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As Icon soared through the skies above Taloseden, he soon realized that the situation on the ground was much more dire than he could have imagined. The capitol city was a disaster zone, the streets were littered with debris from blown out buildings as well as the bodies of the resistance fighters, as well as the forces loyal to the regime. He began his descent towards the city, flying just above the rooftops of the buildings within the city limits, most of which only stood a couple of stories high. From what he could see, the worst of the carnage had already come through the main square of Taloseden, as things had seemingly quieted in this section of town. 
However, the quiet would not last. 

Up ahead just several blocks, there was an explosion of activity. The two sides were locked in combat, the resistance fighters barricaded themselves behind parked vehicles on the street and fired on the regime forces, who returned fire. The firefight was fierce, with both sides taking losses. Icon lowered his head and accelerated towards the two opposing forces, determined to stop any more bloodshed. As he closed in on the two groups, there was a sudden explosion.

[I] No...[/i] Icon thought to himself as a rocket that had been fired by a member of the regime's forces impacted one of the buildings directly behind the resistance fighters, sending a chunk of the building falling toward them. 

Icon pushed himself, accelerating toward the falling debris that threatened to crush the resistance fighters beneath it. He knew that it was going to be close, but he was determined to stop anyone else from dying. So he dug down and pushed himself, and reached the resistance fighters just before the chunk of brick and mortar crushed them, catching the debris and setting it safely on the ground. Suddenly, Icon was hit by a barrage of gunfire from the regime forces. Icon turned to face the soldiers, and as bullets bounced harmlessly off of him he just shook his head.

[b] “You do know who I am, don't you?”[/b] He said as he stepped toward them. Then, before they could react, he left his feet and rocketed toward them, and in only a matter of seconds disarmed the regime soldiers, before doing the same to the resistance fighters. 
[b] “Go home.”[/b] He said before taking to the skies again. 

Icon continued toward the main square, where he once again encountered regime forces engaged with the resistance fighters. This time, the resistance fighters had the regime forces pinned down behind a stone wall while they unloaded their weapons on them. The fighting had clearly been intense, as bodies and debris littered the square. 

[i]Dammit.[/i] Icon thought to himself as he touched down in front of the regime forces, this time drawing the fire of the resistance fighters. Icon quickly sprang into action, leaping towards the resistance fighters. As he approached them, he fired of a volley of optic blasts, targeting the guns of several of the resistance fighters, causing them to either melt, or in some cases, explode in the fighters' hands. He then swooped in and disarmed the remaining fighters. 

As Icon turned his attention on the regime forces, intent on disarming them as well in order to avoid any further bloodshed,  he was rocked by a hard punch to his temple, which knocked him off his feet, crashing into a stone wall, much like the one that had been protecting the regime forces from the resistance fighters' assault. The sudden attack left Icon dazed for a moment, however, as he got back to his feet and regained his bearings, he laid his eyes on the man who had taken him by surprise. The man himself seemed unremarkable. An older man, who looked to be in his mid to late fifties who was sporting a shaved head and lightly graying scruff around his face. He also wore the same uniform as the regime soldiers, though he wore general stripes. 

“You don't belong here, hero.” The man said angrily. “You are trespassing.” He finished before launching himself at an impossible speed. 
Icon reacted, sidestepping the attacking general and countering with a right hand to the back of the man's head, which sent him face first into the ground. The attack seemed to do little to slow the older man down, as he immediately got back to his feet and resumed his attack, hitting Icon with a barrage of punches that forced the blue and silver clad hero backward. Icon fought back, hitting his attacker with several punches that knocked the older man back, then he followed up with an uppercut which dropped the man.

Icon stood over the man, and was about to tell him that he is not here to fight, but that he was only trying to help. However, before he was able to say anything, he was interrupted.

“Enough!” A booming voice called from the distance. Icon immediately stopped what he was doing and turned to face whoever this new threat was. To his surprise, it was a man who he recognized as someone that had, up to this point, been somewhat of a myth. Though there had been some news footage of this man, many people, Icon included had to this point, questioned whether he actually existed, or was a sort of boogeyman invented by the Charonian regime to keep its people in line. 

The imposing  man wore a black mask with crimson sections that came up from the sides of the forehead and the cheeks with came to points around his glowing blue eyes. His suit was made of black leather and crimson metal armor that protected the most vulnerable parts of the human body, but the piece that stuck out the most was the crimson chest plate, to which a partial cape, which consisted of two pieces of fabric which covered his shoulders and flowed all the way to his feet were attached. The man was also not alone. He was flanked on his right by something that Icon wasn't sure what to make of. It wasn't a man, it wasn't even human. It was a humanoid machine, it was a gray and black android almost completely devoid of facial features, with the exception of a glowing green ring of light which was located between what could only be described as its “eyes.” In fact, any resemblance to facial features was just an illusion created by the way that the android's face plate was attached to its head. 

“Omnus, that is enough.” He said. 

“Yes, Lord Forsaken.” The older man replied as he stepped away from Icon, joining the masked man and the android. 

“You do not belong here.” Forsaken addressed Icon.

“I came here to help, and I was attacked.” Icon told the masked man.

“While I appreciate your...altruism, your interference is not needed. This is my country, these are my people, and this is my problem.” Forsaken said as he looked around at the destruction in the square. “Now I suggest that you leave my borders, before I take this violation of our nation's sovereignty as a personal slight.” Forsaken finished.

Icon was about to protest, however, he decided against it. The Charonian government was notoriously short tempered, and the slightest provocation could be seen as an act of war, and that was the last thing that Icon wanted. So instead he just nodded in acceptance. 
[b] “Very well.”[/b] Icon said before taking one last look around before rocketing skyward and away from the troubled nation. 

From the ground, Forsaken seethed as he watched the hero vanish from sight. The truth was, he DID take Icon's interference in his nation's conflict as a personal slight, and one that would not go without retribution. After several long moments, Forsaken finally took his eyes off the sky.

“Helos.” He said, addressing the living android.

“Yes, my lord?” The android replied.

“Go to America. Watch him. Test him if you must, but his actions cannot go unpunished.” 

“I understand.” Helos said.

“He needs to be taught a lesson, I want you to break him.” Forsaken demanded.

“It will be done.” Helos replied.

“But first, eliminate the rebels.” 

“Of course, My Lord.” Helos replied as he turned to face the resistance fighter. The green ring of light in the center of his head flashed red, and there was a flash of light as Helos unleashed a barrage of energy at the resistance fighters. They cried out as the energy reached them, and then they suddenly fell silent as they were engulfed by the attack, and instantly incinerated.