'When superpowers first appeared, it was chaos. People across the planet had to find peaceful ways to adapt to this new reality. Eventually, an ideology started to circulate among meta-humans. Not meta-power suppression, but liberation. Many believe the freedom to use meta-abilities was a natural right.
Especially Kristoff Nalson, he called himself Destro, the man who would destroy the present. In his time, he brought together like-minded people and formed the Meta-Human Liberation Army. After confronting the government and struggling against them, they were defeated. Members were arrested, and the organisation was forked to be dissolved.
Destro ended up writing a book on prison before committing suicide. When he left this world, Destro had no idea that he had a child, an heir.'
Re-Destro had just entered an office building and stopped at the top floor, where a group of people had gathered. Upon seeing him, they raise their hands as a secret gesture to the Meta-Human Liberation Army.
"How are things progressing?" he asked.
"We managed to track down someone who had solid connections to the League," said a man who resembled a politician. "If we're going to approach them, the sooner, the better."
"They're enemies to be Liberation Army; if the government continues to stand idly by, we'll have no choice but to deal with them ourselves," said Re-Destro. "We will take down the League of Villains in Destro's name."
Krogan and the rest of the League had now reached Hercorn, but it just looked like any old town.
"Welcome to the suburbs, completely unremarkable," said Spinner.
"I like the atmosphere," said Twice. "This place sucks."
"There's a force of 110,000 strong below?" said Compress and then pulled out his pocket watch. "Once Gignato wakes up in an hour and 30 minutes, he will chase Krogan all the way to this stage. Once he makes his entrance, he'll run into the so-called Liberation Army. Hopefully, we'll last until the curtain fall."
"How did I get tricked into joining along such a stupid plan," Diablo muttered.
"Because it was the only plan we had," said Viggo simply.
"Doesn't tell me why I joined in on this."
"Someone is coming!" Turid announced.
Sure enough, appearing over the hill was Slide-And-Go, sliding across the ground. Upon seeing this and they immediately drew out their weapons, preparing for a fight.
"A friend approaches, are the chosen to act as your guide here today," said Slide-And-Go. "So if you wish to speak to our revered leader, you can follow my lead."
"A hero?" said Spinner stunned. "But not a well-known one."
Slide-And-Go let them into the city, which was completely deserted, which was strange in itself considering it was a Saturday.
"There's nobody here," said Compress.
Krogan noticed that there were other heroes standing watch, but none of them reacted to their presence.
"I get it; it's the whole town," said Krogan.
"Right you are," said Slide-And-Go and then suddenly came to a stop and performed the handiest of the Liberation Army.
Then suddenly, stepping out onto the street was a man that resembled a politician and next to him was a blue-skinned woman that looked as if she was a reporter.
"This is a liberated district," he explained as Slide-And-Go slid away. "90% of Hercorn's population is hidden liberation warriors. We appreciate you for travelling so far to meet us face-to-face. We celebrate your arrival; you are the guests of honour."
"Isn't that Hector Smoothtongue, the leader of the Heart and Mind Movement?" Compress asked.
"He important?" Spinner asked.
"Now that the facilities begin. Welcome them, friends…" said Hector and snapped his fingers. "…to our revival party!"
Immediately jumping out of every single house were civilians, all of them armed to the teeth.
"They were lying about the numbers," said Compress as he jumped back.
"It doesn't matter; we're here. Where is Johann!" Twice demanded.
"You must mean the broker; these with our grand commander. I'm sure he'd been entertained," Hector smiled.
"Didn't you say you would give him back if we came! Greasy bastard!" Twice snarled when he was suddenly a rock hit him on the head.
Krogan looked up to see a number of Liberation warriors jumping at him.
"Krogan!" they yelled.
Krogan responded by touching them with his hand causing them to disintegrate into dust. Moore tried to attack him from behind, but why shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around them.
"If Johann is anywhere, it will be in that tower," said Viggo pointing at the tower, which overlooks the entire town.
Turid immediately made her way towards the tower. "I'm always the best girl on the ground."
Then suddenly, the ground beneath exploded, sending her flying. The explosion was so certain she didn't have time to brace herself and ended up skidding across the ground.
"Unless the ground explodes," she groaned.
"All those deaths due to blood loss, the other corporate right," said a voice.
Turid looked up and saw the reporter that had been with Hector looking at her positioning her hands as if she was taking her picture. "Turid Bladedotter… how a high school girl was driven to madness. Her deathbed confessions will leave the world shocked. I must interview you."
