Chapter 2:

In the middle of the hall was a large spacious meeting room, and in the center stood rows of stands similar to a courtroom. The room was adorned with displays, paintings, and plaques, depicting past victories, members, and weapons used in times of battle against the heroes of yesterday. In the center of the meeting area stood a pedestal, which held within it various computer systems that had been dormant for innumerable centuries. Now it had sparked to life, coming alive and taking notice of its surroundings. After checking on all of the life support systems and other functions, it decided it was time to address the fact that the Hall had been discovered by an unknown faction. The heroes had not found them, and it could tell by a quick scan that the Watchtower had not been discovered, so that ruled out them for the moment. At that moment, The Hall's artificial intelligence was alerted that the door was being melted down by some unforeseen force. Checking the feed from the outer surveillance system, it could see that the military officer from before was now melting the outer door to the Hall. Seeing no other option, the AI decided sending in a combatant to deal with these intruders was the best solution. But who to choose, that is the question.

—

On The Hall's fourth floor, in a pod on the third row in the southeastern corner began to flash with power, as the occupant inside was being brought out of suspended animation. As mechanical limbs came out of the wall, they lowered the pod to the floor as the pod opened, and the man inside began to stir. Slowly he began to open his eyes, registering the unfamiliar surroundings.

"What happened, what's going on?" the man said in an annoyingly confused tone. He began to sit up and noticed what appeared to be a black jumpsuit covering him from his neck to his feet. "I was going through my training regiment when everything went white."

"I am sorry for the intrusion, young one, but there is an issue that I have found best suits your abilities." The man looked up and saw a lone spherical drone flying just over, with a glowing red eye in the center.

"Computo, what are you talking about, and why did you bring me out of my pod?" the man questioned further.

"I see your hearing is still coming back, so I will repeat myself" the man obviously did not appreciate Computo's sass and growled at the drone, "The Hall has been discovered and it appears they have been able to stop my defenses around an upper-level emergency hatch and have begun to force their way inside. To combat them, I have chosen to send you to meet them, for your advanced combat abilities, your superior strength, and the fact that you're closest one in proximity to the breach."

While noticing the subversive comment hidden underneath compliment, the young man came to a realization. "So… the time has come for us rise again," he said. "Indeed," said Computo, "after you have taken care of these intruders, it will be your job, as well as your teams, to scout and procure settlements and resources for the betterment of our society so we may be able to flourish in and conquer this new world."

The man got up and stepped out of his pod, quickly regaining his balance, as it had been more than a while since he had walked around in his physical body. "Where are they?" he questioned coldly, but also with a small sense of anticipation coming from his voice. "The breach is in the eastern quadrant of the fourth floor and they will successfully breach The Hall's wall in about 10 minutes," Computo stated. The man cracked his knuckles and started to walk towards the eastern quadrant, with the drone following close behind. "I guess now I will be able to see the results of my training. If they are just common soldiers, then it will not take me too long to break them." the man stated as he began to jog towards his destination. Computo chuckled at this and said "Of course. I would expect nothing less of you. After all… you are Bane."

—

After the miner had been disintegrated, Phoebus had Mr. Schnee to alert him of the situation, but he had already seen what had happened through the feed to his office. They agreed to send down more soldiers as well as the Atlesian Knights in case anything else happened. Mr. Schnee was evacuated from the premises as a safety precaution, and most of the workers were excused for the day so that they would not get in the armies way. A computer specialist was able to disable a small portion of the door's defenses so Phoebus could use his immolation semblance to melt away the door, he would not risk it harming another person on his watch. "I'm almost through, prepare to breach!" he shouted to the soldiers behind him who stood at the ready. Soon the door imploded inwards, and a few seconds after the smoke cleared and the metal cooled, Phoebus gave the command for a squad of 10 soldiers to head in. Upon entering they were hit with a dim blue light from overhead, which gave off an eerie feeling to most of the soldiers. Checking for any hostiles, they gave the all clear for the rest of the men to move in.

General Phoebus entered through the hole he created and followed by a group of 5 Atlesian Knights. Phoebus looked exhausted, the strain he just put on his aura reserves was tremendous. "Are you sure you don't want to stay behind Captain, you look to be in no condition to fight," said a soldier concerned about his commanding officer.

