Not much of a writer, but I've been thinking about writing a little ryona series (mostly for my own enjoyment). Let me know what you guys think I need to work on! I hope this thread isn't dead because of AI :(
Some heroes retire because of failing health, others for family, but most never get that luxury. Starlight was among the fortunate few who got to retire. But perhaps 'fortunate' was the wrong word, as tragedy had forced her hand. In the moment of her greatest failure as a hero, she hesitated, frozen by fear of a villain only she could have stopped. That pause cost her sister and brother‑in-law their lives, leaving their daughter orphaned. Driven by guilt, Starlight became her adoptive mother and stepped back from her post. The strongest hero in history had retired in her prime, giving up the name Starlight and becoming known simply as Dorothea. That was eight years ago.
It would be a lie to say she never regretted it, or that there weren't bumps along the way. Single motherhood was a different kind of battle. But it wasn’t permanent. Her powers kept her from aging, leaving her just as strong, fast, and capable as she had been eight years ago. Maybe even stronger, thanks to years of training in preparation. She planned to stay retired only until her daughter came of age.
At least, that was her plan, until the letter arrived. Upon opening it, her face turned pale in horror.
It contained a picture of her daughter’s school, a location, along with the singular sentence "Do not tell anyone else, come here by 8pm tonight". She knew it was a trap. She didn't even need her powers to know that much. But what other choice did she have? Her beloved daughter was in danger.
She hurriedly pulled out her phone, and called her daughter. “Pick up, pick up, please pick up!” she had to actively control her own strength so that she would not crush her phone in panic. After the third ring her daughter answered the phone. “Mom? What’s up?” she collapsed on the floor in relief. “It’s nothing. I just wanted to know what you wanted for dinner, because I’m going out and probably won’t be back until late.”
Her daughter giggled. “A date? Have you finally found someone?” “No… Just going out with some friends. I haven’t seen them in a long time, so I’ll probably be out for a while okay? Don’t worry about me and just go to bed if that happens.” It pained her to lie to her daughter, but it was better than telling her the truth. That she was the very hero who caused her parents’ death. “Okay, I’ll just have a sleepover at Marie’s house, don't worry about food mom. I won’t be back tonight.” Ignoring her daughter’s teasing remarks at the end, Starlight finally felt at ease. “Love you Chloe.” “I love you too mom, bye.”
Her first thought was to force her daughter to come home, but given that the villain knew her identity it probably wouldn’t have made her any safer. Having her go to her friend’s house was probably the best outcome she could have hoped for. Now she didn’t have to worry about her daughter finding out about her secret identity.
She glanced up at the clock. 1:31 pm. She still had a lot of time before 8. She pondered about what she could do until then, when an idea suddenly struck. “What if I arrived there early, and set up a surprise attack on the villian?” Then she would be able to take him down before someone could find out that Starlight was out of retirement. The shorter she could make the encounter with the villain, the better. It could also stop the villain from being able to set up traps beforehand.
Excited by the idea of being able to turn the tables, she flew up the stairs (quite literally in her case) and opened her closet. She moved aside a box too heavy for normal people, to reveal a secret opening on the floor. She blew away the dust and used her power, generating a source of light from her palms to see better. Inside the secret compartment was her superhero suit. The pure white hero costume was as clean as the day she had last worn it eight years ago. She was no longer a fan of its revealing design, with the large opening in the chest area and leaving her legs bare, but there was a time she enjoyed getting looks from men in her youth. This costume was proof of that.
She took the suit out of the compartment, moved the box back over it and tried it on. Her regeneration powers kept her in the same shape as her prime, allowing her to fit into the suit perfectly. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her G cups were threatening to spill out, barely contained by the tight grip from the fabric of the suit. The skin tight latex-like material accentuated her curves, and the golden cape matched her platinum blond hair perfectly. Her cheeks were a little flushed, embarrassed to be wearing something like this at her age. But to anyone else, she looked just like a twenty something year old model.
As embarrassing as it was to wear this costume, it was a symbol of the hero Starlight. And in the worst case scenario, it would protect her identity from being exposed in the event someone saw her. Dorothea took off her contact lenses, to reveal her signature ruby-like scarlet pupils, which was in stark contrast to the light blue contacts she wore everyday to hide her identity. She put on her golden boots, and headed out her backyard door. To avoid being seen, she used her sixth sense, an ability that allowed her to know about the things out of her sight, and pushed her intuition to the limits, as she took off into the air towards the location marked in the letter.
How long was it since she’d been able to fly like this? The cool wind brushed against her face, down her body, her gold cape fluttered as she flew faster and faster. She had missed using her powers like this. But she couldn’t let herself become addicted to this. “It’s just for today” she told herself. She recalled her daughter’s smiling face. And how proud she felt about the way her daughter grew up to be a fine woman. She reminded herself that she was only doing this for her daughter’s safety.
