At nightfall, the heroes come out.
Well, truthfully, there were many heroes who preferred to patrol the streets during the day. But there were several reasons why the Soaring Six had agreed to head out primarily at night.
One: Screech. His owl's eyes could see more effectively in the dark, to the point where he could almost be considered visually-impaired in the daytime.
Two: their day jobs. Though today was a Saturday, on weekdays, each member of the Soaring Six—at least, as far as Voyd knew; some of them were more forthcoming about their personal lives than others—had careers and bills to pay during the day.
Three: it was statistically proven that more crime took place at night, so that's where the Six chose to focus their energies.
Four: they were just starting out, and they hadn't yet fully learned that fighting crime all night leaves you absolutely exhausted.
For her part, Voyd was still optimistic that she could handle working a full-time job as a dog groomer at the dingy pet store Pawz-R-Us while also working the equivalent of a full-time job as a nighttime vigilante. She could manage it. She was sure of it. If Elastigirl had done it back in the glory days—while leaving a trail of broken hearts in her wake to boot—then Voyd could certainly survive on four hours of sleep.
Well, this was probably not the best comparison. Elastigirl was, as Screech was so fond of saying, the gold standard for supers. Just because shecould juggle civilian life and heroics with ease didn't mean that Voyd wouldn't fall apart after a few months of this.
But it had been a few weeks that they'd gone out each night doing hero work, and Voyd didn't think she was going to fall apart. The thrill was still too great, the rush too intense, the joy too overwhelming for her to even consider giving up hero work. So far, they hadn't stopped any big-time criminals—just a few muggers, con artists and thieves—but the work was the most fulfilling she'd done in her whole life. She felt at home in her costume, walking the streets in the role of protector and guardian. It was what she was meant to be—always had been.
Tonight, the Soaring Six had split up into three pairs: Screech and Krushauer were together in the entertainment district of New Urbem; Brick and Reflux were prowling the streets of the financial district; and He-Lectrix and Voyd were in Greenwood Hills, a poorer neighborhood. Each of them had a small, square police scanner attached to their belts. If a crime occurred anywhere in the city and needed to be stopped in its tracks, they'd probably get there before the police would. That was their job.
Right now, Voyd was leaning against the brick wall of a dim alley, tapping her booted foot with eager impatience. She was torn between wanting people to be safe and longing for somebody to commit a crime so she could stop it. That's the hero balance.
He-Lectrix was slowly pacing about, occasionally slapping the side of the police scanner he held in his hand, which was emitting grating static and not much else. He finally looked over at Voyd, gesturing to it. "No dice."
"We can use mine. I think it's working just fine. What's wrong with yours?"
"No clue. Sometimes I think the NSA gives us bad technology on purpose."
"Come on, they wouldn't do that," she protested weakly. But internally, she couldn't help but agree. Whatever technology Winston provided them was state-of-the-art (unbreakable glass, suit cams, training tools); whatever technology the NSA provided them was junk (police scanners that didn't work half the time, faulty headsets, weaponry that was in more danger of malfunctioning than of actually stopping criminals). They'd only been working as full-fledged supers for a few weeks, and they'd already learned that the NSA was poorer than a church mouse. Maybe that would change in the coming months as the legalization of supers sunk in. Or, at least, Voyd hoped so.
The small box at Voyd's waist crackled into life, brief words interspersed with irritating white noise. Voyd frowned at He-Lectrix. "Mine's malfunctioning too. Can you make any of that out?"
They both listened intently to the tinny words emitting from the police scanner. When the voice died away, they looked at each other. "Did you hear 'suspicious male'?" Voyd asked.
"Yeah. And I think I heard an address. Fifty Roger Street?"
"That's really close to here, isn't it?" Voyd's face lit up with an excited smile; she'd never been so amped about the concept of a suspicious male prowling a neighborhood. "Come on, let's check it out."
Winston had supplied them with three high-tech motorcycles not unlike the one Elastigirl had briefly used a few months back. These ones were sleek, black-and-white marvels of engineering. Again, designed by Evelyn, which made Voyd slightly uncomfortable, but she had to get used to the idea. And the bikes were pretty darn awesome, three smooth specimens of purring machinery that went from zero to a hundred within seconds as required.
