Shroud applauded.
"Like I said, that is a real superhero. Chills. Top notch. You made my men nervous... Okay, we're out of here." he said, then added as he was leaving. "According to my calculations, you would've only taken about thirty two percent of us with you, but yeah half sounds better."
"Thank you for saving me." I said as she untied me.
"Don't worry, I've got you." she replied. Then she got me out of the bar, carrying me to the same billboard where she'd offered me the dispatcher job a few months back. I then explained how I'd ended up there.
"You're sure he's telling the truth about Invisigal?" she asked.
"Yeah... I saw the footage." I confirmed.
"What is her play? Why didn't she tell us anything? I don't even know why she'd want it in the first place…"
"She's planning something, and I don't know what." I said, unable to answer her questions. "Sigh… I just need to lay low for a few weeks and I'll get back on my feet." I added, enduring the pain they'd inflicted on me.
"Take your time." she said until suddenly we started hearing civilians screaming.
[ Miguel's POV ]
It was late at night, and the offices were in full panic. I was back at SDN, in the hangar with Royd, working on the armored exosuit.
"It's absolute chaos out there, we need to finish this right now." Royd said as we assembled the armor.
"Thanks to everyone for coming back, no matter what you were doing." Robert said to the team over comms.
"I took some gummies to fall asleep, so..."
"You're not gonna finish that sentence, big man?" Punch Up said to Golem, who was dozing off.
"Hm? Oh? Shit-yeah. I was gonna say I might not be at full capacity right now." he continued.
"Look, we are short-handed." Robert said.
"Fuck you." Punch Up shot back.
"But we should have the rest of the team trickling in, so we'll have to make do for now. Lucky for us, we've got the best on the roster." Robert continued.
"Stop it, we all know you'd say the same bullshit no matter who was here." Prism added.
"Maybe, but we all know it didn't need to be said." he replied. "We just need to hold the line. Blonde Blazer will be on the field and… Waterboy is here too."
"Who?" Prism asked.
"The kid. The janitor." Robert explained. "Everything in this city is on fire. He's the most valuable man in Los Angeles. He can do it, I believe in him."
"Hey… uh… thanks… good evening everyone… don't worry… uh… I-I am here to help… ahah-ah-ah…" Waterboy chimed in.
"Glad to have you on the team." Robert said.
"I'm done with what I had to do here. I'm heading to the field." I said, leaving Royd to handle the final details.
"Perfect." Robert replied.
I was now moving from one place to another, pulling people out of buildings engulfed in flames.
"Hey, I'm here." Malevola said as she joined the comms.
"Get your ass here, babe, we're putting in some mad OT." Prism said.
Time passed, and the other members joined us.
Missions piled up.
Beep beep* We have 487s raiding a mall with civilians inside a new mission announced.
"I'll take care of it." I said, and set off to locate them.
I reached the scene within minutes, clinging to the sides of buildings, police lights reflecting off shattered storefronts. Inside the mall, civilians running in every direction, automatic gunfire echoing beneath the glass ceiling. The 487s had barricaded the entrances, heavily armed, zero interest in negotiating, and there was also a fire at the place.
'I don't have the luxury of being clean about this.'
I dropped from the ceiling of the main atrium, landing between two of them. Before they can even raise their weapons, my claws snapped out with one clean motion, a throat, then the other. They hitted the floor before they understood what happened.
I moved.
I cutted through the mall, using walls, escalators, pillars. A group of 487s was trying to take civilians hostage near the central fountain. I fired a web, ripped a rifle out of someone's hands, yanked him toward me and drived my claws into his chest. I didn't slow down.
Another one aimed at my back. Too slow. I pivoted, striked.
He dropped.
I runned up a wall, sprinted horizontally above a kiosk, then dived straight into the next group.
"Aim better, you assholes! Shit! He's all alone, damn it!"
"You think we're not trying, you son of a bitch?!" tensions aroused on their side.
Bullets shattered glass behind me, I dodged and slashed, going through them one after the other.
The last pocket of resistance tried to fall back toward the underground parking lot. I intercepted them at the entrance, trapped them between burning cars.
It was over.
We couldn't even hear a gunshot anymore, only sirens in the distance and people crying.
I retracted my claws, took a breath, then announced to the comms.
"487s neutralized."
"Okay, Spider, not far from where you are there's been a report of a bomb. Can you handle it?" Robert said over comms, sounding overwhelmed.
Without hesitation, I headed to the location and disarmed the bomb.
I chained another mission with Golem, then one with Waterboy.
"Waterboy, you're doing really well." Robert said.
"I'm on it… n-no sto-pping me!" Waterboy replied.
It kept going like that until we suddenly lost communications with Robert. Nothing came through anymore, no missions.
