12 Meanwhile somewhere else part 1
Neo land megalopolis, few hours after Leto disappeared, a hooded woman was standing at the top of a long tower building, staring down like an eagle at the different people on the streets
- Pathetic bugs
The woman sneered as she turned her head left and right as if looking for something
- This city is really big
She exclaimed sounding astonished as if she didn't expect it or rather, she founded it weird.
- Where are you?
She looked very serious, but suddenly her eyes sparkled and she yelled
- Found it!
Then she jumped in the air and disappeared.
Somewhere else, on the street, a creature that looked like a seven meters tall mud giant was attacking the masses, the creature didn't have eyes, nose nor a mouth, only two holes in place of eyes and a large slit in place of a mouth, as it moved the creature splashed mud which made most people afraid from getting dirty than actually getting attacked by the creature.
Police officers could be seen here and there in the scene trying to bring the situation under control, but such cases were out their specialty and abilities, that's why, their role wasn't to bring the creature under control but to keep as many people as possible safe and to try to minimize the number of deaths in such cases.
This mud giant was a monster that suddenly appeared, problem is, no one knew how it got into the megalopolis, as the land's borders are always monitored and a special unit known as 'watchers' would definitely take notice of such monsters coming to the land, even if they were simple flies they wouldn't be missed, everything was under supervision and observation, 24/7 hours, each and every day, security was tight and defenses always ready, whether land, air or even underwater, everything that was within, near or part of the perimeter of the land was always watched and trapped, in case of unexpected attacks, that's why monster attacks and breaches were scarce and rare, which really made everyone wonder how such a creature managed to sneak in unnoticed until it attacked.
As Neo land was home to many supers, new supers who wanted to quickly make a name for themselves were the first that arrived, because such rare attacks were their best opportunity, but only few renowned supers, as most of the famous and veteran ones were either somewhere in the world doing missions saving the world, called by the HGO to help search for the disappeared and others who didn't like to move without there being some real threat and obviously a hefty reward as free work meant unnecessary trouble that doesn't require their effort and thus could be handled by 'rookies'.
The mud monster was terrorizing those present despite the distance that polices made sure to keep between it and the citizens, not to mention the supers efforts to make that safe distance as well, yet a seven meters tall monster that could with each and every move of his not only splashes mud everywhere but can also shoot mud as bullets definitely was a threat to be feared for many reasons.
Two supers jumped at the monster wanting to show off, they didn't hear the calls of the others telling them to wait till at least they come up with a suitable strategy as the monster didn't seem an easy target.
Three renowned super heroes were present, they got their fair share off missions and battles in the past with villains and monsters, and while the three of them couldn't be placed amongst the best but they were veterans in their own class compared to the new gathered supers and newcomers.
As a matter of fact, there was a world-wide system to rank supers, villains and monsters, as it made managing missions, threats as well as supers much easier, not to mention, it helps super heroes related organizations better advertise their supers and boast their accomplishments.
Super heroes and villains are divided into ranks while monsters into levels.
Ranks start from D all the way till A, albeit there is a rank above even A that only four legendary figures could be classified as worthy enough to get that rank which is the greatest of ranks, the rank S…
Monsters on the other hand are creatures that could be compared to accidents, biohazards perhaps even natural and in some cases super natural phenomena, that's why rather than ranks they were classified into levels, starting from level 0 which contains basically monsters that represent zero threat whatsoever, such monsters basically harmless unless approached and can easily be defeated by even a rank D super, level 1 till level 5 are usually monsters that require the attention of small groups of heroes of rank D or C or one rank B super hero sometimes, monsters of level 6 or higher represent true threats that requires the attention of more qualified super heroes, those of rank A or hundreds of those of rank B, of course, those levels are only theoretical or rather superficial as monsters are creatures that are yet to be completely figured and understood thus it wouldn't be a surprise if a monster thought to be of lower level turns out to actually be of a true threat level, which happened many times and in most of those cases those monsters become what monster researchers refer to as 'mutations'.
Sentient robots and the aliens that tried to conquer the planet are also classified as monsters, monsters of levels 9 and 10 that is, and both of those levels were never given to any other monsters so far.
The mud monster that appeared inside the city should be a level 4 threat monster, or at least that's what the present supers believed after few minutes of observation and confrontation.
Anyway, the two supers that jumped were both newcomers, each at rank D, but they were both hot blooded and wanted to gain popularity, they were both twenty something years old, the older one looked quite buff and had a silver colored skin, he was of the brute power kind, the type that liked direct confrontations relying on nothing but pure strength and brawn to bombard the monster with punches, while the other looked slender like some mannequin but was quite fast and rather than direct confrontation, this latter relied on high frequency sonic waves, like a banshee screaming at the monster while nimbly dodging the creature's retaliations and limiting its range of movement.
To others, the mud monster looked like a caged bird, assaulted from all directions by high frequency sonic waves that stopped it from freely moving while the heavy quick punches were tearing its body as each punch left a hole in the monster's body.
- So? How is that?
Said the older one as if waiting for an answer from the onlookers
- This is our combo work! Make sure to remember us, we are 'Scream' and 'Pound'!
Shouted the younger one hinting to their team and team work
The two super siblings continued their combo work, the younger 'Scream', sending high frequency sonic waves making the monster unable to concentrate thus putting it in a state of confusion and somehow it looked suffering, and the older 'Pound' taking the chance to land heavy quick punches on the monster thus destroying that living hill of mud with each punch.
Seeing that the monster they were struggling to defeat being subdued by the two, the other supers didn't hesitate else they will be left behind and that certainly wouldn't be good for building their public image and future fame and reputation.
