In This Country Act 01 Ch. 02

"Well, yeah, she fights everyone like she's fighting Asphalt, so of course they'd fear her," General Miller explained.

"Speaking of which, why hasn't Crystal arrived yet?" Commander Shinobay furiously asked.

*****

Earlier that day . . .

"Cape Cavon Prison Facility just issued a code red," Crystal heard over her transmitter. "They need any and every hand available so get your asses there pronto."

If there was one thing Crystal hated, it was being as far away from the fight as possible. It seriously pissed her off that the fight would no doubt be over by the time she arrived. Cape Cavon was at one end of the Greater Mountain Range, whereas Crystal was now traveling around the back end of the mountain range.

She knew what a code red meant: a mass breakout had taken place and hundreds, if not thousands, of criminals were on the loose. While it did mean more work for everyone to put all of the criminals back in prison, it also gave her more time to practice.

And she loved to practice.

She shook her head to get herself back on track. She was supposed to be looking for the escaped villains on her way to Cape Cavon and she couldn't do that if she was lost in her own world. Looking over, she saw a large group of men getting ready to cut down trees and mine chunks of boulders.

It wouldn't have been strange if it weren't for the amount of men working. Seriously, the amount of men working in a single area was phenomenal. There were three guys for every tree and five guys for every rock. It wouldn't have bothered her if they were getting the job done, but the more she watched them, the more obvious it was to her that they were the laziest workers or they weren't workers at all.

"Shit man! I can't take this anymore!" one of the guys yelled.

He kicked a pile of branches over and picked up a heavy Tier Three weapon hidden beneath it. In one fluid motion, he aimed and fired at Crystal, who was still processing what she was seeing. As a result, she wasn't able to freeze the shield she made at the last minute and felt the impact of the energy projectile. The blast sent her far out towards the ocean, dazed and confused as she sunk beneath the surface.

"Yeah, you got her real good, Brian!" the other criminals cheered. "Nice shot!"

"MOTHERFUCKER, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Asphalt's booming voice demanded. Before Brian could even muster an answer, he was backhanded into a tree. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'VE DONE?!"

"Crystal . . . she was . . . about to find out about us," Brian tried to explain.

"No the fuck she wasn't, you imbecile," Asphalt growled in his ear. "Crystal hadn't even moved. She just stood there looking and you thought it'd be cool to blast her."

"I was just trying to buy us time," the crook gulped.

"Are you serious? You did the exact opposite!" Asphalt yelled. "I was buying us time. All you had to do was stick to the plan and things would've been fine. And even if she realized who you guys were, it would have been much better for EVERYONE to fire at the same time!"

"Uh, Asphalt?" one of the crooks called out.

"What now?" the villain growled.

"The water - the water -," the criminal stuttered

Dropping the idiot, Asphalt pushed past the other criminals to get a better look at what was going on. The water began to rise out over the ocean, growing to half the size of the mountain's tallest peak. The criminals stepped back behind Asphalt, hoping the villain would protect them from Crystal's wrath.

"Car," Asphalt simply said.

"We didn't -," one of the criminals began.

"GET TO THE CARS!" Asphalt roared as the wave began to advance towards the island.

The criminals raced for the abandoned warehouse, where a plethora of vehicles were sitting out in front to take them to a different location. Asphalt quickly checked in the warehouse, seeing that it was truly empty now; there was no trace of a laboratory ever existing in the building. Unfortunately, that meant he had to face Crystal alone since he had sent the other villains ahead to meet up with Dr. Genie.

As the wave drew closer, he made a wall of rock rise out of the ground to allow as many criminals as possible to escape before the wave hit. Multiple vehicles, stuffed with criminals, drove off, leaving the other criminals behind as Crystal volleyed streams of water over Asphalt's wall. The water volleys hit their targets with almost impeccable accuracy, making a lot of the crooks fall to the ground and slowing their escape.

And then the wave hit.

The walls were barely able to withstand the impact, being knocked into the criminals as the water flooded over the entire area. The vehicles that haven't left were frozen instantly as the water smashed them against trees, rocks, and the mountainside. And it wasn't just one impact, when the water receded, it pushed back multiple times, knocking down those who struggling to stand or climb up the side of the mountain.

