"We need a plan! How can we reach the other side of Arhke in ten minutes?" Mirage paced around the tunnel for a moment, he knew they had next to no options but he refused to let it end like this.

  Claude thought to himself, after a moment of silent deliberation an idea popped into his head. A risky and reckless plan. He turned to Mirage to present it to him with confidence.

  "I have a plan, if you'll allow me."

  Mirage's expression was guarded, he refused to let Claude take the glory that was rightly his. His pride wouldn't allow it.

  "No. You simply need to stand down and watch a real Hero work. I shall find a way to reach the other side of Arhke momentarily."

  "Mirage!" Claude shouted firmly. "Swallow your pride for once and let me do this! If you want your sister to survive this we need to cooperate. It's your pride or her life, both can't remain intact!"

  Mirage's expression shifted to a look of surprise as Claude shouted at him. "I really should discipline you for answering back to me," He sighed. "Although you make a valid point. Very well. I'll let you handle it."

  He placed a hand on Claude's shoulder as he walked by and stood off to the side, next to the now unconscious Reaper.

  "Mess this up and it's all on you Claude. No pressure." He chuckled and leaned back against the damp stone wall.

  Claude nodded in Mirage's direction as he stepped aside.

  "Hey Mirage. I need your help for this one. Would it be possible for you to create a mirror shard big and sturdy enough for me to stand on?"

  Mirage kicked off the wall and stepped forward. He looked at Claude with intrigue. "Of course I can. I'm a Gold Rank Hero. If I couldn't adapt then I'd never have made it this far."

  He reached Claude and stood just in front of him, they made eye contact and he looked at him with his usual prideful glare.

  "What are you planning Claude?"

  Claude nodded towards him with a determined smile. "It's reckless, perhaps even suicidal, but it's the only plan I have. You're gonna launch me into the air using your mirror shard to ascend rapidly. Assuming I'm able to use my atomic power I'll make my way to the other side of Arhke and rescue your sister."

  Mirage chuckled quietly. "So be it. I won't be coming to your funeral."

  He extended his hand and a large mirror shard began to form. It grew larger and larger in the dim tunnel until a solid and sturdy mirror shard floated just above his knee level.

  Claude climbed onto the mirror shard, he stood up as the shard wobbled. He stood with his legs slightly apart to get his bearings and properly balance.

  "Mirage. Launch me upwards." Claude looked up and extended his hand, the brick roof of the tunnel shook and the stones parted with the echoed sound of bricks grinding against one another, sunlight shone through as Claude shot up into the air, the wind blew against him, cold and bitter.

  Looking out in front of him he could see all of Arhke's skyline. He scanned around quickly to try and find the warehouse.

  As the mirror shard began to descend Claude kicked off from it, launching himself across the sky.

  Without warning the ground below began to rumble, people below began writhing in pain and suddenly familiar looking wooden mannequin puppets sprung up from their places.

  The puppets wobbled towards each other in a big circle, climbing up and rising to Claude's level as he flew by.

  Claude extended his hand and the road below curved upwards, reshaping into a platform attached to a large pillar, he landed on the pillar and looked over at the rising mass of wooden puppets.

  They formed a large platform of their own, atop stood the two Bishops of Control, both obscured by their cloaks.

  The pair turned to face Claude, their movements perfectly in sync as the puppets formed a gigantic humanoid form. Countless onlookers watched from below as more and more people began to transform, the streets erupted into chaos.

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  "You two again? You're adamant about stopping me, even at the cost of the city." He turned and faced them, their colossal puppet monster wound it's fist back and prepared to attack.

  The fist flew forward, parting the air as it shot towards Claude.

  As the fist shot through the air Claude slid off the platform and hung onto the edge as it flew past.

  The Bishops raised their hands and flicked them to the side. The puppet giant jolted to the side, it's enormous arm swept over Claude, knocking him off the platform.

  He fell through the air towards the busy road below. As he fell Claude raised the ground below him upwards at lightning fast speed, it hit him and fired him into the air.

  As he landed on the newly formed ground pillar a familiar static sensation echoed through his skull. He tapped his earlobe and Ghost's cheery voice called out to him.

  "Heya Claude! Mirage contacted me and told me what's going on. You're cleared to destroy that monstrous thing... just try not to destroy any more of the city while you're at it if you don't mind. 'Kay thanks, I'll be on standby to guide you if needed. Ghost out!"

  The puppet amalgamation turned around to face Claude. He immediately sprung into action. He drew his arms together then quickly pulled them apart in a tearing motion.

