A quick sigh escaped her lips as another broken heel dug into the ground, the very earth itself breaking slightly as a tremor ripped through it. Strand after strand of raven black hair fell from the tightly pulled bun on the back of the hero’s head as she watched the force of her stomp shot through the ground. Another mighty stomp hit the ground as the two waves connected creating cracks along the surface of the road; the blackened street began to shake with clashing powers. On one side of the street stood a heroine not in the spandex or cape, mask or hood of others, even a porcelain mask of dark power like the Carnival of Shadows. A white skirt coming down to just above her knees leading down well toned legs augmented by her unnatural strength, a pair of now broken heels sat barely held by their straps. A burn like wound covered most of her back, the residue of the energy still burning the fibers of her shirt with the deep imprints of a pair of knuckles clearly visible.
Standing across from her watching with a glee was the nearly spitting image of the heroine. Her hair loose and short cropped to end in spikes dyed a slight shade of red, her shirt nothing more then a biker’s leather jacket and exposed midriff as the sparks of pure red energy mixed in the air with asphalt destroying two like a bug to a bug zapper. Both of her fist glowed with the same brilliant energy that burned the very skin on the heroine’s back. A skirt hugged her hips that barely passed the mid of her thighs with fish net stockings leading almost high enough to escape sight beneath the material with almost as much length to her boots, stopping just beneath her knee. Her cheeks tightened in a grin as the tremors stopped and the sparks died down, her fists slowly fading from their crimson glow.
A million thoughts raced through the heroine’s head as she watched her counterpart straighten up and begin to brush her hands down the front of her jacket. From both her right and left she could hear the growing chatter of heroes of all shapes and sizes gathering to view the events. Most still learning the ins and outs of what it meant to be a hero, their instructions still coming from Ms. Liberty, the leader of the Vindicators. The overwhelming shadow of the atlas statue began to stretch along the ground from the setting sun, the small remaining hints of light reflecting from the nearly broken glasses sitting upon her face. Her foot digging into the ground for a tighter holding as she stared over the tops of broken pillars of earth most toppled over coming to rest upon the broken street.
~~Moments Earlier~~
Normally the bunny ear wearing heroine would have been flying high and fast to avoid the perverted citizens and heroes alike, after all what better chance to see up one’s skirt then as they whizzed around in the air. And while it held true most of the time, this instance was not so true, hidden under her pure white dress was a pair of shorts stopping near mid thigh. Her long hair was pulled up into a tight bun on the back of her head with her fake ears resting comfortably on the top of her head in an almost headband effect and a broad grin across her face. She was happy, she was content, she was flying almost randomly and she didn’t care, the melody of a tune was escaping the flying hero’s throat as she hummed.
There was a small bit of chit chat on both a local and global level, young heroes asking for advice to one another, talking about their day to day lives even the occasional slip as they called one another by their real names. Nothing that really interested her but a small toothy smile shined forth to replace her grin, there was no issue with who knew neither her real name nor her ‘Heroine’ name, it was simply…
“DIAO!”
The small communicator taking the place of a pearl earring through the lobe of her ear blared forth the female voice on the other end with such a sudden shock it caused a nose dive toward the ground. Both eyes were closed not in happiness anymore but in pain as her hand came up to plug her ear from the noise, it was obvious who the voice on the other line was but to shout was just uncalled for. One of Diao’s eyes opened to readjust her in time to see the street closing entirely too fast for her comfort, and with a sharp arc the street became a bit more leveled as the wind kicked up along her path. A duo of heroes that had been fighting off a pair of hellion muggers, and the muggers themselves for that matter, took several steps back from the curb where they fought as they witnessed the adverted disaster.
Diao’s head snapped down as she flew, the yellow divider lines of the road passing under her as her height leveled off and a hand came up to press the flat palm of her hand against one of her breasts. A quite sentence escaped under her breath as she began to gain altitude, passing along the side of the statue of the great hero Atlas as she went, “Thank god I inherited grandma’s bust and not mom’s…” She let out a quick sigh and snapped her hand away from her breast and up to her ear lightly pinching the pearl as she passed by the city hall, the large flag flowing like the cape of Hero 1. “Yeah what is it Li..er I mean Philly Girl?”
“Hurry up you slow poke, Acey and Paul are already here and if you don’t move your tail we’re going to start the fun without you, look Allastor is already in sight now.”
There was a small click as if the communicator had been put down and the voice came through from afar, a second click and nothing but static and then finally one final click and it went dead. In fact everything went dead, the chatter of the young heroes stopped, the people along the streets stared at their cell phones, and even the police drones stopped flashing their lights. The deep whirling sound, like thunder rolling over and over into itself from above echoed through heavens above, and the red lightening came down square into Diao’s back.
