Starfield Uproar (1)
Starfield reconstruction ceremony day.
Crusher really kicked off the terrorist attack. He sent about thirty of his underlings to raid Starfield.
"What Blank said was true...!"
"Block the villains at your assigned positions!"
The Hero Association heroes and police felt less shock and more sheer disbelief.
They were brazenly shoving their way into a place swarming with cops and heroes, trying to seize Starfield.
If there was anything surprising about Crusher's assault, it stemmed from elsewhere.
Blank had been right. He'd caught wind of Crusher's terror plot through some intel network and properly warned the Association.
Villains turning on each other wasn't new, but one giving advice that benefited the Association? That was unprecedented.
"What's their armament?"
"No heavy weapons. Looks like mostly superpowered types. We can handle them."
"Scramble!!"
Police forces and Association heroes formed ranks against Crusher's gang.
"Ohohoho!! This is where I prove my worth!!"
Before Flash Seo Ha-yoon could charge, Midas Girl conjured alloy bridges and raced across them toward the frontline villains.
"Come forth, hellhounds!!"
With Midas Girl's cry, three alloy dogs erupted from the ground, baring their fangs at the villains ahead.
KRA-KRA-KRUNCH!!
Alloy fences slammed down on the frontline villains, pinning them. Soft metal, sure, but metal all the same. Used to bind bodies, it was plenty threatening for takedowns.
Seo Ha-yoon gave Midas Girl a light nod of thanks for handling the small fry.
"Eeeeek!! I hate that smug attitude of yours!! Get ready—I'm claiming the biggest kill today!"
Midas Girl snapped right back at the casual nod.
Why's she mad?
Seo Ha-yoon couldn't fathom why her gesture of gratitude had pissed off Midas Girl.
Crusher. Where the hell is Crusher?
Crusher was the head of this mess. Nab him, and these ragtags would scatter. Needed to wrap this up fast.
"Flash!!!! Perfect timing!!! I'll take your head!!"
One villain lunged at Seo Ha-yoon, swinging a hand dripping with slime.
His half-green, mutated slime blade flew straight at her.
A superpower that turns body parts into poison or converts saliva into venom.
Shiiiing.
Seo Ha-yoon shifted the part of her body about to get splattered into photons, letting the venom slide harmlessly past.
BOOOOM!!!!
Dodging and wheeling around, she morphed her hand into a beam and unleashed a glowing fist with all her might.
The villain punched by it soared far away.
"Hot!!! Hoooot hooooot hooooot!!!"
Burned across his body by the superheated photon fist, he rolled in agony.
No sign of Crusher.
Sending his goons first while he handled something else?
Near the overpass by the Starfield ceremony site, watching the chaos unfold.
The terror's less threatening than in the original.
Without arming his thugs with guns, Crusher's gang's firepower was way down. If those villains had bombs or whatever, it'd be a different story—but they were just using powers and a few pistols to clear paths, leaving them underpowered. Cops and heroes could handle this easy.
Where's Crusher?
I knew he wouldn't quit at this level, so I kept an eye out.
In the original, while his minions hammered the mall, Crusher planned to generate a gravity field from afar to collapse the whole place.
Gravity manipulation. Sounds like a cheat power for a protagonist, but Crusher's had limits. Big fields required total focus in a defenseless stance. He was probably concentrating somewhere. Had to find him.
Observing the scene, I quickly realized Crusher was even crazier than I'd thought.
"UHAHAHA!! Die!!!"
"KyaAAAAA!!!"
"Help!!!"
Screams echoed from the still-under-construction external terrace far off.
Beyond the railing, a man in worker's clothes roughly grabbed a woman's collar, holding her hostage.
It was Crusher.
...He infiltrated the workers.
Blind spot.
Realizing he couldn't pull off the original plan, he'd hidden among civilians himself. One tough bastard.
This setup could've gotten him mobbed and killed by cops and heroes inside Starfield. Yet he rolled the dice anyway.
Tough son of a bitch...
That desperate to cement his villain cred?
"Disengage your powers and release the hostage!!!"
On the opposite side of the terrace, a woman negotiated with Crusher and his hostage. That swaying brown bob cut? Unmistakable. Ida-in.
Looks like my spot was decided. I blasted shockwaves from my legs and raced to the terrace.
After the incident blew up, Ida-in's job was evacuating civilians inside. She was on internal security, so it fell to her.
