The next day, Ekko was back at his workshop, busy working on his latest innovations with his friends. Inside the workshop one could find anything they could be looking for, ranging from weapons to daily life technology like cellphones and tablets. There were three main rooms, but Ekko made sure that the biggest room in it was reserved for his projects and mainly his hoverboard.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Ekko stopped working on his hoverboard and ran to see who it was. He opened the door and found Zeri standing there with her green hair and a huge smile on her face. She had brought along some of the other people of the community with her, everyone looking eager to see Ekko.

"Come in guys, what's the big deal?" asked Ekko with a grin as he let them enter the workshop.

"Well we have all the material that you wanted. You know, the ones for the new hoverboard that you were trying to make. Zeri and the others got it all for you." replied a guy named Leo, handing over a bunch of boxes full of items, tools, wires and other small pieces that Ekko didn't have in his workshop.

"Ohh you shouldn't have guys, I could've done this myself..." said Ekko, blushing and looking at Zeri, who sent him a blowing kiss.

"It's okay, Ekko." replied Zeri. "I know that you love making these inventions and I figured that we should help you out by bringing all this stuff to you, as a thank you for everything you do for the community."

Ekko smiled and thanked everyone for their help before grabbing the boxes and setting them down next to him.

"Alright, I think I can work with this now." he said with a smile.

"Ok guys let's leave, the mad scientist needs silence" announced Zeri.

The others laughed as they left Ekko alone in his workshop to get back to work on his new invention. Ekko was happy that he had such wonderful friends and that they cared about him so much that they would help him out by bringing him all this stuff he needed for his creations.

After a long day of work, the hoverboard seemed to finally be working. Ekko had given it a test ride or two, but he thought he would give it the definite test the following day. The sun started to set and Ekko could feel the tiredness spreading throughout his body. He decided that it was time for him to go home and rest.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" called out Ekko, walking out of the workshop.

"Sure thing, Ekko, we'll be here!" replied one of the others with a smile as she watched him leave.

The sky was starting to turn orange and red as Ekko walked down the street towards his house. He felt the warmth of the sunlight on his skin and smiled to himself as he enjoyed the beautiful sight above him. He could hear the birds chirping in the trees and he could smell the fresh scent of grass from nearby gardens as he made his way through the streets of Zaun. He had almost forgotten about everything else around him until he heard someone screaming behind him.

There were several people running towards him.

"Ekko, Ekko, Ekko!" yelled one of them as they passed by him.

"What's going on?" asked Ekko as he looked around at all the chaos.

There were people yelling, crying and screaming around him as they ran in every direction trying to escape whatever danger was coming their way. Then he saw it: the smoke. A huge plume of black smoke was rising from somewhere near the center of the community.

"Shit," muttered Ekko under his breath as he quickly sprinted back to his home.

"The Firelights are here... The Firelights will help us..." screamed someone from the crowd.

He picked up his phone and called for help, "There has been a huge explosion in the center of the community! I need backup! Now!"

Trying to get there as fast as possible, Ekko decided to test his luck with the hoverboard.

"I really hope this works." he thought to himself.

He took out the keys to his workshop and put them in a pouch on his belt so as to not let them fall out of his pockets, before climbing onto his new invention. As soon as he was on top of the device, Ekko pressed a button and it began to move. The hoverboard took off at high speed, moving quickly down the street towards the smoke which was still billowing out from somewhere near the center of the community.

"What the hell?" thought Ekko, seeing the devastation in front of him. The neighborhood was ruined: some houses had collapsed, people were crying, bodies were laying in the streets.

"Oh no... No!" he thought as he saw Leo lying down on the sidewalk, unmoving. Ekko stopped his hoverboard and got off it immediately, running over to Leo's body and kneeling down next to him. "Leo, are you alright?!"

There was no answer.

"Leo?... Please answer me, please say something..."

Suddenly, someone grabbed Ekko from behind and pulled him away from Leo's body. It was one of the other members of the Firelights, who had seen him approaching and wanted to make sure he was okay.

"He's gone." said the member of the Firelights, his face covered by a mask and his voice muffled through it.

Ekko's whole body was shaking as he cried out in grief for Leo's loss. "Who did this?! Who would want to hurt Leo? He was only 18 years old..."

"Ekko, calm down." said the member of the Firelights in a calming tone of voice, his hands gently placed on Ekko's shoulders as he looked deep into his eyes. "We have to stay calm now, we must survive this ordeal. The terrorists are still around."

Ekko nodded slowly, trying to control himself as he wiped the tears from his face and tried to get a hold of his emotions. He took a few deep breaths before finally looking around him. From one of the buildings, Zeri and two more vigilantes joined him. They were wearing masks to hide their identities, but Ekko recognized them from afar thanks to their outfits, weapons and the fact that Zeri was always ready to fight by his side.

