I rushed down the street to see the other heroes locked in battle with villains. I could just about see Royal having a standoff with Blood God, attempting to freeze the villain's axe in place and dodging the shots from Blood God's firework crossbow.

I glanced around as Zaeim rushed off to confront Nightmare, who was cornering Azalea, scanning the villains and trying to figure out who was the easiest for me to fight.

There was voice from behind me. "Who the hell are you?" I froze up slightly. Lightspeed.

I turned around, and stared in shock.

Where the villain's left arm had been, he now had a stump that cut off just about where...

...I had caught him with the axe.

He followed my gaze. "Got in a fight with some silly kid. It got infected- can't get much healthcare as a villain. Had to be amputated. Now answer my question." The last 's' came out in an angry hiss.

"Echo." I said bravely, pointing the sword at him.

"New hero?" He drawled, twisting a throwing knife between his fingers. The villain looked me up and down, clearly unimpressed. "Guess they'll recruit anyone these days."

Without warning, he tossed the knife, aiming it straight at my head. My hand flew up to catch it just as my head tried to move out of the way, resulting in an awkward move where the knife sliced across my hand, but not impaling it. The knife flew past me, slowed slightly by my hand, and landed a few feet away.

"Impressive reflexes." Lightspeed muttered. "That should've killed you."

"Why would you try and kill me straight away?" I demanded, looking around as I formulated a plan in my head. "You've just met me."

"Better to cut down on the number of heroes, is it not?" He said with a laugh that sent chills down my spine. "You know, be a few moves ahead." Lightspeed tilted his head slightly. "I'd it not a good plan?"

"Not for the person you're trying to kill- in this case, me." I said with a shrug, trying to edge closer to him. Keep him talking... keep him talking...

"Ah, I suppose you're right, but I'm a villain, remember? So I don't especially care." He said with a shrug, reaching for another knife.

"Why did you become a villain?" I queried, taking another step.

"What's it to you?" He asked quickly. There was an undertone to his voice that suggested the villain was almost surprised.

"Well, I've always been curious as to why someone would go down the path of evil... you'd be a good hero, I think."

"I thought so too, but a lot happens... a lot can go wrong when you get messed up with heroes." He closed his eyes for a moment, opening them quickly. "I'll give you a suggestion, kid- think about who you're getting involved with before you're too caught up to get out."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Almost close enough... don't get distracted, Y/N, he's just playing mind games with you... No, don't feel sorry for him!

"I mean, heroes can end up doing more damage than good." Lightspeed paused, then shrugged. "Ah, who am I kidding? There's no way you'll listen. You're just another one of those arrogant kids, caught up in the flashiness of being a hero." He spat.

And... NOW! I swung the sword at him. He stared in surprise, bringing up one of his wrist guards (those were definitely a new addition) to block my attack.

Mimicking the move I had used while training with Puffy, I lifted up one foot, pushing the foot against his leg with a fierce kick and jumping back. He stumbled, tripping and falling onto his back.

I pointed the sword at him, eyes narrowed. "Still just an arrogant kid?" I asked, smiling. I frowned as the handle of the sword began to slide out of my grasp slightly due to my hand, which was now bleeding, and adjusted my grip.

"Maybe. Go on. Kill me. You won't." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"Heroes are meant to incapacitate, not kill." I snapped. "No wonder you think heroes are horrible if you don't even know what we're taught."

"Heroes are meant to incapacitate. Doesn't mean that's all they do." Lightspeed muttered. I frowned. What does he mean?

Taking advantage of my distraction, Lightspeed slid to the side, jumped up and sprinted down the street, almost too fast for me to see.

Damn it!

I glanced around at the other battles. Some vigilantes had showed up, some that I'd seen before, some that I hadn't, along with Captain Puffy, who had ran to block Lightspeed's path as soon as she saw him jump away from me.

Slimecicle and Deactivator (who looked slightly more nervous than usual) were there, along with the vigilante who I presumed to be Paradox.

He had fluffy brown hair (similar to Karl's, I had thought to myself) and a gray-cyan mask covering his mouth and nose. He had goggles with lenses that were purple with a swirl of a green-cyan on them- or were they green-cyan with a swirl of purple?- resting on his head, and a hoodie with the same pattern as his goggles.

He was the time travelling vigilante.

An intriguing power, I had to admit.

I noticed his gaze linger on me, and he frowned slightly, before turning back to Deactivator, who had gotten in a fight with Mercator.

