System Wars: Here Comes the Heroes!-Chapter 25: CLEAR OUT!

"Oh crap, that's the popo," SK realized belatedly once he saw a vehicle go over a distant hill. "Wait, it's fine, the monsters are gone, and I can basically lie and say I was in my apartment the whole time... wait a minute...what about the others?!"

...Meanwhile...

"Woo! That was a hell of a fireworks show, sir knight! You sure know how to throw one helluva punch!" Tin Star praised Platiknight as he landed next to the aforementioned knight of shining justice and holstered his pistols with a flourish. "Out of curiosity, did my bullet manage to scratch your shield?"

"Worry not, my leather-clad cowboy companion," Platiknight declared. "My shield is ten times tougher than my armor! That's why I use it to fight instead of wielding a weapon."

"Huh, how very Captain Ameri-"

'Platiknight, Tin Star. Both of you need to get out of there, like right now,' SK panickedly ordered his familiars while signaling them to get into the apartment.

Evidently, he was so panicked right now that his ability to convey information telepathically was mildly compromised at the moment.

"Eh? Why?"

"Shouldn't we retrieve the unconscious soothsayer first?"Tin Star pointed out. "Otherwise she might get loose and come back to fight us like a bad rash on a burning hot summer's day."

"An apt description."

'Sorry, but there's no time for that. Right now the-'

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, NOW!"

'FUCK, ITS THE POLICE!'

"You two! Put your hands in the air, now!"

"What the fuck..."

When the police officers of the SFPD arrived at the scene of the call, they weren't expecting anything too crazy.

The last time the SFPD were called to investigate a disturbance in this particular neighborhood, it was because someone thought the smell of barbecue coming from a food truck was actually someone cooking a person.

They later found out that the caller was an old lady who forgot to take her meds after a twelve-hour horror movie marathon, all exclusively about cannibalism.

But besides the grandmother confusing roast pork for roasted long pig, this neighborhood was incredibly quiet.

Which is why when two cops rolled up and saw a six-foot-something fully armored knight armed with a shield the size of an armored car door standing side-by-side with a cowboy that appeared to be openly carrying a pair of heavily modified revolvers, the aforementioned duo of cops were positively shocked, to say the least.

It also didn't help that on their way to the scene, they had seen multiple flashes of lightning being accompanied by loud explosions of sound that definitely didn't sound like thunder.

"I said, hands in the air, now!" the cop repeated while pointing his police-issued pistol at the two superheroes, who couldn't help but stare at them in disbelief.

Therefore, it was a wonderful thing that they were able to communicate telepathically with each other; otherwise, they would've sounded extra crazy to these coppers.

...

'I must say, it is a heartwarming thing to see the local law enforcement uphold their duty despite obviously being afraid about who or what we are,' Tin Star told Platiknight. 'The information package that I was given said that law enforcement nowadays seems more selfish than they were back in the days of the old West.'

'Indeed, my friend! Indeed!;' Platiknight agreed. 'But I get the distinct feeling we won't be able to talk to these fellows about the reason why we're here.'

'Well, that, and I'm pretty sure the sheriff wouldn't appreciate it if we accidentally brought too much attention to him. '

'Should we just fly away?'

'Nah, that'll attract an unnecessary amount of attention too,' Tin Star sighed. 'I have an idea; just wait for my signal.'

'This seems to be a running trend tonight.'

...

"Alright, now just walk over here slowly, and we can get your story at the station. After that-"

"Rotten Egg Smoke Blast!"

PATOOOSH

"What the hell?!"

"Ah, why does it smell like sewage?!"

Just as the cops were about to slap handcuffs on Platiknight and Tin Star, the latter suddenly threw down a full moon cartridge filled with strange colored bullets. Once the bullets impacted the ground, an explosion of foul-smelling smoke filled their nostrils with the stench of rotten eggs while stinging vapors blinded them at the same time.

As the cops were distracted by this sudden assault on the senses, Platiknight and Tin Star used this opportunity to get the hell out of there.

'Up here! Quickly!' SK mentally commanded the two superheroes as he also wildly swung his arm out of his apartment window

'At once, my liege!'

