"The stuff I did with Grey," Crystal replied, burrowing her face in her hands. "It was reckless and stupid."
"Wait, what's wrong?" Hyper said, shocked. "What brought this on?"
"I told you I wasn't interested in getting in a relationship, remember?" Crystal replied.
"Yeah, I remember," Hyper shrugged. "And I called bullshit on that, remember."
"I mean it, Hyper," Crystal groused. "That's one of the reasons why I rejected Raymond when he started his stalking campaign."
"I know, girl," Hyper smirked as the heroines stepped in the elevator, "but, deep down, I think you still want to be with a guy."
"I may want to be with a guy, but not right now," Crystal objected.
"But at the fundraiser, you were on him like oxygen and hydrogen," Hyper laughed.
"I'm serious!" Crystal glared. "Ever since the fundraiser, I've been thinking about what I've done that night and concluded that what I did wasn't right."
"I don't think that guy was complaining," Hyper grinned.
"I forced myself on another person under pressure," Crystal stated. "Now switch the genders, do you still think what I did was right?"
"No, you have a point," Hyper sighed. "But what are you going to do? As far as the other guy knows, you're head over heels for him."
"I'm going to have to break it off with him," Crystal shook her head. "It's the only thing I can do."
"I think you should think about it," Hyper advised as the elevator opened to the first floor.
"I already told you, I've been thinking about it since the fundraiser," Crystal repeated.
"Yeah, but you're making irrational reasons why you shouldn't," Hyper said. "I want to hear a plausible reason why you don't want to be with this guy."
"I don't want people to think I'm like Jasper," Crystal answered, crossing her arms.
"Damn, that is a good reason," Hyper agreed after a moment of silence. The heroines were already outside by then, feeling the frosty air of June blow past them whimsically. Sighing again, Hyper told her friend, "You better hurry and get it over with then."
"I will," Crystal said solemnly. "At least I have his number so I don't have to hound him down."
"Yeah, I guess that's a good thing," Hyper replied. "Swing by Weydon for lunch."
Hyper flew off over the heads of the news anchormen and women who daily gathered at the foot of the Hero's Headquarters. Once she steeled her resolve, Crystal texted Grey to meet her for lunch today. At first she was worried that he wouldn't see the text, but then remembered he said he worked for a fishing company, so he might be sleeping. Ignoring the newscasters' questions and inquiries, she went to the river and got set to work.
Eastward in Rindocamo, Osprey was following Ruthless, the one villainess he really didn't want to engage in combat with. The reason was mostly because Ruthless was a better combatant than he was (by his admittance). Osprey didn't know the details, but the villainess and a group of minions had managed to secure a CCC armored vehicle modeled after an RV and were, possibly, taking it to their hideout to make full use of it.
Currently, Osprey was flying low to avoid being spotted by the criminals as they weaved their way through traffic while his partner, Jasper, flew overhead, drawing their attention by aiming fireballs at them. After one too many attacks hit the vehicle, the armored vehicle brought out a Tier Four weapon, aimed, and fired right at the flame hero.
Once he was close enough, Osprey latched onto the armored vehicle and crawled towards the front of the vehicle, ignoring the weapon. Fireballs rained down all around his body, to which he mutely wished Jasper had a more focused aim. In spite of it, Osprey reached the front of the armored vehicle and punched the driver's window. Unsurprisingly, not only did it not break, but his position was also revealed as the CCC vehicle started swerving more violently than it was before.
After some quick thinking, he tried to open the driver's door, failed, and forced him to search for another solution. Thankfully, one showed up. A minion climbed through the top door and immediately kicked Osprey in the gut and sent Osprey over the edge. Unfortunately for the minion, Osprey could fly. Effortlessly, he maneuvered himself midair and delivered karma to the minion. Before he could jump into the vehicle, the villainess Ruthless appeared before him, poised with excessive confidence.
Jasper flew in front of the armored vehicle and let loose a flow of fire to slow and or stop the vehicle. All it did was force the vehicle to take a sharp turn and plow through a row of parked cars. Taking the initiative, Osprey leapt in the air and did a diving kick at Ruthless, who thoughtlessly avoided the attack. Instinctually, her right foot came up to Osprey's face, but he blocked it with his arms, and then blocked a left swing with his wing. But Ruthless still managed to get the first hit as she did a bicycle flip kick, in which her foot went under Osprey's arms and caught his chin.
The attack only caused him to briefly stumble, but during those brief seconds, he was an easy target. Like a cat, she waited for the right moment and struck swiftly. Two quick blows to the face and another kick to the gut connected before Osprey snapped out of his stupor and began to fight back. He made a wide feint attack, which Ruthless blocked, then tried to drive home a punch to her face.
