Only a few nights after the Dark Legion attacked Odaiba Pier, as well as destroying a magical Ward, Quickshot and Midnight Raven were out on patrol, with Cyberstriker and Darkblade alongside them as the deputized heroes and the Protectors kept their eyes out for trouble.
With the increased activity of the Dark Legion, as well as other criminal elements, the separate hero teams of the StarCorps and the Protectors had decided to work together, knowing not only that there was strength in numbers but with their unique skills combined, they could prove a real threat to the Dark Queen and those against them.
"Thanks again for working with us. I know it's not the usual for you, but with the Police Department as stretched as it is, we could use all the help we can get." Midnight Raven said as he leaped from one roof top to another, looking back at the brother and sister hero duo, who nodded in reply as they jumped alongside him.
"It's no problem." Darkblade replied, giving a small smile behind her mask as she added. "After facing the forces of the Night Queen, this is like a walk in the park."
"Don't get too cocky, Darkblade." Cyberstriker said, keeping his relationship status as brother and sister a secret, before he told her. "Just because we aren't facing the Night Queen right now doesn't mean she's the only threat out there. We also must be wary of any criminal activity, no matter how insignificant it appears."
"He's right, we need to..." Quickshot started to say, before the sounds of an alarm from the nearby bank caught the heroes' attention, causing them to stop on a roof nearby to see a small group of armed, masked men leaving the bank with several bagfuls of cash in their hands.
"Finally some action. I was starting to think this would be a boring night." Darkblade then said with a smirk, causing Cyberstriker to let out a sigh at his sister's cockyness, where they saw the crooks rush into a nearby alley, causing the heroes to jump down and make their way to the streets as they gave chase.
However, the StarCorps and Protectors then stopped at the entryway to the alley as they saw the gunmen backing up, looking in front of them to see another figure before them.
Looking at the individual, knowing it was a woman due to their more slender figure, the girl had black hair and blue eyes, but had a mask that covered her mouth, nose and her identity.
She wore a tube top showing her tone stomach and her large, D-cup sized breasts, with a leather jacket over it, along with shorts that are gold and black and boots that were steel colored.
Finally, in the girl's hands was a long steel pole staff, being her weapon of choice, which she swung around with a clear skill and grace, leaving the heroes wondering just who she was and whether or not she was on their side.
'Wow...' Cyberstriker thought in his head, glad his helmet covered his face, less everyone saw the massive blush on his cheeks as he saw this masked girl, who then quickly shot at the bandits, swinging her staff and slamming it into the side of one's face, sending him crashing into the guy next to him, causing both to go flying into the wall nearby, both falling to the ground unconscious, before the others moved to strike the unknown vigilante.
While it was six against one, the masked female continued to show her skills, not only did she move with her continued grace, avoiding each punch, swing and strike the circling criminals threw at her, but she not only countered their attacks with swift strikes from her staff, alongside punches and kicks, but she used her surroundings and the strength of the thugs to her advantage, one instance kicking up a trash can lid, throwing it one of the crooks charging at her, before throwing him at two behind her, knocking all three down.
Quickly grabbing the lid again, the masked girl threw it at another thug who was about to fire his gun at her, knocking the weapon out of his hand, before she quickly closed the distance, bringing her left fist up and slamming it into the crook's face, sending him flying back unconscious, before one of the two remaining thugs saw her coming for him, causing him to grab the lid to use as a shield.
However, much to the crook's dismay, the heroine aimed lower, delivering a swift kick to his lower regions, causing the last thug, as well as Cyberstriker and Midnight Raven, to cringe at the pain they knew the guy was in as he fell to the ground, before the masked girl glared at the last thug, who dropped his gun and slowly backed up against the wall in fear.
However, that fear quickly turned into a dark smirk as the crook reached into his pocket, pulling out a strange device with a syringe on one end and a red liquid in the tube at the other, causing the masked girl to back up a little, showing a sudden worry of her own.
Confused by the masked girl's actions, before Cyberstiker or the others could ask about it, the criminal quickly injected the needle into his neck, causing him to give a groan at first, before suddenly giving off a great cry as sparks of thunder surged around his body
"Oh yeah! That's the stuff!" The crook then yelled with an insane laugh, continuing to laugh as the electricity shot all over the place, shorting out light bulbs and cracking the walls around him, a sight that caused the four heroes to quickly jump in and to help who they now saw as a new ally.
