Cammy walked across the Leafman Memorial Garden with a somber smile on his face.
He stroked the various olive trees and sunflowers scattered all over the place, admiring the Romanesque style of the architecture—a style he believed was lost to time.
As he did, he thought of Zack, and the fact that he and his colleagues saved the world while he was none the wiser. The fact that he lost a friend…
He couldn't help but shed a tear.
He was supposed to be a beacon of hope, a representative of all the Supers. Meanwhile, a group of youngsters did his job without him even knowing.
How pathetic.
Suddenly, he felt his shoulder pad vibrating. He turned to press it and shut it down. He wasn't in the mood to talk.
"What is it, Payne? I'm on my way!" he shouted at the device, expecting Major Payne, his second-in-command, to shout back.
He got a slight chuckle.
"Good to hear from you too, Cammy," a familiar voice replied.
"That voice… Archer?"
"The one and only."
"Why are you calling me now of all times? I have a meeting to attend here."
"Actually, that's exactly why I'm calling you now."
Archer, a tall, hooded figure, stepped out of the cluster of bushes behind Cammy and approached him.
"It's time to tell you what I've found."
Meanwhile, at the Main Hall...
A loud noise erupted from the large building as a multitude of voices clashed in a cacophony of arguments and disagreements.
The sources of this noise were two opposing forces.
On the left was Radioactive Man, 10 feet tall, one of the tallest, most imposing figures in the Super community, second only to the drugged-up monster of a man, Sergeant Strong.
He wore a yellow hazmat suit with two red dots where his eyes could be seen. Nothing else was shown through his mask, though.
On the right was Amazo, a 6-foot Super with blond hair, wearing black with red lines spread across his suit and eye-covering mask.
What was this all about?
Simple. Canman.
Amazo and his cause, led by his teammates the Battle Bringers—the gargantuan, block-headed Sergeant Strong and metal-skinned Silverblade—argued Canman was being too late for this meeting and used this meeting as an excuse to call for his own incompetence, something more than half the Super community is very vocal about.
Radioactive Man and his cause, mostly led by the Zeta Squad, Dr. Hoo, Dr. Small, and partly Sno, argued that this was a gross overreaction and tried to explain maybe Canman must have had better things to do that delayed him.
That was a lie, obviously. Radioactive Man knew Canman was late because he hated these meetings and would spend time at the Hall of Supers to kill time. He didn't want to admit this, though, as that would paint a very negative picture for his best friend.
The only one to give him a chance after that incident.
The debate raged on, Amazo and his side bringing up past screw-ups by Canman to paint him in a negative light, and Radioactive Man bending over backward to prove them wrong. The two doctors using holographic images as evidence to disprove the other side's bold claims.
And Major Payne was in the middle of it. He didn't like Canman, not at all. Sadly, he was the head of the Super Society, appointed by the President of the Commonwealth, Andy Hamilton himself. There was nothing he could do about that, no matter how much it divided the community.
He looked to his left. He saw Mr. White. He had crossed both his arms and legs with his head down. Whether he was sleeping or not, Payne didn't know and wasn't interested enough to care.
To his right was Forest Fire, the youngest member of the Elite. Despite being much, much stronger than him—which he knew after their last mission together—she was a child obsessed with fame and her reputation, especially for being a rebel. She usually doesn't attend these meetings, so why she was here for once was beyond him.
She also had some strange obsession with Canman.
This annoyed Payne to no end.
"Hey! Girly! Why don't you go defend your hero?"
"Sorry, geezer, but I'm not hung up on the opinions of a couple of losers. I know my Canman can't ever do anything wrong! I don't need to prove it, and neither does he," she said and stuck her tongue out like a bratty child before picking up her phone and going on Supergram, a website for Supers, to text whoever she wanted.
Not a care in the world.
He missed Captain Rocket. God, he missed Captain Rocket.
That man had the authority and respect to silence noise like this with a simple order, something Major Payne couldn't do no matter how hard he tried.
He was old, yes, but a much better leader and tactician than Canman, and Payne will never understand how he was chosen over Rocket.
And judging by how the community feels, he never will.
But he's dead now, killed by that bastard Mr. E. And there's nothing he can do about it.
Major Payne had had enough. He wanted to go down there, from the platform the Elite usually sat, and slap some sense into everyone there.
Hell, why not?
First, he'd slap some sense into that Amazo buffoon. Just because he earned some likability after his mission in Belgium to stop that demonic invasion, doesn't mean he gets to undermine his superiors.
Then he'd slap some sense into Radioactive Man for trying to defend someone as incompetent as Canman.
He stood up—something the crowd didn't notice due to their arguing—and started walking away from the large circular table of the Elite to silence them.
Fire lifted her face off her phone.
"Hey? Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna knock some sense into them," he said with a smirk.
Fire snickered and went back to typing.
Typical.
Suddenly, before Payne could leave the table, Dr. White woke up. That could only mean one thing.
Payne quickly rushed back to his seat.
Then the doors opened.
The crowd, consisting of 60 Supers, was silent in just a second.
Major Payne put his head in his hand and frowned. He looked to his left; Dr. White looked at him with a sense of curiosity, or anger, or respect, or admiration, or whatever the hell was going on behind that white mask of his.
Forest Fire watched him with a smile from ear to ear. A sprinkle of red formed on her white cheeks as she began to gawk at him.
Payne rolled his eyes.
Canman walked across the crowd; a long path laid out for him towards the Elite table.
Every Super, no matter their views on him, still feared his power. This man took down King Megalo, a being so powerful the government put his name under wraps from the general public.
