Frontline (02)

Frontline stood there in silence, the metal spikes jetting off her gauntlets held at her sides. She stood there, her smooth helmet looking to the sky as she watched the giant golden bird screech upon a rocky pillar amidst the desert. Her eyes would turn to the scorched black pits all across the desert signs of previous squads coming in.

The clouds in the sky would begin to thunder as the large golden bird released a faint roar that echoed. A proclamation to man and Monsters that this area belonged to it. "What spawned this thing even," Frontline mutters, turning to the other super who began climbing out of the car.

"Some folks down at Red Star predicted it was a Hurricane from the Midwest and it migrated down here or it was spawned from something way older and just managed to rest until recently," Frontline nods at the response. She would slowly manipulate the metals in her mask letting it shift gently to soothe her nerves.

The man would simply get out of the car and walk alongside her. The gold trim and gray coloring are far more orderly than the chainmail and massive metal fists of Frontline. "ETA on Stellar," The second super simply shrugs as he turns his smooth golden mask to Frontline.

"I believe Stellar was a bit caught up with his wife. Team two and three are waiting to keep the thing contained if it begins trying to move around. Speaking of which let me get started you're free to keep talking but I can't when using this shit," The Golden masked man says as he begins to crouch down.

Frontline nods as she begins to feel her power connect to new sources of metal simply appearing beneath the earth. "Get the wall setup Midas and get a lot of Supplies underneath me. I'm gonna pop the meds now in case it makes a move," Reaching into her pocket she would pull out a simple pill and swallow it shifting open a hole in her mask. It would help her deal with the strain of messing with so much metal.

From the earth, massive chunks of Gold would begin to rise up. A wall rising from behind Frontline as she winces at the slight overload to her senses. "Heya Midas? What's the time limit on this gold before it turns to dust?"

Midas would remain silent for a few minutes as the walls continue to rise amidst the many deposits. He would stumble when he finished catching himself barely as he groans, "It'll last for two hours before turning into sand. More than enough time for us to finish this up. I'm gonna go sit in the car and move it away so you don't catch it amidst all this metal you've gotta mess with."

Frontline would simply nod down as she closed her eyes and began focusing. The gold all around her gently spiking and starting to slide across one another as she wraps her power around it all. Taking in a deep breath she would begin to float herself gently upwards. She knew the creature would have sensed such an event.

A bright flash would ring out causing her to open her eyes and peer through the only glass section of her mask. She turns her head fully towards the giant bird. The clouds above would instantly turn dark and begin swirling visibly as sparks of lighting begin to fill the air. Lighting strikes begin to fill the air, dozens of strikes going off in a second and causing Frontline to wince. "Seems it time to delay," Midas screams in the distance as he drives off laughing as he leaves.

The strikes thunder out across the sandy desert. Each one creates a crater of molten sand as they're followed up by three or four more strikes. The clouds grow darker and denser as any sunlight is blocked out.

The Bird begins to raise its wings before propelling itself in the air. Another harsh screech ringing out across the land as it throws itself in the air a blast of air blowing up sand and dirt all around its pillar. Frontline's body would dart forward into the air with the gold beneath her slowly uprooting itself from the earth and following her in dozens of massive chunks. Each golden orb swirling as she begins to toss them into the air with her. She felt such strain from lifting up so much metal but the medication eased the burden.

The Thunderbird turns its attention towards the shining gleaming mass of metal that had suddenly risen. It would begin to fly towards its claws reaching forward. The air would begin to flash as lightning strikes Frontline.

The first few strikes wash across her head and armory. The third one caused the metal to begin getting red hot. Inside the armor, her flesh began to sweat as she picked up the pace.

Slinging the blocks of gold towards the creature they begin to hurdle towards the creature. The Thunderbird would screech as the lightning begins to strike the Gold chunks causing some to solidify and others to turn to molten slag upon contact and fall out of the grip of her power. Yet despite the glowing hot red armor and energy flowing through her body Frontline would keep zooming forward.

Red hot chunks of molten metal would rain down from the sky. Burning whatever it landed upon and filling the dark battlezone with a new sort of horrid scent and thick smoke.

From behind the Bird, glowing white beams would shoot forward slamming into its back and burning away its feathers. The efforts of Squad Two had begun. The Bird pays the secondary attack little mind as it begins to speed up a loud boom echoing out across the valley as parts of its body begin to turn into electricity. Its face and parts of its chest shifting into a mass of energy that had fully blinded Frontline.

In truth the only reason she had been assigned this was due to the fact she could shrug off the electricity and heat far better than she could Brute force. But with far less mass the creature had an easier time propelling itself forward with its wings before rematerializing its body at the perfect second to let gravity control its horrid fall.

Then right before they clashed the Bird would turn to Energy causing the Frontline to fly right into its chest. As she flew into the middle the creature would re-solidify letting the chunks of gold to slam into it and bruise its flesh with harsh and heavy thuds. Lighting would keep descending from the sky turning the gold blocks into lava as they hit the floor.

Frontline would scream inside her superheated mask as the creature's flesh trapped her. The muscles and tendons slowly crush her as she would focus upon the Gold within her reach slamming it forward hard as she could let it thumb across the creature's flesh. The thing screeches as it endures the blows, some of its feathers breaking and bones fracturing under such brute force.

