Damage Control RPG

It was a seedy part of Boston, the kind of place where its always a possibility to get stabbed. There, stood a building, old and built of bricks and steel, it looked like all the others and was surrounded by nothing living accept rats for a half a mile on each side. Behind the heavy locked doors and whitewashed windows was a very new, clean looking home. This abandoned loft building was taken as the headquarters of the Children of the Damned. The team sat on the top floor, feet pattering against the hardwood floor. Their leader, Longshot, stood in front of the pool table holding a cue and took aim, hitting two balls in a row straight into the hole. He quickly switched the cue to his other hand and jumped the cue ball over the 8, sinking another ball. Longshot stepped away from the pool table, extending his hand to someone who wasn't there. "Well played." he said, then stepped to the opposite side and shook hands with thin air. "Likewise." he replied.
 
Longshot turned to the rest of his team, the Black Jacket, a skilled hand to hand combatant and resourceful fighter who had recently developed large wasp wings and Decoy Elite, the illusion casting crime fighter with a trick up his sleeve. "Where's Wildcat? In the gym, I'm guessing."" he said to his team. He set the pool cue on the rack and walked across the long, empty room. The pale sun shone in through the large windows on the right hand wall. Suddenly, the ground erupted in a ferocious quake beneath his feet. The earth began to rumble and writhe as though it were trying to throw the whole damn city from the face of the planet. Longshot was thrown to the floor and rolled as if the building had been uprooted and tipped on its side. Lamps and shelves were tossed off of the walls. 
 
Like a behemoth storming past, the earthquake subsided. Longshot got to his feet and realized what had happened. Through the windows, he could see a devastated city, bridges and buildings crumbled and the millions of people cried out for help. Who would answer?
 
Without a moments delay, Longshot turned to his team. "Decoy, Jacket, suit up and get ready to roll. There's a lotta people who need our help. There's bound to be aftershocks so we need to move fast!" he shouted then dashed across the room, catching a black bandolier belt carrying gold cylinders and his trademark bow. He jumped into the old elevator and went down two floors to find Wildcat going to town on a punching bag in the work out room. He was old. In his mid fifties, older then any other team member. But Longshot could hear the strength in his heart, the tenacity and the fearlessness that most men half his age didn't have. "Suit up." Longshot said in a stern voice, "Get up top and be ready to move out. I just gotta make a quick call first." And with that, he went back up in the elevator and went to the top floor, running into his room. He flipped up his laptop and punched in a few codes that he needed to break fingers to get. He turned on the webcam and recorded a message. "If you're receiving this message, please listen." he said, "My name is Longshot, I'm the leader of the Children of the Damned. A huge earthquake has just turned Boston into its chew toy. We can handle most of this, but we're all street levelers. We could use a stronger hand or two." Longshot hated having to admit he was weak, but if there was one way to convince a hero, it was to coax their ego, "People are dying by the minute and we need your help to get this under control. If you could all just set aside fighting aliens and giant tentacle monsters, you could give us a hand. If you show up, report to me on top of the Prudential building. Longshot out." he finished and clicked off the camera. He pressed send and delivered the video to dozens of heroes worldwide. Hopefully, some of them would give a damn. He came out of his room and looked to his team. "Let's roll."
 

"You know, maybe we should rework the name."  Decoy said, trying to heard groups of people to safety. "I mean, Children of the Damned doesn't exactly sound people friendly." Decoy turned to see a looter and quickly sent a mental attack at the criminal. Soon the man thought he was being stung by a large horde of wasps. He slapped around himself until Decoy finally slammed him in the back of the head with a pistol. "Then again," Decoy said. "I've never been very people friendly anyway. Okay, I'm not good at the whole saving people thing so I'll take care of the looters, you guys handle the sheep." As usual, before his allies could respond Decoy was already gone. 
 
Decoy looked around the wrecked city and sighed, things were always getting worse and worse. One minute everything was perfect and he might just be a hero and then the next, reality set in. Decoy knew he'd never be a true hero like the ones that he always saw in the sky, no there was a reason he'd joined Longshot, because Longshot hadn't looking for heroes, he had been looking for people to help that's all. And that's just what Decoy could do. Decoy loaded his gun, ready to save the day the only way he knew how.

Azrael was unaware why she was in this slum of a town but that didn’t much mater to this fire haired demoness. And in a few moments things had gotten interesting for her. A massive earthquake had shaken the Boston area. In a matter of moments the town was ripped apart. Debree filled the streets. Fires had filled the area. Carnage and destruction had taken its toll. Blair laughed out loud as she was almost knocked off the building she was on, “finally a familiar setting” she said in excitement. With all the chaos going on she could easily kill freely maybe even find a wretched hero to beat up on.

Seeing people in a panic below her she prepared for the games to begin. Summoning hellfire around her she simply stepped off the building and let herself plummet into the crowd. She landed softly and morphed the fire into a ring of spikes impaling a couple pedestrians. Her emerald eyes lit up ”let the games begin she said” as she started adding to the body count.    

The four rushed through the raging sea of panicked masses, trying to keep people from trampling each other to death. "You know, maybe we should rework the name."  Decoy said,doing his best to get people to do what he said without killing them "I mean, Children of the Damned doesn't exactly sound people friendly."  Longshot felt like correcting him, but he didn't want to explain how he lost a bet and had to name his team after an Iron Maiden song. He trued to signal to people to move off the streets to let emergency workers through, but a man rushed up behind him with a led pipe. Longshot caught the blunt object and punched the man in the throat. Half force. He'd live.  He turned around to see Decoy bash a looter in the back of the head with a pistol.  "Then again, I've never been very people friendly anyway."  Longshot smirked beneath his mask. "Okay, I'm not good at the whole saving people thing so I'll take care of the looters, you guys handle the sheep." and before he could answer, Decoy ran into the crowd. "If you kill anyone, I'll break your trigger finger!" he shouted. Longshot turned to the crowd. "Alright people, move along, let's go! I got tear gas!"
 
This was amateur hour. These were panicked people trying to make sense of it all. Soon, they'd organize and turn violent. Full scale looting and riots. Emergeny supply trucks that were on their way to help and feed the injured had already been attacked by people with standing houses and stocked refrigerators. He needed to get these people off the streets and keep the panic under control. There were still countless people trapped under rubble. Four men and a handful of emergency workers couldn't handle this. Longshot was losing confidence in any heroes who may have gotten his message. Every second, over fifteen people died in this destroyed city. And Longshot couldn't help them. His team couldn't help them. "Jacket, clear the streets. Wildcat, help the emergency workers. Let's get this out of the way before the real rioting starts. MOVE IT!" the way he spoke, it sounded like a second earthquake rolling by. A boy of 19 with that level sort of power in his voice was a frightening thing. His teammates probably thought he was older. That might have given them the delusion that he knew what he was doing.
 

 When Dottie decided to visit Boston for the week, she had anticipated relaxing days and nights on the town. It was going to be something fun now that she was once again in her human form. She had been walking down the sidewalk on her way to her hotel when the ground started to shake furiously. The vibrations sent her toppling into a passerby that was approaching in the opposite direction. The two landed roughly on the concrete, unknowingly clinging to one another as the ground continued to shake. When the quake finally subsided, the two immediately scrambled to their feet. Dottie studied her surroundings while the man darted away. Buildings were crumbling, people were running around frantically and she could hear calls for help.

"Damn..." Dottie muttered as she stared at the chaos. What was she going to do? Just as she asked herself that question, debris started to fall from a nearby building, threatening to land on a small group of confused people. She quickly channeled her telekinetic powers and targeted the debris, suspending the rumble in mid-air. "Get out of the way!" She snapped at the awed group, who quickly did as she had commanded. Once the group had retreated, Dottie lowered the debris to the ground.

