“Oi bro, where were you!? The event has already started!”
“How’s Bella? Is she going to be alright?”
Even with all the incessant roars and cheers pestering the air, Gary’s voice was enough to filter all of them out as Gary waved to Riley, gesturing to him that they saved him a seat. The Rescue event had just started about a minute ago, so there really wasn’t anything worthwhile happening just yet.
“She will be fine, Silvie,” Riley casually answered as he took his seat beside Tomoe, “I am late for the reason that I got lost in the Academy’s hallways.”
“R… right,” Gary then slightly whispered as he leaned closer to Riley, slightly touching Silvie’s thighs as he did so; this, of course, got him the brunt of Silvie’s palm. He did not seem to mind, however, as he continued to look at Riley, “So… what secrets did you find inside? You got inside the restricted areas, right? Are there aliens and some shit?”
“As much as I want that to be true, Gary. I am afraid I did not see any signs of Mega Woman there,” Riley breathed out, “Maybe if I had more time, I could explore it more.”
“Master, it seems big sister Hannah is in a bit of trouble.”
“Hm?”
Hearing Tomoe’s words, Riley quickly turned his attention back to the screen; only to see Hannah battling it out with someone.
“What the…” Gary was the first to react, however, as he quickly recognized who Hannah was fighting with; one of the only other people in the Academy to ever subdue him and make him shut his mouth.
***
“!!!”
“A… are you okay!?”
“I’m… fine.”
“Please stay here and hide… I’ll just deal with this.”
Hannah was on her way to get one of the citizens to safety, but halfway through the nearest one yellow flag, someone wearing a Red ribbon around her arm suddenly blocked her path– a Villain role. This left her with no choice but to gently drop the distressed citizen she was carrying somewhere safe.
Hannah was about to rush towards the villain, but as soon as she saw who it was, she could not help but stop in her tracks.
“Haha! You will never defeat me, hero scum!”
“C… Charlotte!?”
The one playing the villain role was none other than Charlotte, the cashier of the Korean Shaved Ice store that she and the others regularly visit. Even with the mask she was wearing, it was easy and obvious to see that it was her simple for the fact that… she was still wearing her store uniform.
“Charlotte!? Who is that!?” Charlotte then stretched her arms to the side before turning them counter-clockwise, landing on some sort of pose, “It is me, the Raging Underpaid Employee Girl!”
“W… What?” Hannah breathed out, “Are you even a Supe–“
And before Hannah could even finish her words, she felt a slight breeze pass by her; followed by a trickle of warmth flowing across her left cheek.
Warmth. Throughout Hannah’s life, the only times she would ever feel a slight rise in temperature crawling through her skin is whenever this one simple thing happens to her– she was bleeding.
Hannah quickly touched her left cheek, only for her hand to slightly be covered in blood.
“What in…”
“On your right!”
This time, with Charlotte’s words, Hannah was able to move to the side, her whole body quickly being engulfed by a fiery fire as she leaped through the air– only stopping as the wall of a building touched her back.
Hannah quickly focused her vision; her eyes moving swiftly as they tried to search for their opponent. But even after almost a full 10 seconds of her eyes scanning the area, Charlotte was nowhere to be found.
“…Where?” Hannah whispered, her hands and foot embedded in the slightly scorched and melted wall as her head continued to slowly move. She waited for another second, before letting out a sigh and letting herself drop.
It would seem the villains only serve as a distraction to keep you from rescuing any of the Distressed Citize–
“!!!”
And as soon as Hannah’s feet landed on the ground, a loud thunderous eruption exploded behind her as the walls of the building collapsed from the inside; she did not even have time to react before a pair of arms wrapped around her; her thighs, also locked by the leg that quickly embraced around it.
The only thing Hannah could do was kneel on the ground, gritting her teeth as she removed the fire engulfing her body.
“Oh, why did you remove the fire?”
Charlotte’s piercing words then whispered in her ear as she tightened her hold on her. The cheers and roars of the audience also almost pierced her ears, as they all howled and screamed as they saw Hannah being bound; her large and toned buttocks being squished.
