V
The Eco-Activist walked into the apartment building across from the PTA monorail station in King's Row. He climbed to the fourth floor and found Room 4G. Without knocking, he walked into the apartment.
Two dozen college-age men and women sat in a half-circle on the shag carpeted floor, their attention enraptured by the sixty- or so-year-old bespectacled man standing with a placard in his hand. He was pointing to a pie chart on the placard when he looked up at the intrusion.
The Eco-Activist scanned the apartment, noted the various posters advertising several environmentalist and animal rights activist groups. The decor and furnishings of the apartment just screamed 1960s counterculture.
All in the room had their eyes on the Eco-Activist as the costumed intruder strode toward the old man. He grabbed the placard and swept his gaze across the graph that charted the losses to the rain forest. He tore the placard in two and tossed the halves aside. He turned to face the half-circle of youths.
"Do you want to sit here being lectured with cheap props?" the Eco-Activist asked. "Do you want to stand around in the rain outside a polluter's fence impotently waving homemade signs? Or do you want to join me and take action? I can stop the evil corporations from destroying nature, kids. I have the power to take decisive action." He clenched a fist. "Nature will take this planet back!"
The youths applauded.
"What do you plan to do?" the old man asked.
The Eco-Activist looked around the room, his eyes focusing on a potted plant in the corner. The plant grew rapidly, stretching out to snatch the glasses off the old hippy's face. It snaked around the old fossil and held his arms fast.
"This is but a small taste of what I can do," the Eco-Activist said. "Imagine Mother Nature's plants attacking those who would attack them. Imagine all the vegetation in Paragon City dismembering this atrocity of steel and concrete and returning this land to its original pristine environment."
"You alone can do this?"
"The only ones who can stand in my way are the super-powered puppets of Paragon's corporations that 'protect' this city."
"There are enough of those around."
"Get word to all who think like we do. If we can incite the various gangs in the city to attack one another at the same time, creating gang wars in the streets, the super-powered types will be tied up breaking up those wars. And, before they know it, my plants will have this city in its grip. I only need to have the super-powered types distracted."
The old hippy smiled. "It will be done, man."
"Excellent."
"Who are you, anyway?"
"That's the Eco-Activist," said one of the young men. "I heard he fought the American Crusader to a stand-still in a bank. He pounded that flag-waving fanatic into submission. Nature versus technology, and nature won. It was glorious."
The Eco-Activist smiled. He was gaining a reputation among his ideological peers. This would make it much easier to gain a following to accomplish his goal.
"Wait for my word before we incite the gang wars," he said. "We need this to occur in one riotous swath of destruction."
"We will wait for you, Defender of Nature," the old man said.
"First, I need you to make a call for me."
"Name it."
The Eco-Activist explained his immediate plan to those in the room, and what he expected of them. Once he made clear what he wanted, he moved to the window and opened it. He crawled out onto the fire escape platform and stretched out a hand. A vine lanced out of his glove and latched onto the building across the street. He leaped out and swung into the night.
He had another address three blocks down. There lived another leader among the various environmentalist movements based in Paragon City.
At the height of the tail of his swing, he retracted his vine into his glove and extended another from his other hand.
---
Richard dodged the crossbow bolt and deflected another aside with a sweep of his forearm. Lyta launched an arrow over his shoulder, striking the roughhewn ceiling of the cave tunnel above the crossbow-wielding Circle of Thorns guardian. The flash bang erupted with a dazzle of light, blinding the four guardians who barred their only path out of the cave system.
Crossbow bolts clattered off the walls as the guardians unleashed their shots. Richard and Frost Axe charged.
Richard pounded a guardian with his gloved fist, his dark blue cape billowing behind him. The guardian slumped to the cave floor. Frost Axe smacked his opponent with the flat of his axe blade and bashed the guardian with the haft of his weapon. The Circle of Thorns minion toppled over, unconscious.
Lyta netted the third guardian with a net arrow, immobilizing the foe as Richard and Frost Axe double-teamed the fourth guardian. Even before that foe slumped to the ground, the two heroes attacked the netted guardian.
The group paused as Frost Axe attached locator beacons to the fallen foes.
"We're clear," Richard said.
Lyta grabbed the biceps of Jasmine, the mystic who had moments before been a captive of the Circle of Thorns coven who had inhabited this cave system under Perez Park, and guided the woman alongside her as the two men led the way.
The group of heroes and their charge moved quickly through the twisting caves.
"It is not far now, friends," Frosty said. "I can smell the fresh park air already."
"All I can smell is musty cave," Richard said.
They rounded a bend and came to a stop as a pair of cackling mages, surrounded by crossbow-wielding guardians, waited for the heroes.
"Meddling heroes," the lead mage said. He made a sweeping gesture. "Get the masks!"