Before long, she had arrived at the abandoned warehouse. Looking down on it from above, she saw numerous holes on the roof, and that the door was opened. There was a chance that the villain was already here. She decided to sneak in from one of the holes on the roof. She flew over towards the rusty steel roof, and flew into one of the several holes. The sunlight shone through holes on the roof and the broken windows, but it was only barely enough to make out what was inside. She resisted the urge to shine a light with her powers, and focused on her sixth sense instead.
Nothing. Her sixth sense told her everything was clear. There was nothing in here but broken down cars, spiderwebs and dust bunnies. Lowering her guard just a little, she landed softly on the ground and used her powers to light up the surroundings. There, she noticed that there was a black dial phone right in the middle of the building, on top of a wooden table. She used her sixth sense to check if there was a trap attached to it, but there was nothing. However the gloss and freshness of the black phone meant that it was placed there recently. Most likely by the very villain who lured her out here.
Had she already fallen into a trap? Her powers had already given her the clear. Using her sixth sense during her entire flight and to check for traps had already given her a headache. She didn't want to overuse it.
She took a deep breath and just focused on her regular senses. Even though she knew there were no traps in the warehouse, she put herself on high alert as the villain might get here at any moment.
Multiple drops of sweat ran down her smooth skin. Not from the heat, but from focusing intently and anxiety that was swerling within her. How long had it been? An hour? Three hours? She resisted the urge to break her phone and check her watch. She didn’t know when the villain was going to strike, and all she could do was stay on alert so that she didn't end up the one getting snuck upon.
Ring ring ring! Starlight’s shoulders jolted in surprise when the black dial phone started ringing out. She had already checked that there were no traps attached to the phone, but should she pick it up? Ring ring ring! After what seemed like several minutes, she decided to pick up the phone. It did not seem like the ringing was going to stop anytime soon, and it was starting to really disrupt her focus.
A man using a voice filter spoke through the phone. “I see that you have arrived quite early. I hope you haven’t tired yourself out trying to stay alert this whole time, because I’m not even there! HAHAHAHA!” Starlight squeezed her right hand in a fist in frustration. She was being toyed with. “Enough with these games. You think this is some kind of joke? Stop hiding and come out!” “Well there’s no point delaying any further. All my preparation is finished. I’ll give you the real location now. Look under the table.” She checked one more time with her sixth sense to make sure it was safe, then looked under using her power to create a source of light from her palm to see.
Yet another letter was taped to the underside of the table. “Open it” the voice urged her. A different address yet again. “You have an hour to get here. With your speed, it shouldn’t be a problem.” With those words, the villain cut the phone. Checking the location using the smart watch on her costume, it was across the country. She was going to have to fly at top speed to barely make it in time. He was trying to tire her out was much as possible before even the fight had started. She grit her teeth and ripped up the letter. She was going to make him pay for this. For messing with her, and threatening her only daughter. She flew through the hole on the roof and accelerated. She flew through the air faster and faster. She was going to get there before he expected her, and show him the price of underestimating the former number one hero.
While she had trained her physical strength and fighting techniques, flying was one the one power she did not really have the ability to train while retired. Despite that, she managed to arrive within 45 minutes. A full 15 minutes before the deadline. She landed on the ground and caught her breath as she looked at the villain’s hideout.
It was a bunker built on the inside of a hill, with a single entrance. Its giant metal doors were already open, inviting her in. After taking a few deep breaths, she ignored the heavy fatigue already building inside as she headed in, ready to take down whatever awaited her inside.
As soon as she walked past the metal door, it shut right behind her, as if the villain was trying to tell her that there was no going back. Not that she was planning on running away when her daughter’s life was in danger. However, now that she was actually inside, she had a choice to make. Should she continue to use her sixth sense while looking for the room the villain is in, or should she conserve it for the fight? After using it during the entire flight over to this bunker to avoid detection, it already felt like someone was beating on her head like a drum. The drawback from the usage of her sixth sense seemed to be the one thing her powers couldn’t regenerate from quickly. Maybe it was a damage of a different nature. But it wasn’t the time to think about that right now.
She looked around the metallic room. Bright lightbulbs illuminated the whole room, and it even seemed as if the shiny metallic surface was reflecting the light. There was a singular door on the other side, leading to the next room. Deciding it was probably the safest to not touch anything, she flew across the room, blasted the door off with an energy blast from her hand, and flew into the next room.
Unlike the first room, the second room had very little lighting, forcing her to use her powers to create a light source. The damned villain was trying his hardest to make her as tired as possible before the fight. She had to get through these rooms quickly. The room had only one way to go. Down a shaft. She couldn’t quite see what was waiting for her down there, but she flew down anyway, realizing she didn’t have any other path to go. But the floor had no doors to be seen, no matter how much she looked around with the light from her palm.
Before she realized that it was a trap, multiple spear-like objects appeared out of nowhere and shot out from all around at once, flying straight at her at a fearsome speed. “AAARGH!” Starlight was able to twist her body out of the way to avoid most of them, but still got pierced in her right foot, left thigh, stomach, left shoulder, and right hand.