"Shit. Something's happening at SDN." I muttered, and immediately headed back to HQ.
[ Royd's POV ]
"Not good, bro." I said to Robert, who was next to me, when the power suddenly cut out and the alarm blared that this was not a drill, that security systems were disabled, and that the building had to be evacuated.
"The backup generator?" he asked.
"It should already be on." I replied.
'Shit, the mecha suit.' I thought, and started running toward the hangar.
When I got there, I caught Invisigal looking over the schematics of the new mecha without my authorization. I grabbed her from behind.
"What are you doing here, Invisigal? Don't tell me you're trying to steal this." I said.
"Let me go." she snapped, kicking at me.
"I caught you red-handed." I said.
"You really think if I were doing that you'd have caught me? Think." she shouted back.
"Hey-hey! What the fuck is going on here?" Robert demanded as he entered the room.
"She tried to steal the new mecha suit." I replied.
"Rrrr! Fuck off!" she snapped, kicking me again.
"You're a traitor. I trusted you." I said, disappointed. I set her down and cuffed her to a desk.
"Whoawhoawhoa!" Robert reacted.
I searched Invisigal to see if she'd taken anything and found it. "It's the Astral Pulse."
"This is the real deal?" Robert said, taking it in his hands.
"We don't need it anymore right now, but you should keep it." I said as I turned to him.
"Yes, but you need me, you don't even know what's coming!" Invisigal shouted.
"What are you talking about, Visi?" Robert asked.
I walked over to my computer and pulled up the security cameras. SDN was completely surrounded by villains.
"Fuck, we're under attack." I couldn't help but say.
"You need my help." Invisigal followed up.
"No, you've already done enough." I replied, then added. "I'm going."
"Wait, call the Z-Team, they can handle this." Robert said, grabbing my arm.
"That won't work. You won't be able to contact them, they cut all network access before coming. That's why this place isn't already swarming with heroes." Invisigal said.
"You know a lot about their plan for someone who claims not to be involved." Robert replied, and I had to agree.
"Sigh… listen, they tried to recruit me again, but I said no." she answered.
"Bullshit." I said, no longer sure whether we could trust her. "Watch her. I'm going to get the power back on. Keep her tied up and don't listen to her, we never know." I handed him a taser just in case and left.
[ Robert's POV ]
I understood why Royd was so distrustful, so I took the taser he handed me before leaving.
"I've also got pepper spray if that's not enough." Visi said, still cuffed to a desk. I decided to sit down on a chair and not play into her game.
"Come on, untie me." she asked.
I just looked at her, and she continued. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You didn't lie to me, but you didn't tell me the whole truth either." I replied this time.
"I'd love to sit here and explain it all to you, but a pile of assholes is swarming the building." she shot back.
"You know, I just don't understand why you didn't tell me you had it." I asked her.
"I was afraid Shroud would come after you." she confessed.
"Well, you know… he did."
"And if you'd had the Astral Pulse, he'd have it right now." she said. "I was trying to- to protect you, Robert."
I was about to answer when we heard someone moving in the hallway.
"Robert, you don't have powers. Please let me help you." she asked. After a moment of reflection, I freed her.
When I opened the door and checked where the enemy was, I saw him pissing into a plant pot. His weapon was on the ground on the other side of the hallway, holding a door open. I started sneaking up behind him to tase him, but he suddenly dropped unconscious.
It was Visi. "Nice job." I said to her.
"Mind tucking his balls back into his pants? At least let him keep some dignity." she asked.
"Seriously, why are you asking me that?" I replied.
"I kinda know the guy. It's bad enough that he's unconscious, we're not gonna leave him like that on top of it." she justified.
"Fuck no, I'm not doing that." I answered instantly.
"What, seriously… Sigh." She did it herself. "Ugh, that's disgusting."
We went back to the hangar and saw that fighting had already broken out through the computer. 'I have to do something.'
I headed to the room where my Mecha was supposed to be, but instead there was something else.
"No way… they did that. Unbelievable."
[ Miguel's POV ]
Just like I expected when I arrived at SDN, there were enemies on every side.
Royd was fighting them alone, so I jumped off the roof and stomped on one, on his head, before joining him.
"Spidah, damn, I really thought I was gonna die here." he said to me.
I pulled out my claws, took off my mask, bared my fangs, and told him. "I've got this. Go catch your breath, and also go find Robert and show him his armored exosuit."
Most of the enemies started to surround me, whether on the rooftops or on the ground, all of them focusing only on me.
"You don't have to tell me twice." he said, entering the building, our opponents letting him through.
"So this is Spider, the guy the boss told us so much to watch out for. I knew it was exaggerated." said one of them in front of me, holding two curved red swords. Then he raised his hand and told the men around him,
"Kill him."