"COLD!" the criminals yelled as they began shivering from the wintry air blowing over their wet bodies. It wasn't too bad of a problem before because they were dry. But now that they were bathed in ocean water, it couldn't be overlooked. "IT'S FUCKING COLD!"

In the middle of them all, stood Crystal, pissed off and ready to cause some damage. The crooks quickly took off running, but Crystal created a large wall of water and froze it, denying the easy escape now that she had a say. She looked around her, realizing that she was surrounded on all sided by criminals wanting their freedom. It was just too bad they had to get through her.

"I'm going to give you two options," Crystal declared among the crowd of criminals. "Kneel and surrender or fight and lose. The choice is yours, but I hope you choose wisely."

"Do you think these guys are scared of you?" Asphalt sneered.

"No, I don't," Crystal replied. "But I want them to think about what they're about to experience based on their decision. Their freedom comes with a price. If they can pay that price, then they can have their freedom."

"So what's the price?" Asphalt asked.

"They have to beat me," Crystal smirked. "Or render me unable to fight."

"How about I do that myself?" Asphalt challenged.

"No, you have to pay the price as well," Crystal denied. "Besides, it'd be less . . . enjoyable if it was just you and me."

"What the fuck does she mean less enjoyable?" one of the crooks whispered.

"She enjoys fighting," another criminal answered.

"Well, seeing as how I was going fight you anyway," Asphalt shrugged, "I might as well get started. But don't worry I won't go hard on you like last time."

Just as he got finished speaking, a jet of water shot right into his mouth, causing him to choke from the unexpected insertion. Off guard, he was wide open for a fury of punches from Crystal as she drove him back into the mountainside. Before she could ante up the attacks, she felt energy projectiles hit her in the back. Grinning, she tossed Asphalt to the side and turned to face the criminals.

"So you've chosen to pay the price," she said.

She lunged forward, snatched a guy from the crowd, and threw him back against the mountain. Instead of concentrating on him, she tore through the crowd as the criminals tried to jump out of her way. Those who didn't were thrown against trees, the mountainside, or into others as she randomly changed directions.

Those who moved back fired their weapons at her, trying to actually hit her. Unfortunately, with their comrades in the way, their accuracy was terrible, hitting their comrades or missing Crystal. Suddenly, they found themselves the target in her eyes and jumped to the side before she ran them over.

"Shoot the ice!" one of the criminals began to say. "If we break the ice, we can run!"

"Yeah, good idea!" another criminal said. "The guys at the back can fire at her to slow her down! The guys at the front can shoot the ice!"

Now that they were on the same page, the criminals began to put their plan in action. The ones closer to the ice began to shoot the thick ice wall while the criminals at the back began to shoot at her and around her to slow her down.

The problem was that Crystal was on the same page as well and didn't approve of their plan at all. She jump out of their aim and landed on the old warehouse to think of a solution. The solution arrived almost instantly as she moved her hands back and forth before making the ocean water crash over the criminals, knocking them to the ground and repairing the ice wall from its cracks.

"You're fighting or surrendering!" Crystal declared as their in pain from the frosty temperature.

Without warning, she was hit by a giant rock and crumbled to the ground, gritting her teeth as she held her head in pain. Asphalt came back into the center of the area and dealt a harsh kick to her abdomen for revenge of the surprise attack. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her hard against a tree then followed it with a foot to her gut again.

"Hurry up you fools!" Asphalt ordered. "There's no telling who else might show up."

Turning to face Crystal, he saw a large ice pillar coming his way. Without even thinking about it, he made a rock wall rise up, letting it take the impact as the ice pillar collided where he would've been. He then pushed the rock wall at Crystal, but the heroine side-stepped the attack and blasted him with a violent jet of water that knocked him into the criminals.

Suddenly, an idea came in her head and she unfroze the ice wall. The criminals quickly began to dive in the watery wall to swim through it, but Crystal made the water fall towards her, effectively knocking everyone to the ground and burying Asphalt. Then, she remade the ice wall, still bent on making the criminals fight her. By this point, the criminals were beginning to get accustomed to the cold.

