"PLEASE HELP MASTER!" The little girl continued crying as she clung to his legs.

"I will, I promise." And no matter how much he reassured her, the girl wouldn't let go. It wasn't a strong vice, it wasn't even among the most powerful tugs he had felt. Some people could get past his energy armor.

Some did it easier than others, be it because their Core powers matched, because their core powers worked only for that (There was at least a small percentage of would-be villains that asked for a specific type of Core power just to mess up with a very specific type of Hero).

But this? This was something else entirely. It wasn't like how he used the same type of power as Chrysalis to get past her defenses and touch her. It wasn't like the girl had a Core Power specifically set up to counter him.

No, it was more like he couldn't move because the girl was holding him down, as in she was holding him down.

"Breath," He intoned in a low voice, the one his PR person always told him to use with the kids whenever they were in a panic, he hadn't ever needed to do it since most kids would be easily moved with some use of his power. Or he could just delegate it to someone else. "Take in a calming breath in, air in... air out."

He started using the same tricks he had used the first time his powers awoke, when his Core gave him an impenetrable armor that sealed him away from the rest of humanity. A suit of armor that would keep him safe and anyone he wanted.

"Ogey..." The little girl said still crying and using his clothes as a handkerchief, "I'm fine... Mom said that if I needed help I could go to uncle Bruce and he would help."

Uncle.... Bruce?

"And Mother said that I really should do since Uncle Bruce was a pushover and would help me." The little girl continued speaking, it gave him a migraine thinking about the identities of the people who would dismiss him like that, there were few people who could even think of doing so to someone like him who stood near the top of the power scale of Core Users. "So will you really help master?"

"I will," He still nodded, even if only to get the girl to let him go and blast away, he had wasted too much time as it was. "Where is your master?"

"She is down there, she is in a superduper secret mission for the top heroes, but needed to fight against an evil bad guy person and told me to run away..." The little girl had tears start to form around her eyes, "But... I didn't want to... I didn't want to run but my Core Power told me to do it!"

Then the girl started crying once more, "My core power said that if I didn't run away then Mom and Mother would be hurt!" And that made him stop.

If the identities of the Mother of this girl were who he thought, that was... dangerous.

"Your Core Power told you that if you didn't run away, [Light] and [Promise] would be in danger?" Bruce asked, since he became [SuperForce] he hadn't been in true danger, only under very specific situations had he found danger.

Once when he fought other Core Users within his range, that is to say, other A-List Core Users.

Another one when they were testing the limits of his powers in the Saintsworths facility. The limit to his defenses were tested and then again.

The third and last time he felt in danger... was when he fought for the first time supervillain known as [Promise]. The woman had started fighting against a respected mega corporation, so he was called in.

And he went to take care of it, she was an unknown new being, nothing too dangerous and seemed to be a physical Core user, but... Her weapons somehow bypassed the defenses of his Core, and before he could be felled, the woman looked annoyed and left as someone called her in the phone.

The woman was powerful, way more than the amount of mana that she had access too, and that was not the main issue, but the other woman that arrived a few days afterwards, [Light].

A heroine who fought using thematic similar to that used by the heroes of old animated series, the woman fought like a children's protagonist, but the problem was that her powers also bypassed his defenses.

And the only ones that could live up to either of them was the other, so most of the community left them to their own devices, the villain would attack something and the heroine would come to stop her.

And this girl said that if she remained with Rhapsody her parents would be at risk? Those monsters would be at danger?

From a low-tier Minion? One with great promise perhaps, but even so. That would be enough to put them at risk? Unless...

Either the Minion was more dangerous than Gabriel had implied... which, to be honest, Bruce would not be surprised, Edwards wanted to keep that minion at arm's length, as far as to make her an inheritor to his empire of crime.

Something that hadn't happened before.

"Listen to me," Bruce said kneeling in front of the little girl who had started to cry again, "Your parents will be all right, your Master will be all right."

The little girl sniffed a few times again while looking up at him with those eyes that little kids have when they meet their Hero. The kind of eyes that he should look forward, but he... honestly didn't care that much for these type of eyes.

"You promise?" The little girl said letting go a little of his clothes, "Pinkie promise?"

And the little girl even extended her pinky finger forward.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I promise," Bruce answered as he put his own pinky finger against the little girl, "For I am here."

