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Okay I'll make this quick because this one is a bit longer than my usual.

This one took way too long because my editor kept forgetting to work on it, so SIX WEEKS LATER!!! I decided to just do it myself in a week. Featuring my boy Music Dude and my friend HuggableRogue OC- Wicked. She just gave me one of her characters so I wouldn't need to check up on her about it and the next story I make doesn't involve her at all. Anyways onto the story....

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  Music Dude is not the main protagonist of this tale. While he is crucial to what enfolds he is not the hero. No, to be a hero one must be possessed with great motivation and tonight that is not everyone's favorite empowered musician. Tonight, the only thing he desires is to become more competent with his lesser used powers. That’s why he’s out on Jump City’s skyline looking for some small-time thugs or a petty gang to test his powers out with. However, that is for later what causes the chain of events that would be tonight do not begin on the cityscape looking down on the glimmering night life of Jump City, no this begins somewhere else.
    Out there in the maze of streets and complexes there is a building and in a secluded room a person late at night is waiting. This person was expecting someone to call so here they were patience wearing thin. Soon, the screen flared a deep green light then invited static.
“h-hello? Testing one… t-two three-e.” a voice came through the static as the transmission on the other end flickered in and out. After a few more moments the scene became clear as a spindly woman dressed in ragged jeans, a dirty old lab coat with frizzy brown hair that napped down to her neck appeared. She was positively bursting with excitement and energy as she got the camera to work to her will. After she jumped around the utterly horrendous workplace her eyes refocused on the camera as she remembered why this meeting was happening. She snapped to a more poised stance and waved to the camera with her metallic prosthetic right hand as she addressed her audience.
“Greetings I am Doctor Elizabeth Cameron and you my mysterious benefactor. After many months of work, I have come to give you the greatest news. The prototype is now ready for testing.” As she said this, she went to the side allowing the light from the screen to illuminate a positively massive machine hung up in chains that stretched into the darkness.
“I have already done you the pleasure of connecting your feed to the screen within my mech so that you can see for yourself how well my creation operates.” She grabbed the camera and brought it to her magnifying her disturbing toothy grin. “So please give me a moment, sit back, and enjoy the show.”

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    Most are aware of Jump City’s claim as one of the most technologically advanced and dangerous cities in America. Many tourists flock to these tech centers in hopes of catching a glimpse of the many heroes that call this city home except for the area of the city known as the columns. Compared to the chrome and science fiction aesthetic that the rest of the city displayed to the world this area was much humbler as brick houses and apartments dotted the streets excluding the enormously tall skyscrapers that this district was named after. This area boggled most citizens' minds as it was one of the few places rarely plagued by the superpowered psychopaths that the rest of the city had to endure on a near daily basis, the key word being rarely. As tonight was the exception, an explosion completely obliterated an unsuspecting cross section in the columns, flinging the skeletons of flaming cars down the streets and hurdling into nearby buildings. In the crater there was a hole to an underground passage where a lone hand cloaked in shadow was clawing its way out. The hand was followed by a large figure, broad, intimidating, sheathed in full metallic armor with enormous gorilla-like stature. The figure gripped the ground and launched themselves out of the pit crunching the asphalt under the force of the gargantuan robot. With one monstrous hand, the mech took a nearby car, the metal imploding from the intense grip and then proceeded to chuck the wreckage into the nearest building.
    “The system is working perfectly!” Elizabeth cackled to herself as her creation grabbed and threw more hunks of obliterated vehicles at the screaming masses. Police had arrived on the scene, all two of them. They were armed with naught but a simple pistol and taser, usually enough to hand the small-time thug and ne’er-do-well but tonight they would not be enough. The mechanical monstrosity raised its two massive fists into the air and brought them crashing down onto the asphalt causing a shockwave that sent the law enforcement flying back and decimating the surroundings in the process. Buildings were crumbling, people were panicking, this was a scene of absolute mayhem.
    All the while the mad scientist comfortably protected within her iron shell, was laughing hysterically. She expected it to work well but the amount of sheer damage she could make in these few seconds was staggering.
    “I see your field test is going well Miss Elizabeth.” Came a communication from the suit's interface, the voice was distorted and was a little glitched out whether that was intentional or not was anyone's guess.
    “Oh yes with these last-minute modifications I have increased the strength and lightened the load.”
    “An excellent development. H-However, we need to see how well your new product works against more proactive resistance.”
    The insinuation brought the mad scientist’s anger to bear. Her creation was flawless, years of study in robotics and engineering has brought about her debut to the world and this was the first thing the world had to say back. Outside of the justice League nothing had such prospects against her magnificent machine, there was nothing strong enough, tough enough or chaotic enough to handle her creation.
    A pop up on her monitor alerted her to an oncoming attack but Miss Elizabeth couldn’t react fast enough and was sent tumbling down into the wreckage she had created naught but a few moments ago.
  “It would appear t-that you now have a proper test under pressure. Do well Miss Elizabeth we’ll be watching.” With that the unknown caller left the chat and Elizabeth was left with what the rest of the world would declare as their hero and what she would call her adversary. When the dust cleared there they were, a slim figure enveloped in a futuristic battle suit ready made for the skirmish about to ensue, dotted with green lights across the armor culminating in a bright green visor. The person waved their right hand and the metal apparel around their hand became a liquid, morphing and resolidifying in the form of a sword. Then the figure began to speak in gruff voice.
  “Hey, the name is Wicked and long story short, I’m about to rip you apart.”
    From within the robotic suit, Elizabeth pressed a few buttons that released the hidden compartments that riddled her creation’s frame revealing a set of gatling guns on each arm and two mounted rocket launchers on the shoulders. With the final push of a red button and a cheeky smile Elizabeth fired her onslaught on the mechanized hero.
  Wicked ducked out of the way from the oncoming attack, to little effect. The hybridium that the suit was made of can handle bullets fine, but the force from the explosives sent them flying back into a brick wall. The pain was immense but Wicked pushed through, playing the hero wasn’t them, but this time was different. No! Can’t let this lead walk out on me Wicked thought. The suit began shifting once more the sword was replaced with a compact arm cannon. Wicked side stepped out of the way of the next barrage and fired. The laser hit one of the rocket launchers causing it to explode sending the robot to the ground. They charged forward as the mech fired potshots at them but with the new weapon the rockets couldn’t reach them, and the bullets were just deflecting off the armor. When they were in close combat range, Wicked transformed their left hand into a blade ready to strike through the robot.
  Yet, just before the blade could meet its mark one of the mechanical arms sprang up like a piston and grasped the entirety of Wicked’s frame stopping them in a moment. The robot’s grip tightened with the crushing force to break a steel bar. While their armor could take quite a lot of blunt force Wicked could feel the pressure all around them crushing on their body as the strain was becoming too much for their battle suit to bear. Which prompted a subtle reminder from the suit’s AI, Wilson.
  “WARNING: SYSTEM’S INTERNAL INTEGRITY IS BECOMING UNSTABLE. Eh hem, Well sounds like my user is in quite some trouble almost like she shouldn’t have done this.” The sarcastic interface retorted.
  “Not now Wilson, focus the power to strengthen the suit’s integrity near vital organs.”
  “Given the amount of my power you used. That’d leave you with nothing for your crusade.”
  “Sarcasm noted, not appreciated. I’m trying to stay alive. So help or not.”
  “Fine, fine I’ll get on that now, what are you going to do?”
  Without a second thought Wicked raised up her free arm and with what little power she had available to ready one final blast aimed squarely at the center of the beast’s chest. “Stop before I rip you a new one.”

  For the first time that night the mech spoke, the audio coming in gargled stereo for all to hear. “Greetings my inept enemy, might I say your armor is amazing. Any chance you can give me a piece for experimentation? I’ll spare you.”
  “Last I checked you weren’t in a position to be threatening me.”
  “Oh please I know your type, noble heroes like you’d actually go that far.”
  “You don’t know a thing about me. Now I’ll lower this here shot if you A; let go of me. B; give me contact with your boss!”
  These two were at a stalemate that was until the unpredictable came into the scene in the form of a great ball of music powered chaos. Out of nowhere Music Dude came barreling down from the night sky colliding with Wicked causing both to slip from the mech’s grasp and was sent skidding down the road. Thus giving the two a moment, the robot with enough fire power to level half of jump city piloted by one of the only people with a crazed enough mind to do it and… Music Dude.
  The engineer was the first one to break the silence “Well thank you hero, I’ll remember your help for… about two seconds. Sorry, but I gotta test how well my baby works against meta-humans.”
  “Okay cool… wait wha-” and just like that Music Dude felt like he had just been hit by an oncoming train as the massive fist of the machine sent the stringy musician rocketing towards a brickhouse building.
  Believing she had defeated her next foe she turned to take on her previous opponent but as she turned around something had hit her in the back and sent the hulking mass face first into the ground. Elizabeth got back up to see that Music Dude was still standing before her, the led screen now sporting a smiley face sticking out its tongue. She was too angry to think as she swept him away again, but this time she saw what was going on. The moment her adversary made contact with the brick wall he’d come rocketing back. Almost as if he had a rocket powered feet he’d come crashing back with more force than his fists should allow, denting Elizabeth’s incredible machine.
  What she didn’t know was that Ragtime was the selection of this venue and with it came one of Music Dude’s more unusual powers, Elasticity. While it didn’t give him much power his rubber like body could take much more hits than normal and it also gave him the added benefit of absorbing the attack. Every time Elizabeth swatted Music Dude away, he’d bounce back like his favorite rubber hose cartoons ricocheting across the backdrop like a bullet until he found his mark. It took a few attacks for realize that Elizabeth her strategy wasn’t working. Every attack came back even stronger, and thanks to the eccentric rebound the attack pattern was unpredictable for her to defend against.
  Music Dude dodged as much as he could, but he only had so much control over where his recoil could send him. Soon enough he bounced right into Wicked forcing both to tumble to the ground. As he got up he winced in pain but the pain gave way to panic as he discovered that his midsection had been pierced by Wicked’s blade.He started screaming only for Wicked to um… slap him.
  Before he could react, Wicked was already on top of him in a very familiar way. She changed her blade arm back to normal. Grabbing him by the corner of his chin and twisting it to an uncomfortable angle while her other, cannon arm, was firmly pressed towards his side. Based on previous experience this shot wouldn’t kill but with his health he couldn’t be sure.
    “What are YOU doing here!?”
    “I was chasing a-”
    “I don’t care!”
    “Hey, you asked me.”
    A metal clang and a gust of wind alerted the two in an impromptu interrogation that the third party was not done just yet. Elizabeth aimed the two gatling guns down on the duo.
