As Alan's fire breath purged the sky, the Banshee ships lit up like a storm. One by one, they all began to burn to a crisp. The large dragon let out a loud, satisfying chuckle. Meanwhile, Velocity stood on one of the Banshee ships, his eyes widening as he saw the fire storm that was coming ahead. He quickly turned on his heels, running at superspeed, jumping from one ship to another as they burned. He wanted to stop to catch his breath a little, but he couldn't. He turned this into a test. To get faster. To overcome the fatigue, the pain. He continued jumping, ship to ship. As he ran to the edge of one of the ships, he tripped on something. Fell, rolled across the ship, almost falling off. He caught himself, breathing heavily. Nervously, he stood, watching. The fire was catching up to him. He froze in place. Choked. Closed his eyes. What the hell was he doing? He could run, but it was too late. He didn't have enough space to make the jump to the next ship. He waited. A second turned into a minute. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes. The fire barrage had...stopped? Only half of the ship he was on was burned off. He sighed of relief upon revelation.
"Hah! In your face, death!" Velocity did a little break-dance on the ship before he heard a noise above him. It was Syeed the Hedgehog, fully in his exosuit, blasting above him. He was making his way towards a larger, "important" looking ship. Velocity cleared his throat, hoping Syeed didn't catch his dance act. Velocity put two fingers to the cowl of his suit, speaking into his comlink device.
"Hey, uh, I need a lift here. I don't have enough room to run and jump over these ships." Velocity looked around the skies as he spoke.
"Yeah, can't you just...run on air?" Syeed's voice echoed back.
"No, no he can't." Strife pipped in, stating firmly.
"He can run on water. Why can't he run on air?" Syeed replied.
Velocity heard a groan come out from what he assumed was Strife's end. Strife spoke again. "Air lacks any surface tension for him to speed on. There's nothing applying friction to allow him to gain traction and get the push he needs to run on air. The air would be pushed around instead, with each molecule acting individually."
"Yeah, I didn't understand a damn word of what you just said." Syeed replied once again, before a click on his end was heard, probably meaning he disconnected himself for the moment.
"So, am I just stuck here? Can Mr. Ironhog over here give me a lift?" Velocity's voice grew sincere.
"You can run on clouds." Strife replied. "Which, is what I was getting to. These altostratus clouds are composed of ice crystals. If you can vibrate your feet in a way that...in a way that you can create an amazing updraft, you may be able to run on the clouds for a short period of time. A VERY short period of time, should I add. Maybe, one or two minutes, tops. But I assume that's no problem for you."
Velocity nodded, a soft sigh escaping his lips. "Okay, okay." He removed his fingers from his cowl, backed up a little. Closed his eyes. His feet doing the moving for him at this point. What would happen if he couldn't get that updraft? Would he fall 6,000 feet and go splat on the ground? Of course he would. No question about it. Just before he could think about how he felt of his life leading up to this point...he opened his eyes. He was running on the clouds! It worked!
"WOO!" Velocity let out a cry of excitement as he quickly traversed his way to the next ship, running off that one and repeating the process again. He looked up and saw Syeed in the distance. He spoke into his comlink again.
"Question, where's Shadow?" Velocity asked, almost completely forgetting about her in the excitement of his new feat.
"Cloaked." Syeed replied, a whistle coming out on his end. He shined a light to a spot in the sky on his exousit. Velocity looked.
The cloak came off as the Shadow Avenger appeared in the sky, inside of her mini-ship, lasers blazing at the incoming Banshee ships. Velocity's eyes flared in amazement as he punched out an oncoming Banshee without looking at it.
"I'm fine." Shadow stated through her comlink, swerving past Banshee ships, going towards what Velocity had labeled the "important-looking ship".
"I'm going in!" Syeed blasted first towards the ship, his arms spread out, the afterburners on his exosuit powering up.
