Failures squad - chapter 2
The three of them stared at the screen.
10,347 likes.
Smack was already celebrating. Crater looked stunned. Phaser was smiling for the first time in weeks.
Then the notification refreshed.
Trending Tag: #FailuresSquad
They froze.
Phaser blinked.
"…What?"
Crater slowly scrolled.
"Local amateurs rescued by Wind Rider. Internet dubs them Failures Squad after previous low ratings."
Smack squinted.
"…I mean. Likes is likes."
Phaser turned slowly. "They named us FAILURES."
Smack shrugged. "Bad naming ain't career destroying. Remember Flame Boy?"
The trio paused.
…Fair point.
Flame Boy was literally named after a news reporter mishearing "Flareborn."
And now he's a 10/10 legend.
Phaser's eyes lit up.
"Wait."
Crater already knew that tone. "No."
"A selfie with Wind Rider got us 10k likes. Imagine Flame Boy."
Smack nodded immediately. "He's peak algorithm."
Crater sighed.
And just like that, the Failures Squad began their hunt.
They Searched
New Yasin City was loud, glowing, alive.
Flame Boy was famously easy to find because he:
Didn't wear a mask.
Didn't wear a suit.
Just ignited when needed.
After an hour of searching, they were about to quit.
Then they saw him.
Messy hair. Casual clothes. Calm expression.
Phaser whispered like he'd found a god.
"…That's him."
They approached carefully.
Flame Boy raised a finger immediately.
"Shhh. Not in public. They'll recognize me."
The trio blinked.
Everyone knows.
Literally everyone.
Phaser leaned forward, vibrating with excitement.
"Can we take you to a café so we can discuss something? Please please please?"
Flame Boy smiled gently.
"I won't let a rookie pay though. On me."
Then
They entered a small café.
Flame Boy walked straight to the counter he's a regular here.
"Four coffees for me and the others."
The cashier girl chuckled.
"Okay, Mr. Not Flame Boy."
He gave her a confident nod.
Everyone here knew.
Nobody said anything.
He was the golden boy.
They sat.
And the questions exploded.
"You rejected the hige justice coronation Squad for your friends?!"
"You turned down the top team because loyalty matters more?!"
"You said 'Set your life ablaze of ambiguity' and it changed my life!"
Flame Boy blinked.
Internally:
Wait… I did that?
The trio kept going, filling in rumors, edits, interviews, dramatic retellings.
He slowly nodded.
"…Yeah. I totally did that."
Smack leaned forward intensely.
"That quote. When I heard it, I almost quit being a hero. But then I thought — Flame Boy wouldn't quit."
The trio nodded dramatically.
They even showed him fan edits.
Music swelling. Slow motion fire. His silhouette against the sun.
He stared.
"…I said that?"
Pause.
"…Yeah. I totally said that. Set your line ablaze."
Crater frowned slightly.
"Wasn't it life?"
Flame Boy coughed.
"Both work."
Then—
His watch glowed red.
Duty call.
He stood smoothly.
"Seems like a group got kidnapped. Team needs me."
Phaser stood up immediately.
"We can help!"
Flame Boy shook his head gently.
"Not today. You're not ready yet."
He placed money on the table.
And left.
The trio watched him go.
Silence.
Smack slowly pulled out his phone.
"…We forgot the selfie."
Phaser dropped his head onto the table.
The trio had no idea where Flame Boy could be.
So naturally, they did what all struggling heroes do.
They chased noise.
Near Wantmen District, a crowd had formed in the street. Phones up. Cheers erupting.
Smack's eyes lit up.
"Fight."
Phaser didn't even hesitate. "Let's go."
They pushed through the crowd just in time to see fire and ice collide mid-air.
Micro — flame manipulator, 8.2 rating on Meet a Hero — skidded across the pavement in a burst of sparks. His jacket burned but didn't burn. His hair was perfectly windswept.
Across from him stood Macro — ice manipulator, registered villain, dramatic cape flowing like he ironed it rating 7.9 on meet a Villian
Macro raised a wall of jagged ice.
Micro leaped through it in slow, cinematic motion.
The crowd screamed.
"This is so editable," Crater whispered, eyes wide.
Smack already had his phone out. "Bro this angle? Insane."
Micro hit the ground hard — rolled — coughed.
"Injured."
Phaser leaned closer. "…He landed kind of soft, no?"
Before anyone could answer—
Micro rose slowly.
"Your ice… will be reduced to retribution!"
Smack blinked. "Reduced to retribution?"
Crater nodded seriously. "Cold line though."
Macro laughed theatrically.
"I WILL FREEZE THIS CITY INTO A NEW AGE!"
He slammed both hands down.
Ice spikes shot up dramatically — but stopped just short of the crowd.
Not one person was touched.
Phaser frowned slightly.
"…He could've frozen us."
Smack shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't want collateral? That's good."
Macro hurled a massive ice boulder.
Micro barely dodged.
The boulder smashed into—
An empty parked car.
No one screamed.
No chaos.
Just more cheering.
"He still hasn't used Flame Emperor!" someone in the crowd shouted.
Phaser turned. "…They know the name already?"
As if on cue—
Micro slowly lifted his arms.
The flames spiraled upward.
Behind him, a colossal flaming silhouette formed — a giant emperor of fire.
The wind shifted perfectly.
The lighting hit perfectly.
The crowd roared.
Smack whispered, awestruck:
"Bro… this is cinema."
"FLAME EMPEROR!"
The flaming giant lunged.
