"H- Hope?" Alexander asked in shock.


    Hope winced and let out a sigh. "I guess I should get used to people knowing who I am, huh." She looked down at her hands for a moment, taking in how small they looked. "Although, not many should know who I am since I''m all small and-"


    From above, a weird guy in an egg suit let out a yell as he dropped to the ground and landed on his back. His egg didn''t crack; instead, it was very bouncy, and due to how wide he was, the egg man was able to catch Red Ape, who was wearing a green mask for some reason, and White Lamb, the two Zoo members, coming to a soft landing on their teammate.


    "I told you the suit was a good idea!" Red Ape announced.


    "Bigger fish to fry, big guy." White Lamb said, elbowing the man.


    Cinder folded her arms as she looked at the three villains. The helicopter above them was still falling apart and raining down around them after the Victorian rammed herself through it. Metal debris smacked the roof as Red Ape slowly stood back up and looked back at her. She could see his eyes from beneath his mask, which went wide as it took her form in.


    She felt a little embarrassed since she was practically half her size and wearing a new costume that was technically alive. Despite her new adjustments, though, it was clear Red Ape knew who she was.


    "Ah! So, you''ve come personally, rival!" Red Ape threw his arms out. "I knew you''d be the one to show and stop me in the end! It was only a matter of time! I just needed to make a scheme so big that you''d personally come and stop me!"


    "Wait, that''s what you were doing!" White Egg asked in shock. "What about Uriel-"


    "Fuck Uriel!" Red Ape announced. "I could care less what he''ll do to me! I wasn''t making chaos for him! I did it for her! She thought she could leave me! That she could leave this city and run away from her arch nemesis! I think not! I knew that I could create a situation so bad that you''d have no choice but to show up and stop me, Cinder! Even if you''ve become a lap dog for the Hero Branch!"


    Cinder reached up and pinched her nose, letting out a heavy sigh. "Oh, it just had to be you. It couldn''t have been Demonica or anyone like that? My first villain fight just had to be Red Ape-"


    "Green Ape!" The new leader of Zoo called out. "I am Green Ape now! The one who will defeat Cinder!"


    "Is that really Cinder, though?" White Lamb asked, cocking her head to the side. "I mean, she''s smaller than me, her hair is black again instead of gold, and she''s wearing a weird suit? Are we sure this isn''t a Green Wolf clone or something?"


    "Of course, I''m sure." Green Ape huffed. "I would know my rival anywhere!"


    The Victorian stayed in the air, her arms folded as an amused smirk stayed on her face. "Seems she''s more popular than I thought." She cleared her throat and began to float down. "Hey, Cinder, take care of these guys. I''m checking the inside out." The golden woman touched down on the floor and didn''t apply much force as she simply sank into the ground, easily shattering the roof as she dropped down into the building below.


    Green Ape stood across from Cinder and Mr. Lauren with his two teammates staring down the hero. His finger kept clicking the buttons on the switches he had, but they weren''t working. All around him, smaller than the eye could see, small golden particles were devouring the signal waves before they could get far. This wasn''t dealing with little hero gangs anymore. Now he was dealing with the number one hero. Someone who wasn''t bound by the same rules as them. Green Ape placed the remote down and took his lab coat off.


    "Looks like I''ll have to do this myself." He grunted out.


    "You think you can beat her?" White Egg asked.


    "I will!" Green Ape wore a simple wife beater shirt beneath his lab coat. All along his flesh, various tubes ran across his skin, and as he twitched, a familiar orange-looking liquid began to enter his bloodstream. The last of the Wandering Coin''s enhancement drugs caused his muscles to grow and bulge as he expanded a bit, bulking out. It didn''t stop there. He reached up and pressed a button, causing another one of his helmets to fold out of the ape mask. The switch rotated on its own, forming his bubble off and on as the laser got ready to fire. "Here I come, Cinder."