She figured out what she could do. Dottie used her telekinesis to lift her body into the air high enough so she could scan her surroundings from above. Most of the buildings in the area she was in were stabilized, but there were others close by that seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. She propelled herself in that direction with a plan to keep the buildings up long enough to get all residents and passerby a chance to escape.

  "It's time to save some people!" Calder exclaimed as he extended his wings and flew through the streets, looking for people to assist. The city was a madhouse of destruction, and until someone better showed up it was up to them to save these people. There were emergency workers everywhere, but even they wouldn't be enough to stave off the destruction or the eventual loss of life. All everyone could do is try to save as many lives as possible and restore order to the destroyed city.
 
He spotted a young man about to be crushed by some falling debris, so Calder quickly zoomed down and saved him from an early grave. The man continued to scream as he was lifted to safety, and when he spotted Calder's wings he began screaming even more. "Quiet down you bastard!" Calder yelled as he flew down and tossed the man onto the ground, "If you have the bollocks to repay my good deed than go assist the emergency workers!" He then flew off in search of more people to help, but he noticed something glare in the corner of his eye. He flew over and saw a gruesome picture of people impaled on some sort of spikes, and  what looked like a woman standing nearby. It was obvious that she was the source of the spikes, and Calder flew down and landed on a collapsed building. "Who the bloody hell are you?" he asked the one known as Azrael.

People began rushing the stores, some stole necessities, others stole televisions. A sharp ear could detect the sound of a boy crying for his mother and a man responding "Get lost!" they were pushing and shoving. There was the loud crack of a gun and that was enough. An arrow zipped out of the shadows and struck the pavement, sending a cloud of gray gas everywhere. "Play nice!" Longshot shouted as people cleared the ran from the gas, coughing and covering their mouths with their shirts.  With a twitch of his eyepiece, Longshot spotted a man, no, several men helping a woman. They all wore the same uniform and looked exactly the same. Maybe he was getting light headed. He jumped down to street level to talk to him. "Hey, you!" he ordered, "We need all the hands we can get. Send a couple duplicates to the Prudential Center. There are people trapped and losing oxygen inside the mall. I'll send someone to help you as soon as I can."he spoke clearly over the panic to the boy in the red costume and then dove back into the confused masses. 
 
He had seen Black Jacket slip away to deal with a woman impaling people. Apparently, high profile criminals were beginning to take advantage of the situation.  Longshot hoped more would come soon. Even with a man who could duplicate himself numerous times, they were still dreadfully shorthanded. It was dusk. A vanishing orange line appeared on the horizon, at the end of the perpetual quilt of thick gray clouds. Longshot pulled the communicator out of his pocket and put it to his mouth. "What's your situation, Wildcat? Come in." 
 
Longshot moved as he awaited a response. Decoy had the looters handled until they got angry. Black Jacket may have been out of his weight class with the woman, but he could handle himself. Wildcat and the cloning guy were aiding the trapped and wounded. As he peeled around a street corner, he was met with a radiant orange light, flickering and ferocious. He looked at the massive fire in shock as it spread over the city. "God, no." he whispered.

The wind quiet as a pin drop in the grass if your standing still, but if you stand still you wont find anything. Jenna sliced through the wind on her motorcycle speeding towards Boston, her latest intel told her of the organization that created her had some activity in Boston. After that mess in California she was looking forward to some down time and no more confusing three way battles, just a straight up black ops in and out type of mission. After all the west coast did nothing for her maybe it was time for a change of scenery and change of attitude. If she could wipe out the organization then she would finally be granted her new life free of fear and death, free like she felt on the road.

 
Her fantasy was shattered when she could feel a large rumble in the ground as she was entering the city. The bike lost control and she flew off of it, normally people would be terrified of such a thing but all she had to do was focus. Extending her arm her flat palm touched the ground and she gracefully flipped on to her feet, her bike on the other hand was in worse shape. Jenna ran her fingers across the newly scratched side of the bike, “huh lucky dad isn’t alive he would have killed me for scratching you,” she said to the bike as if it were alive. She tapped on the scratch before lifting it onto the wheels and pushing it into a forested area, after looking around for nearby people she opened up a small compartment on the side of it.

 
The compartment held her gun and several other pieces of gear in it. After she slipped her holster on and stuffed her gun in it she lifted up a radio and attached it onto her belt. Carefully tuning the frequency she found the National Guard frequency, “this is team leader we have arrived at the capitol and are securing the perimeter.” The voices continued to talk back and forth about the current situation even talked about riots breaking out in the streets. If Jenna was going to start a new life she might as well start here again, after all what could be worse then California she thought as she walked towards the city.    

Ted was surprisingly not in his gym, well, not yet actually. Ted was picking up supplies for his gym, fresh fruits..commonly apples, oranges, watermelons, and banana, and for vegetables, celery and carrots are the usual pick. Ted was in his civilian uniform, rolled up long sleeves and a pair of slacks. Ted was almost finish with his things to buy chores, and approached the counter and asked where they kept the carrots. But before he the bag boy could answer;  a sudden shake of the surroundings put everyone including Ted at momentary shock.Ted knew this was an earthquake, but sometimes experience can't prevent emotions and the power of mother nature. Ted quickly dropped the plastic bags which contained his items and quickly punched through the glass walls, to prevent a big clog in the door. Everyone ran through the newly opened "Exit"
 
Ted knew this building wouldn't hold, knowing the power of the earthquake could end up in the 6 pm news.
Ted quickly rolled out the collapsing building as he looked sidewards to see any further happenings, and as what he just expected to see, criminals taking advantage over the situation; as always. One criminal ran quickly to get to the appliance store, the criminal approached quickly, the same sidewalk where Ted stood aside, as the man came closer to the store, he also came closer to Ted. The Greatest Fighter In The World threw a straight right hand towards the mans face, with the momentum..it might just have given him a coma.
 
Ted smirked....telling by his face it was saying, "Amateurs!" By this time, Ted finally realized the earthquake just ended, but it didn't end without leaving any casualties, nor did it end without destroying half of the city's buildings, homes, and apartments. But this still brought a good side to it. It should have destroyed any drug house nearby. Ted rode in on his motorcycle, giving it gas as he blitzed through the city. Air went up against his face, and put the dancing fire off. Ted maneuvered through the traffic, passing through police cars and ambulance. Ted passed and saw injured people being carried away with stretchers. 
 
Ted wanted to report to the Children of  the Dammed Headquarters, but it seemed that all the members was already in action. For youngster they sure acted quick, looks like Ted was the one who needs refresher. Just a few feet away, Longshot the team leader wanted to reach to Ted. Calling his name, Ted answered "Right behind you buddy," Ted replied as he rushed towards the team sprinting to them. As Ted reached, he looked at every member as he did in all of their team missions. They seemed fine, so, he asked "Whats the update shot?"  Ted asked longshot waiting for his response. This tragic incident was almost a walk in the park for Ted, but you do know, old men walking in the park are accident prone. Ted wondered,  is he really still up for this hero business? Or is he too old for this job. Sure a lot of people already asked him this, but for how many years, is the boxing legend becoming just a legend? How much more can Ted take? How much more can he give and offer to the team? His body pains? This worried Ted.

Azrael was enjoying the carnage and brutality. The rioting that soon followed made her laugh. Hopefully I will run into some fellow members truly take advantage of this situation but till then I’ll simply bask in the maelstrom she thought. Her emerald eyes shined in the night light as she reached for her Berettas on their holsters. She had planned to start executing pedestrians left and right when someone more interesting showed up. From behind her a man hollered above the crowd “Who the bloody hell are you?”

He looked very bug like with the gadget he wore over his eyes and his wasp like wings. Azrael chuckled at this placing her hand in front of her mouth in a coy mocking manner. Despite her sarcastic playful behavior she could tell this hero could likely hold his own. She smirked about time I find a good toy in this cesspool she thought. Relaxing herself she let her arms drop ready to summon hellfire or blades when the inevitable fight ensued, but not aiming to come off as the killer she did this simply to play with this hero dressed in black and yellow attire.

