All Roads Meet

'You're hurting someone for no reason. You kill people for no reason. I don't get it. You have powers like me. Why would you ever decide to not use them to help people? What do you get out of being a villain?'

An idiot hero had once asked him this question. She was a weak, naive child who didn't understand the world she had entered. Just some brat that thought wearing a costume instantly put her in a place where she now held the right to look down at others and judge them for deciding for themselves who they wanted to be.

'It's fucking fun.'

That had been his simple response to her foolish question. Looking back on it, though, he regretted saying that.

Green Wolf let out a loud laugh and swung his sword as hard as he could. The kinetic energy he had been building up since the battle began unleashed itself, rampaging out of the edge of his sword and ripping even the wind apart as he sent a thin slash toward Duplicity. "What do I get out of being a villain? Name me one hero who can laugh as loudly as I can!" He cheered as his blade tore the stadium apart, ripping it in two. "This isn't just fun. This is the most fucking fun I've ever had in my life! I love this game! I know you're not the final boss either, though, so go ahead and die, you mob."

Duplicity's body had grown in size. She looked like a full-grown woman now and was woven together from strands of pure energy. She phased through matter, dodging past the falling blocks of debris that rained from above as the entire stadium began to come down on them.

"You're totally insane, aren't you?!" She called out. "I'm sure the whole world would love it if you just went ahead and died."

"I don't know about that. I'm sure I have some fans out there." The villain chuckled and twirled his sword, each loop ripping the ground to bits and sending his attacks out in a wild wave of directions.

Energy-based heroes and villains weren't common, but they weren't rare. They were always tricky to deal with. One thing that made them all stand out was the energy they controlled. For everyone, it was different. The Victorian could control and create solar energy, allowing her to fly and create weapons and attacks nearing light speed. Max Lightning was able to harness electrical energy to perform lightning blasts and stun people. Even Cinder and Demonica both used a form of energy control, both using thermal energy, the same thing Snowdawn and Poseidon used. Green Wolf's was kinetic energy. It was what allowed him to tank so many strong hits and grow in power. Kinetic was movement itself. Just by standing on Earth, the rotation of the planet powered him. All other forms of energy had movement to them when they traveled, and thus would be made up of a bit of kinetic energy, allowing him to mostly absorb other attacks. He had one flaw, though. He couldn't absorb energy that wasn't kinetic.

Someone like Battery was his natural enemy. Battery's energy was also solar in nature. However, this was due to a 'gift' he had received from the Victorian. In actuality his own power allowed him to absorb, and then transmute the properties of energy, turning what was once solar into electricity, kinetic, or any other form of existing energy.

Duplicity knew she was at a disadvantage in her fight with Green Wolf. The energy she had become made of was not kinetic energy and thus could not be absorbed, but the act of sending out large bursts of attacks would generate bursts of kinetic force that could then be absorbed. Due to this, she was forced to fight only up close.

Or at least that's what she wanted Green Wolf to think.

"What kind of energy are you made of, anyway?" Green Wolf called out, dodging one of her punches. She sunk into the ground, and he jumped into the air as she blew the area around him up. "Nuclear or something?"

"Nothing quite that dangerous. I'm not the Beast after all." The woman said, cocking her head to the side and giving a sly grin. "It is a form of energy that I'm sure you've become quite accustomed to, though."

"What do you mean by that?" A heavy truck, one of the ones that belonged to the Hero Branch, surged forward at breakneck speeds and rammed into Green Wolf from behind. The car folded around him and was quickly followed by dozens of others. The attack itself didn't hurt him, but he suddenly found himself being encased in metal. The same trick Polaron had tried to do to him, only this time, he couldn't teleport out. "This is-"

"Go ahead and die." Duplicity commanded. She balled her hand into a fist, and the cars began to pile on more and more. They shattered and formed walls that grew tight together, barriers of iron twisting. "Be gone from this world."

Radiant energy, also known as electromagnetism. When Polaron had still been around, she had been forced to keep this form secret lest he absorb or tear her apart. With him gone now, she had become one of the greatest masters of metal on Earth. She'd really need to thank Cinder for that, someday.

