The Diary of Aaron Sterling

The Diary of Aaron Sterling follows the The Adventures of Mavus Series. The diary continues the story in the perspective of Street Angel Aaron "The Giantkiller" Sterling, as he and his fellow gang members work for the tyrant Calliope Ariandal.

The Street Angels have been contracted by the New Militia to carry out Ariandal's tasks in exchange to providing families a home in New Croft.

The series starts with Aaron and his gang members contracted to recover the body of Adam Blair, but their attempts intercepted by Plyth the Serpent King. Before Aaron can kill the serpent, they are intercepted by Mavus Shaw and the Inquisition.

Chapter 1 - Interception

"Yo, GK, we're not alone."

I kept Rigor steady. We had no choice but to drop the body. The Serpent was here too. I thought he was on our side, but it looked like he decided to betray Ariandal for his own personal gain. Idiot.

"Drop the body. I can't kill Plyth in this closed space."
"Aight."

Marcus dropped the body and we booked it behind some rocks. Plyth returning back to his hiding spot. Whoever these people were, they looked like they were after Adam's body too.

"GK, Jericho's got intel on the people who are coming. It's that other T0 and some chick from Darkstar. Should we kill them?"
"No. You guys wouldn't stand a chance against Shaw anyway."

We didn't come here to kill anybody. Ariandal had told us clearly. "Extract the body of Adam Blair, and escape. No fighting should be necessary."

Marcus and I hid behind the rock. Jericho returned from his scouting position.

"If those fools get the body, our heist is as good as done."

Right on queue, Mavus' bot had already grabbed the bot, and he as well as the girl ran off, leaving Mavus to face Plyth alone.

Jericho turned to me. "GK, I'll leave the Tier 0 and Plyth to you. We'll pursue the body."

I nodded to Jericho. "Be careful, this girl is Darkstar, she's definitely got a few tricks up her sleeve." Jericho and I exchanged hand signals. The signal of the Street Angel. Marcus looked at me. "That girl doesn't look like she's got powers, but it looks like her three lackeys back there are Tier 5 at best. We would be able to dispatch them."

I turned to Marcus. "Just knock em out, alright? Don't need any more blood on our hands. Just take the body. Let me know through coms once you've gotten it and I'll wrap it up."

We split up.

Suddenly the room shook, and Mavus' robot shot up, facing Plyth in combat. But something was off. He looked... weak. Why didn't he just create a bunch of cannons like what the rumours said he would? He was fighting the robot hand to hand in one mech.

Mavus shot up and around, zipping like a fly and landing a bunch of punches and missiles. They glanced off Plyth's hide.

"You think you can defeat me? Maven? I have evolved beyond Blackflame's Form 4! You are no match for me, and soon I will prove my usefulness to her lordship, and slay you with my bare hands!"

I put Rigor back into its sheath and watched the fight. Mavus went by Maven now, and he continued taunting Plyth with his usual unfunny banter. He was always like this back when we were in class together as well.

"He's actually pretty funny once you know him" Trevor once said. I never saw it.

Plyth caught Maven with a swipe of his tail, sending him hurtling through a bunch of rocks. Maven got back up and started firing a bunch of beams. This was stupid. I remembered Ariandal telling me that there was a Tier 0 in the resistance, but if this was it, that was pretty disappointing. One swing of Rigor and he'd be finished.

The fight continued until Maven suddenly stopped, exiting his mech. He looked like he was struggling to breathe or even move. He fell to his knees. "Junon... the visions..."

I looked up as Plyth was about to kill him. Suddenly, my coms unit lit up. It was Ernest.

"We need Mavus alive. Eliminate Plyth."
"Acknowledged" I said. I emerged from the rocks.

This guy betrayed the New Militia just because he had one tiny power up and got a big head. This was something I just couldn't tolerate. Most of the people in the Street Angels lived by a code of honour. We would give our life to protect the families, even if we had to do whatever was necessary. If it meant we had to kill, then we would kill. If it meant we had to steal, we would steal. If it meant we had to lie, then we would lie. Everything we did and every sacrifice we made was for the greater good. Our own personal gain only mattered if it benefitted the bigger picture.

I flexed my legs, the Power Force filling my system with energy, and I shot forward between Mavus and Plyth. Plyth was still trying to swipe down, so I concentrated the Power Force into my fist and launched a punch, sending Plyth's entire body backwards through the walls of the cave. Wind pressure filled the entire cave complex as Plyth slammed through wall after wall.

I looked back at Mavus, who was still clutching his hands to his temples. So a panic attack, huh. Suddenly, the Darkstar girl came out of nowhere, and I recognized her immediately.

Junon Gareth, the engineering superstar. Everybody's favourite college crush. I never saw the appeal of her; her personality was annoying. She ran over to Mavus and injected a syringe, waking him up. She looked at me, unable to make out my identity. My face was still masked by the Street Angel bandana mask.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Doesn't matter. Where is the body."

Junon stared at me. "The body is property of the Inquisition. If you're here to retrieve it, then I'm sorry."

I looked back at Plyth, who was barely conscious from my punch. "You've got a lot of nerve to try to make demands, after you've witnessed what I did to that bastard." Junon stared at Plyth. "You're... you're Giantkiller aren't you?"

I looked at Junon. She had definitely tried to toughen up, military clothes and everything. But at the end of the day, you could only get so far without powers. That's just the world we live in.

"GK, we have the body, and the members have been knocked out." Marcus buzzed into my coms unit.
"Aight, I'll meet outside. I got some business to take care of."
"Do what you have to, we'll meet at the bikes."

I looked back at Plyth, who managed to regain composure, snarling at me. "Giantkiller, do not interfere with my bout against Maven. He is my kill."

I cut him off. "No. You are my kill. You betrayed the trust of the Street Angels and the New Militia. I've been ordered to eliminate you." Plyth's serpent eyes went wide. "What? No! I still need to prove myself to Ariandal, I still need to-"

I shot forward, appearing in front of Plyth before anyone could register my movements. I unloaded an uppercut that sent Plyth flying right through the roof of the cave, destroying everything in its way. The wind pressure caused the walls to begin cracking and caving in, as Junon and Mavus were blown away.

I bounded upwards, creating a massive crater beneath my feet. I shot upwards faster than Plyth and drew Rigor. Plyth looked at me, his eyes in utter terror at what he knew was going to happen next. "Please, Giantkiller, spare me. I only wish to be spared by Ariandal. Mercy."

No mercy for traitors. I looked him in the eye, Rigor already behind my back, ready to strike. "If you wanted to be spared, you should have stayed like a good snake." I swung Rigor, and the blade sliced Plyth cleanly in half. The force of the blow also caused sideways pressure, which blew the two portions outwards. The cave as well as the surrounding landscape also took a huge beating , now containing a massive canyon like structure from Rigor's swipe. The others made it out in time, already at their bikes.

I landed next to Plyth's severed corpse. I walked out of the exit that I had created with Rigor.

"Wait... Aaron." Mavus croaked. I turned around.

"This isn't over yet. I will beat you." Mavus looked determined, which was unlike him.

"You'll never beat me" I replied. Mavus looked shocked. "Why?"

