The Real Target

Kevin gasped, and his eyes shot open as he felt his organs restart. His skin burned, and he could feel it starting to regrow around his muscles and nerves as he started to live once more.

Bright lighting caused him to squint his eyes, and he was unable to speak due to the massive tube that was shoved down his throat. He couldn't even move his arms or legs, as his entire nervous system hadn't come back yet. He just floated there, his brain putting itself back together one piece at a time.

He was in a strange glass-like box. It was filled with an orangish liquid, the same substances in all the Wandering Coin's drugs. A buzzing began to fill his head as his ears came back together.

"-to the world of the living, Kevin!" He tried to speak, but the tube stopped him and instead caused bubbles to float up. "Try to stay calm. We're rebuilding you strand by strand." A voice responded, echoing in the strange box he was in.

Past the glass, he saw him. Doc leaned forward on his cane and gave a grin. The man's lab coat was a mix of dozens of colors, and he had dyed his hair seven new shades. Kevin knew where they were as his eyes adjusted to the light of the bright room. The basement of the mayor's manner. It was large and had been converted into a makeshift lab with stainless steel floors and walls. Dozens of tables were scattered about, and attached to the wall was the strange machine he had woken up in.

"How long will it take for his body to be put back together?" A new voice asked.

Standing behind the Doc were two figures, both dressed in red cloaks. They wore masks that covered their faces and had coins sewn into the eye sockets. "Calm down, Hannah. He'll be back soon enough." The Doc smirked. "He took quite the beating, you know. He split himself in two, and both halves died. One froze to death out in space, and the other popped like a balloon when it appeared at the bottom of the ocean."

The second cloaked figure walked forward and looked at another box that was next to the one Kevin resided within. He spoke in an older tone, being around before Kevin or Hannah. "And what of Wish?"

Kevin craned his head and felt his eyes go wide when he saw the girl. Her eyes were closed, and her arms and legs were folded in on themselves. She looked almost like a weird ball simply floating in her tank. She looked to be fully healed for the most part but wasn't awake like him.

"I'm having some issues with Wish." The Doc admitted. "See, that bastard, Battery, brought out something I wasn't expecting. I knew he worked for the Emperor. Still, I never dreamed he would actually take up the Emperor's sword, nor that it would work for him. He used its power to force all of Wish's DNA back in her body, basically getting rid of her ability to come back anywhere she wanted to. Then, with the help of that Myth hero, they finished her off. Wish died, so to speak."

"Yet here she still is," Hannah spoke in a blunt tone, placing her hand on the glass. She stared up at Wish, cocking her head to the side. "Now she won't wake up either."

"That's the main issue I'm trying to get past." The Doc admitted. He walked to the other side of the lab and smacked his cane on the side of a metal orb that glowed with a blue light. "When a Lord dies, they either pass the power down to a next of kin, granting that person the new status of Lord or the power returns to the Pod. The Pod will vanish and then reappear somewhere else in the world, ready to make a new Lord. That only happens if a Lord dies, though. What does death truly mean? That is where the loophole comes in, I think. If I were to die but then my heart is restarted somehow, did I actually die or go to the afterlife? Long ago, the Emperor used his power to create his wife. The Princess of Life, the first one, perished in the attack of the Beast years ago. He made a copy of her and tried to convince himself it was the real thing. Then he had a child with her. The hero we know as Paragon. Thanks to her, Wish didn't truly die. Even without her body, Wish's consciousness was able to stay connected to this world, and thus she is still the Lord of Life. And thanks to the pod we have, I can use it to recreate a body for her as long as it views her as the master."

"If all of her DNA was placed back in her body, shouldn't this machine not have any left to make her?" Hannah asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Normally, you'd be right, but this machine doesn't have Wish's DNA. Instead, it has the DNA that makes up her DNA. Her parents. These were the same cells I injected into your three to turn them into man-made Supers, proving once and for all that I have conquered the concept of the Lords! It is also thanks to this machine that no matter how many times you guys die, even total destruction won't be enough. I can always just recreate your bodies with this device, and eventually, your memories will start back up. So long as Wish is the Lord of Life, that is."

