Paragon

Wraith hovered high above the skyline gazing up into the sky. The clouds concealed him well enough that he didn’t need to focus any of his energy on a fog cloud to cover him, even though the sun was raising just before him. It was Christmas morning and Wraith knew that the day had only just begun. Zeke suddenly felt that he was no longer alone and looked down to see Phalanx floating up through the clouds to meet him.

“What can I do for you, Phalanx?” Wraith asked, looking back up to the sky.

“I came to ask you the same thing, Wraith. I bring counsel if you would have it.” Phalanx said.

“Depends on the counsel; then again, I don’t think it would be wise of me to turn down the advice of someone several millennia my senior.” Wraith smiled behind his mask. His cloak ruffled and billowed with the wind; it felt good against his bare skin. It felt cold, it felt powerful.

“I ask that you don’t interrupt me then. Hear me out and then make your decision, agreed?”

“Say what you came to say, Phalanx. I won’t interrupt you, I promise.”

Phalanx nodded and crossed his arms making the armor he wore clink when it touched.

“I saw you fight several times down in that pit you call a bar. Truth be told, I was amazed at your attention to detail in the thick of things. You fought with precision, every blow was perfectly timed in a way even I can’t quite fathom. I believe it is a part of your abilities, Wraith. When lightning strikes it doesn’t miss and can assail its target from miles away, yet it is also chaotic and explosive. The storm is wild and vicious, yet you know how to tame it. You are the storm’s master, its puppeteer, its friend even.

“I see the rage of the storm inside of you, the primal savagery of the storm in your eyes and heart; it wants to strike. You have… You’ve suffered loss, Wraith; the likes of which I can empathize with. That kind of loss festers within you and decays your senses. It will send you into madness unless you heed me now; you need to regain your precision, your focus. I cannot tell you how; it is different for every soul who suffers. What I can tell you is that if you do not regain your discipline over the storm inside of you, it will devour you. You will become a harbinger of wrath and ruin and you will destroy what little you have left. You will be a macabre maelstrom.

“Hear me now, Wraith; for the sake of those you once loved, for the sake of your friend, for the sake of all, you must become a sovereign of the storm again, or you will fail.”

Zeke said nothing. Silence drifted through the air and Phalanx let the silence continue as long as it was needed. He said what he had come to say and he knew that he had to wait for the Wraith’s response. There was nothing left for him to say. He felt it was greatly implied that if the Wraith did, in fact, fail to accomplish this, it would be Phalanx who brought him down. He liked the Wraith, he was a good man struck with a malicious hand. Yet, in his heart, Phalanx knew that this was destiny at hand. His family, though a tragic loss, was the catalyst to the Wraith’s transformation into a Paragon. He wished that there was some other way, that the family did not have to be destroyed, but dwelling on it did nothing. It only refreshed the pain and made it stronger.

Wraith did not tear his eyes away from the sky just yet. Up above the clouds the sun shone bright and shimmered against his skin, yet despite the immediate light, the wind and air were frigid. Wraith wasn’t sure how Phalanx kept warm, his suit was likely insulated he figured, but he embraced the cold with open arms. It felt rejuvenating to him; it felt like power and strength. It felt like home.

“I still see them, Phalanx. Every day,” Wraith finally said after all the silence.

“You are not the only one haunted by ghosts from the past, Wraith.”

“Yours are not as fresh I would wager.”

“You would lose that bet.” Phalanx said and Wraith heard him sigh now. “Iraq, 2006, a soldier named Brandon L. Wong. Chinese American, second generation. He was my protégé for seven years. His strength was impressive, even for a Super, and I taught him what I knew of survival and hiding his powers, controlling his strength so that he didn’t break the wall when he opened the door. His girlfriend turned out to be one of Vladimir’s lackeys; she tortured him with a nullifier and then left him to bleed to death. I buried him myself.”

“I didn’t know you took on sidekicks,” Wraith said somewhat surprised.

“He wasn’t a sidekick, he was my friend. One of many that I’ve lost in this war, I don’t feel like losing another, Wraith. I need you to have your head on your shoulders. I’ve tried this alone in the past and Vladimir manages to escape every time. It must end here.”

“You’re right… I don’t think we ought to kill him, however.” Wraith whispered.

“I’m not in the mood for jests, Wraith.” Phalanx remarked.

“I’m not joking. There has already been death aplenty, plus that, he’s your son. He ought to be brought down to face justice for his crimes.”

“This isn’t a comic book where villains can simply be locked up, Wraith. There is no special jail for men like my son. It has taken me centuries to come to terms with the fact that my son is an evil individual. If you think any of this is easy, you are wrong. My heart weeps for my son, but he cannot be allowed the opportunity of life.”

“Perhaps… Perhaps…” Again silence came and both men hung their heads for a moment, dreading the moment to come. Phalanx, despite all he knew about Vladimir, did not want to end the life of his last living family.

No father should be forced to bury their children, Phalanx thought, especially if it is by their own hand that the child met their end.

Killing Vladimir is a dead-work, Wraith thought, I must be better than him… I am not him. I stand for something better than him. Yet I am Wraith; I haunt this city, it is my burial ground.

“Wraith, this must-“ Phalanx was interrupted when a colossal amount of force slammed into him and sent him tumbling down, down, down toward the ground at a tremendous velocity. Wraith’s eyes widened and he dove down through the clouds after Phalanx. Once he cleared the clouds, he saw Phalanx tumbling and wrestling with a creature, twice the size of the age-old Paragon, with scaled skin, large yet flimsy looking leathery wings and what appeared to be, a lion’s mane. Wraith descended faster and summoned his will; he did not see the gargantuan figure soaring towards him from his right until it had already collided with him.

