The warehouse buzzed with an eerie stillness that turned chaotic. It had been some time since Rod fought without his superhuman powers, and even if weakened, his innate combat knowledge remained.
The gorilla-like beast-man lumbered towards him in a flurry of easily dodged punches as the other reanimated humans, elves, and vampires joined the attack.
Against three, perhaps he could have fought hand-to-hand, but against so many, dodging was the smarter play. And so, Rod jumped over a few of the living dead and twisted his body mid-air, landing and rolling to the other side of the huge room.
"What the hell are they?" he murmured after reaching his interlink.
With a surge of golden mana, he generated an air pump shotgun: a non-lethal weapon designed only to incapacitate by firing compressed air.
The man placed himself in strategic positions, aiming at the bodies running to him, and fired.
A large amount of compressed air shot from it in an instant… There was no damage. He shot again and again while weaving through their mindless attacks, yet, nothing worked.
Suddenly, one of the gorilla-like beasts grabbed him by his arm, and threw him like a projectile towards one of the bulletproof windows that offered a view into the adjacent room.
CRACK!
The impact ripped through the air… and even if the window didn't break, the force generated millions of spiderweb-like cracks across its thick surface.
Rod hit the floor with a sickening thud and searing pain flared in his back… a pain he hasn't felt in a long, long time.
His overwhelming mana typically acted like a living shield… Though, there was no possible way to use it now…
"OLIVER!" the Gun Hero roared in desperation, scrambling to get up.
Silence…
He was about to call Catra through his earpiece until the gorilla beast-man lifted its colossal fist and brought it down. The Hero rolled and avoided being crushed at the last possible second.
These monsters were stronger than he thought… The metallic floor tile where the fist landed broke and buckled inward, showcasing more strength than Rod could take in that precise moment.
He quickly pushed himself up and returned his air boomstick to the interlink. The situation needed something more... Something lethal. That's when a real pump-action shotgun materialized in his hand. He didn't want to do it, even if he had no choice.
Rod was about to shoot, only for something to catch his eye in the distance… A subtle flicker emanating from a metallic device.
At the far left corner of the large room, positioned above the smaller white room, a machine was active. He could feel it rapidly draining his mana... Now that he had it in sight, it was certain.
Watching the object's presence made him let his guard down for a moment, and that's all the gorilla needed.
Before he could react, a powerful blow to his side sent him flying backward and slam into the ground. The pain was intense, but it didn't matter now. Deep inside his mind, he knew there was only one thing to do.
Rod immediately got up and prepared. He took a closer look at the machine again, only to find something petrifying… On the lower half of the device was something imprinted on the cold metal…
The Grand North nation logo.
"What the hell?" was all the Hero could muster.
Such a sight caused a maelstrom of violent emotions rip through him: fear; sadness; disappointment; and incandescent rage.
He could have stared indefinitely… Yet, there wasn't time to think. He needed action, not just to save himself… To save his little girl.
As another reanimated vampire corpse prepared to launch its attack, he grabbed the thin vampire's shirt, and with a swift kick to its leg, he used its momentum to hurl it towards a group of its grotesque brethren.
That quick action knocked them down in a chaotic tangle for a few seconds Rod chose to take advantage of.
He ran as fast as he could towards a metallic table and jumped onto it after generating a bazooka launcher from his interlink.
As the reanimated corpse overwhelmed him, he jumped into the air and aimed.
Deep breath… hold it… breathe out.
BRUSH!
In an instant, the bazooka roared to life and spit out a small rocket that streaked across the room, striking the machine with a roar that shook the entire area and sent most of the reanimated people tumbling to the ground.
Rod was airborne for a couple of seconds until hitting the floor and rolling instinctively, avoiding a large dust cloud that billowed into the air and obscured the room.
The groaning corpses pushed themselves up… and felt an exhilarating change in the atmosphere. Quick crackling bolts of golden lightning began to emanate glow through the swirling cloud…
His powers were back.
On the other side of the wall, Catra hopped from left to right, avoiding Aurora's web attacks. It was too dark to see anything, and thus, she chose to run behind a discarded machine to gain cover and take some deep breaths.
They had been fighting for just over a minute but she was already tired. Having the incredible genetics of a cheetah was an advantage, even with the limits.
"¡Nine o'clock!" Alf exclaimed from the telyglasses.
"Nine o' what?" she asked in a panic before her outstretched hand was struck by Aurora's web.
In response, Catra launched herself backward.
"NHGH! So gross!"
She twisted and pulled at the strong web forcing her palm shut, though it just wouldn't yield. Such effort quickly stopped after her cheetah ears twitched and forced her to avoid another web attack.
"You've gotten faster, kitty! I'm honestly kind of impressed!" Aurora's amused voice echoed off the metal walls.
"Why are you doing this?! I hate you too, but I wouldn't ever dream of kidnapping you!"
The spider woman laughed at her question and spoke once more.
"You really don't know what's going on at all, do you? Hasn't my dear Rod told you?"
The girl quickly aimed her sniper rifle at the shifting shadow and fired. Then, a roar tore through the air.
The shot missed, and for a brief moment, the weapon's light illuminated Aurora's exact location.
"Missed me! Wow, weren't you supposed to be the Gun Hero's daughter?" the woman taunted confidently.
"I missed on purpose!"
Catra ran forward and surprised her enemy from below. She was too fast for Aurora, and because of that, the cheetah grabbed her skin-tight suit and slammed her to the floor with a primal roar.
It hurt a lot… to the point where Aurora let out a groan of pain while Catra triumphantly jumped away and created a few feet of distance.
"You look way better that way," she said with a smirk, "At least now you won't be able to hurt me nor my dad."