As one of the stray bolts headed right for the masked girl, acting on his duties to protect all civilians, Cyberstriker jumped down before the raven haired girl, charging up his energy and forming a shield, protecting her from the harm that would've befallen her.
"Stand back... We'll take it from here." The tai chi hero said to the girl, not even looking back as he moved closer to his fellow heroes, who were each ready to strike at the out of control crook.
"Alright, under the authority of the Odaiba PD, I order you to cease and desist before..." Quickshot started to say as she drew her pistols out, knowing for the less dangerous threats to Odaiba she had to inform them of their rights, only for, much to her shock and the shock of the other heroes, a trash dumpster came flying over their heads, slamming into the crook and pinning him against the wall, the only signs that he was alive was his twitching hands poking out of the side, where the heroes turned to see the masked girls wiping her hands together, indicating that she was the one who threw it.
'Ok, note to self, watch her swings.' The four heroes thought in unison, seeing that there was more to this girl than meets the eyes, where she looked at them and said nonchalantly. "Thanks for the save, but I could have handled it. I've been dealing with these thugs for a while now while you cops have had your hands full."
Quickshot and Midnight Raven both frowned at the jab but remained quiet, knowing that the girl wasn't all wrong in what she had said, with the police, even with their advancements, being stretched thin with the rise in crime since the Night Queen's appearance.
"Even still, you shouldn't face them on your own, ms..." Midnight Raven then started to say, hoping to get this masked vigilante's name.
"Call me Azumi." The masked girl, now identified as Azumi, said with the same nonchalant as she walked past the two StarCorps, both slightly fuming from Azumi's attitude as they watched her walk toward the pinned crook.
"Thanks for the save, though." Azumi then said as she looked at Cyberstriker, who was once again glad his helmet covered his face in order to hide his blush, while behind her mask, Darkblade grinned as she thought. 'Looks like big bro has a little crush on Azumi.'
"Anyway, what was...?" Quickshot began to ask, wanting to know what the thug used on himself to gain such power, before seeing Azumi reach into the thug's pocket, removed a syringe similar to the one he injected himself with, and tossed it to the StarCorps heroine, who caught it and examined the device.
"It's a new drug filling the streets, called 'Rage'. Gives creeps like this loser a quick power boost, even some meta powers, but in the end, their minds are left broken and their bodies wind up failing them." Azumi explained as she pushed the dumpster out of the way, where the heroes saw the thug fall to the group, a distant but deranged look on his face as he laughed lightly.
"This isn't good." Quickshot said as her visor analyzed the substance in the device as she added. "If anymore of this starts to spread on the streets, we could have our hands full of deranged crooks with unstable powers. We need to find the ones selling this and shut them down."
"That's the easy part. The Iron Spikes are the ones selling it." Azumi then informed as she leaned against the wall, where the StarCorps members looked at the street vigilante with shock and worry.
The Iron Spikes were one of the more notorious street gangs in Odaiba, led by a meta human named Ivan Doblest, who could cover his entire body in a steel-like substance, causing sharp spine-like blades to come out of his skin.
However, as far as the StarCorps had been concerned, the Iron Spikes have been laying low for the past few years, trying to stay out of trouble since a certain individual the hero cops knew well defeated Ivan in battle, earning the respect of the gang leader in the process.
"Raven, call in the others, especially Fighting Fury. He has history with Ivan and can probably help us understand why the gang would get into the drug business." Quickshot said to her teammate, before frowning when she heard Azumi give off a scoff.
"That part's easy. When I tracked them down the other day, I ran into their suppliers, and they're not the friendly type." The masked vigilante said, before reaching into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a patch from someone's jacket, showing them the symbol, which looked like a black diamond with a silver C in the middle, a symbol both the StarCorps and the Protectors knew well.
Simply calling themselves the Cartel, the group was an international crime syndicate who were said to not only have their hands in all forms of illegal activities, but they were also able to deal with super powered individuals, as it is said the group's entire leadership were villains of various powers and types.
"If the Cartel is in Odaiba, then just selling drugs on the streets can't be their only goal, we need to catch the one supplying them to Iron Spikes as well." Cyberstriker said, getting nods from Darkblade and the StarCorps, before he looked at Azumi, wondering how she would react.
"I can tell you are used to working alone, but we could really use your help in this situation. Please, show us where the Iron Spikes and the Cartel are meeting." The tai chi hero asked, where Azumi seemed to look thoughtful for a moment.
"Alright, but only because you asked so nicely." The masked girl replied with a sly tone as she glanced toward Cyberstriker, expressing a friendlier side to her that made Cyberstriker blush once again, which also caused Darkblade to silently giggle once again at seeing her brother getting flustered.