Voyd didn't have her license, so He-Lectrix drove the cycle down the nighttime streets with Voyd riding on the back. New Urbem wasn't exactly bustling on this busy Saturday: it was a little rainy, and the streets were less crowded than usual, with citizens probably preferring to stay indoors. Those who were outdoors were draped in raincoats and shrouded by umbrellas. But Voyd could still see citizens' faces shift from boredom to awe as they watched her and He-Lectrix pass on bike cycle.
As they buzzed past, Voyd watched almost in slow motion as a little girl broke away from her mother to scream in delight and wave at the passing supers. Voyd lifted a hand to wave back, a wide, genuine grin splitting her face, and enthusiastically yelled "Hi!" as they rushed past. She would never, ever get sick of that, not as long as she lived.
"Having fun?" He-Lectrix asked her from the front, turning his head slightly so she could see he was smiling in amusement.
Her mind went back to her childhood, when she'd felt isolated and afraid because of her power. Compare that to today, when people were happy to see her because she had a power. "Holy cow, yes," she breathed in response, unsure if he could even hear her.
Voyd didn't care how crappy it would be when the government employed them. She would never give this up. The people's approval was worth any punishment.
"It's different, isn't it?" her colleague called over the roar of the motor and the wind. "Having them love you for what you are?"
"Really, really different," she called back, smiling.
Despite the fact that they'd gone out to fight crime several times in the past weeks—and had stopped a bunch of criminals, including but not limited to a mugger, two vandals, a bank robber and even a pickpocket (but no big-time villains yet)—Voyd still felt like a little kid trying on their mother's too-big clothes. Going out and fighting crime did send energy spiraling through her veins and thrill her half to death, but it just didn't feel real yet—she felt sort of like she was playacting at being a full-fledged hero. But maybe if they managed to catch a real live supervillain tonight, maybe if they battled against someone who gave them a real fight for once, that would change.
When they cruised to a stop outside 50 Roger Street—a candy store, one of a row of brick-walled shops with apartments above—Voyd immediately noticed something was wrong. At the very top of the building, on the roof—had she seen movement? Someone darting away, quicker than thought?
They dismounted the cycle in unison and He-Lectrix pressed a button on the dashboard that rendered it invisible to everyone but the one who held the key, who was him. It seemed like magic to Voyd, but it was just yet another product of the incredible minds at DevTech. The key didn't even turn the bike on—it was shaped like a key, but there was no ignition for it. Instead, there was a button to press on the dash that turned the bike on, and if you didn't have the key on your person, nothing happened. Similarly, the key allowed you to see the bike when no one else could, because it somehow connected to the synapses of your brain via wireless waves or—or something. Voyd didn't exactly know the sciency bits. She'd nearly failed chemistry twice in high school. It was her worst subject. (Other than that, she was a straight-A student. Science just didn't agree with her.)
The bike disappeared from her view, and she glanced up at the roof again, squinting suspiciously in the dying sunlight. She didn't see the movement again, but her gut told her that there was something wrong on that rooftop.
"I think I saw something up there," she told her partner. "Wanna check it out?"
"I can't think of a better place to start."
She flicked her hand and created a portal nearby, and another on the roof near the edge. "After you!"
He-Lectrix stepped into the void, and she saw him emerge on the roof, as easily as if he'd simply gone in one door and out the other. Which, technically, he had done. She did the same, and found herself on the rooftop, a high vantage point over the rest of Roger Street. Voyd closed the portals and looked around, scanning for any signs of suspicious activity. The roof was fairly pedestrian, just a concrete floor with no signs that anyone had been present, and a roof access door nearby. The surrounding rooftops didn't look suspicious, either.
"See anything?"
"Nope," He-Lectrix replied, walking a short distance away and stopping with hands on hips. "Nothing. Want to head back down?"
"Sure—"
Voyd stopped abruptly, certain she'd seen the movement again. It was from behind the brick roof access entryway; something dressed in black had darted there. She was sure of it. Making a ssshhhh motion to her partner, she crept towards the door, trying to stay silent. She could easily be over there in a second with her portals, but they tended to make a whooshing noise, which would alert whomever or whatever was lurking there.
He-Lectrix followed her lead, and as stealthily as they could, they headed towards the door, closer, closer…
A pair of blue goggles, a silver grate over the mouth, a black-hooded head… it peeked out from behind the bricks.
Voyd stumbled backward, terror jolting her every nerve. That looked like—no, it couldn't be…
"Screenslaver?" she cried in confusion.