Thus, ten more supers decided to join the fray, some attacking from a range while some preferred close confrontation, some slow but precise and some fast and swift, some using attacks that looked straight out of fantasy like throwing fire balls and others taking more modern approaches by using guns and bullets…
Scream: "Hey hey hey! Don't butt in!"
Pound: "Yeah, get lost! This our fight!"
Naturally Scream and Pound didn't like others intervening as they not only were trying to steal their kill but also were disturbing their combo work, the two simply found it hard to continue their combo work with fire balls being thrown, some slashes coming from behind, bullets fired from unexpected trajectories, someone throwing light projectiles that fell like a rain from time to time burning wherever they hit, etc…
It was chaotic, a D rank super hero especially newcomers wanted to gain as much fame as possible and as quick as possible to help them raise their fame and thus better paid, after all not every super hero chose the work for a noble cause.
D rank heroes and newcomers usually find it hard to work as a team without a proper leader or someone qualified enough as a leader that's why, Scream and Pound the hot-blooded duo didn't like others interfering now that they were on the verge of a taking down the monster as they believed, therefore, they shifted their attacks towards the others
*Boom! *
Explosions and dust arose making the battle scene hard to see, who was fighting whom as twelve supers were fighting each other and the monster at the same time.
- Stop it! Are you two out of your mind?
Scream: "Shut up! Get out! It is our fight!"
- Are you crazy!
Pound: "This is going to be our win! our fight, outsiders have no place, stay away!"
- We came first!
- Everyone should fight!
- Defeating the monster is everyone's responsibility, what do you mean outsiders?
- Yeah! We are all super heroes here and it is our mission to get rid of the monster!
Pound: "I said, leave this monster to us, this is our monster!"
- The heck you mean your monster!?
- ….
Such heated conversation was taking place amongst those twelve that started battling in front of the other supers who kept watching from a distance, not to mention the civilians that were watching from an even further distance, of course such scene was being recorded and streamed as those fighting didn't seem to care especially Scream and Pound who wanted to defeat the monster themselves.
The three renowned supers that kept watching looked at each other nodding their head agreeing to intervene.
Normally it would be the agents from super hero related organizations role to intervene and stop such scenes from happening but the situation around the world was out of control, as not only just HGO but all other organizations in the same field were dealing with the case of disappearances, add to that other problems and sudden monsters appearing like the mud monster, thus leaving little to no time to properly prepare and some were in shortage of workforce as all agents were busy and occupied.
'Iron hammer', 'Sting bird' and 'Quick man', the three of them belonged to three different organizations, they also appeared later compared to the other heroes on the scene, they have been super heroes for few years now and can be considered quite experienced.
When the three of them arrived to the scene there was quite a number of lower rank super heroes challenging the monster, so as to not complicate things they joined the few supers who prioritized saving the civilians and keeping them safe, but now that the situations seems to have getting worse, they thought it was time to join in.
But before stepping in they needed to decide who would lead because when a group gather it would be best if there is a leader especially in such emergency, not to mention they deduced that the mud monster won't be easy to take down as the two siblings made it seem.
It wasn't the first time that the three of them meet in a mission, in fact it can be said that the three of them have a history together and they were familiar with each other's abilities and techniques to some extent.
Normally in such emergencies the highest ranked hero present would usually lead, the three of them were higher ranked compared to the other present supers but the three of them were of the same rank compared to each other as the three of them were C ranked.
Iron hammer: "So, should we go with the usual?"
Sting bird: "Yeah, why not?"
Quick man: "Ready…."
Iron hammer: "Rock! Paper! Scissors!"
Sting bird: "Rock! Paper! Scissors!"
Quick man: "Rock! Paper! Scissors!"
The three of them decided to play Rock, Paper, scissors and the winner would be the leader
*BOOOM!!*
Unfortunately, things weren't exactly calm as a deafening sound suddenly resounded and the onlookers started screaming at what just appeared
- Oh god!
- What the…
Scream: "Pound?"
Pound: "Time to flee"
Scream: "Right behind you"
Scream and Pound were the first to run away as following a sudden explosion resulted by the clash of super powers from the different super heroes, the mud monster somehow absorbed the damage resulted from those energies and suddenly grew more than six times its initial size and as if that wasn't enough, it somehow recovered from all the damage that it supposedly sustained
- Oh, no! it is a mutation!
Screamed one of the supers as he looked at the horrific monster that became high enough to probably cover all of those in range, in a sea of mud.
Iron hammer: "Hurry! Retreat!"
Iron hammer yelled at everyone present, as he hurried towards the mutation.
Iron hammer grabbed the hammer on his back and jumped as high as he can.
Iron hammer is a beefy two meters tall super hero with a huge iron hammer as his weapon of choice, the hammer weights few tons and it was as big as a motorcycle.
Swinging that hammer with both hands and driven by the force of his jump and the strength of both arms, he hit the base of the monster with everything he got.
The ground shattered underneath creating a huge crevice which made the monster lose its balance and fall
Iron hammer: "Now! Run!"
Iron hammer shouted at everyone, as he retreated himself.
Now that the monster became a mutation, it must be at least at level 6, which was way beyond the capabilities of what a group of rank B and C supers can handle
Sting bird: "Even if we run, I don't think we can make it in time"
Sting bird was a gloomy and a bit of a negative person by nature and seeing that huge monster getting big enough to be a behemoth, his resolution was greatly shaken.
Quick man was the weakest of three in terms of general fighting strength, however he was a lot faster, facing such situation, he was wondering whether to wait for help to arrive, or go himself and look for help, or give up and escape since he got the best chance of running away.