'Seems Henry really likes this Azumi girl.' Darkblade thought, suppressing her desire to laugh. 'I just can't wait to get back and tell the girls that my brother has a crush on her.'
-Thirty minutes later-
Looking down from the roof of a nearby building, hidden within the more questionable streets of Odaiba, the entire StarCorps, Cyberstriker, Darkblade and Azumi looked down at the supposed abandoned building next door, seeing not only several street thugs sitting around as lookouts, but several armed figures as well.
Taking in the forms of the armed figures, the heroes and heroines couldn't identify any of them, for all were not only cast in the same outfits, consisting of black bullet proof vests, dark gray undershirts that had the Cartel patch personally crafted on the left shoulder, but each had a ski mask covering all their features, while each wore a blue visor over their eyes, which Azmui informed beforehand that they were used for night vision, heat vision and to identify individuals in the room, to see who was meant to be there and who was meant to be exterminated.
Moving quietly and quickly, following Azumi's guidance, the group of heroes made it to the top of the other building without the guards noticing, using the roof access to enter and make their way down, looking to see some kind of meeting going on all the entire lobby was filled with Iron Spike gang members, several Cartel guards, and two individuals who were conversing.
Looking at Iron Spikes' leader, Ivan, he was a heavily built man, with his chest looking large enough to stop bullets alone, while his arms were larger than Marcus', continuing to give him an intimidating appearance.
He had short silver hair and was dressed in a black top and a pair of green cargo pants, looking more of a mercenary himself than a lead of a street gang, but what caught the attention of the heroes and heroines was the black filtered mask Ivan was wearing over his face as he spoke with his guest.
Looking at said guest, the visors the StarCorps were wearing quickly went to work looking to identify the individual as they took in her appearance.
Looking over her, the woman wore a red bodysuit, which was opened in a V-shape, showing her stomach and the sides of her breasts, while black boots and gloves covered her legs and arms, as did several dark green vines.
She wore a cape that resembled red rose petals, with five petals sticking out around her neck, while a dark visor covered her eyes, but revealed her long, blonde hair, which was tied in a ponytail.
All could be seen of her face were her lips, her deep red lips that formed a dark smirk, but having access to tons of data stored on her from the files back at the StarCorps' base, Cobalt Warrior silently informed his allies as to who they were up against.
"Lady Planteur Fonce, a plant based villainess believed to be a part of the Cartel's council and head of their operations in France." The blond haired hero whispered, where Cyberstriker and Darkblade mentally prepared themselves, having had enough experience with plant types from training with Lilly and fighting against Dark Ivy.
"Your men are getting sloppy, Monsieur Doblest, they seem to be selling our product to anyone who wants it, causing several junkies to go rampant recently. We cannot afford to have anyone tracking our shipments so soon." The blonde haired villainess said to the larger man, who scoffed in reply.
"What did you expect, that my boys can just waltz up to your high end clients and just sell them your... 'Rage' without being noticed? Look at what you're dealing with." Ivan replied in an irritated tone.
Fury, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes at Ivan, angry to see his old acquaintance slip back into these kinds of dealings.
Before joining the police force, Marcus was no different from Azumi, a street thug himself putting things right the only way he knew how, with his fists.
Then, back when the Iron Spikes were causing havoc and misery in the street, Marcus challenged Ivan to a fight, one that nearly leveled a city block, ending in Marcus' victory, before he learned Ivan's history, that he did what he did to get what he needed to help his siblings back home, ensuring he could provide his family with the money they needed, no matter the cost to others.
It was then that a sort of truce formed between the then vigilante and the gang leader, with the Iron Spikes all but retiring and Marcus eventually joining StarCorps.
But now, seeing Ivan dealing with the Cartel of all people made the fighting hero's blood boil, where he looked at the others, who were seeing the stacks of containers carrying the super drug, and said. "I'm going to cause a distraction. Help when you can."
"Fury, just wait..." Quickshot tried to say, not wanting her teammate and boyfriend to do anything rash, before Fighting Fury jumped down from the hiding spot, landing with a loud thud as his body crackled with orange energy, surprising Ivan and Lady Planteur, while causing her guards to point their weapons at the hero as the Iron Spikes all looked ready to tackle the hero at a moment's notice.
"Damn it..." Ivan said under his breath as he saw Fighting Fury glaring at him, knowing full well who he was and why he was here, as well as afraid for the individual's safety.
