“In a shocking turn of events, Chemestro, once hailed as a bright new star with the potential to become one of Franklin city’s five Anchors, has seemingly gone berserk, attacking multiple homes and businesses overnight.”

Perry’s jaw slowly began hanging open as the newscaster continued.

“Additionally, several allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced over the last twenty-four hours, from actresses who have publicly expressed support for the super in the past.”

“The hell?” Perry muttered to himself. That was weird.

“Delayed onset rampage?” Heather asked, kicking her heels against the workbench next to Nat.

“Well, maybe…but I don’t know if Chemestro even knows how to sexually misconduct. I mean, I’m not saying these women are liers, but…it seems out of character for him. I think if he went on a rampage, we’d see a lot more loss of life and property destruction and less mustache twirling evil. Dude could take down a city block in about the time it takes to sneeze, so why is he being so precise?”

“It seems…designed to make people hate him.” Perry said. “I mean, school, orphanage, DMV?”

“I thought no one would be mad about someone destroying a DMV.” Heather said.

“Just imagine how long the lines are at the other ones now.” Perry said.

“Aaah,” Heather nodded. “diabolical.”

“So if he’s trying to provoke animosity…then this is a trap, right?” Natalie asked, peeling her goggles off. The round protective eyewear had left two inverse panda-eyes on her face.

“Well, yeah, but I don’t think it’s for me,” Perry said. “It doesn’t target me specifically at all. I think…I think he might be in some kind of trouble and…” Perry felt like he was forcing the words past sandpaper, “Need some help.”

Perry checked his XP to next level.

XP to next level: 362

“Well, I can sort out exactly what he’s trying to do after I arrest him.”

Chemestro is a powerful super with tons of potential. Arresting him is sure to get me to level seven…and if he IS in trouble, whoever’s doing it to him is probably worth even more.

“You got a greedy look on your face there.” Heather said.

“Nuh uh,” Perry shook his head as he began checking over the Mk.5, getting the spells he would need ready.

The Mark Five was created to be even more resistant to Chemestro’s powers, by introducing more resilient inner wiring, redundancies, and self-healing material throughout the entire guts of the machine, rather than just the plating.

Hopefully it would finally give him something Perry could use to harvest Chemestro’s XP bring him to justice.

Okay, what spells will be useful against Chemestro?

With Chemestro’s bracers giving him resistance to magic, and his hyperweave making him highly resistant to physical damage, AND his power to slip through attacks…There wasn’t much that was particularly effective without being outright lethal.

Perry searched his memory for anything that could help.

Daxer’s Faux teleportation might come in handy, Perry thought, grabbing the spell frame and attaching it to the Mk. 5’s chest slot, inserting the spell disc in the back.

Daxer’s Faux Teleportation used magic to shift the light in such a way that you looked several feet distant from where you actually were, or even make multiple copies.

Perry had several different diamonds with specific cuts that could be rotated in front of the striker, like a CD player, and each one would provide a different effect.

It could buy me a couple seconds of confusion, because he’s never seen it before.

Let’s see, what else? Perry didn’t add Disintegrate, because he was planning on putting that spell into his soul as a powerful trump card, he was running on his last demon eyeball….and he didn’t wanna kill anybody.

Static Shock of course. Perry had added a way to rachet the output down in case he needed to tase a civvie.

Perry loaded the usual Kolath’s Floating armaments into his armor, wincing as his pile of areonite dwindled further.

Tomward’s Floating Dazzler and Dregor’s Flacidity were included, more for utility than anything else: Perry didn’t expect Chemestro to be put down by either of them, but he might be able to cut through a building or float a civilian out of harm’s way.

Anything else? Perry loaded the Bargand’s Favor applicator, then stood back and viewed his work.

The Mk.5 was an ominous matte black piece of armor, with hard angles that appeared to be made out of plastic and shadow.

I think I need a splash of color somewhere. Perry thought. Just so I don’t look like the bad guy.

“So,” Perry said, turning back to his team. “If Chemestro really is on a rampage, there’s a decent chance of getting killed, but I’m willing to bet he’s just putting on a show. And if that’s the case, it’s my responsibility as his official nemesis to throw a wrench in whatever scheme he’s involved in.”

