(Stellar POV)

I sent a kick into the stomach of one of Stromford's soldiers, sending the armored punk flying. He crashed into the side of a building before he slumped down.

"That's three more down." Foxfire's distorted voice spoke from behind me. I turned around, seeing another two downed soldiers by her feet. "Let's tie them to that pole for pick-up."

Foxfire and I are currently making our way through the city, taking down Stromford's soldiers and helping as many people as possible. We've been tasked by the Hero Association to get a specific segment of the city while the other segments are being covered by our fellow heroes.

To be more accurate we were assigned two segments, one for each of us. And my section is larger than most of them, so we have quite the bit of city to cover.

I picked up the two soldiers by Foxfire's feet as she pulled out some rope. I lightly threw them against the pole, flew over to grab the third one, and then placed him next to the others.

Foxfire started to wrap the rope around them, making sure it was strong, tight, and elaborate. In all honestly, it will probably only delay them at best. But that's fine, delaying is just what we need.

"Hm?" Foxfire hummed to herself for a moment. "No, we're good here. Backup is low priority. Focus on the others first."

Foxfire has her communications activated with the other heroes at the moment, so I'm assuming it's one of them.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"Balance." Foxfire answered. "She's done with her section."

"How many sections total have been cleared then?" I asked.

"Twelve out of the thirty seven." Foxfire stated. "And they're starting to be cleared quicker."

"We're finally starting to take back the city." I smiled. "Can't wait for that Stromford bastard to finally bite the dust."

"You and me both." Foxfire sighed, before she suddenly snapped to attention. "What? I...I see."

"Foxfire?" I questioned.

"Two confirmed hero deaths." She stated, and I could hear her scowl through the distorted voice. "Damn that Stromford..."

I didn't even want to think about who they possibly could be. Maybe heroes I've never talked to. Maybe heroes I've worked together with. Maybe heroes I've admired.

Give Stromford hell, Jason.

Make that bastard pay.

I walked over to Foxfire, placing my hand on her shoulder. "He'll take care of that bastard. This is ending today."

"Right." Foxfire nodded. "I just wish...I could do more. Kick that asshole's face in myself, y'know?"

"You and me both." I smirked at her. I could hear her sigh as she realized I had used her own words against her. "We were assigned to do our part as heroes. So let's kick as much ass here as we can."

"Sounds like a good plan, Stellar." Foxfire grinned, cracking her knuckles. "Come on, let's get moving."

We continued our patrol, on the lookout for any survivors or soldiers. We passed by broken buildings, some having been completely taken down. We made sure to search everywhere we could as well to locate anyone possibly in need of help.

"Hey, we're approaching the restaurant you work at." I realized. "Would you like me to check-"

"It's fine." She shook her head. "I got a message from them earlier. They're safe."

"I'm glad to hear it." I nodded.

We stopped in front of the restaurant that Foxfire's civilian counterpart works at. The windows were broken and the inside was a mess. But thankfully there was a lack of bloodstains.

It has been damaged, but it will rise again.

Just like this city.

Our city.

Foxfire entered the broken restaurant. She walked around in silence, before making her way into the back. A minute later she walked back out, empty handed.

"No one is in there." She informed. "This street should be clear."

And with that we continued to make our way through the streets of Champion City. We took out a few more Stromford soldiers, found a few survivors and escorted them to safe houses, and completed my sector.

Foxfire reported that in as we continued onto her sector. As we continued our job, I couldn't help but keep thinking about how things might be going over on Jason's end.

I know we have to wait for Stromford to make his move. Take advantage of the fact they believe Checkmate is dead.

But I hate this feeling of powerlessness.

It's so...foreign.

I know my actions right now are helping others. But none of them are directly helping Jason. In fact, the whole reason he assigned us to this so was that we'd keep our hero jobs.

And I love him for that. But I do wish that I could do something more. I'm the strongest damn hero and I couldn't even protect him. Left him to die to save Gabriel.

Alright, stop it Stellar. Get your head in the game.

You were assigned by Jason to take down these Stromford soldiers and save as many people as possible.

So that's what you're going to do.

I trust Jason.

He'll be fine even without my direct help.

I'll do what he asks, because I genuinely believe that it's the most beneficial to him. That he will return even if I'm not there to protect him.

After all, he returned after that fight with Vandercourt that left him almost dead.

Foxfire and I cleared out her sector even quicker. More soldiers to take down, more survivors to rescue and escort, but we had gotten into a good rhythm.

A teamwork that I hadn't experienced with her in what felt like so long. I missed fighting side to side with Foxfire.

We took a short break outside one of those stores with the visible televisions. They were currently playing news of the current situation occurring within Champion City.

"How long have we been at this, Foxfire?" I questioned.

"Two hours." She answered. "Though if you had really used your speed, it would've been quicker."

"Yeah, but then how many of these people would I have missed?" I replied. "Besides, I missed fighting in sync with you."

"...so did I." She answered after a short silence, a happy glow to her voice.

"What sector are we heading to next?" I asked. "We took care of both of ours."

"There's an incomplete one close by." Foxfire answered. "Originally one of the deceased heroes' sector."

"We should take care of that then." I frowned.

If we run across the corpse I'll need to be prepared to cover Foxfire's eyes. Or some other way to block her vision.

"Attention, citizens of Champion City." A disgustingly familiar voice echoed from the televisions.

Foxfire and I whirled around, looking at the televisions as they now showed Killian Stromford standing in front of Miracle's statue with multiple of his soldiers standing behind him.

The same soldiers that should be on a "rampage" because they were "hacked by Checkmate".

"He appeared." Foxfire whispered. "I knew he would be right."

I could hear her widening grin as she spoke.

"The crisis is finally over." He stated. "As you can see behind me, we have regained control of the soldiers that Checkmate has taken control of."

"And with that, it is my pleasure to state that Checkmate has been captured." He continued, lying through his teeth. "He is currently in the custody of the Hero Administration and will be facing the proper punishment for the crimes he had committed against this city and its people!"

"I would like to offer my sincere apologies to everyone affected in this incident." He nodded. "Checkmate was able to take control of our robots, and that will be fixed to never occur again."

Sincere my ass.

"Now that Checkmate is no longer running free, there will be many reforms across the city to make sure something like this doesn't happen again." Stromford continued. "Champion City will rebuild and become-"

The channel suddenly cut off as each television displayed static. It stayed like that for a solid ten seconds before it finally ended, revealing a different scene than before.

One man, sitting in the lone chair in a dark room. He wore black pants, shoes, gloves and a hoodie with the hood pulled up. And over his face was a black mask with two holes for eyes.

With a red diamond painted over one of them.

"Hello, Champion City~!" He laughed. "Why, isn't this Deja vu? The last time I was on the big screen was when I declared war on Stromford!"

He leaned forwards, interlacing his fingers.

"But this time, it's to end the war." He stated. His legs were crossed, a gleeful grin undeniably hidden under that mask. "And to start..."

Oh, how I was waiting for this, Ski Mask.

"...I will expose the lies of Killian Stromford." He declared.