    Cinder looked back at the civilian behind her. He looked a little familiar, but she didn''t have a lot of time to think about it. "Stay here. This won''t take long." She crouched down and jumped to the side, cracking the floor as she soared across it in the Kevin-suit. Green Ape turned to follow her with his head, firing a thick red energy beam out. She threw her arm out, and the suit she wore unraveled, firing out tendrils. She dropped off the side of the building and the tendrils wrapped around it, allowing her to swing herself across to the other side at fast speed. The tendrils twitched and pulled her up on her own, launching her high into the air and putting her above the building.


    Alexander watched the scene with wide eyes. She was almost starting to remind him of his favorite superhero, Golden Weaver. He had never actually gotten to see his daughter at work. He didn''t know why her form was a lot smaller than it should have been, but it didn''t matter. He felt a bit jealous that Jane had likely gotten to see something like this. It felt different from watching the other heroes fight.


    Green Ape''s energy beam died down, going into recharge as he glared up at the sky where Cinder was. The girl began to rapidly fall back toward him, and he got ready to fire again but stopped as his barrier formed around him just in time to block shards of jagged metal. She had snatched some of the bits of the helicopter that were raining down and weaponized them. His barrier easily stopped the attack, though it caused him to lose his chance to attack as Cinder came back down, whipping around the building again, getting faster and faster. His shield wouldn''t die down either as she kept throwing rocks, or metal bits, in his direction again and again, the attacks coming out quicker and quicker.


    Then she launched. In an instant, her tendril pulled itself back to her, and this time Cinder was the one to be sent flying, cracking through the air with a mighty boom. She flew forward at fast speeds as her momentum carried her directly toward Green Ape. His barrier screeched, growing its bubble around him as she reached him. She spun her body in the air and rammed into his shield, feet first. She didn''t have her fire, so she couldn''t rocket herself forward as well as she might have once been able to, but she could still use the enhanced strength of Kevin to turn herself into a battering ram.


    Cracks appeared along Green Ape''s barrier, and the floor beneath him began to creak as his legs struggled to stay standing. He let out a scream as he lost the power struggle, and his helmet began to smoke as the bubble shattered. Cinder''s feet smashed into his gut, still being carried by her speed. All at once, Green Ape was blasted back, flying across the building, where he slammed through another three sets of towers, finding himself flat on his back in another apartment.


    All of his ribs were broken and the building he was in began to slowly collapse as Green Ape''s eyes fluttered shut. "J- Just... As... I... Expected..."


    Cinder came to a sliding stop, her suit firing out more tendrils, which stabbed into the ground, breaking her fall. In almost no time flat, she had managed to take out Green Ape. She let out a soft sigh and turned to face the others. Both White Egg and Alexander were looking at her in stunned silence. White Lamb, however, was gone. The girl had likely used her power to turn her own sound off and made a break for it. The lamb mask was on the ground, and she didn''t know what the Zoo member looked beneath her mask.


    It didn''t matter at the moment, though. For now, she needed to deal with White Egg.


    Or at least she thought she needed to. "I give up." White Egg dropped his cane.


    "Just like that?"


    "Yep. I''m blind, but even I see how outclassed I am." The villain shrugged.


    She blinked, a little taken aback. "Blind? Wait, I know that voice! You''re Doc!"


    The egg man flinched. "Um no, that''s uh, my uh, my twin."


    "Your twin?"


    "Yep."


    "And you''re also blind like he is?"


    "It can happen."


    Cinder made a face. "I''m going to knock you out now."


    "Wait-"


    She didn''t even have time to move or process what happened. Despite how big it was, none of them had noticed how close the Giant had gotten to them. Likely because of White Lamb, it moved silently, and before she could act or White Egg even knew it, the thing brought its palm down on the egg-shaped man and shook the building as it squished him.


    "No!" She yelled out in shock.


    The Giant slowly removed its hand, and she stared at what remained of Doc in shock. There wasn''t any blood. Instead, as the egg costume shattered open, a yellow and white liquid spilled out. Yolk? The yolk bubbled up and rose into a swirling mass. Doc had turned himself into a weird slime thing? Either with a power he always had or one he recently got, she wasn''t sure. After all, she never actually saw the man use his powers before now.


