The Storm The day started like any other—people dragging themselves out of bed, some considerably earlier than others, and morning routines circled away as the first bright lights of dawn came into view. Everybody made sure they had a good breakfast; some people had theirs outdoors, wondering if this would be the last sunrise they would ever see. The sky was calm and scattered with clouds; the sun above and the city just on the horizon seemed peaceful as well. Nobody really doubted that there was going to be a war, but a few hoped. Horrors did not come on nice mornings like this. Even Yohko Kamaguchi and some of the MERCS staff came outside to bask in the glow of dawn. Kamaguchi kept her eyes on the city, like she could really see what was happening. Those people there wouldn't evacuate, she knew—they would stampede. There would be riots, rampages, lootings, fires galore, and lots of blood spilt. If what she had heard was true, then she could surmise that as more people died, more undead would be made from their bodies to add strength to the army. It was a losing battle, right from the beginning, and she would be right in the middle of it. For the first time, Yohko would fight, but being no warrior, she had a more subtle method of attack. "It's so peaceful," said Yui, wrapping a jacket around herself. "Hard to believe that soon this place will be a living Hell. I'm so scared, I can't even feel the fear anymore. Do you think a person can just experience emotions so powerful that they overload their bodies and send them into a vegetative state?" "I'm sure it's possible," Yohko replied. Noticing how cold Yui was, she drew her best friend to her and held the shivering woman. She herself soon felt the chill, and suddenly, the temperature spiked down to an unbearable degree. Yohko's breath came out in mighty puffs, her teeth chattered violently, and even her blood seemed to freeze. But it wasn't just her: the whole world seemed frozen. Dewy grass turned icy, the windows of the MERCS building thickened with frost, and any and all bodies of liquid turned solid as the mysterious weather cursed the land. "What the devil is this?" moaned Yohko, too cold to keep her composure. She hurried inside, Yui and the staff following suit, but there was no use: even indoors, with all the windows blocked and the heat turned as high as it could go, everything was chilly. Kailin looked the worst. Since she relied on warm conditions to activate her flames, there was nothing she could do but shiver and become pale. She had tried, of course, but moving around only seemed to make things worse. Nobody had any idea what was going on—winter wasn't for awhile, and there had been no cold fronts announced on the news, at least none this brutal. It was like... "Listen!" hissed Setsuka, the mere whisper of her words turning cloudy. "Do you hear that?" Everyone perked their ears, and in spite of the cold, they heard what she had detected. Howling, moaning, wailing, weeping, the screams of the damned—and above it all, a sound like deathly wind, its very touch poison. Then came the most awful resonance of all: a blood-curdling cry, so loud that it shattered the windows and brought the merciless arctic wind indoors. If an enormous colossus had raked his fingernails across an enormous blackboard, it wouldn't have come close to this level of agony, this single, long, shriek of indescribable horror. Then, slowly, the sound became silent. The howling ceded. Even the cold became mild, and the weather returned to normal. Kailin sighed with relief, and everyone soon followed her example, like the whole world had held its breath. Everyone looked shaken from the experience, and some were still a little blue in the face, but only Alicia seemed unaffected. Or, to be more accurate, she seemed the most interested in the strange happenings. She wheeled forward, staring at the ceiling—like she was watching whatever had made that awful noise. "It...can't be," she murmured indistinctly. Even the sharpest ears didn't hear her, but anyone could see there was something amiss. Amielle went up to her; Alicia snapped out of her musings and assumed a smile, though not a happy one. "Anybody got any idea what that was?" grunted Mora. "How the hell should I know?" answered Sanaa. She sighed and rubbed her face. "Anybody seen Mr. Pochanski? I want to ask him when these so-called Savage Six will arrive." ...... They came not long after. Pochanski had been outside waiting for them until the sudden cold attacked, and dove inside to wait it out. He trembled at the sound of the howling, and no word could describe his feeling upon surviving the more awful shriek that followed. He emerged all by himself, where nobody could see his frightened state, and tried to calm himself as he waited for his old comrades. Eventually he spotted their jet, and smiled with nostalgia at all the wonderful and terrible adventures they had had together. As it landed, he waved them down and greeted them with spread-out arms. They each emerged from the jet, and together, embraced their old friend. Introductions to the main group were made later: "These are the Savage Six," said Pochanski, indicating them all. But there were only four there, aside from himself. One was absent. Thunder-Claw, apparently the expert on the famous group, pointed this out. "Sir, there's one missing. And if I'm not mistaken, it's your leader, Captain Amazing." "Ah, yes. He's...retired." "Oh." A knot of uncertainty tightened Steve's throat. Pochanski introduced his remaining four friends to everyone, briefly detailing their powers as well. "First, meet Paradox, the human impossibility. I couldn't possibly detail his powers, but let's just say that he can bend the laws of physics to his will. Next, meet Morpheus, King of Dreams. Many times he's saved us with his sleep-inducing powers. Now we have an individual known only as The Shift, a person who can assume the identities of anyone he, or she meets. Even we don't know Shift's true gender. Finally, we have Lady Wonder, and never has a name been more apt. When I was with them, I was known as Priest, and as I mentioned, the sixth member of our crew, Captain Amazing, is in retirement." "Doesn't he know about the situation?" asked Steve. Pochanski and the other four sighed. "We tried convincing him, you know, but the poor old fool just wouldn't listen. 'My mind's made up,' he said. 'I'm retired, and there's nothing that can pull me back into the game. Besides, I'm too old and worn-out to be of any use.' There's no arguing with him once he starts sounding like that." "Is he aware of Anvil's resurrection?" At the mere mention of their most powerful enemy, the Savage Six froze, and stared in amazement. Pochanski frowned, rubbing his bald head as if he now carried the weight of the world on his shoulder. "Jake, you never told us about that," said Lady Wonder. Pochanski nodded. "I know. I didn't want to say anything until I knew for certain. Knowing our enemies, I'd figure they'd discover him eventually, and bring him back to haunt us all. Stevenson," he called, standing up suddenly. "Y-yes sir?" "If we tell Captain Amazing that Anvil has returned, no doubt he will come back. I'd like to go visit him myself; the rest of the Six should stay here and plan for the battle. Would you like to come with me?" "Would I?!" he squealed. "For the honor of meeting the greatest hero of all time, just try and stop me!!" He didn't even say goodbye to his friends as he raced off towards the jet. A lot of people thought this was very rude, but if anybody honestly knew him, they wouldn't have gotten mad. Stevenson McCray had grown up idolizing the Savage Six (and all the other "old school" superheroes), and spent his life modeling after them. It was what ultimately led him to join that fight, although his lineage helped as well. Xianq and Sally, those he was closest to, looked at each other and pouted. Boys! ...... Now that he was retired, Gaul Deeds—better known as Captain Amazing—could afford to live in peace and quiet. The old man had a fine lakeside mansion, filled with libraries and ballrooms, rooms for music and rooms for writing, rooms for his guests and rooms for himself, and even a room for all his gardening needs, a greenhouse. A servant led Pochanski and McCray inside, where they were directly escorted to one of the smaller reading rooms. Inside was the man they were looking for, a fellow early into his sixties with graying hair and a face lined from decades of adventures. There was a merry fire lit in the room, casting a soft orange glow against this most amazing individual. "Ah, Jacob," said he, standing up with some effort. He embraced Pochanski lovingly and kissed the man's cheek. "It's been too long," he said, taking a studious look at the priest. "Come, sit. I've just poured myself some whiskey; would you care for some?" "No, my friend, we won't be here for long." "Then sit at least. And who is this young man you've brought?" Pochanski introduced him, but Steve was aghast with delight. He had never realized how close he had been to one of his idols, and now that he was meeting the very leader of the team, he could do little but hold his mouth wide open and pump the old man's fist. "It is...a delight...to be in your presence, sir!" he gushed. "Could I trouble you for an autograph? I'm a huge fan!" "Always with the autographs," smiled Deeds happily. He reached for something to write with (and on), and mused to himself as he scrawled his name. "I see the younger generation still remembers what we did, eh Jake? That's good. The world must never forget us." "They won't, friend," he assured him. "But now I must be serious with you. Do you know why we've come?" "Yes, I know all about it," he waved dismissively. "I saw the Summoning. I even spoke with Morpheus and Shift about it. I'll tell you what I told them: I will not participate in this war. I am retired, and I am happy to leave the world in more capable hands." "But sir, what about your responsibility as a superhero? What about your vow to protect humanity? What about all that? Are you just going to ignore it?" "Son," sighed the old man, "I have given my life doing everything you say and more. I think all my years of service has entitled me to a bit of rest. Besides, if the world is in such dire peril, I don't see what use an old guy like me could do. I've already lost most of my edge, and being out there in the middle of a crowd of young people would only make me embarrass myself. I'd just get in the way." "But sir, I beg you! You don't know how horrible this is going to be!" "I'm sorry, young man, but there's nothing you can say that will convince me." Steve's face sunk, crestfallen. The Savage Six just wouldn't be the same without their illustrious leader—and how could he abandon his old friends in their hour of need, not to mention the human population? Fortunately, Jacob knew his old friend better, and knew just what to say to stir him out of his state. "Gaul, Anvil has returned." "Anvil?!" Deeds immediately stood up like a bolt despite his age, and his eyes—so sleepy and warm two seconds ago—now burned with intensity and fear. He shivered and drew his hands up to his mouth, covering it as he dared conceive the impossible. "Anvil... But that's impossible, we killed him ourselves." "I know we did. There are two necromancers amongst the villains. They managed to bring him back." This was not completely certain yet, but no doubt that if Malchior or Kissa got word of Anvil's infamous history, they would do everything they could to include him in the roster. Gaul Deeds took awhile to absorb this, but when he came to terms with it all, a new determination was set in his soul. "I wanted to live the rest of my life in peace and quiet, but now that that monster has returned, I will gladly don my uniform once more to bring him down. And this time, he will stay dead! Gentlemen," he addressed them, "give me but a quarter hour to suit up, and you will have Captain Amazing on your side once again." Pochanski and McCray looked at each other and smiled victoriously. At last, the Savage Six would be reunited, and they would have their fighting chance. ...... While Pochanski and McCray were gone, the four remaining members of the Six gathered everyone together for battle plans. After taking a head count, they came up with twenty-seven people and six to lead them all. They had wanted to divide everyone evenly, but there was no way to do this. "Ideally, we could use five teams of five," said Lady Wonder, going over a list of the available members and their respective powers. "But that leaves two out." She looked over at Yohko and Soma, the last-minute additions, almost as if she blamed them for upsetting the balance. "We can just go with the Priest," said Yohko. "Pandora and I are used to working together anyway, and I think being with him would make us both at ease." "Yes, we've heard enough of your malcontent and discomfort towards us," muttered Cobra. Morpheus put his hand on her shoulder, calming her. "Let's save the feuding for the war. Right now we need to assign people to their units. I ask you all, what do we need?" "There's definitely a call for aerial maneuvers," said Lady Wonder, the only one aside from Captain Amazing who could fly. "I'll lead the air-strike team, so I'll need people who are familiar with the skies. G-Force, you and Skye should be my main offense force; Butterfly, you're just as good since most of your forces are airborne." "Ma'am," said Joyce, tugging on the old woman's arm, "please don't separate Sarah and I. I'll go with her. I promise I won't be a burden. I know I can't fly, but...please?" Lady Wonder looked at the young girl doubtfully—she really didn't like sending kids into these things, but Joyce had volunteered, and she was probably safer with them anyway. "All right, but you'll have to be careful. Spoon Man, I overheard you saying you'd like to protect these girls if they managed to get in the same party—well, now's your chance. You're with me." He seemed pleased with this (although regrettably, the venerable heroine was far too old for him to flirt with) and shook hands on it. "Next, we'll need a covert team to sneak through the city and strike quickly," said the Shift. "Naturally, I'll lead this one. Lurker, Stalker, I'm assuming you don't have those names for your health, so I'll let you be in my squad. Sanaa, you'll be my second in command. Lady Snowblood, I'd like your skills of premonition on my team as well, and Ferret...what could I do without you?" Joanna merely blushed, happy that somebody thought so highly of her (and it was such an androgynous character, too!). "We need a team that can dish out damage while absorbing the brunt of the enemy's attack," Morpheus stated. "Now I know I'm no tank myself, but being able to put my foes to sleep is a skill not to be laughed at. Ronin, BK Power, Rancor, I'd like for you two to join me. I'll also take Siren and Inferno; we may need them to clear out the undead." The girls understood, and were happy to be paired with people of similar experience and design. Finally, it came Paradox's turn. "I'd like more of a specialty team," he said enigmatically. "A team that's more or less a wild card, like me. Disintegrator, I like your style, so you'll be with me. Psyche, no doubt I'll have use for you. Technomancer, it'd be an honor to work with you. Lady Luck, I'm sure we could use you extensively. Guardian Angel, it would please me a great deal to have your eyes." The girls were happy to comply, but the others felt left out. "No doubt that Father Pochanski will be able to bring Captain Amazing to our side," Cobra noted. "We're going to need a varied team if we hope to keep up with the leader, and it won't get more varied than this!" Venom, Bubblegum Black, and Alicia (who was not in her "Pale" form yet for obvious reasons) agreed with this, and said they wouldn't mind working with Thunder-Claw once he returned. It didn't even take half an hour after the groups were assigned for Pochanski, McCray, and Captain Amazing himself to return. The old leader greeted his comrades warmly and apologized for being so stubborn—and once again, the Savage Six were whole. The newcomers were filled in on everything—the Captain was quite content to have those five people on his team, and Jacob, now known as Priest, thought it a good idea to keep his eyes on Yohko and Pandora. Now that everyone was together, the real planning could begin. "The forces we managed to gather are waiting at their designated posts," reported Paradox mysteriously. "Most of them are seasoned veterans, and we had their assurance that they'd be fine on their own. For those that were still new, we paired them up in their own teams. We're trusting many people to carry out a lot of complex orders!" "They'll be fine," Morpheus replied. "These are Priest's friend and allies, so we will guide them first. Now that we've assigned our teams, we should think about where to put them. Priest, are we going to defend this base?" "No, it's far on the outskirts of the city, so it's not likely to be attacked. Just in case, Yohko has alerted the staff to abandon the base once we leave, so everybody, make sure you brought everything you need. We may never see this place again." "And good riddance if you ask me," murmured Stalker, ever pleasant. He ignored her. Captain Amazing himself detailed the plans for his fellow heroes, and spoke more like a General before a war than a retired old man. "Lady Wonder, since you'll be patrolling the skies, I suggest starting out on the eastern side of the city. You can then sweep inside and take account of the whole place, and circle around as often as necessary. Paradox, keep your team on the west so they can cut off any escape routes. Morpheus, we've been told that the forces will be coming in from the north, so we'll need your team there to withstand the first few waves. My team will act as defense and will cover your team from the center of the city. Priest, Shift, your teams will have to make their own strategies; you'll be on your own. You are the only ones who will not concentrate on attack or defense." "Understood." The Captain took a huge breath, and held his hand out over the plans. "I am but one of six. I am strength and I am will, but I am nothing on my own." Morpheus then placed his hand over his leader's, and replied in suit. "I am but one of six. I am skill and I am prudence, but I am nothing on my own." Now Paradox placed his hand over Morpheus', and one by one, the Savage Six rallied together for what they expected to be their final moment of glory. "I am but one of six. I am thoughtful and I am bold, but I am nothing on my own." Lady Wonder: "I am but one of six. I am swift and I am brave, but I am nothing on my own. Shift: "I am but one of six. I am stealth and I am secret, but I am nothing on my own." Priest: "I am but one of six. I am wisdom and I am caution, but I am nothing on my own." "But together," they all chanted, "we are unstoppable." They broke, and with a grim smile, the Captain dismissed them. "Good luck, and may God have mercy on our foes." ............ Sally Redinger rode on the wake of the more experienced Lady Wonder as she and the rest of Team Aero flew towards the city, searching for their enemy. They didn't know if there were going to be very many air battles, but it was good to be prepared, and besides, it was always nice having a hero in the sky ready to catch you, or dive down and smite enemies from above. Along with Skye, who could sprout dragon's wings and soar like the ancient, mythical beasts, there was an entire legion of insect species covering the sky, all of them under the orders of young Butterfly. The other two members of Team Aero, Phobia and Spoon Man, were on the surface acting as backup, and Lady Wonder had gathered several hundred other heroes along the way. "Team Aero," came Wonder's voice over their shared headsets, "I've picked up a large group of enemies, sighted almost dead ahead. Looks to be aerial, so we'll have the honor of taking them out first. Sky team, move into attack position and get ready. Ground team, cover us from below. When we get in range, I'll try to fly across the main enemy line and draw their fire. That'll be our chance to strike." "Copy, Aero leader," came four voices. Skye merely nodded. Soon they could all see the murky cloud ahead of them—no cloud, though, but a swarm of flying enemies so thick and numerous that they only resembled a cloud. They blotted out a good portion of the distant sky, and if the reports were correct, this was only a skeleton force. Skye clenched her teeth and swooped further ahead, resigning herself to blood and battle and death, having nothing yet to regret upon. "Here they come!" shouted Lady Wonder—and the battle began instantaneously. About a dozen of the flying things came at them: cockatrices and griffons, evil birds of all makes and colors, even human beings with wings on their backs, perhaps the first wave of the undead. No time to think about that now—G-Force barreled to the side and threw the nearest one for a loop. A swarm of insects rose up to smother the enemy, but four made it through the blockade and attacked the fliers head-on. "They're coming too fast!" screamed G-Force. Skye and Lady Wonder looped around and converged, the former grabbing a sword from a fallen enemy. Lady Wonder shot energy blasts from her hands, scaring the enemy away but hardly hitting any. Below, Spoon Man took careful aim and launched his trademark weapons into the air, sometimes even hitting foes as they flew overhead. Phobia was powerless to do anything; she couldn't use her powers without getting a good look at her enemy. In the air, the three women whirled around like leaves, evading their enemies while struggling to fight back. One of the heroes who had flown in to help them was shot down. "We've lost one!" "Don't worry, we'll hold together!" Lady Wonder was suddenly scorched; she cringed and clutched her abdomen. "You hear me, old girl?" she whispered. "Hold together, just for awhile." More flying heroes were coming to their aid now, but to be fair, more of the enemies were making their way through Butterfly's defenses. G-Force thrust as many away as she could, and even though the hours of training she put into all this were paying off, she knew she wouldn't go on for very much longer. She floated down atop the nearest skyscraper, stood to regain her breath, and focused on those few that had followed her. "Let's get heavy," she muttered—admittedly bad, but she couldn't think of anything else. A surge of gravity pulled down on the aerial foes, sending them plummeting towards the ground, until WHAM! G-Force winced as she noticed she had sent them into a garbage disposal. "Better you than me, boys," she muttered playfully. After taking a breather, the blue-skinned beauty leaped back into the fray to see what troubles she could get into. Skye was engaged with a large creature that looked like a sphinx, both of them clawing at each other like a couple of vultures fighting for carrion. Lady Wonder was out blasting some of the large airborne monsters, sending them scorching to the surface where the Spoon Man eagerly awaited their arrival. Butterfly's bug hoard was still in effect, but now they were only clouding and swarming briefly over the enemies, giving Lady Wonder and her allies time to fly over and finish them off. G-Force herself kicked one of them away just as they were about to attack the leader. "I gotta be more careful!" exclaimed the old hero with a smile. "Wouldn't want to be disposed of now in front of all these young people." "No, ma'am!" G-Force smiled, jerked around, and could honestly say that the time she spent fighting side-by-side with Lady Wonder was her finest hour. ...... Now that Technomancer had been "reborn" as a fully-fledged human woman, she could walk around independently, no longer affected by the imbalance caused by the lack of arms. She even exuded more confidence around other people, now that she had a decidedly prettier face and body. But the woman still seemed lame and blind, only because her beloved Venom was not by her side. There was no way a Tablet PC could substitute for the presence of a lover, though in her hands, it was a little more useful. "I'd say that between the six of us, we've got a good chance of scouting out their ringleaders," murmured Lady Luck. She glanced around at Team Surprise—Paradox's own kitschy coinage—and couldn't help but well up with pride. There was Disintegrator to tear apart the enemies, Technomancer to plan and coordinate their next moves, Guardian Angel to search for weak spots or areas of interest, Psyche just to all-around be a force of power, and herself, the Lady Luck, thrown in for good measure. "Or failing that, take out half the city," murmured Disintegrator. She shuddered as she mince-stepped through the darker corners of the steel jungle, clad in whatever could fit onto her new lean frame. There was no question she liked her new body, but it still felt awkward to walk around in it. She came to a stop, chewing on her lip as she meditated the mystery of an uncharted corner. "It's dark," whispered Psyche. She closed her eyes and focused—then came to. "There are enemies on the other side." "How many?" Another moment...and she had it. "Twenty." "Not an issue for the likes of us," said Paradox, their strange leader. He looked at his charges and smiled oddly. "We must stay hidden for as long as possible. Psyche, you and Disintegrator come with me. We'll leap out and surprise our foes. The rest of you must watch our backs. More than once, I've been the victim of a surprise pincer attack." They agreed to his terms, and took to the shadows while he and the two girls jumped out, all of them blasting with their horrible psychic powers. Combined, the three of them swallowed an entire chunk of the city, taking out three skyscrapers in the blast—and well over twelve enemies. Just as Paradox predicted, a much larger force jumped in from behind, armed to the teeth. They didn't expect to be bombarded so suddenly; the Guardian Angel ran out first and struck hard, hitting each one at their weakest spot. Her versatile powers enabled her to see these spots; her martial arts training gave her the strength to exploit them. Neither Lady Luck nor Technomancer were warrior material, but when one can augment the fortune of those surrounding her, or—say, increase one's strength via bionic enhancements—one doesn't necessarily need to fight. In the end, the skirmish caused more destruction than it prevented. These were just scattered bits of rabble, insignificant little worms that could cause little harm, and the first of many, many battles. Paradox and led his team further into the city, finding ways to sneak around, whittle the enemy forces down, and strike where they least expected it. His team would need all the force it could muster for the upcoming battles, but fortunately, both Luck and Surprise were on their side. ...... Team Power took another rest shortly after their second battle. So far, everything was going smoothly: Ronin was her usual daring self, Kailin was a firecracker, Rancor kept her rage under control as she plowed through the enemy, and Siren proved herself invaluable by utterly demolishing some of the undead that was scattered around. Up until she swung her sword, the zombies just kept on reviving and healing their wounds, or else grotesquely ignoring them, trudging onward to devour anything in their paths. But just a single stroke from Siren's spirit-based powers and they were gone for good! Of course, depending on the copper-skinned beauty meant giving her adequate breaks, and so, there they were. BK Power felt lonesome. The only person she knew in the whole group was Siren, and she didn't want to distract the older girl with questions and socializing. Xiang was off with her boyfriend and Mora, and Sally was with the only genuine female member of the Savage Six (Shift did not necessarily count). Stricken with a sudden sense of curiosity, she walked up to Team Power's leader, wondering what other superheroes he had met in the wide world. "All shapes and sizes," came his dreamy reply. "Some of them so very small, you could carry them in your hand. Others so immense, they could step over houses. I even met a few that had extra limbs, and powers so strange that mine seem normal in comparison." "Did you happen to see a woman resembling me, but fair-skinned?" she asked him. Morpheus examined her and shrugged. "Young lady, in the mass and confusion of a large population of wildly-dressed characters, I couldn't possibly distinguish—" "Her name's Blue Mary," BK Power added, almost desperately. Now this got a reaction out of him; he stroked his beard. "Blue Mary, Blue Mary...hmm. Why yes, I did come across that name. In fact, I personally recruited her myself." "You did?! Really?!" BK Power became aglow with fascination, and pleaded with Morpheus to introduce her. Meanwhile, Siren groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, here we go again—the aficionada strikes. Don't tell her a thing, sir. She's absolutely enthralled over this Blue Mary person, and has been long before I became a Diva." "You're just jealous because Blue Mary is infinitely cooler than you could ever be," snapped BK Power. Siren grimaced and whirled around, ignoring the stubborn girl. BK Power then resumed, "So could you please introduce me to her? Please! I'm a huge fan; I've always wanted to meet her in person!" "I'm sure you'll cross paths," Morpheus chuckled. "It's not a small city. Keep your eyes peeled." "Yessir! Oh, thank you, sir! This will be a great honor!" BK Power then hugged him, but even at her weakest level, she could crush the daylights out of the old man. It took the combined forces of Ronin and Rancor to pry her off. Once everyone felt like they had rested long enough, they resumed their sweep of the city, picking off evil forces wherever they were. Of course, now that she knew her idol was around here somewhere, BK Power was more focused with finding her than the enemy. Like most veteran superheroes, Blue Mary was the kind who loved making an entrance. After being recruited by Morpheus, she positioned herself high atop one of the city's skyscrapers, keeping silent vigil on the world below. And when Morpheus' team passed her line of vision, she watched to see what they were capable of, and continued watching, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in secret pursuit. She didn't want to reveal herself yet—maybe during the next fight. She got her opportunity shortly; a large ambush had been set, and the entire Team Strong was surrounded by dozens of enemies. They could clearly hold their own, but surely they wouldn't mind the addition of another. BK Power and the others looked up suddenly as a war-cry pierced the noise of battle. A woman was flying at them from above, getting mixed in the fray and holding her own against the superior numbers. Much like BK Power, she had a tight purple top that exposed her midriff, black loose fit pants, black fingerless gloves, and black boots. Her long brown hair was parted in the middle, and if dreams and nightmares could wage war, then certainly this woman was their physical embodiment. BK Power had no time to gush, though—there were still enemies around them. But with Blue Mary's help, they wouldn't last long. As the smoke settled, BK Power looked over to her savior, her idol, the woman she followed and loved deeper than anything she had loved before, and was so ecstatic she could barely squeal. "It's really you!" she managed. "It's you! You're Blue Mary!" "Yeah, that's me," replied the older woman casually, reaching up to part her hair in that familiar fashion. BK Power could barely contain herself, but somehow managed to get closer and introduce herself. "Ohhhmyyygod, I am like so your biggest fan ever! I'm like...unbelievably overjoyed! This is like a dream come true! I'm actually talking to Blue Mary—THE Blue Mary!" "Please, don't make a fuss," said Blue Mary kindly. "It's a pleasure to meet a fan. I didn't think people idolized me." "Oh, no, you're famous!" BK Power insisted. "You're the greatest superhero ever—erm, I mean, in recent times, of course!" Morpheus just smiled—he knew what she meant—and greeted the young woman with a wave. She bowed humbly, and asked BK Power just who she was. "Kristen Masterson," she said, taking Blue Mary's hand into her own. "I'm called BK Power when I'm on the job. This is...such a great honor!!" "Will you stop gushing already?" groaned Siren. "We all know you're in love with the poor woman, but you could at least contain yourself for a few hours!" The others laughed, but poor BK Power was flushed red. Blue Mary didn't seem too fazed—apparently she had dealt with fangirls before—but Masterson was another story. "Shut up, Alyssa, just shut up. I am not in love with her; I'm just her biggest fan, that's all." Siren snickered. "Right. And I'm ten feet tall." "Shut UP," she growled through clenched teeth. Blue Mary winced in pain. "Um, Kristen? Could you let go of my hand please? You're sort of hurting me." Kristen jerked back in shock, and apologized so many times that even her patient idol started to look irritated. She politely excused herself to converse with Morpheus, leaving the humiliated younger woman to sulk. Siren wanted to egg her further, but she figured the young lovesick woman had been through enough already. Still, it was a mighty sickening scene when later, BK Power raised her hand up to her nose, inhaled the scent, and promised to never wash it from that day forth. ...... Team Stealth was full of lonely hearts. Lurker's vast knowledge of the underground tunnels gave her purpose as she voluntarily crept down into the darkness, using her enhanced senses to remain vigilant...or to track. The absence of BK Power was a little chilling: the timid yet strong woman had not only accepted Lurker for who she was, she loved every little trait and quirk that went along with it. Lurker had merely groaned quietly at her loneliness before, but now that she knew love—or at least the first slivers of it—the emptiness consumed her like no darkness ever could. Sanaa took to the front, being the most experienced member of the team when it came to covert operations. With the exception of the team leader, who could look like anyone he (or she, or it) wanted to, nobody was better at sneaking around, being unnoticed, and striking out when the enemy least expected it. But Sanaa's heart wasn't into it; she missed Marissa, and everything about the younger pale girl. The two were not merely lovers, nor even soulmates; they were flesh-and-blood echoes of each other, closer than sisters and bound to each other since their conception. They had fought and even died together, and a bond that strong is not easily ignored, even in the middle of a war. She had kissed her—once. She had kissed her tenderly, taking her soft feminine hands with loving care, delivering a happy gaze of understanding, of love, and devotion. Aura had looked at Ferret in all her grotesque disfiguration and saw something beautiful. She had touched her lips tenderly, speaking into them with love: I am here, and I will not leave you. But why? She was so young, five years younger than Ferret. And so pretty, and sweet, and generous, and...everything a person could want. Sometimes Ferret wished she could turn into a ghost and stay that way forever. She was so unworthy. "Pay attention, friend," Snowblood warned her, grasping her wrist firmly. What an ironic thing for her to say; she couldn't even see. But here she was, leading the pack alongside Sanaa, with Stalker above and Ferret below. Bearing extrasensory perception made her blindness irrelevant; Snowblood saw what even hawks could not, and used that to warn the team of all dangers. She also had her metaphorical eyes on the feisty Rin, and despite her antisocial nature, had made several noticeable passes at the younger warrior. She was clearly more worried for her daughter than for Rin, but those that knew her well could see an edge of concern for Takamatsu in those dead, beautiful auburn eyes. Finally there was Stalker, a person who had every reason to worry about her lover. Alicia Moore was in the care of Captain Amazing, probably the safest place she could be. Yet Stalker knew that no force in the world would be able to stop the mysterious man in white if he discovered Pale's whereabouts, perhaps not even Pale herself. She knew Alicia wouldn't give her alter ego away that easily, but considering how grave the whole situation was... Well, small wonder Stalker found it hard to concentrate. "You ladies don't look too good," Shift told them, wearing the guise of a young blond male. "You worried about the battle?" "I don't think the members of this team are concerned about that," Snowblood told him. She'd know; she could sense their anxiety. Sanaa backed her up. "We're just worried about our loved ones, sir—every one of us. It's become apparent." "Oh." He seemed apathetic for awhile and scratched his head. "I've never been in love, so I couldn't say. Of course, a creature like me could never find a lover anyway, but I hear it's not as cracked up as people make it out to be." "Oh, it's cracked up all right," mused Sanaa, her voice too serious to be joking. Shift's lip curled in irritation. "If we're finished reminiscing, we should move on. It's our responsibility to find the leaders of this war and take them down. If you're all with me, come along." He walked steadily ahead, seemingly cold to the girls' dilemmas. Ferret shook her head...but at least she had an elementary grasp of what was going through their leader's mind. "Just like me," she whispered softly. "Caught between the boundaries, neither male nor female, but both at the same time. I feel your pain." But...there's Aura, she reminded herself. That made her smile, a bit sadly, and agree. That was something at least. ...... Father Jacob Pochanski—now a member of the Savage Six called Priest—knew his job was going to be the most