Spectacular World

Cinder's Hope

"-time distortion has been detected. I repeat, a time distortion has been detected. I repeat-"

"Son of a bitch!" His gaming device shattered against the wall of his office room as he threw it as hard as he could. "That isn't fair! It's cheating! Since when can it stop time?"

"The important thing is that time restarted." A mechanical voice hummed around the room. "Would you like me to inform you of the total damages, sir?"

Boy Genius slumped down in his chair as his eyes stared at the screen. He lost another drone. A few more million dollars down the drain. It was so frustrating. He was supposed to be the second-strongest Super in the world, just after the Victorian. He always knew that the day would come when he would be surpassed. The Four Lords were set to return any day. Still, for it to be to this extent...

"Why didn't we know that the Beast could stop time?" Boy Genius asked after a moment. His office was a mess. He had knocked his desk over and thrown all his stuff out of anger. He thought it had been a clever idea to stay on the other side of the planet in his fortress away from the Beast, but now here he was, watching heroes die as they gave it their all. It made him feel gross.

"The only two Supers who have engaged the Beast and pushed it so far were Full Monarch and the Emperor." The voice of Beta explained, humming through the office room. "Full Monarch could hardly be called a human and stopped speaking to his fellow man around the time the Beast arrived. As for the Emperor... Well, it is pretty clear why he wouldn't let us in on this secret."

"It doesn't make any sense, though." Boy Genius wiped some of the blood away from his mouth. He had bitten through his lower lip a while ago. "If the Beast could stop time, why didn't it do it in the last battle it appeared in? And why hasn't anyone detected it?"

"Time-based powers don't work on those who have powers that surpass the limits of humanity that were placed on us by our creator." Beta explained. "Two years ago, you weren't around. That means there wasn't a Super smart enough or good enough to create something that could catch onto time-based distortions. The Victorian also likely wasn't strong enough to negate such a power yet. After all, she didn't truly become the world's strongest woman until she defeated Poseidon during the Lord of the Sea's first rampage after the incident with Legend."

"No, that's wrong. Lady Time and Max Lightning should have been able to inform us of something like this. No records ever show the Beast using such a power." Boy Genius folded his arms and stared at his monitor, watching as his fellow heroes slowly began to get back up. "That means two things. Either we're pushing the Beast so far that it is using more power than it ever used on the likes of Full Monarch or the Emperor, which I doubt. Or..."

"The Beast must be desperate to achieve a goal," Beta finished. "Who knows, though?" The robot gave a sigh that echoed throughout the room he was speaking through. "The Beast has always been bizarre. Every year, it is always a little different than the last. It makes me wonder if it's even the same one each time. That body isn't even its own. It's just another robotic suit, similar to you."

Boy Genius snorted. "Yeah. Some suit. That thing might as well be the greatest mental-based user in the entire universe. Its suit took down all my good drones like it was nothing and killed half our team. Speaking of which..." He trailed off faintly. "What are the total casualties so far?"

"No Enforcers dead yet. So far, though, the heroes known as Bad Wolf, Hydro Cannon, Sea Monkey, Brobot, Slinger, Vampirica, and Bolt have perished. My own body has also been destroyed, though luckily, I managed to download all my data into your ship. The hero, Battery, is presumed dead. The heroes, Ocean Empress, Myth, and Lady Time, are too injured to battle. There are others among this list, but my data indicates they are fodder and expendable, thus not worth mentioning. Currently, the Beast is engaged with the Victorian near the bridge connecting to Lillian. It wandered over there while time was stopped."