Long Live the King || unOrdinary

One Year Later...

The two vigilantes X-Static and Ponytail stood above the dead body of the man. They had been continuing an investigation on ability amplifiers that suddenly started circulating in the lower districts. Gang wars had become common in these areas since rival gangs were gunning to get their hands on the amplifiers. They knew that the mysterious shadow organization EMBER had been responsible for distributing these vials, but that was all they knew about EMBER. Next to the body, they saw a vial full of the amplifier.

X-Static knelt down next to the body and checked his pulse. "Is he dead?" Ponytail asked.

"Looks like it," X-Static replied. He picked up the vial of the amplifier and examined it closely. "That's weird," he said. "The killer left a vial behind?" All of a sudden, they heard footsteps echo through the alley. They turned to look at the one making the sounds. A tall man with purple-ish hair and green eyes stood before them in a long trench coat, a hat, and a mask that covered his mouth and nose.

The two vigilantes looked at each other. "He's hiding his identity," X-Static pointed out.

"Could he be one of us?" Ponytail asked.

"Excuse us," X-Static said to the man. "Do you know what happened here?" The three of them stood across from each other for a moment before the man standing in front of them activated his ability. His hands burst into flames and his nails extended into long, sharp claws. He dashed towards them with a whoosh of the flames. Their eyes widened as they reflexively activated their own abilities.

Ponytail drew his energy blade and attempted to block the man's attack. He managed to clash with him, but the man's claws managed to slip past his blade and slashing him across the shoulder, singing the sleeve. Fortunately, Ponytail also managed to slash the man's shoulder. Simultaneously, X-Static dodged out of the way with his superior speed.

X-Static charged up a large amount of electricity and sent it into the ground towards the man as Ponytail dashed forward and attempted to attack him. The man leaped out of the way, dodging out of the way of the lightning as well as Ponytail's blade.

He touched down on the ground, holding his shoulder to stop the bleeding and stumbling a little as he stood his ground. Ponytail and X-Static stood battle ready, with Ponytail holding his shoulder as well.

Ponytail relentlessly attacked the man, slashing at his torso with rapid speeds. The man continued dodging each hit, for he was too quick for Ponytail to connect the attacks.

X-Static dashed forward at great speeds, leaping over the man and touching his shoulder before sending a powerful surge of energy into his body at the highest voltage he could manage. The man cried out in pain and fell to his knees, unconscious.

"Looks like we found our killer," X-Static said.

"The attacks match the wounds," Ponytail agreed.

"Alright, let's knock him out," X-Static said nonchalantly. "Looks like we can go home early today." Little did they know, another operative was watching them the whole time, which meant they had no way of knowing what would come next.

Volcan, an operative they had heard of but never seen, dropped down from the roof and slashed across X-Static's body with her own pair of flaming claws. X-Static yelled out with a burning pain as his suit burst into flames before Ponytail's eyes. Within an instant of the attack, Volcan was already racing towards Ponytail.

Ponytail attempted to block her attack, but the attack was too quick and too strong, ripping past his blade and slashing him across the chest. Ponytail slid back as the two EMBER operatives stood above his fallen friend.

"Get up!" Volcan said to the other.

"Forgive me," the other said. "I still haven't gotten used to this ability yet." He pressed his fingers to his forehead as if he had a splitting headache. He got to his feet and turned to look at the tattered and broken figure of X-Static. He stabbed him in the back with a set of flaming claws, causing him to scream in pain as the flames engulfed his back.