Chapter 41 (Patreon)

Shark straightened his tie a little, standing across the hall from the door to the gymnasium. Trigger was at his left and Wake at his right. They were dressed down into casual clothing for the job, but had masks at the ready to pull over their faces. There were at least a dozen other lieutenant level villains scattered throughout the immediate crowd, ready to take action at a moment's notice. The majority of his men were outside the building, though, grunt level light-touched, ready to fight and prepared to go down and be arrested as part of the plan. 

He glanced at Wake, “You ready? You’re gonna have to move fast. She wants this done right.”

“Long as you can hold off that flamin’ beast,” Wake grunted, rubbing his hands together.

A man in a cap and sunglasses pushed past them, making his way through the crowd and towards the doors. Shark chuckled, “That guy’s in a hurry.”

“Little late to be leaving, though,” Trigger said with a sneer and popped his neck. He pat the satchel on his hip a few times, it was a bit of a tick he’d developed after he’d run out of stones during the fight with that assassin. He flexed his fingers and his knuckles cracked, “Ready, boss.”

“Do it,” Shark said and set his jaw, Today’s the day we come out of hiding. Today it becomes her world, whether anyone realizes it or not. He pulled out his phone and pulled up the readied mass text message as Trigger strode towards the door to the gym. Trigger placed his hand on the surface just as he hit send. In seconds, gangs of light-touched around the United States would spring into action outside of testing centers just like this one. 

BOOM!

–

The blast rocked the building, people screamed and scattered. The gymnasium went from a peaceful proceeding to pandemonium in an instant. Civilians ran away from the doors, bumping and jostling into one another. The sudden concussive force was enough to send most of the people within ten feet of it to their knees, unconscious or worse. Firestorm spun on his heel as he caught himself, the brief rocking of the building nearly knocking him over. Fortunately Lifesaver was there to catch him.

“What the?” He barked as smoke and debris filled the spot where the doors to the gym had just been. The smoke wasn’t empty for long, several masked men erupted from it like wraiths, waving the weapons in their hands as they hooted and hollered, immediately going after anyone nearby. It took half a heartbeat for Firestorm to process what was happening, “Villains!” He shouted and his hands erupted into flames, “Stop them!”

He was about to dart forward when a screen of blue light formed at his side and several small impacts struck against it. He glanced towards the bleachers and spotted another person standing up and putting a mask on his face as his free hand sparkled. “Thanks for the cover, Bluestar!” He shouted and charged, pulling his fist back and bringing up and into the gut of one of the masked men. There was a pained grunt and a sizzling sound and the man dropped.

More screaming, a civilian bumped into him. He whipped his head around, trying to figure out who was who, when a booming voice called out of the quickly dissipating cloud of smoke.

“Firestorm!” 

Firestorm turned in the direction of the voice as the fighting intensified around him. Flashes of light, arrows, boulders, blue bolts, darts of glass, and other powers whizzed through the air. An enormous man stepped out into view as the last remnants of smoke faded, he had off-gray skin and the build of a monster rather than a man, he had to weigh at least four to five hundred pounds! The man bore rows of razor sharp teeth in Sharks direction and his eyes gleamed with malice.

“THE SUPERVILLAIN, KINGSHARK IS HERE!” The man bellowed and raised his hands, “New York is my territory, hero!”

Firestorm could feel the bloodlust radiating off of the man, it was almost noxious. He grit his teeth and pointed at the huge man anyway, “Stand down, now!” He roared, “Stop this! There are civilians here!”

Kingshark tilted his head almost as if confused, his beady eyes wide with challenge, “So?”

“Bastard!” Firestorm roared and was about to release a blast of flame in the man’s direction when a terrified civilian ran in front of him. He hesitated just as the man-mountain sprung into action, he lunged with a laugh and wrapped his powerful fingers around Firestorm’s arms. Firestorm had only a half second to register the action before powerful teeth dug into his shoulder. He screamed, it hurt more than a Lurker bite! The sound of his cartilage and bone grinding snapped him out of his momentary stupor and he drew in a deep breath. “Get off!”