"I am fine," said Phoebus "I just need a minute to regain my strength. Now spread out, we need to make sure this place is safe for when the rest of excavation crew when they return." Phoebus divided his men into groups of two, each accompanied by one Atlesian Knight, and sent them down the corridors to search the area, not knowing what danger awaited them.

—

As one of the groups made their way down one of the corridors, an unsettling silence set in. The only sound that could be heard was the clopping of their feet against the metal floor. As their heads up displays scanned for any signs of life, one of them decided it was best to break the silence.

"So Jerry, what do you think built all of this stuff anyway?" asked the soldier.

"Well I don't know, Billy, but personally I think it was aliens." Said Jerry.

"What, no way," Billy interjected. "This not as advanced enough for me to believe it was aliens"

"It's just an opinion, Billy, you don't have to agree with it," Jerry said defensively.

"I am just saying that in all those science movies, those buildings and spaceships got weird creatures everywhere, slime all over the place, and-"

"Glowing pods creepily attached the walls and ceiling." Jerry suddenly suggested.

"Exactly, but what makes you say tha-" and that is when Billy saw numerous upon numerous glowing human-sized pods lining the walls and ceiling in rows. Each one gave off a blue light, just barely illuminating the figures held within them. Billy gave the Atlesian Knight the order to stand guard as they went to check out the pod closest to them. Cautiously approaching it, Billy reached out and whipped away some of the dust covering the glass. "YAaah!" Billy yelled as he jumped back little.

"What, what was it?" Jerry questioned Billy. "It's a person," Billy said as he began to calm down. "There are people in these pods."

"Do you think they're alive?" Jerry asked as they got closer to the pod. "I think so," Billy said as he leaned in again to get a better look at the man inside the pod. "Yeah, he's still breathing in there, I guess they're just asleep or something."

"Well, whatever it is we should report this to Captain Phoebus right away," said Jerry as he turned on his commlink. "Captain Phoebus we have something to report" Jerry was only greeted by static. "Line dead?" questioned Billy. "I don't know," Jerry said before turning back to trying to make contact with the captain. "Captain Phoebus can you read me," static again, "this is Squad 3 to all points, do you read us," only static, "is anyone out there!" this time he did get an answer, just not over the comm link.

"NO, NO, N-AAAAHHHH!" CRRRRACK!

Both Billy and Jerry quickly looked down the corridor where the scream came from with fright, and what they saw only terrified them more. At the end of the corridor, holding the bloodied and broken corpse of one of their comrades, stood a hulking figure of a man, with broad shoulders and a muscular frame, and green eyes that seemed to pierce the darkness as he stared them down like a wolf hunting his prey.

"St-st-st-stop r-right there alien, or we'll shoot your intergalactic butt back into space, you hear me" Jerry yelled at the beast as he and Billy trained their guns on him.

"Really, Jerry you are going to do this now? He's not an a-" Before Billy could say more, a new voice came from behind them.

"While there are some on this ship of alien ancestry, I can guarantee both of you idiots, we are not," said a robotic voice. Surprised both of them turned their heads in shock to the Atlesian Knight, who now had his gun trained on them.

"Wha-" was all Jerry could get out before the robot shot a round right through his skull. As Jerry's body crumpled to the floor, Billy just stood there petrified, not knowing what to do next.

"Well, I got my one, so I'll leave the last one to you, Bane," said to the Atlesian Knight.

"Huh?" Billy said before he realized he had taken his eyes off the man behind him. As he whirled around, he looked up and saw the man was only a few feet away, charging towards him and reeling back his fist for a devastating punch. Billy brought his gun up to fire in desperation, just pulled the trigger and screamed, "YAAAAAAAH!" The man guarded his face with his face with one of his arms as the bullets just bounced off his clothing, and his fist surged forward like a torpedo. As Bane's fist connected with Billy's head, everything went black.

Bane slowed down when he approached the Atlesian Knight after basically running Billy over, and turned back to look at his handiwork. That punch had shattered Billy's jaw and snapped his head a full 180 degrees, effectively killing him. Bane then turned his attention to the Knight.