Dropping into a defensive stance, He-Lectrix sent a blast of electricity toward the head. It darted back out of sight, the blue lightning bouncing off the bricks. Without even thinking, Voyd created a portal for herself and another by the door, emerging so that she could see exactly what lurked behind there. She was prepared to fight, although she couldn't think of why on Earth the Screenslaver would be out and about. Defeat him now, ask questions later. Or was it her? Was it Evelyn, escaped from prison and wearing the suit? No time for questions.
She pulled a fist back, ready to strike whatever she found there, but instead she stopped in her tracks, struck still by confusion. Huddling against the bricks, mask pulled half-off, was not Evelyn, or anybody that looked like a threat. He cowered in the shadows, staring up at her with terror. It was just a skinny blonde kid, and she recognized him immediately, but couldn't quite place him.
Then it hit her. The pizza guy?
"Please don't hurt me," he trembled.
"It's you," she said, dumbfounded, her fist falling to her side. "The guy that Evelyn hypnotized?"
"My name is Mikey," he told her, backing up a little further against the wall. "I'm not here to attack you or anything. Please tell your friend to not do that again."
He-Lectrix had joined her by now, and stood at her side, looking down at the skinny figure with befuddlement. "What are you doing here?" he and Voyd asked, very nearly in unison, although He-Lectrix added a "the hell" somewhere in there.
"I just wanted to maybe fight some crime," said the kid, sounding a little defensive now. "I thought, well, I've got this mask and this cool outfit… why don't I do some good with it?"
"But why do you have that mask?" Voyd asked in confusion. "Wouldn't the police have taken it away when they arrested you?"
Probably realizing they didn't intend to attack him, Mikey rose to his feet and dusted himself off, though he still looked a little suspicious and fearful.
"The goggles didn't work after I got captured—I guess the lady had a failsafe that caused them to stop functioning. The cops let me have the whole suit when they realized I was innocent. Guess they didn't think there was any danger, since the goggles didn't do anything anymore. But I'm good with mechanics. I got 'em working again. And I figured, why not go out and make up for everything I did when I was under her spell?" He gestured with his arms in a look-at-me kind of way. "Voila. The Screensaver. Kind of clever, huh?"
Voyd and He-Lectrix stared at him. He-Lectrix said slowly, "So… you're a hero now?"
"Yeah!" He pulled the mask back down over his face, complete with goggles, and pressed a button on the side. He-Lectrix and Voyd instinctively averted their gazes when the blue light began to glow from his eyes.
"Calm down, I'm not doing it yet. But if any criminals come along, I can just hypnotize them and tell them to go away. And they'll just say 'Yes!' No damage, no injures, no fighting. Just smooth sailing." He pulled the mask back up, exposing his grin.
He-Lectrix and Voyd were not grinning. Voyd asked hesitantly, "But are you even sure that the goggles work? I mean, have you tested them?"
"No, but—look, they light up, I'm sure they work. Why wouldn't they?"
He-Lectrix said sternly, "Look, you need to go home."
Mikey's smile melted away. "Why? Because I don't have powers?"
"That's exactly why. For God's sake, you're wearing jeans and a turtleneck. You're going to get yourself killed. Or worse, you're going to endanger civilians."
Voyd was inclined to be a little kinder, but she still didn't think this was a good idea by any means. "Mikey," she said gently, reaching out and putting a gloved hand on his shoulder, "it's not that we don't want your help, but…"
She trailed off, unsure what else to say.
Mikey pushed her hand off, annoyed. "Don't patronize me. I'm just as capable of helping people as you are."
He-Lectrix gave him a pointed look. "Like you just helped yourself against us? Cowering against the wall like that? You're not equipped for this. Go home."
"We know you mean well," Voyd interrupted, "really, we do, but your clothes just aren't able to protect you like our suits are, and you've got no training in using your goggles or anything—you don't even know exactly how they work. You're just going to get hurt." She hesitated; she felt like a hypocrite, talking to Mikey like she was a better hero than him, when in reality, she didn't feel that way at all. "Maybe we can talk to Rick about getting you involved in hero work somehow, if you really want to help."
He-Lectrix muttered, "I'm not so sure that's such a good idea…"
Mikey interjected, a determined line etched between his brows. "I get where you're coming from, but it's my choice. My life. I'll be a hero if I want to be." He pulled the mask back down once again, rendering him impassive. "I'm going to make up for what I did. You can work with me or we can stay out of each other's way."
