The Alta Heroes (J.F.)

The Dam Begins to Crack

The Clearsky Glaciers, a beauty that's as if Antarctica has toned down its below-freezing temperature to the atmosphere being a breeze in the wind instead of frostbite freezing chills. To say this is the second most beautiful location the team has visited is nothing more than an understatement. A big understatement. The floor, after all, looks as if God himself copied Earth's Salar de Uyuni as inspiration for this paradise. The tall mirror structure awaits them, but they lose themselves in a trance whilst admiring the beauty of the place. Nothing other than reflections inhabits the place. No snow, no mountains, no crystals, and especially no blizzards: just a pure aqua-ocean area with a mirror as their gate leading to the fourth shard. The team, after glancing around this beauty for a minute or two, makes their way into the mirror.
"Well, look what we have here?" Sarcastically snarks a very familiar presence. Their faces turning from absolute curiosity to a look of pure annoyance and anger mixed, the teen group turn to see Raptor and Silencer standing there, ready as hell for the latest fight they'll have.
"You two have really given us some trouble. And for that, we're going to eviscerate you from the face of this place," Silencer says, the venom in his voice doing nothing to pierce their souls. The blood in their veins isn't turned to ice either, and they sure as hell aren't scared of their macabre power. The heroes need to finish these guys off for good. Shadow Bird, shortly after the team gets their weapons ready, sets the backpack down on the ground. Raptor feels his fighting instincts cooking, licking the lips under his mask while his yellow iris glows brightly. Silencer, unlike the two groups preparing for a fight, decides to get even with his brother by revealing his trick up his sleeve.
"You guys are quite stubborn, you know that?" Raptor says whilst getting his sickles out.
"Well, we gotta be for the multiverse's sake," Shadow Bird quips seriously.
"You know, you guys don't have to do this. Do you guys enjoy doing this crap for him?" Jayden asks in a bid to better understand these two brothers.
"Uh, yeah kid. Isn't that what I told you during our first fisticuffs?" Raptor asks with impatience growing inside him. Growing impatient himself, the angrier entity uncovers his trick. Aubrey's blood gets icy the minute her terrified little sister is held by the hair by Silencer. Her iced blood is soon thawed by the hellish fury she's controlled by now. Aubrey snarls at the sight of the atrocity that these bastards are gonna die for. Asori can't help but feel the rage that foams from her aura. And it honestly scared her. Aubrey, before Jayden can even place his arm near her to stop her from getting herself killed, storms to the group, the lighting in her eyes striking in her soul.
"I wouldn't try anything if I were you," Silencer says as he summons his sharp hammer. The thump from the hammer doesn't scare Aubrey, yet the team walks up to her to try and stop her from unintentionally sealing Ariana's fate.
"You two let her go NOW!" Aubrey snaps through gritted teeth. The whole group stops dead in their tracks when they're now ten inches away from the two entities threatening Aubrey's little sis.
"What do you want?" Jayden asked stoically.
"You know full well what we want, Jayden," Silencer firmly says. Jayden and the others freeze in their tracks just as those words come out of the red-eyed entity's mouth. They don't want to endanger the multiverse. They don't want to ruin Starsis' plan. However, this is a human life that's at stake. Not only that, but this is Aubrey's little sister, Ariana Stone, that'll die if they don't cough up the shards. A moment's hesitation goes by before Jayden makes his decision. Apologetically glancing at his team, the young man goes towards the backpack to grab the shards. The team looks back towards the entities with rage boiling through their faces. Silencer grips tighter onto Ariana's hair as he stares deeply into the elder Stone girl's fuming eyes of lush forest. This, of course, is to scare the girl out of trying anything that'll tick him off, therefore giving him all the more reason as to snapping the little girl's neck.
"A-Aubrey?" The frightened girl whimpers, making Aubrey forcibly snap out of her angry state and take on a more tender role.