I looked him in the eye. "Because you never knew what it was like to become strong for someone else. Your powers were given to you. Tier Zero from the get go. I had to work my ass off to become Tier Zero. You're only saying this because you've finally met someone who is stronger than you, and you want to preserve your pride. That motivation will get you nowhere."

Junon was speechless. I left the two as I exited the cave and bounded to the bikes, where Marcus and Jericho were waiting, with Adam's body.

Marcus grinned at me. "Plyth in pieces?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Let's roll."

We rode off. In the corner of my motorcycle mirror, I could still see my old classmates still staring at me.

Chapter 2 - Aaron Sterling vs. Mavus Shaw

Marcus and Jericho engaged in friendly banter over who could drink more.

I was silent throughout most of the bike ride, thinking about what Plyth had said. Blackflame Form 4. Blackflame was one of Ariandal's operatives, one of the best. He was defeated and brought back into Darkstar after a fight with Mavus. Strange.

Suddenly, something in my mirror caught my eye. A squad of mechs, lead by none other than Mavus.

"Alright buddy, you won this time, but I'm taking the body with me."

Persistent guy.

Marcus shouted back. "You ain't getting jack kid. This is our bounty." His hand transformed into a diamond mass, and he fired diamond shards at Mavus's mech, which was deflected by his sentries.

Mavus and his squadron flew into the sky, bombarding us with smoke missiles. Suddenly we stopped. He had trapped us in a force containment field.

"Seriously?" Jericho threw his hands in the air.

Mavus landed with his mechs. Marcus fired more diamond shards, but the mechs turned to him and knocked him to the ground. Jericho retreated, drawing his gun, firing it at one of the mechs. There was no point. They were bulletproof. Mavus' Main mech went up to me and head butted me in the forehead. I skidded backwards. A stream of blood began to leak down the right side of my face.

"Let's duke it out, while I take back my property." One of Mavus' mechs grabbed Adam's body and flew off. Screw this. I leaped upwards, above the arena and pursued the sentry in the air. Suddenly, a tractor beam grabbed me in my leg and hurled me into the ground. The sentry flew off. I bounded to a nearby boulder with explosive speed, before anyone could react. I grabbed it. The boulder was about the same size as a kitchen. I hurled it at the sentry, smashing it and sending it off course.

I unsheathed Rigor and slashed at the containment field, the massive wind pressure completely neutralizing it.

"We got this, GK." Jericho and Marcus pursued the mech, whose flight abilities were damaged from the boulder. I shot forward in front of Mavus, who was attempting to use his technopathy on the sentry.

"You want a fight? You got it."

I kicked Mavus' sentry square in the chest, disrupting his technopathy. The bot was sent flying backwards, smashing through dozens of boulders and landforms. I turned to the other mechs that were attempting to attack me with missiles. I blocked them all with Rigor and brandished the greatsword, sending the remaining mechs hurtling into the sky, destroyed in the process.

Main flew up into the air, zipping forward, unleashing a ton of missiles. I blocked them. Main flew back, attempting to kite me. His arm elongating attempting to land a clean punch on me. I caught his sledgehammer of a hand with my arm, the impact causing several land masses to be blown away.

Maven locked his arm into mine, then flipped around, attempting to burn me with his feet propulsors. I grabbed a propulsor and squeezed it, causing massive sparks, crushing his foot. Maven suddenly began flying around.

"Not....cool!!!"

Maven let go and unleashed his beam barrage. I zipped behind him. Before Maven could turn around, I punched him in the face, crushing and deforming his mechanical face as his body was sent flying through more landforms, leaving behind a trail of destruction and dirt.

I approached the site of wreckage. Mavus was sitting on the ground, his mech completely destroyed from the force of my punch. He looked at me with defeat.

"This isn't over."

He ran up to me and tried to throw a punch, but I caught it, throwing him into the side. I spoke into my coms.

"Mavus tried to attack my squad, I defeated him. Do you want me to bring him to the Capita?"
"No. Leave him. Our objective is to obtain the body." Ernest replied.

Mavus looked at me, spitting blood. "Why are you helping the New Militia? Don't you know how crazy that lunatic Ariandal is? Don't you know how many people she has killed?"

I looked back at him. "That doesn't concern me. You're in no position to tell me these things. Why did you join the Inquisition? Because you wanted to impress Junon? Because you got bored? I'm fighting with the Street Angels to protect my people. You're fighting with the Inquisition because of a girl. We are nothing alike."

Mavus got up, shards of metal from Main's body accumulating on his hand, creating a small repulser. "I'm fighting for Junon, and everybody in the Inquisition. This isn't just about me anymore. The fact that you're helping Ariandal is wrong, no matter how you phrase it."

He fired the repulser and I dodged it. I closed in and grabbed Mavus by the throat. "What's wrong, is the motive. Clearly, you haven't experienced enough humiliation yet."

Suddenly, Junon appeared out of nowhere. "Stop! Just let him go Aaron."

I turned to her, and threw Mavus on the ground. He was still retching.

Junon quickly ran by his side. She looked at me. "You shouldn't be fighting us. We came from the same place, went to school together. You should be on our side!" I shook my head. There was no point wasting time with these people. I had a mission to complete.

"Tell Mavus to stop pursing us. Or he's going to get much worse than a bloody nose."

I returned to the bikes. Marcus and Jericho managed to defeat the mech sentry. I nodded at them, and we drove off with Adam's body in tow.

Chapter 3 - Adam Blair

We entered the refuge, where Ernest was waiting for us. The refuge was a place for the survivors of the Automatons to thrive and continue living their lives. We, as the Street Angels were tasked to protect what was left of the defenceless with our lives. Since the Automatons had mysteriously left, the families began to repopulate, but due to the lack of resources, and the emergence of a new threat, the soul beasts, we were forced to find other ways to sustain the people. That was when we met Calliope Ariandal, who offered the people a place in her haven, New Croft, in exchange for our services.

I dumped Adam's body to the mage. Ernest lifted it with black tendrils, calling in one of his subordinates. The subordinate began to chant, a technomancer.

The body began to restore itself, broken components mending. Adam's eyes flickered, and suddenly became shocked.

"Aaron? Where- where is Junon? Sam?" Adam began flailing.

Ernest looked at me, inquisitive. "You know this man?" I looked at Ernest. "Yeah, he was a classmate of mine." Ernest nodded. "Then for the time being, you will watch over him. He will be of use to Lady Ariandal." Ernest pushed Adam to us. Ernest gave us a gesture of farewell, and he dissipated into gold sparks.

Jericho eyed Adam like he was live bait. The guy had changed from the last time I met him in college. His appearance had become a little more rugged, almost looking like... John.

Jericho sized Adam up and down with his vision evo. "This guy is the weakest cyborg I've ever seen, but he's got some fight in him." Adam was still staring at me.

"Aaron... what happened? Where am I? What... what happened to you?" I looked at Adam. He was always the slacker in class, and now that the Automaton invasion had happened, I guess he was one of the few who were repurposed.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters is you're alive. Ariandal has plans for you, so try not to die again, okay?"
"We need to find Junon."
"What?"

Marcus snickered. He went up to Adam. "Kid, you're going to the enemy?" His hand transformed into a diamond, ready to impale Adam for asking such a stupid question. I put his arm down.

