Your zeppelin goes full-power, trying to reach Cheerful Cheerie in time. You give your order to your cogs to hold her, but the static prevents your words from reaching them. You are
screaming at the monitor for her to stop, for the Cog to do
something, but they cannot hear your orders, and so they cannot obey.
They stand still as she takes out a small detonator the size of a cigarette pack. They stand still as you watch the three lined up buttons right to the side of the thing.
You're yelling, but it doesn't seem to work.
You're shrieking, but the voice that speaks isn't yours.
You won't make it in time.
Not for the first explosion, anyway.
Justice-City is vaporized.One moment, the citizens are fervently declaring their love for good. The next, they are but ashes on molten concrete.
The fungus cloud rises up as magic and nuclear energy intertwine, tearing apart and destroying everything on its path.
From where you are, you can feel the zeppelin shake as all hands hold on to whatever they can find.
Still, there are two more buttons Cheerie has yet to push.
Two more cities that have yet to be destroyed.
If only there was a way to stop her, to contact her with your voice...
But you chose to wait and see -prudent, perhaps, certainly useful in case it was a trap...but it wasn't one.
It was the last anguishing cry of a woman whom, apparently, Silver loved once.
And that loved Silver too.
"Stop her!" you roar in the microphone, but the Cog do not hear you. The static is too strong.
The static is too strong.
"Ahah," Cheerie chuckles, "It's...It's not as easy as it sounds, pushing the second button," she mutters. "I mean...the first one? It's easy. The first button is always easy. The second one...it's different. The first time...the first time you do something like this, this evil...you act on ignorance, right? You don't know what is going to happen, and so you decide to do it anyway. The second button instead...the second button is different. You know what you're doing is going to hurt a lot of people but, but you need to do it, right? You need to, because it's for a greater cause."
"They're innocents, Cheerie!" you roar through the microphone.
What comes out on the other end is a mere crackled 'Heerie...'
"I know you're probably mad at me, Silver," she whispers. "I can smell the explosive in these cogs but...but I'm sorry. I'm doing this for you, all right? Please? I can't go on like this. This world can't go on like this. I'll destroy it all. I'll burn it to ashes. Everything will go back to how it was if I destroy everything, right? It's a cycle after all. A vicious, unending cycle...I'm sorry, Silver..."
And with that,
she pushes the second button.
Super-City is vaporized."I didn't want this!" she is crying now, even as the skies are turning a dark and angry shade of purple. "I didn't want this pain or this body or this suffering! I didn't want any of this! Cheerful Gal," she starts to hum as tears fall down what little living face she still has, "comes to save the day! Her side-kick at hand, they prevent crimes and cheer on the next football match! But no...it didn't go that way, did it?"
Her shoulders shake. "To hell with it. To hell with all of them. To hell with the HEROES, the good guys, the bad guys, the everyone. I'm going to kill them all and then I'm going to die. That's us, right? The fucked up bastards. That's...me, and you. Right, Silver? Let's just...make a world of ashes and lie down to die in it. We can make angels of ash. Mine might be a bit wrong, but..."
And when the zeppelin reaches the girl, it's Splinter Cog who speaks.
"Computing. Range optimal for sniping. I can take her down before she can push the third button, your Overlordness."
"Your evilness!" Lord Gamington yells then, "You can throw me! I can immobilize her if you do!"
You eye him. Cheerie is radioactive. You doubt it will matter much to Gamington, but wouldn't that somehow damage him?
Or you could throw yourself out of the zeppelin to try to stop her.
OR maybe...you could call a specific name. Ozymandias might be willing to help, for the right price.
The number of city destroyed was inherently depending on the distance and team assigned. Had you gone with Psysquid/Ragnarok, they could have telekinetically tried to get the primer for the explosive before the second city exploded. Had you gone in person, you could have stopped before she even blew up the first city. Hady ou stayed in the 'blast' area, you could have reached before the second went off.
Having however been nicely prudent -which is good! It's always good to be prudent! The first two went off. Now you can stop the third from going Ka-boom.
But then again...let the humans burn! Chemista would be so proud of you!