Suiting Up

"Any plan to deal with that?" Kevin hissed in her ear.

"Nope." Was Hope's blunt response. Even if she had all of her powers back, she was unsure if she'd be able to fight off an entire warship! "We might want to run."

The boat was massive and old-looking. It didn't seem to be enhanced by any tech. In fact, it looked very ancient and likely wouldn't be able to sail on the sea. It was most likely being lifted by a power rather than being a functional ship. The cannons on board of it slowly came down to point at the village, and she barely had time to turn her back as it opened fire on the island.

She was thankful she didn't have her enhanced senses because the noise was already so loud it caused her ears to ache. The cannons were loud and booming, literally exploding and sending out massive slugs that exploded in brutal fashion. She took off running, but the entire island rumbled, and all the trees began to shake and fall down around her, crashing to the forest floor. Red tendrils stabbed out of her backpack, slashing at all the branches around her as Kevin kept her small form safe.

She could smell smoke and spotted a massive fire forming near the village, one that was quickly starting to spread out. The ship didn't just stop with one round of cannon fire, either. They kept blasting down, tearing chunks of the ground away as they bombed it.

"We need to get the hell out of here," Kevin growled. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked back, balling her hand into a fist. "Why the hell are you stopping, Lauren?!"

"I can't just leave them."

"Huh?"

"The people that were in that village! That ship isn't shooting my way, it's targeting them! They don't have anyone to protect them!"

"What can we do?" Kevin yelled into her ear, forming dozens of mouths along her clothes. "I might be able to take a few rounds, but a direct hit with the state you're in would reduce you to ash in seconds. We can't save them."

"I have to try, though!"

"You'll die!"

Hope shook her head and began to remove the bag. The coat and pants she wore pulled away along with it, sliding off of her flesh. She still wore some clothes beneath it, so she wasn't naked, but she was way more exposed than before. "When you were in danger, my team came to your aid. Polaron could have killed us all then and there, but we still tried. And if I knew what Wish did to you, you can bet I'd have also shown up to help. I don't care if I don't have a chance. Those guys are after me. Maybe I can get them to talk or pretend to be controlled by their teammate or something. Anything that can get them to stop firing would help. I don't expect you to follow me. You can keep heading through the forest and find a way off this island if you want, Kevin."

Kevin's body formed into a small red blob, barely bigger than a large cat. A pair of eyes and a mouth formed on his surface as he looked up at the hero in front of him. "Why do you care so much? You don't even know these people. In fact, they hate Supers. They don't want your help."

She reached out and grabbed onto one of the trees that hadn't fallen over and began to try and climb up it. "It doesn't matter. I care because someone should. Now go. With any luck, I'll be able to buy you enough time to get in contact with someone."

"I really hate you."

Kevin's words caused her to pause for a moment, but she got back to trying to climb. "Do you?"

"I'm not kidding either." Kevin continued. "Seriously, what the hell are you? It makes me so mad; you know. Do you know the things I did? What I was forced to do- No. What I chose to do. All of that was for this power!" His slime-like form jiggled. "I did everything just for an attempt to reach the top. But it was never enough. Not when I was just a normal human and Supers like you existed. You pretended just to be a normal girl. Did I ever even stand a chance? Hell, even after I became a Super, it didn't matter. I was just a lacky. That was all I was good for. No matter how hard I train or try to crawl to the top, I'll never be able to come close to even reaching the power your Lords have. It pisses me off so much! Why is it fair that you have to be so strong and still be so good? And now, even without powers, you're still trying to do something! What the hell! What does that make me!"

"It makes you, you." She reached the top of the tree, her hands aching a bit. "I'm me, and you're you. It doesn't need to be complicated. It has nothing to do with powers or not. Even if I didn't have powers, I think I still would have found a way to be a hero. Because that's what I want to do." She looked back down at Kevin and smiled. "So just do what you want to do!"

Kevin's teeth clenched together before his form twisted around and began to slide across the forest floor, heading for the forest. "Whatever! Get yourself killed if you want, Lauren! I- I don't want to die. I- I... I'm going to be free."

She watched him leave as he vanished, getting further and further into the woods. "Good luck!" She called out. "See if you can get a strong hero or something! I'm counting on you!" She turned back to look at the floating ship, which was still causing the island to shake from its gunfire. "Now, what am I going to do about that?" She didn't have to wonder for very long as soon the barrage of fire stopped, and the cannons began to turn toward her. "Uh oh."