difficult. Forget about being rusty and unaccustomed to wandering around looking for trouble—he was supposed to be in charge of the two most unreliable, unpredictable, and unlikable characters he had ever come across. The only reasons he asked for Yohko and Soma to join him was that one, he knew they didn't trust people with special powers and would thus be the best choice for a companion; and two, to keep them from doing any mischief. He did not trust either woman at all, not even with the task of guarding the MERCS headquarters, and thought it best that he watch over them. "You don't have anything to worry about on my part," Pandora the Gambler told him arrogantly. "If I see a zombie, I'll blow them apart. If I see an enemy, I'll scorch them. If I see one of the 'good guys' turn into a zombie, well..." She gave him a feral grin and tapped her prosthetic eye. He couldn't help but shudder. "Yes, but the enemy to you might be a friend to me." "Relax," she drawled, "I ain't gonna murder your precious superheroes. I've got more important things to worry about. I may hate those freaks of nature, but...if it came down to gunning one of them or an undead monster, I'd go for the zombie every time. They're even worse than the freaks. At least they don't eat your flesh, steal your soul, and send you plummeting into an eternal vortex of damnation. Freaks just ruin you." "What in the world caused you to be like that?" he asked, his face ghastly. Pandora snorted. "If I told you, I'd kill you after. Ask the doc; she's the only one I trust." Priest looked in Kamaguchi's direction, but she just smiled and waved her hands, not willing to reveal anything. Then he sighed. "My Battle Divas are good people. They have proven themselves time and again. I have spoken with some of the others, and none of them strike me as being evil. They are mostly...misguided." "That's what they said about Anvil," stated Pandora deadpan. The effect was as planned: Priest looked like a brick of solid ice had punched right through his ribcage. He knew she was right, too; that's what made things worse. "You," he managed, "know nothing about that abomination. Nothing at all." "I wouldn't expect a priest to call a living being such a foul name," Kamaguchi teased. Priest turned and glared icily. "Even the Lord God Almighty has limits. And they were all crossed the minute Anvil came into being." Pandora let out a grunt-sigh, stretched her arms, and popped her knuckles. "Well, you know what they say. The bigger they are, the more powers I can restrain. Don't worry about a thing, chief. If this Anvil's half as bad as you say he is, I'll have him begging me to kill him before all this is over." Priest said nothing. He knew Pandora wouldn't listen anyway. He had heard several people say that same thing before, and every time they tried to prove it, the results were most...unpleasant. "We'd better move on," he sighed, glad for a distraction. "We need to evacuate as many people as we can before the real fighting starts. Yohko, I pray to God that you've got battle experience." "Just enough," she replied coyly. ...... Captain Amazing and his team (given the uninspiring name of Team Amazing) had seen the most action so far: at least five waves of enemy forces, most of them low-level thugs that came running when their masters gathered on this battlefield. Everyone proved themselves in one way or another: Cobra and Venom double-teamed foes, smothering and restraining them with their respective lethal hugs; Bubblegum Black spewed pink gooey fluids on her foes, swinging them around or else leaving them hanging by lampposts; Thunder-Claw's methods proved most electrifying, and Captain Amazing was just plain himself. Alicia Moore was the only one not participating. She was always on the sidelines, ready for a med kit or emergency rations should the team need it. Since nobody knew to what extent Thirteen would help them, it was better to not risk revealing Pale unless the situation was dire. Alicia accepted her more humble role—not that she could do anything about it—and was happy to be of help, even a little. After each fight, the team calmed down and took breathers, bracing themselves for when the dam broke and the streets would flood with evil. "Not going to be long now," said their amazing leader, drinking from a water bottle. "Pretty soon, I'd imagine, they'll stop fooling around and start acting seriously. They'll probably send in some big-time names from across the world, people you or I have never heard of. They may even use zombified heroes in the war." "Could we stop something like that?" asked a horrified Black. Amazing smiled sadly. "If a hero is overwhelmed by those evil forces, all we can do is destroy them. Once bitten by the fangs of the dead, you too shall become one of them. It's the quickest way for our enemies to end this war, so we must destroy all the walking corpses before that happens." "So...if one of us is... Then that means..." "I'm afraid so, young lady," he said gently. Black looked like she was about to cry. What if one of her friends got bitten? Or Steve? Or even herself? She took several deep breaths and asked Alicia for a soda; she emptied it in record time, but didn't look any better. "The worst is yet to come," said Moore from out of nowhere. Her voice had lowered an octave, now sounding more like Pale than Alicia. "I have seen it," she continued. "A great black blanket, worse than all the world's sorrow and misery, as deep and painful as Chaos itself—the spawn of Pandemonium. Even now it is here, waiting for the proper time to show itself. It is so patient...so dark and cold..." She took a very deep breath, shivered suddenly, and winced in pain—back to Alicia, maybe? Whether she had really transformed briefly to divulge some information, or she was in a sort of limbo state, nobody could figure. But what she said made everyone nervous. "Are you talking about Anvil?" asked Captain Amazing. Alicia's eyes glittered in fear. "No," she said quietly. "Something worse. Much worse." ......... Garnet wasn't really listening to Kissa or Malchior as they instructed him. He didn't pay attention to the great legion of evil warriors now under his command, nor the far greater numbers of villains that had gathered there for this new war. The only thing on his mind was revenge—the death of Kristen Masterson, as gruesome and painful as possible. He now knew that she had been the one who killed his beloved Yan, and for that act of barbarism, he would crush her and watch her squirm around like a dissected maggot. "Tell me," he mumbled, his voice dead and mature, "who has gathered here today? What allies do I have?" "Marvelous ones, the likes of which this world has never seen!" Kissa told him. She then went over the list—a pointless ceremony. Garnet didn't care who these people were or even what they did, just so long as they could help him destroy that witch. Admittedly, several names popped up that made his lip twitch in sadistic glee, and one made even him perspire in fear. Aside from Kissa, Malchior, and himself, there was Lord Vyle, Major Maniac, the Ripper, and Slimester. Also there that day was Biohazard, Dr. Killgore, Bonesteel, Laugh Riot, and the Hunter. Kissa had resurrected several powerful creatures from the past as well: ING, the merciless; Reaper, the psychotic girl who could manipulate her own bones; Longshot and Deadeye, master sharpshooters; Miltorkka, the malevolent; and perhaps the greatest of them all, the dreaded Anvil himself. "Not a bad group," he summarized. "I thank you both for going through such trouble." "No need to thank us," gushed Kissa. "At the mere chance of destroying those mean old Savage Six, most of these people begged to be included—and as you know, the dead are without opinions, morals, or vices. They just obey." "We were fortunate to have Omega's cultists on our side," Malchior reminded her. "His death, while...interesting, has given us a great boon. We eliminated a great threat and gained a great many willing allies in the process. But let us not forget our original goal, or our bargain." "How you do harp on that," Kissa moaned. "I told you, it takes time to find the type of homunculus you speak of. You can wait for this Celene-whatever a bit longer, can't you?" "No," he growled, not letting her dark powers or her advantage in years and experience overwhelm him. "Now that I've found Kali, my thirst for her sister increases every day. It's shameful enough that she's still out there with that blood-creature." "The Solaris kid," Kissa pointed out (Garnet was being ignored, but he didn't mind). "Well, I am hurrying. Do be patient. Our hoards will scour the planet, then you'll have that much less people to sift through. It's just vengeance upon vengeance with you, isn't it?" She laughed out loud; Malchior shuddered and wished for the nth time that he had found a better partner. But nobody had mastery over the dead greater than Kissa, not even he himself, and so necessity made terrible bedfellows. "May I go now?" Garnet said, most annoyed. Kissa sighed and dismissed him; Malchior wished him luck, clenching the younger man's hand. He did not love this child, but compared to Kissa and many others he had met, Garnet was closer to him than a brother. Malchior watched the young man and his army march out of their hidden base, felt wistful, and returned to brooding by himself in his studies. Soon, he swore to his lost love. Have patience, my beauty. We'll meet again soon. ...... No matter where they were or what they were engaged with, everyone saw it coming. It was like a living tsunami, limbs and faces and all sorts of odd appendages crawling out, a legion of evil swarming their way, so massive that anyone could see it. Facing down this onslaught, there was no doubt in their minds: the calm had passed, the skirmishes were over. This was the storm. The collision was awful. Great confusion overwhelmed everyone as a gigantic free-for all took place throughout the entire city. Teams Surprise, Power, Stealth, Aero, Amazing, and Alpha—Pochanski's team—took the force, the heroes putting forth their every effort to keep the deluge from destroying the whole city. Disintegrator blasted foes left and right, hoping she could distinguish between friend and foe in this mess. She fell to the side after being brushed by a zombie, and with a growl, focused on the walking corpse and blew its rotting body to pieces. Psyche jumped as high as her powers could take her, but the air was infested with evil as well. Hovering briefly, she pointed her palms out at the unstoppable force and summoned up all her willpower, wishing for these enemies to be banished. Her psychic waves, augmented from her time spent in Death, shot down scores of them like they were gnats, but more came to replace them, every one flocking and fluttering around her like mad birds around carrion. She projected a shield and fell quickly to the ground; a lumbering giant spotted her and swatted her from the sky. The minions surrounding its feet passed right by it and continued their assault upon anything in their path, leaving him free to smash. The beast put his entire weight into a building and pushed, hoping to topple it to the ground and crush the heroes—but another mighty behemoth stepped out and rammed into him, sending him plummeting. It was a hero, a gigantic muscular woman, grinning wildly. The two giants battled like ferocious bulls as their smaller comrades fought on and on. The Guardian Angel watched them in horror, then turned her sights to the onslaught. "There," she whispered, seeing an opening. With her increased speed, she made haste to a half-constructed building, its steel skeleton abandoned. She hopped inside the nearest crane and activated it, steering it into the fray. She paused just briefly to pick up a steel beam, and was soon armed. Angel guided the crane and her new deadly weapon, taking massive swings with it wherever she could. She even managed to hit the giant, distracting it just long enough for the giant woman to pick him up and throw him. She turned around and waved at the crane...and then rolled slowly out of the way as a ball of lightning soared past her. "Make way!" shouted Thunder-Claw, shooting everything in sight. He had went all-out in the first five minutes of the battle, not that he or anyone else had a choice. These guys were everywhere!! His energy reserves were almost gone, but he wanted to cause as much damage as he could before he dried out. Not far away, he could spy several enemies ganging up on his friends, and rushed over to help; he was knocked over by a larger monster, something like a buffalo that walked on two legs. He couldn't move fast enough to avoid the creature's kicks, but he did spit out a last jolt of energy into its face before he was gored. With the creature disoriented, he ran for cover and went looking for a new energy source; the buffalo recovered and charged after him relentlessly. The towering woman, known as Mighty Jo, had now teamed up with several of the smaller heroes. She stomped through enemy ranks like a walking mountain, squishing the enemies with every step, or else brushing them aside with improvised clubs (such as Angel's steel beam). The Spoon Man was with her, taking out foes with one of his larger steel weapons, swinging them around as he ran just to keep up. Sometimes Mighty Jo would reach out and save him from a deadly blow; other times he would run over and pick off small enemies that had crawled onto her back. Together, the two of them charged through the city, into its very heart. With all the monsters swarming in the air, it was a wonder Team Aero could even see. G-Force had worn herself out twice during the attack so far; she flung many enemies to their deaths, but more came along to replace them. Some were even undead versions of the same creatures she annihilated. The young woman glided over to the nearest skyscraper to recharge, but was knocked out of the sky by the villain called Major Maniac. He could fly indefinitely; she couldn't, and the two wrestled in midair for a long time, trading blows like they were timeless enemies. Skye and Lady Wonder were both overwhelmed, having at least a dozen enemies each to fight. The dragon-girl made sure that every blow was a lethal one: if anything came close, she grabbed for it and slashed at its throat (or whatever she guessed was a vital area). Sharpshooters from below started firing, and she was hit twice, once in both her wings. She screamed in pain and dove down, smashing one as she crashed on him and facing the other like a carnal monster. He reloaded. She tackled. Guess who made it out alive. Phobia and Butterfly were both in G-Force's debt, so when they saw her wrestling Major Maniac, they both raced over to the scene of the battle. Butterfly quickly summoned an army of the largest, strongest flying insects she could find, and instructed them to help her blue-skinned friend. She then called two Emperor Kikai, flying insects so large and beautiful that she actually bowed down on the floor in humility before riding (Phobia took to the second). They flew up where the action was, and could see a weak G-Force floating away from Major Maniac, who was now covered with stinging, biting bugs. "Phobia!" shouted Butterfly. The youngest member of the whole group nodded, chewed her lip for one hesitant second, and focused on the villain. She only needed to give him a brief nightmare, just long enough to stop him. He let out a single scream quickly—the man must've had great fears—and was quickly overcome by the poisoned bugs. G-Force saw her chance and dove back in, ramming into Major Maniac with all her power. She forced him to shatter upon the ground, breaking every bone in his body. The death was meaningless to her; she turned right around and wailed on the nearest thug. Siren was kept totally busy banishing zombies. Admittedly, without her help, the creatures would continue to come back and would soon overwhelm everything and everybody. Seeing as how they were not living beings, and she wielded spirit power, it was a logical choice to use: her sword cut down whole flanks of them, and when her arms tired, she ran by and scissor-kicked their heads off. She had the protection of Morpheus, whose sleep-inducing powers kept the living things off her back, and several other members of the Savage Six crowded around her and guided her deep into the thick of the battle, where her skills would be most effective. BK Power and Blue Mary made an awesome team, and if Masterson hadn't been dark-skinned, they might have passed as twins. Admittedly, BK was stronger—even at her weakest level, she could fling enemies everywhere, and at her highest, she could even topple the giants that littered the city—but Blue Mary had experience, speed, and grace on her side. Plenty of zombies found themselves with holes punched in their chests, courtesy of Miss Masterson, or their heads blown off, courtesy of the Blue one. Inferno knew her firepower could help get rid of the zombies, so she acted as a cleanser whenever Ronin sliced them apart. There was no point in hacking zombies to pieces, because they didn't need to be whole to be a threat, but it gave Inferno the extra time to turn the heat up. While she was occupied with the undead, a most enormous colossus, bigger even than Mighty Jo, stood before the two ronin and roared. Rin grinned. "Ten seconds," she uttered. Before the thing could react, she had jumped up and plunged her sword into its thigh—one. A quick shimmy up its bare back—two—grabbing loose bits of flab and fat along the way (maybe a slice here or two to irritate the thing)—three, four—and she made it slowly to its shoulder, weaving wildly as its arms tried swatting her away—five, six. She raised her indestructible katana and rammed it right into the base of the monster's neck—seven—and for good measure, stabbed it two more times, until she cut the spinal chord. The monster shuddered—eight—and fell—nine—Ronin hanging on until it crashed dead to the ground—ten. "Waste of time," she said victoriously. ...... Team Alpha hurried behind a large slab of concrete, just in time to avoid the blast of toxic slime from their enemy's direction. Slimester—why did it have to be the Slimester? Even Pandora looked sick as the filthy sludge corroded the slab and melted it, but there was no time to vomit. Priest darted out of hiding to return fire; the Slimester shot back, spraying sickly purple ooze everywhere. Priest hid behind the deteriorating slab, reloaded his gun, and ran back out to continue the crossfire. "I don't suppose you'd like to steal his powers," Yohko said to Pandora. The Gambler gave her a look as deadly as the slime surrounding them, and she paled. "Fine, just an idea. I'll call Technomancer and see if she has any ideas." "You're relying on them?" "Yes," said Kamaguchi evenly—"Unless you want to fight. I'm not a warrior, Soma." Pandora sighed, but allowed the good doctor to do as she pleased. Priest briefly returned, barking that they should move to another spot before this