My Superhero City | Season 03, Episode 02: The Light On The Horizon Was Brighter Yesterday
Cole: Anyone else tries something like this again and they get vigilante executed right there on Live TV? That's a public execution. Those weren't the words and actions of a hero or a savior. Those were the words and actions of a fascist. And everybody here who knows me should know what I do to fascists.
Nariko: Does it matter why he did it? Even if we make him see the error of his ways... he's already crossed a line. He can't really go back to being the world's hero after this.
Mahvash: I'll remind you again that you all have been coming along in a world where Saint was dead...You've been finding your way to being good heroes for a long time. I'll also remind you that 1) that wasn't you on the TV and 2) the point of a school is to train the next generation to be better. If you don't approve of what you saw, keep being heroes, your kind of heroes. And less Disney, I know this sucks but take your time.
Gloria: Goodness is not something that should be determined by one powerful man - I don't believe anything good can or ever has risen from that kind of thinking. ...The bigger battle is for the hearts of people who have seen a hero stray from the light, and have now become lost. A battle to show the world that it is our principles, not a singular individual, that should determine the path we take.
Viv: And I know no one's doing it, but let's not kid ourselves that anyone will miss Leon, first off. If one of your loved ones had died and he'd gotten away cackling you'd want to kill him too. That's just being human, and there are some arguments to be made that killing him was a good deed. Before my change, I might have done it given the chance.
Marky: I'm...I'm not Saint Lad any more. If you gotta call me something in the field, call me Ultra Lad. Or...or just Marky, or Marcus. Don't—-Don't connect me to the Saint any more. That man is dead to me.
Martin: Heroes have to take the harder road, work within laws to bring down threats. And when those threats are someone who talks and walks like the worlds greatest hero that means we need to rise higher to the occasion. Our actions from here on out decide what it means to be a hero in the modern era, because we are the examples that the Saint can't be anymore. I would trust each of you here with my life, we're going to win this.
Holiday: Keep in mind to worry about nothing. If you get hurt, it'll be lethal or not. If it's not lethal, don't worry. If it is lethal, you'll die, and then you can't worry. Classic soldier mindset. Keep that in mind and... actually don't. You'd just be thinking about dying– I'm not helping, am I?
AntiSaint: As terrible and abominable as Gaea was, it was a wake-up call. For all the effort I put into changing things, for all the trouble I went through, someone like Gaea still came this close to bringing everything crashing down. And me with it. And I realized just how fragile it all was. Everything I made, everything I built up could be gone just like that. Like tearing off a band-aid. And I guess I was right. After coming over here, I saw how things would've turned out if they had managed to kill me. And it's exactly what I thought it'd be.
Prophet/AntiMartin: Faith, that is a beautiful word...But it doesn't really spend all to well anymore...Why ask for faith when you can act? Faith doesn't feed the hungry, heal the sick, or keep the law. In other words, its pointless.
AntiEllie: They're fuckin' villains. Of course they'd be panicking when the heroes show up.
AntiViv: Yes, it is too damned weird to just start slugging. I actually do want to talk to you. And murder gets too boring. For all of their pomp and drama, the rest of them never got their hands dirty before the Saint....changed his ways, I guess you'd say. They jumped in quickly, but there's a difference between killing someone with their powers and using a knife. You remember what that felt like, don't you? The fight and the sweat and the blood?
Not-Too-Bright-Random: Oh, grow some balls, Eugene! You're just giving them what they want! As for me, I'm never gonna bow down before some crazy demon chick who won't even bother to put on some fucking pants!
Prophet/AntiMartin: Okay everyone stop bearing your fangs at each other for a second and lets act like mature and reasonable adults for a second. You're going to give them the impression that they've entered a reality where we all ended up as monsters or something.
Lily: Ideals... never come about. We're human. We'll fail. But we fight. That's what makes us heroes. Not... fighting villains, either. Fighting ourselves. Fighting everything. Fighting everything that stops everyone else from doing the same. And it kills you. I know you're tired, and I'm sorry, but...no. I can't. You've given up. I'm sorry.
Liam: ...Seems to me you exalt the idea of hero as the underdog. That things are perpetually immutable, and we can't do anything but fight everything and keep fighting and fighting...well, I'd disagree. Saying people can't achieve something and that they should just keep on fighting and fighting nevertheless...that's delusional. Unscientific - it's mysticism, almost religion. Eventually, science advances enough that your mystical belief system there about heroes as basically martyrs ceases to be viable.
Liam: You know...your friends abandoned you, your tech is behind mine, you've got a boring fighting style...I'd say it sucks to be you, but honestly? If you've got even a slightly scientific mind, you've probably deduced that by now. By the by, RIP; your elbow.
