Hero Super

“Phew, okay, I’ll take a look,” Calvin muttered, hyping himself up for a moment before standing up fast and sitting back down just as quickly. He looked back at his teammates, eyes narrowed and brows scrunched, “Hmm…”

“Did you see anything?” Mara asked, looking concerned at his reaction.

“No. I ducked down too fast. I didn't see—”, he dodged Ina’s forehead flick, “—I’ll look again.”

He stood back up, peeking through the leaves of the bush they were hiding behind.

Across the small glade right in front of them was an even larger clearing filled to the brim with demonic furry bunnies. At the center of said space was what looked like a cage made of sticks and vine, with bars so tightly-knit that it was impossible to see what was inside without smashing your face on it. Although it was obvious what was inside.

'How did the bunnies even make a cage,’ Calvin thought idly.

He tried counting the number of bunnies, but they were moving too much and his view was too obstructed by leaves to get an accurate count. Still, he could estimate. It wasn’t a fuckton, like earlier when they came in, but it was still a buttload too much for them to handle.

Watching the bunnies go around reminded him of something from his previous world. 'Feels weirdly nostalgic.’

They seemed to be patrolling around the area like it was a bandit camp in an RPG, hopping with obvious pathing and pausing every now and then to stare at a tree. Even right now he was already imagining how to sneak inside the camp and knock out every rabbit without alerting anyone.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the sneakers or the knock-out sticks. One was destroyed by him, the other was confiscated by the government. He would’ve really considered trying out being a sneak thief again if he had them.

“You see anything?” Ina’s voice brought him back from his delusions.

“I can see rabbits, leaves, trees— ow ow! Stop pinching me!”

“Stop being stupid,” Quinn scolded him, smiling at his antics.

“I’m not, that’s really all there is,” he ducked back down, “more than two dozen rabbits are patrolling around a cage made with popsicles and twine. Nothing else.”

“A cage? You think the person we’re supposed to rescue is inside?” Ina asked.

“Nothing else down there,” Calvin nodded. “Unless you think the rabbits ate them.”

“You think they eat people?!” Mara paled.

“Pft—” Quinn stifled her laugh while Ina smirked.

“That was a joke,” He said, smiling wryly.

She blushed, “Ah— S—sorry…”

“Don’t apologize, he’s just weird,” Quinn smacked Calvin’s head.

“Pot, kettle,” Ina gestured between Quinn and Calvin.

He scoffed, returning to the topic, “So, what’s the plan? Charge in and start slaughtering bunnies?”

“As much as I would love that, there’s too many,” Ina said, looking disappointed that she still had enough reason not to try.

“That’s what I thought… some of them have horns too,” Calvin added.

“Horns?” Ina stood up and checked for herself. She ducked back down and nodded. “Horns.”

“The mission said 'rescue’, we don’t really need to fight… do we?”

“Hmm… how about this,” Quinn pointed to Calvin, “you lure them away while we do the rescuing.”

He raised a brow at her suggestion, “Just me?”

“Why just him?” Ina frowned.

“Cal’s the fastest,” she said resolutely before looking towards Ina, “and he’s less likely to charge into the group of rabbits to start beating them up.”

“I was berserking, okay? I’m not that bad,” Ina muttered, pouting.

“No, you’re worse—” Calvin tilted his head to dodge a finger flick, only for Ina to grab onto his ear instead. “Ow ow! Okay, sorry!”

Ina grunted, crossing her arms, “Just because he’s faster…”

“You’re faster than me when berserked,” Calvin patted her head, earning a pinch from Ina.

“I don’t think C—Calvin can lure every rabbit,” Mara spoke, stuttering. “There might be some that stay near the cage?”

“That’s where Ina comes in,” Quinn patted the sulking girl’s shoulder.

“Even then, I don’t think I can lure out enough for you guys to be able to handle the rest— what are you doing?” Calvin asked as Quinn suddenly held her hand out.

They looked at her strangely for a second before a smirk appeared on her face and a gadget appeared in her hand— a megaphone.

“Fuck!” Lillian cursed, seeing the smirking girl take out an item from her pocket. “I forgot to take it back!”

After formulating a plan, Calvin was handed the megaphone and kicked out of the hiding spot.

“This is a bad idea,” Calvin muttered as he stood in front of the clearing, gadget in hand. He stared at the device that looked like a clip-art red and white megaphone, muttering a question, “Why does she even have something like this?”

Super Help

Annoying Megaphone

A device designed to create the most annoying sound in an area of up to three kilometers. Intensity can be adjusted.