“Most people on campus call me Azrael, I was heading home when the quake hit, who are you? Your here to help right?” Blair said in a shy scared manner. Unless this guy has a soft spot for hot red heads he probably wont by that lie she thought to herself with a laugh. However the lie also was not her goal her true desire was to see more blood be spilt her games had simply begun.    

Longshot watched as the flames danced elegantly, consuming the entire street and running up the sides of buildings. Even over the clamoring of the panicked crowd, he could hear no sirens approaching in their direction. He had to keep the fires at bay until they could find a way to put it all the way out. Scanning the burning street, piled with flaming cars and bodies, Longshot spotted a fire hydrant. Without waisting a second, he drew an arrow and attached an explosive cartridge to the arrowhead then fired at the arm of the hydrant facing the street. The arrow hit and water spewed out with intense force. Steam rose into the sky. The fire was fueled by leaking gasoline and oil along with the nearby buildings. This wouldn't do much but hinder it on one side. Longshot turned to the people and pointed to the hardware store across the street, "Get some buckets and as many people as you can! We need a fire brigade!" he ordered. They stared at him and one older women began to laugh. "DO I LOOK LIKE I'M KIDDING?!" he growled and the woman's smile vanished. "Now GO! There're people in those buildings!" The group quickly ran into the hardware store, executing his orders.
 
Suddenly, there was a sound, a woman crying "HELP!" her voice was chalky and cracked. She had suffered smoke inhalation. Longshot spun around to see a silhouette dancing against the furious blaze on the top floor of an apartment building. "Why does it always have to be the top floor?" he groaned and raised his forearm, firing a steel cable from his gauntlet that latched to the roof of the building and he quickly swung into the air, crashing through the window. He landed in the living room of the apartment, glass scattering on the singed carpet. He stayed low and out of the smoke.  The one day he forgets his re-breather on the kitchen counter. Longshot scanned the room, looking for the woman who had apparently vanished. But then, he heard a desperate and terrified whimpering amongst the crackling and roaring of the fire and the shattering of glass. It was coming from around the corner. Longshot went around the bend to see a woman in her twenties curled up in fear. "It's okay!" he shouted over the fire, "Come with me and I'll --" and suddenly, the floor gave way beneath him. He took hold of the floor, but the fire was all around his lower half. Having his clothes woven with nomex didn't help much as the heat was unbearable. He pulled himself up and crawled out of the fire. The blaze was spreading ferociously, all the walls and the roof completely inflamed. They needed to go or else the whole building would collapse on them, or worse, a gas leak would blow the whole building sky high. He inched closer to the woman and extended his hand. "Take my hand." he said in the most soothing voice he could make whilst choking on smoke, "It's all gonna be okay now. It's okay." She cautiously glared up at him and took his hand and stood up. Longshot turned around to take her to the window when even more of the floor fell away, making it just out of jumping distance for the archer and well out of distance for the girl. "Okay." said Longshot, "New plan."

 "Smooth move, Paulie. Stealing a fire truck in the middle of Hell on earth. What could be any worse? Oh yea, neither of us can drive!" 
remarked a cynical yet nervous copy to the original Multiplus who was behind the wheel.. 
"Coulda been worse. Almost got slap on the wrist by a garbageman once. Besides, I see the know-hows of driving in the movies a hundred times. Nothing to it."  
The reason he stole a fire truck, was that one particular inferno which the guy with the eyepiece just went in. That had to be the one known as Longshot. 
Around eleven copies were hanging on the truck's exterior, holding on tightly. 
"Brake." mentioned the copy in the side seat "Brake!!"  
Multiplus slammed hard on the brakes, almost jacknifing into the inferno in front, and just avoiding a crowd of people fighting the lower fires with water buckets straight from a near hardware store. 
Once the original Plus was out, all his copies extended the hose and worked the ladder leaving poor Multy to deal with an irate crowd. 
"Sorry about that folks. But can we leave Multy bashing until after we saved those people in there?"  
The crowd agree and went to what they were doing. 
"Okay Boys. Let her have it" he said to the copies who set the powerful blasts of cold water on the building. The flames were sizzling up into vapor almost instaneously, though this was anything but over. 
Multiplus figured that the trapped folks had or suffering from severe smoke inhalation. Oxygen tanks are needed now, so he opened the hatch. Only one oxygen tank. 
"You gotta be kiddin" he sighed with disbelief. "Well beggers can't be choosers". 
He picked up the tank and observed the ladder's status. It has reached an opening in one of the upper floors. 
He checked on his team's progress. 
 
So far so good. The opening seemed alright to move in. 
"Okay boys, I'm gonna get to the top floor. When I reach there, get out that trampoline safety thing from the hatch. Extend it too. We have a party that'll drop in". 
The copies gave their thumbs up in acknowledgement, as Multiplus climbed up the ladder alone with the tank. 
Once he got there, he spotted the eyepiece guy with a good-looking gal. They look like they needed oxygen. 
There was also the fallen away floor trapping them. 
"No worries" smirked Multiplus. Here catch!" 
He threw the tank with all his strengty and it flew over the hole missing floor and straight into the guy's arms. Without wasting time, he placed the tank's mask over the woman's face, flooding her lungs with oxygen. 
"And for my next trick" 
Multiplus rapidly started to duplicate from the shoulder up until there was enough copies on him to make them togather a human ladder, which leaned and caught the surface of the other side. 
The human ladder was now a human bridge. 
"All aboard. Women, children and super heroes first!" copies and original both spoke.

Longshot was working out an idea to get out of the burning building when a mass of teenagers in red suits peeked over the window across the room and tossed an oxygen tank their way. Longshot gave the woman the apparatus and helped her breath. As the other copies formed human ladders at each apartment window, Longshot looked down at the frightened girl. "Cover your ears!" he said and she did so. He pulled an explosive cartridge from his bandoleer and threw it against the outer wall, blowing a hole in the faltering structure. He signaled for her to hop on his back and she jumped up. "Hang on!" he shouted as he jumped out through the hole, falling to the street below. The girl screamed right in his ear. Ow. If he hadn't done this a million times before, he'd be screaming, too. With lightning speed, he fired a cable to another building and they swung gracefully to the ground. Longshot stabled himself and let the woman jump off. He looked at her, still shaking, covered in ash. "Are you alright?" he asked and she rapped her arms around him, a tear streaking down her face. "Thank you!" she cried, "Thank you." and she loosened her embrace. She looked up at him and reached for his mask. He quickly grabbed her by the wrist. "You don't wanna do that."  he said. She brought her face to his and planted a kiss on his masked cheek then ran to shelter from the riots and fire. 
 
Several people had amassed to make a decent fire brigade. Perhaps not all the city was swept up in confusion and rage. Longshot quickly ran back to the burning building which began to collapse. The many copies of the teen stood in the street. "YOU!" Longshot shouted, "Why aren't you at the mall?! What happened to that woman who's kid was in trouble, huh?! Don't waste your time on me, I could handle myself!" and suddenly, the archer noticed the people sitting on the curb, covered in ashes, couching, but alive. A young girl looked up at him with the kind of sad eyes you don't forget. The kind of sad eyes that made him give up killing all those years ago. And his anger with the young hero was quelled. He looked back to the boy, who may or may not have been the original. "Good work. Now get back to it." he said and ran off into the city. Hopefully, more would arrive. He whipped out his communicator. "C.O.D. report!" he said, awaiting his team's response.

