This was a test. Jakarta was one of the first places in the world to see costumed heroes rise from the flash. It went without saying that they were also one of the first to adopt the Pandora format of guilds and heroing. It was why the General had come out in person. He was the strongest voice in the island nation’s government that was in favor of heroes. By that very merit, he had quickly risen in prominence in Indonesia, to the point that the nation’s current Head of State was basically a figurehead for him.

In other words, the ruler of Indonesia had come out to meet her personally yesterday. It was quite the honor. 

She smirked behind her helmet. If only you knew my true purpose for coming. 

The first hero arrived only a moment after the thought crossed her mind. Her senses picked up on movement in the park as what she immediately pegged as a speedster zipped past trees before blasting into the open area where the monument stood. Instead of stopping to face her, she watched the masked hero dip low and scoop up two fallen civilians as they passed by. She smiled approvingly and raised a hand. Don’t think it’ll be that easy.

A panel of hard light erupted from the ground in the hero’s path. She turned her hand over and clenched her fist, a pair of spears priming to leap from either side of the panel the moment they changed direction. It was a weakness of pure speedsters that it was hard to stop on a dime. The hero didn’t even hesitate as they charged towards the obstruction, already committed to their momentum. Instead of turning, though, Sonya was surprised to see the hero literally run up the surface of the sheer barrier and leap past it, darting off into the trees.

Oho…

Next came the first shot fired. Her senses picked up on the bullet as it passed into the area of the park, the single round screaming towards her. She whipped her hand in its direction, and a series of hexagonal panels of light formed in its path, a dozen of them shattering before the bullet finally lost momentum and fell. She turned her eyes towards the direction it had come from and pointed, a pair of spears blasting off in that direction.

More heroes came, first five, then ten, then thirty costumed figures poured into the area around the monument. Their powers at the ready, their eyes fixed on her. 

That’s the way. Good.

“All those below Heroic fall back into support positions! Forwards up! I want any protective abilities focused on our healers!” A solitary voice rose up at the head of the group. She tilted her chin up and looked down upon the solitary figure; a pair of glowing red eyes stared back at her without flinching. Long black hair framed the scowling face of a woman in blood-red and gray combat gear. Next to her were two others. The first was a familiar face in a visor and a military uniform. The second was a man in what looked like a steampunk cosplay, top hat and all.

Sonya grinned as she spoke, reaching into the warehouse and pulling out a power to use. “To think you were visiting home, Protean,” she called down to the red-eyed woman.

“Haven’t you done enough already, Ishtar?” Protean shouted back. “Was the insult at the dungeon not enough for you? You slap us in the face, assault our neighbors, and now this?”

“I do as I please, little hero,” Sonya replied with a laugh. “What right do you have to stop me?”

“So this is just fun to you?” Protean demanded.

Sonya stepped off the top of the monument and floated in the air, spreading the luminous wings of her regalia out. “Oh, I have my reasons for a second go-round!” she announced and turned her head to look at the visor-wearing woman. “Don’t I, Captain Batu?”

Batu stepped past Protean and planted her feet on the ground. “Chernovna has already left! Our business with her is concluded!” she shouted. “You-”

A ray of light lanced from Sonya’s fingertip and struck the ground behind the captain, blood welling on her cheek. “Lie,” she accused. “Your General intends to let her set up shop.”

Batu clenched her fists, only for Protean to raise a hand and block her. “Enough!” she shouted. “Ishtar! You are surrounded on all sides! We’ve brought as much strength as we can to bear. The longer this takes, the more heroes will arrive. Heroes from around the world will come to stop you! You’ve overestimated yourself. No matter how strong you are, you can’t fight the world!”

GOOD!

“I suppose we’ll see, won’t we, little hero!” Sonya bellowed, and the spears floating around the monument began to spin before abruptly pointing in all directions. “COME AT ME!”

A fresh blast of Imperious sent half of them to their knees as the others opened fire. Bullets, blasts of energy and elemental power, stones and shards, flying insects, and powers from across the spectrum were unleashed in a single volley as the spears began raining from the sky. Each time one fell, another appeared in its place in a limitless volley. Protean threw her arm out, and it extended like a chain made of bone and flesh, her hand turning into wicked black-metal claws. Easy to dodge. However…

She grinned and charged forward, making a show of attempting to dodge as Protean flexed her arm, and the clawed hand pivoted in the air, wrapping around her waist. Protean pulled her down with a roar of effort and retracted her arm. Sonya was tugged to the ground, hitting the earth with terrible force as a single haymaker came down at her head from an already moving Protean. The International-Class hero’s strength caused the air to pop and crack with the swing.