Green Wolf groaned as the ball of iron grew tighter around him. Only his head poked out now. The rest of his body was covered in so much metal that he couldn't even move a finger. None of it could actually touch him, his barrier stopping it dead in its tracks and instantly absorbing the energy that caused it to move, but there was simply so much piled on that he had become totally stuck.

"I can get out of this, you know."

"I'm sure you can." Duplicity shrugged, and she didn't even bother moving. Her body sparkled and glowed, and the metal obeyed her every command. It rose above Green Wolf's head, about to fully encase him in the iron ball.

"I'm serious. I have a secret transformation up my sleeve. A power I had been saving next time I fought Polaron if it came to it. After he joined our side, though, I decided to save this form for the final boss. My plan was for either Wish or the Emperor to be the final boss."

"Why are you so interested in dying at the Emperor's hands?" The hero hummed, though she didn't care.

"Good, evil, I don't care what side you're on. The Emperor was the top dog, fifteen years ago. If Full Monarch is dead, then I will settle for the next best thing. If the Emperor is dead, then I will go even lower. Whoever dares to stand at the top is the final boss—the ultimate fight where the protagonists take them out. That is the only meaning my life needs to have. I'm on your side in a way. Let me go. I want to kill Wish, same as you heroes."

Duplicity cocked her head to the side and smiled. "I'm going to send you into outer space and make sure that this ball remains as your tomb."

"Wait-"

She didn't wait, though. The metal folded over him blocking him out of sight. She could hear his muffled yelling, but she ignored it. The iron smoothed out, and she flattened it all down until a sizable twenty-foot-tall orb had been created, somewhere in the middle of it containing the villain known as Green Wolf. She floated under it and placed her pointer finger directly to it.

"Steady." She aimed up for the moon above and smirked. "Fire-"

"Did you beat him?!" She stopped right before she could send the metal ball into space and looked down. The stadium was in ruins. The ground had been torn apart so badly that it practically collapsed onto the parking lot below. All the seats had been torn apart, and the top half of the stadium had slid off, hundreds of cuts all lining it. From down below, the rest of the Watch Dog members were leaving the safety of the underground. It had been Backup who shouted. He was followed closely by Roulette, who had a wave of bullets carrying the villains. "You beat him right, Dups!" Backup yelled out.

"Yeah! What does it look like?" she tapped on the metal ball. "He said something about a transformation, though, so I'm not taking any chances. I'm throwing him into space!"

"Should we have a countdown?"

"Nope! Doing it now before something goes wrong-" A gray light smashed into the top of her metal orb, and flickers of dust rained down. "Oh, god damn it!"

She dropped down just in time as the entire orb rusted and broke apart. It was as if it had aged by hundreds of years. The light died down right before it hit Green Wolf, who quickly pulled his way out of the flimsy and broken-down metal. The orb began to fall to the ground below, but he took a step off of it and spun through the air, landing on the golden hand that suddenly appeared beneath him.

A massive shadow rained down on the stadium, and all the heroes stared up at the flying figure of Golden God. Fairy Queen stood on the tip of his finger with her arms crossed. "Thanks for the save," Green Wolf called out, sheathing his sword onto his back.

"I can't help but notice your team isn't in the best condition," the woman said, clicking her tongue.

"Yeah. I'm fine, though." Green Wolf shrugged. "We can just leave them if you want."

Backup took a step back as he stared up at the villains. "Not good. I think they might be able to jump us."

Duplicity landed down on the ground next to him, frowning. She didn't have much longer left in her form. Soon, it would run out, and just like with Snowdawn, she'd need to recover, going into a sort of burnout-like stage. "What's the big deal? We planned to fight Fairy Queen and Golden God in the first place, right?"

That was the entire reason they had come in the first place. Pantheon had asked them to help out. The plan had been to use Pretty Face as bait to jump Green Wolf, and force him to take them to Golden God and Fairy Queen. They knew Golden God would be down for a bit and wanted to take Fairy Queen out before he fully recovered, but even with him up and about, they had made a plan to take him out.