"It's going to be ok, Ariana. Just trust me," Aubrey says, her voice choking back the urge to scream and threaten the monsters holding Ariana hostage. Ariana nods obediently to her eldest sister as her hair is held tightly by the scarier entity. Well, at least in her mind, Silencer is the scariest of the two. Asori then forces herself to seal her swords away back into her aura, the rest of the group going into a standard casual stance.
"You know, kids. This has been a lot of fun," Raptor comically comments, catching the team's attention.
"Seriously. You guys gave us one hell of a fight even though we creamed you both times. How'd you guys get so good at fighting like that?" Raptor states boldly.
"Well, for me, and this was a few years back, I got most of my taekwondo training from a... special person of mine." Shadow Bird doesn't want to continue at that point. He knows full well that this maniac'll use "him" to get to him. So, he shuts up at that point.
"What about you and that double sword fencing of yours, Ms. Asori?" Raptor's usage of that wordplay creeps Asori out. What's worse is that his yellow eyes are on fire as a kid just opening her favorite Christmas gift. Taking a deep breath, Asori uses this as yet another opportunity to trash a certain someone who betrayed her.
"A bastard," Asori coldly remarks.
Raptor remarks back, "Ahh, I see. Well, our father trained us like crazy since we were conceived five years ago. And let me tell ya, Asori, you're not the worst off." Asori feels a wave of anger build up inside her because of that comment. It's the first time she's been told that, and she'd gotten sick and tired of hearing that.
"And from what I've gathered, Ashley and Aubrey took some boxing classes, is that correct?" Raptor smirks wickedly at that question. The two want to respond viciously, but they know Ariana's a goner if they even try it.
"That's what I thought. Of course, Jayden over there had some sword training. He's also great with his legs." Jayden, meanwhile, is getting his plan into motion, ignoring his comments. All he's relying on now is the pen he has that'll save the whole multiverse and his team that'll buy him the time he needs. For the plan to look authentic, he needs to put his sword back into the backpack.
"If I could guess, you two could be on par, Ms. Asori." Asori's face begins to cringe at that constant nickname Raptor gives her. Asori doesn't question this reasoning for this nickname, her being afraid of exploring the dark desires of this madman. Shadow Bird himself can't help frowning to hide his chills from this creepy guy. Glancing at Jayden, he knows exactly what he's doing, Shadow Bird humming happily in a quiet manner.
"What was that?" Silencer asks, catching Shadow Bird's attention right off the bat.
"Ohh, nothing. I'm just bummed a bit," Shadow Bird admits, his head tipping a bit.
"Hey, cheer up. At least you'll have each other when the lights go out," Raptor comments casually. That does nothing to calm their nerves as they fear what'll happen once they're forced to hand over the shards. But, what else can they do? If they try and take the shards after they hand over Ariana, they'll sure as hell seal both her and the team's fate.
"What's the holdup, Jayden?! The clock is ticking!" Silencer shouts which does not scare the young man at all. Jayden, putting the finishing touches on his plan, ends his process by simply taking the shards out of the bag, himself slipping his secret weapon into his hoodie pocket. The impatient entity grips harder on Ariana's hair to warn Jayden not to try anything. The pressure's on, but Jayden doesn't care. The blue-hooded leader makes his way to the two entities with the shards in both his hands. Jayden, as soon as he makes his way in-between the two sides, sets the shards down near the two dark entities. Silencer then takes the two shards in his hands. Looking over them, he can't believe the kid is doing this. He can't believe that these kids, pests who've given him and Raptor a very hard time, are willing to let the multiverse become an eternal blight to save a single life.
"You win. Now, hand over the girl," Jayden demands sternly. Silencer, as a means to show respect for this respect shown to them, lets Ariana go. The two Stone sisters embrace like toddlers who've been separated by their parents for way too long. They don't cry, however, because they're now focused on getting the hell out of this shitstorm in any way they can. Jayden, knowing what they're thinking through their panicked-relieved hugging positions, brings her over to the backpack to give her a new order. They all do this in a whispering voice, the two entities too focused on their victory than whatever the two teammates are talking about.
