"Ready?"
Raphael's voice carried easily through the wind, though they stood high above Haven City, on the glass crown of the Fiery Cross building. Helicopter blades thudded overhead, journalists shouting into cameras as spotlights and drones danced like insects in the night.
This was history. The first ever hero rescue in space.
Hermes inhaled. He nodded once.
Light ripped through him in response. His body bent forward, his back splitting open into pure brilliance. Wings burst forth in six-fold symmetry, each feather a burning ray. Six eyes opened along his face and torso, glowing like molten suns. Six halos circled his head in whirling, blinding rings.
He became something more than flesh, more than bone. He became the Paragon beast, the angelic monster of radiant judgment.
The crowd erupted below.
The helicopters tilted to keep him in frame. The narrators went wild.