The pain caused her to lose control of her flight and crash into the ground, the pool of blood oozing from her wounds quickly painting the metal floor and her superhero suit red. “Ugh…” Starlight quietly groaned, trying to muster the strength to get back up as her regeneration powers kicked up to high gear, trying to mend her pierced flesh together. Thankfully the projectiles had not been lodged into her, and instead flew straight through her, leaving a hole. Just imagining having to pull them out manually made her shudder.
Realizing that there were no further traps, she patiently waited for her wounds to close, until she noticed something was off. The pain in the areas she got pierced. They were not going away. Even though she was no longer bleeding so heavily, her entire body was still screaming in agony. “Hah, hah” she let out a few weak pants to gather up her strength, then flew straight up, ignoring the pain as much as she could. She should have known better than to follow the path that had been nicely prepared for her. But she could no longer think of a plan. Pain was consuming her brain, not even giving her an inch to ponder what to do.
So, she was going to follow her gut. If the doors led to traps, then all she had to do was punch her way through a wall until she found something. But because spears were embedded against the walls, she flew back to the first room, and shot a blast of light towards the floor. But the glossy metal surface reflected it right back at her. “Ungh!” Her own blast of light hit her straight in the stomach, melting the suit where she got hit and burning her exposed skin. Seeing red, she charged straight at a wall, and punched it as hard as she could.
As soon as her fist made contact, the wall exploded, and Starlight’s body absorbed all the impact point blank. “Argh!” She was flung straight to the opposite side of the room, which also exploded upon contact. “Gyaaaaa!” Her costume was in tatters, and she had burns all over her body. Her ears were ringing and she couldn’t see straight. But the explosions revealed two new rooms. One on the left side of the room, and one on the right side. She hovered in the air and waited to heal, but she realized that once again, the pain wasn’t easing even after she had fully recovered physically.
She knew she couldn’t take much punishment before her mind would give up under the pain. She had to find the villain. Fast. She turned on her sixth sense again at full capacity, causing her to nearly double over from the pain. But she grit her teeth and endured it. Her enhanced intuition told her where to go. She grabbed a piece of metal from the wrecked wall, and threw it on the ground. Without a single moment’s delay, the ground exploded, revealing a large room underneath. She flew down, easily dodging the several projectiles and bombs appearing out of nowhere and arrived at the giant metal door. Her sixth sense told her this one had no traps. Unable to withstand the searing pain any longer, a pain that felt like her brain was dissolving,
she shut down her sixth sense and opened the door.
For something made out of metal of that size, it slid open surprisingly easily. Upon seeing who was inside, Starlight smirked, trying to play strong to hide the immense pain she was under. “Found you” she somehow managed to keep her voice stable. The villain applauded as he got up from his throne on the other side of the room, where monitors displayed all the different rooms in the bunker. A smiling porcelain mask concealed his face, its frozen grin glinting beneath the brim of a black magician’s hat. His matching tailcoat and trousers completed the magician look.
“Welcome to my base, Starlight. I hope you like the welcoming gifts I painstakingly prepared for you! HAHAHA!” “Shut up.” She shot a blast of light at him, but he teleported to the side and easily dodged it. “I know you’re in a lot of pain, but don’t be so hasty. We have all the time in the world.” Starlight’s eyes widened in shock. “What did you do to me!?” “My name is Magician. Nice to meet you. I’ve been paid very very handsomely to bring you out of retirement and kill you.” He pushed a button on his throne, and the door shut right behind Starlight. Finally, it was time to fight.
Magician pulled out something reminiscent of a conductor’s baton out of thin air. “Can’t go without my magic wand!” he joked. When he waved the wand, countless swords and spears appeared behind him and shot straight towards Starlight. She groaned in pain as she flew continuously left, right, up, down in an attempt to dodge them all. Even just flying around made her see stars from the pain. It took everything she had to keep dodging, she couldn’t even dream of retaliation.
When the seemingly endless barrage finally stopped, Starlight was able to finally touch the ground and rest even if it was just for a moment. Her legs were shaking, almost vibrating from exhaustion and her breathing was out of order. If it was just flying around it wouldn’t have been so much of a problem, but the constant pain as if she was being burned alive, and stabbed by spears all over was eating away at her stamina.
“Tired already Starlight? I haven’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet!” The villain taunted. She shot another energy beam at his face in an attempt to shut him up. She couldn’t find the strength to talk back. But he once again easily teleported out of the way to the side, and gleefully spoke. “Time for round 2” he once again waved his wand, but nothing appeared behind him this time.
Instead, a giant muscular red arm which could only be described as demonic appeared in the air right in front of Starlight, and before she could even react, buried its colossal fist with the size of a watermelon, straight into her stomach. “UOUGHH!” She screamed as she was sent flying backwards. Despite being hit with tremendous force, she never crashed into the wall. Because four more giant arms appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed her out of the air, locking her in one place.