Turid just narrowed her eyes. "Nope."
Johann was currently in the tower with Re-Destro overlooking the battle.
"You make too many mistakes," said Johann. "First, you're treating an old man as the damsel in distress, which is embarrassing for everybody. Second, if they let a bioengineered Red Death lose, your people here won't stand a chance against it."
"They will be losing any of those monsters," said Re-Destro confidently. "There are three reasons; it seems as if I'm more informed than you. One: ever since DC, we haven't seen any widespread use of the creatures, even though the League is still active and carrying out plots. Two: there's that high-performance Red Death that appeared in Atlanta.
What's most important here is the grey Red Deaths that the black one discharged; that's what I'm interested in. Even though they played around with some humans, they didn't seem to possess extraordinary power. And three: Diablo said that he was collecting the black one, which means they don't have a surplus of other Red Deaths that could be deployed to take the powerful ones' place. From this, I can deduce some things; Red Death support goons from their patron Drago Bludvist and it is clear they don't have enough. They're having to ration the monsters that made them viable opponents. A League of Villains that can't use Red Deaths is nothing more than a social club."
All the Liberation warriors didn't just hand numbers on their side; it was also very apparently were trained to use their meta-powers.
Spinner had just barely managed to block an attack from a guy whose hand morphed into a giant shark head with his blade. He then quickly jumped back in order to avoid a powerful surge of water from hitting him.
"Everyone of them is strong, no fair," he said.
The reporter was looking straight towards Turid. "The reserve liberation warriors train each day in preparation for the future. Repeatedly drilling their bodies and minds in order to live their best and most authentic lives. That's why you're such a nuisance; look at the news. You came later and have no great cause, and yet you're famous.
You fascinating girl, it sounds like you hate being interviewed. That's a pity; I threw away all restraint towards my interviewees a long time ago. So, little one, I'll have you bare your soul to me now. The public interest in the League is one thing, but you're a different headline. The schoolgirl with a mind full of violence it's a catchy tag, don't you think? My blood is pumping just like my first day on the beat."
Suddenly a knife flew by and landed straight in the throes of one of her men, killing him instantly. When she looked up, she found that Turid had disappeared.
"Gone? No wonder they can't catch that girl," she said. "Where did she go?"
She looked up and saw Turid heading straight towards him with her knife firmly in hand. However, before she could even get close to her, the report as follows immediately blasted her with their powers, sending her flying into a cafe.
"You went straight for the jugular with no hesitation," she said excitedly as she recorded the entire thing. "I have to know. What horrors in your past make you turn out this way?"
Turid rolled across the forward, quickly recovered, and got to her feet.
"Oooh, be careful where you land."
Suddenly the ground beneath Turid exploded.
"Our forces will show no mercy; if you want to stay alive longer, you have to do the interview."
The reporter's name was Carly Scoop, but she went by the codename Curious. Her power allowed her to turn anything she touched into a bomb, whether it be organic or inorganic. The bombs themselves aren't too lethal, but she had no limit on creating as many as she wanted.
Turid was thrown off when a bunch of liberation warriors pounced on her, but she merely smiled and tossed several syringes. She then fitted her mask on and began drinking their blood.
"Syringes? So that's how you do it," said Curious. "Your ability allows you to swallow blood and transform. And you can ingest multiple people, truly a master of disguise. Being able to mimic them is a skill, but you also possess instinct and talent that the average murderer doesn't have. The audience will want to know how you fell into this life."
Turid's eyes widen when suddenly she felt several small explosions erupting inside of her. Curious had somehow turned her victim's blood into bombs creating miniature explosions inside of her.
'The blood exploded,' she said, spitting out quite a bit of blood.
Moments later, her victims then exploded themselves.
"By the way, don't even think about transforming and hiding yourself," said Curious. "There are warriors within our ranks more than willing to become bombs for the cause."
Turid found herself being flung right through the back door into an alleyway. She then immediately began running down the alleyway, but she had taken a very heavy hitting, stumbling with each step, and one of those steps, she stepped on a landmine. She then leaned against the wall, which then to exploded, sending her crashing into another war which then to exploded. She then began stumbling away, but once again, the ground exploded beneath her, and it became clear to her that every single step would cause it to stand on a landmine.