"I wouldn't say that means you conquered the Lords." The man in the cloak said, turning away. "After all, these pods were built by the four Lords. You weren't smart enough to actually create something like this like they were. You're simply using their tools in a sloppier way. Besides, clearly, there is a flaw in your little device. Wish still hasn't woken up."

"Aw, don't be so mean to him, Casey." Hannah taunted, wrapping her arms around the man in the cloak.

Kevin closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep. If his body was still needing some last-second healing, then there was no point in being awake for it. He tried to rest, yet he simply couldn't, not because of how loud his two teammates were being. It was something else. A memory that kept gnawing at his mind.

He had totally lost to Battery three times now.

Even after giving everything he had left, a Super still beat him with ease. He was still just a weakling.

A loud siren suddenly blared out through the lab, and it caused Kevin's eyes to snap back open. "Oh dear." Doc rubbed his chin and hummed. "This isn't good."

"What is it?" Hannah asked.

"The boss is in trouble," Doc explained. "And we're going to have to save him."

***

"I told you we should have brought one of the Supers." Mr. Brenner hissed out as he escorted the mayor down the flight of stairs.

Mr. Grove shrugged off his bodyguard's concerns with a wave of his hand. "I knew there would be several Supers here, and I didn't want to risk being found out if that hero Paragon had shown up. She's basically another Wish, and if she saw any of our Supers and realized how much their DNA had been altered, she'd figure out who we were for sure. Besides, I doubt this little villainous attack would have happened if they had seen how protected I was. All we have to do is let the heroes do their job and wipe them out. The Wandering Coin is about to become the only true group left in Oleander."

"Do you really think the heroes can beat all these villains?" Mr. Brenner asked, frowning.

Grove shot a look down toward the field. He and his little group had almost made it to the bottom. Beneath the stadium was a large underground parking lot where their getaway ride would be. In the center of the field, he watched one of the heroes at work.

Myth was fighting two villains at once.

"Yeah." Grove nodded his head. "I think Pantheon can win. After all, I've seen just how strong Myth can really be. He could have been a member of the Enforcers like his dad at one point. The moment Myth gets serious, I think even Wish would have a hard time with him."

In the field of the stadium, Myth charged forward in his bull form. He tried to ram into White Cow, but milk swirled around the woman, forming strange cow-looking armor around her. The milk had turned into a solid, harder than even steel, and caused his knuckles to ache as he rammed a fist into her gut. It managed to push White Cow back a bit, but he wasn't able to capitalize on it as Black Shark struck out.

Shark's body sunk into the ground, and he swam through the grass as if it were water. His upper body grew larger, and his flesh turned gray, and when he resurfaced, he sported the upper body of a shark, with human legs and arms. His fangs sunk down into Myth's armor but were unable to force their way through the metal.

"I'll have to thank Boy Genius for that." The bull snorted and rammed his fist down into the eye of the shark monster.

Black Shark hissed and let go, sinking into the ground, vanishing. Over on the concert stage, Pretty Face created a ghostly clone, and he used his copy to boost himself up onto a metal railing just in time as the ground he had been standing on distorted and his clone was torn in two by the shark. As it flew out of the ground, Pretty Face used his free hand to swing his electric guitar into the beast's nose, which dropped back down and sank beneath the ground.

White Cow charged Myth, her milky cow armor growing harder. It was almost like solid bone now, and she shoulder-tackled Myth, engaging in a battle of strengths with the hero. Both the bull's and cow's arms locked together, and they shoved against one another, ripping up the ground.

"Hey Myth! Just to remind you I'm not a fighter!" Pretty Face yelled out. He was pulling himself further up the metal beams of his stage near the top, where his fog machines and lights were.

"I can see that." Myth growled out, slowly shoving White Cow back as he won the battle of strength.

"I can help you out a small bit, but the moment my life is in danger I'm bailing. I gotta save myself above all others you know?" Pretty Face tried to explain. Black Shark's head poked out of the ground, and his jaws tore into the stage slowly, causing the platform to shake and nearly fall over. "Speaking of save, save me!"

"Why did I have to be the one stuck with him?" Myth sighed, finally throwing White Cow back with all his force. The woman tumbled across the ground and slammed back first into the edge of the stadium's walls.

