Rebound POV

I don't know about the others, but I think it's safe to say that I was doing well with my part of the mission. Despite their size, it looked like the big rock person was much faster than anticipated, having me up against the wall so fast I could barely get a word out. My excitement was so infectious that I couldn't help but smile despite the pain. Because all the more, I realized that I had found utter excitement in this world gone mad.

"Last time I checked, people don't try to beat up their rescuers," I said with a clasped throat.

"True, but I would like to think I'm not trading prison for another," they said with contempt.

"Better to find out than to rot in here," I said honestly.

While we had our talk, the other prisoners were starting to react. The purple-haired dude gave a hollow expression as he walked out of his cell, while the girl was so frightened of the still dying bodies that she stayed inside via fetal position.

"Let him go, Sam, we don't have time for this," he said bluntly.

"Unlike you, Akira, I don't have a death wish! I'm not letting another freak use me. How do we know if he's for real."

"Look, rocky, I've been nothing but that! If you're worried about getting tricked, don't bother because me, the chick, and every one of my lackeys aren't risking our lives out of the goodness of our hearts. But I promise you that as long as you follow our rules, do what we say; I can guarantee that your powers will never confine you ever again," I say with all the conviction I had.

At that moment, the girl turned her head towards me, choosing her next words carefully.

"Can you do that? Can you make me see my family again, make sure I stop hurting people?"

"Yeah, I can make that happen," I said in haste.

At that moment, the three prisoners exchanged a joint unspoken conversation, leaving me with nothing to do but stew over my impatience. Only to then have Sam let me go.

"Fine, Grace, I'll hear him out."

"Good now, let's talk some business," I said while gasping for air.

But our conversation was quickly interrupted by "his" entrance.

Ursa POV

They say that time heals all wounds, but I guess that saying means nothing in this world gone mad. Because I still haven't forgotten the words that Ублюдок (bastard) Ivan said to me all those months back.

"You are nothing but a parasite sucking this city dry for all it's worth. A cowardly thief that greedily survives off others!"

If that fool understood my struggle, my pain, he would know that I had every right to be afraid. Because much like Slime's prior condition, my new vessel is more curse than a blessing. Bit by bit, I feel it growing stronger by the day. At first, it was a small echo inside of my mind, but all too quickly, I realized the awful truth. The truth that there was a beast inside this unearthly frame, a beast so powerful it might someday overtake me. This is exactly why I'll use every inhumane tactic possible to remain human in a world with so many people that are anything but that; once I had collected all the necessary insurance, maybe Algorithm can find a cure to my ailment. But those questions will all have to wait as Gyro, and I made it to our destination: A good 20 miles away from Area 51. With less than a minute before our accessories could turn black, I gave out my useless affirmations.

"Are you sure you're up for this? I know we ran simulations, but."

"Look, man, if we screw this up, I'll be too dead to care. So let's not get this wrong. Our teammates need us," he said impatiently.

It didn't take animal instincts to know that he only cared about Barrier, knowing full well she'd been thrown to the front lines. But such emotions like empathy and care had long since left me; even before Genesis came, it was almost nostalgic and heartbreaking. Either way, he was right; there was no time to waste. With each oncoming step, I commanded more power, getting behind Gyro as he cracked his neck and stretched casually. And by the time we both synchronized the three count, I delivered a wild double axe handle punch to his back!

However, instead of flesh and bone, I hit pure kinetic energy, as a grey mesh formed right around him! The intensity was so great that I could physically feel his fight back like a typhoon! However, my beast answered back with even more primal force, sacrificing all self-preservation for one final push! Because of that, my punch carried through, sending Gyro throttling through the air in a violent shockwave that nearly set me ablaze! And with that, our comrades' success had finally been assured, as long as they did their part. Long-range sensors, advanced radio systems, mortars, hell, even the SeaRAM were all rendered useless in a single stroke. They tackled human-made missiles that came from a distance, which meant nothing when stacked up to the indestructible nap of the air, supersonic cannonball that will make the entire base go down in flames!

