Chaos Unleashed
The afternoon sun hung low over the city of Brockton Bay, casting long shadows across the bustling streets. The central bank, a towering edifice of glass, brick and steel, stood as a symbol of the city's economic might and security. But today, it would become the epicentre of chaos.
An ear-splitting explosion shattered the tranquil atmosphere, sending a shockwave rippling through the air. The bank's reinforced doors blew outwards, shards of glass raining down like deadly confetti. From the smoke-filled entrance, a group of figures emerged, led by the skeletal visage of Mr. Skeltal, his eyeless sockets scanning the chaos of panicked civilians and crumbling brick. Flanking him were his "Boys," a motley crew of gangsters, each carrying a large duffle bag hastily stuffed with money, their faces hidden behind their grinning skeletal masks, armed with a random assortment of weapons and ready for mayhem.
"Things around here have been far too quiet, ain't they boys!" The boys all hollered and hooted, while someone in the back honked a bicycle horn aggressively in agreement. "Let's show them a bone-afide smash N grab!" Mr. Skeltal bellowed, his voice a chilling echo. His crew spread out, unleashing chaos on the unsuspecting civilians smashing windows and cars as they made their escape.
Just as the scene threatened to spiral out of control, a loud roar filled the air. Wild Hog, clad in his distinctive Wards uniform, charged down the street, the ground trembling beneath his feet. With a near-supersonic lunge, he barrelled into the first of Mr. Skeltal's Boys, sending the unpowered gangsters flying like bowling pins.
"Sorcerer, cover the civilians!" Wild Hog shouted as he skidded to a halt, turning to face the next wave of attackers.
From a nearby rooftop, Sorcerer chanted an incantation, summoning a swirling vortex of arcane energy, deploying a protective energy barrier, herding the fleeing civilians to safety. "Civilians secured." sorcerer noted over coms as he concentrated, maintaining the barrier taking note of several of the boys who, now trapped by the barrier had began beating on it in a vain attempt to escape.
He watched in amusement as they swung baseball bats, chains and one particularly brilliant individual striking at the barrier with his overfilled duffle bag of money causing it to, much to the gangsters dismay, explode sending cash spilling into the street as it was caught in the wind.
Mr Skeltal seeing his boys being outmatched raised his voice "Common lads lets show em who's got spine around here!" His eternal smile seemed to turn into a wicked grin as he spotted the ward on the rooftop maintaining the barrier. "This is how its done, Rattle em boys!" he chuckled pointing at the ward as bolts of energy began to fire at the young ward from all directions.
Sorcerer did his best to maintain his concentration how ever as he dodged and weaved the bullet hell proved too great as a bolt grazed his leg causing him to tumble before a second bolt struck his side like a baseball bat sending him rolling to the floor as the barrier began to collapse. "That's one Numbskull down, one more to-" his monologue was interrupted as out of the corner of his eye he spotted movement turning just in time to see a miniaturized Bumble, who smiled aiming her finger at his face "You should probably dodge this." bumble said playfully "Bang."
Mr Skeltal didn't hear if she said anything else as the explosion rattled his teeth sending his body clattering back down the street to crash into the front of the bank causing more bricks to collapse and fall on him, his form disappearing into the rubble and dust. How ever much to bumbles shock she was also knocked back the impact made her tumble mid air before her suit reporting damage received as its systems worked to reorient itself and allowed her to land gracefully after having her own attack reflected back.
She shook her head to clear the fog "too close" she mumbled to herself "I thought they said the reflection range was only 20 meters." she saw Mr Skeltal rise slowly from the debris, dust and bricks falling from his body as the cracks in his bones slowly resealing themselves as he leisurely stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles chuckling "Now things are getting fun! SCATTER BOYS!". The gangsters that where still up hearing their bosses orders all turned and began to run in different directions fleeing the scene with their ill gotten gains into the labyrinthian side streets and alleyways.
Bumble turned to try and stop one of the boys aiming with her hand how ever before she could get the shot off she had to dodge as Mr Skeltal opened fire on her, she dodged and weaved attempting to keep distance from the skeletal figure as he unleashed wave after wave of energy bolts at Bumble, breaking into a sprint to close the distance with her.
Only to get tackled as Wild hog used his blitz's momentum to shoulder the skeleton through a wall, falling to a knee as the reflected damage winded him. Catching his breath he turned to Bumble "Check on Sorcerer and see if he's got anything that can restrain this overly active Halloween decoration-" He turned mid sentence to block the Skeletal drop kick, catching it on his raised arms causing him to stumble back several steps as Mr Skeltal had launched himself from the ruined store at the ward "his movements seem to be getting faster" Wild Hog noted to himself.
"I gotta give it to ya kid, you got guts." He casually brushed dust and debris from his bony shoulder as a dislodged rib slowly pulled itself back into position. "But. Ya really got to work on that banter of yours" Wild Hog stood, looking the Skeleton dead in the eye sockets as he spoke "You sure must think your humerus." he paused before continuing "But I think it's just in your bones.".
The battlefield was almost silent if not for the distant sound of approaching sirens as the wind blew stray bills through the air between Wild Hog and Mr Skeltal each eyeing the other unblinking before Mr Skeltal lost his composure and broke out laughing. "Now that!, Thats the spirit!" Mr Skeltal cackled as he charged the ward.
A block away, a cloaked figure watched from the shadows. Miasma smiled "Money well spent" he chuckled to himself as the antics of Mr Skeltal's copy put on a large enough show to distract the local members of the PRT. He paused to enjoy the spectacle of his fellow Villain at work.
As the battle reached its peak, a soft beep emanated from a device on Miasma's wrist. He casually glanced at it, noting the time with a nod. "Right on schedule," he murmured, his voice barely a whisper.
He turned his attention away from the fight, his eyes narrowing as he spotted the convoy of armoured trucks. The convoy was meant to transport Alloy Sigma-4, a rare and highly valuable super material, from the Umbrella Corporation's main office to their dock side distributor. But now, under Miasma's influence, the vehicles had been diverted from their intended path to pass directly below him.
He turned to look below and as the convoy made its way down the street his form shifted, blurring as his nanites turned into a mist like cloud and drifted down to the convoy below. The vehicles maintained a steady pace as his nanites slipped through the vehicles gaps shifting this way and that as they searched the vehicles contents. Finding the correct crate Miasma easily shifted it from its position into his pocket dimension as his nanite cloud slipped once more into the street convalescing once more into his humanoid form on the roof top.
Miasma turned back to the combat zone to see that Mr Skeltal's copy was finally down, covered in a large mound of containment foam his yelling could just be heard on the wind as the wards and PRT reinforcements secured the location and tended to civilians, "This was almost too easy" Miasma smiled as his mind had already began plotting his next move. With this much of the Alloy Sigma-4 now in his possession, he could take his nanite tech to new heights. The heroes had won the battle, but in the grand scheme of things, Miasma was winning the war.
As his form shifted once more, his nanites melting into the shadows, Miasma couldn't help but smile. Today had been a good day.