Kyle toyed around with the strange Mental-based tech in his hand. It was some sort of ray gun Metal Ronin had planned to attach to a suit but never got around to finishing it.
All Mental-based Supers had a lab or some sort of place where they would make all their gadgets. For the hero, Metal Ronin, it had been in the junkyard, but since the Beast attack, everything had been moved into one of the wings of the manor they stayed in, which served as the Sub Enforcer's base.
The area looked almost like an old garage. Dozens of shelves lined the wall, all containing Metal Ronin's half-built projects, and in the center were two large vans that had been gutted and were still being built.
Kyle flipped the strange ray gun in his hand, toying with the trigger. It had no energy and wouldn't fire, but he took a moment to pretend like it was working. He aimed it at the wall and squinted. "Pow. Pow. Pew. Gun noise-"
"What are you doing?" Rowan asked in a flat tone.
Kyle let out a loud yelp and dropped the device. He spun around and found his bodyguard staring at him with an unamused look. Rowan was in the doorway to the garage dressed in a wielding outfit and holding a blow torch. Today, Myth, Oxide, and Drake were patrolling, so both Wasp Nest and Metal Ronin were the only Sub Enforcer members at the base with whom Kyle had to hang out today. Despite that, though, he had basically avoided both of them.
"Relax. I was just looking around." Kyle said sheepishly.
Rowan stared at his friend with a blank look. "Really?" The superhero walked forward and bent down, picking up the broken gun. "Because it looks like you were messing with some dangerous stuff."
"Dangerous stuff? None of this crap even works."
"That's why you shouldn't mess with it." Rowan huffed. "It isn't stabilized. This thing here could have blown your hand off." Rowan jingled the gun in front of his friend's face. "Why do you think I scrapped it? If it worked, Oppenheimer would be ready to use it out in the field."
"Oppenheimer?" That was when Kyle noticed his friend wasn't alone. Standing behind Rowan, Oppenheimer, the dog walked in. The black puppy looked around before finally settling down near the corner. "You're still trying to build a dog mech suit for him?" Kyle asked, a little amused.
"Damn straight, I am." Rowan tossed the useless gun onto a shelf and gave a smirk. "When I finally figure it out, he and I will be ready to kick serious villain ass."
"How haven't you figured it out? I mean, you already are able to build a suit for yourself; shouldn't you be able to make one for your dog?" Kyle questioned.
"I mean, yeah, I could, but what use would I get out of it? The suit would run out of battery way too fast." Rowan sighed. "It's the one thing I haven't been able to figure out yet. I don't know how Boy Genius does it."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing." Rowan shook his head. "It's a Mental-based thing. I actually came in here to work on something, so you need to leave." Rowan looked around his lab, searching for the right object, but a frown came onto his face. "That's weird." He moved over to a crowded shelf filled with dozens of small devices shaped like capsules. He knocked several of them off as he searched through the pile but was unable to find the right one.
"What are you looking for?"
"There should be one listed as HV." Rowan's frown grew. "I was still working on it."
"HV?" Both boys jumped a bit when they heard the other voice. They turned and found that they weren't alone anymore. Kenny seemingly just got out of the shower, dripping wet, with only a towel covering him. He held it up with one hand and leaned on the door. "Are you talking about that dumb-looking van?"
"It wasn't dumb!" Rowan said, offended.
"It was kind of dumb..." Kyle trailed off.
Rowan let out another huff and folded his arms. "Whatever. Where the hell is it?"
Kenny gave a lazy shrug. "Myth gave that thing away."
"What!"
"Yeah." Kenny rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. "He even put the last bit of the food we had in it without telling us. I get Cinder was a teammate, but still. That kind of sucks, you know-"
"Why would he give it away!" Rowan yelled.
"Cause it was done?"
"It wasn't done!"
"It wasn't? It worked, though, right?"
Rowan clenched his teeth and let out a deep sigh. "Idiots. All of you don't understand how Mental tech works at all, do you?"
Kyle gave a sheepish shrug. "I mean, you guys make impossible to understand tech? What do you expect?"
Rowan walked over to one of the gutted vans and used a wrench to bash into the metal, heavily denting it. The sound caused the other two boys to wince, and the dog whined and ran out of the room. "Why do you think we don't have more of those vans for the people?" Rowan asked sarcastically. "It's because I still haven't figured out how to get them to work right." He grabbed one of the capsules that rested on his desk and clicked it, tossing it at the wall.
Kyle and Kenny dropped to the floor as the thing exploded, and a third van appeared, knocking dozens of shelves over. This van had a bright white paint job on it, and the image of Snowdawn resided on both doors. It looked finished, and just like the Cinder Van, if one were to open it, they'd find an entire mini-reality inside.
"I started building these vans around the time Wish was defeated," Rowan admitted. "I got the idea after studying some old junk I found out in the Wastelands. I have a couple of them, and in a way, I guess you can say that they work. They can drive, have built-in weapons, and do other such things. Each one also has a few rooms."
"So then what's the issue?" Kyle questioned. "Can't you just give these to the people that are still in the city? It'd be a whole lot better than the tents they have to stay in."
"No. It wouldn't." Rowan shook his head. "You should know this already. I've mentioned it before, but it's the same reason Avalon or Boy Genius don't make Super tech for the Hero Branch to use."
"That battery thing, right?" Kenny stated. "Tech made by you guys isn't powered by electricity or anything like that. Instead, your kind gives off a type of energy source, which keeps the things powered. If something stays away from you for too long, then it'll lose its power and need to be recharged."
"That's right." Rowan nodded. "I could make a big ass gun and give it to someone, but it would have only a few shots before it died. In my case, anything I make has a battery life of two hours, and then it must be near me for two hours to recharge. With these vans, I'd have to sit inside of them for two hours straight to give them the juice they need. Since I can only be in one place at a time, I can't charge multiple suits or vans. Boy Genius sort of has a workaround for this. His gear can last for weeks without needing to be recharged, but even he still has to recharge all his stuff manually. It's why he sticks so close to his prison. Sometimes, he'll make what he calls burner gear for the Hero Branch. He did this for a few members during the Beast fight. This is gear that is meant to be used once or twice and then scrapped. As far as I know, the only piece of tech that can power itself is Beta. Boy Genius hasn't been able to make anything like that again since Beta's creation."
