August 25th, 2021
Royal Woods, MI, West Wing.
2:45:17 AM
Despite the late night hours, the city streets were still bustling, albeit not as much compared to the early hours. Either it was late night workers making their way back home or going to work the night shift, or the night owls that come out to hang out at clubs and party; whatever the reason is.
"They just go back and forward, doing the same things all over again, safe and sound on their boring jobs and routines, or enjoying their youth with friends, doing stupid mistakes like there's no tomorrow." A young man said to himself. Nobody would really hear him if he was sitting on top of a building, just watching the one or two cars that shone on the roads below his feet. He took out a small capsule from the pocket of his jacket, which opened up to reveal a mask similar to Kalulu's, except this time a white polar bear mask, and the eyeholes were covered up by clear blue glass. "Those people are lucky." He spoke again as he examined the mask.
His mouth was covered by a black cloth, hiding the lower part of his face. He wore a grey jacket with the hood over it covering his snow-white hair, the linings of the hood being covered by an orange fur trimming. Underneath, he was wearing a tight, black long-sleeved shirt that hugged his torso, dark, almost black, blue pants and white shoes with blue trimmings along the soles of it. Blue-gray, fingerless gloves covered his palms as he ran fingers along the weapon, a gun, he had placed on his lap. The belt around his waist had a few pockets in them, most of which seemed to be filled by little, bomb-looking capsules, two pockets holding two daggers separately, and one which seemed to be meant for the gun he had on his lap.
You would think he would be hot under all that clothing, but he wasn't, he got used to wearing it and soon got used to the heat it would bring as well. Especially since he needed it, due to the type of weaponry he handled. Y'see, he was called Frostbite for a reason.
"Huh, such irony. Always wanted to be a superhero, now look where I am. Dude with an ice gun, and heart just as cold as the ice he shoots, stealing stuff…"He paused, laying down on the building's rooftop as his legs dangled off the ledge, holding the gun in his hand as he aimed it up at the night sky while holding the mask in his other. "Hurting people...yep, definitely not what I expected."
He closed his eyes, lowering his arm down and placing the gun beside him, and putting his arms behind his head to pillow them from the hard pavement.
"Might as well take advantage of the free time I have for now." He placed the mask above his closed eyes. He didn't necessarily feel sleepy, but he didn't have anything else to do, so might as well rest.
A few streets away from Frostbite's location was a cell tower which reached up high into the sky, just enough to deliver the calls and messages it was build to do. Kneeling by the top of the tower was a figure, it seemed to be messing around with the tower system, although not seem to care about the disruptions it led to other tower connections.
The fuse box he or she had been messing with seemed to miss a couple components, and other that seemed unnecessary. Next, she introduced a small device, connecting it to the box. "Now, I must have access to most of the electric devices spread across this building." She mumbled to herself.
She pulled out what seemed to be a small black box. Pulling the sides apart, it opened in a virtual light blue screen, showing images, and shining the figure's clothes. A mask covered her face, a grayish-green steampunk fox mask with dark green goggles covering the eyeholes. There were tiny golden spikes lining the round cover. They were actually blunt, even if it didn't look like it. The goggles were connected with a brown leather strap. She also wore a light green shirt under an unbuttoned leather jacket, and dark green khaki pants, and brown boots. Her hands were covered by black gloves and emerald green glass ovals on the back of her hand, her knuckles, and the strap on the wrist that closed the gloves. The palms of her gloves had a small hole that apparently could shoot bright green acid. A silver fox-like tail made of scraps was formed near the tailbone, permanently bent in an upward shape so that it wouldn't drag on the ground.
"They surely lack proper security measures, though I shouldn't complain, as I benefit from these breaches." She continued mumbling. "Now, let's see what other flaws they have in their systems."
The screen was switched from video camera transmissions, to the building's blueprints, and even the schedule of security saved in computer stored in one of the various computers of the place. The information was easy to sort and collect. They made sure to save and download everything needed before disconnecting most of the equipment from the power box.
"Now, it's just a matter of planning the invasion inside to gather what's necessary." She mumbled, closing the box with its cover.
On top on one of the several skyscrapers in Royal Woods lingered two young girls, one at 12 and the other at 17. The former was sit down over the edge, while the latter made her way towards her from behind.