    The Giant brought its palm down again, but it was yolk, and there wasn''t really anything to it. The yellow slime creature squirmed out from under the palm. She jumped at it, but her hands just went through it as it moved past her arm. It jiggled across the ground with shocking speed and reached a drainage that was connected to the roof leading to the sewers below. Before she or the Giant could make another move, the yolk creature threw itself into the drainage system and sank down, vanishing.


    "Damn it!" She cursed out. First White Lamb and now Doc. She wasn''t making her return look very good. "Why''d you crack the egg open?" She demanded, looking back at the Giant.


    The large creature stared at her silently. It towered over the building they were on and likely could have torn it down with a simple flick of its fingers if it wanted to. Instead, though, it raised its hand and brought it down toward her. She readied herself for an attack but stopped as its finger pressed down on her head. It wasn''t hard; in fact, it was actually pretty gentle, all things considered. The Giant held its finger there for a moment, then simply removed its hand and turned away, stalking back into the city.


    Cinder stood there, a little dumbfounded, trying to process what just happened. "That was kind of weird."


    "Hope?"


    She turned when she heard the voice of the civilian. He was staring at her in shock, taking her form in. Now that she was also getting a better look at him, he also looked eerily familiar. A bushy beard covered his face, and his eyes were filled with tons of emotion. He was pretty thin due to the lack of food. She had noticed quickly how bad Oleander looked when the Victorian had carried her into the city. The man took a step closer to her, and she traced his face with her eyes-


    It had been so long she almost forgot.


    Every time she had gone to see him, he had been extremely pale and bald. Even after being healed up a bit, he wasn''t in a much better condition. Now, though, his skin had color to it. He looked older. His hair was back, and he was walking again. He looked so normal. So alive. She knew who this was.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Hope?"


    "Dad?" She croaked out.


    She felt herself being tackled to the ground as the man, her father, wrapped his arms around her. It wasn''t a weak hug either. It was one filled with a lot of strength and love.


    In the floors below, Paragon, Metal Ronin, and Oxide stopped what they were doing as the roof above them shattered apart and a familiar person dropped down before them. They all stared in shock as the golden woman, the Victorian, stood up.


    "Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!" White Spider yelled out, throwing her hands into the air. "Seriously, how is this fair?"


    "What''s the situation?" The Victorian asked calmly and easily slapped away a stray laser beam that Red Monkey fired at her.


    Paragon recovered first and shook her head, getting her thoughts back on track. She had no idea why the Victorian was here in Oleander, but she wasn''t going to complain. "They''re zombies. Created by the Dead Virus." She said quickly. "We can''t kill them."


    The Victorian nodded her head. "Judging by how they''re still speaking and showing emotion, this is likely Uriel''s doing. Lucifer doesn''t keep the will of his soldiers." The former number one hero brought her hand up, the golden light soaking through her clenched fingers as three shards of metal were formed. She threw her hand out, tossing the shards forward, which impaled themselves directly into the three zombie Zoo members. "Rest now. Your time is over."


    Golden cracks spilled out across the three members'' skins. White Spider looked down at her hands, watching as her body crumbled away slowly, being burned to less than ash. This was the same thing Full Monarch did to Lucifer and the other zombies, as well as the monsters the Emperor created. An attack able to kill despite regeneration. "If you see Uriel, make him pay. Make it brutal and slow. It''s what that sicko gets." White Spider closed her eyes as her body came undone and she was scattered to the winds, followed shortly by Black Shark and Red Monkey.


    "That was shockingly easy." Metal Ronin said, still in shock.


    "What do we do about Green Wolf?" Oxide asked, pointing to the staircase where the injured Green Wolf was still resting.


    "Cinder?" The Victorian raised her eyebrow in shock. "That doesn''t make sense, though? Why is there a Cinder lookalike here? Surely, it''s not Skin Walker, is it?"