A being whose battle with Canman was so devastating it shook the entirety of Commonwealth, an entire continent.
An event the government labeled as a mere earthquake. An event that is basically a myth to the general public but a fact to the Super community. An event that earned him his position as the leader of the Elite, something Captain Rocket didn't have before his passing.
Everyone knew, even without his position, Canman was a man to be feared.
As he walked across the crowd, he tried to make eye contact with both sides. Sadly, no one returned the favor. Not even his friend Radioactive Man.
It didn't bother him. His views were very controversial among the community, and his power brought fear into the hearts of many, including his fellow Supers. It makes sense if they were scared.
He just wished someone saw him as a human being for once.
Like that Zack guy did…
After a long silent walk, he made his way to his seat on the Elite table. The silence still lingered, however, causing Canman to cough awkwardly while turning to Major Payne.
"Well?" Canman said.
"Well what?" Payne replied, confused.
"Start the meeting!" Canman shouted while tapping Payne's shoulder.
Radioactive Man laughed loud enough for everyone to hear. His group followed suit.
"Well, Canman, we were just talking about the war we have on our hands," Payne smirked.
"War?" Canman said with a smile and eyebrow raised.
"Yes. I'm sure you're aware of the death of the Guardians, right?" Payne asked with the smug expression still written all over his face.
Canman's smile quickly faded. The Guardians—a B-rank team. There were 3 ranks of Super teams: B, A, and S. C teams were the most numerous since they had 1 to newer 3-star Supers who were new to the Super community.
They still did their part to keep society safe. A ranks were more experienced teams like the Zeta Squad, consisting of 3 to 4-star Supers, but weren't the best of the best.
That title belonged to the Elite, the only S-rank team of 5-star Supers only.
The Guardians, despite their rank, were extremely popular with the public, being the government's go-to underdog team. It also helped that its members, Slimjim, Techrex, Puckball, and Blam, were funny and charismatic enough to win over even the hardest of hearts.
Hearing of their deaths devastated not only the Super community but the public eye as well. Payne wanted to bring this up during the commotion before but was saving it for Canman.
His frown was priceless.
"Well, what most aren't aware of is how they died. You see, a new criminal organization had appeared in the Commonwealth, originating from the foreign land of Dragonia. They were the Dragon Clan."
"They went on a rampage, forcing smaller gangs and organizations to bend the knee or get obliterated. It seemed this gang had some sort of control over magic, something only our own Majika Da Spell is capable of. Is she here?"
The crowd looked around in confusion.
"I guess not. Typical. Anyway, the gangs were in trouble and needed someone to turn to. One gang, the Flathead Gang, had the help of a drug created by Mr. E called Mutoxin."
Payne paused despite himself. What Mr. E did to Captain Rocket crushed the morale of the society for a long time. Even to the point that mentioning him opened old wounds.
He knew he wasn't the only one who felt this way, so he continued without problem.
"The gang soon disappeared along with Mr. E only a few days ago, as reported by the Zeta Squad when they investigated Mr. E's island."
"What does this have to do with the Guardians? That seems fairly recent news, doesn't it? Wasn't the search after they died?" Canman interrupted, causing Payne to smirk again.
That's the only quality of Canman Payne liked. His impatience. It was so easy to use.
"I'm already there. You see, most gangs didn't trust Mr. E's drug and turned to other ways to combat the Dragon Clan's magic. That's when they turned to him."
"Him?"
"We know very little, but from what we've gathered, he is an immensely powerful being. We sent the Guardians to a warehouse where this boss of theirs was hosting a meeting of all the biggest gangs, and when the team was discovered…" Payne said then paused, wiping a tear from his left cheek.
He then faced the crowd. Some of them had somber expressions. Others began to sob. Payne didn't much care for all that. This was a war, and these people were merely soldiers doing their job. They weren't Rocket. They were expendables.
He wasn't.
What a bunch of babies.
However, if looking like he gave a sh*t made him look more sympathetic to these babies, then so be it.
"Well, they were ripped apart limb from limb."
"I see," Canman finally spoke.
"Yes. These gangs have someone capable of tearing apart an entire team of Supers singlehandedly. No matter how weak they may seem, this is still a problem and needs to be dealt with. Whoever this boss is, he's uniting the gangs not only against the Dragon Clan but us as well. We could only imagine…"
"Yes. I figured as much. So he was right," Canman interrupted.
"I'm sorry, he?" Payne asked after being cut off.
"Yes. He. I'm sorry, Payne, but it's time we heard from a more experienced source."
"Experienced?"
Canman snapped his fingers, and another figure emerged from the gates of the hall. A tall, hooded figure in golden spandex with a robotic arm walked across the hall.
Most Supers were shocked to see him. Some were appalled. Some even vomited.
Payne was fuming.
"CANMAN?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRIMINAL DOING HERE?!" Payne shouted, slamming the table and pointing at Canman.
"He is a street-level vigilante. I contacted him in hopes he could give us more insight on the situation," Canman responded plainly.
"But he's unregistered. He's a vigilante. He's an enemy of the government! He's…"
"He's our only chance of stopping this war, Payne. Now sit down."
Payne looked at the crowd. They were all silently staring back at him. Amazo didn't even look at him. Amazo always looked at him.
Payne sat down and heard a short snicker from Forest Fire.
If he got his hands on her…
"Okay, Archer. Sorry about that. Now can you get us caught up to speed?" Canman asked with a big smile on his face.
"Of course, Cammy. Now since your friend has already covered a good chunk of the problem, it's time I bring up the main shit."
Payne was appalled…
To be continued…