"We need him alive. As for your request, no can do. Junon is part of the enemy now. You're with us."

Adam looked at me. "Who is us?" Marcus smirked. "We're the Street Angels. We're all that's left of society. In exchange for giving these folks," Marcus spread his hands to the refugees who were still living off of rags. "A place in New Croft, we need to serve Ariandal. It's a pretty big sacrifice, but that's what we're here for. To do the dirty work and take the heat off of those who deserve a better life."

Adam noticed my biker vest and tats. "You've become a gangster. Look, I need to go to Junon. She must be worried sick, I need to talk to her." Adam tried to walk off on us, but I grabbed his wrist.

Adam flailed. "Let me go! I need to see her! You don't get it!" Jericho cut him off. "No, you don't get it. If you leave now, our assignment is done. We need you alive."

Adam kept flailing. He wanted to go to the Inquisition to see Junon because she must had been "worried sick". So he was basically a robotic simp. Disgraceful. I let go. Adam stumbled and got up in my face.

"What's your problem? Junon is alive! She's with Darkstar! We need to go back to them. Ariandal is evil Aaron, why can't you see that? If you're not going to be on my side, then maybe I should just-"

I bonked him over the head with my fist. Adam fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Jesus GK, you didn't kill him did you?" Jericho exclaimed. I looked at Adam. "Nope, he's just unconscious. We just need him alive, Ernest didn't say anything about having him conscious."

Chapter 4 - Conlan's Army

Ariandal appeared in a hologram. Marcus put the com unit on the table.

"I have a mission for you three. But I'm going to need Adam to come along, as well as a stealth meta." A stealth meta. I nodded to Marcus. Marcus hollered Miki over. Miki was training her knife skills with one of the refugees, teaching him how to fight. Miki walked over, and greeted us.

"Sup, you called me ove- oh shi- Lady Ariandal! It's a pleasure!"

Miki bowed, nearly bonking her head on the table. Ariandal smiled.

"I want to recruit a few soul beasts to my area, but my operatives have informed me that the Inquisition army, the soldier faction, has intercepted and have killed a number of my operatives. This will not stand. I want you to place a tracker on one of the soldiers without them knowing. Then the rest of you will kill enough soldiers to make them retreat back to their Fortress. This tracker will be enough to wipe out the Fortress defences with an anti-magic wave. Once you have returned, I want you, Adam, to activate the tracker."

Miki started playing with her knife. "You got it boss." Marcus and Jericho nodded. Adam didn't look too happy, and unfortunately, Ariandal noticed.

"I know this is hard, my dear boy. But soon you will understand what we aim to do. These refugees seek a home, but with the Inquisition and Darkstar interfering with the plans of the New Militia, this will never come to fruition. You don't want these people to die, do you?"

Adam wanted to say something, but I shot him a deadly glare. Adam put his hand down.

Ariandal nodded. "Mmm, so you all know what to do. Please contact Ernest once you have completed the objective, and we will move on from there."

We rode on our bikes. Since Adam felt the most comfortable around me, he wanted to ride behind me. I hated having passengers, but for the purpose of the mission, I let it slide.

"Aaron?" Adam asked.
"What do you want."
"I need to see Junon. When I died, I broke her heart. I need to make things right. Please, just this once."
"You'll see her when we invade the Fortress."

Miki signalled. In front of us was the soldiers, led by Commander Conlan. We stopped.

The soldiers were slaughtering all of Ariandal's operatives, just as she had predicted. Adam looked at us. "Are you guys really going to kill those people?" Jericho looked at him.

"No."
"Really?" Adam asked, surprised.
"No."

Miki and Marcus laughed. I managed a slight smirk. Good old Jericho. Jericho walked up to the edge of the cliff and activated his vision evo. His eyes lit up teal.

"4500 troops. Ranging from Tiers 4-7. Piece of cake."

Marcus and Miki dragged Adam, under Miki's stealth cloak. I stood with Jericho, watching the army slaughter our scouts. These guys were just doing their job, and the Inquisition slaughtered them. They better be grateful we were only going to kill a portion of their troops.

Jericho nodded to me. The tracker has been set on one of the ranged units, which lit up blue on our ends. A one way light for me to make sure I didn't kill that particular soldier.

Miki, Marcus, and Adam returned. Miki gave me a thumbs up. "Rain hell, Giantkiller."

I bounded to the ground, right in front of the army, breaking cover. Conlan and the troops stared at me. One against four thousand five hundred.

"Who are you? Are you with them?" Conlan shouted. I didn't say anything, there was no need to. I was only here to complete an objective. I looked back and realized that Miki and Marcus were trying to restrain Adam, who was trying to warn the Inquisition. Damn rat. I was going to give him a piece of my mind after this.

I took out Rigor, and planted it firmly on the ground, opening my eyes. The army charged.

Chapter 5 - Dumped

I assumed a front stance. My arm muscles flexed as I ripped Rigor out of the ground in a huge arc. The movement caused a massive slash of wind pressure. Dirt and rocks divided, sending thousands of debris of varying sizes flying out of the sides which ended a third of the army.

The chaos subsided and Conlan stared at his army, which had been reduced to two thirds of their original size. In place of his troops was a massive fissure that seemingly divided the entire land in half. The troops lost morale quick.

Conlan turned to me and shouted. The army continued to charge. I had to limit my power to prevent killing all of them. I zipped into a squad a slashed at the cohort, sending them flying miles into the air. Wind form the shockwave of impact caused a mini tornado that sent incoming troops mid air. They hit the ground, unconscious.

Orders were orders. I clenched my left fist. My fist, bicep and tricep glowed orange. I punched the ground, causing a massive chasm to open, swallowing the soldiers. I used a piece of falling rubble to jump back to the ledge, slashing and sending soldiers flying. Even with a small fraction of my power, the army was overwhelmed.

The army was reduced to half, a third, then a quarter within the span of twenty seconds.

Marcus provided backup ranged attacks from the cliff, with Jericho providing Marcus with extra precision.

Suddenly the enemy began to retreat. I looked at Marcus, who nodded at me. I leaped back to the top of the cliff, regrouping with the team. We made our way to the bikes. Once we reached the bikes, we realized that Adam hadn't moved from his spot. He was glaring at us all.

"How could you... you killed them!"

I narrowed my eyes. Miki looked at him confused. "Yeah, that was the mission. Are you deaf or something?"

Adam shouted at us. "How could you kill a bunch of people? You're all monsters. I'm not going back. You're going to have to kill me."

Marcus went up to Adam and got in his face. "Yeah. We did kill those people, and yeah, we are monsters. What did you expect a bunch of gangsters to do? Huh? We're here to do the dirty work, so the real people get to live their lives. Those families who have nowhere to go can finally live a normal life. We're the sacrifice. That's just how the world works buster."

"Is it now?" We turned.

Before us stood a squad of fighters. Darkstar. We were given intel on the members. The Black Jason, The Fox, Coldarrow, Lupine, Reverb, Overseer, and Joust. Standing with them was Junon.

"What are you doing? Hey come back here!" Jericho shouted at Adam, who was running towards Junon. Junon's face was horrified and was welling up in tears.

"Junon! It's Adam! I'm here! I'm alive. We can finally be together again. Nothing matters anymore with you beside me."