"What about the costumes, though?" Kyle asked. "Doesn't he make all your guy's clothing and stuff like that?"
"Those are just fabrics." Kenny snorted. "No tech involved. And the stuff that does have tech, while being put in place by Boy Genius, isn't actually Mental-based tech. It's all normal tech that any normal person could make; it's just installed and created through Mental-tech, making it better. It's sort of like building a normal car, but one that is built by an advanced robot. It'll do better than normal cars despite not being Super tech, so it also doesn't have the breaking down issue. Of course, that also means it can't do anything special either, other than be well made."
Kyle nodded slowly. "Okay. I think I get it. So you're annoyed that Myth gave your thing away because it'll depower, and you haven't been able to fix that issue? Is that right, Rowan?"
"No." Rowan shook his head again. "If that was the case, we could still get some use out of these vans. After all, even if they don't have power, they'd be able to be used as a place to store people. Sadly, though, the situation is a lot worse than that. Remember how I said a lot of this crap is unstable?"
"Yeah," Kyle said, suddenly feeling very uneasy.
"That's the real reason we don't give gear like this to people unless it is made to be thrown away after one use. Even if we can recharge them, it's way too dangerous. Because once they do run out of juice, the power that allowed them to function stops working. And once that power wears off, boom!" Rowan clasped his hands together, clapping as loudly as he could. "The entire thing can go up in smoke. All it takes is one guy forgetting about it or some other slip-up, and an uncharged high-tech weapon falls apart, unleashing all that pent-up energy."
Kenny's face paled a bit at that. "Wait. Are you saying that all these vans are basically bombs?"
"Worse than that," Rowan said sternly. "Myth gave a bomb away as a gift because he couldn't be bothered to ask me why I stopped working on these damn things."
Kyle nervously folded his arms. "I don't suppose any of us has the number to get in contact with Hope or her family?" Hope still didn't have a phone, and he didn't manage to get Mr. Lauren's number. An awkward silence filled the room as the two superheroes shifted. "Well... Shit."
"It's fine." Rowan finally said while the two other boys processed the fact that they were in a room with two other bombs shaped like vans.
"What do you mean it's fine?" Kenny hissed out. "You just told us it was a bomb!"
"It is, but that's only if it goes off."
"What the hell does that mean? All bombs are still bombs before they explode, you know!"
Rowan slapped at the van next to him once more. "Look, I might not have figured out a way to stop these bad boys from losing power and exploding, but I did put some safety nets in place to ensure they wouldn't just randomly go off."
Kyle let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, so they won't have to worry about their ride randomly exploding on them?"
"Exactly." Rowan nodded. "There is something in the van that warns you if the power is running low, and it should let them know they need to get out of the van in case it does explode while the van waits for a Mental-based user to power it."
"Wait, what do you mean while the van waits? I thought only you could power the van since it is your tech?" Kenny questioned.
"To an extent, that is true; only I can power my own tech, but as I said earlier, I was able to take tech that wasn't my own and make it mine. The same thing could be done by other heroes who have Mental-based powers." Rowan explained. "In Oleander, we don't have enough heroes with those kinds of powers to make it work, but if you were to leave the city, you could maybe find another hero to fix up the van. If someone with Mental-based powers works on tech made by another Super, they can modify it in their own way, making it their tech. And since it is their tech, it can be recharged by them. I programmed the van to send a distress signal out whenever it runs low on battery, just in case. So, either they'll be warned it's about to explode, or they will be picked up by some other hero with tech powers who can hopefully fix up the van or warn them of the dangers."
"When you say it sends out a signal, couldn't that cause some bad guys to come after them?" Kyle asked nervously.
"Not a chance." Rowan snorted. "I programmed the signals to only go out to heroes who I know. People like the Pallet Boys, Tech Horse, or even Boy Genius."
"Wait, the Pallet Boys?" Kenny frowned. "Rowan, you know those guys are dead right?"
"Yeah, but they were already in the system and I was to lazy to take them out so-"
"Rowan! You know that a bunch of bad guys stole all the Pallet Boy's gear, right? What happens when the signal gets sent out, and some evil guy sees it?"
Rowan went silent. He didn't say anything for several seconds. Finally, though, he cleared his throat. "Yeah, so this is sort of why I didn't want the vans to be handed out yet..."
"Rowan!"
***
"I have to admit, this van is a little cool, I guess." Jane hummed.
"And it's so safe!" Alexander slapped the dashboard and gave a grin. "You got some real neat friends, Hope!"
"I wouldn't really say Metal Ronin and I are friends," Hope said in a slightly bitter tone. She still remembered that time the boy helped train her, and he used all those drones to zap her butt. Some things were just unforgivable.
"You'll need to tell us all about them sometime." Jane smiled and placed her hand over her daughters. "You hardly even told me about all the superheroes you know. They all seem so interesting."
"That's just most heroes, I think." Hope shrugged. So far, she hadn't met a sane or normal hero.
Hope took her red backpack off and placed it next to her in the backseat. Kevin still hadn't talked or said anything since the ride began. She was starting to get a little worried. Maybe he went to sleep or something? Or maybe he was just ignoring her? She really didn't know. As soon as she took the backpack off, the silver jacket she wore twitched and changed. It formed into a long scarf that wrapped itself around her neck.
She ran her fingers through it. Despite looking like normal clothing, it still felt like metal. It also still had its weight to it, though the Pod was always fairly light and could be lifted by normal humans, so thanks to her enhanced strength, she had nothing to worry about. She still had on her normal clothes beneath the jacket. During the ride, she had changed into a simple black T-shirt that showed off Pretty Face, as well as a pair of blue jeans.
They hadn't even been on the ocean for an hour, yet they were nearing their destination. The ride was fairly smooth; her dad seemed to know what he was doing and drove on the surface of the water like a pro. She took a moment to look out the window and stare out at Oleander. It remained in the distance and was slowly but surely getting smaller and smaller as they approached Lillian. They had to take the long way around since they left from Oleander's beach.