  "C.O.D. report!" Longshot's voiced boomed over the radio. Decoy nearly fell to his death in surprise as it buzzed on while he was jumping from roof to roof. He grabbed it the radio quickly from his pocket. "I'm doing fine, took out some loots and thugs. Oh and one guy named Winter Fresh......he was different to say the least." Decoy explained. "Currently chasing some no name on the roofs, turns out he's got some mental resistance. Luckily he's far from immune to bullets." Decoy fired off several shots to reiterate his point to his fleeing opponent. Decoy could feel Longshot's anger even through the small radio. "Calm down, I didn't shoot him. Besides, I'm only aiming for the legs. Anyway, what's the deal? I've been seeing some fires and crap. We dealing with explosives?" 

She laughed at the new opponents remarks. “Mentally unstable? How rude that’s no way to win a lass over. And Im not unstable I’m perfectly content with my insanity” whipping her crimson colored hair out of her face she smiles. “I figured you would want to be more of a gentlemen but if violence is all you know I will be happy to deliver” she commented with a slight hiss.

She leapt backwards twirling so she could deliver a bone snapping kick to the neck of a pedestrian running by. She then began attacking her opponent at her maximum speed. Releasing a volley of moves at 80mph she launched a punch aimed for his lower jaw. Following it was a duck with a kick she spun about aiming to knock him off his feat. Her final blow a palm strike aimed for his rib cage. She aimed to test his speed and reflexes she wouldn’t slay this man but she did plan on sending him to the medical wing.

She would toy with him then she would head for the gunfire she heard from a roof not too far from her location. With any luck I can have more than a nat as my entertainment for the night she thought with a smile.  The town was only growing more chaotic by the second and things were ripe for the picking. She would make sure this town became a living hell.    

Antonio was in the kitchen of Josephs Coney Island In New York City, washing dishes when he heard the call.    My name is Longshot, I'm the leader of the Children of the Damned. A huge earthquake has just turned Boston into its chew toy. We can handle most of this, but we're all street levelers. We could use a stronger hand or two. Antonio ran into the main area of the restaurant, and saw that the message was also being shown on the TV's. Antonio was already in costume as the Spur, and flying to Boston before the message was over. He hadn't been a hero for long, but figured he could use some extra experience.  
Within 2 hours, he had arriving at Boston. Fires blazed across the city's, and all hell had broken loose. From the sky, Spur could see a hot red head being shot at by a man in a bug suit, four men in the same red costume running to what looked like a factory or a mall, and Longshot, the man on the TV giving orders to many other heroes. Antonio flew down into the building which happened to be a mall, and started to Observe his surroundings when the roof collapsed twenty yards away. Debris filled the air, and Spur heard the yells of many people. After pulling a middle aged man out from under a part of the fallen roof, Antonio saw one of the red mystery men not far away.  
" Hey, I'm Spur. Whats the situation? " Antonio asked, trying to act professional.  

Jenna leaned against a brick wall of an alley before sliding down to the ground to sit. It had been busy for her, aside from avoiding all the angry rioters, she had also re-arrested several escaped convicts, beat the crap out of a couple of looters, and managed to avoid being detected by the heroes there. “Damn I’m good,” she remarked as she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from one of her pouches. She knew what kind of abomination those things were, but she couldn’t help but at least consider one after all her memories and instincts weren’t entirely her. Using her lips she pulled one out before lighting it she crossed her arms and set them on top of her knees as she caught her breath in the alley way. After a moment she flicked the thing out of her hands and it landed in a puddle of water, “might as well make the effort.”

 
Footsteps echoed in the alley as Jenna looked up she saw three figures that had blocked her in the alley. One of them had managed to grab her handgun she set next to her, as one of the others kicked her on her side. “Well what’s a pretty little girl like you doing all by yourself out here,” one of them said as the other two chuckled. A smirk came across Jenna’s face as she turned her head scanning her would be attackers, “what’s wrong sweetie afrai….” His sentence was cut short when Jenna kicked him in his jaw which shattered it, then spun on her back and kicked the gun out of the other ones hand. She then flipped in the air and landed on her feet in front the one that dropped the gun, she threw her flat palm at his neck then kicked him in the side of his head which caused it to smash on the wall. The third had ran out of the alley, Jenna picked up her handgun aimed it in the direction she began to fix her hair when she shot the runner in the leg twice crippling him.  
 
The trio were down for the count. “Morons,”she said as she stomped over the one that pushed her to the ground. Just then she saw something that could be expected but not what she was prepared for a raging fire. She saw a hero barking orders at people, but she also saw a girl at the top floor of the building trapped. “Just my luck,” she whispered before leaping into the building, the room alone was flooded with flames everywhere you looked there was fire. Jenna kicked the door down and she dashed into the hallway seeing more flames the building wasn’t going to hold much longer. She continued to rush up to the top level but about halfway there the flames had taken their toll on her, she felt light headed and fell to her knees gasping for air. Soon she landed on the ground, the intense amount of smoke had gotten to her and she had lost every once of energy that she had. Even though she was basically an enhanced human even she was not immune to carbon dioxide, “stupid, stupid, stupid,” she repeated over and over again in her head as the fires approached her. “This is it,” her scratchy throat managed to wheeze out, before her eyes shut a pair of black boots slowly approached her before stopping in front of her.

 
Jenna passed out for no more then a second before opening her eyes and seeing that she was outside. Her back was pressed against a lamp post as she looked around her, who ever saved her was already gone. "C.O.D. report!"she heard as she saw someone familiar talking on a communicator near her as she stood up.    

Decoy was the first to check in. He was handling the riots and the second string villains who were trying to make a name for themselves. Over the radio, Longshot heard several gunshots. "Put the gun away NOW!" he shouted and cut the link. He was about to check in with Black Jacket and Wildcat, but the ground shook again, sending many weakened buildings falling into rubble. "Aftershock." Longshot thought. "That cloning kid had better hurry. That mall's not gonna take another hit." 
 
Longshot scanned around as far as he could see on all sides, but the dust and smoke blurred his vision. "Where the hell is Wildcat?!" he thought to himself.

  Marco sped across the highway on his rusty pre-owned motorcycle. Even though it looked like it was in poor condition, it worked well. It still had its fair share of problems. For example it didn't always start when he wanted it to and sometimes the breaks didn't work, but those were problems he could accept. He'd won it in a shady game of poker. He should have sold it to pay for his many losses at local casinos but decided he could put it to better use.
 
He had was out on the road to blow off steam. His life wasn't what most people considered normal and it would always get to him. For the past two months he'd been exposed to more blood and violence than anyone in the underworld of New Jersey, if that was possible. It was frustrating to know he wasn't even in control anymore. He was just along for the ride. A spectator of his own life.
 
He didn't know where he was going going until he saw the sign that said Boston. He hadn't watched the news so he was shocked to see the cities predicament.
 
The city wasn't too badly damaged by the earthquake. As far as Marco could see there wasn't any fallen buildings. The real damage had been done by the angry wave of looters. Amid the confusion four sooty men were trying to break into a car.
 
Marco was now driving slowly trying not to alert them. The biggest man noticed him, giving up on the locked car. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Marco" My bike now" firing a shot. Luckily the mans hand was still shaky from the earthquake. The bullet ricochet of a car a few feet from Marco, causing a few of the frightened people still in the streets to scream in terror. He automatically abandoned his bike and jumped over to hide behind a the previously shot car.
 
Marco had been shot at before but it still got his blood pumping when it happened. " Not going to let those a-holes take my bike" he muttered, unzipping his back pack.
He pulled out Ball , the talking ball and chain. He quickly snapped him on to his arm. His lean body began to bulk up and grow. Ball was now in control of Marcos body. Ball proceeded to put on his lime green, homely jacket and purple hood. 
 
Hopping effortlessly over the car, he could see the four looters bending over his bike. Now Balls earliest thoughts were of him in 18th century, London, so there was only really one punishment for theft, death. He ran towards them swinging Ball so fast he made a whistling sound. The biggest man looked up " what the fu-" he was unable to finish his sentence as Ball collided with his head, crushing his skull. The other three scrambled to there feet, two of them pulling out a crowbar and a pocket knife. They moved simultaneously, the knife man trying to jab him in the gut. Ball easily caught this and turned the mans arm so it was directly in the path of the man with the crowbar who was swinging his crowbar downward. The knife man cried out in pain as the crowbar dislocated his elbow. Ball then delivered a swift kick to the crowbar mans chest, breaking all of his ribs. The two men were no longer a problem and would probably die, the last man had fled when they were battling.
 
