"Get off me you slippery- yeargh!"
The man was silenced by a barrage of filaments Dennis fired at him. The wires wrapped around him, cocooning the man until he resembled a very angry white caterpillar.
"Your days of kidnapping innocents have come to an end, filth!" The Warp Spider Exarch shouted in disgust, jumping around behind, beside, and above the smattering of Teeth gangers, raining blows on them from angles they couldn't cover and dodging what bullets they fired at him with effortless grace. The victims he saved, young women and some girls who were even younger than him, had long since ran away, his plan to harry and bait the gangers away from them working well. Almost too well, because he noticed the longer they fought the more Teeth gangers showed up to join in. 'But that's alright.' He thought he kicked a shrieking woman in her solar plexus, the torrent of dirty insults silencing into rasping coughs as she doubled over. He sidestepped a man's lunge, chopping his neck to knock him out instantly and then warping away from sudden a barrage of high-calibre bullets.
He reappeared on top of a street lamp, facing down the empty road where a technical was racing towards them, the hollering gangers riding the damn thing firing small arms and a mounted machine gun indiscriminately at where he used to be, scything down and killing their own men without a care. "Absolute morons," Dennis, now Daltharal, mouthed to himself. "No wonder they kept losing ground to the Marche and Empire recently." He aimed his left weapon mount, a Spinneret rifle downrange, seeking to disable the vehicle by destroying the engine. A blink and the crosshairs of the weapon acquired the target, and he fired.
FWOOooosh!
Right in the middle of the technical's armoured hood, a hole was gouged through the steel plates as the single rigid strand of monomolecular wire pierced deep into the engine block. That already would have been enough to disable the truck, but then the strand recoiled with great force, the wires spiralling out and shredding the rest of the engine. No explosions happened, but the truck swerved out of control, throwing the men riding at the back to the sidewalk as the vehicle careened into a fire hydrant, the front end crumpling around the obstacle as it was forcefully stopped. A torrent of water was sprayed out.
"My bad." The Spider muttered with regret at the sight, never having intended to cause so much property damage. The rest of the gangers has long since fled, those who foolishly remained running away in fear when he turned his gaze towards them. The battle is finished, or so he thought.
"Well, well, well! Lookie what we have here!" He turned to look down at the source of the voice. There, directly on the opposite street and emerging from the shadowed alley sauntered a man completely covered in bones. Torso, right arm, and both legs had bones strapped to them, crudely resembling the armour of a samurai. A bone-white motorcycle helmet covers his head, a mask of a fanged skull covers his face. His left arm was bare, crisscrossing the limb was a mess of scarred tissue, blood long since dried colouring the limb a dirty shade of red. "A new hero jumps into the scene! T'would be a shame if he dies so soon, am I right boys?" He asked his followers, more well armed gangers with actual body armour spreading out behind the villain, sending mocking laughs and jeers at Daltharal's direction.
But the Spider is undaunted, standing still atop his perch as he surveys the semicircle of foes before him. Behind his mask Daltharal was grinning, the prospect of testing his skills against a bona fide cape like the man of bones making his heart thrum with eagerness. How would their skills compare?
The villain cape below him raised his left arm, lengths of sharpened bones sprouting from the limb in an eruption of blood and torn flesh. The gangers fanned out to his sides and raised their guns towards the Spider. "I'll take great pleasure in taking your bones for myself! Now cry my name and remember it well in that big head of yours, and I might be feeling a mite bit generous and make your death painless!"
The Spider tilted his head at him, internally cringing at the edginess in the villain's banter. Then a metaphorical lightbulb lit up in his head, and Daltharal smiled. He remembered the research sessions Edward held for them, analysing and studying the capes they are likely to meet or fight. This one was particularly egotistic amongst the collection of capes in the Bay...
"I don't even know who you are. But, I've heard of a Marquis who controlled bones... are you him?" So he taunted him. Hah, the way he puffed up, clenching his fists hard and letting out a low growl.
"I AM THE LORD OF BONES!" The villain screamed at him, pointing his spike-covered arm in his direction. "AND I'LL RIP AND TEAR AT YOU UNTIL YOU BEG FOR MY MERCY, YOU BIG-HEADED FREAKSHOW!"
"Cringe." Daltharal warped away from the barrage of bone spikes and bullets, the projectiles hitting on the face of the abandoned building behind the Spider. His echoing laughter was all that was left of his previous presence.
Hovering high above, the Shining Spear shook his head at Daltharal's antics, an amused smile hidden behind his ornate helm.
"Daltharal, mad as ever." He muttered, setting his Star Lance to emit an aura with a stun effect, and his jetbike's Shuriken Cannon to load knock-out grenades. He's in no hurry to blood his lance, and his rather pathetic foes besides are unworthy of his prized weapon. A fast-moving blur caught his eye and he hesitated before he dived. His keen eyes, aided by the zoom-in features of his helm allowed him to focus on the blur, and the large beast he saw made him reset his lance to the standard danger setting. His Star Lance hummed with power, thrumming with the beat of his excited heart as he switched targets.
"You're on your own for now, Daltharal." Dean, now called Drastanta in homage to the valorous Phoenix Lord of his Aspect, transmitted to Daltharal's psy-comm. "The others will come to your aid but I have found my own quarry!" Radiating eager battle-lust, the Exarch dived down at the villain known as Animos, making like a shooting star falling at increasing speed.
"I will down for us a beast!"