That morning as he’d fit the suit jacket over the red and white costume, Nathan was certain that the funeral could be made no worse. The past few minutes seemed the universe's direct response to his foolhardy doubts.

Tracy stumbled back, moving almost without thought as he grabbed for Lady Shereen, pushing the woman behind her as chaos broke out. Nathan stepped in close, the handle of his sword gripped so tight he felt his finger may break, a faint tremor working through him as adrenaline coursed. 

“Kill them!” Monster Maker shrieked, face so red it looked as though he was choking on his own screams, eyes bulging as he waved his monstrosities forth.

“Kill the liars, protect your father!”

Kid Rocket swallowed hard against the sick feeling gnawing at his gut.

The sight before him was something out of some cheesy mask horror movie, a small grouping of heroes engaged against the…other things. Chairs flew and screams rang out, both human and…other. They took more shapes and forms than he could count; he saw one that was tall, yet balanced on long arms with multiple joints, and smaller legs that struggled to hold up its weight, jaw hanging loose and hungry under a tattered half-mask.

Another caught his eye, short and immensely fat, stomach pale and bloated through which Kid Rocket could make out something…a liquid of sorts within which movement could be seen. Its throat gorged, and it took a second for him to realize what was happening. 

He raised his sword in a swipe, crying out from fear, rage, and sheer exertion as the creature fired something. It met his blade with enough force to cause the projectile to burst, and he could make out a few of the twitching fingers from one of the hand creatures Kraken had been hit with.

“Bloody fuckin’ hell,” Lord Valor muttered, raising his quiver - three arrows notched and released in a motion so fluid Nathan hardly realized it was happening. 

Three of the creatures roared as the projectiles met flesh, the fat and skinny both amongst the targets. The latter was thrown back, the back end of the arrow roaring to life with a rocket-like effect, sending the thin monster careening through several others. The bloated creature was pierced in its stomach, the arrow pausing for a moment as it fixed itself into flesh, before the tip began to spin like a drill. 

The creature’s chest began to hiss and bubble before it burst with enough force that several of those nearest were thrown asunder by the impact.

Lord Valor loaded another three, repeating the process, as he placed himself between the trio and the chaos. 

“Move boy, either help us or get out of the way!” a deep, gurgling voice called, snapping Nathan from an awed stupor he’d hardly realized he was in.

Kraken had managed to free himself, flinging the hand-thing with enough force to kill it before joining his teammate, charging past Valor and into the fray.

Several of the creatures had assumed an almost canid form, dropping onto twisted arms that acted as legs - mouths stretched into jaws unable to close due to the sheer volume of teeth. They’d spread out, taking positions on the periphery, moving in on their group with a pack-like instinct. 

Catspaw had been doing her best to keep them at a distance, charging forward with claws drawn every so often to push them back, and as Kraken pressed past grabbing two of the beasts, one in his massive palm, the other with one of the tentacles extending from his head - she took the opportunity to press the attack. 

Glowing claws raked along the exposed flesh and bulging guts of the canine-people, as she ducked and avoided their own clawed hands in a precarious dance of acrobatics and bloodshed. One lept for her throat, jaws extended to clamp down hard, only for the woman to duck, allowing the beast to soar overhead and land near Nathan and Tracy with a thud.

It rose, dazed momentarily as it shook its head, thin flecks of still human hair thrown about, before its eyes met his gaze. Something in those eyes, blue and still very much human despite the way its exterior had been twisted into something unrecognizable, made his stomach turn. It was rage, hate, and pain, all at the situation which had brought it…them here honed into violence. 

He’d always hated the Monster Maker more than most villains for that reason. With him, the victims weren’t just those he targetted during his rampages, but the very people twisted into his horrific creations, minds just broken enough to succumb to his whims, but not enough to allow them merciful ignorance as to their conditions - breaking them down to their most primal states.

Tracy put an arm in front of him, raising one of the knives with the other and flinging it with the familiarity of a Darkstar apprentice. It caught the creature above the eye, setting it to yelping and turning on the girl, the affected eye swelling shut from the impact. The sight seemed to trigger something in Nathan, and he moved, blade raised as he pressed the creature with a series of swipes, sending it back and into the fray. 

It growled, a sound far too human, lowering itself in a stance that he could read immediately. It was in the air in an instant, launching itself from back legs twisted like haunches, claws outstreched as he raised his blade to meet them.

A sound like an animal growling, deep and guttural, from somewhere to the right made his hair raise, the thought that he was being ambushed nearly making him lower his guard as he pulled back gripping the sword in a defensive stance.

It took only a moment to realize what, or who it was, as Catspaw caught the creature mid-leap, her legs wrapping around it in an instant, claws glistening and arms a blur as she tore chunks of flesh free with every swipe.

The sound she made was almost inhuman, and for a moment their eyes met and Nathan saw nothing but the animal in her expression before she was gone, disappearing into the fray of blood and flesh.

“Christ,” Tracy breathed, stepping forward with the moment of respite Catspaw’s frenzy had bought them.

“I see how he fell for her.”

Nathan almost smiled, despite it all, before a creature was sent hurtling towards the pair, forcing them to duck low as the smoldering beast landed in a heap behind them.

Someone among the genuine heroes who had been in the audience was using some form of laser beam - a hero in a red and white costume, with a silver visor that smoked with a strange silver effect. He was carving through several monsters at a time when clear of potential friendly fire, but he was being swarmed faster than he could respond.