“How much of this is the XP talking?” Heather asked.

“About fifty percent.” Perry admitted, regretting having let them in on the details of his System.

Perry considered for a moment. If Chemestro was actually on a rampage, he had a choice to make: A truly rampaging, unleashed Chemestro could kill most of them in the blink of an eye.

Picturing Nat or Heather turning to dust in front of his eyes was a sobering thought.

How much am I willing to bet that Chemestro is actually faking it?

Perry was only willing to bet himself…

And maybe Breaker.

…No, just myself.

The problem was, without a full team, there was little chance of taking him down. Especially if he wasn’t on a rampage.

Perry adjusted his expectations down from arresting Chemestro to simply figuring out if he was faking or not. Chemestro couldn’t kill him quick enough to stop him from running away. Not with the Mk. 5.

If Chemestro was truly out of his mind and vaporizing people instantly, Perry could come back later and adopt a more…tactical, long-range, laser-based approach.

It was generally considered polite to posture and insult your nemesis for a couple minutes before proceeding to fight one on one, but sometimes an orbital laser to cut someone into tidy giblets without warning is the appropriate solution.

“I’m gonna go see what the appropriate solution is.” Perry said.

“By yourself?” Heather asked.

“Yeah,” Perry said, patting the Mk. 5 “I figure I could probably run away if I had to.”

“Alright, have fun,” Heather said with a shrug.

“Good luck,” Nat said, nodding. “Be careful.”

“My team isn’t gonna demand that they come with me because they love me so much!?” Perry asked, aghast.

“Nah, dude,” Heather said, shaking her head.

“That’s a cliché, you’re a lot better at running away than we are, and I don’t wanna risk both of you.” Natalie said apologetically.

“That’s true. If you die, I get Nat all to myself…” Heather said, stroking her nonexistent goatee and glancing off to the side.

“Oh, my god,” Perry said, clutching his chest melodramatically. “Feeling the love you guys.”

“You’re welcome,” Heather said.

“I’ll be back in half an hour, or, you know…dead.” Perry said, opening the latch on his armor.

“If you die, I will drag you back from hell and kick your ass.” Heather said.

“Don’t even joke about that. Hell is a real place, and the bureaucracy there is insane.” Perry said, stepping into his armor and closing the chest piece down over himself.

Heather and Nat waved as Perry opened up the hangar doors and blasted out into the night air.

They ribbed each other to cover up the fear of death.

Alright, let’s see…where is he right now?

According to the news, Chemestro was currently trashing some skyscrapers in the northwester part of the city.

Perry oriented on that section of the city and turned his thrusters to full.

“ACK!”

The Mk. 5 was significantly faster than the Mk. 4, and Perry was beginning to run into the limitations of a human body as the acceleration tried to shove his guts out of his body.

Maybe I’ve already passed them, Perry thought as the acceleration eased up.

***Chemestro***

“Chemestro!” 812 shouted, his voice rising above the roaring flames and screaming civilians. “This is the end of the line for you! Surrender or I will use force to bring you back to Nexus.”

“Right on time, 812,” Chemestro said, floating next to the scene of destruction. “I didn’t think I would be infamous enough until at least a week from now.”

“It’s Warp.” 812 said, eyes narrowed.

“Right, Warp. Slip of the tongue. So how do you want to do this?” Chemestro asked. “Make a splashy scene with our powers, attract plenty of media attention, then you can dramatically slam me through a couple buildings, then down into the street, before arresting me?”

Warp gave him a frown and a cocked brow. Talking about the script was not part of the script. Something was off, but his brother didn’t have the context to put his finger on it.

“On behalf of all those you abused, I am going to bring you to justice!” Warp said, sticking to the script

“Come on, then. Show me if you’ve gotten any better, Warp!”

Warp’s ability was to twist and fold space. He could punch you from any angle, fly by manipulating spacetime, stretch and compress himself and others, and short-range teleport.

His abilities were powerful and multipurpose. All the top ten children had powers like that.

