I don't own the Loud House.
Welcome back to another chapter of Stupor Heroics Incursion. In this chapter we see more heroes joining the fray and also an encounter with another scout from our mysterious alien invaders. Just to let you know, the main villain is one that I pulled from another show. No, it's not Freeza (that will make sense in a bit) and it's not Thanos, though that would be fun to write using him one day.
I will be posting what Lynn looks like in her Hero Suit as well so check out my twitter if you want to see what she looks like. Next week I will be showing what the other two Heroes who helped with this mission look like. I'm still working on them. Hopefully you will all enjoy the pieces that I've worked to make.
If you haven't yet, please go and check out Siege's Stupor Heroics, which is what my story is based off of. It's honestly really good and I cannot recommend it enough. I've also written two lemon scenes that happen in that story for added goodness. So go and check them out as well.
Stupor Heroics: Incursion
Chapter 4
After the incident in Los Angeles where Lori had made her debut as Luminary and had saved those people from the falling airplane, Shield had been given the green light to recruit metas as part of an official government branch. Dozens of Metas joined Lori and her sisters, most of them being their friends. Ace had informed her that several training facilities had been built throughout the first year of the Loud's training and that each State had at least three different branches. Those who lived close to Lori's base were all brought in and Lori was allowed to be a mentor of sorts to some of the new heroes. Like Carol, Becky, and Dana….
XXXXXXXX
"So you can manipulate time?" Lori asked her best friend.
"Yup. I can make things go fast or slow or even undo them if I want." Carol said happily. "Watch."
The Blonde turned towards Becky and punched her friend in the face hard. The redhead cursed and held her nose as blood began to spew out. Carol meanwhile cradled her hand as she whimpered in pain, obviously she wasn't used to punching anyone in the face. Then Lori watched as Carol placed her unhurt hand on Lori's shoulder and time literally rewound itself about 30 seconds and then everything was fine.
"See?" Carol asked as she held up her now unhurt hand.
"What the fuck man!?" Becky shouted as she glared at Carol. She wasn't hurt anymore but apparently she still remembered what had happened. "Why'd you sucker punch me like that?"
"I needed to show Lori how my powers work." Carol said quickly as she held her hands up, hoping to calm the now angered redhead.
"Oh, so it's like that then?" Becky said as she cracked her knuckles. "Since we're showing a demonstration of our powers then watch this!"
Carol shrieked as Becky took a step towards her and much to Lori's surprise, grew to an incredible size. And in the now giantess's hand, was Carol, who was screaming as Becky threw her like a baseball towards the open sky. Both Lori and Dana watched as the blonde girl vanished in the distance before there was a sudden feeling of dejavu and Carol appeared beside them looking haggard.
"Okay…okay…I'm sorry, alright?" Carol said to Becky as the redhead was normal sized again. "I promise I won't sucker punch you like that again."
Becky smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "So yea, I can grow super tall and hot."
"I noticed." Lori deadpanned. She turned towards Dana. "What can you do?"
Dana looked sheepish. "I um…can do this…"
Lori gasped as Dana, who had been wearing a beanie, took it off and revealed her large brown and white bunny ears. She then crouched before she leaped high into the air like a super powered bunny. Dana managed to reach the same height that Becky was when giant sized. And she landed in the same spot that she was in before without any issue.
"Ta-da?" Dana said as she stood back up with a small wave of her hands.
"So you're a bunny?" Lori asked, glancing up at her ears.
"Y-Yea…" the girl nodded with an embarrassed blush.
"That is way better than what those two have." Lori said as she began to lead Dana towards the cafeteria. "Tell me, how good is your hearing…"
Becky and Carol stood frozen for a moment as they watched Lori and Dana walk away from them chatting about the bunny girl's power. The two friends shared a look before they ran after them, shouting at Lori for dismissing them so easily.