one was destroyed completely, and the call was postponed. Meanwhile, Technomancer was having problems of her own. Too many enemies were interfering with Team Surprise's radios, and she couldn't transmit anything in secret. She beckoned Paradox over to help, but the baffling man was busy with his own affairs. "Just a few seconds!" she begged. Paradox turned around, aimed his palm at her, and briefly encompassed her in some kind of shield that allowed her to have brief, albeit total, communications access. She put out new orders to her teammates just as she got several incoming calls from people asking for her expertise. The one that surprised her the most was Team Alpha—the one with the bigots. "Sorry Priest," she muttered as she ignored the plea. "I'm not helping you if it means I'm assisting those two bitches. You'll have to figure this out on your own." She went to the next call, a distress signal from Venom. Her new, real, flesh-and-blood heart humped up in her chest as she returned the call, hoping her advice helped the lovely young woman she cared for. Venom, Cobra, and Bubblegum Black were caught fighting Biohazard, a creature trapped in a radiation suit who could emit toxic chemicals, much like the Slimester. Venom found her powers useless against him, and he corroded everything Beeg sent his way. Alicia couldn't fight, and Thunder-Claw was still recharging, so they were stuck for the moment. It was Cobra who was doing the most fighting; she and Biohazard canceled each other out. "Cobra!" Alicia shouted suddenly. She had been given responsibility over monitoring transmissions, and now she had one. "TM asks for you to apply a superheated substance to Biohazard! She suggests using the same thing that helped slow down the Golem." Cobra knew what that meant—boiling water, in other words—and shouted for Bubblegum Black to whip her elastic goo out and break open a fire hydrant. Black had her pink sludge out and lashing in no time; the spray of the water sent her shrieking back. Now to heat it. "Allow me!" shouted Captain Amazing. He flew over, held his hand over the spouting water, and used his powers to saturate it with intense heat. The water splashed on Biohazard, acting as a cleansing solution to erase his radiated nature: now the others could close in and destroy him. Cobra was first, followed by Bubblegum Black, who wrapped him in her sticky sludge to hold him down while Cobra jumped up, wrapped her strong arms around his neck, and twisted. Meanwhile, Priest just came up with the very same idea on his own, but there were no hydrants around. Yohko volunteered to scan for one since she really had no other purpose, leaving the other two to play tag with the Slimester. They could shoot at the purple blob all they wanted; gunfire just annoyed him and passed right through his gelatinous body. Yohko finally found a water source, but cursed her luck: it was too far away. "Then let's see if he melts," said Pandora with an evil smile. She shook her head, twirling the implanted 8-ball around, and waited for her wheel of fortune to come up on Flame-thrower (now, thought Priest, if only Lady Luck were here!). The Gambler's wager paid off, and the dial landed exactly where she wanted. With Priest covering her, she leaped out from her cover and sprayed the Slimester with searing winds of fire. The creature screamed in agony for just a moment before his body evaporated, and whatever was left was quickly burned or buried. "One down," sighed Pandora, "a gazillion to go." ...... Rancor had teamed up with a cute red-skinned woman called Mega-girl, and together the two acted like bulldozers, ramming and thrashing anything in their paths. The older, taller woman was free to let her rage swallow her up, but this was a righteous fury that took control of her. Not only did her body solidify like a tank, but long sharp spikes and razors protruded out, her highest level of defense. Rancor knew it was hard to start moving in that state, but once she started, it was equally difficult to stop. "Move out of the way!" shouted Mega-girl, using her own powers to knock away any stray foes. She and Rancor plowed through everything in their path, including several buildings that were not necessarily abandoned. They mowed down scores of zombies, flattening them back into their graves, and must've killed plenty of dregs along the way. But they had to stop soon; Rancor accidentally crashed into one of the villains, and this one didn't like having angry little girls hit him. "What the hell?" she muttered, reverting back to a less defensive state. She gazed up and saw the scruffy man—Bonesteel, if she remembered correctly. Oh yes, the man who could not be cut. She had made an impressive ding in his armor, but nothing—nothing—could mow him down, not even a fully-powered charging Rancor. He picked up the tall woman and leered at her; Mega-girl game to the rescue, but her attempts were futile. Let her go, came a husky, whispering voice. Bonesteel looked over and snarled...but nothing was there. He growled and returned to taunting the girls, but once again, the voice came: You were warned. Almost immediately, Bonesteel was smothered by what looked like a living shadow, one so quick and blurry that it frightened the other girls. They looked away as the shadow covered his body, forced itself into his mouth, and destroyed him from within. You can look now, came the voice several moments later, most likely the shadow's. The girls did, but regretted it: Bonesteel looked like he had been turned inside out. Rancor groaned. "I'm gonna puke." Do what you must, but return to the battle, the shadow advised them. It slinked off... "Wait! What the bloody hell are you?" "Wraith", it said to them. They shivered and watched it vanish into the other shadows. Rancor blew out a breath of amazement. "Whoever that was, he and Stalker would get along great." The Stalker was too busy focusing on the army surrounding her and Sanaa to worry about other shadows. The two stood back-to-back, facing off against an endless ring of creatures that no description could provide. They had slaughtered so many dozens to get to this point, Stalker swinging with two obsidian swords and Sanaa unloading everything her guns had to offer, and yet these monsters never seemed to decrease. And now they were surrounded, with no way out. As unlikely as the partnership seemed, they were now bonded through the fires of battle. "Take my hands," Stalker murmured, fishing for Sanaa's wrists. The two clung onto each other firmly, Sanaa placing her trust in the young girl. "Whatever happens, just trust me. And keep your eyes closed." "You have a plan?" "A really crazy one." Sanaa smiled. "Just my type." Stalker roared suddenly, and a sphere of total darkness covered the two of them. They used the shadow's cover to actually slip underneath the surface—she and Sanaa, protected by that black cloud—and wheeled around until Stalker believed they were safe. Quickly they jumped back up to the surface—no enemies around yet—and ran for cover. The ring of evil that had surrounded them roared in fury, and pursued with hot bloody revenge. Sanaa heard them coming, and returned fire until her weapons were totally dry. The only other tools at her disposal were short-range weapons, so for the moment, retreat sounded pretty smart. They ran until they came in contact with their team leader, whom they recognized by Sanaa's heightened sense of smell. "You ladies been having a good time?" asked the Shift. "Oh, you know us girls. Always looking for fun." "Then you're gonna love this," he said, sounding excited and scared all at once. They turned around and paled. Standing before them were four gigantic creatures, Cyclopes by the look of them. And coming in from behind were the enemies they had just ditched. The two unlikely allies took a breath, shook hands, and came out fighting. ...... Lady Luck and Ferret worked alongside a man called Sergeant Bizarro, and nothing else needed be said about him—his name covered it all. Being that neither girl was much of a warrior, they stuck to helping out as many people as they could. Already they had assisted several heroes they had never met, and the three had even managed to fight back a small group of thugs terrorizing the citizenry of the town. Now they were looking for Stalker, who had called asking for their assistance. "If I know her," panted Ferret as the three of them ran through the city, "and I don't, she'll already be out of trouble by the time we get there." "Yeah...and into another one!" added Lady Luck. She skidded to a halt suddenly and let out a vicious scream: one of the heroes she recognized had been attacked by a zombie. The undead monster's head was latched onto her arm, and as hard as she shook it, it wouldn't pry off. The damage was tragically done: the girl's body was already decaying, and soon she would be like the walking dead. She spotted the trio and shouted at them with horrified eyes. "HELP ME!!!!" Sergeant Bizarro dashed over, and with a single chop, cut the woman's arm clean off. The cry she let out was unbearable, but better to lose one's arm than one's soul. "Forgive me," he said, checking her for further infection. A piece of her face suddenly crumbled off and fell to the floor; Lady Luck and Ferret clung to each other as they looked away. The woman trembled, knowing she was doomed. "I don't feel it," she said, indicating her severed limb. "I don't feel it at all. Please, kill me before I become like them." Sergeant Bizarro raised his sword again, and pointed it at her chest. "What is your name?" he asked. The girl let out a hiccup. "Daisy. Daisy Chain. I had control over certain plants." "Daisy Chain," he addressed her, "I swear on my life that you will be avenged. Forgive me." She squeezed her eyes shut as he impaled her, and fell to the floor, dead—hopefully. He took a breath and blew fire on Daisy Chain's body, quickly burning it to ashes before the decay of living death could spread. It was a horrible scene, but except for a few grisly moments, Ferret and Lady Luck did not witness it. Instead, they held each other. "Don't look, Aura," begged the androgynous one. "Don't look at it. Just concentrate on me, please. Look at me." "I...I am," she promised. And blushed. Ferret had such...pretty eyes... And now Ferret blushed. Oh dear. They were quite close together. She leaned in to kiss the girl she loved... "You two," came the Sergeant's voice suddenly, stirring them from their intimacy, "come along. The horrors of this war are just beginning. I only pray we don't have to kill any more good souls." He walked away, half-disgusted and half-mournful, leaving Lady Luck and Ferret behind. They jogged to catch up, not realizing until much later that they were still holding hands. ...... Lurker took to the buildings, scaling them like a lizard. She scurried on all fours, her claws acting as the perfect grappling tools, and leaped off whenever she saw an enemy fly by. Two mighty slashes and the thing was killed; she then leaped off onto the next building and hunted for the next one. Another giant was in her way, so she jumped off and clung onto his back. The beast tried reaching back to scratch his itch, but his arms were too short and Lurker was too quick. She tore terrible gashes in his spine as she rappelled down, caught the end of his oversized shirt, swung around, and planted herself on its chest. Two more swipes and she let go, scurrying so as to not be flattened. She didn't think her venom would work on a beast that size, but no harm in trying. Suddenly, something grabbed her and pulled her—far. Lurker twisted out of the grasp, but a second hand shot out and took hold of her. Their grip felt as strong as concrete, and try though she might, she could not escape. As she was drawn closer to her captor, she could see the outlines of the person: it was a girl, not much older than she, but she didn't look or smell human. As a matter of fact, she was undead. Her name was the Reaper. "Kill me," whispered the girl, drawing Lurker closer. "Kill me, please. Kill me, kill me, kill me. Put me out of my misery." Lurker squirmed, feeling like a fish caught in a hook—the long, extending arms of the Reaper were crushing her the closer they came to the body of the undead girl. "Kill me—" Lurker's green face turned pale, and she found it hard to breathe. "Let go!" she yelled, fighting for her life. Now she was close enough to see the Reaper clearly. Her body was totally disfigured, and looked like it had been severely burned and crushed. Her arms snapped and groaned as the bones shrank, bringing Lurker closer and closer to her doom. "Release! I...dying! I not breathe! Let go, I beg you!" "Kill me," murmured the Reaper coldly—"I beg you." Lurker let out a yell as she was completely embraced by the strong arms. She was now pressed up against the rotting body of the girl, a deadly hug of intimacy. Lurker opened her mouth to groan...and was silent. A tear came out of the Reaper's opaque eye. "Madness overcame me while I was alive," she said, her voice empty and grave. "I was out of control. For all my life, everyone hated me. I was cast into shadows. I drank blood from animals to survive. I was so lonely and wretched. I lost my mind, and in turn, killed many innocent people. No...not innocent. They hated me. But now we're all dead. Dead, dead, all dead. It's so cold. Please, kill me." Lurker struggled just to breathe. "Yes. Yes. Will...end pain. But...let go." "No," said the Reaper. "I want to know what love is like. I have chosen you because you are a monster like me. I want to know what love is like from somebody who will not hate me." Now the Lurker turned pale for a completely different reason. She knew that feeling, only too well. She sighed, but still struggled to be free. "I...know what love is," she whispered weakly. "I...love...Krissy Masterson. Pretty Beekay, most wonderful soul. She different, like me. We all...cast out. What must I do?" "Come," said Reaper, drawing Lurker close. She placed cold lips on Lurker's mouth, and gave her the icy kiss of the dead. Lurker felt faint—her reddish eyes saw black spots before them—and the icy touch of a gentle hand felt around her shaggy white hair. Reaper moaned. The hand twitched... No, Julie said to herself. She going to kill me!! The hand now turned its fingers into a spear, the bones extending—but that left Lurker a chance to break free. In a single motion, fueled by her every fiber of will and desire, she thrust herself into Lurker and slashed right through, shredding the body into pieces. Limbs, dead organs, even the stretched bones fell to the floor, some of the muck splattering on Lurker's clothes. She shuddered and picked them off...and turned around. The Reaper's decapitated head had a smile. "Thank you," she whispered. Lurker groaned in pain, reached for a loose slab from one of the collapsed buildings, and with all her strength, smashed it on the grinning girl. And wept. Snowblood had fought well, but now she was split up from her team. Siren had gone off to exterminate zombies, BK Power was with her idol, and Rancor was acting like a demolitions expert, as always. That left her with Ronin and Inferno, the only people she truly considered sisters-in-arms, so being with them wasn't bad. The three of them held their own very well, but even combined, they couldn't kill everything in sight. As more flesh-and-blood enemies were wiped out, more and more zombies replaced them, perhaps the master plan of the necromancers. Even some of the heroes were dying, or worse, being transformed into the walking dead. "At this rate, we'll all be finished before sunset," murmured Snowblood to herself. Her senses tingled...thwee...chop! Another gone. Another murmur...pitta-pitta-pitta—she darted out of the way as needles rained down from above. She swung, felt resistance, knew she had hit something...and then Rin's voice cried out to her. "SETSIE!!" She could feel the powerful Ronin pushing her out of the way, just in time to avoid the blast of plasma energy. She hadn't sensed that!! Ronin barked out a gruesome challenge, and ran out to kill the one who had tried to vaporize Snowblood. Setsuka did not need eyes to figure out what happened to him. She got to her feet, managed to breathe...and quickly braced herself to whirl around and strike the foe behind her. "I'm not out of the fight yet, fools," she addressed the unseen thing. She raised her skinny sword and stabbed the Whatever twice in succession. Whew. Her senses seemed at peace now, and then there was Ronin, coming back for her. "You okay, Setsie?" "I am fine, my friend," Snowblood said, managing a smile. "Well, good. I'd hate to lose you. Kohona will kill me if her mommy gets hurt." "Yes, and I'll be in the same predicament if you suffer injury. I thank you." She bowed, and even from that distance, she could feel Rin's flustered aura. "H-hey, don't do that. I just..." "You saved my life," Snowblood said. She took a step over, but collapsed all of a sudden. Then she remembered, that one attack about three hours earlier. Yes, yes, she had been hit in the leg—no, not just the leg, but everywhere. She was wounded and bleeding all over, and if her nasal capacity had anything to it, Rin was just as messed-up. But she was standing; Setsuka wasn't. In fact, she was on the floor. She had fallen. "Setsie! Damn it, woman, don't you freaking die on me!!" Setsuka Hinomoto didn't hear anything for the next five hours. Until, that is, she woke up. "About time," came the unmistakable sound of a worried Rin. "I should have known better. Setsie the great would never die from a flesh wound, not even if she had a hundred. But you sure did pass out. It's been five hours, and it's gotten dark. A lot of people are still in the battle, but there are some who are resting. Kailin and Angel are down here somewhere too." "And where am I?" she murmured. Rin sighed. "I carried you underground somewhere. I think this place used to be an office, several decades ago. This place seemed the cleanest, so I took you here. Better here than the surface, anyway." Setsuka sighed deeply, moaned, and turned so she could at least face Rin's general direction. "I thank you again, friend. Now I am in even deeper debt." "Hey, relax!" laughed the Ronin. "Good friends and rivals carry no debts! You just relax, and good ol' Rin'll take care of you. On the honor of my family and my sword, you shall not be harmed!" She stood straight and saluted; Setsuka chuckled. "You're so cute when you're noble," she mused. Rin flustered. "D-don't say that, jeez. Just shut up and go to sleep." "But I've been sleeping for five hours. I need to stand." "No, don't get—" Too late; Setsuka was already standing, though her head swam because of it. She let out a sick moan and collapsed right into Rin's grasp...and smiled with contentment. She embraced the younger woman, feeling so safe and secure... "Rin," she whispered, "I don't know how I can express everything I feel. Regret, at being forced to be your enemy... Admiration and respect, for your warrior's