Chapter 18: What Goes Around Comes Around

"You got this! Don't give up now!"

In an abandoned field near the outskirts of town , a group of people could be seen. One of the figures was attempting to walk for a long distance. Her legs were shaking and her back was aching.

"Keep pushing, Kate. Go!" Eve yelled.

"Nnnnnghh!" Kate groaned.

The redhead walked beside the chinese beauty and spurred her on. The nonchalant heroine placed one foot in front of the other. She had already walked several steps and was reaching her limit. Kate needed to fight it if she wanted to finish her rehabilitation sooner.

A bit further away from them was a large crate. Taz and Mark sat on its edge, watching the scene. Another few weeks had passed. The rehabilitation process for the heroine was halfway through. It was also close to finals season and most students were feeling the pressure.

"I feel like things…are getting worse." Mark said. The stoic man raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" He responded. The teen scratched his cheek.

"I don't know. I can just…feel it."

"Well, who knows. Maybe you're right." Taz concluded. There were a few moments of silence. After taking a deep breath, the ameteuar hero grinned.

"I've gotta say. You should've invited me here sooner. How could you hog all of this?" He joked. His eyes were glued to Eve's figure.

The two beauty's wore tight yoga shorts, emphasizing their plump peaches. An athletic crop top graced their upper halves and stopped right below their breasts. The only difference between the ladies was the color. Eve wore pink while Kate wore grey. Taz's eyes would occasionally linger on his lover's body.

"Why does it even matter? You're too dense to even do anything." The elite soldier mocked.

"Uh-huh." Mark responded. He didn't believe it for a second. The young viltrumite raised an eyebrow.

"What about Amber?"

The teen locked eyes with Taz. There was a frown on his face. His feathers seemed to have been ruffled.

"What about her?" He answered. The stoic man tilted his head.

"Are you really going to keep her around when you have this in front of you? Don't think I don't know what you're doing." He spoke while gesturing to Eve. It was obvious that the two beauties wore those clothes for them. Mark smirked.

"Don't worry about it. I barely talk to her anymore. I was tired of the fighting. I'd rather have someone who can understand me." He revealed. Taz shrugged.

The two beauties glanced over at them every now and then. At some point they just stopped and stared. But it wasn't at them. It was someone beside them.

"What a lovely day it is. Watching the ladies work?" A voice sounded from behind them.

Mark turned to see a woman decked out in greek armor standing behind them on the crate. A thin green battle dress could be seen under her minimal armor and golden cape. She had extremely curly orange hair which was held up by a battle tiara. Her olive green eyes drooped in a lazy manner. Taz continued to watch Kate. He had long noticed her arrival.

"Wha-Who are you?" The ametuer hero spoke with surprise.

The armored woman ignored the question and focused on the brooding man. She didn't like being ignored. Crouching down beside him, she stared at the side of his face.

"Did you not hear me? You dare ignore me? Men. Always a disappointment." She mocked.

"........."

Taz finally looked in her direction. He said nothing and tilted his head to the side. His expression was cold. The greek woman gnashed her teeth. After looking toward the girls in the distance, she gnashed her teeth.

"Are they your friends? Girlfriends? What a shame. I had a girlfriend, but her head was almost twisted off her neck. Do you know where it happened? Right here in the land of men." She declared angrily.

Mark quickly stood up and was on high alert. The stoic viltrumite remained sitting. The ameteur hero clenched his fist. Looking at her armor, one could see the similarities to War Woman. It wasn't hard to deduce who she was talking about.

"You don't seem to be here for anything good. What do you want?!" Mark growled. The woman's face turned cold as she stood up.

"I want my girlfriend back, but that's impossible. So the next best thing is to destroy man's world. And I'm going to start with the Guardians of the Globe, the very place she spent her time." She explained.

Both viltrumites frowned hearing her words. Taz slowly stood up. He stretched his arms and cracked his neck. The greek warrior pulled out an ornamental baton. It was an unexpected weapon choice.

"Did you know? That girl right there…she's one of the Guardians. Heh." She announced while pointing to Kate.

As soon as she finished speaking, she prepared to super jump over to the two confused ladies. Her feet left the ground. Taz grabbed her leg before she could even soar.

"Where do you think you're going?" His voice was like a chilling blizzard.