XXXXXXX
Another surprise for Lori was when Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Sid joined them at the base. It was awkward at first considering that Lori and Bobby used to date but they were able to move past it. Bobby's power was a type of superhero transformation thing where he was able to change his appearance to that of his alter ego, as Ace called it. The older man geeked out in a manner that reminded Lori of her little brother Lincoln when Bobby showed them his powers.
Ronnie Anne was a magical girl, which made Lori giggle when she saw her transform. It seemed that transformation powers ran in the family. And while Bobby had a watch that he called his "Morpher" that he used to transform and Ronnie Anne had a magical rod (not a wand), Sid had a different power. The young asian girl had the ability to create barriers out of air. She could solidify the air around her to make highly durable walls that acted as shields. Sid could also use the barriers as platforms and even fly using one. Though she still needed to work on her concentration.
XXXXXXXX
The program was set to last a year for most heroes in training so that they could learn all about the new laws put in place for them. They of course also learned to use their powers safely. Lori and her sisters were the only ones who had a full two years within the program and that second year was mainly to help the new recruits acclimate to the program. It was weird for Lori to have to give orders to people who were much older than her.
And for those who had powers but didn't want to be heroes, the Shield also had local offices in every city where they would have to register their powers and either prove that their powers weren't dangerous or take a class on the weekends to earn a certificate that they weren't a danger to the public. In the future, those who were born with powers would be registered at birth but for now, the government was asking them to voluntarily sign up. Needless to say, many didn't and some of those who didn't want the government to know what their powers did were among those who often abused their powers for their own gain. Hence the reason why Heroes were needed in the first place.
Shield was only meant to act as the Government's branch for early hero recruitment and training. It was the initial response to the sudden appearance of Metas. As the years went on, official Hero Schools and Agencies began to open up that weren't a part of Shield. And many new hero hopefuls joined them in order to become Heroes. Shield scaled back their involvement in the public Hero training scene and focused on their real mission.
"Are you ready for this?" Ace asked Lynn as they prepared to land in the impact zone.
"I was born ready." Lynn nodded.
Currently Lynn and Ace were being transported to a desert in Nevada. Another pod had crashed from deep space and Lori was busy responding to a hurricane in Puerto Rico. Ace was short on options and had asked Lynn, Bobby, and Dana to go with him on a special mission. Bobby had become sick from flying and Dana had been trying to comfort by rubbing his back as he threw up in a bag.
Once they landed, Lynn scanned the area and took in her surroundings. Lynn, now 16, was much larger than she had been three years ago when she first joined the program. She wasn't done growing but she was now slightly taller than Lori and her muscles were larger and more defined. She looked like she was a young professional bodybuilder. Her long brown hair was still kept in her usual and familiar ponytail. Sadly, that was all that was still the same from her younger day. Just like Lori, Lynn had also been given a 'Hero Suit' to help promote her to the public and was given the hero name 'La Furiosa'. All because she screamed angrily that one time while stopping a rampaging meta who could turn into a giant shark man. Unfortunately the name stuck and there was nothing Lynn could do to change it.
She wore a costume that thankfully had been designed by her little brother way back when they were still kids. That was the only reason she agreed to wear it otherwise Ace would have gotten a kick to the balls for having the audacity of handing her such a revealing costume. Not that he designed it, mind you, but he was the one who, according to him, had lost Rock Paper Scissors to decide who would give her her costume. Her suit was a red and white leotard.
It was sleeveless but she did wear red and white wristbands. On her knees she had on a pair of red knee pads and to complete her look she also had on a pair of white and red boots. Lynn had been assured by a wary Ace that her suit had been designed to allow her the maximum amount of movement but Lynn had her doubts.
Bobby wore a black bodysuit with Kevlar reinforcing the chest, arms, shoulders, and shins. There was also a large Green 'J' on his chest for his Hero Name. He also wore a green domino mask that he swore hid his secret identity even though all heroes were registered and therefore would be easily searchable in the Hero Registry online. The funny part was that those who didn't know who Bobby was assumed the J stood for Juan since he was Mexican. Well, it was funny to some. No, Bobby's hero name was Justiceman. Why that name? Lynn didn't know but she also didn't care. Bobby was cool but she didn't work in his city so she never really interacted with him unless it was for a joint mission.