“Oh shi-”
    A chain of bullets tore through the city streets, reducing cars, brick walls, even the asphalt itself to dust. Everything except WIcked, having fortified her armor took the barrage head on. While Music Duded meakly hid behind the much more impervious one. He then learned that this power doesn’t make him immune to bullets as a few stray shots knicked him in the arm grabbing Wicked’s attention. Gah, this guy! I doubt he can escape not under this fire. Guess I’ll just have to go on the offensive.
    All the while the mad doctor cackled away inside her machine behind the seemingly endless barrage of bullets “I knew my baby can’t be stopped now to finish you off.” Elizabeth said through hysterical laughter.
    As she continued her maddening destruction a shot rang through the streets cutting all noise in the area. Elizabeth looked down to see that there was now nothing under her seat the entire lower half of her magnificent creation had been cut completely off. The hulking battle suit collapsed over on the street with Wicked stepping forward, her arm cannon steaming after its last attack. Inside the monstrosity Elizabeth was panicking the last shot had destroyed her machine and caused multiple systems in her robot to no longer function. She was helpless as her precious robot was shutting down. Even under these circumstances the mysterious benefactor managed to give one last message
    “Well looks like your machine couldn’t handle the pressure unlike your competitors.”
    “No! I can make this work I can-”
    “We already took quite a risk and if your machine can be defeated this easily, we must switch to more reliable sources of technology.” The transmission cut and miss Elizabeth was left cold and alone inside her robot.
    Wicked sauntered over to the front of the robot grabbing the head in a mocking manner before letting the whole mound slump back onto the floor. Another fool had got in their way “Not so high and mighty now, should’ve listened to me when you had the chance. Wilson did you get that last transmission.”
  “I only managed to get the last bit, smart move making a tapping device out of me. Quick thinking like that and you might just see tomorrow.”
    “Uh- hi there” It was at this moment Music Dude reappeared on the scene clutching his bloody shoulder. His introduction received no response so he approached closer. Tapping the mechanical marvel on her shoulder. This time he managed to get a response in the form of a hand wrapped around his neck and the melancholic expression of his own helmet staring back at him from the reflection of Wicked’s visor.
    “And you just what are you doing here getting in my way again.”
    “Welp, glad you recognize me at least.” Music Dude retorted before quickly changing tone to a more serious demeanor. “I was chasing down a wayne car of stolen tech when I heard an explosion so I rushed over.”
  Wicked pushed Music Dude off then changed her free hand into a blade and pointed it at the startled musician’s chest. “I’m giving you one chance right now. For the first time in a really long time I’ve got a lead on something very important. Now leave.”
  "You sure you don't want any help? Everyone should have someone looking out for them." Music dude touched her shoulder but received a swinging fist in response.
  "Are you kidding you nearly died and because of you I barely, barely managedto salvage this lead You know what nope I'm leaving." Wicked ran down the street in a huff.
  Meanwhile, Music Dude took a deep breath absorbing everything he just heard. Wicked was fuming with anger but underneath that mask and voice filter he could hear the shakiness of her breath. She was desperate, about what he didn't know, but he can understand desperation. Willing to put everything on the line to achieve some goal whether it be for some prize or save some one; to survive in a world out to kill you or avenge someone who you had lost. Music Dude can understand that feeling and that understanding is what told him to walk away.
  “Well…” as Music Dude started he reached into his pocket and pressed fast forward on the playlist he specifically created for tonight. Almost immediately the temperature dropped enough that the musician’s breath was visible in the air.
  He continued now singing a tune to himself “You’re worried things are frightful~ but tonight is rather delightful~” At this point, snow began falling from the sky in the vicinity as Music Dude knelt down to the asphalt under his feet. As his fingers touched the street they began to frost over in a thin layer of ice. The ice spread until the entire road looked like an ice rink. “So hold onto me just like so~ and let us go, let us go, let us go.” With that Music Dude moved forward onto a large descending street. He descended at breakneck speed gliding across the ice slick towards the other side of Jump city.
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  As the two heroes made their way the scientist was still imprisoned in the dying husk of their great creation. In that dark space her head twisted with thoughts, she had been completely destroyed in her debut battle. Now all she could do was sit there and wait until the cops arrived. Two no named vigilantes just took her down like she was nothing, her, Elizabeth, too smart for an engineering degree, Cameron. How could she go down like this. No, she wouldn’t accept it! She slammed her fist down on the control panel and in doing so the computer screen lit up briefly Illuminating her shocked face. My baby still has some fight left in her. She typed away the keyboard hoping that her last card was still operational. It still surprised her how she forgot what could be the most dangerous addition to the automaton she had built and there was no time like the present to test it out.
  Reinforcements had finally arrived to carry off the hulking monstrosity but just as they were ready to crack open the tin can one last compartment opened up for them and out from the back came… a swarm of insects? No, a swarm of drones were there circuitry and intricate mechanisms that practically made them look like insects. The police took out their firearms, and immediately the swarm descended upon the hapless police, taking their weapons and dismantling them in a matter of seconds like they were children’s toys. Despite being made of metal instead of flesh they really did act like a living breathing hivemind. Where steel replaced an exoskeleton and an intricate programming replaced hive minded precision the creatures fanned out each perfectly performing their required tasks. Most of the swarm took to terrorizing the surrounding populace attack and stealing any piece of tech or scrap of metal that they could while others set to bringing back the materials back to their mechanical hive where their other task began. The drones that weren’t tasked with gathering and protection got to work repairing their home, using what they could from the surroundings they would cut, screw and weld whatever they needed back into place and any drones that got damaged in the ensuing chaos would be taken back and used just as mercilessly. Just like an insect hive. With clicking and whirring, the large ape-like robot rose from its fallen state the two halves joined and fully functioning once more.
  Ms. Elizabeth, confidence regained, now had a new course of action. She no longer needed the other criminals or support. She was a force to be reckoned with all by herself and that egotistical Wicked was about to see just how dangerous she is. A massive smile stretched across her face and with that the massive mech suit took a mighty leap into the night sky and hell followed right behind her.
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  Later in the night Wicked had arrived at the docks. After a time consuming but necessary recharge back at their HQ. While wait for their gear to repower Wicked's secret identity, Quinn Parker, was looking through the data they had collected. There wasn't much info to be gleaned from what was said, but she managed to trace back a signal to some where at the docks so here they were back at it again.
  The docks were dead silent and cold as the grave with the only sound being the subtle waves of saltwater crashing against barnacles encrusted support beams that kept this area stable. As they went from pier to pier searching thoroughly to see if there was a hint at what was going on. They had found nothing and with each failure they had become all the more enraged and feeling as if their Intel sent them on a wild goose chase. Just before their anger could get the best of them and she would storm off something caught the intrepid engineer's eye. One of the piers was still stirring with life as a Wayne tech car pulled into pier forty four.
  One broken window later and they were inside. The hangers they had visited before usually housed the standard crates and tarps and the occasional industrial equipment customary to fishing companies, here those amenities were all but gone. The equipment at hand was smaller more delicate like something out of a lab arranged on fold out tables which were also arranged around the armored transport van with the large Wayne imprinted on the side. The group of what were most likely criminals in this hanger were buzzing with activity, large bulky men were taking equipment from van carrying them to the table and handing them off to some scientist looking people who set to work tinkering away at the devices.
  Wicked set the AI in their suit to work scanning the scene and garnered some information about the stuff in play. The devices in question were from Wayne Tech’s defense program, weapons specially made to stun and subdue enemies, but knowing these kinds of people they had other things in mind. Taking a look at their tampering she could spot a few things; these criminals were taking the weapons apart and modifying them; removing certain parts such as inhibitors, regulators even replacing the power source input for a new one then filling it with a red glowing tube.
  “That’s zynothium, a super powerful compound but also super unstable” Wicked whispered to Music Dude.
  “So, these guys are stealing Wayne tech and supping it up with dangerous chemicals. This is bad.”
  At the sudden response Wicked was not expecting the armored clad anti-hero jumped back from their vantage point nearly falling into frenzy below. If it wasn't for quick hand of Music Dude to save her.
  "What are you-"
  Music dude's put a finger up to his robotic lip then proceeded to point to the Wayne vehicle before pulling her up. It was already too late to tell this meddling musician to leave as she had other priorities. What she needed right now was to find who was in charge here. Off to their left were four slapdash walls in the approximation of an office room but the ceiling remained incomplete most likely put up for whoever this building to conduct a small meeting. If the boss is anywhere, they’d probably be there. They made their way across the support beams being as silent as the shadows themselves. Within the walls had a slimmer built man, but he had all the confidence of a mob boss. Leaning back in a fold out chair as he was talking to someone on the computer that lay in front of him on a similar fold out table.
  “I knew you’d come around and I must say I am grateful that one of such high renown as you would ask for my assistance.”
  “Believe me when I say I appreciate you answering my request on s-such short notice.”
  “Think nothing of it my friend, I’m just glad you provided us with what we needed instead of relying on Doctor, oh wait, Miss Elizabeth.” As he said that he pulled out a suitcase from under the table opening it to take out it’s contents. In it was a small disk no bigger than a dinner plate but twice as thick with a metal finish across the edge. When this item came into focus Wicked inhaled sharply as she looked down at her wrist where a similar albeit smaller one was housed in her armor.
  “These meta-gators will do wonders with the sonic repulsion equipment we ahem borrowed from Wayne tech. Once we are done out fitting them and then super charging them with some zynothium, even the lowest thug could take down any super with ease.”
  “Excellent, Soon my business will have enough power to control Jump city with the destruction of all the vigilantes they love so much we may come out of the shadows.”
  “While my boys get a decent payday, percentage of sales and a portion of the products. All thanks to this device. So inconspicuous yet so dangerous.”
  “True we had quite the fortune to learn of their creation as suppression equipment in Gotham prisons. Such plutonian aspiration, it’s much better that we liberated the prototypes as we did.”
  Something in Wicked snapped and now she didn’t care about stealth she just wanted payback. Wicked came crashing down into the office snapping the table in half on her impact. With a loud boom she grabbed onto the now terrified mob boss by the tie and pulled them up to her face. Her aura screamed of malice and vengeance “Worth the risk huh? Willing to put your money where your mouth is?” She growled bringing her free arm towards her next victim's face while transforming her hand into a blade at the same time.
  The confidence had all but left the boss feeding both the anger and ego of Wicked as she had come so close to the next step of her goal. She was so close all she had to do was take it.
  “Now listen here you’re gonna answer some questions and if you do it well enough you might make it out of here alive. Who gave you these?” She said referring to the meta-gators.
  “Those we just got the shipment from some group trying to take over Jump City.”
  “Give me a name! Who took these? why? What’s the end goal? And why did you attack the inventor!? Answer me.”
  “WICKED!!!”
  “I swear if you interrupt me one more time Mus-”
  “You forgot about something.” Music Dude said point to the wall on her right.