"The plan went wrong when the Wandering Coin showed up." Backup said, shaking his head. "The first plan had been for Ocean Empress, Poseidon, Battery, and yourself to jump Fairy Queen and overpower them once Ocean Empress brought the sword to Battery. The rest would be on support and throwing in attacks when they could. If Golden God was up, then Roulette, Myth, and Bad Wolf would deal with him until you guys finished, or the rest of us would support them and try to drive him back. Pantheon isn't here, and I'm guessing things didn't go well with Ocean Empress. Besides, you don't have a lot of time left in that mode. Roulette is strong, but even he'd struggle with a general of the Emperor, much less two of them."

"You're in luck, then," Fairy Queen called out. We're not really interested in small fry like you," the woman said, waving them off. You're really fine with me leaving your men behind, right, Green?"

"Yeah, fuck them."

"Cool. But... Just in case, we really should take one or two of them," the woman hummed.

She was gone in a blink of an eye. Faster than any of them could even comprehend, Fairy Queen appeared between them. Roulette was the first to act, sending his bullets flying, but the villain simply waved her hand, and all his ammunition was twisted and changed, reality-bending to her will as she turned them into pretty flowers. She hooked her arms around a few of the villains, and her wings expanded as she took flight.

She was back in Golden God's hands faster than any of them could counterattack, setting three villains down. "Alrighty. Let's go."

"Seriously." Green Wolf huffed. "Out of all the villains down there, these are the ones you picked?"

"Well, I had to get Demonica." Fairy Queen said, cocking her head to the side. At her feet, Demonica slowly pushed herself to a standing position and glared at Green Wolf, who ignored her. "She was a friend of my sons, after all. It would just feel wrong if I left her to her fate." The woman said, patting Demonica on the shoulder.

"Okay... And what about these two losers?" Green Wolf pointed down at the other two villains. White Lamb and Red Ape.

Red Ape stood up, dusting himself off, and helped White Lamb back to her feet. "Ha! Freedom! Watch out, Cinder! I'm not done yet! Your rival has one more trick up his sleeve!"

Fairy Queen just shrugged. "I can go get more if you want-"

"We do not have time." Golden God spoke up. The entire time they had been arguing, his many hands had been keeping them safe, easily deflecting bullets and energy thrown by the Watch Dogs. "I am leaving now." He floated up high, and his body began to glow.

Green Wolf sighed and nodded. "Fine. After this is over, though, I'm killing Red Ape, myself."

In a flash, they vanished, leaving the heroes down below with the remaining villains. "Shit!" Backup cursed. "That's not good. I'm guessing they're about to appear on top of Myth and the others."

"What do we do now?" Bad Wolf growled, folding her arms. Her tail whipped back and forth as she glared down at the rest of the villains, who were still knocked out from the damage they took. "We still need to put these guys somewhere, and this time, make sure they don't escape. But we can't just leave Pantheon to die. Someone needs to get a hold of the Victorian or something. We greatly underestimated-"

She stopped when a quiet ringing echoed out. Backup reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. "Oh, hey. It's Ocean Empress. I guess she's fine."

"How does she have your number?"

"I was her father's best student!" Backup answered the phone and let out a low whistle. "Talk to me."

"Are you guys free?" Ocean Empress asked over the line.

"Yeah. We were just about to get ahold of the Victorian-"

"It won't work." Ocean Empress said over the line. "Her and Boy Genius noticed something out in space and left to check it out a while ago. No one can get a hold of them now. They were afraid it would be the Beast or something new and are too far away from Earth by now."

"Seriously! You've got to be kidding me! Screw the guy who set these events up in motion! He just didn't want us to have the Victorian on our side since it'd be too easy!"

"It's fine, though." Ocean Empress cut in. "I have a new plan. By any chance... Could I borrow your boat?"

***

Paragon hit the ground with a grunt as she rolled across it. The sword she held slid out of her grasp and rolled across the ground before it stopped directly under Wish's heel. The villain stomped on the blade and sent it twirling in the air. She caught it and looked down at it, smirking.