Flames cascaded off of his body, intense enough to send the big man reeling. Kingshark stepped back a few paces, patting his clothing down just as Firestorm responded, lunging with a white hot fist and drove it into the man’s face. Kingshark took the hit, his head thrown back for a moment before he cracked a vicious grin. “Nice, that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

“Huh?” Firestorm gasped in time to be blasted with water that seemed to have no source. It simply erupted from the ground, dousing him and sending him up into the air and slamming him into the ceiling. He grunted in pain as he fell back towards the ground. His vision blurred and all he could see were dozens of shapes darting about like confused ants, villains and heroes fighting eachother within the confines of the gymnasium. Something slimy and wet splashed against him as he hit the ground and he gasped, the pain abruptly fading.

Lifesaver, thank goodness.

He staggered to his feet and looked up to see Kingshark waiting for him. “You still alive? Got a good healer, doncha?”

“The best,” Firestorm breathed, his expression turning into a snarl. He tried to use his powers and felt a stinging against his skin. The water. He clicked his tongue and focused harder, “Raaaah!” He howled and a blast of steam erupted from his body, sending a villain that was coming up behind him staggering back and screaming as the steam burns spread across his body. Firestorm didn’t look back, he concentrated his flames into a pinpoint on his palm and threw it out, releasing a ray of concentrated heat.

“Hup!” Kingshark laughed and raised his right arm to block it. The ray blasted through his arm, creating a terrible hole. The beast of a man howled in pain and and looked down at his ruined arm.

“Now stand down! Stop your men!” Firestorm bellowed.

Kingshark stared at the hole in his arm and then looked up at Firestorm with a sneer, he opened his mouth and with a sickening crunch and the sound of tearing flesh ripped off his own arm at the elbow, spitting it onto the ground. What the hell am I fighting? Firestorm blanched as a tentacle grew from the stump. Kingshark raised the lengthy appendage over his head and howled with mirth, launching it at Firestorm. Firestorm raised a wall of flame to block it just as a line of off-colored smoke lashed out past him. He blinked.

“Sonya!” A voice cried. Marta?

The flame wall fell just as the smoke whipped backwards and to Firestorms horror he saw Sonya slung over the shoulder of a thin man he hadn’t noticed before behind Kingshark’s dominating presence.

“Sonya!” He shouted.

“Don’t get distracted, hero!” Kingshark bellowed and lunged at him, teeth bared and webbed fingers spread to grab him again.

Firestorm raised his arms and released a flash of fire in the man’s direction. To his right he spotted the lithe figure of Marta darting towards the exit, a line of gray smoke tracing its way out and into the hallway. She stopped and looked back at Firestorm and Kingshark, horror in her eyes. We need her here but… shit… damn it! “Go! Save her!” He shouted. She nodded reluctantly and darted away as another blast of water took Firestorm off his feet. He hurtled through the air and hit the ground with a grunt of pain. A massive figure flew through the air and landed on top of him.

All he could see for a moment was Kingshark’s beady eyes.

“I told you not to get distracted, boy!” Kingshark snarled and raised his fist.

Firestorm clenched his teeth and fists, he put everything he had into a full body blast of flame upward and in the direction of the villain. He knew that as a hero he wasn’t supposed to kill villains, but take them into custody, but this guy was too dangerous! Damn it all! He pushed through the momentary pain as more steam burst against his skin only for a cascade of blue light to nearly blind him. Kingshark grunted in pain and was forced off of Firestorm, staggering back a few steps.

“The heroes are rallying!” One villain shouted somewhere nearby.

Firestorm glanced to the right and left and saw dozens laying on the ground, most of them wearing masks. Stone rings were taking shape over their bodies, affixing them to the ground. He shook off the surprise and rallied himself, come on Firestorm, move it! He commanded his body, forcing himself to his feet as blasts of blue light, dark arrows, and other attacks came hurtling in Kingsharks direction. The big man held up his arms, defending himself, strange plate-like growths forming on his skin. Turtle shell?

