Mark of the Multiversal Pretender

"That's oddly suspicious, don't you think?" Leo voiced out.

"Nah, I think grandma just hides Grandpa's clothes and things in there, nothing much to hide." Buddy replied with a shrug of his shoulders, completely oblivious to the obvious signs that his grandmother might not be a normal person.

"Hmm...." Leo didn't delve into the topic any more longer.

Since Buddy is clueless about it, he might as well find the answer himself.

'Usually in these kinds of scenarios, his parents or grandmother in this case, turns out to be a Superhero, someone that doesn't like his family to know about. Especially since he said that his grandmother sleeps in the day and awakes at night, that itself is already suspicious enough.' Leo's inner detective side turned on and his thoughts quickly submerged into the matter.

"....eo? Leo? Hello! Are you there?" Clapping his hands in front of his face, Leo snapped back to reality.

"What?"

"I was just saying, what if we try the stables? It's clear and spacious enough."

"The stables? How about the horses?"

"Nah, no horses. Dad sold them all just to pay for granddad's medications."

"Though personally I think it was useless. He died in the end anyways." Buddy shrugged his shoulders, showing no compassion to his grandfather.

"Alright, enough talk about dead people. Let's focus more on the brighter side. You said the stables are empty and spacious, right? Then we'll take it. Chop chop, come on, show the way."

***

"Ugh, it's finally over!" Walking alone in the streets, Helen stretched her arms wide open.

'Oh no! I forgot to send my reply!' Fumbling her bag to find her phone, Helen was suddenly interrupted when a loud explosion took off.

*Boom!*

Followed by multiple screams of people, panicking and running everywhere asking for help.

Helen raised her head and saw a burning building along with a small chunk of it in ruins.

"What happened?" Helen confusedly asked herself.

"Someone threw a grenade at the building! And he has more of them strapped on his chest!" Thankfully, someone nearby heard her mutter and answered before running away.

"Oh no." Helen muttered in shock and worry, her sense of justice suddenly taking over in her heart.

'I need to save them! I have to use my special powers!' With this in mind, she was about to rush forward when she stopped in her tracks.

'I need a disguise. A costume!' At the same time, like a coincidence, a brown paper bag flew in the air and hit her straight in her face.

*Flap!*

"Huh?" Surprised, Helen grabbed the paper bag and stared at it for a few seconds before getting an idea.

'I need scissors!'

***

"Help me! My baby! Anyone! Please help! Superheroes!" A single lady, that looks old enough to be a mother, cried out for help, tears streaming down her face as fear is clearly evident.

*Police Siren!*

As a matter of fact, the old mother was not the only one as other people whether men or women were crying for help.

The building was a lodging house, full of occupants ranging from singles to families.

"Help!" Despite the screams and such, the cries inside the building were loud enough for everyone to hear.

*Boom!*

Followed by the constant bombs thanks to the grenade thrower man inside the burning building.

"Where are the heroes?! What are they doing! Someone is dying!"

So concerned citizens started joining in on the fray, yelling and screaming non-stop.

When the police arrived along with the fire trucks, everyone quickly backed away to let the professionals handle the work.

*Boom!*

*Fwooosh!*

Another grenade bomb went off, prompting everyone to start stepping away from the burning building.

"Everyone step back! Dammit, this would be harder than normal." The chief firefighter's face turned grim upon such thought.

It's very hard to rescue and put out the fire when a grenade thrower is on the loose inside.

"What should we do?" A lower ranked firefighter asked the chief.

"....We prioritize saving the people inside first, get me the clear location of the bomber, avoid him at all costs! The others, use the hoses! We'll diminish the flames for a light bit just to avoid it from worsening."

"Leave the bomber to me!"

"Hmm?" Confused at who spoke, the chief and everyone turned around and saw a weird figure with a paper bag with several holes on the eyes and nose.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"....I'm uhh...."

'Dammit! I didn't think of a superhero name first!' Helen cursed in her mind.

"I'm uh....Elastic Girl?" 

"ElastiGirl? What'd you do, throw rubber bands at enemies?" Due to Helen's poor appearance, the chief firefighter crossed his arms and underestimated her, not taking her seriously like other superheroes, even misnaming her.

