Dawn City 1:58 Pm Durin Stews Ole Train Yard

‘Let me get this over with already, Drew texted us to meet him at dads place and you always take too long on taking out the trash.’ Yue whined in annoyance, but it wasn’t her turn yet, and Eli wanted to make sure her opponent didn’t find an opportunity to escape.

‘Yue the more you complain the less likely Eli is to let you out, you know this but you still do your best to be a pain in the ass.’ Teva’s aloof attitude was just as annoying to Eli but she did her best to tune the two out.

A boulder of concrete hit Eli’s forcefield with the strength of a speeding truck as it stretched inwards doing its best to keep the mass from killing Eli on the spot.

She managed to divert it by bending her shield allowing the boulder to crush a trolly to her side.

Needing to catch her breath and as plan out her next move, she spun her body rapidly gaining altitude. It would be easier for her to spot any movements up higher as well.

Before her, an abandoned trainyard, one of many that could be found on the outer districts in Dawn City, and relics of a past of industrial revolution spread out all around her, a world of rust, mold, and a not so distant past.

A dozen train trolleys in the distance she finally got a better look at her assignment.

Twelve feet tall and almost twice as wide as she was tall, a beast whose skin was covered in long thick hair roared loud enough to shatter the few still impact glass windows in the nearby abandoned warehouses.

A giant gorilla would be the best comparison to make.

Adjusting her forcefield to prevent damage to her ears Eli floated at a distance trying to find out how to best take down the poor sod who had overdosed on Man-Beast pills, and the good stuff to it seemed. It was unlikely that much of his mind would remain once the transformation was undone but as a Hero of the Young Guard, she had expectations to follow. Which was the main reason Yue wasn’t the one taking on the Beast despite the better match-up.

Yue was unlikely to hold back and cut the monster to shreds with her spear.

‘Just switch with me! Come on we’re gonna be late!’ Her bitching and moaning were starting to get at Eli as her shields started changing color from light blue to red.

“No, now shut up, or ill be the one in charge today when meeting Drew.”

‘You can’t do that! We share the body!’ Yelled Yue.

‘As much as I dislike agreeing with the brute that is quite the shitty thing to do.’ Teva responded in her typical fashion.

“Don’t care, I’m the original so you two listen to me.” Many of Eli’s family always considered her to be too kind but that was only when she wasn’t angry. A tyrant wouldn't be as demanding as her when she allowed her wrath to take control of her emotions.

‘Fine.’ Yue grumbled before Eli felt her presence fade from her mind, and was soon followed by Teva who didn’t even bother to say anything.

Finally some peace and quiet.

Returning her focus to her opponent Eli went wide eye as she noticed that it was nowhere to be seen.

With a wave of her hands, she dropped from the sky at high speed, her forcefield taking the shape of a chisel.

Upon impact, a deafening explosion of sound, all the train trolleys a hundred feet around her were knocked away freeing up the area for her vision.

A pained roar, entered her ears pushing the young hero to rip a trolly from the rusted train tracks with her psychokinesis, bolting it in the direction of the racket.

“Thunk!” A sharp noise informed her, her attack been successful as she accelerated herself in the direction of the beast. Moving at speeds comparable to a (C-) Tier Speedster Eli easily covered the distance between the two in a second.

Two hands the size of car doors ripped from the mess of metal and wood grabbing hold of Eli’s forcefield and digging their fingers into it.

“Damn it!” She’d been too aggressive and now she’d been caught. She tried shifting her field around but whatever version of Man-Beast the man had taken seemed to come with some sort of additional effect, as forcefield interruption was certainly not something she’d read it capable of doing.

“Roar!!!!!” Spit sprayed all over Eli’s field, thankfully blocking the saliva bath.

Mental cracking noises could be heard as the shield began to fail at the sheer force of the beast’s hands.

This was at least (B-) Tier Brawn!

She thought about calling in back up but remembered the promise she had been forced to give to allow for some autonomy in her missions and personal life.

Eli swore internally.

Fine, we’ll do this the painful way. Dismissing her forcefield Eli dropped avoiding the hands that could easily end her life if they got their hands on her.

Using her psychokinesis to feel around she eventually found what she was searching for as she grabbed hard at it. The screeching sound of metal rang loud all over the train yard as a couple of dozen feet of train tracks were ripped from their nailed down positions.

The sound was enough to distract the beast for a second as Eli got to pushing the Beast over with a psychokinetic blast and moving in quickly.

If the scientists that loved performing tests on her powers were to be trusted not using her shields increased the strength of her psychokinesis upwards of 40% most likely raising her above the threshold needed to be considered a (B-) Tier Psykonitic.

Metal twisted like a snake as it wrapped itself viciously around the beast until only his head remained, but Eli could already feel the ridiculous strength start to push against the metal informing her she had very little time to accomplish her goal.

“Heave ho!” She yelled as she exploded upwards from her position flying into the sky at frightening speeds.