Wraith felt a sharp pain on his arm and looked down to see a fat arm grappling with him, but the pain came from the tiny mouth biting into him. The mouth was one of many that decorated the sagging fat of the arm. Wraith let out a burst of electric energy from his body that sent the creature flying away, giving him enough time to collect himself. The creature rebounded, more like bounced, off the roof of the building it struck and came slobbering after him. It was obese, truly and horrifically obese, with hundreds of mouths all over its arms and torso which was revealed through tattered clothing. An even bigger mouth opened and snapped from the creature’s stomach. It snapped and slobbered at him and tried to get hold of him again. Wraith dodged and zipped through the air away from it and discovered that it couldn’t fly but it could leap high enough in the air to take more bites at him. Every time it landed the ground became a crater beneath it. The thing had to weigh almost a thousand pounds.

Wraith looked up and saw Phalanx still interlocked with the winged colossus above him so he flew up to meet them. He focused his will and lightning cracked and struck from the sky; a single bolt tore through the air and split just before it struck and hit both Phalanx and the creature. The monster roared in pain and Phalanx was empowered by the energy. He used it to thrust both his legs against the beast and flew back away from it and landed on the nearest rooftop. Wraith flew over to Phalanx’s side and together they looked at their assailants.

The winged creature was easily over thirteen feet tall, as tall as Bryan was when he became the Scarlet Scarab, with massive bat-like wings. The wings did not flap nor did they even seem capable of keeping themselves up as they sank down with the leather crinkled between the bones. Its skin was scaled and cracked and the face was indeed inspired by a lion’s. The face looked tortured and appeared to be the fusion of a man’s features with a lion’s muzzle. The mane atop its head was gold, luxurious even; it was the only part of this creature that was beautiful. Each arm was different its right was scaled like the rest of the body and bore long, fierce claws while the other was a cybernetic masterpiece. The forearm was significantly larger than the rest of the arm and it cackled with electricity and hydraulic strength. The look in its eyes resembled haunting agony and remorseless wrath.

The other creature was probably the most grotesque thing either Paragon had ever seen. It was not only incredibly fat and obese, morbidly so, but sweaty and greasy. Mouths of varying sizes snapped, slobbered and drooled all along the monster’s arms, neck, chest, shoulders and legs which could be seen through the torn fabric. The biggest mouth stretched, ear-to-ear so to speak, along the belly of the beast and had the sharpest teeth of them all. The eyes were murky and faded, and the lower half of its face had been replaced by an iron jaw with metal teeth.

“Phalanx…” Wraith said, cautiously shifting his gaze between the two beasts.

“I have no idea what they are, Wraith, but we can bet they’re presents from Vladimir.” Phalanx responded. His arms were out to his sides, ready to strike.

“Oooh,” a female’s voice cooed from above them and then clicked her tongue at them, “you boys aren’t being very nice.” The two Paragons looked up and saw another figure descending toward them. This one was very female and very gifted in her assets. Her body was barely covered with cloth and fur; her head was adorned with large horns and her eyes seemed to be mechanical optic implants. A long, feline tail whipped left to right softly behind her.

“I really don’t like this…” Wraith said.

“You’re being so very naughty. You need to be punished my dearies.” The woman cooed again; her voice was disturbingly soothing and relaxing. Wraith’s vision became blurry and he felt himself swaying slightly. The obese creature of many mouths stalked towards him.

“Phalanx…” Wraith groaned as he shook his head and forced his eyes open. He looked to his left and saw the Paragon dozing off and slumped at the shoulders. “Telepath… we need to stay awake.” His words were lost however; Phalanx didn’t even seem to hear him.

How do you stop an unstoppable force? You get in its head, he thought, as he stared at Phalanx. He knew he’d soon join his companion in slumber, left to the whims of these creatures; something he did not like the sound of.

“Shhhh,” the succubus whispered, as she swayed closer, swinging her hips seductively and leading her other two monster-comrades closer to them. “If you don’t fight, it will feel sooooo good; I could please you better than SHE ever did.”

Kira… Her name echoed briefly in Wraith’s head and a sudden surge of power washed through him at the profane use of her name. Focus, Wraith told himself, time it right, and time it perfect. He waited until she was closer, until he was almost completely asleep. His mind slipped into the realm between consciousness and dreams and the world contorted around him. He struggled to stay on his feet.

Just a little closer… He thought and focused his mind on the vixen’s footsteps. Step, step, step, the closer she drew to him the more tired he felt. Nothing sounded better than to just give in and sleep, not even thoughts of Kira next to him seemed as lovely or promising. Still he fought to keep conscious and stay on his feet. He kept what little will he was able to muster in his left arm and held it, waiting for the right moment. Another step, she was almost close enough. His eyes felt heavier than the sun itself.

“How adorable,” the succubus purred, “you’re so sweet I could just eat you up.” She bared her long fangs, unhinged her jaw and opened it like a snake. Her foot drew up and moved forward and touched the ground.

Wraith fell just as her foot hit the ground and managed to catch himself on his left hand which splayed out and thrust his will outward. The ground around him became shimmering rime and the vixen’s foot came down at just the wrong angle; she slipped backwards and cried out, cracking the concrete when her head hit the roof. Wraith felt himself wake up with a shot; with the vixen’s concentration broken, she wasn’t able to keep them subdued. He looked to his left and saw Phalanx was still struggling to his feet; he had felt the brunt of the hex, Wraith figured.

“Rise and shine!” Wraith yelled and brought his right hand up into the air; lightning cracked above him and the clouds swirled over their heads. The sky roared to life. Wraith tightened his right hand and brought it down through the air in a crushing, pounding motion and a massive electric bolt followed and blasted the ground between him and Phalanx. The energy exploded and flowed into both of them, and as the torrent of energy ripped through their powers, they both became energized by the power of the storm.

The vixen quickly drew herself to her feet and hissed at the two Paragons. Her eyes darting from one to the other and back as she slunk backwards. The other two monsters marched forward in front of her and growled at the Paragons.

“That was interesting…” Phalanx grumbled and rested his forehead in his right gauntlet. “The woman dies first.”

“Who knows, maybe the second date will be better.” Wraith jabbed just before the succubus shrieked at them and leapt straight into the air and soared away. “Or not, I’m guessing she wasn’t planning on buying us breakfast anyways.” The fat creature’s mouths slobbered all over itself and the taller, winged beast heaved and grunted at them.