Dana, whose power was basically being a bunny girl, had grown into her power in a good way. The hero name that she had been given was Bunny Ears. She was taller than Lori, easily standing at 6'3 not counting her ears which added another 12 inches. And the girl had gotten completely jacked, especially in her legs. Lynn wasn't gay but even she was envious of the bunny girl's legs. As proud of her own legs as Lynn was, she wouldn't mind having those thighs wrapped around her head. Wait, wha?
"Looks like the pod landed about half a kilometer north of us." Ace said as he looked down at his wrist. There was a holo-screen or something that he could see using his mask that others couldn't. "We'll need to hurry if we're going to stop our unknown visitor from escaping."
"Captain, should I transform now?" Bobby asked. While Bobby, now 20, was in great physical condition, he wouldn't be able to keep up with them without his powers.
"Do it." Ace nodded.
Bobby struck up his hero pose, something he swore up and down that he needed to do before every transformation. He stood with his hands outstretched downwards towards the ground before quickly bringing his arms up and holding his right arm in front of his mouth as if he were to speak into his watch. "It's Justice Time!" He shouted before pressing the top of his watch and then a light flashed in front of them. A split second later, Bobby was gone and in his place stood Justiceman. He looked like an armored power ranger from those kids shows that Lynn used to watch with Lincoln when they were younger. Bobby now wore a dark green bodysuit. On his chest he had a metallic grey armor that looked like it was fastened onto him. Same with his left shoulder which had metal armor fastened on as well. His right arm, however, was completely metal having been replaced by a robotic arm. He wore a helmet with a black visor and on his forehead there was a golden 'J'. the lower part of his dark green helmet where the mouth would be was smooth and was the same type of metal that was on his arm. He wore white boots and his armor also had gold trim throughout it. And wrapped around his neck was a large billowing red scarf.
Once Bobby was done transforming into his robot/android/super sentai/Kamen rider thing, they moved out. Ace flew above them while Lynn ran alongside Dana and Bobby. The two older heroes were able to keep up with her and she in turn was able to keep up with Ace. She had been surprised to learn that he had cybernetic implants that allowed him to fly. She was also kind of pissed when she learned that despite having some powers that he didn't use them to kick her ass during training. The only thing he used was that damn shield of his. Everything else was just the results of his training and experience.
As the neared the impact crater, Ace began to fly lower and lower until he was just a few feet above the sand. And once they reached it, he landed beside them in a crouch and began to peer over the impact zone. Whatever had landed in the desert had turned the sand to glass and pieces of it lay scattered amongst the debris. And in the center, Lynn could see a strange circular object that she assumed was the spaceship.
"Orders, Captain?" Dana asked as they crouched beside him.
"Justiceman, what do your sensors tell you?" Ace asked Bobby.
"Um…that whatever that pod is made out of isn't from earth. There are no metals that even come close to its chemical composition." Bobby said as he raised his left hand to his helmet and scanned the ship. "Also, there's something just standing there."
"Is it metallic?" Ace asked, remembering the last visitor that he had encountered.
"No." Bobby shook his head. "It's organic. And it's staring right at us."
Suddenly a voice called out to them from the crater. "I know you're there."
Lynn glanced at Ace, looking for his orders. With a nod, they all made their way down towards what appeared to be an alien life form.
"Ah, so you're the ones my scouter informed me of." The alien said.
To Lynn's surprise, the alien was humanoid. And it was male, his skin was lightly tanned but he was definitely a man. The man had a large build, his muscular arms were a clear sign of that. He wore a black plated armor over his chest that had shoulder pauldrons that extended outward from his shoulders. Also he wore black leggings of sorts with white boots. And wrapped around his waist was a brown furry belt. But what surprised Lynn the most was that this man had a large mane of bushy black and…spikey hair? What….?
