Chapter 5 is here. Enjoy the rapid updates while they last. In this chapter our heroes continue their epic battle against the s class villains of earth bet.
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Chapter 5
A few days later I was to be found seated at my laptop and clicking away.
After my resolution to help Taylor with her mad plan to take on the various S Class threats around the globe I had started with the obvious first step. Research.
Next to my laptop was an open notebook that I was using to write down copious amount of notes. Next to that was a folded up paper that was folded so that the obituary section was visible. One particular obituary notice was circled with a red marker. It told of the sudden death by accident of one Thomas Calvert, who was a government servant of modest rank. I wasn't sure if this indicated Coil faking his death or his actual death. But considering Tattletale seemed to be genuinely a ward and Dinah Alcott was still with her parents, I checked, I decided to treat this as proof of death.
That wasn't the only surprise I had gotten during these last few days.
Apparently I, or rather Victor Root, was distantly related to the late Mr Andrew Root who was the last of his family and rather rich. I researched the late Mr Root carefully and even hired a private investigator to dig into it but wasn't able to find anything to say that he wasn't who he appeared to be. So I accepted the money and ended up rich. This translated to better furniture for my flat and an actual tinker lab for Taylor which I cajoled her into accepting. So now we had an actual secret base. A tiny secret base that used to be the master bedroom of my apartment.
We also had costumes in the works.
We had visited the rouge cape Parian and persuaded her to make us costumes. It wasn't cheap, but it promised to be professional and good quality. The costumes weren't due until the end of the week, so we spent the time preparing.
Which brought me back to my research.
I was carefully categorizing the enemies we will be facing in the future. A disturbing number of the S Class capes were to be found right here in North America. Only two of them were to be found in other continents.
There was the Ash Beast in North Africa. He was a cape that generates a
massive firestorm around himself that was always active. He was also the reason most of Africa was both unpopulated and uncivilized. The Ash Beast spent his time walking around and his very presence reduced entire provinces and districts to ash. Thankfully he moved slowly, so people did have enough time to evacuate. But his presence made permanent settlements in North Africa impractical.
There was the Sleeper in Russia. And no one knew just what he did. What everyone did know was that vast parts of Russia had been quarantined and all attempts to invade or infiltrate this quarantine zone had ended in epic failure. The only consolation was that the Sleeper was static. He had planted his ass in the middle of his territory and hasn't moved since. As far as anyone could tell, he only ever defended himself.
Both these threats were terrifying.
The only reason they weren't called Endbringers was because they were passive. They didn't actively attack cities. But they had enough power to do Endbringer levels of damage. To put things in perspective, entire
armies of African countries had been deployed against the Ash Beast. Entire divisions of Russia's massive army had been deployed against the Sleeper. There were even rumors of nukes launched against the Sleeper. All of this had achieved absolutely nothing.
By comparison, the only S Class threat in North America that might come close to this level of danger was Nilbog in Ellisburg. A walled city state filled to the brim with mutant monstrosities. This wasn't what made him so dangerous however. It was the threat of tinker made plagues and diseases that might be unleashed if Nilbog was ever attacked. Such an incident could potentially depopulate the planet. So Nilbog got to keep his little kingdom and play god inside the walls of Ellisburg.
Then there was Heartbreaker in Canada. He was a Master cape who could mind control anyone who came into his range. He was also said to be an amoral monster who spent his time mastering every pretty woman he saw and breeding a small army of children. Then he tortured said children in an attempt to get them to trigger. He was left mostly alone because he could master any hero that attacked him and any serious attack against him will also have to cut their way through an army of mastered innocents. The only good thing about him seemed to be that he lacked any and all ambition. He seemed content to sit tight in Montreal and enjoy the comforts of his harem.
And then there was the Slaughterhouse Nine. A group of massively powerful capes who spent their time randomly attacking towns and cities with the sole purpose of killing and torturing the inhabitants. They also had several very dangerous capes among them. Capes like the Siberian who was invulnerable and went toe to toe with the Triumvirate and killed one of them. Or capes like Bonesaw who had the potential to release Nilbog like plagues into the world. Not to mention their leader Jack Slash, who had an incredibly dangerous Thinker power that let him read any parahuman in his range.
Both Nilbog and Heartbreaker were within easy reach of Brockton bay. The Nine were nomads and were very hard to pin down. So it looked like these two were going to be our first targets.
With that thought in mind I started making a plan of attack.
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Elsewhere in the city, the dynamic duo known as Uber and Leet were also busy in their hidden lab.
"How long were you working on this again?" Uber asked his partner as he ran his eyes over the structure that occupied a huge section of the warehouse they currently used as a lab.