    Paragon shook her head. "It''s complicated. Basically, Green Wolf is in a cloned body of Cinder. There''s actually several cloned bodies, and he can be in at least two at the same time, possibly more."


    "Is that why her power hasn''t fully returned?" The Victorian hummed, rubbing her chin. "Is it because of the other bodies? No. That doesn''t make any sense."


    Before they could ask what the woman meant, the door to the room burst open as Wasp Nest and Drake came crashing into the room, ready for combat. The two men stopped instantly when they saw the Victorian. "What the hell did we miss?" Wasp Nest asked in shock. He had Myth resting on his back, who was barely conscious.


    "Is that the Victorian?" Myth grunted out. "Geez, things must be worse than I thought."


    Drake entered behind them back in his human-looking form. Scales still covered most of his upper torso, which was now visible since his jacket had been torn off. A long red tail expanded out of his rear, which was wrapped tightly around Black Crow, keeping the villain in a crushed state so that he couldn''t do anything. "Ms. Victorian? What are you doing here?"


    "I''ll explain in a moment, but why don''t you heal Myth first, Paragon? He looks like he needs your help." The woman suggested.


    Paragon nodded, still a little phased at what was happening around her, but she shrugged it off and placed her hand on Myth. She could tell he was mainly suffering from overheating his body and pushing his muscles too far. He''d need to rest, but she mended what she could, allowing him to walk on his own two feet again. He thanked her as he got off of Wasp Nest''s back. He stretched a bit, feeling his bones and muscles pop and tense as his body adjusted itself slowly.


    "How did you three get here?" Oxide questioned. "The tunnels should have been blocked off by White Spider''s webs, and she just died, so there''s no way you all made it through there in time."


    "We blasted a hole in the roof and traveled up top." Drake explained. His tail swished back and forth, swinging the body of Black Crow around, who just groaned and hissed. "Those Giants weren''t happy, but luckily they seem to be programmed to only target bad guys and left us alone."


    "It''s so weird how they work." Metal Ronin said, letting out a sigh. "Boy Genius once had an idea close to this before. He talked about it on a podcast once. He wanted to make hundreds of robots that could patrol the streets and keep the city safe while the heroes worked to save the world outside of the walls."


    "Why''d he give up on it?" Oxide questioned.


    "Too tricky to get to work." Metal Ronin shrugged. "Perfect AI like Beta took several minds all working together to create. Normal robots are easy enough to make; Boy Genius has them all over his base, but even there they run into issues he hasn''t been able to figure out. Not to mention Mental-based gear breaks down a lot when not near the one who created it, and all it takes is one bad code for the robots to not work. I guess Battery''s Giant''s don''t have those issues, or the man simply didn''t care since he flooded all our cities with them."


    "Well clearly, they have their own faults." Wasp Nest said, letting out a snort. "All a bad guy has to do is hide underground, and there''s nothing the Giants can do. I guess that''s why he left us little heroes alone and kicked out all the strong Enforcer heroes. He''s using us to finish his dirty work."


    Myth cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Who was that on the roof?" He asked.


    "What do you mean?" Paragon responded.


    "We were able to find you guys because of the fight going on up top. It wasn''t the Victorian, and you''re all down here, so who was up top fighting?"


    "I guess you''ll have to ask the Victorian." Paragon shrugged and turned to look at the golden woman. "Likely someone she brought with her."


    The Victorian looked down at the body of Green Wolf. The clone held a small smirk on her lips as she looked back up at the body of the Victorian. "You''re lucky." Green Wolf spat out.


    "I am?"


    "Yeah. My main body has most of my power and isn''t in this city. It''s a dozen times stronger than the version of me that lost to Battery, and it''s growing every day." The young girl bragged. "I know eventually it''ll be strong enough to beat you."


    "How long do you think that''ll take?" The golden woman questioned.


    "Five years!"


    The woman snorted and folded her arms. "Five years, huh? So, in five years, the little puppy thinks it''ll be grown up enough to sink their fangs into the gods?"