Macro created an enormous ice arm to block it.
Steam exploded everywhere.
The clash looked world-ending.
Then suddenly—
The ice shattered.
The fire swallowed.
Macro flew backward dramatically, sliding across the pavement.
"This won't be the end!" he shouted, scrambling away down an alley.
The crowd erupted.
Micro stood tall, flames fading slowly, controlled, graceful.
He looked tired.
But not really tired.
Just the right amount.
The trio stood frozen.
Crater finally broke the silence.
"…That was insane."
Smack checked his recording.
"We're posting that. No debate."
Phaser kept staring at the battlefield.
The ice was melting strangely fast.
Too fast.
Macro had been right there seconds ago.
Now it looked like nothing happened.
Phaser hesitated.
"…Did that feel a little… staged?"
Smack snorted. "You just jealous you don't have a flame emperor."
Crater nodded. "Yeah bro, that's what peak hero looks like. Zero casualties, big finish, villain escapes. Clean."
Phaser looked back at Micro.
Micro gave a small wave to the crowd.
Perfect smile.
Perfect exit.
Perfect clip.
Phaser exhaled.
"…Yeah. Probably just a heroic choice."
Smack grinned.
"One day that'll be us."
Crater raised his fist.
"Failures Squad Flame Emperor Arc."
Phaser groaned.
"Don't call us that."
But he couldn't stop smiling.
Even if something about it still didn't sit right.
Though later
The crowd dispersed.
The steam faded.
The pavement cooled.
But the trio didn't leave.
Phaser crossed his arms. "Where'd they go?"
Smack spun around. "Macro ran that way."
Crater scanned rooftops. "Micro waved and dipped the opposite direction."
Phaser frowned. "…That's convenient."
They split up around the block.
That's when they saw them.
Four figures standing near an alley.
Smack squinted. "Yo… I've seen those faces."
Crater pulled up Arrest Alert on his phone.
Match found.
Non-powered offenders.
Petty crimes. Assault. Theft. Vandalism.
No registered abilities.
Phaser slowly lowered his phone.
"…Then why is that guy levitating a trash can?"
One of the criminals twisted his hand.
The metal crushed inward like gravity bent around it.
Another flicked his wrist—
The air warped.
The trash can launched into a wall with explosive force.
Smack blinked.
"…Since when?"
They didn't have time to think.
Crater exhaled sharply.
"New suits."
His fragile body trembled as translucent constructs wrapped around them — sharper edges, sleeker visors.
Inspired by Micro.
More dramatic.
Phaser grinned. "Okay. Show time."
They attacked first.
And got destroyed.
The gravity manipulator pinned Phaser mid-dash.
The force user sent Crater's construct shattering with a single pulse.
Smack tanked two hits and returned them, knocking two criminals out cold.
But the last two stepped back calmly.
One lifted a massive stone from a construction pile.
The other twisted his fingers.
The stone grew heavier.
And heavier.
And heavier.
They hurled it skyward.
The second criminal snapped his hand.
The weight reversed.
The stone vanished into the clouds.
Phaser, barely standing, looked up.
"…That's not good."
The sky cracked red.
The stone came back down—
Ignited.
Friction turning it into a burning meteor.
Smack stepped forward without hesitation.
His body flickered faintly.
"I got it."
The meteor slammed into him.
The shockwave shattered windows.
The trio was swallowed in dust.
When the smoke cleared—
They were unconscious.
Bound.
Gone.
Elsewhere
New Yasin skyline.
Two figures hovered above it.
Flame Boy and American Supergirl.
Below them, sirens echoed faintly.
American Supergirl crossed her arms.
"Where is Martian Girl and Eagle when we need them? Ugh."
Flame Boy stretched lazily mid-air.
"Relax. There's a truce. Martian Hero broke the truce between hige justice contraction and dark eagles anti-hero family I am sure your sister is fixing that who are we kidding."
His voice smooth. Calm.
"They wouldn't break it probably misunderstanding."
She sighed. "I know. I know. But they still have duty. When I was an anti-hero, I valued working with heroes."
Flame Boy smirked slightly.
"Wasn't Wind Rider and Gamma Burst your old teammates? What happened there?"
She gave him a side-eye.
"Yeah, because I'm their mother and should know, right?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Wind Rider's a hero now. Yay. Character growth."
A pause.
"Gamma Burst… I don't know. While Psychology's not my thing. Even though you didn't ask."
Flame Boy chuckled.
They drifted lower toward the disturbance site.
Flame Boy landed lightly.
American Supergirl closed her eyes.
Energy shimmered around her hands.
Her power manifested as luminous threads — visible pathways of force, impact, origin.
She traced the battlefield.
Broken pavement.
Melted ice residue.
Scorch patterns.
Then—
Something new.
A thin glowing line.
Different frequency.
Different signature.
Her eyes widened.
"…That's not Micro."
Flame Boy leaned closer.
The thread pulsed.
It didn't feel elemental.
It didn't feel natural.
It felt…
Engineered.
The line extended.
Not upward.
Not outward.
But downward.
Deep beneath the city.
American Supergirl whispered:
"That power wasn't awakened."
Flame Boy's flames flickered darker for just a second.
"It was given."
The glowing thread tightened.
Like something on the other end just noticed it was being traced.
And pulled back.
Hard.
The energy snapped.
Her hand burned slightly.
Flame Boy's expression lost all playfulness.
"…We're not dealing with random evolutions."
Far below the city—
Something powered on.
And someone smiled.
To be continued.