." He admitted. Normally all his gear was made out of trash. His power allowed him to recycle and find uses for anything, even garbage, but this particular suit had been forged from the destroyed robots Boy Genius had sent out in the Beast battle. What little bit that was left of them had been fashioned together into the small, skintight suit he now wore. "I got the idea for this suit after seeing Battery in action. Some of the stuff he did in the fight with the Beast blew me away."
"Yeah... He was strong." Myth grumbled.
"Oh! I shouldn't have said that, should I?" Metal Ronin winced and ran his fingers through his hair. In the past he had dyed it blonde to stand out more, but now it had been turned into a dull blue color.
"It's fine." Myth's face made it clear he was lying.
"Have you heard from Whisper at all?"
"No."
"Oh..." Metal Ronin awkwardly cleared his throat as the two of them dropped to their knees and crawled beneath a wall with a massive hole in the bottom that led out to another series of tracks. "Yo, Mr. Lauren, I had a question!" He called out.
"Call me Alex!" The man hollered back. "And what's your question?"
"You guys were hunting all the monsters that appeared in here, right?"
"That's right." Alexander stopped and looked around at where they were. This tunnel was wider than the rest, and the tracks had long been torn out, turning it into a simple stone pathway. "When we first came down here, I joined many of the hunting groups and was one of the first to map out how far we could go. A lot of these tunnels are collapsed, but as you saw, I know the best places to get around them all despite that little issue. We're getting close to the danger zone. At the end of this tunnel is another opening that was created, and that's where a lot of the monsters are. It can be tricky killing them and getting their bodies back through all those tight spots, but we've managed."
"And you haven't gone past the monster-filled zone?" Oxide questioned.
"Nope. It's been too dangerous. My guess is Red Ape is near that area, so we didn't want to risk anything," Alexander explained.
"Red Ape isn't strong, but I thought it would be for the best if I gathered a group up before I tried to confront him," Paragon stated, folding her arms. "I didn't want to risk him pulling out the win on me because I let my guard down."
"Well, that's why we're here." Wasp Nest smirked. "I'll take that loser down in two seconds."
"Is he really that weak?" Drake asked awkwardly.
"Let's just put it this way." Myth spoke up. "The only time I've considered him to be a threat was when he used gear made from other Mental-based Supers."
"Oh wow. Wish bad guys sucked that hard in my city." Drake said in surprise.
"I haven't actually fought Red Ape either." Oxide noted. "The only real powerhouse on Zoo, though, was Green Wolf, right?"
"Not exactly." Myth shook his head. "They had some other heavy hitters like White Cow and Black Shark."
"You beat both of them though?" Metal Ronin said sheepishly. "Do they really count as heavy hitters if they lost to you?"
"Are you calling me weak?" Myth asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, sir! I just meant you're a lot stronger than you were a few months ago!" Metal Ronin looked around at the others. "We've all been working our asses off to get better so that next time something like the Beast happens we won't be dead weight." His eyes slowly settled on Paragon. "You've really improved a lot also. I heard you could even join the Enforcers if you wanted to."
Paragon didn't say anything, instead choosing to keep her gaze forward. Her fingers did grip down on the sword that was at her side, though. It was Alexander who spoke up next, the man clearing his throat. "Alright. We're about there." He called out.
Up ahead, the tracks began to appear once more as they reached a part of the tunnel that didn't have them all torn out yet. They had gone through a lot of rubble to reach this point, so it was kind of odd how untouched this section was. It opened back up as they came to another underground station, much like the one Alexander and his people had set up as a camp. Unlike that station, though, this one was abandoned. Some rubble had come down near the stairs that would lead up to the city below, blocking it off, but the rest of it was untouched for the most part. There was another tunnel at the very end of the station that would lead to the other half of the city.
"Would you guys mind if we took a bit of a break?" Alexander asked as they exited the tunnel. They had been walking for less than an hour, but the hard terrain seemed to affect the older man. His face was a little pale, and he kept breathing heavier than usual.
"Of course," Paragon nodded. "We should be good to go on our own from this point on. Now that you've led us to this tunnel, you can return if you want."
