Missed the Mad Scientist Yet?

It had been a good many years since Chicago had burned. Dr.Everyone had owned the city for a good, long time. Nobody wanted to try to take down a crazy pyromaniac who could fly. Especially one with a PhD in chemistry. In the early days, there had been some large SWAT raids on his hideouts, and the few officers that survived those raids were horrible disfigured. The army was always busy and could never handle the specific threat posed by Dr.Everyone. So it became tradition to leave Dr.Everyone alone to do as he wished, and repair the damage as best you could. And then a new mayor was elected, one who strayed from tradition. He gathered as many National Guardsmen as could be mustered, and every police and riot officer in a 50 mile radius.

They all raided his lab.

They all died.

And the raid really angered Dr.Everyone. The raid had made him accidently burn down his own lab. And in the moment he watched his precious home and workplace burn, he realized just how worthless life was. It breathed the air that should fuel a fire. Life fought against him at every turn like he was some mistake, some freak of nature. Life just wasn't right. And since they had burned now his laboratory, he'd burn down their city.

And that's what he did.

And the temperature he started the fires, and how fast he spread the fires, Chicago was nothing but smoldering rubble in less than a day. It had taken less than a month for him to finish off the rest of the state, which so boldly proclaimed itself 'Tribe of Superior Men'. He had laughed when he realized just how sub-par the people of Illinois were.

But his fires spread no further than the rivers that made up Illinois' borders, and he stopped there. The rest of the world was going to Hell anyway, and he'd had his part. Let the other forces destroying the world come this far and see that he'd destroyed this part in advance.

And so for a long time, even after the world was nothing more than a pool of crime and destruction, Dr.Everyone was perfectly happy living in the lifeless Illinois, eating the marine life he boiled out of Lake Michigan and the occasional charred body. But then he heard rumors from other places. Over the radio, whenever he traveled for supplies. A rumor of a way to another world, one that was healthy and full of life. A world in another universe where heroes and good samaritans had the upper-hand against the criminals of the world. Fairy Tales! Surely, they were just that. At least, that was what Dr.Everyone had though until one day in New York, on a supply run, he saw the portal over one of the buildings still standing. As he got closer he could see people lined up to get inside and get to the portal. Dr.Everyone never was good at controlling his impulses. So he shot towards the portal, stopping only briefly to yell "It will all burn!." before flying straight into the portal and out into the strange New York of this other world, and New York that was, much like the rest of the world is was part of, not decimated.

Dr.Everyone had arrived.

In the untouched section of New York people still carried on as usual, and still paid no attention to the vagrants that wandered here and there. Once such vagrant stood with a back against an alley wall, watching a strange ripple across the nearby street. If the fabric of the universe was at risk, it concerned every god. That's putting aside the fact that Megaera was the only god of her age still alive anyway.

The ripple became more obvious, becoming a portal that at least one person exited from. Before two long, two others appeared on the street, though Megaera wasn't sure if they came from the same portal or if they were more than one. Her ability to sense such things was limited, she was not a god of balance or space after all. She was a god of vengeance, and it looked like there would still be need of her. She fixed her judgement gaze upon the three individuals, confirming that they were indeed foreign. Even so, their sins were no secret to Megaera. One, the woman, was of no concern to Megaera even if she was foreign. The other two however, had many wrongful deaths on their hands. One in particular had killed enough for Megaera to know he was no ordinary man. It didn't matter though, Megaera's duty was the same regardless. It was time for her to make an entrance. They were from another universe so in truth they were not the goddess's concern, assuming that went back to their own home. That seemed unlikely though.

The red jewel int eh center of her choker lost it's color as she summoned her wings and armour and rose into the sky. Between the sorceress and the doctor, a sudden impact rang out loudly as a blood red sword with blunt edges hit the ground with enough force to bury itself halfway into the ground. Shortly after Megaera following, hitting the ground with considerable force but if it affected her she didn't show it. Brown hair framed burning orange eyes, and she wore a white and blue skirted armor with red accents. Four red wings spread out from her back, making her tall frame seem even more impressive. She raised a gauntlet-covered hand up and in a quick burning blaze a silvery sword appeared in her hand pointing at the man in the white coat. She stood with her back turned to the woman, addressing the other two.

"Hear me sinners! Return to your world now, or be sent to the world of spirits. I am a god of this world, and an unfortunate one for people like you to encounter." She spoke loudly, projecting an impressive aura as her voice seemed to echo indefinitely. "If you choose to stay you will be subject to the laws of this world, my laws. and no fate awaits you but execution." Megaera stood motionless as she waited for them to make their move. She was a sentinel, her sword in the ground a line not to be crossed.