The 17 year old one was clad in a red and black sweater, dark red pants and black cleats. The cleats' spikes were of the same golden color as the ones on the fox-masked girl's goggles but were actually sharp, good for gripping the ground and delivering a brutal kick. She wore a mask too, a red falcon mask with an orange and black beak, with a similar style to that of a masquerade-styled mask, except it lacked the elegance those type of masks usually held. Instead, it was more rugged and damaged, evident of past melee scuffles. A small crack ran from the right nostril of the beak and two larger cracks were near the left eye hole.
The 12 year old one, meanwhile, wore entirely black and dark grey. This included a black cloak with the hood up, black pants, and black knee-high heeled boots, while underneath she wore a dark gray, tight dress that reached her mid-thigh. She wore a raven masquerade-styled mask, which wasn't as damaged as the one of the girl beside her but the tip of the beak was slightly chipped off.
Both were sitting at the top of the building, looking up at the night sky. The city lights couldn't reach them from how high up they were, so it gave a perfect chance to observe the twinkling stars. It was peaceful, that's for sure.
"I thought I'd find you here." The older one said. "You always loved these places, no one sees you, but you can see everyone."
"Yeah, so peaceful… and quiet. Nice to get lost in your thoughts." The younger one replied as she stared off into the distance wistfully.
The older girl sat next to her, dangling her legs off the edge like her partner. "Yeah, but sometimes your mind brings up thoughts that you'd want to forget."
"Just because we want to forget doesn't mean we should. We changed a lot, things were much brighter before…"
"Yeah, I miss those simpler times… I mean, they weren't that simple, but still simpler than now." The older girl gave a slight shrug.
"That's what happens when you get older, I guess…"
"Growing up...plus all the other crazy shit we had to deal with. I'd say we didn't have much luck with all of this."
"Nope… sometimes, I really wish Mom and Dad were still here."
"Yeah, I also do. Too bad we can't change the past here. We can just set our future, try to make it better than now. Just know that you're not alone in this. We carry this weight together, like we're supposed to."
"Right. And, I'm sure they'd be proud of us for, you know… doing what we can."
"Even if the stuff we do isn't exactly the nicest… but sometimes you've gotta do some bad to do some good too, I guess."
"Hello? Hello? Is anyone there?" They suddenly heard over their earpieces. "We're in the first floor in Kinship Tower, and we're being crushed down here! We need backup, I repeat, we need backup!"
"You've got it. We'll flock right over there, Laughingstock." The girl in the falcon mask said. She heard laughter on the other end. "Thought you might appreciate the pun."
She turned towards the girl in the raven mask and nudged her. "C'mon, Absinthe. We gotta go."
"Alright, Phoenix." Absinthe said monotonously.
They both stood up and clicked a button on the left side of their masks. A pair of steampunk wings sprouted from their backs and spread out, each wing spanning about 6 feet wide. Phoenix's wings were red with red metal spokes holding it together, attached to a similarly grey metallic ball with a red center. Absinthe's wings were of a similar design, except dark grey rather than red and the center of the ball being black.
"Also, I never really understood your name. What does it mean?" Phoenix asked.
"It's the name of a flower, used to make the alcoholic beverage of the same name. The name gave off the spooky vibe I was going for..." Absinthe replied.
They jumped off the building and started free-falling a bit before the wings allowed the air to catch them and let them hover a bit. The wings flapped higher and higher until past the needlepoint on top of the skyscraper they were sitting on before, and they started flying towards their destination.
Back in the Kinship Tower in the very far side of the west side of the city, things didn't look good for a group of 3 masked figures, as a huge group of armed men were firing towards their directions. One was wearing a hyena mask, and the other two were wearing cat masks, white and navy blue respectively. The one wearing the hyena mask had pale yellow spots replacing the normal ones hyenas normally have. The white one had intricate light pink markings on it and the navy blue one had typical black stripes. They were trying to knock them down, and making sure they stay down, however, they seemed to have gotten a bunch of injuries in doing so, but luckily they hadn't caught a bullet.
The hyena was wearing a spandex jumpsuit with a sleeveless suit jacket with white ruffles around the neck. The spandex was a pale yellow, while the jacket was dark grey. Her feet were protected by black, combat-styled boots. Her hands were covered by black gloves that had joy buzzers on the palms, which she could switch on and off, as well as change the opacity of the shock wave she delivered. At most, they were filled with 3,000 volts of electricity each. The belt that went around her torso was black and held what looked like a staff, but was actually an electrified rod covered by a scabbard with enough volts to kill a person, over twice the amount the joy buzzers could deliver; she liked to call it the "Funny Bone." There were other trick items in the belt, but none were as lethal as the rod. Even the hammer she kept in it, which looked like someone of her size and stature wouldn't be able to even carry, let alone swing with enough force to crack someone's skull, but one should not underestimate her strength. Needless to say, she was not one for stealth.