“If I had to wager, more experiments; these seem more purposeful however, not merely a happenstance of genetic altering.”

“So he made these things on purpose?”

“That would be my guess.”

The two creatures sidestepped around the Paragons and circled them.

“Ideas?” Wraith asked once he and Phalanx were back to back, but Phalanx did not have the time to respond. The lion roared and dove after Phalanx while the mouthed beast lumbered towards Wraith. Wraith launched himself forward, propelled by the energy he willed behind him to accelerate himself, and drove both his feet into the iron jaw of the creature. It stumbled back and shook off the blow like it had been little more than a forceful slap and howled in response. It swiped its fat, slimy arms, its glistening skin rippled as it tore through the air. Wraith evaded each blow and returned with his own, but each strike he made nearly bounced back at him from the shear amount of skin and blubber that acted like rubber body armor.

“Ever considered a fucking diet?” Wraith hollered and thrust his right hand out; electric coils whipped and hissed from his forearm and skittered down to his fingertips in the blink of an eye. A long, thick tendril of yellow lightning screeched through the air and struck the obese beast in its stomach-mouth. The mouth opened and the electric bolt disappeared into the blackness of its maw, and the beast got bigger. It grew a foot in height and at least another three feet in diameter.

“That’s… Bad; that’s very bad. Phalanx!” Wraith hollered and the beast in front of him grunted out a sick, gurgling cackle. Wraith risked turning his attention behind him and saw that Phalanx was in the middle of, what appeared to be, a battle of strength with the winged lion. “This one just ate my lightning!”

“Trade!” Phalanx yelled. He was interlocked with the monster that was several feet taller than he was. Their palms were pressed together and fingers were interlocked as the monster pressed down on him and Phalanx pushed up, each attempting to use brute force to overpower the other. Phalanx suddenly shifted his stance and twisted his hips just right, using the lion’s own momentous force to send it hurdling towards Wraith. Phalanx soared up into the air and dove straight for the gluttonous monster with both fists outstretched in front of him, plowing into its body with all his might. The gluttony demon flew back and shattered the brick wall behind it, falling into the top floor of the building next to them.

Wraith saw the lion-demon rushing toward him; it seemed aware that it had been maneuvered toward Wraith but didn’t seem bothered by it either. Zeke’s left hand forced his will down around the creature’s legs. Ice talons reached up and enslaved the monster’s legs but the upper half kept moving forward. The sudden halt of its legs caused it to start falling towards the floor, but Wraith’s knee drove up into the lion’s jaw and sent it flying back. As it flew, Wraith lifted up into the air and spread out his arms; the storm answered his will and let out a howling cry of thunder and lightning. A thick bolt struck Wraith at the same moment he flew straight down towards the lion, ramming his heels into its chest and forcefully sending it through the roof and into the building. The electric energy from the lightning bolt exploded when his feet struck the monster, sending spidery-legs of arced lightning coursing through its nervous system.

The beast swiped at him, but he was too slow to strike his ghostly foe. Wraith flew out of the building, determined to cause as little collateral damage as he could, and waited. He looked over to where Phalanx had taken the hungry creature but he couldn’t see either of them.

Several floors below, where Phalanx had originally knocked the mouthed beast into, Phalanx was caught off-guard by how strong the mouths on this thing were. The creature had gotten a solid grip on Phalanx’s arm briefly and there had been a mouth in the palm of its hand. The mouth bit clean through the steel that made up his armor while the other mouth’s snapped and the creature gargled laughter from its iron maw.

Don’t let it get a hold of you, Phalanx told himself. The demon was surprisingly quick for its size and made every imaginable attempt to grapple with him for as long as it could. Phalanx rained blows down on the creature, having significantly more effect than Wraith had, given his strength, and made sure not to let his fists remain in contact for too long. It swiped with its left; Phalanx carefully gripped his armored hand on the wrist where there was no mouth, straightened his other arm and used his shoulder to drive up against the monster’s elbow. A loud, satisfying crunching sound came from deep in the slippery skin that assured Phalanx he had shattered the bones.

The monster shrieked in a gravelly tone and clawed at him with its other hand while limply throwing out its broken arm. Phalanx ducked and bobbed away from each blow. He reached down and grabbed a large chunk of brick and shoved it into the iron-maw in an attempt to choke the thing, but instead it bit clean through the brick and swallowed the stone whole. It even let out a satisfied belch.

“That can’t be good for you,” Phalanx remarked and slipped away from another barrage. It dove at him and he hadn’t the time to move away. Its belly collided with his upper body and it took every ounce of strength Phalanx had to hold open the gaping jaws of the creature’s stomach-mouth. It grabbed him by the shoulders, tossing him effortlessly at an upward angle, crashing him through the wall and into the air. Phalanx landed with an audible thud on the roof where the fight had begun. The creature burst out from below and was fixing to land right on top of him. Phalanx rolled and pushed as hard as he could off the ground and launched back into the air at the same moment the monster landed.

Wraith was also on his back after being forcefully thrown onto the floor by his head. He groaned, coughing beneath his mask and was pretty sure he tasted blood. Wraith pressed his palms to the ground on either side of his head and flipped back and up into the air, barely escaping a fatal dive from the lion.

“We don’t seem to be doing so hot here,” Wraith said.

“We don’t have any options, Wraith. If we don’t defeat them they will wreak havoc in the city. That one’s likely to eat half of the damn place.” Phalanx responded.

“Uh… Phalanx… We might have a problem.” Wraith pointed off into the distance at another rooftop only a few blocks away. Even from this distance Phalanx could clearly see the hobbling, shambling silhouettes of the marionette creatures that Vladimir had been turning people into.

“I thought you destroyed those things!” The old Paragon barked.

“I thought I did too! He must’ve had more in the Tower.” Wraith said and looked down to see the two demons smiling wickedly at them. They seemed well aware of the fact that reinforcements were on their way.

Phalanx dove straight down toward the glutton, bringing with him a ruinous haymaker that sung through the air. The sound of metal striking metal when his fist collided with the iron jaw was thunderous.