A volley of crossbow bolts lanced out, and Richard stepped forward. He gripped his cape in both hands and spread it outward. Made of the same material as his suit, the cape deflected the missiles away from his friends.
Angered by their foiled shots, the guardians all aimed at Richard. The mages began weaving their spells.
Frost Axe leaped over Richard and landed in front of the mage casting a mind control spell. The chitinous hero's axe came around in a lateral swing, and the haft slammed into the mage's side. The villain was thrown backward by the blow.
Richard charged and battered the other mage with his shoulder. Meanwhile, Lyta worked to hinder the guardians with flash bang and netting arrows.
The psychic mage regained his feet and fired off a spell. Frost Axe dropped his axe and grabbed the sides of his head.
Richard advanced toward Frost Axe to help his friend, but the second mage launched a spell of his own. And energy beam lanced from his palm and struck Richard in the side. The blue-clad hero flinched as he actually felt the bolt through his suit and his personal force shield.
He whirled around and launched himself at the energy mage. He drove his fist into the mage's torso, sending the villain sprawling back. Before the mage could regain his feet, the caped hero pounded the villain.
Frost Axe, meanwhile, shook off the mage's mind control spell and took up his fallen weapon. He struck the roughhewn floor of the cave at the mage's feet with enough force to create a shockwave that hurled the villain off his feet. Frosty stepped forward and gripped the mage's robe in his free hand. He threw the mage against the wall of the cave. The mage slumped to the floor and lay still.
Richard pelted the energy mage with blows from his fists. His coup de grace was an overhanded blow with both fists, and the mage slumped unconscious to the floor.
He turned toward the guardians, but they were immobilized in Lyta's nets. He took a handful of locator beacons from his belt and attached them to the vanquished foes. He called the Paragon Police Department on his communicator, and the villains dematerialized as they were teleported into the Paragon City lock-up.
The team emerged from the caves into the morning sun that shone over Perez Park.
"I thank you for releasing me from their clutches," Jasmine said.
"It was nothing," Richard said.
"I have a warning for you, friends. The winds of fortune favor you, but you must look out for the green tide of destruction. Paragon City, even now, is in impending peril."
"It's always in impending peril."
"This peril is more than usual for Paragon City, Blue Wolf. The spider's gift of freedom will spell doom for the city."
"Why do you mystics always speak in obscure language?"
"The seers' sight is not always clear, Blue Wolf," Lyta said. "I have heard the warnings of the Oracle at Delphi in my old life, and seers have not changed over the millennia."
"The winds of fortune further warn me of dangers to those who are not among you. The Earth itself arises."
"And what the hell does that mean?" Richard asked.
"That is all I can discern from the winds of fortune, Blue Wolf."
"Let's go back to headquarters. Maybe Shadow Vision can make heads or tails of Jasmine's warnings."
"Heed my words, heroes," the mystic said. "And thank you for your rescue."
Jasmine fled into the trees. Once the heroes were alone, Lyta slipped her hand into Richard's grasp.
"I hate maintaining a professional persona toward you while in our hero identities," she said, kissing her husband's cheek.
"So do I, baby. Let's go."
The trio headed toward Richard's parked jet.
---
Ben and his two companions, Kari and Derek, descended over the southern shore of Talos Island and crossed over the water. They were responding to reports from civilian boaters that an island south of Talos was overrun with walking vegetation. Fearing that the Eco-Activist was unleashing his power, the three heroes went into action.
They landed on the shore of the island of the reports, and Ben scanned the area. They strode further inland. They noted nothing yet of interest
A copse of trees stood nearby, one of the few clumps of visible vegetation on the otherwise uninhabited island.
They stopped when they saw movement among the copse of trees.
Propelled on long, lanky legs, a creature that looked to be comprised of vegetation shambled out of the trees. A moment later, a second such creature moved out.
"I fear this is not the Eco-Activist," Derek said. "Those are the Hamidon's creatures."
"The Devoured Earth," Ben said.
"Could the Activist control the vegetable members of the Devoured Earth?" Kari asked.
"The Devoured Earth hates all humans," Derek said. "If the Eco-Activist got anywhere close enough to use his plant control powers, they would attack him on sight."
"This island seems to keep them isolated from the city's population," Ben said. "We'll contact the Coast Guard to ensure they keep civilians away from this island. We'll go back to headquarters and search for more leads that may direct us to the Eco-Activist."
The trio prepared to take flight, but the ground trembled under their feet. Earthen forms rose out of the sandy beach and coalesced into a bipedal form.
Some of the Devoured Earth's earthen members were joining their vegetable brothers.
Ben leaped into the air, but the earthen creature hurled a boulder at him that knocked him out of the sky. Kari's scream of horror filled the air as the armored hero slammed into the sand and lay still.