"This is a pretty cool sword. It almost killed me earlier. Teleport the moon onto the surface of planet Earth!" Paragon flinched, but nothing happened. "Damn. Guess it doesn't want to work for me." Wish shrugged and threw the sword as hard as she could directly into the metal floor next to Paragon, causing the blind hero to jump. "Pick it up and get on your feet."

"Huh?"

"Did I stutter?"

Paragon grasped the sword and slowly stood up. Destiny still rested in her hair and looked around, slowly taking in the sight around them. They had made it to that weird tower, and Wish had flown them directly inside of it. It was large, nearly as tall as a skyscraper, and it was wide enough to fit a small stadium inside of it.

Time had eaten away at it, however, as had the many sand bandits. All the walls had been torn away, and wires hung out. If there were lights, they wouldn't work anymore. They were all the way at the bottom, which actually had been sunk into the ground. The only entrance and exit was a large hole in the side of the tower, the one Wish had flown in through, which was nearly thirty feet off of the ground. There were some stairs that looped around the place, like a lighthouse, and led all the way to the very top, where another floor rested, but that was about it. Everything else was either gone or so broken down that she couldn't tell what it was.

Rows of damaged monitors hung on the walls, many of which had been destroyed for a long time, and a few chairs were scattered about in all directions. It looked as if someone had tried to turn this part of the tower into a home of sorts. There were a couple more floors up above that she could try to reach by taking the stairs. It would also allow her to get to the hole above since the stairs circled around, but there was a big issue. Wish stood on them with her arms folded.

She didn't know if anyone else was in the tower. Maybe some villains or a Super, but if they were, they'd have to be up on the floor above. Wish didn't seem to care, though, as the villain hadn't even bothered to look around.

"Where are we?"

"No clue." Wish shrugged. "I heard the boss talking about this place. It's some sort of teleporter. It works like a gate to another world; instead of taking you to some pocket dimension, the gate just teleports you to the moon. I'd bet the entrance is up top. Or at least it should be up top, but this place is so run down that I doubt it works anymore. Now, it's just a piece of junk like the Enforcer's Tower. Funny, right?"

"Why'd you take me here then?"

"Seemed like it would be a cool spot for us to have our battle."

"That's seriously it?"

Wish shrugged. "I don't need much more."

Paragon nodded and gripped her sword tighter. "Okay, but why did you take me? You have a beef with Cinder, not me."

Wish's smile faded for a second, and the girl's eye twitched. "Well, to be honest, I don't really like you. It's more than that, though." It had been only moments ago for her. The fight with Cinder. She had been humiliated. That flame-based hero had shut her down every chance she could, and in the end, the only reason she would have won was due to Cinder running out of steam. "I found out how I can get stronger. See, I saw her do something like this." Wish explained, messing with the horns that now stabbed out of the top of her head. "Turns out we can transform. Cool, right? I'm already way stronger. But I want more. The man that created us. He put pieces of himself in you. A piece of me. A piece of the Lord of Life. If I can get that piece back, I'll grow even stronger and will have the power of the Emperor! This time, though, Life will devour the Sun."

Paragon nodded. "Okay. If that was the case, why didn't you just take the piece in me when you had the chance?"

"Doing so would kill you." Wish shrugged. "Of course, I plan on killing you, no matter what, but I thought it would be best to get that flame chick worked up and waste her energy first. After all, I've seen just how far her power can go. I'd rather avoid that before I have a chance to absorb you."

"You're lying."

"Huh?"

"If you really felt that way, you'd have killed me the moment we were out of sight and wouldn't be talking to me like this. You're scared, right? Scared of what will happen if you absorb the piece. Or maybe you're afraid I'll take your piece and absorb you instead when you try to absorb me."

Wish stared at Paragon and cocked her head to the side. "Or. Maybe I just wanted to beat you nice and slowly, breaking everyone in your little body until you pop."

Paragon raised the sword, pointing it at the villain. "I'm not scared of you! I'll fight you and-"

Wish's arm expanded and exploded out, allowing her to ram her fist into Paragon's head so hard the girl's mask exploded, and Paragon was sent flying, crashing back first into the metal wall of the tower they were in. The entire place shook, and Paragon slumped down onto her back, seeing stars.

