Relic-Verse: Champions of Hope

Chapter 7

-- Part 1 --

Cardinal soared through the air, the midnight breeze helping keep her calm as she and her two students scanned the rooftops for their target: An undefined man who got into a scuffle with police and left them both shivering messes on the ground before running off.

Phoenix grew restless from the lack of activity "What if he isn't even up here?"

"Then the police will find him on foot. Though I highly doubt someone on the run would stand on a rooftop, we are mostly up here to do surveillance and add pressure so the target doesn't try to slip onto the roof." Cardinal kept darting her eyes from rooftop to rooftop.

Not far behind her, Hummingbird was fiddling with the hem of her shirt and uneasily watching the ground, her wings buzzing as she flew, and seeming to cause her distress. Hummingbird let out a soft sigh, trying her best to silence the noise from her wings, but to no avail.

Phoenix glared down at each rooftop until noticing a man rushing out of a roof access and shutting and barricading it behind him. "Cardinal! Do you see that?"

The hero turned her head and looked down, recalling the few details they had. The attacker was supposedly dressed in all black and had long hair, matching this person perfectly. "That's gotta be him-"

Before she could finish, Phoenix grinned and lit her wings on fire. "Leave it to me!"

Hummingbird and Cardinal widened their eyes in surprise as the girl rocketed down to the rooftop, causing the winged hero to quickly fly after her, activating the jets in her wing armor to catch up to the graceless fireball hurtling towards a stranger. Hummingbird quickly followed suit, trying her best to keep up with her classmate and mentor, but ultimately failing.

"Phoenix stay back!" Cardinal shouted, but before the student could even react, she felt an unnatural shiver go up her spine, as she approached the villain, she slowly got colder and colder. Finally right before she came crashing into them, he sidestepped, and just like that the flames on her wings snuffed out and she tumbled across the roof, shivering and trying her best to just stay awake.

Cardinal stopped her flight, with Hummingbird catching up a moment later and widening her eyes at the sight on the rooftop. "What... What happened?!"

The hero glared at the villain, who simply gave a smirk in return. "It's like he stole her fire... Literally. Hummingbird, stay back. I'm going to go in, grab Phoenix, and get out. We'll have to keep an eye on him and try to get someone else to handle him."

"O-ok!" The girl nodded and flew back a bit to give her mentor some distance.

"Do you think I am scared of you? Up there on your big wings? Flying above the problems? Hiding from those more grounded than you?!" The villain yelled, a twisted smile forming on his face as he stepped forward, a black hoodie and pants covering the rest of his body. "Cause you are NOTHING without your heat! Just like everyone else!"

Cardinal glared and noticed he had stepped away from Phoenix. Taking her chance she turned on her jets and rocketed towards her student, but as she closed in, she felt the air heat up and turned in time to narrowly dodge a stream of fire sent from the villain's arm. This extra moment proved to be all he needed as she quickly felt the heat leave her body, causing her to collapse in a similar shivering mess to Phoenix, who tried to light her wings aflame, only for them to get snuffed out once more.

"You heroes are nothing but pests. Flashy pests with a tendency to get in the way! But now look at you! You're nothing!" As the villain monologued, Hummingbird quickly flew down and landed in the alley to not be spotted.