My Superhero City | Season 02, Episode 02: To the Leader, the Pariah, the Victor, the Messiah...This is war
AntiSaint: I thought if I did my best, then everyone else would do the same. But all these years later, all those years of keeping the peace, and things are barely any better than when I was starting out. Maybe it seemed that way, but as soon as I was gone, it was like tearing off a bandaid. And all that baggage, all that hatred and dissatisfaction that's festered over the years came shooting back to the surface like a tidal wave. All I did was create an illusion of peace. Because if it all it takes is the loss of one person to bring it all crashing down, then at the very least, it's not very lasting.
"Cole:" Hey Viv! Would you be up for a spar by the lake out near the woods? I've heard its lovely out there especially on a hot day.
Cooper Landry: Can't believe mom would freak like that. How the hell are amps any different than, like, piercings?
Carnival King: We could also do father-and-son bonding and training with Chibuzo! He's been such a good boy during these last month, and thanks to him, I've started to get the hang of my powers, if we don't include 'forme-shifting'. Don't get me wrong, though. Chibi has also been improving. He's got the life goal of becoming a deity! Such an ambitious little lad... With that said, do you consider going or not?
"Plague Doctor": We apologize for the chaos, trust us we want you all to get back to your lives, but we are at the end of our ropes...You see, as doctors its our duty to ensure our patients receive proper care... They are currently undergoing treatment for serious breaks from reality, believing themselves to be 'heroes'. To ensure their cooperation we are holding their friends here with a disease that will keep them nice a docile...The cure is half a dose of the four chemicals we are keeping on our person. Any attempt to 'skip out' on their appointment will result in a...messy situation...
Holiday: Classic hostage situation. Unoriginal, barring the usage of drugs and the doctor getup...I'll notify local ACPs to evacuate the area around the subject building. If it hasn't been evacuated already. If I could get a sample, we could possibly synthesize an antitoxin. Possibly. May be better to just beat it out of them... Mahvash, I'll go ahead and assume you've already constructed fifty-nine plans while I was speaking and so I'll respectfully ask your opinion.
Pyroblaze: Young people, teens...are getting mixed up in some kind of amplifying nonsense. They're calling em amps. And what's worrying us is we don't know who the group responsible for obtaining them really is, or where the amps really come from! ...we've got no goddamned clue, outside the name; the Human-Machine Front. Kids are being real hush about all this - 'pparently, whatever's going on got a lot of parents real worried. Me included. We have to find out what's going on before someone in the more paranoid element of society makes a stupid mistake.
Cooper: And...these Amps...I've still not gotten the ones that require like...payment?
Provider: Correct, Mr. Landry. I'll see you next time.
Martin: Well, it all just boils down to 'beat the bad guys and save our friends', hard to turn down an open invitation like that. Play it safe, they are probably waiting for us.
Cole: You know, I've always found it rather funny how you seem to think you are so much tougher now that you're all made of metal. When really, turning into a robotic ponce just enhances the number of cheeky, cheeky things that can be done to you.
Ellie: Heh. Pretty stupid of them to pit me against the robot. I'll just suck his battery dry.
Mikael (narration): Mikael has seen that something in the man's eyes when he spoke of 'taking off the kid's gloves' was... wrong. Not the kindness of the Saint, but the stern cruelty of a sinner.
Vivian: I don't feel pain and I've been tinkering with this body for *months.* This is my ninth set of hands. After I beat you, you moronic arshole, I'll just throw these in the dumpster. And lastly that this plan was not very well considered. I'm recording and storing this fight, so about...now everyone in the city know that you, whoever you are, are here. So no surprise, no lasting damage. You gain nothing from this, you putrid bellend, since you also still don't know a fraction of what I can, and will, do to you.
Rebecca: You IDIOT! Do you realize what you've just done?! You've just brought the full force of this place down on us! These are people who, might I remind you, have already brutally murdered an experienced hero! I know you've deluded yourself into thinking that you're invincible, but what about Mari and Emily?! They've only been doing this for a couple months!!
Pact: Guess I'm not the only one with gods on her side, must have given up a pretty penny to get her on your side. Then again a house deity ain't up the snuff for my usual fun! Last round loves, get your shots and hit the ground!
Clay: Well shoot, went to plan I suppose but I don't feel right having to sit out the whole thing and play possum.
Firebrand: Daddy, Momma! I'm so happy you two are safe!
Clay: Of course, we wouldn't go and leave you behind like that.
Evelyn: We're just sorry that you plan didn't go perfectly.
Mari: WE DON'T GIVE A FRICK ABOUT...ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR EXPERIMENTING!
"Veronica Wesker": Mm, I thought so. The Unborn were some of our most dangerous creations, their teeth were designed by us to dig deep, produce jagged and difficult to heal wounds and potentially hit arteries and more important veins. Probably a small miracle on your part that the femoral artery was not breached in its entirety. Then you'd be bleeding to death on the floor here...and that would be a major breach in cleanliness protocol.
Iona: This is why the whispers of Fate brought me here! My vengeance is at hand! I will finally be able to close this chapter, and move on with my life! All I need to do is destroy you and all your little friends! I will be FREE!
Emily: Do you feel sick? You're not acting... yourself. I thought you liked to kill stuff.
