Chapter Thirty Nine: Supekutoru Majo
Hiro's vision swam, but it was hard to see anything in the darkness. He could hear Riley's voice - although it was far away and faded in and out.
Nightmares swarmed in around them, and he could just barely hear Mr Incredible and Elastigirl calling for backup. There were thumps, and through the hazy light, he could make out Frozone, Solarflare and Nightfury.
"No, no, no," Riley muttered, covering Hiro as much as she could. In the back of her mind, she could feel the edge of her mental block on her senses. Something was there, pulling and trying to get out.
"Ah fought him when I first got my powers. It's how ah unlocked them. Hic and I were getting overwhelmed, and Ah hit Mor'du so hard ah thought he'd actually quit crime,"
Merida's voice broke through the darkness as Riley remembered the conversation. Then, all at once, her mental wall shattered. She slowly stood up, mind clearing completely. On the ground, Hiro gasped and tried to grab her wrist, but Kanjo just brushed him off.
There was a glow around her. The Nightmares could only get as close as five feet before they screamed and their sandy limbs were burned off. The convention center seemed to get brighter as the darkness was thrown back, and Kanjo stepped out of the building to face the hypnotized heroes.
"Riley?!" Hiro yelled, and when she looked back, her eyes were sparkling with all the different colors he could think of. She rolled her head back around, just as the supers and Nightmares came running.
The senior supers lunged towards the young teen, but she wasn't even phased. Riley flicked her wrists, and Mr Incredible and Frozone crumpled to the ground, shaking a little in effort. Just as fast, Kanjo snapped her hands back and focused on Elastigirl, somehow paralyzing her. Still using her powers but also somehow connecting with the older woman, Kanjo had Helen take out the line of Nightmares that had surrounded her.
Hiro scrambled to his feet, eyes blown wide as Riley effortlessly took out the more experienced supers. Her power 'upgrade' wasn't anything new, just more powerful and refined. He noticed how her eyes and the energy around her hands seemed to shift colors - changing into the familiar purple, red and green she associated with fear, anger and disgust.
Her eyes suddenly went a warm yellow and she started to float up into the air, just missing Nightfury and Solarflare's attacks. The two hypnotized supers slammed into the wall behind her, and Hiro ran to avoid the falling bricks.
"Hiro," Riley said, turning to look at him, eyes still a little glazed. "Close your eyes,"
He did so.
Without even landing, Kanjo put out a burst like wave of warm yellow energy that disintegrated the Nightmares and shocked the Senior Supers. As she landed on the ground, hands up protectively and still pulsing with energy, both Riley and Hiro watched as the other's yanked off their hypnotizing goggles before slumping to the ground.
"What did you do?!" He asked, using his own powers to destroy the wiring inside the goggles. Behind him, some of the broken convention projects whirred with leftover energy he'd poured into them. The senior supers stirred, rubbing their heads and trying to get their bearings.
"I reminded them of happy memories," Riley said. "Joy,"
"C-cool,"
"You do know that I'm in love with you, right?" Riley said, and Hiro almost choked. "I have been for a while. I would have told you sooner, but I didn't know if you felt the same, but now…"
"You can feel it from me, can't you?" He smiled. Riley smiled back, then flicked his forehead in a way she'd definitely picked up from Tadashi. "Genius brain, remember?"
Riley smirked again and pulled Hiro in for a kiss. It must have only lasted a few seconds, but when Hiro opened his eyes, Kanjo was flying again and the Nightmares had started to come back. Off in the distance, the yells from the Omnidroid fight got louder.
"Time to go save the world," She said, and took off into the sky, leaving the technopath behind.
"We've released five of the senior supers from Screenslavers control!" Hiro's voice said, coming through the comms. Emma ducked and swore as her brother launched another ice blast at her.
"But you couldn't get Jack?!" She yelled, just as Nightfury and Kanjo came flying over the buildings. "RILEY?!"
"Hold on," The blonde said, then focused on the other senior supers before twisting her hands. Their goggles flew off with a pulse of yellow energy, and Riley was gone, off to help the others.
"Ems?"
"Jack!" The younger Overland shrieked and hugged her brother tightly. "I thought you were gone!"
"I was for a bit," He said, flipping midair to take out a group of Nightmares. "But it looks like you were handling it Flurry,"
"We need to take down the other Omnidroids!" Tip suddenly yelled. Behind her, one of the small ones was smoking, having been decimated with a combination of speedsters, sonic screams, and ice. "That big one just keeps moving!"
"Merida," Hiccup suddenly said, shocking the others who hadn't realized he was alright. "It might be time,"
"Like hell!" Archer replied, pulling another arrow out of her quiver before noticing it was nearly empty. "Damn it!"
"Meri!"
Archer sighed heavily. She moved close to the omnidroid, then collapsed her bow and tossed it up into the air, where Nightfury swooped down to catch it.
"Jus' stay out of the way kids," She muttered, then took off running - weaponless - towards the smaller omnidroid.
Dash and Edith yelled out in surprise (both at her nerve and speed). Margo screamed in fear, and Tip whirled around to see her mentor about to be crushed.
Merida slid to a stop and planted her feet, then thrust her hands out. As the Omnidroid made contact, her body contorted and grew until it was a giant black bear, and with super-human strength, Archer lifted the robot and hurled it to the ground behind her.
"She's a shapeshifter?!" Dash yelled. Bear-ida turned and tilted her nose at him, giving him a look that said 'really, we're doing this now?'.
"Let's finish this," Tip grinned, cracking her knuckles as Merida ran past her. "You can't stop us Pitch!"
Authors Note: Was anyone expecting Riley to get a massive power glowup? Because I knew I wanted it from the beginning! This scene is drawn a lot from Wanda walking out of the doorway in Age of Ultron, as well as her powers in general. I like giving our resisdent empath a bit more kick than she usually does.