Spectacular World

Pantheon?

"My name—my real name, that is—is Hope Lauren. And I'm proud to say that I'm working alongside the Hero Branch-"

Myth squeezed down on the phone, causing it to shatter and explode.

"Well, there goes my phone..." Kyle muttered.

"I'll build you a new one." Metal Ronin promised sheepishly.

"So, I'm judging by your reaction that you didn't know about that, Myth?" Paragon questioned the new Sub Enforcer leader, barely hiding her own blinding rage.

Myth was in his human form but seemed to have almost grown in size, fists clenched and teeth ground together. "No," he said, doing his best to hold back his anger. "I had no idea the Hero Branch would go this far."

After saving Kyle, Paragon and the boy had watched the recording one of her people had discovered. The one where 'Cinder' revealed herself to the world and even gave away her identity. It caused Sky's anger to flare up a bit. It was targeted at her. The way that Ward smiled into the camera. She just knew that the bastard had thrown Hope under the bus just to get one last kick in at her for disobeying his direct orders. It was the kind of thing a sick man like him would do.

They had made their way over to Myth's tower and now stood in the destroyed building that held the Sub Enforcers' base. They weren't in the realm; the Sub Enforcers had just gotten back from a patrol, so instead, they all scattered around the destroyed lobby room.

Outside, hundreds of tents had been set up where Oleander's people tried to set up some sort of semblance of normal life; all the while, the 'Giants' walked the street patrolling the entire city, looking for any bit of crime. At first, the Giants had only stayed near the destroyed bridge. The Cleanup Squad Giants were putting buildings in place and slowly moving out across the city to repair them, but they hadn't made much progress. The roaming soldier Giants had stayed near that area, keeping all the humans that camped around it safe.

Battery had left, though. That was the reason she picked now to find Myth. She still remembered the way he acted. The changes that had consumed him. She didn't know what he was plotting, but after he left the city, the Giants began to move quicker, and their patrol area grew further.

"We all know it's a fake." Oxide pointed out. "We could tell people, right? Make a video or a post or something calling it out."

"It wouldn't work." Wasp Nest said, shaking his head. "Back in the day, videos and stuff could be posted instantly, but after Boy Genius joined the Enforcers last year, everything goes through his systems first. If he's sided with the Hero Branch, then any video or piece of media we created would just be deleted without actually being posted. It's one of the reasons you don't see a lot of videos or articles speaking negatively of the Branch. They tend to get rid of them before they even pop up."

Drake rubbed the back of his neck, wincing a bit. "The Branch doesn't always do that." He had worked the most with the Enforcers and felt kind of guilty for the situation they were facing now. "Boy Genius mainly created that system to stop villains from sending secret messages or videos to each other. That said, even if we did get the word out, would people believe us? Sure, a lot of people might, but most of the general population wouldn't."

"Drake's right." Metal Ronin folded his arms. "The people like finding the light in the dark tunnel. Now that they know the next Lord of the Sun has arrived, they'd carry on believing she will save them even if they discover Cinder's dead. It's easier to go on living thinking Full Monarch has returned rather than consider the fact he died before he even did anything this time around."

"Don't say it like that," Paragon said, clenching her fist. "She did something."

"Right." Metal Ronin let out a wince. "Sorry, that came out wrong. What I'm saying is that even if we prove it's a fake, more people would choose to believe in the icon she is instead of accepting her death."