Edward Cole let out a curse as water dripped on his face. Of course it would rain out of nowhere. He had woken up late and hadn’t checked the weather before heading out, rushing to get to school before the bell. And now he would be both late and soaked.

What a wonderful Monday.

And it was about to get even better.

Suddenly, Edward let out a scream and dropped to the ground. Fire surged through his veins, scorching his insides with ferocious intensity.

And then it was gone, as sudden as it came.

Edward took a deep breath as he climbed back to his feet. And swore off Taco King for the rest of his life. Looks like ‘hotter than hell’ wasn’t an exaggeration after all.

At least…that’s what he hoped had happened.

And then he heard the screams.

He wheeled around and let out a cry himself.

In the middle of the street was a rodent of quite…unusual size.

As in the size of a car kind of unusual.

And it was looking straight at him.

Edward turned and ran, flailing his arms about as he stumbled forward.

As he did he felt a shadow pass overhead.

And the giant rat crashed into the street in front of him, snarling with its yellow, dripping teeth and wicked claws. Edward let out a cry and fell on his backside.

He tried to run.

He tried to stand.

He tried to crawl.

But his body refused to listen.

His legs felt like jelly. His stomach churned and lurched as his heart pounded in his chest. His face was soaked with sweat. His arms trembled as he lifted them to cover his face. He tried to do something…anything…

“H-HELP!”

All he could do was scream as the claws bore down on his face.

He closed his eyes and waited for the pain.

And waited.

And waited.

He stopped.

He blinked.

He slowly opened his eyes, wincing as he did, and lowered his arms.

The abnormally large rat was snarling and growling as it swiped at him. And through him.

He began to sweat some more.

“Oh no…I-I’m already dead! I’m a ghost! M-My body…where’s my body?!”

He swung around in a panic, searching for his body…

He couldn’t find a body.

And the rodent continued to swing at him.

He tried to touch his stomach and chest…

He felt solid flesh.

He let out a sigh of relief…

And then the rat’s paw caught his chin on a back swing, sending him flying down the street.

He groaned and lifted his head.

The rodent was approaching, a wicked gleam in its eye. He opened his mouth but all that came out was a hoarse whisper…

“H-help…”

BOOM!

A cloud of dust flew up in the street. Edward shielded his eyes as the dust blew past. He slowly opened them as a silhouette stepped out of the cloud.

“Are you ok?”

He had short blonde hair, a red mask covering just his blue eyes. He wore a red suit with a blue cape, with a ‘W’ written in yellow on his chest.

Wonder Knight had arrived.

Edward just stared up at him, eyes wide. Slowly, his eyes began to moisten.

He was saved.

The heroes had come.

Wonder Knight winced as another explosion went off in the distance.

“Sorry, got to run. Get to shelter, ok?”

With a single leap, he shot into the air, soaring over the buildings along the street.

A hero’s work was never done.

Teenage girl Lida Valerianovna ran through the streets, pulling her little sister’s hand. Behind them, she could hear screams, as well as crashes and explosions. But she resisted the urge to look, keeping her eyes forward as she ran.

All around her people ran for their lives. A car flew past them, smashing into a building ahead. Lida gulped but kept running.

And then she felt a tug on her arm, before the weight on it vanished.

“Lida!”

She turned and her eyes widened. Her sister had tripped, falling on the ground. Behind her a massive elk stomped on the ground, its fur pure black, its eyes fiery red. The beast eyed the fallen girl and let out a smoke-filled breath. It slowly approached her.

The little girl began to scream. Lida rushed forward, sticking her arm out.

“NO!”

Suddenly she felt something stir within her, zapping through her arm.

And through the air.

A bolt of lightning surged from her palm, striking the monstrous elk. The beast cried and stepped back. Lida rushed forward and crouched down to grab her sister.

“Come on!”

But her sister couldn’t move, trembling on the ground.

And Lida heard the steps of massive hooves behind her.

She closed her eyes and wrapped around her sister, trying to shield her with her body.

And then she heard the jets.