Gyro POV

Despite all the pizzazz, my power is easily the simplest of us all. I can't fight at range; I'm not invincible nor physically. The only thing I can do is sharpen this one blade and hope to god it's enough to turn the tide. Thankfully my training paid off, as even at Mach 1, I remained fully in control. Before, I was nothing more than a bull seeing red, but it was Jane that opened my eyes, who showed me how I could live up to all this power.

I had to work with two things: spatial awareness and reaction speed (which unfortunately lead to many ball-shaped tennis wounds) to do. Eventually, I was able to recontextualize my abilities to grant myself 360 vision with my perceptions now to keep up with my speed. And while it still didn't give me the most control, I could still do a lot more in this now minute long period. Which turned me into the world's deadliest pinball as I wreaked absolute destruction through men, machines, and metal alike!

From memory alone, I targeted every helicopter, aircraft, and radio tower I could find bouncing and rebounding off them like some runaway bouncy ball! When the carnage was finally said and done, I landed on top of the infamous base, all while basking in my mayhem. Over the horizon, burning wreckage and concerned soldiers panicked like distressed ants. With that in mind, I decided to take a short break and lay down, waiting for my next rotation to activate. And as I saw the starry night sky with a full moon in view, I'm reminded of a promise that Jane and I made under the starry night sky. The promise that we would day be one of them shortly, and now promise can be kept.

When my timer finally refilled, I simply let myself fall through the floor like a meteor—keeping up with my earlier pace, bouncing across the various corridors to create as much widespread havoc as possible. In my rampage, I had destroyed distressed soldiers, broke through barriers, and freed even more prisoners, adding to the overall chaos even more. But I guess I made a small mistake in my blitz; with the concrete getting away, I accidentally took a small slip further down the base. When I had refocused fully, I ended up bursting into an unseen complication. Hundreds of miles of momentum ended in an instant, as I'm sent tumbling into the opposite wall of an intense battle! With speedy analysis, I saw that Tactic was putting up a stalemate against Scale, Marauder, and Slime! The shock of the sight was so much I hid it through the most basic punchline I could find.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Scale gave an instinctive look that made me brace for what came next. "

Yeah, and you are mighty good for it," she said as she lifted her hands in a blue hue.

A bloody Marauder and the ceiling above then got coated in blue light. Noticing the change, Marauder jumped back with unnatural height, as the ceiling soon caved in under its own added weight! Before they fully separated, both he and Tactic gave a look that could kill. Either way, we managed to maintain a suitable enough buffer for us to regroup and recover. While I had laid back cool as a cucumber, the other three drew in utterly exhausted breaths. Through them, I saw that Tactic had done a number on all of them, welted bruises, bloody cuts, and harsh imprints left their mark. Whatever happened made one thing very clear to all of us, that this new world wasn't going to give up its ordered chaos so easily. That we still needed to be even more careful. Marauder summarized our collective doubts precisely.

"Let me make this crystal clear, that bastard is mine; you get in the way of that, and you'll share his fate. Understood?"

I didn't bother giving a proper response; big talkers like that are best left alone. Especially if Jane could be having a complication of her own, wordlessly, We decided to proceed with the last step: escape. Using Scales gravity and Slimes agility, we quickly scaled up the elevator till we made it to the top floor. From there, I expected to meet the most resistance, the one that would push us to our limits. But it seemed I had nothing to worry about once again because the sight I saw was one that could only come from a world post genesis.

As far as the eye could see, the ground was upheaved in a series of strange protrusions, all of which usually ending with a mangled corpse on top. To add to the strangeness of the event, numerous soldiers were in distress, shooting at the stone walls, swimming on land, and being in different states of undress. Finally, to top it all off, the variety of corpses weren't human, with some of them being fleshy humanoid mutants with large bony claws and serrated teeth. And in the epicenter of such an event was a bloody Ursa and crazed Rebound, allied with about 20 helixes. Complete disbelief washed over my body until the sight of a tired yet equally confused Jane snapped me back into reality. When a clear path was made, Rebound jumped down and said.

