Chapter 105: Overdrive
"Oh, you’re here," Volt said as he came to a stop and looked beside him.
Standing there was a hero in a white and blue bodysuit, a mask on the lower half of his face and a visor on the upper half.
It was Liam’s hero persona, Overdrive.
"For a speedster, you’re quite late," Overdrive said as he continued looking ahead.
Volt wanted to argue, but he saved that for later; instead, he also looked ahead of them, noticing the large dust cloud.
"What’s the situation?" He asked.
Given that Overdrive hadn’t gone in, that meant something was preventing him from doing so.
"I only arrived a few minutes ago," Overdrive responded, "but this seems to be the work of a villain that’s at least at Gamma rank."
"I see," Volt muttered before looking around them. There was a group of interviewers standing behind a police line, and paramedics tending to the injured.
But given how wide an area this dust was covering, the hero wondered if everyone truly did make it out safe.
His answer came when Overdrive spoke again, "There are still some people trapped in there, so I’ll leave it to you to get them out."
Overdrive then turned to him and asked, "Can you handle that?"
"Of course," Volt responded with a grin, "but what will you be doing?"
"..." Overdrive looked at him as if he was an idiot before letting out a sigh and responding, "I’ll handle the villain."
"Right," Volt nodded, turned back to the wall of dust and said, "I’ll back you up after I’m sure everyone’s out."
"I can handle myself," Overdrive said, activated his Factor and with an audible boom, he disappeared into the dust.
Volt watched him go for a while.
No matter how many times he had seen it, it wouldn’t fail to impress him every single time. Although Liam wasn’t as fast as he was, his Factor was a lot more versatile.
Especially given that he could boost anything about himself, his speed, strength and even senses.
Even Volt had to admit that he had a cool Factor.
"Alright then," Volt smiled as he also activated his Factor, "I’ve got some people to save."
With that, he also ran ahead, disappearing into the dust cloud.
***
Liam had a frown on his face as he stopped within the dust cloud. Visibility here was basically non-existent, and all around him was sand, making it almost impossible to keep a constant speed.
"I really should’ve come myself," he muttered, looking around.
This clone was incapable of using Genesis. Its Factor was, as a result of the modifications he had made to it, similar to how it was a Pragma battery in itself.
Still, that didn’t mean that the clone had no other way of finding the Villain that was causing this.
[Boss, you good?] A familiar voice came from within his visor.
"I told you not to call me that," Overdrive said with a frown as he heard the voice of his agent....who really was just someone Rose had hired.
[My bad,] the man on the other end said, [need some help?]
"Yes," he nodded, "help me find the villain causing this."
[Got it,] his agent responded, and the next second, an orb detached itself from Overdrive’s belt and floated into the air, [did a bit of an upgrade to the suit, knew it would come in handy.]
Liam chose to say nothing; after all, the agent was being useful right now.
The orb suddenly let out a blue light that was seemingly scanning through the dust cloud, and the next second, a map appeared on his visor.
[There,] the agent said, [that’s where the most Pragma is coming from.]
"Thanks," Overdrive said but stopped in his tracks before asking, "Can you also scan if there are any civilians trapped within?"
[Yup!] The agent said, and the orb released another glow, causing multiple dots to light up on the map. [There we go.]
"Send it to Volt’s agent," he ordered before boosting his speed again and the next second,
BOOM!
He disappeared.
***
"I was wondering how long it would take for the HA to send someone," a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes said with a grin, "welcome to my playground, Overdrive."
"..."
Overdrive looked at the cause of such a commotion with a blank expression. She didn’t seem to want to demand anything, nor had she revealed her reasoning for doing this.
So was this simply a game to her?
Instead of guessing, he asked, "What do you want?"
"How rude," She said, "isn’t it more gentlemanly to ask for a lady’s name before asking her what she wants?"
"..."
"Anyways, my name is Dune," she continued, "and I’m just here for a bit of fun."
That was a lie, and it didn’t take Liam much to figure that out. She had an objective for doing this.
"I find it hard to believe that you buried a three-block under sand just for a bit of fun," Overdrive said.
"A girl’s allowed her hobbies," Dune said with a chuckle, "besides, even if I had an objective, what makes you think I’d tell you?"
"I believe you’d be more than happy to talk when I take you in," Overdrive responded.
"Ohhh, a feisty one~," Dune’s grin got wider, "I like you."
"I’m sorry, but I already have a girlfriend," Overdrive immediately cut off her attempt at flirting.
"I think you’ll find me a lot more appealing," she said, though her pride was the tiniest bit hurt.
"No," he said before tapping on his visor again and calling out, "Milo?"
[Right, there seems to be a group of people beneath the ground,] the agent responded, [but they don’t seem as if they have been buried there.... It’s almost as if...]
"They’re searching for something," Overdrive completed the agent’s words.
"Oops," Dune placed a finger on her lips as she heard him speak, "seems we’ve been found out."
"What are you searching for?" Overdrive calmly asked.
In response, Dune simply lifted two fingers and swiped up. The next second, the sand beneath their feet started rising, taking the form of multiple humanoid figures, each with a different weapon.
"Get through these babies, and perhaps I’ll tell you."