  She turned her head over to where her companion was pointing to be greeted with a sight of a dozen thugs now armed with the very weapons that they were modifying aimed and ready at the armored hero thanks to her sudden appearance. “Oh…”
  One of the thugs aimed high into the rafters and started the device. As the weapon accepted the zynothium the circuitry pulsed a bright red across the circuitry of the machine. The device let out a screeching pulse of sonic waves making the building to rattle and set Music Dude’s mind on fire causing him to tumble down into the same room as Wicked and begin convulsing on the ground.
  The other criminals joined in, firing energy blasts into the office. Wicked ducked under the window as it shattered from the volley. The hero quickly realized that she was surrounded by thugs with super weapons and her backup was currently spasming on the floor. Truly, a disastrous situation. First thing first, get a hold of her ally. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him closer, shaking him around between his spasms. Eventually slapping him in the face which seemed to snap him out of it.
  “You okay?” Wicked asked between nervous breaths.
  “I’m good for now they weren’t kidding, those things pack a punch.”
  “Yeah they’ll do that to super powered people. These discs create soundwaves and lightwaves that keep you from activating your powers but I’ve never seen them do that to someone.”
  “They use sound waves? My powers are based on sound waves! I think that plus the sonic attack the gun didn’t negate my powers they made them go haywire.” He said pressing his hand against his chest hoping to slow his heart between the energy blasts explosive outbursts from their enemies.
  “Look, this isn’t important to you, and let’s face it you are a liability. You're better off playing hero somewhere else.” Wicked said.
  “NO!” Music Dude shouted amid the cacophony, his words cutting through the battle and Wicked’s dark spiral “So what if these guys got cool supped up weapons that could end me. I'm here to help and I’m sticking to that.” He firmly grasped Wicked's hand with his pulling it close to him. “No matter what happens.”
  She tightened her grip on Music Dude’s grasp and laughed “God you must be insane.”
  “We’re superheroes, it comes with the job.” With trust affirmed their attention was now reallotted to the thugs. They were using suppressive fire to keep them in that room, but a few had broken off and were attempting to encircle them.
  “Alright so if You go out there they’ll end you in a second. I’ll draw their attention away from you. So you can immobilize them with my ice powers after that we mop up the mess. Sound good?”
  Before Music Dude could reply the rebellious anti-hero already set her plan into motion. She jumped through the busted windowsill. Energy blasts bounced off her suit and she lunged forward. With a loud crack she decked the front leader of the criminal forces and officially took most of the attention away from Music Dude. This was less stressful and more stress relief after being so goal oriented for so long she needed to enjoy herself and boy was she enjoying herself.
  Wicked surrounded by armed criminals all with their weapons trained on her and just waiting for her to move. Suddenly, the sprinklers activated and some of the weapons began short circuiting which caused a reaction with the less than stable power source. The weapons started glowing red hot and suddenly exploded in a few unfortunate thugs hands, knocking them back to the ground. Underneath her green visor Wicked flashed a smile that was a mix of both excitement and worry Wicked.
  “Not waterproof? That's what you get for buying on the cheap.” She said, rushing one of the criminals in front of her and clean-clocking them with a devastating uppercut. The other criminals now a loss without their weapons descended upon her attacking with everything they could which amounted to fists and improvised weaponry. This ended up hurting themselves more than anything against the technological superhero.
  While the anti-hero tore through the front line one by one, the crew in the back started to aim their weapons ready to attack Wicked. However, they found themselves unable to move. They looked down to find that the lower half of their legs had been completely frozen over. In fact the entire floor of the warehouse had been covered in a thin sheet of ice, and those that were stuck couldn’t find any footing on the ice. All except Wicked, seeing this coming she had adjusted the soles of her suit to grip ice.
  “Now this’ll be much easier.”
  One of the guards turned around to receive a flying knee to the face, sending the recipient to the floor, unconscious.
  “Still got a few more tricks up my sleeve but I think we can take it easy on them now.” said an ever confident Music Dude, but just as he said this the universe decided to test his hubris. At that moment, the wall behind Music Dude exploded. He stood stiff as a board in his cocky stance but now all he could think was me and my big mouth. When he turned around, he was met with a large mechanical fist careening right at him, if he was even a second later to respond and he wouldn’t have survived. However, by the skin of his teeth he managed to set up an ice wall that took most of the damage for him. He was sent careening into wall bloody and bruised but very much alive.
  The garbled voice of a female scientist rang out through the entire warehouse through the large robot's stereo system “Hello lovelies, I’m back and ready for a round two.” Ms Elizabeth had made her grand entrance. The adrenaline pumping through her body was immense, she was itching to take on those that humiliated her. With the pull of a lever her mech took another mighty swing this time aiming at Wicked. The hero dodged under the blow aiming her now laser blaster arm right towards the mechanical menace and fired burning a massive whole through the robot.
  “Really lady, you need to learn when your beat.”
  “I could say the same to you ignoramus.” The mech used its still operating hand and swiftly attacked with a devastating punch. The force from her attack was so powerful that it did enough damage for the lights that spanned Wicked’s suit to change from green to orange in one hit. From within Elizabeth’s robot the almost scientist fiddled with her keyboard opening the hatch on her robot's back activating the swarm of drones to repair the robot and attack her adversaries.
  Music Dude and Wicked got up at the same time to witness a horde of insect like robots moving to attack them with welding gear.
  Music Dude readied himself by tracing his finger across his frame to form some makeshift ice armor and then lunged at his new opponents. His icy grip caused those that he could touch to malfunction and fall to the floor and for those he couldn’t reach he started creating defensive ice terrain to counteract the drones movements, walls, spikes, pillars anything to confuse and destroy them. On the other hand Wicked went with a simple hack and slash. Her confidence wouldn’t admit it but her suit did for her. The blaring lights on the suit were a warning sign about how much damage her suit and body had taken and with how much she’d taken from one attack she had to be conservative. A blade would have to do in the meantime. She hacked and slashed through many becoming a veritable whirlwind of razor metal and robotic carnage.
  As they tore through the protective drones the scavenger ones were tearing the Wayne car apart piece by piece and bringing the pieces back to repair the robot. As they fought off the protector drones Ms Elizabeth’s eyes centered on something else. As the screen focused on some of the equipment at the captive audience to her victory. She sent a portion of her repair crew down to inspect the equipment. Suppressive force, anti meta human discs and volatile chemical power source for extra power? Elizabeth likey!
Without a thought, the mechanical monstrosity leapt toward the stockpile of weapons at her disposal uncaring about the insignificant underlings she’d crush just to get to them.
“Oh no you don’t!” Music Dude slid into the shadow of the hulking beast. Slamming his hand onto the ground he created a massive pillar of ice and snow in an instant stopping the massive hunk of metal’s descent. However, that did not stop the robot from grabbing their prize. The arm managed to swing down grabbing a handful of super charged weapons and throwing them into the air.
“Time to feed darlings.” In an instant the drones left the two heroes alone and encircled the flying devices. The swarm then moved to surround their hive. Music Dude and Wicked stared in awe as the busy bees worked in peak efficiency, in seconds they had not only fixed their home but also improved it. The gargantuan gorilla like mech was even larger than before, the once perfectly smooth metal finish had been replaced with patchwork welding of various metals. Right arm, now fully operational, was littered with small tubes of the highly volatile red liquid like porcupine quills. While the other arms had a massive collection of the meta-gators clustered on the eend.along with a few drones that now were armed with zynothium cannons.
The right arm, now an arm cannon pointed at Music Dude. The hero quickly moved out of the way of the oncoming attack but the force of the blast alone sent Music Dude, Wicked, and even the trapped criminals flying. The blast was to put it bluntly, absurdly destructive in power not only did it vaporize the side of the warehouse but it took out the next five piers as well, as if they never existed in the first place. This was also when the police had arrived, after the previous explosion had sounded.
  Police, criminals, superheroes, and a megalomaniac piloting a doomsday device. This was Nightmarish. The machine tried using the meta-gator ray against Wicked to little effect.
“Bad news I ain’t got no powers to zap.” She fired her laser cannon scratching the hull of this behemoth. But as quickly as the damage was created nearly a dozen drones appeared out of nowhere and repaired the damaged.
“Damn.” She dodged out of the way of the next oncoming sweep from the gargantuan monstrosity.
  At that moment, the police entered the fight by giving suppressive fire for the heroes, the bullets bounced off the metal plating like they were nothing but they managed to garner the attention of the scientist with in. “Oh looks like the rest of Jump city wants to play? Fine by me.”
  With everyone’s attention averted Wicked ran off to the office I still need answers.
Music Dude followed behind, clutching at his midsection. He climbed through the windowsill to see Wicked raising the mob boss to the ceiling threatening them one final time.
“Tell me who did it who attacked her.” Wicked lowered the mob boss back to the ground as Music Dude charged at Wicked.
  “I-I-I don’t know? I didn’t call the hit!” The gang leader had devolved into a crying, gibbering mess.
    “Then who did?”
    “That would be me.” The computer on the ground came to life showing a glitchy silhouette.
    “You’re the one who attacked the meta-gator inventor?”
    “Oh heavens no I don’t get my hands dirty, that would be one of my associates.”
    “Then who? Someone has to know in this god forsaken city. Whoever it is needs to pay.”
    "My oh my sounds personal. If you connect to this computer, you can attempt to trace it back to my computer, access my hard drive and my files from your side and find who you are looking for.”
    “Bull, there’s no way you would just hand it over.”
    “Oh that’s not the trick. See this laptop has been engineered to have some caustic chemicals in case individuals got their hands on it. I've already set it so that you have a minute and a half before the chemicals destroy this laptop beyond repair. However, if you look through the contents for what you seek my associate, Elizabeth back there, might just level Jump City, and it'll all be your fault. Tick tock dear.”
    The feed cut and a grim silence filled the room. Wicked calmly set the computer on the ground. Standing there for a moment in that horrid silence. Her mind was a storm and anger just wanting some relief. Her relief came as her fury forced her fist through the wall.
    “GRAH! I've been searching for months! MONTHS! Now that I finally got a lead I could act on now this happens! Why does this always happen.” She continued beating the wall in the same area until an indent of her fist and inch deep remained. “Why? Why? WHY? WHY!?”
    "I never asked to be a superhero! I jus- I just wanted-" her attacks slowed until she was leaning over the. Clutching holds that weren't there.
    "Why can't I just have one win?"
  There it was again, Music Dude could recognize it, desperation. When the world is out to tear you down all you can ask for is just something, anything to go your way. In a world of sadness that little spark of hope to prove that that it is all worth it. He knew that feeling all too well. He might not know why appreciate her attempts at hurting him, or the attitude but maybe Music Dude caught in a crossroads helping Wicked like he promised or convincing her to give up and help him stop that mechanized beast… or just maybe. If he played his card rights. “Wicked do it.”
