TheBroker

  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 vilins scattered throughout the immediate crowd, ready to take a 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 pn.

  He g Wake, “You ready? Yonna have to move fast. She wants this dht.”

  “Long as you hold off that fmi,” Wake grunted, rubbing his hands together.

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

  “Little te 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 a his jaw, Today’s the day we e out of hiding. Today it bees 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 pced his hand on the surface just as he hit send. In seds, gangs of light-touched around the Uates would spring into a outside of testiers just like this one.

  BOOM!

  –

  The bst 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 ahe sudden cussive force was enough to send most of the people within te of it to their knees, unscious or worse. Firestorm spun on his heel as he caught himself, the brief rog of the building nearly knog 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 wasy for long, several masked meed from it like wraiths, waving the ons 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, “Vilins!” He shouted and his haed into fmes, “Stop them!”

  He was about to dart forward when a s of blue light formed at his side and several small impacts struck against it. He gowards 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 bad bringing up and into the gut of one of the masked men. There ained 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 ho, when a booming voice called out of the quickly dissipating cloud of smoke.

  “Firestorm!”

  Firestorm turned in the dire of the voice as the fighting intensified around him. Fshes of light, arrows, boulders, blue bolts, darts of gss, and other powers whizzed through the air. An enormous man stepped out into view as the st 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 dire 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 poi the huge man anyway, “Stand down, now!” He roared, “Stop this! There are civilians here!”

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

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

  Fmes 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. “hat’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

  “Huh?” Firestasped in time to be bsted with water that seemed to have no source. It simply erupted from the ground, dousing him and sending him up into the air and smming 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 fused ants, vilins and heroes fighting eachother within the fines of the gymnasium. Something slimy a spshed 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 a a stinging against his skin. The water. He clicked his tongue and focused harder, “Raaaah!” He howled and a bst of steam erupted from his body, sending a vilin that was ing up behind him staggering bad screaming as the steam burns spread across his body. Firestorm didn’t look back, he trated his fmes into a pinpoint on his palm and threw it out, releasing a ray of trated heat.

  “Hup!” Kingshark ughed and raised his right arm to block it. The ray bsted 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 siing d 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 bnched as a tentacle grew from the stump. Kingshark raised the lengthy appendage over his head and howled with mirth, ung it at Firestorm. Firestorm raised a wall of fme to block it just as a line of off-colored smoke shed out past him. He blinked.

  “Sonya!” A voice cried. Marta?

  The fme 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 lu him, teeth bared and webbed fingers spread to grab him again.

  Firestorm raised his arms and released a fsh of fire in the man’s dire. To his right he spotted the lithe figure of Marta darting towards the exit, a line of gray smoke trag 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 relutly and darted away as another bst 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 nded 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 ched his teeth and fists, he put everything he had into a full body bst of fme upward and in the dire of the vilin. He khat as a hero he wasn’t supposed to kill vilins, 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 vilin shouted somewhere nearby.

  Firesto the right a and saw dozens ying on the ground, most of them wearing masks. Sts were taking shape over their bodies, affixing them to the ground. He shook off the surprise and rallied himself, e on Firestorm, move it! He anded his body, f himself to his feet as bsts of blue light, dark arrows, and other attacks came hurtling in Kingsharks dire. The big man held up his arms, defending himself, strae-like growths f on his skin. Turtle shell?

  Firestorm steadied his stand 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 smming 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 f himself towards the floor. He nded 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 st vestiges of strength he had he created a bst beh his feet and unched himself at Kingshark. Vilins 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 ed around Firestorm’s leg. He looked down in time for the tentacle to rip him off of Kingshark and sm him into the ground.

  The st thing he saw as his vision began to darken was an enraged Kingshark looking back at him, clutg at his neck. He gri the supervilin. “That one isn’t healing easy…” He grunted before losing sciousness.

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

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

  Firestorm nodded and gratefully got to his feet with the help of the masked maeadied 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 reveren their eyes. “What… what’s the situation?”

  “We won, though there are some people hurt, nobody died thank goodness,” Lifesaver said, soundiremely 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 iigative agent of the Pandora ittee.”

  “Sir?” Firestrunted dumbly, shaking his hand.

  “You stood toe to toe, basically one on one, with a supervilin 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 i have more than proven their capacity to a the field, wouldn’t the prree?” Ironsides said, gng 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, eveepped up. This is what heroes were meant to do. He thought as the proctors all heir agreement.

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

  Firestorm ched 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 Vilins 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, “Vilins and Monsters, it doesn’t matter, let’em e. We won this round and we’ll win the fu’ !”

  A round of enraged agreement followed the young hero’s procmation. Firestorm straightened his bad searched the eyes of the gathered heroes. They were unified in a singur 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 fet that mark, Kingshark. I’m ing for you one of these days.

  He turned his eyes towards the vilins who’d been captured, “Now let’s up this mess and find Miss ovna. The heroes heir voice.”

  TheBroker