  The monster rattled and creaked as blood poured from it in a torrent as dozens of lifeless puppets fell from it's body.

  Suddenly Claude felt the impact of another gigantic fist hit him, the monster had formed another arm using extra puppets. It shot Claude at high speed directly into a tall building, it creaked and shook as he crashed through it.

  He stood up shakily and spat out blood. "You're tough to deal with, but your power is killing innocent people. It's time for you to lose!" He rose into the air slowly, the building below him shook and debris shot into the sky, forming a platform for him to stand on. As he landed he turned to face the monster. He straightened his posture and wiped away some blood from his impact.

  He made frantic tearing motions with his hands, the monster writhed and blood poured from every side. The monster tried to regain it's footing but wobbled and shook.

  Claude smirked, his eyes bored into the giant puppet's creaky wooden head as he raised his fist into the air. Countless vehicles and building debris rose into the air around him.

  "I've got about three minutes left. I'll end this quickly!"

  The puppet tried to swat away the oncoming debris as Claude fired them directly at it, however they changed direction at the last possible second, shooting instead directly towards the two Bishops who stood unable to flee in time.

  The debris and vehicles impacted them directly, as the dust cleared the Bishops fell from their platform. Hundreds of wooden puppets rained from the sky, crashing down to the ground in pools of crimson red. By now the Arhke Police had already arrived below and cordoned off the area, trying to calm down the populace.

  "Ghost. I've defeated the Bishops. I'll leave clean-up to you. I'm going to save the hostage now." Claude leapt off his platform, small pieces of debris and ground rose in front of him, forming a shaky path of stepping stones as he jumped between them on his way to the warehouse.

  "Understood Claude. I'll work on my end to make sure everything can get back to normal as quickly as it can!" Ghost's voice faded away slowly as she severed the connection.

  As Claude barrelled towards the warehouses at the edge of the city he surveyed around for any further threats. "One minute. Almost there!"

  He landed with a thud on the roof of the warehouse. It's metal sheet roof bent to his will as he had the ceiling part for him to descend through.

  Claude landed into a roll as he fell into the warehouse. He stood up and scanned around the dark room.

  "Hello! Is the hostage here?"

  He searched around the eerily silent warehouse, no sign of any explosives or the hostage, as he approached a wall he heard a sound from a nearby side room.

  A faint whimper was heard in a small side room. Claude kicked the door down and entered where he found Ruby tied to a chair, her dress was lightly torn at the edges and her hair was messed up and dirty. She had tape over her mouth which Claude tore off.

  "You're safe now. Stay still for a minute for me." As Claude cut her binds Ruby grabbed her wrist and winced.

  She looked up at him with a haunted expression. "Thank you... I thought nobody would find me here." As she stood up she fell. Claude caught her on the way down and guided her out of the warehouse.

  "This is important, have you noticed any explosives around?"

  Ruby shook her head. "Explosives? The Reaper didn't put any explosives around... at least I don't think he did. I don't know."

  Claude shook his head. "So this was a setup. He never intended to kill you. What was his real goal?" Claude's mind wandered to all manner of potential scenarios as he took Ruby back to her house, making sure she made it safely inside. Mr Silver walked outside and greeted Claude.

  "Good evening," He scanned Claude's appearance, making a mental note of his bronze rank insignia. "You saved my daughter. Good work hero," He briefly saluted Claude before dropping his hand back to his side. "Wait, I know you. You're the new Hero from the reports. The one with memory loss?"

  Claude nodded slowly. "Yes sir, that's me. My name is Claude." He extended his hand towards Mr Silver.

  Mr Silver shook Claude's hand. "I'm grateful to you for bringing my daughter back safely. Arhke will never be threatened by terrorists! It's the likes of you who give hope to the masses. Keep up the work Claude. You shall go far as Hero if this momentum keeps up."

  Claude smiled. "Thank you sir. I hate to cut this short but I should go. Other heroes are waiting for me at the crime scene."

  Mr Silver nodded. "Go, it's important you capture these fiends and figure out their motive so Arhke can bring all of them to proper justice."

  He quickly departed and called Mirage through Ghost.

  "Mirage. Your sister is safe. I took her back home but there were no bombs in the warehouse. This was a setup, they needed us to do this for some reason."

  Mirage's voice came through Ghost's mental link. "I suppose you're not completely useless after all. Return here and we'll discuss things further. Arhke Police have arrived and we must conclude this case and question Reaper."

  Claude nodded. "Understood. I'll make my way back now."