  “What?”
  “Go ahead fix the computer, I'll bring down the bot.”
  “Your funeral neither of us could stop her how you plan on doing it on your own.”
  “I’ve got an idea, all I need to know is where the closest biggest source of electricity is.”
  Wicked didn’t bother asking, whatever he had planned she didn’t want to know. She set William to scan the surrounding area. “Just outside this building there’s a point where the wiring for the docks connects. That’s your best bet.”
  Music Dude gave her a nod and ran off leaving her alone with the computer and her thoughts. Thanks, I owe you one.
  Music Dude ran towards the chaos. The drones were now taking apart the police cars and using the scrap to create crude replicants of themselves who would go to make even more. Elizabeth was creating an army of destruction Luckily for the hero though, the drones had done him some help exposing the wiring underground that he needed Music Dude ducked and weaved between the swarms of monsters. All the while he switched through the music to the playlist he needed. He selected the one marked danger in all caps and exclamations points. After he was sure the music started, in a moment of sheer madness plunged his fists into the wiring.
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  The world went black. Troy couldn’t see, feel, or hear anything. Then ever so faintly he could hear the pulsing beat of electronica in his ear and he was transported back way back. Before he became a hero, just before he got his powers, the most pivotal time in his life. He was backstage at a stadium, his stadium. He had just passed them music he was playing to calm his nerves he could hear thousands of voices shouting in anticipation. He was nervous of course but oh so excited so many people had come to see him perform and this was the night he’d do it. Everything was prepared, he’d gone over his music a dozen times over and went over the special effects with back up crew backwards and forwards all that was left was go out there and perform. He walked out onto the stage to see an ocean of people, lights coming from every angle to illuminate his spectacle camera’s all around him broadcasting his performance to the world and in every direction, phones immortalizing his first national performance as Troy Jones, the number one DJ in the world. His black robe billowing in the wind and his classic helmet concealed his abounding joy that permeated his body. As he turned his equipment on to begin, disaster. Lightning runs through his body sending every neuron in his body to fire at rapid pace. His body had no control and soon everything started to shut down. The crowd screams in horror as the luckiest man in the world fell to the ground, unsure of whether or not he was alive anymore. The sound was getting away from him, the screams of the crowd felt distant and the clanging of the emergency alarm became softer and quieter until nothing, silence.
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  The pain was unbearable, his body was ripping itself apart as it became one with the city’s electrical system. The entire low side of Jump City went dark as Music Dude screamed in agony of the power his body was forcing itself to contain. The drones came to attack him but bolts of lightning arced off his body obliterating anything that came close to him. It took all his effort to not only keep his body from falling apart but also to keep any form of sanity. That night where he nearly died, was the awakening of his power but he didn’t leave unscathed. His body and mind broken by the experience for weeks he lay in a hospitable bed as the outside world didn’t know whether he was alive as his body began restructuring itself until it was perfect, better than perfect actually. He’d soon be able to do impossible feats that could place among the champions of the world. The mind was less fortunate, almost perfect but couldn’t be perfectly fixed, unable to process the death that should’ve been that night, unable to relax when a thunderstorm strikes, always anxious around electricity and lightning and especially unable to comprehend the roiling thunderstorm that vibrated between his cells this very moment.
  Elizabeth’s robot tried to attack him in this state but with the amount of power he wielded was as if the hand of Zeus was calling down mighty lightning bolts to strike down his foe. Like hungry dogs the bolts of lightning roiled from his fingertips going from drone to drone obliterating them but they weren’t satisfied. The electricity dug its claws into the massive beast overloading every weakness they could find in the inner workings ending with the ignition of the zynothium’s volatile molecules. The power source that gave the hulking mass it’s deadly power now was its undoing as the whole contraption exploded with more fury than would be considered possible.
  The day was won the menace was defeated but the danger was not over. Music Dude looked at his hand crackling with energy as the lightning slithered down his arm to his entire body. It felt almost like an invisible hand passed through him and stole the air out from his lungs. His heart is starting to race or was it slowing down he wasn’t sure, his sharp pain hit his stomach then his chest. Memories playing back in his head, the joy the pain, the awful silence. As he dissolved into his panic his control over the thunderstorm in his body weakened and the power so desperate to be unleashed got their wish, more lightning shot off his body towards everything and anything. Fear gripped those around the area and police forcibly escorted all civilians and criminals from the scene. All that was left was the poor suffering superheroes, one clinging to control that he didn’t have and the other clinging to the promise they made to find vengeance.
  Wicked was alone in that broken down office doing a full system sweep for the information she could garner about her target. So far she had found multiple bits of information schematics, plans, designs and targets but the rabbit hole just kept going deeper. Yet despite her searching there were still no clues on an identity to the one who had crippled her mother. One-minute left, she just needed to keep searching. She was so fixated on her goal that she was caught unaware by a sudden strike of electricity that hit her right across the back sending a shockwave of pain through her system.
  “What was that? Wilson, you okay?”
  “Affirmative despite your companions best efforts.”
  Wicked looked out the window to see a practically apocalyptic scenario. Music Dude was huddled on the ground in front of the warehouse, his clothes were burning up from the electricity that was firing from his body. Lightning bolts flew through the sky colliding with everything that could possibly be hit including Wicked as another one sent her flying back to the computer which now showed forty-five seconds while the lights of her suit were a crimson red. She was about to head back to the computer and try again but something nagged at the back of her mind. Most of the other hero types looked down on her for how she acted out in the field the recklessness, the danger, the vengeance. She thought none of them would help her when it counted, when you fight for your life you fight alone. She learned that moment her old crime boss had informed some mysterious criminal that it was her own mother that created the meta-gators. It was her friends fault for the attack on her house, her friends fault for the attack on her mother and most especially it was her friends fault for her mother being condemned to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Yet here was this man willing to bet his life on her plan without even knowing why she was doing this in the first place. Those secrets would remain with her. She would go to lengths unimaginable to get what she wants but is she willing to let someone else pay her price?
    Music Dude was clutching himself tighter, his finger digging under the skin causing intense pain but that is exactly what he needed to keep his mind together. Tears were streaming down his eyes. He doesn't want this, he doesn’t want to hurt people, he doesn’t want to hurt himself. He couldn’t lose control; he had to hold on just a little longer every second counted.
  “Hey!” A shout rang out to Music Dude opened his tear filled eyes to see Wicked running through the maelstrom, her suit taking blow after blow absorbing all the energy that could escape his body. There was enough energy in him could overload an entire city block. No matter how advanced the suit was there was a limit to how much it could handle if she stayed she would.
  “You… need to… leave.” Music Dude shouted, his lungs felt as if they had no oxygen.
  “You need to let go you can’t handle this!”
  “Can’t… have to… hold on.” Music Dude shouted in pain as he clutched his chests. His mind was going numb from the stress shear stress he felt but even so, he was putting everything down to hold onto his consciousness “Power… surge… fry everything… including.”
  “The computer.” Wicked looked back at the computer, it now showed ten seconds remaining. The bolts no longer fired instead there was a continuous arc of electricity between them. The lightning was destroying her suit, breaking down the suit little by little in this onslaught. Normally Wicked would have ran for it by now but for some reason her body was betraying her own thoughts.
  “Find them… I’ll hold… little longer!”
  Wicked was close to finding the next clue just a few more seconds but a few more seconds and Music Dude would be. Wicked stopped for a second but as she saw the fading consciousness of her partner, she ignored every warning sign and went in closer. Scooping the weak Music Dude in her arms, he could barely hold on as is. She looked back at the computer one last time and with a solemn sigh she turned back to the wavering man in her arms.
  “It’s okay.”
  “But-”
  “Just let go.” She grabbed his arm and held on tightly, lightning crackling between them. “I’ve got you.”
  Music Dude was in so much pain he could barely think yet that small gesture got a smile out of him. His hand went limp and fell over to where the electrical wiring was with that he let go and electricity did what it does best. It transferred back into the system it came from but the sudden burst of power was too much for the system to handle. Every electrical device for a couple city blocks had an immediate power surge and were fried beyond repair Wicked’s one chance of finding her enemy.
  It took a few seconds, but Music Dude came too and exhausted from the whole ordeal but able to stand at least. An immediate wave of relief washed over the duo as they had done it, they were alive and victorious. The lights on Wicked’s suit were blaring red signs that she needed to leave immediately but first they needed to say goodbye.
  “Hey sorry about the computer.”
  “Don’t worry about it. I got some info to work with, schematics plans, target lists so I at least got some people I can check in on later.”
  “Great, that’s really good.”
  “Yeah, we should probably head off before the cops show up. Pretty sure the thugs willingly got arrested so that they could get out alive.” She chuckled to herself, but the joke fell on a silent audience.
  “Hey look, you did good, you saved people, stopped the bad guy and went out on a limb for me. Someone you don’t know the first thing about so thanks man. I really mean that.”
  Music Dude felt much better after the attempt of a comforting gesture. He had done good work tonight and went above and beyond what he had set out to do. From experimenting with the powers he doesn’t really use to saving Jump City from a giant robot to keeping his mind from breaking apart tonight was full of surprises but he was fine with it.
  As the two went their separate ways and Music Dude walked down the cold street alone. His energy surge also fried his phone so it looks like he was walking for tonight. He had time to take stock of the night he saved the day, made a friend, nearly died… again and got more practice with his powers including one he never really planned to practice with. He looked at his palm waiting for some foreboding sign of the electricity that might still be in his system, but it never came. He took one of his most dangerous powers, brought it to the brink of catastrophe and came back. He was so scared of that power but now after finally ripping the band aid off he felt relieved. No more running he was ready to take them on. Red, Malice, Skully best be ready for what he has in store.
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  Meanwhile, Wicked later returned to her abode. Releasing her metallic power suit and once again becoming the average citizen Quinn Parker. Her suit took most of the damage; it was rather plain to see that tonight's escapades left her in need of some well earned rest. Bloody scars, cuts, and bruises riddled her body While the suit was set to recharge and repair itself, she would spend the next few hours fixing her injuries with what little her mentor had taught her. Luckily, she didn’t have work tomorrow so she could get some extra rest in. This was the norm for her a quiet night where she would just relax and then search through the information she had. However, tonight as she looked at her phone she came up with something else to pass the time before getting some rest. She took her phone in hand and decided to leave a message for someone she hadn’t talked to in a long while.
  “Hey mom hope you’re doing well back home. I know it’s been a while, and well that’s my fault I’ve been focusing on… work a lot the guests haven’t been too appealing and with work and my own side projects I’ve been getting home really tired. But tonight I met a friend and well I don’t know I guess he reminded me of you and I just wanted to say I really miss you. I’ll see if I can visit soon but with my side project it might take a while. I’m doing just fine and I hope you are too. Love you mom, good night.”

