Chapter Twenty One: The Westburg Bridge

The mornings in Westburg were nothing like the ones in San Fransokyo. The smaller city woke up a little sleepier than the bustling robotic metropolis. Just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, causing the river to sparkle orange and yellow, a set of two lone travel buses started to cross the Westburg Bridge. As the passengers yawned or tried to wake up from their naps, the drivers kept trucking along. They were the only ones on the bridge, the ride only about twenty minutes longer until they reached the station.

All of a sudden, the bridge shook as an explosion knocked the vehicles forward, destroying the middle of the road and leaving the buses trapped on a crumbling bridge. Inside the buses, the passengers screamed, grabbing for the seats or bars to try and steady themselves. The bus shifted dangerously towards the drop, but there was a solid push and it began to tip back towards the safer ground.

"It's the Incredibles!" Someone yelled. "It's Mr Incredible!"

"Solarflare and Nightfury!" Someone in the other bus exclaimed. "It's the Big Four!"

Solarflare and Nightfury were both flying, shoving the first bus up by the rear bumper, straining against the weight. Solarflare willed more of her power into her muscles, and the two shoved their bus up over the edge.

Mr Incredible grabbed the front jumper of the second bus, holding it steady as Elastigirl wrapped her arms around the back to help him. At the same time as the others, they managed to steady the vehicle.

"Targets are stabilized," Archer said into her comm, surveying the field from a platform at the top of the bridge supports. "Sending in Kanjo ta' calm the civilians,"

She grabbed an arrow from her quiver and fired it into the other side of the bridge, near the ground. Securing the other end, she turned to Riley, who was waiting next to her.

"Ready?" She asked the younger hero. She strapped her into a harness and gave her a boost. Kanjo slid down and landed easily on the ground, detaching her harness and running towards Mr Incredible, who gave her a boost inside his bus.

Once inside, she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, lying down a heavy emotional shield that calmed everyone inside both buses. Kanjo's practice had paid off, and she was able to keep the other supers out of the field's effects, keeping their minds clear.

"Sending in extraction," Archer relayed. Dimension teleported into the field, followed by Velocity and Skoro, who ran in a second later. Across the bridge from Archer's perch, Rocketeer and Baymax took off, the duo lowering to the ground carefully. "And Baymax's armor is goin' strong, good job lads,"

Rocketeer dismounted from the robot and focused on the inner mechanisms of the buses, using his powers to force the different doors and emergency exits open. The speedsters were off and running, zipping inside the buses to grab and remove the citizens from the danger zone. Dimension joined them, and the three extraction heroes worked to get the people out of danger and into Westburg.

The bridge cumbled a little, causing the buses to slide backwards. Solarflare let out a growl of exertion, eyes flashing gold as she shoved the bus again. Nightfury helped the best he could, but their main hitter was losing power quickly.

Archer noticed too.

"Frost and Flurry, we need some backup," She said, watching the situation closely.

The duo answered by flying in and freezing the front part of the buses to the ground so they wouldn't rock back again.

Baymax and Rocketeer had started to check over the rescued citizens, the number growing by the second at the extraction team brought back more.

"That's the last of them!" Skoro yelled. Archer watched approvingly, twisting her fingers on her bowstring as the comms came in from the others.

"Archer, we've caught sight of the troll, requesting permission to pursue," Phantom asked.

"Go ahead," Archer said. "Phase three's starting everyone,"

Phantom turned to her team: Barker, Banshee and Spec.

"Let's move," She said, and the group started to follow the bridge bomber - the troll. Just as they'd suspected, the troll was using the bridge attack as a distraction. Like his other attacks, he'd gone after a high profile target, which would let him break into a smaller area without the risk of a super catching him.

The Troll had shown up on the team's rader after security cameras had picked up blips of a long workman over the past week. More research revealed that a local bank had its scheduled pickup scheduled for that very morning.

In order to cut him off, the small team had stayed out of the big rescue and tracked the troll. Now, they were ready to take him down.

"I love when everything goes according to plan!" Barker grinned.

"Do you think this might have to do with the night?" Spec asked.

"The troll is too much of a low profile villain," Phantom replied. "I doubt he'd get inducted into a top secret society,"

Velocity whipped out of the last bus, holding Kanjo bridal style in his arms. The blonde girl rubbed at her face, smudging the nosebleed she had from exerting so much energy.

"Riley, are you okay?" Rocketeer yelped. "Baymax!"

"Hiro I'm fine," Kanjo protested, letting Velocity set her down. "Baymax don't worry about me, go help the others,"

"Yes Kanjo," The robot answered, turning back to help a woman with a possible broken arm.

"You can bring the shield down now, sweetheart," Elastigirl told the empath. "You've done a great job,"

As Kanjo dropped the empathic wave, Archer ziplined down to join the rest of the team on ground level.

"Team four had moved in," She relayed. "Everything's working,"

"Do they need backup?" Mr Incredible asked.

"Ah've already got heat signature tracking on them, and it's all fine," Archer replied. "The girls are good ta go,"

The Troll ducked into what looked like an abandoned warehouse, stopping to check if anyone had seen him.

"Lets go," Phantom said, and the team slipped inside. The girls fell into place, ready to fight, but were cut off as large metal panels suddenly slid into place, blocking the large windows around the ceiling, and the door behind them. The only light left in the warehouse was a single fluorescent light in the back, flickering dangerously.

An electric crackle and smell filled the air, and a figure standing in the middle of the room was suddenly illuminated by two batons, glowing with a deadly electricity.

"That's not the troll," Penny muttered, and the mysterious assassin jumped forward.

Author's Note: this is one of my favorite chapters! I love the rescue scene, and getting to see everyone's powers used for rescue rather than beatdowns. This is also where things are gonna pick up, so make sure you're checking the new updates as they come! There is so much I'm excited for you to see!