From the ground it appeared like a red light had struck the air, coming out in an explosion of energy in every direction as the earth itself cracked from the heroine’s impact. Pain swelled in her from two directions, the burning sensation in her spine and the blunt impact with the ground. Pressed flat into the ground her hands were barely able to push herself up, her head raising off the ground to peer from side to side in an attempt to find the meteor that hit her, any sign of the force that struck with such force it took brought the tanker class hero quite literally to her knees. That sign came with a crash as a pair of boots dug into the still burning mark on her back causing her to go flat again, her insides crying out in pain as even with her natural resistance to pain it still hurt like hell.
Diao’s head turned slightly to look up at the figure standing on her, the sun casting a heavy shadow over her as assaulters face and body but it was most definitely female by the way she stood. One hand was resting on her hip as her heel dug in causing a sharp inhale to escape Diao’s mouth, her gloved right hand beginning to move to strike the woman in the knee was stopped with a sudden flash of light. Diao’s hand was being crushed by a glowing fist, the energy strong enough to burn away the material covering her hands, as well as the tarred and broken pieces of the road from the impact. The energy faded, dissipating into the air as her arm was pulled up and squeezed tightly by the wrist, the muscles of Diao’s body fighting against the pressure but truly it was all a distraction. The boot that had dug into the base of her spine had moved up at the same time she had stopped the heroine from using her all too known strength.
One solid slam and elbow met knee, Diao’s elbow bending and snapping audibly as it met the fish net stocking covered knee and then was pushed till her entire forearm was running down the opposite side of the cafe. And yet it did not stop, her arm continued to be pulled and pressed as hard as she tried to fight it until her shoulder became the focus of the pressure and with one solid stomp the ball socket joint snapped, “” her entire arm going limp as the pain was finally too much. An uncontrolled scream echoed forth, every young hero and heroine, human or otherwise, had finally let curiosity get the better of them. A small team was the first to arrive, 4 strong heading toward the well known sewer network that every young hero group tries to clean out even for a moment. One was clearly a bounding of human and another more recent visiting alien species, Kheldian as they were called.
A species made entirely of energy they came in two flavors within the registration database of heroes within Paragon City. The Peaceful beings that joined with a willing hose in a bonding to produce a being with inherent control over light energy; they were known as Peace bringers. Their cousins were masters over dark energy, they were born evil but had a change of heart and like Peace bringers they too would bind with a willing host; they were known as War shades. This young hero was definitely the former as he, a general assumption, floated around in a form of pure energy above the rest of his team to act as a long range support. He had no arms or legs but instead a smooth curved figure ending in an elongated rear that split near the end into 2 independently controlled spade shaped tails. Several small tentacles were sprouting from his back as he defied gravity and flowed around his team like a feather in the wind before coming to stop next to another hero.
Diao’s eyes closed as the other heroes began to turn grey from her shutting eyes, the pain causing tears to begin to form at the corners of eyes. Her broken arm was finally let go and kicked back toward the ground, the multiple broken bones grinding against one another causing more shards to break away and imbed into the surrounding muscle. All she could do to keep from screaming out again in pain was gasp through gritted teeth, taking sharp inhales to try to control the pain which was causing more tears to form. “My My, going to cry? I don’t think you’ve done that since poor little mommy and daddy went boom.” The color had drained from Diao’s face as the words finally hit her ears, her head turning almost to the point her chin was resting between her shoulder blades to peer at her attack one more time. The sun no longer cast a shadow of her, fish net stockings traveled all the way up her legs stopping at the tops of her thighs.
A fist was raised into the air as the synthetic skin began to glow with energy, the visible lines of power running through artificial veins acting as conduits. The glow growing brighter as more energy gathered at the knuckles before spilling out into the air like embers from a fire, her hands flexed as the energy was drawn back rapidly forming a barrier around the metallic fists. Her heavy boot dug into Diao’s back deeper, pressing the heel into the spine threatening to snap it in half, “Do you like how I overcame that stupid little headband? Really, strength like that is useless in a world where everything is about melting before cutting or whatever. Neuron…I’m sorry, Synapse… was more then happy to provide me with these neat little arms after I did him a few little favors. New body, new name, but you can just call me Hue for now.” She gave a small grin down at her helpless counter part, her back heel swiveling slightly to dig in deeper.