"At the age of 17, you are the oldest daughter of the Bladedotter family, born August 7th, last seen at your middle school graduation. Did you catch the candid interview with your parents, and they spoke to your classmates too? They all said the same, 'She was a cheerful and obedient child always.' So how did you end up here? When did things go off the rails? Why did you throw away a normal life?"
Turid then landed on the street after hitting another landmine; she looked as if she was going to lose consciousness at any moment.
"I understand what happened. You feel so much pain, but instead of observing it, I want to hear from you directly."
A few years ago, Curious had been men taught by Re-Destro about the proper way of bringing people to their cause with interviews.
"Carly, you won't grab the hearts of the masses with clinical words such as these," said Re-Destro as he went through her interviews. "Dusty facts and hearsay aren't what will draw people to our course. Conduct interviews, and look at the faces of your subjects. In order to guide public opinion, you must appeal to emotion first and foremost."
"I will convince the public of your story!" Curious announced. "It is all for the Liberation Army. All you have to do is tell me how you went insane."
"I threw away normal life?" said Turid as she picked herself up, her face covered in blood. "What is that?"
Curious just smiled. 'An iconic face; she's like a doll.'
"You're finally opening up to me."
"The Liberation Army is trying to build a wonderful world? So, I love you," said Turid as she got to her feet. "I love you so much it hurts, but I believe right now my life is normal."
Turid's road to becoming a serial killer started when she attacked a boy in her class, shocking both her parents and classmates.
"Sources tell us that the middle school, who mauled her classmate, injuring him badly, is still on the run. No elevation of the attack has been offered."
"Turid was always smiling and friendly," said a boy in her class. "I still currently she would do something so brutal."
"I saw her… Turid" said a terrified girl. "She struck a straw in his wound like she was in a trance… s-she had the most repulsive look of bliss on her face as she drank the blood."
Turid's parents refused to show their faces on TV, but they did agree to an audio interview.
"We're so terribly sorry, we did our best, but we obviously failed," said Turid's mother. "That child is a demon."
When Turid was a little girl, she approached her parents with a dead bird in her hands.
"Mummy! Daddy! This little bird, he's cute, isn't he?" she said with a joyful look on her face mixed with a malicious smile. "I love him."
"You think you're normal?" said Curious looking rather sceptical. "An interesting thought; tell me, is this your true face?"
Turid didn't reply only looked at her with an expression. There was a combination of cheerfulness and insanity.
"I knew it; my instincts are sharp as ever. You are the embodiment of a suppressed superhuman society." Turid then spat out some blood and fell to the ground.
"Poor lost child," said Curious as she knelt towards her. "You're ragged inside and out, a poor unfortunate soul that sacrificed herself for the suppression of your meta-powers. That is who you are, correct? You pitiful girl, because of the meta-ability you have, you grew up truly fascinated by blood. But do you know who is to blame? This world.
What you felt is completely natural, you are interested in blood, but society could not comprehend that. It's not your fault the world wasn't ready to accept you; that's why you put a lid on your desires suppressing yourself wearing a mask over your true identity."
Turid sat down with the dead bird and began drinking its blood, only for her mother to swat it out of our hands.
"Stop it! What do you think you're doing?" her mother yelled.
"Quit smiling like that!" her father demanded. "It's so creepy; you look like a deviant."
"Why can't you just be a regular girl? Why can't you be normal?"
Turid then bit her lip and swung her knife at Curious. "You shut your mouth!"
Curious then raised her hand and the bracelet she was wearing transformed into a thick, brick-shaped gauntlet with four wedged protrusions on the front. She then quickly used it to block Turid's knife and, with one good twist, snapped the knife in two. She then placed the gauntlet right in front of Turid's face, and an explosion then struck her at point-blank range.
"There's no difference between your normal and the Liberation Army's goal; they are one and the same," said Curious as Turid toppled over. "This is the ultimate truth of the Liberation Army's ideals. Your life will be written about in our modern-day holy book as a shining example of that truth. Please tell me if my thoughts seem incomplete in any way; if not, this interview will not be finished. I can't have a subject this good dye before their final words."
Turid then quickly shot up and ran away. "NO!"
"Where were you run to? The League cannot overpower us!"
'I don't like her,' said Turid as she reached into her pocket and grabbed a vile of blood. 'Doesn't she get that I love my life? When I'm happy, I smiled back.'
Then just as she drank the blood in vile, the ground beneath her exploded.