"Since the day I lost the probe droid" Leet answered. "It's actually a combination of three designs I drew up a long time ago. I thought I had lost the notes. But I found them again when we got back to the base that day"
"Uh huh" Uber was now making a slow circuit of the structure. "And this is supposed to be a Star Craft building?"
"A Protoss Pylon" Leet confirmed.
Indeed it looked like one. An intricately sculpted massive metal ring of some golden metal with a giant crystal the size of a bus in the center. The entire structure floated about a foot off the ground.
"How does it get power?" Uber asked the obvious question.
"There's a power plant in the crystal" Leet answered promptly.
"Uh huh" Uber nodded. "I wont ask how you are powering something like this. Instead I will take it on faith that you aren't stupid enough to build a nuclear reactor or some other equally dangerous"
"Umm" That was Leet's eloquent reply.
"Right" Uber sighed. "And this works just like a real Protoss Pylon?"
"Yes" Leet confirmed.
"It has a shield?"
"Yes! And it's really strong. In theory it can even tank a nuclear blast so long as it's around the fat man power levels"
"Uh huh" Uber was not looking happy. "And it can teleport?"
"Yes! It has two modes. It can teleport alone or It can teleport with a group of people"
"And it's range?" Uber asked.
"Anywhere on the planet"
"Okay" Uber took a deep breath and turned to fully face his partner. "And are you sure, absolutely sure, that this won't malfunction in some catastrophic way? Because dude, you have already done most of this stuff. Force fields, teleporters and even antigrav platforms. And you know what will happen if you try to build the same thing too many times"
"Well" Leet was looking uncomfortable, but he was also looking stubborn. "I have built all of this before, but I have never combined them like this. And I was using my old designs so it might not count. I know this is ambitious, but you have to admit this would be really cool if it works"
"If it works, yes" Uber rubbed his face tiredly. "Okay, you already built it. Nothing to be done now"
"Yeah"
"I'm actually surprised you managed all this in such a short time" Uber gestured at the Pylon. "This is huge!"
"Yeah well, I already had the designs so I really just had to assemble them and do the cosmetic work"
"Okay" Uber said again. "So what do we do with it? Dress up as Zelots and raid the Terrans?"
"That's an idea!" Leet brightened. "We can manage the armor easy. The face might need a mask…."
Crackle! Crackle!
Uber froze. "Dude" He whispered. "What was that?"
"Oh god!" Leet whispered in terror. "I think that's the….."
Crackle! Crackle! Whiiiinnnneee!
They both looked at the Pylon.
"Fuck!"
"Shit!"
ZOOOM!
With the bright white flash that near blinded both of them the Pylon vanished.
They both stood looking at the place where the Pylon had once stood.
"What happened?" Uber asked in a faint voice.
"I think the control unit malfunctioned" Leet had collapsed and was now sitting on the floor. "I didn't think to check how many times I had built that before"
"So it just teleported out?" Uber asked.
"Yes" Leet whined.
"Where?" Uber demanded.
"No idea. It can be anywhere in the planet"
"Fuck!"
"Yup" Leet nodded. "Uh, and dude?"
"Yes?" Uber was sure he wasn't going to like this.
"The power plant of the pylon was…… sort of a nuclear fusion reactor"
"FUCK!"
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In the sandy deserts of North Africa, in what was once the nation of Tunisia, the Ash Beast roamed.
A titanic firestorm raged around him. The temperature inside was hot enough to vaporise steel and completely destroy living matter. And this firestorm ranged for kilometers in every direction. Fortunately, the people that had lived here were long gone. Leaving their homes behind and fleeing in the face of this unstoppable monster. Resisting the Ash Beast had long ago been given up. The best response to the Ash Beast was now considered to be evacuation. Thus the Ash Beast found himself facing an empty desolate landscape. As always.
ZOOOM!
For the first time in a long time, the Ash Beast was honestly surprised.
There before him was a strange structure that had just materialized out of thin air. It was also projecting some type of energy shield that actually holding back his power. The Ash Beast had no idea what was happening. Was he under attack? Was this some attempt by the locals to finally get rid of him?
Crackle! Crackle! Whiiiinnnneee!
The Ash Beast had a very, very, bad feeling about this.
ZOOOM!
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ZOOOM!
The citizens, or what passed for the citizens of the sleepy and walled town of Ellisburg were surprised when a pair of somethings teleported right into the middle of their walled community. They were even more surprised when one of those somethings generated a massive living explosion around it that quickly engulfed their entire town and raised the local temperature to impossible levels.
However, no one was more surprised than a man named Jaime Rinke, who also went by the name Nilbog. He had been at ground zero when the new arrivals teleported in and got a face full of firestorm from the Ash Beast. He was vaporised instantly.