creed... Fear, that you should leave me and my daughter; hope, that we might share a life together once this is all finished... But I think the strongest thing I feel right now is love." "Say...what?" whispered the Ronin, feeling slightly queasy. Snowblood sighed. "I can no longer keep it to myself. This battle has proven that I should never save my feelings for later, because...when later comes, we might not be there to hear it. So I will say this without regret, with all the honesty and truth I have." And now, Setsuka looked dead into Rin's eyes, bold and calm. Rin's mouth opened. I love you, Rin. And closed, as Setsuka kissed her deeply. She stood paralyzed, not knowing how to react. Nobody had ever...loved her before. Not in this way, at least. These were uncharted waters, and they scared her—and it was Snowblood, her rival, the only person who had ever challenged her in every aspect. Of course, this fact was not lost on Rin: Setsuka Hinomoto was, by all means, her perfect match. But she didn't know whether to draw the other woman in or push her away, so she stayed still. "Setsie" just smiled as she released Rin's lips. "You're so chapped and rough," she whispered—"but delicate and beautiful in your own way. Rin, what is the matter? Do you honestly not feel the same way?" "...I don't know what to feel," she managed, squeaking loosely. She started to falter, her identity and soul crumbling, reshaping, reforming, disintegrating. "I don't know what, Setsie. I...kinda figured...you had a thing for me for a long time, but...nobody's ever loved me. I don't know how to react. This is so new to me." "It's okay," whispered the blind woman, caressing Rin's face softly. "We can take our time. I just wanted you to know that I love you, Rin. With all of my heart, I love you, and I delight in saying it." Rin felt herself being kissed again—on her cheek, her jaw, her nose, and her lips, and she giggled just a little from the tickly, tense feeling. How come Setsie knew where to touch her, where she was most sensitive? ...Oh, that's right; she was psychic. The perfect match indeed. Slowly, this whole love deal was starting to make sense. "Oh, Setsie," sighed Rin, "thank you for being so patient with me..." "Anytime," said the woman, grinning cutely—"my love." When their passionate midnight tryst finally concluded, Setsuka felt so exhausted from everything that had happened—her service to Sashuo, losing and finding her daughter, fighting and befriending Rin, this war, and now their shaky romance—that she simply drifted off and collapsed into sleep. Rin felt her new lover's body go numb, and put her naked arms around her soft back in an effort to keep her warm. She thought long and hard about everything before she joined her unusual lover in merciful rest—thoughts that would serve to wake her up the next day. Everyone had been through a lot already, but Rin knew that their true crucible was just beginning. The next day already loomed over them, dark and dominating, the promise of victory and doom wrapped safely in its deadly hands. ......... "Here's what we have so far," said the leader of Team Amazing, pointing to a schematic. "After exchanging information with the other five teams, I've written a composite of what we've done, who we've lost, and what we could do in the future. Already we've seen the destruction of Major Maniac, Biohazard, Slimester, Bonesteel, and the Reaper, plus about six legions' worth of the more standard enemy. On the other hand, fourteen members from our side were lost, six to the zombies. We have scouts searching for these six, so hopefully we'll be able to put them out of their misery." He paused to clear his throat, then turned the page. "Information from Team Stealth suggests a man named Garnet is leading this part of the attack. I've asked Shift to send his crew after this person, and we should be getting updates on the hour. Since there's no information regarding the necromancers mentioned, we can't make certain of their plans until they show up. If we accomplish nothing else today, let us take down at least one of their leaders." His team all agreed in unison, and piled their hands together, one atop the other. Everyone was still worn out—a few heroes had fought all night straight—and were starved, since the last time they had eaten anything was a day ago. Captain Amazing provided ration bars, but they just didn't do the trick. "All the more reason for us to get this over with," said Thunder-Claw grimly. He looked over at his girlfriend, squeezed her hand, and breathed deeply, trying to calm his nerves. Worrying made him physically sick, so he needed to be in top condition for the second day of the mighty struggle. After their quick breakfast, the team emerged from their shelter, back out into the battle zone. Most of the city was still aglow with fires, blood, and destruction; the fighting had gone on all night, with few people getting any rest. It was the undead who caused them trouble: they could walk and fight forever and never tire. But now the heroes had a new enemy to face. Up until now, they had the undead army, what seemed like every supervillain in the country at their elbow, plus the addition of low-level thugs, droogs, lackeys, minions, cronies, underlings, hooligans, and creeps everywhere. But now the Cult of the Seven Deadly sins, that army of berserk sheep set out to avenge their shepherd, had reached the border of the city, and were poised to overrun it. The battle yesterday, while violent, had more or less went smoothly, but with the additional numbers, things looked even more grim than before. And so, when all the forces converged—good and evil, mixed with a few who could pass as both or neither—the second gigantic free-for-all took place. The two forces collided as they had the other day...but two warrior-women who had taken the front lines actually seemed to be holding them back! Several veteran heroes recognized them as the Twin Towers, two women so identical in shape, size, and style that one might think they were clones. They were in fact the twin sisters Suzikara "Kara" and Tarahito "Tara" Tsukata, masters of the naginata, feared by the dark and loved by those fighting for good. Alongside them was a man called Law; naturally, aiding him, a blinded woman named Justice. Both these worthy allies held enormous power and combined them to not only hold off the tidal wave of enemies, but actually succeeded in pushing them back! Law's large hands could stretch and twist at will, throwing and striking foes from even the greatest distance; Justice's scales acted like a terrible morning star, smashing bones and bodies wherever they were tossed. After debilitating one of the leftover Cyclopes from the other day, the two heroes smiled at each other and dared for more enemies to challenge them. Also fighting on the front was Wraith, the shadow-creature who had destroyed Bonesteel; it was smothering its foes with its own supple body, slinking into their mouths to blow them apart from within. Having no shape or form of its own, Wraith only feared the light, and wedged itself right in the very center of the great battle, slipping in and out of enemies like a poltergeist. With him was Mega-girl, one of the people it had saved during its dark crusade; she was battering foes as well, taking the full might of the attack. The gigantic woman Mighty Jo stood just behind her smaller allies. It was her responsibility to stomp on anything that got past the barricade of heroes, and from the huge grin on her face, she was enjoying her job immensely. She also swatted at the flying creatures around her, and sometimes dipped her immense paws into the fight to pluck out mischievous villains. A single crush and they were jelly. Of course, even she could not fight an enemy if it got behind her, so there were plenty of other heroes there, including the aptly-named Sergeant Bizarro. The Savage Six had positioned their teams at key points, but except for a few general pointers, had thrown strategy out the window. In a fight that huge, one's skill and strength mattered more than a clever mind, and it took all their strength and skill just to beat back the enemies. Captain Amazing was sweating buckets of water as he swung and blasted; Paradox buckled under his own might as he flung enemies all around; Morpheus looked ready to collapse as he sent more villains into Slumberland; Lady Wonder and her aerial team shot enemies down from the sky; Priest and his two cohorts squeezed through the fight to back up Shift's team as they went in pursuit of Garnet. "This is insane!" shouted BK Power, toppling yet another gigantic monster. Apparently Mighty Jo was not the only person who could grow large; there had been at least twenty giants at the beginning, and fifteen more seemed to have joined (not including the super-giant Ronin took down). Her idol Blue Mary fought at her side, a smirk of enjoyment on her mouth as she tossed, smashed, pummeled, and blew away her enemies. "I would not have it any other way!" "I'm not used to so many!" cried Power, wrestling with a crocodile-creature. She pried its mouth open and broke its jaw, then flung it away only to be tackled by an elephant-man. She and the enormous beast seemed evenly-matched, and squirmed around across the battlefield while everyone else fought tooth and nail. The Twin Towers, effortlessly cleaving through scores of Cultists, turned their focus onto a flying monster, one so wretched and evil that even the midnight sky was not dark enough to conceal him. "Miltorkka," they whispered in unison. The Malignant Miltorkka, for whom no curse is strong enough, sailed over the battlefield on a great black cloud, throwing thunderbolts where he may. The twins looked at each other, nodded, and prepared their assault. In perfect unison, they leaped onto the closest giant, scaled his large body without a problem, and leaped off his head with all their might. Both women landed atop the cloud; Miltorkka roared at his new guests. Tara circled around him while Kara lunged forth, slashing ferociously. Even in life, Miltorkka had the skin of a rock, and it would take even more than their efforts to destroy him now that he was undead—but the twins had a plan. With his body briefly open from the wound, Miltorkka roared and attacked Kara, swiping furiously with a hand engulfed in fire. She leaped away and signaled to her sister; Tara came bounding out and chopped at his arm with all her might. She missed, rolled to avoid the next attack, and waited for her sister to run in and stab him. Suzikara Tsukata did not miss. The twins continued to flit around the vile creature, too fast and unpredictable for him to fight back. On the surface, Law and Justice saw their comrades battle the infamous villain and wished to help, but were tied down fighting the once-dead sharpshooters, Longshot and Deadeye. The artillery from these two was stunning; how they ever managed to die was beyond the hero's thoughts. Law twisted as well as he could, but there was no way to get in close without being grazed. He had his shield, but he didn't want to use it just yet... Justice, meanwhile, had her scales out and was flinging them at Deadeye. They hit him in the head every time, but he didn't stop shooting. Three bullets went into Justice's body while she was up close, and a fourth grazed her foot. She didn't give him the pleasure of screaming; the woman just rammed her heel into the man's throat, again and again, and swung her scales until he dropped his weapon. She called for her partner; he stretched his long arms and grabbed the undead man. "Rest in peace," he uttered as he plowed his fist right through the man's rotting head. He threw Deadeye right at his partner, but Longshot was too brainless to recognize the other man. He simply continued firing, pelting his flying friend mercilessly until the body blew apart. Then, a miracle—click, click. Longshot stared blankly at his weapon, wondering why he wasn't firing. Justice took this time and rushed him, smashing his head so hard that it rolled right off. She tossed the body in the direction of a giant, who paused only for a moment as a pleasant squish came up from the havoc. ...... Now Blue Mary and BK Power had caught up with Team Stealth, and merged briefly to cover them. Lurker, Stalker, and Snowblood were glad for the help (Ferret had gotten lost, but was safe with Lady Luck); Sanaa directed them to where they were having the most problems. A large armored creature, closely resembling a rocket-powered centaur, was fighting its way through the resistance, sometimes impaling heroes and threshing them like hay. Blue Mary cursed. "Lord Vyle," she addressed. She looked to Lurker and BK Power and gestured to them. "You two, flank me, especially Lurker. Keep out of reach of that javelin. Beekay, watch those hooves as you come up from behind. I'll mount a full-frontal assault." "I'm coming too," said Snowblood. It was too late to argue; the small team was already on the way. As Lord Vyle thrashed yet another hapless hero, he turned around and laughed as the foursome advanced. He charged at them, thundering so hard that the asphalt was ground up and spat out. There was no way even the mightiest hero could stop him at that rate...but they didn't need to stop him directly. Lurker scurried up the nearest building she could find and jumped off when Vyle was underneath her—now she clung to his face. "Get off, lizard!!" spat the centaur. Lurker just roared that same animalistic snarl and started clawing at his armored face. Blue Mary and BK Power saw their chance, and ran after him now that he was distracted. Masterson took hold of his legs, pumping herself up to maximum power; Blue Mary ran up and plunged a sharp kick right in Vyle's glossy chest, knocking the centaur down. With his legs restrained, he fell quite easily. "My turn!" shouted Snowblood. She ran after the large beast and slashed at him wildly, but the centaur wasn't defeated just yet. He yanked Lurker off, much as it wounded him (she had dug her claws right into his helmet, and prying her away nearly ripped his face off), and tossed her aside, then used his lance to prop himself back up again. Disregarding the scars on his side, he bucked wildly until BK Power fell off, and charged after Snowblood with every intention of flattening her. Blue Mary chased after him and shouted a challenge, but was blown away as she absorbed the full impact of his hind legs. "BASTARD!!!" BK Power, enraged at seeing her idol beaten like that, surged with muscle and rage until she felt like she was overflowing. The woman turned into a blur as she ran right into Lord Vyle—and, horribly, directly through him. She had went so fast and so hard, she tore a large hole right through him and came out the other way. "Ugh," grunted Snowblood, "I don't think I want to know what that smell is." Lord Vyle stared down at the gaping hole in his body in confusion, and slowly turned to stare at the woman who had destroyed him. He grunted...but every effort was in vain. The monster fell down dead in moments, kicking up a huge dust cloud. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh my god—Mary!" Power rushed over to where her idol had fallen, but she had to dig through a lot of rubble to get there. No problem: her strength and a flow of terrified adrenaline made the job a snap. But what awaited her was horrifying: Blue Mary had been smashed by the centaur's crippling kick, and being buried underneath all that debris hadn't helped her at all. Her body was busted, and she could barely even move. "Oh, Mary," wailed Power, kneeling down to cradle the limp woman. "Mary, Mary... Are you all right?" It was some time before she could reply. "...No. Bones...crushed. Body...numb. Can't see well. Hard to breathe. I can't taste anything except my own blood. I really got the wind knocked out of me, didn't I?" She grinned feebly; Kris Masterson was nearly hysterical. "Don't die...okay? You can't die. You're Blue Mary, the greatest..." "Yeah," she croaked, "but you're the only one who ever appreciated it. Never thought I'd get a fan in all my years. I'm...glad I met her." She smiled warmly, took Kris's hands, and held them close to her bleeding mouth, kissing. "I'm honored...to have fought next to...the world's greatest Blue Mary...fan. But now it's time for me to go. I can't recover from this, Kristen. I just can't." "Don't say things like that!" shouted Kristen over the noise. Of course, that didn't matter now. Nothing mattered, not now. "Don't say that," she repeated; "you'll live! I've seen you take worse!" "Must've been a long time ago," murmured Mary. She coughed violently, dribbling blood, and wheezed her last few breaths. "Kristen," she said hoarsely, "don't feel so depressed. I'm not...as great a hero as you think I am. The life of a hero...is really not that great. It's horrible. It's one of the...worst jobs you could have. But somebody has to do it. If they don't...all this is for nothing." She gestured towards the battle; Kristen was now openly crying, everything else forgotten. Mary then breathed in her last, and kissed her ally's worn-out knuckles. "The world is in good hands," she said clearly. "I'm glad I got to meet you, Kris. I can die happy now that I've met my biggest fan...and I know she'll be even better than I was." And that was it. That was all. There wasn't any more. Watching from afar, Sanaa tightened her gun-belt and hiked off to the north. "Where do you think you're going?" asked Stalker. The dark-skinned mercenary gave her a cold look. "To kill Garnet." ...... Sanaa, beautiful and cold, had only felt rage twice in her life. The first time was when Marissa had died fighting Kali; the second was just recently, when Blue Mary perished. It was odd feeling so angry at something like that, because Sanaa usually didn't let other people's deaths affect her. Up until she met Marissa and the others, every loss of life meant nothing to her—it was like stepping on bugs. But now...things were different. She had borne hatred for Kali, and now her hatred extended to Garnet, the man who led this senseless attack. She had failed to avenge Marissa, but she would not fail again. She did not fear death, nor pain, nor anything. She would not be stopped. But she certainly had to blast her way through a lot of enemies to get to him! Teams Alpha, Power, and Stealth shouted out to her—stop, wait, come back, let us help—but Sanaa's sharp senses tuned them out, so full of hatred was she. If anything, the extra surge of emotions gave her the energy to leap over the onslaught of enemies, blasting where she could. She was made and built for stealth and secrecy, but she could just as easily turn herself into a one-woman army. And now this beautiful work of art, this unnatural creation, had her deadly sights on the leader of the army: Garnet. He wasn't what she suspected. Garnet was a beautiful young dark-skinned man, eyes so green that they pierced through Sanaa's defenses and crept into her soul. He had short, spiky brown hair, and a leather coat to cover