The G’s were starting to hurt without her forcefield to protect her but she only had one chance at this and she could barely keep the weight of both the beast and all the metal up.

Pushing her psychokinesis to its limits she felt her reserves start to hit the red.

“This should be enough! Please don’t die from this!” Turning around using her grown inertia Eli had the sensation of being torn go through her body as it barely held together.

With a whip-like like motion, she flicked the beast and all the metal around it straight back down to the ground far below. She estimated herself to be at least a mile high so this was bound to hurt if hopefully not kill the damn thing.

A crack like lightning the beast was gone leaving Eli panting in exhaustion as she watches the monster meteor eventually hit the ground, the reverberation in the air reaching soon after the sound.

She was lucky to have put up a shield otherwise her organs were sure to have ruptured.

Looking down she finally signed in relief.

It wasn’t moving anymore.

But there was quite a lot of blood

“Please don’t be dead.” Prayed Eli.

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The pleasure of fast food, and not the multibillion-dollar corporation junk that had become the norm. No the old-school type of food that as unhealthy as it was still had that homey taste, leaving your mouth watering whenever you got near the establishment.

“Ah, smell that Lenny. That my friend is the smell of the American dream.” Drew’s mouth was already watering as they entered the courtyard that served as Greasefires Heart-Attack Shack. The shack he worked out of no larger than that of a storage shed.

“It does smell great but should we really be eating here?” Lenny was less than enthusiastic about the heavily tattooed-looking, and gruff folk sitting around at various outdoor tables.

“Relax man, those guys know better than to start a fight on Greasefires grounds. They’ll give you the stink eye but that’s about it.” Giving a particular group a mocking grin Lenny was indeed surprised when none of the dangerous-looking men made a move to do anything to Drew who was so obviously taunting them.

“So this Greasefires a hero turned cook?” None meta's didn’t usually take up names so Lenny was curious about the Shacks origins.

“Nah Grease was a villain, (B+) Tier if you would believe it. Dual Pyro and Hydro Elementalist, quite the dangerous guy back in the 00s.”

“How does a villain that strong just end up working as a Frycook?” Lenny asked stupified that someone so strong was now flipping burgers.

“Well, he had a kid and kinda just switched sides. Took a few years but Grease was never a hard villain, all the guy really did was heists. With no murders, it would have been dumb of the Government to not make some use out of him before giving him his freedom. Spent three years on duty down at the Emerald Forest to make up for his past as a villain.”

“You know quite a bit about the guy, you know him well?”

“Not exactly, but I am friends with his kid, who like always is late.” Drew looked down at his phone.

“Oh, so that’s what you meant about discounts.”

“Yeah but Ole Greasy doesn’t exactly like me so unless Eliot shows up we’re going to have to pay full price. But don’t worry I got you covered, I did invite you to expecting discounts, so it’s only fair.”

“No, no, no. I can at least pay for my own food.” Lenny vehemently refused. He wasn’t about to let his new friend pay for him.

“Don’t sweat it, amigo, I might go to Kinal but I’m not exactly strapped for cash.” Drew laughed finding Lenny’s reaction hilarious.

“Anywho let’s sit down at one of these tables before they fill up soon. Rush hours heading over soon.”

“Isn’t it almost three though?” Wasn’t Lunch and Dinner suppose to be rush hour?

“For the normal folk yes but unless you haven’t noticed, were surrounded by thugs in all directions.” Waving his hand around they got some piercing gazes but Drew took them in stride, not at all intimidated.

Lenny felt his phone’s notification button go off. Looking down at the screen his emotions turned giddy as a new upload from his favorite Hero News channel popped.

“OH! Look at this! The Morrígan just took out a Man-Beast that measured in at (C+) Tier, borderline (B-) if sources are to be believed.” Flipping his screen sideways Drew leaned in to get a better look at the fight.

Dressed in flowing robes, a girl appearing their age, ( a little hard to tell due to the hood hiding her face) tossed around a gorilla that looked like it had consumed nothing but steroids since the moment it was born.

Black hair with a tint of purple, The Morrígan unleashed psychonitik blasts that ripped the trainyard apart like a hurricane. Besides a brief moment where she got caught in its hands, it was honestly a slaughter.

“Wow, that’s quite the powerhouse. She new?” Drew asked with curiosity. He didn’t follow the current heroes or celebrity heroes as a lot of them seemed to act alike, but having just dealt with a similar situation today he was interested in more info.

Lenny gave Drew a look of disbelief.

“Do you live under a rock! How do you not know about The Morrígan! Newest Super of The Young Guard. She’s strong enough that her rating is (C) Tier despite only being 14 like us! The experts even think she might reach S Tier at the rate she's going.” A fanboy if Drew ever saw one. He found the disparity between the typical meek Lenny and this fanatic amazing.

“Meh, I’m not one to keep up with such things. I’d rather be at an arcade or doing some reading.”