Ellie: We kill people, but we kill the people who deserve it. We don't enslave or torture people. We don't force people to get married when they don't want to. We don't make them have sex with us. And we'll never do any of that. I'll never let anyone like that take power. Never again. No matter what it takes.
AntiMartin: Let me make something clear to you...We are coming to save you, so instead of worrying, or struggling, count the moments you still have in your diseased world. Think of it as the last breaths before a nightmare...I am not a hero, so you don't have to worry about me failing to save everything. A god should answer all prayers without fail. Don't worry, the Messiah is coming.
- Short Synopsis: The IW confront AntiSaint while Squads 1&3 storm the parallel world.
- First Post: 23 November 2019
- Webcomic Time: 2 August 2021
Tropes - Caution, unmarked spoilers
- All Crimes Are Equal: Even if some of the heroes would have understood Saint killing Leon, if not as an execution on live tv, by the time the IW catch up with him, he's killing muggers.
- Attack Hello: How squads 1&3 are greeted in the other world.
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Rienbach casually aims a cannon meant for the Saint at the IW.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Iris is the 'stick' that forces Saint's surrender. (Holiday offering the carrot).
- Boring Insult: Its super effective on Mason.
- Combat Pragmatist: Mason goes to transform as he usually does, and Liam responds by attacking him - not even waiting for his transformation to complete. The rest of the fight is utterly brutal, with Liam instead of flashily fighting just brutally breaking Mason's arms, legs and slicing through his kneecaps.
- Cooldown Hug: Holiday does it with a flare.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: The heroes made no headway in the Saint dimension, gave away intelligence on their abilities, found little information on the Saviors or their world equivalent to how they were observed for months, and suffered a casualty. OTOH, Wilma put a dent in Prophet's mental invasion.
- Establishing Character Moment: Every Savior gets one but the one that seems to catch the most eyes is 'Prophet'.
- Evil Tower of Ominousness: Liam resides in one. Both versions of Viv make fun of the cliche.
- Fantastic Racism: The Savior Verse is demonstrably not crime-free. (See the Attack Hello the heroes got). And it doesn't look like different peoples are any closer either.
- Heroic BSoD: Rebecca suffers a major one. She'd been idolizing the Saint since grade school. Mason has his own after his 'fight' with Liam. Its so bad his mind splits into the dark and light form and he questions everything.
- Heroic Fatigue: To quote the narration: 'For the first time Martin wished someone had just stayed dead.'
- Implacable Man: Savior!Zach is technically Dumb Muscle. This isn't funny at all note . He's a ready attack dog and gleefully and relentlessly charges against and tears into the heroes—who all resemble his 'friends'—as soon as he gets the order. Oh, and he doesn't spend time spelling out anything.
- It Is Beyond Saving: A few heroes feel this way about the whole 'Saint System' as some call it, the entire idea of heroism that Saint built around himself.
- La Résistance: Cole is already putting himself in a rebel leader's shoes.
- Mad Scientist: Liam's role in the Saviors - lacking superpowers in the Savior Reality, he instead built himself up as a scientist...and became a cold, distant figure. He's also the head of surveillance via the odd little thopter robots that seem to be everywhere. He even comes complete with The Igor; Barnett.
- Mirror Boss: AntiMartin enjoys showing off that he's a mirror boss.
- Motive Rant: To be fair, Nariko asked for it.
- Neverending Terror: Savior!Martin compares the heroes' work to this in contrast to the system the Saviors had built.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The heroes don't come off great against the Saviors in general but Mason especially gets his limbs twisted and crushed and his body and spirit broken under Liam's assault. He won't even leave the hospital ward a month after the fight.
- Refuge in Audacity: Holiday weaponizes it. See for yourself.
- Sixth Ranger: Intercepor and Rienbach place Marky somewhat awkwardly with the IW. Upon Iris's offer of help—in the form of an eye to watch his back—he's squicked out very visibly and loudly squicked out. He eventually finds them "really, really fucking twisted."
- Shadow Archetype: Squads 1&3 run into an entire team of them...selves.
- Surveillance Drone: The Thopters observe every goings on in Savior Earth, and report back in. Liam knew near on instantly that the heroes were there, but decided to just observe a bit more.
- Survival Mantra: Marky comes up with one while confronting the Saint: note It was also instantly parodied: note .
- Terminally Dependent Society: The US public's reaction to Saint's return and then his television appearance make it seem as though hero and supernatural/base human relations have become this. One reason for the It Is Beyond Saving attitude of a few heroes.
- Transformation Is a Free Action. It isn't. And the oversight would have gotten Mason killed right then if not for his allies' intervention.
- War Was Beginning: Savior!Martin outright announces the Savior invasion is coming.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The Saviors are far from friendly with each other. Saying they tolerate each other would be generous.