On board the ship, sitting in the captain's chair, a woman in a long coat kept her hand slouched on her elbow. She was the only one on board the ship. Thanks to her powers, she didn't need to worry about crewmates or the like. Most of the ship's inside was falling apart, and the helm of the ship was no different. This boat was old, something used in the war with Lucifer for when Sini's crew needed to engage in sea battles. Her gang had stolen one of these from a museum, and they were only being held together with the help of her powers.

Her eyes lazily stared out the window, watching the village below, which was now in ruins. The trees collapsed, crushing all the huts the people had built, and the humans below ran around like ants scrambling as the fire ate away at the area around them. She twisted her finger and caused the cannons on the ship to take aim again but stopped when something caught her eye. With another flick of her finger, a telescope floated into the air and hovered over her eye, allowing her to see.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" In the distance, someone stood on one of the palm trees, having managed to climb it. It was a young girl. Only about thirteen, maybe fourteen at the most. She snapped and had the cannons take aim. She was about to fire but stopped. "Wait. Didn't Parasite tell me she found someone? This must be them, right? Parasite is surely in control of their body." She reached up to her forehead, where a purple gem was buried beneath the flesh. It glowed a bit as she tried to connect with Parasite, but nobody was there to pick up the signal. "Or not."

The large ship floated through the air, being carried by her power as she neared the young girl. It began to drop to the ground, crushing and shattering all the trees nearby, and it lazily landed in the middle of the island. It was away from the village now, and the cannons were no longer firing, so the humans were able to catch their breath and stared in shock at the boat as it came down.

Hope stood on the tree but began to slowly climb down it and dropped to the ground when a large metal ramp slid out of the boat. The ship took up most of the forest floor and its shadow was cast across the field blocking out most of the sun above. She tried to keep her nerves calm as someone appeared at the top of the ramp and began to walk down it slowly.

It was an older woman in her late forties or early fifties. She wore the uniform of what you'd see a pirate wear in cheesy novels: a long red cloak and a hat with the symbol of a skull on it. A scimitar-looking sword was placed at her side, and she had a belt which was filled with old-looking revolvers. Hope was instantly reminded of the time she had spent in those visions Avalon had forced her to see. This woman was dressed similarly to how Water Prince had modeled himself. The woman's eyes glowed with a purple energy, and her hair was dyed a deep purple as well. All of the glowing around her came from a gem implanted in the center of her forehead, which hummed with psychic energy.

The woman reached the bottom of her ramp and stepped onto the forest floor. By now, the fire had spread from the forest and was rapidly closing in on them, but neither of them paid it much attention, keeping their gaze focused on one another. The boat blocked the view of the village, so neither of them could see what the other people were doing either.

Hope just prayed that they had rafts or something and could escape if they needed to.

"Who are you?"

Her thoughts came to a crawl as the woman spoke to her. She could feel those purple eyes boring into her, so she folded her arms. She didn't know who this woman was, but she was willing to bet they were working with the slime girl who had tried to take her body over. "What are you talking about?" She finally said slowly. "It's me. I know I got a new body, but-"

"Nice try." She cursed herself but didn't have time to act as the woman simply twitched her finger. The ground exploded up, seemingly coming to life as it shaped and twisted to the will of the woman, wrapping around the young girl in front of her. "I know you're not Parasite." The woman hummed out and began to squeeze her hand into a tight fist. The dirt molded itself into a large hand that began to copy her, squeezing down around Hope, causing the girl to wince. "I don't sense her anywhere, so I'm guessing you killed her, right?"

Hope gritted her teeth and tried to wiggle herself free, but it was no use. The ground was bound together as hard as stone and wasn't letting her go. If she had her powers or even a bit of super strength, she'd be able to get herself free in no time, but like this, she was totally helpless. "C- Can't we just talk about this? Like, who even are you, lady?"

"Talk?" The woman tilted her head to the side before giving a sly smile. "Okay. Let's talk." She snapped her arm out, and the hand hurled Hope across the field, letting go of the girl and sending her crashing back first into a tree. The young girl let out a loud yell as her back nearly snapped, and she collapsed onto the ground. "My name is Psycap." The woman marched over and kicked out with her foot, slamming it into the girl's face when she raised her head. "I'm the captain of the Anti-Matter gang, which is a group you've really ticked off, little girl."