The female warrior was shocked upon realizing that the man wasn't a normal human. If he was normal, his arm would've ripped off from the inertia. That wasn't the case at all. Taz swung his arm. Before she knew it, her face was point blank with the ground.

BAM

The ground splintered due to the force. Cracks appeared like spiderwebs. Kate and Eve were now on high alert. The greek woman bit her tongue in order to focus her dizzy mind. Her hand reached into her armor and pulled out a horn.

Taz slowly approached and stood directly over her fallen body. He clenched his fist while preparing to kill this random nobody. The woman raised the horn to her lips.

"Pho-" The sound was cut off due to the elite soldier ripping it from her grasp and shattering it. She smiled anyway.

"I will be the new War Woman. A better one! You're too late." She spoke with confidence. The stoic hero sat down on top of her and raised a fist.

"A shame that I have to break your beautiful face." He said. War Woman II smiled.

"You can try, man scum." She retorted. Taz raised an eyebrow.

"Do you not realize the difference in strength between us? You're about to die like a dog."

"Hmph. I'm stronger than I look-"

It was only now that the viltrumite felt something was wrong. She was stalling. Turning his head to Kate and Eve, he saw the ground rising behind them. A lifeless warrior with red eyes was born from the dirt. It raised its spear to impale the recovering heroine.

Taz vanished in an instant. Before anyone could blink, he was beside her. His left hand caught the spear while his right palm crashed into its chest.

POOOF

The figure burst into pieces of rock and dirt. Even though the materials were subpar, the sturdiness of it was a bit worrying for weaker people. At that moment, more greek soldiers rose from the ground. They resembled a horde that covered the field.

"Uh oh." Eve exclaimed. Her hands shined with pink energy. The numbers were increasing. The heroine immediately started blasting.

Kate sweatdropped realizing that she was now dead weight. The nervous heroine immediately focused on her lover. Taz turned to Invincible and nodded his head to the new War Woman.

"Deal with her." He said.

Mark raised his arms and locked onto the greek woman. She was currently standing back up. The ameteur hero dashed toward her in an attempt to beat her down. His arm was raised for a downward punch. The villain giggled at his sloppy move.

With little to no effort, she twirled around his swing, tripping him simultaneously. Invincible flipped forward due to the momentum and almost face planted. War Woman II followed the flow, wrapping her arm around his neck and falling. It was a seamless transition into a wrestler's ground slam.

The greek warrior landed on her bottom while Mark's head dug a hole in the ground. A normal person's neck would've been pulverized. It didn't seem like it would be an easy fight for him.

"Ugh!" He grunted.

Meanwhile, Taz and Eve formed a perimeter around Kate, blasting the numerous soldiers to death with lasers and energy beams. It didn't seem like they were in any trouble. The lifeless enemies could only do so much. As the situation began to ease up, the stoic viltrumite felt something wrong again.

A small red ray of heat beamed in from afar, aimed directly at Kate. Time froze for a moment. Seeing the danger, Absolver burst into motion. He stood in front of it in order to shield her. The beam hit his chest and had nowhere to go. It broke off into even smaller rays, slicing some of the warriors nearby.

The elite soldier focused on the source. He needed to use his supervision to even find the perpetrator. Far in the distance, all the way across the city, was a man in a grey suit. He stood on top of a tower and watched with his hands in his pockets. A red button up peeked from under the suit, matching the glow of his eyes. They were steaming with heat.

'A sniper? What's going on?' He thought.

Kate grabbed onto the back of his clothes in worry. She had never been the target of such a lineup before. The most it had ever been was Komodo Dragon.

"Taz…" She muttered softly. The young hero spoke to Atom Eve.

"We need to get her out of here." He exclaimed. The pink heroine nodded.

A shield of energy covered Dupli-Kate and they flew away from the battlefield. Taz followed them, smashing away any rock warriors and beams. Mark could be seen getting his ass beat by War Woman II. Her trained battle technique was more advanced than Invincible's. The gap in strength wasn't large enough for Mark to ignore her attacks.

"Heh. You won't get away that easily." She remarked while watching them flee. Invincible was once again getting up from the ground. As the two heroes brought Kate away, Eve frowned.

"Why are there so many people trying to kill her?" She questioned. Taz frowned.

'...It can't just be to avenge the previous War Woman.' He thought.