He was considering going after the man when the ground shook. Ball knew this as aftershock. The thought of going after the man was erased as he heard a scream. He looked, and saw a piece of a building weakened by the earthquake come hurtling down towards a a woman and what he assumed were her two children. He didn't waste time in getting there placing his arms out to stop the slap of cement. Ball and Chain weren't the strongest superheroes, so the giant piece slamming into him crushed them and the family. He couldn't feel the strain of it but his body would give in sooner or later. The family stared up at him looking dazed " I know this is quite an amazing spectacle, but I'm afraid I can't keep this up. So could you move out of the way and get some help?" Ball asked. The woman did as she was told and ran away with her children to hopefully find help.
 
Meanwhile Ball and Marco were left to lift the slab over their heads. As strong as he was he couldn't heave the burden off. His muscles tightened and ripped his cloths. He started wobbling on his feet. If the lady had gotten help he hoped they got there soon.      
  
 
   
 
 

 Calder just stood there and smiled as his opponent mocked him, but when she killed another pedestrian he decided not to hold back. After her first volley of attacks though, it seemed that if anything she was going to go easy on him. She leaped into action and tried to land three blows that would have been deadly to a normal man, but Calder managed to dodge the first two strikes. The third strike on the other hand nicked him in the ribs as he sidestepped, and as he jumped backwards he could hear one of his robs crack.

"My God..." Calder said as he brought his hand up to his torso and checked his ribs, "If I didn't have an enhanced body I would be pretty screwed right now." His opponent had just simply touched him and he now had a broken rib, so Calder knew he couldn't fight her normally. "I'm going to have to be a little more tactical about this."

He pulled out a smoke bomb and tossed it in front of him, creating a thick cloud of smoke that he could use to cover his movements. Then he activated his goggles' heat vision function and pulled out one of his concussive detonators. "Suck on this you bloody witch!" he yelled as he primed the detonator and threw it at her through the smoke. When it went off it would send out powerful waves of concussive force, but whether they got her or not didn't matter.

As the detonator flew towards Azrael he flew through the smoke and circled his opponent, firing off more of his tranquilizer darts from his "stinger" gun. His plan was to have the detonator distract her long enough for him to create a circle of tranquilizer darts that would be hard to dodge unless you went up in the air. And if she did go up into the air it would be hard for her to evade any other of his attacks. He hoped that this would be enough to bring down the red-head dynamo, but he had a gut feeling that it was far from over.

Wasp guy here seemed to be able to dodge her first two blows, which was impressive she felt her third snap a rib though and smiled. Then he announced he was going to get tactical even if he did have an enhanced body. Idiot she laughed to herself, you just announced what you were going to do. He tossed a smoke bomb at the ground and flew off.   About damn time you showed some skill she thought. Blair back flipped away from the smoke and the concussive grenade that had been tossed. Cheep parlor tricks won’t be enough she thought to herself.

Then a barrage of tranquilizer darts was being fired around her. “Bastard” she cursed. She quickly formed a shield to block most the darts. “Aw come on why all the cheep tricks bug man where’s the fun in that.” The vixen remarked as he reached for a new clip. Azrael then tossed her jacket to the side and let her wings sprout out from her spine. Rising into the heavens to meet this opponent one on one in the air. “Il give you credit your better then expected you’re going to do better then a few darts though love.”

Fire raced downwards to then form into her signature steel katanas. Blair’s emerald eyes were burning brilliantly waiting for his next move, or more accurately waiting to respond to it with a volley of slashes. She was confidant this opponent had more tricks up his sleeve then a dart gun.    This night was starting to get a bit more enteresting.

Longshot could see a few more people springing into action, but there were still two new catastrophes popping up whenever they handled one. Wildcat was nowhere to be seen and Decoy was lost in a chase somewhere in the city. He fired a cable to a building and swung up onto the roof. He landed there just as the next building over began to crumble. He looked down to see a mother and her children frozen in the shadow of the toppling concrete. "NO!' he cried. Just as the massive weight came down on them, a large man in a lime green coat jumped beneath with them. Suicide. That was what Longshot thought as the enormous slab fell down on them. But he watched closely. The woman crawled her way out then helped her kids. Maybe the man was still alive maybe. Longshot looked to a group of men, probably in their twenties, down the street. They were scared, like the rest, but didn't seem to be rioting or joining a mob. "HEY!" he shouted and they all cocked their heads to him, "There's a guy under here, help me out!" They young men didn't hesitate and rushed down the street, taking a hold of the concrete slab.Longshot stood on the roof and held out his arm, firing the cable from his gauntlet. The bolt sunk into the concrete and the steel line went taught. He braced himself and shouted "GO! LIFT IT!" and the men strained themselves, putting all their strength into it. Longshot pulled on the cable and the slab began to rise, slowly. The men fought as hard as they could and their feet slid across the ground. "Come on!" Longshot grunted, pulling with all his might, "COME ON!" They kept going, if only someone with super strength had shown up. Suddenly, the concrete slab lifted off the man and they dropped it immediately with a loud THOOM!
 
The men fell to the ground and rubbed their aching arms and backs. "Good work." Longshot said, jumping down to street level. He walked up to the man in the jacket with the purple hood and the ball and chain strapped to his wrist. He was astonished to see the man's chest was moving and he could here his breath. He may have been knocked unconscious, he couldn't tell. He bent down next to the men, who was admittedly huge. He wasn't as big as Ox, his fellow teammate, but he was pretty built. "You okay, pal?" he asked.

The force of the slab pinned Ball and Chain down to ground. He could feel his breathing getting more and more shallow as his lungs were crushed by the weight. He tried to lift it again. He made an involuntary grown as the rock didn't budge. It didn't take him long to realize he had fatigue. He pondered his situation and the supposed hopelessness of it. Marco, still able to think found himself surprised he was not scared to die, at least he'd get out of the deal.
 
Ball had almost accepted that he would be stuck here with a corpse for a while when the slab began to move. It wasn't much, but he and Marco could see it, something was picking it up. Ever slowly, the concrete rose off. First he saw feet, then legs and after some more heaving he could see a gang of men were heaving the the rock above him. He was a bit disappointing that he was apparently not as strong as the ten men who were lifting the slab. He automatically breathed sweet air into his lungs that he'd been deprived of. He tried to move but he was still suffering from the fatigue. the slab landed next to him.
 
The men who had just saved him did the smart thing and rubbed their aching muscles. Ball was lucky that he couldn't feel the pain Marco's body was going through. He was about to attempt to move again when a man in odd attire walked up and crouched beside him. "You okay pal?" The question hung in the air as Ball got up. He was cheered up by the fact he towered over the man, at least I have that he thought. He was cheered up even more when he turned towards the slab and saw that the men had help with with lifting the slab, he was stronger than 10 men. He turned back to the man. He hadn't met any heroes, he'd met a villains, but never a hero. From what the man had done he was pretty surprised. From what he had seen he had gotten 10 panicking men to help him with them gaining nothing but blisters and sores. This man was a leader. He began to talk, but immediately stopped realizing people didn't react well to a talking tool. So instead he talked through Marco, his voice deep with the change in his size. "Yes actually, considering I probably shouldn't have done that. Now I'm assuming you saved me from that ordeal so your one of those superheroes I've been hearing about". He held out his hand to the archer "thank you my alias is Ball and Chain. Seeing as I haven't been successful on my own I suggest a partnership for as long as this predicament takes"  

The hero took his outstretched hand and shook it. The man turned his head to look at the bodies of the men he'd wounded and were now dead. Ball started to wonder what the heroes feelings were on killing justly. Marco had to deal with the pain that was now surfacing in his body from his recent strain. The archer turned back    "You've got yourself a deal. Now, come on. Let's put that ball to good use." The man gracefully ran towards whatever was demanding their time, Ball close behind. He looked to the men who had helped him "a pleasure" he yelled out.
 