Description
Okay I'll make this quick because this one is a bit longer than my usual.

This one took way too long because my editor kept forgetting to work on it, so SIX WEEKS LATER!!! I decided to just do it myself in a week. Featuring my boy Music Dude and my friend HuggableRogue OC- Wicked. She just gave me one of her characters so I wouldn't need to check up on her about it and the next story I make doesn't involve her at all. Anyways onto the story....

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  Music Dude is not the main protagonist of this tale. While he is crucial to what enfolds he is not the hero. No, to be a hero one must be possessed with great motivation and tonight that is not everyone's favorite empowered musician. Tonight, the only thing he desires is to become more competent with his lesser used powers. That’s why he’s out on Jump City’s skyline looking for some small-time thugs or a petty gang to test his powers out with. However, that is for later what causes the chain of events that would be tonight do not begin on the cityscape looking down on the glimmering night life of Jump City, no this begins somewhere else.
    Out there in the maze of streets and complexes there is a building and in a secluded room a person late at night is waiting. This person was expecting someone to call so here they were patience wearing thin. Soon, the screen flared a deep green light then invited static.
“h-hello? Testing one… t-two three-e.” a voice came through the static as the transmission on the other end flickered in and out. After a few more moments the scene became clear as a spindly woman dressed in ragged jeans, a dirty old lab coat with frizzy brown hair that napped down to her neck appeared. She was positively bursting with excitement and energy as she got the camera to work to her will. After she jumped around the utterly horrendous workplace her eyes refocused on the camera as she remembered why this meeting was happening. She snapped to a more poised stance and waved to the camera with her metallic prosthetic right hand as she addressed her audience.
“Greetings I am Doctor Elizabeth Cameron and you my mysterious benefactor. After many months of work, I have come to give you the greatest news. The prototype is now ready for testing.” As she said this, she went to the side allowing the light from the screen to illuminate a positively massive machine hung up in chains that stretched into the darkness.
“I have already done you the pleasure of connecting your feed to the screen within my mech so that you can see for yourself how well my creation operates.” She grabbed the camera and brought it to her magnifying her disturbing toothy grin. “So please give me a moment, sit back, and enjoy the show.”

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    Most are aware of Jump City’s claim as one of the most technologically advanced and dangerous cities in America. Many tourists flock to these tech centers in hopes of catching a glimpse of the many heroes that call this city home except for the area of the city known as the columns. Compared to the chrome and science fiction aesthetic that the rest of the city displayed to the world this area was much humbler as brick houses and apartments dotted the streets excluding the enormously tall skyscrapers that this district was named after. This area boggled most citizens' minds as it was one of the few places rarely plagued by the superpowered psychopaths that the rest of the city had to endure on a near daily basis, the key word being rarely. As tonight was the exception, an explosion completely obliterated an unsuspecting cross section in the columns, flinging the skeletons of flaming cars down the streets and hurdling into nearby buildings. In the crater there was a hole to an underground passage where a lone hand cloaked in shadow was clawing its way out. The hand was followed by a large figure, broad, intimidating, sheathed in full metallic armor with enormous gorilla-like stature. The figure gripped the ground and launched themselves out of the pit crunching the asphalt under the force of the gargantuan robot. With one monstrous hand, the mech took a nearby car, the metal imploding from the intense grip and then proceeded to chuck the wreckage into the nearest building.
    “The system is working perfectly!” Elizabeth cackled to herself as her creation grabbed and threw more hunks of obliterated vehicles at the screaming masses. Police had arrived on the scene, all two of them. They were armed with naught but a simple pistol and taser, usually enough to hand the small-time thug and ne’er-do-well but tonight they would not be enough. The mechanical monstrosity raised its two massive fists into the air and brought them crashing down onto the asphalt causing a shockwave that sent the law enforcement flying back and decimating the surroundings in the process. Buildings were crumbling, people were panicking, this was a scene of absolute mayhem.
    All the while the mad scientist comfortably protected within her iron shell, was laughing hysterically. She expected it to work well but the amount of sheer damage she could make in these few seconds was staggering.
    “I see your field test is going well Miss Elizabeth.” Came a communication from the suit's interface, the voice was distorted and was a little glitched out whether that was intentional or not was anyone's guess.
    “Oh yes with these last-minute modifications I have increased the strength and lightened the load.”
    “An excellent development. H-However, we need to see how well your new product works against more proactive resistance.”
    The insinuation brought the mad scientist’s anger to bear. Her creation was flawless, years of study in robotics and engineering has brought about her debut to the world and this was the first thing the world had to say back. Outside of the justice League nothing had such prospects against her magnificent machine, there was nothing strong enough, tough enough or chaotic enough to handle her creation.
    A pop up on her monitor alerted her to an oncoming attack but Miss Elizabeth couldn’t react fast enough and was sent tumbling down into the wreckage she had created naught but a few moments ago.
  “It would appear t-that you now have a proper test under pressure. Do well Miss Elizabeth we’ll be watching.” With that the unknown caller left the chat and Elizabeth was left with what the rest of the world would declare as their hero and what she would call her adversary. When the dust cleared there they were, a slim figure enveloped in a futuristic battle suit ready made for the skirmish about to ensue, dotted with green lights across the armor culminating in a bright green visor. The person waved their right hand and the metal apparel around their hand became a liquid, morphing and resolidifying in the form of a sword. Then the figure began to speak in gruff voice.
  “Hey, the name is Wicked and long story short, I’m about to rip you apart.”
    From within the robotic suit, Elizabeth pressed a few buttons that released the hidden compartments that riddled her creation’s frame revealing a set of gatling guns on each arm and two mounted rocket launchers on the shoulders. With the final push of a red button and a cheeky smile Elizabeth fired her onslaught on the mechanized hero.
  Wicked ducked out of the way from the oncoming attack, to little effect. The hybridium that the suit was made of can handle bullets fine, but the force from the explosives sent them flying back into a brick wall. The pain was immense but Wicked pushed through, playing the hero wasn’t them, but this time was different. No! Can’t let this lead walk out on me Wicked thought. The suit began shifting once more the sword was replaced with a compact arm cannon. Wicked side stepped out of the way of the next barrage and fired. The laser hit one of the rocket launchers causing it to explode sending the robot to the ground. They charged forward as the mech fired potshots at them but with the new weapon the rockets couldn’t reach them, and the bullets were just deflecting off the armor. When they were in close combat range, Wicked transformed their left hand into a blade ready to strike through the robot.
  Yet, just before the blade could meet its mark one of the mechanical arms sprang up like a piston and grasped the entirety of Wicked’s frame stopping them in a moment. The robot’s grip tightened with the crushing force to break a steel bar. While their armor could take quite a lot of blunt force Wicked could feel the pressure all around them crushing on their body as the strain was becoming too much for their battle suit to bear. Which prompted a subtle reminder from the suit’s AI, Wilson.
  “WARNING: SYSTEM’S INTERNAL INTEGRITY IS BECOMING UNSTABLE. Eh hem, Well sounds like my user is in quite some trouble almost like she shouldn’t have done this.” The sarcastic interface retorted.
  “Not now Wilson, focus the power to strengthen the suit’s integrity near vital organs.”
  “Given the amount of my power you used. That’d leave you with nothing for your crusade.”
  “Sarcasm noted, not appreciated. I’m trying to stay alive. So help or not.”
  “Fine, fine I’ll get on that now, what are you going to do?”
  Without a second thought Wicked raised up her free arm and with what little power she had available to ready one final blast aimed squarely at the center of the beast’s chest. “Stop before I rip you a new one.”

  For the first time that night the mech spoke, the audio coming in gargled stereo for all to hear. “Greetings my inept enemy, might I say your armor is amazing. Any chance you can give me a piece for experimentation? I’ll spare you.”
  “Last I checked you weren’t in a position to be threatening me.”
  “Oh please I know your type, noble heroes like you’d actually go that far.”
  “You don’t know a thing about me. Now I’ll lower this here shot if you A; let go of me. B; give me contact with your boss!”
  These two were at a stalemate that was until the unpredictable came into the scene in the form of a great ball of music powered chaos. Out of nowhere Music Dude came barreling down from the night sky colliding with Wicked causing both to slip from the mech’s grasp and was sent skidding down the road. Thus giving the two a moment, the robot with enough fire power to level half of jump city piloted by one of the only people with a crazed enough mind to do it and… Music Dude.
  The engineer was the first one to break the silence “Well thank you hero, I’ll remember your help for… about two seconds. Sorry, but I gotta test how well my baby works against meta-humans.”
  “Okay cool… wait wha-” and just like that Music Dude felt like he had just been hit by an oncoming train as the massive fist of the machine sent the stringy musician rocketing towards a brickhouse building.
  Believing she had defeated her next foe she turned to take on her previous opponent but as she turned around something had hit her in the back and sent the hulking mass face first into the ground. Elizabeth got back up to see that Music Dude was still standing before her, the led screen now sporting a smiley face sticking out its tongue. She was too angry to think as she swept him away again, but this time she saw what was going on. The moment her adversary made contact with the brick wall he’d come rocketing back. Almost as if he had a rocket powered feet he’d come crashing back with more force than his fists should allow, denting Elizabeth’s incredible machine.
  What she didn’t know was that Ragtime was the selection of this venue and with it came one of Music Dude’s more unusual powers, Elasticity. While it didn’t give him much power his rubber like body could take much more hits than normal and it also gave him the added benefit of absorbing the attack. Every time Elizabeth swatted Music Dude away, he’d bounce back like his favorite rubber hose cartoons ricocheting across the backdrop like a bullet until he found his mark. It took a few attacks for realize that Elizabeth her strategy wasn’t working. Every attack came back even stronger, and thanks to the eccentric rebound the attack pattern was unpredictable for her to defend against.
  Music Dude dodged as much as he could, but he only had so much control over where his recoil could send him. Soon enough he bounced right into Wicked forcing both to tumble to the ground. As he got up he winced in pain but the pain gave way to panic as he discovered that his midsection had been pierced by Wicked’s blade.He started screaming only for Wicked to um… slap him.
  Before he could react, Wicked was already on top of him in a very familiar way. She changed her blade arm back to normal. Grabbing him by the corner of his chin and twisting it to an uncomfortable angle while her other, cannon arm, was firmly pressed towards his side. Based on previous experience this shot wouldn’t kill but with his health he couldn’t be sure.
    “What are YOU doing here!?”
    “I was chasing a-”
    “I don’t care!”
    “Hey, you asked me.”
    A metal clang and a gust of wind alerted the two in an impromptu interrogation that the third party was not done just yet. Elizabeth aimed the two gatling guns down on the duo.