Super Help

Annoying Megaphone

A device designed to create the most annoying sound in an area of up to three kilometers. Intensity can be adjusted.

“Three kilometers… she did say it’s loud, but won’t this burst my eardrums or something? Holy hell, let’s see if there’s a knob,” Calvin, in a rare and unexpected moment of wisdom, didn’t immediately press the button to turn the device on.

Regretfully, he found no knob anywhere on the tech. But, three buttons were sitting in a row, much like those you find in electric fans.

“Super, ultra, and mega…”, he read the labels of each button, brows furrowing at the vagueness, “it’s normally left to right… 'super’ should be the quietest, right? Wait… no, this world has superheroes and supervillains, super should be the strongest setting… so it might be 'mega’ that’s the quietest. But this is a megaphone… ugh… damn it Quinn…”

Calvin debated for a second whether or not to come back to the others and ask, but lazier heads prevailed. He pressed the 'mega’ button and started aiming the end towards the commune of rabbits guarding the cage. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger and braced himself.

Click

Nothing.

“Hmm?” He looked at the megaphone.

Click

Click

He smacked the side of the megaphone, pulling it repeatedly, “Is this broken or—”

A chorus of chaos suddenly introduced itself in his ears. The sound of medical equipment beeping continuously throughout a sleepless night, the sound of buzzing from a mosquito that hid right by his ear, the sound of silver knives scratching against ceramic plates— every note of sound he hated the most blared through his ears as the gadget worked its wonders.

“Fuck!” He cursed, feeling dizzy from the sound. He immediately released the trigger, stopping the noise immediately. “That was more than just annoying…”, he willed the tech to go into his pocket before smacking himself on the forehead, “…no pocket. Goddamn, that’s annoying—”

A subtle rumble made him pause and remember the situation.

Cold sweat ran down his back as he looked back up and towards where the dozens of rabbits were supposed to be at, immediately shivering at the sight that greeted him. What was supposed to be just more than twenty bunnies turned into hundreds of glowing red eyes everywhere; between the trees, in the bushes, under mounds, over hills— he was surrounded.

He gulped audibly, swiveling his head to look for a place to run towards as the bunnies started charging him. There was only one direction.

“Damn,” he muttered, “I’m going to be so tired after this.”

Calvin jumped, using his legs and just a smidge of [Jumper], dodging the first wave of dumb rodents that tried to tackle him. At the apex of his ascent, he summoned a pebble underneath his left foot and jumped again before doing the same with his right foot.

Then, he started running, mid-air, summoning pebbles as footholds, heading towards a direction away from the cage.

“Come at me you fucking bunnies!” He shouted, pointing the megaphone in the air and pulling the trigger. “Let’s go!”

Mara’s eyes widened, looking at the scene of Calvin seemingly running in the air while blasting the sound of scraping glass and buzzing machinery using the device in his hand. Her heart started to beat a heavy rhythm, concern popping up as she watched him lure hundreds of rabbits towards him.

“There he goes,” Quinn, the pink-haired girl, muttered beside her, smiling as she watched.

The other girl with black hair and purple streaks, Ina, frowned, “That thing’s probably luring every bunny in the entire forest.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Mara couldn’t help but ask.

Quinn looked at her, brow raised and eyes narrowed, “He’ll be fine, I mean look—” she pointed towards Calvin who was already taunting the rabbits with rude gestures while running backwards, “—see. He’s fine. Let’s go do the easy part.”

“Okay…” Ina groaned, letting herself be dragged by Quinn.

Quinn hugged her arm, “There’s gonna be a few left, don’t worry.”

“If you say so…”

Mara hesitated a little, glancing towards the boy disappearing in the distance, the heat in her chest gradually cooling down now that he was away. She let out a trembling sigh, unsure what that feeling was, 'Why do I feel like he’s familiar?’

After a moment, she shook herself out of that weird headspace and jogged towards Quinn and Ina.

The two were stopped behind a large tree, peeking out from the side and towards the cage.

“What’s—”

“Shh!” Ina turned to her, finger in front of her mouth, before nodding towards the clearing.

Her eyes widened as she hid with them behind another tree.

From her brief peek, she counted five balls of black fluff, still surrounding the cage like stalwart sentries. They didn’t seem to be bothered that every other bunny had gone away from the camp like they were programmed to guard the cage whatever happened.

“See? I told you,” Quinn spoke to Ina as they neared the clearing.

“There’s at least five… I can probably take that many,” Ina deliberated.

Quinn nodded, “but they have horns.”

