Date: Monday morning - August 12, 2024

  A loud crash erupted in the streets of central Brightmark. People peeked out around the entrances or the upper windows of their pit stops or workplaces to see one of their city’s resident superheroes-Red Diamond-get lifted up and slammed into the ground. Lady of Wrath brought the young heroine down to the street, likely to make a spectacle of the battle. Red Diamond quickly formed a crystalline barrier to block an oncoming beam of red light from Lady of Wrath’s eyes. Lady of Wrath flew around the barrier and got closer to Red Diamond, reaching to the latter’s neck with both hands.

  Red Diamond barely managed to catch Lady of Wrath’s hands with her own. Both began pushing forward with all their might. Despite the resistance she was putting up, Red Diamond soon dropped to one knee as her opponent’s strength proved overwhelming. She didn’t have a moment to pull back, however, as Lady of Wrath picked up and slammed Red Diamond into the concrete three times. She followed by throwing a few consecutive downward punches against Red Diamond.

  “Even diamond isn’t completely unbreakable. This next one will be the last thing you see,” Lady of Wrath said as she pulled back her fist for a fourth move.

  Before Lady of Wrath could do anything, she glanced to her right and caught Blur running toward her at super speed. As Blur attempted to throw a fast punch, Lady of Wrath caught it midair. Letting go of Red Diamond and allowing her to fall to the ground, Lady of Wrath used her free left hand to punch Blur and sent her flying. The young speedster collided with the windshield of a nearby parked car, her impact shattering the glass and denting part of the window border around where the glass once stood. Blur slowly got up, but barely managed to roll off the hood of the car as her speed healing began to kick in.

  “Perhaps I should get rid of you first. Even your speed doesn’t compare to mine,” Lady of Wrath said as she walked toward Blur.

  The young speedster heroine slowly began to stand up as Lady of Wrath approached her. Lady of Wrath moved forward with a punch as Blur’s eyes widened. The speedster let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding as her opponent’s fist was caught midair. Blur and Lady of Wrath glanced to their left and right respectively. Holding back Lady of Wrath’s strike was Red Phoenix, curling his left hand around her fist.

  “If you think you’re going to get away with trying to kill my friends-think again!” Red Phoenix exclaimed before knocking Lady of Wrath into the air with a right side uppercut punch beneath her jaw.

  Lady of Wrath recovered midair and briefly rubbed her jaw, feeling minor bruising. She knew if Red Phoenix could do that kind of damage, he needed to be taken out first. Red Phoenix flew up to join Lady of Wrath in the air and the two began to trade punches. The two went back and forth for a moment. Lady of Wrath dodged an oncoming punch from Red Phoenix and flew forward at super speed, getting him into an aerial tackle.

  As the two flew up and down, side to side and other directions, Lady of Wrath maintained her hold. Red Phoenix punched her in the face hard enough to make her loosen her hold. Following the punch was an aerial roundhouse kick to force Lady of Wrath to let go of him. He had to go all out for this fight, but he couldn’t run the risk of their battle damaging Brightmark. Red Phoenix launched forward with a flying tackle of his own to push Lady of Wrath.

  Red Phoenix began with a rapid spinning throw before releasing Lady of Wrath. As she slowed down to recover midair, Red Phoenix delivered a strong left hook to her face. Lady of Wrath grabbed Red Phoenix’s wrist and pulled him closer to her as her eyes glowed a bright red. Lady of Wrath released twin beams of red light from her eyes that struck Red Phoenix’s upper body. The beams went through his chest, and the young hero began to stop hovering as he descended to the ground below.

  Waiting until she heard the crash to confirm the fall, Lady of Wrath flew back to Brightmark. On her arrival, she saw Red Diamond jumping to the top of a small building while carrying Blur in her left arm. The two turned to look at Lady of Wrath as she gazed down at them.

  “Looks like your flying friend didn’t have what it takes. He died like the fool he was,” Lady of Wrath said.

  “Are you sure?” asked a familiar voice in a slightly sarcastic tone.

  Lady of Wrath turned around to see Red Phoenix hovering behind her. The wounds to his chest from her optical beams of light were gone-as if they had never happened. Lady of Wrath’s expression shifted to surprise, then her eyes narrowed in anger. She and Red Phoenix flew towards each other again, getting into another aerial grappling contest as they ascended high above Brightmark. Red Phoenix hit the red-armored supervillain-with greater power than when the fight began.

  Red Phoenix and Lady of Wrath continued their aerial battle. Both the cloned supervillain and the young rising star hero traded punches and kicks alike. The two continued flying into each other, landing hits, and speeding away before their next collision. The battle went on as Brightmark got miles further and further away to their south. They fought in the air until they both crash landed in a wide open field.

  Lady of Wrath used her super speed to dodge three consecutive streams of fire as she flew over to Red Phoenix. Once she was in range, she rushed forward with a swing of her forearm to lodge two of the spikes on her bracelet into Red Phoenix’s neck. She immediately followed by a quick slash to cut. Red Phoenix clutched his throat and choked for a moment before collapsing forward. Though Red Phoenix was dead-again-Lady of Wrath wasn’t going to carelessly fly away a second time.

  Red Phoenix stood up, the wound on his neck now gone. Lady of Wrath gritted her teeth in a scowl. Red Phoenix could tell she was getting frustrated, and a plan began to form in his head. Lady of Wrath spun and kicked Red Phoenix hard enough to send him flying backwards. She followed by releasing a large beam of red light from both her hands.

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  Red Phoenix made a similar motion to unleash a large stream of fire. The two beams of energy soon collided. After the collision of energies built up and expanded, a massive explosion soon erupted. Red Phoenix got pushed back by the blast, but was not knocked down. Burn marks sketched the ground of the field from the explosion.