A split second after he exited out the other side of the portal, he had been flying over an undestroyed New York. Another thousandth of a second later, and he was on the ground with three others. And he only recognized one out of the three, Elena Marie. And so he directed his attention at her.

"Please, Lil' Miss Sorceress," The Doctor said in a mocking tone. "You couldn't stop the destruction of our world and you can't stop the destruction of this world. You are like a child wearing her mother's heels. We will go as far as we please."

But before Dr.Everyone could start the wave of destruction his mind itched to cause, that his body yearned for, the woman he didn't recognized began to speak. She made it obvious she was from this universe.

"I don't think you know me very well, little girl. Where I go, there are no laws. And since I am here, your laws are null. Even if you are a god, I don't care. I'll kill you as I killed the millions that dared live! I'd have killed them all if that wretch Holocaust hadn't stolen my destiny from me. But now I can make up for his folly. I have been given a second chance to rid the entire earth of the disease called life."

Dr.Everyone paused to breath and let out a mad cackle.

"But once I've killed every living thing on this despicable rock, then you can send me to your world of spirits. I'd be overjoyed to kill yet another world of beings."

Dr.Everyone stared at the woman, his disfigured face hidden behind his helmet and visor. His mind ablaze with a craving for death and fire and hatred. Nothing would survive, nothing!

"Maybe if you leave now and get to running, you can maybe have the honor of being the last thing I kill on this planet."

With that, he turned back to Elena Marie. He wore a smile that, if seen, would diagnose insanity. He was never more happy in his life than he was now.

"Now, Elena. I would love to stay here and reduce you to ash and then melt your ashes into the tar of the street, but your simply not significant for me to deal with. Maybe I'll play with you once I've left my mark on this city. You know, I really should destroy it before the bastard Holocaust starts. I wouldn't want him to have that pleasure twice in one lifetime."

Dr.Everyone flew off into the sky, blasting fire from his arms at both sides of his body. The glass in the buildings immediately to his left and right exploded as their interiors burst with flame. This was only the beginning of a terrible tragedy.

Sonny awoke in his bed, unsure of what was happening to him. Everything had become clearer to him, but it didn't make sense. Formulas and equations ran through his head, being solved faster than if he had a calculator. Things that he used to know nothing about he now had knowledge of comparable to somebody who studied that subject for years. He could remember everything. I can't be dreaming. That wasn't a dream... That abnormal encounter left him with this hightened state of mind. Of that, he was sure. Ever since he jammed his swords into the eyes of... himself, he became much more intelligent. But that couldn't have been himself. He was himself. Sonny knew the answer, but he didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to face the fact that there was more of him out there. Maybe they weren't from this world, but maybe they were. All he knew was that the encounter left him in a different state of mind. The powers that he used to have using his brain were gone. He could no longer stand on other surfaces or copy another's techniques perfectly. Now he was able to remember everything that he has ever experienced and think at a heightened rate.

As he rubbed his eyes he turned to the swords leaning against his night stand. "Gram, Durandal, what do you guys make of this?" No answer. Sonny sighed as he got out of bed, going through the routine he did every morning. During this whole time he had a weird feeling about this day. It seemed like his routine was off, no matter how perfectly he knew he performed it. His teeth were brushed for the exact same time as the previous morning. He got his exercise. Nobody was there in his New York condo except for him and his weapons. It didn't matter how many times he told himself that everything was the same as it had been for the past few weeks, everything seemed off. Sonny ate his Cocoa Puffs in a paranoid silence, feeling that something was about to happen. Gram and Durandal sat on both sides of him, leaned against his chair. Onyx and Obsidian lay on the table with their barrels facing away from him beside his cereal bowl. Sonny kept staring around the room, thinking somebody was going to jump out of nowhere and attack him.

Calm down, Sonny. Nothing is going to hap- Crash! Sonny turned around quickly while grabbing Onyx in his left hand and his spoon in his right hand, ready to shoot the intruder and throw the spoon through his eye. His window was broken, but nobody was intruding. He spotted a figure in the background with fire protruding from him. Ha! I fucking knew something was wrong! Sonny was excited to know his gut had been right, and ran off at super speed to his armory. It only took him a few seconds to put his armor on, grabbing about 8 extra clips for his weapons and placed them in seperate pockets. Two on his shoulders, two on his hips, two on his thighs, and two near his ribs. He grabbed a knife and strapped it hidden on his right shin. Going back to his kitchen he grabbed Onyx and Obsidian and holstered them to his hips. Gram and Durandal were strapped on his back in their sheathes forming an 'X'. It was time to put his new gear to the test.