“Phalanx!” Wraith roared and then channeled a torrent of lightning from the storm above them through himself and into the Paragon who drank it up with pleasure. Phalanx could feel every watt and amp of energy coursing through him and fueling his muscles. He let it pour into him and energize him. It filled his generator to the brim and sank into his blood. He felt electric coils skitter down his veins and kick-start his adrenaline.

“I can get used to that!” Phalanx bellowed and grabbed the gluttonous demon by its iron jaw and forehead and tore as hard as he could. He somehow, could feel just as much as he could hear the wires and metal plating tear out from the skin grafting. The entire jaw and mandible came off, leaving strands of sinewy skin hanging and its tongue dangling in the air. Yet, while its eyes registered the pain, it did not seem bothered by it.

Wraith had coated his left hand with an icy cestus and was using it to block clawing swipes just as much as he used it to beat on the lion. The creature kicked and knocked him back through the air. Wraith looked up and saw the lion was already upon him, this time with a double-fisted blow. He channeled his will in front of him and a barrier of thick hoarfrost encircled him just in time to absorb the blow, though it still sent him tumbling through the air.

Wraith looked back and saw that the marionettes were barely a hundred feet away. He swore out loud and dove down and forward, narrowly dodging another barbaric assault from the lion, towards Phalanx.

“We’re going to be overrun soon!” Wraith bellowed and rammed his icy fist into the back of the fat thing’s head. It toppled forward and stumbled away giving the two Paragons time to regroup.

“These things can take quite the beating,” Phalanx observed.

“Don’t tell me the Paragon that inspired the legends of Hercules and Beowulf hasn’t encountered something this tough before. Seriously, please don’t tell me that because I was relying on you to have more experience with this kind of sadistic shit.” Wraith snapped. He was agitated; these things could take quite the assault and kept coming back for more, like they were hungry for the pain.

As long as I have the storm, I am can fight, Wraith reassured himself.

“Like I told you,” Phalanx chortled, “legends write themselves. Vladimir has been experimenting with strange powers all his life and the result has always been some nightmarish creature. Terrifying to look at but truthfully fragile in mind and body, they took effort to take down, more effort than the stories imply, but they went down all the same.” Phalanx paused and shook his head, “this is something unholy and corrupt.”

***

Far away, up at the top of his headquarters Vladimir stood in his office with his eyes closed. He saw what his minions saw as they bounded from roof to roof; he controlled their every motion, their joints, their muscles, their impulses. All thirty of them as they swarmed like locusts up the walls and over obstacles. They were a hive mind and he was their god.

This is how it should be, he thought, a legion of minds controlled by their god; doing my whim, carrying out my missive.

They were close, close enough that Vladimir could see, through their hollow, decadent eyes, the battle raging between the two Paragons and his horrors of Pride, Wrath, Gluttony and Greed. Four of his favorite “sins”, conjoined into two abominations of science and steel, formed into the perfect servants of destruction and ruin. Wrath and Gluttony were two of his finest works and he was so proud to see them taking on two of the most powerful Paragons Vladimir had ever encountered and were prevailing.

The legion of marionettes leapt up to the roof top where his two “sins” were battling and awaited their orders, quickly they swarmed around the two Paragons. The two Paragons looked at one another and then, at the legion surrounding them. Though he could not see either of their eyes, due to Phalanx’s helmet and the way the Wraith’s eyes glowed when he was empowered, he could smell their fear through his hive. Vladimir opened his mouth and spoke, the marionettes opened their twisted, malformed mouths and echoed his words.

“We are legion,” they chittered, “I AM LEGION. Kneel and serve, or be devoured.”

Vladimir heard their response through his minions.

“Come face us yourself, you fucking coward.” The Wraith roared defiantly.

“I am facing you, Paragon: would-be hero. You could not save her from me, you will not save this city either, nor this world. I am them, they are me. Soon so shall this world be my legion; soon so shall they worship and fall down before their chosen king!”

***

Wraith looked over at Phalanx; it was a good thing his eyes were glowing and his lower face was covered by a mask or the older Paragon might see the expression of worry. They were surrounded by the marionette creatures Wraith had encountered above Facility Manticore and they looked just as horrific now as they had the first time he’d seen them. They had gangly limbs, extra appendages, and metal plates grafted into their skin, and there were easily over twenty, possibly even thirty, of them. The two monsters they’d been battling still remained and now seemed to have an even more determined look in their eyes.

All at once the troopes of marionettes leapt toward the two Paragons with hissing screeches that echoed through the air. Wraith threw out his left hand, bracing it with his right, and before the beasts could come upon them he and Phalanx were surrounded by a barrier of ice. The creatures lashed at the barrier with every one of their limbs, chipping away at the self-replenishing ice with mad determination. The mouthed creature and the lion stayed away from the swarm looking satisfied.

“How long can you hold this?” Phalanx asked.

“Depends on how long we have, you got a plan?” Wraith grunted and forced his will back into replenishing the icy shield that was keeping them from being overwhelmed.

“Thinking… We could fight them.”

“There’s dozens, plus those two… other things. We weren’t exactly winning the fight to begin with.” Wraith shouted.

“We don’t have much other option, Wraith. These creatures are sturdy but not as stalwart as those two; we can dispose of them and evade the bigger ones.” Phalanx offered.

“I doubt they’ll just sit there as content as they are now if we start fighting back.”

“Perhaps, we don’t have much of an option. You can’t hold this forever.” Phalanx reminded him. As much as it pained Wraith to admit it, Phalanx was right. He was already feeling fatigue, though that could’ve been from slamming his head into the stone.

“I have an idea…” Wraith’s voice trailed off as his mind spun through various tactical maneuvers he could use to get out of this situation alive. He had no intention of dying today, regardless of the odds.

“I’m ready when you are, Wraith.”

“On three…”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three!” They both barked together, with an explosive extension of his fingers, Wraith let out a burst of his will and sent shards of the ice outward. The marionettes flew in every direction from the concussive force and were impaled by the blades of ice. Unfortunately Wraith knew, from his past experience, that they would not be put down by this but it did buy him a moment. He flew straight up as Phalanx launched himself toward the swarm of creatures.