I stepped forward to pull Adam back, but my coms lit up again.

"No. Let it play out." Ernest spoke. Apparently Ernest told the other Angels too, because we all stopped in our tracks.

Adam tried to pull Junon into a kiss, but she instinctively pushed him away. Adam looked betrayed. "Ju- Junon?"

Junon stared at him. "I thought you were dead... I didn't think..."

Adam tried to embrace her, but Junon walked back. "I- I can't be with you anymore... I'm with someone else." Adam's smile melted. "Wha- What are you saying?"

Jericho shouted. "It means she's sucking face with another guy now kid. Now get back here before I crush your metal skull and tell the Lady that you had an accident."

Adam fell to his knees. Junon was sobbing. "I'm so sorry Adam... but I've moved on... you should too."

Typical. But at least this should make our assignment a little easier now that Adam was like this. The Black Jason stood forward. "That's enough. Adam, we can still work this out. Come with us."

Adam stared at the ground. "Take me back... Aaron."

I stepped forward and took Adam's shoulder, but Jason grabbed my wrist.

I looked at him in his eye right through his mask. "Don't touch me."

Jason glared at me back. "Let go of our friend." We glared at each other. Mask to mask.

I stepped closer to Jason, making us face to face. "You don't want this fight, Jason. As it stands, your team is Tier 2 at best. I can easily eliminate your squad."

Fox and the others stepped closer to Jason, but Jericho stepped forward, his eyes glowing teal. Suddenly, all the Darkstar members hit the ground. Jason looked at his squad, then at Jericho. "How?"

I was still glaring at him. "Jericho is a Tier 3 Telepath. Every member of your team has been incapacitated. Still have a death wish?"

Jason turned around, slashing at all of us with dark energy. I dodged. Marcus generated a diamond shield, protecting Jericho and Miki. The black energy was absorbed.

Marcus tapped on his com device. "Ernest, permission to beat this guy's ass?"
"Approved. Don't kill him, but send him unconscious. Don't kill the tracked agent."

Jason yelled, powering up. He leaped into the air, his daggers into black tonfas. He spiralled, attempting to jab me, but his attempt was deflected off of Rigor.

Jason zipped around, trying to catch my blind spots, but it was useless. The Power Force provided me with acute reflexes to match his attacks blow for blow. Jason began to summon clones, which I eliminated in seconds through a wide swipe of Rigor. The air pressure sent Jason flying.

Jason jumped back and prepared a huge slash. The "Citybreaker Slash", he had named it. Ariandal once told me that the city breaker slash was capable of levelling a city if aimed directly at it.

The blade released a massive black arc aimed right at me. I sheathed Rigor and wound back my fist, delivering a massive haymaker which nullified the arc. The shockwave hit Jason square in the chest, sending him through the side of two mountains.

Jericho scanned the wreckage site. "He's unconscious. Let's move."

Junon managed to recover quickly. She rushed forward with surprising speed, attempting to hit me, but I caught her wrist. Junon tried to hit me with her other hand, but I caught that too.

"Let go of me Aaron!"

Miki raised an eyebrow. "Umm, you were the one who tried to hit GK first lady..."

Junon was struggling, fighting back tears. "Why? Why are you helping Ariandal? We could have been on the same side! Mavus, you, John, Adam. We could have been together! Fighting the Corruption!"

I regarded her. She had some nerve to tell me these things after single handedly crushing Adam like that. But then again, she had fallen in love with someone else. There wasn't much that could be changed about that.

Junon looked at Adam. "Please, come with us. It doesn't matter how we feel about each other, we're still friends. We can help you Adam!"

Adam looked at Junon, still betrayed. He turned around and walked to the bikes.

Junon turned to me, crying. I stared at her, emotionless. Marcus's hand grew into a dagger, and he pointed it at Junon. "Leave, or you'll end up like those soldiers down there."

I let her go. Junon stood back, glaring at me, her eyes red. "I'm not giving up on you Aaron. And I'm not giving up on you either Adam."

I turned around, walking back to my bike. I got on my ride, with Adam behind me. I turned to Junon one last time. Her tears were streaming down her face. I revved the engine along with the other Angels. We left, returning back to the refuge. I looked in my mirror. Junon was still looking at us from the distance.

Persistent girl.

Chapter 6 - Our Home

We returned to the refuge outside Corinth. If only the refugees could be migrated to Corinth, but the limitation of the place was that only a Tier 4 and up vision based metahuman could bypass its defences. Only a small squad could enter the place.

Miki went back to a group of survivors who were waiting for her to return. Jericho went back to his place, which was a busted up enclosure of cement, held together with a cloth for a roof. Jericho leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the table, clicking on the TV.

Despite the apocalyptic wasteland, internet had never died out. Several volunteers made an initiative to revive it, and since then, content creators continued making vlogs and videos. It was one of the deals that he requested when Ariandal offered us our reward for our service. YouTubers and internet. Jericho was one of a kind.

I walked with Marcus to the rendezvous to update Ernest on our mission. All around us, families continued their normal lives, as best as they could given the wasteland they were living in now. A child ran by us, his clothes in rags. I saw Marcus clench his fist.

"These kids will have the best clothes they can ever dream of once they're in New Croft."

We continued walking until we reached the point. Ernest greeted us. "The New Militia's Angels, back from another successful mission I see."

Marcus nodded. "We ran into a few snags, but nothing we couldn't handle." Ernest inspected his hand. "Good. We will contact you again should another mission arise. In the meantime, do enjoy yourselves."

We left. Marcus turned to me. "You gonna visit your pretty church girl again?" I scrunched my nose. "I owe her a visit considering she helped patch up my jacket." Marcus laughed. "Young love."

Hannah was waiting for me the moment I stepped into the broken church. "Home so early?" She went up to me and wrapped me in a hug.

"I uh..."

She took my hand and led me to her table. She gave me a piece of fabric. "Hold this." I held the fabric while she took measurements. I promised Hannah that I would spend the day helping her make clothes for the kids in the refuge. She continued weaving as I helped her hold things and occasionally took measurements.

She held up a small shirt against my chest. "Fits good." I smiled. Something about Hannah made me feel... human again. Whenever I was on missions with the other Angels, I felt like my humanity slipped away with every life I took. I knew the responsibilities of being a Street Angel. Sacrifice one's humanity to save another. But when I was with Hannah, part of me wanted to just retire. Live with her in the church for the rest of my life.

"What's wrong?" Hannah saw my face. I cleared my throat. "Nothing."

Hannah got in close to me, her blue eyes contrasting with her black hair. "You're a really bad liar, you know that?"

I looked away and sat down on a bench. "Nothing, just work." Hannah sat next to me. "It's okay. I know how hard it is, your job. But I'm happy that you're doing your best to help these people." She snuggled next to my arm. "Just come back to me, okay?"

The next morning, I helped carry the clothes Hannah had made to the streets. Children flooded us as Hannah gave the clothes away. Seeing the children smiling with fresh new clothes, ditching their rags made me smile. Hannah continued giving the clothes to the kids, a big friendly smile on her face, children's laughter filling the slums.

Within an hour, the basket was empty. I carried the basket back to the church. Hannah was waiting. "Come on, slowpoke!"