The glowing fist shoved down hard onto of her head smashing it into the ground as the energy crackled in her ear, sizzling and burning the flesh and hair from her head. The tips of her attacker’s fingers worked up higher running along the outline of the headband, the very source of the tanker’s power. “Without your little headband you’ll be just as helpless as… well I’m sure you remembered what happened to our parents.” Her other hand raised into the air as flesh from her own face and body began to melt away as she sacrificed her own life force and placed it into the energy gathering at her fist. The red glow magnified rapidly to the point it tinted everything in its color along the street as her fist began to cock back and slam forward. She was going to put her hand through the weakened tanker’s chest forcefully.
A small dagger flipped through the air from the sidewalk as he found its way into her shoulder, the blade barely doing anything beside dink off and clatters to the floor, but it was enough. The culprit of the throw still in the pose as he stared at the scene going on standing several feet in front of his team, the glow of energy slipping from his eyes as he began to focus it into a more concentrated beam. 2 small streams of white energy flew from his eyes striking the villain into the chest, her jacket flaring in the wind from the hit but not enough her clothes were burned by the attack. Her grin widened as she watches the other members of his team starting to gather up the courage to fight as well, one trying his best to call for help but to no avail. “So the little kiddies want to play with me as well? Well little Diao, it seems you get to not only join our parents in hell but you’ll get to teach these puny little kids the ropes in the afterlife as well.”
Diao’s eyes grew wide as she struggled to move after the pressure on her back was lifted, her mouth starting to seep blood as she coughed and sputtered out in a hushed whisper as she watched her counter-part begin to close the distance between the heroes and herself. “R…run. The…hospitals are.. ” it was too late as one hero drew a set of swords and began to run forward, both of his blades striking the leather jacket and sliding down across the front of her body finally ruining the material before she gave a small grin and continued to walk forward. His costume was nothing more then a small little black mask with points giving it a black widow’s hourglass appearance. Short black hair that looked like bed head and a pair of jeans, no shirt to speak of with the two katana sheaths crises crossing across his back. His eyes grew wide under his mask as he moved his blades away and didn’t see a scratch on her, his head tilting up slightly to look toward the glint in her eyes as she stood just a few inches taller then him.
His back began to glow red as her fist pushed in with a mighty jab, his body falling forward with a gasp as blood began to quickly spill from his mouth. His insides were beginning to boil and bubble as her fist pushed in farther until finally it pushed through completely. His back exploded with her energy as sizzling blood flew toward his teammates, his entire body going limp as the stark realization dawned on the heroes; they were fighting without their life insurance as it had come to be known. The hospital teleporters would have teleported him away as soon as his vitals got to low, but he still remained, his body falling backward lifeless to the ground as she pulled her fist out and watched the blood drip to the ground before tilting her head up with a grin. “I always wondered what squid organs felt like. Come on little alien, why don’t you show me what your insides are like.”
No sooner had the young hero’s body fell did the small sound of whimpers escape from behind, hushed and muffled through a bitten sleeve as pain coursed its way through her body. A small blonde haired girl, her eyes closed tightly as her body seem to be faltering, her hands extended out with a glow of red as she pointed them not at the monster that had just killed her teammate but the heroine that laid on the ground. Diao could only watch with small amazement as the girl continued, her wounds mending rapidly as her healer’s form seemed to shift and waver, parts of her clothing seeming to change to resemble the surrounding environment. The whimpers got too loud, and it was enough to draw attention away from the others as the sadistic counter part of Diao turned her head and looked.
Her teeth grinded together as her entire expression changed to that of nothing but hate, her first step simply that before her next one was at jogging speed. 2 steps later she was in a dead run toward the healer, her fist raised up to kill the girl as the energy began to gather rapidly. She knew what her fate was and all the empathy type defender could do was watch as the energy came closer and closer to her, the glow getting so bright her eyes forced themselves shut as she braced for an impact that never happened. One small eye cracked open to see the fist had stopped just short of her face, the energy barely far enough that it couldn’t touch her. Diao’s hand gripped the wrist tightly as she began to crack the metal frame under it, the energy faltering and dissipating as a fail safe. Her glasses were half cracked as she could feel the heels of both of her shoes beginning to crack and break under her. Dirt and burns covered her dress as she let out an almost feral growl, her eyes staring toward where the energy had been before her head turned slightly.
Hue’s eyes began to grow wide as she struggled to pull her hand back, her other hand raising up to slam down into her primal earth counter part’s head. Diao’s head snapped down from the strike but began to lift back up again, her skin no so much as burned by the attack as her other bad arm began to raise up slowly. The bones were still out of place but the pain had died down for the time being as she forced all thought of pain behind her, dulling it as her eyes focused through the cracked lenses. The gloves she wore on both hands were still burned tattered remains, the true purpose of protecting her hands from her own strength but they still had another hidden function. The black smoke that began to rise from both of her hands from her fists rapidly began to work its way up her arms to engulf them in darkness.
