Dirt Earthworm appeared with all the grace and subtly of a tactical carpet bombing.
Like many, the monster seemed unable to stop from boasting as he sent tremors through the ground, cracking the street and sinking chunks of earth from his hiding spot below the ground.
The first heroes arrived on the scene after the first whole building was swallowed up. The hero Water Gun reached the effected area first.
"Fools! You're pitiful heroes will not save you from the might of the earth!"
Water Gun looked around uncertainly, "I can hear him, but where is he?" Water Gun questioned, being answered only with demented laughter from Dirt Earthworm as the ground began to shake again. The hero stumbled, attempting to find his footing on the very unstable ground.
"You will all be buried beneath the earth!" A pillar of stone and dirt erupted from the ground in front of Water Gun and began to tip over, falling towards him.
Water Gun gulped, and raised his namesake, firing a blast of water from his weapon. Being primarily dirt rather than solid stone, the pillar quickly fell apart as it was turned to mud, landing as a pile of muck and scattered rocks as opposed to slamming down like a hammer as Dirt Earthworm had intended.
"So you are not completely helpless it seems," the monster acknowledged, "But never mind it. What will you do against this!?" The ground around Water Gun began to shake again.
Rather than pillars, walls rose now, four of them, trapping Water Gun in an earthen box. He raised his water gun to blast a way through, only for him to realize the problem as the four walls bowed towards one another and met above him, sealing him inside.
If he destabilized the box by blasting the dirt into mud, the whole thing might come down on top of him; the worm monster had trapped him. He began to shake nervously, racking his body for what he could do to free himself from this.
Thankfully, the answer didn't require much from himself. Suddenly a hole burst into the box, blunt force rather than weakening the dirt. Water Gun didn't bother questioning it, jumping through first before taking stock of what had made the hole.
A fellow hero, Needle Star, had freed him. He sighed in frustration at the realization that he'd have to share whatever credit came from defeating this monster.
Even though Water Gun had clearly done no damage, his mere presence would muddy matters in the mind of the association, and they'd have to give partial credit to the lower ranked hero.
Still, he couldn't exactly regret having saved someone, even if they were a fellow hero, and gave the man a nod when he thanked him.
"Reveal yourself monster!" Needle Star roared, "Or are you too cowardly!?"
He was certain his Violence Star would end this battle. But he needed to actually be able to reach the enemy first. The monster cackled, "I'll not be lured in by childish mockery. You will perish in a grave of dirt of stone!" The ground began to shake and crack.
Water Gun began to fire water at the ground, the spikes of earth the worm monster was sending out falling to the ground useless as quickly as they formed, weighed down and soft by the water. Needle Star took a more direct approach, shattering the spikes as quickly as they formed with his chain mace.
"You do little but prologue the inevitable!" Dirt Earthworm growled, "Futile efforts, futile!"
Suddenly, the ground simply fell away beneath the heroes' feet, a pit where once there had been solid ground.
Before they feel in to what would certainly be their deaths, a blur of motion pulled them away, setting them down on the yet undamaged concrete nearby. The hero Shadow Ring simply nodded as they looked up at her.
"W-what?!" Dirt Earthworm questioned, not immediately certain what had just happened. She scoffed, and rushed forward, moving fast across the ground, too fast for the monster to attack despite sensing each step. "P-pitiful! Die, die within the earth!"
The ground bowed upwards, beginning to pulse and flow, rising and flowing like waves on the ocean as the monster strained itself with the effort.
Spikes and pillars launched from each wave as Shadow Ring dashed over them, the ninja hero avoiding most of them easily. Finally though, a lucky shot struck her hard in the back; easily enough to shatter the weak human bones.
"Haha! Did I not tell you!? Did you believe I would not be your end!? You will all-" Was as far as the monster got before the blade of Shadow Ring's sword pierced its body beneath the ground, a log dropping to the ground where she should have been struck by the dirt pillar; her body replacement technique at its finest.
Shadow Ring pulled the worm out of the dirt with her sword and, after a moment of looking over its rather helpless, normal worm looking body, swung her sword to flick the body in the direction of the other heroes.
Needle Star roared in anger as he swung his chain mace madly with his Violence Star technique, reducing the worm's body to a fine pulp; a pulp that Water Gun proceeded to drowned in a steady blast of water, just to be certain.
Blaze, Shivers, and Animal Lover did not have amazing powers this they had accepted. But... after some discussion, they had decided to own it.
They might not have amazing powers, but they did have powers; and that was more than most had. Even if they could only ever be a small time gang, they were still a gang; the Mediocre Gang.
They entered the store attempting to look nonchalant, which was particularly difficult for Blaze given his bulky form and refusal to change out of his eye catching top. He played it cool nonetheless, acting as a normal customer and going up to the cashier.
