To Lyger 0: Let's just say that worldviews aren't the only things getting "rocked"…


"YEARGGHH!"

With a roar of wind whipping about, the figure shot past the edge of the tree line and out above the clearing. Several rows of canvas tents appeared beneath her, with the heat signatures of at least 40 people milling about, in addition to the four she had passed in the woods en route. A couple of faces turned up in her direction, eyes widening with surprise, but too late.

The Dark Acolyte camp erupted in flames, earth flying in all directions from the simultaneous explosions of a dozen small warheads detonating throughout the camp. Tents shredded from the blast. Tarps ripped apart. Trees lit up like matches, their branches and leaves igniting and immolating in a puff of smoke and ash. The ground burst apart, showering Dark Acolytes in dirt. And in the center of it all hovered Iron Maiden. Twin beams of white-hot energy poured from the cannons on her arms, and she spun in a slow circle, pumping energy into the tents and stockades below her. At another command, a second round of mini rockets shot out of launchers on her shoulders, careening around her in all directions and crashing into the ground, sending plumes of dirt and dust up into the air, obscuring everything below.

Scanning the camp quickly with her thermal imaging, Iron Maiden located a half-dozen heat signatures collecting together near a tent holding a number of unusually cool crates. Smirking darkly, she brought her hands together. "Eat shit and die!" she screamed, pouring a single massive energy pulse into the tent, directly at one of the crates. The effect was instantaneous.

An enormous explosion rocked the clearing, emanating from that spot, immolating everything within ten meters and sending a cloud of debris puffing up above the trees. Several dozen disconnected bolas balls shot out of the explosion in all directions, one of which struck Iron Maiden's leg and exploded, knocking her several meters off course. A flashing red light appeared on her HUD; her leg-mounted thruster flickered in and out as the suit's onboard repair system worked to compensate. With a yelp, Iron Maiden turned her energy cannons on two more bolas, which exploded moments before they would have hit her. Even so, she spun around in a vertical loop around her shoulders, fighting for control. As her legs came around to point at the ground she cut her jetpack and dropped almost all the way down, her jets flaring abruptly a meter from the ground and softening her landing. Bending her knees, she landed in a crouch, rising to her full height and aiming both her energy cannons toward the fresh crater where the explosive bolas had been stored.

"Who wants some!?" she roared, spinning around, searching for her next target.

Over the crackling blaze of fires breaking out all around the camp, the screams of Dark Acolytes could be heard, pounding feet running in all directions. As Iron Maiden turned toward the closest footsteps, a couple Dark Acolytes stumbled out of a flaming tent nearby and spotted her standing in the center of the destruction. Raising their hands in front of their chests, both Dark Acolytes started backing slowly away. With a snarl, Iron Maiden took in their terrified faces. "You!" Before they had gone more than a few steps, Iron Maiden snagged the one she recognized from the forest with her grappling hook and activating the taser. "You're gonna pay for what you did!" she growled. The man convulsed, his arms shaking helplessly, and collapsed to the ground. She reeled in the grappling cord, dragging the Dark Acolyte part of the way toward her before his legs finally came unbound, leaving him sprawled halfway into one of the craters pockmarking the camp.

A twig snapped, and Iron Maiden jerked around to find the other man, just turning to run away. As his foot left the ground, she swung her arm horizontally, looping her other grappling hook around the Dark Acolyte's planted leg and reeling him toward her the moment he lifted that foot off the ground. "Oh, no! I'm not done with you bastards yet!" The man unbalanced and fell to the ground, his legs splayed apart in a split. He howled in pain, moments before his head struck the ground and he fell silent.

A spray of stones peppered off of Iron Maiden's back, tinkling as they struck the metal and scattered on the ground. At a command, one of the jets on her jetpack swiveled to point directly behind her and activated, sending a gout of energy in the direction of the rock spray. However, no sooner had the jet activated than another handful of stones impacted on her back, one of which landed inside the jetpack's nozzle, causing it to overheat. Iron Maiden stumbled slightly as the jet's energy output changed its direction and strength, and she spun around to search for the source of the stone sprays. Before she could find them, however, two massive energy beams bathed that entire area, turning three tents and the ground between them into a charred wasteland. Just next to the scene of that devastation, three Dark Acolytes emerged from behind one of the few surviving trees, covering their heads and diving for cover. Of the three, one made a beeline for Iron Maiden, quarterstaff raised. He had only crossed half the distance when, with a shower of dirt, Mecha-Man slammed into the ground between Iron Maiden and the Dark Acolyte, punching the man in the chest in the same motion and driving him down into the ground. "This is what you get for threatening my country!" he bellowed, placing his foot on the Acolyte's chest. Without taking his eyes off of the Acolyte, he pointed one of his energy cannons to the right, sending an energy beam ripping through the tent next to them.