Marco groaned inside his head as he saw they were approaching a school. He wasn't exactly proud of being a high school drop out and seeing one brought back painful memories.This school differed from his with it being totaled and firemen standing outside of it. The archer asked a fireman about the situation. Ball didn't hear the rest of the the conversation, he was to busy getting stared at by another fireman. He stared right back at him "what are you looking at?" The words gave the man the message and he looked away. Then he heard his partner,"You heard the man." he said, pointing to the thick concrete wall, "Beat it!"  Ball backed up to get a running start. "guess this means I'm the strongman" he muttered. He ran at the wall swinging his 'body'(the ball and chain) so fast it was a blur. He brang his full weight onto the wall. It crumbled as the blunt force hit it directly. The dust clouded him from sight and the others were unable to see this feat. As the dust settled he turned around to the to his companion and the firefighters. He proceeded to bow "I leave this to the professionals" 

"You okay kid?" Decoy asked the criminal he'd shot in the leg. Longshot wasn't going to be too happy if the guy died, so Decoy was trying his best to get a medic. "I wasn't trying to hit you, ya know. You kind of just jumped into the bullet." The kid groaned in response. Decoy sighed as he finally spotted a medic near a burning building. The medic was helping some girl who was holding a C.O.D communicator of all things. Decoy dropped the kid, screaming in pain,  near the medic who quickly rushed up to help him. "Don't use any morphine, he'll probably get addicted." Decoy said coldly as he walked up to the girl. "Question number 1, who are you? Question number 2, where did you get that?" Decoy asked pointing at the communicator. "I know membership's gone up, but this is getting out of hand." He remarked, lifting his mask up halfway as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

       The earthquake seemed to settle down..and criminals seemed to thinned out.   
The problem is...Ted knew this city was heavily populated of different kinds of criminals...rapists, thieves, murderers, and other varieties of sick  @s$holes.
Ted held his earpiece and said to longshot, their team leader "Hey shot, this is Wild cat...I got to go somewhere important..over and out."  Ted waited for any reply as he ran towards his motorcycle and blitzed through the city with a loud noise from his motorcycle following him. 
 
Light rain started to fall as it pelted on his head. Thunder noised up the sky as lightning filled the sky with ozone and nitrogen. Ted ended up in heart of the city..where criminals weren't shy to roam in the mercy of the sun. And as dark clouds covered up the sun...criminals came out like ants. Only they weren't disturbed..they came out so they can disturb innocent people. How could criminals act like this? They know they'll go to jail..or even get killed...so why do they do this such thing? The same reason why heroes put their lives on the line....For passion. Criminals do it for their own satisfaction..heroes to do it for saving other peoples lives.
 
This day was quite a handful..specially for the old Ted Grant. Ted despite his age is still considered one of the top heroes...but he himself thinks otherwise...they say old dogs can learn new tricks...but what if that dog learned all that is to be learned? And then what? What will happen to that dog? Well..too bad Ted isn't a dog..he's a wildcat.

 "Why do I get the magical opponent?!" Calder thought as he watched his darts get effortlessly deflected by what seemed to be a shield. She then pulled off her jacket and revealed what seemed like bat-wings. She began flapping them and quickly took flight, planning to meet him in the air. When Calder didn't think things could get any harder she summoned two hellish looking katanas and brought them up, ready to respond with what Calder knew would be with extreme violence.

“I'll give you credit your better then expected you’re going to do better then a few darts though love.” she said with a look of mischief.

"Well thanks for the praise beautiful," Calder said as he did his best to try and keep his cool, "and I will be doing better than just a few darts."

He quickly pulled out his Mateba model 6 Unica revolver and began flying backwards, firing rapidly with both the tranquilizer gun and the powerful handgun. "I doubt I'm lucky enough to taker her out with just a couple bullets and knockout darts," he thought as he quickly reloaded the revolver and continued his barrage, "but I doubt that she'll die so easily, and this is just a part of the whole plan I've got in mind."

Jenna’s head was still a little fuzzy as she rubbed it. When she opened her eyes she saw a medic attempting to help her, “back off,” she barked at him as she pushed him away. “I’m still alive and well,” then she heard a kid screaming in pain, “go help him he needs it.” The medic rushed over to the screaming kid and the guy who dropped him, while they were over there Jenna quickly checked her pouches to make sure all of her equipment was there. After she finished the guy that dropped the kid walked over to her, “pfff just great,” she whispered to herself.

 
"Question number 1, who are you? Question number 2, where did you get that?"

 
Jenna swiped one of the cigarettes out of his pack and put it in between her lips. “Answer number 1,” she said as she flicked her liter open and light the thing, “better not to know me.” Jenna pulled out the cigarette and held it in her hand for a minute, “answer number 2 I built this myself I don’t care about you or your little boy scout troop.”

All of a sudden Jenna lifted up her hand indicating him to remain quiet. She pushed one of her earphones into her ear as she adjusted the frequency, “this is National Guard team Alpha perimeter around the capitol is secured, wait a minute…” The voice paused a minute then appeared again shouting, “sir this area is restricted turn back now or risk the use of lethal force.” No more than a second later screams and gunshots filled the radio, Jenna unplugged the headset from the radio so the other guy could here the carnage going on. “This is team Alpha requesting additional suppo………” the radio was cut off followed by static.

Jenna hooked her com link to her belt and looked up at the guy. “Well boy scout do you like to live life dangerously,” she asked. Then turned and ran towards the capitol, “ the capitol isn’t far from here,” she ran backwards a little bit before turning around again and running full force to the capitol.    

Longshot had all the firefighters step back as Ball and Chain flailed his devastating iron crusher straight through the concrete and cleared a hole. He quickly jumped in, but turned to Ball and Chain. "Thanks, man." he said warmly and jumped into the dark building. The school was covered in dust and rubble, heavy debris hung from the roof, blocking some of the halls. His heels clacked on the tile floor, each stride making the sound of shattered glass grinding on the ground. Emergency fire extinguishers had ruptured and water leaked everywhere, puddles forming in dips in the tile. It was too dark to see so he switched his eyepiece to infra red and looked around. The walls were cold and empty, so it was easy to spot a mass of red and green around the bend. He rushed through the labyrinth of destroyed hallways, navigating around blocks and other hazards. He finally spotted them and switched to night vision to determine one person from another. He heard nervous chatter that echoed all throughout the school. Children were injured and frightened and teachers tried to comfort them. "It's okay..." he said, fetching a flare from his belt, "Come to me. It's all gonna be alright." He flicked the cap from the flare and a red light spewed out, illuminating the hallway. He got down on one knee and held out a hand to one of the terrified girls. "It's gonna be okay, sweety. Take my hand." With uncertainty, she slowly reached out and took his hand, holding two of his fingers in her little hand. "That's it."  he said in a calm tone and stood up, signaling for the others to follow him. The two teachers got up and lead the other kids.
 
They walked cautiously through the hall, Longshot guiding them with his flare raised, lighting the way. The girl grabbed him closely, hanging onto his arm for dear life and he lifted her up, handing her off to the firefighters. All the others were helped and tended to and a firefighter came up to him. "We got a head count a' twenty two kids, man. Where's twenty three?" he asked. "I'm goin' back in." Longshot said and rushed back into the dark halls of the school. "HURRY UP!" the firefighter shouted. 
 