“Got you!” Sonya sing-songed behind the helmet and swept her arm up, a khopesh appearing in her hand. Red eyes widened, and Sonya swung upwards with her weapon, a clean cut across the woman’s chest just as Protean’s blow connected with her head. The force behind it was monstrous; the obvious weight of the woman’s fist alone told Sonya much about how her ability worked.

It’s similar to Alex’s, she thought absently.

Even with all that power, Sonya didn’t budge. She turned her head to look Protean in the eyes. The woman’s chest was already regenerating from the gash as she stared back at Sonya in shock.

“Protean! Gazetter! Hold her!” Captain Batu shouted from Sonya’s right.

On her left, the man in the top hat moved into position and reached into his long coat, pulling a brass sphere out that he hurled at Sonya’s feet. Protean regained her composure and snarled, throwing out both arms to wrap them around Sonya’s body, claws clamping down on her. Around them, the blasts and explosions of heroes desperately fending off the rain of spears continued. The sphere Gazetter threw exploded into a swarm of chains that wrapped around her legs and wrists.

“Batu! Now!” Protean shouted.

Sonya felt Batu pull off her visor and activated the power she had pulled from her warehouse. A single disk of metal appeared in the air at her right, her eyes not breaking contact with Protean’s. Batu screamed, staggering back and clutching at her head as her power recoiled from the mirror. Protean only had an instant to process the surprise before Sonya tore her way out of the chains and grabbed hold of one of Protean’s arms. She pulled, driving her fist up and into the woman’s gut with a thunderous clap of force.

The arms around her waist loosened, and she pulled herself free, stepping past Protean as her khopesh cut across the woman’s side. She turned and pointed a finger at Gazetter, jerking it to the left once after the first ray lanced out, releasing a second. The hero threw both arms up to block, a barrier appearing over his wrists that blocked the first attack but failed on the second. He gasped as the bolt speared his shoulder, staggering backwards and reaching into his coat again.

“OOURRAH!”

Sonya turned and snapped her hand out again, fingers wrapping around Protean’s throat as a pair of titanic, fleshy-red fists stopped just over her head. Sonya whipped her body to the right and hurled the woman, delivering a snap kick to send her flying towards Gazetter. She felt the woman’s prodigious mass attempt to resist the blow, only to turn her into a deadly missile that collided with the gadgeteer. She hummed a tune and took a step forward, reappearing behind Protean as she scrambled off a now very unconscious ally.

Sonya grabbed the woman by the back of the head. “Two Low-Mythics and B-tier International. Pathetic.”

Despite Sonya’s own prodigious strength, Protean managed to turn her head enough to look Sonya in the eyes. Her skin was already turning red as her cheeks split slightly. “You haven’t seen anything yet, Villain.”

Sonya tilted her head. “You have bigger things to worry about than bravado, Hero.” She turned her head and looked out towards the space around the monument. Glowing spears crowded the ground, sticking out of dirt and corpses alike. Most of the heroes had retreated behind the protective shields, walls, and barriers of those protecting the healers, but not all of them. She looked back down into the Mythic hero's wide eyes and pulled her to her feet, the khopesh in her hand vanishing before being replaced by a glowing white flower and stem.

Sonya was inches away from the woman’s face as she slid the stem into her hair. “There you go!” she said playfully. “So pretty!”

Protean’s eyes shook as the red spreading across her skin retracted, and she collapsed to the ground like a ragdoll, her limbs failing her as the power that supported her prodigious accumulated mass was temporarily nullified. Sonya crouched down next to her and gently turned her head to face the monument. “There you go,” she said and patted her head. “Don’t worry, you’re worth more to me alive. At least you get to watch, mm?”

She stood up and brushed herself off, glancing once towards the healers and survivors before snorting out a laugh. She walked past the field of death she had wrought with her spears, stepping over the unconscious Batu and darting forward to stop next to the monument.

“Grruuh! ISHTAR!” Protean roared, struggling to get up and dislodge the flower.