"What the hell are you doing here, Mecha-Maniac!?" demanded Iron Maiden as another Dark Acolyte made a break for the tree line. Before he reached it, however, Sparrow swung down out of the closest tree, landed in front of him, and swept his legs out from under him. The Dark Acolyte stumbled and recovered his footing, jabbing at Sparrow with his staff, and Sparrow jumped backward, flicking a pair of boomerangs at him from midair. The Acolyte dove forward into a somersault, rolling between the boomerangs as they looped around him, and he tackled Sparrow to the ground as he regained his feet. No sooner had he landed on top of him, however, than Sparrow brought his feet together, kicked the Acolyte off, and kipped to his feet. The Dark Acolyte charged right back at Sparrow, only for a blast of wind from above to knock him off his feet as Valkyrie landed right in front of Sparrow, both arms raised. Around the perimeter of the camp, more and more heroes began to emerge from the forest. Iron Maiden's suit tracked Sent-Bee as she shot between two trees and sent a spray of her synth-Venom into an Acolyte's face, but all of Iron Maiden's focus was on Mecha-Man himself.

Mecha-Man raised his other arm and sent a trio of rockets shooting off in the direction of a small group of Dark Acolytes which had surrounded Hoda and Aisha near the edge of the forest. As the explosives landed, Hoda leaned forward, blocking a spray of dirt with her shoulder, even as the Dark Acolytes were thrown to the ground. "I may work for the Lynchpin, but I live in Paris," Mecha-Man declared. "And I would like to get home and see my family one of these days. Besides," he added, "the Boss sent me."

Iron Maiden scoffed, snagging her grappling wire around a Dark Acolyte that was in the process of sneaking up behind Sk8r Girl. "'The Boss'?" she repeated dubiously, pulling the Dark Acolyte to the ground moments before a cloud of birds descended on him with a piercing shriek. "As in Lynchpin? Or is it Night Bat? Because I find that hard to believe…"

"Neither," Mecha-Man told her, shaking his head. "Haven't heard from either of them since arriving here. The Engineer sent me."

Iron Maiden hummed in surprise as one of the flashing red indicators on her HUD turned green. Slowly she activated her jetpack and rose into the air, turning in a slow circle. Her initial assault had thrown the Dark Acolytes' camp into utter disarray, but she hadn't exactly been aiming to kill them all. Dozens of men and women ran around the wrecked camp in a blind panic, racing for the cover of the forest, many of them straight into the other heroes who had joined the assault.

Suddenly, a massive white shield with a black cross in the center appeared between two trees, directly in front of a group of the Dark Acolytes, of whom the first one ran straight into the shield and fell to the ground, unconscious. A whirlwind rose above the tops of the trees, stripping leaves and branches from the trees along the edge of the forest, with Amun-Vatar suspended in the eye of the storm. Three Dark Acolytes were sucked up into the maelstrom as Amun-Vatar flew above the shield and sent a spinning light construct through the camp, severing the tops of a half-dozen surviving tents, which collapsed to pieces. Two Dark Acolytes tried to push around the Kight's shield, only to run straight into the Knight himself, who slashed clean through one Dark Acolyte's quarterstaff and drove his shoulder into the other's chest, knocking him to the ground and pressing him into the dirt with one foot. The first Dark Acolyte jumped away from the Knight, swinging the two halves of his quarterstaff like batons and bringing them down on his head while his back was turned. La Gymnaste appeared from behind the shield and swiped with her own staff, blocking the Dark Acolyte's attack and kicking him in the gut before he could react. As the Dark Acolyte brought one of his batons around to swing at la Gymnaste's side, she sprang away into a handstand, narrowly avoiding the blow. The Dark Acolyte leapt after her, only for the Lancer to clothesline him with the shaft of her lance, driving him back down to the ground. She planted her foot in the middle of his chest and twirled her lance to point the tip at his throat.

On the far side of the camp, Valkyrie, Sparrow, and a pair of Japanese heroes had cornered several Dark Acolytes with their backs against the burning remains of the pavilion tent. One of the Initiates feinted a strike with her quarterstaff, luring an Acolyte forward, just as a Japanese woman swung her naginata in a wide sweeping slash. Another Acolyte dove toward her, his own quarterstaff raised to block, and Sparrow kicked the man in the knee, ducking beneath the naginata and driving a pair of quick jabs into the Acolyte's shoulders. Valkyrie rose to hover, just as one of the remaining Acolytes threw a bolas at her legs. It wrapped tightly around her ankles, and she yelped, losing her concentration and falling to the ground. The other Japanese hero – Ronin – lunged to catch her.