Sonny ran and leaped out of his broken window, falling three stories to the roof of the building next to his. His adrenaline barely spiked as he glided through the air, rolling as he made contact with the ground to avoid injuring himself. His momentum continued as he kept running and jumped off the building, going a good 100 feet outwards in the air before landing again on the ground. A large childish grin sprouted on his face going from ear to ear. Jumping out of buildings never ceased to amuse him. It took a few seconds of running for Sonny to reach the vicinity of the flying fire man, avoiding cars and people on the way. Sonny slid to a stop and grabbed Onyx and Obsidian from their holsters, and aimed them at the man. I have sixty bullets plus two in the chambers. There are two hundred and forty bullets left after that. That's more than enough to take down this fool. Sonny noticed a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. Isak?! What is he doing here? He ignored his acquaintance, hoping he would find his way to safety. Sonny kept his attention on the flying man, hoping to stop his destruction promptly. "Hey, motherfucker, this is America! We have the second amendment!" Sonny aimed his guns at the man, not being worried at all about hitting his mark. He had surpassed even the most decorated marksmen during his short time as a vigilante. His fingers were pulled back, releasing two bullets at the same time directly at both of the man's pectorals. Sonny then started to fire rapidly at the man, releasing 6 bullets to the man's arms and legs. Twenty-seven bullets in each gun... I might not even have to reload.

Luke was watching tv in his room in the Talons' base, he had been watching the news and the development of this Holocaust guy. From what he knew, a few heroes and villains, similar to Holocaust, had come through this mysterious portal. They were planning on destroying New York City and potentially the rest of this world, a bunch of sadistic idiots if you asked him. He knew most of the team was out there fighting for the sake of New York, so why wasn't he? Luke rubbed his head while sighing and left the base, he had to do something for this city. He couldn't be the lazy fuck who didn't do anything, plus he was the new guy and had to prove his worth to the team. He walked down the flight of stairs, mask in hand. He had the base rise out of the water He walked out of the base, it went back into the water. He yawned and stretched, he had to get ready for something to happen.

Luke put the mask on and loosened his tie a bit, he liked being a well-dressed hero, made him feel a bit superior. He jogged to the nearest stairs he could, so that he could be on top of the buildings. He jumped from building to building, the air caressing his blonde hair, trying to find something interesting. New York was surprisingly safe during the day, compared to how it was at night. He was building hopping for a couple of minutes until he saw an interesting development. A couple of people had come through a portal, a man and a woman. From what he heard, it seemed that the two were enemies of the same world. Also, Luke saw a familiar face, a woman he had met not so long ago. "Well, we meet again." he said to himself.

The conversation ended with the man slinging insults and flying off, while burning buildings in the process. It seems he was the enemy and a fellow pyrokinetic. "Ah, so I get to have a little fun after all." He ran and jumped off the building, rolling to avoid injury. He then saw that someone was there before him, firing shots at him. "Nice to know that we follow the same agenda, allow me to help you." He said to the mystery man with a smile, which was hidden behind his devil mask. He then shot out black flames in the form of a twenty foot dragon from his hands at the man in the lab coat. Being burned by heat of this temperature would make a 3rd degree burn look like a paper cut. After he finished blasting the fire from his hands, he then said the incantation necessary to summon his katana (Let all hell break loose), Phoenix, said to be forged by the devil himself. He held the blade with both of his hands in a defensive stance, he didn't want to be caught off guard.

Since arriving with his fellow Talons, Gauntlet had made his way to a near-by rooftop to get a better vantage point on the conflict at hand, as was his way. He saw a few heroes confronting a man in a white lab coat and a villain he didn't know, someone who had clearly come from the rip in dimensions. A few of the heroes he recognized, specifically Morning Star. "A fellow Talon," Gauntlet said to himself with a smile. "Good, there's certainly hope for us yet." Just then,

Gauntlet's train of thought quite literally exploded as the building he was standing on was hit with fire, the man in the white lab coat streaking over him, clearly the cause of the blaze.
"W-Woah Woah!" Gauntlet yelled as he slipped of the edge of the building he was standing on. Realizing he didn't have time to reach for this climbing spikes before hitting the ground he braced for impact, falling towards a bright yellow car parked on the sidewalk next to the flaming building.
Gauntlet rolled of the trunk of the destroyed taxi as he hit it. It had dented inwards in the back of the taxi, popping the remaining wheel as he landed. "Tough landing" Gauntlet thought to himself as he jumped to his feet.
He had just slid off the top of a 4 story building as a flaming man in a lab coat flew over him. Unfortunatly, he knew that lab coat all too well. Gauntlet turned to the supers standing in the street, firing their attacks up at the flying man.