"Help me you bull bastard!" The stage tipped over, and the rafters broke apart. Pretty Face dropped off of it and created a clone beneath him, which he used to jump off of higher into the air. He then created another clone and bounced off of that one, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth, allowing him to almost fly as he got higher and higher into the sky, avoiding the shark. "Haha! You can't get me!"

Black Shark jumped out of the ground and leaped out of it as high as he could, getting nearly thirty feet in the air, but Pretty Face was well out of his reach.

"Told you-"

Before Black Shark hit the ground, White Cow blasted forward, boosted by a stream of milk she skated on. She landed on the back of the shark, and her milk armor expanded out and swirled around the shark monster, giving him hard armor and a pair of long dragon-like wings that flapped through the air, carrying him up higher. His mouth opened as his eyes stared back at Pretty Face.

"Myth!" Right before the shark reached him and tore him in half, Pretty Face was grabbed out of the sky as a massive, winged beast tore him out of the way of the flying shark. Pretty Face stared up at the creature that grabbed him. "Oh yeah. I can work with this." It looked almost like a horse but was far bigger and had massive eagle-looking wings, one of Myth's forms. The mouth of the horse was latched around his jacket, and he swung himself over it and rested on the back of his steed. Pretty Face turned on the back of his ride and stuck his tongue out at the flying shark that was giving chase. "Let's see you guys try to catch me now!" The pop star announced.

White Cow's upper body formed out of the bony armor around the shark, and she pointed forward. The milk surged out and froze into a large spike the size of an arrow, which blasted through the air with incredible speed. It narrowly missed Myth, zooming past him and blowing through part of the stadium.

"Please don't make the crazy villains chasing us mad." Myth sighed, shaking his horse head. "You're worse than Whisper."

"My bad. So, any plan to take this thing out?" Pretty Face questioned. He wrapped his arms around Myth's neck as the winged horse dodged and weaved through the air, dodging more spikes that the flying shark threw at him.

"I got one. It's a little risky though."

"What's that?" Pretty Face asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I need you to jump off of me. I assume you can break your own fall?" Myth questioned, flying up higher into the air and getting well above the stadium now so no spikes would hit anyone.

"I mean, I guess I can, but the shark will turn and follow after me, I think."

"I doubt it."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll just have to trust me." Myth stated. "Something about this entire situation just doesn't sit right with me, and I think I have an idea as to why that is, but I'd like to confirm it."

Pretty Face gave a slow nod. "Okay then. Good luck." He let go of Myth and allowed himself to drop toward the ground at a high speed. He expected the shark to turn and chase after him, but instead, it went after the bigger threat, which was Myth. "What's up with that?" He created more of his clones and used them to slow his fall down until he landed gently on the ground. "Am I not who they were told to go after? Now that I think about it, all the villains have focused on the heroes. Almost like it wanted to slow them all down..." He reached for a radio he had been given before the concert. "Watch Dogs, are you there?"

"Little busy." Backup's voice came over the radio as a grunt. "Duplicity and I are engaged in a fight with some guy in a horse mask. Bad Wolf and Roulette are on standby in case anyone needs help."

Pretty Face nodded his head. "You're fighting White Horse. Black Shark and White Cow are over here. When I was in the air, I saw Battery and Snowdawn fighting Stone Face and Saw Head. I also saw Cinder fighting Red Ape and Red Monkey."

"Okay?"

"Don't you get it?"

"Not really." Backup replied sheepishly.

Up in the air, Myth dodged another spike that was blasted at him. He twisted his body back and attempted to do a barrel roll of sorts. He flew high and got above Black Shark's body. The flying beast tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. Myth transformed into his second-largest creature and dropped out of the sky, smashing his massive weight into the two villains.

His body grew larger, becoming bigger than a bus, and instead of flesh, he now had grassy-like skin and wooden bones. Large wings grew out of his arms, and his head began to split apart and change into hundreds of massive snake-like heads. In the center of his body, a tree began to grow out of him, adding to his weight as he dropped out of the sky, dragging Black Shark and White Cow with him.

This form was a grass dragon that guarded the tree that was said to hold divine apples. His many heads dug into the armor around Black Shark, breaking it to bits, and then, before the villains could break free, they smashed into the ground. Myth hit it hard enough to form a giant crater and shatter his plant body into hundreds of pieces. One of his heads twitched and reverted back into his human body.

