Slowly, Sky began to speak while she held Hope. She started her tale and informed the raven-haired girl of everything that had happened while she was gone. Most importantly though, Sky told her just how it was that Paragon had become a hero to so many people.


    It had all started only a week after the battle with the Beast.


    Twelve days...


    It had just been twelve days since the battle with the Beast happened. Not even two weeks after the world had been forced to witness so many Supers put their lives on the line and battle the greatest threat since the Shadow. Oleander City was beyond destroyed. Not a single building stood tall on any of the streets, and the area around the destroyed bridge was flooded with thousands of people all begging to be let in to Lillian. It was in the heart of the city that things truly looked grim, however.


    Nearly every store that had once stood tall had been torn apart and picked clean of all its stuff. Thugs or gang members stalked the alleyways, and what little heroes were left in Oleander, such as the new Sub Enforcers group led by Myth, were struggling to keep up with it all.


    Villains were typically the kind of people who thrived in situations like this. With the state of the city, it was all too easy to take anything you wanted, including people. So many civilians had been forced to pick sides when new villainous groups popped up. Many gangs from other cities had moved to Oleander once they were sure they could take advantage of it, and so now the destroyed ruin of the once proud city found itself reduced into a further battlefield as different gangs and thugs battled for control over the many destroyed streets and dwindling food supplies.


    It was here in the twisting alleyways that Alice Ward found herself slowly stalking through.


    "Damn it." The older woman let out a soft curse when she saw her phone was lacking a strong enough connection to broadcast. The streets were filled with hundreds of destroyed drones Boy Genius, or the Hero Branch created, and the sky would often have a few dozen flying around, but recently a new villain group had been quick to remove the airborne helpers. "The people need to know what''s happening in Oleander. I just need to find a drone that gives off a strong enough signal for me to go live."


    She knew it was dumb to be wandering around by herself. June would have a field day if he saw her now. The two of them had somehow managed to make it through the Beast attack, and she was currently one of the most famous streamers in the world after she managed to capture the battle of Cinder versus the Beast. It didn''t matter how famous she was though, because she was stuck in Oleander without access to any of her fanbase. So much for being a famous reporter...


    Dean Ward, her brother-in-law and head of the Lillian Hero Branch, had made sure she wasn''t able to get out of Oleander. He was likely mad at her for daring to go against his orders and film the battle with the Beast. She could care less what he wanted, though. The Ward family was just a means to an end for her.


    She had married Matthew Ward several years ago in order to further her own career, and it was a mistake she still regretted, even to this day. The Wards were one of the main families that supported the Monarch Force when Lucifer was still considered a Calamity level threat. After Lucifer lost, they, along with four other families, all threw their support and riches at Sinicorp and helped create the Hero Branch. Now, in the present day, there were dozens of different Wards walking around. She had married Matthew since he was part of the main branch. Ace Ward, Matthew''s father, had been the leader of the entire Hero Branch at one point. Despite coming from literal greatness, however, Matthew blew all his fortune instantly and was basically an outcast, his status instead going to his little brother Dean. And since she had been the one to marry Matthew, that meant she was also an outcast from the main Ward family now. All her effort and fame, her career on the news and in streaming—all of that had come from her own hard work and drive. She had gotten to where she was without the help of the Ward family, even after they set her back so much.


    That was why it was so important to her that she find a way to get her livestream back up and running. Her fans needed to know that she was alive and okay, but more importantly, she wanted to show Ward that his efforts yet again failed. He was still just a child pretending to be as cruel and evil as his father was.


    Alice glanced down at her watch as she shifted from foot to foot in the alleyway she stood in. It was soon to be six a.m. on a Monday. That meant a new drop was going to happen.


    Every Monday, a Hero Branch helicopter would arrive near the bridge and take a few people across to Lillian. Another helicopter would also drop various supplies into the city for the people who weren''t so lucky or were staying. June and her husband Matthew were still at the bridge. She had left them both behind and hoped they''d be able to escape Oleander without her. Dean would never let her leave this city. Not while he was still in office at least.


