Havoc looked at all the damage and death around him and sighed. He said, "I hope all of these were worth it."
He only feels mild guilt for playing dead while his partners and subordinates were butchered. It is only mild guilt because he prioritizes his life above all else.
He can't sacrifice himself for anything. Especially not when he knows that it is unlikely that his sacrifice will change much.
He already knew he was outclassed in strength when he was struggling to the target when the target was surrounded by metal. So he knew he stood no chance after the target escaped from the vehicle.
What he is feeling right now is mostly pity for all the people that died. That pity turned into frustration when he found out that the Target had escaped.
He groaned and complained, "Looks like I will have to pay a price for surviving this devastation."
He would have been rewarded and praised for surviving this mission if the target had been captured or killed. But the target escaped, so the entire operation was a failure.
When there is a failure, someone is going to be blamed. When there is a big failure like this where many people died for nothing, then one of the people most likely to be blamed would be the one person that hid and did nothing to delay the target so that the enclosure formed around the target would be able to capture it.
Havoc had a headache just thinking about it. Fortunately, he had someone he could put part of the blame on.
He thought about his excuse and straightened it out in his mind. "This is clearly the work of the remnant of the Purple Drag gang. Fire Rose killed the leader of the gang and let the protector of the leader go. This protector was supposed to be killed by Explosive Fist, but Fire Rose failed to protect him, which led to his death and the survival of such a strong enemy."
"This enemy must have been plotting and planning for a long time. They used some sort of illusion ability to look like they had an ability related to diamond transformation. This way we couldn't plan effectively to subdue her."
"The lady used her forcefield ability, which protected her from the explosion. The force field must have protected her from Light Song's ability too. Things would have been different if we had the right information. This was clearly Fire Rose's fault. It is also the scout's fault."
It was the scout with the perception ability who was supposed to ensure that the target was real and not fake. The scout clearly failed in spotting the fact that the diamond transformation was fake.
There is no other explanation for it. After all, a person that can turn his whole body into diamond would not dare to sit in an exploding vehicle. The heat would kill them.
It is also not possible for someone to have two types of unrelated abilities. So the plausible explanation was that the heroes were tricked.
He nodded to himself as he thought about it. "Yes, we were tricked. This is not my fault. I am a victim too."
He knows that his excuse is solid, but he knows that it won't absolve him of blame completely. Nothing will make him blameless for hiding and letting the target escape. So he was in a bad mood.
"At least I survived. Fire Rose didn't survive, and she will still be blamed for part of the failure. I should be glad that I can complain about being blamed."
He chuckled deprecatingly as he thought about his predicament. Soon he was ushered into meetings after meetings for frequent debriefings as trackers and investigators went about their work looking for the escaped target.
-----
Kelvin was in a good mood after eliminating Fire Rose. He is happy and proud because her death in his hands serves as an important milestone for him.
She had been a formidable force when he had just awakened his shape-shifting ability. But he had gone on to the professional league while she had stagnated in the amateur league.
The major source of her power was her fans. She had ridden the wave of popularity for killing the Patriarch and eliminating many villains to be promoted from an ordinary hero into a captain.
Her fans had helped her possess a D-rank power as an amateur. It is a coveted boon, as many would like to have that kind of power without risking their lives in the professional league. But the faith in the heroes of the city had become low in recent times, which weakened her.
He, on the other hand, had gained many abilities, gained the league bonus, which made him require half of her power to match her, and gained a lot of permanent destiny, which made his power rating stable.
The end result is that she had stood no chance when they clashed. Not that she stood a chance against him. He possessed six abilities, of which two are omegas and four are alpha abilities.
To be honest, he felt like he had bullied her. But it still feels good to defeat the poster boy of the Justice League.
Wrath noticed that he was smiling to himself. She asked, "What has got you in such a good mood?"
He replied, "Fire Rose's death means that the heroes will be on the back foot of morale concerning the war. Her absence also means relief for my cabal. They won't face as much resistance from the heroes as before. This is good."
Wrath admitted slowly. "Her absence is indeed good. I just want to make sure you're not thinking you defeated her because you were much stronger than her."
He asked, "Why not?"
She replied, "You cheated when you used your forcefield ability. Without it, it would have been more difficult to defeat her."
He rolled his eyes and asked, "Are you really saying that I didn't fight fairly?"