We spent the night looking at the stars together. They were beautiful, reminding me that despite how small the sky made me feel, it didn't matter. I could be as big as the stars, towering over everyone, but I wouldn't be able to appreciate the value of a smiling child, or a thriving community. A happy family, having dinner, knowing they will have enough to eat.

Hannah laced her fingers through mine. In the moonlight, her blue eyes were almost glowing. "Aries" She said.

"What?" I turned to her.
"The constellation you're staring at. It's Aries, the Ram."

"Huh."

Hannah scooted closer to me. "What's your favourite constellation? Mine is Taurus."
"The bull? I didn't think that would be your favourite."

Hannah laughed. "He may be a bull, but he represents hard work and determination. People who are Tauruses are hard working and dedicated. Like you!"
"I don't know if I want to be called a bull..."

Hannah looked at me. "You never answered my question. What's your favourite constellation?"

I thought for a moment. "Perseus."

Hannah raised her eyebrows. "Perseus huh? Is it because he's a big hero who always slayed the big bad?"

I laughed and shook my head. "It's because Perseus was one of the few heroes who had a happy ending. I'd like to believe that would happen to me someday. And if I don't, at least I'll go knowing I gave you and the people one."

Chapter 7 - Invasion

"You got the charge, brat?" Jericho asked Adam.
"Yeah."

We rode to the objective point. Nigel had decided to join us on this raid. We reached the checkpoint and turned off our bikes.

Jericho activated his vision evo. "Yep. They're pretty stacked up in there. The anti-magic charge should neutralize the magical defences and several mages, making the Avatar's jobs a bit easier."

Nigel nodded. "Good work guys. I'm surprised no one got killed." Ever the leader Nigel was. Despite his relaxed personality, he was a very competent leader, and his main asset lied in inspiring others. I respected him a lot.

Nigel turned to me. "I trust you'll be able to handle Maven. Try to lure him away from the others. The collateral will take out some of Ariandal's troops too. Don't want that."
"Got it." I replied.

Most of our squad was with the Avatar army. Jericho looked at the forces. "I could probably set most of them to sleep, but I'll be incapacitated. I'll need someone to give me cover." Miki cut him off. "I'll cloak you, don't worry. The most important thing is that no area based attacks get in our way or we'll get fried."

Nigel chuckled. "You guys worry about distracting the army. Leave Team Darkstar to me." I had complete faith in Nigel. Despite his appearance, he was leader of the Street Angels for a reason. He had one of the most destructive electrokinesis powers I had ever seen. Rumour had it that he had enough juice in his body to power an entire continent. Despite being a Tier 2, Nigel's mastery of his electrical powers and technique made him able to keep up with multiple Tier 1 metahumans. When I sparred with him, he managed to land a punch on me, despite having the reflexes of the Power Force. In terms of technique alone, Nigel could easily have been Tier 1, and possibly beyond that.

Adam primed the charge, and a massive black and red explosion erupted from the Fortress. That was our signal. The Avatar's charged the breached defences, multiple mages of the Garrison attempted to hold them off.

Darkstar emerged from the castle, but Nigel zipped up, climbing the Fortress walls with his electric speed, knocking out several of Darkstar's members. Darkstar attempted to catch him, but Nigel was too fast, sending bolts of electricity their way.

Jericho activated his telepathy, shrouded by Miki, and soldiers fell left and right while they were swamped by the Avatar troops.

A massive cannon began forming from the castle. Mavus. I unsheathed Rigor and leaped forward, slashing the cannon to bits in one swing. I landed in the Fortress, surrounded by around a dozen mechs. Mavus spoke from them in unison. "Round Two, Giantkiller."

I swiped in a 360 motion, sending the mechs flying outwards, crashing through the Fortress walls and buildings. But suddenly, a arm grasped my leg. His main mech was underground! I was pulled into the earth as Main's arm transformed into a cannon, glowing bright green. The beam sent me flying out of the Fortress. I crashed into the ground outside, creating a massive crater on the ground.

My body was smoking. Everything stung, but I managed to get to my feet. Mavus landed on the ground in front of me as Main, sending blades of grass and dirt outward through a shockwave. He had gone through yet another version change, his armour becoming much more streamlined, with new plating, no doubt designed to withstand my strikes.

Mavus' arms blew out steam as several new propulsors emerged from his armour. So he had resorted to increasing his strength with his propulsors to match mine.

I brandished Rigor, but suddenly several pods appeared around me. My strength began to deplete, Rigor becoming heavier and heavier.

"Draining pods. You like it?" So that was how Mavus defeated Blackflame. But I was no Blackflame. My power was limitless. I charged the Power Force, conducting more of its energy, until the pods overloaded and exploded.

"The hell?" Mavus shouted. He shook his mechanical head. "I guess it's time for Plan B."

We were wasting time. I bounded forward, Rigor in hand, but suddenly everything went bright. I couldn't see.

"What? You thought that I was going to fight you the same way twice? Meet Revision 4, let's see you fight when you can't see." To prove his point, I felt a massive metal arm strike me in the side of my head, which sent me hurtling through the ground into the side of the fortress. I could feel my head bleeding. I managed to regain my sight. He launched me several hundred metres, leaving behind a ravaged dirt trail. I got to my feet, only to see Main flying my way with even faster speed than last time we fought, sledgehammer fist cocked back. Another bright light. I couldn't defend myself, taking Mavus's hits head on. I was barely able to make out the faint outline of his armour connecting to my face. The sight of the propulsors rotating, firing off bright green energy as the punches were significantly amplified.

Mavus continued connecting, his massively expanded fists dealing incredible damage to my face, head, and midsection. I was starting to lose consciousness when he suddenly stopped.

My vision returned, only to see that Mavus had finished charging his repulser cannon. Four prongs from his back compartments were expanded, firing four beams that converged into one that was blasted forward with the cannon from his chest. A multithreaded repulser. The beam overwhelmed me as I yelled in pain. It felt like I was getting burned in a hundred places as I was propelled into the sky, my clothes smoking and in tatters.

I fell into the ground, creating a crater and a shockwave.

Chapter 8 - Memories

I managed to get to my feet. My face was bleeding profusely, blood dripping on the ground. I was severely hurt. Suddenly, Main flew in the air, kiting me. Dozens of mini missiles came my way, but I was too injured to raise Rigor. My vision was overloaded with bright green light and explosions.

By miracle, I managed to continue standing, relying on Rigor for support. Main landed in front of me, swinging his fist. I caught it, but his arm began to transform, several prongs appearing. A taser. I was electrocuted, roaring in pain as I fell to my knee. Main blasted me with another repulser beam sending me airborne several feet. I fell on my face, struggling to get up.

Main approached me, his mechanical feet stomping the ground. STOMP. STOMP. STOMP.

I got up, but was peppered by a barrage of minigun bullets. I fell to my knees.

Main put down his arm, the miniguns returning to their forearm compartments. Mavus kicked me into the side of the crater, his hands transforming into their repulsers. He began blasting me, repulser after repulser. My back slamming the side of the crater each time.

Everything suddenly stopped. The scene changed. A memory I knew all too well. It was during the invasion, before I had Rigor, before I was classified a Tier Zero.