"I- I'm not a kid." She managed to spit out. She clutched at her broken nose but then felt the air leave her as her clothes twitched and began to grow heavier, pressing down into her. She was lifted off of the ground by an invisible force, and her arms began to fold back, not caring how her arms weren't meant to bend that way. Psycap, whoever she was, seemed to have some sort of telekinesis-based power. One she was getting to brutally discover. "S- Stop it." She gasped.

Psycap let out a slight giggle. "Stop it? You killed one of my crew mates. Actually, you guys have basically killed all of my crew mates." The villain twitched her finger and dropped the girl out of the air and down to her feet. She didn't give Hope a moment to catch her breath, though, as a second later, she reached down and grabbed the girl by the hair, roughly yanking it and staring down into her eyes. "You're with that grey-haired girl, aren't you? Who the hell are you guys? What gives you the right to assume you can screw with my crew?"

Hope felt her feet dangle off the ground as she was suspended by her hair. It wasn't as long as it used to be, and the pain was digging into her scalp. She grabbed onto the woman's wrist, squirming, but there wasn't anything she could really do. "Are you talking about Meta?" She finally managed to ask.

"Meta? Is that the name of that girl? There's no reason to hide it. Some of my men were in Hell Land trying to recover and get new parts after that girl tore my team apart. They spotted you with her. At first, I sent Parasite here to try to get to her, but you were the only one who showed up. Who are you? How did you kill Parasite-"

She did the only thing she could think of. She felt blood in her mouth from when she had been hit, and she swirled it around and then spat it out as hard as she could directly into the eye of Psycap. The villain screamed and dropped her to the ground, and she ducked down just in time as Psycap took a blind swing with her hand, sending out a wave of psychic energy that exploded through the trees, causing several of them to collapse. She grabbed a jagged branch and rammed it up with everything she had trying to stab the woman.

Psycap had some level of durability, though, so the wood wasn't able to pierce her flesh. Instead, she changed her tactic and pushed out with everything she had, using the branch as a makeshift battering ram. Psycap was still rubbing at her eyes and was caught off guard, stumbling back and tripping over her own two feet, falling back and landing right as one of the trees came crashing down, smashing into her upper body.

Psycap screamed and howled, her powers stabbing into the tree as it began to lift off the ground. But by the time the woman got it off of her and stood back up, Hope was long gone.

Hope ran as fast as she could, heading in a random direction in the woods. Her instincts screamed at her to dodge, and she did it just in time, as a massive tree blasted out in the direction she was standing. Smoke was starting to fill her view, and she jumped into it in an effort to hide from the villain's sight. She had to cover her face with her hands, and her eyes stung, but she pushed through it. All the trees around her were on fire, and there was so much smoke that she had no idea which direction she was walking in.

Her plan seemed to work as she heard Psycap cursing the air and blasting out waves of psychic energy, which swept across the field as an unseen force slamming through the smoke. The woman clearly had a few weaknesses, like sight-based powers, and that was something was fine with abusing.

She stumbled out of the smoke cloud and found herself back in the village. The ground was littered with mini craters, and the fire was the biggest around this part of the island. Hundreds of trees had collapsed, and all the various huts and homes she had admired earlier had been destroyed and collapsed in on themselves. She saw many of the villagers running around in a panic, trying to find a way out of the village, but most of their routes were blocked by collapsed trees or roaring fires. Even the ocean wasn't safe as the fire had spread out across the sand, blocking it off.

She ducked behind one of the destroyed huts, using it to hide herself, just in time for Psycap to come blasting out of the forest. The woman stood on a hunk of iron that she had torn off of her ship and was using her power to float on it. She glared around the village but didn't see the kid anywhere. She did, however, see the arrow that came at her. It stopped midair inches away from her face, and she let out a low growl. Several of the men in the village trained their bows at her and began to fire.

With a twitch of her fingers, all their bows snapped, and the arrows that had been launched at her spun around and stabbed back out toward the men, knocking several of them over. A child let out a scream and ran to his dad's side, who sported an arrow in his thigh. Psycap lifted her hand up, ripping a massive boulder out of the ground and causing it to float toward the child, about to drop. Right before she could drop it, though, a rock hit her upside the head while she had her back turned, causing her to slip once more and fall off of her board, crashing down to the beach below.