'Whatever you say, sheriff.'

The knight and cowboy superheroes proceeded to make their way off of the city streets and disappear into SK's apartment via that previously mentioned window.

Once they had cleared the threshold, SK closed the window as quickly and as quietly as he physically could.

By the time he had done just this, Tin Star's smoke bomb had fully dissipated, and the SFPD cops had recovered from their senses getting all scrambled.

"Bah! Huh?"

"Where the hell did those two disappear to?"

Needless to say, the two SFPD officers were now even more confused.

"Alright, I can understand losing track of the cowboy in the leather outfit, since that guy looked skinny and fast," one cop told the other, "but how the hell did we lose a six-foot tall armored knight?!"

"I don't know, but I'm hoping the body cam footage can help us figure that out later. But for now, let's just comb the neighborhood once over. Maybe they're hiding somewhere close by."

...Now back to the apartment itself, that was incredibly close to the cops...

"Holy crap, that was close," SK muttered as he stared down at the cops from his apartment window, watching them as they returned to their squad car and began patrolling the area. "Next time I end up fighting another User, I'm asking them if we can move our fight to an empty parking lot or something. Maybe a quarry."

"I'm more partial to the quarry than the empty lot myself, sheriff. A lot more places to bounce my bullets off of," Tin Star commented.

"The fight for justice can happen anywhere, but I suppose I'd prefer a proper arena for such bouts," Platiknight added.

Immediately after they had returned to SK's apartment, both Platiknight and Tin Star had retired themselves to SK's sofa, stressing the piece of furniture due to their combined bulk and size.

The superhero duo had earned this moment of respite after all the crap they had just gone through in the past ten minutes.

"Oh, right. I should probably look through all the stuff we gained from defeating those psychotic-"

"Pardon me, sheriff," Tin Star suddenly interrupted SK's train of thought. "But do you happen to have anything that I can use to wet my whistle?"

At this innocent question, SK developed a bewildered expression.

"Wait a minute, you guys can eat, and...actually, let's save that line of questioning for another day. I have several cans of root beer and pineapple soda in the fridge. You are free to grab either one."

"Excellent!" Tin Star exclaimed before walking to the fridge. "I'm going to grab a can of pineapple soda. You want something, sir knight?"

"Root beer, please."

"Catch."

SWISH

Ker-Catch.

"Much obliged!"

Read 𝓁atest chapters at fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm Only.

"Anytime. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Hmm."

Seeing Platiknight and Tin Star get along made SK feel surprisingly at ease. After all, he had technically created them both with differing ideas of what constituted a superhero, so he was a little nervous about them clashing heads in that regard.

Then again, it was a common practice in comics to have heroes of differing ideals gather under the unified banner of justice.

'Granted, I am going to need way more heroes if I want to do a full-on league of them," SK thought as he saw Platiknight and Tin Star share drinks.'Oh right, I should probably check his status.'

For some dumb reason, the status windows for SK's heroes didn't seem to immediately pop up after their creation. Instead, he had to wait until after the fact to actually see what their abilities and stats were actually like.

This time around, SK had tried to see if physically writing down what their attributes and abilities should be before they manifested would have an effect, and he wanted to see if that was the case. That and he was very curious how the skill crystal affected Tin Star's existence.

'I grabbed that skill crystal from a giant robot with bunsen burner for hands, and yet Tin Star definitely doesn't look like a science experiment gone wrong.'

...

Familiar Name: Tin Star

Attribute: Fire/Metal

Description: An embodiment of the Heroes of the Old West, outlaw and sheriff wrapped into one.

Stats:

Note: Familiar scaling is impossible to calculate by mortal standards, so a ranking system is used instead.

Strength: C

Endurance: C

Intellect: A

Agility: A

Charisma: A

Connection Cost: 5

Equipment: Tin Star of Bravery, Twin Colt Revolvers: Fate and Fortune

Skills: Thermochemistry (II), Gun-Fu (III), Bullet Control, Unpredictable Luck

Ultimate Skill: Frontier Spirit