"No? I don't use rubber bands, I AM the rubber band!" As if to show off, Helen, now known as ElastiGirl, stretched her limbs, elongating it towards the railing of a room in third floor of the burning building where the fire hasn't reached intensity yet.

"See you inside, officers!" ElastiGirl smiled under her paper bag mask and pulled herself towards the railing, leaving everyone gawking at her.

"....If she's the rubber band, aren't rubbers weak against flames?" One of the nearby firefighters spoke his thoughts, making everyone including the chief start thinking about it.

"She's in danger then?"

***

Inside the burning building, ElastiGirl was already inside. However instead of doing her job, she was nervously shaking her hands.

'Hoo~ you can do this, Helen. I'm sure my parents would be proud if they know what I'll be doing. Just apprehend the bomber and rescue the people trapped inside along the way.' Finally calming down her nerves, Helen sighed in relief and continued but muttering under her breath.

"Now where's that bomber who dared to cause such commotion at this night?"

Without any means to find the bomber, Elastigirl was left with no choice but to resort to manually searching the bomber.

"I'm in third. No signs of bombings here yet. Which means the bomber is either on the lower floors or about to bomb this floor. It would be better if it is the latter. It would be easier to find him." She continued.

Of course her body wasn't idle, currently, she's out in the hallway, barging through every single room, searching for any people trapped inside.

And it's just her luck to find two siblings hugging each other while coughing in one of the rooms.

"Hey there....don't be scared now, I will save you. What are your names?" Slowly approaching them, Elastigirl distracted them while wrapping her long limbs around their stomachs, tying them together.

"I'm-cough! Anna- cough! This is my baby brother, Leo- cough!" The older sibling, named Anna introduced herself and her baby brother in her arms.

"L-Leo? W-wow, I'm surprised, I know someone with the same name. Now, hold on tight." While speaking, Helen successfully wrapped her limbs around the siblings and used her legs to kick the window open, letting the smoke out.

Outside, everyone noticed the window opening and upon seeing the same 'superhero' earlier bringing down two children with the help of elongating her limbs down, the firefighters quickly came to the rescue and carefully grabbed the siblings out of Helen's grasp.

"My babies!"

Watching the mother hug her children filled a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in Helen's heart.

'So this is what it feels like to be a Superhero.' She said to herself, before shaking her head out of these thoughts and continued rescuing more and more trapped people.

One by one, each trapped people were slowly descended down outside through the windows.

Sighs of reliefs can be heard outside as the citizens start chanting.

"ElastiGirl! ElastiGirl! ElastiGirl!"

Helen, who just helped another survivor down, saw the chanting and couldn't help but utter to herself.

"They love me."

"Now, there's only one thing left to take care of."

***

Going downstairs, both Leo and Buddy silently left the farm house as Grandma Vivian was busy in the kitchen, preparing their cookies and milk.

'I won't even go and ask why she is taking so long preparing cookies and milk.' Leo whispered to himself.

"The stables are not that far." Buddy said, interrupting Leo from his thoughts.

"Good." Leo nodded his head in response.

On their way there, they came across the 'basement' where Leo stopped for a single second to use his senses to 'view' the inside of the basement.

Instantly, Leo's face turned into a wry smile as the basement is indeed not a normal basement but a hidden hideout!

He could sense tons of metals and items that resemble rifles and weapons. He even 'sensed' a certain section in the basement where tens of computers and machinery lies.

'Yep, definitely a Superhero hideout of some sort. I'm definitely not wrong, or am I?'Leo said to himself.

"Why'd you stop? Let's go!"

***

While Leo was doing 'mischief' with his new partner, Buddy. ElastiGirl quickly bent her waist in an inhumane way as she dodged the grenade that was coming on her way.

Quickly jumping on the other side of the room, the grenade that was thrown to her went off.

*Boom!*

"...So, you're the one who caused all of this. You....a clown?" ElastiGirl was surprised upon seeing a tall man in a mime outfit, white colored face and straps upon straps of grenades on his chest.

"Un clown ?! Pensez-vous au grand Bomb Voyage en tant que clown ?! Comment oses-tu!?" [~A clown?! Do you think of the great Bomb Voyage as a clown?! How dare you!?~]

"Huh? Was that....french? Damn! I should've listened to my French class!"

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 107 - ElastiGirl vs Bomb Voyage!]