Prologue
***
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***
The Back Alley Brawler swung his mighty fist with
all his might, knocking down the triple-reinforced steel door leading
into Lord Recluse's hideout. Thousands of minion-level Villains greeted
him.
"Everyone attack NOW!" The Back Alley Brawler yelled to the army
of Heroes behind him. He and Sister Psyche led a Team of approximately
400 Heroes into the base, and the two extremely large groups of Heroes
and Villains met head-on; triggering a battle SO intense that the
base itself shook from the struggle.
Lord Recluse watched the fight
on a monitor as he sat in his dark chamber. Behind his seat, the bodies
of Baron Zoria and Requiem, the two infamous Arch-Villains of Paragon
City, lie dead on the floor of his chamber.
"They took the bait."
Lord Recluse smiled wickedly. "They rush in with such vengeance in
their eyes." He looked over his shoulder at the bodies of the two
Arch-Villains. "But I must thank the both of you for supplying me
with the tools necessary to secure my victory on this day." Lord Recluse
ran his hand down the black metal armor he was wearing, the inscription
of the 5th Column inscribed on it’s back. In his other hand, Recluse
brandished a mystical sword that glowed with a dim red light, casting
eerie shadows in the small chamber. Recluse then concentrated, adding
his own power to the sword, and the glow changed from red to black.
"Sister Psyche, come look at this!" A female Hero called to Sister
Psyche. Sister Psyche ran into the room the female Hero was in, her
blood chilling in her veins as she saw the body of Dr. Vahzilok on
the ground, dead.
"The Clockwork King’s in that room." Back Alley
Brawler sighed as walked into the room and stood next to Sister Psyche.
"Lord Recluse doesn't like competition, I guess. We have to stop him."
He put his hand on Sister Psyche's shoulder. "We owe him that much,
at the very least."
Sister Psyche looked at Back Alley Brawler, a
tear forming in her eye. She then nodded. "Let's go."
Several hours
later, after fighting through thousands of minions and discovering
the bodies of almost all of the leaders of infamous Villain factions
in Paragon City, the Team finally came upon the door that led to Lord
Recluse’s chamber.
"THIS IS IT!" Back Alley Brawler yelled as he swung
his fist, hitting the door with everything he had. Lord Recluse turned
in his seat to smile at Back Alley Brawler and Sister Psyche as they
charged toward Recluse, rage in their eyes.
"Upset, are we?" Lord
Recluse mused, and with inhuman speed he punched the Back Alley Brawler
in the face, knocking him back into the wall of the chamber. Turning
to Sister Psyche, he fired a dark energy blast from his palm. Sister
Psyche quickly raised a Personal Force Field, and the dark energy
blast hit her shield, sending Sister Psyche flying back into the rest
of the Heroes that were now pouring into the room.
"Time to go!" Lord
Recluse laughed, jetting upwards and bursting through the roof of
his chamber. He continued his ascent with incredible speed through
several floors of the base until he broke through the roof of the
base itself. With a smile, he quickly pulled out a remote-control
type device from inside his armor and pressed the only button on it.
A small nuclear war head that Recluse had buried under the base exploded,
destroying the entire base and sending a wave of destruction for miles
over the dense forest the base was hidden in. Lord Recluse himself
remained unharmed thanks to the 5th Column’s armor, and as the dust
settled he gazed down at barren ground where the base used to stand.
"What's this?" Lord Recluse cried out, shocked as he saw the silhouettes
of Heroes through the dust that was still swirling around on the ground.
As the smoke cleared, Sister Psyche, the Back Alley Brawler, Positron,
Synapse, and Ms. Liberty remained unharmed, protected by Sister Psyche's
shielding.
"Well, if I can't kill you the that way..." Lord Recluse
drew his new sword. "I'll just have to kill you the old-fashioned
way!"
The five Heroes charged Lord Recluse, and Recluse met their
charge, swinging his mystical sword. With one deft slash, Synapse
was cut in two.
"Synapse!" Sister Psyche cried out. Lord Recluse fired
a dark energy at the location where the two pieces of Synapse had
fallen, reducing what was left of Synapse to dust. Smiling, he charged
Positron. Positron stood his ground and fired volleys of energy beams
at Recluse. Recluse dodged the beams and swung his sword at Positron,
but Positron jumped over Recluse’s attack and fired a massive energy
beam into Recluse’s chest at point-blank range. He was shocked as
Recluse emerged from his attack unscathed.
