There was no sound. Just a loud ringing that seemed to be coming from everywhere, as her senses began to acclimate to the chaos of her surroundings, Mirage began to piece together what had just happened. There had been a blinding flash in the distance, followed by a bit of pain as she was tackled to the ground. Looking around she saw Dash saying something to her before running off, he must have tackled her to knock her out of the way of the beams. Helen had already made her way over and was trying to pull the injured out of harm’s way. Mirage only hoped Violet stuck to the plan and kept going towards the alternate Violet.
After the armored car exploded, Violet’s blood turned to ice. “Mirage was in there!” She thought. She frantically looked around for the blonde. Only when she saw Mirage’s bruised, battered but very much alive form being dragged away by her mother did Violet release the breath she had been holding. Shaken but feeling a little more confident than she had been a moment ago, Violet stealthily made her way toward where the beams came from. Before the armored car had pulled up Violet was deployed just outside of the ruined fence surrounding Edna’s mansion, just in case her alternate self pulled something like this. Deeming it a little redundant to worry about sound while she was so far away Violet began sprinting towards the ruined building. Hoping the sounds of combat and her invisibility would allow her to sneak up on her opponent.
“Veral.” Edna quietly asked as she watched the scene unfold. “Do you honestly believe revenge will soothe your pain? Do you honestly believe inviting pain upon this world is justified?”
“Shut up Edna!” Veral’s voice was soft but the tremors that shook throughout her body betrayed the building storm. “I don’t care anymore! I WILL kill Phage no matter the cost! If some impostors die than so much the be-oof-” Before Veral could finish her sentence a shimmering orb encased in purple lightning struck her square in the back.
“What gives you the right?” Violet’s disembodied voice shouted over the sounds of combat. “I don’t know what kind of hell you came from, but I can assure you of one thing!” Violet began to concentrate forming a vertical column of crackling force above her counterpart. “If you try to hurt my family… I’LL END YOU!” Violet then turned visible, her body completely enveloped in her purple aura as she put as much force as she could muster into bringing the column crashing down on her opponent.
Elsewhere amidst various debris and rubble, Mr. Incredible and Frozone took cover as they attempted to formulate a plan to stop Shifty. “Incredible! If I can just get close enough to him I may be able to snap freeze Shifty!”
“You can do that!?” Mr. Incredible shouted over the sounds of roars, gunfire, and explosions.
“As long as he remains in a flesh and blood form, I figure he’s probably mostly water like any other creature. It’s worth a shot!”
“Alright then get going I’ll distract him!” Mr. Incredible, in an impressive feat of strength then lifted the debris he and Frozone had been taking cover behind and tossed it straight at Shifty hitting him square in the head. “Hey Shifty, its show time!”
Not needing to be told twice Frozone left his friend’s side and immediately began looking for a place from which he could sneak up on Shifty. Thankfully there were many craters and large pieces of rubble to choose from.
Roaring in rage and pain Shifty turned to face his old foe. Mr. Incredible the hero of metroville and symbol of the return of the supers. The man who led to the defeat of both The Confederacy of Crime and The Unforgivables, the man who was always around to hand him a defeat would in turn be defeated this day. “Incredible! DIE!” Shifty roared as he released a stream of fire in Mr. Incredible’s direction. Just barely leaping out of the way of the flames Mr. Incredible was allowed the pleasantry of introducing his face to Shifty’s claws. Taking advantage of the situation Frozone ran over to Shifty’s tail and proceeded to climb up Shifty’s back, hoping to get in between his wings. “Hey buddy, can I give you a lift?” Shifty laughed as he took flight taking Frozone up into the air with him.
“Okay, no problem, no problem. Just freeze the giant dragon, ride him down and hopefully don’t die in the crash.” Frozone muttered under his breath while rapidly looking for an alternative means of reaching the ground safely. The bright side of being lifted so high up into the air quickly presented itself however. Compared to the smoldering ground below the overcast sky had far more moisture in it. Hoping that he would somehow be able to manipulate Shifty’s body when he starts to fall, Frozone began the process of freezing his opponent.