"I've been waiting for like 10 minutes for you to arrive." The alien man said as he continued to smirk cockily towards them. It was clear that he believed himself to be superior to them in every way, a fact that irked Lynn. "It's rude to keep a guest waiting, you know."
"What do you want with earth?" Ace asked the alien.
"Is that what this mud ball is called?" The man asked, sounding amused. "I thought it was called E-Arth."
"I won't ask again, who are you and what do you want with our planet?" Ace asked, summoning his shield and standing at the ready. Seeing their Captain get into a battle stance, Lynn, Bobby, and Dana mimicked his actions.
The man let out a bark of laughter. "Don't make me laugh! As if you ants could do anything against me!" He uncrossed his arms and reached up to the strange device on the left side of his face. He pressed a button and there was a sudden beeping that came from it. "Let's see…your power levels are pathetic…You," He pointed at Ace. "Have a power level of 17," He pointed towards Dana, "You have 200," At Bobby next, "You're at 180," and finally Lynn. "And you're barely at 300." The man then pointed a thumb at himself. "I have a power level of 1200! There's no way you can defeat me!"
"I guess we'll have to find out, huh?" Lynn asked as she cracked her knuckles. She was getting really tired of this guy.
"Last chance, what do you want?" Ace asked.
The man seemed to still find their threats amusing. "Very well…My name is Raditz. And I have come to find out why our space probe never sent back a response signal. You see, I'm part of an elite fighting force within the grand Empire. And our Lord has seen it fit to choose your world as his next conquest. Your planet is rich in resources that we can use for our war efforts. So be happy that your pathetic lives will finally have a purpose; to serve our illustrious leader."
Ace practically growled. "Like hell we'd let that happen!"
"Your compliance isn't a factor." Raditz said with a condescending smirk.
Lynn wasn't sure if Ace gave the order to attack or not but she sprang into action. She closed the distance between them and aimed a punch to his stupid face. The alien leaned backwards to dodge her attack and that's when she smirked. She spun around faster than before and delivered a spinning kick to his chest, sending him flying towards the edge of the crater. The surprised look on his face had felt incredibly satisfying to Lynn as she watched him disappear in a cloud of sand.
"Don't let up!" Ace Ordered as he raised his shield.
Dana nodded before she took off, speeding towards the cloud of sand and dust. Using her superb hearing, Dana located Raditz as he began to rise from the sand and she leaped towards him with a flying kick. To her surprise, the man raised his arms up and blocked her attack. He grunted from the effort, clearly surprised by how strong she was, and she quickly pushed off of him before he could counter attack. As she flew out of the settling cloud, she watched as Bobby came rushing in after her.
The mechanized hero rushed in and his metal arm began to spin its gears and release steam from within as red electricity coursed over it. Then it doubled in size once…twice…three times until it was the size of a minivan. And with that, Bobby slammed his fist into the man's whole body. There was another cloud of sand and dust that rose from the impact but Bobby was sure that he connected.
"Thunder Clap!" Pulling his enlarged arm back, he raised it above his head before he slammed it back down on the alien. Red lightning coursed over the palm of his hand and upon impact, a burst of red energy was released. He heard a pained shout and a curse, signifying that he had done some damage to the man. Not wanting to be caught unawares, he shrunk his arm back to normal and leaped backwards out of the cloud.
Lynn stopped outside of the cloud's radius and with a mighty clap, she dispersed the sand and dust away, revealing the alien's location. The man looked angry as he held something in the palm of his hand. He glared at them as he focused on Lynn.
"You've done it now, earthlings. You broke my scouter!" Raditz growled.
"Good. Now shut and fight me!" Lynn shouted back.
"Very well."
Something happened that shocked Lynn. One moment, Raditz was 20 feet in front of her. The next, he was behind her and before Lynn could fully turn around to face him, he slammed his fist into her chest and she was buried under the sand in a trench that she made. When she finally pulled herself out, groaning in pain, she was over a hundred feet away from the crater. That hit had hurt!