"My armor can withstand
your pathetic attack. Let’s see how yours fairs against MINE!" Recluse
impaled his sword into Positron’s chest, easily breaking through his
armor and body, the end of the sword coming out of Positron’s back.
Positron, with his last strength, removed the sword from his body
and threw it out of Recluse’s reach before falling over, dead.
Ms.
Liberty charged the now-disarmed Lord Recluse, nailing him on the
side of his helmet and knocking him back into Sister Psyche. Sister
Psyche used her Force Bolt to knock him into the air, and Back Alley
Brawler leapt up and grabbed Lord Recluse while he was in mid-air,
pile-driving Lord-Recluses' upside-down body straight into the ground.
Lord Recluse kicked Back Alley Brawler away angrily, Ms. Liberty began
to charge Recluse from behind while his attention was on the Back
Alley Brawler. It was at that moment that Sister Psyche noticed a
black flash pass her, heading straight for Ms. Liberty.
"Ms. Liberty,
watch out!" Sister Psyche yelled, trying to warn Ms. Liberty, but
it was too late. Baron Zoria’s sword had the mystical ability to return
to the hands of evil, and while it was traveling back to Lord Recluse
it had found an obstacle in it’s path: Ms. Liberty.
"NOOOO!" The Back
Alley Brawler cried as the blade went into Ms. Liberty's back and
came out her chest, continuing to fly until it was back in Lord Recluse's
grasp. Smiling, Lord Recluse swung at Back Alley Brawler's neck, attempting
to decapitate him. Luckily, Back Alley Brawler moved his head away
just in time, so the sword caught his right arm instead.
"You MONSTER!"
Sister Psyche yelled as she saw the Back Alley Brawler’s arm fall
to the ground, firing an intense Telekinetic Blast at Lord Recluse.
Lord Recluse, was able to stand his ground, and proceeded to charge
Sister Psyche. Sister Psyche once again put up her Personal Force
Field, but with one swing the mystical sword broke through her defenses,
ending the psychic’s life.
Barely able to contain the excitement from
his victory, Lord Recluse turned to the Back Alley Brawler, who was
kneeling on the ground, barely able to maintain consciousness from
all the blood that was leaking out of his arm.
"It... won't end...
with me..." Back Alley Brawler whispered, his tone as defiant as ever..
Lord Recluse looked down on him, chuckling to himself.
"You know,
that's exactly what HE said before I killed him." Lord Recluse said,
and swung his sword one last time.
A young Female Hero named Chance
regained consciousness just in time to see Lord Recluse fly overhead;
she had survived the blast by putting up her own Personal Force Field,
and the fact that the Freedom Phalanx wouldn’t have let Recluse escape
told her the horrible truth.
"Statesman..." She remembered the face
of the fallen Hero just before she passed out once more.
Three Years
later...
"We don't have the money to pay this month... please give
us some more time!" The man said as he held his daughter close to
him. His bathroom-sized apartment was now in shambles as the two Revenue
Collectors of Lord Recluse’s Empire had torn it apart in search of
hidden stashes of money; such occurrences were common among families
that lived in Recluse City. Recluse City, which had once been called
Paragon City, was only a shadow of what it once was; the cloudy sky
cast a never-ending darkness on the filthy streets, the ramshackle
apartments.
"This is the second time you have failed to contribute
to Recluse's Society." The Revenue Collector said, pulling out a pistol.
"Under Article 1, Section 13 of the Recluse Revenue Agenda, I hereby
sentence you to death."
Just before he pulled the trigger, the Revenue
Collector whose hand was holding the gun was hit by an energy blast.
"AAH!" Another Collector screamed as another person ran next to him
and pummeled him, knocking him out. The man, bewildered, looked and
saw what appeared to be...
"It can't be..." He said, looking at the
group of 2 teenage boys and 2 teenage girls in brightly colored costumes.
"I thought Recluse killed all of you Heroes..."
The man who had knocked
out the officer turned and extended his hand to the man, a sad look
on the Hero’s face.
"Not ALL of us..." The Hero said.
The Pain of Team Legacy
By Unknown_Hero