She'd always wanted to punch that woman but never got the chance. It could be said that this battle was… cosmic justice in a way, at least for her.
"Got you!" the spider woman exclaimed.
She lifted her hand and shot a thick web from her palm with speed unlike anything previously seen. Catra couldn't react at all, and in less than a second, Aurora had webbed her right foot to the floor.
The girl immediately dropped to her knees and desperately tried scratching at the webs with her claws. It was useless though. Freeing herself would take an eternity.
"And I got hit on purpose. You really are naive, aren't you?" Aurora purred and walked closer to her victim.
There was nothing Catra could do except growl and hiss.
"Oh? What are you gonna do, kitty? Scratch me with your only free hand? Shall we take care of that?"
"My dad will come for me! And once he knows what happened, he'll never talk to you again!"
Aurora stopped her languid circles.
"Oh, really? If you asked me, I would say it's quite the opposite. Once you know the truth, you'll never wanna speak with him again."
The cockiness in her tone compelled the girl's mind to race.
"What are you talking about?" she whispered.
"Oh, my poor Catra, you know what I'm talking about. You remember, don't you? The sheriff's office?"
"H-how do you know what happened there?"
"You noticed it, didn't you? The smell? That familiar beast-person smell?"
Suddenly, Catra's eyes widened and the fragmented pieces snapped into place.
"What are you saying?"
Aurora giggled again.
"He's been lying to you. A big, enormous lie that started long ago. All your life, you've been thinking that your mother died from cancer, didn't you?"
A few seconds of silence stretched between them.
"You're lying… This is all a big plan to turn me against my dad, isn't it?! It's not gonna work!"
Her denial was what Aurora expected. She grinned and kneel, bringing her face to Catra's eye level.
"Oh, really? Why don't you ask him? You think he's hiding something from you. I can see it in your eyes, and I can confirm that he is."
"You're a liar that gets away with killing people!"
"And you smelled your mother's scent," Aurora stated with cutting disdain.
She stood up and began to walk away.
"But hey, if you wanna live all your life behind a lie, then I guess I can't blame you. You're just a child: Afraid of showing emotion, afraid of reality. Killing people isn't right? Please! Your ignorance is so annoying."
The finality of her voice forced Catra to remain silent.
Were they lies? She couldn't be sure, but one truth resonated with undeniable certainty: Aurora wasn't lying about smelling her mother's scent.
Was her father really lying?
"You're telling me my mom had something to do with all of what's happened?" she asked in a trembling whisper.
"Oh honey, she's the key to everything."
Only the breeze's sound could be heard now…
Catra wanted to say something… anything… though just before she could, an explosion ripped through the air from the room next to them.
The very ground shuddered violently as Rod had just fired the bazooka.
"What the hell?!" Aurora tried asking.
Her words were cut off by a shockwave that erupted from the adjacent room. It shattered the windows and ripped apart the concrete wall. Everything was spiraling out of her control.
"Shit!" Aurora thought when she leaped to safety.
In the blink of an eye, Rod had moved at superhuman speeds through the falling debris until reaching his daughter. He carefully grabbed her and melted the sticky webs that restrained her with his powerful lightning bolts.
He then lifted her up, shielded her from the whiplash, and immediately launched towards the large warehouse gate.
BAM!
With a ferocious sound, Rod crashed against the gate, easily tearing it from its old hinges before making a small leap outside and landing on the concrete floor. His body quickly vanished from the scene at a speed no one would be able to catch, leaving behind the wreckage of the Spellex warehouse.
The two heroes didn't see it… yet, an unsettling silence descended over the entire third level of O'Clock City after the massive gate struck the ground.
Aurora slowly got down from her perch on the wall and looked at what Rod had done. He was just too powerful… to the point of making it feel unfair.
"CRAP!" she exclaimed in frustration and slammed her fist against a metal beam.
The mission was supposed to be simple, and a failure like this always did get on the nerves of her perfectionist self. Even still, her hand's pain easily masked the anger inside her.
"OW, OW, OW, OW, OW,"
While she frantically moved her throbbing hand, the rhythmic sound of footsteps echoed from behind.
A man with a bald head and gleaming glasses emerged from the deep shadows. It was Oliver…
"You're a surprisingly good actress," the doctor calmly said, "Even for me, some of that seemed real. I bet you could've been famous."
Aurora looked at him and sighed.
"I guess it didn't go exactly like planned."
To her surprise, Oliver smiled.
"Well, sometimes the plan has to change… And this change does not seem bad at all."
"How do you know they're gonna have the discussion you told me about?"
"I look into people's minds for a living. You said what I told you to say, and I planted the seeds inside Rod. It was only a matter of time until the lie crumbled his world down, piece by piece… starting with her."
Aurora saw it when he finished talking: his face terrifyingly transformed from a soft grin to one of absolute seriousness… where his eyes burned with an unholy intensity.
"Are you feeling okay?" she whispered.
"Me? Don't worry about it. All that should matter to you is that once we're done, Rod's gonna be all yours. I promised you that after all."
Oliver then turned around and walked towards the exit as his unhurried figure was illuminated by the silver glow of the moonlight.
Unlike him, Aurora stayed behind for a few moments. Watching him walk away sent an inexplicable chill through her.
Her senses told her he was acting kind and calm—almost benevolent. But deep down, in the core of her being, she felt his desire for revenge, like a dark need that seemed to consume him whole.
Some moments later, the spider woman walked away, illuminated by the moonlight that bathed her footsteps in its ethereal presence.
Both of them could hear the distant wail of Spellex security sirens, yet it became no concern of theirs. They vanished into the shadows in an instant… never to be seen.