"But Mikey," Voyd pleaded, "that wasn't you. What happened wasn't your fault. You shouldn't feel like you have to make up for it now—"
The pizza boy shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I don't need a speech. I'm going now. Bye." He turned and began to sprint away, jumping to another rooftop, becoming a disappearing speck in the dying light.
He-Lectrix shook his head, lips tightly pursed. "This kid is going to get himself killed. We should stop him."
Voyd watched the skinny figure get smaller, conflicted. "But if he really does want to help…"
"Think about it. He almost crapped himself when he saw us. When he faces a criminal with a gun, how's he going to respond? Let alone a real scary-looking supervillain? He doesn't stand a chance. We'd better take that mask away while we can."
With a disappointed sigh, she relented. She really did feel like anyone who wanted to help should be given a chance, even if they didn't have powers, but she couldn't deny He-Lectrix's argument that Mikey was headed for danger. "Okay, but don't hurt his feelings any more than we already have. Please."
He smiled slightly. "I'll do my best."
Voyd opened two portals: one here, one next to the rapidly-vanishing man. She and He-Lectrix quickly stepped through onto a distant roof, and He-Lectrix stopped Mikey in his tracks with a fist curled in the fabric of his black shirt. The kid struggled to break free, glowering. "I said leave me alone!"
At that very moment, they all heard the distinctive sound of breaking glass.
In unison, their three heads swiveled toward the direction where the sound had emanated from. Voyd couldn't see anything amiss on the street—at least, not with any of the shops she was able to see from her vantage point—but she was sure she'd just heard the first throes of a break-in. He-Lectrix seemed to agree, as he released the thrashing Mikey and walked over to the edge of the roof, peering down for signs of trouble. He got down on his hands and knees so he could see the shop directly underneath them, and…
"It's a closed jewelry store. Someone's robbing it," he revealed as he got back to his feet.
Voyd's gut tensed with that odd mix of excitement and trepidation that comes part and parcel with hero work. "We'd better go stop it. Think we should call for backup?"
"Don't think so. They're small-time criminals. I think we can handle them ourselves. Want to take us down there?"
With a flick of her two wrists, Voyd created a portal on the roof and another on the ground outside the store. She turned to Mikey, apologetic, about to offer him a last olive branch. "We can talk later if you w—"
Without any warning whatsoever, Mikey dove for the portal, pushing past Voyd, who gasped as she stumbled aside. And he was gone.
Voyd looked to He-Lectrix, stunned, who looked back at her grimly. "Told you. Thinks he's a hero."
"We've got to stop him before he gets hurt!" she cried, and without any further hesitation, she jumped through the portal herself, landing on the sidewalk below. He-Lectrix was right behind her; she heard his own boots thump on the pavement, and she closed the portals with a clench of her fists.
The jewelry store's front door was protected by bars, but in a bizarre and unfortunate choice of engineering, the windows were not, and one of them had been smashed. Inside, it was dark. Voyd could barely see the retreating form of Mikey inside; she couldn't see the robbers at all.
She cast a quick look around the city streets; nearly abandoned, with two civilians—a young couple—standing across the street, staring at the break-in with confusion.
"Please stay clear, ma'am, sir," she yelled at them before she and He-Lectrix leapt over the display cases in the window to make their way inside.
The jewelry store was very dim, the dusky forms of jewels in display cases barely sparkling in the near-complete lack of light. Squinting as her eyes adjusted, Voyd could barely make out the form of Mikey standing against the cashier's desk, mask on and eyes glowing, and two ski-masked robbers pointing their guns at him. He didn't appear to be doing any hypnotizing.
Mikey sounded desperate. "You will do what I say. You will do what I say."
"Nice try, kid," the taller of the robbers sneered. "Take that stupid mask off and get out of here before I blow your brains out."
With a sinking heart, Voyd realized Mikey must have simply restored the blue lights on the goggles, not their ability to hypnotize as he'd thought. He really was going to get himself killed.
Voyd reached down to her hip and pressed a button on her police scanner, which doubled as a high-watt flashlight. The room was flooded with a white beam, and the blinking robbers turned their faces toward the source of the light in confusion.
"Put your guns down," Voyd intoned, trying her best to sound like a firm threat.