"My god..." Zeri let out a sigh, her voice trembling slightly from anger as she spoke, looking at Leo's body. "We need to get revenge! We have to track them and make sure they stop hurting our people. "

Ekko nodded in agreement as he looked around at all the damage that had been done. The entire area where they had been hanging out and building for years was completely destroyed and he knew that this wasn't going to be fixed anytime soon.

"I'll go inform our people on what happened, tell them to stay safe" said one of the vigilantes.

The vigilante turned around and started running towards the other parts of the community. Meanwhile, Zeri approached Ekko and placed her hand gently on his shoulder.

"It's gonna be alright." she whispered softly. "We'll get through this together."

Ekko nodded again.

"I brought your gear." said Zeri. "Now let's go find these thugs." she added while giving him his tools and weapons.

Ekko took everything Zeri handed him: his bat, the Z-drive, and the mask.

"Thanks," he said with a grim look on his face as he began strapping everything on his belt.

"Hey guys, listen up." called out another member of the Firelights in a loud voice. "This is bad."

"What's wrong?" asked Ekko with a frown.

"How many?" asked Zeri in a serious tone of voice as she gripped her gun tightly in her hand.

The member of the Firelights looked over at the two of them. "A lot of them," he replied in a quieter tone than before. "Almost fifty."

Ekko clenched his fists tightly together at hearing this information, his anger building up within him as he looked down at the ground and felt his muscles tense up slightly. He didn't know how much longer he could keep it together if these people kept hurting his community like this.

"We'll have to divide into three groups." said Ekko. "I will go with Zeri and you, Marshall, will lead the other group."

Marshall nodded in agreement. "Alright. Let's go." he replied.

The three groups went in different directions to look for the criminals who had attacked the community, while the other members of the Firelights remained behind and tried to look for survivors in the explosion site. They could hear gunshot noises from afar, and moved towards their direction.

Soon enough, they found a group of the Silco's henchmen, all of whom were walking around the community holding their guns. They were surrounding an elderly man, pointing their weapons at him and laughing as he begged for mercy.

Ekko's heart sank when he saw this sight.

"Stop right there!" shouted Ekko.

The thugs looked over at him and sneered. "Another one?" they said in unison, their voices sounding like they were coming from a speaker rather than from a person's throat.

"Leave him alone." replied Ekko angrily.

"Or what? Are you gonna fight us all?" asked the henchman holding the old man hostage, as the other thugs laughed.

Ekko didn't answer. Instead, he started running towards them at full speed.

The henchmen laughed even louder and began shooting their guns at him. They missed him completely, their bullets hitting the walls behind him.

"You're wasting your ammo." said Zeri, pointing her gun at one of the thugs. "We're gonna kill all of you."

The thug sneered again.

"That's a nice threat." he replied sarcastically. "Let's see how many of us you can kill before we finish the job."

Ekko charged the Z-drive.

"Come and get me," he shouted as he ran towards the henchman holding the old man hostage.

As the thug was preparing to shoot at him, he used his hoverboard to jump in the air, evading the bullets, then he kicked the one who had spoken in the face.

The old man was free.

"Get up!" shouted Ekko to him. "Run!"

The old man scrambled to his feet and started running towards the nearest safe spot he could find.

"I'll kill you for that!" shouted the thug, his teeth missing and mouth bleeding.

"Go to hell," replied Ekko angrily.

As he swung his bat at one of the thugs, his fist hit another one and knocked him back.

One of the henchmen who was trying to hit Ekko from behind, was hit directly in the face by Zeri's gun causing him to stumble backwards and fall to the ground.

Ekko jumped into the air and landed on top of him, driving his knee into his stomach and knocking the air out of him.

Then he stood up, turning around and facing the other thugs.

"Come and get me, you assholes!" he shouted, raising his bat high in the air.

"Fuck this!" one of the henchmen said, "We need help!" he shouted in his radio.

"We can't let them leave and regroup" screamed Zeri.

Ekko rushed towards them, swinging his bat around wildly. His aim wasn't good enough though. He missed the first strike, but managed to hit the second one in the chest.

The henchmen fell backwards onto the ground, screaming in pain.

"You're fucked!" he screamed.

Suddenly, the sound of a car engine could be heard behind them.

"That must be backup." thought Ekko.

The car screeched to a halt behind the thugs, its doors opening.

"Get in the car!" a voice yelled. Those who could stand jumped in the car and started to flee the scene, leaving the one who was kicked in the stomach by Ekko unconscious on the floor.

"Dammit, they're getting away," muttered Zeri, glaring at the vehicle that was escaping.

"Don't worry," said Ekko. "Let's get this one."

Ekko bent down and started tying the unconscious thug up, using the rope he had on his belt. When he was finished, he stood up and turned to look at Zeri.

"What now?" asked Zeri, as the two stood over the defeated criminal.

"Well, we should probably bring him somewhere safe and question him. We'll take him to the warehouse." said Ekko.

"You can do that. I'll call Marshall and check how things are going with the other teams" replied Zeri, starting to call the others.

"Got it," said Ekko. He then began dragging the unconscious man towards the warehouse.