'You may kiss someone you like, but my way is different. I suck the blood of those I love. Don't you dare take that from me!'
When the smoke cleared, she had transformed into Fishlegs.
"Your reserve of blood," Curious smiled. "Oh, I think I'm teaming up."
The liberation warriors then fired at her, and one of them managed to wrap a whip around her feet, causing her to stumble.
"I know that meta-ability only allows you allows you to change your appearance. You must want to look cute in the end. What a beautiful tragedy!"
'With the last bit of blood I have from then was Fishlegs'. Hiccup trusts him, so I was saving it. Lucky, it must be nice. I do get close to someone I love too.'
Turid caught herself before she hit the ground and looked at Curious as she slowly approached her.
"Please, give me your story!" she yelled, swinging her gauntlet down onto her.
"Nooo!" Turid screamed, and acting on pure instinct, she raised her hand. 'I want to be like you.'
Her hand touched the gauntlet, which then promptly let off an explosion. However, unlike the previous times, Curious suddenly found herself shooting upwards into the air, following right above the town.
'Every day I was chased by the police and heroes, I became so sensitive to what was happening around me.'
Turid then suddenly dashed at the liberation warriors touching them with her hands while he was still stunned at what happened to Curious. 'When I pretended to be a high school girl, the world became kinder. Don't get caught… keep on moving. Don't get caught!'
It was then that she suddenly realised that everyone she had touched was now floating above the town. Somehow she managed to use Fishlegs' powers, surprising not only her enemies but herself as well.
'Am I using… Fishlegs' power?' she said, stunned.
She then copped out some blood is half of her face began to revert back to normal as the transformation began to wear off. She only drank a small amount of blood and was only able to hold the transformation for only a few minutes.
"What's this?" said Curious, stunned. "On her form, it said that you can only change her physical appearance. Don't tell me… she levelled up just now? The fear of death evolved her meta-power!"
"Yes, I will love, live and die normally," said Turid began putting her hands together. "I want to become more… like those I love."
The moment that she put her hands together, Curious and the other liberation warriors found the gravity around them restored and began plummeting towards the ground.
"What a wonderful headline that makes," said Curious as she fell. "This will be my greatest feature!"
She and the rest of her warriors hit the ground just as the rest of Turid's transformation vanished, and seconds later, she collapsed.
The rest of the League was still trying to fend off the other warriors, which was not easy given their numbers in training.
"We keep chopping them down, but there's too many," said Spinner as more warriors dashed towards them.
Diablo merely incinerated them with his flames. "You haven't killed a single one of them."
"Turid's gone!" Twice panicked. "Where is she?"
Turid was badly injured, but she managed to make her way into a share in someone's backyard.
'I'm a mess, just like Hiccup was,' she panted. 'It's better not to kill, leave them to the big guy, but I want to do it myself because…' She then collapsed. '… what I hate should be destroyed. Right, Krogan?'
Krogan was making his way through the street; she was already pretty tired after his constant battle with Giganto, making his vision blurry and causing him to stumble every now and then.
'I feel sleepy,' he said, and then he turned to face a group of warriors advancing towards him. 'When you're this tired, stuff looks like it's moving when it's not. You hallucinate things that aren't there, like being overwhelmed with information. I know my body is glitchy right now.'
He then started to see strange images which he didn't recognise but still felt familiar.
'What's this? Another flashback?'
He found himself in a study and was looking at a picture of a blackhead woman hugging a teenage boy. Judging from her costume, she must've been a hero.
'I don't recall this happening. All I remember is how I felt at the time. It was like a weight lifted off my chest. Why was that again?'
"You're going to be fine; I've got you," said a girl's voice.
'If you go to show me a memory, show me all of it!'
"I'm rooting for you; know that, Krogan."
'It's like a corrupted stream.' He then dashed towards a wall and jumped onto it. 'Great, now I feel sick.'
He ran across the walls and grabbed the face of one of the liberation warriors. Moments later, he and all the warriors that had attacked Krogan disintegrated instantly. Krogan then jumped back onto the ground and promptly threw up.
Spinner was standing there and witnessed everything, but he was in complete shock. He had, of course, seen Krogan's powers before, but this time was different.
'Is there something wrong with my eyes?' Spinner wondered. 'Just now, it looks like his disintegration power spread even though he didn't touch all of them. Krogan… did you…'
Viggo smiled as if reading his mind. "Don't worry you're eyes ain't playing tricks on you. It would seem as if he's finally waking up."