The only thing he can’t do is split space in order to rip people in half. Chemestro was the only one with an instant-kill.

Warp threw a hand forward, and something about his brother’s expression sent a rush of adrenaline surging through CHemestro’s body.

He used air pressure to drag himself to the side while compressing air on the other side of himself in such a way that the light bent around him, creating an illusion that he was still in the same place.

WHOMP!

The illusion split in half, then re-sealed a moment later as the vacuum closed.

“Did you just try to kill me?” Chemestro demanded. That had been the sound of a vacuum closing, implying Warp had figured out how to tear spacetime and by extension, he’d figured out how to tear people.

“I knew you’d dodge it. You’re number one, after all,” Warp said with a shrug.

Stage two is going to be more dangerous than I thought.

“Let’s do this, then.” Warp had been kind enough to do him the courtesy of demonstrating a lethal attack. Now if he fell for one, it was his fault.

Playground rules, I suppose, Chemestro thought.

Warp launched himself forward and gave a exaggerated windup that Chemestro could dodge in his sleep.

It was a ruse.

Instead of dodging, Chemestro went passable, watching Warp’s other hand.

The exaggerated punch split into sixteen fists that attacked from every angle, and Chemestro allowed them to slip through his body while he boxed Warp on the ears and dodged the space-splitting coming from the other hand.

“I see you can split your limbs now too. Not much use if you’re still too slow,” Chemestro said, landing behind Warp.

Suddenly a burst of electricity from his shoulder paralyzed Chemestro’s limb’s.

He left a receiver in my deltoid when I passed through his fists.

Warp whipped around, and Chemestro dodged by allowing himself to fall through the ground.

The ground warped around him, and suddenly up was down as Warp distorted spacetime.

Chemestro pulled the receiver out of his shoulder and spat it in Warp’s face, countering with a cross.

Warp’s head split around his fist.

Chemestro dodged the follow-up uppercut. He had to dodge rather than use his power to let it slip through, because Warp might have another one of those recievers in his hand, and it couldn’t be allowed to lodge in his brain.

They kicked away from each other and paused for a moment to size each other up. Warp’s fighting had improved. More than Chemestro’s, even.

I’ve improved in other ways. If Chemestro was right, He and Warp shared the same weakness, and it couldn’t be erased by a couple forced hugs.

“Wow, this looks like a pretty high-level fight,” Paradox’s modulated voice echoed through the devastated buildings as the Tinker glided to a halt beside them. “Is there a buy-in, or can I just start wherever?”

***Paradox***

Wow, they’re really going at it.

“Wow, this looks like a pretty high level fight,” Paradox said as he arrived. “Is there a buy-in or can I just start wherever?”

“Paradox, Thank goodness you’re here,” Warp said, backing away from Chemestro and taking a crisp stance, the air distorting around him like heat waves. “We can take him out together. He’s too strong to face alone!”

Perry frowned, glancing between Chemestro, who was taking the moment of respite to catch his breath, and the ripped Korean-looking fellow with the scar on his eyebrow. He was just as much a specimen of perfection as Chemestro. Suspiciously so.

Warp

Time active: 2 weeks. (yeah right)

Combat training: None. (bullshit)

Majored in Arts & Humanities before Triggering. Enjoys video and board games. (Not a chance)

The guy’s ripped, and fights like he’s been at it his entire life, and his self-made bio on Nexus is fabricated. This is a setup. But who is it a setup for? Might as well play along with it until I know more.

“Alright, let’s kick his ass,” Perry said, rolling his shoulders.

“Right,” Warp said, taking his pose.

Perry switched off his external speaker.

“Mark five, track the highlighted individual and keep him on the bottom of my HUD,” Perry said, creating a small mini-screen that followed Warp’s location.

Trust, but verify.

Perry charged toward Chemestro, bulling through the super’s disintegrating effects and swinging for his jaw.

Perry felt a surge of satisfaction as Chemestro’s eyes widened.

Yeah, you can’t destroy my armor anymore, Whaddya think about that, punk!?

And that was the last thing Perry remembered.