Bam! Bam! Bam! The dull thuds of the giant arm continuously hitting Starlight over and over in the stomach echoed in the basement room. “GuOUGHHh!” She screamed out, but her throat and mouth were full of blood, drowning out her screams. Despite the fact that she possessed incredible healing powers, her body was getting only more and more mangled. Bruises ran all over the front of her body. Her once pale skin is now a sea of blue, purple and red. Her costume now not much more than a bundle of strings, nearly completely destroyed and its former white color painted red and grey from the blood and dust.
“Please don’t go dying on me already Starlight! There’s still so much fun to be had!” Starlight wanted to punch the mask straight off his face, but even without these arms restraining her limbs the pain would have made it impossible for her to move, much less take down the villain. Even though the punching had stopped for a while, she still couldn’t even find the strength to glare at him. Through her blurring and darkening vision, she could hardly even tell where he was. And even as her body worked hard to heal her wounds, the pain was not subsiding at all.
Starlight spat out all the blood in her mouth on the metal floor. She remembered why she was here. Who she had to protect. Why she couldn’t die yet. A second wind of strength surged within her, and she finally found the strength to talk. “Is that all you got? It’ll take more than that to defeat me.” After hearing her mock him, the chatty villain went silent all of a sudden. A chilly air started creeping into the room, and she started getting goosebumps. Starlight couldn’t believe it. She was starting to get afraid. Afraid of what he was going to do to her. Of the pain that was to come. Of death.
Before he could do anything, she started concentrating so that she could use her ultimate finishing move. One that not even teleportation would save him from. Her body started to glow with a yellow light. But before she could finish, fresh pain exploded in her lower body breaking her concentration. “IYAAAA!” The giant fist punched her straight in her cunt, breaking pubic bone with a horrible crunch. Then it hit her in the same spot again and again and again.
Tears streamed down her face. She screamed so hard that even her regeneration couldn’t keep her throat from feeling like sandpaper was being shoved down it. It was a miracle that she was even conscious. Blood would not stop pouring out from her pussy. She wasn’t even sure that her regeneration would be able to fix her to normal at this point-it was destroyed beyond recognition.
“Now we start round 3!” The Magician giggled as he pulled out a syringe. There was an ominous bright pink liquid sloshing around on the inside. He brought the syringe right next to her neck, and injected her with it. At first, she felt no changes. Then, slowly her head started getting clear again. The dark curtains at the edges of her vision started drawing back, giving her full vision back. But alongside all that, the pain all over her body got worse and worse. She bit down on her teeth so hard that they almost cracked even with her increased durability. She was never going to give him the satisfaction of begging him for mercy.
“How is it, Starlight? This drug increases your sensitivity to pain, and makes sure you can NEVER go unconscious no matter how much pain your mind is in! You’ll never get the sweet freedom of blacking out! But I know that your body is very resistant to foreign substances, so here’s some more!“ A dozen or more syringes appeared out of thin air. Starlight widened her eyes in horror. There’s no way her mind would be able to take that much pain for god knows how long. One by one each syringe emptied their contents deep into her bloodstream. With how much blood she had lost, and was losing, she almost felt as if there was more of that pink substance in her body than her actual blood.
Even though the demonic arms had long let go of her, all she could do was sprawl on the floor and scream out in agony. She had long since forgotten her original reason for fighting this villain. Overwhelming sensation of pain made her mind go blank. Then when the Magician snapped, all the pain went away in an instant, like magic. No, it WAS magic. “They wanted me to kill you, but that’s too much of a waste isn’t it? If you swear allegiance to me, I’ll spare you and your daughter.” Daughter. That single word relit the spark in Starlight’s eyes. “Like hell I will.” She spat out. Then, she started focusing. Once again her body started glowing yellow, like the sun.
“You’ve already tried that. You know it won’t work.” The Magician jeered as he snapped. In an instant, the pain came rushing back, the brief moment of freedom making its burden all the heavier to lift. And yet, Starlight did not let the pain destroy her focus. With a single minded goal to protect her daughter, she unleashed a massive beam of light from all over the body, creating a massive pillar of light all around her, instantly evaporating the villain. The pillar of light melted the surroundings with its extreme heat, and tore through the ceiling as a whole.
“Did I… win?” She looked around the wreckage. The whole underground bunker had been blown to dust as if a nuclear explosion had occurred, and she could see the starry night sky overhead. Even teleportation couldn’t have saved him from this one. The pain that she was engulfed in instantly faded away after the villain's demise, and she carried her heavy body home, hoping against hope that no one else saw the huge pillar of light in the sky that killed Magician. That no one else will try to force her out of retirement.
But hope was meant to be trampled on. Not a single villain in the country could miss that signal. A huge beacon of light in the night sky lit up the world like it was morning. Only one person on the planet was capable of such a feat. Starlight. Old enemies who had scores to settle, new foes who wanted to prove themselves, all of them were ready to jump at the chance to be the one to take out Starlight. She had no idea about the rough road that was waiting for her. And so, whether she liked it or not, the story of the strongest hero stirred back to life once again.