  Lady of Wrath flew forward and grabbed Red Phoenix by the neck. With some minor effort of strength, she squeezed before hearing the crack. Upon dropping him, Lady of Wrath put her index finger up to her earpiece.

  “Lady of Wrath to Syndicate command. Do we have any kind of contingency plans for dealing with Red Phoenix? He’s not staying down no matter what I do to him!” Lady of Wrath exclaimed.

  While she didn’t receive a response, Lady of Wrath soon found herself on the receiving end of an uppercut punch from Red Phoenix. Getting sent airborne once again, she reoriented herself in the air. Lady of Wrath enveloped her fists in red light and flew back down in a downward diagonal dive. Red Phoenix flew up, aiming in her direction. Lady of Wrath threw a punch-only for Red Phoenix to dodge and envelop his fist in fire, retaliating with a powerful punch to Lady of Wrath’s solar plexus.

  With his opponent briefly stunned, Red Phoenix hit her again with a follow-up punch. He delivered a second punch against Lady of Wrath. Wasting no time, he followed up with a third. As he attempted a fourth hit, Lady of Wrath recovered and struck Red Phoenix in the abdomen with a knee strike. She followed by grabbing Red Phoenix’s cape and wrapping it around his neck, pulling to tighten her grip as she got behind him.

  Red Phoenix tried to strike Lady of Wrath’s face with his elbow. Lady of Wrath began spinning at super speed as she kept the cape wrapped around Red Phoenix’s neck. They kept spinning until making a crash landing that resulted in a large hole in the ground. Lady of Wrath held Red Phoenix down with one hand. Using her free hand, she followed up with a downward punch.

  Not letting up, Lady of Wrath continued with several subsequent punches to Red Phoenix’s face. Each hit was widening the hole in the ground ever so slightly. Lady of Wrath kept it up until hearing the crack of Red Phoenix’s neck. She slowly stood up, finally having a moment to catch her breath. Lady of Wrath estimated an hour and a half had gone by since Red Phoenix started their battle. Her previous battle with Omega Woman didn’t take this long, but that was partly due to suddenly getting amnesia during the fight.

  Red Phoenix opened his eyes, waking up from the afterlife for the fourth time that day. As he thought back to the last four months, Red Phoenix counted seven deaths and resurrections. It was clear to him that each revival led to a slight increase in his physical power. This seventh time felt different from the previous instances, though. Red Phoenix felt an even greater boost to his power than previous revivals.

  Getting up, Red Phoenix flew forward to strike Lady of Wrath with a blow that staggered her. She felt his attacks were hitting even harder now. Lady of Wrath realized exactly what was going on.

  “You’re more clever than I anticipated, kid. All that time, you let me think I was dominating-only to increase your own power,” Lady of Wrath admitted begrudgingly.

  “I had a hunch you’d be arrogant enough to fall for it,” Red Phoenix retorted.

  Lady of Wrath merely ignored her opponent’s remark. Red Phoenix couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but she appeared to be weighing her options. At that moment, Lady of Wrath took off from the ground and flew away-she had given up on any notions she may have had to continue the battle. As tempted as he was to go after her, Red Phoenix had a more immediate priority. Taking flight himself, Red Phoenix began heading back to Brightmark.

  Back in Brightmark, Red Phoenix found Blur and Red Diamond on top of a building. They turned to see him and approached almost instantly.

  “Are you okay? You were gone for quite a while,” Red Diamond said, concern evident.

  “I had to wake up from the afterlife and return to the land of the living four times, but I’m good,” Red Phoenix said with a slight chuckle.

  “What about Lady of Wrath?” Blur asked. Red Phoenix tilted his head in confusion. “Sally and I caught a news broadcast of your mom and Victor Vex talking about the woman who attacked us. That’s the name they were given.”

  “You woke up from being dead four times against her? That must have been one hell of a fight,” Red Diamond remarked to Red Phoenix.

  “I went up against Lady Atlas one on one, and against Earthshatter alongside Omega Woman. Lady of Wrath is stronger than either of them. She wound up booking it after she noticed I was getting stronger each time I woke up,” Red Phoenix said. He then held his right index finger up to his earpiece.

  “Omega Woman, are you there? This is Red Phoenix. My friends and I have a few updates,” Red Phoenix said.

  BRIGHTMARK NEWS FIELD REPORT:

  August 12, 2024

  10:45 AM

  “This is Stacy Kolton, reporting live for Brightmark News. I am on Ash Avenue where eyewitnesses have seen part of the battle taking place between Lady of Wrath and our city’s local superhero trio of Blur, Red Diamond, and Red Phoenix,” Stacy said. She approached the woman who was first in the lineup of interviewees.

  “Good morning. Would you be able to tell us what you saw from the battle?” Stacy asked the woman.

  “I came out to see this-Lady of Wrath, you called her?-hover up near the building where Red Diamond took Blur. This new supervillain claimed to have killed Red Phoenix. Not a moment later, he came back alive and well,” the woman said. Stacy nodded and approached a man nearby who also watched the fighting.

  “Excuse me sir, can you confirm her words?” Stacy asked the man.

  “Yes, ma’am. Red Phoenix did indeed come back after Lady of Wrath claimed a win prematurely. Red Phoenix flew her away from Brightmark, but no one’s seen them since until Red Phoenix came back on his own,” the man said.

  “Thank you both for your time,” Stacy said to both witnesses before her cameraman looked up to the roof of a building a few blocks away. Blur, Red Diamond, and Red Phoenix were up there, appearing to have a conversation.

  “It appears our trio of young heroes met up again after the fight. While it is unlikely I will be able to reach them for comment before they take off, I will keep this story updated as more information becomes available,” Stacy concluded.