Forcing herself to rise, she hurried back towards the fight and she arrived just in time to see Raditz kick Bobby in the chest and send him flying out of the crater as well. The man was clearly stronger, possibly stronger than her. Hell, he was stronger than even Lori! And then to her horror, she watched as the man approached Ace and Dana.
The two of them split off, aiming to flank the alien, and arrived first, appearing behind him. Raditz spun around, too slow to react to Dana's speed, and he barely blocked her flying knee. At the same time, Ace attacked from behind and launched his shield towards Raditz's back. But to everyone's surprise, that furry brown belt around his waist unfurled itself and smacked the shield away.
"Nice try!" Raditz cackled. He glanced over his shoulder just as Ace caught his shield. "You can't trick me that easily."
"Then how about this!"
Ace reached into one of his belt compartments and pulled out a small canister. He pressed a button on top and threw it into the sky. Everyone closed their eyes except for Raditz and a second later, a flash bang went off. Raditz screamed in pain as he shielded his eyes and Lynn heard Ace order them to attack.
Dana, who was still behind him, appeared crouched underneath the much larger man and launched herself up, quickly spinning around and planting both of her feet into his chin, launching him into the air. Lynn, who had been waiting for Dana to launch him into the air, appeared above him and slammed both of her fists into his chest, rocketing him down towards the sand. The man landed on the sand and much to his surprise, he actually bounced off of the surface from the sheer force of the impact. And for a split second, Raditz was suspended in midair as time froze. Then Bobby appeared next to him, his right arm cocked back and crackling with red and gold energy. Genuine fear appeared on Raditz's face as Bobby aimed his punch towards his chest. The blow connected and Raditz let out a blood curdling scream as an explosion of red and gold was released from the impact.
"Justice Punch!" Bobby shouted, launching Raditz out of the crater and into the sky once more.
The man's armor had been cracked and pieces had broken off from his upper half. Underneath his chest was bare and you could already see bruising from where Lynn and Bobby had hit him. But their attacks weren't done just yet because waiting for Raditz in the sky was Ace and protruding from his right arm was a sharp looking blade. As the alien neared, Ace lunged forward and stabbed Raditz in the chest, pushing him back towards the ground.
Lynn and the others watched as their captain smashed the alien into the sand a few dozen yards away from them. There was an angered shout and a curse and when the dust settled, they saw why. Ace was still standing above Raditz, his blade still stabbed in the Alien's chest. But Raditz had managed to grip the blade before it could fully pierce him and stopped it from dealing a fatal blow. The man was glaring pure murder towards Ace and they could feel the air begin to vibrate from his anger.
"That's enough!" Raditz roared. He head butted Ace and knocked the masked man away.
Dana, being the fastest, reacted first and she charged at the Alien, aiming a flying kick to his head. But Raditz ducked out of the way and to their surprise, he aimed his left hand towards Dana. A bright glow appeared in the palm of his hand and an orb of energy began to grow. Once it was the size of a soccer ball, Raditz shouted as he fired it at Dana. Dana landed on the sand and turned around just in time to see the energy blast race towards her. The bunny girl was too shocked to react and she was unable to dodge it. The attack collided and an explosion overtook the area that she was in.
"Dana!" Lynn and Bobby called out at the same time.
But their worry was short lived as Raditz turned his attention to them. Without waiting, he charged at them and Lynn found herself at his mercy. The larger man aimed a punch at her chest and Lynn tried to block it. Try being the operative word since while she did block it, the blow still sent her flying from how strong Raditz was. The blow had been even stronger than the one before!
"Justice Kick!"