"Valkyrie!" bellowed the Knight, sprinting in her direction, laying into the Acolytes around him with his sword, the blade suddenly sheathed in flickering red flames. An Acolyte jumped in front of him and assumed a defensive stance, his quarterstaff held tightly in both arms; the Knight barreled straight through him without stopping, slashing through his staff and trampling him into the dirt. With a roar, he reached Valyrie and body-checked the nearest Acolyte into a tree, cutting the bolas cord around her ankles with a single chop and wrapping one arm protectively around her shoulders. Ronin swung around and threw his shoulder into an Acolyte, parrying aside his quarterstaff and slashing halfway through his arm.

"Secure the perimeter!" ordered Olivet, hovering near the edge of the forest and sending a pulse of white light at a Dark Acolyte who was trying to hide behind the trees. "Don't let any of them escape! We have to get back the miraculous they stole!"

A trio of Guardian Initiates, along with the Heretic, Anansi, and the Owl, sprinted between the burning tents, pushing deeper into the heart of the camp. Around the perimeter of the camp were dozens of heroes, including many of the United Heroez. O Patriota, batons in hand, stalked the tree line, laying into any Dark Acolytes he found. A large group of Dark Acolytes sprinted for a break in the trees, only for the two closest trees to lean over into their path and sweep the leading rank off their feet. Spider Monkey shot webs at the trees, securing them in place, before webbing the Dark Acolytes to the ground. Bandruí stepped out of the forest and waved her hand, causing a dozen saplings to emerge from the ground throughout the camp. One appeared directly beneath a Dark Acolyte, who was pulled up off the ground before he could react.

"After all the trouble we went through to get those things," Bandruí shouted, her eyes flashing with anger, "I'll be banjaxed if I let you dossers get them without a fight!"

Seeing a trio of Dark Acolytes moving in Bandruí's direction, Iron Maiden rocketed toward her and snatched her off the ground, simultaneously sending a blast of energy at the Acolytes. "Maybe stick with me, sis?" Iron Maiden called over the roar of her jetpack as Bandruí clutched her tightly around the neck. "I–" She swallowed. "I can't lose anyone else today."

A large, heavyset man stepped out of a tent near the center of the camp, holding a thick staff in one hand. "You people would defend those who threaten the balance of the universe!?" he roared, hitting a button on his staff to deploy blades from either end. "All who ally with miraculous abusers must be destroyed! And the Heirodeacon will be the one to do it!"

"Is that what happened to my sister?" demanded O Patriota, charging the man from across the camp, clocking a Dark Acolyte over the head as he passed. The Acolyte dropped to the ground without a sound. "I'll kill you for that!"

The Heirodeacon grinned maliciously. "We shall see about that!" he taunted. As O Patriota reached him, he ducked under the first assault and batted aside the second with his staff. O Patriota spun around to attack him, but the Heirodeacon swiped at his legs with the bottom end of his staff. O Patriota jumped over the attack, kneeing the man in the chest, and the Heirodeacon stumbled backward, clutching his stomach with his free hand. The moment he landed, O Patriota lunged after him in pursuit, swinging one of his batons at the Heirodeacon's head, but the Heirodeacon pushed him away, parrying the baton with his staff. In the same motion, he twirled his staff around, bringing one blade down toward O Patriota's shoulder, and he dove to the side as the staff struck the ground with a detonation that sent a spray of dirt and stone in all directions. O Patriota rolled to his feet, swung around, and lunged at the Heirodeacon, tackling him to the ground. The Heirodeacon kicked him off and sprang to his feet, swinging his blade-staff over his head. O Patriota pushed himself to his feet, just as the man grabbed his staff with both hands above his head, swinging down with a crack. O Patriota moved to raise his batons in a block, but a second too slow.

Majestia landed directly in front of O Patriota, and the blade struck her forehead, shattering into pieces with an explosion that rippled backward, tearing apart the blade-staff and knocking the Heirodeacon stumbling backward. Majestia glared at the Heirodeacon in righteous fury, her eyes beginning to glow with golden fire, punching the Heirodeacon in the chest and sending him soaring across the camp. Lifting into the air, Majestia floated after him and landed with her foot on his throat. "You are going to fall today," she hissed, unleashing her heat vision in two brilliant golden beams that scorched the ground on either side of the Heirodeacon's head. Thin wisps of smoke trailed up from the blackened earth as the heat vision ceased. "It is only a matter of the pain you will feel in the meantime!"

Letting out a breath, her stomach finally starting to unclench, Iron Maiden rose higher into the air, drifting from one side of the camp to the other, buoyed by the gusts of wind being fired off in all directions by Valkyrie, Amun-Vatar, and Kamikaze. The fight seemed to be in hand, almost everywhere.

Bandruí furrowed her brows. "So where are the miraculous?"