She heard the earth rumble behind her and dove to the side as Asphalt rose up from the ground and struck at her. Around her, rock chunks began to rise out of the ground and started pelting her all over. It didn't matter where she went the rocks followed her like heat seeking missiles. To defend herself, she tore through the criminals again, throwing them behind her as the rocks whizzed behind her. When she got to the ice wall, she ducked and let the rocks hit the wall, and crumble to dust.

"My turn," she glared.

Thrusting out her hands, she made the ice wall explode into a plethora of hail that rose higher than the trees. Then she jumped and, as she landed, brought down the hail over the entire area. Effortlessly, Asphalt made another rock wall to hide behind, but only for himself; everyone else was left to fend for themselves.

As he removed the wall, Crystal slid right by him and jumped, driving her knees into his back and making him fall. He twisted over and knocked her off, but was met with a boot to the face as he started to rise. Stumbling, he had no way to defend himself as Crystal ran up and planted her knee in his face. Then she did it again, over and over to make him fall. She could only get him to his knees though but that's when she changed tactics, using her fists and elbows on his unprotected head and shoulders.

"Hey, this is our chance," a few of the criminals said.

"With their fight going on, we can get out of here," others began to say.

Once all the criminals were on the same page, they charged for the opening that wasn't defended anymore. As they passed the heroine and villain, they screamed out apologies to Asphalt for leaving him behind. As for Crystal, one of them took a cheap shot and hit her in the back of the head. Dazed and pissed off, she slowly rose to her feet and froze the water soaked in the criminals' clothes, immediately stopping them in their tracks.

"You're not going anywhere!" she yelled at them

"Get her, Asphalt!" the criminals yelled.

"Get her?" Asphalt glared as he back away. "Instead of helping me fight her, all you guys have been doing is run and try to escape. You even had the audacity to apologize to me for leaving me behind. For that, I apologize, because I'm not doing anything. I'm out."

"Asphalt!" Crystal yelled, but he sunk into the ground before she could stop. Shaking in rage, Crystal walked in front of the crooks before unfreezing them, watching them writhe in frosty pain. "I'm only going to say this once. Kneel and surrender or fight and lose."

*****

"Commander, Crystal just reported that she's bringing in a large number of criminals," Ghost informed.

"No villains?" Commander Shinobay asked.

"No, she said Asphalt was the only villain when she met them," Ghost replied, "but he left before she could officially catch him."

"Anything else?" the Commander requested.

"She said they'll need food, clothes, and possibly medicine in case some get sick," Ghost said.

"The supplies will be here shortly," Commander Shinobay nodded. "Tell her that Committee members will be waiting for her at Cape Cavon's port to collect the criminals."

"She's already met them," Ghost replied.

*****

"Asphalt's arriving," Dr. Genie's lookout reported to her.

"Have him see me immediately," Dr. Genie ordered.

"Yes ma'am," the lookout nodded before running back to his post. Outside, the villain walked up to the new hideout where the lookout stood ready to fulfill his instructions. "Dr. Genie wants to speak with you."

"Of course she does, you piss ant," Asphalt glared before sauntering inside the building.

The new hideout was completely different from the last one. First and foremost, there wasn't any camouflage tech to hide it from inquisitive eyes. However, it was an old building which meant that, if remodeled for a specific use, it could and would serve as a suitable place for the villains' base. What made it even better was that it wasn't a suspicious building. Everyone knew where it was located, everyone knew it was abandoned, and everyone steered clear of the place.

If there was a negative side to this location, it was that the distance was twice as far from Cape Cavon compared to the previous location. That meant the probability of an escape convict getting to the base was extremely low. It didn't matter to Dr. Genie though. If she wanted to, she'll just have someone abducted. They're the best ones to experiment on.

"Dr. Genie, you wanted to see me?" Asphalt asked as he stepped into her office.

"Close the door," she said. He closed the door and took a seat before his boss. "First, congratulations. You, Carbon, and Yellow Jacket did an impressive job retrieving Acrobat and Target. For that, I'm giving you this."

She slid a heavy duffle bag over to him, which he stopped with his foot. All he did was smile, knowing that the content of the bag was full of money. Of course, part of the money went to his team of scientists who had to treat his wounds, but the rest of the money was going to be spent all on his desires.