Bobby began to fight him now, calling out the names of his attacks but Raditz seemed unfazed. Lynn felt like only their strongest attacks would even hurt him. With a groan, she got up from the sand and clenched her fists. She was going to have to go all out. She reached into her suit, cursing whoever designed her costume for adding a pocket in between her cleavage, and pulled out a small plastic packet. Lisa had made something special for her to use in case of emergencies. Since her powers were dependent on keeping her body well fueled, or at least partly. Lisa had designed a super concentrated, highly condensed food pill for her to eat. By swallowing it, Lynn would be receiving the caloric intake of what could feed a family of 13 for a month. According to Lisa, it was highly experimental and also dangerous hence why it was only for emergencies. Lynn had yet to test it but hey, no better time than the present.
The pill was hard as a rock but Lynn was able to chew it no problem. It didn't taste like anything good, sadly, though it did remind her of a one a day vitamin. Once she swallowed, Lynn was disappointed that it didn't work. Lisa had assured her that it wou-
Bobby grunted as he was slammed to the sandy ground. The alien was much stronger than he was and it was clear to him that Raditz was just toying with him. Though that had cost him because Bobby had managed to cut up his face. That had made Raditz angry.
"You insect!" Raditz shouted as he stomped down on Bobby's chest. "You cut my face!"
"I-It's an improvement…" Bobby retorted despite the pain he was in. That had been the wrong answer as Raditz pushed down on his leg, crushing Bobby further into the sand.
"You think that you're funny, you lousy piece of-" Raditz stopped talking as he turned around behind. Suddenly, there was a shout and Raditz was no longer on top of Bobby.
With a cough, Bobby struggled to get up and watched as Lynn was pounding Raditz into the sand. The girl was shouting angrily as her muscles seemed to bulge to their absolute limits. Bobby felt a sudden apprehension about joining the fray, he felt safer at a distance.
"Bobby, come here!"
Startled, Bobby turned to see Ace with a downed Dana. The girl was alive, thankfully, but she was in bad shape. And as he took in Ace's appearance, he noticed that Ace was also hurt.
"What happened to you?" He asked his captain.
Ace held up his shield. "I blocked his attack. Otherwise Dana would have died."
"Will she be okay?" Bobby asked. If he was being honest, he didn't have much left in the tank.
"She'll be fine. Listen, we need to end this fight now. Lynn won't be able to hold him off forever." Ace said.
"Are you sure? She seems to be handling him on her own." Bobby said as he turned towards the battle behind him.
Lynn was now trading blows with the alien man but it was clear that she didn't have the upper hand anymore. Raditz, though injured, seemed to be able to still fight without any trouble and that worried him.
"Lynn's gonna run out of steam soon. Whatever Lisa made for her is only a temporary boost at best. We need to take him out when the time is right. Can you still summon your blade?" Ace asked him.
Bobby nodded. "Of course. I have enough energy just for that."
"Good. Now just wait for my signal."
Lynn rolled out of the way from another energy blast. While Lynn couldn't shoot them, she did have experience dodging them thanks to Lori. She had already been hit by one of them before and it hurt like hell! Raditz wasn't making it easy for her and she hated that even with the boost in strength, it still wasn't enough. Lynn had managed to dig her fingers into his chest wound and open it up a little more, which caused Raditz to no longer want to fight her in close quarters.
"Stand still, you earthling bitch!" Raditz shouted as she dodged another energy blast.
Lynn was about to shout back a retort when she saw something hurling towards her. She recognized it at once and dodged another blast before leaping up and catching it. Ace had thrown her his shield and she was going to put it to good use!
"You think a piece of metal is going to help you? I'm Raditz!" Raditz fired off another blast and Lynn blocked it with the shield. Much to both of their surprise, the shield was able to fully absorb the blast. Lynn barely felt the impact and she couldn't believe that it had actually worked. "What? That's impossible!"
"Looks like you can't run away from me now!" Lynn shouted.
She charged towards him, shield held in front of her to block any incoming blasts. To her surprise, Raditz held both hands in front of him and an energy blast began to form in between his palms.
"Let's see if you can block this! Double Buster!"
