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At Freedom Fighters HQ

Things were starting to look a bit more orderly, especially for a quick-witted mink, who had already set up her lab and was about to start testing for new prototype Chaos weapons.

"Alright, got everything all set up... let's see if this doesn't blow up immediately."

Cumulus mumbled to herself as she prepared her machinery. She flipped a couple of levers before setting up a specialized Chaos Drive she had made.

"Power on. Please step back from the Chaos Enrichment Device immediately."

Cumulus stepped back, taking note of the machine as it overcharged the Chaos Drive with as much Chaos Energy as it could.

"Energy enrichment process completed."

Cumulus took a grabber tool from the supply closet, reaching over and taking the volatile Chaos Drive before putting it inside what looks to be a spear mixed with a bomb. She placed it on her workbench, getting to work on sealing the drive properly so it won't fall out.

A couple minutes later.

Cumulus put down her welding torch, now carefully holding her now complete prototype of the Chaos Harpoon in her hands.

"Yes! Now, all that's left is to just test it out outside."

She walked out the lab, making sure not to bump into anything or anyone, and not to shake the bomb too much, in case it goes off inside the base.

"Excuse me. Move it, out of the way. I'm holding something potentially volatile here!"

She made her way to an empty lot a good distance away from the building, holding both the bomb, and a clipboard and pen in her hands.

"Alright, I don't think this should be THAT destructive. With the way it's structured, it should send out a vertical column of Chaos Energy up into the sky... Alright. Here we go!"

She double-checked to make sure no one was nearby, before throwing the spear a good distance away and quickly hiding behind a tree for cover.

The spear landed on the ground, and for a good few seconds it didn't do anything.

"What?"

Cumulus peeked her head from behind the tree to look at the harpoon.

"I was so sure it would blow up... maybe something went wrong? It drained out of energy too fast? Oh. Oh SHOOT!"

Cumulus noticed a vertical spire of green light emanating from the Chaos Harpoon, and then in a split-second...

KKRAACKLE!!

The Harpoon exploded into a large, violent column of Chaos Energy, the force of the blast sending Cumulus back.

"Aaaahhhh!!!"

The column dissipated a few moments later, leaving behind a blackened, burned patch of grass where the bomb once was, around 2 meters in radius. Cumulus got up on her feet, coughing and grabbing her clipboard.

"O-oookay... that was... a huge success!"

She energetically began scribbling down what she saw during that test run, noting that the results were far better than she had hoped for. She never expected a blast that large or violent, and she was positive the other Freedom Fighters would be impressed once they heard of her news.

"I HAVE to tell Sally about this! Oooh, or maybe Silver, or Nicole, or whoever else is here!"

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Whoosh!

Locals in Station Square felt a gust of wind surge past them, as a certain cybernetic porcupine flew above them. Spark had taken these past few days to act like a local superhero, especially after all the weird natural disasters that have been happening recently. Even though Billiard tried to talk him out of it, Spark wouldn't listen. Things were going well so far, until...

^(CRASH!!)

The sound of glass breaking alerted Spark to a local bank, where two thieves smashed through the window trying to run off with stolen cash.

"Ha, really? Things are getting so much easier now."

Spark smirked, flying over to the robbers.

"Hey! You mind giving that money back? You might wanna, or else..."

"Hmph, or else what, kid- AAUGH...!!"

Spark didn't give the duo a chance, immediately tasing them into submission and overlooking their squirming bodies.

"Or else that!"

He overheard some police sirens approaching them.

"Well, that's my cue to go. See you two later!"

The cyber porcupine flew to a nearby crosswalk, an old lady with a cane waving her hand to him for his attention, which worked.

"Ah, hello miss. What do you need?"

"Hello there, young man. I just need some help in crossing the road when the light turns green. Do you mind giving me a hand?"

Spark was so used to crime fighting and preventing car accidents and all that stuff, so being requested to simply help an elderly woman cross the street seemed strange and a bit mundane in his eyes. Nevertheless, he agreed to help.

"Uh... yeah, sure thing."

The light turned green, signaling for them to start walking. Spark, ever the sweet one, was really delicate and careful, thinking she wouldn't be able to handle him quickly carrying her to the other side. Either way, all was going well, but then Spark saw something quickly heading towards them at high speeds. A car, one that has most likely lost its brakes, was beelining straight towards them. He began panicking and urging the lady to quicken her pace.

"Uh, lady? You kinda really need to hurry here. There's a car coming!"

He was switching his attention to the slow-moving lady to the high-speed car coming towards them. Spark couldn't redirect the car or stop it, as its speed was too much for him to safely stop without those inside getting hurt. On the other hand, he couldn't just yank the lady up into the air or to the sidewalk, as she looked really fragile. He didn't like either choice, but he had to choose one now.

"Ngh... Sorry, lady!"

Spark grabbed her by the shoulders and hoisted her up into the air, but just by a second too late as the roof of the oncoming car hit her legs, breaking them.

"O-ohhhh shit! Ohh my Gaia! Oh my Gaia..."

Spark was frozen as he held her up. He had clearly never seen an injury like this ever before, his young mind rattled by this. In a few seconds, he snapped himself out of it, still panicking, but determined to get her help.

"Don't- don't worry! I'll get you help!"

Spark held her in a more suitable way, quickly flying her to the nearest hospital. Once he arrived, he slammed the doors open and screamed for help.

"I NEED HELP! T-THIS LADY'S DYING!! HELP HER, PLEASE!"

Nurses and doctors were surprised, but immediately scrambled to put the lady out on a stretcher and carry her off to get treatment. Spark looking on in slight relief, but also guilt. He was at fault here. Had he not hesitated to act, she wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. He needed to take a break. He stepped outside the sterile white of the hospital and out to the darkening sundown road, sitting at the curb and contemplating everything that just happened.

"I messed up... I sooo messed up..."

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Having recovered from his fight with Slipstream after a few days, it wasn't long for the purple warrior to discover the bounty placed on his back, with a few goons having already tried to kill him, to no success. The bounty seemed weird to him, as in his eyes, he hadn't done anything too drastic yet, unlike all the stories he heard about Sage. But, whatever, now he just wanted to get through with this bounty, and maybe potentially find out who set up the bounty.

Now he finds himself perched up on some random rooftop in Neotropolis. His apartment block is swarmed with people who are chasing that sweet bounty, and going down there to fight them all would only just bring even MORE attention to him.

<"Hmph, they just never know when to quit, do they? They know they can't beat me, even with sheer numbers. The weak can never beat the strong, unless...">

He paused for a moment.

<"...this... reminds me... of big bro...">

Legion remembered when he was a kid, stranded in the woods with his late brother after a road trip accident that claimed their parents. He was always the stronger of the two brothers, and to Legion; he meant nothing more than the world to him.

...

So why did he die? Why did he succumb to his wounds? He was strong, wasn't he? To Legion, he never let any pain show, nor did he look bothered to him about any situation.

<"Was... being strong just not enough for him? If so, would being strong not be enough for me...? No, that's... nonsense. Just... nonsense... Hm...">

As Legion pondered his beliefs, some random guy found him on top of the roof, calling him out.

"Hey! There he is! YAAAAHHH-"

Legion didn't even look at him as the goon got ruptured by Chaos Chains in seconds. Legion sighed.

"You gotta be kidding..."