First Player/Election Time

"This way, Governor!"

The reporters all shouted requests at the governor of Paragon City, a stout man that was actually respected by the community at large. He had followed through on his promised goals when he had been elected and the voters loved him for it. He waved from atop his limousine, the upper portion of his torso sticking through the moonroof. As part of his campaign to get reelected he had opted to tour the state while kissing babies and shaking hands. His aides told him he didn't need to, that they loved him enough already, but he wanted to remain rooted in reality without letting his head get too big. As politicians went he was an honest one, a black sheep among the rest of the flock.

As a former Hollywood actor, his opponents had thought he wouldn't last a second in the position, but he had worked hard to prove them wrong. He wasn't the first celebrity to take office, anyway, and he probably wouldn't be the last.

Dozens of camera shutters snapped open and closed as the reporters continued to jump for his attention. He smiled at a few he recognized, nodding his head in answer to interview requests. He would have rather walked down the street but his security advisor insisted he remained in the limo at all times.

"Governor! What're your feelings on Statesman's death?"

"Over here, Governor! Can you give us some insight into your campaign?"

"What do you plan to do in regards to the clean-up operations within Galaxy City?"

The questions, like the camera shutters, never seemed to slow down. He didn't mind; it kept him in the court of public opinion. The moment that started to dwindle—

"Governor, get down!" one of his armed bodyguards yelled over the crowd.

A yellow beam of raging energy struck the back of the stretched car, rocking it back and forth as the driver fought with the wheel for control. The governor fell forward, his chest crushing against the front of the moon roof, the air in his lungs letting out in one burst. The governor tilted his head back to see what was going on and nearly soiled himself from what was transpiring.

The three bodyguards that had been walking beside the car in case crowd control was needed had all drawn their weapons and were firing into the sky. Their firearms, while harmful against normal humans, seemed useless against what was soaring down upon them. Sun glinted off the metallic sheen of the figure dropping down, the one who had fired on the limousine.

The red, white,and green armored Christmas crook known as Tannenbomb swooped down low, his jingle-jetpack blaring 'Deck The Halls' behind him while twin turrets fired bursts of energy. Bullets fell harmlessly to the ground as his thick armor absorbed their momentum, a sight that disturbed the bodyguards. Tannenbaum was coming in fast, his gloves pointed over his head at the guards.

"Mr. Governor," Tannenbomb boomed through his mask, "I've been sent to tell you that your next term in office has been canceled."

Five Minutes Ago

Miles Benedict was watching the Governor's caravan pass from inside the Thanks A Latte coffee shop across the street. Election time. Miles had a fairly apathetic view towards politics in general but he supported the governor's re-election. For all intents and purposes, he seemed like a decent guy aside from his massive collection of pirated oldies' music stored on his computer. Though he didn't care that much about politics, Miles still liked to keep an eye on the people running things. He thought of it as less of an invasion of privacy and more of a good deed, In case the governor really did have some sort of villainous agenda.

Naturally, 'Humans First' had camped out to protest a block down the street. They were an organization who rallied behind the belief that anyone other than baseline humans were abominations, be it aliens, mutants, or cyborgs. Numerous terrorist attacks had been linked to the organization, but leaders within always claimed those involved were extremists, not actually connected with the group itself. They had only begun recently making a fuss since the governor announced his decision to grant rights to animals with scientifically enhanced intelligences. Which is why, Miles assumed, they were out protesting today.

He was about to head back inside to chat up the cute barista behind the counter when he heard screams of terror across the street. The crowds scattered as an energy blast sizzled down out of the sky, charring a spot in the grass along the sidewalk. Miles ran out of the shop and looked towards the sky. A villain brandishing a beam rifle soared through the air, and it looked like he was targeting the governor.

With blazing speed Tannenbomb approached the bodyguards, their ammunition long since depleted. His humming jet pack granted him precise control over his velocity, which he displayed by coming to a complete stop in midair mere inches from the guards. He snatched their empty weapons and tossed them aside.

"Take a hike," Tannenbomb commanded arrogantly. "Your employer and I need to have a private conversation, yes? No need for any unnecessary heroics."

The bodyguard furthest away from the armored villain jumped on top of the limo, throwing himself on top of the governor in an attempt to push him back inside the car. The other two bodyguards, apparently ignoring the mercenary's warning, lunged forward with fists swinging.

"Ha!" he laughed as the first guard broke his hand against his armored suit. "Let it be known, that you swung first."

Tannenbomb dealt his own blow across the face of the first bodyguard, knocking him out cold. The second guard, having jumped back after seeing his compatriot crack several bones in his hand, hesitated on whether or not to make a run for it.

"Stay down!" the guard on top of the limo ordered the governor. With thoughts of bravery swimming through his head, the bodyguard flung himself off of the stretched car and onto the back of Tannenbomb, wrapping his arms around the villain's neck.

"Oh, you must be joking." He pressed a button on his gauntlet and a turret fired a beam of energy that blasted the guard in front of him into unconsciousness. Gently bending his knees Tannenbomb looked back over his shoulder at the remaining guard floundering on his back. "I hope you have life insurance."

He straightened his legs and sprung up into the air, carrying the guard with him high over the spreading crowd's heads. The guard tightened his grip but Tannenbomb's maneuvering was too much for him. He felt his fingers start to slip despite the amount of fight he still had in him.

Tannenbomb simply shrugged his shoulders and the guards fingers slipped from his shoulders as he lost his grip, sending him falling through the air. The man screamed in pure, unadulterated terror as the unforgiving concrete quickly rose up to meet him.

The wind whipped around his face as he plummeted. Memories of his life flashed before his eyes, a sure sign that this was the final end for him. He closed his eyes and braced for impact.