“Y… you’ll get hurt,” Hannah tried to remove Charlotte’s arms… but found that she was not even able to budge it for even a single millimeter.
“Me?” Charlotte chuckled, “Hurt by fire? Lesson No. 1, dear patron– learn to judge your opponent so you can run for your life.”
“W… What?” Hannah then could not help but take in a small breath as fumes started to emerge from Charlotte’s arms.
“It will be a very long time before you can hurt me,” and as soon as Charlotte said that, a trickle started to appear around her body– followed by the sound of a hiss as her whole body was engulfed in fire.
“Oh, interesting power. I’ve controlled fire before… this isn’t it.”
Hannah could then feel herself able to breathe normally again as Charlotte backed away.
“This is dangerous,” Charlotte then muttered as the flames around her body began to die down, “I’ll let you go just for the fact that you could control something like this.”
Hannah could still feel her throat wanting to cough, but refused not to do so as she stared at Charlotte, “Who… who the fuck are you?”
“Who am I?” Charlotte then once again rotated her arms before doing some sort of superhero post, “I am The Raging Underpaid Employee Girl!”
“Wha–“
“I still need to prepare the store or they will cut my salary again,” Charlotte then said as her figure slowly disappeared, “Also, tell your father he still hasn’t paid me back with his debt; that’s why I’m struggling here.”
“…What the fuck?” Hannah could only blurt out as Charlotte suddenly disappeared into thin air.
“What the fuck was that?” Hannah could only repeat her words as she stood up. But after staring at nothing for a few seconds, she clicked her tongue and rushed away. Battling it out with Charlotte took a lot of her time– she reckoned that if she didn’t rescue at least 5 more citizens, then she would surely not move on to the next round.
And so, Hannah leaped to the skies with all of her might; almost as if a pair of wings were violently waving behind her.
“H… Help me!”
And without even a second of her floating in the air, a piercing cry whispered into her ears. She quickly looked towards where the voice was coming from, only to see a man hanging for his life on the edge of the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the arena.
“I’m coming!”
The flames on her back once again fluttered violently as her body shot straight towards the roof of the building, expertly extinguishing the fires surrounding her body as soon as her feet landed on the ground. And without any pause, she ran towards the Distressed Citizen.
She then quickly grabbed the man’s arm, pulling him up without any effort and gently sliding him on the floor.
“Are you alright? Does anything hurt?” Hannah quickly asked.
“My… my chest hurts, I… I can’t breathe.”
“Let me check, sir,” Hannah crouched on the ground, carefully removing the man’s jacket. Hannah was expecting another paint or marker etched on the man’s chest; however, before her hand could reach the man, she noticed something beneath the man’s jacket.
“That’s–“
But before she could say another word, the man suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her forward as he swiftly moved behind her; tightly wrapping his arms around Hannah’s neck.
“Don’t move,” the man then said as his voice slowly distorted, “And don’t even try to use your powers, you saw what’s underneath my clothes, right?”
“You… what–“
And before Hannah could even finish her words, she heard a slight static whispering in her ears; and as soon as it was over, the man’s appearance became completely different than before. His face that seemed like any other normal adult male, was now covered in a jet-black helmet.
“D… Dark Millenium!?” Hannah said as she was about to struggle; but as soon as she remembered what she saw under the man’s clothes, she quickly calmed herself down– because wrapped around the man’s torso…
…was a bomb.
“Cooperate,” the member of the Dark Millenium whispered, “And you will move on from this situation completely unharmed, Ms. Hannah Ross.”
“What… what do you want from me!?” Hannah whispered, her breaths starting to become heavier with each second. And it would seem the audience has noticed her situation as well, as they all became quiet– with only their gasps and whispers traveling the coliseum.
“Not from you,” the man’s voice then started to become louder as he let out a short but deep breath; his head directly facing the drone floating in front of them.
“My name is Mr. Wednesday,” the man then proclaimed, “Riley Ross…
…We need you to come with us.”