Sea And Life

Utter chaos...That was really the only way she could describe what was happening. It had already been pretty crazy when Wish stole Paragon away, and they all had to fight Casey, Kevin, and Hannah. She was still trying to process the fact that not only was Kevin a very dangerous Super, but Hannah had also changed into one. All of the Kevin clones pulled themselves back together, and so the number of villains lowered, but with Green Wolf and the others here, it still wasn't looking good.She hadn't even gotten to speak to Battery before he was suddenly dragged off by Fairy Queen.Then Ocean Empress suddenly pulled up in the boat that belonged to the Watch Dogs with the Sub Enforcers right behind her.There were twelve villains and sixteen heroes, but they'd only keep the numerical advantage until Kevin split himself.She had been expecting it to turn into a weird standoff. In the movies, this would be the part where all the good guys and bad guys stop to stare down and go into a debate. This wasn't a movie, though. Golden God was making a beeline for the tower where Paragon and Wish were. Fairy Queen was a dot on the horizon, dragging Battery off, and Green Wolf wasted no time slashing his sword out and firing a wave of kinetic force, not caring who he was aiming at. Demonica did the same, smashing her three arms into the ground and erupting the floor with a massive purple explosion.Cinder hopped back and raised her foot, using all of her power to send it crashing down into the ground. She hit it hard enough to kick up a massive wave of dust, and most of the Supers around her were blown back. No one was able to see, and attacks flung out wildly. Green Wolf and Demonica were seemingly trying to catch each other in the crossfire, and the Wandering Coin kids didn't need to worry about damaging each other since they all healed, so they didn't hold back and unleashed the most destructive attacks they could muster.As the battle broke out, beams of blood and water, shards of ice, and waves of energy were unleashed through the thick dust. She jumped away and felt herself go back-to-back with someone."Nice shield." Metal Ronin called out. He was in his larger suit—the one he had built after his battle with Wish."Thanks. Battery gave it to me." She raised her shield just in time, blocking a stray blast of bone spears."Ocean Empress came straight to Money Tree and got him," Metal Ronin stated. His shoulder opened up and locked onto a powerful heat source, likely Demonica, firing dozens of rockets into the air. "Wasp Nest is still down and hasn't woken up yet. We wanted to wait for him to fully recover, but it turns out you guys really needed our help.""Yeah, things didn't exactly go according to plan. I'm confident we'll make it work some way, though!" she announced.Metal Ronin nodded his head. "From what I was told, that Pretty Face guy stayed behind and, with the help of the Hero Branch members, is going to put several members of Zoo behind bars. You guys did pretty well. All that's left now is to take out the boss!"She pushed off of Metal Ronin and weaved through the dust cloud, dodging stray attacks from all directions. Her super senses were cranked up to the max, and it allowed her to find the person she needed. She wrapped her arm around Poseidon and practically dragged the girl out of the cloud."Where's Paragon?" Poseidon shouted out."Working on that. Can you make us lighter with your gravity?" She yelled back.Poseidon looked down at her, and she could tell the girl was debating several things. She knew Poseidon didn't like her much, not after that first incident with Paragon. The girl cared more about her sister than her hatred for Cinder, though, and eventually, Poseidon sighed and nodded. "Okay."Cinder gasped a bit as she felt her feet rise off the ground. It wasn't flying—not really—more like swimming through the air. She and Poseidon were rising slowly up off the ground. She held onto the girl's arm tightly and used her other hand to send off a powerful stream of fire. She felt like an actual rocket this time as she shot them into the air and began to steer with her fire, sending them after Golden God."She's in that tower! The one Golden God is heading to! We need to stop him-"From down below, Green Wolf seemed to spot them and sent up a wave of his energy, but it didn't get very far before it was blocked by a block of ice created by Ocean Empress. The woman stood on one of her boards and surfed in the air, flying next to them. "You leave Golden God to me. I'll keep him stuck and make sure he doesn't get to the tower." The woman announced."Can you beat him, mom?" Poseidon questioned."I'm going to try!" Ocean Empress raised her arm, and water began to form in the air, swirling around and freezing into a giant spear of ice that she rammed forward. Golden God's body stopped in the air, and his head completely spun around. He was basically as big as the tower, and his many arms easily allowed him to block the ice spear. "This might be harder than I thought..."Golden God's hands pointed out, and a greyish light began to blast out of them. "Don't let those touch us, or we're instantly dead!" Poseidon yelled."I wasn't planning on it!" She shot fire out of her feet and held onto Poseidon tighter as their gravity twisted and changed, and they literally began to fly through the air. She had to admit she was a little annoyed that Poseidon didn't like her anymore because this was one of the coolest things she had ever done. "It's like a real-life bullet hell!""Why do you sound excited?!""Sorry! I can't help it!"She steered them up, under, and past any of the orbs of grey energy that Golden God blasted at him. Ocean Empress also easily dodged them all, and a wall of metal bullets blasted back into the orbs as Roulette joined them. The old man stood on an ocean of bullets, surfing on it just like Ocean Empress."I'll back you up," the old man grunted. "Give the kids an opening to get past him."His bullets turned to dust anytime they hit the light but just like Money Tree, who could create cash and Ocean Empress, who birthed new water into existence, Roulette simply willed new ammunition to appear and launched it. "We'll need some way to ground him," Ocean Empress yelled."I don't think you guys will have to worry about that," Cinder shouted."What?""My enhanced senses heard him digging."The entire tower began to shake, and part of it started to lean over and almost fall. Luckily, it stayed put. Something was pulling itself out of the ground. The sand broke away, and lava gushed out as the body of the giant monster worm was thrown out. Its corpse smashed into Golden God, and the massive robot actually shook a bit. Myth's form was still enormous. A mass of dragon heads, each one spewing a river of lava, wrapped around Golden God's legs, which stayed cross-legged the entire time. The robot was pulled down into the giant crater in the ground that had formed, half his body being dunked in lava."That's Myth's Typhon form!" Ocean Empress said in shock when she saw it. "The last time he went into that was during the Beast attack, two years ago.""I thought he was told he isn't allowed to do that!" Poseidon shouted."He was..."Despite his massive form, Myth was still just a mere Super, whereas Golden God was a perfected Super, one turned into a grand monster of destruction by the Emperor fifteen years ago. His hundreds of arms wrapped around Myth's waist, and despite Myth being bigger than him, Golden God easily lifted Typhon out of the ground and threw him away from the tower.As Myth flew through the air, his body shrunk and twisted back into his human form. He crashed into the arms of Ocean Empress, who caught him. "Why'd you change back?""Hard to control that form." He grunted. "Didn't want to risk hurting anyone now that I was back on the surface.""Well, we kind of needed that giant monster form to deal with Golden God!" Cinder yelled out."Don't worry." Myth gave a sly smirk. "I made some friends."The lava around Golden God bubbled and exploded out before the machine could lift itself up. Another one of the giant worm monsters pulled itself out, letting out an air-rippling roar. It was followed by a second, a third, and even a fourth. All of them began to slam themselves down onto Golden God, biting into his golden metal flesh, denting it and dragging him further into the lava pool.Ocean Empress, Myth, and Roulette all landed on the ground and stared down into the massive crater Myth had created. Both Ocean Empress and Roulette wasted no time and began to open fire onto Golden God's back as the robot's many arms wrestled with the kaiju-like monsters."Cinder!" Myth shouted. "Things didn't seem to go the way we wanted. Go get Paragon and get out of there!""Right!" She nodded and flew over the pit, heading for the hole in the tower. "Are you ready?" She asked Poseidon.The girl just nodded. "Let's save my sister."Back in the dust cloud, it was beginning to break apart and become undone. Demonica unfolded her long bat-like wings, fully transformed into her devil mode. She used them as a shield and blocked the blade of Money Tree that was swung at her. Money Tree was already decked out in his diamond armor and wielding his sword.He let out a low whistle when he saw Demonica. "Looks like I'm not the only one missing a limb, huh?" His arm that was taken by Wish was still gone. Learning to use only one limb had been a bit of a struggle, but he was finally back up and moving after all this time.Demonica hissed at him and blasted out a wave of purple fire, but the attack was consumed and turned into a large diamond from his dust. "You're one of the heroes that were at the mall." She growled."That's right." He leaned his head forward and allowed his hat to tip down a bit. "You went toe-to-toe with Myth, right? I guess that explains your missing limb. He's pretty good at what he does when he stops holding back.""When I'm done with you, I'm taking him out next, and then I'll kill Battery!" The woman howled."You don't have a good track record when it comes to men, do you?" He dodged her fire with ease and swung out, cutting into her body with his blade. "That's fine, though. I don't mind sloppy seconds, or maybe you're more like third or fourth."He wasn't the only member of the Sub Enforcers who decided to get up close and personal with a villain. On the other side of the makeshift arena they had created, Metal Ronin swung out with his sword and tried to cut into the red armor around Casey. The armor flowed and twisted like the surface of a pond, deflecting the laser sword off of him.Metal Ronin's armor hummed and let out a mechanical roar as its large side was blasted back with a wave of powerful thrusters, allowing him to dodge Casey's counterattack.Casey reminded him a little of Red Panda. Red Panda had been a member of Zoo and also had a form of blood-based powers. People who could control the elements, like Ocean Empress, were typically able to generate their element out of thin air. People who could control their own biology to an extent, like Red Panda or Casey, could only use their own bodies and resources. Because of this, something like blood-based powers usually wouldn't be that big of a threat. The user would likely die of blood loss before they got off a bunch of significant attacks.Not Casey, though. He fired off massive beams of compressed blood out of the tips of his fingers as if he had an infinite amount of the resource. In a way, he did. All his damage was being healed faster than Metal Ronin could cause it, and the young man's body was creating more blood than it knew what to do with. With the endless amount of liquid he was able to create, he was almost like a lesser version of Ocean Empress.Unlike her, though, he wasn't nearly as skilled, nor did he have control over her power's inverting effect. Casey rammed his arm up into the air, and a thick blood blade fired out, ripping the ground apart. Metal Ronin's armor glowed with a bright blue energy as a powerful barrier twirled around him, blocking most of the damage. His armor was strong enough to keep him held in place as he shrugged off the attack.Duplicity stood behind him, her arms folded over her chest. She looked like a young girl again and was no longer glowing. "Sorry, but I burnt up all my energy earlier. It'll take me a bit to recover, so just hold him until then, okay? I'll merge with more of my clones and take them out for good, this time.""Easier said than done." Metal Ronin grunted out, blocking another series of attacks with his force field. "Damn it! If only Wasp Nest was here. This would be so much easier!""He's not, though, so you'll just have to manage." Duplicity shrugged. "Sorry.""Just because you look like a kid doesn't mean you have to act like one, you hag!"She ignored his remark and stared out across the battlefield at her other two teammates. Bad Wolf and Backup had decided to have a rematch with Hannah. The last time they fought the bone-user, Old Dog had still been with them.Backup was dodging past blades of bone that stabbed out of the floor and used his great shield to block hammer swings from Hannah. On the other hand, Bad Wolf was sending wisps of clouds that fired small bolts of lightning, or shards of ice, into Hannah, denting the girl's armor. Although she was able to heal, the two heroes were overwhelming her.The only other big fight she could see happening was smack dab in the middle. Things didn't seem to be going too well for Snowdawn.The ice-based hero jumped back, barely dodging a punch from Kevin, but Kevin's arm grew in size, getting longer. Snowdawn tried to throw up a makeshift barrier quickly, but between the heat and the number of times he had spammed his unique ability without rest, his ice was having a hard time keeping up, and the wall he had created was broken through with ease.The hero was shoved back and grunted, several of his ribs likely breaking from the punch. "This is the second time we've fought, isn't it?" Kevin hummed, cracking his muscles and bones as his body shifted. He looked more and more like Mars King with every passing second. "Things haven't seemed to really change for you, haven't they?""I'm a lot stronger than I was then." Snowdawn slowly pushed himself to a standing position and reformed his ice armor. "Not only did I figure out how to use ice, but I've also unlocked a new power.""That lame-ass teleporting, right? Boring. So many people seem to be appearing with that-""It isn't teleporting." Snowdawn formed large knuckledusters over his fist and raised his arms weakly. "I really don't like you. I think it's because you remind me a bit of myself. Or maybe it's the other way around, and you're more like me than I am like you.""Huh? What the hell does that even mean?" Kevin grunted out.Snowdawn tried to give a cheeky smile but was too tired to even twitch his lips. "You were left behind. The people on the football team were getting better and better drugs, and soon, you weren't at the top. Though you never were actually at the top, to begin with, were you? You never could be, not in this world. You were just a normal human. I think that's why you did it, huh.""I sold my soul to become a Super," Kevin growled. "There isn't anything else to it. I was in a position where I could have either died or gained power.""I get it. Honestly, I do." Snowdawn said sadly. "I think I'd do the same if I never had my powers. Even with powers, I feel like I've fallen behind. Not just 'her' but everyone in team Pantheon. They're all simply amazing. More than I'll ever be. It makes me so mad sometimes. Like I'm totally useless. So that's why I worked to better myself. I spent a whole lot of time getting beat into the dirt by Poseidon!" Snowdawn announced, punching his palm. "I trained my butt off, and even if I am still left in the dirt, I'm still happy to see how much progress I made and how much further I can go! That's what makes us different, isn't it? You're still unhappy. You know that deep down, even after becoming a Super, you're still nowhere near the top. Nothing's changed; you've just found yourself in an even bigger pond!"Kevin threw out a punch, but Snowdawn dodged the strike and kicked out with his leg, sending out sharp blades of ice that impaled into the villain's throat. Kevin quickly broke past them, and his body was already fully healed. He had reabsorbed his clones earlier, so he was back in top shape. The villain managed to take a single step forward and suddenly became blind as something covered his face."You were wrong about another thing also," Snowdawn stated in a relaxed tone. "This fight isn't anything like last time. Last time I was alone. This time, I have help. I'm not the only one here who is angry about your choice. The first thing my dad ever taught me was that you never piss a girl off lest you face her wrath."A whip forged from solid metal wrapped around Kevin's head, squeezing down hard enough to crack the boy's skull. He grunted and grabbed at it, trying to rip it off, but the metal rubbed together and glowed red hot, burning his fingers off. "I know this metal." He grunted out and began to walk forward. The metal tore into his head, but he ignored it and shoved his way forward, literally tearing the top half of his head clean off. Now free from the metal, he turned his body and spoke without a brain. "So, you've come here as well."The top half of his head was already growing back. His eyes formed and blinked as sight came back to him. The look of utter disappointment on Oxide's face actually made him flinch back."Ashley-""Oxide." She cut him off. "When I'm out in costume, I don't want my cover blown by a villain.""Ah. So that's how it is.""I didn't want to believe them when they said you turned into a villain." Oxide said, shaking her head. Her dress had grown larger and formed more into actual armor. Half her face was covered, but the look in her eyes was clear as day. "I never wanted anything like this to happen.""Yet you did nothing.""Yeah." Her shoulders slumped slightly. "You're right. That's why I'm going to do something now. Snowdawn..." Metal began twirling around her arms, forming a pair of large blades. "If you wouldn't mind. I know that we're on different teams, but could you please help me defeat this bad guy?!""Things seem to be going well, I think." Whisper hummed. She was practically in her own little world off to the side, fighting the only two ordinary people here. Even without the ability to see the Paths, Ocean Empress trained her at a young age. This allowed her to easily block or dodge the knife swings Mr. Brenner and the mayor launched at her."I- I wouldn't get so cocky if I were you." The mayor grunted out. He was breathing heavily, and his arms shook as he gripped his knife. It was clear that he either had no training or very little training.Brenner was the real issue. The man stood in front of the mayor and had the perfect guard stance up. His eyes never left Whisper, and even when she tried to go invisible, he was able to use the dirt, or dust, to find her. He was likely ex-military or a cop who took his training very seriously. Maybe even a former member of the Hero Branch.Her tonfas buzzed with lightning as she backed away from both of them. There wasn't really anything she could do to help with the others. Every other Super here was either able to recover from her shocks or would kill her the instant she got close to them. So, she was fine, keeping herself content with these two."So, since I'm winning, do you mind telling me who was up in that tower or what it is exactly?" She called out."Don't get cocky," Brenner grunted. He twirled his knife a bit. "This could go any way.""Nah. You guys lose.""What makes you say that?"Whisper held her finger out and cocked her head to the side. "I got this little cutie with me."From up above, a tiny flying person no bigger than a small wasp landed on the tip of Whisper's finger. BB's wings folded in, and the little hero folded her arms and smirked. "You guys are screwed!" Though she was so small, no one actually heard her.Brenner didn't even have time to figure out what was going on. The wind around him surged and twisted, and he was sent flying into the air. He didn't go too high up, but his fall was another thing that made him gasp as he hit the ground, back first.Mayor Grove looked down at Brenner and then made up his mind. He tossed his knife at Whisper, but the blade was suddenly deflected by a wind barrier created by BB. "Did you really think that would- Wait, what's he doing?" Both girls stood there blinking as they watched Grove make a mad dash, running for his life in the direction of the tower. "He knows I can just blast him with air, right?" BB asked, floating up and landing on Whisper's shoulder so the girl could hear her."L- Luck has a way of helping him out." Both girls looked down when they heard Brenner's voice. The Indian man was struggling to push himself up to a standing position and held something up in his other arm—a jar of black liquid. "I didn't want to do this, but-"Blood splashed down his face, and the officer screamed as his hand was sliced off. The jar dropped to the floor, and Whisper felt a chill go up her spine. She didn't need the Paths to tell her who did that. Green Wolf stalked forward and picked up the jar, his barrier quickly blocking any stray attack sent his way.For a second, his gaze made it over to the two girls, who were frozen in shock. He shrugged lazily and walked past them, not bothering to attack.Whisper was the first to recover and ran towards Mr. Brenner. "Shit. BB, my backpack has some supplies in it. We need to stop the bleeding.""Right!" BB jumped off the girl and grew back to full size. "I can grow a bit and try to get us out of here. I can get to about twenty feet tall, so I should be able to carry you and him out of the Wasteland."Whisper shook her head. "No." Her eyes flickered back up to the tower. "I want to... Never mind. It's best to stay. Cinder will get Paragon, and she can heal this guy. We can at least stop the bleeding for now and make sure he doesn't bleed out.""Alright. If you're sure."She really wasn't. The right thing, the heroic thing, would be to leave with him. But BB could be needed on the battlefield, and she really wanted to know just what was up with that tower.Over with Doc, the man had remained face down in the sand since the fighting had started. Somewhere along the line, his cane had fallen out of his hands, and he had been praying a stray attack wouldn't hit him. He hated these Wastelands. After the attack with the Emperor, he had fled to them to escape the Hero Branch. It had been here that he lost his sight.Slowly, Doc lifted himself up and managed to take a few steps but suddenly yelped in pain as rope wrapped tightly around him. Then the rope began to twitch and buzz, and he realized it wasn't actually rope."I know who you are." Red Ape stood behind Doc, his centipedes tightly around the man. You're Doctor Blue. You and Professor Nicholas were healers back in the day. I've read up about you. You're like me—a Super with Mental-based powers that don't involve technology but instead biology.""Well, I'm afraid I don't know who you are.""Oh. I'm Red Ape!""Red Ape? Oh. You're that dumbass that is always messing with animals, right?"Red Ape's eye twitched a bit, and he huffed. "I'm a genius! I'll have you know that I've figured out how to make animals useful in combat!""Ah. So, the same skill level as a military dog handler?" Doc mocked. "What even is this thing, anyway?" He twitched a bit, feeling the bugs around him."Centipedes!""That's gross."Red Ape growled a bit. "I modified my own body. My sweat attracts them. They latch onto my arm and feed off of it. After a while, it causes the chemicals in their body to go haywire, and they rapidly grow and twist together, creating this rope. I'm pretty good at making animals bigger than normal. I'm also getting better at controlling them, even without Avalon's tech. Most of it is thanks to your drug. I'm guessing you made them with the DNA of that Lord of Life, right? It causes a spontaneous evolution to go off in the body, giving it the same body as a Super. I haven't been able to fully recreate it, but I got close.""Why are we chatting exactly?" Doc asked, letting out a sigh. "I hate fanboys.""We wanted to make you an offer," a new voice announced. White Lamb sat cross-legged in front of the man, her legs folded over one another. She held onto her TV and had taken her mask off, resting her head lazily against it.Doc hummed. "What do you mean by that? You two want to make me an offer, or your 'boss' wants to make me an offer."White Lamb just smiled. She didn't say anything else, turning off her sound-canceling field right as Green Wolf walked up. The man tossed a jar of black liquid over to Red Ape, who barely caught it with his free hand. "What's with this?" Red Ape asked.Green Wolf shrugged and dropped to a sitting position. He rested on his side and lazily watched the battle in the distance, his eyes roaming over all the heroes and villains. "I thought it would be funny.""Giving me this drug or watching the battles?""Still no big boss." Green Wolf rolled onto his back and placed his arms behind his head, staring up at the blue sky above. "Battery got taken off by that Fairy Bitch, so I can't fight him. All the Lords are fighting each other and will likely take each other out, so no good fight there. Golden God is busy with the last remaining strong people, and that glowing girl turned back into a kid. I haven't even gotten to see the Lord of Life; worse yet, my teleportation is still gone. Figured I'll just wait until the Victorian or something shows up and fight them.""You guys are strange." Doc hummed, also slowly falling into a sitting position.Green Wolf seemed to take note of the man and cocked his head to the side. "Why are we keeping him?""I figured I could use him!" Red Ape said excitedly. The man was already staring at the new drug with stars in his eyes. "Just think about what I could create with his help. I might even make a monster able to slay you and give me the title of Green.""That'll never happen." Green Wolf snorted. He closed his eyes, listening to the sound of fighting. "I was having fun earlier. Maybe I should have busted my full power out against that Duplicity girl, or maybe when Battery glowed all blue. I kind of wish Polaron was still here. I could go a few rounds with him. Things were more interesting when he was around. Oh! Good idea. Let's wait to see who is the winner in this big clash and take them all out!""You really think the three of us can?" White Lamb sighed and slipped her mask back on. "I mean, you're the only fighter here.""I'm here, though?" Red Ape frowned."Just you, Green Wolf. You're the only member of Zoo left that can still fight."Green Wolf sat up and stared out in the distance across the makeshift battlefield. Fairy Queen had practically left the area, dragging Battery with her. Even from where he was, he could still make out the waves of golden light and twists in the air as the two battled. And despite how intense it should have been, it was still nothing compared to the feeling he got in his gut as he turned to look at the tower."I wonder. Just what's happening in there."Paragon barely had time to hit the floor and roll. Her bird shrieked the entire time, and she almost cut herself open with her sword. Bone-like bullets blasted out of Wish's fingertips and tore the metal wall where Paragon had been, the rusted metal falling to bits."Keep dancing!" The girl cheered."Screw you!" Paragon barely had time to raise her sword up and block one of the bullets. The force of it caused the blade to go flying out of her hand and slam into the roof above. Destiny screamed once again, and it was thanks to his enhanced sight that she was able to duck down and avoid the massive fist Wish threw at her. The villain's limbs would grow in size just like Kevin's. "Crap-"The sheer strength of the attack lifted Paragon off her feet and sent her painfully over the floor. She groaned, and Destiny hissed, looking up. Wish stalked forward and lazily raised her arm. It reached ten feet in the air, and a large blade made out of her blood appeared in her palm. The villain smashed her hand down, ready to split Paragon in two."Paragon! Catch!" A familiar voice screamed.On instinct, Paragon raised her hand and caught something. She lifted the thing in front of her, and the blood blade was deflected off of it. She held a shield—Cinder's shield.Wish grunted when she saw the thing and turned to look at the entrance. Poseidon and Cinder floated through the large hole in the wall and came down slowly towards them, landing on the ground. "Is that her?" Poseidon asked, staring at Wish."Yeah." Cinder nodded.Wish's lips twisted into a large grin. "Oh. You're the Lord of the Sea aren't you-" The gravity around her grew stronger, but she fought through it. The shadows beneath her twisted and came to life, following her commands and molded over her armor as she stood up and folded her arms over her chest. "Trying to crush me the moment you see me.""Can you blame me?" Poseidon asked cocking her head to the side and walking towards Wish slowly. "You've really pissed me off."Wish giggled and also walked forward, both girls only an arm's distance from each other. "Oh." Wish placed both her hands on her face and stared up at Poseidon. "Can you bring yourself to harm me? After all, I look just like your little sister-"Poseidon's trident rammed through Wish's face, and the girl casually lifted the Lord of Life, impaling her with the weapon. "Don't flatter yourself." Poseidon twisted her weapon and used her gravity to drag Wish's face further onto her weapon. "My sister is way better looking than you, you ugly bitch."The Lord of the Sea was about to fight the Lord of the Land...