Worse

Worse

                Although the resistance against the Lords of Sin primarily consisted of ordinary citizens, there were a few who were stronger. Heroes who equalled or surpassed the strange powers the minions of the Lords of Sin possessed. Unfortunately they held themselves apart from the resistance - they saw themselves as better equipped and more effective. This was in spite of their attacks never dealing lasting damage to the Lords.

                As the fighting heated up and boiled towards true civil war, some heroes did become 'effective'. Severely weakened organisations, lacking members and money, would be suddenly attacked and finished off by the heroes. In many cases the groups were on the verge of surrender - and valuable resources the resistance needed were about to fall into their hands.

                The heroes, in true hero fashion, tended to destroy the entire base complex in a massive explosion. Then they would claim the victory and forget the months of bloody fighting the resistance had suffered. Terribly, the population outside of the resistance believed that the heroes to be solely responsible for the victories over the Lords of Sin.

                Though they were heroes, their odd behaviour attracted the attention of elements of the resistance who had little patience for fools and blowhards. They investigated the major hero 'union', GLORY, in an attempt to find out where the information propelling the heroes towards weakened minion groups came from.

                What they eventually discovered shocked them. A lieutenant of the Lord of Pride controlled GLORY, and thus controlled the actions of the heroes. They been used to cut the resistance of resources and information; and even before the serious fighting they had only been sent against useless or failing operations.

                As soon as the lieutenant knew they were discovered, they tried to turn the heroes against the resistance. Only a few fell for it but they could not be dissuaded. They fell in combat with resistance forces or against less foolish heroes; it became known as the 'Day of Folly'.

                But worse was to come. Through GLORY, the Lords of Sin knew the location, strengths and weaknesses of all the heroes of the city. Once the Day of Folly had wound down, they came for them in the night. Some fled, some fought, but many died.

                No Dance, Sun Dance and Slow Dance were a trio of heroes who had primarily tangled with the Odd Couple (and Kids!), a family of mercenaries. Neither side used serious weapons, even though the Odd Couple had previously fought in several minor wars. In fact, the older members of their group had fought in wars during their employment by the Lords of Sin - the Dance Crew only went up against the younger Kids.

                When the full complement of the Odd Couple's forces arrived at the Dance Crew's base, armed to the teeth and with No Dance's head on a pike, it was a bit of a rude shock. The Odd Couple were also operating under their real name: Orange Company.

                Slow Dance carefully crawled across the third floor of the base, heading towards Sun Dance who was crouched behind a window. Gunfire echoed around - the backup dancers who managed the base for the Dance Crew had offered to surrender, but Orange Company had simply opened fire. The surviving backup dancers were running around in a panic for the most part, getting picked off one by one as the mercenaries advanced.

                "We have to do something," Slow Dance said after he reached Sun Dance. "They're killing everyone." His deep voice was full of serious concern and shock.

                "What the hell can we do?" asked Sun Dance. "No is dead. They have guns! We don't do guns."

                "We're the heroes," said Slow. "We have to at least try. A distraction so the backup can get out of here, at least."

                Sun's inner hero awoke and his face turned serious. "You're right. We can do this," he said. "We destroyed the Black Moon's final base. We can stop a handful of mercenaries."

                "Well, it is more than a handful," said Slow. He was happy that Sun had found his courage again. "The broad shock routine, perhaps? That should disable them all long enough for the backup to flee."

                Sun nodded. "Sounds good," he replied. "We'll make them rue killing No."

                "Damn straight," said Slow.

                They stood up and clapped their hands together. Starting the beat sent out a musical wave that shattered the window they had been cowering behind. Immediately the systems built into the base began the beat - thrum thrum thrum thrum. Together, the Dance Crew yelled out, "YEAAAAAH!"

                Air whistled past their ears as they leapt through the window, launching themselves out over the crowd of mercenaries below. They both spiralled as they fell downwards, the start of their ability. "Shock dance!" they yelled as one.

                Despite falling quite far, they touched the ground gently and began to dance. Each move and leap took them in an almost random direction, bullets flying harmlessly by. Then the lightning began. Electrical energy soared in all directions, giving physics the middle finger. The mercenaries, each coated with lightning, shook and screamed in pain, unable to do anything. A few fired wildly as their fingers seized, but most dropped their guns.

                Even the inside of the building gave no shelter. The mercenaries that had made their way inside were disabled as well. Conveniently, the electricity somehow knew to avoid the backup dancers - arcing between the mercenaries but completely avoiding the backup, even when they touched it.

                "It's working!" shouted Slow happily, pirouetting close to Sun. "We just need to keep this up for a while!"

                Sun nodded, then suddenly fell backwards as a bullet tore through his middle. It took a lot of his middle with it - flesh, guts, even his spine. Slow jumped backwards immediately, dodging the bullet meant for him.

                He felt cold, though. Shock took hold of him; the horror of seeing his close friend torn open combined with the image of No's head earlier in the perfect storm of horror. He stopped dancing after he landed, almost stumbling as everything went cold and white. Somehow he was on his knees - he didn't know how. He could barely think, let alone feel or see.

                He didn't feel the bullet a recovered mercenary put through his head, either.