Across the sea, in the distance, the ice island that made up Watch Dog's home base still resided. Sky mentioned that Duplcity and Roulette had made it out of the Beast fight alive. Sadly, they were the only two from their team of four. She wondered briefly if they were still on that island. They hadn't made a move in the city since everything went down. They must have been lonely.
It reminded her a bit of Armin, which only caused the pain in her chest to grow.
That pain just motivated her more though. She was determined to reach Mr. Larison and figure out some way to make things return back to how they used to be.
"So what exactly is the plan?" Alexander called back. "You'll have to be a bit patient with us, Hope. Your mom and I are total noobs when it comes to this job."
Hope folded her arms and turned her attention back to what was happening in front of her. They were close to the beach that rested around Lillian. Lillian really was like a mirror image to Oleander in some ways. "The end goal is Rose City; that way, I can speak to Mr. Larison, but there are a few other places I'd like to stop first."
"Like Lillian?" Jane asked.
"Yeah." Hope nodded. "Rose is far away and sort of hard to get into. I'll need help, so there is another city I'd like to stop by first. I also wanted to check up on the person that was there. For now, though, I want to stop by Lillian and look for clues."
"Clues?" Alexander raised an eyebrow and gave a sly grin. "What are you, some sort of detective?"
"I will be today, I guess." Hope gave a sheepish giggle before growing serious. "Sky told me her sister left this city and joined Battery. I'd like to stop by their house. Maybe there are clues or something. I doubt I'll find anything, but it's better to be safe than sorry. There's still a lot I don't really understand right now."
"This is getting a little exciting," Jane muttered. "I never thought we'd be doing anything like this as a family."
"Me neither." Alexander gripped the wheel tighter. "I'm glad though. That we're all together, I mean. No more being apart."
Hope felt a faint smile come onto her face. "Yeah."
They finally reached Lillian beach. Unlike Oleander, it wasn't filled with massive piles of trash. In fact, in a way, she was reminded of Hell Land. The beach was large, and hundreds of people were on it, seemingly having a fun time. Some people were playing volleyball, others were swimming out in the ocean, and kids were building sandcastles. It was the total reverse of Oleander. Or at least it appeared that way.
Before they even fully arrived, everyone on the beach seemed to freeze and stare at them. It was certainly a weird sight... Some people even pulled out their phones and began to take pictures, no doubt noticing the Cinder image that was on both sides.
Hope felt her cheeks flush a bit. It was kind of embarrassing. She kept forgetting that her Cinder persona was a tad famous now.
The van had heavily tinted windows that were made in a way that allowed them to see the outside world perfectly but blocked anyone from seeing the inside. Their van came out of the ocean and drove up onto the beach. Alexander awkwardly kept going forward, making sure to move out of the way of anyone who was slack-jawed and frozen in place by what they saw. It wasn't every day you saw something like this after all.
Soon enough, though, they arrived near a large ramp that allowed cars on the beach to drive up onto the road. "It feels weird getting so many looks." Jane shuddered a bit. "Is this how you normally feel, Hope?"
"Yep," Hope said flatly. "You get used to the judging eyes eventually."
She had been to Lillian once, though she never got to see much of the city. That had been back before the Beast attack, and back then, she noticed Lillian was pretty similar to Oleander. Both were massive cities with rich parts and hundreds of manors. The main difference, though, was that Lillian was a lot more pact-in and enclosed. Oleander was wide and massive with three different zones, but Lillian only had massive skyscrapers that covered every corner and thin roads and sidewalks. You were either in the rich part of the city or the super-rich part of the city. Even before the Beast, it felt a bit claustrophobic to move around.
After the Beast attack, things grew so much worse.
Traffic was full everywhere. Every single road had hundreds of cars on them. At each street, two different Hero Branch trucks resided, and Hero Branch soldiers were doing their best to direct everything. The sidewalk was filled with thousands of different people all screaming about different things.
Many of these people likely used to live in Oleander. They had lost their homes during the Beast attack and had been forced to flee to Lillian. Unfortunately, Lillian didn't have enough homes for an entire second city's worth of people. Of course, all the rich and important people in Oleander, who had been flown to Lillian by helicopters, were given the finest places to stay, but the rest of the people were out of jobs and homes, and with all the shelters having become full, they were left with no other option but to live on the streets. This even started to affect the people of Lillian.
None of the other cities were willing to offer any help either. This was because they were going through their own crisis. Because of what Battery pulled, every city no longer had any Enforcers and was filled with wandering Giants that took up more space. Lillian had four massive Giants, each one dressed in thick-looking Knight armor. They stood taller than any skyscraper and took up a full block, turning the already claustrophobic city in on itself more.
Battery's method might have been working for some places, but this was not one of them.
Even though Lillian hadn't been attacked by the Beast, it was still feeling the effects of the Calamity from space. So great was that creature's terror.
"What now?" Alexander asked quietly. "I can't get onto the main road."
Due to the massive number of people, they were stuck on the ramp and unable to cross the sidewalk. Even if they were somehow able to get past all of that, though, the road was still totally clogged. It basically made driving impossible.
"I'll handle it." Hope stated.
"What are you going to do?" Jane asked, looking back at her daughter.
Hope picked Kevin up and gave a small grin. "Do what I do best. Use obscene strength to force the outcome I want to happen."
"Huh?"
Hope shook the backpack. "Alright. No more silent treatment. I need a costume. Come on, Baggy." Silence filled the van. "Please..."
"...I want a better name..." Kevin's voice came out from the bottom of the bag, though no face appeared on it.
"It does talk!" Jane and Alexander stared with wide eyes as the red backpack shook.
"What's wrong with Baggy?"
"It's stupid, and I want a cooler name!" Kevin hissed.