Diao’s left hand threw the caught right arm to the side as both arms began to rapidly punch into the chest of her counter part, each punch infused with darkness from the netherworld granted by black sand in each finger tip of her glove. The last punch in the furry of attacks came a bit differently, her entire body shifted as she spun around swirling her arm as the muscles in her arms tightened. Her fist came up toward the chin traveling from the stomach and up between the valley of her counter part’s breasts and struck with a sound of thunder. Hue’s body had taken a step back from the furry as her head came down to try and inspect the damage before her head snapped with such force that her entire body curved backwards, lifting into the air and toward the sky for several feet. Her body came back down with a hard thud connecting with the pavement as she laid there for several moments still in a daze.
Her lips were red with blood as she stared toward the empty sky looking for a sign of what had happened, her eyes finally finding the downward traveling heel coming toward her stomach. Her first reaction was to roll to the side but as the foot came down just a second after she moved her body the praetorian’s body flew through the air, jettisoned from the ground by the force of the shockwave that traveled from the tanker’s stomp. Hue scrambled rapidly to her feet as she growled and spit out saliva and blood mixed spit, her tongue working along her teeth as she found several cracked from the punch to the jaw she just received. Her hands dug into the earth dragging up asphalt and concrete alike as she slowed her flight and stood up straight, her false skin ripped away exposing the metallic arms hidden within. Cold solid steel and wires, motor joints and hinges replaced the warm skin and flowing blood of the Praetorian.
Cracked lips ran red with blood as she began to straighten up, her blonde hair beginning to blow in the gentle breeze like reeds on a river bank. The light that began to flicker in her eyes was no longer the sun but the glow cast by her fists, the blood red energy beginning to cast its glow on everything around it. Her gaze never shifting from the returned glare from her dimensional double, her eyes beginning to fill with rage as her knuckles cracked. Her muscles tightened, her body becoming unwavering in its place as the only sound that passed between them was the gentle dragging sound. The fallen hero’s body was being dragged along the ground by his former teammates, his swords long since fallen from his lifeless grip. The young healer had succumb to the pain she had taken on, her eyes shut tight as she laid propped again up against a wall, the mask she wore pulled up over her head to expose her pale face.
The praetorian’s foot came down with a hard stomp as the earth itself began to shake, spikes of solid rock shooting forth like the back of a porcupine toward her counter part. The very earth itself breaking and crumbling, forcing its way toward the surface their accent was halted as Diao’s foot once again came down. With heavy snap went unnoticed as the heel to her shoe gave way completely, flying off to the side like a small bullet as it imbedded into the closed door of a parked car. The earth cracked and shook as two waves of pure energy came together, stalagmite after stalagmite cracking and breaking apart as the stomp continued to fight their approach. Hue’s foot came down hard as another wave of earth shot forth, This time their approach was uninhibited as instead of another quake caused by her counter part’s strength the tops of the stalagmites gave with a might crash as she kicked her foot sending a spiraling piece of broken asphalt through the air, Hurling it with a overwhelming kick.
The assault was met by the glowing fists, the top of the street turned into a projectile melting before the enhanced strength behind her robotic arms shattered it to pieces. Dust and shrapnel combined in the air as her fist began to part the clouds in an unstopping attack as it connected with something solid yet again. The glow from her fists nearly obstructed the view of what or who she had hit but the bunny ears that stuck forth from the top of her head, a costume piece for Halloween that had never been taken down, was more then enough to show just what she had struck. One jab was met with another as their fists connected mid throw, pure strength and enhanced strength combined in a spark show as thunder and lightening crashed together. Their fists pulled back and met again in another explosion of light and sound as Hue’s other hand pulled back and began to beep.
The beep gave way to a buzz; the buzz gave way to the reverberating thunder that had struck Diao out of the air moments before. The blood red glow vanished in a brilliant flash of light as Hue’s entire body seemed to fade into nothingness, simultaneously appearing on the ledge of the multistory building behind the heroes. A small grin crept across the Praetorian’s lips as she raised her hand into the air, the sky above the street, nearly even level with her hand, began to open as if worms had chewed through the sky. 6 pure swirling holes of energy, sucked into themselves and expelling energy began to glow and expand like bubbles before bursting. No longer was the view black but seeming to reflect the view of the ground, the ground nearly completely destroyed as almost in perfect unison each portal spewed forth a figure shrouded in a mantle.
~~
Currently in the works. Hope to have it finished shortly.