Some heroes retire because of failing health, others for family, but most never get that luxury. Starlight was among the fortunate few who got to retire. But perhaps 'fortunate' was the wrong word, as tragedy had forced her hand. In the moment of her greatest failure as a hero, she hesitated, frozen by fear of a villain only she could have stopped. That pause cost her sister and brother‑in-law their lives, leaving their daughter orphaned. Driven by guilt, Starlight became her adoptive mother and stepped back from her post. The strongest hero in history had retired in her prime, giving up the name Starlight and becoming known simply as Dorothea. That was eight years ago.
It would be a lie to say she never regretted it, or that there weren't bumps along the way. Single motherhood was a different kind of battle. But it wasn’t permanent. Her powers kept her from aging, leaving her just as strong, fast, and capable as she had been eight years ago. Maybe even stronger, thanks to years of training in preparation. She planned to stay retired only until her daughter came of age.
At least, that was her plan, until the letter arrived. Upon opening it, her face turned pale in horror.
It contained a picture of her daughter’s school, a location, along with the singular sentence "Do not tell anyone else, come here by 8pm tonight". She knew it was a trap. She didn't even need her powers to know that much. But what other choice did she have? Her beloved daughter was in danger.
She hurriedly pulled out her phone, and called her daughter. “Pick up, pick up, please pick up!” she had to actively control her own strength so that she would not crush her phone in panic. After the third ring her daughter answered the phone. “Mom? What’s up?” she collapsed on the floor in relief. “It’s nothing. I just wanted to know what you wanted for dinner, because I’m going out and probably won’t be back until late.”
Her daughter giggled. “A date? Have you finally found someone?” “No… Just going out with some friends. I haven’t seen them in a long time, so I’ll probably be out for a while okay? Don’t worry about me and just go to bed if that happens.” It pained her to lie to her daughter, but it was better than telling her the truth. That she was the very hero who caused her parents’ death. “Okay, I’ll just have a sleepover at Marie’s house, don't worry about food mom. I won’t be back tonight.” Ignoring her daughter’s teasing remarks at the end, Starlight finally felt at ease. “Love you Chloe.” “I love you too mom, bye.”
Her first thought was to force her daughter to come home, but given that the villain knew her identity it probably wouldn’t have made her any safer. Having her go to her friend’s house was probably the best outcome she could have hoped for. Now she didn’t have to worry about her daughter finding out about her secret identity.
She glanced up at the clock. 1:31 pm. She still had a lot of time before 8. She pondered about what she could do until then, when an idea suddenly struck. “What if I arrived there early, and set up a surprise attack on the villian?” Then she would be able to take him down before someone could find out that Starlight was out of retirement. The shorter she could make the encounter with the villain, the better. It could also stop the villain from being able to set up traps beforehand.
Excited by the idea of being able to turn the tables, she flew up the stairs (quite literally in her case) and opened her closet. She moved aside a box too heavy for normal people, to reveal a secret opening on the floor. She blew away the dust and used her power, generating a source of light from her palms to see better. Inside the secret compartment was her superhero suit. The pure white hero costume was as clean as the day she had last worn it eight years ago. She was no longer a fan of its revealing design, with the large opening in the chest area and leaving her legs bare, but there was a time she enjoyed getting looks from men in her youth. This costume was proof of that.
She took the suit out of the compartment, moved the box back over it and tried it on. Her regeneration powers kept her in the same shape as her prime, allowing her to fit into the suit perfectly. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her G cups were threatening to spill out, barely contained by the tight grip from the fabric of the suit. The skin tight latex-like material accentuated her curves, and the golden cape matched her platinum blond hair perfectly. Her cheeks were a little flushed, embarrassed to be wearing something like this at her age. But to anyone else, she looked just like a twenty something year old model.
As embarrassing as it was to wear this costume, it was a symbol of the hero Starlight. And in the worst case scenario, it would protect her identity from being exposed in the event someone saw her. Dorothea took off her contact lenses, to reveal her signature ruby-like scarlet pupils, which was in stark contrast to the light blue contacts she wore everyday to hide her identity. She put on her golden boots, and headed out her backyard door. To avoid being seen, she used her sixth sense, an ability that allowed her to know about the things out of her sight, and pushed her intuition to the limits, as she took off into the air towards the location marked in the letter.
How long was it since she’d been able to fly like this? The cool wind brushed against her face, down her body, her gold cape fluttered as she flew faster and faster. She had missed using her powers like this. But she couldn’t let herself become addicted to this. “It’s just for today” she told herself. She recalled her daughter’s smiling face. And how proud she felt about the way her daughter grew up to be a fine woman. She reminded herself that she was only doing this for her daughter’s safety.