Hope ran out from her cover, dropping the rest of her rocks, and jumped out, tackling the child out of the way just in time as the boulder dropped. The man with the arrow in his thigh barely had time to roll himself out of the way, avoiding it. He looked up at her for a moment as she held onto his kid, but neither of them had very long to process what was going on as, a second later, she was lifted up off of the ground, dropping the kid as she floated. She got higher and higher, and she struggled but was unable to properly move. It felt like hundreds of hands had wrapped themselves around her.

Psycap was back on her feet, her eyes filled with pure hate as she rubbed at the side of her head, which was bleeding a little. "You're dead," Psycap growled out. "You've really pissed me off."

"W- Well, you know what they say-"

She didn't get to finish any cheeky remarks she might have said as her arms and legs began to snap back, causing her to yell. She was lifted higher up going past the trees until she was nearly four stories up. Psycap gave a smirk and twitched causing her to spin around midair until she was dangling upside down. The woman was going to drop her on her head. If the fall didn't kill her, the fire below her would as it raged on.

"Seriously, I think maybe we should just talk about this! We might be able to clear this whole thing up! I'm not even friends with Meta-"

"Die." Psycap roared and simply turned her power off.

Hope felt herself begin to fall, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She began to drop rapidly and felt the smoke and heat rise up to meet her. Right before she hit it, though, something else came from the sky, ramming into the waters like a cruise missile. A large wave was kicked up, which came crashing down onto part of the village, putting out the fire she was about to drop into. It also caused a shower to rain down, putting out more of the smaller fires that were scattered around and allowing several of the villagers to escape to the woods.

She still dropped out of the sky, but whatever hit the water came flying out just as fast. It flowed like a liquid, bubbling up right as she dropped and caught her right before she hit the ground. The red unfolded and opened, swallowing her whole, and came to a sudden standstill. Psycap raised an eyebrow and took a step back, lifting her hands up defensively. A Super had shown up. One she didn't recognize. It was a giant red blob and seemed to mold itself over the body of the girl it caught.

"Kevin?" Hope asked in shock. She floated inside a strange pool of red liquid that didn't stop her from speaking or breathing. "I thought you were leaving?"

"Well, I was. It turns out the old guy that Olivia girl was telling us about had already called for help by the time I reached him. Someone should be on their way. In the meantime..."

"Aw, you came back to save me." She teased.

"Shut up." He groaned. "I just think our chances of winning aren't impossible after I saw you kick that girl's ass without powers. She's not that strong. Just a low-tier bad guy."

"Excuse me!" Psycap growled and caused several of the trees to rip their way out of the ground, aiming them at the red blob.

"What are you, hard of hearing? I'm not shocked; you're just an old lady, after all." Kevin taunted. "I thought you were strong since you could lift that massive boat off, but you're just some coward hiding behind a warship. On your own, you're not special!"

"Maybe don't taunt her." Hope winced.

"I'll do what I want! That's what you told me to do, isn't it? And right now, I want to kick this old lady's ass!"

"She isn't even that old..."

"Don't care! We're still kicking it!"

She gasped a bit as Kevin opened up, allowing her head to poke out of him, just like how he had turned into her clothes before, he began to take shape into an outfit. This one was different, though. It looked familiar. He was morphing into the shape of her Cinder-Suit! The red fibers stretched out, forming into an armored bodysuit that covered her body from the neck down. He wasn't able to change his color much, so it was almost pure red, but he compressed and darkened parts of the suit, making it black. The symbol of a black butterfly formed across her chest, and the inside of the suit she felt wrapping around her arms and legs, allowing her to move and control him. A domino mask wrapped around her upper face, and instead of a helmet, he created a jacket hood that pulled itself over her head. The entire suit itself looked more stylish, being a mix of a hero costume and a jacket, and she took a moment to move her arms and legs back and forth, feeling the power that was in them. It was like she had gotten her strength back in a way.

Psycap scowled as she stared at the hero in front of her. "Who are you supposed to be? Mini Cinder?"

"As a matter of fact..." She took a moment to look at herself, admiring the costume. She was still a lot shorter than she'd have liked, but it was nice to be in a hero suit once again. It made her a bit happy. "Is it really a good idea to be my costume though? Can't you just fight her on your own?" She questioned.

"I have literally never won a single fight," Kevin muttered. "I'm not risking it."

"As cute as it is that you think you can fight me, I'll be putting a stop to it!" Psycap declared. The woman threw her hand out and launched several of the floating trees, using them as massive spears. "Die a quick death, child!"

