(During the early morning, still at Alaska, Flare, Focus, Shay, and Ethan continue to walk uphill on a snowy mountain, the latter taking the lead, and after a while, they reach the summit. As they glance at the horizon, they find a sleek, solitary tower across the horizon at a snowy peak, dark metal and glass cutting cleanly through the black surface of the tower. At the summit, a narrow crown of sensors and antennae rotates slowly, scanning the horizon in silence. The quartet glance at the smooth, angular, and precise features of the tower in awe; this is Infinity’s base.)

  Flare: (in awe) Woah. This sure looks as intimidating and villainous as intimidating and villainous towers could be.

  Ethan: I’ve seen the masked soldiers constantly heading back to this tower. This has gotta be the base you’re looking for.

  Focus: And the culprit is waiting for us inside. (crossing his arms) This is it. (to Ethan) I appreciate the help. You can head back home. (glancing at Shay) You too, Shay.

  Ethan: (concerned) But are you sure you can handle it on your own?

  Shay: (frowning) This could be a wee bit dangerous, y’know?

  Flare: (cracking her knuckles, grinning) You should be more worried about them.

  Focus: (deadpan, narrowing his eyes) It seems you’ve forgotten what we’re capable of. We got this.

  (Shay and Ethan exchange glances with concerned frowns and then glance at Flare and Focus, the former nodding at them with a smirk. The two then reluctantly nod at Flare and Focus, turning around to head back to the camp. However, Shay turns back to the duo one last time.)

  Shay: (turning back to them) Y’know the way back, don’ ya?

  Focus: (blankly) I have supreme memory retention. Is that fair enough?

  (Shay chuckles a little and nods at them with a faint grin, he and Ethan waving at the duo before leaving. With Shay and Ethan now on their way back to the camp, Flare and Focus turn their attention to the tower ahead, the former chuckling a little in excitement and the latter remaining firm as ever.)

  Flare: (grinning excitedly) This tower’s just begging to be burned to ashes, I’m telling you!

  Focus: (unbothered) And I suddenly feel the urge to commit unspeakable acts of violence.

  Flare: (chuckling) For once… we’re on the same page.

  (Flare extends her fist at Focus with a grin, offering a fist bump, and Focus turns to her with a subtly surprised expression. However, he reacts with a smirk and accepts the fist bump, both of them nodding at each other. Then, they jump off the summit and slide down the other side of the mountain, heading for Infinity’s tower and ready for a fight. The Infinity watches them through one of his masked soldiers, his expression unreadable under the mask.)

  Infinity: (speaking to himself) Hmm… Flare and Focus are heading right into my doorsteps, and so is Aegis… and the Ironclad Response Unit even. I didn’t expect them to acquire my exact location. Did Flare and Focus share that information with the IRU? Did they manage to somehow communicate with Aegis? No… I don’t think so. After all, both advances appear separate. In any case, it’s only a matter of time until the others join the attack, so I might as well shift my attention to the duo. If things don’t go as planned… there’s always a contingency.

  (With a snap of his fingers, Infinity’s masked soldiers dissipate into shadows and reappear in several areas all at once, forming armies specifically assigned to their respective locations. The shadow armies are armed with their weapons and set around the base, and each of their individual masks contains a glowing purple vortex symbol, ready to hold off any attack. Hollow stands at the top of the tower, crossing his arms and silently watching from above, his expression unreadable under his mask, which contains a glowing neon red symbol. And with that, the stage is fully set for the long-awaited encounter.)

  (After a while, Flare and Focus finally arrive within sight of the tower, hiding behind a rock and examining their surroundings. They see the masked soldiers patiently waiting, a full battalion ahead of them examining the area while holding their weapons close. Focus shapes his hands into a pair of binoculars and takes a closer look at the battalion, to Flare’s surprise.)

  Flare: (raising an eyebrow) What’re you doing?

  Focus: (blankly, taking a closer look through his ‘binoculars’) Zooming in.

  Flare: (shaping her hands into a pair of binoculars as well, baffled) I don’t know how that’s supposed to — oh, wait it’s working!

  (The duo continue to watch the soldiers going about their patrolling duties with palpable caution. The silence remains tense and unnerving as the duo silently observe the soldiers’ activities, and that silence gets interrupted when Flare starts clicking her tongue for no apparent reason, much to Focus’s annoyance, who reacts with an unimpressed look on his face.)