Before long, she had arrived at the abandoned warehouse. Looking down on it from above, she saw numerous holes on the roof, and that the door was opened. There was a chance that the villain was already here. She decided to sneak in from one of the holes on the roof. She flew over towards the rusty steel roof, and flew into one of the several holes. The sunlight shone through holes on the roof and the broken windows, but it was only barely enough to make out what was inside. She resisted the urge to shine a light with her powers, and focused on her sixth sense instead.
Nothing. Her sixth sense told her everything was clear. There was nothing in here but broken down cars, spiderwebs and dust bunnies. Lowering her guard just a little, she landed softly on the ground and used her powers to light up the surroundings. There, she noticed that there was a black dial phone right in the middle of the building, on top of a wooden table. She used her sixth sense to check if there was a trap attached to it, but there was nothing. However the gloss and freshness of the black phone meant that it was placed there recently. Most likely by the very villain who lured her out here.
Had she already fallen into a trap? Her powers had already given her the clear. Using her sixth sense during her entire flight and to check for traps had already given her a headache. She didn't want to overuse it.
She took a deep breath and just focused on her regular senses. Even though she knew there were no traps in the warehouse, she put herself on high alert as the villain might get here at any moment.
Multiple drops of sweat ran down her smooth skin. Not from the heat, but from focusing intently and anxiety that was swerling within her. How long had it been? An hour? Three hours? She resisted the urge to break her phone and check her watch. She didn’t know when the villain was going to strike, and all she could do was stay on alert so that she didn't end up the one getting snuck upon.
Ring ring ring! Starlight’s shoulders jolted in surprise when the black dial phone started ringing out. She had already checked that there were no traps attached to the phone, but should she pick it up? Ring ring ring! After what seemed like several minutes, she decided to pick up the phone. It did not seem like the ringing was going to stop anytime soon, and it was starting to really disrupt her focus.
A man using a voice filter spoke through the phone. “I see that you have arrived quite early. I hope you haven’t tired yourself out trying to stay alert this whole time, because I’m not even there! HAHAHAHA!” Starlight squeezed her right hand in a fist in frustration. She was being toyed with. “Enough with these games. You think this is some kind of joke? Stop hiding and come out!” “Well there’s no point delaying any further. All my preparation is finished. I’ll give you the real location now. Look under the table.” She checked one more time with her sixth sense to make sure it was safe, then looked under using her power to create a source of light from her palm to see.
Yet another letter was taped to the underside of the table. “Open it” the voice urged her. A different address yet again. “You have an hour to get here. With your speed, it shouldn’t be a problem.” With those words, the villain cut the phone. Checking the location using the smart watch on her costume, it was across the country. She was going to have to fly at top speed to barely make it in time. He was trying to tire her out was much as possible before even the fight had started. She grit her teeth and ripped up the letter. She was going to make him pay for this. For messing with her, and threatening her only daughter. She flew through the hole on the roof and accelerated. She flew through the air faster and faster. She was going to get there before he expected her, and show him the price of underestimating the former number one hero.
While she had trained her physical strength and fighting techniques, flying was one the one power she did not really have the ability to train while retired. Despite that, she managed to arrive within 45 minutes. A full 15 minutes before the deadline. She landed on the ground and caught her breath as she looked at the villain’s hideout.
It was a bunker built on the inside of a hill, with a single entrance. Its giant metal doors were already open, inviting her in. After taking a few deep breaths, she ignored the heavy fatigue already building inside as she headed in, ready to take down whatever awaited her inside.
As soon as she walked past the metal door, it shut right behind her, as if the villain was trying to tell her that there was no going back. Not that she was planning on running away when her daughter’s life was in danger. However, now that she was actually inside, she had a choice to make. Should she continue to use her sixth sense while looking for the room the villain is in, or should she conserve it for the fight? After using it during the entire flight over to this bunker to avoid detection, it already felt like someone was beating on her head like a drum. The drawback from the usage of her sixth sense seemed to be the one thing her powers couldn’t regenerate from quickly. Maybe it was a damage of a different nature. But it wasn’t the time to think about that right now.
She looked around the metallic room. Bright lightbulbs illuminated the whole room, and it even seemed as if the shiny metallic surface was reflecting the light. There was a singular door on the other side, leading to the next room. Deciding it was probably the safest to not touch anything, she flew across the room, blasted the door off with an energy blast from her hand, and flew into the next room.
Unlike the first room, the second room had very little lighting, forcing her to use her powers to create a light source. The damned villain was trying his hardest to make her as tired as possible before the fight. She had to get through these rooms quickly. The room had only one way to go. Down a shaft. She couldn’t quite see what was waiting for her down there, but she flew down anyway, realizing she didn’t have any other path to go. But the floor had no doors to be seen, no matter how much she looked around with the light from her palm.
Before she realized that it was a trap, multiple spear-like objects appeared out of nowhere and shot out from all around at once, flying straight at her at a fearsome speed. “AAARGH!” Starlight was able to twist her body out of the way to avoid most of them, but still got pierced in her right foot, left thigh, stomach, left shoulder, and right hand.