Ekko threw the criminal on the floor and sat down, leaning against the wall of the warehouse.

"You should probably wake him up now," said Zeri, who had finished her phone calls and was now standing in front of the tied up thug.

"Right," replied Ekko, standing up and walking over to the man. He lifted him up and slapped his face hard a few times.

"Ow," the man groaned, opening his eyes slowly.

"Wake up," shouted Ekko.

"Where am I?" asked the man.

"You're our prisoner now" answered Zeri. "Don't try anything funny. You won't live long if you do."

The man started laughing.

"Why would you care about me? I'm not even important enough to kill."

"Oh, we care about every person we capture." replied Ekko with a grin on his face. "Tell us why you're here. Who sent you?"

"I don't have to tell you shit," he spat.

"Fine," said Zeri. "Then we'll just have to beat the answers out of you."

She grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him towards the center of the warehouse. There, she sat him down in front of a chair.

"Now, let's begin."

Zeri punched the man hard across the face. Blood splattered everywhere as the man's head snapped backwards.

"I'm not telling you anything!" yelled the man.

Zeri punched him again. This time, the man's head flew sideways, knocking against the wall.

"What's your name and why are you here?" asked Ekko.

"We came here to destroy your shitty community," said the man, laughing maniacally.

Zeri hit him again. This time, the man fell forward onto the floor, unconscious.

"Looks like he won't be talking," said Ekko.

"Yeah, seems like it." replied Zeri.

She grabbed her gun and pointed it at the man's head.

"Any last words?"

The man's eyes widened in terror as he realized what was about to happen.

"Ok, ok...I'll talk, relax now"

"Then talk," said Ekko coldly.

"Silco...he's responsible for all this." muttered the man.

"Damn...this is serious. Two attacks in two days? " said Zeri.

"What does Silco want with us?" asked Ekko.

The man's face lit up. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" asked Ekko impatiently.

"Silco wants to enslave the whole community and make you work for him." replied the man, a wide smile on his face.

"No fucking way!" exclaimed Zeri, her eyes widening.

"Yes. And once we're done with your community, we'll move on to the next one. Then the next one. We'll conquer everything."

"That bastard..." growled Zeri.

"You'll pay for what you did here!" yelled Ekko angrily. He grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him to his feet.

"Wait, please!" pleaded the man, tears streaming down his face.

"Tell us what else you know about Silco. Or I'll make sure you'll suffer." said Ekko threateningly.

"Ok, ok. I'll tell you everything I know. Just promise me that you'll let me live."

"Very well," replied Ekko. "Now, tell us about Silco."

"Silco wants to use Shimmer's power to rule over everything. He's also got some pretty scary stuff going on at Singed's lab. He's building an army of super soldiers."

"Oh my god..." said Zeri, covering her mouth with her hand.

"How big is his army?" asked Ekko.

"It's huge. Like, really, really big. Like, thousands of soldiers"

"A million? Wow..." said Ekko in awe.

"Yes. Now, let me go!" the man said, struggling against the ropes.

"You're not going anywhere," replied Ekko coldly. "But we won't kill you yet."

"No," said Zeri. "We're gonna make you watch while we take out your entire gang. We'll make sure everyone knows that it was your fault."

The man's face paled and he shook his head in horror.

"Please, please, please," he begged, tears falling down his cheeks.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to hurt our people," said Ekko angrily. "Now, get out of my sight." he added, disgusted.

Ekko and Zeri told Marshall and the other vigilantes about the prisoner and left them to guard him. They got out of the warehouse, exhausted.

"I think I know a way we can beat Silco" said Zeri. "You know the Shimmer factory?"

"What about it?" asked Ekko.

"We could sabotage the whole thing. That will slow him down. Then we'll have a chance to plan how to attack him next"

"Alright, I think you're right." said Ekko.

"Great. Let's plan tomorrow. I need to rest a bit." concluded Zeri.

The two hugged.

"I got scared while you were fighting so many enemies, dumbass." said Zeri.

"I'll try to be more careful, smartass" replied Ekko.

"Promise?"

"I promise. And don't worry, we'll get through this together." he said, caressing her hair.

"Thank you, Ekko" she said, smiling and hugging him tightly.

"Now let's get back to the others, we have a plan to discuss" suggested Ekko, after giving her a kiss on the lips.

In the meantime, in Silco's villa, Jinx was looking at the scenes of the fight through the monitors which were showing everything that was recorded thanks to the small cameras in the henchmen's suits.

"They're strong. They are organized too." said Jinx, who was watching the video.

"Yeah." agreed Silco.

"They could be a real threat to us." continued Jinx.

"They won't be," said Silco confidently.

"So, how about we start with the plan we made?" asked Silco, turning towards her.

"Sure thing. But first, I want to ask you something." replied Jinx, a smile on her face.

"Go ahead," replied Silco.

"Can we go shopping for some clothes?" asked Jinx, with puppy eyes.

Silco rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Of course my dear. Of course."