  Focus: (unimpressed) Stop it.

  Flare: What? I just got bored.

  Focus: (sighing deeply) You know what? (breaking his figurative ‘binoculars’) I’m done watching. We need to get going already. So here’s the plan.

  Flare: (rolling her eyes) And here we go with the unnecessarily complicated grand infiltration scheme.

  Focus: The approach is simple. No effort will be spent preserving subtlety once we cross the threshold. Our presence will be made impossible to ignore, drawing all defensive attention upward and inward while their response systems choke on overload. By forcing the tower to react instead of think, we dictate tempo, isolate resistance into manageable clusters, and collapse their command structure through sustained pressure. In short, we advance openly, decisively, and with enough force that discretion becomes irrelevant.

  Flare: Soo… we’re going boom-boom-pow-kabam?

  Focus: (deadpan) It sounds really unprofessional when you put it that way.

  Flare: (slyly) But that’s not a plan, know-all. That’s basically my first instinct phrased in fancy language.

  Focus: (exasperated) And that’s why I didn’t wanna make it sound that way, cuz I’ll never hear the end of it!

  Flare: (excitedly grinning) Then take the L and follow my lead on this one!

  (Flare lights up her fists with flames, a smirk on her face, and Focus sighs deeply then nods at Flare, announcing his readiness to ‘go boom-boom-pow-kabam’. As the masked soldiers continue their monotonous patrol, they suddenly see Flare and Focus jumping right in the center of them all, the former grinning in sheer excitement and the latter firm as ever, placing them on high alert.)

  Flare: (chuckling in excitement) YOLO!

  Focus: (muttering in annoyance) Oh, for the love of — !

  (The masked soldiers immediately open fire at them, and Flare propels herself out of the way, while Focus blocks the blasts heading his way before landing right in front of one of the soldiers. He kicks the masked soldier’s weapon away then punches him in the gut, sending him flying, but to his surprise, the blow causes the soldier to dissipate into shadows.)

  Focus: (surprised) What?

  Flare: (while launching several fireballs at some other masked soldiers) Something wrong? (seeing the masked soldiers she took out dissipating into shadows as well, shocked) WHAT IN THE — ?!

  Focus: (gritting his teeth) It’s clear that those soldiers… they’re not human. They’re… shadows.

  (The previously taken-out shadow soldiers take shape once again and fire several shadow blasts at the duo with their bare hands. Flare and Focus can only react in surprise for a brief moment before having to get out of the way, and the duo continue to circle around the soldiers while dodging and blocking their blasts.)

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Focus: (blankly) And they can also regenerate. Whatever. Still punchable.

  Flare: (lighting up her palms with fire, grinning) And combustible.

  (Focus blocks a blast then punches one of the shadow soldiers in the face, while Flare propels herself upwards and launches several fire spears at a group of masked soldiers, causing them to dissipate. They regenerate shortly afterwards, only for Focus to instantly take them out again with quick blows. Flare roundhouses a soldier in the face then punches another in the gut, and she follows that up by landing an uppercut on yet another soldier. A masked soldier attempts to fire a blast at Flare, but Focus shows up to drop-kick him in the face before taking out the other soldiers surrounding Flare at high speed, all with his hands in his pockets and with his typical unbothered expression.)

  Focus: (unbothered) Enough playing around.

  (Flare and Focus dash at the soldiers standing in their way side by side, Focus occasionally stepping in to block the blasts heading their way and then making way for Flare to launch a barrage of fire spears at the soldiers at point-blank range, taking them out. The duo continue their dash and arrive at the entrance of the tower, with two lone soldiers guarding it. Flare propels herself at the entrance and launches a massive fireball at it, completely blowing it away.)

  Flare: (excitedly grinning) Knock knock.

  (Focus casually walks into the tower with an unbothered expression, his hands still in his pockets, only for the duo to notice another group of masked shadow soldiers waiting for them at the entrance, aiming their weapons at them. Focus slowly pulls his hands out of his pockets, a subtle navy blue trail of energy enveloping him, and then he glances at Flare, who lights up her fists once again with fire, smirking excitedly. The two nod at each other before lunging at the shadow soldiers once again. Meanwhile, the masked shadow soldiers outside regenerate once again and recover in only a short amount of time, picking up their weapons and rallying together.)