The old Paragon was truly a marvel to watch; he used his incredible strength as a tool instead of simply rampaging through the numbers. Wraith felt an odd kindred spirit toward Phalanx as he noticed his perfect footwork. Phalanx bobbed under attacks and weaved through a legion of gangly, slashing appendages that screeched and assaulted his armor with savage rigor.

Phalanx grabbed one and ripped it cleanly in half and proceeded to use the two dying halves of the marionette as fleshy-bludgeons against other attackers. He grabbed and tore limbs from bodies, kicked so hard that bones caved and victims flew through others and off the rooftop. His armored fist punctured chests and exited out the backs, spraying blood and chips of bone everywhere.

Wraith looked over and saw that the two beasts they had previously been fighting, the lion and the mouth, exchanged glances with one another and stared at the maelstrom of blood and bone in front of them. Then they started to move aggressively towards Phalanx and the marionettes. Wraith knew that Phalanx was holding his own against the flimsy horde of nightmares but the addition of these two, who seemed horribly unaffected by pain, would likely overwhelm him.

Wraith descended at an angle toward the lion and the mouth, his right hand blasted a bolt of lightning at the lion while his left summoned an icy cage that entombed the mouthed beast. It was trapped from head to toe in a thick layer of solid ice, though Wraith saw that it was starting to chew and lick the cage from the inside out. It wouldn’t take very long for it to be free. The lion seemed agitated at the blast of lightning it had taken and shook its head like a dog that had just gotten sprayed with water. It roared viciously at Wraith and drew itself up into the air and sped toward him.

Wraith anticipated the lion’s attack and ducked under its charge, he pivoted his body in mid-air, and grabbed hold of its corroded wings. With one hand on each of the wing-frames he drove his feet as hard as he could into its back and sent it diving down into the alley that separated the buildings. The creature landed hard on the concrete while Wraith only felt a sliver of the impact thanks to the monster cushioning the impact. He kept a tight hold of the wings and summoned his will beneath him; icy talons reached out of the ground, materializing from the moisture in the winter air, and sunk into the lion’s arms and legs. Its limbs were now impaled and held down to the ground.

Wraith closed his eyes and turned his focus to the hot orange light that coursed around him from the buildings near him and the electric energy they bore. He drew in gigawatts of energy and turned his body into a conduit. The electricity poured into him and immediately dumped out of his hands and into his victim. The beast roared and thrashed beneath him as it fought the pain of several thousand amps being emptied into its body.

Good, Wraith thought, he felt that! Wraith withheld the rest of the energy to keep himself fueled. He was very disappointed to find that the creature was still alive underneath him. Its whole body was covered in electric burns and its arms and legs were still being tightly held by the grips of his ice, but it was alive and fighting nonetheless.

Wraith had wasted too much time away from the main fight, he wasn’t sure how Phalanx was doing and he knew that the mouth demon would be free by now. He had to go back. He ascended rapidly and thrust his left hand down, focusing more will at the lion and created two more icy stalagmites that impaled and held the creature’s wings. He rose up over the rooftop and saw that Phalanx was still disposing of the marionettes, though now, he was also contending with the mouth demon which had broken out of Wraith’s icy prison.

There were chunks of Phalanx’s armor missing from his body and the circuitry in the suit was exposed in several areas. Wraith was pretty sure either the marionettes had managed to claw through it with their metal nails or the mouth demon had succeeded in getting close enough for one or more of its mouths to chomp through the steel.

“Jump!” Wraith yelled and Phalanx risked looking up to see his companion high above him in the sky. “Do it!” Wraith barked again. Phalanx nodded and kicked the fat creature in its chest, sending it skidding backwards a few feet, before leaping up into the air. Once off the ground, Wraith dropped his left hand downward with his palm flat; his will coated the entire rooftop in ice that caused the remaining creatures to slip and fall, including the mouth demon. Once on their backs, Wraith clapped his hands together and hands of ice sprouted from the rime and held the creatures in place.

“Very nice, but that’s not going to hold them long, especially if that mouth-thing just eats his way out,” Phalanx remarked.

“I know, the lion is in the alley. I blasted him with over a thousand amps and it’s still not dead. Ideas?” Wraith inquired.

“We can’t just let these things loose in the city and running is not an option.”

“LEGION!” A horde of voices shrieked into the air. Wraith turned and saw another thirty or so marionettes bounding from rooftop to rooftop and heading straight for them.

“There’s more, Vladimir seems to have an army of these things.” Wraith mentioned and then saw a glint of light heading toward him rapidly. He dashed to his left and narrowly avoided a large bolt of plasma that zipped by him, it had come so close he could feel the heat that the bolt radiated as it passed.

“I think he just brought cavalry,” Phalanx chuckled. Looking closer they could see several of the new marionettes had cybernetic attachments instead of limbs, the most common of which seemed to be a large, fusion-powered cannon instead of their left arm. In some cases the creatures had both arms and the third was a slightly smaller cannon. Others held blades or scythes instead of hands and fingers; a few had mechanical wings; one of the marionettes seemed to run like a spider on seven legs, all of which had only three large toes.

“Seriously, who comes up with these things? Did he intend for them to look this nightmarish? Next thing we know Cthulu is going to pop out of the ocean.” Wraith quipped and looked over at Phalanx with a raised eyebrow. Phalanx simply stared back at him, unmoving. “Please don’t tell me Cthulu is real…”

“The influence came from somewhere, that’s all I’ll say. Let’s not press our luck by invoking it.” Phalanx responded and turned his attention back toward the incoming horde.

“The others are breaking free!” Wraith exclaimed as he dodged another ray of hostile plasma. He turned his eyes down to the alley and saw that the lion had managed to break away several of the talons that impaled its ligaments and was working on the remaining ones so that it could be free. The gaping holes in its arms, legs and wings were going seemingly unnoticed. Wraith hung his head in frustration.

