Chapter 3

So, this chapter is a lot of action and set up, and not a whole lot of Ivy and Kassandra. Don't worry, they'll be back next chapter! In the meantime, enjoy this one, and I'll try to get the next one up and running ASAP! Have fun! 

The team clicked their champagne glasses together in a toast. "Congrats, Kassandra, Ivy. That's the fifth superpowered villain you guys have taken down in this month!" Abby said, taking a sip of her drink. 

Kassandra smiled widely. "It's all thanks to Ivy here! She's been helping me control my powers better, and her skill is very useful in the field. Escape rates have basically fallen to zero," Kassandra said cheerfully. 

Ivy faked a flattered, shy smile. "It's nothing you wouldn't gain on your own with enough time." 

"Yeah, but think of how many bad people would go free in the meantime." Kassandra laughed, patting her on the back. "Besides, using my power in new ways is fun. And I feel better. So accept the compliment."

Ivy ducked her head. She wasn't very good with this kind of… genuineness. "Well, ok, you're welcome, then." The conversation shifted from there to more mundane topics and idle chit-chat.

 Ivy let the conversation flow around her, occasionally chiming in with a nod or a smile.

Internally, though, she was thinking hard. 'Things are progressing well… but it's too slow. We still haven't reached national headlines after 2 months. At this point, Kassandra and the team trust me. It's time to escalate things just a little bit.' Ivy covered her smirk with her glass, scheming.

***

Ivy crept along the wall silently, using the cover of night to go unseen. Kassandra was busy with her job, so this was the perfect opportunity. She was wearing a different mask tonight. Soon enough, she arrived at an abandoned warehouse. She entered and climbed up, standing dramatically on a ceiling rafter.

"You have the information?" A voice sounded behind her. 

Ivy smiled under her mask. "Yes, I do. Let's discuss payment." She turned around, facing the man dressed in black tactical gear and a gas mask. "But do keep in mind I'll be charging a premium for being an ideological terrorist, Haze." 

Haze growled. "Verification first." Ivy chuckled and tossed him a USB. Haze handed it to one of his goons behind him and received a nod after a few seconds. 

"It's legit. We'll have access to all intelligence agency communications for the President's speech at the World Trade Center tomorrow. The plan is valid." The goon reported. 

"The USB will need a verification code to continue working past the hour. You'll get that later. Now, payment." Ivy held a hand out, fingers positioned to snap.

Haze nodded after a second of consideration. "What's the premium?" he rasped.

Ivy grinned under her mask. "Tomorrow, when you attack, I want you to execute the head of the FBI. You're going to kill someone first to make people listen to your subsequent speech anyway, so my price is going to be that you execute that bastard first. Deal?" 

Haze thought about it for a moment. "That's it?"

"And the 50 million dollars in diamonds we discussed. A pretty reasonable price for a chance to take out the President of the United States, right?"

The terrorist nodded. "Deal."

Ivy snapped her fingers, and the cause and effect of their deal was sealed. "Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen." Grabbing the suitcase of diamonds, Ivy dropped a smoke grenade and disappeared into the darkness.

***

What are we looking at today?" Ivy asked, reclining in an armchair in the base. "Any activity to note before we head out?" 

"Nothing. It's pretty quiet for a Saturday." Levi responded after glancing at the police database. "Oh, blockade at 5th and Baker… hmm, oh yeah, the President's speech is today. Might want to be on high alert. Villains may take advantage of the concentration of police presence at the World Trade Center to commit crimes elsewhere in the city."

"Got it. We'll take a loop around the outer parts of the city first, then." Kassandra walked back into the still bare-bones command center, now dressed fully in her costume. 

Ivy took her feet off the table and hopped up. "Sure. Let's go." The duo flew off, flying around looking for disturbances. They stopped a few muggings and break-ins, but there were very few super-crimes, especially for New York.

***

"Everyone in position?" Haze growled, fingers brushing the hilt of his katana.

"Bravo team in place."

"Epsilon team standing by."

"Assault team ready." The voices crackled over comms.

"Good. Control, ETA on the convoy?" Haze asked.

"Three minutes, sir," came the reply from the tech, eyes locked on a laptop. The USB from yesterday was still plugged in, feeding live GPS data on the convoy and its protective detail.

"Hold… hold… now." Snipers lining the rooftops fired in perfect unison. Drivers slumped over their wheels, and several vehicles flipped, crashing in a violent chain reaction. The convoy ground to a halt as surviving drivers slammed on the brakes to avoid crashing. 

"Bravo, move in," Haze ordered. The surviving members of the motorcade quickly regrouped, soldiers and agents getting out of their cars and forming a defensive ring around the President's armored car. Even with half the convoy disabled, over a dozen armored vehicles stood between the group and their target, not to mention helicopters and reinforcements en route.

