Plot Twist Heroes

Training

It was late at night when Amahle deemed it safe to move. They all skirted around the edges with the intent of avoiding being seen. Soon they were back at the base

"So where are you going to stay" asked Amahle "Your house was destroyed".

Mille responded "He can stay with us until we figure out a new housing arrangement. "

"Okay" said Amahle, but he did look suspicious. Xeas felt that he already knew what was going on.

"Come on" said Mille "I will show you to your room", and she ran off with Xeas following behind. As soon as they were alone, Mille began to fill him in.

"A long time ago, there were masks of power, we don't know how many, but we predict it lies between 1 to 23. They were forged by an ancient civilisation from volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes. This energy was transferred into the masks and for a long time they were hidden and buried. Until now. You see, there were many people studying this civilisation. One of them came across a tomb of the greatest king. It was full of masks. At least ten thousand."

"I thought there were only around 1 - 23 masks, not ten thousand"

"But these were not masks of power They were ordinary masks in reserve. But, in the center of it all, was the white mask. " Xeas looked shocked.

"And the white mask was a mask of power. And he put it on, and the force it wielded almost destroyed him, but he managed to tear it off in time. Then he had a brainwave. He would dilute the raw power by spreading it around with the other masks. They did not become masks of power, but what they did become was something that could enhance abilities. Soon he started distributing them, and anyone who put them on would be forced into a trance which he could control. And that is where we are now. The white mask is recruiting more soldiers and he is not short of masks. "

"But what about Silver Mask?" asked Xeas "He could talk and didn't seem entranced or crazed like the others"

"Ah" said mille "That story is the story of Cryogen. He didn't have ice powers, but he could freeze people nonetheless by paralysing them. He was one of the biggest heroes some time ago. But one day, he tried to fight the white mask while he was still not a threat, he had more insight than our team. He found the place where white mask was kidnapping people to turn them into masked men and he broke in. Paralysed shipwreck and Fork-tongue and a cou0ple more and got almost to white mask. But then one of the civilians lagged behind and was trapped. He could have left, it was only one civilian in many, but he returned for her. And when he did, white mask was ready. Cryogen was captured, but the civilian escaped with two swords imbued with the white mask's power. "

"And thats who silver mask is? Cryogen?" asked Xeas and Mille nodded.

"But" she said "We think that Cryogen is somehow in control. We have no idea why he joined white mask, but he doesn't seem crazed, he can rationalise and doesn't need orders"

"A hero down just for one civilian. But she did manage to steal white mask's swords. What did she do with them"

"She felt responsible for white mask removing one of the most powerful heroes and gaining a valuable asset. She came here and swore to become a hero at the top level to make up for losing Cryogen. And her name was Alma Blakely. From then on it was smooth sailing, we rounded up the masked men and removed some of their masks to turn them back. It wasn't easy though. Some of them got so psychologically attached to the masks it took years to help coax them into being independent of it. And soon we met you, and I had that feeling I had with Alma, and she's a full member now, so I don't think I will be wrong again. Anyway, lets train now."

From there followed 3 hours of training. Xeas had to train his bubble abilities and could now produce them almost instantaneously, and he trained with the Capture-Bot. "When we fight masked men, we aim to capture them and remove their masks. Its more ethical and, besides, we need them for project Rise. "

Xeas was about to ask what that was, but Mille told him that he needed to keep training. In the end he was absolutely exhausted "That seems enough" said Mille "For today"

"We are doing it again tomorrow?" Asked Xeas in disbelief.

"Of course" said Mille "Except not all of it, this one was just to start us off and see how much you can endure. But now try and get some rest."

Xeas staggered to his bed and fell right asleep. The next morning, he woke up early and got out of bed. He tried to make himself breakfast, but he recognised barely any of the food , so he decided to wait for the others to wake up. Suddenly Amahle walked in and began to prepare some food. He looked at Xeas, annoyed. "So you're finally up. You're lucky you're not one of the members, but then again, The way Mille's going, that's not going to last very long" Xeas was about to protest against it, but Amahle knew what Mille was doing. She later explained that the heroes woke up at different times to make sure one of them was keeping tabs on the masked men at all times and they switched it around a bit to make sure they were unpredictable, as Alma was the worst at tracking and Amahle was the best. This meant that there were tabs on the masked men at all times, but the inconsistency meant that everyone was in a bad mood when they got up.

Amahle left the room and Xeas began to assemble what he had seen Amahle assemble, as he thought it was best to look to him to help navigate this alien food, but he couldn't stomach the milk and the crunchy things were too sweet. He had just decided not to eat it, when Amahle rushed into the room, wearing the armour. "I've found it. " he shouted "Where white mask is keeping his army, we need to sneak in and find answers. "

The shouting roused alma, who entered. "What's going on Amahle, why are you in the dung beetle getup"

"Dung Beetle?" asked Xeas, to which Amahle responded "It's my name. Dung beetle''s are heavily armoured and incredibly strong, like me. It was either that or Spiked-shield, that was all alma could come up with. Anyway, we need to go. "

They all hurried to the entrance, with Mille now who had woken up and gotten into the car. Suddenly, something smashed against the window. "Oh.." said Amahle "Some are here already. Rookies by the looks of it. Xeas, Alma, you deal with them, we will travel to the base"

"Xeas isn't trained" protested Mille

"Mille, you are many things, but you aren't subtle. Now we need to move"

Xeas and Alma got out and the car sped away. She drew her blade and his squid zoomed out to accompany him. But then from the city came some-one with huge pincers and a crab-like mask, and another with arms covered in thorns. Up close, they did not look like rookies. Xeas gulped, then ran into the battle