Hope rubbed her chin. "Okay. I get it; you don't like the backpack thing. What if we call you Packy, as in-"
"No! No! No!" Kevin began to bubble up and change. Red tendrils grew off of him as he wrapped around Hope. "I've already decided."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." Hope felt her suit begin to reform around herself as Kevin turned into her hero outfit. The scarf around her twitched and also began to change as her outfit wove itself together, strand by strand. "I've decided. If I have to go by some stupid ass hero name, then from now on, I am going to be called Shift!"
The costume finished, as both Kevin and the scarf worked together. It sort of looked like the first design he had created out of himself, but now it had some silver in it. It was still mostly red and covered her body from the neck down. Silver lines ran through it, giving it an outline, and the butterfly symbol was also made of silver. She thought about asking for it to be changed since she really didn't want a connection to Full Monarch, but she didn't really know what else she could put there. A half mask covered her upper face, and instead of a helmet, she had a hood, which she could pull on and off at will.
Once again, she was Cinder. The hero she dreamed of being.
"Whoa." Alexander's eyes were wide as he stared at his daughter.
"That's a new one." Jane was also taken aback. "That makes costume number three, I guess."
Cinder didn't say anything as she stood up and began to head down the hallway that was within the van. "Where are you going?" Her father called out.
"Outside."
She made it to the door and stepped out of the van. Instantly, she could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes on her. Most of the angry mob stopped when the weird van pulled up, and they stared as a hero had stepped out of it. She was a bit grateful that fake Cinder had made so many drastic changes, like ditching the helmet and staying in the golden-haired form, so no one instantly knew what they were looking at. Her costume had changed quite a bit after all. Before any of them could decide to film her or say anything to her, she moved into action.
Cinder crouched down and placed her hands on the bottom of the van. "Help me out B- I mean Shift."
Kevin just grunted, and she felt the suit twist a bit as his strength became added to her own. With a slight smirk, she pulled up and lifted the van above her head. Many of the people in the crowd let out loud yells, and some stumbled back. At the end of the block, the Hero Branch officers noticed her and began to yell something out into a radio and head her way.
She stuck her tongue out at them and shifted the van until it was fully above her head. She kept a tight grip on it and then jumped up, using Shift's strength combined with her own to do a super hop. She came down hard, landing directly behind the Hero Branch truck. They screamed at her, and one even tried to grab her, but she jumped again, going even further and landing out of the block.
Traffic was still overflowing no matter where she went, and the sidewalk was extremely crowded, but people moved out of the way as they jumped through it, going further and further in the direction of where she remembered Sky's house being.
It made her wonder who was protecting Lillian City. After all, Ocean Empress was dead, as was most of Team Reservoir. Lillian also lacked a Sub Enforcers team due to how crowded and enclosed it was. Ocean Empress had always managed without one, so the Hero Branch decided to use the funding for a Sub Enforcers elsewhere.
Cinder hoped crime was remaining in check.
Inside the van, Jane held onto something as the ride kept rocking back and forth. She felt herself leave the seat a bit as her daughter jumped up, going high into the air, before they suddenly came back down in a harsh landing. Then, it would happen all over again as Cinder blasted herself forward.
"H- How the hell are you remaining so calm?" Jane shot her husband a dirty look as her face turned a little green, and she resisted the urge to throw up.
Alexander gave a hearty laugh and clapped his wife on the back. "I was a fisherman, you know. This is nothing compared to the trashy boat rides I went on. Keep going, Hope! Or, I guess I should call you Cinder!"
Back outside, Cinder's lips twitched slightly into a grin as she kept up her pace, carrying the van over her head. Kevin spoke into her ear as she ran, asking a question. "So you said you wanted to check out your girlfriend's house? Did she give you permission?"
"Not sure if I'd really call her my girlfriend, and no, I sort of forgot to tell Sky I was doing this. Don't worry, though; what she doesn't know won't hurt her." Cinder said sheepishly.
"Huh. Guess lesbians lie to each other like straight couples."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
Slowly, Cinder came to a stop once she began to near her destination. The streets finally began to open up more. While the main half of Lillian was flooded with people, the super-rich part was being well kept. It was still crowded, but she didn't have to dodge in and out of the crowd's mid-jump. Instead, she slowed herself down to a brisk walk, though she still carried the massive van above her head since it was just easier than putting it down.
She still remembered when she first went to Sky's house. It had been for a girl's night, one that was seemingly started at random for no reason. They had been so happy and cheerful back then. None of them knew the horrors that lurked on the horizon. Nor were they ready for all the loss that awaited them.
Kevin let out a low whistle when he saw the different manors. They were massive, each one with its own metal fence. Most of Lillian was made up of towers, but this part. The rich wanted you to know they were rich, showing off their massive lawns.
When they finally did arrive at Ocean Empress's manor, Cinder came to a sudden stop, and she felt a pang of mild anger. It stood out like a sore thumb, especially compared to how nice all the other houses looked. River Sini's home was in ruins.
The fence had been completely torn down, and most of the yard was destroyed. Heavy machinery covered every square inch of the land, and several men in construction outfits walked. There were a bunch of Hero Branch guards as well. The manor itself was mostly torn down. They weren't just repurposing the place. If you wanted to do that, you could have still left the manor and just made some changes. This was a complete overhaul, every square inch being changed.
There was a new section in the back of the yard that was being turned into a pool, and what looked like a makeshift sound stage filled with musical equipment was also being put up. There had been a statue of River Sini's late husband, the father of Poseidon, but it was gone now. Instead, a new statue of Pretty Face was put up.
She had heard he took over the city once Ocean Empress died; he was now a member of the Enforcers, but it seemed like he was abusing his power by getting rid of everything Ocean Empress had.
The place Lily and Sky grew up at was just gone. How would they react when they learned this?
She had arrived too late to do anything about it. The damage was already done.
She suddenly felt really ticked off. It was during this mood that she felt something hit her in the back of the leg.
It happened suddenly and without warning. One moment, she was standing, and then the next, something wrapped itself around her ankle and pulled on her hard. She quickly went from being ticked off to angry as she tripped and dropped the van with her parents in it. Luckily, Shift thought fast, several tendrils growing out of the back of the costume, which wrapped around the van, and managed to place it down gently.