"Wait, no!" Shadow started, but Syeed didn't listen. He ran smack dab into a force-field, and began to plummet 6,000 feet to the ground. Shadow rolled her eyes, mumbling something that Velocity couldn't understand. Velocity just watched, unsure of what to do.
Jawez at the front with the motorcycle, Eli pursuing close behind in a huge G.U.N truck, that housed a horde of survivors and refugees in the back. They had been doing ground patrol, making sure the people of Central City were safe from any Banshee scum. Eli's eyes were focused on the road. He was nervous, a challenge like this had never showed it's face to him. He'd never thought in his life that he would be front and center in an alien invasion. But he couldn't let his nervousness overcome him. These people need protection, they need saving, sanctuary. In a time like this, he puts himself in their shoes. They have families. Friends. Loved ones. Probably already lost them, probably terrified at the event of being separated from them...meanwhile, his family had the luxury of hiding out at one of G.U.N's bases outside of Central City.
His thoughts were interrupted by the slamming of a figure right onto the windshield of the truck. The figure bounced off before Eli could identify him. In a moment of common reaction, he hit the brake on the truck quickly. His breathing got heavier as he cautiously stepped out of the vehicle, making his way to the front of the vehicle. Laying there, he saw Syeed, in his exosuit with his helmet lowered, chuckling to himself. Eli walked over and knelt down.
"You okay?" Eli asked, tilting his head.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Syeed stood up slowly, shaking his head. "I forgot to activate the 'force-field trespasser' on my suit." Syeed slapped himself on the forehead before he nodded to Eli. "Keep holding the fort down here." With that, the Hedgehog blasted off back into the air. Disappearing from Eli's view in what felt like an instant. Eli once again titled his head, shrugging before turning around. The sight he saw shocked him.
A horde of Banshees, coming towards the truck. Small ones, bigger ones, medium-sized ones. He counted about 20 of them. He clenched his fist. He would call for Jawez's help, but he was already too far ahead, and Eli needed to prove to himself he was capable of handling himself.
He closed his eyes, looked down. Took a deep breath. The Banshees drew closer. Eli looked up, his eyes opening again. They flashed different, light colors. He was now entering his Groove System. The Groove System is an inside ability that he was born with from the start but had never tapped into it until recently. It enhances his abilities, including his speed, reaction time, durability, and strength for short periods of time. But with every enhancement comes a weaker downside. With the Blitz Groove, Eli's strength is increased, his striking speed and power is bumped up significantly. He's able to connect swift combos and can punch up to 100 times per second in this Groove. The downside is, his reaction to direct striking from places he's not looking, like above or behind, is terrible. In his Speed Groove, he moves faster, runs faster, and reacts faster. But when hit, the damage is more significant and can be critical if he's not careful. With his Tank Groove, he's able to take any kind of hit for a small window of time without taking any damage, but his speed is also reduced to only 15 miles per hour in this state. In his Arc Groove, the air projectile cuts he creates with his tail get a significant boost in strength. The problem with this form is that his hand to hand combat is slow, uncoordinated, and overall sloppy. He also needs a 1 minute waiting period when switching Groove forms. When he looks into the Groove System, he sees there is one final Groove form he hasn't been strong enough to tap into. Yet...