Firestorm steadied his stance and felt Lifesaver’s power wash over him. He fixed Kingshark with a stare as another ball of white hot fire formed in his hand. He bore his teeth, “I’m stopping you here!” He shouted and threw his hand out, releasing another ray. Kingshark bore his teeth in a snarl somewhere between delight and rage and threw out his own hand, a tight ray of water releasing from his palm. The two rays collided and exploded with terrible force, sending Firestorm hurtling back across the room and slamming into the far wall. 

He coughed up blood, “Damn it…” He burbled, ripping his body out of the imprint he’d made in the wall and forcing himself towards the floor. He landed on his feet even as his entire body creaked.

“We’ve made our point! Retreat, boys!” Kingshark shouted.

“No!” Firestorm screamed through bloodied teeth, “You aren’t getting away!”

With the last vestiges of strength he had he created a blast beneath his feet and launched himself at Kingshark. Villains were already beginning to run out the doors, protected by tentacles that erupted from the ground. Kingshark was fleeing too, his back to Firestorm. Firestorm reached out and grabbed the man by the back of the neck, putting as much heat as he could muster into his grip. The mountainous man screamed in pain, thrashing about for a moment before something wrapped around Firestorm’s leg. He looked down in time for the tentacle to rip him off of Kingshark and slam him into the ground.

The last thing he saw as his vision began to darken was an enraged Kingshark looking back at him, clutching at his neck. He grinned at the supervillain. “That one isn’t healing easy…” He grunted before losing consciousness.

When he came to, Lifesaver was kneeling next to him, his eerie mask looking down at him. His pain was all but gone, but it still ached in several places. “Ugh… Lifesaver?” He murmured.

“You are one tough son of a bitch,” Lifesaver chuckled and pat his arm, “Can you stand?”

Firestorm nodded and gratefully got to his feet with the help of the masked man. He steadied himself and looked around, the testing grounds were in ruins. Around him were all the heroes and aspirants that had assembled, they all looked at him with a hint of reverence in their eyes. “What… what’s the situation?”

“We won, though there are some people hurt, nobody died thank goodness,” Lifesaver said, sounding extremely tired.

“Thanks to you,” Firestorm said, relief flooding through him.

“No, thanks to you,” A man in a suit said, walking forward, he extended a hand to Firestorm. “Ironsides, I’m an investigative agent of the Pandora Committee.”

“Sir?” Firestorm grunted dumbly, shaking his hand.

“You stood toe to toe, basically one on one, with a supervillain who we’re guessing is at least Mythic-tier. You saved a lot of lives today, Hero Firestorm,” Ironsides said.

“Not just me,” Firestorm shook his head, “All of the heroes here did what they could.”

The agent nodded, “You’re right, I daresay that the heroes that participated in this incident have more than proven their capacity to act on the field, wouldn’t the proctors agree?” Ironsides said, glancing at the proctors who stood shoulder to shoulder, their clothing torn and their faces a little bruised, but their backs straight. Firestorm smiled at them, even they stepped up. This is what heroes were meant to do. He thought as the proctors all nodded their agreement.

“Miss Chernovna is still missing,” Ironsides added grimly, “And apparently this has happened across the nation, it was a coordinated attack. Other areas weren’t as fortunate as we were. Lives have been lost.”

Firestorm clenched his fists, “We’ll find her if Marta doesn’t find her first,” He said grimly and looked at the other heroes around him, “The Villains made a statement today that they’re enemies of this new era. They’ve decided to side against society instead of helping us against the monsters. We aren’t going to let that stand!” He shouted.

Nearby, Bandit raised his bow up in the air, “Villains and Monsters, it doesn’t matter, let’em come. We won this round and we’ll win the fuckin’ next!”

A round of enraged agreement followed the young hero’s proclamation. Firestorm straightened his back and searched the eyes of the gathered heroes. They were unified in a singular purpose. We’ll protect this world, no matter the cost. Firestorm thought, looking down at his hand and thinking back to the burn he’d left on Kingshark. I hope you don’t forget that mark, Kingshark. I’m coming for you one of these days.

He turned his eyes towards the villains who’d been captured, “Now let’s clean up this mess and find Miss Chernovna. The heroes need their voice.”