I looked up, and saw a girl, who emerged from a broken bench.

"Are you okay? You're really hurt!" She ran up to me and caught me before I could hit the ground. She smelled like cinnamon.
"Stay away from me... run to the evacuation group..." I croaked. My body was severely injured from taking an explosion from an Automaton head on.

The girl propped me up against a bench. "Nope. You're hurt. Here, let me."

She opened her hand, and purple light particles began to form around my wounds, healing them.

I managed to move, but nearly stumbled. "Thanks."

The girl looked at me. "I was only able to heal you part way. My powers..." She looked at her wrists, which were tattooed with strange markings. A curse.

I stood up. "It's fine. It should be enough. You should go with the others. We're evacuating the people before the Automatons catch up." I limped out of the church, with the girl clinging on to me. I located the evacuation group. "Go with them." The girl nodded.

I made my way to the location of the Automatons, and the girl looked back. "You're not going back there to fight them are you? You're too hurt!"

She was right. But I had a duty to fulfill. "Yes. You need to keep going. Don't look back. I'll buy you guys some time."
"No."
"What?"
"You're coming with us!"

I stared at the girl. She ran up to me and grabbed my hand. "Listen lady, you need to run. My job is to protect you all, I can't do that if I don't distract the Automatons."

She cut me off. "So you're just going to throw your life away?"
"If I have to."
"Why?"

No one ever asked me that question before. Why do I protect and throw my life at risk? The answer was simple.

"Because I'm a Street Angel. It's what I do. I'm not like you guys. I'm no longer pure, my hands are stained with blood. I'm... a monster. The least I can do is keep you guys away from the violence."

"You're not a monster." The girl grabbed my hand. "If you were a monster, you would have scary teeth and horns... like this! Aaargh!!!" The girl put her fingers to her head, imitating a beast. I laughed, for the first time in a long time. The girl smiled at me. "Would a monster laugh?"

I hesitated. The girl continued. "If you throw away your life, then how will you keep protecting us? I want you to keep living. For us.

"If you died today, I will be sad. I like you." No one had ever said these things to me before. I was a Street Angel, a criminal. I was scum that deserved to die, who had been given a chance to die in a way that would save others. That was all I was.

The girl brushed off a piece of debris that had gotten stuck to my hair. It felt like a million volts ran through my body upon contact. "My name is Hannah. Please don't die. Stay, for me."

Hannah. I couldn't die today. I couldn't make her sad. I promised I would come back to her. Every mission, before I left, I always made that promise.

I had a promise to keep.

Chapter 9 - Draw

The scene changed back to the present. I was barely standing. My body was definitely burnt, charred, and beat up. Mavus had stopped his repulser beam assault, grabbing me by my throat.

"Payback sucks, doesn't it? I don't care what lies Ariandal fed you, but we're putting a stop to her crazy schemes." Mavus punched me in the gut.

"Her New Militia is going down, and so is her fake 'New Croft' BS."

My vision turned red. I remembered what Hannah had once asked me, back at the church.

"Will New Croft have a church?"
"Yeah. Probably."
"Maybe one day, we could pray together. Maybe your sins will be forgiven. It's not too late to turn back! I'll always be waiting."

I always found it funny. I was beyond redemption, but Hannah never gave up on me. Her dream was to take me to a beautiful, restored church, and help me atone. Mavus was going to take down New Croft? How dare he suggest something like that.

I grabbed Mavus's arm, squeezing it. Mavus activated his taser, making me yell in pain, but I roared, enduring it, as I squeezed harder and harder, ripping the mechanical arm off. Main stumbled backwards, blinding me with light.

Mavus began swinging at my face with his sledgehammer arms, but it was no use. The Power Force engulfed me with energy. His attacks no longer hurt or even damaged me, merely glancing off my skin. I could feel my vision restoring as my orange glow outshone his green lights. I ripped the prongs out of Mavus's back compartments, shutting the lights down.

Mavus stared at me. "What the fu-"

I pushed him, sending his mechanical body hurtling through the side of the crater, destroying everything in its way, into the Fortress. I leaped after him, yelling like a barbarian as I punched his armour repeatedly. His body had undergone some major durability updates, but by the fifth punch, the armour began to buckle, deforming and ripping apart.

The two of us were sent into the castle. Mavus transformed his arm into a large repulser cannon, firing it at me and obliterating half of the castle, but I tanked the hit, the Power Force aura still wrapping my body in a protective shield. I grabbed the cannon, and hurled Mavus out of the castle, sending him hundreds of feet into the air. I leaped upwards to meet him.

Mavus unloaded a barrage of missiles and tried to activate his propulsors. I deflected them with Rigor, and swung the blade. The slash narrowly missed him, but the shockwave sent his robot off course. I kicked with everything I had, propelling me at Main.

I yelled as I prepared a overhand swing, Rigor fully glowing with the orange fires of the Power Force. Main fired its propulsors, attempting to dodge the swipe, but a part of the swipe connected, severing its legs, causing explosions left and right. A massive fissure opened up, splitting the entire Fortress in half along with the landscape due to Rigor's swing.

Mavus yelled, attempting to reconstruct Main's legs, but was unable to do anything as he began to free fall awkwardly. The Power Force Aura left me as I free fell, grappling onto Main, squeezing as hard as I could until its components broke, sparks and cracks, the sound of metal bending.

Mavus and I fell to the ground, where I lost consciousness.

Chapter 10 - Aftermath

I regained consciousness in the refuge infirmary.

"You good, GK?" Nigel's face hovered over me. He helped me up.

"What happened?" Nigel grinned. "You managed to keep Maven away from our forces, we were able to complete the objective and capture some of the Inquisition's magical items. Ernest has already sent them to Ariandal."

I sat up. Rigor was propped on the wall. "How did you guys manage to carry Rigor?"

Nigel laughed. "Yeah, we had to get Will to create a bunch of portals underneath the damn sword. Wasn't pretty. He kept swearing whenever he sent the sword too far away."

I looked at the refuge. So our mission was a success. That was all that mattered. These people would be one more step to getting into New Croft. Nigel brushed his jacket. "By the way, you managed to burn your biker jacket to shreds again. I've sent it to Hannah since she was insistent on fixing it herself."

I managed a small smirk. Nigel continued. "Should just get you a new damn jacket, but your church girl was real sweet. Couldn't say no."

I spent the day recovering until I was able to walk again. I went to the church. It never changed ever since the Automaton invasion, but every time I came back, it had a different vibe. Like a home.

I knocked on the door, and Hannah jumped. "Oh! Aaron! I didn't notice you. I'm almost done fixing up your jacket." She had done an impressive job, I didn't think it would have been salvageable. She really was talented.

I thought back on the day we had met. I would always return to her, no matter what. With Hannah in my life, I just didn't feel like dying today. Hannah turned to me, her hands on her hips.

"I heard you almost got killed on mission! You had me worried sick! What happened to that promise of yours?"
"I... sorry I didn't think," I was stumbling with my words.

She cut me off with a hug. "It's okay. I understand. Your job is hard. It's just, the thought of losing you, makes me sad. I really like spending time with you."

I embraced her. "Me too. It's good to be back home."