The pain caused her to lose control of her flight and crash into the ground, the pool of blood oozing from her wounds quickly painting the metal floor and her superhero suit red. “Ugh…” Starlight quietly groaned, trying to muster the strength to get back up as her regeneration powers kicked up to high gear, trying to mend her pierced flesh together. Thankfully the projectiles had not been lodged into her, and instead flew straight through her, leaving a hole. Just imagining having to pull them out manually made her shudder.
Realizing that there were no further traps, she patiently waited for her wounds to close, until she noticed something was off. The pain in the areas she got pierced. They were not going away. Even though she was no longer bleeding so heavily, her entire body was still screaming in agony. “Hah, hah” she let out a few weak pants to gather up her strength, then flew straight up, ignoring the pain as much as she could. She should have known better than to follow the path that had been nicely prepared for her. But she could no longer think of a plan. Pain was consuming her brain, not even giving her an inch to ponder what to do.
So, she was going to follow her gut. If the doors led to traps, then all she had to do was punch her way through a wall until she found something. But because spears were embedded against the walls, she flew back to the first room, and shot a blast of light towards the floor. But the glossy metal surface reflected it right back at her. “Ungh!” Her own blast of light hit her straight in the stomach, melting the suit where she got hit and burning her exposed skin. Seeing red, she charged straight at a wall, and punched it as hard as she could.
As soon as her fist made contact, the wall exploded, and Starlight’s body absorbed all the impact point blank. “Argh!” She was flung straight to the opposite side of the room, which also exploded upon contact. “Gyaaaaa!” Her costume was in tatters, and she had burns all over her body. Her ears were ringing and she couldn’t see straight. But the explosions revealed two new rooms. One on the left side of the room, and one on the right side. She hovered in the air and waited to heal, but she realized that once again, the pain wasn’t easing even after she had fully recovered physically.
She knew she couldn’t take much punishment before her mind would give up under the pain. She had to find the villain. Fast. She turned on her sixth sense again at full capacity, causing her to nearly double over from the pain. But she grit her teeth and endured it. Her enhanced intuition told her where to go. She grabbed a piece of metal from the wrecked wall, and threw it on the ground. Without a single moment’s delay, the ground exploded, revealing a large room underneath. She flew down, easily dodging the several projectiles and bombs appearing out of nowhere and arrived at the giant metal door. Her sixth sense told her this one had no traps. Unable to withstand the searing pain any longer, a pain that felt like her brain was dissolving,
she shut down her sixth sense and opened the door.
For something made out of metal of that size, it slid open surprisingly easily. Upon seeing who was inside, Starlight smirked, trying to play strong to hide the immense pain she was under. “Found you” she somehow managed to keep her voice stable. The villain applauded as he got up from his throne on the other side of the room, where monitors displayed all the different rooms in the bunker. A smiling porcelain mask concealed his face, its frozen grin glinting beneath the brim of a black magician’s hat. His matching tailcoat and trousers completed the magician look.
“Welcome to my base, Starlight. I hope you like the welcoming gifts I painstakingly prepared for you! HAHAHA!” “Shut up.” She shot a blast of light at him, but he teleported to the side and easily dodged it. “I know you’re in a lot of pain, but don’t be so hasty. We have all the time in the world.” Starlight’s eyes widened in shock. “What did you do to me!?” “My name is Magician. Nice to meet you. I’ve been paid very very handsomely to bring you out of retirement and kill you.” He pushed a button on his throne, and the door shut right behind Starlight. Finally, it was time to fight.
Magician pulled out something reminiscent of a conductor’s baton out of thin air. “Can’t go without my magic wand!” he joked. When he waved the wand, countless swords and spears appeared behind him and shot straight towards Starlight. She groaned in pain as she flew continuously left, right, up, down in an attempt to dodge them all. Even just flying around made her see stars from the pain. It took everything she had to keep dodging, she couldn’t even dream of retaliation.
When the seemingly endless barrage finally stopped, Starlight was able to finally touch the ground and rest even if it was just for a moment. Her legs were shaking, almost vibrating from exhaustion and her breathing was out of order. If it was just flying around it wouldn’t have been so much of a problem, but the constant pain as if she was being burned alive, and stabbed by spears all over was eating away at her stamina.
“Tired already Starlight? I haven’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet!” The villain taunted. She shot another energy beam at his face in an attempt to shut him up. She couldn’t find the strength to talk back. But he once again easily teleported out of the way to the side, and gleefully spoke. “Time for round 2” he once again waved his wand, but nothing appeared behind him this time.
Instead, a giant muscular red arm which could only be described as demonic appeared in the air right in front of Starlight, and before she could even react, buried its colossal fist with the size of a watermelon, straight into her stomach. “UOUGHH!” She screamed as she was sent flying backwards. Despite being hit with tremendous force, she never crashed into the wall. Because four more giant arms appeared out of nowhere, and grabbed her out of the air, locking her in one place.