She had the body of a normal human—no super strength or speed. All she had to do was one-on-one with a Super with her powers, but stronger and with a perfect body.

"I can do this... God, I hope I can do this."

Outside of the tower where the other heroes and villains were, Cinder tried to run forward, but she barely got three feet before strings of blood and shards of bones grew around her legs.

"Did you forget we got our powers from Wish?" Casey taunted. His flesh slowly grew back, and he stood up along with Hannah.

"You're too soft." Hannah taunted. "You'd need to-"

Cinder rammed her palm into the girl's stomach and unleashed a blast strong enough to blow Hannah's upper half to ash. Already though, the girl's lower half was regrowing her body. "Not good enough!" Casey yelled, ramming a finger into Cinder's stomach and unleashing a red beam of compressed blood.

Cinder felt her nerves scream out in pain as a small hole was blasted through her body. She fought through the pain and rammed her fist through Casey's face and out the back of his head. His body kept going, though, even as his brain was set on fire, blood knives stabbing out of his elbow and cutting into her shield, which she raised.

From behind her, Hannah's body put itself back together entirely and swung out with a robust bone hammer, smashing it directly into Cinder's helmet. Cinder ignored the blow and ignited her entire body in fire for a second, blowing both of the villain's back. She jumped into the air and was about to blast away with her fire, but before she could, suddenly, from above, Kevin came crashing down towards her with wide red wings, allowing him to fly. He smashed a fist into her face, knocking her back to the ground.

"Snowdawn! I thought you had Kevin!" she shouted. Kevin, Casey, and Hannah still stood in her way, none allowing her to step forward.

"I do!" Snowdawn called back.

"Huh?" She turned to where her friend was, and her face paled when she saw him being thrown around by three different Kevin's. "Shit! I forgot he could split!" He had shown it off in the fight with Wish the first time. Each of his clones was weaker, but that didn't really matter when they all had his crazy healing and growth. Kevin had gone from a random school bully to an actual Super-level threat.

That wasn't all she had to worry about either. Doc ran over to Brenner, who had finally broken out of his ice. "Here you go. Use this to deal with that invisible bitch." The blind man said, handing over a jar of black liquid. "It's not stable. I made it with Wish before she died the first time, and it could kill you, or it could give you just the right amount of boost that you need."

Brenner shook his head and took the glass but didn't drink it. "I'm not going to turn myself into some monster." He stood up and pulled out his knife. "I will help the mayor out, though. You stay here."

Whisper dodged a strike from the mayor and raised her weapon up just in time to deflect the knife swing Mr. Brenner took. She wasn't able to block it entirely, though, and felt the blade dig into her shoulder, ripping it up and making her wince.

"This is a lot harder when I don't have the ability to see the future." It wasn't just the two of them she had to deal with either, as from up above, a Kevin clone came crashing down. She rolled out from under it just in time but felt dozens of sharp rocks dig into her legs and arms, downing her.

Things weren't looking too good for them. She had Brenner, Grove, and Kevin on her. Cinder had Casey, Hannah, and Kevin on her. As for Snowdawn...

The poor hero had six different Kevin's beating on him now. Snowdawn raised his arms up, blocking a strike from one Kevin, but a second one would come up behind him, cause their hand to grow as big as a car, and smash it into his back. Each Kevin hit weaker than the last, all getting slower and less intense the more they split, but no matter how much he froze them or downed them, they just kept coming.

It reminded him of the history stories he had read about Mr. Sini's time-fighting Lucifer's zombie army—this wave of unending beasts that put themselves back together faster than you could tear them apart.

"This is so bullshit!" Snowdawn yelled, punching through a Kevin, only to have three more fists smash into his face and break part of his ice off. He rolled with the punch, wrapped his fingers tightly around another Kevin, picked the clone up, and tossed him toward one of the spots where the sky had a hole. "Chill out in there!"

The Kevin hit the molten sand hole and began to sink into it. It tried to claw its way out, but Snowdawn blasted it with snow and ice, pushing it deeper into the molten pit of fire as the radiation began to rip its body apart. It didn't get back up and sunk into the ground, no longer moving.