Eli activated his Speed Groove, charging into the horde of Banshees, blasting each of them in different directions. Good. He got them separated into smaller groups. An advantage well needed. He ran at a group of 3, giving each Banshee punches so quick that it almost looked like his hands weren't there. Eli wiped them out in seconds. He turned to another group of two, running at them. He took out one Banshee, but the other one was quick. Like, Velocity quick. Eli didn't even see it coming and it stung like hell when he handled with an uppercut. The quick Banshee leaped in the air, coming down on Eli's chest. Eli let out a loud grunt of pain; almost a scream. He was quick enough to grab the Banshees leg and spin him off. Eli recovered and got up. Another group of Banshees were coming after him. He ran, and tried to punch them, but they dodged easily. This is when Eli realized something; all these Banshee were fast. It caught him for a loop because the Banshees he's been dealing with thus far have been...easy. He quickly ran to cover, breathing heavily as he looked around, pulling out of his Speed Groove. He had to hide out for a minute, and he peeked out. The Banshees were looking right in his direction. Coming at him. Fast. He jumped up and turned around, sending a whirlwind with the quickness of his tail spinning that held the Banshees off. He did this for a minute before getting tired out. It was long enough for him to be able to tap into his Tank Groove. He didn't think he could take another hit from these Banshees. He hasn't endured pain THAT great. Thus far, at least. He charged into the Banshees, their attacks and punches doing nothing to him. He laughed as he fought his way through them. He rolled, pulling his gun from his belt, emerging and taking out the remaining Banshees with a couple of head-shots. He looked around, silence filling the air. He'd done it. He took out 20 Banshees all by himself. He sighed and then let out a laugh of relief, rubbing his temple with the back of his hand. He attached the gun back to his belt, walking back over to the truck that held the refugees and he climbed into the driver's seat. He wondered if they heard all that commotion back there. With that taken care off, he drove down the road and entered the outskirts of Central City.
Syeed, who just left Eli down on the ground below with 20 pursuing Banshees that he didn't bother to tell him about, broke through the force-field and blasted into the large ship. He spoke into his helmet to Strife.
"Can you hack down the force-fields now? I don't exactly think Velocity and Avenger have the same abilities as my suit."
"Actually, we're already here." Velocity spoke, as he and Shadow emerged behind Syeed. Syeed turned, raising an eyebrow as his helmet lowered. Velocity explained, "Vibrated my molecules through the field. Then, I just ransacked the place until I found the switch that turned off the field. Cool, right?"
"Not really." Shadow rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. Syeed chuckled and gave Velocity a thumbs up. The three heroes then scanned the interior of the ship with their eyes.
"This ship seems bigger than the others. It also has multiple rooms, and floors." Strife spoke into all their comlinks. "I'm detecting extreme amounts of Banshee presence. But...there also seems to be a single large room that only houses one Banshee. Maybe the one we saw on the television when this all started? I'll try to see if I can hack into any cameras. Not a promise. Hacking into alien cameras isn't easy, you know."
"You don't say." Syeed shook his head as he walked forward, deeper into the ship. Eventually, the trio reached a large hallway where an alarm that detected them went off. Banshees soon followed, coming straight towards the trio. "Now we're talking." Syeed set himself up into a fighting stance, awaiting the incoming barrage.
Shadow Avenger, Celestia, brought her bo staff up.
Velocity's eyes lit up.
Together, the three of them charged into the crowd, colliding head-on with the Banshees.
Velocity's speed sent everyone, including Syeed and Celestia into the wall. Velocity gave a shrug that could be interpreted as an apology before running at a couple of Banshees and exchanging blows with them. A couple of Banshees cornered him, but he ran up the wall and dropped down behind them, waving. "Over here!" The Banshees turned. Velocity boosted right through them, knocking them out instantly. He felt something around him. He turned and was almost met with a punch smack dab in the face but Celestia knocked the attacker away with her bo staff. She waved a single finger at Velocity.
"Watch yourself." Celestia spoke as she elbowed a Banshee in the face without turning or looking at it. What she didn't see was a knife being thrown perfectly in her direction. Luckily, Syeed catch it and threw it back at the Banshee. The Banshee caught it and charged at Syeed. They engaged in combat. This Banshee was skilled, using martial arts techniques that must have been exclusively made by the Banshees. But Syeed held his own, eventually overpowering this skilled Banshee. Celeste watched closely, while Velocity handled more Banshees in the background. Had Celeste underestimated Syeed? She shook her head. No. That was all pure luck. She snickered and dashed towards a Banshee, drop kicking it into the wall.