"However, you did a horrible job bringing in the amount of criminals I've requested," Dr. Genie frowned instantly. "I asked for sixty percent, you brought less than that. The criminals have to go back to their gangs for us to keep that money coming in but since we don't have that much crooks to return, we don't have that much money coming in. For that reason, you might not get anything, if they send something at all. Is there a reason for this failure?"

"The men were intimidated by Crystal," Asphalt explained.

"Details," Dr. Genie asked.

"Her mere presence invoked fear in them," Asphalt replied. "She wasn't doing anything, but one of the guys couldn't stand being near them and tried to put her down. She retaliated and shit went to hell. Most of the ones who're here now made it out before she attacked and those who aren't here tried and failed to escape on their own."

"Didn't you try and defend them?" Dr. Genie inquired.

"Fuck yeah," Asphalt growled. "And what do I get in return? I get a bunch of gutless, mentally retarded, whining chickens who doesn't know how to shoot. She even said 'Fight or surrender.' If they didn't want to fight for their freedom, they don't deserve to be rescued."

"Understandable," Dr. Genie nodded. "We don't need people who can't take a hit for the team. Still, our wages will be lowered due to the low amount of criminals returned. That will be all, you may go."

He nodded and left with the bag in his hand. Descending to the first floor, he went and dumped the money in the middle of the floor while his team of scientists began to work on his injuries. His wounds weren't high in number, but he knew if they were left like that, it wouldn't bode well for him in the future.

*****

"No, Hyper," Crystal denied immediately.

"I didn't even get a chance to say anything," Hyper chuckled.

"I already know what you're going to ask," Crystal replied. "The answer is no."

"It's not even going to be a long event," Hyper tried to reason. "It should end after three hours, four hours at the most."

"I'm not going," Crystal said.

"Is it because of Raymond?" Hyper smirked.

"No," Crystal answered too quickly. "He's the least of my concerns. It's because I need to train and hone in my skills."

"You honed in your skills all last week," Hyper countered.

"I want to get better," Crystal replied. "Earlier today, I wasn't able to recognize the criminals and they got a cheap shot at me."

"Yeah, that's something to train about right there," Hyper scoffed. "If anything, that should be put in a world record book for guys that catch Crystal by surprise."

"That won't happen again," Crystal crossed her arms. "Besides, why can't you ask the other guys? Can't they go instead of me?"

"No, Cherry and Osprey are going on a date when the event takes place," Hyper sighed. "Swift and Zipper are hanging out with their family, Ghost is reading, and I don't even want to talk to Jasper. Besides, the Commander says we have to stick together in pair after dark, remember?"

"Then just don't go," Crystal shrugged.

"Aw, come on," Hyper pouted, going for a different tactic. "We never get to hang out anymore."

Honestly, it was true. It was actually more of an exaggeration, but it was true nonetheless. They used to go out and enjoy themselves a lot before, but as time passed on, their hangouts were becoming less and less frequent. And there were multiple reasons why that was the case. The primary reason was because Crystal wasn't a 'fun' person, in general. She only cared about fighting, protecting, and doing her duty as a heroine. She didn't like the celebrity life.

Because of that, the second reason she rarely went out was because their 'diehard' fans seemed to be wherever they were going to hang out. Or, to be more specific, Hyper's fan's seemed to be everywhere they were. It wasn't that she was jealous or anything, it was that when Crystal had fans, they got in the way at the most inopportune times to ask for the most ridiculous stuff. And when she rebuffed them, they had the nerve to get mad at her.

But the real reason was Hyper's first guess: Raymond. A real annoyance, the young man was born of a wealthy family that believed they could get whatever they wanted. There were no limits to what he would do to get what he wanted and before long he decided Crystal would be his next conquest after she saved him (and his car) from an attack by Mad Master.

Truthfully, Crystal wanted to hang out with Hyper any and every chance she could. But, it was a constant annoyance for her to force herself to have fun while dealing with the annoyance of fans and the media, then the knowledge that whatever event she's going to be at, Raymond was going to show up if he wasn't there already.