"3 teams down in 45 minutes, only two remain. Not bad," Computo said.

"I did not need your help." Bane said gruffly, a little annoyed that Computo got in his way.

"This way was more effective, as we divided the work to optimize our efforts, this was logical." The robot said, and then tacked on "Also I can't let you have all the fun now, can I?" Computo sneered. Bane only glared at the robot.

—

Phoebus was getting worried, his squads hadn't checked in since they headed out a little more than an hour ago. The only constant was the eerie silence that pervaded the building and the mine as well. "Lt. White, what is taking so long to get those comm links back up?" Phoebus impatiently questioned the computer specialist.

"I don't know Captain," White said nervously, "as soon as they split off into groups the comm links went dead, and I don't have any idea why. The only thing I can think of as a reason is that the building is blocking our signal somehow." White continued to type at his computer to bring communications back online. As they stood there in stressed silence, they suddenly the sound footsteps approaching his location. Readying his rifle, Phoebus stood at the ready to defend himself and White if necessary. After about a minute, a bloodied soldier ran around one of the corners, his armor torn and shattered, and a look of desperation and fear in his eyes as he began sprinting for the exit.

"RUN, RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!" the soldier screamed at top of his lungs as he approached Phoebus and White. Phoebus, seeing this soldier is such a state, ran towards him to protect him from the danger that he was sure was closing in behind the man. "Hang on I am almost there," Phoebus shouted. They were at almost an arm's length from each other, until,

BANG

The shot rang out as the body of the soldier tumbled to the ground and fell at Phoebus' feet. Phoebus, whose uniform was now stained by the dead soldier's blood, looked up and saw an Atlesian Knight standing at the other end of the hall, holding a smoking rifle and now training its sights on Phoebus. The Captain rolled out the way of the shot into the corridor beside him for cover, as the Atlesian Knight opened fire on him. Taking a minute to comprehend his situation, he readied his rifle with a bullet he charged with his immolation semblance, and jumped out from behind his cover and fired. The round impacted the robot which erupted in a burst of fire and energy, leaving only the melted remains of the legs still standing. As he took a chance to breathe, Phoebus called out, "White, are you alright back there?"

"Y-y-yes sir I am," said White, clearly shaken by what he just witnessed. "What the heck was that all about. Why did one of Knights go rogue like that?!" Phoebus was also puzzled by this and wondered if this had anything to do with the jammed commlinks as well.

"I don't know, but I am not leaving here until I find out" Phoebus stated. "My men might be dead in here and I am not leaving until I give whatever did this to them the proper response!"

It was then Phoebus and White heard a sound like someone was slowly clapping. Around a corner came a large, muscular man in a black jumpsuit, who continued clapping as he made his way over to Phoebus. As the man made his way over, he looked down to see the remains the Knight and grinned. He looked Phoebus dead in the eye and said, "Wonderful little speech, and while I will commend you for taking Computo down a peg, you are still trespassing on Society property. Your choices are to leave and live or stay and die. It's up to you."

Phoebus, however, was not phased by the threat and stood his ground. "Where are my men, what did you do to them?" The man raised an eyebrow and said, "If the dead soldier at your feet isn't an indicator of what I have done with the others, then I might just have to spell it out for you."

Phoebus clenched his jaw in rage as he looked at the man with pure hatred in his eyes. Before he put this monster in his place, he shouted, "White, RUN! Get back to the surface and tell them what happened, THAT'S AN ORDER. I will meet you up there when I am finished with this scumbag." White wanted to protest with Phoebus, but he knew he would be a liability if he remained down here. With a response of, "Yes, sir!", he grabbed his computer and sprinted in the direction of the central elevator. At this Phoebus turned back to the man and aimed to gun right at his chest. The man stood there unfazed by his actions, and took a stance, preparing himself for their confrontation.

"You truly are a man who puts his soldiers before himself. I admire that. What is your name?" the man asked.

"I am Captain Arthur Phoebus of the Kingdom of Atlas, and for the men who died at your hands I will strike you down!" Phoebus heroically stated. The man smiled and replied in kind.

"I am Bane of the Secret Society of Super Villains. Prepare to die," and with that Bane charged forward as Phoebus opened fire.