"Oh? A friend of yours, Ivan? Deal with him." Lady Planteur Fonce said with a dark smirk, stepping back a few feet, along with her guards as Ivan moved in front of Fighting Fury, his imposing figure towering over the fighting hero, who glared up at him.
"I thought we had an understanding, Ivan." Fury said in an angry tone, where Ivan shrugged and replied. "Something's just can't change, Fury."
"Sometimes we lose control of the situation and must play with the cards we have been dealt." Ivan mumbled, being a small habit of his as he would express his thoughts from time to time.
"Why work with the Cartel and sell this poison in our streets?" Fury then asked, wanting to know why Ivan would deal with crooks like the Cartel in the first place.
"I don't have a choice." Ivan replied in a low whisper, his eyes darting around, confusing Fighting Fury at first, before he looked around, seeing the other Iron Spikes starting to surround the pair, where he then noticed how they were all acting.
Despite the dark smirks on their faces, most of the gang members looked out of it, their eyes having a far away look in them, where Fury's eyes widened in realization as he looked back at Ivan's mask.
'Planteur must be controlling them, and whatever it is, it's airborne!' Fury thought in shock, before quickly tapping the side of his visors, causing a rebreather to materialize over his mouth and nose, something the other heroes noticed as the other StarCorps did the same, while Cyberstriker made sure his mask was secure.
"Aw, he saw through my little trick. Too bad, he looked like he would have been fun to play with." Lady Planteur Fonce commented, before giving a small sigh as she then focused her attention to those under her thrall.
"Kill him, and if your boss doesn't fight, kill him as well!" The plant Villainess declared as she turned with her guards to take their product and leave, while the Iron Spikes all let out rage filled cries as they charged at Fighting Fury, while Ivan's skin took on a silver-liquid like form as dozens of razor spikes came out of his being, forming from a liquid and to a pure solid, joining his brainwashed gang members to fight the hero.
As Planteur Fonce and her men approached the stacks of crates, however, they stopped as Darkblade, Quickshot, Starlight and Shadow Walker landed in front of her, with the three StarCorps heroines pointing either their weapons or energy flowing hands at the villainess.
"Planteur Fonce, you are wanted for a number of illegal activities around the globe. Come quietly or we'll use force." Quickshot declared, ready to open fire if she had to at the villainess, who just laughed in reply.
"After everything we've been through, do you really think I'll start cooperating with you now?" Planteur Fonce asked back, smirking behind her mask as she prepared to take on Quickshot, finding herself divided between disposing of the auburn haired heroine or prying her filter off and brainwashing her to obey her commands.
Eventually, the idea of just disposing of her came to mind as the masked villainess brought up both arms, where several tendrils made of vine shot out towards the heroines, causing them to quickly jump out of the way as the Cartel guards opened fire.
Meanwhile, Cobalt Warrior, Midnight Raven, Cyberstriker and Azumi jumped down between the Iron Spikes and Fighting Fury and Ivan, allowing the two to duke it out as the four of them battled the mind controlled thugs, quickly dispatching the gang members as Fury and Ivan clashed, their hands clenched as they tried to push one another back, both glaring at each other as the orange energy flickered off of Fury's form, wanting to go all out, while the hero kept himself in check, now realizing that Ivan was not apart of this willingly.
"She came to some of my men first... put them under her control... before I knew it, more than half my crew were under her control... I managed to protect myself, but it was too late to stop her. If I didn't comply, we'd have them either kill themselves or do worse..." Ivan said as he traded blows with Fighting Fury, who delivered a swift punch to Ivan's right arm, cracking the metallic skin, before it quickly regenerated, allowing the larger man to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, as her guards were knocked out, Lady Planteur Fonce moved in for close combat, creating several thorn-like blades on her arms as she fought Darkblade and Quickshot head on, while using her onslaught of vines to try and grab Starlight and Shadow Walker.
"Mes chers, You are all so much fun, If only I could play with you a little longer." The plant villainess said with a small chuckle, before quickly dodging as Azumi came at her from the side, swinging her staff at her, where the villainess saw all of the Iron Spikes, save Ivan, out cold as the other heroes glared at her, where the villainess looked at the masked vigilante.
"You... I thought I told that idiot over there to dispose of you. It seems he either ignored me or left you alive on purpose." Planteur Fonce said with a more aggressiveness in her voice, leaving the heroes puzzled, just wondering who exactly Azumi was.