The trio looked around as the room grew quiet. A final, stealthy Banshee came up from behind on Syeed. But Syeed caught him quickly, getting him into a choke hold and holding the Banshee in place.
"We've got a wild anorexic. Anyone want 'em?" Syeed looked at this two companions.
"OH, I'LL TAKE IT!" Velocity ran up, knocking out the Banshee in one, powerful punch. "Aw, I didn't even get to feed it any food." Velocity flashed a counterfeit frown.
Celeste, annoyed, continued down the corridor. "Are we going the right way, Strife?"
"Yes, yes. I've unlocked all the doors for you." Strife replied sharply, intense typing could be heard on his end.
"Crap, we're superheroes. Who the hell says we have to walk? What floor is this 'main room' on?" Syeed fired the question at Strife, waiting for a response.
"Top. Third floor. You're on the second floor now."
Syeed pointed his palm up to the ceiling. He shot a hole in the ceiling, that led straight to the third floor. He grabbed onto Celestia, much to her dismay.
"Hey!" She shouted, trying to shove him off. Velocity held out a palm.
"Don't I get a lift?!" Velocity asked, loudly.
"You can run." Syeed blasted up to the third floor with Celestia, leaving Velocity eating exhaust.
Velocity rolled his eyes. "You can run." He repeated to himself in a mocking tone.
Alan, Flame, and Zarge hovered side by side, watching the gigantic ship from the outside.
"God, Dragon farts smell." Zarge had his nose covered as he gestured towards Alan with his foot, groaning in disgust.
"Well you know what they say, gotta rip one after releasing all that energy!" Alan laughed, his hands balled up into a fist on his hips. Flame laughed with him.
"No one's ever said that..." Zarge narrowed his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief.
All 3 of them heard a scuffle through their comlink devices.
"If you guys are done with your little Comedy Central skit up there, I've hacked down the force-fields, so you can get inside the ship." Strife spoke through his communication device.
The three looked at each other. They nodded before flying into the ship.
There they were; inside the belly of the beast. All of our heroes, excluding Strife, Jawez, and Eli. Face to face with Leader, the mind behind the whole invasion operation. Leader stood before all of the ship controls and commands, the outside world being visible to him only by a large window behind him. His face was expressionless; he put on more weight than the rest of the Banshees, though it caused his eyes to look more distorted.
"Well...this silence is awkward," Syeed started, looking at his companions. "Anyone care to break it?"
"Allow me." Leader slowly started to walk forward, his hands behind his back. "Here you stand, thinking you have a shot, a chance, at stopping us. I think it's..." Leader paused before bursting out into laughter. "I think it's hilarious!"
Alan raised an eyebrow. "You dare laugh in my face?"
"I mean, yeah." Leader continued. "Look at you guys. A group of heroes? More like a band of misfits! A man who can turn into a dragon who has his temper buy into his own hype! Have you SEEN yourself in the mirror? Don't even get me STARTED on the rest of you."
The heroes all looked at Alan as he drew his sword. "That's enough out of you." Alan charged forward, but as he swung his sword he was knocked back by a force-field surrounding Leader.
"Uh, do you take me for some kind of dumb ass comic book villain?" Leader chuckled. "Do you really think I'd sit in this ship WAITING for you if there weren't some kind of catch? This one being, well, you can't touch me."
"Right." Syeed walked forward, pressing a button on his suit that activated anti-force-field measures. But, to his dismay and shock, it did nothing, as he was knocked back.
"Hey, asswipe," Leader chuckled once more. "I've updated my force-field in the last five minutes. Super-intelligent alien technology, remember?" Leader did a dance, mocking the heroes, who all had expressions of pure anger.
Leader walked up to Flame, shaking his head. "Oh, was that your friend I captured and ordered Proog to kill? I'm so sorry. He was a screamer; I tell you. Wouldn't shut up, crying about the people of Mobius and blah blah. I'm glad he's dead." Leader laughed hysterically in Flame's face. "I'm glad he's dead!"