One of the robbers, the shorter one, pointed his gun straight at Voyd; her heart jumped in fear. The other kept his weapon trained on Mikey.
The taller one reached over with a hand and nudged his partner, hissing something so quietly that Voyd couldn't hear. Oh, no—they were getting ideas.
"I said drop them!" she cried louder, taking a step forward and putting on a brave face even though every nerve in her body was screaming: Run, gun!
He-Lectrix raised his hands, ready to send a barrage of lightning towards the criminals, but the taller one rushed over to Mikey and grabbed him by the back of the neck before either super could do anything. He pointed his gun straight at Mikey's head, the barrel pressed hard against the pizza boy's temple. "Either of you attacks either of us," he said, "I blow this moron to kingdom come. Capiche?"
Desperate, Voyd floundered, unsure of what to do. He-Lectrix seemed the same, eyes darting from one criminal to the other to Mikey, who was breathing heavily and seemed on the verge of tears under his mask.
"Now here's what's going to happen, supers," commanded the taller robber. "My friend here is going to strip this shop clean. I am going to stay over here with this hostage. If either of you comes at us, or signals the police, or does anything I don't like, this hostage is not going to be alive any longer. Do we understand each other?"
Oh, Mikey. Voyd wished she'd just taken his darn mask away when she had the chance. "We understand," she said helplessly, feeling for the first time as if her powers would do her no good at all.
She and He-Lectrix stood silently by, Voyd feeling like a total chump, while the shorter of the criminals lockpicked each display case, stealing jewels and rings and necklaces to his heart's content. It seemed they'd already disabled the alarm system, as, when Voyd looked up at the bulky security cameras in each corner, she couldn't see the telltale blinking light that would indicate they were active. No alarm went off that would alert the police.
The supers, however, had a backup plan.
Voyd noticed He-Lectrix's hand going very slowly and casually to his opposite wrist. There, she knew, there was a small switch located on a metal bracelet. They all had one under their gloves; this particular piece of gadgetry came courtesy of DevTech. If flicked twice—this, to make sure the first time hadn't been an accident—the switch would transmit their exact location and call the other Soaring Six to their aid. He just had to press it before the robbers noticed. Neither of them seemed to see, however.
She saw He-Lectrix make a tiny, deft movement. He had flicked the switch. He did it again, and winked without looking at her.
They just had to hope the rest of the Six arrived in time. And even when the Six did get there, it would still be a difficult situation, making sure Mikey didn't get hurt while also subduing the robbers, especially since there was no way to explain the situation to the other supers before they came crashing in. When it came to making sure this situation didn't end with bloodshed, a lot would rely on sheer, pure luck. And Voyd was not historically a lucky human being.
When the shorter man had stuffed every bit of jewelry he could find into a pillowcase, he rejoined the taller man, and together—with the taller robber still keeping a firm grip on Mikey—they began to back down the dark hallway behind them. "Remember," said the taller one harshly, "no sudden moves, no attacks, you let us escape safely, no one gets hurt."
Voyd nodded, pretending to comply. Her heart was going a million miles a second. Please, let the other Six get here, please…
Just as the robbers had almost disappeared down the hall, Voyd heard noises from behind. She whipped around. It was her friends! Her heart simultaneously melted in relief and jumped in terror. Their arrival could mean the end of this hostage situation—one way or another.
Thank god, the robbers didn't shoot Mikey. Instead, they began to run, quickly vanishing down the dark hall. Screech and Krushauer had arrived, and were standing defensively near the entrance, while Brick and Reflux weren't far behind.
He-Lectrix quickly explained the situation. "They've got a kid—they've got him at gunpoint. And they've got a pillowcase full of valuables. Don't be scared by the mask; it's not the Screenslaver."
The others didn't question him, although confused looks did flash across their faces. "So what shall we do?" Screech asked.
As one, they looked at Voyd.
Her heart jumped into her throat as she realized that they wanted her to tell them the plan. "Uh, um," she stammered, searching. "What we do is, uh—we go after them!"
They kept looking at her. "And then what?" asked Krushauer pointedly.
She began to formulate something, partially out of the extreme pressure that forced her to pull a plan out of the dark recesses of her dysfunctional mind. To her own shock, she started to command like a leader. "Screech, they've got to have a getaway car. You'll break the windows with your scream, give us easier access. Krushauer—"
"I'll crush the car?" he asked hopefully.