At the center of it all, sitting atop a massive creature that looked oddly similar to old depictions of Frankenstein, with the addition of four bulging arms - was Monster Maker. He looked furious, as though he had been attacked rather than interrupting the funeral of a greater man than he could have dreamed of being - and it made Nathan’s blood boil.

“Help him!” Nathan called to no one in particular as the laser-hero was swarmed, disappearing beneath a pile of smaller creatures. 

“On your right!” It was Valor who called, and Nathan turned just in time to watch the arrow rip past his face, splitting as it passed, into the three thinner projectiles which found their targets in three of the laser-heros attackers. 

They broke loose, reeling in attempts to free themselves of the barbs or in search of the source, freeing the man enough for him to catch a few more with his own blasts, before another unknown hero fought free from her own ambush, sending another two scattering with the swing of an overlarge axe. 

“Tried to KILL me,” Monster Maker shrieked, ducking low behind the head of his monstrous mount as Tracy’s dagger soared just overhead.

The man reached into his lab coat with one arm, nearly losing his purchase atop the monster as it bounded away from an approaching hero Nathan didn’t recognize. They seemed able to cross distances by stretching themselves like some sort of time-lapse, leaving themselves invulnerable in the seconds between destinations.  

Monster Maker produced something that looked almost like an onion but composed of flesh of various sorts, pulsing with a clear-reddish liquid that quickly coated his hands. He wiped one large palm across the front of his lab coat, leaving yet another stain as he shook it, causing it to swell with a similar effect to the creature from earlier. 

“Tried to trick me! But I am no fool, no. I am a creator of LIFE, no cheap imitation! An affront!”

He hurled it for the approaching hero, the fleshy sac detonating as it neared, catching them as they snapped into place only a few feet away. The impact was immediate, the detonation sentig a spray of thick liquid out which seemed to sizzle angrily on impact.

The force sent the hero hurtling along the ground, hitting several of the chairs that had been left as mere scraps of wood - as a group of Monster Maker’s creations descended on the downed and burning mask.

“Panorama!” the axe-wielding mask called out at the sight, charging into the fray with wild swings.

His stomach turned, eyes roaming the battlefield.

A quick glance over the funeral turned battleground told him how dire the situation was.  A small contingent of officers from the Kingsport PD, led by Murphy were huddled together with one or two masks, firing off at any creature that grew close, though Nathan could see more than a few were injured.

Of the maybe 17 masks who were still capable of fighting, most were on the losing end of fights with steadily growing numbers disadvantage. Professor Kraken was engaging the largest of the beasts on the field - twin giants of stitched muscle in a jigsaw array of colors - and seemed to be winning, one of their heads grasped frimly within his tentacles, holding it as a shield in a sort of make-shift headlock while he wailed away at its twin. 

Catspaw seemed in her element, moving from target to target and making relatively quick work of each, her speed making it difficult for any to swarm her effectively with the canid-type beasts mostly dispatched. Valor maintained his position, firing on any creature that got too close and doing his best to free up any of the several heroes coming dangerously close to being overwhelmed. 

It was obvious that the two members of The Sovereign were holding their own, but that was to be expected, and even Catspaw seemed in control, but it was clear to Nathan that the other heroes and the non-masked individuals who’d been present, were at growing risk with each minute. 

A burst of dark liquid shot forth like a bullet, taking off a chunk of the massive beast's head as Monster Maker ducked behind it.

Nathan turned to see Professor Kraken, still struggling against the two muscle-beasts as he prepared another shot.

“Stop him,” he barked, voice a gargling roar, “They obey his command, you must attack the source.”

Shereen was ducked low behind what remained of the stage, and the thought only instilled in him the confidence that he had to end it. He knew there was only one hope of making it all stop.

“Tracy,” he called, himself and the woman who’d once been Kid Rocket and whose identity was now a question, being the only two unengaged. 

“No names, Kid Rocket,” she breathed, though her eyes followed his as they both watched Monster Maker. 

“Sorry, not sure what to call you now given -” he gestured at himself, and the costume representing the role she’d once had.

Tracy seemed to consider for a moment, and he almost felt the need to remind her of the inopportune timing before she spoke.

“Galaxy. It’s Galaxy, in the mask.”

He nodded, something in him lighting up at the name, the obvious homage to Darkstar feeling important in a way he couldn’t quite explain given how things had ended between them. It fit, the dark purple, almost black shade of her mask was speckled with white flecks like stars in the night sky.

“Galaxy,” he called something in the name almost reaffirming his confidence in their efforts.

“We need to get the big guy to go down, just long enough to expose Monster Maker,” he reached into the holster along the chest of his costume, sliding out two of the grappling blades and handing them to Galaxy.

The laser hero had freed himself long enough to take a few potshots at the beast which carried the villain, concussive forces tearing large chunks of flesh off of the creature which seemed to grow back rapidly. 

“Remember how Darkstar handled Giganticus?” he asked, producing another two for his own use as he dropped into a low crouch.

He peered up and could see she was nodding, a faint smirk visible on her face.

“‘The Harder They Fall’, it was his favorite manuevers for tank types.”

“Think you can still work the grappling blade well enough?” He asked, and at that he could hear her huff a half-laugh.

“I was an expert with these things when the only masks you wore were on Halloween, kiddo.”

“Then it’s on your mark,” he breathed, watching as Monster Maker directed his steed after the laser-hero, unaware that two proteges of his greatest rival were preparing to strike.