“Oh shi-”
    A chain of bullets tore through the city streets, reducing cars, brick walls, even the asphalt itself to dust. Everything except WIcked, having fortified her armor took the barrage head on. While Music Duded meakly hid behind the much more impervious one. He then learned that this power doesn’t make him immune to bullets as a few stray shots knicked him in the arm grabbing Wicked’s attention. Gah, this guy! I doubt he can escape not under this fire. Guess I’ll just have to go on the offensive.
    All the while the mad doctor cackled away inside her machine behind the seemingly endless barrage of bullets “I knew my baby can’t be stopped now to finish you off.” Elizabeth said through hysterical laughter.
    As she continued her maddening destruction a shot rang through the streets cutting all noise in the area. Elizabeth looked down to see that there was now nothing under her seat the entire lower half of her magnificent creation had been cut completely off. The hulking battle suit collapsed over on the street with Wicked stepping forward, her arm cannon steaming after its last attack. Inside the monstrosity Elizabeth was panicking the last shot had destroyed her machine and caused multiple systems in her robot to no longer function. She was helpless as her precious robot was shutting down. Even under these circumstances the mysterious benefactor managed to give one last message
    “Well looks like your machine couldn’t handle the pressure unlike your competitors.”
    “No! I can make this work I can-”
    “We already took quite a risk and if your machine can be defeated this easily, we must switch to more reliable sources of technology.” The transmission cut and miss Elizabeth was left cold and alone inside her robot.
    Wicked sauntered over to the front of the robot grabbing the head in a mocking manner before letting the whole mound slump back onto the floor. Another fool had got in their way “Not so high and mighty now, should’ve listened to me when you had the chance. Wilson did you get that last transmission.”
  “I only managed to get the last bit, smart move making a tapping device out of me. Quick thinking like that and you might just see tomorrow.”
    “Uh- hi there” It was at this moment Music Dude reappeared on the scene clutching his bloody shoulder. His introduction received no response so he approached closer. Tapping the mechanical marvel on her shoulder. This time he managed to get a response in the form of a hand wrapped around his neck and the melancholic expression of his own helmet staring back at him from the reflection of Wicked’s visor.
    “And you just what are you doing here getting in my way again.”
    “Welp, glad you recognize me at least.” Music Dude retorted before quickly changing tone to a more serious demeanor. “I was chasing down a wayne car of stolen tech when I heard an explosion so I rushed over.”
  Wicked pushed Music Dude off then changed her free hand into a blade and pointed it at the startled musician’s chest. “I’m giving you one chance right now. For the first time in a really long time I’ve got a lead on something very important. Now leave.”
  "You sure you don't want any help? Everyone should have someone looking out for them." Music dude touched her shoulder but received a swinging fist in response.
  "Are you kidding you nearly died and because of you I barely, barely managedto salvage this lead You know what nope I'm leaving." Wicked ran down the street in a huff.
  Meanwhile, Music Dude took a deep breath absorbing everything he just heard. Wicked was fuming with anger but underneath that mask and voice filter he could hear the shakiness of her breath. She was desperate, about what he didn't know, but he can understand desperation. Willing to put everything on the line to achieve some goal whether it be for some prize or save some one; to survive in a world out to kill you or avenge someone who you had lost. Music Dude can understand that feeling and that understanding is what told him to walk away.
  “Well…” as Music Dude started he reached into his pocket and pressed fast forward on the playlist he specifically created for tonight. Almost immediately the temperature dropped enough that the musician’s breath was visible in the air.
  He continued now singing a tune to himself “You’re worried things are frightful~ but tonight is rather delightful~” At this point, snow began falling from the sky in the vicinity as Music Dude knelt down to the asphalt under his feet. As his fingers touched the street they began to frost over in a thin layer of ice. The ice spread until the entire road looked like an ice rink. “So hold onto me just like so~ and let us go, let us go, let us go.” With that Music Dude moved forward onto a large descending street. He descended at breakneck speed gliding across the ice slick towards the other side of Jump city.
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  As the two heroes made their way the scientist was still imprisoned in the dying husk of their great creation. In that dark space her head twisted with thoughts, she had been completely destroyed in her debut battle. Now all she could do was sit there and wait until the cops arrived. Two no named vigilantes just took her down like she was nothing, her, Elizabeth, too smart for an engineering degree, Cameron. How could she go down like this. No, she wouldn’t accept it! She slammed her fist down on the control panel and in doing so the computer screen lit up briefly Illuminating her shocked face. My baby still has some fight left in her. She typed away the keyboard hoping that her last card was still operational. It still surprised her how she forgot what could be the most dangerous addition to the automaton she had built and there was no time like the present to test it out.
  Reinforcements had finally arrived to carry off the hulking monstrosity but just as they were ready to crack open the tin can one last compartment opened up for them and out from the back came… a swarm of insects? No, a swarm of drones were there circuitry and intricate mechanisms that practically made them look like insects. The police took out their firearms, and immediately the swarm descended upon the hapless police, taking their weapons and dismantling them in a matter of seconds like they were children’s toys. Despite being made of metal instead of flesh they really did act like a living breathing hivemind. Where steel replaced an exoskeleton and an intricate programming replaced hive minded precision the creatures fanned out each perfectly performing their required tasks. Most of the swarm took to terrorizing the surrounding populace attack and stealing any piece of tech or scrap of metal that they could while others set to bringing back the materials back to their mechanical hive where their other task began. The drones that weren’t tasked with gathering and protection got to work repairing their home, using what they could from the surroundings they would cut, screw and weld whatever they needed back into place and any drones that got damaged in the ensuing chaos would be taken back and used just as mercilessly. Just like an insect hive. With clicking and whirring, the large ape-like robot rose from its fallen state the two halves joined and fully functioning once more.
  Ms. Elizabeth, confidence regained, now had a new course of action. She no longer needed the other criminals or support. She was a force to be reckoned with all by herself and that egotistical Wicked was about to see just how dangerous she is. A massive smile stretched across her face and with that the massive mech suit took a mighty leap into the night sky and hell followed right behind her.
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  Later in the night Wicked had arrived at the docks. After a time consuming but necessary recharge back at their HQ. While wait for their gear to repower Wicked's secret identity, Quinn Parker, was looking through the data they had collected. There wasn't much info to be gleaned from what was said, but she managed to trace back a signal to some where at the docks so here they were back at it again.
  The docks were dead silent and cold as the grave with the only sound being the subtle waves of saltwater crashing against barnacles encrusted support beams that kept this area stable. As they went from pier to pier searching thoroughly to see if there was a hint at what was going on. They had found nothing and with each failure they had become all the more enraged and feeling as if their Intel sent them on a wild goose chase. Just before their anger could get the best of them and she would storm off something caught the intrepid engineer's eye. One of the piers was still stirring with life as a Wayne tech car pulled into pier forty four.
  One broken window later and they were inside. The hangers they had visited before usually housed the standard crates and tarps and the occasional industrial equipment customary to fishing companies, here those amenities were all but gone. The equipment at hand was smaller more delicate like something out of a lab arranged on fold out tables which were also arranged around the armored transport van with the large Wayne imprinted on the side. The group of what were most likely criminals in this hanger were buzzing with activity, large bulky men were taking equipment from van carrying them to the table and handing them off to some scientist looking people who set to work tinkering away at the devices.
  Wicked set the AI in their suit to work scanning the scene and garnered some information about the stuff in play. The devices in question were from Wayne Tech’s defense program, weapons specially made to stun and subdue enemies, but knowing these kinds of people they had other things in mind. Taking a look at their tampering she could spot a few things; these criminals were taking the weapons apart and modifying them; removing certain parts such as inhibitors, regulators even replacing the power source input for a new one then filling it with a red glowing tube.
  “That’s zynothium, a super powerful compound but also super unstable” Wicked whispered to Music Dude.
  “So, these guys are stealing Wayne tech and supping it up with dangerous chemicals. This is bad.”
  At the sudden response Wicked was not expecting the armored clad anti-hero jumped back from their vantage point nearly falling into frenzy below. If it wasn't for quick hand of Music Dude to save her.
  "What are you-"
  Music dude's put a finger up to his robotic lip then proceeded to point to the Wayne vehicle before pulling her up. It was already too late to tell this meddling musician to leave as she had other priorities. What she needed right now was to find who was in charge here. Off to their left were four slapdash walls in the approximation of an office room but the ceiling remained incomplete most likely put up for whoever this building to conduct a small meeting. If the boss is anywhere, they’d probably be there. They made their way across the support beams being as silent as the shadows themselves. Within the walls had a slimmer built man, but he had all the confidence of a mob boss. Leaning back in a fold out chair as he was talking to someone on the computer that lay in front of him on a similar fold out table.
  “I knew you’d come around and I must say I am grateful that one of such high renown as you would ask for my assistance.”
  “Believe me when I say I appreciate you answering my request on s-such short notice.”
  “Think nothing of it my friend, I’m just glad you provided us with what we needed instead of relying on Doctor, oh wait, Miss Elizabeth.” As he said that he pulled out a suitcase from under the table opening it to take out it’s contents. In it was a small disk no bigger than a dinner plate but twice as thick with a metal finish across the edge. When this item came into focus Wicked inhaled sharply as she looked down at her wrist where a similar albeit smaller one was housed in her armor.
  “These meta-gators will do wonders with the sonic repulsion equipment we ahem borrowed from Wayne tech. Once we are done out fitting them and then super charging them with some zynothium, even the lowest thug could take down any super with ease.”
  “Excellent, Soon my business will have enough power to control Jump city with the destruction of all the vigilantes they love so much we may come out of the shadows.”
  “While my boys get a decent payday, percentage of sales and a portion of the products. All thanks to this device. So inconspicuous yet so dangerous.”
  “True we had quite the fortune to learn of their creation as suppression equipment in Gotham prisons. Such plutonian aspiration, it’s much better that we liberated the prototypes as we did.”
  Something in Wicked snapped and now she didn’t care about stealth she just wanted payback. Wicked came crashing down into the office snapping the table in half on her impact. With a loud boom she grabbed onto the now terrified mob boss by the tie and pulled them up to her face. Her aura screamed of malice and vengeance “Worth the risk huh? Willing to put your money where your mouth is?” She growled bringing her free arm towards her next victim's face while transforming her hand into a blade at the same time.
  The confidence had all but left the boss feeding both the anger and ego of Wicked as she had come so close to the next step of her goal. She was so close all she had to do was take it.
  “Now listen here you’re gonna answer some questions and if you do it well enough you might make it out of here alive. Who gave you these?” She said referring to the meta-gators.
  “Those we just got the shipment from some group trying to take over Jump City.”
  “Give me a name! Who took these? why? What’s the end goal? And why did you attack the inventor!? Answer me.”
  “WICKED!!!”
  “I swear if you interrupt me one more time Mus-”
  “You forgot about something.” Music Dude said point to the wall on her right.