Jayden starts with, "Ok, listen to me." Aubrey nods as the young man that is her leader gives her the device. "Go to the random location that has nothing to do with any of the crystals. Keep doing that until you guys get to your house on Earth."
"Ok. But, what about-" Aubrey gets cut off.
Jayden then says, "I'll deal with that. You just worry about her." Aubrey glances over to Ariana, her worried little sister being held close to her. Jayden then smiles at her, Aubrey taking this as a chance to smile as well, her trusting that the team is going to make everything ok. The two sisters teleport away from the battleground that will explode once his plan is found out. Jayden walks away from the backpack to end up standing by his teammates.
"Well, aren't you guys up to something?" Raptor says, knowing full well the group has a scheme up their sleeves.
"The question, however, is what it is," Silencer says before he crushes the handheld objects effortlessly.
"And is that why you made your little speedster run off with the lamb? So that they'd be crushed by your deaths before I have fun with her and her sis next?" Raptor mocks. The teens only stand strong as they get into their respective fighting positions. However, no swords are shown as the teens figure their fists and feet are enough for these two. Silencer and Raptor, seeing this interesting display of willpower, decide to respect their gesture of changing up the pace of their fight by getting into their fighting positions.
"How about we wait until your little speedster comes back, shall we?" Raptor says seriously as the team nods their heads in approval. Silencer, as much as he doesn't want to, complies with this notion. These brats started this beef with them as a five-member squad. Therefore, they'll be eviscerated together. Back in a cool yet comfortable house, couch sitter Vivian Stone worries heavily about Ariana, as usual. She says she'd be out for a bit and promised to be back before dinner time. Where the hell is she? Growing frustrated, she looks at her phone to see that little gal didn't answer any of her calls or messages. Her frustration would've grown until the knock on her front door forces her to take a breath and walk over to the door knocker.
"I swear to God." Opening the door, her initially frustrated composure is replaced by the fact that Aubrey, her niece who's been missing for over three days straight, is standing next to the little gal she was gonna pounce on for worrying her so much.
"Aubrey?" The woman asks her eldest niece.
"Hey, Aunt Vivian," Aubrey says nonchalantly. Her hoodie is stained with blood as if she'd been in a very brutal fight. Not only that, but she looks like she's gonna explode from all she's gone through this past month.
"Oh my god!" The woman in casual wear nearly screams as she runs up and hugs her nieces as a momma bear would do with her bear cubs. The sisters happily reciprocate the act before Vivian notices the device in Aubrey's hands she clutches towards her chest.
"What's that, Aubrey?" Vivian asks, her question pointing to the device.
"I don't have time to explain. I just came to drop Ariana off," Aubrey says and then leads the little gal into the home before she begins her trip back to the battlefield.
"Wait! Aubrey, what the hell are you doing?" Vivian asks, still not knowing what's going on.
"There are some very bad people I have to take care of. I promise I'll be ok, you guys," Aubrey says whilst the teleportation process is only inches away from completion.
"Wait! Aubrey!" Ariana says before Aubrey looks down at her sternly.
"Ariana, stay with Aunt Vivian!"
"But-"
"Do what I say!" Aubrey shouts just before the device teleports her away from the household, ending the debate. Both Stone family members look on in both shock and fear for their yellow-hooded family member. Back on the glassy battlefield, the two groups stand in silence as they await the fourth member of the five-member squad to return. Silencer, feeling bored, decides to add conversation into the mix so that he'll speed the process up for the upcoming fight.
"You know, it's pretty sad," Bluntly states the impatient entity.
"What do you mean by that?" Jayden asks casually.
Silencer adds, "You guys could be doing so many other things with your lives. Too bad Starsis chose you five to carry out his dirty work."