    "Jackpot." Alice gave a sly smirk when her phone let out a soft buzz and her ears picked up the first traces of the helicopter''s blades. High above, flanked by dozens of Boy Genius''s armed drones, a Hero Branch chopper flew and dropped a series of large boxes that floated to the ground softly thanks to the parachute attached to them. "It''s go time."


    The helicopter was already gone, having flown off once it dropped all the packages off. It dropped five in total while it flew over the city, each package landing in a different zone. Each package was made to hold various supplies, such as clean water and food, clothes, and medical boxes, and would have the same gear in Boy Genius''s drones built into them, allowing someone to have access to the internet. There was just one small issue with them. Thanks to all the villains and smaller gangs running around inside of Oleander, most packages were stolen before the heroes could do anything about it. The only ones that weren''t tampered with were the ones that would land near where the hero Battery remained, since no villain was able to make any footholds in his part of the city.


    With all that in mind, Alice moved as fast as she could. Despite being past her prime, she had lived a healthy life, so she moved fast, ducking in and out of the alleyways. The main streets were abandoned, even before the Beast attack. Spider Street was a place most people avoided, but now it was almost like a ghost town. Heavy fog seeped out of the cracked streets, rising from the destroyed sewers below, and destroyed buildings and cars blocked several passages.


    Alice found herself hitting a dead end more than once before she finally managed to stumble out of the dark alleyway near the drop point. Red smoke poured out of the box that had crash-landed. It was a bright orange and had the logo of T-Fin written across it. It looked almost like a treasure chest. A parachute was attached to the back of it, which had allowed it to make a soft landing, and a few drones floated around it, making sure no gang members came for it. The drones were armed with heavy-looking guns, which honestly wouldn''t do much if the wrong kind of people wanted one of the boxes bad enough. The drones glanced her way, but she paid them no mind and moved to the box.


    Seeing as she was a civilian, the box clicked open, and inside Alice found dozens of boxes of food, water, clothes, blankets, and pretty much anything else you would need to survive the apocalypse. That wasn''t what she cared about, though. Slowly Alice pulled out her phone. It was a bit cracked and damaged due to everything that happened, but it managed to stay at max power due to her staying around Battery. The man was constantly giving off so much power it kept all phones and electronics around him fully charged. Though even he couldn''t give them all a stable internet connection.


    Alice rummaged through the orange chest, which began to let out a series of beeps mimicking some music from an old video game as she fished out the thing she was looking for at the bottom. It was a small-looking black cube that was barely bigger than a baseball. The metal was smooth and dark, and a single antenna poked out of the top of it, which glowed with a faint red light. She checked her phone again, and sure enough, it was finally connected back to the internet. She could finally go live once more and begin reporting on the state of Oleander-


    One of the drones above her exploded in a hail of molten metal. Fiery jagged blades flew out as the machine shattered to pieces and broke apart, causing Alice to let out a startled yell. The other drone spun around to face the direction the attack had come from. Its large guns popped out and began to rapidly spin, but before the drone could fire, it was destroyed as a wave of molten slag blasted out of the alleyway with a crackling boom and blew through the machine instantly.


    Alice felt her throat go dry as footsteps slowly began to stalk forward. She hadn''t been fast enough. Someone else had wanted the box she was at. One of the many new gangs that ran Oleander. Alice dove behind the box, but it was too late.


    "Drop everything you have and empty your pockets! Gives us your clothes too!" Two men stood before the box now. Both of them wore simple gray jackets, and their faces were covered by a skull-looking mask. Alice knew who they were instantly. The Skull Boys used to be a low-level villain gang that ran around Chrysanthemum. After the total destruction of the city and the birth of the new Calamity known as Legend, the Skull Boys had fled into the Wasteland. They were made up mostly of nonpowered people, though recently they had gained a leader that was a Super and were gathering more Super followers. Now that Oleander was in the state that it was, they were also looking to throw their hat in the ring and take it over. "Are you deaf? Don''t just stand there; drop everything you got!" One of the men screamed. They both had guns, but one man held a simple old-looking rifle while the other held what was obviously Mental-based tech. It was a large-looking cannon that the man struggled to hold that spewed out various fumes and had small droplets of lava dripping out of it. The gun was able to fire small, compressed orbs of molten slag that could easily melt through solid steel or a person, instantly. It was something Alice wanted to not get hit by.