  She turned her head over to where her companion was pointing to be greeted with a sight of a dozen thugs now armed with the very weapons that they were modifying aimed and ready at the armored hero thanks to her sudden appearance. “Oh…”
  One of the thugs aimed high into the rafters and started the device. As the weapon accepted the zynothium the circuitry pulsed a bright red across the circuitry of the machine. The device let out a screeching pulse of sonic waves making the building to rattle and set Music Dude’s mind on fire causing him to tumble down into the same room as Wicked and begin convulsing on the ground.
  The other criminals joined in, firing energy blasts into the office. Wicked ducked under the window as it shattered from the volley. The hero quickly realized that she was surrounded by thugs with super weapons and her backup was currently spasming on the floor. Truly, a disastrous situation. First thing first, get a hold of her ally. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him closer, shaking him around between his spasms. Eventually slapping him in the face which seemed to snap him out of it.
  “You okay?” Wicked asked between nervous breaths.
  “I’m good for now they weren’t kidding, those things pack a punch.”
  “Yeah they’ll do that to super powered people. These discs create soundwaves and lightwaves that keep you from activating your powers but I’ve never seen them do that to someone.”
  “They use sound waves? My powers are based on sound waves! I think that plus the sonic attack the gun didn’t negate my powers they made them go haywire.” He said pressing his hand against his chest hoping to slow his heart between the energy blasts explosive outbursts from their enemies.
  “Look, this isn’t important to you, and let’s face it you are a liability. You're better off playing hero somewhere else.” Wicked said.
  “NO!” Music Dude shouted amid the cacophony, his words cutting through the battle and Wicked’s dark spiral “So what if these guys got cool supped up weapons that could end me. I'm here to help and I’m sticking to that.” He firmly grasped Wicked's hand with his pulling it close to him. “No matter what happens.”
  She tightened her grip on Music Dude’s grasp and laughed “God you must be insane.”
  “We’re superheroes, it comes with the job.” With trust affirmed their attention was now reallotted to the thugs. They were using suppressive fire to keep them in that room, but a few had broken off and were attempting to encircle them.
  “Alright so if You go out there they’ll end you in a second. I’ll draw their attention away from you. So you can immobilize them with my ice powers after that we mop up the mess. Sound good?”
  Before Music Dude could reply the rebellious anti-hero already set her plan into motion. She jumped through the busted windowsill. Energy blasts bounced off her suit and she lunged forward. With a loud crack she decked the front leader of the criminal forces and officially took most of the attention away from Music Dude. This was less stressful and more stress relief after being so goal oriented for so long she needed to enjoy herself and boy was she enjoying herself.
  Wicked surrounded by armed criminals all with their weapons trained on her and just waiting for her to move. Suddenly, the sprinklers activated and some of the weapons began short circuiting which caused a reaction with the less than stable power source. The weapons started glowing red hot and suddenly exploded in a few unfortunate thugs hands, knocking them back to the ground. Underneath her green visor Wicked flashed a smile that was a mix of both excitement and worry Wicked.
  “Not waterproof? That's what you get for buying on the cheap.” She said, rushing one of the criminals in front of her and clean-clocking them with a devastating uppercut. The other criminals now a loss without their weapons descended upon her attacking with everything they could which amounted to fists and improvised weaponry. This ended up hurting themselves more than anything against the technological superhero.
  While the anti-hero tore through the front line one by one, the crew in the back started to aim their weapons ready to attack Wicked. However, they found themselves unable to move. They looked down to find that the lower half of their legs had been completely frozen over. In fact the entire floor of the warehouse had been covered in a thin sheet of ice, and those that were stuck couldn’t find any footing on the ice. All except Wicked, seeing this coming she had adjusted the soles of her suit to grip ice.
  “Now this’ll be much easier.”
  One of the guards turned around to receive a flying knee to the face, sending the recipient to the floor, unconscious.
  “Still got a few more tricks up my sleeve but I think we can take it easy on them now.” said an ever confident Music Dude, but just as he said this the universe decided to test his hubris. At that moment, the wall behind Music Dude exploded. He stood stiff as a board in his cocky stance but now all he could think was me and my big mouth. When he turned around, he was met with a large mechanical fist careening right at him, if he was even a second later to respond and he wouldn’t have survived. However, by the skin of his teeth he managed to set up an ice wall that took most of the damage for him. He was sent careening into wall bloody and bruised but very much alive.
  The garbled voice of a female scientist rang out through the entire warehouse through the large robot's stereo system “Hello lovelies, I’m back and ready for a round two.” Ms Elizabeth had made her grand entrance. The adrenaline pumping through her body was immense, she was itching to take on those that humiliated her. With the pull of a lever her mech took another mighty swing this time aiming at Wicked. The hero dodged under the blow aiming her now laser blaster arm right towards the mechanical menace and fired burning a massive whole through the robot.
  “Really lady, you need to learn when your beat.”
  “I could say the same to you ignoramus.” The mech used its still operating hand and swiftly attacked with a devastating punch. The force from her attack was so powerful that it did enough damage for the lights that spanned Wicked’s suit to change from green to orange in one hit. From within Elizabeth’s robot the almost scientist fiddled with her keyboard opening the hatch on her robot's back activating the swarm of drones to repair the robot and attack her adversaries.
  Music Dude and Wicked got up at the same time to witness a horde of insect like robots moving to attack them with welding gear.
  Music Dude readied himself by tracing his finger across his frame to form some makeshift ice armor and then lunged at his new opponents. His icy grip caused those that he could touch to malfunction and fall to the floor and for those he couldn’t reach he started creating defensive ice terrain to counteract the drones movements, walls, spikes, pillars anything to confuse and destroy them. On the other hand Wicked went with a simple hack and slash. Her confidence wouldn’t admit it but her suit did for her. The blaring lights on the suit were a warning sign about how much damage her suit and body had taken and with how much she’d taken from one attack she had to be conservative. A blade would have to do in the meantime. She hacked and slashed through many becoming a veritable whirlwind of razor metal and robotic carnage.
  As they tore through the protective drones the scavenger ones were tearing the Wayne car apart piece by piece and bringing the pieces back to repair the robot. As they fought off the protector drones Ms Elizabeth’s eyes centered on something else. As the screen focused on some of the equipment at the captive audience to her victory. She sent a portion of her repair crew down to inspect the equipment. Suppressive force, anti meta human discs and volatile chemical power source for extra power? Elizabeth likey!
Without a thought, the mechanical monstrosity leapt toward the stockpile of weapons at her disposal uncaring about the insignificant underlings she’d crush just to get to them.
“Oh no you don’t!” Music Dude slid into the shadow of the hulking beast. Slamming his hand onto the ground he created a massive pillar of ice and snow in an instant stopping the massive hunk of metal’s descent. However, that did not stop the robot from grabbing their prize. The arm managed to swing down grabbing a handful of super charged weapons and throwing them into the air.
“Time to feed darlings.” In an instant the drones left the two heroes alone and encircled the flying devices. The swarm then moved to surround their hive. Music Dude and Wicked stared in awe as the busy bees worked in peak efficiency, in seconds they had not only fixed their home but also improved it. The gargantuan gorilla like mech was even larger than before, the once perfectly smooth metal finish had been replaced with patchwork welding of various metals. Right arm, now fully operational, was littered with small tubes of the highly volatile red liquid like porcupine quills. While the other arms had a massive collection of the meta-gators clustered on the eend.along with a few drones that now were armed with zynothium cannons.
The right arm, now an arm cannon pointed at Music Dude. The hero quickly moved out of the way of the oncoming attack but the force of the blast alone sent Music Dude, Wicked, and even the trapped criminals flying. The blast was to put it bluntly, absurdly destructive in power not only did it vaporize the side of the warehouse but it took out the next five piers as well, as if they never existed in the first place. This was also when the police had arrived, after the previous explosion had sounded.
  Police, criminals, superheroes, and a megalomaniac piloting a doomsday device. This was Nightmarish. The machine tried using the meta-gator ray against Wicked to little effect.
“Bad news I ain’t got no powers to zap.” She fired her laser cannon scratching the hull of this behemoth. But as quickly as the damage was created nearly a dozen drones appeared out of nowhere and repaired the damaged.
“Damn.” She dodged out of the way of the next oncoming sweep from the gargantuan monstrosity.
  At that moment, the police entered the fight by giving suppressive fire for the heroes, the bullets bounced off the metal plating like they were nothing but they managed to garner the attention of the scientist with in. “Oh looks like the rest of Jump city wants to play? Fine by me.”
  With everyone’s attention averted Wicked ran off to the office I still need answers.
Music Dude followed behind, clutching at his midsection. He climbed through the windowsill to see Wicked raising the mob boss to the ceiling threatening them one final time.
“Tell me who did it who attacked her.” Wicked lowered the mob boss back to the ground as Music Dude charged at Wicked.
  “I-I-I don’t know? I didn’t call the hit!” The gang leader had devolved into a crying, gibbering mess.
    “Then who did?”
    “That would be me.” The computer on the ground came to life showing a glitchy silhouette.
    “You’re the one who attacked the meta-gator inventor?”
    “Oh heavens no I don’t get my hands dirty, that would be one of my associates.”
    “Then who? Someone has to know in this god forsaken city. Whoever it is needs to pay.”
    "My oh my sounds personal. If you connect to this computer, you can attempt to trace it back to my computer, access my hard drive and my files from your side and find who you are looking for.”
    “Bull, there’s no way you would just hand it over.”
    “Oh that’s not the trick. See this laptop has been engineered to have some caustic chemicals in case individuals got their hands on it. I've already set it so that you have a minute and a half before the chemicals destroy this laptop beyond repair. However, if you look through the contents for what you seek my associate, Elizabeth back there, might just level Jump City, and it'll all be your fault. Tick tock dear.”
    The feed cut and a grim silence filled the room. Wicked calmly set the computer on the ground. Standing there for a moment in that horrid silence. Her mind was a storm and anger just wanting some relief. Her relief came as her fury forced her fist through the wall.
    “GRAH! I've been searching for months! MONTHS! Now that I finally got a lead I could act on now this happens! Why does this always happen.” She continued beating the wall in the same area until an indent of her fist and inch deep remained. “Why? Why? WHY? WHY!?”
    "I never asked to be a superhero! I jus- I just wanted-" her attacks slowed until she was leaning over the. Clutching holds that weren't there.
    "Why can't I just have one win?"
  There it was again, Music Dude could recognize it, desperation. When the world is out to tear you down all you can ask for is just something, anything to go your way. In a world of sadness that little spark of hope to prove that that it is all worth it. He knew that feeling all too well. He might not know why appreciate her attempts at hurting him, or the attitude but maybe Music Dude caught in a crossroads helping Wicked like he promised or convincing her to give up and help him stop that mechanized beast… or just maybe. If he played his card rights. “Wicked do it.”