"Well, like it or not, you guys are no different," Ashley says firmly.
"Indeed. You guys never had to stick around with Evilkin. You guys could be doing so much good with your lives, ya know," Shadow Bird states to the two dark entities.
"We know. But, that isn't how things work with us, kids. We were made to do his bidding. He told us so himself," Raptor admits.
"In regards to what we could do, would you see us as merchants or blacksmiths? It would grow boring for us," Silencer admits as well.
Raptor ends this with, "Yeah. We don't like doing boring things. Nobody likes being bored to death. We're just monsters, kids, and there's nothing you do about it." A brief pause between both groups comes across the atmosphere just as Aubrey manages to make it back to the fight.
"Well, the little yellow speedster finally makes it back. Took ya long enough," Raptor banters, receiving none back from the pissed girl.
Aubrey threatens, "You assholes are gonna regret messing with my little sister."
"People threatened us like that before, but none of them followed through with it," Silencer says whilst cracking his knuckles. Aubrey then gets into her fighting position as the group stares intently at the two-man squad in front of them. The tense atmosphere only lasts for a good minute or two before both entities charge at the five-member squad. The fight is just as intense as their last two battles only with Silencer trying to maul the ketchup and mustard-dressed girls and Raptor's just having fun with the other three. Silencer's physical strength sets the girls on edge as every punch and kick practically will kill them if they aren't quick enough to block and/or dodge them. If Aubrey's a betting woman, the monster might have taken both her and Ashley's heads off with just a simple swipe of his fist. Ashley manages to land a double punch onto Silencer's head during her short period of blocking his fists. Silencer then riles back in pain once Aubrey manages to land a scissor kick onto Silencer's temple. Enraged, the entity's red eyes glow with rage as he recklessly amps up his assault. He even adds some of his aura to his attacks to quickly dispatch the girls. Sadly, these girls are way too quick for him, each of his raging uppercuts and jabs being either ducked, backed away, or simply jumped from. Before Silencer can even conjure a powerful energy blast to wipe Aubrey off the face of the planet they stand on, Ashley responds by blasting a wave of fire at the attack. This temporarily blinds Silencer which makes him even more irritated. Just as he regains his vision, the two gals he's been fighting with give him a swift roundhouse kick to his face simultaneously. The fight with Raptor is no less as intense as the fight with Silencer. In regards to his impatient brother's desire to end the fight as quickly as possible, the demonically gleeful entity is having the time of his life. These three little punks are giving him a good fight. Asori especially proves to be a great challenge thanks to her mixing ballet dance moves with simple karate kicks. Being a blue belt at this art, Asori uses a very hard front kick to Raptor's abdomen, this being followed by her green belt peer using a sidekick to this creature's face, and this combo ending with a side whip kick from Shadow Bird. This only leads to a very angry Silencer trying to charge at them for hurting his brother. However, thanks to quick thinking from Aubrey, the yellow-hooded teen hijacks this attempt at attacking her teammates by sliding under the runner's feet. This, of course, knocks him on his back. The two girls follow up this attack by slamming their feet into his stomach. They also follow up with vicious punches and kicks onto this guy as vengeance for both nearly killing them along with endangering the lives of others. Raptor sees the brutal beating his brother is going through and tries to intervene. Jayden and Asori, knowing what he's planning to do, charge at the man with a roundhouse to his temple and a jumping front kick to that said temple. Falling to the ground, Raptor gets a solid right hook to his jaw from Shadow Bird followed by Jayden shoving his foot onto his throat. Raptor writhes in pain as Silencer just barely manages to see his beaten brother amid his beating. Asori, using the fear of the two entities killing them and the hidden excitement she's gotten from this fight, summons her two blades to finish the madman off. They aren't playing around when they get into those fighting positions. They need to end this here and now. Just as Asori tries to impale the maniac, Silencer lunges at the purple and black-robed girl after knocking both girls beating him away with a dark energy blast, knocking everyone to the ground in the process. This frightened her to the point her powers stop working. Not only that, but time slows down all of a sudden. The balance in her aura isn't working due to this said fear overpowering all her other emotions. Ashley screams in fear while the others rush to stop her death. Just as she's nearly impaled by his knife, Aubrey, having grabbed Jayden's sword from the backpack, impales the raging behemoth, slamming his body on the ground as she does so. Aubrey, on one knee as Silencer finds himself unable to move from the sudden chest stab, whispers this into Silencer's ear.