"Holy shit! Guys, I think I figured it out! Sun cancer! We just give them mega radiation damage and melt them with the sky holes!"

"Already ahead of you!" Cinder announced. She whipped her hand out, shooting her chains of fire in every direction. She didn't grab Doc, Brenner, or Grove. They were just normal humans, and she'd have felt bad. On the other hand, Casey, Hannah, and all the Kevin clones were fair game. "Take this, you assholes!"

Her flaming chains wrapped around each of them before they could dodge. She was already powered up and above what most of them could handle. Maybe in the future, she could create flames hot enough to kill them instantly or filled with radiation like the sun, but as she was now, that was beyond her. So instead, she followed Snowdawn's lead and swung them all as high as she could and then down directly onto one of the molten glass holes.

All the villains screamed out, and she felt her heart twitch. They were all kids like her. Hell, Kevin and Hannah went to the same school. They were sinking into the molten glass, and their flesh burned as the sun stabbed down into them.

"If you promise to behave, I'll pull you out!" She yelled.

"No." Snowdawn shook his head. "Look. I don't like this more than you do, but they're way too dangerous. We still need to deal with Wish, and from what Battery said the girl can respawn through them. I don't want to, but they need to die."

"But..."

"Snowdawn's right," Whisper called out, dodging in and out of Brenner, and Grove's knife swung. "Fuck those kids. They don't want to die like this? Guess they shouldn't have picked the side of evil."

She shook her head. It was wrong. But... She stared at them, watching as the flames ate away at them, and they sank deeper. She was reminded of Polaron for a moment. In that situation, she had just needed to move her arm a bit, and he'd die. In this situation, she didn't need to do anything. She just had to watch them melt. This wasn't like a comic. Heroes killed. Myth had tried to kill Red Ape on her very first mission. She just wished it didn't have to be villains that were her age.

Her hand went slack with the chain, and she turned away. "Sorry-"

All at once, it went wrong. Reality twisted and changed, and Kevin, Casey, and Hannah were no longer sinking into molten glass. Instead, they were replaced with a bright red liquid, one that began to heal and repair their damaged bodies. The sunlight was also blocked out, as a massive black shadow cloaked over them. Golden God was so big he easily blocked out all of the holes, keeping everyone safe.

"Why are we helping these guys out?" Golden God hummed.

"I thought one of them was Mars King," Demonica explained. She had been the one that asked them to save the three kids.

Cinder cursed as she stared up at Golden God. "You've got to be kidding me!" Kevin, Casey, and Hannah pulled themselves out of the hole, all fully healed, and instantly the clones began to swarm around Snowdawn once more. Golden God lowered his hand to the ground, allowing Green Wolf, Red Ape, White Lamb, and Demonica to all step off. "Why is today just the worst-"

Cinder froze when she felt a hand touching her face. She hadn't even realized it, but someone had removed her helmet. Fairy Queen stood behind the young hero, gripping the girl's metal helmet. Her other hand poked at Cinder's body. "My. You're far cuter than Full Monarch-"

Cinder whipped around and threw a punch at Fairy Queen, but the villain's finger blocked the blow. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

Fairy Queen flicked the air, and Cinder gasped as she felt an unseen force ram into her, and she was sent flying back. Casey and Hannah both appeared behind her and struck out with bone and blood, smashing her into the ground.

Snowdawn didn't do much better, literally being held down by eight Kevins which began to pound into him with massive fists.

Whisper slid back, looking at all the villains that surrounded them now. "Myth! If you can hear me, we seriously need some help!"

Fairy Queen floated up and folded her arms. "Golden God. Go and deal with Wish. That's why I built you, after all. Her powers won't work on you. She should be in that tower over there. I'll stay here and have some real fun."

"What fun?" Green Wolf called out, folding his arms. "This is bullshit. All these kids are fighting amongst themselves."

"I'm not even going to get a chance with my rival at this rate!" Red Ape sighed.

White Lamb shrugged. "I mean, we're not on these guys' side. We can fight them also, right? That one over there looks like Mars King."