Hope closed her eyes and took a deep breath before snapping them open and giving a sly grin. She crouched down and then bounced off of the ground, flying forward and dodging all the trees that stabbed into the ground around her. She could feel the suit twist and change, copying her movements. Kevin's legs almost compressed like a spring, allowing her to mimic her fire jump. She came at Psycap fast and swung out with her fist fast and hard. It caught the villain off guard, who panicked and activated her power. Hope came to a sudden stop, unable to move as a telekinetic hold gripped down around her, and Kevin stopped her only a foot away from the Anti-Matter gang leader.

"As if I would really allow you to get so close!" Psycap roared. The woman used her power to twist the suit but held strong, resisting the effects, and didn't budge. Hope gritted her teeth, trying to march forward, but Kevin wasn't strong enough to resist both the hold and the twisting energy that was trying to shatter him at the same time.

So instead, she tried something else. She could feel part of the costume running along her spine. Kevin had quite literally given control of his nervous system to her. She didn't trust herself to experiment too much with his powers for fear of crushing herself, but she did have a single idea. A tendril stabbed out of her back, using her body as cover and stopping Psycap from seeing it. It whipped out at lightning speed and smashed into the ground just as she closed her eyes. A wave of sand was kicked up and flowed out, smashing into Psycap's eyes, who screamed and blinked rapidly, stumbling back. Hope felt the suit suddenly not be held by anything, and she rammed herself forward.

Psycap tried to clear her eyes, but she wasn't fast enough. The hero's fist slammed directly into the woman's face, causing the psychic leader to stumble and nearly fall. It wasn't just one punch, either. Hope struck out with her other arm, smashing it into the other side of the villain's head. Again and again, Psycap was bounced around from fist to fist, Kevin's arms compressing and pulling back like a piston system, allowing the force and recoil of the blows to not stop. Hope used all the hand-to-hand skills she had picked up to keep up the onslaught of punches before finally winding up the last strike. She jumped and spun around the red tendril, whipping out like a tail and slamming itself across Psycap's face, smashing the older woman to the floor with a hard thud.

Hope landed back on her feet and breathed heavily as the tendril pulled itself back into the costume. "Geez," Kevin muttered. "You're a lot more brutal than I remember- Actually, scratch that, you and your team once threw me into a pool of superheated radiation. You're definitely a psychopath in the making."

She ignored his remark and looked back at the destroyed village. Dozens of people all stood around, staring at her in shock. "Are you guys all okay-"

"I'll kill you." She froze when she heard Psycap's gasp. The villain was somehow still conscious and had her head twisted back to stare at something deep in the forest. "You're dead!"

She pulled her fist back and swung it at the downed enemy, but it wasn't fast enough. Kevin closed around her just in time as something massive rammed into her and then exploded. She was blasted back, crashing at the edge of the beach, and the screams of the villagers restarted. She felt fire eat away at the suit, and Kevin hissed and howled. She managed to roll over into the water, and the hood opened back up, allowing her to see.

"Damn it! I was really hoping she forgot about that!" She winced.

The massive warship was floating in the air. Psycap's eyes didn't leave it as the villain used her power to pick it up and take control of the thing. The cannons twisted and swirled, pointing back at the village as it got ready to fire once more. Psycap picked herself up, rubbing at her mouth, which was dripping with blood from all her broken teeth. "I'm going to kill you!" She roared. "Do you hear me? You're so dead!"

Hope clenched her fist, causing the suit to change a bit, forming a circular shield on her arm, which she raised up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kevin yelled inside the suit. "You know that I'm that shield, right? I don't think I can take that much cannon fire!"

"Well, we need to think of something!"

"Die!" Psycap roared. "Die, die, die, die!"

The barrels took aim and were about to fire. Hope steeled her resolve and crouched down, ready to at least attempt to dodge. Luckily for her, though, lady luck finally seemed to smile down on her. Right before the ship could fire, something smashed down into it from high above. Metal screamed and tore as the ship was suddenly ripped in two and exploded. Psycap yelled in anger and fear as the thing kept going through the ship and rammed down next to her. The villain stared in shock at the massive arrow that was as big as she was.

Hope felt her own eyes go wide. There was only one person she knew who had arrows that big.

"Mind if I join in?" A voice asked from high above. A man floated in the air, carried by wings made of feathers and wax that stretched out across his back. He held a mighty bow as big as a normal human, and already, he had another arrow notched and ready to go. "This fight looks like it could be interesting."

Fable had arrived.