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A sharp screech cut loudly through the library as Kristine Calverly moved the whetstone over the claws of her gauntlets. The noise was the only sound to be heard from within the Star City Public Library, bar the occasional chime of the servers stacked in the centre of the room or the occasional shrieks from the streets beyond its walls. She merely let out a menacing smirk as her four-armed compatriot Michael McCain flashed a scowl in her direction, before returning his gaze back towards the monitor. 

The sight of the muscle clad behemoth pouring over the computers bemused her greatly, a fact she made no attempt to hide. The look of fear on his face as he watched the battle of New York on the machine’s monitors merely added to the smile on her face. For a man who went by [i]Forearm[/i] you think he’d be used to the horrifying appearances of the mutants that flashed across the screen, yet here he stood like a whimpering baby, clutching his extra pair of limbs as if they would fall off at a moments notice. Kristine couldn’t entirely blame him for his fear. The blue-furred demon that jumped about the screen was enough to make any man’s skin crawl. But that was why they were here; to put an end to the scourge of their kind.

She watched as Forearm reached into his pocket, producing a pill bottle. The pills inside rattled frantically as he poured a number into his hand, before shoving them down his throat with a large gulp. After a few seconds, his body stopped fidgeting, his artificial arms growing more relaxed as the painkillers did their job. The experiments had had an effect on all of them, Michael more than the rest. She looked down at her own hand, her palm the only part exposed from the ragged claws she wore. Her veins pulsated vividly, a deep purple from the Velocity 9 that gave her her abilities. Sure the enhancer gave her speed, but the pain it gave her, as a result, was worse than her cramps. It was a pain she had chosen though. It would all be worth it in the end.

“Has the Grell tower regained contact again?” 

Haruo’s voice called from the balcony above them. He spoke sharply in an authoritative manner, his eyes unmoving from the tablet in his hands. He looked almost fearsome in his suit of red and white, the visor covering his face making him appear just like one of the mutants she’d previously spotted on the news. He played the part well, although for Kristine it was often hard to see where Haruo ended and the [i]Kamikaze[/i] began. 

McCain gave a questioning look to the central monitor which displayed a series of flashing lights over a wireframe map of the city. He shook his head with irritation.

“Nope, and no contact from the squad there either.”

“The new Robin Hood?” Kristine asked if only to stop herself from making a comment at the pissed off expression on both of her teammate’s faces. 

“Doesn’t look like it,” Michael said, rubbing his chin with one of his multiple arms. “Looks like some crazy blonde chick just whooshed through and beat the crap out of them.”

The news brought a smile to Burnout’s face, her gaze running alongside the edge of her blades. 

“Perfect. A new wannabe hero for us to gut then.” 

Haruo’s stern voice cut her off, as he moved around the balcony above until he backed a large bay window that looked out over the city. 

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up Burnout.” He jeered, oblivious to the skyline darkening behind him. “It would take a miracle for anyone to find us here.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the window behind him exploded with a mass of sickly black energy, as if to mock him for his naivety The blast took out a large portion of the upstairs wall, with debris and broken glass scattering everywhere. Kamikaze followed suit, his body plummeting to the ground floor like a ragdoll. 

And then, just as quickly as the explosion came, it was gone, replaced by the visage of a young woman. She stood menacingly on the remains of the balcony before them, the sleek black staff in her hand radiating with a poisonous energy. Her hair was a mess of blonde, with her now scruffy fringe covering the entirety of her forehead. Her clothes followed suit; torn and ragged, the rock band logo on her shirt unreadable due to the splatters of blood and the tears that cut through it. 

Her eyes were alive with all of the fury and anger that the hordes were fighting with outside. All of the fury of Hell. 

Burnout locked eyes with the newcomer, brandishing her claws dramatically. 

“Finally.” She uttered, gritting her teeth with a murderous joy.