Absolver and Atom Eve stopped behind an abandoned factory. Once it seemed like Kate was safe, the redhead got ready to leave. She seemed anxious.

"Take it from here. I have to help Mark!" She exclaimed. Taz nodded.

As she flew away, the young viltrumite helped her sit down inside a train car. This was such an unexpected attack. The guardians were still recuperating from their loss against Machine Head. It was a horrible time to be targeted. They wouldn't be able to defend.

"Stay here. You'll be fine." Taz said.

"...Alright." She responded quietly.

The stoic hero closed the sliding door of the train car, leaving her in near darkness. Only a crack was visible, allowing Kate to peek outside. Absolver floated in the air and searched for the sniper. He was still on the tower across town.

Right before Taz accelerated toward him, he heard the sound of air hitting a heavy object. He looked up to see another villain falling from the sky. A large humanoid figure grinned as he locked eyes with the viltrumite. His body was dark like asphalt, seemingly made of obsidian. An orange stripe painted the middle of his body in a vertical fashion.

"Coming in like a meteor, Gridlock is here!" He announced.

Two arms slammed down toward the stoic hero. Taz easily floated out of the way. Gridlock crashed into the ground, causing the earth to tremble. Now that he was on the ground, he scanned the area.

"Where's the girl?" The villain questioned.

Absolver's face fell. His pupils glowed red with energy as he clenched his fists. His anger was starting to boil out of control. There were too many people attempting to take his woman's life.

"I'm going to destroy you." He answered. The villain raised his hands in mock surrender. It didn't look like he was taking this seriously.

"Hey, man. Relax, man! Don't you want to know why she has to go first?" The rock man retorted.

"Why?"

"Remember Mako? What about Furnace? Mr. Liu?" The villain spoke.

"Who?" Taz responded. He didn't make it a hobby to remember ants. Gridlock shook his head.

"See? That's why. He was the shark man you killed. Furnace went boom in the sky. Liu was the dragon you almost killed. Do you remember now? The Order doesn't take kindly to losing one of their own." He announced.

Kate, who watched everything from the train car, gasped in shock. She remembered that day when the sharks attacked the beach. Taz didn't even mention a shark ringleader or the enemies that work for Machine Head. He was killing the villains?

"So a bunch of mutual interests then." The viltrumite concluded.

The greek woman wanted to kill the Guardians, while The Order wanted Absolver to feel pain. It didn't matter in what form it came. The two parties seemed to have met in the middle.

"Something like that. You've been culling too many of their members. It's just business, kid." Gridlock finished.

"You just told me who was behind everything. Don't you think that was a bad idea?" Taz spoke.

"Of course not! I'm not part of them. I just want my spoils from this."

"Your spoils?"

The rock villain licked his lips while grabbing his crotch. He then scanned the area once again.

"My payment. Hehe." He spoke in a sleazy tone. Taz frowned.

'Kate is his prize? But they were trying to kill her…does it not matter to him if she's already dead? This…This…!!!' His anger skyrocketed.

RUMBLE

As Taz released the hold on his overwhelming strength, gravel began to float in the air. He didn't waste any time. The air popped and crackled as he clenched his fists. In a moment of near teleportation, he was in front of Gridlock. An overwhelming punch hurtled up into the villain's chin.

BOOOM

The shockwave made the surroundings tilt. Kate's train car shook violently. The rock man soared into the air. Bits of rock fragments fell from his chin. Taz flew up after him and grabbed his arm. Another fist smashed onto his chest, sending him crashing into the ground without an arm.

The elite soldier didn't stop there. Two lasers drilled down onto the villain. The beams pushed Gridlock further into earth. The strength of the rays increased. Taz wanted to end this quickly. At this moment, another powerful laser shot toward him from afar.

BZZZT

Absolver leaned back, narrowly avoiding the beam. A huge explosion detonated in the distance where it landed. The stoic hero had flown too high, making him a target for the sniper. The viltrumite grit his teeth. He wanted to go kill the sneaking rat, but the enemy in front of him needed to die first.

Gridlock slowly walked out of the crater. His crumbling body absorbed the earth beneath him and mended his cracks. The man went from near death to good as new. Taz clicked his teeth.

"You villains are like cockroaches. Just stay down." He growled. The villain raised his arms.

"I think termites are cooler."