"Well, looks like the ol' Doc E is back in town guys! Lets be sure to give him a warm welcome!" Gauntlet yelled as he raised his fist towards the man, opening his palm and firing a white hot streak of energy from his spiked metal gauntlet. He missed, not by a mile but certainly by more than he was used to. He looked at his own arm in an accusatory fashion. "Either that guy is freakin' fast or I'm out of practice... probably both.." Gauntlet thought to himself as he turned to his accomplices.
Gauntlet fired two more blasts, one out of each hand. The first blast struck the corner of a building, causing an explosion as a chunk of debris flew out of the side. The second blast went straight through a window, shaking the building closest two him as some of the glass shattered and fell to the ground.
"Damn it, this certainly isn't helping, he's just a little too fast at this range."Gauntlet said in anger, his fists clenched looking up at the flying man.
Gauntlet pulled his bow staff off of his back where it was securly strapped, he twisted and held it in his classic two, 3-foot climbing spikes.
"MorningStar! Follow me, we can't lose sight of him, he'll destroy a lot more than a few buildings if we don't stop that mad man!" Gauntlet glanced at the other supers and then turned towards the building in front of him. He ran to a sprint and then jumped, latching on to the building with the two halves of the bow staff. He began climbing as fast as he could, it was time to be a hero, he knew Doctor Everyone's capabilities all too well.

Dr.Everyone could not hear the people calling after him. He felt the molten metal of the bullets against his coat and skin. He could feel the energy blasts falling short of their mark as he ducked and weaved through the air. Fire surrounded his body, burning a sadistic violet. He knew they were following him. They always did. But then he felt something behind him, something that was familiar to him and yet, at the same time, completely estranged from him. It came closer, followed wherever he rolled. It grew closer, hotter, stronger. It was fire. Powerful, unatural fire. But fire all the same.

"The work of the witch Elena Marie, no doubt. No other comes close to matching my skill. But even she falls short. Quite short."

He could feel the fire closing in. It would engulf him, probably destroy him. But it wouldn't. Because Dr.Everyone wouldn't die now, couldn't die now. It was his destiny- the powers that be had given him a second chance to turn the Earth into a lifeless husk of charred rubble and smoldering embers. And nothing could stop him now. Not a superhero, not a goddess, and not that bitch-witch Elena Marie.

He looked down and saw the city below him, prime for chaotic, deadly destruction. He felt the fire right on his tail. So he did the simplest ruse in his Devil's Handbook of Strategy; feigned death.

The fire that surrounded his body stayed in place as he flew forward. Elena's fire hit it and Dr.Everyone's fire exploded, creating a decent cover consisting of a deep, purple blaze. Dr.Everyone took a nosedive, flying downwards as fast as he could. He was soon back in the cover of the city, and ready to start his rampage of devestation.

As Gauntlet ran he saw the explosion of purple fire engulf the sky in front of him where Doctor Everyone had been previously flying. The shockwave forced Gauntlet to stagger backwards, almost knocking him into a radiator as he used his trench coat to shield himself from the excess heat of the explosion that was taking place in the sky in front of him, it wouldn't have been hot enough to produce burns but he could certainly feel it from where he was standing on the top of the building he was moving across.
Rolling back to his feet Gauntlet looked just in time to see a streak of fire falling from the sky ahead of him, towards the ruined city of New York, there was a crash and then Doc E was out of sight. Gauntlet didn't know what to make of it, he had never seen the crazy Doctor defeated so easily before, he didn't think this would be the last they'd see of him, but he wanted to believe that maybe it was possible that Dr. Everyone had slipped for once in his miserable existence. Gauntlet looked up at this sorcerous who had possibly slain the dreaded Doctor. "Nice fire!" He yelled from where he was standing. "We should move on, there are other threats around the city, it's a good thing we took care of Doctor Everyone so quickly, there's no telling what kind of trouble he could have caused if he had gotten his way with this part of the city." He said, as he looked at the cement ruined building he stood on. In the explosion he had experienced a moment ago his climbing rods had skittered across the ground, he was glad they were magnetic because as he looked he saw his bow staff laying in front of him, waiting for him. He flicked it up with his foot, catching it with his right hand and spinning it, flipping his weapon on to his back. He didn't know this sorcerous but she appeared to be a powerful ally.
"We should stick together!" Gauntlet yelled, hoping the sorcerous was as on his side as she appeared.