“Horns?” Mara peeked again. Somehow she missed the giant black horn each rabbit had on their forehead. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a Summoner Mystic. Usually, the more details added from the normal summon, the stronger the summon. Usually.” Ina explained. “Like in video games. You play video games?”

She shook her head, “I don’t. S—sorry.”

Quinn and Ina looked at each other for a moment before shrugging, “That’s fine. Anyway… the thing is that they’re probably stronger than normal ones. I don’t know if I’ll be able to take all of them alone. Without berserking.”

“We can lure some while you fight as much as you can,” Quinn suggested.

“We can?”

“You plan to be deadweight?”

“No! No— I mean, I want to help, but I don’t… I don’t think I can outrun them,” Mara looked down, frowning at her uselessness. “But I still want to help…”

“Then help,” Quinn patted her shoulder, “use your brain if you can’t use your legs. Anyway, we have to hurry. Cal’s fast, but he can’t last forever. You ready?”

“Excited,” Ina nodded, smiling widely.

The three got into position, Mara and Quinn hiding behind the closest trees while Ina strode into the clearing with a grin and a pair of batons Quinn gave her. She offered a gun, but Ina said that it was cheating.

The two waited for the signal, watching as Ina came running closer and closer to the bunnies.

“Let’s go!” Ina shouted as she dashed towards the nearest bunny, batons at the side.

She jumped in the air and slammed them down the bunny’s head, bouncing off afterwards as the rabbit flew back and hit the cage.

“Oi!” A familiar voice came from the cage. “This the rescue? Took yer bloody time, eh?”

“Is that…” Mara muttered, brows furrowing at the mystery person in the cage.

Quinn interrupted her thought, “Get ready.”

Mara nodded, looking towards Ina and widening her eyes as she watched her dance in between the five bunnies while hitting them occasionally with the baton.

“Are you sure she needs help?” She asked.

Quinn nodded, “They’re not even flinching from her hits.”

“Still—”

“Two!” Ina suddenly shouted.

“One each, convenient,” Quinn said, tapping her shoulder. “Remember, lure one, then keep it busy. Run or dodge, whatever, just keep it busy.”

“Okay,” Mara nodded, breathing deeply.

A bunny flew towards them, kicked by Ina. Quinn immediately got its attention by running towards it, grabbing an ear, then pulling it before jumping back and waiting for its reaction. She waved to Mara before running away as the bunny started charging her.

Mara’s heart beat in anticipation, nervousness, and excitement as she waited for a bunny to come her way.

A second later, her waiting stopped as Ina spun around and chucked another bunny by the ears straight towards her. The dog-sized ball of fluff and horn hit a tree and bounced harmlessly, looking towards Ina in preparation for a charge.

Remembering Quinn’s instructions, she quickly ran towards the bunny and kicked, her foot feeling like it hit the softest pillow in her bed.

She didn’t hurt it, but she got its attention.

“Ah—”, Mara froze as the rabbit’s glowing red eyes and sharp pointed horn turned towards her. “I’m sorry?”

She jumped sideways, screaming as she got clipped by the rabbit’s sudden dash. The impact sent her to the side, groaning and breathing heavily due to the wind getting knocked out of her lungs from the impact.

Mara looked back towards the rabbit, feeling a heavy dread in her chest and static on her skin as she saw the creature skewering the tree that was behind her. It struggled to get its horn out for a few seconds, the jagged edges of the 'weapon’ strapped to its forehead kept getting stuck in the wood.

It eventually freed itself, turning and glaring towards Mara with its devilish eyes before it charged again without warning.

Like a deer in headlights, Mara stared stunned, staying in place until the last second. She broke out of her daze and managed to roll to the side, avoiding the attack entirely.

“Haah…” She ended up on her knees, looking up again at the rabbit that once again got stuck in another tree.

Her eyes turned towards Ina in desperation, feeling disappointment as she saw her still fighting against the three rabbits. Quinn was nowhere to be found, and Calvin was even less likely to be anywhere near.

The two other people who were supposed to be in their group had disappeared by themselves. There was no one to rely on.

'I can do this’, She thought, breathing deeply to calm herself down. With renewed focus, she turned back to where the rabbit was stuck in.

“Huh?” She blurted out, finding the enemy gone. “Ah!”

An impact from above sent her to the ground, a weight on her chest pushed out all the air in her lungs. She looked up, shivering. The rabbit had jumped and landed on top of her, its horn barely missing her head as it stabbed right beside her face and into the ground.

“Ah… get off me!” She screamed, instinctively pulling on her power and feeling the drain and the headache that came with it. “Go away!”