his whole body. Her acute sense of vision saw that he bore the marks of Karin on his hands—the great mythical beast, capricious and dangerous to friend and foe alike. He was riding atop what looked like a Naga, half-human and half-snake, and he was looking directly at Sanaa. "Let me off," he instructed calmly. The snake-creature slithered, allowing him to slip off and approach the woman. He waved a greeting (baring his arms to confirm his status as a Karin adept) and studied her for a long time. The only greeting Sanaa gave him was the greeting of two guns pointed right at his face. "I see," he said lamely. "Well, I always did think introductions between enemies were pointless. Let's hope you're not the last one I have to face; there's another woman in here somewhere whom I vowed to destroy." "Guess I reached you first," Sanaa growled. Garnet snickered and threw off his coat, revealing a shapely male body wearing little more than athletic shorts. A normal person, man or woman, would've been enthralled, but Sanaa was hardly normal. Only Marissa held her heart; this enemy was as vile to her as the zombies. They circled each other hastily for awhile, both running at top speed, Sanaa easily tracking him. She raised one of her guns to fire...Garnet suddenly halted and jumped back, firing blasts from his arm. Sanaa didn't quite expect this, but jumped out of the way, twirled around in midair, and returned fire. She got hit on the shoulder; he was grazed on his leg. A pause. They resumed staring at each other—then, Garnet tumbled to the side, jumped, and hovered in the air. Sanaa fired at him, a few bullets grazing by, some mysteriously bouncing off. An energy shield, perhaps? She cursed as he waved his hands and chanted in the arcane tongue of the Karin: hummas daa, hul-dim-draa, hummus kaa, drindle-baa, ekhtu KARIN!!! A serpentine creature emerged from his hands, as long as a mile and shimmering white with power. Sanaa knew it was pointless to fire and took to running, but Karin was faster than the greatest river, and soon caught up. The creature plowed into her full-force, smothering her with ice so frigid it could freeze the sun. Sanaa yelled in pain—even her harsh training never pushed her that far—and curled into a ball, alive but hardly well. "Like that, don't you?" Garnet laughed. Sanaa growled—pain was nothing, pain was nothing, pain was nothing (where had she heard that before?), pain was nothing—she wheeled around and fired wildly. Garnet gasped, feeling his body peppered by the small projectiles. His arms went limp; his legs seared; his chest started to swell. He ground his teeth together and waved his hands again, chanting for his dragon familiar. "Oh yeah," Sanaa purred, "like I'm really going to let you finish it." She fired—the bullets bounced off again—and cursed. But then she had an idea. She ran as far away as she could, allowing Garnet to summon his white ice-dragon, and curled around once she felt its icy presence. Sanaa pushed herself like she never had, now running as fast as a car could go, but instead of going away from Garnet, she ran toward him. Straight towards him. The young man yelled in shock as he realized what she was doing, and turned to run. Sanaa caught up with him easily, the dragon directly behind her, and with a leap, she vaulted right over her enemy. The dragon was not quite so discerning, and plowed right into its own master. Sanaa, with her brutal years of training in the harshest environments, had barely managed to survive. She didn't think Garnet would have that same luxury. And so, taking a breath of victory, she left the frozen man dead in the streets—but just to make sure, she plugged him three times in the head. That was it, then. One down, two to go. ......... Several hours passed, but even with the death of Garnet, the situation did not improve much. During the fighting, more and more heroes fell to their doom, even as their enemies perished along with them. Mega-girl was torn apart by a creature called the Ripper, and Sergeant Bizarro was also killed by the monster, before Law and Justice stepped in to finish it off. Miltorkka was gone, thanks to the Twin Towers, but they had both been wounded in the battle and wouldn't be able to participate for awhile. A small band of healthy individuals gathered inside an abandoned building to go over their next plan. "With Garnet gone, all we have left are Kissa and Malchior," Shalis announced. "According to Kathy, Kissa is the one most responsible for drawing out the warriors of old, but Malchior revives most of the low-level zombies. For the time being, I'd rather not have to face the more powerful people; it's been proven we can wipe out the zombies easily." "So we go after Kissa," stated the Spoon Man. Shalis nodded. "We don't need a large force. Most of us should stay behind and continue the fight. There are plenty of wounded too, so if anybody has any medical experience, now's the time to bring it out." "I could definitely use the help," murmured Mora. She had been the main source of recovery—after all, snakes were well-known for their healing powers—and while she had Marissa, Aura, and Alyssa with her in the ward, she would need an army just to keep up with the demand. "We're stretched everywhere," Shalis told her, "it can't be helped. Just keep doing your best. I've already sent a team to scout out any heroes who specialize in healing. Now what about this team that's going after Kissa? Any volunteers?" "Yo!!" No surprise that Rin the Ronin volunteered first, Kailin right behind her. "I still got a bone to pick with that weirdo, so we're going first. Whaddya say, Setsie? Wanna join the Ronin?" "It would be my pleasure," said Snowblood. Ferret, who was more or less an unofficial member of the Ronin team, was out looking for healers; the Guardian Angel's voice came in softly and meekly, almost inaudible at first. "I will go," she said, and repeated herself. "I owe Kissa a debt. I must go to her and claim it." "Yeah, we gotta get that stuff settled!" exclaimed Rin, pumping her arms up and down vigorously. "You had better hurry, then," said Shalis as she calmed the feisty warrior down. "The more time we waste, the more time she has to bring back our old enemies. You don't want to fight an undead version of Sashuo or Indira now, do you?" "Of course not! The real things were bad enough!" The four Ronin set out on their quest about two minutes later, just as soon as they packed their supplies. Kailin missed the extra weight BaoBao figured in, but a battlefield was no place for a panda, even one as helpful and cute as she. The path to Kissa was strewn with living corpses. The four Ronin had to fight with every last ounce of strength they possessed to clear through the endless troops. Guardian Angel took the lead, letting her eyes spy out the quickest path to their enemy; Ronin and Snowblood were directly behind her, fending off creatures both living and dead, and Inferno took the rear, making sure they were not followed as she set a deadly blaze to their tails. Sometimes, a great wall of beasts stood before the quartet, and they had to stand still and fight for what seemed like hours, moving and twisting like heavenly ballerinas. But of course, Kissa would protect herself with the sturdiest warriors imaginable. The four Ronin were all worthy fighters, each one excellent at what she did, but it took them ages to plow through the enemy lines: it was so thick, the streets were black with their number. Inferno sometimes took the lead and turned her powers on full-blast, incinerating everything just so they could have a few seconds' lead. She and Guardian Angel fought together flawlessly, just as Ronin and Snowblood equalized each other. Both on and off the battlefield, they were all perfect for each other...but of course, even perfection can sometimes be challenged. About ninety minutes after they first set out, the quartet came to Kissa's lair, which was little more than a raised platform where she stood surveying her work. The copper-skinned sorceress got to see the four Ronin in action personally, as she commanded two large Minotaurs to attack them. They gave the girls a tough fight, but were dispatched eventually. Finally, at last, Rin and Kailin cornered their savior and their bane, with Setsuka and Kathy beside them. Kissa stared at them for a long time before she spoke. "Ingrates," she snorted. "And after all the things I did for you." "Shut up! We're not your soldiers or your toys! What makes you think you can control us like that, sending us out to do your dirty work!?" "We had a deal," she shrugged, inching backwards subtly. "I gave the two of you life, and yet you've betrayed me. Well, I guess this means you were happier being dead." Her eyes suddenly flickered as she waved her left hand, and in a flash, both Rin and Kailin were caught in an electric field, suspending them in midair. They screamed—and froze, their facial expressions terrifying. Both Snowblood and Angel yelled in outrage. "You monster! What have you done?!" Kissa laughed, cruel and gleeful. "They're not dead, dears," she told them—"Merely in suspended animation. I could kill them, but I rather like playing with my pets. Not my toys, you said?! Then what am I doing now?" She jerked her fingers; Rin and Kailin's arms and legs twitched accordingly. Kissa laughed again, and faced her new tormentors. "And you are?" "Lady Snowblood," hissed the blind woman darkly. "And it is the last name you shall ever hear." Setsuka charged—Rin was helpless to save her—and soon she too was frozen. Kissa laughed even harder as she added a third doll to her collection, and finally turned to address the Guardian Angel. "My sweet Kathryn," she cooed, "you have not quite betrayed me yet. There's still hope for you, dear. If you cooperate with me, I can guarantee the safe return of your friend. Think about it! Your beloved Sarah, back from the dead, alive and well in your arms, where she belongs! Isn't it lovely?" Angel quivered as she stared Kissa down. She wept, her feet wobbly, her voice broken. "You bitch," she whispered. "You heartless whore! How dare you..." "Or I could use your pals as bargaining chips," said the sorceress, twitching her fingers again. Angel hissed as the three women writhed around helplessly, and demanded that Kissa stop. "Stop?!" she laughed, "But why should I? It's such fun! Oh, all right, I will stop, but only if you obey me. And I'll even bring back little Miss Sarah, just because I'm feeling so generous. What do you say, my dear? Exchange your services for their lives? Hmm???" It was a choice nobody should have to make, least of all a soul as gentle, tender, and loving as Kathryn's. Sarah had lived a cursed life; Kathy had been her only friend. She had died right in her arms, beaten to death by her own father. Kathy had went to beg Kissa for her services, to bring back Sarah at any cost, and Kissa agreed, keeping the Guardian Angel around as her "special pet" until she felt ready to call forth the girl's soul. Angel remembered a time when she would've given anything to have Sarah back, but now... "No," she stated, firm and mature beyond her years. "I could never live with myself if I betrayed my friends and the girl I love. Sarah wouldn't want that! You," she snarled, flashing her eyes wide open, "can rot in Hell for all I care! You and your damned bargains!!" Angel sped after Kissa so quickly that the woman had no time to retaliate. She felt the young girl, so abysmally powerful, latch her hands around her magic bracelets—her only weakness—and shrieked as Guardian Angel smashed them in her grip. For the longest time, Kissa stared at Kathryn O'Hare, the last person she ever expected to fight back. And not just to fight back: in all her years of life, over 3000 of them, she never expected a person like her to actually end her life, tossing her soul into the abyss for eternity. She certainly didn't expect the Angel to turn her back on Sarah, never to see her again. "You...fool," she whispered, her very last words. Kissa fell back, her life no longer hers, and dropped to the ground, turning to dust instantly. The wind blew her remains away; the bracelets she wore that kept her life going, the source of her strength and immortality, were now brittle shards. Some had stuck in Kathy's palm, so she carefully picked them out and tossed them away. She ground them apart with her foot and swept them away, making sure they were all destroyed. Then, almost as an afterthought, she turned to her friends. They had been freed the moment those bracelets were destroyed. "Everyone all right?" she asked, her voice sounding hundreds of years old. They nodded quietly. "Well, that's good. We still have a war to fight, don't we?" She was the first to walk away, back into the carnage, and Kailin wanted to follow her. Rin placed her hand on the girl's shoulder, shaking her head. It was best not to disturb Kathy, not until she let all this sink in. Sadly, Kailin turned around and embraced Rin; the older woman hugged her back, as gently as she could. ......... Over the next few hours of daylight, the enemy forces dwindled, but the remaining cultists continued to fight. More heroes and villains were killed, more hearts were broken and more wills were overcome. Just when it seemed like the second day would never end, the sun yawned and fell into its nightly slumber, slowly ushering in the indifferent stars and the apathetic moon. After two long days of fighting, the heroes were ultimately repulsed by the sheer number of the enemies, and fell back to recover and regroup. One of the people injured the most was Pandora the Gambler: she had been attacked by a zombie, and though the monster was now destroyed, it had taken a chunk of her arm with it. Knowing what would happen to her if she didn't act fast, Pandora braced herself and stabbed the infected area with a white-hot crucifix Priest had given her. But Priest was not there; Soma was all by herself. She rested high atop one of the buildings, the sky her only ceiling, her arm vibrating with unimaginable pain. Still, it could be worse. "Yup, here you are," came a familiar voice. Soma looked over and saw Alyssa Hunter, the Siren, approaching her. Okay, now it was worse. "What do you want?" "Father Pochanski said you'd be here. He said I should come up and take a look at your arm. What happened, you get hurt?" "No, I did this on purpose because I'm a sadist," came a snorted reply. Alyssa cringed. She walked over and knelt down, reaching for the arm. Pandora jerked it away. "Touch me," she warned, "and you die." "Settle down, I'll just take a look at it. Can you move it?" Pandora snorted, but she decided to humor her "nurse" and wiggled her shoulder, about the only part of her arm that still functioned. The rest was numb; she had driven the crucifix right through her flesh until it came out the other end. Alyssa turned a little white as she examined it. "My God." "Fine choice of words," Soma murmured, referring to the cross embedded in her arm. Alyssa looked sick. She looked right into Soma's only functioning eye and spoke to her, calmly and seriously. "Look, my spirit powers can heal wounds. I don't know if it will do any good against the mark of the undead, but I could at least give it a try." "So shouldn't you be saving the other freaks?" "Father Pochanski said that you needed help the most. Frankly, even I'm a bit skeptical about all this. I mean, you're not exactly friendly to us...freaks." That last word was clearly self-depreciating humor, and Pandora actually snickered. She hoisted her dead arm up with her other hand, wondering if this stupid little Siren could really cure her. "So the Priest tries to help me again, huh? And he sends you to do it. Well, makes sense. You're the only person who keeps trying to talk to me no matter what I say. So what'll it take to get you to go away?" "Just...let me try," Siren said, reaching for the arm. Pandora pulled it away. "You realize I don't trust you, right? And I might reach out to choke you if you get close enough." "Yeah, but would you really? I mean, let's face it—I'm the lesser of two evils here." Soma sighed, but much as she hated to admit it, Siren was right. The woman did have her uses. Soma relented and let the younger woman do what she could, but she gave her a Cyclops' glare. "Just remember, I'm only letting you do this because you still have a use. Killing you now would be pointless. Once all this is over, I'll come after you and stick your head on a pike." "Fair enough," Siren muttered. She gently took Soma's arm into her hands, closed her eyes, and guided the spirits around the wound. Soma felt a cleansing chill seep over her arm, and winced painfully as Alyssa removed the crucifix. The hole was quickly sewn up, the blood washed away, and even the zombie's bite mark vanished until there was nothing left but a faint red mark. Some still couldn't move her arm, but at least she wouldn't have that thing inside her, and she wouldn't faint from blood loss. "Finished," Alyssa said. "Now try moving it. Flex your fingers first." Now Soma really grimaced. She never had trouble moving any part of her body before, so this strain was a new feeling. Eventually her fingers came back to life, and she could make a soft fist. She let out a breath of relief and started rubbing life back into her arm. "Good as new," she muttered. She threw her "nurse" a placid look, tipping her hat politely. "I guess I should say thanks. And I know the perfect way to repay you." "How?" Now Soma smiled, maybe too sweetly. "When I go on my hero-killing rampage, I'll save you for last. And I'll fight you fairly." "Ah. What an honor." Alyssa knew she wasn't going to get anything better than that—it was a miracle Soma hadn't thrown her off the roof already. The Gambler started nodding off, and told her guest to scram before she changed her mind. Alyssa left the older woman to her privacy, but she didn't go very far. Odd—out of all the people she could've spent that night with, she spent it watching over Soma von Zomren. ......... Three whole days—that was how long everyone had been at war. They had plenty to show for their efforts: Garnet was now dead, and Kissa with him, plus at least a dozen supervillains and countless other minor thugs. The cost was tremendous, though, with fifty confirmed losses on the good side, fourteen of them now consumed by the insatiable thirst of the undead. As the six main forces gathered together for the day's planning stages, some of them felt that this would be the end—but would it be theirs or the enemy's? It felt like things were going to conclude somehow that day, and so some of the more optimistic people started to hope. It was unanimously decided that the Savage Six would combine all of their teams to initiate a blitzkrieg on Malchior, last of the major powers involved. Once he was out of the picture, it would be easier to get the masses of undead under control—some, in fact, believed they would simply return to their graves once their source of power was gone—and then it would be a matter