He dusted his costume off and stared down at the crater where the unconscious bodies of Black Shark and White Cow rested. Both villains were trapped under the roots of a large tree that had formed where he landed. They wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.

"Myth." Pretty Face stopped a few paces from him. "They-"

"Aren't after you." Myth nodded. "We assumed that each of the three locations Pantheon split up at would be an attack point due to the event they were holding. Naturally at this concert my first thought was that the villains would come and try and kill you but it seems you aren't the target. That means this isn't a mission Green Wolf is hosting. With members of Bad Timers and Zoo here that makes me think that the reason they selected this place out of the other two must be something else then. Some related to the third villainous group in OIeander."

"You think the Wandering Coin is here then?" Pretty Face questioned.

"I'd say that's a good chance." Myth nodded. "We assumed this would be a good way to catch Green Wolf since he's always gone after you before, but in reality, the villains were planning for us to thin out. I'd bet they know who the real target is, and the big dogs like Demonica and Green Wolf were planning to show up once we were all engaged in combat and distracted."

"So, then, it is already too late?" Pretty Face frowned. "Wait, why would the Wandering Coin leader come out here in the first place?"

"That's a good question." Myth hummed. "Last time, Zoo Timers didn't know who exactly they were going after. It's possible the leader was banking on them, still not knowing who they really were. Since Bad Zoo is attacking, though, I'd say they've figured it out, or at least have a good guess. As for why the leader of the Wandering Coin would come here themselves, I still don't know-"

"Cinder to Myth. Whisper and I beat Red Ape and Red Monkey." Cinder's voice responded, buzzing in from over the radio.

"Copy that." Myth replied into his own device. "Did they happen to say anything?"

"They said something about being after the mayor?"

"Mayor Grove-" Myth felt his blood run cold for a moment. "Is the mayor still there?"

"No? He was escaping with his bodyguards during the attack. I heard them talking about heading to the underground parking lot, though-"

"Find the mayor!" Myth barked out. He took off running, and Pretty Face was right behind him.

"You seriously think the mayor of Oleander is the leader of the Wandering Coin?" Pretty Face called out.

"I honestly hope not." Myth winced. "The mayor would have to come to an event like this for the sake of the public. On top of that, he was there at the mall the day it was attacked. He also worked with a lot of Supers and had a vast amount of land. At the very least, if what Cinder said is true, then someone is after him, so we should still get to him first, just in case."

The pieces were there. He just needed to see it for himself before he confirmed it. After all, the mayor was his...

"God, please don't let us be too late."

Down below the stadium, rubble dropped from the ceiling due to the combat that happened above. Many of the officers had formed an almost turtle-like formation around the mayor as they walked down the final steps.

Brenner gripped his gun tightly, and his eyes shot from corner to corner. There were two parking lots for the stadium. The first was outside and above ground and easier to get to and escape from. The second was where they parked—underneath surrounded by concrete with only a single tunnel leading up and out of the stadium. There weren't many cars, only a few from the people who had set the entire thing up, as well as a couple of large stone pillars that held the place up.

They had picked the location for a few reasons. The first was that any villain attacking would assume a sane person would take the shorter and easier path out. The second was just in case they were found out; they wouldn't have been instantly swarmed by Hero Branch officers or the heroes.

Once they got to their ride, they would be set.

At least that's what he thought until he heard the sound of metal on metal. Sitting on the roof of a black sports car, Green Wolf played with two knives, grinding the blades against one another. He wore a new suit. One that was a bright silver color and seemed to be made out of scales.

Silver Dragon has made for a fine coat.

"Hey." The villain cocked his head to the side. "I've been wanting to meet you for a while now." He flicked his hand, and Brenner was the only one fast enough to drop to the ground. He shuddered as he heard the sound of his men falling to bits. Mayor Grove was left unharmed and stared blankly at the villain. "It's almost an honor to see you, oh mighty leader of the Wandering Coin. What do I call you?"

Grove reached up and played with his tie. "I think you know my name."

"Oh, I mean, I know your name is Landon Grove. I mean your villain's name."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"You don't?" Green Wolf cocked his head to the side. He jumped off of the roof of the car and began to walk slowly towards the mayor. "That's funny. You know I've always been really good at smelling lies-" A bullet hit between his eyes and caused the villain to stop. Slowly, Green Wolf turned and looked down at Brenner, who had shot him. "Can I help you?"