Violet looked on in horror, a sense of fear and inadequacy creeping up her spine. She had hoped despite her better judgment that her attack would quickly end this conflict. Instead however her counterpart had simply unleashed a single beam up into her force column causing it to explode harmlessly in an impressive display of purple lightning.
“You idiot, you still haven’t fully bonded to the virus yet!” Veral snarled her voice tinged with what Violet almost thought to be disappointment. “We haven’t been properly introduced Violet! I am Veral of the Shattered World and rightful heir to the power of The Void and I will not be denied my vengeance!” With those declarations Violet had ample time to throw up a force field around herself before black flames enveloped her. “It doesn’t matter if you block my black flames Violet! They burn even flame resistant materials, as well as temporarily weaken a super’s powers. The key word being temporarily. After all I don’t want you to lose the extra power I gave you.” Veral cackled as she unleashed another volley of black flames.
Edna used this opportunity to sneak off hoping to find at least one of her turrets in working condition. If just one of them was still online she could at least provide some form of support. She didn’t get far before a man in a white robe and bizarre mask picked her up by the collar of her blouse. The sounds of battle slowly began to fade away as a soothing voice filled her head. The voice told her to relax, to rest, and forget about her troubles. Edna tried to resist as the voice began asking her questions, questions about Mirage, questions about HedgePhase.
Seeing the white robed man pick up Edna, Violet immediately tried to turn invisible so that she could elude Veral and rescue the woman, but she only disappeared for a moment before she became visible again. Hopelessness began to creep up on her as she realized that she was in a no win situation. The young woman quickly looked around hoping that someone, anyone would be able to arrive and help out, but the smoke was still too thick to see.
“So do you finally see Violet?” Veral calmly asked although every word was laced with spite. “This is the fate of a hero. To ultimately die alone against impossible odds. To realize that no matter what they do there will always be evil and that the only solution is complete cessation of life across the timeless infinity of the multiverse. Accept this and help me bring about the end that all of creation desires.”
Violet couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could she have fallen so far? How could this alternate manifestation lose sight of everything that was important? “I’d rather take risks living knowing that any time we go on a mission it could be our last. I’d rather take the risk that is life if it means I can spend even one more day with my family, with my friends, with Mirage.”
Veral only shook her head as she let out a mournful laugh before she let loose another volley of black fire knocking Violet to the ground in the process. “My world… Phage’s corruption didn’t create the seven Original Sins it only brought them out and amplified them. The things they willingly did to each other… to themselves… with other things. How can you protect these vermin knowing that some random person walking down the street might want to do something unspeakable to you?”
“Because…” Violet started as she slowly started to stand back up. “I have faith that ultimately people are better than that!”
“I know for a fact that people aren’t!” Veral roared as her black flames flickered violently around them. “Phage said-“
“And you believed him?!” Violet interrupted. “You really took the bad guy at his word? Veral help me. Together we can stop this Phage.”
“No, Phage’s master… The Forsaken, they’re too strong the only way is to fight fire with fire.”
Violet shook her head ruefully. “When you fight fire with fire everyone gets burned.”
Veral’s face quickly went through a myriad of emotions sorrow, fear, hope, before ultimately settling on rage. “I can’t be wrong! I CAN’T! Veral screamed as she raised her hand to unleash a spell, as she did so however the sky briefly darkened catching both women off guard. Looking up Violet saw what appeared to be a massive meteor made of ice plummeting towards them. Only as it got closer did she realize it was Shifty’s frozen body being rode down to Earth by none other than Frozone. Exhausted and well aware of her temporarily weakened powers Violet knew she had only one chance at this. Taking advantage of her surprised opponents the young super made a mad dash towards the white robed man and tackled him to the ground. Grabbing Edna she quickly hefted the diminutive woman onto her back, before running just far enough to be clear of the impending crash, but close enough for her diminished powers to still affect Frozone.