  Masked Shadow Soldier 1A: (firmly) Our master was clear when he ordered us to stop those two at all costs. Come on. They are certainly inside the tower as we speak.

  (As the shadow soldiers get ready for another round with Flare and Focus, they suddenly get ambushed and overwhelmed with plasma blasts. It’s an entire army consisting of both Aegis and Ironclad Response Unit soldiers, who immediately storm into the military camp outside of the tower and open fire. The soldiers are quickly shocked to see that all those soldiers that were taken out dissipated into shadows and were regenerated shortly afterwards, fighting back against the ambush and pushing back against it. This forces the army to take cover and return fire, with the leader of the army reaching for his communicator to link up with the other teams.)

  Leader 1A: (to Hunter, via communicator, firmly) This is Team Gamma. We’ve engaged the masked army. You’re free to proceed. However, you need to know that the masked army is not human. I repeat: they’re not human.

  Hunter: (via communicator) How so?

  Leader 1A: They’re shown to dissipate into shadows when taken out and then regenerate shortly after. Expect heavy resistance, Team Delta.

  Hunter: (firmly) Understood. (to Gauntlet, via communicator) Team Epsilon, did you copy that?

  Gauntlet: (via communicator) Solid copy.

  Hunter: Then we’re all set. All teams converge on the tower.

  (Gauntlet nods and signals his team — consisting of Jax, Boltix, and Jackpot — to initiate the attack, and they head into the tower from the back. Jax enlarges his muscles and assumes his over-exaggerated muscular form as he jumps at the wall and swings his enlarged fist, putting enough force behind his fist to punch through the wall, granting his team a way inside. Afterwards, he gets back up on his feet with a grin.)

  Jax! The Muscle Surge! As demonstrated just now, he can access an exaggeratedly muscular form that significantly increases his overall strength and endurance! He can even enlarge individual muscles such as those in his limbs when the situation calls for it, granting him a boost in agility in exchange for the relative drop in strength.

  (Gauntlet, Jackpot, and Boltix step in through the opening in the wall and head inside the tower. They continue to go around the interior of the tower and end running across a hallway shortly afterwards, only to find another group of masked soldiers intercepting them. Before they open fire, Jackpot launches several metal plates at the blasts’ way, canceling them all out and shielding his team.)

  Jackpot! The Creation Surge! Through a pot permanently attached to his back, he can pull out just about anything with no sort of limitations as long as he can visualize it and remember its components. He uses it mostly in combat… and some other times just for his own convenience. His Surge really is something out of this world… that can pull out anything from this world!

  Jackpot: We’ve got company.

  Jax: (nonchalantly, assuming a slightly more muscular form) Yeah, I can see that.

  Gauntlet: (faintly smirking) It’s their loss.

  Boltix: (to Gauntlet, sternly) Hey, you didn’t forget why we’re here, did you? (faintly smirking) We’re not here to blindly follow orders, just so you know.

  Gauntlet: (slyly) If you wanna save your friend so bad, then make sure you follow my lead, will ya?

  (Boltix grits his teeth at Gauntlet, who nonchalantly uses his new pair of gauntlets to create a plasma shield that blocks the next round of blasts coming from the shadow soldiers, and then the shield dissipates. However, the team is ready for the shadow army ahead of them, and they engage the masked soldiers, with Boltix propelling himself at them at high speed, a faint grin of excitement forming on his lips.)

  Boltix! The Kinetic Surge! You may mistake his ability for a regular Lightning Surge, but it’s even more awesome than that! He can amplify the kinetic energy he generates with electricity, which can perform a lot of functions, including amplifying the power behind his blows, increasing speed and range of motion, and unleashing projectiles with a simple swipe from his hand! Let’s not forget that he’s also a crazy adrenaline junkie!

  (Meanwhile, Team Delta — consisting of Hunter, Proxy, Pulse, and Mistrick — converge on the tower from another entrance, the former swiftly taking out two masked shadow soldiers by stepping between them and firing his dual guns at them. As the guards dissipate into shadows, the team heads inside the tower, the others following Hunter’s lead.)

