Of Heroes and Villains

Destroyer

Don was still tired when they entered the barrier, and knew he'd only serve as a distraction at best.

Sean took off to find and deal with Ivan and the necromancer right away, knowing they'd never get anything done with the boy on the chessboard. His previous attack had left the Destroyers on alert, and five of them attacked the group as soon as he left.

One was a woman with eight shawl-like tentacles coming out of her back. She was the cold type, and carefully studied them from her place in the middle. The man to her right had a ball of fire in his hand. The man on her left had skin made of iron. The second girl hid behind the first one, a nervous look in her eyes. The final man was giant, fat and bald, easily over ten feet tall.

The man with the fire attacked first, hurling a flame toward the group. John raised his hands, summoning water from the city's pipes, and extinguished it before it could hurt them. Vapor filled the air as the attacks connected, and the shawls struck at them through it. One passed through Jordan, breaking the ground at her feet as a demonstration of their power. Don dodged another one, and John was hit in the arm by the third one. It stuck to him like glue, and he was unable to tear it off.

"What the fuck!?" he cursed, then the cold woman pulled him in, swinging him like a mace. Before they could tare into him, Dean intervened.

"Stop!" he bellowed, power amplified by Shen's own. "Don't move!"

The five of them froze in place for a few seconds, allowing John to swing his fist just as he was pulled all the way there, slamming it into the cold woman and knocking her and the girl behind her on their backs. John landed on top of them, and brought out as much water from the ground beneath them as he could. Fire and water mixed once more, creating even more steam.

Jordan took her chance and ran passed them, heading straight for Diocletian's palace.

Don pulled out a knife and ran forward. A ball of fire made its way toward him through the steam, so he rolled to the side to dodge it, his arm being burned a bit in the process. Once he was on his feet, he threw the knife. Just as it was about to hit the fire wielder, the man of iron grabbed it by the blade, then snapped it in half.

The giant raised his fist and brought it down on top of John, but it was met with a geyser from the pipes, so the mountain of a man was pushed back. Each time his feet hit the ground, the city shook a bit harder.

'That has to be a vapor,' Don figured, pulling out a second knife.

The fire wielder was about to burn him again, but just as he created a fireball, Dean yelled again. "Move your hand to the right!"

The flame esper did, and his friend - the one made of steel - got a faceful of fire, blinding him and melting the metal into his face. He gave a few pained shrieks as he writhed on the ground, then stopped.

John pounced on the fire wielder and bodyslammed him to the ground, then continuously slammed his head into the pavement. He was so into it that he didn't notice the big guy moving, and got kicked a good distance away.

Don threw his second knife at the back of the giant's neck, but only managed to pierce the surface. The Destroyer slammed his foot unto the ground again, creating the biggest earthquake yet. It knocked most people off their feet, Don included.

The only two spared by the attack were the flying half-crow hybrids Sean had described. They rained feathers down upon Don, and he barely managed to avoid them, his legs not near their prime. John seemed to be out of it, leaving him and Dean to take him on, as Liu would be of little help, he suspected.