"I'm not too sure myself." Azumi admitted as she moved into a fighting stance toward the blonde haired villainess, where she declared. "But either way, I am taking you down!"
Seeing herself outnumbered, however, the plant villainess decided that discretion was the better part of valour and decided to leave while she could, though angry that she had to leave those she detested alive, as well as leave the 'Rage' behind.
"Not this time, and certainly not the next. Au revoir!" Planteur Fonce called as a series of vines shot around her, wrapping around her being and dragging back into the ground, taking away the plant villainess and leaving Azumi with a great anger as her hands began to shake.
"Easy, she'll resurface again and we'll get her." Cyberstriker said reassuringly as he put a hand on Azumi's shoulder, causing her to relax a little, before everyone heard a loud crash, looking to see that Fury had delivered a powerful punch to Ivan's stomach, sending him flying across the room and slamming into a wall, where they saw the taller man groaning as he tried to get up, his skin returning to normal and his filter mask to then fall off, where they saw the smile on the gang leader's face.
"You... you still throw a good punch..." Ivan groaned, before falling face first into the ground, where Fury went to help the gang leader up, part of him upset to have to fight him once again, knowing now that Ivan and his gang would have to face jail time, but happy that he could help him in his time of need.
-A few minutes later-
The StarCorps, Protectors and Azumi watched as Ivan and his gang were loaded into the police vehicles, as well as the cache of drugs the Cartel had them selling, with Marcus making sure that the higher ups knew of Ivan's predicament, putting in a good word for his old friend.
"Well, I did my part, I'm off now. There are still crooks on these streets, and worse rising each day." Azumi said, about to turn and head out.
"It was good working with you. If you ever decide you want to move on from just the streets, you know where to find us." Marcus said with a smirk, seeing a part of how he used to be in the girl.
"Thanks." Azumi just said, before getting a glint in her eyes as she walked up to Cyberstriker and said. "And as for you..."
Cyberstriker was panicking at first when Azumi approached him, which then grew as she seemed to quickly start lifting his helmet, just passing his mouth as he started to yell. "Hey wait, what are you...?!"
However, the tai chi hero was quickly silenced as Azumi pulled her own face mask down and set her lips on his, giving him a deep kiss, surprising Cyberstriker greatly, more so as he felt himself reacting to Azumi's actions and found he kissed her back.
"I'll see you around." Azumi then said as she broke the kiss, quickly placing her face mask back on and sliding Cyberstriker's helmet back down, before she took off, leaving the tai chi hero dazed at what had just really occurred, while the other heroes laughed at his stunned expression.
-Meanwhile-
Within a secured location, Planteur Fonce, with her mask off, revealing her true face as Catherine Denuerve, the billionaire heiress to a powerful family in France, where she sat in a chair as several monitors turned on, revealing the other members of the Cartel's inner circle, before they realized one of the screens hadn't turned on yet.
"Please tell me he received the summon." One of the Cartel leaders groaned, before the screen turned on, revealing Deathstrike on the other end.
"About time, mate." Another Cartel leader, one with an Australian accent that looked like a cross between a human and a crab then said.
"Keep your damn shell on." Deathstrike replied with a groan, where he added. "It's not like the Night Queen lets me walk freely around here."
"No, but having you with her Dark Legion has benefited us greatly." Another member then added, before they looked at Catherine and said. "Unlike your deal with those worthless thugs that lost our shipment."
"As I recall, it was your idea to use them in the first place." Catherine replied defensively, before a much older member on the council stopped the bickering as he said. "Enough. Even if the 'Rage' is no longer being circulated, we still have other avenues we can take."
"Agreed. With the Night Queen and her Legion causing havoc, there are more opportunities for us to start businesses in Odaiba, and the police and heroes are too busy to deal with them or to investigate." Another member said.
"Then there's KnightCorps. Their funding seems to be funneled towards those 'Communication' towers Knight spoke of, but from his more recent activities, we can safely assume they are meant for something more." Catherine then added, having seen the real reports of KnightCorps activities, as well as knowing about the small group of heroes getting in his way.
"Regardless, we should continue as planned, and allow Deathstrike to continue on with the Night Queen. In time, the fruits of our labour will come to bare, and we'll be a lot richer in the end." Another council member said, causing smriks to form on each members' faces.
But for Michael, his smirk was for another reason as he thought. 'Damn idiots, only thinking about money. Once the boss is done and her new world is created, money won't mean a damn thing.'
Eventually the meeting ended, with only one member of the Cartel knowing what the future really held for them all.