Many of the men in the yard all stopped what they were doing and stared when they heard the noise. "Nice save, Shift." Cinder spoke through gritted teeth. Whatever had grabbed her attempted to tug her further back, but she fought through it and pulled her leg up. She looked down and found several clumps of golden thread wrapped around her leg. She grabbed at them and tore them off at her, but not even a second later, more golden lines blasted toward her from a nearby roof. She rolled out of the way just in time as they splattered against the ground next to the van. "Why the hell are you attacking me?"
"Why are you running away from the law!" A loud voice called out. A golden figure dropped to the ground, landing before her in a crouched position. They wore a golden costume that had the image of a spider across it, and a mask covered their face. Both their legs were gone, replaced with wooden limbs that now supported them, and they were missing an arm now after their right arm was blown off during the battle with the Beast. Despite that, there was no mistake about who this was. "You've been causing a ruckus, and the Hero Branch ordered I bring you in. Who even are you?"
Golden Weaver, a former member of the original Enforcers, stood before her. In other words, one of the heroes who fought alongside Full Monarch.
Alexander's eyes went wide as he stared out the window at his favorite hero. "Holy crap! I need his autograph!"
When he had been a kid, he used to live in a small backwater village that was technically part of the city that was near them. The protector of that city had been the hero known as Feast.
Because of that, Alexander Lauren found himself growing up constantly surrounded by Feast merchandise. Everyone back home seemed to love the constantly hungry hero; in fact, Feast was so popular nowadays that he was able to retire and instead run the various Feast Shacks scattered throughout the many different cities, each one cooking some of the unhealthiest food you could imagine.
Feast wasn't Alexander's favorite hero, though.
No, instead, that honor went to the one who had saved him. Before he had become a fisherman, before he had moved to Oleander City with his best friend Marcus, he had been drafted into some small-scale war. He had been forced to carry a gun and take up arms against his fellow man, all because of a local village that was declaring itself separated from the Hero Branch. At the age of sixteen, Alexander had fired his first gun.
It was during this war that he met him.
The one and only Golden Weaver.
In the present, Alexander was just as shocked as he was back then when he first saw his hero. Golden Weaver stood across the street, directly in front of the hero Cinder.
"I'll ask this once more. Who are you, evildoer?" Golden Weaver announced loudly.
"Evildoer? I'm a good guy." Cinder said, shaking her head.
"Yeah, right!" Golden Weaver let out a snort. "You have evil written all over you. Just look at your suit."
"What's wrong with my suit?" Cinder looked down at her new hero suit with a frown. "Hear that, Shift, he's making fun of you."
"Let's kill him!" Kevin announced.
"D- Did your clothes just talk?" Golden Weaver questioned.
Cinder shrugged. "Look. I don't want to fight you, so how about we just agree to go our separate ways?"
"No can do, evildoer." The old hero shook his head. "I was told by Ward himself to bring you in. Thanks to that bastard, Battery, Pretty Face isn't able to step foot in this city, and with Ocean Empress gone, I alone am the last protector of this city. I bet Yellow Kobold is the one that put you up to this, isn't he?"
"Yellow who?"
"Yellow Kobold!" Cinder jumped a bit when she heard her dad's voice. Alexander had rolled the window down and had his head poking out. "He's the archnemesis of Golden Weaver! The two have been rivals for over twenty years now! Even before the Hero Branch was started, they were always doing battle with each other! Hell, they still fight even to this day!"
"You seem to know a lot about that hero?" Jane muttered, still sitting inside the van next to her husband.
"Of course I do!" Alexander's smile grew. "He's my hero."
During the war he had fought in, the Hero Branch had called upon a hero to come and end it. Feast had been away on some super important secret mission, so the hero that showed up and fought alongside the rest of the soldiers was the one and only Golden Weaver. Alexander had been on the front lines, and he watched it all happen with his own two eyes.
The enemy they were fighting against had stolen a bunch of tanks and even Mental tech that had some juice left in them. Despite that, though, Golden Weaver had single-handedly taken the soldiers out, using his webs to tie everyone up and keep his teammates safe. All without taking a single life. Then he had done something no other hero had. He had helped many of the soldiers sneak away and escape the Hero Branch's clutches, allowing them to go into hiding and live normal lives. Be it enemy or foe, Golden Weaver had offered this choice to all, letting them all go and stopping the Branch from throwing the enemy soldiers into a cell to rot for the rest of their lives.
Alexander was one such soldier. He had begged the hero to take him out of this place and help him, and Golden Weaver listened. It was thanks to that man that he got to live in Oleander and eventually meet his wife.
Of course, he doubted Golden Weaver actually remembered who he was. That had been years ago, so long in fact, that Golden Weaver had still been a member of the Enforcers.
Back in the day, before even the Emperor arrived, Golden Weaver was a high-ranking member of the Enforcers. Many of those old heroes died fifteen years ago during the battle with the Emperor, but Golden Weaver was one of the few to make it out of that battle alive. Not unscratched, however. His career as a top hero had been stolen from him due to the damage he received from the Emperor.
The hero wore a gold and white, skintight body suit that had the symbol of a spider on the front of it. Where Golden Weaver's legs should have been were thick wooden pegs, both from the kneecap down. He was also missing an arm now. He had lost the arm in the battle with the Beast, the entire limb having been torn clean off, leaving the sleeve totally empty.
Golden Weaver had been one of the heroes who tried to stall the Beast for as long as he could, though he obviously wasn't successful. He had been knocked out in one attack, destroying his already damaged body even more and losing what was left of his legs and arm. He hadn't been able to get healing from Paragon since he had been buried deep beneath the ground, and by the time anyone found him, his body's own natural healing had sealed his wounds shut, scarring them and stopping Paragon's healing from restoring his lost limbs.
That wouldn't stop Golden Weaver, though.
He was a hero. One who would move to save people, even if his body was totally destroyed.
"I won't say it again. Come quietly. Please." Golden Weaver asked once more.
"I'm the hero Cinder."
Silence hung in the air from that response. The golden bug-themed hero just stared at her, seemingly studying her. "You look nothing like her."