"What are all of you waiting for?"

With such a simple question hanging over the air, we realized there was truly nothing left To do but make our clean getaway with Ursa barely catching up from behind. From Algorithm's prepped helicopter, all we could do was see the havoc of dozens of other helixes as they burned the famous landmark to the ground.

Algorithm POV

Fortune truly does favor the bold, pre and post Genesis; the result is always the same. I took a fateful stride, and for it, our riches became all the greater. Our collective havoc left the remaining prisoners with more than ammunition to raze Area 51. It was so dangerous that it made breaking news on all channels nationwide. Like dominos, what came next was utter clockwork. News outlets brought out hyperbolic statements, scaring the vulnerable masses and digging the nonbelievers into their fantasies. The conspiracy theorists had a ball, dissecting the incident. Simultaneously, the government naturally gave a series of blanket statements that gave no true answers. Our prisoners quickly started to get opened up to our creed as well, with Rebound displaying leadership that I never knew he had. It was all so perfect I almost felt bad about our next move. However, to pull that last string, I needed to make sure my right hand was more than available. In a peerless stride, I headed straight towards Mr.Lee, gently knocking on his door.

When he opened, I could see his feelings clear as day. Half the reason I succeeded in a career where most men died young was because of my innate ability to read people. And I've never seen anyone with such intense hatred like Me. Lee, one that made his horse neck, bruised ribs, and broken nose look superfluous.

"Despite our recent success, I've heard from the others that you are less than satisfied with how things turned out," I said carefully.

"The first time that we managed to attain power, the Champions managed to escape even when we had half of them dead to rights, now they know our goal and our members. Now that same goal nearly got completely upheaved by Tactics' surprise appearance, all because we let him grow for months now."

"And I'm sorry about that, but not even-."

"That's not what I am talking about. What I mean is that we've let our enemies grow unchallenged for far too long. If we leave them unabated, they're just going to get even stronger. Which is why I think I should go and hunt them down myself."

"I agree on every front, Mr. Lee, except for that last notion."

"And do you think you have the power to stop me," he said as his right hand glowed.

"Of course not, but I do have wisdom. I made the plan for you to have all the risk with no reward. You need not worry about bullying your hands where there are so many others willing to do the same."

"I don't like leaving things up to chance, Masters; those fools might not get the job done."

The quote resonated enough with me to drop part of my act.

"True, people aren't exactly the most competent, trustworthy, or intelligent. But I've also learned that you can't micromanage every piece of your empire. You're not a mercenary anymore, Mr.Lee. You are a symbol just like them, which means that, unfortunately, personal matters can't interfere with the big picture. You allied yourself with me because you wanted to rise above the rabble of the old world, including their instincts. If you do that, then this Earth will be in the palm of your hands." I said in a mentor-like speech.

With that, I left Mr.Lee to his own devices while I had the others (besides Ursa) gather in front of the camera to begin our advertised campaign to the world. Each of my Crusaders was dressed in the most focus tested suits I could find. Mr.Fern had a tight purple bodysuit with iron soles, gauntlets, and a white lightning symbol on his chest. Mrs.Williams had a streamlined light teal spacesuit with Mr. Quick, and Harp had matching bodysuits with decorated bracers, one gray and the other light blue with visible lines. Straits decided to go commando in slime form. Just when I thought that would be all, Mr. Lee finally came back in with his new orange and white jumpsuit with golden gloves, knowing full well that he had finally adopted his role as a leader.

With his appearance, our plan had finally succeeded without a hitch, forcing the world to bear witness to our controlled narrative. The one which will inspire so many sheep to take arms against the unjust and inhumane treatment of helixes as they get painted in a new light. The speech that will divide the people and government even more, so they can join our plight. The one that will be the scapegoat we need to send this world gone mad into our code of conflict.