Steeling herself against the mental anguish that was coursing through her skull Violet formed a spherical force field around Frozone and plucked him off of Shifty as the frost covered dragon crashed into the Earth where Veral had been standing. Pieces of frozen dragon flesh and rubble where tossed around as Shifty’s massive bulk tore through what was left of Edna’s once glorious mansion. Exhausted and seeping blood from her nose and eyes Violet finally collapsed. Frozone having alighted safely on the ground quickly made his way over to Violet and Edna. Upon seeing the condition of both women Frozone quickly lifted both of them up just in time to hear someone shout something vaguely magic sounding. Before he could get very far he felt the ground beneath him begin to shake. “Yeah that’s how this day would go…” Frozone muttered under his breath as the ground erupted around him.
Elsewhere Mirage and a squad of the armored National Super agents where attempting to provide suppressing fire as Dash quickly knocked out as many of the cultists as he could. It was a difficult process considering that they could instantly make cover by raising the very earth while their comrades unleashed explosive blasts of magic. As Dash was finishing up, Mirage felt the ground beneath her feet shift and move as if it were made of liquid, it was disconcerting to feel the ground move in such an unnatural manner. She only had a moment to wonder what was happening when she saw geysers of lava begin erupting near where she saw Shifty crash. “Fall back!” The lieutenant shouted upon seeing the destruction.
“What about Invisigirl, Frozone and Edna?!” Mirage screamed her voice bordering on hysterical.
“I can’t risk anyone against the lava we are falling back!”
“The hell I am!” Elastigirl shouted as she began to run toward the hellish landscape that was forming.
Struggling for air and completely surrounded by molten rock Frozone weighed his options; while his suit took the edge off the heat it was quickly sapping his strength. The intensity of the heat also meant he couldn’t use his powers to signal for help and judging from Violet’s condition she was in no shape to call for aid either. Just when all hope seemed lost Frozone spotted Elastigirl making leaps and strides toward their location. “Helen!” Frozone shouted as he made to toss Violet over towards her mother. Before he could do so however Elastigirl quickly wrapped both her arms around Frozone, making sure that both Edna and Violet where secure, she quickly hefted the trio to safety with an impressive display of strength borne of desperation.
As the group ran from the inferno, Helen spared a glance over her shoulder just in time to see Shifty be consumed by the molten rock.
Back at her secret fortress Veral seethed at this unfortunate turn of events. The majority of her forces captured, Shifty killed. Having to nearly start all over again, but all of this paled compared to the possibility that she could be wrong. As she gazed into the pedestal that mapped the Aether she noticed it had begun to shift. Regardless of her thoughts on the matter the fact remained that she was running out of time. Veral had no choice but to keep moving forward if she wanted to defeat Phage. Breaking her musings Grigori entered the chamber and waved his hand over the pedestal until it took the form of Earth. A small spot was highlighted in Southern America. “This is where HedgePhase is located?” She asked grateful that Grigori wasn’t bringing up Shifty’s death.
“Yes. I’ve also located Phage he’s somewhere on the border of India probably infecting the bordering countries with wrath in an attempt to take advantage of the conflicts that plague that part of the world. That said given the events of today he will undoubtedly make an appearance.”
“Well, we will be going to recruit HedgPhase so we’ll let the N.S.A. and The Incredibles deal with him.”
Shattered buildings and broken bodies littered what once was a quaint Indian village. The inhabitants tore each other apart in a fit of rage and hate and those that survived ran off to spread their anger to whomever they could. Amid this scene of turmoil a lone figure floated, his form shrouded by smoke and darkness. Phage, hoping the tensions that existed within the Middle East and Asia would further spread his Corruption of Wrath, chose the most volatile countries he could. Well, the most volatile away from organizations like the National Supers Agency and Global Justice. Given the recent disturbances in the Aether, Phage considered popping in to say hi to The Incredibles. And he just had to offer his condolences to that Global Justice cheerleader for her recent loss…
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