[center][b][color=ffbc57][sup][h1]H E L L F I R E[/h1][/sup][/color][/b][/center]
[COLOR=ffbc57][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]W E I S M A N   S T R E E T   M A L L[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][INDENT][sup][color=darkgray]July 3[sup]rd[/sup], 2020  |  3:31p.m.  |  Happy Harbour, Rhode Island[/color][/sup][/INDENT][/INDENT]
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Hellfire’s history with the Jokerz was a short and curse-filled affair. When he’d graduated from training with Bruce, transitioning from his amateurish attempt at vigilantism – which had been constrained to two city blocks – to the “big time”, he found operating alongside Batman to be a sobering experience. It was with Bruce that he’d seen his first dead body, under his watchful eye that he’d apprehended his first powered thugs; he’d been witness to much of man’s depravity alongside the Dark Knight, stopping more would-be thieves, murderers and rapists in one night than most kids his age would ever run into. It affected him at first, as it would affect anyone, but as night turned into day he’d been able to move past any trauma that Gotham threw his way. He still felt anger at the crimes, still felt his chest flare and his hands shake when he saw someone hurting another, but he figured that as long as people like him – better people, like Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman – existed, then at least there was something being done about it. But the Jokerz… the Jokerz had a special place in the dark side of Andy’s heart.

They were a goddamn pain in his arse.

He’d first run into them eight months ago, a few weeks after his sixteenth birthday – the Dee Dees and co. had been terrorising a low-income apartment block in the Bowery, as if its poor tenants didn’t have enough problems to worry about, and Hellfire had gotten there only moments before Batman and Robin… enough moments to show him why he should never let his guard down around them. They were a sadistic, unpredictable bunch, and if it hadn’t been for Andy’s powers it would’ve been [i]him[/i] that was toast – but there was more than that. For a group called “the Jokerz”, their jokes sure weren’t worth a damn, haunting his dreams with their disappointing, irritating punchlines for what seemed like every time he closed his eyes. 

Ever since that encounter, he’d run into those clowns on a number of occasions, getting familiar with their annoying tendencies to be the absolute worst, having themselves become familiar with him, coming to display an unsettling kind of joy whenever they clashed. Seeing how excited they were to run into their “favourite toaster” today had made him sick to his stomach. 

Packed in with his teammates and encircled by the Jokerz, Andy looked to Superboy for direction. He had half a mind to hit the mook in front of him with a shot to the groin, but he couldn’t allow himself to do that just yet – while his instincts screamed at him to get moving, he all too often listened to them without giving his head a say, and right now his head wanted to see what the Team’s leader would do. 

[color=c23d3d][b]“Dee Dee,”[/b][/color] said Superboy, [color=c23d3d][b] “I don’t know where you’ve been… but we’re as big time as it gets.”[/b][/color]

It was then that Chucko flew back into the Kord Store, Superboy launching him into the air with a powerful swing.

Hellfire grinned beneath his mask. [color=ffbc57][i]Nice.[/i][/color]

Shot to the groin it is.

His foot collided with the henchclown’s pelvic region, folding the goon in half with a pained wheeze; Andy almost winced, too, but overcame his discomfort with a knee to the chin, bringing his other leg up to knock the clown out. In those short seconds, Quickling had come thundering out of the Kord Store, tripping over Chucko’s outstretched arm. Twilight had split off from the Team, rushing to help a group of stragglers that Tachyus must’ve missed as they were attacked by three mooks. To Andy’s right was Fenrir, the canine teen struggling with Bonk, beast vs. brute in a savage exchange of blows. His would-be prey – the Dee Dee twins – smirked in self-assured relief, happy to keep their skin connected to bone, and turned their attention to Hellfire.

“Hey, handsome,” giggled one of them, “Do you mind if we get some marshmallows? I’m in the mood for a roast.”

[color=ffbc57][b]“Sure,”[/b][/color] he assented through gritted teeth, [color=ffbc57][b]“As soon as you get better jokes.”[/b][/color]

Experience had taught him that taking the twins on solo wasn’t a smart thing to do. They were agile as anything, flipping and cartwheeling and tumbling their way through your defences, working in almost perfect unity to gain the upper hand. Their unpredictability worked to their advantage, never falling into a pattern, keeping their opponents on edge – and just when you managed to sneak a hit in, they’d play their trump card, duplicating before you could take them out of the playing field. The only way one could hope to stop them from multiplying was to knock them out as soon as possible, but to do that would take power and speed that Hellfire didn’t have. A burst of solar energy would solve that problem, but he refused to use it here, packed as tightly as he was with the rest of his teammates – not to mention the level of injury that he could subject the twins to. The muggers who’d attacked him on the night he got his powers had lost their eyesight on account of the miniature sun’s brightness alone; while more extreme than a burst of flame, he couldn’t take that chance with someone as unprotected as the Dee Dees.

[i] [color=ffbc57]So – a different approach, yeah?[/color][/i]

[color=ffbc57][b]“Avatar, Batgirl, Mirage,”[/b][/color] he called to the only heroes that were yet to occupy themselves, [color=ffbc57][b]“Help me out here. These two’ll duplicate if we don’t take ‘em down fast enough, and I don’t exactly like the idea of burning them to a crisp. We have to hit hard and fast, so uh… yeah. That’s all I’ve got.”[/b][/color]

“Aw,” said a Dee Dee twin, “The toaster’s too scared to take us all on his own? Colour me disappointed.”

“That’s okay, hot stuff,” said the other, “It’s only natural to be scared.”

Andy could barely stop himself from gagging. [color=ffbc57][b]“[i]God[/i], you’re the worst.”[/b][/color] 

As he lunged forward, it crossed his mind that this might prove to be a little therapeutic.

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