Bravo team emerged from cover, advancing fast. A shot rang out, one man went down with a thud. Gunfire erupted, echoing through the urban canyon. Bravo ducked behind flaming wreckage.

"Assault, hit them from the rear. Epsilon, cover the skies."

"Roger," came two curt replies from the Supers in charge.

Moments later, a massive crash sounded as a semitruck was flung at the back of the motorcade, crushing 5 agents. Assault, a hulking, 12-foot man in plate armour, wielded a 'fuck-off' sized broadsword in one hand and a grenade launcher in the other. As he appeared on the field, one agent, young and inexperienced, opened fire with a startled scream. 

The massive brute laughed as the high caliber bullets bounced off him like bbs, and cleaved the agent, along with the car in front of him, in half, his sword cratering the gravel and kicking up a cloud of dust. "Who's next?" He growled with a bloodthirsty smile.

He was answered by a hail of bullets. "Target is resistant to small arms fire, switch to heavy weaponry! Target the eyes!" A captain shouted, firing an RPG at the man without hesitation. 

Assult batted it aside with a swing of his broadsword, snorting with contemptuous ease. "Is that it?" he said, bringing his grenade launcher to bear. "My turn." 

"Take cover!" 2 grenades flew over the agent's cover, landing right by their feet. "Oh, shit." Bodies flew as the concussive force dented cars and shot shrapnel into agents, who responded with cries of pain.

"Too easy." The mountain of a man strode forward and suddenly stiffened. With speed unbefitting of a man his size, he deflected an energy bolt that would have taken his head off, a deep gorge dug through the tough tungsten metal of his sword. He scowled.

"Hmph. Annoying." Assault spotted the man through the squad of agents. He was dressed like any other, but his rifle had a red glow to it. The Super agent was mowing down the Assault team's unpowered members with his energy bullets, which went through nearly everything.

Assault swings his sword leisurely, putting on a show for the cameras that were filming him even now. It said something about modern people that their first reaction to a fight like this was to film and post on social media rather than run away. Of course, Haze arranged for special cameras and news helicopters as well for this fight. He wanted to send a message. With a twisting spin, Assault launched his sword like a spinning rotor of death, bisecting the Super agent and nearly a dozen other agents in its path.

"The Director of the FBI is with the President. He's the one wearing a red tie." Haze said through the comms as Assault casually approached the center of the motorcade, the rest of the agents being picked off by his terrorist troops, and ripped the door of the President's armored car. 

"I see him." Assault grabbed the aforementioned man, who made some spluttering protests that were quickly silenced with a backhand. Before anything else could be done, though, the sound of helicopter blades and screeching tires reached the big man's ears. 

"Heads up. Reinforcements are here." Assault looked up, seeing the barrel of a minigun pointed right at him from a black helicopter. As the barrel began to spin, a bright blue beam struck the helicopter, sending it careening away and down, crashing into a nearby building with an explosive fireball. 

Epsilon flew through the air, blasting everything that came into range, except the news helicopters. The army helicopters simply weren't equipped with this speed of attack, and within moments, were reduced to burning wrecks. With air superiority, the female Super rained beams down on the incoming reinforcements, choking off one side of the road. 

On the other side, yet more soldiers arrived in armoured trucks, and a hail of bullets hit Assault with precision, missing the director in his hand. Before the giant could retaliate, a dark haze swept through that side of the street.

The soldiers gasped and choked, veins turning black and flesh deathly pale. Even the ones fast enough to pull out gas masks were affected. Guns clattered onto the ground, and the thuds of bodies hitting the ground could be heard through the gunfire and explosions.

Then, the smoke coalesced, leaving behind a massive field of bodies. "Bring them," Haze, now back in human form, growled, climbing onto the top of a flipped-over truck. 

Assault chuckled and forced the FBI Director to his knees in front of Haze, before going back and grabbing the president, the CIA director, and the Secretary of Defence.

"Y-you won't get away with this!" The FBI Director stuttered as Assault forced the other three to kneel beside him in a line. "Do you h-" he was cut off as Haze grabbed him by the face and lifted him with a single hand. Hazy, finger-shaped smoke seeped into the man's nose, mouth, ears, and even eyes. The CIA director frowned while the President remained stoically still. Haze chuckled, a deep, raspy sound. "At least the rest of you have some dignity," he rasped. 

Haze turned to face the camera's activating the microphone behind his mask. "People of America! We are Fulcrum. And we are here to deliver a message." 

His hand dissolved fully into dark, hazy smoke, and the Director thrashed, legs kicking at empty air, agonized screams muffled, as he turned pale and his veins turned black. A horrified scream was cut short as more smoke invaded his lungs, until he turned clammy and limp. Haze threw the already cooling body aside.

"Now that I have your attention…"

Feel free to tell me what you thought of the action! This is like my third time writing one of these, so I'm very open to suggestions. Hope you had a good time reading! BTW my backlog is all posted, so now updates will be sporadic.