Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
"How'd I get stuck with
Gencore?" Tezcatlipoca whined as Ares sent a police car flying. "Why couldn't I go with Invictus?"
"Oh, come on now, Tezy. It isn't so bad gettin' stuck with us is it?" Osiris said in his smooth creole accent. "It's because we need someone who has range," Ares bellowed as a stray shot from a desperate cop caused a small shower of sparks when it glanced off one of the exposed metal plates that stuck out through his skin. "Now can I get a little help here?" Ares snarled as he held up a car as a shield from on coming fire.
"Ugh, fine," the purple haired girl said. She levitated into the air with six ethereal burning hands surrounding her. One hand expanded into a barrier, blocking incoming fire while the other five began launching streams of burning energy. The flames seemed to swarm anything and everyone in the vicinity, consuming them unnaturally quickly.
"Remember, Tezy, try to leave me a usable corpse if you can," Osiris said, as several unfortunate bystanders started to twitch. Green vapors swirled around their bodies, allowing the self-proclaimed necromancer to turn them into his puppets. "Yeah, yeah, I remember."
The girl altered her tactics, sending out the hands themselves. The burning hands clamped around the necks of whoever they could reach, and twisted themselves violently. Its victims were left with broken necks, ripe for Osiris' powers. The trio of villains marched through the streets that had rapidly cleared of bystanders, easily dispatching the ill-prepared cops. A pair of local heroes came running down the street, shouting at the cops to pull back. The one that led the way was Sampson, a giant of a man known for his strength. His partner, however, was drastically different. Vitri was a woman who barely came up to Sampson's elbow, but she could create mirror-like constructs and charge them with blinding light.
"Get back everyone!" Sampson yelled as he charged Ares. "Finally!" The villain bellowed. Vitri's power soon became apparent as Ares smashed through a barrier he didn't realize was in front of him. It broke like a pane of glass, but once he was through it, Sampson was nowhere in sight.
"Come on you fucking coward!" Ares shouted as he was met in all directions by his own reflection as tessellated mirrors formed around him. At random, they began to light up like floodlights, blinding the god of war.
The mirrors continued to spread in an almost honeycomb arrangement towards the other two members of the pantheon, who seemed almost bemused. "Surrender!" Vitri said, trying to sound commanding, but it was clear she was terrified. Osiris just laughed, a deep, chest heaving laugh. "Little girl, your bravery and stupidity are equally admirable."
Osiris was cut off from Tezcatlipoca, and saw an image of the hero a few dozen feet away, but knew it was likely a fake. Instead, he reached out with his growing army. The seemingly mindless horde surged towards his position, giving him extra senses of the world around him. Dozens of extra eyes helped him hone in on the girl's true location. "Tezy, burn the cell to places to my North East."
"Sure," the Aztec goddess replied , shattering the dome of mirrors surrounding her, and levitating higher into the air. Combining her hands into one, she fired a fiery blast of energy, causing a massive explosion where Osiris predicted the hero to be. "Nothing!" Tezcatlipoca said, after she failed to spot a body. The hero was more deceptive than the villain gave her credit for. Meanwhile, Sampson leapt into the air, bringing his bulk down onto Ares from above. The villain tried to shield his head, but he wasn't fast enough. Sampson's blow slammed Ares' head into the pavement, creating a crater as he did so. Before the villain could get his bearings, Sampson hoisted him up and threw him clear across the street and through the front of a brick building.
"Try the cell to the left of that," Osiris ordered, much to the young villainess's chagrin. Another blast of her flames yielded no dead hero. "Osiris, get your shit together," she called down, getting agitated as more of the triangular mirrors began to form around her. The fight between the brutes was still in full swing as Ares charged out of the broken remains of the wall like an enraged bull. For the first dozen blows traded, the fight mirrored what a fight between two ordinary boxers would look like. But slowly, the odds shifted. Every time Ares' fist made contact, he stole a bit of the hero's strength. Sampson's blows became sluggish, and weak, but he fought on regardless. That was, until Ares caught his punch with a wicked smile on his face. Sampson's eye went wide when he realized he couldn't pull away, but by then it was too late.
Ares' grip grew stronger, eventually crushing the wrist and bone underneath it. Sampson screamed out in pain, but even that took strength he didn't have. His legs gave out, unable to support his weight. But before his heart was too weak to beat, the villain gripped the hero's bearded face with his massive hand, and lifted him higher into the air. "
I am Ares. I am the God of War!" Closing his fist, Ares crushed the heroes head like an egg, sending a shower of blood and gore pouring to the broken street below.
"
Nooooo!" Vitri screamed, her voice raw with emotion and pain. "You monster!" The mirrors folded away, revealing a terrified Vitri gripping a pistol. She rattled off round after round until the magazine was empty, but the bullets just bounced off Ares' skin like they were pebbles thrown by a child. She continued to squeeze the trigger in hopelessness as Ares tossed Sampson's headless corpse to the side like it were distasteful garbage. He didn't even turn to face her, the villain just strolled closer to Gencore's NY headquarters, leaving the broken hero to be torn apart by Osiris' horde...