"If our leader is sparing their lives, then I'll have some fun, too," said Diablo. "I've never been good at not killing people."
He then promptly jumped at the way just before a huge chunk of ice smashed with you had been standing a few seconds ago. The ice shattered the moment it hit the ground, and inside it was a man wearing a blue arctic jacket. He had formed ice around his hands which made him resemble some kind of robotic spider.
"Ice, huh?" said Diablo, not looking impressed. "What a thrill. Nice job seeking up on me, even though you're a tank. I should warn you that I've gotten pretty strong lately. Upped all of my abilities, which is how I know you're tough."
"Diablo, wielder of the blue flame," said the guy. "The only person in the League with a ranged attack." Shards of that erupted around him, and he created a pair of ice platforms that extended him up into the air. "Why won't you use your file right away? Are you waiting for me to strike, or is there something wrong with meta-ability?"
"Hey, looks like you have a lot to learn. His complicated concept, but I guess I'll teach you… ice melts!"
He then unleashed a powerful burst of blue flames at the guy's ice, causing it to melt instantly.
"See, that's not good," he said as he began falling towards a convenience store. "Speaking about a lot to learn, pay attention. I control ice!"
Suddenly ice in the freezer area erupted out of the freezer and smashed through the windows merging with the other shards of ice that hadn't melted. They then began to merge, forming what appeared to be a dragon's head, and he hovered over the city on a platform of ice.
"I've been training my powers long as I remember, not even taking time for my studies. I've been training much longer than any hero or villain, for that matter. The Grand Commander told me to push past my limits."
"Sounds like a wonderful life, idiot," said Diablo as flames began to cover his hands. "Now die!"
"Don't think flames as weak as that can melt my creations!"
He then sent his ice dragon down towards Diablo, who then unleashed a powerful burst of flames. However, he didn't put much power into his control, so they went off in every direction in, snaring Compress in the process.
"Damnit, you're ruining our stage!" Compress complained. He then began taking in his surroundings and the location of his teammates. "Everyone's been split up. Let's see, Diablo is over there, Krogan, Viggo and Spinner went together, Turid ran ahead and is missing. Where's Twice? He was here a second ago."
Twice had managed to track down Turid in the shed, following the trail of blood she had left behind. She was currently unconscious and Twice immediately began having a massive mental breakdown, more than usual.
"No way," he said. "It's true. You ran off somewhere alone, and I was worried. Totally calm." He then clutched his head as if it was about to explode." Damnit, what happened? Turid, it can't be real! It is!"
He then bent down and checked her temperature. "I can't believe someone can feel this cold. Crap, she's burning up! Shut it! How can I? There's blood everywhere?"
He then began hugging her in his arms. "Is she breathing? Yes! No! Her face is a mess, is the enemy's blood? No, it's hers!"
He then pulled out a handkerchief. "Don't worry, I'll wipe it off for you. Remember this? If the handkerchief you gave me. Give it up; this girl is about to die."
He then pulled her towards him and began crying onto her shoulder. "No! You have to live. You're where I belong; you made the League a place where we want to be. You're the only one who needed this failure of a human being. Damnit, I'll kill them!"
He then heard footsteps as several people entered the backyard.
A man with long black hair and pale skin, as it hit never seen the light of day, was currently typing quickly on a laptop.
"Twice has found Turid," he said. "They're in the storage shed just east of us. The girl is still alive, but we need to make sure that she is dead for Curious' feature. Gruffnut Thorston… Twice… Meta-Ability: duplication. In a sense, he's the complete opposite of Turid. He made copies of himself, was almost killed by those duplicates and lost his own sense of self in the process. To live your intended life, you liberated your meta-powers, but that resulted in her wounded soul."
Twice found himself completely surrounded by a group of men who looked exactly like him. He screamed as they immediately pounced on him and Turid.
All of this was the work of the man they called Sceptic; he was the brains of the Liberation Army. His meta-power allowed him to change things with the same mass of humans into sentiment puppets.
Sceptic was looking at his laptop, which was showing a live image of Twice being surrounded by his puppets. "With your abilities in hand, no matter what happens to Re-Destro, we can bring him back. We will not repeat the tragedy of Destro. So now, are you starting to get it? Such great power, it is time for you to begin to understand your own worth. I will persuade you to join the Liberation Army."