Flame's eyes widened. Shock. Anger. The audacity of this asshole to come in his face and brag about killing his best friend. Flame didn't care about any force-fields, his eyes lit up in fire as he released a barrage of fire right at Leader. It smacked against his force-field, but Flame didn't let go.
Alan leaped in the air, hovering, soon joining it, sending his own fire at Leader's field. Zarge soon followed suit, a bolt of ice coming right at Leader's way. Leader laughed, shaking his head in disbelief as he danced inside his force-field.
Velocity ran circles around Leader's force-field as Syeed held his palm open. Soon, a powerful blast omitted from the palm of his exosuit. Celestia backed up, watching in amazement.
With all their powers combined, it had actually worked! The force-field was broken as Leader flew back into the wall. He stood up, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"W-what?! How!?" Leader shouted, looking up at the heroes, who made their way towards him.
"Well, we have a special kind of technology called powers." Velocity grinned through his cowl, at Leader.
"Excluding me. I just have technology that may or may not be better than yours." Syeed winked as he held up the palm of his exosuit.
"It's over." Flame grabbed Leader by the neck, lifting him up, holding him up high. "I should kill you now. I should kill you right fucking now."
Celestia walked behind Flame, putting a hand on his shoulder. Flame paused, turning his head towards her.
"It's not what he would have wanted. Justice, not vengeance..." Celestia spoke, nodding. Flame turned his head back to Leader, nodding in agreement.
Flame threw Leader across the room, smacking him against a wall. Leader stood, coughing.
"Y-you think that's it...?!" Leader pressed against his palm. Something mechanical started to grow on his arms. It expanded to his torso, his legs. It appeared to be some kind of exoskeletion suit. It was large, and made Leader appear taller than he actually was. A helmet covered his face.
Syeed let out a laugh while the other heroes chuckled.
"Ooh, a big suit of armor. You're a big boy now, aren't ya?" Syeed stepped towards Leader.
"A suit?! No, this is ORGANIC, you idiot!" Leader shouted as the chest blade of the 'suit' extended, forming into a hand and grabbed Syeed by the neck, throwing him right through the window and out of the ship. The other heroes looked, turning and running towards Leader.
More parts of Leader's armor extended themselves, forming into legs and fist, punching each hero back.
Syeed flew back into the ship, blasting right at Leader. They crashed through the ship and back out into the skies, brawling in the air as they plummeted to the ground below. Syeed grabbed Leader by his neck, flying him right down above G.U.N headquarters and putting the palm of his exosuit against Leader's armor.
"You're not all that, dude." Syeed taunted Leader before letting out a powerful blast, sending the alien down into the G.U.N building. As Leader tried to stand and recover, he was met by multiple G.U.N soldiers with their guns hoisted at him. Soon, the G.U.N Commander emerged.
"We've got you, you son of a bitch." The Commander spoke, kicking Leader back down. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling to see Syeed. "You'll be paying for the damages, by the way."
"Yeah, yeah." Syeed sighed. "Just, no killing, alright?" The red Hedgehog flew back into the skies above as the Commander watched.
"No promises." Commander replied, softly, almost in a whisper.
Meanwhile, up in the skies, the heroes stood on the top of Leader's ship, their eyes wide. Something was before them. A rumbling noise.
Syeed landed on the top of the ship, looking at each of them. "What's wrong, guys?"
Velocity pointed out into the distance.
Syeed loomed in the lens of his helmet.
He saw it, clear as day.
A 100 meter tall Banshee was stomping it's way into Central City. Syeed's oculars popped wide. It was project Banshus, who Proog and Leader had designed earlier.
The heroes tensed, got into their respective fighting stances.
"The final battle...AWESOME!" Velocity shouted, breaking the fighting stances of the rest of the team as they all looked at him.