Chapter 11 - Leaving

"Alright angels... and Adam, we're going to another universe." Nigel announced.

Jericho froze, his fork in mid air. "We're going to another what?"

Nigel briefed us on the mission. "The Lady has told us that we need to go to Millennium City and obtain a few items. This'll mean we're going to have to fight their defenders and heroes. I'll provide further details once we're on site."

He turned to Marcus. "Quartz, you're with me. Gotta use your defensive diamonds in case some mages try to get feisty." He then looked at Miki. "Cloak, gotta need your stealth." Then to Jericho. "Jeripath, going to need you too. Also, for the love of God. Please update your codename."

Jericho picked up his bowl and began chugging his cornflakes in water. "Until we got milk for these flakes, I ain't changing nothin."

Nigel listed off a few more Angels to recruit. I knew them all. As an Angel, we were brothers and sisters to a greater cause. We fought together and sacrificed together, most of us having the same goals and aspirations to create a better future for the people. There were a few Angels who did not abide by that code. Nigel had always wanted to deal with them, but they would always go into hiding whenever either he or I confronted them.

"Jedidiah, marksmanship." "Celeste, your light powers will serve crowd control". "Shift, going to need your portals."

Then he turned to me. "Giantkiller, in case we need a good old powerhouse."

I nodded. So that was, in order, Nigel, Marcus, Miki, Jericho, Zeke, Eliza, Will, Adam, and I.

We broke up to prepare our stuff. Jericho went to his place, and took out a music player as well as a pair of headphones, stuffing them into a suitcase. Eliza glanced at the luggage. "Why are you bringing a suitcase if you're just going to pack your music player?" Jericho looked up. "No idea, I've been doing this for years." Eliza frowned. "Umm, ok man, you do you."

I went to the church. Hannah read my expression. "Off to another long mission again?" I nodded. She didn't need to be convinced, she knew what I had to do. She went up to me and kissed me on my cheek. She looked slightly disappointed. "Can I call you?"

"Of course you can!" A voice appeared behind me. I whipped around instinctively, aiming Rigor at Jericho's throat.

"Dude! I'm a friendly!" I lowered Rigor.

Hannah giggled. "Hi Jerry!" Jericho waved. "Sup sis." Jericho and Hannah were not related. He liked calling her sis because he, like most of the other Angels were aware of my relationship with Hannah. As for Hannah, she loved having Jericho around, frequently calling him Jerry.

No one was allowed to call Jericho Jerry but Hannah. Not even me.

"You can definitely call GK. We have Will on our team. He could portal to this world, and you two can call each other all you want." Hannah's face lit up. I guess that settled it.

Jericho and I walked in on Adam and Marcus arguing. Adam was apparently still in denial for his actions in the battle against the Inquisition.

"This is wrong! I don't care if it is for a good cause or not. We took lives! I took lives. I can't... I can't do this. I don't even know who I am anymore."

Marcus looked like he wanted to punch Adam in the face. "Kid, this is war. You're part of this fight now, whether you want to or not. Now stop being a wuss and prepare your things." Jericho looked at me. "Your college buddy is a damn handful." I didn't say anything.

Marcus continued. "You need to start getting your head out of your self righteous bubble and face reality. This is how the world is now. Grow up. Look at GK, he isn't any older than you are, yet he is doing his job because he knows what's at stake if we fail."

Adam glared at me. I regarded him. Adam aggressively zipped his bag, walking to the bikes.

Jericho helped Marcus pack up his things. "That brat is going to get himself killed. Watching him is a pain in the ass, if only Lady Ariandal would give supervision to someone else." Marcus shook his head. "Ain't nothing we can do about it. We just gotta bear it. Yo GK, mind giving him a reality check? He knows you the best out of all of us."

Adam threw the control he used to detonate the tracker across the room. I shot forward and caught the control before it hit a child who was walking by. Adam realized what he had done and sat on the ground.

"I'm finished, Aaron. I just want to go home. I wish this Automaton invasion never happened. I've lost Junon and now I've lost myself." I stood in front of him. There was nothing I could say to make him feel better. If Hannah had left me like Junon did to Adam, I would have been devastated. But at the same time, I knew what had to be done. I was a Street Angel. The lives of the people come first.

He looked me up and down. "You've changed so much. You used to be a nerdy guy." He managed a weak laugh. "You went from a class geek to a badass biker. Tier Zero to top it all off. I wish I was like you. Strong. These guys respect you, I guess anybody can get respect when they're strong."

I sat next to him. When I joined the Street Angels, it wasn't easy. Respect needed to be earned. I wasn't treated like family in the get go. I needed to prove my loyalty and my strength to the gang. When Nigel initiated me, he told me to fight a rival gang, with only my bare knuckles without any powers. I was nearly knocked out, but I still got to my feet and continued throwing hands. Nigel respected my tenacity, and so did the other members of the gang. Despite that, I hadn't earned my jacket and my mask. I needed to keep fighting alongside each member of the gang to prove that I had the same ideals.

It was when I sacrificed myself in our escape with the Core did I truly proved myself. I unloaded everything I had into a punch that created a dimensional tear, sending me into another universe. There, I met a Paladin named Nika. She trained me how to use my powers. When she died, she entrusted her greatsword, Rigor the Stoic, to me. Telling me if I truly had the strength to wield it, I would be able to return and help the Angels.

When I finally returned, I became proficient with The Power Force, wielding Rigor and destroying the Prime Automaton, saving all the Street Angels. I rescued everybody in the evacuation area. It was then did Nigel give me my jacket. It was a sleeveless leather jacket with a pair of angel wings in the back. My mask, a bandana type, had tribal designs, along the side was a painting of an angel army.

"You earned it. You didn't just save your gang today. You saved the people. You have proven to us that you hold the ideals of the Street Angels. Welcome, Giantkiller."

I inspected my fingerless gloves, a gift from Hannah. "I wasn't always strong. I needed to prove myself, and toughen up, much like everybody here."

Adam looked at me. "I'm not strong. I'm weak. I know that... I'm just, so hurt. First Junon, now the blood on my hands."

I leaned back. "Live with it. Just as we have. This is your life now. Consider it another barrier to break through. Life isn't easy, it never was for people like us."

"You think we'll ever see Junon again?"
"Maybe. You won't know unless you let it play out."

That night, we met the other Angels at our bikes. Eliza nodded at me. "Managed to get the string bean to come along huh? Nice."

Miki went up to Adam. "Done bawling? It's time to crush some heads kiddo. I wonder if your brain has a reset switch... would make things so much easier. Haha, just kidding. Didn't mean to scare you!"

Adam glanced at me. "Why is she here?"
"Stealth."
"I know that, but I think she is crazy, is having her on the team a good idea?"

Miki was definitely underestimated by a lot of people. She was a Tier 5 Refraction-Type meta, but her fighting skills were the best of the Street Angels, slightly below Nigel's. Her evo was a direct counter to Mavus's beam attacks, which were laser in nature. Miki is capable of refracting and redirecting light, which gave her the appearance of being invisible. It didn't matter how much light there was, she could redirect it all. If Mavus so much as blasted her with his multi threaded repulser, she could have just redirected it right back at him.

"Shut up and get on." I told Adam.