"Really?" Cinder waved her hand in front of her face, then raised her half-face mask up. "Because I'm sure we have the same face."
"Your costume is wrong. Also, Cinder's hair is longer and golden."
"Oh my God." Cinder sighed and slapped at her face. "Seriously. I'm Cinder! Call Myth or something!"
"Show me your flames."
Once more, silence hung in the air, only this time it was her turn to not say anything. She awkwardly stood there. "About that..." She barely raised her hand up as something came flying at her face. It moved at fast speeds, coming at her as soon as Golden Weaver's leg twitched. Despite that, though, she managed to catch whatever it was and stared down at it. "What the hell am I holding?" It was a wooden block. One shaped like Golden Weaver's peg leg. That was when she looked back up, and her jaw nearly dropped.
Golden Weaver's left leg was raised up, and the wooden leg that had been attached to him wasn't on anymore. That was what she was holding. Instead, where his leg should have been, from the kneecap down, was a long metal blade. The golden hero brought his sword leg down and stabbed it into the ground. Then he lifted his right leg up, and once more, it twitched, or actually, it kicked out at fast speeds. The wooden pegs worked as a sheath, one that came flying off of him at high speeds, revealing the sword beneath.
With the loss of both of his legs, instead of trying to get clunky Mental-based tech to work, Golden Weaved had decided to attach swords to his body.
"He's so cool." Both Alexander and Cinder said at the same time.
Golden Weaver tested both of his bladed legs, bringing them down on the road as he awkwardly seemed to stretch. "Cinder or not, I was still told by director Ward to bring you in. You're quite popular, Miss. Maybe you really are Cinder, though I doubt it. In actuality, I think I know who you are." It was impossible to see his eyes due to the mask he wore, but Cinder knew in that moment he was glaring at her. "You're Skin Walker! The shapeshifter who used to serve the Emperor!"
"What! No!" Cinder let out a bit of a whine and flailed her arms. "You got it wrong! Seriously! She's the imposter! I'm not the sus one!"
"Now I know you're a faker! No sane person would ever use the word sus!" Golden Weaver's entire body twisted forward, and he brought his remaining arm up. It was missing most of its fingers, but he still had his pointer and pinky. They lifted, and from his wrist, his costume split open, firing out a golden thread. "Get ready, villain! I'm bringing you in!"
Cinder cursed and stepped back as Golden Weaver took off. It was just like when she fought Red Ape. They weren't surrounded by giant buildings, but many of the manors were tall, and there were still dozens of street lamps that hung around. Watching Golden Weaver move caused her eyes to burn. He wasn't in his prime, far from it, yet he became a golden blur as he seemed to literally bounce between the rooftops at high speeds, moving with his threading, which twisted and pulled any way it needed to. He kept building up speed, going around her, and sending out waves of sparks as his sword legs sliced into the ground.
Off to the side, in what used to be Ocean Empress's home, all the construction crew had stopped what they were doing and simply watched. They weren't the only ones either. Many of the rich people in the manner had left their homes and were watching the fight that was about to begin. At either end of the street, dozens of Hero Branch vans also pulled in, each one letting out dozens of armed soldiers that stood on standby while Golden Weaver got ready to take out the threat.
"Stop! You two don't have to fight!" Alexander called out from the van in horror. He really didn't want to see his daughter and his favorite hero try to beat one another to death.
"I agree with my dad! We can seriously talk this out!" Cinder called out to the golden blur.
Golden Weaver somehow got even faster. He kept flicking his arm out, causing the string to blast out, which would then work like a rubber band, stretching out before rapidly shrinking back down on itself, tugging him along. He used his sword legs to kick off of buildings as he flew further, boosting his speed as he got ready for his attack.
"Sorry! Orders are orders!" The hero said through clenched teeth. "Trust me, I'm not usually one for following them, but with all the chaos going on in our world in this moment, someone needs to step up! Someone needs to do something! And it just so happens, that person is me!"
Hope took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing her senses. She could still hear the man bouncing around above her. After a few moments, Cinder reopened her eyes and got ready for combat. "Okay then. Just remember I tried talking."
In a flash, Golden Weaver struck out. He came blasting down, using his elastic threading to launch himself down toward his foe. He twirled his body out, bringing his legs down hard, but thanks to her enhanced senses, Cinder dodged out of the way, stepping back just in time. The ground in front of her utterly exploded from the sheer force of Golden Weaver's strike, his blow kicking up rubble. The hero didn't stop, though, using his arm to support himself as he raised both his legs up and twisted with them like some sort of dancer. She was still in the middle of dodging the first attack, so she wasn't able to stop the blades as they both came slicing toward her and rammed into her side.
Golden Weaver let out a sudden grunt, and his entire body was forced to a total stop as his blades failed to pierce Kevin's hide. "D- Damn, you're sturdy-" The hero stopped when he saw a shadow loom over him, and he looked up just in time to see Cinder's fist flying toward his face at fast speeds.
No fire powers. She couldn't create a spark of flame, fly, or do anything like that. That meant she really just had one method for winning.
All-out offense.
She put all her trust in Kevin, tanking the sword blows he had done, and pushed herself forward on the heels of her feet. She twisted her body and struck out with a super fast, super strong jab, using the same punch Mr. Larison had taught her. It was a simple right-left combo, but it would do the trick. Her first fist rammed into Golden Weaver's head and hit him so hard she tore part of his mask away and rammed him into the ground. He wasn't out yet, though, and struck out with his own hand, smashing it into her face, but she didn't falter as she struck out with her second fist.
Before it could land, though, Golden Weaver managed to twist his entire body, showing insane flexibility, as he somehow brought one of his legs up. Her fist rammed into the sword that was attached to him, totally shattering it, but it bought him the time he needed. The hero's wrist fired out the thread, and it rammed into her face like a rocket, blowing her head back. It was hard and solid, nearly cracking her jaw. It clung to her face as well, briefly blinding her as she stumbled back.
Golden Weaver didn't stop there, either. He flung his hand out again, firing off more webs that wrapped around her arms and forced them back as the end of the golden thread attached itself to two different fences that stood in front of the many manors around them.
She was now blind and bound.