Meanwhile, the two cats were both wearing spandex suits of their own, a one-piece that stopped at the wrists and ankles and also white and blue with black stripes. The latter's belly was black too, which would help provide nighttime camouflage. A tail lay limply from the tailbone, reaching the ground. The white and pink one had a belt around the waist with a hot pink jewel in the center and a medium-sized white gun near the left hip. The blue and black one had a tool belt that included several wrenches, all equipped with hidden blades, a hammer, and a similarly-sized gun. There was also a small jar filled with a yellow liquid near the gun. Both of their fingers had steel claws strapped where their nails would be, though the white one had pink claws and the blue one had regular unpainted ones. White and black sneakers were their choice of footwear respectively, and white and black gloves as well where the claws were, blending into the rest of the costume.
"Alright, some are around the area, we should be getting backup in a matter of seconds." The hyena informed.
"Next time, don't try to put down an enemy if he hasn't spotted us!" The white cat faced its similar dressed partner.
"Hey, you can't be noticed if there's no one to notice you." Was the reply.
"Well, it's too late for that now! We just gotta hold 'em back until the air force drops in."
They were interrupted by a shout coming from the sky. "Time to turn up the heat!", followed by a fireball falling down onto the group of enemies. Most of them managed to dodge it by a matter of seconds, but a couple were caught in the flames, the blast sending the corpses away, giving space for two figures to fly through the shattered glass ceiling.
"About time!" The white cat exclaimed.
"Yeah yeah, thank us we're here because you can't win your own fights. Now watch and learn!"
More fireballs rained from the sky as Phoenix swooped around the crowd, holding some medium-sized unlit balls of combustible material. This time, her aim was more accurate, and soon the enemies were either dead or running around on fire while the ones who managed to get away were trying to get away from the upcoming flames. Unfortunately for them, though, Phoenix wasn't the only one after them.
The surviving ones, huddled in a small group of their own, came face to face with Absinthe. She simply took out a sickle, raised it above her head, and brought it down, slaying all of the surviving men.
The two aerial girls went over to the injured trio, their injuries weren't severe, but they sure looked like they stung, especially when they were pushing through for who knows how long. Certain areas of their clothing had scratches and small openings around, but apparently no one had bleeding.
"Geez, am I the only one who thought they overreacted a bit?!" The one with the blue cat mask hissed in pain.
"Yes." The other masked figures all replied.
"A thank you would be appreciated." Phoenix placed her hands on her hips.
"We were going to take them out, and you threw a jar of urine at them, Tomcat!" The one with the white cat mask replied. "And thanks for saving our butts, Air Force."
"Yeah, thanks. And I prefer to call it 'fresh lemonade', Aristocat." The black and blue cladded catgirl, Tomcat, gave a shrug with a mischievous grin, revealing shiny silver and sharp teeth.
"You are disgusting…" Aristocat rolled her eyes.
"Thanks!" Tomcat gave a clawed thumbs-up.
"Just because in a virtual fake reality you can use your own piss to hurt enemies doesn't mean it works in the real world." Absinthe pointed out. "You should think in asking Vulpes for equipment, instead of making it yourself."
"I have my own gun and claws as well as steel cat-shaped dentures, I think that should be enough. Plus, the jarate makes a good weapon."
"And that's why I regret letting our brother show you his video games." The group heard from behind them.
"I don't regret getting into them one bit." Another voice spoke, except a bit more masculine-sounding. "Huh, seems you got this thing all sort out."
The group turned around, seeing the fox-masked girl and the boy with the polar bear mask beside her.
"Vulpes, Frostbite! You two made it!" Tomcat exclaimed with a toothy grin as they approached them.
"How did you guys get in here?" Phoenix asked. Frostbite replied by pointing up at the shattered glass ceiling. "Ah, right…"
"Alright, enough chit-chat, we have a mission!" The hyena-masked girl interrupted, for once sounding serious.
"Everyone, hands up!" They heard a scream coming from their side. Turning around, they saw at least twice the number of men from before, even seemed to be better equipped. Not to mention, they didn't have a surprise factor or the high advantage.
"We're gonna give you to the count of three to put your hands up before we open fire!" Another one of them shouted. They all aimed their guns at the masked figures.