Drones flew overhead on glowing purple thrusters, with glowing metallic polygons hanging from their bottom sides. Purple light shone from the polygons, creating a barrier of light between Lida and the elk. The elk smashed its antlers against the barrier and bounced off of it.

Then a purple bolt slammed into the elk, exploding into a singularity. The singularity howled before collapsing in on itself, and the elk was gone.

Lida held her sister, who clutched onto her, crying. As she did, a jet landed in front of her, its exit ramp already open. Armed security guards jumped off, moving to secure the area. And a woman with sunglasses and a grav-cannon stepped out towards the two girls.

“We’re the ILS, you’re safe now.”

Lida nodded.

“Thank you.”

One of the guards came up and gave a salute.

“Area secure, Director.”

“Good work, give the green light to disaster relief.”

As the man saluted and began speaking into his radio, Director Green took her glasses and looked at the girl.

“I saw what you did, by the way, it was very impressive. You were very brave. You know…the world could really use more heroes right now.”

The doors of EL Bank burst open. A woman stepped into the lobby, cackling madly as black lightning surged between her fingers.

"Muahahahaha! You rejected my application, oh so long ago, but no more! Now I have the power, and I will have my revenge! I will take what is rightfully mine! First, the bank! And then, the world! For my name is..."

There was a brilliant flash of light and a cloud of dust.

As the dust cleared, the woman was sprawled on the ground, groaning, as Lady Diamond Hornet sat on top of her.

"Can you guys just not? Like, seriously! You're, like, the third one today! This is, like, seriously too much work."

Lights flashed. Thunder roared. Metal casings clattered on the ground.

Nana sweat and grit her teeth. Her arm felt numb, she could barely feel the recoil anymore from the assault rifle in her hands, her ears ringing from the loud sounds she could hear even through her earpieces.

But still they came.

The serum was supposed to have very low compatibility. Single digit percentages at best for humans. Lower than that for animals.

So why…

Why oh why…

Did it have to work on a nest of murder-hornets?!

Elise stood next to her, both her arms converted into machine guns. Panels opened all along her body, revealing small turrets, missile launchers, and even small beam weapons. A veritable arsenal mowing through the flying monstrosities.

But still they came.

Nana ducked as one of the monsters flew overhead, dodging a stinger the size of her arm. Arvid leapt over her, swinging his blade. Nana grimaced as she felt something wet splatter her.

She turned to thank Arvid, only to see three more monster hornets approaching behind him. She whipped out her chakra blaster and fired over his shoulder, catching the group in a chakra net. Kiyosuke then flickered across them, decapitating all three at once. Arvid nodded at Nana then turned around.

“Friend Saydaa, how much longer?”

Behind them Saydaa knelt on the ground, drawing a circle around a beaker filled with a noxious green liquid.

“I’m working on it! Come on…come on!”

She frantically spun her hands around, staring at the circle and filling it with red light.

And then a monster hornet slammed in to her, sending her rolling across the ground with a headbut to her stomach.

“Saydaa!”

Arvid gripped his blade and ran forward. Nana swung around and took aim. Saydaa knelt on the ground, hands by her head.

“Stop…stop…stop…STOP IT!”

Saydaa let out a cry. A blast of red energy surged from her, blowing back the other members of Nemesis. They looked up and gasped.

The hornets were stuck in the air, held in place by red clouds of light, wings buzzing as they fought against their bonds.

Saydaa held out her hand and the beaker flew through the air. She held out her other hand, and her eyes glowed as a mighty cyclone began to form.

“JUST DIE ALREADY!”

Saydaa tossed the beaker into the cyclone, which took on a noxious green hue. She thrust her hands forward and the cyclone roared through the forest, straight in the direction of the hornet nest.

In its wake were dead and dying monster hornets.

As well as dead and dying plants and animals...a brown and barren scar on the forest ahead.

Nemesis spoke not a word as they watched the devastation. Arvid turned around to the one responsible.

“Friend Saydaa…”

She didn’t look at them, just turning to head back towards the jet.

“...come on. We have work to do.”

Arvid and Nana glanced at each other, frowning.

But she was right about that. So they followed after her in silence.