Golden Weaver remained on the ground due to one of his legs being destroyed and forced himself forward with his webs, causing it to yank him toward the girl as he sliced out with his remaining sword, this time going for a fast puncture attack instead of a broad stroke, so he could try to pierce the armor she wore. His blade impacted her gut, but the Kevin suit stayed strong. Or at least it tried to. The threading around her arms began to pull her toward Golden Weaver, while his own webbing pulled him toward her. So not only was he being pressed into her, she was being forced further onto his blade.
The Kevin suit twitched and shook as the blade began to stab into it, and with a loud growl, Kevin struck out himself. "That's enough!" From her back, a massive fist formed out of the red muscles that made up Kevin's body. It grew out like a tendril and came smashing down on the head of Golden Weaver, who was caught off guard. The strike sent the hero flying back, and Kevin pulled the tendril back into himself. "No one stabs Shift and gets away with it!"
"You almost seem like you're more into this than I am..." Cinder muttureed. She forced her arms past her body using all her strength and snapped the threading that bound them. Once that was done, she quickly ripped off the bit that clung to her face. "Still, thanks for the save. Your powers are actually crazy useful!"
"S- Seriously, is your suit alive or something?" Golden Weaver tried to sit up and spat out a few broken teeth. The right side of his mask had been badly torn from the strikes he took, showing messy brown hair filled with grays and wrinkled dark skin.
"Something like that." Cinder rubbed at her jaw from where his attack had landed. "You're down a leg, and I can break your threads. Let's just call it here, k'ay?"
"Don't get cocky. I'm nowhere near my prime."
"Me either."
"Huh?"
"I used to be way cooler." The flame-based hero pointed a thumb at herself. "I don't want to brag, but I did kind of solo the Beast, you know. I might not have my fire anymore, but I'm still a crazy strong girl."
Golden Weaver's eyes narrowed a bit. "You really aren't acting like how I thought a villain would be."
"That's because I'm not a villain." The younger hero poked her tongue out.
Golden Weaver let out another weak snort and struggled to stand on one leg, digging the sword into the ground. "Maybe. This fight isn't over yet, though!"
Cinder let out another sigh. "Seriously. I don't want to do this."
"Neither do I."
"Then why are you? Why are you listening to the Hero Branch? I really am Cinder, you know. I'm not kidding. I'm a hero."
"Maybe..." Golden Weaver trailed off for a moment. "When I was younger, I constantly ignored them, defied them, and did whatever I wanted. I always got away with it also because Full Monarch had been the one to personally put me onto the team. I fought alongside him every chance I had and tried to help him beat the Emperor. That action cost me my career, but I didn't care. Because, at that moment, I had helped the greatest hero alive. He died, though. Even after my help, even after all our help, the Emperor still killed him. And now, now I'm watching this all happen again. That man, Battery, reminds me so much of the Emperor. He's trouble. And the only one I can think of right now who can do anything is the hero, Boy Genius. That kid has already done so much, and I think he can even be the one to take the mantle of number one over when he is older. I know it's selfish and wrong to put all this hope into a kid, but I don't know what else to do other than follow after him. And he believes in the Hero Branch, so I will do the same!"
Mental tech was clunky. It always broke down and would need to be charged, or it could literally explode.
It was for that reason Golden Weaver never bothered to get any that could replace his missing limbs. He preferred the ordinary peg legs instead of metal that could explode. That said, he was still a famous hero. Even if he never asked for it, even if he didn't want to use it, he had still been gifted something. Something created to help put him back to the way he used to be.
Golden Weaver raised his mask up, showing his jaw beneath it, and he used his teeth to dig into the sleeve of his costume, ripping it away. A small wristwatch rested under his suit. With his tongue, he pressed down on the button that resided in the watch.
"You called yourself Cinder. You claim you're the Lord of the Sun. The very same hero who beat the Beast? For a moment, I was actually on the verge of believing you. It'd be so amazing if Full Monarch returned to us. I don't think you are him, though. You're nothing like him."
"You're right. I'm not Full Monarch." Cinder tried to say more, but the older hero cut her off.
"Exactly." A glow began to spread through Golden Weaver's body as the watch activated. "That's why I'll instead put all my eggs into the next best basket. I'm backing Boy Genius up all the way!"
As the glow ended, Cinder found herself taking a nervous step back. She wasn't the only one who was shocked. The people in the crowd all stared on with wide eyes, and Alexander's jaw was hanging wide open as he saw his idol dressed in an updated suit.
Golden Weaver now wore a black and silver costume. It looked close to his old one, being a body suit that was black with various silver lines that took on the shape of a spider. The sword leg he once had dropped to the ground, and instead, two mechanical, robotic legs took its place. His missing arm was also back, also made out of slick-looking silver metal. He was decked out in heavy Mental tech.
"Black Weaver, online."
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me-" She never got to finish that sentence.
If Golden Weaver had been fast before, then Black Weaver was simply in another league. His good arm fired out a golden thread that flew past her, while his robotic arm sliced out with a super thin black line that sliced the fence behind her to bits as she barely ducked under the attack. His golden line tugged, and in an instant, he rocketed forward, ramming feet first into her gut. She grunted and tried to take the blow head-on, gripping down on his legs and bending the metal, but he swung out with his metal limb once more, slicing out with the thin-bladed line.
Kevin screamed out as the line sliced into him, and even she winced as it went through the entire suit and cut into her side. She dropped the legs and stumbled back, grabbing at her bleeding side, and once more was forced to dodge as he kicked out with his legs. With gritted teeth, she used all her strength, as well as Kevin's, and rammed her arm into Black Weaver's gut. It barely caused him to flinch, though, as his suit absorbed the force of the blow and dispersed it into the space around him.
"This suit was made by Boy Genius and Beta." The dark hero announced. "It basically has dozens of powers already built into it." He twisted his body and punched out with his good arm, but she easily blocked the strike and struck out with several red tendrils that Kevin launched. Black Weaver was too fast now, though, and he easily dodged them all and jumped away from her. "Just give up." In a flash, he was up on the roof of one of the manners and folded his arms. "You can't win."