Longshot turned back to the infra red lens and scanned the area, finding nothing. He came to the door of a stairwell and looked down, there was a red mass at the bottom and he switched to night vision. It was a little boy trapped under a beam. He appeared unconcious, but his bodyheat showed he was alive. "Hang on!" he shouted, ramming his shoulder into the door. He continued to slam into the door, not feeling the lock give way. He quickly layed some explosive putty on the lock and detonated it, letting the door fall away. "Hang in there, kid! It's alright."
 
The firefighters waited outside, yellow street lights giving the world a strange tinge in the night. Children and teachers were handed over to paramedics and treated for concussions and lacerations. Some had broken bones, but they were all okay. "Where's the fruit with the bow?!" asked one of the firefighters. "I dunno, he better hurry up."  Suddenly, the dust parted and Longshot stepped through, looking solemnly at the boy in his arms. The firefighters crowded around him. "Is he alright?" "Where was he?" they asked. "I tried." he said mournfully, "I'm sorry." He fell to his knees and bowed his head. "I'm so sorry."
 

The opposition after her banter pulled a gun on her and opened fire. She focused on blocking the darts being put unconscious would be a poor way to end a fight. However in blocking the darts Azrael left herself open to the gunfire. She had managed to avoid a good portion but then one round buried itself into her shoulder blade. A small burst of fire tore holes through her wings. She laughed at the pain. "About time you shed some blood bug. Now let me return the favor”

With a smile on her face she made a quick gesture one of her blades becoming fire once again as she hurled the ball of flame at the enemy. Odds were he could dodge that one shot but her goal was just to spook him. Azrael wanted this to go a bit longer before ripping bee man hear to shreds.    

Longshot rushed past him into the newly made entrance. Before he did this he turned to Ball to thank him. Ball thought of going in there with him to help, but he was more fitted for demolition and he wouldn't do well in the schools compromised infrastructure. He waited outside of the building with the firefighters, whom had worry plastered on their faces. Ball in his old fashioned ways started humming Yankee doodle dazzle. He didn't really treasure a life as much as his new companion, but he considered it a crime to let a someone die for no reason.
 
One of the firemen approached him. The man's squinted eyes not leaving Marco's "I heard about you, your that Ball and Chain murderer from Jersey, amazing you freaks found each other to take your "hero" crap to here". Ball was amused by the mans audacity and confused by his it. " I am sorry if I gave you the impression I'm a hero but I just enforce the law, so your persons aren't crushed by things you are obviously unable to handle. The hero is in there, doing what your supposed job I might add". The firefighter's nostrils flared and he began to shout " that freak in there's no freaking hero! he's a murderer  and the only reason he's in there is for a  goddamn publicity stunt for his team ,who he couldn't even think of an original name for!" Ball was even more confused. When he'd met the archer he didn't seem like a murderer. He now had questions he wanted to ask the archer to answer and if he didn't like the answers then there partnership would be terminated due to one of them having their windpipe crushed.
 
The hero came back with the children and teachers in tow. After the children were tended to he was going to ask Longshot some questions. However the the firemen intervened  "We got a head count a' twenty two kids, man. Where's twenty three?". With that the archer dove back into the darkness of Balls entrance. He was getting increasingly annoyed as the minutes passed by. Marco, in his mind was worried for the twenty third child, a chill running up his spine as he saw the man coming out with the kid, unmoving. The hero fell to his knees "I'm sorry" he said " I'm so sorry". Ball walked up and grabbed his arm, dragging him off. " you'll get over it" he told the archer with no sympathy in his voice. 
 
He walked over to the firetruck outside of the school, putting the archer in the passenger seat. He went around to the other side and went into the driver seat. The driver had luckily left the keys inside. The fireman who had approached began yelling at him "hey what the hell are you doing!?" Ball aloud himself to smile as he pressed the gas and drove off down the street. 
 
He stopped about after a while to confront the hero. "The firefighters had been telling me some interesting facts about you that raise some questions that I want answers to.  Now who are you?, where the hell is your team? and are you an actual hero or a murderer?" He tightened his arm around his chain waiting for a response or an attack.

The firetruck rushed through the panicked streets, people finally stopped rioting and moved to the nearest shelter when it came through. Longshot felt small inside the massive truck decked out with levers and lights and even smaller next to the ox behind the wheel. He turned to Ball and Chain who seemed to clutch his chain tighter, believing he would attack. He didn't need a muscle mountain in a lime green coat and purple grocery bag on his bad side. "My name's Longshot." he replied, "And that firefighter must be reading tabloids in his spare time, because I'm just an urban legend! As for my team, they're all over the city. Decoy's handling the riots and any villains who're taking advantage of this. Black Jacket picked a fight with some redhead. He hasn't checked in. I heard Wildcat's motorcycle running through the projects. That's our whole roster. Impressive, I know." He rubbed his eyes, heavy from fatigue. "And as for that last question..." he said, "I'm nothing. I'm too weak to be a killer and I'm not strong enough to save a damn kid! You wanna know what I am?! Huh?! I'm a FAILURE!" 
 
Longshot gathered his breath. He felt as though the blood of the boy was still on his hands, burning his skin. It was a guilt he would never cleanse. He sighed and looked out the window. "But this isn't about me."  He glanced over to Ball and Chain, pulling out an arrow. "Let's get to work."

It was surprising for him to hear the man he now knew as Longshot say this. He'd always thought heroes would be used to people dieing on their watch. Ball also wondered why he even thought this man, who was now having a moment of silence in self pity, would try to kill him. He thought back to when he was young enough to feel that pain. Had he ever been able to feel that? When he was spending his days in the British prison, did he ever loath his life? 
 
Longshot finally pulled himself together "But this isn't about me." he said pulling out one of his arrows  "Let's get to work.". Ball grinned at the thought of seeing his new partner in action. "Well I suppose that means I'm part of your team, as long as you never demean yourself like that again or I'm personally demoting you" he turned back to the road. Some people were still in the middle of the road. He turned on the sirens, sending them scurrying away as he passed by. 
 
"what do you say boss, should we have a look and see how Black Jacket is doing?"

 "I got her!" Calder thought excitedly as he watched his bullets tear through her wings and put her on the defensive. This feeling didn't last long however, because quickly afterword a fireball was flying towards him. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed as he let himself fall to quickly dodge the fireball. The searing heat of the attack washed over him as the flame passed over him, and he quickly began flapping his wings again once he was clear. 
 
"That was far too close!" he thought as he patted himself to make sure he wasn't on fire, "I have to bring this battle to the city and try to keep it close quarters. Maybe I can surprise her in the rubble of the city." He looked down and thought about where he wanted to go, then turned back to his opponent. "Hey bitch! If you really want a piece of this then follow me!" he flew down towards the city, hoping that she would follow.

Azrael grinned as she followed the bug like opponent towards the rubble at the last moment she paused in the air. She began tossing a barrage of fire at the ground and walls. Upon impact the flames burst into the wicked barbed spikes much like what she used against pedestrians earlier. Every spike was aimed to surround or impale her foe she hoped for the later. Before landing and looking to see if any blood was spilled she reached for her Berettas.

Blair then commenced firing into the crowds. At least a dozen or more civilians fell to the ground. As she came down she landed on a man’s shoulders she emptied the rest of her magazines into the man’s head. Moving her guns to her hip thus reloading she looked towards her opponent and laughed. “You shouldn’t insult me. It’s costly” She remarked continuing to laugh as she glanced up to see the damage she had done. She was tired of this game it was high time the carnage truly began.

Soon she would waste this insect and instigate true anarchy. Use this quakes weakening of the structure to level this city she thought to herself. Yes that will do quite nicely as I wait for someone to show up with a grander scheme.    

Ball drove through the cloud of gas Longshot had just used. He chuckled to himself at his leaders last comment. He had no idea who he actually was. Marco on the other hand was giving Ball a headache. >Did you just join a team? goddammit I barely get enough as it is. Now I have to deal with the times there's an freaking crisis in god knows where!< Marco screamed in his head. Fortunately Ball had made a habit of blocking him out.
 
The sirens filled the streets, covering up the screams of agony and fear as rioters started turning on each other for whatever was in the stores they had just broken into. He passed a collapsed building and entered a thick cloud of dirt that hadn't settled. Ball squinted unable to see very far in front of him. Then for a moment he made out people running. "Odd, you'd think they would be running away from us" he said to his companion. The people's panic became apparent as a bullet crashed through the windshield. Ball shielded his eyes from the glass. He looked out to see a read headed woman surrounded by bodies of people she had coldly slain.
 
" I'm assuming this is the woman that Black Jacket was fighting" he was talking to himself now more than Longshot. She hadn't noticed them yet, which was perfect for what Ball was about to do. He slammed down on the gas and headed straight for fiery haired murderer.

 " sounds like a plan " said Spur. After two somersaults to try and dodge the rays of the golden cross, Spur took flight through the first floor of the mall.   after flying past three different rooms on the right side of the mall, he saw two teenage girls, and there two mothers hiding under a couple tables in one of the rooms. One of the girls legs were stuck under a shelf that had fallen, and was screaming with pain. Both mothers tried to lift it, but it was to heavy. Spur flew in and tried to help. " Everyone! Get out of the room!" after the three women left the room, Spur slowly lifted the shelf off of the teenagers leg. Whoa, this is pretty heavy he thought. Spur then carried the helpless girl outside of the room. 
" Follow me! " Spur led the ladies through the mall, until they found an exit. It was barricaded with fallen light fixtures, which spewed out electricity and had caused a fire. After looking for another way out, Spur looked to the sky. He saw the roof which had collapsed earlier, and a light bulb turned on in his head.  
" Try to follow my trail on foot, then wait for me below." With that, Spur flew through the mall, then up through the collapsed roof. He then put the teenager that he was carrying on the ground floor of the empty parking lot of the mall.  
Eventually, Spur picked up the other teenager, the two mothers, and then five other people trapped in the mall. After searching the rest of the first floor, he went to the second floor to meet up with Multiplus. Spur saw one of his multiple, who was searching through rubble. 
" Hey, tell your original that the first floors good. I'm heading back to the city now to get some medical help for  a couple of the people."   
Spur then flew back to were the people were camped and said " follow me." Four of the remaining people stayed with Spur, but four people fled. For about thirty five minutes, Spur carried the teenage girl into downtown Boston, while the other four just followed.     All of a sudden, the mother of one of the teens, and another person following Spur were stabbed by flaming spikes that appeared from the ground. Spur looked up, and saw the red headed woman killing many innocent people, while fighting a man in a bug suit.  
" Get to safety!" yelled Spur to the teenager, and the mother remaining. He gave the daughter to the women, then flew as fast as he could to the bug man.  Spur revealed his claws, and prepared to fight. 
" Need some help?" he asked.

 "That's right, follow me crazy!" Calder yelled as she followed him down towards the ruined city. He banked up as he approached the ground, then began flying through the city with Azrael right on his tail. His plan was to use the close quarters to his advantage and catch her off guard, but as they moved through the rubble and ruined buildings his opponent made her move.

She began throwing blobs of fire towards him, but when the first one flew right past him and at the ground he began to wonder if she was planning something or just a really bad shot. Just as soon as the blob of fire hit the ground it erupted, creating a group of barbed spikes that looked like they were from hell itself. "Why couldn't she just be a bad shot?!" Calder thought as he dodged the first set of spikes, but more blobs of fire flew past him and hit the ground, erupting into a small forest of death.

Calder dodged the next one, but a spike that just erupted from the ground took him by surprise and cut a large gash into his right forearm. "Dammit!" he yelled as another spike erupted from the ground and tore a small hole into his left wing. He clutched his injured arm as he began floating towards a nearby crowd of people and as he retracted his wings he slammed into the ground, knocking people down and making his injured arm feel a lot worse.

He laid there for a couple seconds seconds, reeling from the pain of the fall and brought his good arm up to check his communicator. He turned it on and thanked God when he heard that it still worked. He set it to the team's frequency before speaking. "Hey guys this is your buddy Black Jacket reporting in. I'm a little beat up and there's a crazy read-head with powers looking to kill me, so if anyone would like to see me alive again help would be appreciated." He gave his coordinates over the communicator before turning it off, then stood up to look for Azrael.

As he looked for her a man came from nowhere and stood at his side, asking if he needed help. "And who might you be?" he asked as he looked the newcomer over, "Nevermind, introductions can wait until-" He was rendered speechless as he finally spotted Azrael, for he spotted her causing havoc in the crowd, killing people for no reason other than to satisfy her own hunger for destruction. As the rest of the crowd hurried off to escape the carnage, there was soon only him and her left. She was surrounded by the corpses of the people she killed, and she was armed with two handguns. "You bitch..." he muttered as he looked at the fallen people, " I'm going to make you regret what you've done here!"

He raised his only good arm and pulled out his revolver, then aimed it towards his enemy's head. A rage boiled inside of him as he looked at her, and he realized that the only other person that induced this much anger from him was his mortal enemy; Havoc Kane. "You and every monster like you should just die!" he exclaimed as he rapidly pulled the trigger, sending six shots towards Azrael, hoping that after his volley she would lie dead. He didn't even consult his new ally, all he wanted was for the killing to end, so she had to be stopped. .

Anarchy was a word to describe it. Bodies littered the streets, shoulder to shoulder with black, charred holes burned into their chests. Longshot counted every last one of them, adding them to the mile long list of people he had killed by letting monsters of the criminal underworld live. There, spiraling around a pillar of smoke was Black Jacket and balls of fire pelted the earth. A woman in tight leather and aloft on black wings landed on the ground. Ball and Chain promptly slammed on the pedal and drove directly at her with all the force of the massive firetruck. 
 
Longshot kicked open the door and rolled out of the moving truck onto the ground. As he rolled, he drew an arrow and brought himself to a stop, shooting straight for her shoulder.

Azrael laughed as wasp boy clutched his bleeding arm. What was even more amusing was his little tantrum of how she shouldn’t exist. His rage was already a victory in her book now his judgment was clouded should he live he would likely do something reckless. He then raised his gun aimed at her head. How pathetic still resorting to the same tricks she thought to herself.   Then she heard a screech.

She glanced over to see a fire truck heading her direction. She cursed under her breath. This was going to be problematic. She whipped around bringing the shield she planned to bear against the truck instead. The truck ran into her at full force. The shield shattered flames sent in every which direction. She was knocked backwards at the moment that pest of a bug opened fire the rounds ripping holes into her leathery wings. A man with a bow leaped from the truck and rolled thru the flames. Rolling to his knees he drew an arrow and fired. Being in motion from knock back she couldn’t counter and took an arrow threw her shoulder. It had missed any vitals but that didn’t change the fact that she had just been shot with an arrow. Not to mention some kid had just popped up next to that bug like individual.

Blair raised herself from the ground. Taking hold of the arrow she ripped it from her skin. Blood flowed freely from the wound. “Here I thought the heroes were the ones who played by the rules.” Blair said cracking her neck. “Names Azrael and tonight you dine in hell” she bursts into laughter “wow never realized how lame that line was till now.” She remarked.

With a passive wave of her hand Blair sends a flame that bursts into a massive spike underneath the fire truck. The spike would burst into an explosion soon. Odds were the damned hero would bail before it went off but at least it would mean she avoided road kill. She quickly leapt into the air hurling bursts of fire towards the bug and his new found friend. These flames would warp into hundreds of small spikes hopefully ripping them to shreds. Coming down from her violent arc she landed by the archer and began to swing her blades in his direction.

Blair thanked the warp that her speed was surpass that of humans. She figured without it odds where she would be down in a second. Luckily however she did have it and so she aimed to slaughter them all. She wasn’t going to stand by and just take this beating.