The car careened around corners through dark and busy metropolis, desperately trying to outrun the pursuers. Behind, a massive armored bus with an accordion hinge followed closely. The occupants on the bus were part of a rogue group of mutants who were somehow able to operate outside of the law, and thus engaged in various acts of crime and terror. Inside the car, the passengers knew that some dreadful fate awaited them should they fail to flee, an outcome that was becoming increasingly likely.
The car tried to take a corner too fast and started to skid out of control before crashing into a streetlamp. The mutants' bus, unable to stop quickly enough, swerved wildly onto the sidewalk and rammed into a nearby building, landing on its side. Jack and the other passengers erupted from the car, vainly hoping they would be able to hold out. He picked up a box of candy and emptied its contents onto the street, ready to fling the pieces at the mutants, whereupon the pieces would transform into tiny, defensive soldiers.
A few of the mutants poked their heads out of the toppled bus, their scarred, white faces flashing viciously eager expressions.
"Leave us alone! Have some decency, for goodness' sake!" yelled Jack desperately, preparing to throw the candies. But it was too late; the mutants fired a massive cannon and in the following chaos overwhelmed and subdued the passengers before they even had a chance to react. They were bound and pushed roughly up against the side of the building. By this point a crowd had gathered, sympathetic but too fearful to intervene.
Suddenly, a shaft of light lanced down from the heavens, illuminating the top of a long pole extending outward from the roof of a building. Everyone, including Jack and the mutants, looked up to see an ethereal figure perched regally on the pole, looking down on the crowd.
"I will now reveal the final three. The time has come! Their destinies have been determined, their fates revealed to them, so that they may bring balance. Behold! Your champions!" she intoned, pointing to the roof of the building across the street, directly above the mutants and their prisoners, where three other poles had appeared.
The center pole was lit, revealing a black, caped figure, along with the words "32, Batman." The man struck a pose, to the cheers of the crowd beneath. Next, the pole on the right was illuminated. "31, Alder," read the text, and behind there stood a smallish man dressed in steampunk garb and wearing a demure expression. Lastly, the pole on the left was lit. An enormously tall bearman stood on the pole, perched erect on his hind paws and roaring defiantly at the night sky. The flashing text read "6p'ho." The crowd was ecstatic.
The bearman dropped from his pole, landing horizontally on a parked car and crushing it beyond recognition. He stood and walked over to the mutants, who were frozen with fear and disbelief. The bearman drew a thin rapier and casually started stabbing and slashing the mutants. His strikes were, by necessity, surgically accurate, for the mutants were standing behind their captives. After the last mutant had been dispatched, the grateful captives were freed.
One girl captive approached the bearman and said indignantly, "Thanks, but you could have hurt us!"
"I only hurt bad people," rumbled the bearman in response.