Sonya shrugged and scanned the area with Technopathy before finding what she was looking for. There you are, she thought and gestured towards one of the trees. It shifted once before its branches shot down to grab hold of the man hiding behind it. She crooked her finger as the man let out a shout of fright, the tree uprooting itself to walk over to her. Clutched in its branches, a young man of barely twenty struggled to break free. He stopped when he was just a few feet from her, her senses picking up an unfortunate new source of warmth.

“Having fun recording me?” she asked.

He opened his mouth and closed it like a fish, his pupils shrinking. He said nothing, and she laughed. “It’s fine! Go ahead, record away. I have a message I want to send.”

The tree dropped him and returned to where it had uprooted itself. He sat there on his knees with his phone clutched in shaky hands. Her eyes narrowed. “Well?”

He raised the phone quickly and nodded as fast as he could. “R-recording.”

“Good,” she purred and leaned in to look into the camera. “Hello, Otis. Having fun playing house in New York?” she asked. “First you hide your invulnerability from the world, and then…” She tilted her head. “...Well, I thought helping ordinary people was beneath you. What happened?”

She tittered out a laugh. “Then there’s First Wind. First you fail to stop Blight, and now, once again, you’re nowhere to be seen. How shameful.”

She stood up straight. “And to Mimir,” she said. “It was a cute attempt, but try harder next time. I’m quite cross with you now, by the way.”

She turned away and walked towards the monument, feeling the eyes on her. She broadcast her voice for all nearby to hear. “Now for my prize!” 

She placed her hand on the side of the monument. 

Digitize.

A collective gasp of horror spread from the beleaguered heroes, accompanied by an anguished shout from Protean as Indonesia’s National Monument turned into motes of blue light that descended upon her, absorbing into her storage space. It was gone in a matter of moments. Sonya turned back to the impromptu cameraman and paused, her senses picking up on a new presence entering the fray.

Her smile went wild behind her helmet, and she turned towards the source.

“ISHTAR!”

She spread her arms out in greeting, and she let out a haunting laugh, cackling as the woman drew closer. “BLACK LOTUS!” 

Chunhua fell towards her like a rocket, sword over her head as Sonya created another khopesh. She brought it up into a sharp block, the hook of the blade catching Chunhua’s weapon and diverting it towards the ground with a twist of her wrist. Sonya laughed. “You’re too late!”

“I can still bring you in!” Chunhua bellowed as power began to build inside her body. Her single dark eye began to glow.

Sonya clicked her tongue apologetically. “Tsk, aww! Maybe next time.”

Chunhua bared her teeth and wrenched her weapon away from Sonya’s grip, the scent of flower petals filling the air as power cascaded towards her. Sonya hopped back with a single leap and flipped, planting her hand on the sword that swung up towards her as Chunhua matched her speed. She pushed off with a laugh and spread her wings again, laughing. “You lose, heroes!”

A portal appeared behind her, and she fell through it as Chunhua roared up at her.

–

Qilin frowned again at her phone. It hadn't worked for a while now. She already knew why - the black spot in her senses in the vicinity of Miss Chernovna’s office was clear enough indication. I seem to be the only one who noticed her disappearance, she thought. She looked up from her phone towards the two men sparring in the rather cramped yet somehow ostentatious living quarters set aside for the boy.

Hero Nietz, she thought irritably. Bothersome boy. If it weren’t for him distracting Miss Chernovna… Should I just kill him? He’s in the way. Just like the Chairwoman. 

She clicked her tongue and started to pace. Why is she so concerned about those heroes anyway? I can appreciate her playing both sides but… why? She’s so powerful! She sighed wistfully and stopped next to the ships railing, looking out over the sea. I want to see you conquer the world, I want to watch it happen. Just thinking about it, ah... 

A chill spider-walked up her spine and she shuddered. So interesting. So exciting. 

Her face fell, and she stared into the water. The Pandora Committee is in the way. Maybe her affection for that woman is blinding her. Chernovna needs help, clarity. If I get her out of the way, then she can focus on what really matters.

Qilin smiled. Yes. I just need to be patient. That woman will come around sometime…

A chime rang out, and she looked back at her phone; the signal bars on it had reappeared. At last, it looks like she’s back. She turned around and leaned against the railing. What did she do while she was away? Oh, I wish she’d taken me with her. She sighed again and pulled up the news. The latest headline appeared, and her eyes went wide, a smile spreading across her lips. 

“Yes. You really are the most interesting person in the world, Sonya.”