of picking off the remaining villains. Once that was done...... "Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Priest warned everybody. "First we have to find the Dark Scion, then conceive a way of defeating him. From what Stalker has told us, he seems reluctant to battle against other dark forces, so she will lead the attack with Paradox. We will set up a large perimeter and act as a barrier should the Scion try to escape, and one by one our forces will pummel him. This was the way we defeated Anvil, and it hasn't failed us since." Mentioning the recently-resurrected "ultravillain" sent many of the forces shaking and trembling. They had heard enough horror stories from the Savage Six to be genuinely afraid of the creature, and hoped it wouldn't come down to a second showdown. "We should leave soon," Paradox said vaguely. "I am always prepared, since I don't require rest or nourishment. Stalker, Team Surprise, when you are ready, come see me. I want to be alone for awhile." The enigmatic man wandered off, leaving his comrades to shuffle around for last-minute preparations. As she numbly chewed a protein bar, Psyche suddenly froze, a look of concentrated surprise on her face. "What is it?" Sanaa whispered as she took her lover's hand. She knew what Marissa was capable of, and if the pale woman was sensing something... "A force stronger than any I've ever felt," she murmured, slowly rising to her feet. "It does not seem to be living, and yet it is not dead. The creature draws close. I can feel the dark energy flowing from this being. The lust for destruction is great." "I sense it too," said Snowblood. Disintegrator turned to Skye, nodding her head in recognition. Even her weak telekinetic senses were picking it up—and soon, amazingly, even those without psychic abilities could feel it. "Such terrible energy," whispered Ferret, shivering despite the warm morning air. Paradox came running back, the look on his mystifying face saying everything: it was Anvil, and he was getting close. "Everyone brace yourselves!" barked Captain Amazing, shooting to his feet. The entire force stood up, many of them bristling like cats in the presence of a vicious dog. Now, aside from feeling the wicked energy emanating from their terrible foe, some with sharper senses could smell it as well: it stank of corpses, rotting flesh, and rancid evil, mixed with rivers of blood. Somebody vomited. Hands were held in support. "Whatever happens, milady," Ferret whispered to Aura, "stay behind me and don't let go of my hand." She nodded sharply, waiting for the demon to show itself. A figure rose up from the horizon... And stopped, suddenly, barely reaching a meter in height. Most of the heroes stared in awe. Anvil was...a midget?? "That can't be him!" Ronin exclaimed, forcing herself not to laugh at the ridiculous sight. The being before them was a puny thing, barely the length of Priest's arm, and except for a crescent-shaped silvery area, Anvil was bald as well. He looked more like a dwarf or a gnome, except without the beard, and was dressed in a humble brown tunic, bearing no weapons save his tiny fists. Ronin finally lost control and belted out a nasty laugh—but nobody else joined her. "Watch it," hissed Morpheus, getting into a fighting stance. "His size is part of the ruse. It puts his enemies off their guard while he attacks. We've seen it before." "Oh, don't worry so much," she said, waving him off. "I'm sure that back in your day, he was a challenge, but this is a different era! C'mere, little fella. Let me rub your head." She beckoned to the diminutive villain, who even in life, hated being taunted for his size. With pure rage Anvil charged—and was stopped short as Ronin held him back with her hand. He swung his fists in vain; she was well out of his reach. "This is fun!" she exclaimed, waving and taunting further. "Whaddya say, Inferno? Wanna have a crack at this little guy? Hey, maybe BaoBao would find him amusing." "Watch it, Rin!" she shouted. Anvil nearly made contact as he swatted, but Rin's arms were considerably longer than his, and she easily dodged. Finally she grew tired, and kicked the small evil away, sending him crashing through a building. The Ronin dusted her hands off and smiled victoriously, but she didn't get the cheers and adulation she expected. "Hey, what's up, guys? C'mon, I just beat the great almighty Anvil here. Jeez, you'd think I robbed an old lady, what with the looks you're giving me. ...Guys?" The team was no longer staring at her for her audacity, but beyond her, to the building she had sent Anvil through. They stared because...no, it couldn't be. It couldn't be. It was impossible! Ronin jerked around to see what the big fuss was about...and gazed in horror, her legs shaking, as the entire building rose up from the ground, ascending by the same puny arms that had been trying to swing at her. Anvil was lifting the entire building! "Oh my sweet Lord in Heaven," she whispered, feeling overwhelmed from the chill. Beneath the massive structure, no signs of strain on his face at all, Anvil grinned and threw the building with startling ease. There was no way any of them could avoid it—they would be smashed into a pulp!! Psyche quickly put all her focus on the flying monstrosity, and with every shred of power in her, managed to hurl the building away into the sky, where it would float into orbit and be lost in space. She collapsed from overwhelming herself; Anvil just snorted, rummaged through the wrecked remains, and picked up a long steel beam, its size and weight pointless to him. "MOVE!!!" Everyone scattered as the weapon swung; some of the quicker heroes shot back with whatever projectiles they had. Effortlessly, Anvil clutched the steel beam in one hand and blocked the shots with his other, not even getting his palm singed. He resumed running and swinging without delay, but the good news was that, having such stubby legs, he couldn't run very fast. After making sure her lover was safe, Sanaa returned to the battle and unloaded on Anvil, spraying him with bullets. She was quick enough to stay one step ahead of the massive weapon, but even as she pelted him, he didn't seem to slow down. "What the hell's this guy made out of, steel?" she wondered. Well, if her small arms were useless, she simply needed bigger weapons. Sanaa kept a Phantom MG-59 straddled to her back for such heavy-duty occasions, and whipped it out with a sick smile. Technically an illegal weapon due to its highly destructive nature, the Phantom could chew through just about anything in moments. Sanaa had seen it devour a steel security door like the thing was made out of paper, and its only flaw was its incredible slow loading time and the spine-shattering recoil. Sanaa was unaware of anyone else who could handle the weapon: she had trained a whole month just to wield it. Because of its loading time, she would have to get in close and personal—much easier said than done. Rancor had tried the frontal approach and was sent hurtling through the sky, despite wearing her thickest level of armor. Right now, Lurker and Snowblood were keeping their distances while trying to sneak a shot, and if her senses were still working, then Ferret was down there with them, using her invaluable ghosting skills to sneak up and disable the small villain. Her spiritual form finally caught up and squeezed Anvil, disabling him for a fraction of a moment—the perfect time for Sanaa to strike! She ran in at full speed, still wary of the beam, lifted the Phantom, and aimed right between his eyes, expecting the head to pop open in a gory explosion. Instead, the deadly projectile burrowed straight through his head, past Ferret's ghost (who naturally remained unaffected), and into an abandoned building, blasting off a small chunk. Anvil shivered his head, paused briefly to consider what happened to him, and then wrestled free from Ferret's grasp to attack Sanaa. "Shit," she muttered. "I forgot the bastard was undead." She leaped away to safety, but then Anvil pulled another surprise and belched a long white beam of energetic power from his mouth, engulfing Sanaa with searing hot light. She screamed in pain—this was just as bad as Garnet's Karin attack—and rolled to safety, trying to ignore the flashes of agony her body pulsated with. Her skin was horribly burnt, literally black and peeling away, but she knew she was alive because she felt the pain. If she had stayed in that beam for just a second longer... Nobody was faring well. Anvil was fireproof, as Inferno learned the hard way, and his skin was so thick that even at her highest level, BK Power did little more than throw him a great distance. Snowblood actually broke her sword apart as she tried to slash him, and Anvil was too powerful to be crushed by G-Force's magnitude. Venom thought she would fare better, but in order to kill him, she would have to get in very close and embrace him with her whole naked body—something even the craziest person would never try. Phobia tried unleashing her powers—without restrain this time—but the dead have no fear, and Anvil just regarded her with silent indifference. "Unbelievable," muttered Thunder-Claw as he sat back, catching his breath. He and a few others were watching as their friends tried again and again to destroy Anvil, but so far all they did was slow him down or throw him around. Nothing was working! No wonder the Savage Six feared him. Wait—the Savage Six had fought this monster before, and won! Anvil was undead today because once, long ago, he had died. All they needed to do was repeat the actions of several years ago! He raced to find them, and first ran into Psyche, who was using her psychic powers to heal Sanaa. The damage was extensive, and Psyche was still worn-out from her last defensive action, so it would take a long time. But when he proposed his idea, they took to it instantly and rose up to assist him, in spite of their wounds. Between the three of them, they gathered the Six together quickly, but when they told them their plan, the reaction was grim. "Impossible," Morpheus said. "If he were alive, there might not be a problem. The mere fact that he is now undead and much less susceptible to harm throws all our plans out the window. If we execute the same plan that worked the last time, it would fail. The entire thing depended on him being a living, and therefore fallible being." "So what do we do?" Steve asked. Shift shook his head. "I don't know. Venom and Priest would be perfect, but we can't get in close. The advantage of having such short limbs is that Anvil can prevent anyone from attacking him directly. And he's invulnerable to projectiles and energy blasts, so we can't disable him." "What about Alisti?" suggested Marissa. "Do you think she could use her powers?" Now Lady Wonder shook her head. "The last time we heard from her, she was busy engaging our enemies on the other side of the city. We can send a messenger, but they will have to stay behind to take care of the enemies." "Make it happen." "It won't work, you know," murmured Captain Amazing once the envoy was gone. He gave his old allies a somber look. "Anvil will find a way through it. Even while he was alive, the man was a mindless demon, a force too out of control to be destroyed. There is only one guaranteed way we can stop him—and it may cost us." "Gaul, no," whispered Priest, leaning forth in fear. "If you're thinking about that...don't, please. Don't les Cassie's sacrifice be for nothing." "Who's Cassie?" asked Marissa. Pochanski grumbled deeply, forcing himself to unbury past traumas. "Once we were known as the Savage Seven. We had a member named Cassie Frankas, who we proudly called Needles. When we fought against Anvil, she was the one who actually killed him." "What happened?" "She rushed in head-on," he said, sounding as lively as a crypt. "Her body was broken to pieces by the time she wrapped her arms around him and activated the explosive device she had worn. The blast was powerful enough to take out a whole city block, plus our foe with it. Even then, his body remained whole, charred to a husk. It was our task to separate him into pieces, just so we could confirm his demise. And now, Gaul, are you thinking the same thing?" "...It may have to be done," he said at last, sounding dead on the inside. "If any one of us does it, it should be me. And this time, we must make sure that his body is destroyed beyond redemption." "Don't be so hasty, Captain," Paradox said. "We may not have to be so dramatic. If we can keep Anvil down to a crawl and wait until the Disintegrator arrives, it may be possible to amplify her powers. If Miss Wainright here and I put our forces together," he nodded in her direction, "it should be possible to summon up enough energy to wipe him out." "A bold idea," the Captain admitted. "But Anvil will not sit still and let it happen. Someone will have to keep him still. I volunteer for that." Under normal circumstances, somebody would've spoken up and protested, but they knew it was useless. The Captain knew what he was doing, and besides, he felt it was his responsibility as the team leader. Everyone split up and spread the word; soon a task force was assembled for the last battle against the unstoppable Anvil. ...... When Alisti was explained the situation, she hesitated. Skye was there with her, and the two were fighting well against the enemy forces. It took two of the three messengers to remain before she promised to go back—selfish, perhaps, but even with her new body and clear mind, Kreager was tough negotiating with. While she and the remaining envoy raced back to rendezvous with Paradox and Psyche, Captain Amazing flew in to the main battle, found Anvil wandering around without anyone to challenge him, and descended to remedy that error. "Remember me?" he purred darkly. Anvil cringed. Of course he did. The two locked horns like one stampede of bulls against the other, pummeling each other with attacks too fierce and quick to believe. A few covered their faces in horror, but many more watched with untrembling eyes, realizing that this was a duel for the ages. The spectators scattered when they noticed a flare explode, the signal that a major strike was about to commence. A few blocks away and several stories high, Alisti Kreager stared at her target with complete concentration. Even with her radical power, she wouldn't be able to blast him alone. "Just stay focused," Psyche whispered to her as she took her hand. The older woman started to hum, then shiver, then pulsate: she was diverting her power into Alisti, magnifying the Disintegrator's blast to a considerably higher level. Yet even then... "This is going to get mighty ugly," Paradox muttered as he took Kreager's hand and focused his powers into her. Alisti felt like every bit and piece of her very self was shooting higher and higher, breaking and boosting through barriers that seemed impassable. She felt she was going to explode from the power...but knew just where she could focus all that excess energy on. Below, Captain Amazing was keeping Anvil at bay, using his own body as an anchor. But would he really stay there and be evaporated...? "Don't think about it!" growled Paradox, his every word straining to get out. "Just do it. Gaul knew what he was getting into when he volunteered. Besides, what's a hero worth when the evil in the world is gone? Soon we will all perish; it is the duty of the young to keep this land peaceful!" Alisti shivered in fear, but knew everything would be up to her. Despite her former tendency for destruction and mischief, deep down she was a compassionate person, one who sought an end to all violence and misery, especially her own. Without holding anything back, she focused her disintegrating powers solely on Anvil, willing for every bit of it to fall on his shoulders. Down below, as Captain Amazing struggled with his nemesis, Anvil's face suddenly flashed with surprise. In an instant—though time seemed to slow to a crawl to allow every tiny detail to be processed—his body burst open, every area exploding out in a messy, gory, dusty mess. The splatter was soon evaporated as Alisti's power came fully down, and for the last brief seconds before his demise, Captain Amazing sighed. "It's finished. At last, it's all over." The explosion obliterated an enormous chunk of the city, carving a sphere-shaped hole so great, it looked like a meteor had crashed. Everything inside the blast radius was completely eradicated. Alisti and Marissa fainted from having exhausted so much of their combined power, leaving Paradox on his own. He stood shakily, dusted himself off, and willed the girls to float as he made his way to shelter. That was it, then: the greatest was gone for good. ...... Captain Amazing was not the only one to go: Law was taken down as well, pelted with flaming arrows until the fire consumed his body. Justice swept out to avenge him, but was drawn into the deadly embrace of Dr. Killgore and destroyed. He too met a satisfying end: Morpheus caused him to sleep, and the lumbering Mighty Jo smashed his body before she too tumbled to the ground, her abdomen split open and bleeding. She had absorbed a missile from one of the enemy jets, but took four of them down as a final act of vengeance. Those who remained gathered together to lick their wounds and resume the task they had started: the destruction of the Dark Scion. "That task will not be yours," said a scathingly familiar voice during the briefing. Only the newcomers needed to turn around to see who spoke; the others knew instantly, and shuddered with anger. It was him. "And just what," demanded Stalker, "gives you the right to claim the Scion's life, especially when you weren't around to help?" "I will not answer that question," he said. "But it is my task and mine alone. If you wish to join me, I will stop you. Malchior will benefit most from a confrontation with me." "Let him go," grumbled Rancor, who was just as sick of Mr. White as everyone else was. "It's two nuisances out of our hair, so I'm not complaining. But he'd better be stopped by the time you show your creepy face again." "I guarantee it," he vowed, and vanished. The Savage Six—or those who were left—inhaled sharply at the new marvel. "Who..." "You don't wanna know," Merry said, helping Cobra patch another wound. "And it's not like any of us know either." Malchior, the Dark Scion, regarded the battlefield with disdain. To his count, about half the army was wiped out, maybe more, and it was getting harder and harder to supplement more undead forces. He found a stray hero and drained him of his life-force, and now looked and felt young enough to go toe-to-toe with the best of them. With Kissa and now Anvil absent, he was going to have a tough time realizing his dream, but it could still be done. After all, he was over a thousand years old. A little thing like this wouldn't set him back by much, not at all. And then, as if a flame of purest white lit up in his black cave-world, it came before him. "Dark Scion!" addressed the flaming creature, glaring with an icy