And with that he took a step backward, feeling his power flow freely across his body. "Can you return to base?" He asked as the little girl sniffed one last time and nodded to him.

"Yes," The girl said, "I can. I need to call Mom just in case, to make sure she and Mother are fine."

"Good," Bruce said nodding, "Do ask them to not come near, just in case."

"That's smart!" The little girl said nodding, "That way they can't be in danger, you please help Master deal with the big bad evil girl!"

And as if a storm had been born, the little girl rushed out, she was way faster than she should be, and the amount of strength she used didn't match the degree of destruction left behind her.

"Just like one of her foster parents." Bruce said as she saw the girl leave his sight, he didn't believe for a second that girl was the actual daughter of [Light] and [Promise].

First of all, the hair color was wrong, the girl also didn't look like either woman, and with mana being as prominent on them, they all had ways to mark the body.

Just like how most Saintsworths were blonde with blue eyes, with [Light] a woman with pink hair and blonde strikes on her hair... This girl should have pink hair, or eyes. But she didn't.

And then with [Promise], the red haired woman with blonde strikes on her hair... well, the little girl was not red head either.

There was no way that such a prominent part of their identity didn't get passed down, even if the women had triggered after having the kid. Mana was weird like that.

Not, if Bruce was to bet on something, it was in that this girl [The Beacon of Justice] was adopted, or perhaps these women were taking care of her?

He would check on that later. Now?

"Command, this is SuperForce. How far have the minions overtaken us?" Bruce asked as he turned on his power and started floating a few centimeters over the ground.

"Superforce, sir?" The answer was immediate, "The minion forces have an advantage of fifteen minutes of us. They will arrive at the area where you are within five minutes."

That was bad, meaning that their own forces was so much behind?

It was meaningless if he couldn't cordon the area when he breached.

"What about the Lieutenants? How many did they dispatch?" Bruce asked next, he needed to know with who would he need to deal.

"Only one so far, the Minion Gabriel Light was seen going into the sewer system." The answer came the next second, that was... not a surprise, but a problem.

The only reason Bruce could think for Gabriel to give the data that easily was if he could overtake him easily, which, with a teleporting power wasn't that hard.

Even if Bruce himself could travel in straight lines, he did need to mind the destruction he left behind, for if he wanted the sidekicks to be able to work, he needed a way for them to follow after him.

Unlike Gabriel, if he gave the data this easily, it meant that he had a way to get ahead of him without problem, and since his work wasn't one that required delicacy... He could probably rush ahead, get the data they wanted, return later and act as if nothing had happened.

This didn't include the issue with the minion, Rhapsody. He still wasn't sure what the power of this minion was, which meant she was an issue.

"Where is he right now?" Bruce asked as he started flowing forward, the coordinates that Gabriel gave them pointed to a spot that was isolated from the sewer system. Meaning it was more than likely a black site as they had feared.

"Lieutenant Gabriel is..." The voice stopped for a second, "Right in front of you sir..."

"Hey Superforce," And sure enough, there he was. Gabriel Light standing behind two of their sidekicks, a couple that was put on their team by the Harmonia group.

They wanted these to learn how the core powers worked, to stimulate a better understanding of them, or so they said. The Harmonia had done plenty experiment with core users, both new and old.

And their research seemed to imply that using core powers, or being near core users after and before core triggering was important. Something about adapting faster?

Bruce didn't understand the logic.

"A present," Gabriel didn't wait for him to think and pushed the two sidekicks forward him, one of them was unconscious, the girl, [Soul]. "I need to go back to my Minion, I lost enough time as it is..."

And while Bruce had expected Gabriel to teleport away, the man merely started walking away. Which was... odd.

"Report," Bruce didn't let that trouble him and instead turned to one of the sidekicks, the boy who was keeping the girl steady. "Why is he going away? What happened inside? Has the Objective MS2 been put down?"

The boy turned to look at where Gabriel was going and when they couldn't hear him anymore, he started speaking, "There is an area where Core Powers don't work ahead, he probably intends to use his power outside the area to return, since that would be faster than going ahead." The kid then turned to him, as if to gauge him.

Bruce was currently hovering above the ground, and this kid didn't seem to fear him much. What was the deal with kids these days?