"I'll walk you back." Wasp Nest offered, holding his hand up. He had stopped being in his swarm form around the time they left the station full of people. "Now that I've seen how to get here, I can go in and out of my form and map the rest of this tunnel while we go back."
"That sounds good to me; just let me catch my breath." The man chuckled and hopped up onto the platform sitting on it. "I'm the oldest one here, and compared to you younglings, I've practically got one foot in the grave."
"I'm sure you got a ton of life left to give, man!" Metal Ronin said, giving a thumbs up.
Myth cleared his throat, getting attention back on him. "You heard the guy. Take ten, everyone. After that, Wasp Nest will take Mr. Lauren back, and we'll enter into the tunnel with the monsters in it."
Everyone slowly mingled amongst each other while that let the older man calm his beating heart. Oxide stood off by herself, folding her arms, and played with some of her liquid metal. Metal Ronin and Wasp Nest moved further down the tunnel they had come from and were playing around with Metal Ronin's new suit, the tech-based hero showing his friend how he could change its colors on the fly with a thought, causing the suit to shift from white to black to pink. Paragon took a seat next to Mr. Lauren, and the two were talking about something, but Myth didn't really get to hear much of it as Drake came to stand next to him.
The dragon-themed hero leaned against the wall and folded his arms. "You doing, okay?"
"Are you?" Myth shot back. "I heard your sister was kicked out of her city."
"Yeah. Some nice guy your former teammate turned out to be." Drake huffed, and a spark of fire came out of his mouth. "I can't believe he actually expects us to believe he beat the Victorian."
"You saw the video, didn't you?"
"The video's fake, obviously."
"Is it?"
"Of course. Even if it wasn't, though, the Hero Branch would surely stop him."
"Would they?" Myth raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! Even if I don't always agree with some of the things they do, they've still managed to help a lot of people. The cities wouldn't be nearly as protected if not for the superheroes. No way they'd willingly let him kick them all out and replace the heroes with those Giants."
"Could they stop him, though?" Myth hummed. "There was a thing I heard once. Every Enforcer member could team up and fight the Victorian, and the number one hero would still win. That's why the Supers fell in line when the Hero Branch came knocking. They had her under their thumb. If she lost and Battery is really the next strongest hero, could they actually stop him?"
"Of course they could. Because they'd have every other Enforcer member as well as the Victorian."
"What if she didn't help?"
"Why wouldn't she?" Drake frowned. "She's a hero."
"Maybe she doesn't want the spot back."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know. That's the only thing I can think of, though." Myth shrugged. "I mean after all. Boy Genius, Victorian, and the brand-new Lightning Empress." He spat the last name out as it left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. "Those three teaming up could likely beat the Emperor, so wiping out Battery should be no issue for them, especially if you added the other members of the Enforcers. The only reason I can think of why this hasn't happened is that the Victorian doesn't want to take the spot back. And if she doesn't take the spot back, the next heavy hitter is Boy Genius, and it'd take him a bit to come up with a new weapon to take out Battery, even with the other Enforcers on his side."
"Is Battery really that strong?" Drake winced.
"You tell me." Myth sighed and balled his hand into a tight fist. He could still remember all the missions they had gone on as team Pantheon. How did things change so much? "You saw the battle with the Beast, right? The only people that actually did anything to that monster when all was said and done was Battery, the Victorian, and Cinder."
Drake bit his lip, nearly drawing blood. The teen hated to admit it, but Myth was sort of right. Most of them hadn't been able to go toe-to-toe with the Beast while its power was suppressed in its suit. The only reason they managed to fight it at all toward the end was due to how much damage it had taken from the nonstop battles it had gotten in back-to-back with everyone. The difference in power between Supers could be massive, even more so when you look at regular Supers compared to the monsters that were Battery and the Victorian. Those two were simply in another league, reaching levels of power that rivaled the Lords.
Slowly, Drake spoke up in a desperate voice. "If the Victorian doesn't step up to him, then what happens next? Does he just remain at the top, and we just hope he has our best interests at heart?"
"Maybe?" Myth didn't sound too sure himself as the man lazily shrugged his shoulders. "Or maybe the Victorian has another plan in mind."