- Short Synopsis: Four villains issue a direct challenge to S1 and the IW, meanwhile S3 and S4 investigate 'Amps' for the old hero, Pyroblaze.
- First Post: 2 September 2019
- Webcomic Time: 1 June 2021
Tropes - Caution, unmarked spoilers
- And I Must Scream: About, the missing hero Tempest, well, S3's violence worked out for him in this case.
- The Bad Guy Wins: See Pyrrhic Victory.
- Big Bad: Firebrand for the Squad 1 and 2 Tower of Terror arc, and Ignis for Squad 3 and 4's arcs, while Veronica Wesker is The Dragon in Squad 3's case.
- Body Horror: Pinewatch shows enough to make Rebecca hurl immediately.
- The Human-Machine Front in general is this; the procedure Cooper undergoes that gives him Super-Reflexes involves getting a horrific eel monster from Pinewatch implanted in him, and taking out his whole spinal column, with the eel's tendrils spreading out and amplifying his reflexes. Even other members like Biggs and Wedge have obvious cybernetic implants such as nanomachine armor that emerges out of their bodies. Possibly making things worse is that they chose to have these things done to themselves to "keep up" with metahumans.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Vivian collapses in front of Ignis. He chuckles, gloats, and... walks away. Averted with Firebrand's Foursome. Clay and Evelyn are already turned.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Clay and Evelyn as it turns out.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: The Fearsome Foursome manage to take over the local airwaves to broadcast their challenge.
- Failed a Spot Check: Besides the issue that she and Cole rarely interact and "Cole" asked her to meet him in the middle of nowhere instead of the training room, Vivian also finds him dressed up and acting rather out of character. OTOH, he did mention the Raggum event that she could believe he had to be there for.
- Forced to Watch: Zach ends up comfortably sitting in a glass bubble...where he has a front row seat to his family being [DATA EXPUNGED].
- Fun with Acronyms: The Super Lawmen Armed Militia, or SLAM for short.
- Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: A tailor-made slap wakes Zach up from his illusion and delusion of helplessness and knocks the Heroic Spirit right back into him.
- Heroic Safe Mode: Viv is quite literally on autopilot as she drags herself back to the Saint Foundation garage.
- Hostage Situation: And one with Clay and Evelyn as the hostages no less.
- Karma Houdini: Veronica Wesker if the "note" is any indication. Its implied that she gets a government job.
- The Last Dance: For Squad 3, the battering ram, as it turns out.
- Let's You and Him Fight: S4 turn out to be each other's immediate threats as the arc ends, first Iona then Tyulla.
- Mad Scientist: As if someone named Veronica Wesker could be anything except a card carrying mad scientist. She gets uniqueness points for being completely unflappable, even in the face of Squad 3's notable violent ways.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ignis is in full form as a psychic manipulator. He played Squad 4 into a confrontation, and with one singularly effective mental illusion set Iona to almost kill all of her friends. To the point that he never even had to fight them himself - Iona handled that aptly well herself.
- Mirror Boss: The giant horror that S3 encounters in Pinewatch.
- Pompous Political Pundit: Adrian makes another appearance but even his performance is subdued by Saint.
- Poor Communication Kills: Cole told no one about his twin brother. Vivian in particular did not suspect a trap until she was fighting for her life. As for S3, Mari mentions her potential ability with stealth after Mikael blows a hole in the building.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Both Teams: S1 and the IW 'rescued' Clay and Evelyn but it amounted to an exercise and free publicity for the villains, who eventually went home scot-free. Plus both Evelyn and Clay have been brainwashed. S3 and S4 took down a Human-Machine Front facility and not much else. The HMF lost a few scientists that are probably replaceable and Ignis led Iona into causing mass mayhem and an eventual crisis of confidence.
- Sanity Slippage: Both Iona and Tyulla go into trauma induced rages.
- Sanity Strengthening: Cole in contrast is almost responsible in this arc.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: Holiday has one ready when she's being dissembled in an illusion. Thing is, its not even clearly an example of Taking You with Me as she seems perfectly content to go up in smoke.
- Smug Smiler: Ignis turns out to be one. He spends the whole match against Vivian grinning, even while being socked in the face.
- Smug Snake: Veronica tries to play calm and serene and dress Mikael down, but she's also running down reasons why Mikael should spare her as he demanded. And desperately throwing herself out of the way of flying rocks.
- Spirited Competitor: Zach begins to show signs of this, coming to enjoy the daily insanity of hero life.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Wilma meets this face, landing in the middle of surgery sans anesthetic.
- Super Mode: Lily achieves her apotheosis with a Little "No" and alot of ass kicking.
- There Was a Door: Which doesn't matter to Mikael as he blasts his own entrance. To be fair, he mentioned the front door was too obvious a route.
- Too Good to Be True: Besides the issue of the Saint returning, Cooper doesn't question being given 'free' amps that have given him super reflexes. He nods along to the explanation that they're the demo version.
- Tragic Monster: As it turns out, the Eviscerator. Or Eviscerators. There's a few minds trapped in there.
- Villain Override: Happens a couple times with the foursome. Before they turn red and their last remarks.
- Wham Episode: Not only featuring, in Mikael's words, "the second coming of Mengale" but also the brainwashed Clay and Evelyn in Firebrand's cult.
- Worst News Judgement Ever: At least M3 thinks it of Super City. At least the foursome interrupt it.