The Ash Beast looked around him. He had no idea where he was, but he knew he had been brought to somewhere different. The landscape, what little of it he had seen before his power destroyed it, was very different. He stood there in what had been the Ellisburg town square and tried to get his bearings. He had never been abroad. He wasn't that well educated either. He had no foreign languages. And even if he did, it wasn't as if he could walk up to people and ask where he was. He was just contemplating what to do when…..
Crackle! Crackle! Whiiiinnnneee!
The Ash Beast's eyes widened and he turned to run.
But it was too late.
ZOOOM!
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Chief Director Rebeca Costa-Brown of the PRT wasn't having a good day.
"Can you please repeat that Dragon? I think I misheard you"
"You didn't mishear me" Dragon's avatar on the screen said in a very very calm voice. "The watch stations monitoring Nilbog report that the Ash Beast teleported into the middle of Ellisburg approximately ten minutes ago. Then he teleported out again"
"The Ash Beast"
"Yes"
"In Ellisburg"
"Yes"
The chief director shook her head and fell into a chair. "And how did the Ash Beast start teleporting suddenly? More importantly, where did he go? Where is he now?"
"I have no idea" Dragon answered.
"And Nilbog? What about him?" The director asked again.
"Well" Dragons avatar vanished from the computer screen and a new image appeared on the screen.
Director Costa-Brown furrowed her brows. "What is this?"
"This" Dragon said. "Is what's left of Ellisburg"
"Hell" Said the director.
It was a charred and smoking crater.
"The entire town and it's inhabitants are gone" Dragon narrated in the background. "As far as I can tell there is no contamination. He completely sterilized the area. There is no way to confirm it, but I believe Nilbog to be dead"
"Hell" The Director said again.
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Jack Slash and his merry band of murder hobo's were holding a pow pow.
Everyone was present.
Jack himself. Bonesaw, Burnscar, Shatterbird, Crawler, Hatchet Face, Mannequin and even William Maton were in attendance. They all surrounded Cherish, a prospective new member who had actually
volunteered for the job. Why anyone would want to join a band of murder hobo's is anyones guess. But here she was.
"Now then Cherish" Jack said with his signature grin. "It's time to start your trials. We will start you with…."
ZOOOM!
"What the fuck!" Jack shouted as a body landed on top of him.
"Language!" Bonesaw admonished him.
"Get off me!" Jack shouted as he struggled to wiggle out from under the new comer.
The members of the nine tensed, but with the exception of crawler and Bonesaw's robot spiders, none of them were in a position to do anything due to Hatchet Face nullifying their powers. So crawler pulled the newcomer off Jack, while a pair of spiders helpfully helped jack stand up.
"All right" Jack said once he had his bearings. "Who the fuck are you and" He turned to look at the giant crystal thing, that now floated in the air behind them. "What the fuck is that?"
The newcomer, who as an unshaven dark skinned man who was also naked, drew himself up and snarled something incomprehensible.
"What?" Jack had many skills. But languages wasn't one of them.
"He's speaking Arabic" Shatterbird helpfully put in. "He damands to know where he is"
"Oh" Jack nodded. "In that case….."
Crackle! Crackle! Whiiiinnnneee!
He turned towards the floating thing. "What the….."
ZOOOM!
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Nikos Vasil, also known as the Heartbreaker, was spending a quiet moment away from his brainwashed harem.
He was standing on the balcony of his penthouse suite and gazing at the Montreal skyline. It had been decades since he triggered and he found himself sometimes having….
performance issues. So, from time to time he found himself having to take some time away from his harem. Thus his balcony retreat.
He was just about thinking of going back inside and try for another round when……
ZOOOM!
"Arrrrrgggghhhh! Get off me!"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"$%^&*#!"
"Laguage!"
"Daddy!"
"Who?"
"For fucks shake!"
"Ow my back!"
Crackle! Crackle! Whiiiinnnneee!
Sudden silence descended at that ominous sound.
"Oh shi…."
ZOOOM!
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Back in Brockton Bay, the leaders of the PRT and Protectorate stood together, presenting a united front. Why were they doing this? They were holding a press conference.
Director Piggot was speaking. "The PRT will be pressing charges against the parahuman tinker Bakuda concerning the production and deployment of extremely dangerous tinkertech weapons"
"Director Piggot! Director Piggot!" One of the reporters in the front row waved her hand. At Piggots nod she continued. "What about the other prarahumans who were involved in the battles? Aren't you putting too much of a focus on Bakuda? For example, I understand the Merchants were apprehended without any involvement from her"
"Miss I assure you each and everyone of them will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law" Director Piggot assured her. "I merely want to stress how dangerous this one parahuman is. Her bombs almost singlehandedly managed to disable the entire Empire 88. As a matter of fact" Here she nodded to Armsmaster, who stepped up to the table and unveiled several metallic spheres. "These are several of her bombs we sized when we raided her lab. Among these there are bombs that stop time, bombs that turn you into glass and bombs that create
pain. You tell me if we should not focus on her?"