"And what would that be?"
"If she doesn't want the position of number one hero, maybe, just maybe, she'll find the next person that should hold onto it. Maybe Battery is simply the man at the top who is waiting to be defeated so the whole world will accept the next greatest hero."
"Like a scapegoat of some sort? Is that why the Hero Branch hasn't done anything?" Drake asked in shock.
"It's just a theory." Myth snorted. "After all, it assumes that the traitorous bastard still has a heart."
"Let's hope then."
Over with Paragon and Mr. Lauren, the white-haired hero placed her hand on the man's back. 'I don't know why you're bothering. He might have been cured physically, but his Ego has been-' She tuned out the voice of the Prettiest Flower as she got to work using her powers on the man.
"How are you holding up, sir?" She asked quietly. "Any new symptoms?"
"No." Alexander shook his head and forced on a grin. "Not thanks to you, doc. I've been able to act like I used to before I got the Dead Virus."
"It's important you tell me if something new is happening," Paragon said sternly. "The only reason you lived as long as you did with the Dead Virus is because Lucifer didn't bother using its full force on you. Normally, he can kill a person instantly with his ability and claim their life for his tome, but he likely didn't see a point in adding you to his collection. Your body was cured and restored, but you still carried that thing in you for years. There are things not even a Lord of Life can do."
Paragon was instantly reminded of her mother. She hadn't been able to bring Ocean Empress back from the dead. Nier wasn't able to bring his child or daughter back. He had used his powers to make someone that looked like the Princess of Life he married, but it wasn't the real deal, and he knew that. It would forever be tainted and never hold up to the original. That was what drove him mad, and started his attempt to create his perfect heir using the DNA of his four generals to make the body that would contain the next Lord of Life—strung along by the voice in his head, no doubt.
She had been forced to learn what it meant to be a Lord from the Prettiest Flower. The Ego just wouldn't shut up. They were vessels made to hold the power of the first Lords who kept coming back even after death had claimed them. There were three stages to a Lord. The first was a battle mode. This allowed the Lord to tap into a portion of the Ego's full power. Their hair would change, and their eyes would turn a fiery red. The next stage, though, was the true battle mode. Whenever they began to hear the voice of the Ego within them, they would start the process that would allow it to fully awaken inside of them. The last and final mode was where the Lord would fuse with the host. In the past, Full Monarch did this to power up, but after his betrayal, something she had learned from the Prettiest Flower, the Lords more or less used this form to take the host over and gain a new body. In the Lord of the Sun's mode, they became cloaked in blue fire powered by the universe, while the Lord of the Sea became a monster found in the darkest depths below. She hadn't gotten to see the true form of a Lord of Life or Sky, and she hoped to never see it.
"Seriously, I'm fine." Alexander's rambling brought her out of her thoughts as the man patted her on the shoulder. "The one you should be worrying about is Jane."
Paragon shook her head. "That's not true. I'm worried about both of you. I promised I would keep your daughter safe, and I failed. Over and over again, I always fail when it matters. Not this time, though. I'm going to keep as many people as I can safe. I want to be a real hero."
Alexander chuckled and flicked her on the forehead. "You already are. You're the one who saved all those people who had nowhere to go. You found us, helped us find a place to stay, and ensured we would have food. You even fought off a villain group for us. The Skull Boys never stood a chance when we had someone like you with us." Alexander stood up and stretched a bit, giving another grin. "You are seriously the best, Paragon."
Sky bowed her head, trying to hide a faint blush that appeared on her face. "D- Don't say silly things like that."
Alexander just laughed before he finally turned to the others. "Alright." He called out. "I'm good to move again. I'll be heading back the way we came while you guys progress forward-"
"Hold that thought." Wasp Nest spoke up and held his hand. Three of his fingers were missing, but a second later, a group of wasps landed on his hand and folded back into his flesh, fusing into it as his fingers came back. His gaze was focused on the tunnel they hadn't gone down yet. While everyone had been busy talking, he had been exploring it. "Something's coming our way."