    "Let''s just try to be calm." Alice said softly, holding her hands up. She was still holding her phone, and she considered trying to go live, but the men would likely take her out the moment her fingers twitched. "There''s no need to do anything any of us will regret later-"


    "Regret?" The grunt who held the old rifle let out a laugh and used the butt of his gun to ram it into her gut. Alice dropped to her knees, gasping and wheezing. "Listen, grandma, we ain''t picky when it comes to killing. Men, women, old ladies, or even babies. We''ll rob ya blind or pick it off your corpse. Now we won''t say it again. Drop everything you got, clothes and all."


    "Y- You barbarians." Alice felt a surge of rage go through her. She had survived the Beast attack only to end up in this situation. Being ordered to strip naked by two thugs who thought they were scarier than they really were.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "Barbarians?" The one with the Mental-based gun sneered and kicked out with his leg, ramming it into Alice''s head. The older woman cried out, and she crashed to the ground flat on her back. She saw stars, and the world began to spin as her vision faded in and out. It suddenly became hard to focus on anything, but Alice still managed to hear the sounds of laughter as the two men trained their guns on her. "We warned you, didn''t we?" The one with the bigger gun cocked his weapon. "You Oleander folks sure are idiots-"


    "I''ll be the first to admit that the people of Oleander can sometimes be a little foolish." Vines and roots suddenly exploded out of the ground and wrapped around the Mental-based gun, squeezing down on it and causing it to crack and shatter. Both men let out startled yelps and spun around just in time to see a new person standing at the entrance to the alleyway, slowly stepping out onto the street they were all on. "That said, I''ve seen firsthand time and time again how brave the people of Oleander can also be. They aren''t the kind of people to give up, and they aren''t the kind of people who will let guys like you walk all over them. They might not have the power to fight back and keep themselves safe, so I''ll make it my job to carry that burden myself."


    A younger girl stepped onto the street. She wore a long flowing lab coat, and her reddish-brown hair was tied back. The girl''s eyes sparkled with determination, and in her hands, she held a long wooden sword.


    Paragon, former member of Team Reservoir, had arrived.


    One of the Skull Boys let out a loud yell, and he raised the old rifle he had, firing a shot. Paragon easily dodged the bullet thanks to her newly awakened powers. The bullet moved in slow motion to her, and the healer simply cocked her head to the side. She had seen Cinder do things like this enough to know how to mimic it. Her entire hero persona had been molded after the girl in a way.


    "Damn it! We got a Super." The other grunt reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun, also opening fire on Paragon. Both the rifle and pistol launched their bullets, but none of them met their target.


    Paragon vanished in a flash, moving faster than the two men could see. She appeared behind them, causing them to let out startled yelps. "What was it you said earlier?" The hero asked, turning her eyes onto them. "Men or women, and even babies? You''ve killed them all?"


    "Well... When we said that, what we meant was-"


    Paragon jammed her weapon out as hard as she could. It had grown blunt thanks to her powers, so it doesn''t have enough force to stab the man, but it did hit him hard enough to shatter all of his ribs and send him tumbling across the ground, breaking more of his bones. He''d live, her eyes told her that much, but he''d never walk right again. The other grunt swung out with his rifle, but the weapon exploded on Paragon''s face, shattering to bits. The girl''s eye twitched a bit, and she jammed her foot up as hard as she could, ramming it directly into the spot between the man''s legs. She kicked hard enough to shatter bone, and the man screamed out and broke into a sob as he crashed to the ground.


    Paragon''s eyes roamed over the two men with a cold look, and slowly the ground around them shifted as the stone became a series of grasses and flowers. Vines wrapped around the men, tying them up and pulling them down into the ground. It gagged both of them and covered them from head to toe. They were both banged up pretty badly and would need medical help soon. Medical help she wouldn''t be offering.


    Paragon turned back to the other person that was here. Alice was still in a sitting position and had watched the display with wide, shock-filled eyes. "Are you okay?" Paragon asked, dropping down to her knees.