"That's for my sister, you piece of shit," The young woman snarls softly into the behemoth's ear. Raptor, in a panic, uses a small bit of his aura to blast the teens off of him.
"Silencer!" Raptor shouts in fear. Kneeling by his brother's side, the maniac's usually static persona shatters, itself being replaced to that of a scared child.
"Brother." The entity holds his brother close to him as he wheezes and holds onto his chest. Although no blood came from the wound, a dark aura leaves the impatient brother's body at a fast rate. The teens stand there in shock as the entities they considered heartless monsters act as normal brothers. As the brothers themselves hold hands for the final time, Raptor sees Silencer's been smiling underneath his dark exterior. Just before he fades to black, the entity says one final word to the brother he loves despite his annoyance with Raptor.
"I love you," The entity weakly says before passing on. The maniac can't believe it. No. He doesn't want to believe it. His brother is dead, and it's all his fault.
"What do you suggest we do? Let them get strong enough to at least try and kill us," Words from a not-so-long-ago past immediately enter his mind. They are truth. These words, while harsh, are real to him now.
"What the hell, Raptor?! Why didn't you let us get the backpack?!" The screaming of his brother haunts his eardrums. Those are the last words they spoke to each other. Those angry, hurtful, sarcastic, and commentary-worthy words. Why? Why did this have to happen? How could he have been so blind? Tears of grief fill the eyes of the monster in front of the teenagers as they watch the energetic killer sob. That action. That sad... reminder of what they did so many times. When they lost people close to them, some of those same people abandoning them, and even when the world was just unkind to them in general. Raptor, before he can even think of doing anything, gets cut down. Himself fades to darkness too. Putting the sword down, Aubrey looks to the team, herself with no remorse for her actions. No words. No protest. Nothing. The teens' speedster then sees the shard exiting Raptor's belt pocket and grabs hold of it when the dust clears. The backpack now has a third shard in its possession once Aubrey places it into the backpack Shadow Bird brings onto his back. Feeling a vibration in the backpack, Shadow Bird allows Jayden to get it. The message itself is a Starsis who's guilt-ridden, tired, and angry.
"How's your journey?" Starsis asks forlornly.
"We... Well, we got the third shard," The leader says in a soft yet sorrowful manner.
"What's wrong?" Starsis asks genuinely.
"We... Well, we..." Asori can't answer. A part of her just feels too dirty to do so.
"I killed Silencer and Raptor," Aubrey says stoically. Starsis, knowing what the teens are feeling right now, begins talking to them ever more sternly.
He says, "You five did a good thing." The teens' heads peak up to hear what the light entity has to say.
Starsis adds, "Those two were very bad men. Another example as to why Evilkin needs to be stopped." The pause in the atmosphere doesn't ease the sudden weight of what just happened from only moments earlier.
"Continue with your mission, Heroes." The transmission ends there without another word. One word, however, sticks out to the young men and women. Heroes. Why did Starsis call them that as so? But, it doesn't take long for them to find that answer after a moment of thinking. They're kids aiding in saving the multiverse. Not only that, but two psychotic maniacs are now dead thanks to them. Aubrey avenged God knows how many in the multiverse were victimized by Silencer and Raptor. They guess that this is part of what Starsis means when talking about them being heroes. The teens are now willing to sacrifice lives for the multiverse to continue blooming with light.