Hot Rod had been bored that day. Even though it was his day off, he was feeling antsy and decided to accompany Achilles and Prime on their patrol.
He was secretly hoping to run into someone he could pummel, but just walking around the city would have been good enough. Talking with Achilles and Prime helped. Both of them seemed to get it. They were heroes too, after all. Unlike that two-faced Lightning. Prime didn't talk much, but that was fine. Hot Rod and Achilles had plenty to talk about.
In fact, Hot Rod almost didn't mind that Barrier Maiden had dumped him for Achilles. He was a good guy, and the first hero. If Hot Rod had to lose to someone, it may as well be Achilles.
"So have we decided where we're moving yet?" Hot Rod asked, glancing at Achilles.
"Ben said he'll have a place for us by Friday evening. We'll wait until Lightning goes home for the day, then move out."
"What about Flower Boy?"
"We'll leave him and the Alchemist at the old HQ for a while. She said she didn't want to move, and I don't entirely trust Rose to keep our new location from Lightning."
"Stupid brat sucking up to everyone," Hot Rod muttered. "Can we boot him too?"
"No," Achilles replied. "Until we know for sure he's an agent of the Evil Miracle Giver, we can't risk it. The Good Miracle Giver chose all of us for a reason, Rose included."
"You thought Lightning was one of us for months," Hot Rod pointed out. Achilles sighed and shrugged.
"Which is why I'm being cautious now. I can't afford to have enemies inside the Legion. We have more than enough outside of it."
"Rotten compost heaps," Hot Rod spat.
Before they could say more, though, they heard a commotion.
"Legion move out," Achilles said, taking off at a run. Prime and Hot Rod were right behind him. It was only about a block away that they found Team Chaos - Shell, Corrosion, Cold Snap, Paris and Ferry - at the center of a panicked mob. Ice had formed a bit of a bowl around them, and Corrosion had grabbed one man and pinned him to the ground, dripping acid onto his face.
The screams were awful. Hot Rod wished he could just hit a mute button for every stupid normie here.
That didn't change what he had to do, though. He launched a wave of fire to melt half the ice bowl, and the terrified people inside stampeded out. Achilles and Prime ran down the center, and the crowd parted for them easily. At least they weren't so stupid that they hindered the heroes.
"Cease!" Achilles yelled. Paris sneered at him.
"Or what? Achilles?" He spun a coil of poison mist around him and threw it at a young woman too slow to get out. She choked on it and fell to her knees, eyes wide with fear.
Get good or get out, Hot Rod thought. Seriously, couldn't she have run faster?
"Let her go," Achilles said firmly. While they talked, Hot Rod went about melting the rest of the ice bowl, then evaporating the water. It took a lot of heat, but he was used to manipulating it by now.
"Wow, there's three of them," Shell said. "I thought we'd only have to deal with two."
"Makes the odds more even. Kind of fun this way," Paris said with a grin.
"Prime, take Shell," Achilles commanded. "Hot Rod, I'll leave Corrosion and Cold Snap to you."
"On it." Hot Rod glanced at Corrosion, who still wasn't done melting the one guy's face. It was already a grotesque mess. Why did he have to keep working at it? Anybody could tell at a glance that the guy was dead. Whatever. If he was distracted, Hot Rod had better things to do.
"That mean it's you and me, Achilles?" Paris asked, grabbing the young woman he'd poisoned earlier and dragging her to her feet.
"You and me. No one else. Let her go." Achilles looked at Paris firmly. "No one else needs to get dragged into this."
"Fine." Paris shoved her away, just as Hot Rod aimed a fireball for Cold Snap.
He didn't care what the melodrama duo were up to. He just wanted to mess up some fish turds.
Cold Snap dodged the flame, then shot a blast of ice at the young woman and pulled her in front of her as a shield. As if Hot Rod cared. The girl hadn't been smart enough to run when she had the chance.
He let loose a massive ball of fire and sent it towards Cold Snap. The woman in front was just an obstacle he had to get through.
Cold Snap yelped as she shoved the girl forward, ice crawling over even more of her skin. Cold Snap ran to the side to avoid it, calling up a wall of ice to deflect it. The girl could only raise one arm to try and protect herself.
Hot Rod didn't have time to glance her way. He ran after Cold Snap, ready to fight.
"What the hell is this?"
Ugh.
He glanced back, glaring at Lightning. What was she doing here? Not even in uniform.
"Butt out," he snapped. They didn't need her. She'd just screw things up.
"No, let her play with us," Cold Snap said with a giggle. "Then it'll be four against four. Or do you want us to outnumber you? Someone else might get hurt too."
Anyone who got hurt had only themselves to blame. They had time to escape. Well, except for the guy Corrosion was melting. But that wasn't their problem.
"I can torch all of you without any help," Hot Rod said, punctuating the statement with a few more fireballs. Cold Snap pulled up more ice shields, but that didn't matter. If he kept tossing projectiles, she had to mess up at some point.
The fight wore on. He heard the other pairs duking it out, but he was only worried about Cold Snap. In a way, his power was perfect to take her on. Fire and ice. It was poetic in a way.
He danced around her icicle spears, and she wove around his fireballs. He'd completely lost track of their surroundings, but anyone stupid enough to get in the middle of their fight deserved what was coming to them.
Icicle met fireball. The area was covered in a hazy mist from all the steam. At least, he assumed it was steam. He wasn't sure what else it could be, but it was a little dark for simple steam.
Not that it mattered. His goal was taking out Cold Snap, same as ever.