"But what of these rumors that Bakuda was merely a pawn in some other Thinkers plan to take out the gangs of Bockton Bay?" That came another reporter at the back.
"I assure you that these rumors of a mystery thinker cleaning up the city is just that, rumors" Director Piggot said firmly. "Quite frankly, it belittles the sacrifices our PRT officers and heroes made to keep the peace in this city and put these villains behind bars"
Crack!
At that moment the stage they were sitting on broke.
The entire structure teetered and collapsed, sending the officers and heroes who had been sitting at the table sprawling.
And the extremely dangerous tinkertech bombs went rolling into the audience.
Armsmaster jumped to his feet and jumped over the broken table. "Everybody get away from the bombs!"
The audience needed no urging. They were leaping to their feet and starting to stampede towards the exits when…..
beep-beep-beep
"Look out!"
BOOM!
A massive concussive blast picked up both hero and civilian alike and flung them against the walls of the conference hall.
A large open space had been cleared in the center of the conference hall.
Except for one metallic sphere that had bounced back to land at the very center of the cleared space.
Beep-beep-beep
Armsmaster scrambled to his feet for the second time. "Get down!"
ZOOOM!
The heroes PRT officers and reporters all watched in astonishment as eleven people and one giant crystalline structure materialized in the middle of the conference room.
BOOM!
And were frozen inside a time bubble.
"Is that Jack Slash?" Assault asked in a dazed voice.
"Think so" Someone answered in an equally dazed voice.
"So director, what was that about a non-existent Thinker taking out the gangs?" The reporter from earlier asked.
"Fuck you!" Emily Piggot replied.
The news cameras had been running the whole time.
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Halfway across the world, the teleporting hero known as Strider teleported into a snow bound forest clearing.
"Thank you for coming" The man who said that had been the sole occupant of the clearing until then. "Shall we go then?"
Strider made no answer. In fact his eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping standing up. But Strider grabbed the man by his hand and they disappeared in a teleport.
They reappeared in another forest clearing.
The man let go of Strider's hand "Thank you. Ah, I believe my ride is here"
There was a crackling sound in the air, and a moment later a portal popped into existence in the forest clearing.
The man walked into the portal without so much as a backwards glance.
A moment later the portal closed.
Another moment later Strider woke up.
He looked around, blinking in confusion as to why he was suddenly standing in the middle of a forest.
A moment later he looked down at his hand.
He was holding a folded up note in his hand.
He shook his head a couple of times to clear it and opened the note.
Strider,
Thank you for helping me GTFO.
Yours sincerely,
Sleeper. 
Strider peed himself.
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I mentally patted myself in the back as I put the finishing touches on my master plan to take on the S-Class threats that plagued my new home. Because let's face it, I have to live here now.
It had taken a lot of research and a lot of brainstorming, but now I had the first makings of a plan. My first two targets were Heartbreaker and Nilbog. I had worked all day to carefully plan our approach and plotted out multiple avenues of attack. I also had backup plans. I planned to recruit Panacea for the Nilbog backup plan and Imp for the Heartbreaker plan. We would then use the deaths of these famous S-Class villains to lure in the S9.
I was thinking about calling up Taylor to bounce my plan off her tactical mind when my phone rang.
And speak of the devil. It was Taylor.
"Hello Tay. I was just about to call you" I smiled at the phone. "I wanted to tell you…."
"Are you near a TV?" Taylor overrode me.
"Errr, yes?"
"Turn it on. The news"
"Okay…." I grabbed the remote and did just that.
And there in TV was the image of a group of people frozen forever in what looked to be one of Bakuda's time bombs.
The newscaster was speaking.
"The people have been identified as members of the infamous Slaughterhouse Nine as well as the notorious Canadian villain Heartbreaker. The last person has been tentatively speculated to be the Ash Beast. Reports from Africa say that the Ash Beast has vanished…..."
"…..ctor? Victor? Are you there?" Taylor's voice brought me back to earth.
"Ye….. Ahem. Yes, I'm here" I answered her.
"Did you see news?" She asked.
"Yes" I answered, still staring at the TV.
"Couldn't you have at least waited until our costumes were ready?" Taylor sounded slightly hysterical.
I had no words.
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There you have it. All criticisms are welcome.
