Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 37

-- Part 1 --

Faron settled into his chair in the Neo World Defenders meeting room, finding himself in an awfully familiar situation as the only other occupant was Mister Grey, who was typing away on his computer. The gentleman hero was swapping his attention between his screen and a collection of reports Faron had handed in.

"So you say the villains have a warper?" Grey glanced over at the detective, who simply nodded in response. "Any leads on that?"

"None. The only place we can say with confidence that they were present was the break in at the District 3 Prison, but the cameras were inoperational."

"That sounds like malpractice..." Grey furrowed his brow as he scanned through Faron's notes.

"Or it means they have more than one power working together. Possibly something that can distort cameras and mask their presence." Faron reached into his trenchcoat and pulled out a chocolate bar and began eating the corner of it.

"I would think we would have been notified of a power like that..."

"Unless the user is unregistered. With a power like that, why wouldn't you try to cover it up?"

"You make a fair point. It is definitely something to keep our eyes out for."

"Just like Future of Mankind. A report from Officer Riku in District 2 says that the FoM Lead Scientist, simply referred to as the Doctor, was saved by Mako and disappeared in a purple light." Faron flexed his hand before stowing the chocolate away in his coat and sitting up straight, "Which confirms the presence of some kind of warper. Though Riku was unable to provide a description of anyone else at the scene."

"And we know Mako doesn't have teleportation. Meaning either he has somehow acquired a second power..." Grey frowned as he came to a realization.

"Or the person can warp people without being physically present."

"Which is a terrifying prospect..."

In an instant the room went from relatively quiet, to blaring with sirens, startling the two heroes and causing them to leap to their feet as a holographic projection kicked on in the center of the table and displayed a map of District 4, with over half a dozen red markers sprinkled across it.

Faron shook his head and covered his ears from the loud noise as Grey widened his eyes. "What the hell..."

"Can you please explain to me what is going on?!"

The hero rushed over, lifting Faron up in a gust of wind and pulling him out a window as Grey took flight. "That was our SWAN Siren."

"Which means?"

"Something is going on in District 4 that SWAN can't handle."

Faron quickly grabbed his phone and sent out an alert to the rest of the NWD before slipping his gauntlets on. "Scale of one to ten, how bad is this?"

Grey's eyes widened in shock as their speed quickened and they came into view of District 4. Smoke was pouring from buildings as fires raged across the streets. Large groups of people were being escorted away from their homes as the mechanical Wardens rampaged through the streets. The hero quickly dropped into the center of a street, kicking up a strong gust of air that snuffed out a few fires in the nearby storefronts. Faron landed slightly behind him and got into a fighting stance as a trio of Wardens turned and appeared to scan the duo.

"I would say a solid nine."

The machines lunged in unison at the heroes, prompting Faron to jump off to the left side of Grey as the hero stood his ground. A strong vortex of wind formed, shredding the chest of one of the Wardens and dispersing the scrap in a small burst of air.. A collection of chains shot out from the hands of a Warden to Grey's left, which he easily deflected with a blast of wind, distracting the machine long enough for Faron to leap onto its head and sink his claws into it, tearing apart the metal skull before leaping off. The final Warden's arms transformed into cannons, but before it got a chance to aim, a yellow blur punched clear through its side, splitting the machine in half and letting the two sections hit the ground.