    Alice flinched when the girl touched her, but slowly the woman felt her body ease up and mend, her broken ribs healing. "Y- Yeah. I''m fine. You''re Paragon, aren''t you?"


    "Yeah. I think we''ve met before."


    "We have." Alice gave a soft smile. "You healed my husband. Though that feels like a lifetime ago by now. I''ve also seen you on the news when you were with your sister. I''ve done a few reports on you. That''s one of the reasons I''m left so shocked right now. From what I know, the hero Paragon is just a healer. Not a fighter."


    Paragon casually sheathed her sword and stood back up once she finished healing Alice. "I just got tired of being so weak I had to be saved constantly. For once, I''d like to help out and save other people. Not just through healing their bodies but with my own two hands."


    Alice nodded and slowly climbed up to her feet. "What are you doing out here?"


    "I came for this." Paragon wrapped an arm around the orange box and, with inhuman strength, easily lifted the thing off the ground. "It''s for my people."


    "Your people?" Alice raised an eyebrow at that. There were three places the people of Oleander were currently at. The first was near the bridge connected to Lillian. These people were protected by Battery and always got the supply drops and had plenty of food and water. Battery had even started to build shelter for them, so they were the most well off. The main issue was how crowded it was. Everyone was wanting a spot on the helicopters that would arrive, so it had the most people. Some people had to be kicked out of this zone due to overcrowding and violence. The second zone was right at the edge of Battery''s control point. It was mostly peaceful but lacked a lot of supplies and would only make do with the left-overs from the first group. They also had the protection of the Sub Enforcers. The final zone was the remainder of Oleander. The people here were forced to survive in the ruined buildings and alleyways, hiding from the many gangs that ran around, and would have to get lucky and find a drop zone first. Most of the violent people in the first two zones were kicked out to this third zone, which was the most massive. Because of how spread thin the heroes were and how large the city truly was, the Sub Enforcers weren''t able to help most of the people here and instead made do with just the second zone. Everything Alice knew, however, was brought into question by Paragon''s words. It sounded as if there was actually a fourth zone. One protected by the healer herself. "Are you keeping a group of people safe, like Battery?"


    Paragon gave a soft frown at being compared to Battery, but slowly the girl nodded her head. "I was doing it before him just so we''re clear. He''s taken up residence near the bridge and is keeping that spot safe, but he barely does anything. He just stays there, not bothering to help out the people that actually need it. That''s why I''m out here. I''m building a place for the people that don''t want to leave Oleander or can''t for some reason. I''ve been collecting a supply drop every time it drops. Usually, one is enough to keep us all fed and clean for at least a week, though with our numbers growing, I might need to start getting two. I''ve been trying to avoid that since that''ll mean other unfortunate people who aren''t part of my group will miss out on a box if I take it."


    "Well, you tied those two Skull Boys up pretty easily by creating grass and vines. Can''t you do something similar and create something like an apple tree?" Alice questioned.


    Paragon softly shook her head and waved her hand out. The ground once again changed, the streets being covered in grass as a small tree forced its way out of the ground. It had a single red apple attached to it, and Alice reached out, grabbed it, and took a soft bite out of it. She instantly made a face and spat it out. "My power does let me make an apple tree, but I''m not that good with it yet. I''m mainly used to fixing bodies, not creating brand new life forms out of nothing." Paragon explained. "The apple lacks all protein and carbs. It also tastes bad. It''s basically just cardboard. In a pinch, it could fill a person''s stomach up, but they''d get no energy or anything from it and would still need actual food."


    "You could have warned me about the taste." Alice dropped the apple and made a face as she wiped her mouth. It had seriously been the worst thing she ever ate.


    "Sorry." Paragon lazily shrugged her shoulders.


    Alice huffed before turning back to the two bound-up Skull Boys. "What are you going to do with them?"


    "Nothing."


    "What?"