The people who were watching the fight all cheered and clapped, many of them screaming for Golden Weaver, or rather Black Weaver, to win. Cinder wiped some of the blood from her lips and frowned. She was starting to feel a bit ticked off. The people were treating her as if she were some villain.
"You do have one weakness, and it's a pretty big one." She called out casually. "If this suit was really so good, you'd have used it on the Beast or something, right?"
"It was built after the Beast fight."
"Still." She shook her head. "You would have used it earlier in the fight or just run around in it at all times, but you don't. See, I happen to be friends with another hero who uses tech, and I know that those things have short battery life. Tech this good runs out, especially with how much you have to push it in order to keep up with you. You aren't like Boy Genius either, so you can't recharge it. All I have to do is wait for that battery to die, and that suit stops working, no matter how cool it might be."
"Spoken like a true villain!" Black Weaver launched toward her again at fast speeds and struck out with his fist as he appeared in front of her. She met his blow with her own strike, her hand denting the metal one as they clashed. His other arm rammed into her face, but it barely tickled, his super strength dwarfed by her enhanced durability. She pushed down with her fist and tried to break his metal arm, but he pulled back and kicked her in the gut with his leg. She sucked in her gut and slapped out at the air as hard as she could, doing the trick Wyvern taught her during the Enforcers test, causing the wind to compress and be launched out.
The attack rammed into Black Weaver but didn't blow him back, as he used his golden threading to stay put, the thing stopping him from going too far. It tugged once more and snapped forward, launching him off of the ground, and he rammed a knee into her gut, causing her to crash to the ground with a gasp.
Black Weaver lifted his robotic arm up and fired out the thin line, bringing it down-
"Wait!" Cinder felt her eyes go wide as someone jumped in front of her. Alexander stood with both his arms out, his eyes wide as he got ready to take the attack. Thankfully, at the last second, Black Weaver managed to pull his arm back up, the threading reeling back into the metal arm, missing Alexander by an inch. Alexander let out a relieved gasp and dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. "I thought I was dead for sure!"
"Dad! Why would you do that!" Cinder gasped, trying to catch her breath. She had almost just watched her father die. It would have been a needless death, much like this entire battle was, as she had a means of getting out of the way. She also doubted Black Weaver would have killed her since he seemed to want her alive for that Ward guy.
"Dad?" Black Weaver had backed away as soon as Alexander jumped into the fray. The hero had a frown on his face as he stared at the man before him. "Why did you call him dad?"
"Because he's my father, jackass! You almost killed him!" Her eyes were filled with anger now as she stood up.
Black Weaver's frown only grew larger as he stared at her and Alexander. "This man is your dad?" Black Weaver studied Alexander's face for a moment. "Wait a second... I know you."
"Y- You do?" Alexander asked. The man's body kept shaking as he stared at his cyborgized hero. "Really?"
"Alexander Lauren. The man who escaped the Dead Virus." Black Weaver nodded his head. "I heard about you making it out of that hell alive. I've seen plenty of people who took the same thing you did and didn't come back from it. Tamer was a powerful member of the Enforcers, but it was able to still claim her life. Yet you, a mere human, resisted it for so long and came back from the brink of death perfectly healthy."
Alexander winced a bit. "Yeah... Perfectly healthy... Right..."
"If you're Alexander, though..." Black Weaver's eyes trailed back over to the person he had been fighting. "You're his daughter, and Cinder's real name is Hope Lauren, so then you're-"
"I'm Cinder." She stated in a blunt tone. "A hero. You know, the thing I've been saying since before this fight started!"
Black Weaver awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and didn't say anything. Even with the mask he had on, she could tell he held a guilty expression. Finally, he looked like he was about to say something, but then he stopped all of a sudden. His head snapped up, and he looked around. He likely had enhanced senses. She took a guess about that but was pretty confident she was right because she was doing the same thing he was. Her head also snapped back, and she stared toward the city.
"What is it, H- Cinder?" Alexander asked.
"I- I think I just heard-" Her enhanced senses went off once more, and she heard it again. Louder this time. A deep rumbling.
Something had just exploded on the other side of the city. Something big. Even from where they were, they could see it. A constant stream of black smoke began to rise up.
Black Weaver didn't say anything and took off. He swung out with his threading and began to swing toward where the danger was. He was followed a second later by Cinder, who tried copying him. With the help of Kevin, she was able to create several long red tendrils that jutted out and stabbed into the sides of the building, allowing her to also swing forward. It didn't take long for them to get out of the manor part of the city and reach the many different skyscrapers that were scattered throughout Lillian, allowing them to swing even faster and easier.
Back where she left her parents, Alexander jumped into the van and stared it up, chasing after his daughter and hero, who were miles away already. Thankfully, due to all the smoke, he didn't have to wonder where she was.
"What's going on?" Jane questioned with wide eyes.
"I don't know, but I think I might have a good idea of who's causing it," Alexander muttered.
"Who?"
"The one guy who's always involved anytime the hero Golden Weaver does anything..."
Black Weaver was the first to arrive on the scene. He came swinging down and clung to the side of a building. His eyes narrowed at what he saw. The street was full of fire, and a massive bank had a large hole blown into the side of it. People were screaming, and firefighters were trying to put out the flame. One building had even come down completely when one of Battery's giants had been rammed into it. The construct rested on the ground, heavily cracked and torn to bits.
"What could have done this?" Black Weaver didn't even flinch as the hero, Cinder, landed next to him. Instead, the older man stared up at the sky, where something floated.
"My nemesis." That was all he said.
"Your nemesis?"
She looked up at what he was staring at and also saw it. Someone hovered in the air, standing on what looked like a large silver board. They were dressed in a tight yellow outfit that was covered in scales and wore a half mask that was shaped like a lizard that covered their upper face. Their lower face was twisted into a grin, and they had a large white beard.
Yellow Kobold, the enemy of Golden Weaver, met her eyes slowly, though they shifted over to Black Weaver.
"Hello. Old friend." Then Yellow Kobold said something else. "Boom."
And in a flash, everything exploded.
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