by The Eurostar
Thunder City, USA. October, 1999:
"Here is Buzz E. Randall for TCNW live from Thunder. Not more than thirty minutes ago, four horse-riding metahumans have started to wreak havoc in the city."
The image from the helicopter-mounted camera shows a path of destruction that cuts across the financial district of the town. Big buildings are leveled, and from under the debris emerge many half-destroyed cars. There are many corpses, and the streets are tinted in red.
"The appearance of the four knights resembles the traditional description of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence."
Running like mad across the scared crowd, the Four Horsemen create chaos in the heart of the metropolis. Riding a white horse, Death, armed with a bow, sends hundreds of arrows at the harmless people. None miss their marks. War rides a red horse and, with a long sword with magical attributes, destroys everything that stands in his path. The third, Famine, rides a black horse and has a balance in his hands. Having no weapons, he keeps himself far from the carnage but seems busy nevertheless. The fourth, Pestilence, rides a sickly green horse and is followed by a pack of hellish dogs of war that feed on the corpses (and the not-yet-dead bodies) of the fallen.
And then, walking slowly in the newly created path paved with bodies, appears a colossal being.
"It's... it's a giant. Taller than three men. Thunder has never before seen such a menace..."
The being, sporting complex, all-black armor and a heavy helm with big, curved horns, advances slowly, looking around and enjoying the sight.
"Why haven't they arrived? Only they can save the city! Where is the... oh, they are here! I see them! I see..."
Flying faster than a speeding bullet, a tall, thin but muscular man appears on the scene, landing on top of a building just in front of the giant. Dressed in a purple costume with a red X across his chest, a red mantle, his face hides behind a red, thick mask.
"...Rhyme Guardian! Thank God he has arrived!"
"Warlord, take your loony henchmen and go back to your dirty hole! I'm tired of smelling your fucking shit in my city!" yells the tall metahero at the address of the giant.
"RHYME GUARDIAN! BEARER OF THE FORCE! YOUR DAYS ON THIS PLANET END TODAY!" shouts the Warlord.
The hero smiles. From the sky other metaheroes arrive on the scene.
A dark-haired, blue-dressed hero lands at Rhyme Guardian's left side. The hero wears a high-tech gauntlet he gained when he became a member of the Matter-Beam Corps, an intergalactic police force comprising members from many planets across the galaxy and beyond.
"...Zed, the lone survivor of a dying universe..."
Instantly, at the right side of Rhyme Guardian materializes a tall, red-haired, tan-skinned woman dressed in a form-fitting, all-white costume with a silver lion on her left breast.
"...and the Lioness, the sorceress from a parallel dimension!"
The Four Horsemen stop. There are other heroes appearing on the opposite side of the street. On one side, a massive, muscular man advances with his arms raised and the hands closed in fists. A gemstone glows on his belt.
"...here comes Smasher, the hero just returned after a period of inactivity..."
Just behind him, ten-foot-tall and made of rocks, with lava burning like fire through his eyelids, stands a man impossibly dressed in a trench coat and fedora.
"...Johnny Monolith, the Hawaiian lava elemental..."
On the other side of the street, another muscular man dressed in an orange jumpsuit with a cape appears.
"...it's the Cadet, but that the media world has lovingly nicknamed the Caped Cadet for his bright cape..."
He is followed by a teenaged metahero dressed in blue, with white boots and gloves, armed with a long rod.
"...and lastly there is Disco Stave, the youngest member of the fabled Meta Board League!"
The Warlord raises a hand, and everyone -- knights, crowds, and heroes -- stops, looking at the giant. "RHYMER, HEAR ME. I AM NOT HERE TO CLAIM THIS CITY OR THIS WORLD. I AM HERE JUST FOR REVENGE, TO KILL YOU AND THE DAMNED MBL. MY MEN HAVE PLANTED MANY NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE DEVICES IN THUNDER. IF YOU AND YOUR MEN DON'T SURRENDER, I WILL WIPE OUT THUNDER. WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER, LITTLE HUMAN?"
Rhyme Guardian smiles and just says: "Fuck you!"
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SMARTER, LITTLE MAN. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. YOU DIE TODAY WITH YOUR COMRADES, OR YOU DIE TODAY WITH YOUR COMRADES AND THUNDER CITY!"
Rhyme Guardian shakes his head. "Are you deaf? Fuck off!"
"BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA! VERY WELL, THEN!" The giant produces a big detonator, and, pressing a red button over it, he yells: "BYE-BYE, THUNDER. ADIEU, MBL. IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE..."
The crowd screams in terror.
CLICK!
And nothing happens.
"HOW'S THAT POSSIBLE?!" exclaims the puzzled Warlord. He looks at the Horsemen, who simply shrug.
"MBL, let's party!" shouts Rhyme Guardian, and, like one single being, the seven members of the League attack.
Orange laser blasts shoot out of Rhyme Guardian's hands, hitting the Warlord on the front, while lava flows out of Monolith's eyes, hitting the Warlord on the back. Meanwhile, Zed creates a big, heavy hammer that falls repeatedly over the Warlord's head.
Disco Stave's beating stick clears the path toward Pestilence, sending the dog of war to fly away, allowing Smasher to take down the knight with his superforce. Lioness' magic raises a big chunk of debris from a fallen building and lets it fly over Death. Finally, the Cadet's reality-altering powers make the horse disappear under War and turns his long blade into a big serpent that wraps itself around the knight's neck.
"RETREAT! RETREAT!" yells the Warlord. Suddenly, a big portal opens, and he and his Horsemen disappear into it.
Only Famine remains behind on his black horse. The MBLers gather around him, but the Horseman doesn't seem alarmed.
"Good work..." begins Rhyme Guardian as Famine grabs his own face and throws away what is revealed to be a mask, "...Agent F7!"
The eighth member of the MBL gets off the horse, smiling.
The action news helicopter lands nearby. Buzz Randall, half bent down, runs toward Rhyme Guardian and the others, followed closely by his cameraman. "Mr. Guardian, Mr. Guardian! What happened, exactly? Was the bomb just a bluff?"
Rhyme Guardian frowns at the camera, covering it with the palm of his hand and then turns his back to it to protect his secret identity, as if the mask was not enough. "It was not a bluff, Randall. We saw that the Horseman called Famine was always away from the action. So Agent F7 captured him and then, posing as him, discovered that he was in charge of a series of bombs. So, he cut them from the detonator, and when the Warlord pressed it, nothing happened."
"Plus," continues the Agent, who now sports a disturbingly featureless face-mask, "I have also reprogrammed the teletransporter, so that now, instead of the secret hideout of the Warlord, they have ended up in Limbo... possibly forever!"
The camera closes over the smiling face of the newsman. "This is Buzz E. Randall live from Thunder, for the latest stunt of the Meta Board League!"