smile. "Dark Scion! Come before me! You and I have a confrontation to attend!" Malchior was frightened, but only at first. He knew in his mind, through deep and winding labyrinths, that this was no mere superhero before him, but a creature damned from description, something so outrageous and otherworldly that it could only be... "You," he shivered, too angry to shout. "You are a servant of that sadistic deity, the one who calls Himself a God! You are a son of Kurios!" "You know much, Dark one," Thirteen responded. "You must also know that your time has drawn to a close. This meddling in the dark arts will cease, and you will be cast into the hateful abyss." "Like Hell I will!" he spat, brandishing his arm. Thirteen grinned. "That is the idea. Come now. Do not make me waste my time. There are people counting on me." The syrupy-sweet voice of his was like nails on a chalkboard; Malchior knelt down and threw loose bits of debris and stone at the floating man in white, lacing every toss with a curse. "Get thee down to Hell, you most accursed abomination of Kurios! You serve a false God—a god that remains invisible, inaudible, and inactive! Is this 'god' all-loving? Is he 'all-present'? Is he 'all-merciful', and 'all-holy', and 'all-just'? NO! There is no such thing!! The god you serve is a wicked, hateful, selfish, sadistic, bloodthirsty, hypocritical, evil, spiteful, whore's son! "Where was this god when a boy was beaten by his father just for looking different?! Where was god when this boy's mother was taken from him—the only light in his life—forcing him to flee or else suffer a life of torture?! Where was god when one of his...children was burned alive, AT THE STAKE, while onlookers laughed and cheered?! I will tell you where—he was not there! There was never such a god! There never was! There is no love, no mercy, no justice in this world! Do you think I wanted to take this damned path in life?! Do you think I wanted to study the dark arts, to corrupt the souls of the dead, and to perform forbidden acts of sorcery damned by the bloated, foolish, incompetent church? I DID IT SO THAT I COULD SURVIVE IN THE WORLD THAT HE HIMSELF HATED!!!! Don't you see—he has no right to condemn me! "Answer me, demon," he murmured, his voice almost gone thanks to so much screeching. "Tell me. Give me my answers. Where was this god you serve so blindly? Where was the love that his damned mortal children were supposed to receive? Tell me. Tell me! I am on my knees, begging you to tell me!!!" Malchior fell down, just as he said this, spreading his arms for one final mercy. Thirteen looked at him seriously, hovering very close. In a flash, he did the unthinkable and slashed at Malchior's left eye, destroying it and leaving a great chasm as a scar. For this final indignity, the Dark Scion made the heavens groan with his cries. But not long after, as the initial shock and pain cleared away, Malchior's remaining eye became clear, so clear and so pure that he stopped screaming, took in slow breaths, and quivered. In this slow instant, he now understood—he understood everything. And not only did he come to understand everything he quested for, but in fact everything that had ever existed, from the beginning until now, until it all overwhelmed him and pushed him over the edge. "My God," he whispered, bleeding and gaping in amazement. "I understand now. I see. I can really see. Yes. Yes. This is a marvelous gift." The man in white smiled softly. "Caleb, Son of the First-Father, what is it you seek?" There was only one thing the Scion wished for, above all else, and he spoke her name without hesitation. "I want my Venus." "Then you shall have her, for all men find what they truly seek." He gestured behind Malchior, and as the Scion turned, his ancient stone heart dared to leap again as he beheld the woman who had once saved his soul, and taught him to love. She was not beautiful by mortal standards—she still had that scarred face of hers that marked her as an outcast—but to Malchior, she was more real and more wonderful than anything. And she was really real; he could feel her as they embraced, and could smell her sweet earthy scent, and hear her timid voice. "Caleb," she said, "I am here." "Venus!" he exclaimed, squeezing his one good eye shut in happiness. He held her close enough to feel her pulse, and wept for joy. "Venus, Venus—oh, my Venus, my Venus!" And Malchior's body burst open, releasing his soul. It was finished. Thirteen suddenly jerked aside, his glimmering white aura fading as overwhelming surprise struck him. No, it wasn't finished—he could sense Pale! And...something else. Something powerful. Something that even made him concerned. With all speed, he took off, nothing clouding his thoughts save the retrieval of the fallen angel. ......... Even with the war still raging around them, the group paused to mourn the loss of Captain Amazing—a man who, even at the very end, deserved that title. The surviving members of the Savage Six were especially weepy, and not a dry eye was among them. Priest performed the rites of passage, praying for the safety of his leader's soul, and those who loved the elderly man hung their heads and clasped the hands of their loved ones, sacrificing a few minutes to pay their respects. "We must go," said Setsuka, her voice sounding distant. "I sense that our strange accomplice has made contact with Malchior. Soon we will have little to worry about except the rabble still clinging to life here. It will be good to finally have this war over with." "The war is not over yet," murmured Alicia eerily. A few people looked to their silent comrade, but soon all mysteries were moot as a Something erupted overhead, like the sound of the mightiest titan shrieking in unbearable agony. Everyone knew the sound—they had experienced it before, on the very eve of the battle, and with it too came the unusual chill that overcame the land. Now, the mighty scream was back, so powerful that it broke glass; the following cold sent shivers up even the mightiest spines. "The hell?" whispered Pandora. "That was the sound made by a demon so ancient and powerful, it precedes this very world and strikes fear into the hearts of angels." Everyone jerked back to Alicia, and froze as they noticed she was standing—and glowing—and had sprouted great shimmering black wings. It was Pale. "Pale?" whispered Stalker, who had not seen the angel in awhile. Pale spoke again, but not to anyone in particular. "This monster was unearthed when Malchior called forth his undead—an entity borne from the union between Sin and the Enemy, the chancellor of Pandemonium and the herald of the world's end. It is The Dragon." "The Dragon?" Whispers abounded, and many people shuddered just from hearing Pale's otherworldly description. She nodded quietly, crossing her arms in fear. "It is here," she murmured. "A force this powerful is beyond the reckoning of every living creature." And with a mighty shout she proclaimed, "GET OUT OF THE CITY, NOW!!!" Nobody wanted to argue with her in that state, so they made for the nearest border with all speed, a black shadow above them, growing ever closer. The chill was now brutal: ice and snow formed on the ground in moments, as if the monster's very presence stole the warmth of the sun. The team was nearly to the end of the city after such a maniacal sprint... And then, IT was upon them. Lovers of fantasy stories and films thought that The Dragon would be the standard oversized lizard-creature with wings, belching fire and death. Yet this Dragon was nothing like them: its sheer size was incredible, easily dwarfing most mountains. Its head was really more like a turkey's, wrinkled and savage, and it had the short beak too, but its eyes were demon's, nothing else. Its entire body was covered with long, fine quills, making it resemble a porcupine, but its wings were sheer bone, no flesh to give them integrity. The limbs it had were like salamander's feet; the tail looked like it belonged on a horse, each hair a razor-sharp piece of wire. Its very presence was nauseating, and Pale stood forth to fight it. "Stay back, all of you!" she bade, restraining them with her arm. "I am the only one who can fight this monstrosity! Demon," she addressed it in a strong voice, "even though I am fallen, I command you in the name of almighty Kurios to crawl back into the infernal abyss! Heed my orders, or else I will take you apart!" The monster replied with another of its freezing roars. "I don't think it's going to cooperate, honey," muttered Stalker. Pale ignored her; instead, she prepared for the inevitable battle. Her black wings tripled in size, and the bleak aura around her exploded into a wide shimmering radius, making it look like she was on heavenly fire. A sword erupted from her hand—not a material being, but something alive and organic, rushing with energy. The Dragon spread its skeletal wings to meet the challenge, and shot one of its scaly limbs out to crush the puny glowing thing before it. Pale's true power came to bear, surprising even Amielle. The little angel moved faster than a jet, creating ear-splitting sonic booms as she ground into the monster's needle-flesh, carving her sword deep inside. She flew over its body, smooth as a raging river, her sword ripping and shredding effortlessly—but the monster didn't even seem bothered. Its needles stood on end and actually bent and twisted like snakes to stab Pale, some coming very close, others impaling The Dragon's own body. Pale swerved and looped through the torrent with everything she had, using her shimmering blade to slice through the needles on her way to the creature's neck. She jerked to a halt and swung with all her might. This time The Dragon's reaction was as expected—it screamed in pain, but shed no blood. Its long, reddish head swirled around and chased after Pale, the neck continuing to extend well past its original size. It vomited fire from its small mouth, and now along with the mindlessly jabbing needles, its tail joined the attack, lashing its thousands of whips after the angel. Pale flew directly into the storm and whirled her sword like a tornado, slicing off the razor-sharp wires faster than the eye could see. Emerging from the storm with a few small cuts, she soared high into the air, looped around, and dove back to The Dragon for a second attack. But the monster's long head followed her, even at that height; she paused in midair to regard this unholy sight. "Good Lord," whispered Xianq, clutching her boyfriend's hand tightly. The Dragon's body was still earthbound, but its wings slowly stretched upward, reaching out to claw Pale from the sky. The head and neck itself was as long as a skyscraper now; all of time seemed to freeze in this moment. Pale glared at The Dragon; the Monster of all monsters lurched forward, its mouth opening wider than anyone thought possible. Pale fell backwards, towards the body, spiraling wildly like a shooting star. The skeletal wings were nearing her; she swung at them on the way down, getting nicked here and there as the bony shrapnel fell. She plunged herself into the field of needles waiting for her below, and came bursting out the other end, sending entrails flying everywhere. Every weapon The Dragon had at its disposal was now going after Pale: grubby stubby legs and arms slapping, needles jabbing, the razor-tale lashing, the bony wings swatting, and now the head was pursuing her, spitting balls of fire that Pale sliced through as she flew her way around her enemy, slicing as she saw fit. The sheer mass of the abomination meant that Pale would need to do more than cut it apart to kill it, but so far she was doing fine, staying one step ahead of the beast. Of course, even the luck of angels runs out: The Dragon finally caught her in its jaws and swallowed her whole, shocking everyone. "Pale!!" Amielle stared in horror as her beloved became a snack, and without hesitation, she drew her own blade. But her concern was unnecessary: no sooner did The Dragon sigh in contentment and turn around to leer at the spectators, Pale erupted right out of its body, sending a massive explosion of luminescence radiating outwards, blowing the monster apart from within. The creature's body flew to pieces, and soon the blast evaporated those pieces, just so a messy carcass wouldn't be strewn all over the city. "Pale!!" Amielle was the first at her side; the angel had fallen soon after the big bang, and now laid on the ground, smoke rising from her body. As Amielle knelt down to cradle the love of her life, she drew in a breath of surprise—Pale had somehow reverted back to Alicia! "Alicia?" she whispered. "Are you okay?" Alicia Moore stirred, feeling as if her entire body was both numb and awash with flame. She managed to smile at her love and took her hand. "It took...a lot out of us. Just let us rest, Amielle..." She fainted quietly, concerning her lover for a brief moment. Cobra came by and checked the girl, and concluded that she was just incredibly weary and in need of a good long rest. They all were. "There's still a lot to do," said Priest, dusting himself off. "We have Malchior and the remnants of the armies to drive away. I suggest we let Stalker take care of Alicia, while the rest of us split up and—" "There is no need to go after the Dark Scion," spoke a very familiar voice. Everyone knew who it was, but they still didn't like it. Amielle glared at him. "Why not? Did you kill him?" "I only gave him what he wanted," answered Thirteen. "His soul is now eternally at rest. So that is why there is no need to go after him. I sensed that Pale was in this area, so I came over to investigate. I can feel her presence if I am close enough to her. Tell me, where is she hidden?" He looked and smiled directly at Amielle, as if he expected the girl to tell him everything. She just bristled and spat on his foot. "Really, dear," he sighed, "there is no need for that." Suddenly, one of the stray zombies lurched out and clamped its teeth on Mr. White's arm, freezing for a second as its victim regarded this new change. "Nuisance," he muttered—and just like that, the zombie disintegrated. The man in white looked around, noticing Malchior's "release" had not quite killed them all off, and sighed wearily. "I suppose I shall have to earn my keep after all," he said, extending his arms. A rush of bluish-white mist, looking much like a river, came flowing out from his body, sweeping towards the legions of undead where they all were destroyed instantly. The organic beings moaned as the river touched them, but aside from a few who ran for cover, nothing happened to them. "You bastard!" exclaimed an outraged Rin. "Why the hell didn't you do that before?!" "Because the Dark Scion was still in existence," he answered smoothly. "Wiping out the undead before their creator was eliminated would be a waste of my efforts." "Then why didn't you kill that guy earlier?" "That is a question I refuse to answer," he said, grinning giddily. Rin roared, and probably would've smacked him around if Snowblood, Ferret, Kailin, and Kathy hadn't held her back (it took all their strength combined to restrain her). "Let it go, Rin," Setsuka whispered, taking her beloved's hand soothingly. "Let it go. What's done is done. The fact of the matter is that our job's a lot easier. Let's focus on driving back the remnants, then this whole thing will be over." Rin slowly became steady, looked Setsuka in the eye, and nodded quietly. ...... It did not take them long to finish off the remaining pockets of evil. With the undead gone, it was a matter of driving back or destroying the living, and many of these fled once they realized their undead allies were lost forever. Those who resisted were wiped clean, but the cost of complete peace was severe. Lady Wonder was at last taken down when one of the more persistent villains shot a harpoon through her, and Morpheus was overwhelmed by countless enemies immune to his sleeping-spells. That three members of the Savage Six could perish in such a short time, regardless of their age, was startling. Priest walked off to be alone, looking inconsolable. Paradox knelt down and embraced the body of Lady Wonder, weeping uncontrollably. The Shift merely stood, staring quietly at Morpheus. "Farewell, my brother," he whispered. The man of a thousand looks knelt down and kissed the forehead of the King of Dreams, whispering a prayer that only he could hear. The others stood by, their victory feeling empty. The age of the old heroes was nearly over, along with the day. The sky was orange and pink with weeping. "If everything here is finished, we should return to headquarters and take a few days to rest," Mora said. "Let's concentrate on our next move after that. Right now I'm too exhausted to think of anything else but a warm bed and a hot bath." "I'm afraid that our vacation will be cut short," said the unmistakable clipped voice of Yohko Kamaguchi, limping slightly as she crossed the ruined city. Only Pandora and Pochanski knew where she had been and what had happened, but suffice to say that everyone was glad for her absence. But now, the look on her face... "What do you mean?" "I mean we'll find a most unpleasant surprise in store for us when we get back," she stated, shutting her cell phone. "MERCS headquarters has been taken over by the remnants of the Dead Zodiac. They invaded while we were busy here." "You've got to be kidding!" Pandora snarled, balling her fists up in rage. Yohko shook her head. "No, I just spoke to Yui. Frankly I'm amazed the Zodiac weren't able to stop her from sending that transmission, but I guess she got lucky. In any case, it seems we have another big fight ahead of us." "...Just great." Pandora grumbled and marched off, still nursing all her old wounds. First this three-day war, and now the Dead Zodiac—most of whom she had avoided fighting. Now she had to team up with these freaks, again, and take back the headquarters before... "Oh my god," she murmured, dark thoughts entering her mind. She whirled around and gave Kamaguchi a chilling glare. "Yohko... My god, Yohko, what if they find your secrets?" "I considered that," said the doctor, still sounding calm. "I managed to secure them, but who knows how long they'll be safe?" "Wait a minute, what secrets?" asked Namie. "I thought I told everybody," Yohko gestured. "Remember how I said I was involved with experiments regarding many of your number? Naturally, as a scientist, I kept the records of those experiments and even some physical data I collected. If those secrets should fall into the wrong hands—and we must all admit that the Dead Zodiac constitute as thus—then the catastrophe that would follow would be unimaginable." For the longest time, everyone was silent as they let this final tidbit sink in. Lady Luck summed it all up fairly well. "Guys, I have a bad feeling about this." The End of Part Six Epilogue As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" –Revelations 8:13
Back to Champions Index - Back to Original Fiction Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction