The World Kept Spinning

"Yeah. That's it. That's my father's power. Cinder has become a true Lord of the Sun.""That stupid bitch just had to run her mouth." Dean Ward pinched the bridge of his nose as the recording of the Beast fight played back the sentence that had taken the world by storm. "She not only showed her incompetence in failing to save the city, but she practically ruined any chance we had at keeping the fact we had the Lord of Sun secret.""It's worse than that." A voice spoke up, coming through the speakers on his computer. "We didn't even know we had the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos in our possession. The Enforcers decided to keep that little trump card secret from us. Who knows what other information they could be keeping secret from the Hero Branch? Director Laps should be fired and thrown into the darkest cell we have! She is guilty of treason!"It had all started after the battle with the Beast. Every time the Beast was defeated and killed, something would always show up afterwards—a new threat that could bring humanity to its ruins. They had all been expecting a giant monster or some great disaster. Instead, the thing that was on the brink of wiping out the Hero Branch was a recording.Alice Ward, his very own sister-in-law, had survived the Beast attacks. He hadn't bothered trying to get his brother or sister out of Oleander. He had hoped they would have perished in the attacks, and he could use that 'grief' to increase his ranking and popularity. It would seem, however, that just as he failed to see through the hero Paragon's will, he also failed to see just how far Alice would go. The woman had recorded parts of the battle on her phone. That single recording was now coming back to bite them all.It showed off a golden girl cloaked in fire. She wasn't as grand as Full Monarch had been, but everyone could tell that it was the same. She then went on to beat the Beast single-handedly. At least, they presumed, as the actual battle hadn't been filmed. Only the part where the golden girl that went by the name of Cinder was throwing the Beast around with Godlike strength. During this attack, the Victorian decided to open her mouth and claim that they were seeing the Lord of the Sun."It's quite the tricky situation, isn't it." Ward took a drag on a cigar he had and breathed out a large cloud of smoke. His office was a mess with papers scattered about, and shelves were knocked over from when he took his anger out on everything he could get his hands on. On his desk, his computer showed off the image of another man in a suit who served as Daisy's Hero Branch head. "No one has seen Laps since the attacks. She could be dead.""Good! I hope that bitch is rotting in hell!"Ward slumped down in his chair and looked back at the screen, watching the recording of the Victorian's words once more. Everyone had put their hope into that woman. They all were expecting her to be able to do more. Two years ago, the world had suffered a Beast attack that resulted in the death of Legend and the birth of a new Calamity. The Victorian hadn't yet existed. Not fully, anyway. Her power hadn't been that golden light; the world knows her for now. Instead, it had been something harsher. After the Beast's attack, she shows up claiming to possess her father's power. She had fooled them all by showing off grand feats and actually got them all to put their trust in her back that she could keep them safe from the next Beast attack. Yet when it finally did come, she failed to stop it and instead had to have a teenager step up—something the general public noticed as well."So, what do we do now?" Ward questioned."We need to give a statement on the state of Oleander and what will happen to it." The leader of Daisy stated. "For the first time in a Beast attack, the city doesn't show any signs of radiation or total destruction. The damage is bad, but if we can figure out the costs, it could be possible to at least rebuild part of it. It would, at the very least, be a place we could store Lillian's increased civilians.""The public will want to know what happened to that hero. Cinder, I think, is her name. What do we tell them?""The heroes have confirmed that her body was too damaged to save." Daisy's head said, letting out a heavy sigh. "She sadly died.""That means we have to find the Lord all over again?""That's right. The general public doesn't know about the existence of pods, nor do they really understand how the titles of Lords are passed down. At the moment, we need to use this as our chance to look for the Pod.""The bad guys will be out looking for it as well." Ward winced. "A few of them know about that. Especially someone like the Emperor.""They would look for the pod if they thought she was dead. What if they think she's still alive though? They'd have no reason then, right.""What?"Daisy's leader gave a slight smirk. "I have a plan in mind. See, it could be bad if the public found out we allowed another Lord of the Sun to pass away. Especially as we all know, the Beast isn't truly gone. It will return one day. We haven't even gotten into the discussion of the Emperor's return. If the people discover that the Lord of the Sun has died, if the villains see this as their chance, then we've already lost this war before it's even begun.""So, you're going to hide the fact that Cinder died? Won't people figure out she's dead when she fails to show up...""Leave that all to me. For now, we should discuss the state of the Enforcers. They've requested to have three heroes placed on their team and plan on holding a meeting soon. They want to be shown off to the public as a way to save some face. A few of them did well in the fight with the Beast, so I suppose this is a way to make themselves look better for when it shows up next time.""Who did they have in mind as their new members?" Ward questioned."The first was a hero that goes by the name of Battery." The screen of Ward's computer changed, showing off the hero in red. "He fought alongside the Victorian and the two of them were able to almost defeat the Beast before it healed. Some people had managed to record him in the fight, and if not for the fact that the Lord of the Sun had appeared, he'd no doubt be the main topic of discussion. His power could be useful for combating the Organization whenever they make their move. Many civilians have also requested he be sent an invitation.""I've never even heard of him, and yet he's mister popular all of a sudden?""Besides the incident with Cinder, his battle was the one that was viewed the most."Ward nodded and rubbed his chin. "I see. I have no objections if the other directors don't. What of the others, though?""The second hero they've requested to join the team is a new one. She's decided to call herself Lightning Empress. The Victorian has requested we allow her to join. At the moment, it'd be best to let her on due to her powers, as well as the fact that it could keep the Victorian happy.""And the last?""Poseidon-""No." Ward cut his fellow director off. He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk. "Poseidon will not be joining the Enforcers.""May I ask why?""To teach that little bitch a lesson." He spat out. "Paragon refused to play the game by my rule. She ran off. She doesn't want to play ball? Well, then, she can suffer the consequences. I don't want Poseidon on the Enforcers. In fact, I don't want Poseidon on any team. Have you decided what you're doing with Ocean Empress's old team?""Team Reservoir unfortunately lost all of its members other than the heroes Poseidon and Paragon. Paragon has been MIA and hasn't stepped foot into Lillian since the Beast incident but has been spotted in Oleander. The team itself has had dozens of heroes from around the world request to join it. Many people looked up to Ocean Empress and wanted to honor her by making sure the team she built lived on. Ocean Empress stated in her will that the team was to be passed down either to her husband, her grandfather, or Poseidon when Poseidon came of age. Poseidon recently turned eighteen, so the team will be handed over to her-""Go ahead and just give it to me." Ward cut his partner off once more. "Put out some statement about how Poseidon is experiencing too much grief and mental issues to lead the team. Remove her sponsors as well.""Are you sure this is wise? You could gain the wrath of a Lord if you don't stop before it's too late.""The Lords aren't Gods. They're just Supers with big egos. Mankind must still rule over them or else we've already lost. I won't tolerate Paragon refusing me again. I'm sure she'll come to her senses when she learns what's happening to her sister.""Okay... Don't say I didn't warn you. Just so you know I think this is a bad idea."***"I'm in front of the Oleander bridge that connects it to Lillian! As you can see, even after two months have passed, the bridge still hasn't been fully repaired!" Alice announced, standing in front of her phone.Her friend June gave her a thumbs-up as he recorded the whole thing. After the incident with the Beast, Alice blew up in popularity online. She was making more money off of donations than she ever had earned from her old job. Oleander was left in pretty bad shape even months later, and people seemed to have a strange and twisted fascination with wanting to see the ruins of what was once a grand city."As you can see, there are still hundreds of people stuck in the city!" She announced, gesturing off to the side where many crowds had formed, all under tents or other things they had been given. "The Hero Branch in the beginning tried making an effort of getting people off this lot, but once the final member of the 'rich' district was removed and carried to Oleander, they seemed to have slowed that process down by a lot."The bridge that connected Oleander to Lillian was slowly being rebuilt. The Lillian Cleanup Squad, as well as the Oleander Cleanup Squad, had come together and were slowly but surely putting it back up piece by piece. It would still be at least another month or two, though, before the bridge was fully restored. Because of the bridge being out, there wasn't any way for Oleander to get much help. It was mostly a sea-locked city. People had tried to get into the city through boats, but during a disaster like this, the villains thrived and rose up, taking over the beaches of Oleander and raiding any ship that came, stealing all the supplies.That mainly just left small crates that would be dropped off every now and then through air. The Oleander Hero Branch was doing its best to hold everything together, but it was falling apart. Oleander had lost its Enforcer member before the war began, and several lone heroes had also died. Only the Oleander Sub Enforcer team remained. Pantheon had vanished off the face of the Earth. They had to work so hard because there were still people that were living in Oleander.Not everyone had been able to make it out of the city during the attack. And not everyone who did escape wanted to remain in Lillian. It wasn't like it used to be, but Oleander had some people that were scattered throughout the destroyed city. Many of the people who were homeless and living on the streets were doing well in this new environment, while those who had been stuck were making do. Dozens of tents had been dropped off, and the Hero Branch and other Supers were still making efforts to get supplies into Oleander. It wasn't much, but the city was somehow clinging to the last of its life.Alleyways were filled with debris, buildings had been torn down, fires spread to several areas, and the streets were filled with hundreds of pits that dropped down to the sewers, which were flooded and destroyed. There were only a few spots where a person could have any power, and if not for Boy Genius's drones, there wouldn't be any internet at all.The people were surviving, though. They had all been forced to come together. Many of them were also inspired by something... Something that was slowly but surely also trying to fix the series up. "Crime has, of course, gone up in this situation," Alice explained to her large audience. "Many villains flocked to this area, and some people claim they've spotted Green Wolf or Demonica sneaking around. It isn't just Supers, though. Thrill seekers, or troublemakers, have also been popping up lately. People that all think they can get away with anything in our city. Well, let me tell you so long as we have the Thunder Giants, Oleander is in good hands!" She announced, pointing to a series of large figures.They weren't as big as they had been in the fight with the Beast, but there were dozens of them now. Each stood at nearly twelve feet in height and were forged out of crackling black energy. They didn't carry weapons and instead walked around with heavy-looking tools. The very same tools the Cleanup Squad typically used. It was as if the Giants had been part of such a workforce before as they had been slowly clearing the streets of rubble and debris, setting up planks and bridges over the holes in the street, and were even rebuilding the bridge on their side of the city to connect it to Lillian's half much sooner.None of them bothered the civilians stepping around them or ignoring them as they worked, and worked, and worked, never once stopping. For nearly two months straight, they had worked and had managed to fix up several city blocks, allowing tents and other structures to be set up near the destroyed buildings. They also kept the city safe. All it would take was a single person committing a crime in front of one of these Giant Workers for them to call the real warrior over. Seated on the ruins of a destroyed building, using it like a chair, was a forty-foot-tall black armored warrior who had their sword stabbed into the ground next to them. They didn't move an inch, their eyes just constantly scanning out and watching the civilians making sure no harm would come to any of them.This was all thanks to a single hero—a hero the public almost never got to see since he remained on one of the few buildings left standing. Battery's arms were folded behind his head, and he lay flat on his back, staring up at the blue sky above."Teacher! I brought you some food!" A voice announced loudly. Purrfect stood on the edge of his building holding a large plate of random chips she had taken from a destroyed vending machine, as well as some soda. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink in days, right!""I told you I don't need to consume food or water to survive. And for the last time, stop calling me teacher." Battery groaned as he felt his muscles ache when he finally sat up. He had been in that position for nearly two weeks now. His neck and back were killing him."Are you finally planning on patrolling, teach?" Purrfect asked."No, I just need to walk around a bit. I think my body is locking up." Battery began to stretch out, feeling his joints pop. Purrfect placed the plate down and began to mimic him doing the same stretches. "Purrfect, why are you still here?"Purrfect was a young hero. She sort of reminded him of Snowdawn or Poseidon. The girl was seventeen and wore a yellow cat-looking outfit complete with cat ears and a tail that actually wiggled back and forth. She had whitish blonde hair that she had tied back a bit. She placed her hands on her hips, giving a sly grin. "Impressed with how good I am at toughing things out, teach?" She questioned. "I was part of the Daisy Sub Enforcers, but well... Most of my team... Anyway, Dust Cloud decided he didn't want to be a hero anymore and gave up, and since our team leader is no longer with us either, the director of the Hero Branch decided to just replace the entire team with new heroes, so I sort of got fired since I didn't do much in the Beast fight." The girl said sheepishly."They fired you?""Yep! So now my only other choice is to either become a solo hero and hope I can get some sponsors or join up with a big-shot hero that will let me join their team!""And you're planning on joining me?" He asked. He didn't really look the part of a hero at the moment. He had managed to get his mask back, which he wore, but several parts of his costume had been torn away, showing off his flesh beneath. He had a hole in the chest piece of his suit, as well as one that went from his back to his stomach from where the Beast had punched a hole in him. His body had been healed and fully restored thanks to him being a Ruler and the gift they all got, but his outfit sadly hadn't been part of that exchange."That's right! I'm joining you, and I won't take no for an answer!" The girl announced, folding her arms and giving a sly smirk. "I saw you in action, Teacher! You're totally cool and the kind of hero I want to be. You got to hold Ocean Empress in your arms and hear her-" A black hand appeared above Purrfect, dropping from the sky and splattering her across the roof. "Hey, what was that for!" Purrfect asked, annoyed, suddenly appearing on top of the black hand. "Oh, I get it. You wanted to see how my extra life power works, right? Well, fear not, Teacher, I'll explain it to you! I have nine lives, just like a cat! If I lose any lives, I have to take a few days to recharge them! It takes one day to charge a life back up, and I can only hold nine!""So, you can die eight more times?""Yep-" Another hand appeared above her, crushing her once more. "Why!" She whined, appearing next to him. "What did I do that time?""Don't ever mention Ocean Empress ever again." Battery slowly laid back down and stared back up at the sky above. "Now get going before I take any more of your lives. I'm not building a team. I might not even be part of the Enforcers. They might ask for me to be wiped out any day now."Purrfect pouted a bit but slowly dropped down in a sitting position next to him. "Is there a reason you're always looking up at the sky so much, teach?""I'm just waiting for when she comes back.""Who?""Do you know what a Ruler is, Purrfect?" Battery asked, suddenly changing the subject."Huh? Well duh. Like a person who is a king or something?""Not that kind of Ruler. Have you ever heard a voice in your head? Maybe someone who tells you to do something?""Are you asking if I'm crazy? I'm not? I don't think?" She grabbed her head, her eyes going wide. "Is this a test? Am I crazy? Oh God, none of this is real, and it's all a dream, isn't it?!"Battery kept staring up at the sky and closed his eyes. "I just find it odd, is all. Escaping death all the time is a trait shared by Rulers. Yet you have it as well. Demonica has fire powers despite that being the ability of the Lord of the Sun, and all Lords have battle modes, while many Supers can also transform. It makes me wonder just what makes Rulers, Lords, and Supers so different." Then again, he knew that already. Lords and Rulers weren't alone. They existed alongside someone else that was found within them... "So," he called out. "What are you doing here?""I already told you, teach-""Not you."Purrfect cocked her head in confusion before she suddenly felt her body turn sluggish. It was almost as if everything was moving in slow motion. She stood up as fast as she could, but it was painfully slow, and she managed to turn her head, spotting that they weren't alone anymore. Someone else stood on the building with them. Lady Time always stood out like a sore thumb. She wore an elegant white dress with a skirt and a long cape. Her hair flowed down her back, and many golden pocket watches wrapped around her, one of which even formed an eyepatch. Thanks to a mix of the Victorian's golden light, and Paragon's healing, she had basically been fully restored.In her hand, she held her two swords. One able to slow things down and the other able to speed things up. Her good eye stared down at Battery who didn't seem to have been slowed down in the slightest. He stood up lazily, moving his arms back and forth as if he was getting ready for a fight. "What do you need?" He asked calmly. Despite that, his power flickered around him. Crackles of energy went from blue to black, switching back and forth so fast it caused her head to spin a bit as she tried to keep up with it."You need to come with me." Lady Time stated."I'm not interested in sleeping with you if that's what this is about." Battery said, waving her off."W- Why would you think it had anything to do with that!" Lady Time asked, baffled."Aren't you, Mister Man, and the Victorian in some weird, kinky relationship?""Who the hell told you that?""Ocean Empress."Lady Time stomped her foot down a bit and exhaled. "What I do is none of your business! You've been asked to go to the Enforcer tower in Rose City." She explained. "We're having a meeting. An Enforcer meeting.""So, does this mean I made it on your little team?""That's what we're going to discuss."Battery gave a slight nod and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright then. Let's get this over with. Purrfect, you're in charge of the Giants while I'm gone.""Alrighty Teacher!""I'm not your- Forget it. Just don't screw up."Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Oleander near the Wastelands, where she had fought the Emperor in her battle, the Victorian let out a heavy sigh as her sword stabbed down into the ground.Sweat dripped from her face, and her muscles ached. Her costume was torn, and she still hadn't gotten it fixed after her battle with the Beast. The world had been wondering where she had been for these past two months. All around her was destruction. She had torn the Wastelands to bits, shattering the ground and mountains around her, a river of blood staining the ground as thousands of the giant worms lay slain at her feet."It's still not enough." She slowly picked her golden sword up, staring at her dirty reflection in it. "I'm still not as strong as I need to be. As strong as I used to be. I just can't live up to him.""Victorian..." A voice slowly drew her gaze away, and she found a small drone floating next to her. One of Boy Genius's. His voice slowly came out of it in a faint hum. "We're meeting at the tower.""Understood." She wiped some of the sweat away and slowly floated into the air. Millions of craters scattered the field around her, going deep into the ground. "I'll be there soon.""You should clean yourself up first," Boy Genius said. We don't want the new members to get the wrong idea.""Right." She looked back up at the sky. "And you still haven't found any traces of her?""No, ma'am.""I see." Her sword slowly faded. "I know this can't be the ending. How much longer are you going to make us all wait, Hope Lauren?"