Brenner jumped to his feet and fired five more rounds into Green Wolf, and the villain didn't even budge. Brenner reloaded his gun and walked forward, ramming the barrel into the eye socket of the villain, and he fired until the gun was empty again. He tossed the firearm away and drew his knife, stabbing it into the man's throat, but the blade shattered and broke.

"Aren't you that cop that said he was going to stop at nothing to bring Zoo to justice?" Green Wolf asked, letting out a hum. He reached up and rubbed his chin and tapped his foot. "Yeah. You even said you were going to stop us all by yourself?" Brenner dropped to the ground and tried to sweep Green Wolf's leg with a kick but didn't even make the villain budge. "Oh, I had a good idea! Since we're both in the same area, what do you say to a friendly duel or something?" Brenner was back on his feet and moved behind Green Wolf and got his arms around the leader of Zoo's throat, trying to get him in a chokehold. "What do you say?" Green Wolf asked slyly, still not bothered. "It could be fun."

"Go! I'll hold him off-"

"Ah, right." Green Wolf flexed, and his kinetic force blasted Officer Brenner off of him. The chief of the police rolled across the stone floor and smashed painfully into a car back first. "I guess I shouldn't play around since you're here, Mr. Grove. I wouldn't want you getting away, after all."

Mayor Grove had gone to take a step back but froze when he felt a hand pressed to the back of his head. Standing directly behind him, Demonica had her finger extended, sparks of purple flame ready to blast out and blow Grove's head off.

"Twice in one day." The man hummed. "It seems that for now, lady luck does not see fit to smile down upon me."

"You shouldn't play around anymore, Green Wolf." Demonica hissed out. "We need to find where Wish is and settle this fast before they get her up and running again. The boss said we'd only have a short window of time, and Fairy Queen still isn't done fixing Golden God yet."

"Yeah, yeah." Green Wolf shrugged his shoulders. "Can't blame a guy for wanting to have some fun."

"I can."

Green Wolf snorted and rolled his eyes. "Right. Well, Grove, I assume you know why we're here, right?" Green Wolf asked, letting out a sly smirk. "Tell us where the Lord of Life is. We know you have her."

"I'm afraid I still don't know what you're talking about." The man shrugged casually. "I guess I will just have to die."

"Is that seriously how you want to do this?" Green Wolf asked, cocking his head to the side. "You know, at first, we all assumed that the Lord of Life was actually the leader of the Wandering Coin. The child of the Emperor, made to wipe this city out. It turns out, though, the real mastermind is just a normal guy. A plain old human. The boss saw Wish for himself firsthand. He knows the state she is in. She was utterly destroyed, but of course, if killing a Lord of Life was so simple, the Emperor would have never come about. She's still out there somewhere, right? Let me know where she is."

"And you also care about this?" Grove asked, shooting a look behind him at Demonica.

The woman let out a low growl followed by a high-pitched hiss as if she were some sort of mad animal. Even with one arm, she was still dangerous. "Polaron wanted to kill this threat before it could grow more and get out of hand. He died chasing after this goal. As his second in command, I will follow it to my end even if I should also die."

"Just remember, I get first dibs on the Lord." Green Wolf called out. "That's why I didn't tell Fairy Queen we were leaving so soon. The boss keeps insisting only someone around the strength of a Lord can kill this threat, but I doubt it. After all, she was already beaten by Battery, and he isn't exactly the textbook definition of what I'd call strong. I'd like to go a few rounds with this Wish and see what she can do herself. If I die, then Golden God can swoop in and finish her off, I guess. Only after I got to play with her first."

The mayor snorted at Green Wolf's remarks. "Trust me. Wish would destroy you. It was a fluke that she lost. Once she's seen a trick, it'll never work on her twice. She'll kill Battery the next time they come face to face."

"So you do know what we're talking about?" Green Wolf asked slyly. "Could you perhaps just let us know where she is? It'd really speed things up."

"You're just going to kill me once I tell you, right?"

"Well yeah, but here's the deal. You tell us, and I kill you. You don't, and Demonica kills you."