“We don’t have much of a choice, Wraith. If we abandon the fight they’ll tear through the city and hundreds, if not thousands, will be slaughtered. We must fight.” Phalanx affirmed.

“We’re not going to survive if this keeps up. You may have steel skin, but I don’t. Any one of these things could bite right through me if I’m not careful.” Wraith grunted.

“Then you’d best be careful.” Phalanx said. Wraith responded with a grunt of affirmation and shook his head again. “We’ll need to try and make sure that there is as little collateral damage as possible.”

“Let’s win the lottery and count the stars while we’re at it.” Wraith jabbed, he closed his eyes and opened his senses. “Cover me for a moment.” He said and drew on his will to search for any and all electric energy around him. Thankfully, he found that the area he was in was incredibly lively in terms of electric power. Wraith started to funnel the power into himself from every building within several blocks. He groaned a little bit as the energy poured into him and he had to divert some of his focus to managing where the energy went. Electric arcs caressed his skin and pranced about from various points on his body.

When Wraith’s eyes popped open they were full of yellow light and cackled with electric hisses. Phalanx was floating in front of him and taking bolts of plasma head on; his armor suffered several burn marks and some of the metal looked slightly warped and melted.

“You use electric energy to fuel your body, right?” Wraith’s voice echoed with a distorted, electric tone to his voice.

“I can turn it into a steroid for my body, yes, but when I come off the high I’ll be significantly drained.” Phalanx said and used his forearm to block another blast of incredibly hot plasma.

“Then we’ll have to use it wisely,” Wraith declared. The cybernetic swarm of marionettes was nearly upon them, barely a block away now, while the ones Wraith had trapped were just about free. The mouth demon had already chewed its way through the ice but remained on the rooftop simply staring at them with its tongue dangling against its neck. The lion was shattering the last icy stalagmite that had impaled its left wing and would soon come after them with a vengeance. Wraith took in a deep breath as he prepared his power. He stopped when he smelled something familiar, something known. A smell he had only experienced a small number of times in the past when something very bad was happening.

Wraith looked to his left and found himself laughing at what he saw, the laughter was mixed with feelings of relief, utter joy and amusement. Flying high in the air and soaring toward them with large, fast-fluttering insect-wings, was the Scarlet Scarab, in all his crimson glory. The Scarab gave off such a powerful stink that when Norms smelled it, it often made them sick. To Wraith it had always simply smelled like moss on a tree.

“We have our own cavalry, Phalanx,” Wraith smirked and pointed at the thirteen foot tall scarab beetle flying their way. It was then, that Wraith saw that the Scarab was not alone, several other Supers were flying behind him. Wraith also noticed that there were others leaping from rooftop to rooftop toward them. Some also climbed the walls of the building they were on and were now on the rooftop facing down the marionettes that had broken free.

Wraith saw these Supers all displaying their various powers in one fashion or another. There was a geo-mancer who had coated his body in armor made from stone like a large golem while another was holding a large ball of flame in his hands. Another was teleporting around them with a large KA-BAR knife in his hands and he wielded it like someone with prior-military experience. There were strong-men and telekinetics, speedsters and morphers that could change their bodies into other animals or shapes.

Some of the Supers looked older, well past their forties in age and had donned old spandex costumes with colorful designs and shapes that emphasized the aesthetic of their powers. Wraith even recognized some of them; Sergeant Stone, Gold-Fire, The Shifter, and Blink, one of the teleporters. They all brought back a flood of memories from when he was a child reading about the golden age of heroes. Now they had all come out to fight.

“Just in time,” Phalanx said and Wraith swore he could hear the smile behind the helmet. Phalanx pointed down just in time for Wraith to see a blur of a person run up the wall adjacent to their building wearing yellow and red spandex; it was Lady Lightspeed. She had made a full recovery it seemed and she looked ready for action.

“I had forgotten about her,” Wraith laughed, “she seems to be ready for some revenge.”

“That she is, are you ready, Wraith, because there are more of those things coming for us.” Phalanx said and then pointed again but this time off in the direction of Draco Industries headquarters. A hundred, probably more, shapes darted and swarmed through the streets and over the rooftops from the tower and even from this distance Wraith could tell they were all marionettes.

“How is he controlling them all?” Wraith wondered.

“I told you, he’s very powerful. Are you ready?” Phalanx asked and Wraith nodded. He looked down and saw the lion had freed itself and was getting ready to launch into the air toward them. “Are your assets in place?”

“They’d better be, first things first we need to make sure these things are taken care of,” Wraith said and then froze when he heard sirens. Nullifiers were on their way and there was an army of Supers getting ready to fight for their lives. “Nulls; it has to be. You take care of these; I’m going to run interception!” Wraith yelled and dove down into the alley. He expected he was going to have to dodge the lion but was pleasantly surprised to see that it had been tackled by the Scarlet Scarab. The Scarab was pummeling the beast with its massive forearms and, even though it was entirely non-human, Wraith swore he heard the Scarab laughing in amusement.

Wraith zipped down the street and saw more Supers making their way toward the hordes of marionettes while others seemed to already be locked in combat. He watched a geo-mancer reach down into the concrete and rip chunks of it out. The stone then began to twist its form into the shape of a large, earthy-mallet which was then used to flatten one of the cybernetic marionettes. It made a very satisfying crunch sound.

Wraith continued to soar toward the sound of sirens. On his way he paused as he saw a young man, younger than him, dressed in sweatpants, surrounded by four marionettes. He pounded the ground with his fist and the impact let out a crushing wave of sonic energy that sounded a lot like a bass-drop used in electric-music. The sonic waves were visibly distorting the air and crashed into the marionettes with such force they flew through solid walls. The ground beneath the Super looked like a spider-web of cracks and fractures, damaged and shattered by the sonic pulse.

A Super with sonic powers might be able to resist the nulls, Wraith thought and flew over to the young man.

“What’s your name?” Wraith asked as he offered a hand to help the young man to his feet.

“Jimmy, but my friends call me Dubstep.” Jimmy said with a smirk. Theatricality was certainly not lost on this youth.