Right on cue, the sound of a stomp echoed throughout the underground. It was followed by several more as a group began to rapidly approach them, coming from the darkness of the tunnel in front of them. They all instantly jumped into action. Wasp Nest crouched down and got ready to shift into his bug form; Oxide grew a large metal whip out of her armored dress, which flowed in the air as if it had a mind of its own; Paragon took a protective step in front of Mr. Lauren and drew her wooden sword, while Drake and Myth both transformed. Both of them grew long, jagged horns, but Drake's skin grew bits of red scales along his flesh while Myth took on the shape of a massive bull-like beast. Drake's tail jutted out, growing long, and slapped the ground hard enough to crack it. Finally, that left Metal Ronin, who reached up and pressed a button on his visor; his bodysuit glowed, and the circuit symbols along it came to life, screeching as they struggled to process the power. Something formed over him, coming into existence as red and gold layers of armor closed around him, resembling the armor worn by the few ancient warriors that were capable of uniting feudal lords under one banner, followed by one of his standard beam sabers, the color of which now matched his hair, appearing in his hands. All of this seemingly appeared out of thin air.
They were all ready for whatever it was that was charing toward them.
Then they saw it. Myth let out a heavy sigh, and his bull snout let out an annoyed snort. "Seriously. This again? That man really has no creativity, does he?"
"Why are they so big?" Oxide asked, cocking her head to the side.
"And so pale?" Alexander frowned.
Four alligators crawled out of the tunnel, hissing at them. They weren't regular gators, though. They were thicker and larger than any normal animal, and their skin was coarse and jagged, covered in razor-sharp scales, being a nasty gray color. The animals sported a set of intelligent eyes that quickly tracked the movements of the prey in front of them back and forth. And, of course, placed smack in the middle of their heads were pale white robotic hands that dug their fingers into the scalps of the transformed creatures.
Red Ape, at the end of the day, was nothing but a one-trick pony.
The gators roared, but Myth and Drake roared right back, causing the animals to whimper and cower back. It didn't last for long though, as the hands on top of them squeezed tighter on their skulls and forced them to obey the will that had been programmed into them. Their eyes glazed over, and they charged forward, but they didn't get very far.
Oxide changed her whip out, swirling the metal together and forming it into a massive hammer, which she brought directly down on one of the alligators, easily shattering the hand that was controlling it and knocking it out in one blow. Paragon stepped forward and swung her own blade out, the wooden sword growing longer and forming vines on it as if it suddenly became a tree branch. It was still thin and as sharp as a normal sword, easily slicing one of the machine hands clean in half, causing it to slide off of the animal's head, freeing it. Metal Ronin's back opened up as thrusters fired out, allowing him to blast forward, and he slammed his free hand out, grabbing the device inside of the third alligator and easily ripping it out as he flew by it. That left just Drake, who lazily spat out a thin beam of fire that pierced the final animal's robotic hand, blowing it up.
The three freed animals escaped when they sensed the danger and ran as fast as they could. The one Oxide hit though smashed into the ground, completely knocked out. "That was a bit anticlimactic." Wasp Nest joked. "Like, I didn't even get to do anything!"
Paragon crouched down next to the unconscious animal and placed her hand on its hide. Her eyes could see past its hide thanks to her new powers. She could see the little cells that made it up. All the way it had been forced to change, the pain it would have gone through. "Can you change it back?" Oxide asked.
"No." She shook her head sadly. "I can fix it up a bit, but the damage is more spiritual."
"What do you mean?" Metal Ronin asked, suddenly very interested in what was happening. "You mean like their souls have been messed with?"
"Do souls even exist?" Drake said skeptically.
"Souls, being real or not doesn't matter." Myth grunted. "At the very least, there is something inside of us that functions as a soul. Both my brother and I have forms that can harm this thing."
"Myth's right." Paragon folded her arms as she stared down at the animal in front of her with pity. "Our bodies hold something known as an Ego, which basically serves as a soul. This Ego is what shapes us and allows us to live. Supers have two Egos, as their power is another Ego that is a reflection of the first. The Lord of Life, and all healers for that matter, aren't just messing with biology. In a way, we're messing with the soul itself. I could use my ability of cell manpulation to put the bodies back together to the way they were, but their souls have been altered and shifted around so much that anything I do to them could destroy them. Souls can be very fragile, and the Emperor messing with them was what created all of his monsters. I'd likely end up killing the gators by mistake if I messed with their soul."