He felt a sharp pulling on his leg and suddenly his fall was brought to a halt. He hesitated to open his eyes, afraid that Tannenbomb had swooped down to catch him and play with him some more. But that wasn't the case.

"Chill out, I've got you," his savior said. "Try not to wave your arms much, I'll have you down in a second."

The crowd collectively gasped and camera shutters started to flick open and shut once more. First Player hovered down to the ground, gently dropping the bodyguard on the pavement.

"You wanna' go ahead and give it up now?" First Player called out.

"I respectfully decline." Tannenbomb shouted from above.

First Player shot back up into the air, his boot jets propelling him swiftly. Tannenbomb swooped straight down, his fists outstretched to ram into First Player, his own velocity increasing rapidly.

KRA-KOOM!

Metal scraped against metal as the two figures slammed into each other. Both men were knocked away from each other, both now furiously trying to correct their trajectories before the other. The villain's jet pack sizzled and whirred in an effort to break through his momentum and put him right-side up while First Player's gyroscopics spun and whirled to do the same. On the bright side, the impact shut off Tannenbomb's Christmas soundtrack.

"Thank the lord, I thought that'd never end." Miles mumbled to himself.

Tannenbomb cursed in German. "Nothing is ever simple, is it?"

Tannenbomb flipped over in the air just as he came close to a five-story building, kicking off of it with his boots and using the new forward momentum to catapult himself across the sky. First Player had also recovered and was heading straight for Tannenbomb, his boot jets leaving a light trail of smoke in his wake. The crowd underneath the sparring couple still hadn't fully dispersed, regardless of the immediate danger over their heads.

Still a good distance between them, Tannenbomb let fly another searing blast of energy similar to the two he had fired before. The yellow light erupted from his jet pack and cut through the air toward First Player, its intensity almost blinding the spectators below. His visor display advising multiple courses of action, simply spun out of the way without relaxing his speed. The blast harmlessly dissipated into the atmosphere a mile away as First Player raised his own gauntlets to fire at Tannenbomb.

He took evasive maneuvers, his jet pack vibrating and roaring louder than a lawn mower. Up and down the villain soared in a seemingly haphazard diagonal pattern. First Player's targeting systems quickly calculated trajectories and locked onto Tannenbomb, alarms chirping in his headset. As First Player flew closer he tilted his body upward to raise himself slightly higher than his opponent and then opened his glove, his own energy attack lashing forth from his palm.

A powerful ionic blast swept over Tannenbomb, its concussive force knocking him off balance in the air and sending him back into the same building he had bounded off of. First Player continued the assault in a steady stream of torrential energy, slowly coming in closer to his quarry as the ion blasts held Tannenbomb in place. The concrete side of the building started to crack under the pressure but he was effectively stuck.

"Aghh!" the villain yelled. "I surrender!"

"Good man." First Player smirked. He let the ion blast subside as he reached for the smoking husk of Tannenbomb. Just before he clasped his bulky hand around Tannenbomb's wrist, the villain kicked free of the wall again and slammed into First Player's midsection. Tannenbomb cackled loudly as they both grappled in the air, the alloys of their armors scraping against each other. First Player buckled forward to gain leverage against his opponent and slammed his elbows into Tannenbomb's back, driving them between his shoulder blades. Tannenbomb's grasp wavered but he held onto First Player's waste tight, locking his fingers together as he controlled their flight. Tannenbomb was aiming for another building, hoping to drive First Player through the walls.

Bullets started pelting the duo again. "Stoppen!" Tannenbomb shouted at the bodyguards on the ground. They had apparently found their backup weapons. "You have no idea who you’re dealing with! You're go—AGH!"

First Player's knee guard slammed into Tannenbomb's chest, finally knocking his grip loose. The palmed the back of the villain's skull and forced it back down into his other knee guard, crunching the yellow lenses of Tannenbomb's helmet. Jamming his fingers under Tannenbomb's jet pack, First Player spun the would-be assassin around in circles briefly before letting him go, sailing into the side of another building.

Tannenbomb attempted to change his course but his jingle jet had been too badly damaged. He crashed through a third-story window, sending shards of glass raining down into the empty alley.

First Player hovered outside the broken window. "Do you give up f’real this time?" he asked apathetically.

"G…go to Hell…" Tannenbomb feebly replied.

First Player leveled his gauntlet at his foe, ready to unleash another wave of ionic blasts. Tannenbomb watched as the iris in First Player's palm opened, readying to fire.

A wave of wind slammed against First Player as the noise of rotor blades filled his audio receptors. Channel Four News had scrambled their twin helicopters as soon as their reporter on the ground had called the situation in. Now the twin crafts circled dangerously close to the building, various cameras mounted on them zooming in and out, recording the whole scene.

"Get back!" First Player attempted to yell over the noise of their rotors. "He's still—"

Tannenbomb launched himself back through the window, throwing his fist into First Player's head as he passed. He was knocked back through the air, desperate to correct himself again before it was too late.

"Farewell, hero!" Tannenbomb laughed as his cybernetic wings carried him further and further away.

First Player, having righted himself, flew after Tannenbomb but one of the news choppers cut him off. A reporter was leaning out the side hatch, rattling off inaudible questions at the hero. Tannenbomb had gotten away.

First Player looked down to see that the crowd was still yelling for his attention, their cameras all clicking away snapshot after snapshot. He turned his attention back to the news helicopter, paused, and then ignited his boot jets to rocket over the helicopter. Within seconds he was out of sight.

The governor had watched the entire scenario intently from the safety of his black limousine, wondering what was happening. His bodyguards ripped the side doors open to see if he was still okay and the reporters tried to push their way to the front of the crowd, all of them ready to bombard the governor with questions.

“Was this all a publicity stunt?” was the first one asked. The governor sighed.