“Well Dubstep, how would you like to drop that bass on a few Nulls?” Wraith smirked beneath his mask.

“Buddy, you just made my fuckin’ day, lead on.” Dubstep said and Wraith nodded in response. Wraith flew down the street and looked back when he heard the sound of Dubstep’s powers again; he was pushing the sonic waves behind him with such force it was actually propelling him through the air in much the same manner that Wraith used his powers to help him fly.

Clever kid, Wraith thought and flew faster toward the sound of the nullifiers. He rounded a tight corner and saw several null-vans barreling down the street toward him. He halted his flight and drew up a quick burst of will, creating a chest-high barrier of ice several yards thick. The first van crashed into the ice and flipped up and over the barrier, landing on its roof. The officers inside shouted for aid and started to crawl out while the other vans either mowed right into the same trap or slammed on their breaks. Dubstep was behind him with a look of wonder and awe at the spectacle.

“Dude… That was sick,” the young man said and Wraith couldn’t help but feel a little prideful.

“Put down your weapons and walk away, we do not wish to harm you!” Wraith shouted as the Nulls started exiting their vehicles and arming themselves. One man raised his nullifier and aimed it right at the Winter Wraith. “I’m warning you, we are not here to fight you. Please disperse and return to your homes!”

The officer squeezed the trigger and a wave of sonic energy pulsed from the weapon’s amplifier, distorting the air as the wave traveled toward him. Wraith wasn’t worried, it would have no effect on him but his jaw dropped opened slightly when the wave of distorted air halted just in front of his face and just sat there pulsing quietly. He looked to his left and saw Dubstep with both his hands outstretched and focusing so intently his veins were popping out of his neck.

“Now that’s cool,” Wraith said and then twitched his right hand open, sending an arc of low-amperage electricity at the Nullifier who had shot at him. The officer flew backwards but, aside from his light spasm, was unharmed. Dubstep pressed both his hands together and exhaled sharply, forcing the sonic wave to dissipate in front of Wraith’s eyes.

Before Wraith could say anything further he heard a shrill cry from above them and looked up just in time to see a dozen marionettes diving downward, mouths stretched open like unholy adders. They were not, however, diving toward Wraith or the young Super next to him; they were descending toward the Nullifiers who, to them, looked like soft, squishy meals.

“Look out!” Wraith yelled and thrust out his right hand again, a chain of lightning ripped out of his finger tips and tore into several of the falling creatures causing them to land on their faces with a loud crunching sound. The others landed either on their feet, on the vans or on the officers and started to swipe and tear at their flesh.

“Leave’em,” Dubstep said, “they ain’t on our side.” Dubstep turned and was about to leave when Wraith grabbed him by his upper arm; he stared into the young man’s blue eyes with his glowing yellow orbs and a furrowed brow.

“We are on their side, take out anything that looks like it was born out of a Silent Hill game and we’ll win their trust. Go!” Wraith shouted and then his left hand became a solid brick of ice with a jagged point where his fist would have been. His right hand was charged with electric power as he dove into the fray.

***

Phalanx’s right hand had a firm grip on one of the marionette’s spine while his other hand flung in a wide arc, delivering a bone-shattering back-fist to the gluttony demon. The fat monster reeled back and attempted to bite another Super that it tumbled into. The young woman, Asian by the looks of her, took several rapid steps backward and pressed two fingers to her frontal lobe and thrust out her other hand. The fat monster was lifted up into the air, but even with her mind doing all the work, the creature was still heavy and she was straining to hold it there.

Phalanx reached behind him and grabbed a marionette that had clung to his back and was trying to beat its way through his helmet. He pulled it over his head and tore it in two, throwing the pieces into another beast that was about to bite into a spandex-clad pyro-mancer it had pinned down. Phalanx was impressed that Wraith’s idea of a televised call-to-arms had been so successful. He looked up and saw the lion in a battle of vicious strikes with the Scarlet Scarab; two very astounding-looking creatures locked in an exchange of blows, each of which could have easily shattered an entire building.

He then surveyed his surroundings for a moment; there were hundreds of marionettes pouring in from all directions. They truly were a legion. The Supers were holding their own, rather fantastically Phalanx discovered, but they would quickly become overrun and fatigued if the tide wasn’t somehow turned in their favor.

He looked back to the battle and saw that the young telekinetic female had failed to keep the gluttonous monster immobilized. A marionette had come up behind her and impaled her with its sword-arm which, naturally, broke her concentration and brought the fat demon back to the rooftop. The glutton was now using several of its mouths to bite into what remained of her, despite the fact that her eyes had already glazed over with lifelessness.

Despite the reinforcements they were still losing due to the sheer number of their enemy. Something had to be done. They were simply losing at a much slower pace at this point. The first thing Phalanx decided to do was remove the glutton from the ranks; the marionettes were hard to put down but the Supers were starting to find ways to work together in order to put them out of commission at the very least. The beast with a hundred mouths however, seemed to respond to every assault by eating the source and getting fatter.

Phalanx rushed toward it and gripped the back of its head, digging his armored fingers into its eyes. The creature let out a gargled howl of pain as it was blinded. Phalanx drove his other hand down the beast’s gullet until his arm was shoulder deep in its body and firmly gripped the first squishy object he found and ripped it out. When his hand came free he saw that he had pulled out a lung and that his arm was covered in bile. The neon-yellow fluid steamed and hissed as it started to corrode the steel that armored him.

“Taking stomach-acid a little too seriously, aren’t you?” Phalanx jested. The beast roared, gagged and flailed at him but he managed to keep its arms and mouths away from anymore of his armor while he shook off the bile that burned through his armor. He felt a small spike of sharp pain on his hand when the bile touched his skin.

Phalanx grabbed the beast by its upper jaw again and used his other hand to tear wider the hole that led to its stomach. He looked around at the Supers battling near him and saw a cryo-mancer nearby using his powers to turn one of the marionettes into a brittle, icy statue.