Unfortunately, the rabbit jumped back before it could activate.

Mara rolled to the side and pushed herself up, eyes not tearing away from the rabbit that was looking back at her with wariness. She knew it would pounce again, and she had to be ready.

'I can’t keep dodging and my power… it takes some time to activate… time,’ Her pupils dilated as a plan formed in her head. Her eyes turned left and right, careful to keep the rabbit in her peripheral, looking for the thickest and closest tree.

'That one looks—’ The rabbit disappeared from her sight. Knowing what was next, she immediately ran towards the tree she was looking at.

A thud rang out behind her as the rabbit landed heavily where she was earlier. She didn’t look back, despite the next thump she heard, and kept running towards the tree.

“Yes!” She shouted, reaching it and turning around, immediately faced the fluffy demon with a knife on its forehead, standing only a few meters away from her with its weapon pointed at her chest.

Not even thinking, she dove to the side.

A wooden thud as the rabbit’s horn pierced the wood, the horn properly stuck as its jagged edges kept getting blocked by the splinters.

'Now!’ She screamed in her head, standing up and pouncing on the rabbit. Landing on the fluff, she immediately grabbed on and started using her power.

The creature squealed as it started to jump up and down like it was on fire, writhing as dread started flowing through its veins.

Thankfully, Mara’s power activated after a few seconds of rodeo, and the rabbit disappeared without a trace soon after.

“It worked! Haah…” She muttered and lay on the ground, feeling all her stamina gone and all the pain rush in her head. “Ugh… it hurts.”

Making something that large disappear was a first for her. Fighting anything was a first for her.

'I’m going to have to do this again, aren’t I?’ She thought, feeling tired but also oddly motivated.

Pink appeared in her vision, Quinn appeared and was looking down at her with a smile, “You okay?”

“Tired,” She managed to blurt out. “Help.”

“Just lie down there for a bit while Ina finishes up,” She chuckled, looking towards where the sound of fighting was coming from. “I wonder what’s happening on Cal’s end?”

“This honestly isn’t too bad,” Calvin muttered to himself as he ran, glancing back at the army of rabbits running towards him. “I mean, ignoring that, I guess.”

He started using [Jumper] as subtly as he could since a few minutes ago, using it to supplement his speed and reduce the drain on his stamina. It also gave him sharper control of his direction, but he had to be careful not to use it too overtly. [Jumper] was a power that had no audible or visible fanfare, but it was still very supernatural and quite obvious if he used it as he normally did.

“Hmm,” he frowned, his running and parkouring through the forest turning into autopilot as he disappeared into thoughts of hindsight and retrospect, “what do I do now? We never… talked about what to do after luring them.”

He glanced behind once more, the crowd of rabbits growing with every press of the button. It almost felt like a natural disaster as he continued leading the hoard of rabbits to ravage and destroy the forest.

“Can I message them?” He wondered out loud, bringing up his holowatch.

Calvin: Are you guys done? Network restricted. Unable to send.

“That doesn’t work, how about—”

“Woah!” A familiar tanned woman came running up beside him. “Hey there, pebble boy!”

“Helena?” Calvin’s eyes widened, seeing her sprout up from thin air. “Why are you her— woah!”

“Ha! Eyes front, guy,” she laughed, “so, how are you? Weather looks nice for a run, huh?”

Calvin chuckled, “What are you doing here?”

“Didn’t you get the pretest? It said 'run’ right?”

“Have you been running since you came in?”

“What else is there to do?”

He glanced behind him, “I mean, right now, not much I guess. Did you come in alone?”

“No. I was with five other students. We ran, but they were too slow,” she shrugged. “You?”

“Yeah. We’re in the second test,” Calvin nodded. “You sure you haven’t gotten the second test yet?”

“No? I’ve just been running,” She looked to her holowatch. “Ah, I didn’t even notice. Oops.”

“Uh, well, good luck?”

“Thanks, you too, I’m off. See you later.”

“See you?” Calvin gave a confused wave as the girl banked right and disappeared into the forest. “That was weird.”

“What was weird?”

“Ah!” Calvin almost jumped and hit a tree. “Why are you back?”

“I need help.”

“Sure. It’s not like I’m busy.”

“Great! Uh… does your second mission also have coordinates?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I found mine. Just a second ago. It’s—”

Thud

A giant rabbit hopped into view, appearing out of nowhere, with an accessory attached to its neck. A collar, with a particularly familiar-looking cage made of wood.

“Well… yeah, I need help.”