    Green Wolf also let out a snort, leaning her head back on the floor as her broken body began to breathe slower. "You and Battery are just alike, you know. You''re like the same person in a lot of ways. Yet both of you still can never live up to the shadow that Full Monarch casts. You''ll never reach it. The end that either of you wants. People like me will always be there to stop you."


    "Is that what you think?"


    "It''s what I know."


    The Victorian let out a soft hum. "I think I have a good idea of what to do with you."


    "And what would that be?" Green Wolf asked as a small frown twisted itself onto her face.


    The Victorian gave a wide grin. "We''re going to use you as spare parts to fix Cinder!"


    "Cinder!" Paragon turned and stared at the golden woman. "You mean you know where she is?"


    "Of course I do." The golden woman turned to look back at them, giving them all an odd look. "Oh. I guess I didn''t mention it, did I? Yeah, Cinder''s right above us on the roof."


    "What!"


    ***


    Cinder dodged out of the way of hundreds of curved blades that rained down from the sky. She flew through the air, being carried by bright golden fire that poured out of her hands and feet, allowing her to control her movement with ease.


    Orchid Town wasn''t in any of the ten great cities; it was actually directly connected to Gladiolus, one of the only cities left that didn''t have any Giants. In the air above the city, a large, lanky man floated, covered in scraps of metal that formed his armor. Iron twisted and took shape, cutting through the air as the villain attempted to kill his rival.


    "I''ll kill you for what you did to my brother, Polaron!" Polaris hissed out.


    Cinder only gave a cocky grin, her golden hair falling down her back. She came to a sudden stop in the air, and her eyes glowed with a faint red light as a beam of energy blasted out of them and began to easily burn through the metal constructs Polaris was creating. "Nice try, Polaris, but your days of evil end here. I know the truth. You were the one behind Bad Timers. It was never Polaron but you. You were the real mastermind. A right-hand man of the Emperor''s army, and a threat that could even rival the Emperor himself! I, Cinder, shall be the one to stop you!"


    "And that''s a wrap!" The voice of the director called out.


    "Thank fucking God." Cinder muttered under her breath as her fire died down and she dropped out of the sky and to the ground. "Hey, I know this was her costume, but can we seriously write an arc or something where she changes into something better? Also, I think I should start making myself look more pretty if I''m going to be the new face of the Hero Branch. No offense to Cinder, but damn, she''s flatter than a board."


    "Pretty sure that''s because she was still a kid when she died." Polaris called out, also dropping from the sky. He shook himself free of all the metal, revealing a rather handsome young man with neat brown hair and wide eyes. "Also, me being the brother of Polaron sounds a bit racist? I''m not a monster, and all of the Emperor''s people were? I don''t know if it makes sense that I''m the final boss."


    Orchi town wasn''t as destroyed as it might have first looked. No buildings were truly turned over, the road hadn''t been damaged that badly, and all the metal was actually plastic because Polaris wasn''t actually Polaris and didn''t have metal-based powers. He had control over plastic. The street was filled with dozens of Hero Branch workers as well as script writers and cameramen. Another hero, one who had the ability to put up a powerful barrier around their area, was working constantly, his power making sure that no one could see what was going on in the filming area.


    It made non-Supers simply blank out and not be able to even recall that it was there. They''d just move past it in silence. In a few days when filming was done, they''d leave, and the people would find that an entire city block was gone. The power blocked their memories, and so instead they''d fill in the blanks themselves when they saw on the news that night about Cinder stopping an attack. It would slot in perfectly to the hole in their minds, and some would even claim they had been there in person to witness the new number one hero''s epic battle.


    The directors and Hero Branch workers ran back and forth like headless chickens while Cinder dropped down to a sitting position and began to remove her boots and gloves. They were simple Mental-based tech that could produce low levels of flame, allowing her to fly. The downside though was that it burned her hands and feet just wearing them. She wasn''t fireproof like the real Cinder had been, after all.


    "Alright everyone, take ten!" A director called out.


    "You okay?" Polaris questioned Cinder.