“Hey, Sub-Zero!” Phalanx yelled and was relieved when the cryo-mancer got the reference and looked over at him. The Super’s eyes went wide, seeing the many-mouthed demon attempting to bite and chomp on the Paragon that was prying open its throat. “Don’t just fucking stand there, ice the damn thing!” Phalanx yelled and the Super rushed toward him.

A marionette dove in front of the cryo-mancer and swiped at him, but a nearby strong-man tackled it and took it over the edge of the building, leaving the path clear. As he ran, the Super seemed to be charging his energy. His hands were glowing with light blue energy and misted much in the same way Wraith’s did when he was channeling his powers of frost. Phalanx felt one of the glutton’s arms grab him from behind and felt several mouths clamp down on his armor, one of them bit clean through the metal and dug into his skin. Phalanx was angry when he actually felt the mouth bite through his skin; he didn’t like to bleed.

The cryo-mancer threw out his hands and blue mist whipped rapidly from his palms. The glutton howled again as it started to become a solid sculpture of ice from the point of impact all around its body until it shimmered. Phalanx rose up into the air, quickly releasing his hold before the frost enveloped him as well, and then descended with primal force, dropping both armored boots onto the statue and shattered it into a dozen large, icy chunks.

“Thanks,” Phalanx panted.

“Anytime,” the cryo-mancer said and then turned just in time for a marionette to skewer him through the neck with a large bladed arm. This particular marionette seemed larger than the others and had spider-like limbs growing from its back tipped with metal blades.

“This is meaningless, Father,” the large beast said with Vladimir’s voice. “I am many, you are few. Bow to me and I promise to spare these infidels, if they too take the knee.”

“You’re a sick, twisted individual Vladimir; and I do not recognize you as my son; I have not for centuries.”

“Defy the truth if you like, Father. It will not save you. I will bury you and erase you from history itself. I shall be known as the world’s savior, I am its god! You can only defy me for so long.”

“As long as I draw breath, I will stop you, just as I have before.” Phalanx growled, thrusting out his hand and catching a marionette that had dove toward him from his flank. He brought the lanky creature up over his head and dropped it down onto his armored knee, turning its spine into a desolate ruin of shattered bone.

“You cannot stop all of me, Father. I am everywhere!”

At once the legion of marionettes shrieked and leapt away from the rooftop. They were dispersing and running away. Phalanx was curious for a moment until the truth struck him; they were fanning out. They would go after civilians now. Phalanx’s nightmare was confirmed when he heard screams echoing and glass shatter off in the distance. They were going into people’s homes now; they would attack innocent men,women and children and they would slaughter them.

Intermission

Bryan Watson sees through the honeycomb eyes of his other form. As a young man he had once read the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; it had been his favorite of all the classics because he identified the most with it. Those who knew him always assume he has complete control over the Scarab when he turns, but in truth they are two separate beings sharing one body, one mind. Bryan doesn’t mind, the Scarab is his friend. It is a part of him. Through the Scarab’s eyes he sees the creature that has torn away his chitin armor and exposed the soft skin beneath it; his rival in strength and size. Its head is like a lion with faulty bat wings and a scaled body. Its ugly, even uglier than the Scarab.

He feels the Scarab reach up and gently touch the wound in its soft skin made by the demon’s claws. He is bleeding. He’s never bled before; it hurts, it stings. He doesn’t like it, and neither does the Scarab. The Scarab throws its arms out in wild sweeps, any of which would send the lion beast hurdling into another nearby building but it seems to have learned. It dodges and weaves away from every blow, the lion smiles at it effortlessly parries away the large, chitin-covered claws. This only enrages the Scarab further. Bryan feels, through the Scarab’s senses, a painful haymaker intensified by raking claws slam into the side of his head. He tumbles and reels through the air; the Scarab howls in pain.

The lion comes after him as he continues to tumble through the sky, attempting to re-stabilize himself in the air. The Scarab is quickly knocked off balance again by another blow, then two more against his exposed skin. The Scarab pants and spits light green blood into the air beside him. He swipes right, the lion ducks; he swipes down and left, the lion darts forward, over the blow and digs his claws into the fleshy, unprotected skin. The lion’s metal, power-fist is elbow deep in the Scarab’s intestines. The lion smiles again, victory in his eyes.

“You lose, just like the insect that you are.” The lion says in a voice clearly not its own. Bryan feels the pain of having a cold metal arm root around inside his intestines. Inside his mind he and the Scarab stare at each other.

We won’t survive this, Bryan tells the Scarab.

I know, it responds.

But we knew that coming into this, didn’t we? Bryan rests his hand on the Scarab’s head and smiles. The Scarab smiles back and a small tear falls down its chitin-crusted face.

I don’t know why we lived like this, it says to Bryan.

We were just lucky to have each other, I guess.

It was a pleasure

Yes, yes it was.

The Scarab’s eyes open and he looks deep into the lion’s hollow gaze. The Scarab and Bryan join minds for the first time and together they use their remaining will to control their own body. With the Lion’s arm still deeply embedded in their gut, the pain becomes excruciating at this point; they both reach up and grab the lion by its head. Together they apply every ounce of strength they have left. The arm in their gut loosens its grip on whatever it had been holding inside of them and it slips out as the body of the lion falls to the ground floor.

The Scarab and Bryan fall shortly after. His eyes are closed, his body in its true nature; as the Scarab.

***

He left you here, Jon, the strange voice says. Jon wasn’t sure how he had gotten back into the armory. He remembers sitting in the control room watching the battle unfold, offering surveillance data to Chief of Police Janice Slayt and her small squad just as Zeke had asked him to do. He blinked and now stands in the back room of the armory once more, staring down at the Mask of Sheol.

He abandoned you, it mocked. He is going to die if you don’t save him. He can’t do this alone; you know that Paragon is only out for his own gain. Ezekiel is a tool to him; tools are disposable; tools are expendable. Your friend is expendable to him.

“Shut up,” Jon said out loud. He fought the urge but found that his hand was reaching out toward the mask despite trying to tell himself “No” in his mind.

Ascend Jon, become my champions. Ascend and become my emissary.