    "The Hero Branch won''t listen to me and refuse to let me call them." Paragon shrugged. "So, I can''t get any of them to actually come out here and take these two guys in. I could go to Battery, but... For reasons that are my own, that''s not possible. The state the two men are in means they won''t be hurting anyone and likely won''t survive for long. They can stay here and either get saved by their team if the team cares enough or rot for all I care." She had killed Mars King, so the concept of taking a life wasn''t something new to her. Cinder always did her best to avoid it and only would use the option on other Supers. Cinder would never kill a human. She wasn''t Cinder though. As far as she was concerned, the Skull Boys and Mars King were one and the same. They were both scum who didn''t care about taking life. If they could kill and steal, then the same could happen to them. At least that''s how she viewed it.


    Alice frowned softly but didn''t say anything else. "This group of people you''ve been taking care of, can I see them?"


    Paragon shrugged softly. "Sure. As I said, I made it so that anyone needing help will have a place to stay. You''re welcome to come along."


    Alice gave a grin and slowly clicked her phone on, turning it on to live. "Great. Then let''s go. I''d like to see just how well the people of Oleander are doing."


    The Wards were often the most famous of the noble families. Most people knew who they were. Despite marrying into the family, Alice was still well known as a Ward. So much so that it didn''t take her long to get over a thousand people in her stream, the number constantly growing as she filmed Paragon. Dean Ward wasn''t going to be able to stop her. The world was going to see it. The people of Oleander were still alive. The people of Oleander were still staying inside of Oleander. Oleander, despite its ruined state, was trying to remain as a city.


    The two of them left the hero and the reporter, not noticing as another figure stalked forward out of the darkness. A man walked forward dressed in a long black coat that was opened to show his stomach, rows of abs lining his gut. On the back of his jacket, the symbol of a skull proudly rested. His hair was long and wild and seemed to swirl around on its own almost as if it were alive. The man had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he eyed up the two tied-up members of his team.


    "Did you happen to see what happened, Windy?" The man asked in a cool tone.


    "I did, boss!" A bubbly voice bounced around the street. Slowly, the ever-present fog that hung around the area began to twist and twirl, taking shape. It came together and formed into a young woman. One with long dyed green hair and bright yellow eyes. Mist formed into a cover going over the woman''s modest areas, covering her up a bit, and a skull mask rested over her face, but other than that, she lacked clothes. "I was waiting just like you told me to and saw the whole thing go down!"


    "Good girl." The leader of the Skull Boys placed his hand on top of the woman''s head, patting it. "So which hero took them out?"


    "One with a sword!" Windy announced puffing her chest out and causing more fog to swirl around her in the air.


    The man''s smile faded, and a heavy frown came onto his face. His hair twitched like living tendrils and began to flow around his body, cutting through the heavy fog in anger. "A sword?" He hummed. His mind went back to two more members that were part of his team. Chainsaw Hand and Drill Man had been sent out on a mission directly after the Beast fight. They had been tasked with raiding Zoo''s base. Everyone knew Zoo was gone, so it should have been easy, yet neither of his men had come back. Instead, Windy had found them both sliced to bits. "I see."


    "Yep! This hero was a girl who had a sword! She could be the same one that killed Chainsaw Hand and Drill Man!" Windy smirked.


    "At first I had assumed it was Green Wolf that killed them, but that bastard hasn''t made a move, so I''ll assume he really is dead. He isn''t the type to go into hiding after all." The leader of the Skull Boys mused. "If we do assume he''s dead, then the only person left that has a sword that could have killed my men is either Battery or this new hero you found. For obvious reasons, taking Battery out isn''t happening, so I''ll just settle for getting my revenge on her instead." The man chuckled.


    "How are you going to get revenge?" Windy asked.


    "I''ll send Enlightened out after her." The man hummed. "We''ll see how strong she truly is when faced with someone like him. After all, ''he''s'' stronger than Red Raptor and Mars King."


    Windy nodded her head as her smile grew larger. Her body began to break away and turn into fog drifting into the air. "I''ll let Enlightened know that he has a job to do. But what about those two?" She asked, looking down at the two bodies of the Skull Boys.


    "What about them?" The boss''s grin never faded as his hair struck out, growing so long it tore right through the grass bindings and went directly through the chests of both of his men. "They''re dead. See. No heart." His hair ripped its way out of the corpses, the grass slowly turning a nasty red.


    "I see." Windy giggled a bit. "My mistake."


    And just like that, a new villainous group had set their eyes on the hero Paragon.