I̸ ̴s̴t̷a̸r̵e̴d̴ ̷a̴s̶ ̷t̵h̴e̶ ̵v̴i̶l̶l̷a̵i̵n̷ ̶t̸h̴r̶e̵w̴ ̷a̴ ̴v̶i̸a̴l̸ ̴d̷o̴w̸n̷,̸ ̷f̷r̸e̷e̷z̵i̵n̴g̵ ̴D̵e̴a̸c̶t̴i̴v̶a̷t̴o̷r̷ ̷i̴n̷ ̶p̶l̶a̷c̷e̸.̷ ̵I̶ ̴w̵a̵t̶c̶h̴e̶d̵ ̸a̴s̴ ̸P̸a̷r̷a̸d̸o̵x̶ ̶p̷u̴t̶ ̶h̵i̴s̷ ̶g̶o̶g̷g̸l̷e̵s̴ ̵o̷n̴,̷ ̷a̷n̷d̶ ̷t̵h̵e̵r̶e̷ ̴w̷a̵s̶ ̸a̴ ̵f̷l̶a̸s̴h̸ ̵o̶f̶ ̷p̶u̶r̴p̴l̵e̵ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̸c̸y̵a̷n̶ ̴l̶i̵g̵h̶t̶...̵.

I stared as the villain threw a vial down. It should have hit Deactivator, but there was a flash of blinding light as Paradox emerged from a purple and cyan portal, pushing the younger vigilante out of the way and getting frozen in place instead of him.

I assumed this was Paradox using his time travel power and preventing something that should have happened. If only I knew what...

Mercator glared as Paradox mouthed 'Run' to Deactivator, who nodded, terrified, and rushed away, almost bumping into me. The youngest vigilante frowned, looking over me, before we both turned to watch.

M̶e̸r̶c̷a̶t̷o̵r̵ ̵c̶r̴e̴a̶t̸e̶d̷ ̷a̵ ̷b̴l̷a̸c̸k̷ ̶t̷o̷x̷i̶n̴ ̷s̷i̸m̴i̵l̵a̶r̵ ̵t̷o̴ ̷t̶h̷e̵ ̷o̷n̴e̸ ̸t̴h̷a̴t̸ ̷h̵a̷d̵ ̸s̸c̸a̵r̶r̸e̴d̶ ̴Z̵a̵e̸i̷m̴,̶ ̷a̸n̷d̸ ̷i̸t̶ ̵f̶l̴e̴w̸ ̴t̵o̶w̷a̵r̷d̴s̶ ̸P̷a̵r̵a̶d̸o̶x̸,̷ ̵h̵i̴t̸t̸i̶n̵g̷ ̶h̸i̷m̶ ̸i̷n̵ ̸t̷h̵e̵ ̵f̸a̸c̷e̶ ̶a̶s̵ ̵t̴h̸e̸ ̵v̶i̵g̷i̸l̵a̵n̷t̶e̵ ̷r̵e̷c̸o̷i̴l̴e̸d̶ ̸w̵i̷t̵h̷ ̷a̷ ̶s̵h̶r̴i̸e̷k̵.̵ ̸T̷h̵e̶r̵e̸ ̷w̵a̶s̴ ̶m̴o̸r̵e̷ ̴p̸u̶r̵p̴l̵e̶ ̵a̶n̴d̷ ̷c̵y̸a̴n̴ ̴l̷i̵g̶h̴t̵...̸

There was purple-cyan light and another portal that quickly disappeared as Paradox jumped out of the way of a black toxin sent towards him by Mercator. Time travel again, I'm guessing.

Paradox grabbed the discarded throwing knife that Lightspeed had attempted to kill me with, lunging towards Mercator and thrusting the knife into his shoulder, continually twisting the knife once it had impaled the villain.

The vigilante's eyes, which were normally a friendly purple, had turned a cold, glowing shade of orange, and he tilted his head slightly, serenely unbothered by Mercator's screams of pain, and the blood that had splattered onto Paradox as a result of the knife wound.

He let go of the knife and Mercator collapsed to the ground, trembling. Paradox turned away and walked over to Deactivator. "You okay?" His voice had a strange echo to it.

"I- Um- yeah." The young vigilante stuttered, watching as Blood God broke off from his fight with Royal to help Mercator to his feet. The two villains disappeared, Mercator's choked sobs fading.

Paradox closed his eyes, frowning and shaking his head. When his eyes opened, they were purple again. He froze as he spotted the blood splattered along his hands and face. "What happened?" He croaked, looking mortified.

"You attacked Mercator." I explained, turning away to go and help the other heroes.