"No. If you see their gun, you crush that. He-Lectrix and Reflux, attack and defend as needed. Brick, you too. Incapacitate the robbers, stop their getaway vehicle, and keep the hostage safe at whatever cost. That's our goal." She glanced around at the faces of her friends, realizing she desperately needed their approval. "Is that okay?"
They all nodded, and she exclaimed, "Then let's go!"
She threw portals ahead of them quickly as they ran down the surprisingly-long hallway that led to the back door of the shop; the voids helped her and her teammates run the span of the hall more quickly than otherwise. The back door was already wide open, revealing a small parking lot behind, and the robbers' white van was just pulling away onto the street, its tires squeaking on the pavement.
With the aid of his impressive mechanical wings, Screech took flight into the air, and Voyd threw a portal into his path, bringing him closer to the getaway van. With a powerful high-pitched caterwaul that caused Voyd to wince and cover her ears with pain, Screech shattered the van's windows. The van ground to a quick halt, most likely because the driver's head was in agony from Screech's wail
Voyd opened another portal that allowed Krushauer to leap through, landing right next to the van. The blue-costumed hero lifted his hand and squeezed, and Voyd hoped he'd gotten the gun. At the very least, she hadn't heard the weapon discharge, and she hoped fervently that Mikey hadn't been shot.
With more portals, Voyd helped the rest of her friends get across the parking lot in moments, and then stepped through herself, closing the void with a quick movement. They surrounded the car, Screech staring down from above.
Voyd called in a firm manner, "Get out of the vehicle now."
From her waist, Voyd heard the drone-and-static whine of the police scanner, but she reached down and turned it off; this was her focus now. Her friends followed her lead and did the same to their own noisemaking scanners.
She heard a stone-cold voice from within the van, though she couldn't see; from her vantage point, the driver's seat was blocking her view. "I will kill this hostage if you don't let us go!"
Moving closer to the driver's window, Voyd saw the two robbers, still masked, staring at her with hard, furious eyes. Mikey was on the seat between them; his mask had been ripped off at some point, and he was clearly terrified out of his wits. The taller robber, on the passenger side, had both of his hands around Mikey's neck. His gun was a crushed blob of metal discarded on the dashboard. Krushauer had gotten rid of that threat, at least.
Voyd didn't think the robber could manage to choke Mikey to death before the Soaring Six took him out. She made a calculated risk, and spoke her orders lightning-fast. "Reflux," she ordered her elderly colleague, "melt the tires so they can't get away. Krushauer, destroy the engine to ensure it. Screech, Brick, would you… uh…" She couldn't think of the right term and briefly struggled; she didn't want the robbers killed, of course, but "take them out" sounded corny. "…restrain these two criminals?"
The taller robber made good on his threat and began choking Mikey, but now that he didn't have a weapon, the young man wasn't as intimidated by the robber, and managed to break free of his grip, twisting and socking him square across the jaw. As for the driver, the shorter thief, he frantically opened the door and tried to escape, but He-Lectrix stepped forward and shoved him back in, slamming the door behind him.
The robber then tried to crawl out through the shattered front window, even as Mikey and the other criminal fought beside him, but Screech swooped down and sat on the hood in front of him, displaying his odd owl-eyes stare that, if you didn't know Screech, was utterly horrifying. The crook fell back to his seat, blinking rapidly in terror.
Reflux and Krushauer were making good on their orders: Reflux was burping calculated amounts of steaming lava all over each of the tires in turn, causing them to deflate and melt, while Krushauer lifted a lazy hand and twisted and compacted the van's engine, displacing Screech, who jumped into the air with a small yelp of surprise. The van was thoroughly ruined; there was no chance of a getaway.
Voyd herself made a portal and emerged on the now-crumpled hood of the car, holding her hand out. "Mikey, come on. Time to go."
Knowing they were screwed, the robbers didn't object when Mikey clambered onto the hood of the car, accepting Voyd's bracing hand. They jumped down to the ground together, hostage safe and crisis averted.
Brick simply ripped the passenger door off its hinges and pulled out the struggling robber, easily holding him in place with her large hands. Screech alighted on the ground and he and He-Lectrix worked together to subdue the other man, yanking him from the driver's seat. Someone—perhaps the couple across the street—had evidently called the police already, because Voyd could hear the sound of distant sirens.