"There's really nothing you can do?" Oxide asked sadly.
"Think of it this way. Imagine you have a cup of clean water. Now put salt water into that cup, and with just your hands, try to get all that salt water out." Paragon explained. "You'd likely spill all the water before you fully separated it. It's sort of like that." Slowly she grabbed her sword, her knuckles turning white as she gripped down on it. "The only thing I can do for these animals is get revenge for them and make the man that harmed them this much pay."
"Make him pay? Now that sounds like a threat." A new voice called out to them. They all jumped back and turned to stare at the entrance to the tunnel. Someone stood with their arms crossed, having seemingly walked up while Paragon was busy explaining the theory behind souls. Instantly, they could tell he was a member of Zoo, one that Myth recognized right away. He wore a black bird mask and a black business suit that had flicks of dark dust coming off of it. "Guess I'm going to have to teach you guys a lesson for badmouthing the boss." Black Crow announced, creating a sword out of coal, which he pointed at the heroes in front of him.
"You're the villain Money Tree beat," Myth said, narrowing his eyes. "You were there during the attack on the mall last year. How are you here?"
"Oh, you didn't hear about what happened to Nightshade?" Black Crow snickered. He wasn't alone either. From the darkness, growls escaped as several large, mutated lions walked out and stood next to him, all having those familiar hands stabbed into their faces. They had undoubtedly stumbled into Zoo's base just as they wanted.
Drake let out a soft snort and folded his arms. "I liked Money Tree, but I'm pretty sure I could beat that guy. If you lost to him, what makes you think you stand a chance against any of us? You don't really expect a couple of monsterfied animals to give you that big of a boost, do you?"
Black Crow lazily placed his sword on his shoulder and slowly took his time eying them all up. "Yeah. You're totally right. I have no chance of beating you guys. Like none at all!" His sword faded into dust, and he lifted his hands up, throwing them into the air. "So, I give up-"
"Nice try!" Myth roared. "I've seen this trick before! Take him out!"
Drake had zero hesitation. The hero blew past the others, moving faster than any of them, and opened his mouth wide, about to fire a beam of pure flame. He stopped at the last second though when Black Crow dropped to his knees. The villain was ducking. He didn't get to see it, but he felt it as an unseen slash cut into the top of his head and sliced his eyes apart.
Drake hit the ground yelling and grabbed at the top part of his face as it rained blood. Paragon was next to him in an instant, placing her hand on him and fixing the damage the best she could, trying to repair his eyes, but the others were all frozen in place. They knew who had to be the one responsible for that attack. Quiet and slow footsteps came from the darkness as a figure began to approach.
Myth shifted into his lion form while Oxide expanded her dress into a heavily armored suit with a massive shield in front of her. Wasp Nest's body came undone as he separated into thousands of wasps that buzzed and hissed while Metal Ronin's suit vanished and flickered, changing into the costume he made after his fight with Wish, that being a large, ten-foot-tall, heavily armored suit that carried a greatsword and shield. Alexander Lauren hid behind one of the pillars in the train station and poked his head out, staring at the sight in front of him.
Drake winced as his eyes slowly healed, and he was able to see again. "How?" He croaked out. "You're dead."
"My death was... Greatly exaggerated." The voice that came from the tunnel wasn't one any of them were expecting. It caused a chill to go down all their backs as they recognized it very well. Alexander stepped out from behind the pillar and took a step forward in shock. It wasn't the voice of the cruel villain that called himself Green Wolf. Instead, this was a voice they attributed to a friend, a comrade, or even a loved one. This was the voice of Hope Lauren. A young girl stepped out of the darkness wearing a black suit with a cartoon-green wolf mask that covered her face. She had one hand on her hip and the other one on the katana that she had flung over her shoulder. "Well, what do you all think?" She announced. "Do I make it work or what?"
Hope Lauren stood before them.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
3 Power
stone 
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