“Still she’s literally everywhere! By the time she’s sixteen, they expect her to be the leader of the Young Guard.”

“Good for her, I hope by the time I’m sixteen I don’t get arthritis.” Drew had lost all interest in the conversation.

“Oh.” Like a deflated balloon Lenny felt the rest of the discussion dissipate into nothing.

Seeing this Drew sighed.

“Look Lenny it’s cool that you’re into following the heroes, and I’m sure it’s a nice hobby but you should always focus on yourself before looking at others.” Lenny nodded fully trusting Drews’s words despite only having known the boy for a few hours.

“Man, I sound like some old coot now.” Lifting his palms to his hands he rubbed his eyes, some weariness visible to Lenny now.

“Are you really that sick?” Hushed in tone Lenny worriedly asked.

Drew looked at the boy for a few seconds before answering.

“I’ve got some sort of deterioration disease. Muscle, bones, organs, you name it. At first, they thought I could at least live to 60 but it’s looking like I’ll be lucky to break 30 even with all the exercise and meds I take.

“But how? Didn’t Band-Aid heal you, and cant you go to a specialized Healer and fix yourself up?”

“Ha, my parents tried that when I was still young. Healing me works but it doesn’t fix the genetic disease I have. Doctors say that since I didn’t inherit the metagene my DNA sequence all sorts of mess up. Like a poorly kept together collage, the older I get the worse the glue that holds me together becomes.”

Lenny left speechless wasn’t sure how to comfort his new friend.

“Well screw it, I’m still young and my body still works so enough about the sad stuff. I’m going to go order some grub since Eliot still hasn’t shown up.” Getting up Lenny watched Drew disappear into the crowd in front of the shack.

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“I TOLD YOU WE WOULD BE LATE BUT NOOO YOU JUST HAD TO TAKE IT OUT THE HARD WAY.” Yue’s frustrated shout echoed out on the rooftops that she was expertly jumping across from.

‘Oh shut it. You get to be in control today with Drew that should be plenty enough to be happy.’ Eli snorted.

“We told him we’d be there half an hour ago. He’s probably already eating by now thanks to you. You know dad won’t give him a discount if we’re not there.” That seemed to shut up Eli. Her father’s place wasn’t expensive but Drew was a high schooler, any cash they could save up would probably be useful.

“The two of you should be glad I let you use my power to have these meetings. If we were to be fair it should only be me with him since I’m the one shapeshifting us in the first place.” Bringing up her usual grievance Teva voice her own complaints.

The three girls in the same body argued, all while Yue soar high up in the air after a particularly powerful jump. Her acrobatic and physical skills mouth dropping to any that caught sight of her through their windows.

‘We have to go give our report after eating with him. I doubt we won’t get in trouble for ditching the area before the Cops got there.’ Eli pointed out.

“Bah, screw them. We have a life to no?” Yue wasn’t having any of it. The three had to share a body in addition to all the training they went through. They deserved some time to themselves as little as it might be.

‘Well as long as we don’t piss Mom of too much then yes, so we should probably stick to protocol next time.’ Teva wasn’t wrong. It was their promise with their mother that allowed them to go out and do stuff not involved with the Young Guards or school.

A scream pulled them from their argument.

“Oh, come on really! We’re two minutes away and this happens.” Yue huffs in indignation stoping on a roof to slam her foot down to let out some of her frustration. Visible cracks spread.

‘We have to go see what’s wrong. You know that Yue.” Eli voice for once gently urging Yue on.

‘Well technically you don’t have to but goody toe shoes Eli won’t allow it so let just not waste time and break some skulls.’ Teva was right but Yue could feel the smoldering thoughts of Eli.

“Fine but I get to do this as fast as possible. So quick and painful takedowns are on the table!” Yue made her demands.

‘Fine, just don’t break more than an arm or leg.’ Eli relented, it really was unfair to Yue that her turn with Drew was being wasted.

Teva was already gone, probably taking a nap in their subconscious.

“Let’s go!” With a floor shattering jump Yue shot herself high into the sky. When gravity finally started pulled back down on her she flipped upside down and eagle dived with her eyes closed.

The air rushed past her, the darkness bringing up a picture of Eli with a disapproving scowl, to which Yue only responded with a smirk.

Down below a man was ripping a woman’s clothes apart, the lust evident in his eye’s as his hands groped her body without a care for the strength he employed.

He had just ripped off her underwear and was lowering his own pants when the sound of concrete shattering knocked him and the woman down into the garbage littered all around the hidden ally way.

“What the fuck was that!” He yelled still conscious enough to hold on to the woman.

“Arm or leg, choose.” The voice still young making it difficult for the man to determine its gender.

The man instead of answering pulled out a pistol from his coat pocket experienced on how to deal with these kids that thought themselves heroes. Put a bullet in their head and they shut up real quick.

“Both it is then.” A gunshot rang.

Then the screams not too different from a pigs.