The moment the cash register opened up, Blaze sprung into action, "Hyper Big Bang Fist!" He punched his hand out forward, releasing fire.
Not a lot of fire mind you, less than you'd get from a lighter and bug spray can. But any amount of fire suddenly appearing in your face is going to give you a shock, and the cashier jumped back with slightly singed eyebrows.
Animal Lover immediately called in the squirrels to raid the joint, both of the money in the register and of some of the merchandise of the store while Shivers focused his icy wind on the camera.
He couldn't do much with his cold, but he could frost over the camera, which would cause the wires to go faulty and any recording of their faces to be lost. Thankfully they'd chosen a cheap store with only the one, already semi-shoddy camera.
Their heist successful, the three bolted from the building; only for the three to be encountered as they left.
Unknown to the Mediocre Gang, the cashier had flicked the panic switch on his way down, the one which summoned nearby heroes.
C class hero Shoulderpads tackled Blaze, Ironet's net coming down around Shivers, while Horsebone grabbed onto Animal Lover.
The three villains tried to struggle, the heroes holding onto them as they attempted to do the hero version of reading them their rights. Blaze, realizing that if he didn't act fast their whole crew would be going down immediately, let out a battle cry like roar and threw a punch at Shoulderpats, letting out his fire as he did so.
It still wasn't punch, but the physical contact allowed the fire to catch the fabric of his outfit, and the hero yelped and stumbled back as he began to catch more and more.
Seeing Blaze taking control, the other two were invited to do the same. Shivers took a deep breath and let out his Final Typhoon, blasting out as much cold as he could muster.
Which wasn't actually that much of course, but enough to freeze Ironet's hands to the pole of his bug net.
Feeling this, he tried to pull his hands free, Shivers ducking as he did to escape the net, Ironet stumbling with his hands stuck together on the pole. Animal Lover called out to the squirrels to swarm Horsebone, calling down the local pigeons to do the same; his Critical Attack.
The two groups of animals washed over the horse hero, obscuring his vision and sending him into a bit of a panic, batting at his body and the air to get the squirrels and birds away from him. The three heroes stumbled into each other.
"Finish the job Blaze!" Shivers called. Flexing his muscles as though gathering energy, Blaze surged forward, "Miracle Hyper Big Bang Fist!" He shouted as he released a massive wave of fire.
Well... massive comparatively anyway. It was a large enough burst of fire to actually wash over the three heroes, catching all three of their outfits.
Ironet's can of bug spray had been pierced by the teeth of one of the squirrels though, and when the fire hit it, the result was a small explosion of fire; far more than Blaze was usually capable of. They didn't realize this was the case of course, none of them did.
"Woah.. that was amazing Blaze!" Shivers cheered, Blaze staring in shock at the three heroes, crumpled to the ground, passed out from the pain.
"We.. we beat heroes.." Animal Lover said, seeming unable to believe it, "We beat heroes!"
"Our powers don't suck after all!" "We're the greatest villains ever!" "Justice Crash!"
The three looked over in confusion just in time to see Mumen Rider's bike as it smashed into them at full speed, knocking Animal Lover out cold and sending Blaze stumbling.
The top C rank hero charged Shivers, who let loose his icy breath. Mumen Rider, thoroughly padded, was unhindered by the slight chill, and proceeded to knock Shivers off his feet, "Justice Tackle!"
They crashed to the ground together, Mumen Rider turning him over and cuffing him. He'd taken to carrying them for human enemies. But there was still one more he realized. Blaze was still up, and none too happy that his boys had been taken down by a hero.
Thinking fast, Mumen Rider got back to his feet and made a beeline for his bike. Blaze ran at him, but by the time he closed the distance, Mumen Rider had already taken off on the bike.
Blaze scoffed, believing that the hero had simply been scared off by him. He turned to his boys, thinking what to do. He couldn't burn the cuffs off Shivers without burning his hands.
Animal Lover could have some rats chew them off, but he'd have to wake up first, so they'd need to wait. He'd have to carry them out of here, which was gonna suck, but he felt he could manage it so lon-
"Justice Combo!" Blaze turned, once again seeing Mumen Rider's bike as it rushed at him. This time though, he was ready, and put out his hands to stop it.
But Mumen Rider hadn't jumped off behind it this time, and Blaze's vision crossed as the C class hero's foot connected with his head. Blaze staggered back and Mumen Rider crashed, his pads and helmet preventing him from getting too hurt.
He sprung up fast, grabbing the front of his back to deliver the finishing move. He swung the bike around, letting it slam into Blaze's body. The villain stumbled and collapsed, head hitting the pavement.
It was the impact with the street that knocked him out more than the bike shot, but it was done, and Mumen Rider could get him and Animal Lover cuffed.
'All in a days work.' Mumen Rider thought.