Looking around at her colleagues and friends, at the safe but sheepish-looking hostage and the angry but subdued robbers, Voyd felt a surge of pride. She'd done it! She'd actually taken leadership and orchestrated the end of a theft! She was on top of the world!
The police sirens drew closer and closer, and one of the robbers whimpered, "If you let us go, we'll give you half the jewels…"
Voyd shook her head, and He-Lectrix and Krushauer laughed. As if.
The police arrived at the parking lot in their blue uniforms, guns drawn, but hesitated at the sight of the supers. Voyd immediately lifted her hands, wary of the police. After fifteen years of being the sole authority on the streets, she knew the cops weren't used to dealing with the presence of superheroes, and they still weren't sure of what protocols to follow.
"It's okay," she told them. "There was a robbery, but we stopped it."
After some more hesitation, the officers holstered their weapons and approached, asking questions and, eventually, handcuffing the criminals. They seemed a little unsure of what to do around the supers, and one of them even joked that Voyd was stealing her job, to which Voyd laughed nervously in response. But when all was said and done, two of the police led the criminals away in cuffs to be driven down to the station, while two of them remained, checking out the scene and examining the ruined car.
When Mikey awkwardly asked Voyd if she'd give him his "Screensaver" mask back, Voyd shook her head. After retrieving the mask from the van, she wordlessly gave it to Krushauer, who made short work of it.
"I'm sorry," she admitted to Mikey, "but you're just not ready."
Dejected, Mikey left, ignoring the police's requests if he needed medical attention. Voyd hated to see him go like this, but she really didn't know what else to do.
But she had bigger problems. When one of the cops commented, "Why aren't you guys checking out that big thing downtown?" Voyd's ears perked up and her heart began to beat faster.
"What thing downtown?" she questioned.
The brunette policewoman shrugged. "There's been some kind of attack downtown. We were just hearing about it on the radio when we were heading here, but our boss told us to focus on the robbery. I don't know much more about it."
Voyd's heart skipped a beat. "Where downtown?" she demanded, her turned-off police scanner suddenly becoming a deadweight at her hip.
"Houghton Heights, the shopping mall."
Oh, no. She hoped with every fiber of her being that it wasn't too bad, that it wasn't too late. "Come on, guys! We've got to get over there!"
Minutes later, she was on the bike behind He-Lectrix, roaring down the city streets, teal hair streaming behind her, praying that no one had been hurt while they were absent. But before they even got within ten blocks of the shopping mall, Voyd saw the gigantic trail of smoke blurring the starry sky, and her entire body tensed. Oh, no…
When they came across the wreckage of Houghton Heights, it was clear the threat had come and gone. The huge shopping mall was surrounded by police cars with lights flashing red and blue in the dark, as well as fire trucks and ambulances. It had been badly damaged, with a portion of the building still aflame, and firefighters attacking the blaze with their hoses; the whole front section was reduced to rubble, and police and volunteers alike were combing through the wreckage, calling out for survivors.
Voyd and her friends pulled up alongside the mall on their bikes, but even as they dismounted, Voyd knew there was nothing that could be done. Other than helping look for survivors, that is. Brick, Screech, He-Lectrix, Reflux and Krushauer went to help, but Voyd briefly stayed behind, approaching a nearby officer.
"What happened here?" she asked, guilt clouding her senses.
The officer glanced at her, and then gave her a closer look when he realized she was a super. "Where were you people?" he asked pointedly.
The guilt intensified. "I was stopping a robbery. Please, what's—"
"Supervillains," he said shortly, turning his gaze toward the ruin. "Two of 'em. Dressed in pink and red outfits, far as we can tell. They attacked with some kind of beam of red energy. Don't know their motives. Unknown number dead."
A supervillain. People dead. Oh, no. Voyd blinked back tears, and she felt utterly foolish that, just a short time ago, she'd been naively hoping for a supervillain to show up and give her a challenge. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now, as she surveyed the rubble in front of her, she wished the villain had never come here at all.
With that, she rushed to help her friends dig through the remains of the mall, hoping that, at the very least, she could offer some help now.
It was only hours later, in the milky blue of the very early morning, when exhausted rescuers—after pulling twelve people alive and three dead from the wreckage—recovered a crumpled note, scrawled in pink marker across the torn-out page of a romance novel, and presented it to Voyd and her friends, assuming it was for them.
"COME AND GET US, SUPERS. —HEARTLESS & QUEEN OF HEARTS."