Demonica stared at Kevin in silence. "I don't like it." She finally said.

"Nah." Green Wolf shook his head. "I'm just going to wait for Battery. He'll be showing up soon."

"You think so?" Fairy Queen called out, landing on the ground.

"Yeah. I saw him earlier."

"You did-" As soon as she was on the ground, she blinked, and instantly she saw gold. She didn't even have time to think about dodging as Battery's fist rammed into her face so hard Fairy Queen was sent flying back.

"Yep. Looks like you saw him, too!" Green Wolf called out, drawing his sword.

Battery spun, and his body ignited in a bright blue light for a moment as beams of blue energy fired out. They slammed into Casey, Hannah, Red Ape, White Lamb, and all the Kevin clones, stunning them all and downing them for a few seconds. Green Wolf managed to block his beam with his sword, while Golden God just ignored the damage and slowly flew toward the tower in the distance.

"Way to show up just in time!" Cinder called out, standing back up and throwing the villains off of her.

"No talking!" Battery called out. His energy was golden once more, and he was already clutching at his heart. "I'll handle Fairy Queen! Stop Wish from getting Paragon!"

"Right-" Cinder barely had time to raise her shield up as Green Wolf swung his sword out as hard as he could. She felt the floor beneath her break as she was flung back, and the villain placed his sword over his shoulder.

"Not so fast! I'm the one that's in charge right now, got that! Now! I want my boss fight!"

Battery turned to face him, but before the golden man could even take a step, Fairy Queen appeared behind him and rammed his head into the ground as hard as she could. Her eyes were filled with rage, and she dug her claws into the back of Battery's head and began to drag him across the ground as she blasted off with godlike speed.

"Battery!" Cinder tried to run towards him, but the stunned villains were quickly getting back up. She weaved past them but was forced to stop and defend as Green Wolf swung his sword once more.

Kevin was the first to recover and jumped at Cinder while her back was to him. He rammed his fist forward, but his attack didn't get far as Snowdawn appeared before him out of thin air; a statue of the boy was left where he had been standing, and he blocked the punch with a wall of ice.

It didn't matter much, though, as Casey, Hannah, and the other seven Kevin clones had managed to get back up by now. They were back in the exact same position, only now Green Wolf was here.

Cinder blocked another strike but froze when she felt a pair of fingers press to the back of her head. Demonica stood behind her. "Not so fast."

"Hey, no fair! She's mine!" Green Wolf called out.

Cinder sighed and stared down at her discarded helmet, which Fairy Queen had knocked over. She didn't feel like a hero at that moment. They were losing badly—more than they ever had. Paragon was in trouble, and they hadn't even made a dent in the bad guys. "You guys aren't going to win this, you know." She finally said. "You bad guys never beat the heroes. Why would that start today?"

"I don't know if you've noticed or not, but you're outnumbered." Demonica spat out. A purple fire glowed from her fingertip. "Not like it matters. After all, you're dead-"

Water appeared at the tip of her finger, putting the fire out and shocking the woman. Instantly, she was forced to kneel as a wave of gravity hit her. This time, it was the bad guys who stared up as the sun was blocked out by a large shadow. A boat, one that flew, had appeared above them.

"I guess it's a good thing she isn't actually outnumbered," Poseidon said, stepping off the ship and dropping to the battlefield below. I brought some serious backup."

Golden God, Fairy Queen, Green Wolf, Red Ape, Demonica, Mr. Brenner, Mayor Grove, Kevin and his clones, Casey, Hannah, and Wish. Counting all eight Kevins, there were a total of eighteen villains.

Poseidon landed on the ground and was followed closely by her mother as well as the Watch Dogs. That wasn't all, though. Money Tree dropped down slowly, and a sly smirk was on his lips. "Guess I'm coming to the battlefield a little early. Quite cruel to bring a sick man into the fight." He was followed closely by the rest of the Sub Enforcers. BB, Oxide, and Metal Ronin. Only Wasp Nest was missing.

The numbers had almost evened out. At the very least, the villains no longer held such a massive gap.

Cinder tightened the shield on her arm and smiled. "Alright. Let's try this again."