  Hunter: (pragmatically) Team Epsilon is set to directly confront Infinity, and since the area already appears to be rattled even before our attack, I can assume that Focus has made his move. Our primary assignment is simply to secure intel on the culprit’s plans. We’ll rejoin Team Epsilon afterwards. Is that clear?

  Pulse: (firmly) Understood.

  Mistrick: (shrugging) Sure, whatever. Let’s just get this over with.

  (Meanwhile, Flare and Focus are still up to their usual business, taking on loads of masked shadow soldiers as they dash across a hallway. Several turrets are activated to halt their advances, but Flare repeatedly launches barrages of fire spears to blow them up, and Focus lunges at the soldiers firing at them, canceling out their blows with precise chops then kicking one of the soldiers in the gut. He then takes out the remaining soldiers with swift, precise punches before continuing his relentless run alongside Flare. The two arrive at the stairs, only to find several more masked shadow soldiers standing in their way and opening fire at them.)

  Flare: (excitedly) Out of the way!

  (Flare launches a burst of flames to cancel out the blasts, and then Focus kicks one of the soldiers in the face. Flare follows by punching another one with a fiery fist, while Focus kicks a soldier behind her in the chin. They take their fighting stances while covering each other’s backs and continue to take out the masked soldiers surrounding them, doing so in a rapid, synchronized manner. Focus slams a soldier in the ground, uppercuts another, and bashes another two against each other’s heads, while Flare roundhouses a soldier, strikes another with a fireball in the face, and propels herself at one more soldier then headbutts him in the gut. The pair keep going at the soldiers, seeing them dissipate into shadows one by one, and then they punch the same soldier in the face at once, causing him to dissipate as well. The duo then climb up the stairs, only to be interrupted by several drones appearing from both above and behind them.)

  Flare: (grinning) That guy’s quite stubborn, huh?

  (Focus jumps off the staircase and lunges at a drone, destroying it with a punch, and then he lands at the other side of the staircase. Instinctively knowing what they must do, Focus continues jumping at the drones and taking them out one by one at high speed, while Flare jumps off the staircase as well, glancing at the drones below. With an excited smirk, she propels herself upwards with the flames underneath her legs while creating a flame barrier that cancels out the blasts coming from the drones: while Focus takes out the drones above, Flare shields him from the drones below, all while charging up a massive burst of fire. With the fire beam complete, she drops the barrier and launches that massive attack at the drones, completely obliterating every single one of them, and Focus takes out the last drone above him before landing on the ground, having reached a certain floor. Flare propels herself into the ground as well and lands beside Focus, panting before forming a cocky grin.)

  Flare: (cockily) No sweat.

  Focus: (unbothered) What else did you expect from a bunch of cannon fodder and drones? This genuinely feels like an insult.

  (The two walk across the hallway, examining their surroundings and anticipating a response. However, Infinity is standing still inside a room, patiently watching them with his Shadow Surge. He switches to several perspectives and angles, seeing Team Gamma engaging the soldiers and Teams Delta and Epsilon entering the tower. A pitch-black aura envelops him as he raises his palm upwards, exuding a calm presence.)

  Infinity: Eclipse.

  (Suddenly, as Flare and Focus head across the hallway, it gets submerged by a thick, pitch-black shadow cloud that leaves no trace of their surroundings, to their shock. Before they can even comprehend a thing, the ground underneath them turns into a bottomless pit, and Focus falls through it.)

  Flare: Focus!

  (Flare attempts to reach the falling Focus, but she gets held down by a giant shadow tendril and then reeled upward. Focus grits his teeth as he keeps falling, and it’s only a while until he falls on the floor in a separate room. There’s no sign of the reality-bending shadow domain anymore, and Focus glances around with a grimace.)

  Focus: (grimacing) Now what?

  (It’s none other than Hollow who lunges at him from his right side for a blow, but Focus quickly reacts and blocks his fist, energized by neon red energy, and he gets sent flying as a result. He regains his balance and grits his teeth as he glances at his opponent. Meanwhile, that giant shadow tendril pulls Flare into another room and then lets go of her, letting her roll on the floor. She eventually gets back up through gritted teeth, shocked to find none other than Infinity himself standing in front of her, his expression unreadable under his purple infinity sign mask, which glows with energy upon the sight of Flare.)

  Infinity: (firmly, his voice slightly more distorted under the mask) Welcome… Flare.