"As for Objective MS2..." The kid said turning to look at the girl on his arms, "The Minion in question, Rhapsody was it? She was fighting the target, the villain originally came to help that Minion but..."

"Your priority call made him have to rescue you," Bruce answered before the kid could.

And before he could even say anything else, the sound of a small explosion and then, he felt a small slight burn on his shoulder. Gabriel had probably gotten outside of whatever area of effect that he was under and had rushed back.

The fact that he went even through here meant that either this was the closest route... Or he was spending time sending him in the wrong direction.

"Yes sir," The kid said, had he not seen Gabriel rush past? Of course he hadn't, he was a spoiled brat from one of the bigger corpos, "Well, what data do you have about what is ahead? Do you have a map or directions we can use to get ahead of the minions and villains?"

He was not expecting anything of course, but these rich kid types wanted to be included or their pitiful pride would suffer, and then that was another issue to solve later.

"There is no need for maps," The kid answered, "The path is a straight line, you will find a large room with a hatch in the middle. There you go down and you will find the facility."

That was... more easy than expected.

"And we didn't got closer, as for what caused the effect that disrupted skills..." The kid seemed to think for a few seconds, then, hugging the unconscious girl closer, he nodded to himself, as if making sure he would say something important, "We don't know what caused it, we were speaking with the villain when it happened."

....Of course they were.

"Can you return alone?" Bruce asked, pulling something from his belt, it was one of his non-lethal weapons, "There should be a wave of minions and sidekicks coming in around five to ten minutes. Both should let you be, since that was the deal, but if anyone causes trouble use that."

And throwing the non lethal stun gun to the kid, Bruce started moving forward. "Sorry, but I am not part of those deals the corporations make with heroes and villains, so I have no responsibility to protect you. If you were a civilian perhaps, but you are as a Sidekick here. So you must do your part." And with that, he flew away.

He was not going as fast as he could; if there was a core dampening effect, then he would be in danger of getting hurt. And while doing this... since he was flying slower...

"Command, do you read?" He signaled command center, now that he was further ahead and right before he went down the hatch in the circular room that the brat had described.

There was no evidence of combat or anything; had they overestimated the danger? Was Subject MS2 not as dangerous as they feared?

"Loud and clear Superforce," The command center answered, "There are some interference near your zone, we expect some disturbance if you go down that path ahead. But going further ahead will get you out of the predicted zone."

"What is below my position?" Bruce asked as he eyed the hatch, he didn't doubt Gabriel Light or the sidekicks, but he still needed to ask to verify.

"There is nothing below you. There are some corporations asking for permission to build in this area, mostly from the Saintsworths and some small-scale water treatment corporations." The answer came... surprisingly what he expected.

"Right..." Bruce said shaking his head, "Well. I have confirmation of an underground level below me, and visual confirmation that our target is there. Also a villain lieutenant ahead already there."

"...Our protocols indicate that we must ask permission from central base for you to proceed. As this could be a secure facility." The central agent said, Bruce of course knew they would get no authorization, unless there was an actual military facility and the villains couldn't be contained.

"Fine, on the meantime, transmit the bodycam from the two sidekicks that were here, [Body] and [Soul] was it?" Bruce turned around and sat near the hole, "They are normal sidekicks right? And me as the lead Hero in site should have the requirements to see those things."

"...sir...." The agent in the command center hesitated, they both knew why, of course, the brats were corporate kids, they probably had more corporate secrets than his own body armor.

And Bruce planned to use this as leverage, all so they would not complain when he went down. Or at least that was the plan.

*CRASH* *SKRRRKHHH*

As he was there, he heard the sound of an explosion that rocked the chamber he was in, followed by the sound of metal screeching and being crushed together, as if someone had grabbed several metal pipes and started to fold them in a hazardous manner.

Usually, that would mean there was an electromaster or a magnetomaster around. But this deep? In this area?

The closest to those descriptions was Vulcanus, but he was not here, he had not come.

And ahead of them only was Gabriel, the target MS2, the Minion Rhapsody that Vulcanus wanted to nurture...

So... who had caused this?

What had happened inside there?

"Command, there is interference-" Bruce started saying, while grabbing the transceiver in one hand and crushing it, along with his own bodycam and the portable hard drive (Black box).

He needed to see this.

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