    The girl shook her head, her golden hair shifting slightly. "I need to go sit in my trailer. Come get me when it''s time to finish the fight scene." She had a bit of time. They''d likely film some of the other scenes, such as hired actors recounting how amazing it was to be saved by the mighty Cinder and set up a few stock clips of her stopping floods or volcanoes, which had actually all been done by either Battery or the Victorian.


    "You got it. Go rest up." Polaris said, clapping her on the back.


    She couldn''t actually be bothered to remember his real name. This had been her life for months now. As soon as the Beast had been defeated, she was given the job of a lifetime. Be Cinder. Every week, she was stopping a great disaster somewhere in the world. Every month, she was fighting a new evil that arrived on Earth. Every day, she was making public appearances, talking on shows, being shown out in the field with the Hero Branch, or working alongside the Cleanup Crew to fix cities. Any place besides Oleander, that was. They had gotten hundreds of hours of footage all before she even made her public appearance.


    Her life and her eventual death were all planned out and scripted.


    It was all so boring.


    Cinder made her way to the side of an alleyway where her trailer stood. She entered it and let out a nice sigh as the cold air hit her. "Having fun?" Her eyes snapped open at the voice. One she had heard many times in her nightmare. "Don''t scream or you''re dead."


    It was almost a comical sight. The Emperor was crouched low, his horns brushing the roof above him as his fiery red eyes glared at her. She squeaked and went to back out of her trailer, but the door shut on its own, trapping her inside with her former boss.


    "It''s been a while, Skin Walker." The Emperor spat the name out.


    Cinder felt her body shake, and her focus came undone as her power dropped. Her skin bubbled and changed, along with her eyes and hair. Gray, nasty flesh covered her from head to toe, and her hair rained down her back, the color of oil. Her eyes were pure black, filled with only fear, and she brought her arms up in front of her chest as if to defend herself. "B- Boss?"


    She had heard that the Emperor was back. The Hero Branch still hadn''t come out to the public about that little fact. They had been keeping it to themselves at the moment. She knew that one day the villain would come for her, assuming she was the real Cinder. She didn''t expect him to see through her disguise so quickly though. Then again, he was the one who made her. She had been a monster in his army sixteen years ago. After he fell in battle at the hands of Full Monarch, she had been one of the few members of his group that switched sides and joined the Hero Branch to work as an agent for the greater good.


    Now, her former master was stalking around her trailer. His eyes roamed the walls, staring at all the new posters and fan mail she had received. "It seems you''ve been busy." He sounded almost amused.


    "I- It''s so good that you''re here, sir! T- The Hero Branch was using me! They''ve been forcing me to work for them. Now that you''re here, we can kill them all and-"


    "Did I give you permission to speak?" Skin Walker instantly bit down on her tongue, silencing herself. The Emperor reached out and grasped one of her pictures. It was when she first showed herself to the world as Cinder. Up on a stage with many of the Hero Branch directors. "How has it been? Pretending to be the savior of humans? You may speak."


    "I- I didn''t have a choice! They''d throw me in Nightshade or worse!" She pleaded.


    The Emperor placed the picture down and looked back at her. He approached her slowly, and she tried to shrink down. He reached out and cupped her cheek, staring down into her eyes. "Change back."


    "W- What?"


    "Cinder. Become her again."


    She gulped but dared not disobey. Her power turned back on. Her flesh became pale, her hair grew less ratty and ignited in a golden light, and her eyes looked as if they were on fire, turning into a scarlet red. Her face and height also morphed, and her chest shrank back down. In only a moment, she was once again a perfect lookalike for Cinder. The Emperor kept his hand on her chin and tilted her head back and forth, looking intently at her.


    "It''ll do." He dropped her and turned away.


    "What''ll do, sir?" She gulped, feeling her heart steady. "D- Do you have another job for me?"


    "As a matter of fact, I do." He looked back at her, his red eyes meeting hers. "You''re Cinder from now on. I have the perfect role for you. One where you''ll really become a hero."