Riley Ross

[Hera]

"This really isn't a job for a single person. No… that's not entirely true."

Hera had the view of the entire city, wings behind her back, hovering just beneath the dome separating it from the outside world. And no matter how many times she looked and analyzed the situation, there wasn't any way for her to rescue the hostages without being seen or risking the other hostages.

If she were Tempo, then she would just run and rescue them one by one without Riley or the other villains noticing. The Empress would probably strike head-on, killing the villains almost all at the same time. She didn't shy away from killing, after all.

Raphael, well, he'll just land from the sky, swooping in at Mach speeds to take the hostages away. That was his M.O.—knock out the person from flying through them, and then just heal them instantly. Problem solved.

Whiteking would probably already know all of the villains' identities and just call them directly from their radio to threaten them. If that doesn't work, then he probably already had some sort of nanoscale robot inside their brains that would explode and incapacitate them.

Oceanknight would be devastating. The bridge was above water, he could instantly cover the entire bridge with the river and keep the people safe at the same time—and if that wasn't viable… then he had the option to control the water in their body.

And lastly, Nightwalker. Hera still had no idea how exactly her powers worked. She said during an interview that she was summoning the souls of the dead, but then she laughed after saying that—some people think she was lying, while most asked for her to be removed from the Hope Guild.

Well, whatever her powers were, she wouldn't have any problem summoning thousands of spectrals to completely overwhelm the villains while saving the hostages at the same time.

Each member of the Hope Guild was more than capable of handling this situation alone.

So… how?

How would she—

"Ah! Fuck it!"

And without thinking about it anymore, she dove down—a skirt of wind formed around her several times, and she landed right in front of the hostages.

"Whoa!" Gracey, who was guarding the hostages, flew away a few meters to avoid her. But as soon as she saw Hera already grabbing one of the hostages, she immediately shot back toward her.

But as she was only a foot away from grabbing the back of her head, she felt a brutal gust of wind blast through her, causing her to violently roll in the air before stretching her limbs to stop her momentum.

"What in the?!" Gracey glanced to the side, only to see Katrina with her fat palms pointed at her.

It was only a single second, and yet Hera had already grown another set of wings—larger this time, which completely wrapped, shielded, and carried the hostages all at the same time.

"You're not going anywhere, hero scum!" Gracey pointed at Hera before the air behind her exploded, and she shot toward her. "I know you can take this…"

She disappeared right behind Hera, her fist already locked and loaded to the point you could hear her skin stretch and her muscles contract.

"And if you can't, Raphael told me he can just heal everyone! Omega Buster, Fang of the Immortal Dragon…

…Kick!"

And instead of punching Hera, she swung her leg and slammed her foot right at her back. The sound it created as it made contact thundered across the bridge, creating a ripple that blew away all the dust and even shook the empty cars.

Of course, Hera was blown away.

Blown away along with the other hostages, that is.

She used the force of Gracey's punch as a boost to quickly get her away from the bridge. Her first pair of wings grew even bigger in size, and with just a single flap, the distance between her and the bridge became wider.

She had the hostages inside her second pair of wings. She checked them for a moment, and when she noticed that none of them were injured, she let out a sigh of relief and continued to fly away.

But now, the question was…where was Riley?

She quickly checked the hostages again, since Riley had already disguised himself as a hostage once, but there wasn't anyone there wearing a hood.

Just where—

"Shit!"

A truck suddenly came flying toward him. She dodged to the side, her eyes catching a glimpse of a villain sitting at the driver's seat—and judging by the clear eyes, it was Riley.

"Crazy…" She whispered. She didn't have time to think of anything else, however, as the trailer suddenly burst open and the next thing she saw was Gracey's fist coming her way.

The fist hit her right on the face, not before, however, her head and entire upper body hardened—once again blowing her away. She checked on the hostages again and then just flew away toward the banks.

"Oh. No, you don't!" A loud burst of cackle escaped from Gracey's hood as she chased Hera. But Hera suddenly flew straight down, diving into the river. She contemplated whether to chase after her, but didn't think anymore—this was a rare chance to not hold back at all, after all.

…Might as well take advantage of it.

Gracey's eyes lit up, and then a violent beam followed after that completely vaporized the surface of the water. And with the beam still surging forth from her eyes, she dove down into the water.

The surface of the river bubbled up, rippling violently from whatever was happening beneath it.

And then, several seconds after, Gracey emerged holding Hera's head.

Well, a husk of it.

"Tch…" She clicked her tongue, crushing the husk in her hand as she looked around. And soon, she caught a glimpse of Hera.

But she was already at the riverbank with the police moving to aid her..

"Yes!" Hera raised both her fists, her two pairs of wings retracting back into her as she celebrated her victory. It was rough, but all that mattered was that the civilians were now safe and rescued.

"Ayo! That was some good shh!" Bella, who was wearing a police uniform very loosely, quickly checked on the hostages before dapping Hera, who returned the gesture without any hesitation at all.

"You her, Hera. You her! You the goat!"

"That was really, really good." Hannah also approached, nodding her head several times in approval. The hostages and the citizens watching all clapped for her, and Hera just started waving at them in habit.

"I was lucky," she said, glancing at Hannah as an awkward smile crept on her face. "Your brother didn't do much at all. I guess he's taken a liking to me?"

"Oh, trust me…" Hannah smirked. "If he's taken a liking to you, he would have come at you even more—Fuck! Bell!"

A chill crept onto Hera's back, her wings sprouting again and covering everyone in front of her. She glanced back, only to see the same truck that had almost hit her earlier flying toward them.

Bella pointed both her palms at the truck, and then swung her hands down—controlling the truck and letting it fall onto the water instead.

"Is your brother crazy?!" Hera's wings instantly retracted back, and the hostages started running toward the street.

"Back! Get back!" Hannah ordered the other police officers to secure the area and push away the citizens watching—but of course, the freshmen of Mega Academy were adamant in playing their roles. They weren't going to leave.

"Fuck! What even is that—oh…"

"What?!" Hera glanced at Hannah. She was going to ask what she just realized, but then she realized it for herself. She quickly looked up, only to see Raphael just hovering in the air and watching them with a smile on his face.

They haven't announced that the trial was over.

"Devious…" Hera whispered. "...This is why I don't like the French. Right now, he's probably thinking 'Ooh, ze battle iz not ovair!'."

"Wow, that's a really good fucking accent," Hannah commented.

"Thanks, I have a role co—heads up!"

Hera's entire body turned gray; she lowered into a stance, her eyes forward to the water. Hannah tilted her head to the side, rolling and cracking her neck as the air around her distorted.

Bella opened her arms, and several metal plates started wrapping around her.

The other students playing as police officers also put on their guard, with one of them morphing into some sort of werewolf the size of an entire car.

"That guy from Africa was right…" Hera glanced at the freshmen students behind her. "...Something went right with the food these last four years, because what the freak are they feeding you guys?"

She wasn't expecting an answer, but someone still did—Riley.

"Milk, and lots of water, Hera," he said, his head slowly emerging from the edge of the riverbank. But he wasn't alone, however.

To his left, the tall Gracey ascended with him, her eyes already glowing red.

And then, to his right, was another figure floating up with him.

Another villain, with a hood on her face… and then an eyemask above that.

"Seriously…?" Hera's lips twitched.

"They made her into a villain, too?!"