Bam! Bam! Bam! The dull thuds of the giant arm continuously hitting Starlight over and over in the stomach echoed in the basement room. “GuOUGHHh!” She screamed out, but her throat and mouth were full of blood, drowning out her screams. Despite the fact that she possessed incredible healing powers, her body was getting only more and more mangled. Bruises ran all over the front of her body. Her once pale skin is now a sea of blue, purple and red. Her costume now not much more than a bundle of strings, nearly completely destroyed and its former white color painted red and grey from the blood and dust.
“Please don’t go dying on me already Starlight! There’s still so much fun to be had!” Starlight wanted to punch the mask straight off his face, but even without these arms restraining her limbs the pain would have made it impossible for her to move, much less take down the villain. Even though the punching had stopped for a while, she still couldn’t even find the strength to glare at him. Through her blurring and darkening vision, she could hardly even tell where he was. And even as her body worked hard to heal her wounds, the pain was not subsiding at all.
Starlight spat out all the blood in her mouth on the metal floor. She remembered why she was here. Who she had to protect. Why she couldn’t die yet. A second wind of strength surged within her, and she finally found the strength to talk. “Is that all you got? It’ll take more than that to defeat me.” After hearing her mock him, the chatty villain went silent all of a sudden. A chilly air started creeping into the room, and she started getting goosebumps. Starlight couldn’t believe it. She was starting to get afraid. Afraid of what he was going to do to her. Of the pain that was to come. Of death.
Before he could do anything, she started concentrating so that she could use her ultimate finishing move. One that not even teleportation would save him from. Her body started to glow with a yellow light. But before she could finish, fresh pain exploded in her lower body breaking her concentration. “IYAAAA!” The giant fist punched her straight in her cunt, breaking pubic bone with a horrible crunch. Then it hit her in the same spot again and again and again.
Tears streamed down her face. She screamed so hard that even her regeneration couldn’t keep her throat from feeling like sandpaper was being shoved down it. It was a miracle that she was even conscious. Blood would not stop pouring out from her pussy. She wasn’t even sure that her regeneration would be able to fix her to normal at this point-it was destroyed beyond recognition.
“Now we start round 3!” The Magician giggled as he pulled out a syringe. There was an ominous bright pink liquid sloshing around on the inside. He brought the syringe right next to her neck, and injected her with it. At first, she felt no changes. Then, slowly her head started getting clear again. The dark curtains at the edges of her vision started drawing back, giving her full vision back. But alongside all that, the pain all over her body got worse and worse. She bit down on her teeth so hard that they almost cracked even with her increased durability. She was never going to give him the satisfaction of begging him for mercy.
“How is it, Starlight? This drug increases your sensitivity to pain, and makes sure you can NEVER go unconscious no matter how much pain your mind is in! You’ll never get the sweet freedom of blacking out! But I know that your body is very resistant to foreign substances, so here’s some more!“ A dozen or more syringes appeared out of thin air. Starlight widened her eyes in horror. There’s no way her mind would be able to take that much pain for god knows how long. One by one each syringe emptied their contents deep into her bloodstream. With how much blood she had lost, and was losing, she almost felt as if there was more of that pink substance in her body than her actual blood.
Even though the demonic arms had long let go of her, all she could do was sprawl on the floor and scream out in agony. She had long since forgotten her original reason for fighting this villain. Overwhelming sensation of pain made her mind go blank. Then when the Magician snapped, all the pain went away in an instant, like magic. No, it WAS magic. “They wanted me to kill you, but that’s too much of a waste isn’t it? If you swear allegiance to me, I’ll spare you and your daughter.” Daughter. That single word relit the spark in Starlight’s eyes. “Like hell I will.” She spat out. Then, she started focusing. Once again her body started glowing yellow, like the sun.
“You’ve already tried that. You know it won’t work.” The Magician jeered as he snapped. In an instant, the pain came rushing back, the brief moment of freedom making its burden all the heavier to lift. And yet, Starlight did not let the pain destroy her focus. With a single minded goal to protect her daughter, she unleashed a massive beam of light from all over the body, creating a massive pillar of light all around her, instantly evaporating the villain. The pillar of light melted the surroundings with its extreme heat, and tore through the ceiling as a whole.
“Did I… win?” She looked around the wreckage. The whole underground bunker had been blown to dust as if a nuclear explosion had occurred, and she could see the starry night sky overhead. Even teleportation couldn’t have saved him from this one. The pain that she was engulfed in instantly faded away after the villain's demise, and she carried her heavy body home, hoping against hope that no one else saw the huge pillar of light in the sky that killed Magician. That no one else will try to force her out of retirement.
But hope was meant to be trampled on. Not a single villain in the country could miss that signal. A huge beacon of light in the night sky lit up the world like it was morning. Only one person on the planet was capable of such a feat. Starlight. Old enemies who had scores to settle, new foes who wanted to prove themselves, all of them were ready to jump at the chance to be the one to take out Starlight. She had no idea about the rough road that was waiting for her. And so, whether she liked it or not, the story of the strongest hero stirred back to life once again.