Instead, she caught his arm, bending and forcing him to his knees before he flexed his wings to force her to release him. Still, she got the last hit as she kicked him in the chest while stumbling away, then teleported behind him to kick him off the back of the armored vehicle. As they were about to reengage, the armored vehicle rocked and Osprey saw that Jasper was using his destructive fireballs to make potholes in the road.
"We've got to pay for that, Jasper!" Osprey yelled.
Whether he heard what Osprey said or not, Jasper continued to throw fireballs destructive enough to make potholes in the road. For Osprey and Ruthless, they no longer had the firm footing that they needed to fight, even though they really didn't need it; professionals make do with what they got.
The vehicle sent Osprey into the air and he used that momentum to gain altitude. Then he flew down at Ruthless to tackle her but she teleported behind him at the last minute. Not to be taken by surprise, Osprey did a spin attack with his wings and managed to hit her across the face. As she stumbled back, Osprey landed and ran at her to capitalize on his opportunity. He jumped in the air to do a triple kick but Ruthless ducked and rolled behind him.
Osprey did the spin attack again, connected again, and took Ruthless off her feet this time. Annoyed, she teleported right in his face to stop him from making an attack on her. Before he could shriek at her, Ruthless made a swift chop attack at his neck, making him choke, and kicked him off the armored vehicle.
"Incoming!" they heard as a burning car fell from above.
Teleporting away, Ruthless didn't have to take part in the violent explosion that those minions in the armored vehicle went through. Quickly, Osprey flew towards the burning vehicle and tried to get the doors open to save the criminals inside. Despite the pain, he managed to wrench the side door open and get in the vehicle. Shockingly, the interior (not at all looking like an RV's insides) was barely damaged, and it was only damaged because the top door hadn't been closed.
The minions were as surprised as Osprey was since he was expecting a more deathly scene and they thought the door was going to hold out more than it did. However, they all got over their surprise and they all began to move at once. Because of the confined space, Osprey couldn't use his wings, but against these guys, he didn't have to.
The minions pulled out their weapons to fire but Osprey shrieked a high pitch frequency that forced them to drop their firearms as they covered their ears. That done, he rushed at them, smashing his fists in their faces as he tried to get to the driver. One of the minions hadn't gone down like he thought and managed to pick the hero up and drop him on his back.
"Hold him!" a minion ordered.
The minions automatically moved to hold Osprey down, stepping on any part of his body or wing that they could to keep him from moving. Not giving up, Osprey kicked the minion who gave the order and use the same foot to prop him up off the floor. He threw the minions holding his arms off and punched the one holding his leg on top of his head. As he stepped over the crooks, they fired at him with the weapons they dropped earlier.
Osprey could feel his movements slowing down as the laser weapons lowered his speed while also causing the pain to grow and build through his wings. Even still, he made it to the driver's seat and grabbed the wheel. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the wheel down towards himself and causing the armored vehicle to swerve right hard, sending everyone standing against a wall. The driver shot Osprey himself and swerved the armored vehicle back on track.
Unfortunately, the vehicle went over a pothole the wrong way and before anyone knew it, they were rolling with the RV. Everyone was either landing on someone else or crashing against the opening and closing cabinets and drawers, with at least two people yelling out in pain from the impacts. As they rolled, Osprey caught sight of Tier One to Three weapons falling out and rolling with them.
Of course, he wasn't the only one to catch sight of the weapons as a few other criminals made attempts to arm themselves with them. One of the criminals managed to put on a brass knuckle amidst the chaos to which Osprey moved to remove. As the RV catapulted him in the air, he dove for the criminal, but got the force of a sickening hit as the criminal's knuckled fist hit him across the cheek. Shaking off the hit, Osprey got ready for round two when the RV came to abrupt halt, slamming everyone and everything against one side of the RV.
Stumbling to his feet, Osprey stood to face off with a couple of criminals who had armed themselves with the available weapons. In spite of it though, he still rushed at them, being keen to put them down as soon as possible. The knuckled criminal rushed him first with the brass knuckle on one hand and a large knife in the other.
He made a wide swing with the knife at the hero as a feint, to which Osprey jumped back in alarm, and then tried to drive home another jab to Osprey's face. This time, Osprey was anticipating the attack and caught the fist, pulling the criminal close and slamming his knee into the criminal's stomach.
As the knuckled criminal went down, a shot hit Osprey in the wing, which he discovered came from the other criminal . . . surrounded by more crooks as they picked themselves off the ground. And before he could screech, the crooks fired at him automatically, hitting him as he tried to duck and dodge in the narrow space. As he attempted to roll backwards, Osprey saw that the knuckled criminal was lying flat on his back to keep himself from being hit, which gave the hero an idea of how he could be of some use.