Squad two would finally kick in. A single Super with a fake mustache on, a pair of shades and clown makeup simply known as the Hero Clown Artillery begins to make finger guns at his hands as he stands upon the ground. He would turn to his team-mate and shout, "Alright get going. The battlegrounds set!"

From the fingertips of the clown, dozens of blasts rock forward filling up the darkened and stormy sky with new sources of light. Each one a blazing star of light that had the air around it shimmering with faint almost unseen waves.

Dozens of blasts that he launches forward are unavoidable. The Bird begins slamming down towards the earth unable to turn or alter its course until it landed due to its own speed and keeping the Hero inside its chest trapped. Each bolt of energy zooming through the sky as it slammed into the bird exploding.

The Bird screeches as a few of the shots hit it and explode. Far larger than before it begins to create craters across its flesh revealing bone and muscle. Clown Artillery turns towards his team mate and growls, "Get to running man! The stage is set now and put on a Honking show."

Another far more deep voiced man dressed in black and yellow pauses carefully looking around as he says, "A few more seconds and- Boom!" The man says as he finally found the most optimal path to run. As he began to dart forward the molten craters behind him began to froze and the earth hardened. The energy in the air began to lessen and the ground turned to Ice as he passed it, his body slowly picking up speed alongside most of his body.

Clown would shiver a bit as he stopped firing. Both his fingertips smoking as his breath began to turn into mist upon the air, "What shit luck. I get drafted for bird duty with Ice boy." Clown words only come out once the man is out of earshot. He would wait to get another clear shot on the bird as his hands began to cool down.

"Blitzzard saves the da- no maybe Trui. . .Fire PR crew," The man whispers to himself. His body picking up speed his legs and body starting to blur as each footstep freezes the ground around it. His body almost unseen as the molten pits cool as he passes by them.

Blitzzard kept mumbling to himself. His eyes carefully taking in every detail of the world around him. To him the world was moving in slow motion alongside his body. The world had always moved so slowly to his vision and his body felt just as sluggish. Even at his peak speed he had rarely managed to move "normally" to his own vision.

The molten pits and gold begins to harden and solidify as the heat is drained from the air. The Speedster begins picking up the pace, his body getting quicker and quicker as he absorbs more heat. The Bird lands with a ground shaking slam just in time for the Speedster to near it. The mumbling man grins wider as he would leap forward hard as he could moving like a speeding bullet.

The Bird screeches as the man slams into its spine. His body would glow red as he released the collected hear. The birds flesh burning and bubbling all across its back from the wave of heat. Halfway through this horrid attack the bird turns back into electricity letting Frontline fall to the ground her arm bent horribly as she falls to the ground.

She gasps for air forcing her mask open. She begins greedily sucking in air as Blitzard lands with a skid and begins running away only for the bird to re-materialize and open its mouth. A single bolt of lighting that made the air hiss with heat slamming forward. Blitzard pauses as he senses it coming.

He throws himself to the side as it catches his leg. His power is enhanced by the heat generated by the bolt but the sheer energy causes him to tense up and go stiff. The lighting bolt creates a crater as it strikes the earth and keeps going. In a single second a weak monster ends the life of a Hero. His brain was destroyed alongside his heart.

Frontline begins to rise gasping for air, "D-Decay." She gasps out as she begins getting up slowly as the bird turns its attention back to her. She would turn to the creature and reach up for her comms unit, "Bad mission brief- the bird is a Phase sub species. Retreat until reinforcements arrive." Her words are spat out and soon followed by a wad of saliva that falls to the floor.

The Bird would turn towards the fallen form of Frontline. Letting loose a faint chirp as it begins to move forward. Its body is still made of energy that turns the ground red hot. Yet the Bird would pause as it turned to the sky watching for some unseen threat. In a split second the clouds would split apart letting skylight bleed down.

From the air a man would gently begin to float down. Both his arms akin to the clear night sky. A dancing canvas of the universe. His mask akin to the helmet of an Astronaut as he lowers himself to the ground. The Bird screeches as the man would extend his hand creating pitch black bubbles around both Frontline and the dead body of Blitzard.

"Amusing," The man would whisper as he aims his extended arm at the bird. In a split second the creatures energy would be condensed into a single orb. Lighting begins to roar down from the sky slamming into Stellar's body yet he remains unphased. The world turned white for a split second as he whispered one more word, "You are more of a snake then a Bird."

The orb of energy begins to float towards Stellar as he lowers himself to the ground. The bird screeches from inside the orb as he says, "I know a few friends who'd love a bite out of you." His voice was soft as he landed upon the ground. The balls around Frontline and Blitzard would pop.

Frontline would slowly stand up looking away from the man's mask as she says, "My apologies sir we should have been prepared bett-" She gasps as a force wraps around her neck and squeezes.

"Shush. I don't recall addressing you. It is not your fault about the bad info but I do not care. I must get back. . ." Frontline would gasp clutching at her throat and clawing at the unseen grip upon it.

Stellar would pause and turn towards the distant figure of Clown Artillery and scoff, "I'll be leaving now. Of everyone you choose that jokester is the worst choice to fight a Thunderbird or any of its variants. I find it funny politics claimed the life of a Speedster." Stellar whispers this to the orb in his hand as he releases Frontline from his grip and begins to fly off.

Frontline would be left there wheezing once more the metal around her neck bent and broken, some even sticking into her flesh as she stares up at the form of Stellar flying off. Fear clear in her eye as one of the strongest S.As in the Americas left.