  “What?”
  “Go ahead fix the computer, I'll bring down the bot.”
  “Your funeral neither of us could stop her how you plan on doing it on your own.”
  “I’ve got an idea, all I need to know is where the closest biggest source of electricity is.”
  Wicked didn’t bother asking, whatever he had planned she didn’t want to know. She set William to scan the surrounding area. “Just outside this building there’s a point where the wiring for the docks connects. That’s your best bet.”
  Music Dude gave her a nod and ran off leaving her alone with the computer and her thoughts. Thanks, I owe you one.
  Music Dude ran towards the chaos. The drones were now taking apart the police cars and using the scrap to create crude replicants of themselves who would go to make even more. Elizabeth was creating an army of destruction Luckily for the hero though, the drones had done him some help exposing the wiring underground that he needed Music Dude ducked and weaved between the swarms of monsters. All the while he switched through the music to the playlist he needed. He selected the one marked danger in all caps and exclamations points. After he was sure the music started, in a moment of sheer madness plunged his fists into the wiring.
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  The world went black. Troy couldn’t see, feel, or hear anything. Then ever so faintly he could hear the pulsing beat of electronica in his ear and he was transported back way back. Before he became a hero, just before he got his powers, the most pivotal time in his life. He was backstage at a stadium, his stadium. He had just passed them music he was playing to calm his nerves he could hear thousands of voices shouting in anticipation. He was nervous of course but oh so excited so many people had come to see him perform and this was the night he’d do it. Everything was prepared, he’d gone over his music a dozen times over and went over the special effects with back up crew backwards and forwards all that was left was go out there and perform. He walked out onto the stage to see an ocean of people, lights coming from every angle to illuminate his spectacle camera’s all around him broadcasting his performance to the world and in every direction, phones immortalizing his first national performance as Troy Jones, the number one DJ in the world. His black robe billowing in the wind and his classic helmet concealed his abounding joy that permeated his body. As he turned his equipment on to begin, disaster. Lightning runs through his body sending every neuron in his body to fire at rapid pace. His body had no control and soon everything started to shut down. The crowd screams in horror as the luckiest man in the world fell to the ground, unsure of whether or not he was alive anymore. The sound was getting away from him, the screams of the crowd felt distant and the clanging of the emergency alarm became softer and quieter until nothing, silence.
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  The pain was unbearable, his body was ripping itself apart as it became one with the city’s electrical system. The entire low side of Jump City went dark as Music Dude screamed in agony of the power his body was forcing itself to contain. The drones came to attack him but bolts of lightning arced off his body obliterating anything that came close to him. It took all his effort to not only keep his body from falling apart but also to keep any form of sanity. That night where he nearly died, was the awakening of his power but he didn’t leave unscathed. His body and mind broken by the experience for weeks he lay in a hospitable bed as the outside world didn’t know whether he was alive as his body began restructuring itself until it was perfect, better than perfect actually. He’d soon be able to do impossible feats that could place among the champions of the world. The mind was less fortunate, almost perfect but couldn’t be perfectly fixed, unable to process the death that should’ve been that night, unable to relax when a thunderstorm strikes, always anxious around electricity and lightning and especially unable to comprehend the roiling thunderstorm that vibrated between his cells this very moment.
  Elizabeth’s robot tried to attack him in this state but with the amount of power he wielded was as if the hand of Zeus was calling down mighty lightning bolts to strike down his foe. Like hungry dogs the bolts of lightning roiled from his fingertips going from drone to drone obliterating them but they weren’t satisfied. The electricity dug its claws into the massive beast overloading every weakness they could find in the inner workings ending with the ignition of the zynothium’s volatile molecules. The power source that gave the hulking mass it’s deadly power now was its undoing as the whole contraption exploded with more fury than would be considered possible.
  The day was won the menace was defeated but the danger was not over. Music Dude looked at his hand crackling with energy as the lightning slithered down his arm to his entire body. It felt almost like an invisible hand passed through him and stole the air out from his lungs. His heart is starting to race or was it slowing down he wasn’t sure, his sharp pain hit his stomach then his chest. Memories playing back in his head, the joy the pain, the awful silence. As he dissolved into his panic his control over the thunderstorm in his body weakened and the power so desperate to be unleashed got their wish, more lightning shot off his body towards everything and anything. Fear gripped those around the area and police forcibly escorted all civilians and criminals from the scene. All that was left was the poor suffering superheroes, one clinging to control that he didn’t have and the other clinging to the promise they made to find vengeance.
  Wicked was alone in that broken down office doing a full system sweep for the information she could garner about her target. So far she had found multiple bits of information schematics, plans, designs and targets but the rabbit hole just kept going deeper. Yet despite her searching there were still no clues on an identity to the one who had crippled her mother. One-minute left, she just needed to keep searching. She was so fixated on her goal that she was caught unaware by a sudden strike of electricity that hit her right across the back sending a shockwave of pain through her system.
  “What was that? Wilson, you okay?”
  “Affirmative despite your companions best efforts.”
  Wicked looked out the window to see a practically apocalyptic scenario. Music Dude was huddled on the ground in front of the warehouse, his clothes were burning up from the electricity that was firing from his body. Lightning bolts flew through the sky colliding with everything that could possibly be hit including Wicked as another one sent her flying back to the computer which now showed forty-five seconds while the lights of her suit were a crimson red. She was about to head back to the computer and try again but something nagged at the back of her mind. Most of the other hero types looked down on her for how she acted out in the field the recklessness, the danger, the vengeance. She thought none of them would help her when it counted, when you fight for your life you fight alone. She learned that moment her old crime boss had informed some mysterious criminal that it was her own mother that created the meta-gators. It was her friends fault for the attack on her house, her friends fault for the attack on her mother and most especially it was her friends fault for her mother being condemned to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Yet here was this man willing to bet his life on her plan without even knowing why she was doing this in the first place. Those secrets would remain with her. She would go to lengths unimaginable to get what she wants but is she willing to let someone else pay her price?
    Music Dude was clutching himself tighter, his finger digging under the skin causing intense pain but that is exactly what he needed to keep his mind together. Tears were streaming down his eyes. He doesn't want this, he doesn’t want to hurt people, he doesn’t want to hurt himself. He couldn’t lose control; he had to hold on just a little longer every second counted.
  “Hey!” A shout rang out to Music Dude opened his tear filled eyes to see Wicked running through the maelstrom, her suit taking blow after blow absorbing all the energy that could escape his body. There was enough energy in him could overload an entire city block. No matter how advanced the suit was there was a limit to how much it could handle if she stayed she would.
  “You… need to… leave.” Music Dude shouted, his lungs felt as if they had no oxygen.
  “You need to let go you can’t handle this!”
  “Can’t… have to… hold on.” Music Dude shouted in pain as he clutched his chests. His mind was going numb from the stress shear stress he felt but even so, he was putting everything down to hold onto his consciousness “Power… surge… fry everything… including.”
  “The computer.” Wicked looked back at the computer, it now showed ten seconds remaining. The bolts no longer fired instead there was a continuous arc of electricity between them. The lightning was destroying her suit, breaking down the suit little by little in this onslaught. Normally Wicked would have ran for it by now but for some reason her body was betraying her own thoughts.
  “Find them… I’ll hold… little longer!”
  Wicked was close to finding the next clue just a few more seconds but a few more seconds and Music Dude would be. Wicked stopped for a second but as she saw the fading consciousness of her partner, she ignored every warning sign and went in closer. Scooping the weak Music Dude in her arms, he could barely hold on as is. She looked back at the computer one last time and with a solemn sigh she turned back to the wavering man in her arms.
  “It’s okay.”
  “But-”
  “Just let go.” She grabbed his arm and held on tightly, lightning crackling between them. “I’ve got you.”
  Music Dude was in so much pain he could barely think yet that small gesture got a smile out of him. His hand went limp and fell over to where the electrical wiring was with that he let go and electricity did what it does best. It transferred back into the system it came from but the sudden burst of power was too much for the system to handle. Every electrical device for a couple city blocks had an immediate power surge and were fried beyond repair Wicked’s one chance of finding her enemy.
  It took a few seconds, but Music Dude came too and exhausted from the whole ordeal but able to stand at least. An immediate wave of relief washed over the duo as they had done it, they were alive and victorious. The lights on Wicked’s suit were blaring red signs that she needed to leave immediately but first they needed to say goodbye.
  “Hey sorry about the computer.”
  “Don’t worry about it. I got some info to work with, schematics plans, target lists so I at least got some people I can check in on later.”
  “Great, that’s really good.”
  “Yeah, we should probably head off before the cops show up. Pretty sure the thugs willingly got arrested so that they could get out alive.” She chuckled to herself, but the joke fell on a silent audience.
  “Hey look, you did good, you saved people, stopped the bad guy and went out on a limb for me. Someone you don’t know the first thing about so thanks man. I really mean that.”
  Music Dude felt much better after the attempt of a comforting gesture. He had done good work tonight and went above and beyond what he had set out to do. From experimenting with the powers he doesn’t really use to saving Jump City from a giant robot to keeping his mind from breaking apart tonight was full of surprises but he was fine with it.
  As the two went their separate ways and Music Dude walked down the cold street alone. His energy surge also fried his phone so it looks like he was walking for tonight. He had time to take stock of the night he saved the day, made a friend, nearly died… again and got more practice with his powers including one he never really planned to practice with. He looked at his palm waiting for some foreboding sign of the electricity that might still be in his system, but it never came. He took one of his most dangerous powers, brought it to the brink of catastrophe and came back. He was so scared of that power but now after finally ripping the band aid off he felt relieved. No more running he was ready to take them on. Red, Malice, Skully best be ready for what he has in store.
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  Meanwhile, Wicked later returned to her abode. Releasing her metallic power suit and once again becoming the average citizen Quinn Parker. Her suit took most of the damage; it was rather plain to see that tonight's escapades left her in need of some well earned rest. Bloody scars, cuts, and bruises riddled her body While the suit was set to recharge and repair itself, she would spend the next few hours fixing her injuries with what little her mentor had taught her. Luckily, she didn’t have work tomorrow so she could get some extra rest in. This was the norm for her a quiet night where she would just relax and then search through the information she had. However, tonight as she looked at her phone she came up with something else to pass the time before getting some rest. She took her phone in hand and decided to leave a message for someone she hadn’t talked to in a long while.
  “Hey mom hope you’re doing well back home. I know it’s been a while, and well that’s my fault I’ve been focusing on… work a lot the guests haven’t been too appealing and with work and my own side projects I’ve been getting home really tired. But tonight I met a friend and well I don’t know I guess he reminded me of you and I just wanted to say I really miss you. I’ll see if I can visit soon but with my side project it might take a while. I’m doing just fine and I hope you are too. Love you mom, good night.”