Showoff Part 1

In another light, I guess you can say I was a little bit of a princess. I was very used to having my word automatically mean law. So much so that you can probably call my entire time in Krimo one grand humbling experience. An experience that has only tempered and strengthened my ambitions against test after test.

That proved to be all too true as I found myself willing my sweaty and exhausted body to rise amid a seemingly insurmountable challenge. A challenge got shared amongst all The Cons as we struggled to find one last burst of inner strength against our current opponent: Eternus himself.

Because in this society of superhumans, heroes and villains, we were finally given a light at the end of the tunnel (thank you Nerve, you voluptuous vixen). That light being the infamous Villain Expo, a proverbial treasure trove worth of info, connections, and gear. A place that naturally calls for my skill set. If we play our cards right, then who knows, maybe we can finally carve a piece of this city for ourselves. But to do that, we need to get as strong as we can.

Because when you're the worst of the worst, or more accurately a Con, you need to work for every edge you can get. This is why we are here at this very moment, fighting our boss with everything we have. And why I'm more than willing to get up as many times as it takes if it means I can be the gum that holds this entire operation together.

After Ricochet's little surprise in Nefario's mechanical haunted house of horrors, Eternus got even more paranoid, if you can believe it. Not only did he start tracking our daily and nightly routines to an uncomfortable degree like a freaking helicopter parent, but he also took our already arduous training sessions and doubled them. Despite that, most of us took his barking in stride or simply ignored it; I especially felt pretty nostalgic in a way.

The sessions got even more intense upon knowing about the Villain Expo, especially with it only being a few weeks away. So with such little time available, Eternus decided to place all of his bets on a straightforward objective and test our collective prowess in a single challenge. By any means necessary, strike him down in a bare-knuckle free for all. Despite the simplicity of the challenge, though, it was much harder said than done.

The six of us have had this discussion many times before, each coming up with our different bets on who has the worst power out of all of us. In many ways, though, you could argue that Eternus would win that bet.

After all, his power is the most reactionary out of any of us. It only ever works after the damage is already done, leaving him in a sense an ordinary man in a world full of the extraordinary. And I can tell just how much turmoil that fact has caused him over time.

Yet despite having every limitation, you can imagine Eternus has managed to make the battlefield his home. This is why in terms of hand-to-hand combat, he was the uncontested king. That was made very clear as he stood at the epicenter of our wearing kneeling selves, barely breaking a single sweat as he stood with his cape abound.

Recent developments only made the gap all the more relevant. I don't know what he unleashed against his battle of Damage, but it only seems to have strengthened him all the more, like a hidden chain had gotten broken.

His strikes hit harder, his movements faster, his constitution sturdier. But that almost meant nothing in comparison to his mood. The man always seemed to have a larger-than-life attitude to him, but that aura only seemed to get stronger and darker, blanketing the living room in a heavy bloodlust that seemed to drain us physically.

Yet, instead of fearing or turning away, I stood in quiet awe with my feet firmly stuck to the floor. Because that same larger-than-life aura is the very thing, I had sought for all my life. The aura that exemplified determination along with ambition, an aura that I wasn't satisfied with just being around anymore!

So with great difficulty, I tested my mettle by picking my muggy self off the floor. The entire living room started spinning like a pinwheel, making my already weak legs shake all the more. Yet, I still adhered to my target as I readied a fighting pose straight at him.

That action managed to speak more words than my silver tongue could ever allow, as soon enough, the other Cons looked to me as a tether, lifting themselves for one last rodeo.

The lasting sunset over the Burrow cast a dramatic light as our shadows seemed to grow thicker and more robust, which in Eternus' case made him seem even more vital. Once an unbearable amount of tension passed, Eternus gave two solemn words that sent us into overdrive.

"Come on!"