"ONE…"
They did so, but they remained calm and poker-faced, except Vulpes was smirking. The group knew what was coming. She used her thumbs to press a tiny button on the side of each of her ring fingers. In doing so, the nozzle on her palms started shooting out large bursts of an unnatural green-colored acid.
The person out in the front didn't even get a chance to shout "THREE!" before his and his comrades' faces were covered in the acid. Instead, they were shouting incoherent cries of agony as the acid immediately started dissolving the skin. They dropped their guns and scattered around, desperate to get it off. Soon, they dropped dead to the ground.
"Wow, they're always sending more men to try and handle you." Frostbite stated as he and the others lowered their arms. "So, can we get the heck outta here, or do we still have to do something?"
"I don't believe we will be able to retreat with the achievement previously expected, due to the substantial injuries of our members and the wave of goons that keep coming in, I believe we'll have to retreat." Vulpes stated, looking back at the injured trio.
"But what about the mission? We came here for a reason!" The hyena girl said.
"Laughingstock, if we risk it anymore than we should, you and the Siamese cats would run a severe danger, either by your injuries getting infected or your loss of concentration will make you get shot."
"Then what are we supposed to do, come back another time? What if it's too late by then?"
"Look, let me take care of this, the rest will help you go back to the base, where Fawna can help you all up." Frostbite said, and during their conversation, he noticed Absinthe standing over one of the men's corpses. 'What is she doing?' He thought to himself.
She knelt down to get a closer inspection on the body's clothes. "What's this…?" She asked, pointing to an odd symbol on its chest. They walked over to her to get a look at it themselves.
The symbol was a circle with an inverted triangle crossing through it, a vertical line going down the center of it with a horizontal line crossing through the end of it. It confused the group as the hadn't seen anything like it.
"Even I am stumped as to what it could mean, if anything." Vulpes commented. The others murmured their agreement in not knowing.
"Seems like there's a new group in town." Frostbite said. "But, I mean, we managed to beat them as easy as with any other people. Why should we worry?" Suddenly, they heard even more men behind them.
"That is a good reason to worry." Vulpes replied in a deadpan tone, turning around.
This time, instead of just travelling on foot, some of them came in with heavy-loaded machine guns, as well as more melee weapons such as machates, bats and the like.
"Ah, come on, I'm sure we've killed each one of them five times already." Frostbite said, irritated as the wave of men surrounded them.
"There's nowhere to run now. Surrender, and we might spare your lives."
All of them raised their hands. "Vulpes, your trick again?"
"My supply of corrosive hydrogen chloride is extremely low." She stated. "Definitely there's not enough for this."
"Alright, guess it's my time." Frostbite lowered his hands.
"Hey, we said hands up!"
"Man, did anybody ever tell you have to chill out?" He pulled a capsule and threw it towards it direction, the team took this moment to split up and hide. The bullets began firing, as a white gas began spreading, and the six masked figures went undercover behind pillars and boxes. Frostbite felt a shot going right on his shoulder right as he went behind protection. Soon, the firing stopped.
"What were you thinking?!" Aristocrat yelled from the other side of the room.
"They're stronger than I thought." He said, holding his left shoulder, now bleeding out and staining his suit, making him exclaim in pain, before grabbing his ice gun. "I'm buying you time. They won't be frozen for much longer, you gotta go!"
The others didn't have to be told twice, they quickly fled the scene. The aerial girls flew up towards the broken ceiling and into the air, Phoenix being strong enough to carry Laughingstock in her arms and Aristocat on her back without much of an issue. Absinthe managed to hold onto Tomcat in her arms and Vulpes on her back, but was in a bit more of a struggle to do so.
They flew up enough to get a good view of the fuming building top, white smoke coming out of it as the outside of the building walls was covered with frost from Frostbite's bomb.
"Is he gonna make it?" Absinthe asked to the girl on her back.
Vulpes gritted her teeth. "I'm not certain, he is surrounded and injured. Even if he somehow managed to freeze those attackers, another wave will arrive soon." She pointed at the big vans and cars pulled down at the base of the building with dozens of men flooding in. The sounds of police sirens were ringing throughout the city, which meant the cops were just as close and getting mixed into this mess.
Back in the building, Frostbite was fighting back with all his might and ice, occasionally whacking the mooks in the head with the ice cannon itself. They were soon starting to pile onto him, though, as he was not a one-man army. Realizing this, he saw a small opening in the pile and leapt toward it, managing to get through. However, the pain in his shoulder stung through his body, causing to let out a yell of pain.
Vulpes suddenly snapped her fingers as an idea came to mind. She looked over to Laughingstock with a twinkle in her eye, or well, her goggles. "Laughingstock!"
