The Golden Empire
Urchin and Rick both dash towards The American Dream.
Spyke slashes in an X formation while Rick stretches his fist right towards the traitor's jaw.
After he dodges both attacks with ease Mr. Dream grabs Urchin by the collar of his mesh undershirt, punches him in the face a few times, and slams him against the ground.
He then turns towards Rick who throws another stretchy punch towards him, but he quickly catches him by the wrist, pulls him in, and raises him up in the air by his throat.
“Come on, sarge! Where did all of that bravado go?” Mr. Dream says with a sinister smile.
Rick splits in the anti-heroes face.
An angry expression suddenly appears on American Dream’s face as he tosses Rick up into the air, jumps up after him, and roundhouse kicks him down the hallway.
Rick bounces against a wall, but doesn’t stop bouncing until he is out of sight.
The American Dream dusts his hands off before turning towards the students with an evil grin.
“None of you saw that, right?”
The kids are too scared to speak or move.
“Come on!” He walks towards the kids with a shrug. “You’ll be perfectly fine as long as you all cooperate!”
He stops and flexes which creates a small shockwave around the fake patriot.
“...Uh…” Ash is the first to speak.
“...A fight! What fight?” He says while rubbing the back of his neck before shoving Takeru.
“...Uh…yeah…I…I didn’t see anything…” the DJ responds. “...None of us did…right guys?”
Love, Candi, Violet, and surprisingly even Maka all shake their heads in response.
“Good answer!” The American Dream gives thumbs up and starts to walk away.
Love exhales a deep breath that she didn’t realize she was keeping in.
“...But…” Mr. Dream stops and turns around. “...If any of you leave this place and I hear that you told somebody about this down the grape vine…”
He cracks his knuckles.
“...Let’s just say you wouldn’t like what happens next…”
He actually starts walking away, but they hear him say one more thing under his breath.
“...I mean…I know where you guys live anyways so it’s not like you have that much of a choice…”
He finally heads out of sight with his arms behind his head while whistling the US national anthem.
The kids turn towards each other.
“...Let’s get out of here…right now!” Violet exclaims as the others nod. They retrace their steps and rush out of the building as quickly as they can.
Back outside of the building Isabella Quentin is somehow still standing and is currently fighting off the last half dozen au-tommy-tons.
She uses her powers to telekinetically grab them, crush them into small spheres of metal, and releases her power to drop them with a mighty clunk.
As soon as she finishes she puts her hands down on her knees to catch her breath.
“...huff…huff…What…an incredible performance I must say…” She says before she falls over and passes out.
The American Dream heads back to his brother's office.
“Hey Max, so…” He sits down to give his brother the news. “It seems like the heroes I brought weren’t as…loyal as I would have hoped…”
His brother doesn’t answer. He was just sitting backwards in his swivel chair.
“...Uh…Hey…Earth to Max…” Mr. Dream says with a confused tone. “...I know you can hear me right now so you can stop whatever game you’re playing…”
Max suddenly yet slowly turns around and folds his hands onto the table in front of him.
“...So Andrew…if those heroes weren’t compliant…you killed them all, right?”
“...Well, none of them are conscious at the very least, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to gather them all up and do the dirty deed later.”
Max suddenly slams his fists against the table.
“...So…you let them…get away!”
“...What are you talking about…of course not!” Andrew raises his hands in a futile attempt to appear less guilty and more compliant.
“Then what the hell is this?!” Max says as he quickly grabs a remote and turns on a nearby TV.
The screen shows a fuzzy recording of the fight that just happened.
“...See…I took care of the heroes no problem.”
Max pauses the tape and looks at Andrew with a scowl.
“You know that isn’t what I am talking about Andrew!”
“...What do you mean?”
Max plays the tape again and it shows Max having a brief conversation with the students before letting them walk away.
“What the Hell is this?!”
“...Sir, I may be a villain with plenty of blood on my hands…but those are just kids!”
Max turns the remote into gold and chucks it at his brother.
“Those are witnesses! It doesn’t matter how young they are! They can go to the police and put a stop to our entire empire!”
“...Like they’ll believe a couple of kids over us…” Andrew says with a shrug.
Max puts his hands on the table and turns it to solid gold, picks it up over his own head, and launches it towards Andrew.
He barely manages to dodge this as the table barrels through a wall and falls down to the city street below.
“What about our plan Andrew?! Have you forgotten or are you just that stupid?! No matter what you think those kids are a liability!”
“...But Max…”
Max marches right up to Andrew and gets right into his face.
“Do as I say Andrew! Or else!”
“...Or else…what?”
Max angrily pokes his brother in the chest.
“Or else I’ll continue this plan by myself!”
“...Fine…” Andrew says as he exhales. “...But…how do you want me to do this?”
“Any way you like! Poison them! Drown them! Bash them on the head for all I care! Do whatever you need to do to get the job done!”
Max takes a moment to catch his breath, slick back his hair, and walk to his chair to sit back down.
“What are you waiting for?! Get you there and kill those brats! I will not let my empire end like this!”
“...Yes…yes sir…”
Max pinches the bridge of his nose before turning around in his chair.
“...One more thing Andrew…”
“...Yes?”
Max turns his chair around slightly so that he can look backwards towards his brother.
“You better not disappoint me…or else!”