9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
New York City...the most iconic and populous city in the United States. Some would say it is the home of the superhero and supervillain as we have come to know it. Some would say that it is the very emblem of freedom. Some say it is the greatest city in the world. Millions call it home, even though in the past five years it has been levelled by Rikti Invasions, Martian Invasions, Legionarre Invasions, Black Hand take overs, Ork invasions, the Vine Villains, pretty much everyone and their grandmother has done catastrophic damage to the city at some point.
Some even say, in jest, that New York City is cursed, or that there's some giant neon red sign in the sky shouting "VILLAINS ATTACK HERE!" In giant letters that can only be seen by supervillains. And yet the new yorkers endure, which they claim reinforces the adage "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." And it is true that the New Yorker has an indomitable spirit, one that refuses to be bowed despite the Universe seeming to have a particularly strong loathing of the place.
But the New Yorker spirit needn't stand alone against the hordes that seek to humble them. New York is also home to perhaps America, if not the world's largest metahuman population. Thus, some have called it "Superhero city" in reference to the amazing density of heroes who call the place home. But of course, where there are heroes there are villains. Not only does the Big Apple have the World's potentially largest superhero population, it is a good contender for having the world's largest supervillain population.
But when combined with an ever more effective governmental ability to deal with metahuman threats and brave non governmental organizations, typically the side of good is able to keep the villains off the streets and force them to lurk in the shadows, something for which much of New York is grateful for. With a proud hero tradition and some of America if not the world's bravest and most dedicated people sworn to it's defense, it's hard to believe anyone would dare attack this gem in the American crown.
And yet...Someone did just that...In times square, the mutilated body of what might have once been some young mutant was laid on the streets. The corpse was bleeding out of every orfice, his eyes and eardrums had ruptured as if exposed to some deathly noise, his teeth were shattered and his tongue was mashed into a pulp. No one saw how the X-man was killed, but there he lay, dead for all to see. In truth, the mutant had ran afoul of Eliminator Omega, who got the drop on him while he was out on a date and exposed him to a blast of a basilisk frequency modulated to be fatal to humans.
By the time he knew what hit him, the sound had killed him by mulching all of his organs and softer tissues, leaving only skin, muscle, and bone left in a horrifying mess of blood and guts. This was not the first such murder of a superhero. Yesterday a hero famous for his powered armor suit, developed with the assistance of Tony Stark, was found dead in his suit, or more accurately a green radioactive gelatinous puddle of him was found in his suit.
The day before that, an animal controlling villain was found, riddled with countless superheated bullets while his crocodile minions were skinned and laid out in the new york sewers, his human henchmen all having cleanly placed shots in their heads that caused them to rupture like overripe watermelons struck by a sledgehammer. Before that an evil sorceress was discovered electrocuted to death and hanging from the top of the brooklyn bridge, her own hair used to hang her.
For months now one villain or hero a day would turn up dead, and the populace; both normal and metahuman, were starting to get scared. Speculation abounded as to who was conducting all of these brazen murders. Fingers were pointed at Tenebrasque, people blamed the Black Hand which had recently conquered the Great Lakes region, some even claimed that Ork Kommandos had killed them. But the truth was far more dire. For intellects far more ancient and terrible than man had seen the Earth's metahumans, and deemed them a threat, and thus they dispatched a terrifying assassin.
Eliminator Omega...the Lone Wanderer, so named for it's prediliction for venturing forth from the endless mechanical hordes of the Electrical Protectorate's infinite army. A cold and calculating genius with seemingly limitless talent in the field of the murder of the superhuman, It was currently tracking it's latest target, the X-man Wolverine, who was busy drinking in a bar. It's optics magnified on the target, which it had stalked for days now, uncovering every potential weakness he had.
"When I find the bub who offed that kid..." Wolverine snarled in between gulps of Vodka, having had come here to investigate the murder of an fellow mutant. But he never got to finish his sentence, as by then Eliminator omega had levelled out it's sonic rifle and fired off a sound laser with ultrahigh frequencies and a devastating volume right into his closest eardrum, overwhelming his extremely keen senses and causing him to double over in pain as the sonic beam cut through the intervening glass like nothing.
Quickly moving down and activating it's stealth cloak to render itself invisible, it stepped into the establishment, taking out it's electrostaff which crackled to life, purple arcs surrounding it's head before the right tip smashed into Wolverine's adamantium skull to incapacitate him. "Agghhh! What the fu-" He said as he got up and unsheathed his claws, only for a devastating metallic knee to slam him in the gut and send him sprawling one again.
Looking around, wolverine assessed that his assailant was invisible, so he grabbed some coloured liquid; a startled patron's beer, and threw it forth; letting it splash his assailiant and render it partially visible. Knowing that it's stealth cloak had been foiled, Eliminator Omega returned itself to visibility. "Alright bub, I'm going to slice you to pieces and mail you in a pretty little box to your maker!" He said as he leapt forward at the Eliminator, who gracefully sidestepped the attack and brought out a speaker to let loose a basilisk signal.
"I apologize, but I do not comply." The Lone Wanderer droned in a monotoned voice as it released an unearthly wail that was fatal to humans. Every person in the bar dropped dead as their organs, eyes, and teeth ruptured in a gory explosion. Only the obscene regenerative abilities of Logan kept him alive, but he was in utter agony. "W-wha..." He garbled, choking on his own blood before he saw the glowing barrel of a fractal gun pointed at his face. "Logan Status:Terminated." The Machine said without a hint of emotion as a cone of energies unknown to human science spewed forth from the barrel, consuming the mutant and shattering him as if he were made out of glass, the splinters themselves shattering and those splinters of splinters shattering until there was nothing left to regenerate from, not even the adamantium skeleton remained.
Looking to a bar security camera that had recorded him, Eliminator Omega raised the fractal gun and fired at it, cutting off the feed right then and there, though the footage remained on the database for those who deigned to investigate. It's job done, the Eliminator walked out of the bar and reactivated the cloak. There was still much in the way of murder to be done...so many heroes to eliminate...But it did take a trophy from Logan's corpse, or more correctly, it stole his motorcycle; to appease an odd habit of taking trophies from victims. It was time to Blight the Big Apple.
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