Chapter 129: Hope and Darkness

"This… is what Grade-S supers are capable of?"

Gary's words trembled ever so clearly with the wind, even as it snapped several times in the air around them. With them being high up in the sky, they had a clear view of the effect the Grade-S supers had on the terrain– and they weren't even getting started yet.

With the Villains' Threat Levels, there was also a corresponding hierarchy for Superheroes and Supers; both of which work together to create some sort of measure that the people could understand, albeit somewhat a slightly complicated system.

All Class-S Superheroes are Grade-S Supers, but not all Grade-S Supers are Class-S Superheroes; after all, some just wished to live a normal life despite their countenance– while some fall into petty crime, in which case, they get a Threat Level indicating that they were a villain.

F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. Both Supers and Superheroes were separated by these tiers.

Sophie Palmer, the drug lord that reigned over Miami, was a Grade-S Super; but due to her inactivity and careful use of powers, her Threat Level was only that of a 5 instead of the maximum a supervillain could achieve, Threat Level 7.

Scarlet Mage was considered to be a Grade-A Super, and also a Class-A Superhero due to her feats and willingness to help people.

But in either case, whether Superhero or Supervillain– Grade-S Supers were capable of colossal feats… and also colossal destruction if they wanted to.

Of course, there were also Mega Woman and Darkday, both of whom had a category solely tailored for them.

"Why… why are we going down!?"

Hannah's loud whispers then reverberated in the air as Riley, who was supposed to float them away from the situation, slowly descended them towards the roof of a building instead.

"Riley, let's go! What are you playing at!?" Hannah's slightly frustrated and annoyed words lingered in the air as all of their feet landed on the roof almost at the same time, "We don't have time to–"

"You should watch, sister."

And before Hannah could finish her complaints, Riley interrupted her as he pointed towards the plaza that was now directly in their view.

"Watch? What do you mean watch? Let's go!"

"Someday, the real Darkday will return," Riley seemed to ignore his sister, however, as his eyes remained looking at the plaza where the Hope Guild and the Dark Millenium Leader could be seen seemingly talking to each other,

"He will be even more ruthless than this fake Darkday– he will be stronger," Riley continued, "And you might be the once that would be facing him. You need to be able to fight for you to survive…

…and maybe even defeat him, sister."

Riley looked his sister straight in the eyes, before slightly glancing towards Silvie, who quickly stood up straight in response. However, unlike with his sister, Riley did not say anything to her, causing her to feel slightly disappointed.

The only thing that Silvie could do was let out a sigh as she turned her focus on the plaza, which was in clear view from the rooftop building they landed on.

"...Let's just go," Hannah shook her head, "We're too far to see anything anywa–"

But before Hannah could finish her words, the words Baby Crew suddenly emerged in front of her as their trailer truck also joined them on the rooftop.

"..." Riley then flicked his finger, and as soon as he did so, several boxes floated from the trailer; opening up to reveal the huge screens they contained. And soon, there was a set-up of floating monitors surrounding them.

The monitors then all lit up one by one, showing the situation happening in the plaza as clear as day.

"S… shit," Gary's stuttered and excited breaths echoed in the air as he raised his phone, continuing to record what was happening without fail, "This… this would definitely increase my sub count."

Hannah still did not approve of them watching the fight… but seeing everyone else seemed to want to stay, the only thing she could do was let out a small but deep sigh.

"..."

But after a few more seconds, she shook her head.

"No," she then muttered, "Let's leave. The Dark Millenium risked getting into the Hope Guild's radar just for a chance to invite Riley to join her dead organization, I can't risk my brother's safety just for a fucking tutorial crash course on how to defeat an overwhelming enemy."

"..."

"Let's pack up," Hannah continued as no one seemed to refute her words, "We've done what we can to help the people of Miami, but we are not in any way equipped or ready to tackle something… like this."

"..." Riley looked at his sister for a couple of seconds, before letting out a very tiny sigh as the monitors all quickly went back from where they came, straight inside the trailer.

"Welp, Boss' orders," Gary then let out a sigh; trying his best to zoom in on the situation below.

"What? I'm not anyone's boss!" Hannah rolled her eyes, slightly groaning in annoyance from Gary's words, "Let's… Let's just go."

And with those words as their signal, the rest of the members of the Baby Crew all nodded as they returned to the truck.

"..."

"..."

"..."

They forgot one crucial thing, however– they were on top of the building.

"R… Riley," Hannah then awkwardly cleared her throat as she asked Riley to float them away from the battle. Their heads then all bobbed as the truck ever so gently lifted from the roof; however, not even a couple of meters away from it, the Dark Millenium leader suddenly appeared right in front of their view.

Her jet-black helmet, facing Riley even as he was inside the truck,

"Riley Ross…" The Dark Millennium leader then muttered, "Join–"

But one again, her words were cut short as an object suddenly rammed its way through her side, instantly plunging her straight to the ground. And even though everything happened so fast, the Baby Crew still caught sight of what kind of object threw the Dark Millenium Leader away– a white rocket.

And if their hunch was right, that rocket should have the initials W and K embedded on it. They did not have to keep the guessing game going, though, as Whiteking truly did appear a few seconds after; floating where the Dark Millenium Leader was before she was rammed by his huge white rocket.

"D… dad."

"You kids go back to the Academy," the bursts of flames coming out from Whiteking's suit slightly sputtered as he flew in front of the truck; tapping its hood as he gestured from the Baby Crew to leave, 

"Your activity here is done, good job. I am proud of all of you."

"W–"

And before anyone could muster up a response, a loud thunder roared through the skies as Whiteking flew away. The Baby Crew was not even done processing what was happening, before another silhouette flew by them, another member of the Hope Guild– V.

"It's Whiteking Lite!" Gary quickly bellowed as he once again raised his phone. He, however, quickly removed it as soon as the mecha suit suddenly stopped flying and turned towards their direction.

"Who said that!?"

"L… Let's go, fly us away, Riley!" Gary then tapped the seat in front of him several times, "V doesn't like it when you call her Whiteking Lite!"

"Then why did you call her that!?"

***

"..."

"You are surrounded from all sides, terrorist."

Back in the plaza, a small part of the already ruined ground trembled; the Dark Millenium leader, burrowing herself free as she pushed away Whiteking's huge rocket which pinned her down through the ground.

She then patted her jet-black suit, which was now showing a little bit of her skin as they were tattered in all different places– and even from afar, one could recognize all the scars that she had in her body.

There were, however, no open wounds– indicating that she was still unscathed all throughout the exchange.

"...Are we sure she isn't really Darkday?" V's voice reverberated through the mouth of her mecha suit; trickles of green electric webs, escaping from the slight openings of her suit.

"Yes," Butcher was the one to answer her, "If she was, then one of us would have died already; also, the chance of Darkday being male is at 92%"

"I don't care if she's Darkday or not," Hera, who seemed to also be unscathed even though her entire body created the crater they were all standing on as the Dark Millenium Leader slammed her through the ground, cracked her grey knuckles, "She's going down to–"

"Why hunt us down?"

And before Hera could finish her words, the Dark Millenium leader suddenly spoke, "You slaughtered my people– we were striving to save this rotten world."

"Save this rotten world?" Empress scoffed, "You're a terrorist. Do you know how many people your organization has killed? You caused 7 planes to crash just to prove a point."

"That was not our doing."

"The several helmets we discovered in the scene says otherwise."

"...Helmets?"

"Exactly the same as what you're wearing now," Empress scoffed, "All the planes…

…had the mark of the Dark Millenium in them."