A much larger blast was shot from his hands except this time it was an energy beam attack. The attack struck the shield and Lynn was forced to plant her feet into the sand as best she could. The attack was pushing her back and it caused the wind to rapidly blow past her. She could barely hear Raditz cackling over the roar of his attack, mocking her for her apparent weakness. Lynn wasn't sure how but the shield Ace had given her was still holding out and Lynn would be damned if she lost now. Plus, if that shield gave out on her, Lynn was sure that the energy blast would kill her.
While those two had been locked in their struggle to overpower one another, Ace turned towards a dumbfounded Bobby. "Now!"
Then Bobby felt a sudden surge of energy pass through his body as Ace touched his arm. There was a brief glow that came from his captain before Ace vanished from Bobby's view. He had already known that his captain was fast but to see him just disappear was crazy! Still, this was their chance and Bobby wasn't going to waste whatever boost his captain had given him. Flanking Raditz, Bobby ran around until he was behind the alien. With his big bushy mane of hair, it was hard to see where his vitals were but Bobby figured that so long as he didn't aim for the heart then Raditz would live. He just had to be stopped.
Once he was directly behind Raditz, Bobby crouched low and charged in. His right arm shifted and transformed into his blade arm. It was now a rectangular shape from the elbow to the wrist. And instead of a hand he now just had an opening where his sword would come out from. He crossed the distance between them in a matter of seconds and once he was within striking distance, Bobby attacked.
"Justice Blade!"
Raditz shouted in pained surprise as a vibrant red blade pierced through the front of his chest. He could feel it stabbing him from behind and as he glanced over his shoulder, could see that man with the strange arm. But despite having a sword impaling him, Raditz did not let up his attack. He continued to maintain his energy blast towards Lynn even as he glared at Bobby.
Just then before anyone else could do anything, Raditz's head flew off of his shoulders and landed a few feet away, the look of surprise still etched on his face. His attack ceased a moment later and his body went limp, being held up by Bobby's blade which was still impaled into his chest from behind. And as Lynn allowed herself to slump once the energy attack stopped, she and Bobby could see what or rather who had been responsible for the alien's demise.
Standing on the now headless body's right was Ace and in his hand he held an impressive looking katana with a white handle and golden hilt. The long blade seemed to glow faintly as if it were imbued with power and it was still held in the air as it finished removing the head from its enemy. Blood had erupted from the alien's body and Bobby was unfortunate enough to be caught in the splash zone along with Ace.
"What the hell was that?" Lynn asked the masked man. "I thought we were here to capture him!?" This was not what she had signed up for, she was supposed to be a hero damn it!
Bobby retracted his blade before he walked away, releasing his powers and reverting to normal before he began to throw up in the sand. He had never seen a person die before and it was a shock to the young hero.
Ace simply allowed himself to relax and to Lynn's surprise, the sword seemed to melt away as it was absorbed into Ace's arm. Just one more mystery for her to try and solve.
"It had to be done." Ace stated simply. "Your mission was to help me stop him. My mission was to eliminate the threat to our planet."
"But we could have taken him in! We didn't have to kill him!" Lynn argued. "What the hell was the point of Shield if we're not going to keep true to our ideals?"
"Shield was only ever meant to help kick start the hero movement in the United States. We've done that and now we can focus on our real mission." Ace told her. "We've known for some time that aliens were targeting our planet for its natural resources. This wasn't the first scout that they've sent and it probably won't be the last."
"And what, are you going to kill the next one also?" Lynn demanded, glaring at the masked man.
"Yes." Ace said without skipping a beat. "Because I know what war is like, kid. And one day you will realize that a hero will have to make tough choices. And I chose to make sure that none of you will have to do what I did. That none of you will have to do what I do. Taking a life is never easy and I hope that you understand the gravity of what I did. Both for the protection of the planet and for your souls."
Lynn hated to admit it but she could see where Ace was coming from. She still glared at the masked man but she didn't argue with him anymore. She helped gather her teammates and awaited the arrival of the investigation and retrieval teams from Shield. All the while thinking about how she had felt when she had seen Ace do something that Lynn felt she could and probably would never do.
End of chapter.