Will created the portal, and we revved our engines, speeding into the portal to Millennium City.

Chapter 12 - Duel Rocket

We emerged from the portal, riding on our bikes. Millennium City. The place was futuristic and beautiful. The first thing that I noticed was the vehicles. They did not rely on wheels, hovering in the air.

"Damn..." Eliza muttered.

We parked our bikes, making our way to the rendezvous point, Mercy Hospital. Ernest was waiting for us.

"Greetings, Street Angels. Welcome to Millennium City. I trust that you know what to do, Nitro."

Nigel nodded. "Affirmative. We'll collect the items and contact you if we need your guidance." Ernest waved and dissipated into gold sparks. Nigel turned to us. "Our mission is simple. We first need to collect elemental gems. This will mean taking down an Archmage. Lady Ariandal has already set up our lodgings." He handed us our teleporters. "These teleporters will send you to the hideout."

Before Nigel could finish, a rocket landed out of nowhere. We turned around.

A man stood before us, his body was wreathed in black and purple flames. His body was completely pitch black.

Jericho stepped forward and inspected him with his evo. "Dude is a Tier 6..." I looked at the challenger. He was challenging us to a duel. We declined. This wasn't worth our time. We were on a mission.

The man challenged us again. "Come on, team duel. I'll take you all on. Nice masks you guys are wearing there, nubs."

"He can't be serious..." Eliza muttered.

Marcus approached him. "Listen buddy, you don't want this fight. Now screw off before I make you regret sending that stupid rocket." The man looked Marcus in the eye.

"Yeah buddy, keep talking. You ain't got nothing on me. Nice vest, makes you look real badass. You in a gang or something? They all wussies like you guys? I'm the greatest duelist in Millennium City. I was one of the first people to defeat Teleios. My Super Group is composed of the greatest duelists in all of Millennium City. We are the Dark Lords..."

The man kept blabbering on. I stepped forward to engage, but Nigel stopped me. "Let Marcus handle this. This fool disrespected our name. Marcus will deal with him."

The man glared at all of us. "Deal with me huh. What are you guys even called?"

Will glared at him back. "We're the Street Angels. Best apologize now, you don't wanna piss off Marcus any more otherwise he's not going to hold back."

The man sent another duel rocket, aimed right at Marcus.

Jericho laughed. "Well, guess hideout TV can wait. Got plenty of entertainment right here."

Marcus accepted the duel.

Chapter 13 - Respect the Angels

Jericho opened his music player and began to blare some hardstyle hip hop music. We stared at him, but he just shrugged. "Might as well play some sick bars, I thought it would be nice to play it in the background given the situation." He kept the music on. Nigel sighed.

The man began jumping around, attempting to lasso Marcus, but Marcus stomped his foot on the ground, trapping the man in a huge wall of diamonds. The man became shocked.

"What... what kind of power is that? The hell is that? Some kind of new device?"

Marcus approached him. "You insulted the Angels. You're going to pay the price." The man dissipated into blue steam, but he was still trapped in the confinement. "Don't bother. My diamonds are much denser than the real thing. Makes them reaaaal durable. You ain't escaping."

The fight was over before we knew it. Marcus's hand became encased with a diamond overcoat, and he slammed it into the man's head haymaker style. The challenger went unconscious, respawning at the entrance of the hospital.

He wasn't happy about his loss. "You're a cheater. Using new abilities like that." He began to call for backup, and soon more of his lackeys joined him, about fourteen in total, facing us off. One guy was decked out with a ton of decorations, he was probably the leader. "We are the Dark Lords. We dominate this city, no one stands in our way. I am the greatest duellist, the leader of this group."

Miki looked confused. "What? Isn't that what the last guy said?"

The leader glared at her. "No one has defeated me. I am number one. I have experienced numerous pleasures. Women crave my see-"

Eliza cut him off. "So you're a virgin then. Maybe I should smack you to make an example for your boys."

The leader's eyebrow twitched. He sent a duel rocket at Eliza. Eliza and the leader duelled before us, but Eliza made him eat his words, after instantly bombarding him with a ton of light lasers.

Other members of the team began to challenge us. One on one, then two on one, the "Dark Lords" did not stand a chance against the Angels.

Suddenly, the Dark Lords challenged Adam. Five on one. Adam hesitated. The leader looked like he had finally found our weak link. "Fight. No? So you're just a mere coward."

Adam didn't say anything. One of the members pushed Adam. The Dark Lords laughed. The man tried to push him again, but I suddenly appeared between the two. I caught his wrists. He looked me in the eye. "Got a death wish?"

I said nothing, giving him a death stare through my bandana mask. I squeezed, and the man started to scream, falling to his knees. I let go and he ran back to his group. I looked at Nigel for permission, who gave me a nod.

"You guys done wasting our time? I'll entertain you all one last time. Considering you guys are still stupid enough to keep disrespecting our name." I drew Rigor, and aimed it right at the leader.

"I'll fight all fifteen of you at once."

The group burst out laughing. "One against fifteen. That's rich." I narrowed my eyes. The leader walked up to me. "Five is the limit."

Will raised his hands, distorting the environment. "Not anymore." Suddenly, the looks on the group changed. The leader looked at Will. "How... how are you doing this."

Shift was a Tier 2 Reality Metahuman. While his powers weren't exactly reality warping, he had the ability to "bend the rules". I didn't really understand his powers, even now.

I dug Rigor into the ground, cracking it, a small shockwave sending some of the bullies back. "Well?"

The leader turned to his group. "Doesn't matter if their powers are different. New devices can't save you when you're hopelessly outnumbered." He turned to Miki and Eliza. "I shall look forward to expanding my breeding options for the group once this man is slain."

Eliza smirked. "Good luck with that."

The team duel began.

Several of the group members swung their lassos at me. They seemed to really like using lassos. But upon attempting to pull me in, they were unable to make me budge. I flexed my arms, and snapped the devices into pieces. They all stared at me. One guy was shaking in fear. "This... this isn't possible. What do we do Lord Xe-"

I closed in with blinding speed and punched the man in the face, sending him flying into the air. Jericho told me that he was unconscious. The other fourteen members were knocked down from the sheer shockwave of the punch. The leader jumped in with his twin swords, attempting to stab me, but I dodged.

One of the members got back in behind, his talons outstretched, attempting to catch me by surprise. I backhanded him into the side of the hospital. It wasn't a particularly powerful strike, but the man was sent unconscious too.

The other members of the group completely lost their confidence. "This... this is unreal..."

The leader looked me in the eye. "Who are you people... what... what do you want?"

I brought Rigor behind my shoulder. There was no need to tell these guys anything. They were bullies, who disrespected the Angels. They deserved to get smacked.

"Giantkiller." I responded.

My arm muscles flexed as I swung Rigor in a devastating arc, creating a massive windstorm that sent the remaining members unconscious, flying into the air. The windstorm caused the nearby concrete structures to crack and break apart in a tornado.

The Angels regrouped with me. Nigel put his hand on my shoulder. "Good job, GK. But I think you accidentally destroyed half of Renaissance Centre." Right on queue, several law enforcement officers were starting to arrive on the scene. Some heroes also began showing up too.

Nigel nodded to us. It was time to book it. We activated our teleporters to our hideout.