"What's the difference?" The mayor snorted.

Green Wolf twirled his knife and, in an instant, a small stream of blood flowed down the mayor's cheek as it was sliced by an invisible force. "I'll start at your head. Split you in half right down the middle. Make your insides meet fresh air. It'll be quick and it'll be painless. Demonica, on the other hand, will start at your feet and work her way up. Trust me, being cooked alive slowly isn't a good way to go out."

Demonica's fingers brushed Grove's neck and for the first time since they began talking, the mayor actually reacted and shuddered a bit. "I see. You do indeed have a strong argument."

"So, you'll tell us where your little pet project is?"

"Now, why would I do that? After all, Lady Luck just smiled down at me."

Green Wolf sighed. "Demonica, duck."

Demonica hit the deck just in time as a metal shield flew through the air and narrowly missed the tall woman. It soared over the mayor's head and hit a stone pillar, bouncing back. Demonica tried to charge up a blast of her fire, but the flames left her fingers and swirled past her, heading to someone else. Her fire had been hijacked. She turned around just in time to see her purple flames around the fist of Cinder.

Cinder rammed her punch directly into Demonica's gut and blasted the woman back. A second later, she raised her hand and caught her shield, attaching it back to her arm, and she raised it past her and the mayor just in time to block Green Wolf's slash.

"It didn't break?" Green Wolf noted, a little shocked.

She lowered her shield and winced a little, seeing the nasty scar that coated the front of it. Demonica let out a groan from the corner she rested in and slowly pushed herself back up. Cinder's eyes drifted from the Bad Timer member over to the leader of Zoo. "Looks like this is the second time I've saved you, Mayor Grove."

"It would seem that way." The mayor replied, stepping behind her.

"I didn't get here in time for the others." Cinder clenched her fist when she saw what was left of the mayor's bodyguards. She felt the fire begin to course through her veins, and she glared up at Green Wolf. She didn't need to beat him. Just hold him off until the others arrive. Her fire boosting had made her the second fastest, right after Battery, but since she was closest, she got here before him or anyone else. Any second, though, and the others would arrive. "Give up, Green Wolf. You aren't beating us all."

Green Wolf twirled his knife into the air. "I think you're forgetting something, dear hero. I-"

"Can teleport. Yeah, hold that thought." She glanced down at her watch. It was a little past nine p.m. "Perfect."

"What are you doing?" Green Wolf's eyes narrowed. He focused his power and tried to imagine the sword. He didn't have it on him. It was always with Avalon when not in use. He had a connection to it though, thanks to that. One that would alert Avalon and then Avalon could use the power of the sword to then teleport him. It was how he got here along with the others. He focused on the image of the teleportation and tried to picture appearing behind Cinder. "Too cocky-"

Nothing happened.

He stood there, having not teleported.

Cinder stared back at him, and even with her mouth covered, he could tell she had a smug smirk on her lips. "What did you do?" His voice had an edge to it now.

"Did your boss happen to tell you he lent your little blade out to Battery?" Cinder asked, cocking her head to the side.

"What?" Green Wolf took a step back and shook his head. He focused on the connection once more, but nothing happened. He tried to force the sword to teleport to him, but nothing happened. Avalon was too busy or distracted and wasn't teleporting him anymore. He had been cut off. "What the hell did you do?" He brought his knives up just in time to block a golden bolt of energy that blasted over Cinder's head.

Battery came to a stop just behind the female hero, his finger still smoking. "I got tired of that little teleporting trick you're always doing." Battery shrugged. "So I tipped off Ocean Empress on where she could find the blade of the Emperor. Looks like Harrison is too busy to deal with your teleport commands."

"You bastard." Green Wolf snorted. He almost had to respect the trick.

"I said it already," Cinder stated coldly. Fire began to flow down her hands, and from her helmet, a fiery red light shone out. "You aren't beating all of Pantheon."

Standing behind Battery, Snowdawn's ice armor formed, Whisper became visible once more, and Myth transformed into his lion form.

Green Wolf eyed all five heroes up. "Huh. Well, Green. How are you getting out of this one?" He mused quietly. "Oh, wait. I know." He dropped his knives and raised his hands up, giving a cheerful cry. "I give up."

"Huh?"