She was committed to safely guiding citizens out when the wildcard hit: Crusher, hiding among civilians, suddenly grabbed a hostage and started his standoff.
Crusher...
Facing a villain who'd once scraped onto the A-Rank list—now demoted to B—the intimidation was no joke.
Can I do this?
Save the civilian unharmed and beat Crusher? The thought blurred her vision with tension.
Then, her in-ear buzzed with the operator's dry voice.
"Paladin. Ignore the hostage. Focus on subduing Crusher."
A brutally cold order to disregard the hostage.
"S-Say that again?"
Ida-in was speechless.
"No choice. To minimize casualties and maximize saves, we take down Crusher. One hostage's life... unavoidable."
"But..."
Ignoring a civilian begging for help right in front of her—that was a hero? Not the hero she'd aspired to be. The operator's ruthlessness made Ida-in tremble.
"Hesitate, and more die. You copy, Paladin?"
"..."
"Paladin. Respond."
Ida-in's desperate eyes met the hostage's. Ignore that gaze? Was that heroism? Reality? As she shook, something streaked from the sky like a meteor and slammed down.
KABOOOOOM!!!!
The sudden arrival sent localized tremors rippling across the terrace.
"Ngh..."
Crusher lost balance from the quake, staggering.
"Now!!"
Someone's shout snapped Ida-in back.
"Hah!!!!"
Her body moved first. Ida-in shaped a long spear from her barrier and hurled it at Crusher with everything she had.
Just like Johan said...
Image the barrier as flexibly as possible, weaponize it freely. Han Yo-han's (Blank's) advice on power usage.
The translucent barrier was barely visible even with focus—impossible to spot and dodge in the heat of the moment.
THWACK!!
The barrier spear smashed hard into Crusher's jaw underside.
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
Seizing Crusher clutching his jaw in pain, Ida-in dashed forward and secured the hostage.
"We meet again. Shield girl."
Before Ida-in stood a man in a black raincoat and jagged mask.
"Blank..."
Why was Blank here? The inexplicable events froze her mind.
"All heroes, be advised: B-Rank wanted villain Blank sighted on scene. Repeat..."
The public channel in her ear confirmed it was real.
Hostage saved, luckily. And Crusher caught off-guard, not powered up. Clean takedown here, then I bail. Done.
That hostage, though... In the original, she gets gruesomely murdered right in front of Ida-in.
Her face stuck out—plus the brutal death left an impact.
Fate's causality is weird. Doomed folks stay doomed across timelines, huh.
"Blank!!!! You againnnn!!!"
Crusher formed gravity fields in both hands and charged me like a beast.
Crusher's gravity-infused fist clashed full-force with my swung steel pipe.
KABOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
Shockwaves versus gravity absorption dragged on for seconds before both of us got blasted back hard.
Gravity's pull counters shockwaves to a degree.
But that exchange showed it: bad matchup. Raw power-wise, his suction outdid mine. Long fight, I lose. Obvious.
"Shield girl. Team up for now? Looks like we share a goal here."
Straight pitch to Ida-in. One-on-one's iffy—need backup.
"With a villain like you...?"
Ida-in, predictably rigid, geared up to refuse.
"Civilians behind you. Which matters more?"
Had to remind her of priorities this instant.
"...!"
Ida-in snapped to, scanning the civilians fleeing the terrace like mad.
"This once. After Crusher's down, I'll subdue you by the book."
She glared, fists clenched.
"Fine."
Figured as much.
"You fucking bastards... I'll rip you all apart and scatter the chunks!!"
Gravity fields bloomed in Crusher's hands again.
"That's far enough. Crusher."
A beam lanced from the sky at his legs.
"Ngh...!!!!"
Crusher raised a gravity-shielded arm, barely sucking in the beam.
"Flash...!!!!"
Crusher glared skyward with bloodshot eyes, grinning ferociously.
Seo Ha-yoon herself had arrived on scene.
"Flash. How about siding with me? Top priority's crushing Crusher, right?"
With her here, solid. Before Crusher racks up more civilian hits, we three gang up and pound him out.
"Blank, what the hell are you..."
But Seo Ha-yoon eyed me with oddly lukewarm suspicion.
"You in? Or what."
Not keen? How to convince her—turns out, needless worry.
Shiiiing.
She photon-shifted in an instant, landing beside me.
"..."
No words, but clearly on my side.
With Seo Ha-yoon and Ida-in? Unbreakable. Let's mop up Crusher and clock out!!