The former mentioned looked over at the fox girl as she took out a capsule from her jacket and threw it over at her, and she managed to catch it with ease.
"What's this supposed to be?" She asked, loud enough so she could hear her over the winds.
"I have an idea." Vulpes stated as she caught Phoenix's attention.
"What is it?"
"I need you to fly at a speed of one hundred and fifty miles per hour towards the tower, close enough for Laughingstock to drop the fuse into the building. The explosion will cause a force strong enough to send our comrade flying, and you'll be able to catch him." Vulpes explained. Anybody normally would be hesitant about doing this, but the two girls looked at each other before looking back at the masked genius and grinning determinedly.
"I'm guessing I'll have to hold on for this." Aristocat spoke, though she sounded determined.
"Just don't dig your claws into my back." Phoenix warned as she immediately flew up into the sky at a high speed. Right as she did so, she felt a sharp pain in her back and warm liquid trickling down. She hissed in pain and sighed. "Nevermind…"
She stopped as she prepared herself to dive down, they were so high up that they could see most of the city from where they were. "You two hang on tight, except for you, cat." Aristocat did not let go.
Laughingstock activated the capsule, which unfolded into a small box and started ticking down from 20 seconds. "Let's go." She grinned.
Phoenix's wings suddenly expanded as two rocket boosters spread from the metal circle at the center of her wings. She dived down, the two girls hanging on as hard as they could, even if one was literally digging her claws right through her clothes and into her bare skin. The flames from the jets left bright streaks in the sky as they caught more and more speed, quickly approaching the building top.
10 seconds…
"We're coming in! Get ready to drop it!" Phoenix exclaimed.
Back on the ground, Frostbite was surrounded and injured, kneeling down on the ground as guns were aimed at him, he was out of ammo, out of breath, and he could barely move his arm.
"Any last words, little bear?"
Frostbite breathed heavily between each word. "Y-yeah, I do." He panted, hearing the guns click. However, he gained a smirk on his face, once they all saw a box falling through the ceiling, half of it buried on the floor. "You all can suck on these snowballs!" He growled as the device detonated, launching him upwards. "Wooh!" He shouted, as he began falling for a few seconds before being caught by Phoenix with one hand as she held Laughingstock in her other. The huge explosion sent the bodies of enemy soldiers flying, and sending debris flying in all directions. Good thing Vulpes equipped the suits with protection for explosions. She flew up through the ceiling again, now showing some difficulty holding the teen and young adult, along with the 10 year old that was still digging her claws into her back. Whatever, she'd let Fawna fix that up once they got back to the hideout anyway.
Absinthe managed to catch up with them with Tomcat and Vulpes. Frostbite looked at them and smiled weakly. "I'm guessing you were the bomb, Lis." He chuckled.
Laughingstock let out a high-pitched, hyena-like cackle at the pun while Vulpes rolled her eyes underneath the goggles. "Nice one!"
"We're not supposed to use our real names, or nicknames for those. Thank you, though." Vulpes said,nodding her head.
"I guess I was wrong about your room having a lack of balls all those years ago after all." Phoenix said, letting out a snicker, which annoyed Frostbite.
"I don't want to ruin the family moment here, but three of us are injured and one is almost dead, so can we just go back to the base?!" Aristocat exclaimed, clearly irritated.
"What are we gonna tell Lo- I mean, Pridestalker, though?" Tomcat asked, worrying about facing the leader's wrath.
"Well, she, like the others, will have to know about it. There's a new group in town." Absinthe spoke, looking back at the building, the top concealed by white smoke, a result of the frost and the bomb defusal combined.
"Yeah." Frostbite sighed. "They mean business, which means we'll have to be on the look-out for them."
"Definitely." All six girls answered, not sounding motivated one bit. They flew off south, back to the place they had been calling home for the past 4 years.
Back at the building, the police had finally arrived and they were shocked at the place, being met with the gruesome scene. The captain ordered them to search the building while others took a look at the vans parked outside, specially towards any survivors or responsibles for such act.
A young cop searched outside the building, looking at the fallen pieces of debris. There wasn't much out of the ordinary, until a faint glow caught his eye. "What the…" He said to himself as he walked over to the glowing piece.
He crouched down, and picked up the debris with his gloved hand as to not damage it. It was releasing a light blue hue, and it seemed to be a part of something else. The cop noticed something beside it, a piece of cloth with a strange symbol on it; the exact same one the team had seen on the corpse.